Reader Mage 176-I’m The Better A-Class Mage

Nora rushed into the hallway of the infirmary as soon as Oh Jihye’s fight ended. If anyone asked her why, she could honestly give no response in that regard. Her and Jihye were not what anyone would call close despite them being roommates. They barely spoke to each other, and whenever they did, their conversations erred on the side of insults and glares. However, Oh Jihye collapsing had caused Nora’s heart to skip a beat, and she was now standing in the hallway watching as Jihye lay unconscious on a stretcher while being rushed into the infirmary by dics.

It was just a brief glance as Oh Jihye was carried past her, but Nora made out her roommate’s state vividly.

Pale, wet, and almost lifeless. It reminded her of how rlin had been just a few months back when they’d fought against Nikolai. The battle played in her mind over and over again in just a few seconds, each ti ending with rlin on her thighs as she cried.

Nora’s stomach churned.

Her brother was strong. Even if he was so ek that it almost felt like he wasn’t, she knew it. Without him, she wouldn’t be where she was as a mage. However, Crown Academy students were strong too. With the way the fights were going, one didn’t need to cast a world ending spell to do irreparable damage to another. And worse, the System could be the one to do the damage to rlin.

Nora clutched her hands.

She couldn’t bear to see rlin almost lose his life again. But there was nothing she could do to stop that. He was stubborn and desperate. She could only hope that it wouldn’t cause him any harm.

###

Getting Sangook to engage in their little team discussion didn’t work. The boy was stuck-up and loose-tongued, and if there was a contest for Prestige Academy’s most irritable student, he would be topping the charts by a sizable margin. No matter how everyone tried to convince him that putting their heads together would only help boost his chances of winning, he insisted that he didn’t need their help. Apparently, the fact that Prestige Academy was losing after everything ant that our tactics were completely shit.

rlin agreed with Sangook there, if he was to be honest with himself, but there was also a possibility that their tactics were why they were not being completely dominated.

Although, he knew from experience that trying to force Sangook into being a team player never bore fruit, so he left the rude brat alone, and so did everyone else.

Caleb Turner was Sangook’s opponent. He was an A-Class Mage with black hair and green eyes, and a weird bit of freckles dotting his nose. He stood on the other end of the arena, scrutinizing Sangook with the most intense gaze of any of the opponents so far, even Lena Alvarez. And that said a lot on what the students of Crown Academy thought of the nuisance. They knew not to take him lightly.

Perhaps, for once, Sangook being a brat was a boon.

“Begin!!”

As soon as the words left Instructor Park’s lips, spells were let loose.

It was the fastest opening to a duel yet. None of the two contestants had any words for the other, and the way they weaved their mana as they flashed across the arena, throwing magic at each other, one wouldn’t be faulted if they assud they were archenemies.

Sangook conjured an ice spear—which was, honestly, a lethal spell, all things considered—and shot it at Caleb.

The boy ducked underneath it and placed his hands on the floor of the arena. Mana spilled out of him and in the next instant it crackled to life, rushing towards Sangook like a spider’s web.

Sangook gritted his teeth and slamd his feet on the floor of the arena. Ice spread out from underneath him, intercepting Caleb’s spell and instantly it broke apart.

“Ice prevents conduction,” Sangook said with a slight grin on his face. “You should have picked another opponent.”

Caleb stood up. “I like the challenge.”

He dashed around the arena again, not seeking to get onto Sangook’s blindside. It was like he enjoyed running and just wanted to do it whenever he could.

rlin thought that was weird. Sangook and Caleb were both A-Class Mages. In a duel such as this, stamina could end up being the deciding factor. It was what had happened with Jihye. And so his mind went into overdrive to the point that he was staring straight at the TV, entranced at the ongoing battle between Sangook and Caleb, yet having no clue what was going on.

Due to the fact that Crown Academy had made certain to not reveal their hands during the first stage of the tournant, it was hard for rlin to recall any tics he had noticed about Caleb while studying the boy. From what he could tell, Caleb was a construction mage, manipulating existing elents in the atmosphere to generate electricity, just like every other construction mage.

However, what if he wasn’t manipulating the elents in the atmosphere?

