Descent of the Legendary Archmage

At the main building of the Obelisk Academy.

Two people who didn't suit each other walked out, shoulder to shoulder.

“I never would've thought that the clan leader, Shin Inhyuk would personally attend.”

On one side was Kim Kangin and on the other was Shin Inhyuk.

The two had participated in the World Academy Olympiad member selection meeting that had occurred today.

The meeting has just ended and that's why they were walking out together like this.

“That’s what I should be saying. You, the master of the Blue Magic Tower, should have no reason to participate in this meeting.”

The reason Shin Inhyuk attended today's meeting was to confirm that Shin Hayul would be selected.

Despite his grades currently being the best in the school, because his grades in the first year were so terrible, there was a good chance that he would be rejected as a starter for the Olympiad if Shin Inhyuk didn't properly use his influence.

In order to rule out that possibility, Shin Inhyuk made time to take part in the meeting.

And besides that, Shin Hayul had asked him to select Ji Soonchan as a member for the Olympiad.

“I'm only participating as a sponsor.”

"...A sponsor?"

“Yes. Technically, I should say that I'm a prospective sponsor.”

''You're saying that you're going to send the Blue Magic Tower's artifact craftsmen as engineers?"

“I'm still deciding. As I said, I'm but a prospective sponsor.”

Kim Kangin smiled brightly.

Shin Inhyuk's eyes became sharper.

''It's surprising that you're even thinking of dispatching them. Right now, I'm sure that the Blue Magic Tower isn't in such a leisurely situation where they can dispatch their craftsmen."

Shin Inhyuk roughly knew what kind of project the Blue Magic Tower was currently preparing.

The Blue Magic Tower isn't in a situation where they can lend their craftsmen for 2 months.

“Luckily, things worked out. It seemed like as long as I buckled up, everything would work out. Haha."

Thanks to Shin Hayul refining the Element Mana Light, the progress of the Blue Magic Tower's project accelerated at once.

He would somehow be able to make time in the schedule for the engineers to be dispatched for two months.

“Even with your belt being buckled, is there any reason for you to dispatch them?”

Even if you took the project out of the picture, there's still no reason for the Blue Magic Tower to send their artifact craftsmen to the Olympiad.

“No, not right now.”

Not right now.

The phrase was full of meaning.

“But who knows? A miracle could happen at this year's Olympiad where Korea wins the gold medal."

"..."

Gold medal.

And that smirk.

Kim Kangin's eyes shone as if he was aware of everything.

"...I see. So it was Hayul."

“Haha. As expected, you noticed right away.”

Korea is a small nation in the Olympiad that has never competed in the final since Kim Kangin's silver medal.

Unless someone told Kim Kangin that they were confident in winning the gold medal, there was no way that he would talk about it.

And, as far as Shin Inhyuk was concerned, the only person who could tell Kim Kangin so fearlessly that they would win the gold medal was Shin Hayul.

“It looks like you've also received a similar offer from Shin Hayul.”

Kim Kangin's smile broadened.

Seeing how Shin Hayul immediately came to mind from the short keyword, gold medal, it was certain that Shin Inhyuk had heard something similar from Shin Hayul.

"..."

"..."

There was a strange war of nerves between the two of them.

"What did Hayul say?"

“Korea will win the gold medal this year, so please feel free to send your engineers. That's what he said.”

Thinking about it again, it really was an amusing suggestion.

"What did he say to you?"

"I'm going to win the gold medal at this year's Olympiad, so until then, please make things convenient for me. That's what he said.”

It was practically the same thing.

“Did you accept such an absurd proposal without setting any conditions?”

“Yes. Since making things convenient for him isn't all that difficult.”

And recently, thanks to Shin Hayul, he benefited a lot.

He could at the very least take care of this kind of favor.

"But were you really thinking of sending your artifact craftsmen just from Hayul's immature words?"

“Yes. If Hayul meets the conditions I set, I'm willing to invest.”

"...So you put a condition on it?"

"Yes."

“What were the conditions?”

