Mightiest Melee Magician-Novel - Chapter 19

Mightiest Melee Magician

[ Translator – Jreaming ]

[ Proofreader – Artethrax ]

Chapter 19

The quest was completed.

30 strength had been awarded to me for the quest.

With this, my strength had become <960> and only 40 more strength was needed to start the real training Straang talked about.

On top of that,

A new skill had been unlocked.

Recognising the skill straight away, Straang spoke up.

“Player’s Eye! Now you’re becoming a genuine player.”

“You know this skill?”

“Of course! It’s an authority only the Player can enjoy.”

An essential authority that was given to those acknowledged by Straang.

Meaning, it was a very versatile skill.

It wasn’t hard to figure out what this was.

“Enemies hiding using Stealth or Invisibility magic will look different to your eyes. You’ll perceive them with a faint outline.”

Sensing Stealth and Invisibility magic.

This needed no additional explanation.

It was a very simple, but very powerful ability.

Next, when I used the ‘Minimap’.

‘How can this…’

The half-transparent screen appeared and some type of map was shown.

The map showed detailed geographic features of the testing grounds, and even had an indicator for where the ogre was lying down right now.

If I was to believe what Straang had told me, this ‘Minimap’ would show me everything in about a 500-meter radius around me.
Pr/n: Approximately 550 yards

The next thing I saw was quite the spectacle.

“What’s this?”

“Heh. Are you surprised? This is the true value of Player’s Eye.”

Player’s Eye.

To see through the nature of everything.

I was starting to be able to see the Status Window of others.

In that Status Window, I was able to see their name, level, and their special characteristics in a compiled and understandable manner.
Tl/n: level here means just how strong/proficient they are. Not videogame levels.

‘Information’ was an important variable that could drastically change the outcome of a battle.

In a real battle, just by knowing the opponents level, special abilities, and behaviour, you could easily gain the upper hand.

In that sense, this ability boasted an unapproachable level of usefulness.

But, of course,

“You can’t easily gain the information on those whose levels are quite a bit higher than you.”

“……”

Like with Professor Hydel, the information I could see against people stronger than me was greatly restricted.

Against people like Director Tirion Ignit, whose strength far surpassed mine,

Not even their names appeared on the Status Window.

Still, this much was plenty.

When considering my current strength, excluding a few professors, there was practically no one else in the academy whose Status Window was hidden from me.

And, considering what Straang had told me,

“The stronger you get, the deeper you will be able to read into others.”

It meant that, if I got strong enough, I could see anyone’s Status Window.

‘This, damn…’

To be able to peep into the abilities of others.

Even if the greatest magician in the world committed their all into creating it, it’d probably be impossible to realize.

Since it wasn’t that far from a god’s authority.

I scratched the tip of my nose, feeling both the joy and ridiculousness of the situation.

In the testing ground, the cheers and exclamations towards me were still ongoing.

* * *

The third test.

It seemed the one-on-one fight against the ogre left quite an impression on my underclassmen.

“Um… Y-you’re Ruin, right?”

“Uh? Yes.”

“In the third test… you looked so cool. Um… here… please eat it when you get hungry.”

“Why are you giving me this…?”

There were many cases where girls from the lower grades who I hadn’t seen, nor knew the names of, would come up and hand me a lunchbox and drink.

And then, of course,

“Kya! I’m so embarrassed!”

“……”

The girl would cover her now bright red face with her hands, scream ‘Kya! Kya!’, and run away.

Why would they keep doing this if they were so embarrassed?

Rather, it looked like they were enjoying it.

Having witnessed all this, my roommate, Jason, would mutter to himself in a defeated tone,

“You… envious bastard.”

“You wanna eat some?”

As I handed Jason the drink, he abruptly stood up from his seat and shouted at me,

“No! If I do that, I would be disrespecting that lady who handed you that lunchbox despite feeling embarrassed!”

“…Why are you so angry…”

“Next time! After the next test, I’ll definitely receive a gift like this! Ruin! I know about magic talent, but I’ll never lose to you in popularity!”

“……”

Just what was he talking about?

I bursted out laughing while shaking my head.

My roommate Jason.

He was usually a playboy who liked women and having fun, and would sometimes jump the academy walls to go outside and drink.

He might’ve been a little lazy and lacking in charm, but he was a pretty good kid.

For this Jason to make an uncharacteristic promise about the next test, it seemed he definitely felt quite a few things in this test.

Towards this Jason, I said one thing.

“Just try a bit harder. Then, you’ll definitely do well in the next test.”

“No, I don’t need your sympathy…”

“This is not sympathy, nor empty words of encouragement. You’re talented enough, so steel your heart and try your best.”

“…Really?”

This was, in fact, the truth.

<Jason Damon>

<2nd-class Magician>

<Potential: High>

It was just that he didn’t try hard because of his playboy personality.

Jason had an incredible hidden potential.

Some days ago, I checked the Status Windows of every graduating student, just in case.

