The phrase "I want to kill the Mad Wizard" was a thought that had crossed the minds of every student who took his class. Where he got them from was anyone's guess, but every week, he came up with fresh, imaginative torment for his students, the kind of suffering no one would’ve ever anticipated in their wildest nightmares.
If the difficulty had been simply torturous for the sake of pain, it would have been easier to throw in the towel and just give up. But every trial was meticulously designed to look just within reach. Just when they thought it was impossible, there was always that tiny, teasing glimmer of possibility, mocking them. “You sure you can’t handle it?” he seemed to taunt, stoking their frustration and determination to push on. And infuriatingly, after crawling through the ordeal, they would often emerge noticeably stronger.
Take one student, for example, who had been petrified by the thought of wielding a sword against another person.
"But... but raising a weapon against someone... it’s terrifying. Just imagining hurting someone makes my hands shake..."
Yet eventually, that same student was /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ swinging a club at an unsuspecting classmate’s head without a second thought, desperation overtaking hesitation.
Even though the lessons were brutal, there was something endearingly off-kilter about the Mad Wizard himself. In class, he was an impenetrable figure, practically the Academy’s final boss. But outside of class, in one-on-one conversations, he sometimes seemed, well... almost goofy.
"Professor, what are you doing down there on the floor?"
"Oh, hey, student... I dropped a coin, and it rolled under the couch. My arm's a bit short to reach it. It’s just barely out of reach."
"Why don’t you use magic?”
“Well, that’d feel like the coin won, wouldn’t it? Just wait; I think I can get it... Just a little more...”
When not draining his students' souls with hellish lessons, he was closer to an awkward young man than the terrifying dark lord they knew in class. Yet they couldn’t forget the stories. He'd once swept through and "collected" rogue wizards in the Academy, or rumors of his adventures beyond its walls. It left them torn between awe and frustration.
One day, a student finally worked up the courage to ask the question that had been on everyone’s mind.
“Professor, why exactly... is your class so unbearable?”
"Ah, that? Funny story. I once consulted with a certain Academy expert. I asked what sort of experiences students needed most."
“Oh? And?”
“They said, ‘Trials, monumental ones, something that would bring them to the edge of life and death, challenges that push them to their very limits.’ That’s when it hit me. The students at this Academy were prepared for this, weren’t they?”
The Mad Wizard wasn’t done.
“I originally thought of blending in a little entertainment, you know? Like how you have recreation during retreats? To give a taste of the sweet dream of escape from reality..."
"Ah... I see."
“But this is much better, don’t you think? Rather than wasting time with sweet illusions, grinding through these grueling trials really helps with skill growth. Right?”
He went on to explain his original, well-intentioned syllabus. The student listening visibly stiffened with every word.
When they walked away, they muttered blankly to themselves, "Who... who is that psycho?"
After that, rumors spread through the Academy about the “Nameless Warrior X,” a villain who, with just a few silver words, had robbed them of the blissful, indulgent experience they should’ve had. And in its place, he’d left behind dungeons filled with traps, deceptive sensory shifts, and mutations. How could they forgive this?
Sure, the high difficulty meant greater skill gains. They knew it. They knew it was a long-term advantage to receive grueling training at the Academy if they wanted to become elite fighters.
They knew that this Academy class was now known as a golden cohort because of it...
But still.
Still...
But still...!
"Give me back my perfect dream lover!"
Somehow, they couldn’t help but feel an irrational surge of rage.
Once the existence of “Nameless Warrior X” was uncovered, around half the curses muttered by the students were aimed at him. They didn’t know who he was, but they wished him nothing but bad luck, endless trials, and suffering.
And as if that devoted sentiment had reached the heavens...
Selvier eventually found herself sucked into the Mad Wizard’s Grand Maze .
A sleek, modern white lobby stretched before her, leading to a door into the first stage. No exits, only a timer. Whether they survived or not, they’d have to endure the 24-hour countdown to escape. There was a clear implication: would they slack off and wait it out, or try to complete the challenges within?
Selvier thought about it. She didn’t know the scoring criteria for the team tournament events, but one thing was clear: The Grand Maze of the Mad Wizard had the highest point value, and with that came immense difficulty.
It was because it had been created by the Mad Wizard.
The reasoning was simple. The moment it was assigned the highest points, he’d probably raised the difficulty level accordingly.
Battle of Glory had a score of 113.
The Grand Maze ? 179 points.
It was wise to anticipate an increase in difficulty worth those 66 points. Steeling herself, Selvier opened the door.
"If I clear this... I might be able to beat Baekseol and take the win!"
Creeeeak—
Beyond lay a forest of tentacles.
“Come here, child, come, and play in our arms...”
“Here, look, a luscious, sweet fruit awaits you...”
Whispers echoed, bringing with them complex mental attacks.
And with them came the faintest sound of poison needles shooting out intermittently, silent and deadly.
“What is this hell?! Why is there something like this at the Academy—!!”
“Poison needle! It’s... it’s burning... my body...”
“Mother, my mother is here. Mother!”
Most of the terrorists abducted by Envers were barely hanging on in this stage. They’d never encountered anything remotely like this.
Selvier watched for a while, then crossed her arms, unimpressed.
“Well... I suppose it’s the first stage, so it’s not that hard.”
Dodging the tentacles was easy, and blocking the mental attacks was even easier, the kind of task anyone who’d attended the Mad Wizard’s classes could do in their sleep.
