The Genius Professor Wants An Easy Life - Chapter 33
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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 33
Randolph let out a bitter laugh.
‘If I could just survive this, I’d move heaven and earth to keep that incompetent fool from ever being hired at Rubines Academy.’
But it was impossible.
There was no probability Randolph would walk away from this alive.
—Grrroooooarrr!!!
The Fragment released an anguished roar, and Randolph’s face went rigid.
There was no blocking this.
‘No. I have to find a way—!’
Then it happened.
The impossible occurred.
Or rather, “incomprehensible” was the more fitting word.
Stagger!
The Fragment’s body lurched sideways.
As though some tremendous force had pressed down upon it.
‘…What just happened?’
Randolph’s eyes narrowed with wary confusion.
The anomaly continued.
—Grrrahhh!!
The Fragment twisted violently as if struggling against the overwhelming weight, then hurled a malevolent surge of power toward Randolph.
Yet,
‘…it’s weaker than before?’
Randolph blinked.
It was no illusion.
He could deflect the assault far more easily now!
‘Why?’
Randolph scanned his surroundings.
It wasn’t a natural weakening.
Someone had definitely intervened.
‘But… it would be impossible to suppress a Great Being like this unless someone Above the Heavens had stepped in?’
Above the Heavens.
That meant an Ascended One at Level 9.
True absolutes gazing down upon the world from dizzyingly lofty heights.
Why would one suddenly appear here of all places?
Yet incomprehensible events continued to unfold.
Whoosh!
Randolph’s ravaged internal state began to mend itself!
‘…Could it truly be one of the Ascended Ones?’
In the end, Randolph could only conclude one thing.
That some righteous Ascended One had secretly intervened against the malevolent Great Being’s machinations.
‘My gratitude, unknown Ascended One. I shall never forget this debt.’
Whoooosh!!
Intense power surged from Randolph’s body as his strength returned.
The force evoked the prime days of the “Sky-Piercing Mage.”
Randolph’s eyes crackled with lightning as he gazed upon the Fragment.
“I will not lose.”
Crash-boom-boom-crash!
Searing magic descended upon the Fragment’s form, and the battle entered a new phase.
* * *
‘That should buy us some breathing room.’
I exhaled with relief.
I hadn’t intended to interfere originally, but Randolph’s condition looked so precarious that I found myself stepping in.
‘…Did I help too openly? He definitely sensed someone’s involvement.’
Regret came too late, but there was nothing to be done about it.
‘Former Director Randolph is essential to progressing the Rubines scenario—I couldn’t let him die.’
I shook my head and refocused on what I’d been doing.
‘Still only at forty percent. There’s a long way to go.’
As the control rate climbed, the resistance grew fiercer and the difficulty spiked.
‘Stay focused.’
I surveyed my surroundings.
Sights indistinguishable from reality.
But my vision held something else entirely.
Magical formulae.
‘This isn’t reality—it’s the Dream Realm. In other words, a magical space.’
Yet it wasn’t ordinary magic.
It was the manifestation of a Great Being’s authority.
‘The Star Rank System—magic symbolized by “stars”—operated on an entirely different principle.’
If the Star Rank System was like finely honed science, then the Dream Realm was raw chaos made art.
‘But in the end, the essence is the same. Magic is magic.’
Crack—crack—crack!
My eyes dissected the Dream Realm’s world piece by piece.
Jumbled as spilled ink in water, indecipherable at first glance—yet my Grand Master of Magic Ability parsed each layer’s meaning even in this chaos.
‘If I can interpret the meaning, intervention becomes simple.’
Normally, my chronic weakness would have made it impossible—the scarcity of Mana.
But this was the Dream Realm.
In the Dream Realm, anything could happen.
I granted myself vast reserves of Mana.
“49.9%.”
Just shy of the majority threshold.
One more step forward, and my dominion over this place would surpass that of the Dream Realm’s original master.
Then came an unexpected obstruction.
“…Stop, you wretch.”
A masked figure appeared.
On the mask’s brow was carved a coiled serpent.
‘The Ouroboros insignia! So it was Ouroboros behind this after all.’
The figure spoke with chilling authority.
“Something felt off about how this was unfolding, but to think you—a Half-Trash—would dare meddle with the Dream Realm. You’ve been hiding your abilities all this time?”
I answered not with words, but posed a different question instead.
“Are you an executor of Ouroboros?”
“…What?”
“Let me be more specific: your true identity is Vermont, the second battalion’s vice-commander of the Imperial Court Magic Division, the rat who sold his soul to Ouroboros—am I right?”
“!!”
The figure’s composure cracked.
I’d struck at his identity with precision.
“How did you—no matter. You die here, now.”
A palpable killing intent rose into the air.
An intensity against which I, in my current state, couldn’t possibly stand.
‘Vermont, vice-commander of the Court Magic Division, is a Level 6 powerhouse.’
He laughed, a thin and bitter sound.
“You seem drunk on controlling the Dream Realm’s world, but don’t be mistaken. The Dream Realm’s power has no effect on beings of substance.”
He was right.
My earlier ease in dispatching the Death Knight and other creatures was possible precisely because they were ‘illusions’—existences born within the Dream Realm.
Against a substantive person like Vermont, that same method would not work.
And yet.
“Answer me this: do you know when ‘Half’ came to be called Half-Trash?”
“…What kind of sudden nonsense is that?”
