The Genius Professor Wants An Easy Life - Chapter 30

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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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Chapter 30
‘I need to do more than just inspire her—I need to actually improve Jo Anna’s skill.’
Improve someone’s ability in just a few minutes of an exam?
It was absurd, and yet it was possible.
“This time, I’ll demonstrate 1-Star Light Magic,” Katrin said.
She stepped forward, her face set with determined resolve.
Closing her eyes as if to focus, she drew in a measured breath, then released the spell.
Whoosh!
A bloom of light unfurled.
But it was indistinct.
The professors trailed off.
“Hmm. Not bad, I suppose.”
“The luminosity is rather lacking, though.”
When evaluating 1-Star Light Magic, the brightness of the light was the most critical factor.
But then.
“My assessment is ten out of ten.”
“!!”
They all looked at me as though I’d spoken utter nonsense.
“Pardon me, Professor. What kind of rubbish have you been spouting since earlier?”
“You gave Jo Anna’s Shine Dust a three, and now you’re calling that inadequate Light Magic a perfect score?”
I ignored their protests and turned to Jo Anna.
“Jo Anna, what do you think?”
“!!”
“Does Katrin’s Light Magic seem lacking to you?”
Jo Anna’s fists clenched tight.
She was an arrogant villainess, true enough, but she was no fool.
Among the sixteen protagonists, she possessed talents that few could match. There was no way she’d fail to grasp the true essence of the spell Katrin had just cast.
I opened my hand.
Flash!
Lines of mana, diagrammed like a star, materialized in the air.
“Look here. This is the star your applicant just manifested.”
“!!”
“Yes, the luminosity leaves something to be desired—but that’s merely a matter of relative mana reserves. The structure of the star itself is flawless. A star refined to perfection through relentless practice of the fundamentals. Isn’t this precisely the ideal form of a star the entrance examination demands?”
The hall fell silent.
The fact that Katrin could draw such a star was precisely because she lacked talent.
Without natural gift, she had practiced Light Magic—the most basic magic—again and again.
Countless times.
More than anyone could fathom.
‘In contrast, Jo Anna, drunk on her own talents, never built a proper foundation. She only chased after achievement.’
That was Jo Anna’s flaw.
One that would hinder her growth profoundly in years to come.
Still, as a protagonist blessed with prodigious talent, simply recognizing the problem should yield considerable improvement in her skill.
The real issue, however, was this:
“…Some half-blood substitute.”
She ground her teeth, glared at me as if I’d murdered her family, then slammed the door shut with a violent bang and stalked out.
Completely written off.
‘…Ah. Mm. That should be fine, right? I’m a professor. I have the upper hand over the student Jo Anna.’
Cold sweat dripped down my face as I realized there was an even bigger problem than Jo Anna.
Katrin.
‘…Why are you looking at me like that?’
Katrin was staring at me as though she wanted to kill me too.
But it wasn’t hostility.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
Katrin’s lips were pressed tightly together.
Holding back a surge of overwhelming emotion.
I realized my mistake.
‘…That praise I just gave—it was the first real praise Katrin has ever heard in her life.’
Katrin had practiced Light Magic over a thousand times.
At an age before she could even properly understand the world.
Driven only by the wish to be acknowledged by her family.
But all that came back to her was contempt and scorn.
And I was the first to acknowledge her efforts.
“No, don’t misunderstand. I was—”
But my words never finished.
A different, intense presence made itself felt beside me.
“Now it’s my turn.”
It was Rivel.
She growled toward Katrin, her competitive fire burning bright.
“I will earn Professor Ban’s praise as well.”
I took a cautious step backward.
‘…Is this actually going the way it should?’
With an ominous chill racing down my spine, the fateful day of the practical exam drew near.
* * *
The practical exam was held on different days for each department.
The day of the practical exam for the Magic Department.
It took place in the Old Research Building, situated on the outskirts of the academy.
Since the New Research Building had been constructed, most of the rooms in the Old Research Building stood vacant, making it as desolate as an abandoned mansion—and it was here that a middle-aged man with a stern expression walked through the corridors.
Professor Bernstein.