As she deftly sidestepped the tentacles, she spotted three Academy students sitting on the floor, playing tic-tac-toe, casually waving her over.
“Hey, Selvier’s here.”
“Hey, we’ve been short one AoE caster. Wanna join us? With you, we’re all set.”
“Sounds good. You guys weren’t in the mansion; where were you?”
“There was a seven-point stage outside called ‘Which One is the Poison Mushroom?’ We thought they wouldn’t actually have real poison mushrooms... Turns out it didn’t poison us but teleported us here instead.”
The student, who had apparently ended up in the maze by making the wrong choice, looked like he was ready to kick himself. It seemed other attractions were no joke either.
The newly formed party of four—scout, tank, AoE caster, and single-target DPS—set off, taking up a formation.
The scout zigzagged through the tentacles, scouting the path ahead. Even a wall of tentacles had spots that were thicker and thinner.
Cautiously observing the gaps and movement patterns, they forged a route.
“This is the way. Move forward.”
“Over there’s open too. What about that?”
“I saw a terrorist get snatched over there. There’s a giant tentacle down below.”
As they advanced, they focused on preserving their stamina, avoiding or removing any troublesome tentacles. Any attack directed at their firepower caster was handled by the tank.
“Rear alert. I think the giant tentacle is coming...?”
“That’s an illusion.”
“Yeah, it’s an illusion. Seriously? You’re a senior and still falling for that?”
"Hey, can’t a person make a mistake...?"
They countered mental attacks with quick information checks, and Selvier created bursts of hot air to block poison needles.
Working like a well-oiled machine, the impromptu team steadily advanced through the forest of tentacles. They made it look so easy, a captured terrorist hanging limply in a tentacle felt the sting of shame.
Watching from an external screen, an expert dungeon explorer stared wide-eyed and asked a nearby student.
“Is that team specialized in dungeon exploration? Their skills surpass even our veterans with five years of experience... Do you know their names?”
“As far as I know, there’s a dungeon exploration club, but I think those two are knight trainees, and that girl’s a grad student.”
“Not aiming for dungeon exploration as a career? They’re that good?”
“Well...”
Without risking death, the students were trained to the point they almost felt like they would die. Without ever leaving campus, they experienced more than a year of life-or-death encounters.
Whether they wanted it or not, the Mad Wizard’s class expanded their worldview, sharpening their reactions. They could even punch at tentacles that appeared around corners on instinct alone.
An alarming rise in baseline skill levels.
“Pretty much everyone here can do that, actually.”
A terrifying leveling-up effect.
"Looks like the third stage is solo. Selvier, good luck.”
“When the ground suddenly dropped out from under us, we were done for if it hadn’t been for you... But can’t you dial down the heat a little? It’s way too hot when you’re around.”
“Then go hang out with Baekseol!”
“She doesn’t team up...”
After parting ways with her improvised team, Selvier entered the next stage. So far, progress had been smooth.
She’d been startled when the floor suddenly dropped, but most upper-class students could double jump.
Selvier had crossed the gap by triggering an explosion beneath herself and lifting the whole team.
“Hmm... easier than I thought.”
For a moment, she even wondered if the Mad Wizard had softened things for the festival, easing up for the spectators’ sake.
Or maybe her brother was going easy on her?
Then, as she walked into the next room, those thoughts evaporated.
“......”
Calmly, she went over everything she saw, mindful that the professor always had an intent behind his questions.
First, soldiers surrounded her from all sides, armed with rifles. Thanks to her excursions to the modern world with Aisha, she knew just how powerful firearms could be.
Assuming she could summon the Angel of Flame, three shots would probably be enough to take her down.
The soldiers were crouched behind thick barricades. If she wanted to reach them, she’d need a shield of flames powerful enough to incinerate them and melt any bullets.
Next.
On the far-off rooftop of a building, she noticed a glint. A sniper. Taking them down was unlikely at this range. She’d have to counter the precise shots of a high-caliber sniper bullet with targeted bursts of heat.
Next.
There were heat-sensitive magic mines outside a circular perimeter. They detonated when temperatures rose, and their power... was likely fatal.
But when she activated Angel of Flame, the area temperature would skyrocket. If she used her transformation, the mines would detonate. But if she didn’t, she wouldn’t be able to reach the temperature needed to melt the bullets.
So...
“Activate Angel of Flame, control the wasted heat so it stays within a restricted radius, create an even shield while simultaneously responding to intermittent sniper shots, and incinerate the forces while carefully managing the heat.”
Control at the highest level. Compensate for the weaknesses of her transformation with sheer skill.
In short, he was asking her to achieve the control and defense capabilities of Flame Serpent (求愛炎巳).
Beep.
The monitor flashed with 000. Selvier didn’t need an explanation to know it was counting her attempts. Each reset would tick it up by one.
She smacked her forehead.
“Seriously, why don’t you just tell me to ascend right here?!”
Every problem had an intent behind it.
Grumbling to herself, she understood the Mad Wizard’s clear intent for her to “stay alive.” So, she decided to take the challenge on.
“Alright, let’s do this...”
It was only on her 71st attempt that she realized there was no abandon option.
If she could go back in time...
-A trial.
If she could leap through time and correct her mistakes...
-A monumental trial, a great one that would bring them to the brink of transcendence. The Academy students are only lacking that...
She would have shot Brilliant Flame (輝瀲) at her past self’s mouth.
“You... Madwoman, Selvier...”
On her 219th attempt, she unlocked Fiery Wings.
And failed to clear the stage for the 219th time.