Magic Academy’s Genius Blinker

“Haha.”

Baek Yu-Seol’s words made Professor Maizen laugh bitterly. 

It was completely understandable. 

He might have been able to improve the performance of a potion by changing one or two ingredients, but this time was different.

How would he make a potion with the same performance even stronger in a different environment with completely different materials?

The Tyren Point Potion’s key ingredient was the atarix spider’s shell.

The Tyren Point Potion was inspired by atarix spiders’ unique habit of removing their shells and laying eggs for their young. The shell contained a tremendous amount of nutrients, and the vital supplement created based on it was Tyren Point Potion.

Making a vitality supplement out of the tail of a fire-attribute lizard sounded too far-fetched.

Gently raising the corners of her lips, Professor Maizen said, “That’s interesting. Can you make the Tyren Point Potion with that material? Even I, who invented the potion, didn’t know it was possible.”

“Yeah. This is a recipe that my team came up with.”

Those words took the members of Group 12 by surprise. 

Eisel’s expression could be interpreted as, ‘What do you mean, you madman?’

Clap! 

An alchemist from the Alchemy Castle applauded. He looked at Professor Maizen and Baek Yu-Seol with curiosity. “As an alchemist, you’ll have all sorts of valuable experiences, but this one is very interesting. An alchemist should be open to new possibilities. How about this? Let’s suspend the disqualification process and continue.”

The other two alchemists also nodded, thinking the situation was amusing.

Professor Maizen nodded, deciding it wouldn’t change the outcome, even though she didn’t like the idea of giving Baek Yu-Seol a chance.

If he failed here, he would be humiliated twice as much.

“Good. The time limit is one hour. Complete the Tyren Point Potion within the time limit. Oh, and don’t be confused, Baek Yu-Seol. It’s not a D-Vitality potion, but a Tyren Point Potion.”

“Of course. Unlike you, professor, my memory is quite good.”

“Yes, shall we get started?”

Professor Maizen swung her wand quickly as if she didn’t want to give Baek Yu-Seol breathing space.

A number appeared on the blackboard, and the countdown started.

At that moment, all the students’ eyes suddenly changed, and they reached out toward their tables.

Except for Baek Yu-Seol’s group.

“Are you crazy?!” Eisel immediately urged Baek Yu-Seol in a low voice. 

Maliwan also scolded in a timid voice, “Y-Yu-Seol… No matter what, I don’t think this is right. Even if it hurts your pride, sometimes you have to bend… If you say you’re going to do something impossible, uh…”

‘These kids worry too much,’ Baek Yu-Seol thought with a smirk.

“Trust and follow me. You have to do exactly as I say. Can you do it?”

“Do we have a choice at this point?” Desperate and with the clock ticking, Eisel quickly agreed. 

Baek Yu-Seol had no intention of wasting time either.

“The reason the shells of the atarix spider are rich in nutrients is to lay their young. The tail of the fire-attribute lizard also has similar organs—its blood vessels.”

Baek Yu-Seol pulled out a particularly thick vein from the lizard’s tail. Unlike humans, creatures that dealt with mana naturally had thick blood vessels, and most of them were treated as valuable magical materials by mages and alchemists.

“The Alaker Tribe in the southern desert uses these vessels to maintain their leaders’ health. In fact, as a result, their life expectancy increases anywhere between five to ten years.”

“Uh… Yeah, I once did some research on the Alaker Tribe.”

“Hmm?”

“So I know a little bit about their processing style… Can I take this?”

“Okay, do it.”

The boy named Maliwan was much smarter than Baek Yu-Seol initially thought. He was destined to become a genius inventor in the future, so Baek Yu-Seol was convinced that he would stand out.

“This part of the tail will be dried using the desert’s unique magic emission drying method. Does anyone know how to do that?”

“Isn’t that the small-scale drying method? I learned it while following my father around. With a blood vessel of this size, it should be possible to dry it within five minutes.”

“Uh… Yeah, I think so.”

Kasahun had just recited what was written on the specs.

Baek Yu-Seol explained the processing of other materials just in case, and finally, Eisel replied slowly, “I’ll take care of that.”

“Can you do it?”

“Yes. It was in a book I once read.”

He quickly detailed all the information about the Tyren Point Potion Type B recipe one by one.

‘Could this be…?’

Baek Yu-Seol suddenly had an idea but didn’t have time to think about it. He had already spent more than 15 minutes processing and explaining the ingredients.

“From now on, mix them as instructed.”

He was about to begin right away when Eisel asked him one last time.

“This mixture method… did you come up with it on the spot?”

Exasperated, Baek Yu-Seol nodded. There was nothing else to say.

“Just now.”

Speechless, Eisel shut her mouth. Relieved, Baek Yu-Seol clapped lightly.

“Let’s start.”

When Group 12 started crafting their potion, the eyes of the Alchemy Castle’s alchemists shone.

“Young people have unique thoughts.”

A professional alchemist in the Alchemy Castle would treat certain information as basic, but it was very rare for teenagers at the magic academy to have such knowledge.

“Indeed… if it’s that, hmm. Mmm.”

“Quite unusual.”

They didn’t pay much attention to other groups’ tenacity. Some groups performed excellently, but the alchemists’ attention was on Group 12.

“Group 3 is done.”

“Good. Very well done.”

Thirty minutes passed, and soon, 40 minutes. Some outstanding groups demonstrated their potions, most of which were good enough to get 90 out of 100.

This year’s students were exceptionally outstanding.

Nonetheless, the alchemists did not even glance at the other students. There was no time for that.

