The Return of the EX-Class Wizard - Chapter 87

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

The Return of an EX-Rank Mage Episode 087
Professor Raymond, transformed into a ‘Triple Bald Eagle’.
Three heads cried out in different tones, yet with identical urgency.
“Director!”
“The one connected to the left arm!”
“You must sever the thickest mana circuit!”
Christine grew even more bewildered.
‘Voice transformation magic too?’
What for.
Why on earth.
Did it really have to be this complicated.
Raymond spread his wings wide without a word.
In that instant, an emerald-hued short sword materialized in the void.
With its lustrous sheen, it had an almost boastful quality to it.
“I will use this.”
“To pierce a magical aperture in your arm.”
“Channel your mana through it!”
Whoosh—
The blade moved,
Thunk!
The short sword embedded itself in Choi Kang-mok’s left arm.
With a sound, a dark hole appeared.
An oddly foreign aperture formed in Choi Kang-mok’s left arm.
From it, a powerful gust erupted.
Whoooosh—!
It was like activating a massive industrial fan.
Christine’s hair whipped backward.
“Damn it! You could’ve explained this to me first!!”
Whether it’s brilliant or whatever, you should at least tell me what’s happening.
That was when it occurred.
The transparent magic circle beneath Christine’s feet responded.
Blue light slowly rose across its surface.
[Responding to the Director’s mana.]
[The Aila Advanced Research Institute’s magic circle has been successfully activated.]
“…So all of this was just to activate the magic circle?”
Christine stared down at the floor with an incredulous expression.
Three bald eagles flying about, a dagger piercing through someone’s arm to create an air vent, all for this?
All that commotion for this?
‘Normally, you’d just need to pour mana into it, wouldn’t you?’
Creating a magic circle was always complicated, certainly.
However, activating a completed magic circle isn’t particularly difficult.
All you need to do is channel mana into it.
‘But why does this magic circle have to drill holes through people’s arms and cause such a commotion?’
It was a situation that unfolded without explanation, so I should have been angry—but now it felt oddly complicated.
The notification window displayed a reward that defied all logic.
───────
[Aila Advanced Magic Circle]
Draws out the latent potential of all who dream of becoming mages to their absolute limit.
※ Job Rank +1 tier (applies only up to below EX-Rank)
※ Limited to one application per person
Required Resources:
1) 100,000,000 Diamonds
2) 100,000,000 Orbs
───────
Christine’s mouth fell open.
Though it had closed, why had the Magic Graduate School become so famous in such a short time?
Because graduating after years of grinding there offered a 70 percent chance of an awakening rank increase.
But here?
“It’s a guaranteed rank increase, isn’t it?”
And for merely 100 million Diamonds and 100 million Orbs at that.
By mage standards, it’s a steal.
“How is it? Do you like it?”
“Master, I love you.”
Once a master, always a master.
“Gratitude is overflowing from my very toes.”
There’s a famous saying these days.
If you want opportunity, go to Korea—that’s what they say.
Christine, an Englishwoman, trembled with emotion.
“Ah, I really don’t like national pride, but….”
Yet this was justified.
“National pride is surging through every fiber of my being!”
The Korean Dream.
Ordinarily, the term was used for low-rank awakeners or miners, but now it was different.
Now it would become the dream of mages.
“Ehehehehe.”
But the story had changed now.
Mages had to come to Korea.
Choi Kang-mok spoke.
“Try climbing up to the middle of the magic circle.”
Choi Kang-mok had no room to pay attention to Christine’s exclamations or expressions right now.
He was a mage as well.
He was stepping into another realm of magic that transcended ‘destruction’ itself.
Any act of wielding mana to bring about miracles was magic.
Second cycle.
Reborn as a mage, he had now, for the first time.
Stepped beyond the stage of ‘destruction’ or ‘annihilation,’ into a new dimension entirely.
Christine noticed it.
‘He’s entered a completely different dimension.’
Literally, his mind was elsewhere.
His face glowed with the excitement of a child thrilled in a play center.
His body remained here, but his spirit was already dancing through flower fields in another world.
She simply did as instructed and stepped onto the magic circle.
White light bloomed slowly, enveloping her body.
A notification appeared alongside a refreshing sensation.
[Your job class, Magic Prodigy (SSS), has risen by one tier.]
[Magic Prodigy (SSS) ▶▶▶ Magic Prodigy (SSS+) has been adjusted.]
“…Seriously, my job class actually went up.”
If this information spreads?
From that moment on, 100 million diamonds or whatever meant nothing.
100 billion? My entire fortune?
Every mage in the world would come running, even if they had to go into debt.
[!Nationwide Announcement for South Korea!]
[The advanced magic circle at Aila Advanced Research Institute has been activated.]
[An anonymous mage-type Awakener’s job class has been upgraded from SSS ▶▶▶ SSS+.]
In an instant.
Across all of South Korea. More precisely, the entire mage community received a notification jarring enough to snap them awake.
“A job class upgrade?”
“Is that even possible?”
The news spread in seconds.
───────
[Did that notification just pop up for real?]
└SSS+???? It can go up?
└The advanced institute did it;;;
└But if it’s SSS-rank… could it be….
└Didn’t Christine appear in Pyongyang earlier?
That’s it. It’s Christine. Certified as EX-rank Awakener’s right arm.
───────
It was actually possible.
With on-site verification added to the mix, the rumor transformed into confirmed fact in an instant.
“Huh? Whoa! Look there! Christine’s coming down!”
“Wasn’t that the 4th Floor? Only authorized personnel can enter that sector, right?”
“You need EX-Rank Awakener clearance to get in. That’s definite.”
Quite literally, the ultimate proof of authenticity had materialized before their eyes.
The mages lost their composure and rushed forward in a frenzy.
“Is this real?”
“Is this notification actually genuine?”
“Christine is so beautiful!”
Christine announced it plainly.
“Yes. I just obtained an opportunity on the 4th Floor.”
…It was real.
With those words alone, Pyongyang erupted into chaos.
“If you want to seize an opportunity, you must come here. Especially mages.”
Many pulled out their phones and began recording.
“The Korean Dream is real.”
Her video spread across social media and reached the entire world.
It was, quite simply.
The moment when the hearts of mages across the globe began to beat in unison.

