I Became A Flashing Genius At The Magic Academy-Chapter 384

The birthplace of magic, the city of Carmelrn.

Though it had relinquished its role as the center of magical research centuries ago, its influence and power remained unmatched.

The reason? A unique and exclusive assembly existed within its walls:

The Council of Magical Elders.

This group of ancient mages, so deeply engrossed in magic that they could no longer separate themselves from it, rarely convened. Full attendance happened once every several years, if at all. Recently, however, such meetings had become alarmingly frequent.

Though they had long withdrawn from worldly affairs, the suspicious movements of the dark mages and even the actions of the Twelve Moons had stirred them into action.

Among them, the council’s leader, Sael Ri, a 9th-class mage, was particularly renowned for his reclusive nature. Yet, in recent days, he had remained seated at the council chamber, refusing to leave.

“Wouldn’t it be wise to rest for a while?”

“Haha, I’ve rested plenty. Are my juniors feeling uncomfortable?”

“They seem to think so.”

“Of course.”

Unlike other 9th-class mages who maintained youthful appearances, Sael Ri was an elderly mage with a long beard that reached his chest.

Adjusting his pointed hat, he looked across the table at his companion, his eyes gleaming.

“It’s been a long time since we last met, Aryumon Blurshun.”

“About twelve years, I believe. Not that long, really.”

“You have a peculiar sense of time.”

“Well, I’ve lived longer than you.”

It was not a typical exchange between a man who appeared in his twenties and one who looked nearly ninety, but in truth, Aryumon Blurshun had indeed lived longer than Sael Ri.

By exactly one day.

“Let’s set the age debate aside. Have you found anything?”

As Sael Ri’s gaze sharpened, Aryumon sighed.

“Ah... the dark mages are in chaos. Lawless and immoral, they’re treating their ‘battle for the throne’ as if it’s the only thing that matters.”

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“For them, the king is the law. It makes sense they’d strive to become the law.”

“If they were only fighting amongst themselves, I wouldn’t care. The problem is that their conflicts are spilling into our affairs.”

“Has the Black Tower moved?”

“Well, take a look for yourself.”

With a snap of his fingers, Aryumon summoned a holographic image into the air.

The scene displayed a small village drenched in rain. Suddenly, the air distorted, space was seized, and the rain abruptly ceased—replaced by heavy snowfall.

“That’s... the Uren region.”

“Yes. A place where it rains for more than half the year. But after that incident, the village’s seasons have completely shifted.”

“Has it been consumed by a Persona Gate?”

“Exactly. The village has become a bizarre place where it snows year-round, even outside of winter.”

“Reality itself is being corrupted... What was the Central Magic Association doing?”

When a Persona Gate is detected, the Central Magic Association dispatches mages to remove it immediately.

Typically, the process is managed by the Magic Towers, which take on most of the workload.

“Unfortunately, they had no idea. This phenomenon occurred right before the Persona Gate fully overtook reality. They didn’t even detect it.”

“...They didn’t sense the spatial distortion at all?”

Sael Ri’s expression hardened.

Persona Gates are extremely dangerous. If not neutralized, they can completely overwrite reality with the environment of the Other World.

If the change were as simple as a shift in seasons, it might not be an issue. But if the altered reality created an environment fatal to life, it could spread and devastate the surrounding regions.

“I have no desire to repeat a Continental Severance. Can’t we be more vigilant?”

At the mention of "Continental Severance," Aryumon rubbed his temples, recalling a painful memory.

He was already sick and struggling with his condition, forcing himself to act despite the strain. Did this old man in front of him even realize that?

“I don’t want to resort to that either. Who would enjoy cutting off and discarding parts of our homeland?”

Years ago, a Persona Gate had corrupted a peninsula on the central continent so thoroughly that its toxic mana made life impossible.

With no means of purification, the mages had been forced to make a desperate decision:

They severed the land and destroyed it entirely.

While effective in the short term, this solution was unsustainable. Continually sacrificing pieces of land to the Persona Gates would eventually leave nothing but oceans behind.

Fortunately, technology had since been developed to detect Persona Gates with 99% accuracy...

“But it seems the dark mages’ techniques have also evolved.”

“Yes. Ever since that strange figure known as the Dark God’s Cult Leader emerged, their advancements have been disturbingly rapid.”

The Dark God’s Cult Leader had profoundly influenced the magical world.

He had developed methods to completely conceal dark magic, allowing dark mages to infiltrate among regular mages. He also created techniques to open Persona Gates anywhere, of any size, at will.

And now, they could even bypass the mages’ eyes and ears to open these gates unnoticed.

“The more we learn, the more terrifying he seems.”

“The scariest part is how little we actually know about him.”

No one knew the true identity of the Dark God’s Cult Leader. His name, face, and the magic he wielded were all mysteries.

As the two conversed darkly, a sound came from beyond the council chamber’s door. With a snap of Aryumon’s fingers, the holographic image shifted to display the face of a mage.

“What’s the matter?”

“Oh, Council Leader! We’ve just received news!”

The mage seemed momentarily flustered by the sudden connection but quickly steadied himself to deliver his report.

Moments later, the news left Sael Ri and Aryumon with cold, grim expressions.

“A massive Persona Gate... has begun interfering with reality?”

“Yes, sir...”

“Damn it! Where?”

“The northernmost region... the Baekcheong Mountain Range.”

“The Baekcheong Mountain Range?”

That region was under the protection of Grand Duke Seolparam, one of the strongest knights alive.

For decades, no warnings had come from the fortress he guarded, leaving the Central Association confident in its security.

