I Became A Flashing Genius At The Magic Academy-Chapter 403

Teenagers often make elaborate plans for summer vacation.

While most fail to follow through, the students of Stella Academy were remarkably disciplined, sticking to their schedules. Baek Yuseol, however, was the exception.

"Oh right, I was supposed to do strength training tonight."

Swinging a wooden sword in the training hall, Yuseol suddenly remembered he hadn’t done proper weight training in days. He had intended to dedicate at least two hours every evening to it.

Lately, though, he had come to a realization: once a body reached a certain level of physical growth, it inevitably hit its limits. Human strength couldn’t surpass the confines of its natural form.

In the end, mana was the key.

How one manipulated mana, its circulation rate, and control ultimately determined strength.

Of course, there were limits even to that.

No matter how much someone trained, no amount of raw mana control could make a human lift a building with bare hands or leap 10 kilometers in a single bound.

Those were physical impossibilities, constraints of the human body.

Perhaps... Ha Tae-ryeong was no exception.

Even at his peak, Ha Tae-ryeong’s top speed likely matched that of a cheetah. His strength, capable of crushing steel, could never match the destructive power of a mage summoning hellfire with their fingertips.

In essence, a swordsman’s destructive capability was inherently limited.

A swordsman could defeat a mage, but they could never replicate the overwhelming destruction that magic offered.

Yuseol had always understood this.

Even the in-game Baek Yuseol faced such limitations.

But accepting that reality not just with his mind, but with his entire body and heart, left him feeling... conflicted.

"Limits."

It was such a suffocating word. No matter how hard he tried, he could never match the raw destructive force of someone like Hong Biyeon at 18.

Using Blink for a full-body tackle?

He’d considered it before.

In the game, he had even tried wrapping himself in enchanted armor and invoking the blessing of Geumgang Chilwol for a high-speed charge.

But even then, the damage he dealt paled in comparison to a 7th-class spell.

His character's attack power had a fixed upper limit.

Over the past few days of training with Scarlet, he’d learned bits and pieces about Ha Tae-ryeong’s story. Even at his best, Ha Tae-ryeong had never achieved feats like splitting a waterfall in half or cutting enemies from dozens of meters away. Scarlet herself had dismissed such scenarios as more fantastical than magic.

“Hah...”

Yuseol’s arms throbbed.

He had lost track of how long he’d been swinging his sword. Since Scarlet had canceled today’s session for a prior engagement, he was left practicing alone, smacking wooden targets with little success.

The best progress came from sparring with Scarlet in earnest.

A week ago, he had experienced something extraordinary.

During one of their matches, Scarlet cast an unusually intricate spell. Without any assistance from his enchanted glasses, Yuseol had analyzed it on the spot and charged through.

Recalling that moment, he thought, "It was almost like a state of Celestial Body Flow."

At the time, he hadn’t actively invoked the technique, but his body had felt as light as if he had become one with mana.

Even now, he didn’t fully understand why.

Since then, his movements had grown markedly sharper. He had managed to hold his own against Scarlet’s 6th-class spells without using Blink.

"If I added Blink to that, I’d be decent enough, but..."

It wasn’t enough.

His combat instincts were improving daily, yet he still lacked a decisive strike.

He thought back to his in-game experience: how his character, Baek Yuseol, had defeated Black Thirteen Months.

It had been a grueling battle of attrition, chipping away at his opponent over the course of an entire day.

The memory was bittersweet. While it had felt rewarding in the game, he doubted he could replicate that feat in reality. Unlike a game, real-world stamina and mental endurance had limits.

Furthermore, the fight with Black Thirteen Months had spanned multiple nations, threatening the entire world. Dragging out such a battle in real life would undoubtedly lead to global devastation.

Then, a sudden thought struck him.

"...Where exactly did Black Thirteen Months emerge from?"

He vaguely remembered the conditions required for its appearance. One of them likely involved the Twelve Months.

"What if... it could be prevented from appearing at all?"

“That’s a tall order.”

Even now, forces across the world were working to break Black Thirteen Months’ seal. Knowing this in advance wouldn’t be enough to stop it. Countless Dark Mages hidden around the globe were driving the effort forward.

The first major crack in the seal was the Persona Gate.

When it began encroaching on reality, the foundational powers of the world weakened. After that, the Twelve Months...

"...I can’t remember."

It wasn’t because he hadn’t paid attention to the story. Even with how thoroughly he had played the game, certain events had been left unexplained.

Even his enchanted glasses, which held a record of countless battles, didn’t have any information about what happened next.

"Sigh, forget it."

If he could just enhance his destructive power, maybe he could stop worrying so much. With that thought, Yuseol closed his eyes.

The time he valued more than strength training: meditation.

During these sessions, Yuseol honed his natural Celestial Body Flow and focused on mastering the aura of Silver Eleven Months.

He had discovered that this aura was deeply connected to Blink, making its mastery essential.

Then, a thought interrupted his focus.

"Wait a second."

"Silver Eleven Months, are you there?"

“Speak.”

The voice echoed in his mind, distant but clear, their connection purely mental.

"Can you use a magic similar to Blink?"

“Did I not tell you before? Of course I can.”

"Not just using it—I want to know if it’s possible to completely control Blink."

“Control? What do you mean?”

"For example, controlling the speed of Blink... though I imagine that’s difficult."

“Difficult? What nonsense. My Blink is a form of temporal acceleration. Naturally, I can control its speed. What is Blink if not the manipulation of space and time?”

"...!"

Baek Yuseol realized how foolish his thoughts had been. Why had he assumed the speed of Blink was fixed from the start?

Thinking back, it made sense.

When he first learned Blink, its maximum range was 9 meters, and the time to traverse that distance was 0.1 seconds.