* * *
Choi Kang-mok still hadn’t emerged from his elation.
His eyes gleamed brilliantly, his breath came slightly ragged, and his voice trembled with overwhelming emotion.
“I did it, Professor. I activated the buff magic circle with my own mana. Did you see?”
“I saw. Saw it very clearly. Heheheh.”
Raymond dispelled his transformation and reverted to his disheveled elderly form.
A peculiar satisfaction played across his weathered features.
“Even I have never encountered such mana pressure.”
It was clearly operational mana, yet its force approached that of combat magic.
“Had I not witnessed it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it. Operational mana exerting this degree of physical force.”
“It was only possible because you properly regulated the pressure, Professor.”
He had carefully lowered the mana pressure.
It was as though he had effectively reduced the pressure of a balloon on the verge of bursting.
Raymond adjusted his glasses.
“This is certainly worth investigating.”
“Professor, are you alright?”
“Yes, I’m perfectly fine.”
His words claimed wellness, yet his left arm hung grotesquely twisted.
Bone protruded beyond his elbow, dangling slightly.
Nevertheless, Raymond seemed entirely unbothered.
Losing an arm during research was routine; exposed bone was merely a bonus.
Then. Christine returned to the 4th Floor once more.
“Strongtree! I’ve pulled all the aggro—ugh!!”
Christine let out a sharp cry upon seeing Raymond’s condition.
At that sight, Raymond sighed.
“Tsk tsk, I thought she had quite decent aptitude for a mage, but she’s still got a long way to go.”
“Indeed, sir.”
Choi Kang-mok nodded naturally in agreement.
Of course, he was usually grateful to Christine for many things, but in this moment, she looked like nothing more than a novice.
“What’s with that look, Strongtree?”
“Accidents like this happen all the time when you’re conducting magical experiments, don’t they?”
Besides, I remembered the situation from earlier.
That moment when Christine had recoiled in disgust at the sight of the “triple bald eagle.”
…What a shame.
“Professor, that transformation flight magic from earlier was truly impressive.”
“Ho? Really?”
Raymond’s face brightened.
Having someone appreciate your magic was the highest compliment a mage could receive.
“Simultaneous control of flight magic and transformation magic. And with three heads. Plus, you gave each one a completely different voice. It was truly magnificent.”
“Honestly, I was trying to create a quadruple head, but the situation was so urgent that—”
At those words, Choi Kang-mok and Raymond became animated, chattering away like lifelong magic enthusiasts.
Before long, the two of them looked like decade-long magic nerds.
Christine watched them, her mind going blank as if she’d been struck.
‘…Wait a minute.’
The efficiency was clearly abysmal.
If you wanted to fly, you’d just fly. If you wanted to transform, you’d just transform.
What was the point of three bald eagles flying in from that situation?
‘There was no point.’
It was just a mass of inefficiency.
The wings were even too large, making it look slow, and with three heads, it was difficult to control.
‘But….’
Nevertheless.
I could understand it.
‘It was cool.’
Why spend years researching flame magic to create fire when you could just turn on a flashlight.
Why obsess over spatial distortion research to use the “Open the Door” spell when you could just turn a doorknob.
Why pour a hundred million orbs into raising success rates by just one percent.
‘It’s all pointless… so why?’
Because of this.
‘That’s what magic is.’
The triple eagle.
It wasn’t efficient, but it was art.
In that brief moment, the professor unleashed a flawlessly executed spell in all its glory.
It was magic itself—a performance painted with magic.
Christine slowly, deliberately sank to the floor.
“My thinking was too shallow.”
Hearing those words, Raymond murmured softly.
“At least you’re not a complete fool.”
Choi Kang-mok chuckled.
Yes, this was the Christine I knew.
“Thank you, Strongtree. Now and always, you remain my teacher.”
[Enlightenment surges dramatically.]
[! Opportunity Acquired!]
[All magical proficiencies rise by one tier.]

