The Extra’s Academy Survival Guide - Chapter 80

The youngest researcher at Togg’s Magic Power Society, which was backed by the imperial family, Joseph Whitefeld.

He was a talented individual that didn’t have the need to come to Silvenia to simply learn beginner magic. Instead, by going all the way there just to receive a diploma, one could see how practical a person he truly was.

Being a researcher at a Magic Power Society, he already had a good income. However, he still didn’t have any sort of academic sublime.

Joseph was the younger brother of Dorothy Whitefeld, who was the top alchemy student amongst the soon to be fourth years.

Unlike his miserable-looking sister, he was rather quiet and had a well-mannered personality, but… the magic that he researched was all over the place.

Even though he was a freshman, he was already able to use intermediate magic. Three of them.

The intermediate fire magicPoint Explosion, the intermediate ice magicIce Spear, and the intermediate earth magicGround Smash…. He was a magician that couldn’t be seen as a mere freshman student.

The reason he could take the lead in passing through the apparition trial was because he was a man of great talent.

Becoming a top student in the magic department was something within his reach. And if he was able to defeat Wade Callamore from the combat department, becoming the top student of his grade was also possible.

His hair was rather unkempt since he was too lazy to cut it. With a thin headband, he kept his bangs slicked back to keep them from getting in the way. But all of the hair in the back was a complete mess.

“All right, go on ahead.”

Traces of explosions were scattered all around the entrance to the altar. Anise quietly lowered her head.

The match between two magicians was decided quickly.

In the first place, a magician of Joseph’s level would be able to quickly gauge an opponent’s skill level. The combat between them wasn’t something you could call a match to begin with.

Anise was a senior assistant that could be considered a specialist when it came to office work or school duties… but in terms of combat-related magic, she was only slightly better than her soon-to-be third year peers.

Of course, she wasn’t at a level that an ordinary freshman would be able to hold their ground against her. It was just the fact that Joseph was special.

“…There is no need for you to be so upset. What… is your name…?”

“Anise Haylan.”

“I see, Anise.”

Talking with a gentle voice, Joseph held a magic power stone. Behind Anise, he could see the altar’s large headstone. Once he went over there and presented the magic power stone, his exam would be over.

Joseph felt a little underwhelmed. He had spent more time climbing up the mountain than the actual exam itself.

“Miss Anise, I’m sure that you have your own specialized field. If it didn’t come down to combat, but rather another field that you specialized in, I’m sure I wouldn’t have been able to defeat you…”

“You’re exaggerating.”

Anise cut Joseph off as her head hung low.

“I am upset, but it’s not because of what you think. Like you said Joseph, I have my own specialized field that I’m good at.”

“Then…”

“Don’t be so nosy. If you’re going to go ahead, can you hurry up and move on…? I still have to deal with the other students that are behind you, so I want to save as much energy as I can.”

Anise slightly raised her head as Joseph looked at her expression. Indeed, it didn’t look as if she was depressed due to their difference in skill.

Certainly, the upperclassmen were definitely strong-minded. Joseph shook his head as he passed Anise, who had her head down.

Once Joseph had gone past her, Anise sat down on a nearby rock.

She then wiped her teary eyes.

She was upset. However, it was different from what Joseph had pointed out.

The basis for Anise bearing with her student life, which was like a long winter, was because ‘she is perfect at taking care of her work.’

There was no such thing as a trivial mistake to her.Completing everything neatly and with perfection,she was able to constantly justify her difficultschool life.

The reason Anise was upset was because of her own incompetence.

She broke the magically engineered items, she became so shaken by her rare mistake that she couldn’t say a word, she couldn’t come up with an alternative plan, and in the end, she couldn’t even block the north entrance to the altar.

After all of that, Anise’s perfectionism had become a double-edged sword—one that was like a dagger stuck in her heart.

She was someone that always talked big and acted like a perfectionist, but when it finally came to an important moment, she was the one who acted pathetic.

She was upset with the fact that she was still far from perfect, despite struggling to constantly do her best.

Anise sat on a rock as she sniffled, looking up at the altar on the summit.

The boy with blonde hair would be the last one to guard the altar. Anise, who normally rarely made mistakes, had ended up causing all sorts of accidents. And that boy was the one that was always trying to act according to the circumstances to fix them all.

He never got angry or acted annoyed. Rather, he was always trying to talk about things in a constructive manner.

Suddenly his face came to mind.

Her heart was beating quickly.

Anise sat at the entrance to the altar as she quietly calmed her heart.

***

“You’re the first guest.”

Joseph let out a deep sigh as he approached the altar. As expected, the exam wasn’t over yet.

