Cancellation.

A magic no one had ever seen before.

From all around, voices erupted in shock.

Most were reactions of pure astonishment.

However, the small girl remained calm.

No joy. No mockery. As if everything had gone exactly as expected.

She stood with her chest proudly forward, her expression composed.

In contrast, her opponent felt like he was dying inside.

A spell personally taught by the Omnigod, a constellation blooming in his grasp.

An intricate formula that seemed to engrave the laws of the universe itself.

‘Abyss Cradle.’

Yet, it had been mercilessly canceled.

His heart sank and his fingertips trembled.

“W-What…?”

The words caught on his tongue.

He couldn’t even complete a sentence.

‘This is impossible. Countering an undisclosed spell should be impossible.’

Magic had a mathematical structure.

A massive system composed of thousands of variables and hundreds of equations.

If even one element was off, the natural mana would fail to resonate with the Circle, and the caster’s Ideation would fail to manifest.

Thus, secrecy was fundamental.

Even veteran mages devoted years, even decades, to comprehending a single spell formula.

Yet, a child had just countered a spell she had never seen before?

No matter how intelligent she was, that should be impossible.

Arkeus gritted his teeth.

‘I refuse to acknowledge this possibility.’

The energy radiating from him turned severe.

His expression showed only fierce resolve.

“How did you learn to counter this magic?”

His voice was sharp.

Where was the leak? Was there a traitor?

Or had records of this spell been left somewhere?

Had his master abandoned him?

A whirlwind of thoughts stormed his mind.

Meanwhile, El showed no signs of deep contemplation.

Her small lips parted, a voice like a nightingale.

“I just… saw it and knew.”

There was no smile, no arrogance.

She did not boast about being a genius.

She simply stated the truth.

And that truth, drove Arkeus even more insane.

“Fine. If you won’t tell me, I’ll make you yield through sheer power!”

It wasn’t irrationality.

The stronger his emotions burned, the colder, the sharper, he became. As a true magician should.

His brain was forced into overdrive and calculations accelerated.

His neural network endured the overload as the density of his thoughts exploded.

Hundreds of equations unfolded simultaneously in his mind.

Three Circles reemerged, but with a distinct difference.

“He’s modifying his spell in real-time!”

“How is his brain even capable of this?”

“He’s just a first-year! How is this possible?”

“This is over. Now that he’s using a completely new formula, countering it again is impossible.”

“Arkeus is going to win.”

Gasping mouths. Wide, astonished eyes.

A testament to the overwhelming force the boy was revealing.

And El?

Still unshaken.

She ignored the murmurs around her.

There was no need to rush, because she could see everything.

By observing his moves, she suddenly gained insight.

And in that moment, she unintentionally saw through Arkeus.

‘How reckless. At this rate, his lifespan will be shortened. Is he okay?’

If the body of Sword Dragon contained the cosmos, then this boy’s upper dantian was wide open.

His frontal lobe burned as if it radiated light, his neurons igniting at hyper-speed.

Would his brain even be able to withstand this?

‘Savant Syndrome… So he’s like me. Another disabled genius.’

She hadn’t thought of the concept before, but upon seeing him, she instantly understood.

His brain suffered a developmental disorder from specific damage.

A compensatory reaction between the damaged left hemisphere and an overactive right hemisphere.

By sacrificing one part, he gained genius-level capabilities.

The result? Excessive activation of the occipital and temporal lobes.

Neuroplasticity.

His brain had rewired itself, forming new pathways or reinforcing existing ones in response to damage.

An unnerving truth settled in.

‘No wonder he feels so unsettling.’

His hyperactivated brain allowed him to perform calculations in one second that would take an average person tens of seconds.

He might struggle with social interactions, but in fields like music, art, mathematics, and memory, he would be extraordinary.

A living equation.

A being who reads the blueprints of the divine.

Once more, the mathematical prodigy chanted.

“Abyss Cradle!”

All eyes turned toward the sky.

A tyrannical force.

Whoosh!

The sight of shadows surging forth was bizarre and overwhelming.

Between his messy bangs, his focused gaze burned with intensity.

‘Last time, the spell collapsed due to Phase Instability.’

His Circle had been struck directly, shaking its mana resonance and dismantling its structure.

So, the solution was simple.

Adjust the formula.

The method of trapping light remained the same, but this time, deeper mathematics were embedded.

Riemannian Geometry.

No longer bound to Euclidean space, the magic was anchored onto a non-Euclidean surface.

Even if attacked, the spatial fabric itself would fluidly adapt.

By applying the general formula of the Mandelbrot Set, the magic acquired a self-similar pattern where each part mirrored the whole.

In other words… A fractal structure.

Now. this magic could not be broken.

