I Became the Genius Mage of the Martial Academy

“I have to go…!”

I tried to force myself up, but the feeling of my head spinning made me collapse onto the bed.

“A living corpse is running wild. Give it up, you fool!”

The old woman stabbed the inside of my collarbone with a long needle. Then, along with a feeling of exhaustion, the strength in my whole body drained, and my body went limp.

“…I have to go.”

“Tsk tsk, you’ll stumble and fall after just a few steps, what a bluff.”

The old woman clicked her tongue and got up from her seat. It seemed she had no intention of letting me go.

Having no choice, I surveyed my whole body with the very small amount of mana I had left.

My physical condition was as serious as ever.

The mana circuits throughout my body were unusable due to the aftereffects of overheating, and the energy veins that governed my body were rough as if they had been scratched all over.

Having handled that much power within the large-scale formation, the aftereffects were bound to be considerable.

‘This is bad.’

My body knew I had to rest, but my head couldn’t.

A junior student stayed out overnight on their first outing? And the top student at that? It was at least a disciplinary action, and in the worst case, expulsion.

‘This is crazy.’

The more urgent problem was that it was now the course registration period.

After the first week, which was full of introductory lectures, it was the week to officially register for courses, and while the other students were each scrambling to find good lectures, I was the only one absent without leave.

‘What do I do.’

At this rate, my academy life would be seriously twisted from the beginning of the new semester with the combo of disciplinary action and failed course registration.

I needed a way to overcome this crisis.

“First, I need to pull myself together and think.”

I let out a deep sigh.

And so, a day passed. Thanks to the talent of [Life Extension], my body, which had been barely hanging on, recovered quickly.

“You should know you’re lucky.”

The old woman said as she checked my pulse. It probably meant I had improved.

“I’m alive thanks to you.”

I handed several 100-nyang promissory notes to the old woman and got up from my seat.

I still had no energy in my whole body and had internal pain, but I could walk.

It was already the fourth day, so it was a very dangerous situation.

‘I have to move as soon as possible.’

As I was about to leave the inn, I saw martial artists cornering the innkeeper and asking something.

At the suspicious sight, I slyly enhanced my hearing with mana and eavesdropped on their conversation.

“Did you see anyone suspicious four days ago?”

I almost stopped in my tracks at the shocking news I heard. I thought I had seen that uniform somewhere, and upon closer inspection, they were the martial artists of the Geummun Merchant Guild.

‘Were they searching for me?’

I thought I had gotten as far away as possible in that state where I felt like I was going to die, but it seemed they had followed me all the way here.

“Well… four days ago…”

I could see the innkeeper’s voice trembling. There would have been only one suspicious guest four days ago, me.

“There was no one other than that guest.”

‘Damn it.’

I should have left a little earlier. I could feel the martial artists’ gazes turning to me.

It can’t be helped. In a situation like this, I have no choice but to act naturally.

“What’s going on?”

I replied, trying not to get on their nerves, but also not to be looked down upon.

“What were you doing four days ago?”

The martial artists of the Geummun Merchant Guild began their interrogation. I made up a story appropriately.

“You came because you were injured?”

When they showed a look of suspicion, I took out the student plaque of the Martial Academy from my bosom and showed it to them.

“This is? You’re a student.”

“That’s right, it seems it’s not him.”

I sighed in relief inwardly at their reaction.

They probably never would have thought that a student had operated a large-scale formation and made a fool of the elite martial artists of the Geummun Merchant Guild.

“What’s in the bundle?”

“It’s just my luggage.”

“Show me. It’s a formal inspection.”

They said, subtly showing their swords. It was a plan to use force if I refused.

I swallowed dryly. I never thought a crisis would come like this.

‘I have to use my head.’

If I get inspected here, it’s the end. Because there were elixirs in that bundle.

A tense moment. I instinctively used my wits.

“It’s my stuff, so I’ll open it myself.”

After buying a moment’s grace like that, I placed the bundle on the floor. Then, as if my knees had suddenly given out, I staggered and fell on top of the bundle.

“This, I’m not feeling well…”

“Hurry up.”

The martial artist urged me on, regardless of my excuse.

I, who was tidying up my clothes, grabbed the string of the bundle as if I had no choice.

“What are you doing? Hurry up, won’t you?”

The urging continued. Even with the feeling that they would approach at any moment, I deliberately untied the bundle slowly.

