“Rune, don’t you dare lose.”
“You better watch yourself. If you look down on your opponent and lose, I’ll rip every single hair off your head.”
As Rune narrowed her eyes and spoke, Zen instinctively covered his hair with both hands.
The Twins of Magica…
Muimi’s eyes flicked toward her first opponent and the red-haired girl standing just beyond him.
If Iris is Crystal’s greatest prodigy, then those two are the brightest hopes of Magica.
That was what Toby had once told her.
Their aptitudes: C/S/A. From their very first year, they’ve shared the top spot in every single class. True geniuses of Magica.
“We haven’t earned a single victory point yet. So no matter who you face, give it your all from the very start.”
Toby’s voice replayed in her head.
Losing is not an option.
She drew in a long breath, then exhaled.
Monts later, Muimi and Zen stepped forward for the first match.
Unlike Muimi, whose face and body were stiff with tension, Zen couldn’t keep still—glancing at Muimi and Abel, waving behind him, fidgeting like a clown.
“The rules are the sa as a close-combat spar. Maximum ten minutes. You win by reducing your opponent’s HP by four-fifths, forcing a surrender, or if I intervene and declare the match over due to danger. If things get too risky, I’ll step in.”
Abel explained quickly.
“From the skill gems you were supplied, choose three you like best. If you’ve brought any items, show now.”
“None.”
Muimi’s voice was stiff.
“ neither~.”
Zen replied in his usual carefree tone.
“Good. Then, take your positions… The first duel of the Magica majors begins now.”
The mont Abel gave the signal, Muimi’s surroundings lit up. A silver aura wrapped around her body.
“Huh!?”
“She’s fast!”
The spectators gasped.
“W-whoa?”
Just as Zen raised his wand in panic, Muimi was already casting a spell.
From the very start—full power!
Her wand glowed green, and above Zen’s head, a massive sphere materialized.
The orb was filled with liquid—thick, viscous, and dark moss-green in color.
“Damn—!”
Zen tried to throw up a mana shield, but the orb burst, drenching him completely in the toxic-looking liquid.
“Ughhh!”
As he scread, another sphere instantly appeared above him and burst once more.
“What the heck was that?”
Maria cried out in shock.
“Wait, that skill triggered twice in a row, didn’t it?”
Ao blinked rapidly.
“Yeah. I saw it too.”
Cheongryong, seated beside her, nodded.
“Urgh…”
Zen gagged, clutching his mouth. He steadied himself, then pointed his wand at Muimi.
A pale blue light shimred around her as frost spread rapidly across the ground.
From the frost blood crystalline ice flowers, glowing blue.
Seeing that, Muimi imdiately raised her mana shield.
A flurry of icy blossoms shot toward her.
Wheeeeeng!
The high-pitched shriek of freezing magic echoed across the training ground.
Her shield turned pure white as frost consud it, blocking the attack.
But Muimi retaliated instantly, summoning another poisonous orb.
This ti Zen was prepared, conjuring a mana shield just in ti to block the toxic burst.
Yet as soon as his shield faded, another orb appeared.
“What the hell!?”
Zen shouted in frustration and used a movent skill to dodge.
But the orb chased after him.
SPLASH!
“Ghhkk—!”
Zen’s breathing faltered, his body trembling.
“That’s Venomous Orb, right?”
A tall girl asked worriedly.
“Yeah, Nia.”
Yoon Horim, a Magica candidate with long sideburns, answered.
“Its raw damage is low compared to other spells at the sa level, but it has a very high chance of inflicting Poison status.”
As the squad’s debuffer, he knew plenty about abnormal status skills.
“But… doesn’t Venomous Orb only summon one at a ti?”
Nia pressed.
“Exactly. It’s not a charged skill like Fla Barrage.”
“Then what the hell is going on?”
“It’s gotta be an ability.”
Their eyes turned toward the sa person—Rune, arms folded, watching intently.
“Probably an ability that repeats a skill once after it’s cast.”
At her words, Nia and Horim’s eyes widened.
Tch, she figured it out right away.
Toby muttered inwardly, sitting a short distance away, listening to them.
Muimi’s ability was called Echoing Spell, nearly identical to Rune’s guess.
It caused any offensive spell she cast to repeat once.
The cost: 1.5x MP consumption, and the second cast was only half as strong.
But this ability paired perfectly with poison-type magic.
Because poison stacks—the more stacks, the greater the damage over ti.
At that mont, Zen—his entire body turned green from the poison—gritted his teeth.
“Oh, looks like Zen activated his ability too.”
Rio comnted.
Blue streams of energy surged around Zen. As he swung his wand, frost exploded around Muimi once again.
This is…!
Muimi’s eyes widened.
The density of cold around her was on a completely different level than before.
The ice flowers blooming in the air were nearly twice the size.
She instinctively cast a mana shield. A storm of massive ice blossoms rained down upon her.
“Tch, about ti.”
Rune clicked her tongue.
KIIIIIIING!
The ear-splitting shriek of freezing magic filled the air, forcing so students to cover their ears.
When the storm settled, a thick white mist blanketed the spot where Muimi had stood.
Everyone held their breath, eyes fixed on the mist.
“……”
Toby, expressionless, stared down at the training ground.
His gaze was locked on Zen—skin turned green, body trembling violently.
“It’s over.”
He let out a short breath.
Above Jen’s head, a green orb appeared.