Even if its phase wavered and the mana filter took damage, it would instantly restore itself.

While overwhelming talent drove excessive calculations, causing a nosebleed—

“Hm-hmm~”

Erniaan did not rush.

She even hummed a tune.

Her eyes opened.

With so many weak points available, there was nothing to fear.

Buzz!

She lifted a finger, forming a Circle.

And in that moment, she understood.

‘I already knew I was invincible against all projectiles from clearing the daily dungeons.’

That included magic.

From what she had briefly observed, fractal structures had self-similarity.

But perfect self-similarity did not exist.

Real-world fractals were finite due to computational and resource constraints.

In other words, they had a breaking point.

Erniaan spotted that exact breaking point at a glance.

‘I see it. The weak spot.’

Arkeus’ magic relied on an endlessly recursive structure.

Yet such a design theoretically demanded infinite computation.

Every point was subdivided, each subdivision replicated itself splitting endlessly, proliferating infinitely.

Every minuscule part shared the same fundamental properties as the whole.

But that was its fatal flaw.

Theoretically perfect.

But in reality, no one could process infinite calculations.

The moment theoretical infinity was applied to the real world, even a mathematical prodigy, had to stop somewhere.

‘He’s human. His brain cannot compute infinitely.’

The brain was a biological system with limited neurons and energy.

That was the ‘end’ of the fractal, and the weakness of this magic.

A single Circle floated in the air.

It aimed directly at the computational core.

A sniper shot.

Whoosh!

A faint sound.

A mere whisper slicing through the air.

As trivial as a bird flapping its wings.

Yet, the outcome was far from trivial.

“……!”

“Again?!”

“No wonder she’s the top student.”

“This is a wall I can’t even fathom.”

“I’m more afraid of how young she is.”

The magic collapsed.

Because it had taken the form of a structure. points connected to form patterns, patterns merged into a larger system.

At first glance, it seemed flawless.

But, that was precisely its vulnerability.

Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

One gust of wind.

One moment of resonant frequency alignment, and the entire structure collapsed under its own oscillation.

Arkeus’ magic was the same.

A small shock had struck the exact resonance point, triggering a domino effect.

As the spell attempted self-restoration, the reflected energy created internal resonance.

Crack.

A single fissure, spreading like ripples in water.

The shadows wavered. and within the gaps trapped light flickered through.

Flash!

The fractal tried to regenerate itself.

But the reference point it relied upon had vanished.

The collapse of the Mandelbrot Set’s foundation rendered the entire construct obsolete.

Arkeus’ eyes widened. his brain felt like it was going to explode.

Frantically, he ramped up his calculations.

He applied iterative numerical methods to approximate solutions for nonlinear equations.

Analyzed waveforms via Fourier Transform.

Attempted restoration via Inverse Transform.

But he was too late.

A singular matrix had no solution.

An irrecoverable state.

Once something had collapsed. no amount of computation could salvage it.

“This can’t be… just from a single crack?”

A prodigious mind.

The Grand Ten Thousand Tower’s design.

All of it. toppled by a twelve-year-old girl.

“I refuse to accept this!!”

And yet, Arkeus did not surrender.

A barrage of spells poured forth.

“Cancellation!”

But. every single one was sniped down.

Beep!

The test concluded.

Like a target riddled with sniper rounds.

Arkeus staggered off the podium, tattered and exhausted.

The final score?

1:0.

At a glance, it seemed like a narrow margin.

But for those who witnessed the battle, it was an overwhelming difference.

After the test, the stares were suffocating.

Too many people wanted to talk to me, but I still had things to do.

“Sorry~”

I bowed deeply and quickly escaped.

My next stop?

I sprinted back to my dorm.

My objective was clear, the Friday Dungeon.

‘I can’t ignore treasure chests.’

So hurriedly I entered.

–-------------------------------------------------------------

[You have entered the Dungeon of Prosperity.]

[Objective: Obtain the treasure.]

[Time Limit: 5 minutes.]

[Failure Condition: Death or time expiration.]

–-------------------------------------------------------------

Traps activated, but they were pointless.

My Heavenly Demon’s Body reacted with unimaginable speed.

‘I can feel my growth.’

There was no need to open my eyes.

I read everything through Ideation and dodged effortlessly.

And then I had an idea.

‘I think I can replicate what I saw earlier.’

As Ideation flared, Qi gathered, and a Circle formed.

It resonated with the surrounding mana.

Today, what I had witnessed became inspiration.

I transformed mana into a particle state and formed a filter to trap its properties.

The shape?

A sniper could only create one thing.

“This actually works...”

The Circle captured light, like a star.

It absorbed the mana in the atmosphere and became magic.

And now, It was a magic spell.

One that took the form of a bullet.