I Became the Genius Mage of the Martial Academy

I quickly followed the guys who were disappearing into the training ground.

‘Are they training?’

To be training so calmly after pulling something like this… They were certainly thick-skinned guys.

‘As expected.’

They wouldn’t report it right away either. Gu Dong had been training in front of a few instructors since earlier.

He had an alibi, so to speak, if they were to report him rashly.

‘Then I can use that to my advantage.’

Now that I had grasped the situation, all that was left was to move.

* * *

“Is this the place?”

As the sun was setting, two bald men nodded at the instructor’s voice.

“That’s right! We witnessed it.”

“We saw him go inside.”

At their claims in unison, the instructor opened the door to the dormitory where Gu Dong’s bed was.

“Where is it?”

“That is…”

The eyes of the guys, flustered by the sudden question, wavered. The instructor asked, looking in the direction their gazes were heading.

“Is it over there?”

“Uh, yes.”

The guys answered stupidly. I, who was enhancing my vision and hearing with mana from a distance, raised the corner of my mouth slightly.

The instructor went to Gu Dong’s bed and began to search through his things. And then he threw out a single word.

“There’s nothing here.”

“What?”

It was their second mistake. They were strangely flustered now. As if it was natural for it to be there.

Stupid guys. They had already revealed that they were certain of some fact.

“Come and see.”

At the instructor’s urging, the bald men each approached and fumbled with the bed. Surprisingly, there was no food there.

In the chilled atmosphere, the guys exchanged glances.

“Ah, it seems we were mistaken.”

“We’re sorry! We made a mistake.”

Just then, something was held in the instructor’s hand as he searched the bed again. It was a white cloth with a heavy outline, as if containing something suspicious.

“Could this be it?”

“That’s it!”

“That’s right!”

Then, the guys nodded their closely shaved heads as if they were saved.

“Even I can’t just search a student’s belongings recklessly. So answer clearly. Are you sure you saw this?”

“That’s right!”

The two bald men shouted at the same time.

‘How stupid.’

I chuckled inwardly. At the same time, the white cloth was untied. But what was inside were small-sized stones.

“Huh?”

For a moment, the two bald men made a dumbfounded expression. The tone of the instructor who was looking at them lowered.

“It’s not. Why were you so sure that there was prohibited food here?”

Having suddenly gone from being the accusers of wrongdoing to being interrogated, they couldn’t find their words and were just rolling their eyes when the instructor’s words continued.

“But you know. I heard another piece of information earlier. It’s a story about two students who went into another student’s room and left a suspicious item.”

“What?”

The two men’s faces turned pale. In the meantime, a long shadow was cast in front of them in the sunset background.

“This guy saw it. That you guys went in.”

The one the instructor pointed at was me.

“What… is this?!”

“You! Do you have proof?”

To ask for proof right away. It was the typical appearance of a cornered criminal struggling.

“I knew you’d come out like that.”

I sneered at them and pointed to a piece of sleeve that had fallen on one side of the door.

“It got caught in the door and was cut off when you were leaving. That’s my proof. We can compare it, right?”

It was effective that I had shot wind magic and cut off the end of the sleeve before they left.

“Don’t be ridiculous!”

The guys expressed their anger, born of embarrassment, at me.

But they shouldn’t forget who we were standing in front of right now.

“Shut up and lift your sleeves.”

The instructor, who had already heard the whole story from me, was now glaring at them with a vicious expression.

There was no way a martial artist of the second-rate level could stand up to a peak-level instructor.

Soon, the guys, pressed by the momentum, raised their trembling arms and showed their sleeves.

The piece of cloth that had been cut off on the floor matched their sleeves exactly. The two suspects’ eyes widened when they saw it.

“Th-that’s a li… Keok!!”

“Answer me. How did you, who only witnessed it from outside the door, know about Gu Dong’s bed and were so sure of the identity of this cloth?”

The opponent, whose two legs were lifted into the air by the instructor’s grab, let out a rough breath.

“And most of all, you came to me late and reported all this, just as the witness testified and suspected. Moreover, the traces of your torn sleeves were even left at the scene, so the evidence is also clear.”

Two pairs of eyes, trembling with fear, looked at the instructor. A cold declaration fell upon them, who were frozen like livestock before being dragged to the slaughterhouse.

“This instructor judges the actions of you two as a violation of the prohibited items rule and intentional manipulation. From now on, you will be referred to the disciplinary committee.”

The disciplinary committee. It was a meeting that decided punishments within Murim Academy.

Even a regular student would have to undergo confinement training if they were called to the disciplinary committee, so there was no need to even look at a prospective student.

“Follow me.”

The instructor looked down at them coldly.

“And Zhuge Cheonwu, you come as a witness too.”

‘Sigh.’

I followed the instructor, feeling annoyed inwardly. Managing one’s reputation was such a difficult task.

* * *

“This is tough.”

The disciplinary committee was swift. After being isolated in different rooms, they were pushed with evidence and circumstances while their pulses were checked, and in the end, they couldn’t withstand the pressure and obediently confessed their crimes.

The circumstances were clear from the beginning, so the result would have been the same anyway.

In the end, their prospective student status was revoked, that is, they were expelled.

“Worthless things.”

I recalled the last conversation that took place at the disciplinary committee as I headed to the student room.

When asked why they did it, their answer was simple.

“It was a disgrace that the son of a Shaolin traitor was attending the same academy as us.”

I heard that Gu Dong was the biological son of one of the four traitors of Shaolin Temple.