“Ah!”
Jen panicked and seed about to summon a mana shield—but then collapsed to the ground, completely immobilized.
“Stop!”
Abel teleported—or at least moved as if he had—and stood next to Jen, throwing a javelin toward the green orb in his hand.
The venomous sphere burst into pale green particles and vanished upon contact with the javelin.
The second venomous orb was destroyed by a second javelin in the sa way.
Abel laid Jen on the ground and handed him a detox potion from his inventory.
Jen’s skin quickly returned to its normal color.
Once Abel confird that Jen was safe, he turned his attention to Muimi.
“Huff… huff…”
Muimi panted, her body covered from hair to fingertips in white frost.
Jen’s final skill had pierced her mana shield and caused damage.
The exposed skin of her face and hands had turned blue from frostbite.
“Ugh…”
Her legs wobbled. She clenched her teeth and braced herself, forcing strength back into her body.
Then, she looked Abel squarely in the eyes.
Abel smiled at her determination.
“Muimi, you win. Here, drink this.”
He handed her two potion bottles.
“Thank you.”
Muimi drank both imdiately. The frostbite healed, and color returned to her face.
“Both of you did well. You can return to your seats.”
As Abel said that, Muimi passed the recovering Jen and went back to her place.
Jen sat for a mont, staring blankly at her back, then washed his face quickly and rose to his feet.
As expected, Muimi won.
I went over and sat beside Toby, watching Muimi.
Muimi and Jen.
Judging by raw magic power and aptitude, Jen had the advantage.
Jen’s magical energy aptitude was S-rank, while Muimi’s was only A.
Moreover, Jen had an ability called Frenzied Mana, which doubled the power of his spells.
But from the start, Muimi activated her own ability, Echoing Spell, and focused on stacking poison effects.
Battles between mages often ca down to cooldowns and who landed the first hit.
Since most combatants had low HP, the one who struck first usually had the advantage.
“You said you’d rip off my hair if I underestimated my opponent!”
“Ah! S-sorry!”
I turned to see Rune reaching out angrily. Jen was covering his head and trying to escape.
“Hmph.”
A mocking chuckle beside was iling.
“I’m glad she wasn’t facing that idiot. Beating soone like him wouldn’t an anything.”
Jen really is the fool type.
Still, starting at Magica, he’s a good character to have on your side.
Frenzied Mana starts with a 200% multiplier and can reach up to 500% at maximum. It has a duration limit, but with no conditions, it can boost spell power fivefold. Simple is best.
If I don’t want to optimize abilities and efficiency, having Jen as a teammate makes it easy to deal high damage.
“iling, what’s your turn number?”
I asked, looking at her.
“Third.”
The one after next, then.
“Second duel—step forward.”
Abel’s voice echoed. Maria and Mayu rose and headed down to the arena.
Five minutes later, the duel ended.
Mayu had won.
“Hmm. As expected, she can’t beat a traditional mage.”
Maria’s face looked sheepish from her teammates’ seating area.
“Why didn’t you use your ability?”
Ha Yogeun asked.
“Well, this was a duel between mages, and after seeing the last match, I just wanted to try fighting with magic too. Ah.”
Maria’s gaze t Rio’s.
“Sorry, Rio. I lost.”
“It’s fine. Now that it’s like this, let’s all try whatever we want. Use HAUT freely to the fullest.”
Rio smiled brightly. I figured he had concluded that Ucheon couldn’t rank highly.
A leader shouldn’t say such things—but maybe this was a decision that helped everyone gain experience without guilt.
“Eh? So we can freely abandon HAUT and go back?”
The three who had been talking glanced at Bella, sitting at the back.
…
I covered my face with my hand. No argunt could save her if they got scolded.
“Third turn—Chen iling, Rune Maya, step forward.”
Finally, it was ti.
iling rose from her seat, and without giving us a mont to cheer, walked down.
“Will she be okay…?”
Lumina muttered with concern.
“Who?” I asked.
“iling. I wonder if she’s nervous.”
Ah.
“From what I see, she’s definitely not nervous.”
“Oh? Really?”
I nodded. She never went forward with a smile like that if she was nervous.
I first looked at Rune, who had already stepped onto the arena.
Her face was full of determination.
“Anyone bringing items?”
“None.”
“ neither.”
Rune and iling answered almost simultaneously.
“Good. Take your positions.”
They spaced themselves apart.
At this distance, the Dark Realm won’t reach.
Rune’s ability level had increased, expanding its range, but it still couldn’t hit her opponent imdiately.
“Begin the duel!”
As soon as Abel shouted, Rune moved first.
Oh.
Red currents of energy swirled around her, identical to Jen’s when he used his ability, just a different color.
She activated her ability imdiately, clearly intending to take iling seriously.
anwhile, iling simply watched Rune, arms crossed, as if observing for fun.
Rune’s lips moved. I couldn’t hear clearly, but she probably muttered sothing like “That’s…” or cursed under her breath.
Rune swung her wand with a fierce expression.
A spear of pure white light clashed with iling.
“iling…!”
Lumina flinched in surprise, then exhaled in relief.
The light spear had been stopped by a mana shield.
Lightning Spear, huh? Fast as expected.
Rune had made a wise choice.
Now, iling… it’s your turn.
I smiled at iling. The rush of magical attacks was about to begin.
(End of Chapter)
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