A Talentless Mage Devours a Disaster-Class Future - Chapter 8

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 8

“Enter. Aion.”

Aion gave a short nod and returned to his seat.

Not even the sound of breathing could be heard in the Lecture Hall until he had settled into his chair.
Every eye in the room was fixed on Aion’s back, and on Professor Helsen standing at the lectern.

Helsen, arms crossed, swept his gaze slowly across the despondent students.

“To be frank with you, I harbored not the slightest expectation that any of you primates would arrive at the correct answer when I posed this problem.”

The students flinched.

“But then….”

Helsen tapped his temple with his forefinger.

“Even among primates, there are distinctions.”
“……”
“What I wanted was not a correct answer, but thought. I wished to witness you all struggling, turning your minds inside and out, grasping at any thread to divine the hidden architect’s intent.”

Helsen’s gaze brushed past Kael and Laila in the front row.
Laila maintained her composure, but Kael looked away.

“It mattered not if your answers were wrong. How you would think. How you would perceive the problem. That was what truly mattered.”

Helsen rapped the podium lightly.

“Since you have enrolled at Exion, you will wish to become Mages. Yet true mastery of the Art requires time you have not yet earned.”

His voice resonated low through the Lecture Hall.

“In the time that remains, deliberate with rigor. Consider what manner of Mage you wish to become.”

No one spoke.

“If you harbor no such thoughts, you will remain primates until the moment you draw your last breath.”

Helsen let out a short, derisive chuckle and gathered his attendance ledger.

“Class is dismissed for today. Aion, come find me in my Research Office afterward.”
“Understood.”

Even after the professor departed, silence hung over the Lecture Hall for a time.
The students stared blankly at the board or sat lost in thought.

‘…Exhausted.’

Aion rolled his stiff neck and gathered his bag.
Professor Helsen’s lecture had been striking, but after nearly two sleepless nights, all he craved was his bed.

Scrape.

The sound of the chair dragging shattered the silence. All at once, every eye fixed on Aion.

Those gazes were complex—suspicion and confusion, and something else that none dared voice aloud.

He walked on as if nothing had happened. The moment he did, the students seized the opportunity to speak again.

“Being treated like some curiosity is… weird, honestly.”
“Yeah, I’m not used to being looked at like that either.”
“…But did Aion really find all of them?”
“Right? I didn’t expect the professor to even demonstrate it at the end.”

The path toward the back exit of the Lecture Hall.
The students quietly stepped aside, clearing the way.

One of them looked at Aion and spoke up.

“That thing you did just now… it was pretty impressive.”
“……?”
“I never would’ve thought of it. Not even the Water Ball part.”
“Y-yeah, that’s right. We all worked on it together and still missed a few.”

Pfft…

Just as Aion was about to respond,

Thunk—!

Someone brushed past his shoulder.

“Move. Don’t block the way.”

Aion turned his gaze toward the person who had deliberately bumped into him, his expression flat.

Whispers followed behind him.

“…It’s Kael.”
“He must be upset. He couldn’t solve it, but Aion did.”

Kael’s eyes met Aion’s. It was only a brief moment, but what burned in those eyes was unmistakable. They blazed with barely contained emotion.

“……You just got lucky this time.”
“…Maybe so.”

…Pause.

Kael’s footsteps stopped.
He turned slowly and looked back at Aion.
The gaze of every student around them snapped to the two of them.

“…What?”
“If it’s easier for you to think that way, then think it.”

Silence fell.
Kael’s jaw tightened. Aion met his gaze unflinchingly.

“…Sir, don’t waste your time on something so trivial. Let’s go.”

The female student standing close beside Kael gently tugged at his sleeve.

“…Hmph.”

Kael let out a snort, withdrew his gaze, and stormed out through the door.

After he left, the students who had been about to greet Aion awkwardly laughed and departed as well.

【Flame: That tired one certainly caught someone’s eye.】
【Lightning: Hehehehe! He’s famous! Pretty much top of the new students for his terrible personality, isn’t he?】
【Life: Aion, I’d prefer you didn’t get tangled up with that one for a while.】

The Extreme Points’ assessment of Kael was unanimous. Aion had little genuine interest in the boy anyway, so he quickly dismissed the matter.

‘An odd one. But he did say to come by the Research Office, didn’t he?’

He slung his bag over his shoulder and stepped out of the Lecture Hall.

Then.

Tap.

This time it wasn’t a collision—someone had tapped his shoulder directly with their hand.

‘…Again.’

Swish—

Before Aion could turn to look, a sweet fragrance reached him first.

“……Who are you?”

That girl.

‘Her name was….’

It came back to him.
Laila Draconis.

The female student who had come closest to the correct answer, aside from Aion himself.

“You found them all.”
“……?”
“I couldn’t find them all.”

She spoke matter-of-factly and didn’t wait for his response. She had simply said what she needed to say.

Anyway.

“Laila.”
“……Hm?”
“Laila Draconis.”