‘His family situation seems quite complicated.’

But there was still a lingering suspicion. The fact that such incidents happened a lot, especially among the first-day prospective students.

It seemed as if someone was inducing a division among the prospective students. Perhaps this incident was also caused by that person’s instigation.

‘I can’t let my guard down.’

Thinking that, I opened the door to the student room. Then, gazes instantly poured on me.

The one looking at me with the most intense gaze was the bald-headed Gu Dong.

He approached me in a flash and immediately cupped his fists.

“Thank you! Thanks to Young Master Cheonwu, I was able to avoid being misunderstood.”

He seemed calm, but his voice seemed to tremble slightly.

I don’t know if he was shocked because he didn’t expect to be treated like that by his own sect members, or if he was moved by my actions, but his gratitude was fully conveyed.

“If you’re grateful, I’ll be in your care from now on. Gu Dong.”

As if impressed by my words, Gu Dong nodded his head vigorously.

“I will!”

I tried my best to ignore Gu Dong’s burdensome gaze and went back to my seat.

“You’re more considerate than the rumors suggest.”

Then, I heard Lee Huimun’s voice. I turned my head and asked.

“Did you investigate me already?”

“There are plenty of rumors about the bloodline of the Zhuge family.”

Then there was a high possibility that he knew me as a complete scoundrel. I didn’t want to feel awkward for something I didn’t even do, so I added.

“Forget about that. In fact, I’m a completely different person from the rumors.”

“You seem to be.”

“Let me join in too!”

Gu Dong suddenly cut in between us.

He seemed a little excited, as if it was awkward to be among classmates who were close.

Perhaps Gu Dong had been consistently bullied even within his own sect because of his birth.

“You, surely other sects don’t bother you, do they? It would be troublesome if you got into a fight with an upperclassman.”

At Lee Huimun’s point, Gu Dong nonchalantly patted his chest.

“Don’t worry. Since those two got caught, they won’t bother me in such a noisy way from now on.”

So you’re saying you’re still being bullied. I felt a sense of solemnity and continued my meditation to accumulate mana in my circle.

In the meantime, the guys talked among themselves.

“You’re the son of a Shaolin traitor, right? How were you able to enter the Shaolin Temple?”

“Because the child is not guilty.”

“So they take you in and then bully you? Buddhist mercy is truly harsh.”

“This is also my karma.”

“You stupid fool.”

It was an evening where such conversations passed by like a daily routine.

* * *

For the next few days, it was the same routine every day.

I endured the pain that felt like I was going to vomit every time and did the morning run, and I always arrived at the end of the line by a hair’s breadth.

It was thanks to having healed [Mana Severance] to some extent. Because of that, the physical recovery due to [Limitless Martial Body] could gain momentum. If not, from the second day, I would have been out for afternoon training every day like the other dropouts and would have been overworking my weak body.

In my current physical condition, it wasn’t good to just do a lot of exercise, so this level of stimulation was the most appropriate.

And so, I repeated the process of squeezing my body to the limit where it would listen with [Will of the Extreme] and then recovering.

It really felt like I was growing day by day. In the gaps where my body was recovering, I grew my circle and continued my study of formations.

After the Gu Dong incident, when the first-day guys were collectively punished at night, there were no more guys who did unnecessary things.

And perhaps because I had saved Gu Dong, the rumors about me changed a bit.

That I was surprisingly diligent for a scoundrel, or that I might not be as bad as they thought.

Of course, these were words that circulated among the people in the same room, and from the outside, I was still treated as a scoundrel from a prestigious family to be wary of.

‘Still, it’s a big deal that the bad rumors about me aren’t spreading anymore.’

It meant I had reduced the possibility of getting into unnecessary fights because of a bad reputation, even if just a little.

‘It seems the held-back students have no intention of stepping up anymore either.’

Since I had already taken down four of them, the ones who were instigating from behind had no choice but to be quiet.

Ultimately, with this incident, I had clearly shown that damn mastermind. That our side, no, to be precise, that I was not to be trifled with.

And so, the 5th day passed safely, and after a few more days, the day of the final student exam arrived.

‘It’s finally starting.’

Today, there was no morning run or training. Only the final exam remained. We stood in line at the entrance of a rocky mountain where stone tombs were lined up in front.

“Attention!”

Then, the instructor with a firm impression, Jeongmuk, stepped forward as a representative and opened his mouth.

“We will now begin the final exam. The content of this exam is to pass through formations and mechanisms. It consists of a total of 1st and 2nd rounds, and the one who arrives first will get a high score.”

If you passed through the formation and reached the target point within the time limit, you passed. If not, you failed.

If the exams so far were simply to see basic skills, the formation pass was a test to determine the basic qualities of a student.

How is each student’s mental strength, how well they can control their qi in a chaotic formation, how they see through the surrounding qi, and so on.

It was a selection method that could comprehensively judge mental strength and the use of qi, in addition to physical abilities.

“This year, the overall level is high, so the formation has been further strengthened. It may not be easy, so don’t be reckless, and if it gets dangerous, blow the whistle you were given.”

‘If it gets dangerous.’

I could see the back of a first-day prospective student disappearing beyond the barrier, holding a small bamboo whistle.

“The next turn is the second-day students. Those who want to challenge first, step forward.”

As soon as Jeongmuk’s words ended, a chilling scream was heard.

“Kuaaaak!!”

At that unusual sign, the other students froze in tension, but not me.

Because this evaluation was the only exam I was confident in since entering Murim Academy.

(End of Chapter)