The atmosphere was a collection of gases, and not a battery. If it was anything, it was a circuit. Electricity generated from it would be as a result of so external factor having stored charges in it already, like a thunderstorm for instance. There were no specific gaseous elents that Caleb should be able to manipulate to generate electricity. The only other alternative rlin could think of was that Caleb manipulated air itself, but that also didn’t seem right. Everything he knew about air generating electricity was based on converting its kinetic energy into, well, electricity; or, in the case of a turbine, forcing it into motion to bring about kinetic energy, which was then converted into…

rlin’s brows pulled in.

Motion?

His focus returned to the screen and his eyes widened.

“I got it!” he scread out of excitent. Everyone flinched. “Oh, shit. I got it.”

“What did you figure out now, l?” Chima asked, shifting on his seat.

He glanced around and he noticed that everyone was staring at him. His heart thumped in his chest, but he didn’t shy away from their attention.

Licking his lips, he smiled and began to explain, “That guy, Caleb, is a complex mage, just like Jaehyun.” Jaehyun blinked incredulously and rlin turned to him. “Rember our first day in class? When I said your magic is like rging construction and creation together?”

Jaehyun nodded. “Yes, I rember.”

“Well, Caleb is like that. I initially thought he was a construction mage because he didn’t have the sa slight body horror shenanigans as creation mages do.” Yiseo furrowed her brows in rlin’s direction and a chill crawled up his spine. He pretended like he didn’t notice her piercing gaze and went on. “Caleb, on the other hand, is neither. He’s not manipulating the elents in the atmosphere to create his spells, nor is he creating it from his internal biological system. What he’s doing is generating electricity through motion.”

Hakyun nudged his glasses upwards. “Oho… I see. So by constantly being on the move he’s making use of the kinetic energy of the air slamming into him to accumulate charges and discharge them.”

“Exactly,” said rlin. “Friction.”

Everyone was silent for a mont, all staring at rlin like he had spewed a bunch of nonsense.

He buckled underneath the weight.

“Uhm, guys, what is it?”

“rlin,” Yiseo began, taking the chance. “What was your score on the theory aspect of the entrance exam again?”

rlin blinked. “Slightly above average? Why?”

“Did you intentionally make your score so low?”

rlin jerked back slightly. Like he would jeopardize his chance of getting into a prestigious academy.

But he understood them. He had just dissected soone’s abilities with very little information, it was normal that they were shocked. What they didn’t know, however, was that his constant usage of Reader Mage had sohow leaked into him. In fact, he was just figuring that out now. Constantly being told how spells worked by his ability, tacked on with his lessons from both Nora and Senior Sun-Hee, had built his insight on how spells worked.

He had not tanked his scores on purpose, he had just grown.

A loud groan from the TV screen dragged everyone’s attention back to it.

Sangook was down on one knee with an expression of both anger and pain as he held his side, blood rushing out of it. Caleb stood so distance away, panting heavily, but wearing a look of satisfaction.

“Do you give up?” Caleb voiced. “I don’t want to have to hurt you any more than I already have.”

Sangook sneered. He pressed his hand further onto the wound, and cold smoke rose from the gaps between his fingers. When he took his bloodied hand away, the wound was cauterized with ice.

“Stay down,” Caleb insisted as Sangook rose to his feet.

“Yap, yap, yap,” Sangook mocked. “You Crown Academy students talk way too much. Are you here to chat or fight? Because if it’s the forr, then just stay right where you are and let turn you into a popsicle. Then you can talk all day.”

Caleb clicked his tongue. “Have it your way then.”

He dashed forward at Sangook, mana surging through his body as he did. When he was halfway, he stopped, and concentrated his mana to his palms, where they sizzled and turned into a chaotic lance of electricity. He then compressed them together and shot them at Sangook.

Sangook took a step back, heaved out a deep, visible breath, and conjured a spear of ice, shooting it forward as well.

The spells collided in the center of the arena and an explosion occurred.

Chunks of ice were scattered everywhere, even shooting at blistering paces towards the audience seats. Instructors stepped in on ti to prevent any casualties.

Sangook and Caleb, however, weren’t concerned about their surroundings. In fact, they weren’t concerned about keeping a distance between themselves any longer.

They ca at each other head on, blasting the sa spells at each other, again and again. It was to the point that rlin began to wonder if Sangook had lost every knowledge he had on all his other spells.

Until that thought was proven false.