“This is…!”

In an instant, the two martial artists’ expressions changed drastically.

Inside the bundle, there was nothing but a bundle of promissory notes.

“Is that all?”

The two martial artists, unable to take their eyes off the openly visible bundle of promissory notes, cleared their throats and nodded their heads.

‘I’m saved.’

I wiped the sweat from my palms on my pants and checked the arrangement of the jade stones I had dropped when I had staggered earlier, having imbued them with mana.

What I had done in that brief moment was a low-lying stealth formation.

There are many types of stealth formations, and there was also a stealth formation that made the original person or object invisible by blending it into the background.

In this case, the range setting to distort the light was important, and I had adjusted the height of the stealth formation to be low, hiding the floor where the elixirs were laid out and showing only the bundle of promissory notes stacked on top.

From the outside, they could only see objects up to half a palm’s height from the floor, so they couldn’t see the elixirs.

It was a master-level use of a formation.

Just as I was about to tie up the bundle.

“Wait.”

The man who seemed to be the senior of the two martial artists said to me in a firm voice.

‘What is it?’

“This is suspicious. How can a student be carrying promissory notes of that amount?”

It was a natural question, but also a subtle one. I could tell from the nuance of his voice.

‘These bastards. Have they changed their target?’

The mindset of the powerful was the same everywhere. Since you seem to be well-off, give me some money.

It was ridiculous.

I thought it would be better to go strong.

“This is the amount I received from my family.”

“Family?”

At the martial artists’ question, I took out the ceremonial daggers with the family crest engraved on them, along with the identification plaque of the Zhuge family, from my bosom.

“The Zhuge family.”

“Heok!”

The martial artists who gasped for a moment. They could have thought it was an impersonation, but after seeing the identification plaque, the daggers with the Zhuge family crest embossed on them, and the suspicious bundle of promissory notes, any suspicion had vanished.

The senior martial artist, who was quick to grasp the situation, quickly bowed his head.

“I’m sorry…! Young Master.”

‘Should I have done this from the beginning?’

A dry laugh escaped me as the matter was resolved so easily.

But since they were also martial artists who had been assigned a mission, there was a high possibility that they would have persistently checked my luggage.

The respectful attitude they were showing now was also possible because the bundle of promissory notes and the fact that I had no charges against me had been revealed.

“This person…! When did we ask you to tell us about a suspicious person? Did we tell you to trouble the young master?”

As the martial artists were already changing their attitude, pointing at the innkeeper, I moderately stopped them.

“It’s fine. If your business is done, I’ll be on my way.”

“Yes.”

I exchanged greetings with the martial artists of the Geummun Merchant Guild and turned around.

I had passed one crisis, but the real problem still remained.

‘How do I avoid the disciplinary action?’

Even if I returned to the academy right away, the disciplinary action was certain.

I recalled the promise I had made with Gu Jabeom during the entrance exam, that he would turn a blind eye just once even if I caused trouble.

‘But that’s not enough.’

Even if Gu Jabeom turned a blind eye, the other professors wouldn’t just stand by. No matter how much he was the chief professor, it would be ambiguous for him to take my side without any particular justification.

‘Is there no way?’

As I was continuing to worry by myself.

“You bastards!”

The old woman’s voice echoed through the inn.

“If you’re a man with a sword, you should be catching bandits. Why are you coming all the way here and searching everywhere?”

The martial artists, as if annoyed by the old woman’s scolding, asked the innkeeper for more information about the guest from four days ago and then left the inn.

“You bastards. Just because you have a sword doesn’t mean you’re a martial artist!”

As I was listening to the old woman’s shout, a certain idea suddenly came to my mind. A certain kind of thought that could help my current situation.

“Are there bandits here?”

“Huh? Yes. There have been a lot of complaints around here lately. They only rob small villages, so the powerful ones don’t even step up. Tsk tsk.”

“What’s the scale?”

“That innkeeper would know better. He’s a man who’s well-versed in rumors.”

When I looked at the innkeeper, he flinched and shrank his neck. He must have remembered what he had done.

There’s nothing good about a commoner making an enemy of a martial artist anywhere in the Central Plains. And even more so if they were a member of the Zhuge family.

“Ah, well…”

I sighed at his hesitant appearance.

Still, I was able to live because that person had called a physician. If he had been a bad person, he would have killed me long ago and taken everything I had.

He was just a commoner.