Kim Kangin smiled brightly.

"You will beat a 5th circle mage in a one-on-one. That's the condition I suggested."

"It's not a bad condition."

It was a suitable condition.

There will be 5th circle users on both the UK and USA teams.

So to even have a shot at the gold medal, he should be able to leisurely take care of one.

"Did Hayul accept the condition?"

''Yes. He was quite happy to accept it.”

Shin Inhyuk's eyes narrowed.

'Is he confident that he can beat a 5th circle mage?'

He was curious about Shin Hayul's intentions.

“If you're curious, would you like to come to watch as well?”

''You don't mind?"

''Nope. Not at all."

If it's Shin Inhyuk, then it wouldn't matter.

"Since it seemed like Hayul also thought that it would be good if you could come and watch him."

And Shin Hayul also told him that it didn't matter if he told Shin Inhyuk about the proposal.

"...Is that so."

Shin Inhyuk laughed as if it was funny.

He roughly knew what Shin Hayul was planning.

“When's the match?”

“It’s 4:30 PM tomorrow.”

There was already only one day left before Shin Hayul faced off against the 5th circle mage.

* * *

"With that, all our training has come to an end. You worked hard."

"...You've worked hard."

With Elena's declaration that the training was over, I lay flat on my back.

"...Sigh."

I'm so tired. I don't know how long it's been since I was last this exhausted during training.

''Here. Have some water.”

"Ah, thank you so much."

I suppressed my fatigue, rose up and drank the water at once.

The water from the Greenwood well tastes delicious no matter when I drink it.

This refreshing feeling can't be compared to any other mineral water.

Whew.

I feel like I can live again.

“It seems like we over-exerted ourselves just because this was the last training session.”

Seeing me half unconscious, Elena smiled bitterly.

"No. This training was rather good.”

It felt so good to be squeezed to my limit.

''I don't know if there were any side effects, but thanks to my master's robe, I haven't fallen victim to mana exhaustion or anything like that."

I pointed out the robe I was wearing.

Thanks to this robe, I was able to safely take on Elena's hardcore training.

If not for this, I would have suffered from mana exhaustion an uncountable number of times.

"...You're different to Ray in that regard. Ray despised anything that was physically demanding.”

"Is that so?"

"Yes. Maybe it's because he wasn't used to it. Since there wasn't anything for him to do that would get him physically exhausted.”

"...I guess so.”

I can't even imagine that the creator of such great magic would struggle at anything.

“Anyway, thank you for following along. Thanks to you, I had a lot of fun teaching as well.”

Elena smiled broadly as if she was genuinely happy.

“I'm more grateful. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't have been able to master Destruction before the fight.”

There was already only one day left before the fight with the 5th circle mage I had promised Kim Kangin.

I was already cutting it close even with Elena's training, so imagine how long it would have taken for me to learn it on my own.

Forget mastering Destruction, I wouldn't even have been able to get a feel for it.

''You've mastered Destruction. It's definitely something to be happy about, but... xx There's something bittersweet about it.”

Elena smiled bitterly with a strange expression that was filled half with joy and half with sadness.

“It’s like watching the graduation ceremony of a student you cherished.”

"..."

I've mastered Destruction.

I've basically passed the third page’s test.

“Now we're parting ways.”

"...Yes.”

In other words, today was the day I would say goodbye to Elena.

“You don’t know how happy I am to have crossed the wall of time and met such a good disciple.”

Elena stroked my hair with a tender smile.

''I'm glad that it's you who's Ray's successor."

An eternal farewell.

This is something that I've never experienced.

''The only thing I regret is that I'll never be able to see you when you're more grown up."

Maybe it's because I've never experienced this before.

But my heart ached.

As it was the first time I'd felt this, the pain was indescribable.

“Thank you for everything up till now.”

I clutched my numb heart and bowed my head.

Seeing me like this, Elena smiled broadly.

“A strong heart that doesn't hesitate. I think that is your greatest strength.”

If I willed it, I could have postponed this day.

