The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 281

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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 281
The American Continent’s lord’s choice became a major point of contention, but it did not change the score.
Round 1: American Continent victory.
Rounds 2, 3, 4: EX-Rank Awakened victory.
Originally, this event was a “continental championship,” but people’s perception had shifted considerably.
It was fair to call it a match between the Americas versus an EX-Rank Awakened.
-Continent vs. individual lol
-I saw last time that Christine was holding back too lol
-Never thought the day would come when Christine becomes a supporting character
Tyler was consumed by worry.
‘My plan has fallen apart from the very beginning.’
Concede rounds 1, 2, 3, and 4, and only secure round 5.
In exchange, round 5 is worth 3 points.
Ultimately, a narrow defeat at 4:3.
That would have been the most beautiful outcome… but.
‘I still can’t understand it!’
How did we win round 1?
No matter how much the EX-Rank Awakened suffered from poor condition, this was nearly miraculous.
‘Round 5 was designed to be favorable to us.’
My head throbbed.
I couldn’t deliberately tell the American Continent representatives to lose.
‘If, just if by some chance, we actually win…’
Everything goes dark from that point onward.
I have no desire to wound the pride of a one-man empire.
His goal was a “respectable loss,” not “victory.”
With that in mind, he began the round 5 briefing before the American Continent representatives.
“The theme of round 5 is.”
It was undisclosed to the public.
Even Choi Kang-mok doesn’t know.
At this moment, Tyler was the only one who knew the contents of round 5.
“Restoration magic.”
On the surface, it takes the form of a “magical exchange.”
It cannot deviate from that scope.
The moment it does, the emperor’s one-sided massacre would begin.
Edward, the American Continent representative, spoke.
“Do we really have to go this far?”
In the last round, Edward was deeply moved.
For some reason, he desperately tried to eliminate the “Attacker.”
It turned out that wasn’t to win, but to protect us.
“Isn’t this essentially cheating?”
Previously, the goal was simply to defeat an EX-Rank Awakened.
If we could claim even a single victory, it would be etched into United States history.
Just as a Korean Go player’s single win against AI was recorded in history.
A single victory against an EX-Rank Awakened carried profound significance.
But now, everything had changed.
“He willingly bore the infamy for our sake.”
Immediately after Round 2 ended, the EX-Rank Awakened faced considerable criticism.
For tarnishing the meaning of the exchange match through cowardly tactics.
Yet the EX-Rank Awakened offered no excuses.
Like one who wore a crown, he bore the weight of all condemnation alone.
“Perhaps he viewed it as a magical exchange.”
Now that I faced him directly, I understood.
My opponent was both a one-man empire and a ‘mage’.
I could feel his genuine love for magic.
I knew this was a form of bias, but it didn’t matter.
He was the one who saved my life.
What harm in wearing rose-tinted glasses?
“This approach defeats the purpose of a magical exchange.”
Another representative spoke up.
“If you were going to forfeit, why not forfeit everything? Why do this?”
“Exactly.”
“Doesn’t it just make things look worse?”
A complete forfeit would be one thing.
But a partial forfeit?
Worse still, he refused to forfeit only Round 5, which focused on ‘recovery magic’.
“It looks rather ugly.”
“Better to simply accept defeat cleanly this time….”
Tyler wanted to shout.
No one wants defeat more than I do, you bastards!
But outwardly, he spoke calmly.
“The System didn’t allow it.”
“Pardon?”
“Maximum forfeits are limited to two rounds.”
“We never heard such a rule.”
“Neither did I.”
The System had blocked a complete forfeit.
“As you all know, the System is subtly—no, openly—on our side.”
“….”
Tyler felt like crying a little.
Is this really on our side?
If they were on our side, I’d just let them forfeit.
Edward continued speaking.
“That person is our benefactor. What if we deliberately lose in the fifth round?”
“That won’t work!”
It would be different if I’d forfeited from the start.
But to forfeit lamely after already entering the ‘Magical Space’?
“Show seriousness toward magic. That’s the courtesy owed to an EX-Rank Mage.”
“….”
If magic were perceived as something to be taken lightly… it would be catastrophic.
The American Continent would face disaster.
“For now, do your best. I will officially announce the contents of the fifth round.”

