I Became A Flashing Genius At The Magic Academy-Chapter 498

To lift the curse of "Sleeping Forest Elf" placed on Kaya, several prerequisites were required.

Truthfully, none of them were particularly difficult.

If he had been clueless about the necessary information, he might have had to run around frantically, but since he already knew everything, all he had to do was follow the predetermined route.

“This area is restricted to authorized personnel only.”

That’s what he thought, but Baek Yu-Seol had to change his perspective.

He had left the task of logging the contaminated forest to Jelliel and Althericia. To gather the items needed to lift Kaya’s curse, he had embarked on a journey with Twilightis. However, the current state of the continent was far more dire than he had anticipated.

“Why is access prohibited?”

“Because there’s no telling when a Black Mage might leap out from the interior. The bridge on this side is blocked, so you’ll need to detour around the cliff.”

War. War was the problem.

The flames of the great war among the Black Mages had spread across the world, deeply impacting human society.

Baek Yu-Seol had heard the news too.

Stories of cities disappearing overnight or villages vanishing without a trace.

Although the central continent hadn’t been affected yet, he hadn’t been able to do anything about it.

‘...To think I’d encounter an obstacle like this.’

Baek Yu-Seol gazed at the scenery before him.

The Raigadorn Grand Cliff.

The distance between the cliffs spanned dozens of kilometers. Clouds gathered below, making it look like a vast sea. This place had once been a famous tourist attraction.

However, reaching this location required exceptional physical strength, making it inaccessible to ordinary people—a significant drawback.

‘But that’s not the issue here.’

The cliffs were connected by a single bridge. In other words, if he couldn’t cross that bridge, he’d have to spend hours taking the long way around.

Charging across the bridge and getting caught in a fight wasn’t a great option, but the detour was far too long.

There was no choice.

He had to cross that bridge.

“Well, look who it is. Isn’t that my junior?”

As Baek Yu-Seol engaged in a discussion with the guards, someone called out to him.

While many people recognized him, anyone addressing him as a "junior" likely belonged to a specific group.

Graduates of Stella Academy trying to flaunt their connections by acting like they were close with Baek Yu-Seol.

“Hey, junior! Don’t you remember me?”

‘I don’t recognize this face.’

As expected, this person was pretending to know Baek Yu-Seol to boast about their "close relationship with someone famous."

It was a type Baek Yu-Seol absolutely loathed.

Still, there were times when such people could be useful.

“Nice to see you, senior.”

“Of course, of course.”

When Baek Yu-Seol addressed him as "senior," the stranger responded with a satisfied expression and approached.

“Are you in some kind of trouble?”

“Ah, yes. I need to cross that bridge.”

“The bridge...?”

The senior’s expression immediately turned troubled. Having just graduated and been dispatched here, the senior might carry Stella’s name, but he clearly lacked authority.

‘He’s useless.’

Judging by the senior’s lack of recognition, he was likely in Class E or F during his third year. Baek Yu-Seol thought Stella’s name might grant him some influence, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

The senior clapped his hands as if struck by an idea.

“Oh, right. There’s a senior who arrived before me. He’s already a team leader, so he might be able to help.”

The senior introduced him to the team leader, a Stella graduate. Baek Yu-Seol could only hope this person had enough authority to let him cross the bridge.

“You want to cross the bridge? Well... I suppose it’s not impossible.”

Thankfully, the team leader seemed to have some sway.

“But why should I? Just because you’ve gained some fame recently, do you think I’m obligated to help you?”

Unfortunately, the senior’s senior didn’t seem to like Baek Yu-Seol.

“Really, since your first year, you’ve been seeking attention everywhere. Do you think people don’t know that most of your achievements are fabricated lies? It’s ridiculous for a teenager to achieve such feats... Everyone in my circle already knows about your exaggerated stories.”

Sighing quietly, Baek Yu-Seol thought, ‘So much for helpful seniors.’

Stella Academy’s graduates supposedly thrived with both magical skills and connections, yet here he was, stuck with people like this.

‘...Then again, I’ve built some pretty strong connections at Stella myself.’

The Elf King, the world’s greatest alchemist, a global business tycoon, and even the princess of a superpower...

“Look at that expression. You think you’re something special just because you’ve gained some fame before graduation?”

Baek Yu-Seol felt it wasn’t worth wasting time here. Ignoring the grumbling senior, he started looking for someone else, but just then, a middle-aged mage passing by spotted him and hurried over.

“Ah, aren’t you the Honorary Mage?”

It wasn’t an unfamiliar face. Though Baek Yu-Seol had met many people and couldn’t recall them all, he remembered this one.

[Tydehl, Team 4 Leader of the Blue Tower Emergency Countermeasures Unit]

Thanks to his photographic memory, Baek Yu-Seol greeted him with a relaxed smile.

“Team Leader Tydehl, it’s a pleasure to see you again.”

“Haha, you remember me? Your memory is impressive.”

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As a team leader of the Blue Tower's combat division, Tydehl held considerable influence.

The senior who had been badmouthing Baek Yu-Seol moments ago now stood frozen, his face pale.

Baek Yu-Seol glanced at him and shook his head.

In the past, he might have relished humiliating such people, but now it just felt tiresome.

“So, what brings you here?”

“I need to cross the bridge.”

“Of course, that’s not a problem. Access is restricted to prevent unnecessary casualties, but we’ll make an exception for you. After all, if you can take down an 8-Risk Black Mage in a single strike, there’s nothing to worry about. Follow me.”

