Magic Academy's Genius Blinker Chapter 534: The Dark Mage King (3)

What does studying even mean?

Lately, Ma Yu-Seong caught himself dwelling on this puzzle while watching his classmates totally absorbed in their studies. They filled their days with quiz preparations, final exam reviews, certification grinds, or intense cramming for mock tests at elite magic towers.

With all those around him buried in books, Ma Yu-Seong—who skipped studying entirely—suddenly had zero things to fill his time.

"Hmm..."

Perched on a park bench with arms folded, gazing at the sky, he spotted a butterfly flitting nearby. It swirled around him briefly before vanishing from sight.

"Aren’t you busy, senior?"

Female students often flocked to Ma Yu-Seong, and spotting him alone, they just had to approach.

As a second-year, Ma Yu-Seong wasn’t someone first-years bumped into often, so they seized every chance to chat longer.

"Well..."

"Come to think of it, senior, you’re incredible! I heard you always top the second-year rankings, but you look so chill."

Ma Yu-Seong offered a soft smile.

"Thank you."

"That’s no praise! It’s just expected from you!"

"When do you study, senior? Got some trick for top scores without trying hard?"

Bombarded by their excited queries, Ma Yu-Seong struggled to respond honestly.

"Well... I just pay attention in class, that’s it."

Silence hung in the air for a beat.

The girls gawked at him in shock before catching on that he was kidding.

"Oh wow, coming from you, senior, it almost sounds real!"

"Whoa, first time hearing Ma Yu-Seong crack a joke!"

"Yeah, same."

But he wasn’t joking.

Since they’d brushed it off as humor, Ma Yu-Seong chose to lay it out straight.

"Studying... I don’t need to bother. Magic comes naturally to me."

"Wow, senior, that ’arrogant genius’ vibe is way too much... it’s maddening!"

"But real talk, I can’t deny it ’cause it’s fact."

He kept smiling, all while defending himself in his thoughts.

It made no sense to him.

Why did everyone study so obsessively?

For Ma Yu-Seong, who absorbed book knowledge in one pass and intuitively mastered magic without formal lessons, it was mind-boggling how Stella’s so-called ’geniuses’ floundered despite their endless toil.

Was that the ceiling of human potential?

No, not merely human limits.

Even among dark mages, this harsh talent divide persisted.

At age nine, Ma Yu-Seong’s father handed him his debut mission.

"Defeat your older brother."

He knew zero magic.

He’d never battled before.

Still, his father demanded he dive into the brutal dark mage fights, prompting laughter from the watching dark mages and siblings.

The Dark Mage King’s kids were all battle prodigies. Even a three-year age gap meant the older one had honed skills and built a power edge.

"As expected, Ma Yu-Seong. You won."

Defying every dark mage’s predictions—no, fulfilling the Dark Mage King’s foresight—Ma Yu-Seong triumphed over his elder sibling, who’d trained far longer.

Pure talent gap.

In the dark mage realm, innate gifts ruled above all.

"Now that I mention it, I heard your name shines in sports, chess, and tons of other stuff, senior Ma Yu-Seong!"

"Wow, senior Ma Yu-Seong dominates everything!"

"It’s like you popped out flawless!"

Basking in the girls’ endless praise, Ma Yu-Seong flashed a shy grin.

And right then.

"Were you really born perfect, senior Ma Yu-Seong?"

A boy’s voice cut in, snagging everyone’s focus.

There stood a slight boy with gray hair and dull skin.

His name tag said Taseron, though even the first-year girls didn’t recognize him.

"Who’s that?"

"No clue."

"Oh, I think I’ve spotted him. Class F, yeah?"

"Class F?"

The girls didn’t snub him openly, but their looks held faint contempt.

To them, Class F meant the bare-minimum entrants to Stella Academy—those lacking real talent or feats.

Ma Yu-Seong’s face tightened just a touch as he eyed the boy.

"Taseron..."

"Senior, you look kinda scary right now."

"Don’t you even recall insulting my father that day?"

Ma Yu-Seong’s polite tone still hit heavy, making the girls gasp.

"Insulting his father?"

"How could anyone...?"

"What a awful guy!"

With the girls growing more and more aggressive in their responses, Ma Yu-Seong lifted his hand to soothe them.