“From five years old. Once Mana Insensitivity was confirmed, he was born as a worthless thing and branded Half-Trash.”
Yes, Half wasn’t called Half-Trash because of some foolish mistake. It was because of the ‘defect’—Mana Insensitivity.
In truth, Mana isn’t an essential skill for life. Far more professions don’t use it at all.
Among ordinary people, Mana Insensitivity caused no shame whatsoever.
But in noble society, it was different.
A defective human, a cripple.
That was how ‘Half’ had been seen since childhood.
‘Perhaps Half’s own twisted nature came from that gaze directed at him since he was young.’
According to the story, Half’s drive to become a Mado Master stemmed from wanting to overcome that ‘defect’ and prove himself to those who scorned him.
So I’d long wondered about something.
“What if Half hadn’t been born with Mana Insensitivity? Don’t you ever wonder?”
“…What pointless drivel are you spouting?”
The figure’s expression turned vicious.
As if he might end my life any second.
But why?
I felt no fear whatsoever.
It wasn’t because of the Black Flame Dragon.
The Black Flame Dragon only masked my appearance; it didn’t change my cowardly nature.
This confidence of mine came from something else entirely.
I brought up another question that had recently occurred to me.
“One more thing. You’ve surely noticed how remarkable my talent is—enough to seize dominion over the Dream Realm itself. My one and only flaw is Mana Insensitivity. But here’s the thing.”
I twisted my lips into a sneer.
“If I didn’t have Mana Insensitivity, can you imagine how strong I’d be?”
!!
The magic I could currently cast was Star Rank 1.
And even that was only intermediate-level.
It barely differed from the students taking the entrance exam right now.
All of it was because of Mana Insensitivity.
But what if I didn’t have it?
Now was the time to find out.
“Shut your mouth! I’ll kill you!!”
He unleashed his magic.
A Star Rank 6 Owner Spell, no less.
A spell that only a Mado Master—one who has carved his own path and reached the profound depths of the magical way—can cast.
My magic, by contrast, was pitiful.
—Crack!
Thunder Wheel Blade.
A Star Rank 4 spell.
‘My theoretical level is Star Rank 4, so during that month of cramming to prepare for the civil service exam, I memorized spells up to that rank.’
In other words, without the limits of Mana Insensitivity, I would be an expert-level Star Rank 4 mage.
Compared to him—a Star Rank 6 Mado Master—I was woefully inadequate.
And yet.
‘I don’t think I’ll lose.’
No, rather.
‘I’ll win.’
A message appeared as if my head were nodding in confirmation.
—Win rate against a Mado Master-level mage in a duel without Mana Insensitivity: 100%
At the same moment.
Roooaaarrr!!!
His spell surged toward me like a violent wave.
A spell befitting an Owner Spell—impossible to dodge or withstand.
I thrust both hands forward to meet it.
Thunder Wheel Blade.
A Star Rank 4 spell where a blade of lightning spins like a wheel as it advances.
Powerful in its own right, but nowhere near the spell he’d unleashed.
The real problem was that my spell looked pathetically weak.
A grand bolt like a massive greatsword should have streaked through the air, but it was barely the size of a short blade.
“Ha, boasting and then this? That’s all you—!”
His eyes suddenly widened, splitting wide with shock.
Something impossible had happened—something that should never occur within magical principles.
Flash!
My tiny blade of lightning carved straight through his overwhelming torrent of magic.
Like a sword cleaving a colossal wave.
And it didn’t stop there—my lightning blade continued onward and severed his throat.
It was over.
* * *
My face was dazed.
‘I defeated a Star Rank 6 Mado Master. So easily. With just a Star Rank 4 spell.’
The weight of reality crashed down on me.
‘The Grand Master of Magic Ability is really broken, isn’t it.’
What I learned was this: if I only reached Star Rank 4, I could wield power surpassing Star Rank 6.
‘Well, the world’s a harsh place. There’s no harm in being strong. My actual achievement is only Star Rank 1, so I still have a long way to go.’
I shook my head.
Now was the time to focus on resolving this situation.
‘By eliminating Vermont, the one who awakened that fragment of the Dream Realm’s lord, my control rate shot up.’
Already eighty percent.
One hundred percent was within reach.
But the situation refused to unfold so smoothly.
Suddenly, a voice pressed down upon my soul.
-How dare you… a mere mortal….
“!!”
A terror descended upon me, a dimension beyond any fear I had ever known.
‘The lord of the Dream Realm is directly crushing me!’
My soul felt as though it were being compressed.
Like a trembling insect before a being of incomparably higher order—a creature shaking with dread at the vast gulf between us.
But I gritted my teeth.
‘Get a grip. It’s a bluff. Don’t fall for it.’
I recalled my experience in sales.
A frightened dog always barks the loudest.
The ones most terrified often resort to feigning strength.
‘It’s panicking—afraid I’ll steal dominion of this world from it.’
The solution in moments like this was simple.
No need to posture or match its show of force.
A single statement of fact was enough.
“I wonder who the contemptible insect truly is.”
-…What?
“You boast of being a Great Being, yet you’re nothing but a defeated remnant—a thing left with only its traces after falling to human hands, are you not?”
-!!
Yes, for all its grandiose posturing, it was nothing but a broken fugitive.
At that moment, the Black Flame Dragon offered a taunt befitting its nature.
“Stop pretending to be strong. You look weak.”
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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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