‘Still, there’s a price for a life.’

“Don’t worry about it and tell me.”

“Ah, yes. I heard there are about twenty of them.”

That’s a fair number. I stroked my chin and confirmed my new plan.

‘I’ll catch those guys.’

My intention right now was this. To catch that group of bandits and say that I was late because of them.

If I framed it as something I couldn’t just stand by and watch as a martial artist, it could be a plausible excuse.

‘I don’t know if it will work or not.’

At least it was better than not trying. From the academy’s perspective, whether I was 4 days late or 5 days late, both would be equally outrageous.

“So where is it. The area where those guys appear.”

* * *

In a deep valley in the mountains, where slash-and-burn farmers had once settled, was the bandits’ base.

‘I found it more easily than I thought.’

Since they were just bandits who robbed nearby small-scale peddlers, it wasn’t difficult to track them.

Even if they were bandits, they were just a group of poor people who would starve to death if they had nothing to eat.

As the old woman had testified, I was able to easily identify their base thanks to tracking a suspicious man who periodically bought a lot of dried food.

On the contrary, it was so simple that I wondered why they hadn’t been caught until now.

‘Only two on watch.’

Since they were a group that didn’t do much other than rob passersby during the day, now that the sun was setting, most of them were grilling a wild boar they had caught on the mountainside or drinking alcohol.

The number was about twenty.

After resting, my circle had also recovered quite a bit.

‘At this rate, it’s worth a try.’

I, who was looking at the group of bandits from within a stealth formation, shone my two eyes.

And so, as the day grew dark and the moon rose at dawn. Just as the guards were dozing off, nodding their heads.

A few stones flew and surrounded them.

Thud-

“Huh?”

Before their voices could even come out, a qi barrier was formed, and at the same time, I threw a dagger at them.

A blow that imitated Namgung Dohyeok’s dagger art. It wasn’t an attack imbued with profound internal energy, but it was enough to inflict a cut on the bandits.

At the same time, lightning magic is activated.

Crackle!

A clear blue current pierced through the wounded flesh and blazed, and the two bandits convulsed and collapsed.

It was an assassination using a formation and magic.

I tied them up and threw them beyond the bushes.

Since I had woken up the next watchman earlier, the next replacement would be coming soon.

Recalling the pattern I had observed over the past few hours, I looked at the next enemies approaching from within the stealth formation.

‘That makes four.’

Since the opponents were at most third-rate bandits, the dagger and lightning magic I had prepared were more than enough.

‘I’ll eat them away little by little like this.’

Since close combat was difficult with my current body, my strategy was a hit-and-run method that relied solely on magic and formations.

Approaching the huts where there were no guards, I soon began to lay out jade stones one by one.

I arranged them meticulously one by one, making full use of the characteristics of the mountain valley, which was full of yin energy.

The more I did it, the more I could feel it.

‘That large-scale formation was really made with a lot of effort.’

The level was different from the formation I had constructed now.

A large-scale formation that was only possible when a lot of time and manpower, expensive materials, and feng shui conditions were all met, and a disposable formation of at most a small to medium scale had a vast gap.

‘A formation is certainly slow and inefficient, but the more you build it up, the more its true value is revealed.’

The fact that I was able to exert an overwhelming power within the formation was also largely thanks to the fact that the formation itself was outstanding.

For example, I had just occupied the pilothouse of a fully built warship before.

In contrast, the formation I had made now was at the level of a small boat that could be seen in a fishing village.

I had to catch a rough school of fish with this.

‘I’ll prepare to the best of my ability.’

I began to work on the formation, thinking of staking my life on this.

Creating a formation from scratch was more difficult than I thought.

If I supplemented this side, that side would become unstable, or even if I barely constructed a formation, the efficiency of the qi would drop, and countless other problems would arise endlessly.

But still, I didn’t stop.

‘Just a little more.’

When I reached my limit in the midst of my immersion, another realm unfolded. When I thought this was it, a new inspiration came to me.

A moment that ordinary people rarely experience in their lifetime. It was a chain of talent.

In a state of self-forgetfulness, I controlled all the variables and expanded the formation.

Now, the circulation of qi manifested in my hands was not just a simple formation, but an art, and another world.

And so, around the time when the stars became clear and the moonlight seeped through the dawn clouds.

Woooong-

“It’s done.”

Finally, the formation cried.

(End of Chapter)