The only ones with the <High> status in their <Potential> category were Michael Galehill and Jason.

So, if he tried only a little bit harder, he could get a good grade in the next test.

“Yea, so try your best. Don’t just play around.”

Seemingly having gained confidence with my compliment, Jason clenched his fist with determination.

“Alright! Next test, I’ll aim for top 10!”

“……”

Top 10.

It looked pretty hard for him right now.

Well, it was good to have a goal for yourself.

I shrugged my shoulders and laughed playfully as my answer.

Jason smiled, looking a little embarrassed.

“Anyways… Ruin. Sometimes, I still can’t believe it.”

“Believe what?”

“You’re still the same Ruin I knew the last 6 years, right?”

“……”

Yeah.

Sometimes, it was hard for me to believe it too.

The difference between my life the last 5 years compared to the recent few months was too vast.

My burning passion inside was still the same.

But the way other people looked at me had changed.

From the worst failure of a student.

“It’s not rare to hear that, if it keeps going like this, Ruin, they say you’ll push past Michael Galehill and become the valedictorian of the academy.”

To a top student who was competing for the position of valedictorian.

Since I wasn’t completely out of the loop, I knew about this as well.

Michael Galehill, who had consistently retained his top scoring position for the last 5 years.

And me, who ‘oppressively’ broke through during graduation season where the marks mattered more.

The battle between me and Michael for the position of Rank 1 was currently one of the hottest gossip topics.

Who was better?

Who was stronger?

‘Michael is ahead for now’.

‘Ruin’s getting pretty serious’.

The reason everyone was frequently discussing this was because…

“Well, this year is that year. The year the ‘Magic Festival’ and ‘Olympiad’ overlap. The year of the Grand Festival.”

The ‘Raynac Grand Magic Festival’ would open this year.

In the 5th month of every year, a ‘Magic Festival’ was held where all the outstanding students of the continent were gathered from the famous academies to decide superiority amongst themselves.

And once every 8 years, magicians come to the ‘Olympiad’ to compete against one another in multiple events.

And this year, the ‘Magic Festival’ and ‘Olympiad’ overlapped.

This was called the ‘Grand Festival’.

The Grand Festival was a national competition for the students of the most famed academies.

The academy that was victorious in the Grand Festival received an enormous sum of money and multiple preferential treatments.

Of course, the opportunity to attend such a huge event wasn’t given to all students.

1 for individual events.

30 for group events.

Only the top 31 students of the academy could attend.

Because of this, the main topic of conversations was…

The one who was participating in the individual event.

“Who do you think will represent our academy this year? Surely it’s Ruin, right?”

“……”

The representative of the academy.

The student representative is independently picked out from within the academy.

Of course, this meant that, until now, the academy representative was Michael Galehill’s role, and I haven’t been considered for the 31 in the ‘group events’ a single time.

However, because of my sudden rise, the situation had changed this year.

Between me and Michael.

Who would represent the academy?

Because of this question, you could hear both my name and Michael’s everywhere you went in the academy.

“Of course it has to be Ruin!”

“That’s right. He’s the only magician to get 100 points from Kingram as well.”

In similar scenarios like this, Jason and a few other students were suggesting that I be the representative.

Mostly for one reason.

“Look at our performance when Jason was sent before. How shameful.”

The performance Michael showed when he attended the Magic Festivals could be considered the worst in history.

There was no need to even discuss the group events, and even in individual events, out of the 5 times he went, he placed last in four of those times.

And the one time he wasn’t last, he was second last.

That was how we got the international level nickname,

‘Acadummy’.
Tl/n: in the raw, its an amalgamation of the Korean words for ‘last + academy’

The prestigious name of the academy that the great Archmage Frolian Ignit founded had long since lost its shine.

If you went outside the kingdom, there were many more famous and prestigious magic schools.

If I were to pick a few representatives, there was the Raynac Magic Soldier Training Centre from the strongest nation, from the Raynac Empire, and the Seiki Women’s Residential College, whose skills were always outstanding enough to compete evenly with the winning team every year.

Considering the current level of our academy’s students, we didn’t have the right to even compete in individual or group events.

“Ruin’s our only chance of escaping the ‘Acadummy’ status, don’t you think?”

“That’s right. Ruin, what do you think?”

“……”

Acadummy.

To remove this shameful nickname that had been attached to the front of our Ignit Academy’s name for the last 6 years,

To carve into the continent the name ‘Ruin Ardell’ by representing the academy.

A desire was born.

Because this was a dream all the students who wished to become magicians dreamt about at least once in their life.

However,

“…The tests haven’t finished yet.”

It was too early to be sure and anticipate it.

The representative of the academy that would attend the Grand Festival was based on the test results of term one and the recommendations of the professors.

The term one tests hadn’t finished yet.

The 4th test still remained.

Which was, the <Man-to-man Combat Test> against Michael.

“Let’s focus on the next test first.”

The goal was to be victorious in the next test.

For now, that was the only thing that needed to be done.