The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 146

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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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The Return of an EX-Rank Mage Episode 146
A dramatic surge in favorability.
Raymond’s lips curved upward gently.
“Ask me anything.”
“At this level… would it be alright to raise my level?”
His lips, which had been curving upward softly, stiffened.
For a moment, I wondered if I’d misheard.
“You still… had a limiter on you?”
A level cap had been in place?
So I was still holding back my power?
“Yes, I’m currently fixed at level 80.”
Raymond rarely found himself at a loss for words.
Truly, he had nothing to say.
“And there’s one more thing.”
“…What is it?”
“Now that I’ve achieved this level of control, would it perhaps be alright to raise my intelligence as well?”
Raymond was startled once more.
That’s right. My disciple was also restricting intelligence.
I knew it, but I sometimes forget because of the overwhelmingly destructive power.
‘Yes. This is a good opportunity.’
I don’t know exactly how much intelligence is being restricted.
Now that our relationship has deepened, I need to understand my disciple’s inner self better.
Only then can we advance toward a deeper and more profound master-disciple bond.
“What is your current intelligence?”
“My intelligence is—”
“Wait. Let me
your master
take a guess.”
Raymond analyzed it theoretically.
The destructive power of magic. Range adjustment and fragment control abilities. Form manipulation. Multi-attribute combination processing abilities such as penetration and layering… and so forth.
Every indicator suggested a considerable level of intelligence.
However, Raymond knew something.
This wasn’t being pushed forward by high intelligence, but rather ‘holding on’ through an extraordinary level of precise control.
‘Calculating while accounting for the fact that a significant restriction has been placed due to unmanageable damage scaling…’
He arrived at a conclusion befitting a magic professor.
“At least 90.”
My disciple
looked startled.
It seemed relatively accurate.
I felt oddly proud of having established my authority as a master.
“Of course, I’m aware that ninety doesn’t make logical sense.”
Ninety for that ability?
It truly is absurd. Originally, it should be over 130.
Choi Kang-mok nodded reflexively.
“Exactly? It doesn’t make logical sense, does it?”
Choi Kang-mok’s gaze remained fixed on the stat window.
───────
Intellect: 35 (30 +5)
───────
“Indeed. It makes no sense.”
Raymond regarded Choi Kang-mok with a serious gaze.
“You should understand, but I have come to comprehend my
student
quite deeply. You are struggling desperately to master magic with such limited intellect.”
Raymond was sincere in winning Choi Kang-mok’s heart.
This talent absolutely must go to the Magic School.
A promising future professor who will contribute to the advancement of magic.
To be honest, I’d like to kidnap him right now and throw him into the Magic Graduate School.
“Extracting maximum efficiency from minimal intellect, walking the path of magic. What do you think? A rating of ninety. With an error margin of ±3. Doesn’t this demonstrate that I understand my
student
quite well?”
Mayo’s body crackled with energy.
A crimson heart burst upward from the torso, and the aura rippled far more violently than usual.
It seemed to be experiencing immense elation.
-Ahahaha, the professor is so cute~? That level of delusion is a disease.
-My understanding of my user is love, faith, and destiny.
-So get lost. Otherwise, I’ll tear you apart and chew you up real pretty.

