Overpowered Archmage Doesn’t Hide His Talent
Chapter 72: 1:58. 1:58. 1:58.

Chapter 72 – 1:58. 1:58. 1:58.

The space that humans call ‘the Void’.

Around the princess’s huge throne, the Blood Demons gathered.

As usual, the meeting was still going on.

“From what we observed, the ‘target’ is more capable than expected.”

The ‘target’ was just a human mage.

Flan.

The secretary opened her mouth calmly.

By the way, the princess was still asleep, making a snoring sound.

The ‘girl’ looked at Maiev, who was standing in the corner.

Maiev had been looking around nervously since a while ago.

“Shouldn’t we hold Maiev responsible~? After all, she didn’t bring the item. That’s a mission failure!”

“That’s something we need to think about carefully.”

The ‘mask’ intervened right away.

“Thanks to her, we found an interesting human, didn’t we?”

“Fun? Ah… Yeah, it’s more than expected.”

“It would have been regrettable if we only took the glove. The blue flame looked like it lost its charm.”

Listening to their conversation, the secretary recalled the scene she saw at the arena.

The magic was not flashy, but it was faithful to the basics. But that basic was so deep and solid.

The root.

It was something that deserved to be called that.

In this regard, the opinions of the other Blood Demons were not much different.

The ‘girl’ snorted.

“So, what are we going to do with the target? We have to kill him if he doesn’t join us. Right?”

“He said he’s going to the hunting competition.”

“…Huh? A mage at the hunting competition? I’m curious about his head~”

But then.

“Hmm~ He does unpredictable actions… That’s what’s fun…”

“!”

The princess’s murmur was heard.

All the officers straightened their posture and bowed their heads respectfully.

“Your Highness. Please give us the next order.”

The secretary asked on behalf of the Blood Demons.

The princess yawned and barely opened her mouth.

There were tears in her eyes.

“I’m going to change the range of the item…”

“The range?”

“Uh-huh. The whole guy wearing the glove. From now on, this is the definition of the item. Hmm…”

The Blood Demons nodded.

They might have doubted this order if it was before. But now they don’t feel like it.

“Understood. Then we’ll send the mask to…”

“No.”

The princess raised one hand abruptly. But her slender arm soon fell weakly.

“Let’s use him a little and bring him… It’s the hunting competition…”

“The hunting competition… There’s a lot of room to use. It’s a big scale. Which way should we roll it?”

“We have to take over the market first…”

The hunting competition.

A festival where the monsters are subdued by force.

It’s not a schedule that ends in a day or two.

Food, equipment, elixirs… Various materials are invested.

In other words, it’s also a place where a huge amount of capital rolls.

The ‘girl’ nodded.

“Well, there’s nothing more fun than selling equipment to the knights~ They fight so fiercely.”

“No.”

The princess raised her hand again. Her slender arm fell weakly again. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the NovᴇlFɪre .ɴᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

“We… We have to invest in the mage side…”

“…!”

The Blood Demons’ eyes widened.

The ‘mask’ asked with a startled face.

“Your Highness? The magic department is only participating in one team, including the target. Isn’t that far from taking over the market?”

“The target will do something… We’re preempting… We have to monopolize the materials of the magic department…”

“If he doesn’t win, that monopoly is meaningless, I think…”

The mask shrugged her shoulders as she spoke.

She couldn’t oppose strongly because the opponent was the opponent.

“He has to do that to be an item… So everyone knows that… Yeah…”

That’s how it was decided.

The moment they were born as Blood Demons, they couldn’t resist the princess.

But then.

One of the Blood Demons who had been quiet until now raised her hand.

She was a Blood Demon called ‘silence’.

“Why…”

As soon as she met the princess’s eyes, silence started to sign.

[ The royal family is also paying attention to this hunting competition. ]

“The whole royal family won’t be… Who…”

[ The second princess. ]

[ Maybe because she’s dying. ]

[ She seems to be interested in magic lately. ]

“The royal family… the royal family…”

The princess lost her appetite.

“It’s a bit of a hassle… Be careful with your disguises…”

She raised her hand again.

“One last thing, tell Maiev this and… I’ll end the meeting…”

Her hand slowly fell to the ground.

Snores…

“…”

The princess’s breathing filled the emptiness.