“Oh, let’s see…”

The eleven other groups had finished their potions with only ten minutes remaining. The alchemists were still focused on Group 12.

The potion they were making gradually began to form.

Maizen Tyren was beginning to feel uneasy at this point. This was because Group 12’s potion was much more finished than expected.

‘What is that… Where did they get such a method?’

Given the quality of the recipe, it was fair to say that it was mediocre. Not only the drawing skills, but even their hand movements while dealing with tools were close to beginner level.

However, without wasting a second of their time, all four members of Group 12 were managing their respective roles and continuously accumulating results.

This situation was unexpected, even for Baek Yu-Seol who was leading the experiment.

‘Who are these guys? Why are they so good?’

Baek Yu-Seol barely remember the original story, even forgetting about Eisel, who was once the female protagonist.

There was no way he could remember such a minor detail of the story.

However, Flame, who was watching the scene, knew.

In the original version, those Group 12 members succeeded in making a similar Tyren Point Potion Type B without the involvement of the character Baek Yu-Seol.

Of course, it was made similarly, but the outcome was a colossal failure. It could not be completed because of the time constraint and the proper formulation method could not be found.

‘By the way, how did he get that recipe?’

Flame recalled the original romance fantasy novel.

Eisel, who brought the incorrect material because of Maizen Tyren’s schemes, became desperate and attempted to make a Tyren Point Potion with the materials she had on hand. In the end, she completed a plausible Type B.

However, the problem, in the end, was that it was merely plausible. 

Maizen Tyren was embarrassed but eventually disqualified Eisel due to the incompleteness. He then took her unfinished potion to her laboratory and conducted her own research.

That was how she made the Tyren Point Potion Type B.

In other words, it was an invention that Professor Maizen Tyren stole from the future Eisel.

‘But they actually made it?’

Bubble! Bubble… Pop!

A halo burst out with a proper ductile reaction, and a small glass bottle was filled with a purple-colored liquid.

Tyren Point Potion Type B.

Finally, it was finished.

“Oh…!”

“Wait a minute. I’ll check it out immediately.”

“Hah, you’re not even as good as me at analysis.”

“Hmph…”

An alchemist from the Alchemy Castle stepped forward and touched the potion. At the bottom of his hand, a soft speck of light rolled around and penetrated the potion from bottom to top.

“Um. Well… I see. Mixing it up like this… It’s unique and creative. It’s great.”

“Hey, what do you think?”

After a while, the alchemist opened his eyes and brought another group’s finished product that was placed on the lab table next to him. It was made with Maizen’s recipe and had the highest degree of perfection.

“Certainly! It’s still incomplete and there’s a tendency for over-consumption of materials, but we can fix it later. This is…”

The alchemist glanced at Maizen Tyren’s countenance and concluded.

“… This is better than Professor Maizen’s potion. It also works a lot better.”

Professor Maizen bit her lower lip at those words.

‘Are these old fools losing their minds? What nonsense is this?!’

‘Does it mean my invention is inferior to a potion made by students on the spot? It must be a joke. A very lame joke.’

“Give it to me!”

“Sure. You’d better check it out yourself.”

The alchemists handed over the potion to Maizen without a hitch, and astonishment soon colored her face.

‘What…!’

This potion clearly utilized Maizen Tyren’s unique technique of extracting nutrients from monsters and converting them into vitality for humans. It was undeniably a Tyren Point Potion Type B.

In other words, nothing could stop them from calling it Tyren Point Potion Type B.

‘How the hell…?!’

The Tyren Point Potion was the result of years of research. It meant that it could never be completed by simply using any material.

‘Unbelievable.’ 

She couldn’t admit it.

How could she compare the results she had achieved through years of hard work with better results obtained on the spot?

‘This is ridiculous.’ 

Professor Maizen’s eyes turned red as if they were about to burst.

“This…” She wanted to accuse Baek Yu-Seol. She felt like she had to vent.

However, it was not possible.

“It’s more than enough for an A+. It’s not a level of creativity that students can think of.”

“Come on. In my day, we made things even better than this.”

“Tsk tsk. Kids these days are something, huh?”

“That’s true.”

Since the alchemists were pouring in favorable reviews, Maizen had to keep her mouth shut.

There were many excuses to lower the score.

‘Disqualification because they couldn’t prepare the original ingredients properly.’

‘Disqualification for failing to create the original assignment.’

‘Simply disqualified.’

As the professor in charge, there were countless ways to forcefully lower the score. But to invite alchemists from the Alchemy Castle and do such a rude thing?

It was never going to happen.

“Oh, this one. Shouldn’t Professor Maizen be evaluated after this? Your student made a better potion! Haha! Don’t be angry. I’m kidding, I’m kidding.”

“What do you say? Professor Maizen, you taught so well! Your disciple has already studied your potion to the point of creating such an excellent finished product.”

Everyone, even the alchemists of the Alchemist Tower, knew that Professor Maizen often acted out whenever there was a student he didn’t like.

So they were being sarcastic.

‘Now that you’ve taken a hit like this, why don’t you get a hold of yourself?’

It was disgraceful, and anger rose to the tip of her jaw. The veins in her eyes became red and enlarged, but she gritted her teeth so hard that her jaw hurt.

“Group 12 has passed.”

Soon, her acceptance notice, which seemed to have been forced out, echoed.

“Ahh…”

“Phew…”

“We did it…”

Faint, Eisel and the students slumped to their seats. Meanwhile, Baek Yu-Seol held the potion with a confident expression.

As if he knew this would happen.

[Professor Maizen Tyren’s Dark Magic Corruption has increased.]