Since all I had to do was delay passing the third test for another day.

"...Because it won't do otherwise."

But I can't do that. Parting with Elena means that I'll grow.

And delaying that parting will only result in me stagnating.

Even if I'm caught in the sorrow of farewell, I mustn't stop.

Stopping here would be an insult to Elena, who taught me.

"Then this is our final farewell then."

I heard the sound of something collapsing.

Just like how paint washes away from paper when dipped in water, gradually the color of the Greenwood forest began to fade.

“Win the match tomorrow.”

''I will.''

At the center of the crumbling world, Elena laughed.

“Take care of Mimir. Because she's only a child that's lonely. It may be a little annoying, but please pay her attention.”

It was a somewhat sad laugh.

"Yes. I will engrave this into my heart."

Elena's log cabin, which had taken care of me for the past week, slowly faded, along with the world which was gradually melting into white.

“No matter what hardships and adversities await you in the future, never give up.”

“I won't.”

The white color soon engulfed the edges of Elena's feet.

The end is near.

I could tell.

"Finally..."

As if knowing this, Elena smiled.

“Congratulations on becoming a 3rd circle master.”

It was the most beautiful smile I've ever seen.

* * *

At the training ground meant for fights in the basement of the Blue Magic Tower.

Ji Soonchan was fidgeting in the audience with an uncomfortable expression as if he were sitting on a cushion of thorns.

“...Why am I sitting between these two?”

Ji Soonchan turned his gaze slightly and looked to the left.

Kim Kangin was there.

His eyes were shining with anticipation at the fight that would commence in 5 minutes.

Then Ji Soonchan looked to the right.

Shin Inhyuk was there.

Even though there was a slight difference between the two, he too looked as if he were looking forward to the upcoming fight.

'Why am I here, sitting between Kim Kangin and Shin Inhyuk...'

It was uncomfortable.

Uncomfortable enough for him to go insane.

Sitting next to even one of them was bad enough.

But being stuck between the two of them was impossibly uncomfortable.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if Adella was here.

But Adella had gone down to the stadium to assist Shin Hayul.

Because of this, it was so uncomfortable and awkward that he felt like he was going to go crazy.

"What do you think his chances of winning are?"

Shin Inhyuk broke through the silence.

He had spoken to Kim Kangin.

"I'm guessing there's maybe a 10 percent chance."

“You have a different opinion from me.”

"Is that so? What do you think then?”

Shin Inhyuk chuckled.

"Two percent at best."

Even that two percent was assuming that the opponent was careless.

If the opponent was on high alert, then Shin Hayul would never be able to win.

If 3 circles were a rifle then 5 circles would be a tank.

No matter how well you fight with a rifle, you can't beat a tank.

As long as the opponent is vigilant and doesn't leave the tank, he will never lose.

The difference between 3rd and 5th circles is that big.

“That’s a pretty harsh assessment... Then what do you think, Soonchan?”

"Y-yes?"

Ji Soonchan answered hurriedly after being asked a question so suddenly.

"If you forget that he's your friend and think it through with a cool head, what do you think the probability is that Hayul will win?"

“The probability that Hayul will win...”

Ji Soonchan soon regained his composure.

The tension he had felt being between the two archmages was instantly forgotten and he analyzed the fighting power of the 5th circle mage and Shin Hayul.

"...50%. I think there's a 50% chance that Hayul will win."

''A 50/50 chance, huh. That's a more generous evaluation than I expected. May I ask why you think so?"

"There's not much reasoning behind it. I just reckoned that if Hayul gave it his all, he would at least have a 50% chance."

"His all?"

Kim Kangin's smile broadened.

“Does that mean that Hayul's fighting power is different now than it was before?”

“I can’t tell you the details, but... Yes. That's right. Hayul has never revealed his power in public until now."

"Ooh."

Shin Inhyuk's smile broadened as well.

“Hayul's power you say...”

Kim Kangin stroked his chin with an amused expression on his face.

“This is very entertaining.”

At that moment, Shin Hayul entered the fighting grounds.