There was still a boy sitting on the altar.

The boy, who had dazzling blond hair, had his bangs partly pushed back. He was most certainly an aristocrat. His sharp eyes glared straight at Joseph, but the way he sat on the altar looked rather relaxed.

“And it would be great if you are the last one, too.”

“It’s nice that the exam’s format is easy to understand.”

Joseph quickly looked around at his surroundings.

There were five or six magically engineered items that had fallen on the floor around the altar. It seemed to be an upgraded version of the apparition disks he saw on the way up.

However, the components of them were all over the place, as if someone were rummaging through them in a hurry. Those advanced magically engineered items weren’t something that could be easily fixed. It wasn’t a mere object that required a simplistic modification skill. It was something that you would need considerable knowledge in magic engineering to fix.

Near the altar, there were traces of wood and branches that were cut here and there. There was also a fairly large leather bag placed on top of the altar.

Wondering what the contents of the bag were, given the energy that he felt it seemed to be magic power stones. Since they were pretty expensive products, he didn’t expect them to be gathered together like that.

One of his conclusions was that the entire battlefield had already been orchestrated by that boy.

He couldn’t let his guard down.

“Then you already know the contents of the test, right? All that’s left is for you to present your magic power stone to the altar. However, I’m not going to simply let you do that.”

“As expected, the method of this exam is quite unique…”

Joseph held his chin, thinking things over before spitting out his next words.

“If I happen to succeed in defeating you and presenting the magic power stone… Then for the students who come after me, who will take the test with them?”

“Who can say? That’s not something you have to worry about.”

“That’s true. I’m sure there are alternatives in place.”

As Joseph spoke, he began to concentrate on his eyes.

He didn’t know the name of the boy with blonde hair. However, looking at the color of his name tag and outfit, he could infer that he was a magic department student like Anise.

When a magician fought another magician, they could instantly measure each other’s levels. While it wasn’t 100% perfect, it was good enough as an estimate.

In Joseph’s eyes, there wasn’t anything particularly powerful about Ed. Rather, it seemed that Ed was borrowing the power of the magic power stones that he presented to the altar.

If you could just borrow the power from Magic Power Stone to defeat a strong magician, then who would work hard to study magic in the first place?

Magic power was nothing more than fuel, after all. No matter how much magic power he might have in his hands, being born with a low amount of magic power also meant that the magic he could use must be of a very low level.

As long as one diligently trained in magic, eventually their innate amount of magic power would also grow over time.

Given all of that, that must mean… That he has barely trained his magic power at all.

Even though he was a student from the magic department.

All of a sudden, he was starting to look rather pathetic… Joseph sighed deeply. Still, he couldn’t underestimate him. He was an upperclassman. He thought it would be better to use intermediate magic to finish it quickly.

Pretty soon I’ll start to get hungry. Let’s finish this quickly so I can get a sandwich.

Thinking that, Joseph lifted his palms into the air.

And after a moment of concentrating, he stared straight at the blond-haired boy, clutching his fist.

Intermediate Fire Magic,Point Explosion.

Among the many combat magics, it was known as a brutal magic to ‘deal with someone you don’t know.’

The casting time itself wasn’t fast, and you had to concentrate quite a bit, but… Once you successfully cast it, it was nearly impossible to deal with.

Since it instantaneously produced an explosion at any desired point, in accordance with the amount of magic power the user could handle, one would have to move in ‘advance’ to deal with a single cast.

A series of evasive maneuvers to dodge the targeted point by reading your opponent’s intentions from their small hand gestures and the flow of magic power.

Once the point of explosion was set, it couldn’t be changed easily. So, once you could figure out where it had been set, you could deal with it easily. The issue was that it wasn’t easy to read.

It was difficult without having a fair bit of experience in magic combat, but Ed Rothstaylor quickly lowered his posture as he rolled.

Boom!!

The explosion was not as large as he thought, since it was activated quickly.

Point Explosionhad good versatility, but the magic power efficiency itself was awful. It was a level of firepower that could defeat his enemy, but it would be difficult to land a fatal blow.

Perhaps if one were capable of advanced magic, they could really usePoint Explosionto bring down entire buildings. However, that wasn’t possible at Joseph’s level.

Ed, who rolled out of the way quickly to dodge thePoint Explosion, drew magic power into his hand. Joseph quickly looked at the energy of the magic power he was gathering and inferred one of the attributes Ed used.

Fire Magic…!

In a showdown between elemental magic and elemental magic, the key was to figure out what element your opponent would use.

Joseph instantly started to gather magic power to cast defensive magic as he thought out all of the possibilities.