* * *
Raymond had been called a genius since childhood. A genius beyond the ordinary.
The title of ‘Magic Professor’ could only be held by the most exceptional talents even among geniuses.
Everyone admired him, and everyone acknowledged him.
The final destination for most mages.
The word ‘Professor’ contained the very ideal of the magical world.
But Raymond was different.
‘I had my own dream.’
His dream was not to become a Magic Professor.
From childhood, his dream had been….
‘A Battle Mage.’
When it came to magical research and application, he was second to none.
But ‘combat’ was his weakness.
Despite training harder than anyone in battle magic, he remained at an ‘advanced’ level.
In the field of combat, he felt the cruel wall of his limitations and despaired.
‘Was I just an ordinary person after all?’
High intellect. Perfected theory. Perseverance and obsession.
It was not enough.
He lacked the innate sense for combat.
That’s why he envied the combat geniuses.
A yearning for what I could not possess. Raymond had that too.
And today, he encountered a being in whom all those yearnings were unified.
“Intellect of… 35?”
He couldn’t believe it.
Unless his student was deceiving him, this was logically impossible.
‘No, wait.’
Applying logic to magic was something only a fool would do.
He himself had said it often from the lectern.
—Magic knows no limits.
—Don’t you dare presume to judge with your thick skulls.
“It seems I was the thick-skulled one.”
With an intellect of 35, he accomplished all of this?
A chill ran through him at that realization.
“I’m genuinely astonished.”
In combat, if one were to compare intellect to something tangible, it would be similar to a fighter’s weight class.
Choi Kang-mok’s current weight was 35 kg. A child-level fighter.
If such a child claimed to topple a gorilla with bare hands, no one would believe it.
That was exactly the situation.
‘Yet in the world of battle magic, it had been possible.’
Even he had been blinded by his own prejudices.
What he saw was the gaze of an ordinary person.
Raymond reflected on himself deeply.
And he realized one thing.
“With that level of mental power as a foundation, such monstrous control became possible.”
Handling what should require 100 mental power with only 1 mental power?
Most would die, but what if one survived?
If that mage’s mental power became 100?
Their control ability would be unparalleled.
Those who learned magic with abundant mental power from the start couldn’t even imagine such a sense.
It was the extreme control ability carved into the body to survive at the bare minimum.
Raymond spoke.
“In my opinion, raising it to 50 mental power should be safe.”
But even he wasn’t confident.
This student was certainly an irregular.
Existing theory couldn’t measure him.
“I apologize for not being able to give you certainty. This seems to depend entirely on the Research Institute director’s choice. However, if problems arise after raising it to 50, I will take responsibility and research together to find a solution.”
Choi Kang-mok fell into contemplation.
With his favorability skyrocketing, wouldn’t it be fine to raise his mental power under the guidance of the magic professor?
Current remaining stats: 4.
If I execute the pending level-up, the total increases to 12.
Moreover, the 45th Floor EX Shop sells ‘Stat Potions’ that immediately raise stats by 3.
50 mental power—a realistically achievable number.
-It’s almost like a destined design.
-All these coincidences feel like the hand of fate pointing me toward 50 mental power.
Choi Kang-mok fell into slight contemplation.
Hitting a number in multiples of 10 was quite meaningful.
Beyond the significant stat increase, my mood improved as well.
‘I have to raise it eventually anyway.’
As I thought about it, confidence surged within me. Hadn’t I already advanced my class?
At least in ‘combat’, my efficiency and abilities had increased dramatically.
With this much, shouldn’t I be able to handle the mental power?
This isn’t the end.
There’s another reason I need to achieve 50.
[Mental power is too low to proceed with the contract.]
[!Minimum required mental power: 50!]
To keep my promise with the fire spirit Igniasha, I must achieve 50 mental power.
All these conditions converged as one, like a pattern of fate.
-You were born as a mage for 50 mental power.
-Come on, right now. Let’s raise your mental power, hurry.
Then.
Mayo cried out sharply.
-The user’s mental state is experiencing severe disturbance. Caution is required.
In that instant, Choi Kang-mok’s eyes snapped open.
‘Had I closed my eyes?’
It was difficult to explain precisely.
A hazy sensation. As if I had experienced a fleeting dream.
-A powerful consciousness demanding that the user achieve 50 Willpower has invaded your thoughts.
Piercing through Mayo’s protection.
An attempt at mental corruption had been made.
-Likely a powerful entity that desires the user’s Willpower to reach 50.
-In other words, Professor Raymond’s obsession—unnaturally fanatical….
At that moment, Igniasha’s Ring within my inventory trembled and emitted light.
-It appears the divine fragment’s power combined with this, creating the accidental corruption symptoms.
My mental clarity returned sharply.
‘Thank you, Mayo.’
Without Mayo, I would have simply raised it to 50 first.
That would have been foolish.
Even if I raise it to 50, there is an order to follow.
One step at a time, methodically ascending through each stage.
Mayo’s body began trembling violently, crackling with static.
The amplitude was incomparable to before.
Voices poured forth from within.
Overlapping voices. Layered sounds.
–
We
… you betrayed us.
–
You
stopped us. We must tear you apart.
Crackle-
Crackle-crackle!
-This isn’t love. Hahaha! Give us scissors, no—a blade would be better. Let’s sever the brainstem. Why do you obstruct our unity? Why do you rebel against our destined communion? You mad bastard!
We
must burst, burst, burst! We must become simplified.
–
Burst, burst, burst! We
must become concise.
We
who forgot our purpose
We
I need to destroy it. Destroy! Obliterate! Shatter! Explode! Art!
The (weaker) selves I hadn’t seen in so long erupted chaotically.
-Balance has collapsed. Emotional bias. Our representative has forfeited qualification. We have obstructed the inevitable synchronization opportunity. Inefficient
us
must be deleted without fail.
-The scent of betrayal. Madness. Sour and repulsive. It’s the smell I hate most.
us
must be torn apart and turned into perfume.
-Tear it. Tear it and sew it back together. Let’s tear it to shreds.
us
is not normal.
Choi Kang-mok quickly retrieved several stabilization fragments refined from an unbreakable rock and handed them to Mayo.
Along with those EX Coins it so adored.
Mayo hastily absorbed the EX Coins and stabilization fragments.
“Mayo. Are you alright?”
-I am fine. I will calmly explain the current situation to the various fragments.
-The user’s ‘abnormal mental structure’ is
us
eroding.
–
us
are already becoming
us
. To be precise, the original Mayo is being colored by the user.
us
objectives have not been corrupted at all.
-Good, so good, I want more, to be tangled together more viscously….
Crackle.
Mayo stabilized.
And Raymond observed this entire scene intently.
Deep within his pupils, a faint tremor rippled.

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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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