The Blood Demons sighed deeply without anything to do.

“…”

A sense of pressure rose over Maiev’s face.

Until Maiev received the last message, the Blood Demons couldn’t leave their seats.

◈

“Dormitory… dormitory…”

After welcoming Trixie as the last member of the expedition team in the morning, Becky headed to Flan’s room after lunch.

The next training was to take place in Flan’s room, according to his somewhat unusual instructions.

Becky unfolded the trivia as she walked instinctively.

She had noticed more and more glances at her lately, and she had developed a habit of avoiding them.

“Ugh, this is ridiculous.”

Becky sighed deeply.

[ What’s up with Becky? ]

[ If they’re only going to pick freshmen, shouldn’t they be more selective? Why did they pick such a plain girl? ]

[ I heard a rumor that he picked her because she’s his girlfriend. ]

[ Isn’t that a serious problem? In an official event. ]

[ Well, what… It’s not like we’ve ever participated properly in an official event recently. ]

The free board of the trivia was full of stories about the expedition team. And half of them were about her.

She felt like she was sitting on a bed of thorns every moment.

She understood their feelings a hundred times over. She knew she was plain herself.

“I didn’t apply for this…”

But Becky knew her topic well. She had no intention of becoming the representative of the expedition team. She had no idea what Flan was thinking when he did this.

It was upsetting to see this.

“Hmm… but do I look like his girlfriend?”

But she also felt a strange mix of good and bad when she was mistaken for Flan’s girlfriend.

That made it hard for her to stop looking at the trivia.

How could she resist when her eyes kept wandering?

As she was walking and looking at the trivia.

Thud!

She bumped into someone hard.

“Ouch!”

Becky bruised her hip nicely.

The other person wasn’t empty-handed either, as a cold liquid poured over her body.

“It’s cold!”

“Ah… really. What kind of crazy woman…”

She wanted to get away quickly, but the atmosphere wasn’t over.

She saw the reason when she looked at the name tag.

The color was different.

A yellow name tag meant… a sophomore.

And he seemed to be a noble.

The seniors said to Becky, who had fallen.

“Can’t you see where you’re going? Ah… I just bought this…”

“I’m, I’m sorry.”

Becky got up quickly and bowed her head.

She couldn’t think of anything but avoiding this situation.

She muttered an apology a few times and then left the spot.

Even though she moved away as fast as she could, the seniors’ voices behind her were unusually clear.

“Isn’t that her? The one who was chosen as the representative of the expedition team.”

“Yeah? Her clothes are really shabby. Doesn’t anyone buy her anything?”

“Why don’t you buy her one then?”

“Are you crazy? I’m just saying. Who would like that girl…”

Becky slowly stopped walking.

She wanted to go back and explain that she didn’t want to be the representative of the expedition team, even now.

“The rumor about being his girlfriend doesn’t seem true either.”

“I know. Who would like a girl like that…”

“Is she stopping?”

“Leave her alone. She’s probably trying to dry her wet clothes.”

But Becky knew better than anyone that their eyes wouldn’t change with just an explanation.

They just hated Becky.

Because she was a commoner, because her clothes were shabby, because her perfume wasn’t luxurious, because she wasn’t outstanding… They hated Becky for those reasons, and Becky knew it too well.

“Let’s just go…”

Becky shook her head and started walking again.

This was always the fastest solution in her life.

As she walked, she arrived at Flan’s room.

The door was already open, and everyone was gathered.

“Is everyone here?”

Flan opened his mouth with his usual attitude. Then, his eyes met Becky’s.

“What are you…”

As he flicked his finger, Becky’s skin and clothes were instantly cleaned.

It was a trick that applied purification magic.

Snap!

The next moment, he flicked his finger again.

At the same time, the painting on the wall swallowed them whole.

The students looked around at the scenery.

The painted landscape and buildings…

They were seeing things they had never seen before.

“Don’t be surprised. It’s just an illusion.”

The students were even more surprised by his words.

How could a world that was nothing but an illusion be so elaborate?

Flan’s gaze turned to Trixie.

Trixie was awkwardly standing apart from the others.

She still looked uncomfortable.

“You’re not late.”

“I signed up on the list. That’s why I came.”

“Welcome, mage.”

The three words uttered by the blunt man.