* * *
For Choi Kang-mok, it was somewhat unexpected.
“They revealed the entire contents?”
In the fifth round, participants enter a special ‘Magical Space’.
Red Cat spoke.
“He deliberately specified [Magical Space]—I’m certain of it!”
In Red Cat’s view, Tyler, the American Continent’s lord, was a schemer.
A cunning fox.
“If it were a normal space, the butler would destroy it all!”
He constantly goes on about magic, and subtly acknowledges the butler’s magical prowess.
He even praises him as a great mage.
With so many competitors already, I don’t need more sycophants clinging to me.
“That bastard has the worst character!”
The others are outright sycophants!
This one pretends not to be.
To Red Cat, that was even worse.
Of course, Choi Kang-mok didn’t think about it so complexly.
What Tyler thought internally didn’t matter much.
For matters unrelated to magic, things are usually like that.
“A special magical space where virtual damage is assigned to the representatives.”
It doesn’t actually hurt, but numerically it’s displayed.
-100.
-200.
As if cumulative damage is being recorded.
Here, the representatives each attempt recovery using their own ‘healing magic’.
Damage is (-).
Healing magic is (+).
The team whose total approaches zero through healing magic wins.
“Taking no damage at all is meaningless.”
Simply maintaining a zero was not a path to victory.
The goal was to record a large negative value, then return to zero through positive recovery.
The cumulative total of healing mattered more than the final value.
“I don’t know healing magic, though…”
Christine was on my side, but even she wasn’t a healing magic specialist.
According to Choi Kang-chul’s records, most of the opponents had considerable expertise in healing magic.
Choi Kang-mok shrugged his shoulders.
“Well.”
If that’s the nature of things, there’s nothing to be done about it.
“I’m still an incomplete mage, after all.”
Choi Kang-mok had experienced the ‘acknowledgment phase’.
Now I knew how to humbly accept what I lacked.
“There are aspects I simply cannot master.”
Therefore, even in defeat, I harbored no great regrets.
As long as a single loss didn’t appear in the mock battle records, that was enough.
Choi Kang-mok entered the fifth round with an empty mind.

* * *
The mages from the American Continent deployed various healing spells.
“Heal.”
“Greater Heal.”
“Pure Heal.”
Having coordinated their timing beforehand, they executed their healing spells with predetermined sequence and intensity for maximum efficiency.
The hypothetical negative damage vanished to near zero in an instant.
By contrast, the Asian representatives lacked such coordination.
Christine deployed healing magic to the best of her ability, but it fell short of the American Continent representatives.
Yet the result was astounding.
Kang Pal-do’s AI interpreted the situation.
[The mage did not deploy healing magic.]
At some point, Kang Pal-do’s AI had begun using formal honorifics when explaining matters concerning Choi Kang-mok.
People accepted it as a concept Kang Pal-do had programmed.
[Yet the total recovery surpasses that of the American Continent representatives.]
For Choi Kang-mok himself, this was equally astonishing.
Recovery was occurring without deploying healing magic?
‘A system error?’
That’s what I thought at first.
I assumed the previous round’s recklessness had caused a malfunction.
But it wasn’t.
-(Mayo): This isn’t magic—it’s the mage’s domain. 🙂
-(Mayo): This is the true physicality of a mage.
Though this exchange match bore the form of a ‘magical duel’, it was anything but.
Regardless of the method, this round hinged on ‘total recovery capacity’.
Magic was not a requirement.
And Choi Kang-mok’s body achieved that recovery threshold faster than anyone else.
-(Mayo): A physique adapted to the mage’s own damage output 🙂
-(Mayo): The mana circuits achieved miraculous recovery even from the mage’s own damage.
Choi Kang-mok’s greatest enemy was none other than himself.
He had struggled his entire life to survive his own magic.
This was the result.
-(Mayo): Physicality is also the essence of a mage!
-(Light): This is possible?
Christine, who had been weaving a healing spell, stopped her hand gestures.
Compared to Choi Kang-mok’s natural recovery rate, her healing magic was utterly insignificant.
Even after she ceased casting, the (+) speed did not diminish.
“….”
Christine was left speechless.
“…I keep thinking, ‘How is this possible again?'”
Every time she witnessed Choi Kang-mok, she drew profound inspiration.
He was her guiding star.
As a mage, he embodied the ideal path forward—a beacon of what she could become.
But this time, things felt profoundly different.
A mage’s physicality, of all things….
“There are special classes like Troll Warriors among the awakened….”
A melee combat class that sustains battle through extraordinary regenerative capacity.
Tens of thousands exist across the globe.
“This is the ultimate evolution of a Troll Warrior… Wait! Don’t call it a mage’s physicality!”
“….”
Then what about other mages?
Even Raymond doesn’t possess such physicality.
“This is simply Choi Kang-mok’s physicality.”
“….”
“Even if you call it a mage’s physicality, just tell me it’s Choi Kang-mok’s physicality. Otherwise, I think I’ll despair.”
For the first time in a while, I feel the weight of an insurmountable wall.
What was once an ideal has become a towering barrier, crushing Christine beneath its weight.
Can I ever truly reach that ideal?
Christine continued, her expression clouded with doubt.
“He’s winning without even casting magic.”
Perhaps that is the ultimate pinnacle of magic itself.
With that thought, my vision clears slightly.
“Ah.”
The crucial revelation wasn’t that absurd ‘recovery ability’ at all.
What truly mattered was learning that a realm existed where one could triumph without even deploying magic.
“So that’s what it was.”
I had achieved enlightenment.
Perhaps this was the ultimate aspiration of a mage.
My battered spirit recovered in an instant.
It became even more resilient than before.
This was, in a sense, a form of ‘recovery’.
[!Special condition satisfied!]
[A ‘recovery’ of special significance has been discovered.]

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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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