"Guys, sorry about this, but I need to talk to this student privately. Mind giving us some space?"

"Sure thing, senior!"

"Just like we expect from you, senior. I'd be raging if it were me, yet you're staying so composed and gentle."

"Really... incredible."

Still gushing over Ma Yu-Seong, the girls departed, as Taseron gave a soft sneer.

"Senior, why get so riled up?"

"How could anyone stay calm after their father gets insulted?"

"Oh, got it. Figured I wouldn't know since I'm from the Dark Mage Cult?"

A sly smirk played on Taseron's lips, his eyes full of mockery.

"I know full well how much you loathe your father, senior. So when I mocked him and you exploded at me, that was merely you unleashing your fury, right?"

Back in Arcanium, Taseron had intentionally challenged Ma Yu-Seong and disparaged his father. This wasn't cluelessness but a deliberate test, certain that Ma Yu-Seong wouldn't end his life.

Outcome? Ma Yu-Seong thrashed Taseron mercilessly.

No rebukes, no shouts, not a hint of rage in his gaze. In utter silence, Ma Yu-Seong drove Taseron right to death's edge.

Had Baek Yuseol not stepped in at that critical instant by pure luck, Taseron could have perished for sure.

"Man, recalling that day still gives me shivers. Never imagined you'd treat me like a stress relief dummy, senior."

"No matter my personal grudge against my father, that doesn't excuse what you did."

"Totally agree. But admit it—you don't merely dislike your father; you utterly detest him. Haha."

There was something profoundly aggravating about the guy.

Ma Yu-Seong's eyebrows furrowed as he advanced a step toward him.

"Oh dear, planning to strike? Regardless of your power, pulling that off in Stella without consequences would be tough for you too, huh? And banking on the vice principal's cover? That won't fly~."

At those words, Ma Yu-Seong halted and replied steadily.

"Cut to the chase. What's your angle?"

"Eh, no angle whatsoever."

"So why join this academy? You've got a motive."

"Yeah, there's one. Say, messing with you~?"

"...Understood."

Oddly, rather than fueling his wrath, that revelation eased Ma Yu-Seong's temper. He'd uncovered Taseron's true aim.

The Dark Mage Cult had dispatched him on purpose to stir Ma Yu-Seong's feelings.

"Huh? Rage gone already?"

"No use in it."

"Want me to trash your dad more? Last time, senior Baek Yuseol flipped out big time~. Dropped some weird phrases that were tough to grasp. Like beatings for disrespect in a Confucian land or something? He's quite the character, yeah?"

Dragging Baek Yuseol into the mess now too. Taseron's blatant scheme to ignite Ma Yu-Seong's fury stood out starkly. This reinforced Ma Yu-Seong's cool-headedness, honing his insight even more.

Before, Taseron had belittled Ma Yu-Seong's skills as superficial and pointless.

Yet Ma Yu-Seong's strengths arose from flawless mastery of his emotions.

Poised ideally between mage and dark mage, he commands abilities from each side. Indeed, his promise ranks him among the mightiest beings alive.

But suppose his emotions slipped from his grasp?

Then one power—mage or dark mage—could vanish.

Only a rare group of dark mages knew this flaw. Including the Dark Mage King, some top aides, and above all:

The Dark Mage Cult Leader.

At Ma Yu-Seong's birth, Cult Leader Hui-Ryeon stood as the Dark Mage King's nearest confidant, like his own arm.

Strangely, right from Ma Yu-Seong's arrival, the Dark Mage Cult Leader broke away entirely from the Dark Mage King to form the odd Dark Mage Cult.

Still, crafty as the Cult Leader might be, he'd never carelessly expose Ma Yu-Seong's flaw. It could hand the Dark Mage King an excuse to strike.

The Dark Mage King stays impartial now, bound by an ancient agreement. A wise Cult Leader steers clear of that perilous boundary.

Yet this freshman grasping such secrets...

Suggests the Cult Leader dispatched him personally as a key operative.

What gain did they seek? Should Ma Yu-Seong's emotional limits shatter and he rampage, part of his magic might fade. Even then, what profit for the Dark Mage Cult? Zero upside there.