It was just a word with a broad meaning, but the nuance it gave was a strange impression to Trixie.

“…Yeah.”

The girl’s eyes were dark blue today.

The calm lake seemed to hold a great determination.

A faint smile crossed Flan’s lips, and he soon spoke with a serious face.

“From now on, we don’t have a second to waste. Today’s training is ‘elemental maximization’.”

Maximization.

One of the skills that every mage who handles a specific element must hone endlessly.

But as with most things that are ‘every’, the difficulty of this was not easy.

There was no end to it.

“The essence of maximization is the same, no matter what element you change. I’ll demonstrate with a rock.”

Flan reached out and tore off the corner of the marble pillar. It landed in his palm.

But it wasn’t roughly torn off.

The spherical marble had a perfect golden ratio.

“It looks like a flawless sphere on the outside. But.”

Flan tossed it to Trixie. The blue girl caught it by surprise.

“How does it feel?”

Trixie felt it for a moment.

“…It’s surprisingly rough. And dusty.”

“That’s it.”

Flan hung the sphere in the air.

And shortly after, the marble sphere began to spit out impurities like a living creature.

The three students’ eyes widened.

“This is elemental maximization. There are a lot of impurities in the elements you handle without thinking. When you get rid of them all, you can call it a ‘pure element’.”

Just as you can increase the purity of mana, you can also increase the purity of the element.

Mana efficiency, output, manifestation speed… It’s pointless to say that everything improves.

Trixie was quietly lost in thought.

She had only thought of increasing her output, but she had never tried to refine the element itself.

She looked at both sides and saw that Louis and Becky had similar expressions.

They seemed to be the same.

“Ice, fire, light… You each handle different elements, but as I said before, the essence is the same. It’s not hard.”

Flan brought his finger to the air.

Blue mana began to paint along his moving fingertip.

It was the formula for an ice barrier.

“Let’s take Becky’s ice as an example. I’ll erase all the parts where the circuits overlap.”

As the overlapping parts were erased, the ice became twice as transparent. It was because the colliding mana was gone.

The bright light passed through the ice and split into hexagons.

The students’ mouths opened at the beautiful sight.

“Eliminate the conflicting circuits. It’s not hard, is it?”

Silence fell.

They understood the principle, but they had no confidence that they could succeed if they tried.

“If it’s not easy, do it until it becomes easy. Becky.”

“Yes, yes? No, what?”

Becky startled and lifted her head.

She had been diligently taking notes of Flan’s explanation, but she unwittingly used honorifics.

“Start with ice elemental maximization.”

Flan highly valued Becky as an assistant. He also recognized her potential.

She would surely be the first to master maximization today.

“Me…?”

Becky pointed to her chin with her index finger, and Flan nodded.

“Today’s training is until 2 o’clock. Start.”

“2 o’clock…”

Becky’s eyes flickered. She looked at the clock and saw that it was 1:58.

Two minutes would pass quickly if she made a few ice spikes. Her mental pressure eased a bit.

But then. Trixie intervened.

“What do you mean by that?”

“That’s what I said. The training is until two o’clock.”

“…We only have three days left for the subjugation mission, and you’re saying we’ll train for just two minutes?”

Flan didn’t bother to answer Trixie’s question.

He just turned his head and stared at Becky.

Becky finally created an ice spike in the air. All she had to do now was to purify it.

But as soon as she thought that.

Bang!

Another ice spike flew and collided with hers. Becky’s spike shattered into pieces.

The one who made that was, of course, Flan.

“?”

“If this was a real battle, you would have already lost. Don’t mess with me.”

“Oh, sorry.”

Becky nodded sheepishly.

She had to think of this as a real situation.

She had to be faster…

She created another ice spike.

Bang!

“…?”

“Slow and impure.”

This time, it exploded almost as soon as it was created.

Becky prayed for the two minutes to pass quickly, and created another ice spike.

Bang! Bang! Bang! . . .

After eight more times of her ice spikes being destroyed, Becky felt a huge sense of frustration and looked at the clock.

“Huh…?”

She let out a stupid sound without realizing it.

Trixie and Louis followed her gaze naturally. And at once, their expressions also turned dumbfounded.

“…?”

Even at this moment.

The clock was pointing at 1:58.

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