She said her name while pointing to herself with her finger, then turned and pointed at Aion instead.

“Aion.”
“……”
“Aion… what was it again.”
“……Iskar.”
“Right. Got it.”

Nod.

And the moment she had confirmed it, she left as if nothing had happened.

‘……What was that?’

【Flame: …Still the same, I see.】
【Earth: It’s been so long—I’m almost grateful to see you.】
【Arcane: Refrain from words that might sway Aion’s future.】
【Water: Right. We’d best be careful.】

The Extreme Points clearly knew something, but Aion wasn’t the type to pry into such things one by one. And besides, they showed no intention of telling him anyway.

‘First, the Research Office.’

That was what needed attending to right now.

***

The Central Library of Arcanum.

Before the front desk of this place, called the heart of Exion Magic Academy.

An elderly librarian was fixing Aion with a suspicious gaze over the rim of her glasses.

“I didn’t mishear you, did I? Third-floor special access?”

The librarian’s eyes flicked between Aion’s youthful face, the Student Brooch pinned to his chest, and the Silver Card he held out.

“It’s rare for a first-year to come in with third-floor clearance this early. This isn’t forged, is it?”
“Professor Helsen issued it directly. You can verify it.”

When the librarian held the card to the scanner, Professor Helsen’s seal glowed a soft blue.

The librarian’s eyes widened.

“…It’s genuine. What’s gotten into that cantankerous old cuss? Has he lost his mind?”

She clicked her tongue and exchanged the Silver Card for a new one that gleamed golden yellow.

“You can check out only one book today. Go on up. Keep it quiet.”

As Aion climbed the stairs, a memory surfaced—what Professor Helsen had said yesterday when he tossed him the Silver Card.

— I never thought anyone would actually come to collect this access pass. Well, I’ll be damned. A promise is a promise, so take it with you.

Thump—

The moment Aion’s foot touched the third floor, he felt the air change against his skin.

Whereas the first and second floors thrummed with the energy of first-years coming and going on assignments, this place was silent—eerily so.

Yet that silence was nothing like the emptiness of an abandoned house.

Students scattered between the shelves, reading or channeling mana, radiated an aura wholly different from those below.

They didn’t spare Aion a glance when he entered, their attention fixed entirely on whatever lay before them.

‘…A forbidding place, indeed.’

【Mage: A spherical Guard Golem, then? For this era, it’s cutting-edge technology.】
【Earth: I once saw a man here who’d had his arm broken by one of those things while trying to steal a book. Quite the sight.】

Clang—

One of the golems, detecting Aion, brightened its crimson optical lens even further.
Aion didn’t meet its gaze and simply continued forward.

Whoooosh—

Spiral staircases hung suspended in the air, their steps hovering without touching the floor.

The ancient wood creaked as the staircase rotated slowly, each step adjusting itself with every footfall to guide students toward whatever shelf they sought.

‘…Remarkable.’

And that was only the beginning.
Towering bookshelves tens of meters high flowed across the walls like living creatures, or else broke apart and recombined in midair like floating cubes.

“Hup—ha.”

A student reaching for a book on high made a gesture, and a transparent platform of mana materialized beneath his feet, lifting him upward.

‘…A world unto itself.’

Aion gazed upward in wonder.

【Mage: I have to admit, the efficiency is excellent on review. The design shows real care.】
【Earth: If you fall, they won’t find enough left to bury. There was a classmate once who dropped like that, and….】
【Life: …Is it only stories about people getting hurt?】

Aion made their chatter his backdrop, slowly surveying the stacks.

The shelves were organized with meticulous precision by subject.

Elementalism and Summoning, Astronomy and Philosophy, and more.

His footsteps naturally drew him toward the innermost corner, where light scarcely reached.

Unlike the other sections, which bustled with animated movement, this place lay still as death. Even with daily cleaning, the scent of ages would not fade.

『Ancient Magic』

A shelf forsaken by sunlight.
A repository for spells that had been eclipsed by the efficiency of modern Mages, or forgotten entirely because they resisted interpretation.

Aion drew near as if under a spell.

Whisper—whisper—

He walked his fingertips slowly along the spines of books wedged into the shelves.
The rough texture of leather binding transferred itself through his fingertips.

Stop.

Aion’s hand went still.
He stepped backward slowly, returning his fingertips to one ancient tome he had just passed—a cover so distinctive that once glimpsed, it refused to be forgotten.

And then, a voice like metal on metal rang through his mind.

【Flame: …Good thing it was still here.】

Slide—

Aion drew the book out without hesitation.

The Talentless Mage Devours a Catastrophic Future — Episode 8

Author
Wang Mozhi
Publisher
Daon Creative
Planning / Editing / Production
Yeon
Cover Design
Dalri

UCI
G720:N+A036-20260706063.0008

ⓒ2026, Wang Mozhi

※ This e-book is protected under the copyright law of the Republic of Korea.
No part or all of the contents of this work may be reprocessed in any form without permission from the author and publisher.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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