As for what he can use with that level of magic power… Ignite or Scorch…!

If it wasIgnite, then the fire would spread along the floor. If it wasScorch, then he’d shoot it instead.

Whatever it might be, it wouldn’t be able to break through Joseph’s defensive magic. Joseph immediately took his position as he casted the spell.

Ed’sIgnitespread across the floor as it attacked Joseph. But the burning flames only enveloped Joseph’s surroundings without actually reaching him.

The flames are bigger than I thought. It seems that he trained diligently in a beginner magic. Then that means he can even use intermediate magic…!

Joseph immediately changed his perception of his opponent.

Having studied at Togg’s Society for a long time, he could gauge an opponent’s overall skill in magic just by looking at the level of their beginner magic.

He didn’t know why his amount of innate magic power was so small, but it wasn’t the time to contemplate over something so trivial.

Still… He probably doesn’t have much experience with magic combat…!

Ed’sIgnitecontinued burning at Joseph’s defensive magic.

However, it was too difficult to close the gap in proficiency. Ed’s flames couldn’t break through Joseph’s defense. If he kept on going, it would only waste his magic power.

An experienced magician would find another way, rather than continue wasting their magic power like that.

No matter how many magic power stones he used, castingIgniteon that scale would consume a lot. Even before he ran out of magic power, he might faint from exhaustion.

It wouldn’t be long before the flames died.

The moment he thought that, a voice came from beyond the barrier.

“Joseph Whitefeld.”

How did he know his name? His opponent called out Joseph’s name with accuracy.

The flames disappeared as Ed Rothstaylor appeared right in front of him.

The flames weren’t meant as a means of attacking. It was a smokescreen to block his view. By the time he realized it, Ed Rothstaylor’s right foot was already squeezing through his defensive spell.

The defense magic was meant to block magic power from coming through, so if someone were to physically push themselves through it, they would be able to break through. To prevent a physical attack, he would have had to cast another spell along with it.

Ed then kicked Joseph’s stomach as he fell with a bang. The magic power stone that was in Joseph’s hand fell to the floor.

“Do you think that just because you’re a magician you will always face off against magicians?”

As Ed tried to pick up the magic power stone, Joseph quickly cast telekinesis magic, pulling the stone into his hand.

Fwoosh!

Joseph, who barely managed to grab the magic power stone, stood up clutching his stomach. The shock lasted quite a while, as Joseph had barely trained his body physically.

“Huff… Heuck…”

Joseph panted heavily as he barely managed to pull himself together.

And he was finally able to figure out the situation.

He was at Silvenia Academy. The best education institution on the continent. Joseph shook his head a few times as he finally understood the aim of all of it.

A magician basically trained in combat on the assumption of fighting a battle of magic. That was because a magic battle between magicians was considered the most profound and difficult.

However, in a real-life situation, it wouldn’t always be a battle of magic.

In reality, combat was a battle in the dirty mud. Battles that were fought with purely with magic power rarely occurred just as the textbooks said.

Joseph ruminated on his greatest weakness. Real practical experience.

“I won’t let my guard down.”

Joseph coldly looked down. He was kicked so hard that he couldn’t breathe properly for a while, but that wasn’t enough to interfere with the battle.

What he was certain about was that, even though he was a magician, he wasn’t fighting like one.

He was completely different from Anise, who had accepted her defeat in a standard procedure after realizing the difference in their skill as magicians.

Was the reason they placed Anise right before to have us drop our guard?

Ed gathered magic power in his hands again. Of course, Joseph wouldn’t just stay still.

It’s fire magic again…!

Joseph used as many as three different elements. Fire, Ice, and Earth.

He had planned to use a low-rank ice magic to set up anIce Wall. It would still block his view, but with a physical wall being built instead it wouldn’t be as easily broken through.

No….! Even this could be intentional!

Thinking that far ahead, he quickly changed his mind. When fire touched ice, the ice would melt, causing steam to rise. Then, in the end, his goal for blocking his view would have been achieved.

In terms of magic ability, Joseph was ahead. But still, there wasn’t a reason to give his opponent an unnecessarily favorable variable.

Since the range ofIgnitewas vast, it would be difficult to cover it with Earth magic. If that was the case, he would just have to cover it with an even stronger fire of his own.

No matter how fast Ed Rothstaylor moved, he wouldn’t be able to simply break through the fire.

With an even stronger power, if you had higher abilities than your opponent, it was advantageous to make the fight clean and simple!

In an instant, a flame of ridiculous scale rose from Joseph’s hand as he castScorch. The flame that shot forward went beyond simply blocking the view, but also covering half of the vacant space in front of the altar.