Now, out of nowhere, a colossal event had unfolded.

Aryumon ruffled his hair in frustration.

“What the hell are those dark mages trying to achieve?”

What possible reason could they have for continuously creating Persona Gates?

“Sael, I—huh?”

He turned to issue instructions to Sael Ri, only to find the elder mage already soaring into the sky, his robes fluttering.

The once-sealed ceiling of the chamber had vanished without a trace.

Without incantations or signs, Sael Ri had effortlessly invoked a spell of incredible power.

“That old man... He sure is active for someone claiming to be in poor health. Prepare the airship. Instruct them to open a warp gate immediately.”

■•Ok!

Aryumon quickly threw on his cloak and rose from his seat.

A Persona Gate of immeasurable scale was beginning to synchronize with reality.

"I must stop this, no matter what."

Hurrying out of the council chamber toward the airship, Aryumon was soon joined by several mages delivering additional reports.

“Council Leader, this might seem unrelated, but...”

“There’s no such thing as irrelevant information. Speak.”

“Yes, sir. Though this has been kept confidential, we’ve received confirmation from Eltman Eltwin, the headmaster of Stella Academy, that Flower Serin, the Elf Queen, and Baek Yuseol, a student from Stella, are currently headed toward the northern Baekcheong Mountain Range.”

“Those two? For what purpose?”

“It seems they intended to meet Grand Duke Seolparam discreetly, avoiding public notice.”

“...And why exactly was this information shared with us, if it’s supposed to be a secret?”

“We don’t know, sir.”

“Hmm...”

Even as his feet carried him swiftly toward the airship, Aryumon’s mind raced with connections.

Dark Mage skirmishes. Persona Gates. The northern territories. Seolparam. Flower Serin. The Twelve Moons. Eltman. Baek Yuseol.

Countless keywords whirled chaotically in his thoughts, forming potential combinations. Outlandish theories and plausible scenarios emerged, one after another.

Filtering through these possibilities, Aryumon managed to piece together some semblance of an answer.

“A sudden large-scale Persona Gate synchronization, and Baek Yuseol happens to be there...”

“What are you thinking, sir?”

“Nothing much,” he replied with a sly smile. “Just that this might be resolved more easily than expected.”

Far to the northwest, above the Varanka Cliffs.

Three girls flew high above the endless expanse of the Varanka Coast, their crimson, blue, and white wings cutting through the air.

Unlike ordinary flight magic, their hair didn’t flutter in the wind, and they seemed unaffected by gravity or air resistance, making it easy to converse as they ascended.

“...Do we really have to go all the way up there?” asked Hong Bi-yeon.

Full Frame nodded.

“Probably.”

A colossal golden pillar pierced the sky, towering high enough to cut through the clouds. Located in the middle of the ocean, this golden structure had somehow remained undiscovered for centuries.

“Was it hidden by some sort of perception-blocking magic?”

“No, perception spells have limits. Something this large couldn’t be concealed that way.”

Most likely, the space and time around it had been isolated entirely, rendering it untraceable.

“Still, flying straight through the clouds to get there... This isn’t something an average mage could attempt.”

With conventional flight magic, any mage would struggle to maintain altitude due to the wind speeds at such heights, likely being blown off course or even plummeting.

“Yeah, and it’s not just about flying. There’s also a subtle barrier here.”

“...Oh, I can feel it now.”

As they pierced through the clouds and entered the upper sky, the girls sensed the faint presence of a barrier trying to reject them but stopping short of doing so.

If they were unworthy, the barrier would have repelled them entirely.

“Why is it letting us through?” Flower Serin asked.

“Hmm... probably because of you,” Full Frame replied with a soft smile.

“Me?”

“You were once the protagonist.”

...Though that might no longer be true.

“Wow, the view is amazing,” said Hong Bi-yeon, her voice detached and uninterested despite the spectacle around her.

“Yeah, it really is.”

As Hong Bi-yeon pointed out, the scene was breathtaking.

Atop the golden pillar stood an immense golden palace. Upon closer inspection, however, it wasn’t gold at all. The palace was made entirely of white mirrors, reflecting sunlight in such a way that it appeared golden.

“So that’s...”

“The Temple of Time, once a sanctuary for the Silver Eleven Moons, built by the Order of the Silver Moons using the power of time itself. The most mysterious temple in the world.”

“Wait, they built it using the power of time?” Flower Serin asked, her eyes wide with disbelief.

“Well, that’s the story. But honestly, they never fully mastered the power of time. Even though they received some of the abilities of the Silver Eleven Moons, very few could wield them properly.”

“And yet they could create magic on this scale...?”

“That’s the mystery of time, isn’t it?”

“Enough with the pointless chatter,” Hong Bi-yeon interrupted, her expression pained, possibly from another headache. She spread her wings and flew directly toward the Temple of Time.

“Wait for me!” Flower Serin cried, unfolding her blue wings and chasing after her.

Meanwhile, Full Frame lingered, unable to move as doubt clouded her mind.

‘Is this really the right decision?’

In the original story of the romantic fantasy novel The Princess’s Love 1-1, Flower Serin made a catastrophic mistake during her time travel. Though Full Frame’s presence might prevent her from repeating that error, her concerns weren’t centered on Flower Serin.

Her worry lay with herself.

Would her own involvement in this journey cause even greater problems?

‘Is it really okay for me to meddle with time?’

Closing her eyes tightly, she wrestled with her thoughts. But there was no turning back now.

‘I’ve already made my choice.’

She had decided to see it all with her own eyes and uncover her destiny.

‘...So I’m going.’

Toward the past.