I Became A Flashing Genius At The Magic Academy

Chapter 259: Noble Soul (13)

Aether World Online.

A popular game that had been in service worldwide for over ten years. It had tens of thousands of players.

This game wasn’t famous from the beginning. It gained popularity through word of mouth.

The news spread that it was a romance fantasy genre with excellent action, which attracted a large number of gamers.

Baek Yu-Seok was one of the rare players who had been playing since the early days of the game’s launch.

Because of this, he had heard countless stories from many users, including a substantial number of episodes related to the Twelve Divine Moons.

The item [Sentient Spec] contained most of the information recorded in the Aether World community.

However, there was still some information it couldn’t hold—things related to the "hidden pieces" that were openly talked about among users.

When a special hidden piece was discovered in the game, some wanted to share it, while others wanted to monopolize it and use it for themselves.

Baek Yu-Seol was the kind of person who remembered every little story that circulated only as rumors.

The main story of the game?

There were many seasoned players who didn't know it.

Quite a few, in fact.

So much so that if you asked a veteran player with seven years of experience, "What do you think about a character named Flame?" they might respond with, "Who’s that?"

But the information within the game was different.

Veteran players collected each piece of information, input it into their minds, and never forgot it.

Baek Yu-Seol was such a case.

While developing a character of the highest difficulty, he had to figure out detailed strategies for bosses that could be easily defeated by others, investing dozens of times more time to clear them.

Silver Autumn Moon.

The most famous and most mysterious of the Twelve Divine Moons.

Many players tried to dig into it, but almost no information was available.

However, Baek Yu-Seol, luckily, received such rare information through someone he knew.

‘... Who was that again?’

He often ran into that person during the early days of the game's launch.

He didn’t know their real name or face, but he remembered that their ID was ‘Dalso.’

Once, when he asked about the meaning of that ID, he got the response, "It doesn’t mean anything.”

One day, that person said.

"Hey, Baek Yu-Seol. This time, I learned something about the Twelve Divine Moons."

At that time, the Twelve Divine Moons had almost no influence on the main story, and the rewards were hardly known, so they weren’t popular.

So Baek Yu-Seol would have answered, "I don’t know, and I’m not interested."

But the other person stubbornly continued to talk about the existence of the Twelve Divine Moons.

“The Twelve Divine Moons descended from the Progenitor Mage. Did you know that?”

Some people probably knew that.

It was common knowledge that came up just by reading the main story.

Unfortunately, Baek Yu-Seol didn’t know and wasn’t interested.

He was busy finding opponents for duels at the time, so he tried to answer half-heartedly, but then the person mentioned something quite interesting.

“If you find the Twelve Divine Moons, your character's stats can permanently increase, or you could gain a new skill.”

As a gamer, it would be a lie to say that didn’t intrigue him.

Especially since ‘Baek Yu-Seol’ was a character that hardly acquired useful skills since it relied solely on teleportation.

“Do you want to hear more?”

At that moment, Baek Yu-Seok stopped his matchmaking and listened to the story.

It was truly fascinating how that friend knew so much information, and it greatly benefited Baek Yu-Seol.

He was able to develop the first character on the server to receive the Blessing of the Twelve Divine Moons.

The first Twelve Divine Moon that Baek Yu-Seol contracted with was Golden Solstice Moon.

It was the best blessing which perfectly offsetted the worst penalty of not being able to envelop his skin with mana, permanently stunting his endurance growth.

From then on, he became very interested in the Twelve Divine Moons.

He gathered, shared, and strategized information related to them through secret routes, and at one point, he even deleted his character to start over just to contract with a Twelve Divine Moon.

In that process, his game friend Dalso was incredibly helpful.

Wherever he got the information, he secretly shared knowledge about the Twelve Divine Moons with Baek Yu-Seol, and by combining those small hints, he managed to contract with a few more Twelve Divine Moons.

However, there was one Twelve Divine Moon with whom even Baek Yu-Seol repeatedly failed to contract.

Silver Autumn Moon.

Unlike the other Twelve Divine Moons, he didn’t stay in one place. He appeared and disappeared unpredictably, making it hard to persuade and contract with him.

Is this what the difficulties of a salesperson feel like?

‘Or maybe it’s more like a dating simulation, fitting the game's identity.’

… And so, Baek Yu-Seok spent several months trying to conquer Silver Autumn Moon.

‘How did it go again?’

Flash.

———-

Baek Yu-Seol opened his eyes.

Leafanel’s face, which was tinged with a violet hue, came into view.

She still looked serene, but there was a hint of discomfort in her expression.

[Status effect 'Focus' has been removed.]

[The body's recovery speed returns to normal.]

[The circulation rate of mana returns to normal.]

System messages floated before his eyes.

‘Focus?’

It was a status effect he had never seen before.

Had his recovery rate and circulation rate increased?

He hadn’t noticed at all.