It wasn’t at a level that could be avoided. The moment Joseph felt convinced of his victory, Ed Rothstaylor popped out ‘right from the fire.’

Breaking through quickly, his clothes were burning. However, did that even make sense?

It was crazy to break through the burning fire headfirst like that. He might even have ended up facing a major burn.

However, other than his clothes burning in places, not a single part of Ed’s body—let alone a strand of hair—was burnt.

Flame Tolerance…?

FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

Soon after, the wind blew by as it extinguished all the flames that Joseph had set up. Ed Rothstaylor was already right in front of him.

A close-combat battle.

He was confident in the speed of his magic casting.

Block a physical attack? Block a magic attack? Between the two, Joseph barely managed to pick the correct choice.

Clang!

In an instant, he cast physical defense magic. It blocked the dagger that came from the leather sheath wrapped around Ed’s thigh.

Joseph’s eyes trembled as he saw the blade.

Ffff-Fucken crazy…! Where did he even take something like that out from…?!

Even though he didn’t really get stabbed, he was getting goosebumps.

That was the horror that came from the ferocity of a ‘real battle.’ Joseph swallowed harshly.

But with his physical attack being blocked, from that moment it was as if Joseph’s victory had been decided.

Since any further physical attack would be blocked, it was now a battle of who was first to cast a spell.

There’s no way that Joseph’s speed at magic casting would fall behind.

As he was thinking those words, a huge explosion engulfed Joseph’s surroundings.

BOOM!

“Keugh, Huff.”

With vigor matching a superhuman, Joseph didn’t let go of the magic power stone in his left hand. Holding onto it, he then walked over to an empty space.

As long as he hadn’t lost his magic power stone, it was still okay.

“Huff, haah…”

Standing in the middle of an open space, wearing those tattered clothes, Ed stared at Joseph’s magic power stone in a terrifying manner. Gripping it in his trembling right hand, Joseph barely managed to pull himself together.

Real Battle.

Shutting himself in a laboratory at the magic power society, he had only learned combat magic from textbooks and practiced it.

To him, the weight of those two words weighed heavily on his chest.

There was no such thing as a safety device. There is no judge to decide the winner and loser by scoring points. It was not a friendly spar.

It was clearly a ‘real battle’ that he was having with Ed.

And his opponent was not a person that would fight with formalities and purely magic.

He was a man that would use both ingenious and dirty tricks to take down his opponent.

Don’t lose your mind…! Keep thinking…!

He couldn’t predict what his opponent would do next. In the first place, foul play didn’t exist on that battlefield, so no one could say anything regardless of what he decided to do.

In order to achieve the title of a Class A Student, you had to be able to adapt at least to that extent. Remembering that fact, Joseph calmed his breathing.

No matter what, he can’t cast beginner magic faster than me. Did he set up a magic circle in advance… or imbue magic into an object beforehand…?! He might have compressed the magic casting process itself!

Joseph quickly began to wrack his brain. And his extraordinary talent for knowledge wasn’t in vain.

Thinking it over, it was strange that he had just ran through the flames with his bare body. It didn’t even look as if he was wearing flame-resistant equipment.

And that vast amount of magic knowledge Joseph had all led to one place…

Elementalism…!

Joseph went back into a defensive stance. Ed didn’t move right away.

A brief lull on the battlefield.

Contracted spirits often granted ‘Regularly Activated Magic’ to the owner. In general, it was something that people call a ‘blessing.’

Low-Rank fire spirits often give the ‘Blessing of Fire Fortune’, a constant magic that temporarily increased flame resistance. That was likely what had happened.

In addition, it also explained how he managed to activate the explosive magic faster than Joseph.

It’s not magic casting… It’s elementalism…!

Whether it was the magic, equipment, or strategy… It was all prepared to catch the opponent off guard and defeat them.

That blonde-haired aristocrat, who was wearing clothes that were half burnt, looked down at Joseph with a cold stare. He was someone that couldn’t be categorized as a magician. He was just someone that used magic.

A person who was used to combat itself. His knowledge of how to make up the difference in specs… he was a person that was thoroughly practical.

Joseph wasn’t great with Spiritual Resonance. But if he concentrated, he could just barely see the outline of a low-ranking spirit.

Gathering magic power in his forehead and looking around, he finally saw the figure of a bat made of flames floating around behind Ed.

Did he hide the fact he is an elementalist by cleverly mixing in fire magic with his attacks…?!

Thinking about it, that wasn’t the only chess piece he was hiding.

The surrounding environment.