When I had given my demonstration of dismantling the fractal structure, he was the one who praised my magical theory so lavishly—and if I were later appointed as a temporary professor, he would become my direct superior.
Yet something about Bernstein seemed unusual.
He stopped before a shabby research office and spoke with utmost deference.
“It is Bernstein. May I enter?”
An odd sight.
As the department head, he held one of the highest positions within the academy.
So why such a cautious manner? Who could possibly be inside?
“Come in.”
Creak.
As he entered, a figure sat amidst scattered clutter that resembled a trash heap.
An elderly man with a bent spine.
His expression was gentle, but his deep-set eyes hinted that he was no ordinary person.
Indeed, an unbelievable conversation unfolded.
“How is your health, Rector?”
“Heh heh, didn’t I tell you I’m no longer the rector?”
“To me, you will always be my only teacher.”
The former rector of Rubines Academy.
Emeritus Professor Randolph.
This was the old man’s identity!
But there was more.
“Your condition remains unchanged. It is the price you paid for attempting Ascension without knowing your place.”
Ascension.
It meant Level 9.
This old man had once attempted to reach the realm of the absolute sovereigns of this world!
“For foolishly attempting to reach the sun, you paid the price. I suppose I should be grateful simply to remain alive.”
Randolph spoke with a bitter smile.
Once the rector of Rubines Academy and a great mage of Level 8 whose name echoed throughout the empire—but all of that was the past.
He had lost most of the power he possessed in his prime and now merely clung to each passing day.
“I have lived long enough that I would not regret death, yet the academy continues to weigh upon my mind. If I depart, I fear what vultures will tear Rubines asunder.”
He meant the Lapalte Duke House and Rector Karak.
The only reason they had not overstepped their bounds was the shadow cast by Randolph, the former rector.
“At least there are people like you, Bernstein, which is some comfort. But I worry that their greed has grown too great. Are there any promising new professors among those who have recently arrived?”
This was a season when not only new students arrived but also new faculty were being recruited.
Randolph asked a similar question every year, and Bernstein had always shaken his head.
There was no reason to expect decent professors to come to a rotten academy.
But this time, something was different.
“Several noteworthy individuals have applied.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, to speak frankly, several people with remarkable credentials have applied—individuals whose reasons for choosing Rubines Academy remain a mystery to me.”
It was unexpected news.
It meant that besides myself, several other impressive individuals were being hired as temporary professors!
“That is heartening to hear. Of them all, who seems most promising?”
Bernstein recalled the faces of the new temporary professors.
This time, an unusual number of exceptional candidates had applied to the Magic Department.
Among them, one who had shaken the academic world with a revolutionary theory and become the adopted heir of a Prominent Magic Family.
War mages who had received the highest honors on the battlefield.
All of them formidable, yet—why was it
that the one with the most meager credentials, not even confirmed for hire, kept surfacing in his mind?
“Ban Ecclesia, sir.”
“…Ban? Could you mean Ban Legi, the one I know?”
“You’re familiar with him, Rector?”
“Of course. The most hopeless student in Rubines Academy’s history, isn’t he? If I were still in office, I’d have expelled him the moment he entered his first year.”
Randolph wore an expression of disbelief, but Bernstein replied only in his flat, measured tone.
“Once you see him in person, sir, you’ll understand.”
“Hm.”
Randolph’s face registered bewilderment.
Whatever Bernstein said, it strained credulity.
“But tell me—what brought you to summon me today? Is it about the practical examination?”
“Yes, let’s go observe it together. After all, it’s where we select the finest buds of our Rubines Academy.”
Randolph, unbeknownst to others, never missed a practical examination each year.
Bernstein nodded, resigned.
“Very well. But should your health worsen, you must return at once.”
“Heh heh, understood. You’re growing more and more fussy, aren’t you? Is it the unmarried man’s fate? Come to think of it, you’ve been alone since birth?”
“…Let’s just go, shall we.”
And so the two of them made their way to the practical examination grounds, unknown to anyone.
Where Ban served as an examiner.
* * *
‘This is Rubines Academy’s Artificial Dungeon.’