As Baek Yu-Seol nodded and quietly followed the team leader, he overheard the disgruntled mumbling of the senior’s senior.

“Damn scammer...”

In an instant, Baek Yu-Seol grabbed him by the collar and slammed him to the ground, subduing him.

“Urk!”

“What’s going on?!”

It wasn’t because of anger or irritation.

Baek Yu-Seol had dealt with jealousy enough to grow numb to it.

But from that “jealousy,” he had detected a faint but undeniable trace of dark energy.

Dark mist slowly rose from the fallen senior. It was unmistakably the aura of a Black Mage.

“Dark mana?!”

“Let me go! Damn it... Argh!”

Thwack!

Baek Yu-Seol knocked the senior unconscious with a precise strike to the back of the neck, then pulled a blue syringe from his pocket. If this had been two years ago, he might not have been able to do anything, but now, thanks to Altman Altwin's development of a technique to block Black Mana Transformation, it was possible to treat moderate levels of contamination.

“He’s on the verge of turning into a Black Mage. Since I acted quickly, he should recover if he manages his emotions properly. If his willpower is weak, though, there’s nothing more we can do...”

“I see. That’s a relief. He’s mentally strong, so I believe he’ll pull through.”

Baek Yu-Seol, however, was skeptical.

From the looks of it, this senior had lived a life steeped in arrogance and vanity as a graduate of Stella Academy. How would someone like him handle rumors of nearly becoming a Black Mage?

Falling to Black Mana was the greatest disgrace for a mage-warrior.

Even if he reverted to being human, his inability to overcome those negative emotions might lead him back down the path of corruption.

“Once you’ve been contaminated, it’s much easier for it to happen again,” Baek Yu-Seol thought grimly.

He wanted to suggest isolating the senior completely, but that wasn’t an option.

The greatest danger in the war against the Black Mages wasn’t the enemies themselves but allies whose hearts succumbed to corruption.

If the atmosphere grew too grim, more mage-warriors could slowly fall prey to the lure of Black Mana.

This was the Aether World. Unlike battlefields on Earth, it was crucial to maintain a bright and positive environment here.

This wasn’t just for morale but to preserve the pride and mental well-being of mage-warriors.

Undoubtedly, the seeds of Black Mana corruption were already sprouting in many places, even among those unaware of their own contamination.

“Let’s move on.”

“Yes, let’s.”

Although the team leader looked worried, he knew these were no longer students under his care but adult mage-warriors who had graduated from school.

There was no way to coddle them forever. They would have to overcome their struggles on their own.

The bridge across the Raigadorn Grand Cliff was a marvel of complex magical architecture designed to span the great distance.

Unlike conventional bridges that relied on alloy pillars for structural support, such methods [N O V E L I G H T] were impossible at these heights.

Instead, this bridge used densely packed arches magically reinforced and anchored with levitating stones beneath the structure.

The countless mana stones embedded in the bridge shimmered so brilliantly that even on a pitch-black night, they seemed to dim the starlight in the sky.

‘Magic is truly incredible when seen like this,’ thought Baek Yu-Seol.

With only Earth’s architectural engineering, building such a bridge would have been impossible.

“Beautiful, isn’t it? This bridge.”

“It’s impressive,” Baek Yu-Seol replied.

The bridge was too long to traverse on foot, so he and the team leader boarded a “hover-cycle,” a unique vehicle designed for travel across the bridge. They chatted idly as they rode.

“You know, the reason humanity is so desperate to protect this bridge is that it can never be built again.”

“...I see.”

The team leader’s expression turned somber.

“This bridge has stood for over a hundred years now. Truly, it’s been here a long time.”

“It’s held up well for something that old.”

“It’s thanks to the relentless maintenance and repairs to prevent it from deteriorating.”

“But what do you mean by saying it can’t be rebuilt?”

“They say the technology used to construct the bridge has been lost. There’s a rumor that the architect disappeared along with the secrets of its construction, but no one knows the exact truth.”

That wasn’t entirely accurate.

Baek Yu-Seol, having studied the quests related to the Raigadorn Grand Cliff Bridge in advance, knew the real story.

‘This bridge wasn’t built by humans in the first place.’

While humans had turned it into a symbol of their engineering prowess, the bridge was actually constructed by Black Mages.

In the past, Black Mages believed that the closer one was to the sky, the stronger the influence of the Aether World’s energy. To harness that power, they had chosen one of the highest lands in the world to build their magic tower.

It was during this time that a lunatic Black Mage, who claimed to have gained knowledge from the Aether World, began constructing the bridge.

The massive project spanned half a century and eventually culminated in the construction of the bridge across the Raigadorn Grand Cliff.

But humans, as they often do, proved to be greedier and more ruthless than even the Black Mages.

They killed the Black Mage who sought knowledge from the Aether World and then claimed the bridge as their own creation, rewriting history to fit their narrative.

As he reflected on this, Baek Yu-Seol tilted his head back to gaze at the night sky.

“Hmm? What’s wrong?” the team leader asked.

“...It’s nothing.”

Suddenly, a wave of emptiness washed over him.

It was a sense of futility, a question that gnawed at his mind: Was what he was doing truly the right thing?

The storm of doubt swept through his heart, leaving it numb.

But he shook his head and steadied his thoughts.

‘...Why am I feeling this way all of a sudden?’

Though he couldn’t pinpoint the reason for this sudden melancholy, Baek Yu-Seol buried the question deep within himself and cleared his mind.

There was far too much to do to dwell on such trivial emotions.