Caleb crept up behind Sangook, electricity cloaking his palm as he did, attempting to deal the final blow to Sangook. However, he suddenly beca motionless just before his hand managed to land on Sangook’s shoulder, and instantly his spell shattered into pieces.

His legs were frozen.

“I give it to you,” Sangook said. “You have one heck of a stamina. It’s like fighting an ape. I thought you would have given in a long ti ago.”

Caleb frowned. “Who’s yapping now?”

“I think I’ve earned it,” Sangook said smugly as he wiped the blood streaming out of his nose. “You really pushed to the brink, you know? But this is my win. I’m the better A-Class Mage.”

“I wouldn’t act so pompous.”

“Heh, maybe?” Sangook said with a shrug, then his gaze narrowed and a dark grin pushed his lips apart. “But you can’t use your magic unless you move, can you?”

Caleb’s expression turned grim.

“I’m not a fool,” Sangook said with a chuckle. “When you ran around so much without even attempting to attack my blindspot, what did you expect to think?”

Then he flexed his fingers and three ice tornadoes manifested in the arena. Slowly they began to close in on him and Caleb.

“Well, it seems like you are a fool,” said Caleb with a stifled chuckle. “Are you planning on freezing us both together?” He turned to Instructor Park. “Hey. Instructor! Doesn’t this count as a life-threatening spell? Nullify the match!”

“Relax,” Sangook tutted. “Why would I want to incapacitate you when I can do sothing much worse?” Caleb’s nose twitched as Sangook leaned in closer to him. “Have you ever had your Grimoire ripped to shreds before? That’s the most painful thing that can happen to a mage, I promise you. Well, words are just empty. Actions are better. Let show you.”

Caleb’s eyes darted about as he tried to make certain his Grimoire moved from the path of the approaching spells. But the ice tornadoes were one of the largest Sangook had created yet, and they closed in from three directions, quickly blocking out any escape route that didn’t lead up above. However, a Grimoire could only be far away from their mage for a short distance. If Caleb’s Grimoire went higher than the tornadoes, he would lose control of it and it would co falling back down into the spell either way.

“Fuck! I give up!” Caleb voiced. “I give up, so stop it already!”

But Sangook didn’t stop. A wicked smile remained on his face as the spells kept coming closer and closer.

“I gave up already, asshole! What do you think you’re doing?!” Caleb roared. “Don’t you dare do anything to my Grimoire. I’ll kill you. Do you understand ?”

Everyone in the waiting room shifted on their seats. Hakyun jumped up to his feet, very angry.

“What’s he doing?!” he voiced. “Has he lost his mind?”

It was more like Sangook had lost his hearing, because he didn’t even hear Instructor Park announce the end of the match, awarding Prestige Academy the point, nor did he hear the crowd raging at him to stop. It was as though he enjoyed the look of despair present on Caleb’s face.

Until…

“I said stop!”

Instructor Park’s voice silenced the arena as she flashed onto stage, grabbed Sangook’s hand, and brought him down to his knees in less than a second. Her hair was no longer neatly packed into twin ponytails as she liked them, but stretched out longer than was usual, and slithering in the air as though they had a life of their own.

She was furious.

Sangook shot a glare at her, and she shot one back. The boy’s nose twitched, then he hissed and turned away. Imdiately the ice tornadoes vanished Caleb’s Grimoire was safe.

“Let go,” Sangook growled.

Instructor Park granted him his request as he pulled his hand aggressively away from her grip. Then as he walked down the stage, she said, “Choi Sangook, for acting unsound during a duel held in good faith, you have been banned from the arena and waiting area until the end of the tournant, will be invited for a disciplinary eting after the tournant, and have cost your Cohort fifty points.”

Sangook’s body tensed. He glanced over his shoulder at Instructor Park, his eyes cold and hard, and his lips flattened.

Instructor Park added then, “I advise you not to do anything that will worsen your current standing. Await further instructions quietly.”

Kim Yiseo, on the other hand, was absolutely livid.

She shot up to her feet, her face red beyond belief as she stared intensely at the TV.

rlin shivered as it was the first ti he had ever seen her angry. And by the looks of it, that was everyone in the room.

“Choi Sangook…” she said with every animosity she could muster as she clenched her fists. “I’ll kill that idiot.”