* * *
Shenyang found itself in a predicament.
To be precise, there was no shame quite like this.
[The world’s only magical city? lol]
└Quests are garbage, artifacts aren’t even given
└Four years of suffering just to graduate, and rank advancement is pure luck lol
└And lately there aren’t even any professors lol
└70% chance of level increase ㅠㅠ What is this, really?
[Isn’t Pyongyang actually the magic-specialized city?]
└Not a city but a nation?
└Because of the connected EX-tier between Pyongyang-Seoul-Busan, it’s just treated as one city
└Is this that rumored megapolis?
└What’s megapolis again?
└Look it up yourself lol
└A region where multiple cities connect to form one massive metropolitan area = megapolis^^
Three cities sharing the world’s finest Tower infrastructure had become interconnected.
A megapolis of an entirely new concept.
[But New York-Saudi Arabia-London are connected too, right?]
└3-minute transit via Seoul lol
└At this point, isn’t megapolis not enough?
└Let’s declare it a gigapolis!
└Yeah I acknowledge gigapolis for real
A concept unfamiliar before the age of Tower civilization.
Gigapolis had begun to emerge.
A new order where Tower civilization’s central cities became woven into one.
Shenyang could not accept this tide.
More precisely, it was far too humiliating to acknowledge.
“Are the preparations complete?”
“Yes, everything is ready.”
The reputation of the magic-specialized city had been stolen in an instant.
At this rate, I would lose countless talented mages to Korea.
Not only mages within my own country but even those within the Shenyang Guild were growing restless.
“I authorize the holy war.”
Preparations were already complete.
Before the unification of North Korea, I had recruited individuals from the established power structure who harbored discontent with the current regime.
Through them, I had secured internal cooperation channels, and Shenyang was now drawing its final card.
“Has the Bottomless Pit been installed?”
“Installation is complete. It is currently on standby.”
The Bottomless Pit.
Shenyang’s ultimate hidden move.
A bomb-type artifact specialized in ‘base destruction’.
In other words, a magical weapon capable of erasing base facilities.
‘With luck, I could take out Christine as well. The EX-Rank Awakener too. Both at once.’
It was also an excellent opportunity to eliminate them together.
“I authorize the detonation of the Bottomless Pit.”

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