"Oh? Off already, senior?"

As Ma Yu-Seong turned his back in silence, refusing to reply, Taseron let out a disappointed click of his tongue and commented:

"Well, I’ve learned something valuable. That the esteemed senior doesn’t even realize what kind of seed is growing inside him."

"...What did you say?"

Shocked, Ma Yu-Seong spun around swiftly, yet Taseron had already vanished.

"What on earth does that mean..."

In the underworld's shadowy depths, something raced ahead swiftly—something beyond Ma Yu-Seong's current grasp.

What exactly is happening?

Though Ma Yu-Seong loathed the Dark Mage King, his birth as the man's son doomed him to the colossal storm raging in that realm.

Soon enough, he might get dragged right into its fury.

***

Caw, caw!

On the brink of a cliff soaked in crimson, massive crows—each as big as a house—numbered in dozens and soared upward in a frenzied flock.

Amid the raging black storm, a solitary dark fortress stood out boldly against the turbulent sky.

Thud.

Sprawled before the fortress lay the Earth Dragon.

Its enormous form bled profusely, mud-like blood seeping from gashes, while its jaws spewed guts across the earth.

Facing the perishing creature was a man with folded arms, utterly untouched and steady.

The Dark Mage King.

Hui-Ryeon, the Dark Mage Cult Leader, had misjudged completely. The Earth Dragon's desperate death explosion, meant to warp space and deliver a lethal strike to the Dark Mage King, collapsed in total failure.

As the Earth Dragon perished, the Dark Mage King detected the space twist and crushed it effortlessly in his grip, erasing it entirely.

"Sigh... Hui-Ryeon, your methods are disappointing."

Through a crow's gaze, an elderly dark mage observed the spectacle and grumbled while fiddling with the four pairs of horns jutting from his skull.

"We granted him the position at the cost of dismantling the Dark Mage Alliance, and yet..."

Hui-Ryeon shut his eyes, face stiffening.

Rangtal, the old man and president of the Dark Mage Alliance—one of the 9 Risk—spoke nothing but truth.

Known as the peacekeeper quelling pointless dark mage squabbles, Rangtal had forged their unity under harmony's guise. Still, he harbored his own hunger for the throne.

Hui-Ryeon had slyly lured Rangtal with vows of crippling the Dark Mage King, letting Rangtal land the decisive blow to claim dark mage rule.

But right from the start, the scheme unraveled.

None foresaw the Dark Mage King dodging so casually the intricate snares laid by Fawn Prevernal Moon.

"Well... it doesn’t matter. It seems he didn’t emerge completely unscathed."

"What do you mean by that? The Earth Dragon couldn’t even graze the Dark Mage King."

"Ha, President, don’t you sense it? The Dark Mage King’s magical power is fluctuating unpredictably."

"Hmm..."

Rangtal sharpened his focus anew on the Dark Mage King via the crow's view.

"Indeed... so the rumors were true. They say the fatal wound inflicted by Elthman fifty years ago hasn’t healed yet."

"Even with such an injury, he wields a power befitting the strongest. However, it seems that using his strength imposes a tremendous burden on him."

"I see. Elthman Eltwin must have feared that ’authority’ of his and deliberately targeted it with a curse..."

"Exactly. It’s not an external fatal wound but rather a severe internal restriction on his ability to use magic."

A cunning grin spread across Rangtal’s features.

"In that case...!"

With the Dark Mage King drained from clashing with the Earth Dragon and his abilities heavily strained, Rangtal saw his golden chance to grab the throne.

"Go now and claim the crown. Become the king of all dark mages, Rangtal!"

"Of course!"

Rangtal instantly shifted his true form into the crow's body, materializing right before the Dark Mage King.

At once, countless crows morphed into dark mages by the tens of thousands, encircling the Dark Mage King’s dark fortress.

"Now, today shall be the day a new Chapter in history is written!!"

That bold cry ignited a colossal battle between Rangtal, Dark Mage Alliance leader, and the Dark Mage King.

...Yet in under 30 minutes, Rangtal's horde lay utterly crushed.

No vast army was summoned.

A single figure sufficed.

The Dark Mage King.

He single-handedly wiped out the legion of tens of thousands of dark mages, sparing not one soul.