Later, as his abilities grew, the maximum range increased to 12 meters, but the travel time remained 0.1 seconds.

This meant that the range hadn’t just increased—the speed of Blink had improved as well.

From 90 meters per second to 120 meters per second.

It might seem like a mere 3-meter difference, but that was a staggering 30% increase in speed.

And now? With his Blink ability reaching a class of 6, the maximum range had expanded to 24 meters, and he could store up to six Blinks at once.

Even without activating Celestial Body Flow, his Blink could be used with virtually no delay. Although the 0.3-second recharge gap after using all six Blinks limited its combat versatility, the speed increase was undeniable.

"Compared to when I first learned it, my Blink is now 2.5 times faster."

Training to increase Blink's speed while also controlling its range and precision.

Even now, he could freely adjust his range from 1 meter to 24 meters.

"What if I could control not just the distance but the speed itself?"

Faster.

Much faster than now.

"If I can achieve that, I might overcome the lack of destructive power Ha Tae-ryeong struggled with."

The experiment began immediately.

The space was large enough to test Blink, and there were no obstacles to impede him.

The first focus was distance.

He compared a 5-meter Blink to a 20-meter Blink, analyzing the differences.

After about 30 minutes...

"I don’t get it."

He could tell that Blink used a temporal energy similar to that of Silver Eleven Months, but he wasn’t skilled enough to perceive it in detail.

Yet, progress wasn’t entirely absent.

He had the guidance of an exceptional mentor observing him.

"Ah, so that’s how it works," the voice of Silver Eleven Months echoed in his mind.

“What do you think?” Yuseol asked.

"It’s clear that over longer distances, temporal mana fluctuates more violently. While you can’t sense it yet, your accuracy decreases with greater distances."

“Accuracy...?” Yuseol frowned. Accuracy in landing Blinks had always been one of his strengths.

"The difference is minuscule, about 0.1 millimeters, but it’s there. It occurs because you can’t fully control the fluctuations of temporal energy over longer distances."

“But this issue doesn’t occur with shorter Blinks, right?”

"Correct. At shorter ranges, your accuracy variance narrows to around 0.001 millimeters, making it 99% precise."

“In that case...” Yuseol’s eyes lit up as a realization struck him.

“When I Blink over short distances, I’m subconsciously controlling temporal energy?”

"Indeed... That’s exactly it!"

If he could do it instinctively at short ranges, it was possible.

Yuseol clenched his fists.

"I can do this."

Perfectly mastering Blink might still be impossible, but if he could refine it and adapt it to his unique style...

"I can surpass the limits set by the in-game version of Baek Yuseol."

With that thought, he closed his eyes to focus, but a headache began to creep in.

"Perhaps it’s time to rest," Silver Eleven Months suggested.

“Hah...” Yuseol exhaled.

He had been training intensely for days with barely any sleep. His body was nearing its limits.

“The others are out on missions, pushing themselves to grow. I can’t just sit back and relax.”

Despite his determination, his concentration wavered, and his thoughts began to drift. He was undeniably reaching his mental and physical limits.

"...Missions."

It had been nearly two weeks since the three girls had confidently left for their field assignments. A sense of worry started to gnaw at him.

Hong Biyeon. She was still struggling to fully control the power of Scarlet Twilight. There was always the risk of her body overheating, triggering dangerous side effects.

Before she left, Yuseol had done his best to stabilize her mana flow. The memory of that moment was embarrassingly vivid, and he had tried to avoid thinking about it ever since.

But with so much time having passed, the thought became impossible to ignore.

"I didn’t expect Prillane’s group to be away for two weeks."

He shook his head, trying to refocus, but his mind lingered on Hong Biyeon.

"Hong Biyeon... I hope she’s okay."

***

Summer vacation had entered its second week.

And at this moment, Prillane was deeply regretting her decisions.

"...The schedule’s way too intense."

Even though their abilities had recently grown to barely reach the level of early 6th-class mages, undertaking consecutive 5-risk missions was something not even seasoned magic warriors would dare attempt.

"I feel like I’m dying..."

Hong Biyeon and Angel both slumped into their carriage seats, utterly exhausted. Hong Biyeon, in particular, looked dangerously unwell.

Her flushed, reddened face was a clear sign that her "side effect" had triggered again.

Ever since a certain incident earlier that summer, Hong Biyeon had been experiencing frequent surges of fever, and the only one who could calm these episodes was Baek Yuseol. The extended mission assignments were putting a tremendous strain on her body.

"Hold on."

With great effort, Prillane forced her aching body upright and poured her healing magic into Hong Biyeon.

While simple cooling spells couldn’t fully resolve Hong Biyeon’s condition, they seemed to provide some relief.

"How on earth does Baek Yuseol manage to stabilize her?"

Baek Yuseol, who didn’t even possess healing abilities, somehow always calmed Hong Biyeon’s fevers with ease. Prillane had never seen him do it herself, and Hong Biyeon was tight-lipped about the method, leaving her utterly clueless.

"There are still two more missions left. Can you manage?"

Hong Biyeon, her face still bright red, forced a smile and nodded.

Her response wasn’t simple bravado.

"I’ll be fine... even if it hurts more."

The higher her fever spiked, the longer Yuseol would have to spend treating her.

Even though Hong Biyeon tried to deny it to herself, her instincts betrayed her true feelings.

"Really?"

She nodded silently, closing her eyes soon after. Prillane let out a sigh, sinking back into her seat, her body giving in to fatigue.

"What does she mean, 'even if it hurts more'?"

This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

The thought nagged at Prillane.

When they returned, she resolved to ask Baek Yuseol to teach her his method of treating Hong Biyeon.