After all, he hadn’t been injured, and he was so absorbed in wandering the mental world that he didn’t have time to sense the circulation rate.

"… This isn’t easy."

He had spent the entire day trying to awaken the abilities of Silver Autumn Moon, but the more he wandered through the mental world in concentration, the stronger the abilities of Pink Spring Moon became.

Of course, this wasn’t a bad thing.

The fact that he was growing so rapidly meant that Baek Yu-Seol hadn’t been using even 1% of Pink Spring Moon’s abilities until now, and it was only now beginning to grow explosively.

But it was frustrating because he couldn’t figure out how to manifest the blessing of Silver Autumn Moon.

No one in the game had ever unlocked Silver Autumn Moon’s true abilities...

Twitch.

“Huh?”

Lost in thought, he suddenly saw Leafanel’s fingertips tremble.

Was it just his imagination?

It passed in a split second that he wasn’t sure.

“Leafanel? Did you wake up?”

There was no response.

She still lay there without even the slightest movement.

‘What is this?’

Something felt off.

A very, very tiny... something was nagging at his senses.

It was a feeling so subtle that Baek Yu-Seol wouldn’t have noticed it under normal circumstances, so he sharpened his senses and slowly got up to circle around Leafanel.

Something had changed.

But while he could sense that a change had occurred, he couldn’t tell what it was.

"This is..."

He slowly brought his head closer to Leafanel.

Something seemed like it might appear, like it might be sensed.

He reached out his hand.

The faint purple, translucent barrier surrounding Leafanel particularly caught his eye.

And then, just as Baek Yu-Seol’s fingertips were about to touch the purple barrier…

Chills!!

A chilling sensation ran through him, putting his entire body on alert.

But he didn’t react hastily.

A rash action could make the situation worse.

Instead, he withdrew his extended hand and spoke to the empty air.

“How long are you going to keep spying from over there?”

A very sharp sense that he wouldn’t have felt before.

But now, with his sixth sense and the blessing of Pink Spring Moon sufficiently trained, he could faintly detect it.

"… Oh my. What a surprise."

Surprisingly, Baek Yu-Seol’s senses were accurate.

A voice came from what had seemed like empty air.

When Baek Yu-Seok slowly turned his head back, a woman appeared from that spot.

'... A dark mage.'

The traces of a dark mage contractor were clearly indicated in the Sentient Spec.

In fact, even without the spec, it would have been very easy to recognize that she was a dark mage.

A purple horn protruded from her forehead, and her skin, a violet hue, was adorned with even darker purple tattoos.

This was proof that she was not an ordinary dark mage.

Click-clack!

Wearing a tight leather jacket, she walked gracefully, like a model on a runway.

“Hmph... We’re meeting for the first time, right? I’ve heard a lot about you. I didn’t expect to meet you in a place like this.”

This was their first meeting.

But recognizing her identity was not difficult at all.

[???]

[Dark Mage Contractor]

[Physical Doppelganger]

[Curse of the Spirit]

The term Curse of the Spirit was clearly indicated in the Sentient Spec.

This occurred when someone killed a spirit and then received a curse from the heavens...

At present, she was a clear suspect in the murder of Leafanel.

‘The fact that her name doesn’t appear...’

It was probably because, even in the original game, her name never appeared.

Information unknown to the players wasn’t recorded here.

But was it really necessary to know her name?

Just identifying her was enough to raise Baek Yu-Seol’s tension significantly.

'A doppelganger.'

There must be a reason why she sent a doppelganger instead of coming in person.

Probably, the reason was...

‘She can’t enter this place.’

Baek Yu-Seol narrowed his eyes.

A physical doppelganger.

The name sounded simple, but it was an almost perfect doppelganger spell that very few mages in the world could use.

Doppelganger magic itself was rare, and even if someone used it, it was usually impossible for the doppelganger to act with its own will.

But she was controlling it with her soul.

If he were an ordinary mage... He wouldn’t have noticed it.

Even Baek Yu-Seol only vaguely noticed something was off with the help of Pink Spring Moon.

It was the Sentient Spec that informed him it was a doppelganger.

‘I'm still far from catching up to the senses of the spec.’

Well, it hadn’t even been a day since he awakened his abilities, so trying to surpass the spec would be too ambitious.

‘I can't afford to underestimate her.’

There was too much he didn’t know about her.

Since there was hardly any information recorded in the Sentient Spec, he needed to play the psychological game aggressively.

So, Baek Yu-Seol deliberately pretended to be unaffected and spoke up.

“For a coward who doesn’t even have the courage to come here herself, what do you want?”

“… Oh my. What a sharp kid, huh?”

“Do I look like a kid to you?”

“Hmm...”

He appeared to be an unmistakable teenager.

To a dark mage who had lived for over a hundred years, he would be less than a sapling, let alone a kid.

However, if his appearance was deceptive, the story changes.