I gazed around with barely concealed awe.
It wasn’t merely a maze carved into underground stone.
It was an Environmental Illusion—wrought by magic.
‘At this level, it’s nearly equivalent to Level 9 illusion magic.’
The existence of such an advanced artificial dungeon was owed to a single being that slumbered within Rubines Academy.
‘A Great Being of another world—the Illusory Lord.’
In a time distant and ancient,
entities called Great Beings from another realm had invaded this world.
A terrible war had raged, and thanks to the heroes who rose to defend this world, all the Great Beings of that other realm were said to have perished.
‘It’s like the creation myth of this world.’
Though the Great Beings had vanished, they left countless traces behind.
Magical Anomalies, Mana Distortion, Chaos Rifts, and more besides.
All remnants left by the Great Beings in their passing.
This very ground where Rubines Academy stood bore such traces.
‘A Fragment of the Illusory Lord is buried here.’
In other words, this artificial dungeon was a manifestation of the Illusory Lord’s power that lingered in the fragment.
‘It’s not something a mere human could control—artificial manipulation is impossible—so the same illusion simply repeats endlessly.’
Yet it was hardly grand.
A dungeon illusion where only the lowest-tier monsters appeared, creatures like slimes that even ordinary people could manage with ease.
Unable to find other uses for it, the academy had eventually repurposed it as an entrance examination venue.
‘Since the illusion is indistinguishable from reality, injuries sustained here are real ones too. Only the weakest monsters appear, so normally there shouldn’t be complications—but I’d better stay sharp.’
Of course, I wasn’t the sole examiner deployed for this test.
A considerable number of graduate students and junior faculty had been mobilized to manage the proceedings and ensure safety.
I’d additionally stationed security personnel and protective detail that Emily had sent throughout the illusion’s passages, so there was virtually no risk of incident.
‘Get Jo Anna through, send Katrin and Rivel to different academies, and the job is done.’
Getting Katrin and Rivel to fail wasn’t particularly difficult, mind you.
I simply had to keep them out of the top two positions.
‘If Katrin falls outside the top two, the unwritten laws of the Prominent Magic Families dictate she’ll apply to another academy. As for Rivel, she needs to secure a full scholarship by placing in the top two, so she’ll naturally pursue other academies instead.’
I’d already mapped out every detail.
Linden and Hans would do the legwork, darting between the monsters to harass the students.
Drain them as much as possible.
‘Jo Anna will break through first. Regardless of the talk, she has the highest achievement among the applicants.’
And indeed, not long after, it happened.
A grinding of teeth sounded, followed by a vicious voice.
“…Get ready, you half-baked noble. I’m coming for you.”
She had broken through every obstacle and arrived already—Jo Anna!
Whether it was the tough love I’d shown during the practical exam, or simply her natural brilliance, her speed was terrifyingly fast, well beyond what I’d anticipated.
‘If she cleared it this quickly, she must be scoring the highest marks.’
I arranged my face into an expression of satisfaction.
“Get ready. I’ll show you what it means to kneel before me and learn your place.”
Whoosh!
Intense momentum blazed up from her.
She looked as though she were battling a mortal enemy.
I watched her with an approving eye.
‘Excellent. That’s the presence befitting a top student. Ten out of ten. This professor is most pleased with your passion.’
All I had to do now was spar with her appropriately, guide her to unleash two hundred percent of her ability, and we’d be done.
But then, something unexpected happened.
A chill.
“?!”
I froze.
Suddenly, goosebumps erupted down my spine.
‘What is this? Why all of a sudden?’
I wondered if it had something to do with Jo Anna, but of course it didn’t.
A vague, creeping dread washed over me.
‘…It’s similar to that time with Puppet.’
No—it was worse.
In fact, the dread only kept growing.
As if something terrible were unfolding.
‘Something more dangerous than the Puppet incident? What could it be?’
Yet Jo Anna, utterly oblivious to my unease, growled and bristled forward.
“What are you doing standing there like an idiot? Do you think I’ll go easy on you just because you’ve dropped your guard? Too late for regrets. I’m going to make you kneel before me.”

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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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