The tree branches that were cut off. The magically engineered items that were rolling on the floor that had caught Joseph’s eyes. Besides that, he’s also probably hiding another type of skill or something.

Can I manage to deal with all of that…?

Joseph has a realistic personality. He quickly shook his head as he revised his strategy.

“I lost. I will return the magic power stone.”

Saying that, Joseph slid the magic power stone across the floor.

Ed’s gaze was momentarily directed at the magic power stone. It was a hunch that Joseph had quickly come up with.

No matter what, Ed couldn’t help but turn his attention over there. After all, Ed’s goal was to take away the magic power stone.

Then, while his gaze was focused elsewhere, he castIce Spearfaster than anyone else.

A magic that was cast quickly also meant less power. But that didn’t matter. Moving Ed’s attention away was just bait. Ed was subconsciously convinced that everything Joseph did was predictable. Up until that point.

But if you wanted to win in a real battle, there’s no choice but to catch your opponent off guard.

All the way down to his core, Joseph was a magician that always studied in a secluded room in the magic power society. That same Joseph kicked off the ground as he went flying with the ice spear.

“HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

His trembling voice cut through the air as it went towards Ed’s chin. Wary of theIce Spear, Ed lowered his head as Joseph’s fist hit Ed’s right cheek.

Ed’s head swung around.

However, it was just his head.

Of course he didn’t fall down on his face or go flying. That was a difference in weight class.

Joseph, who had researched magic all his life, had been pushed all the way to this corner and let out a punch… Even Ed didn’t expect it.

With his fist still there, Ed’s head went back to normal. The cold glare he had remained the same.

The distance between them was zero. If he made a fist, he could hit him right away.

Joseph swallowed his breath. His last bit of pride forced him to hold back his tears.

But the moment Ed raised his hand and tried to grab Joseph’s arm, a wind with an unknown origin blew.

Woosh!

It wasn’t magic that Ed had cast. However, it was the ‘regularly activated magic’ that was always protecting Ed. In other words, a spirit’s blessing.

There was no way that he would have only made a contract with one spirit. That much was obvious. Joseph was then thrown into a secluded space out in the open by the unexplainable wind.

“Gasp! Gulp!”

He barely managed to calm his body, holding onto his breath. His eyes were already enlarged to their limit.

Since it was being activated outside of Ed’s direct will, that was certainly the blessing of a spirit.

Joseph knew everything about Spirit Blessings.

A magic in which once every set amount of time, when an unexpected attack came, the enemy was blown away by a strong wind.Storm’s Blessing.

Maybe because it hadn’t been long since he made the contract, but the activation speed was slow.

But still, it had certainly been activated.

The spirit that provided this blessing. At the very least, Joseph knew of one entity that did so.

Joseph looked up at the top of the altar’s headstone with trembling eyes.

Thinking of it, the wind that extinguished all of Joseph’s flame magic was also something that Ed didn’t cast himself.

So, the source of this wind must be… From the top of the tall headstone.

Something that Joseph couldn’t see with his resonance level. Surely it was sitting around on top of that massive headstone. If Joseph’s prediction was correct, then…

Just how much more did he have hidden?

Did that mean that everything thus far had just been him measuring things out? Because there were a lot more freshmen that he would have to deal with?

“If I happen to succeed in defeating you and presenting the magic power stone… Then for the students who come after me, who will take the test with them?”

Just how arrogant was that thoughtless remark of his?

Shink!

Ed took out his dagger, holding it in hand as he once again took his stance. Seeing his trembling eyes, it seemed as if he was staring at Joseph with ill intent.

Joseph yelled out in surprise.

“R-Really, I mean it. I lost!”

Then, in an instant, Joseph castPoint Explosion, which destroyed his own magic power stone on the floor.

That was the easiest way to admit his defeat.

“……”

Watching the magic power stone be smashed into fragments, Ed waited a bit before relaxing his shoulders.

A moment of silence.

“Okay, good work.”

Ed then spoke about the battle as he cleaned up and put away the dagger. Joseph was the only one left dumbfounded.

“You were great in the end. In your own way, you showed an extraordinary determination. You had even got that punch in. Well, you can get going now.”

He then sat back down on the altar as he cleaned up his burnt school uniform.

“……”

Joseph slowly rose from his seat as he quietly spoke.

“What is your name?”

“Ed Rothstaylor.”

Ed brushed his sleeves off as he sat still on the altar, waiting for his next opponent.

Seeing Ed sit on the altar, looking exactly the same as when he came in, Joseph was dumbfounded.

There was one thing he was sure of.

That person, he still hadn’t used half of the methods he had prepared.