'Hmm. What’s this?’

The woman, Soya, narrowed her eyes.

Even though it was a doppelganger, her senses should be over 90% the same as her true body.

Yet, she couldn’t feel anything particularly special from Baek Yu-Seol.

No. It was even more suspicious because of that.

Soya slowly circled the garden with Baek Yu-Seol in the center, and walked like a model.

From the boy, she couldn’t detect the usual mana aura that was commonly found in other mages.

Specializing in doppelgangers and various magical techniques, she was incredibly sensitive and relied on mana senses rather than vision.

Yet, Baek Yu-Seol felt like a mirage—visible but not really there.

“You’re quite interesting.”

“You’d have a hard time handling me.”

“Oh-ho, why? Do you already have someone?”

“Something like that. She’s a very strong woman, way too much for you to handle.”

Although there was no such woman in this world, Baek Yu-Seol blurted out anything to buy time.

"So, what did you mean by what you said earlier? I'm actually here right now. I could kill you right now."

Baek Yu-Seok chuckled and spread his arms wide.

"Then go ahead. Do it if you can."

Soya extended her fingers.

Purple mana slowly began to emanate from her nails, but it didn't shine brightly.

‘With this level of mana... Will it be enough?’

Although her senses were similar to her true form, there were definite limitations to the amount of mana a doppelganger could use.

‘This mysterious kid.’

Besides, she had heard stories about Baek Yu-Seol.

He had dealt with several high-level dark mages, and more recently, he had even become widely known for killing the successor of the "Last Witch."

‘Is this monstrous guy... really just a high school student?’

‘Are all humans missing a few screws in their heads or something?’

‘How could they confine someone like him to the status of a mere high school student?’

‘Of all things...’

She bit her lip slightly, making sure Baek Yu-Seol couldn’t see it.

It was good that she had come to check on Leafanel’s condition, but she had ended up facing an unfavorable opponent.

If he had been an ordinary Class 6 mage, she could have easily killed him with the doppelganger, but Baek Yu-Seok was different.

Having confirmed that Elf King Florin had visited the Third World Tree, she needed to avoid a major confrontation at all costs.

"… What do you want?"

Having no other choice, she completely withdrew her mana and took a few steps back, and asked irritably.

Only then did Baek Yu-Seol smile.

‘It worked.’

The fact that he could recognize a doppelganger and that, due to his mana concealment technique, his abilities were undetectable by ordinary senses.

And he had managed to deceive her to some extent using his own reputation that he had built up over time.

Of course, rash actions were forbidden.

If he provoked her too much, she could suddenly turn hostile and thrust a blade at his throat.

Dark mages were known for their quick tempers.

“What I want… I don’t have anything specific, but I am curious about something.”

When she tilted her head, urging him to continue, Baek Yu-Seok hardened his expression and spoke.

“You killed the spirit Leafanel and absorbed her heart. Isn't that right?”

She remained silent, her expression turning stiff, but Baek Yu-Seol continued.

“But in the process of absorbing the spirit’s heart... something went wrong. To put it in crude terms, you got indigestion. You tried to digest a power far beyond your level all at once, and that’s what happened.”

“… You should watch your words.”

He spoke as carefully as he could.

Thinking about how she attacked Leafanel, a slightly sharp tone slipped out unconsciously.

"So you came back to properly absorb that energy. But... It looks like you still haven't figured out how to do it, am I right?"

She bared her white fangs slightly, showing hostility, but soon she calmly regained her composure.

For a dark mage, that was quite an impressive level of anger management.

It was commendable.

‘Disgusting.’

Seeing a dark mage controlling their emotions wasn't pleasing to Baek Yu-Seok, but he endured it.

"So, what do you want?"

"It's simple."

When Baek Yu-Seok stretched his finger into the air, the subspace tore open.

Seeing this, Soya was startled and almost stepped back, but she held her ground with superhuman patience.

‘Subspace?’

How could a mere high school student use a spell that only mages of at least Grand Mage level in spatial magic could use?

Before she could even question this, Baek Yu-Seol pulled something out and tossed it to her.

“This is...”

“It belongs to a dark mage. Find that guy and kill him. Then I’ll help you fully absorb that heart. Think of it as a kind of payment for the task.”

“What...?”

Could that really be possible?

How exactly?

She couldn't believe it, but the person in front of her wasn’t just an ordinary high school boy.

There was something special about him, and... Perhaps he really did know how to fully absorb this ‘spirit’s heart.’

Soya lowered her head to look at the item thrown by Baek Yu-Seol.

What lay on the ground was an old shoe.

But it was just an ordinary shoe with no fragments of dark mana or anything else.

‘She won't feel anything, will she?’

Of course not.

Because it was just trash.

"... Who do I need to kill?"

Eventually, tempted by his offer, Soya spoke up.

Baek Yu-Seol smiled and said.

"Chelven. Kill that man."