The Return of the 8th Class Mage

Description

As a powerful 8th-class mage, Ian Paige took countless innocent lives under the orders of Emperor Ragnar, a close friend, and ruler of the Greenriver Empire. Yet despite their closeness, Ragnar views Ian as a threat and subsequently poisons him. Using time magic, Ian saves himself and returns 30 years to the past. Now a young boy, Ian joins an elite order of mages to hone his abilities once again. This time, he’ll get revenge on the emperor who betrayed him and reclaim glory as an 8th-class mage!

Original Novel

Original Webtoon:
KakaoPage, Ridibooks, Naver Series, Bomtoon, MrBlue, Comico

Official Translations:
English, T.Chinese, Thai, Japanese, French

Note: It's unknown if the series was canceled as it didn't adapt the novel Side Stories nor Part 2

Type

Manhwa

Associated Names

8-Class Mabeopsaui Hoegwi

8. Sınıf Büyücünün Dönüşü

8クラス魔法使いのやり直し

8클래스 마법사의 회귀

Le Retour du magicien de classe 8

Return of the 8th Class Magician

The Return of the 8th Class Magician

Повернення мага 8-го класу

Регрессия мага 8-го класса

การกลับมาของจอมเวทระดับ 8

回归的8阶魔法师

Groups Scanlating

Latest Release(s)

c.81 by LeviatanScans 2 years ago

c.81 by Asura 2 years ago

c.80 by LeviatanScans 2 years ago

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Status in Country of Origin

81 Chapters // 5 Volumes (Complete)

S1: 40 Chapters (1-40)
S2: 41 Chapters (41-81)

Completely Scanlated?

Yes

Anime Start/End Chapter

N/A

User Reviews

N/A

Forum

0 topics, 0 posts

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User Rating

Average: 7.6 / 10.0 (429 votes)

Bayesian Average: 7.51 / 10.0

11%

13%

28%

26%

12%

Last Updated

June 11th, 2025 1:27am PDT - 4 days ago

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Genre

Action Fantasy Shounen
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Categories

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Category Recommendations

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Legend of Exorcism: Tianbao Fuyao Lu (Novel)

Recommendations

N/A

Author(s)

Ryu Song

Artist(s)

Tess

Year

2021

Original Publisher

CarroToon

Daum (Expired)

Kakao

Serialized In (magazine)

KakaoPage (Kakao)

Licensed (in English)

Yes

English Publisher

Tapas (Feb 6, 2022)

Activity Stats (vs. other series)

Weekly Pos #830 (No change)

Monthly Pos #1625

(-36)

3 Month Pos #2463

(-13)

6 Month Pos #2774

(-63)

Year Pos #2894

(-281)

List Stats

On 970 reading lists

On 199 wish lists

On 861 completed lists

On 51 unfinished lists

On 228 custom lists

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Forum Posts Click to view the forum

User Comments [ Order by time added ]

It's okay but has room for improvement

by AM_Woody
4 years ago

Rating: 4.0 / 10.0

The general plot is a bit cliched and I wish the MC stopped getting items that mean a lot to him but not to the audience. The MC is also another brooding, emotionless type which is getting tiresome at this point.
A lot of the vibe reminds me of Trash of the Count's Family, but without the charm and side characters. It could definitely get better though.

The timeskip doesn't give me much hope..

Edit: I've dropped ch. 28

... Last updated 4 years ago

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Well constructed

by HailBritannia_
2 years ago

Rating: 7.0 / 10.0

It's a pretty short series but it never feels rushed. Every element was built with due time. The story is not that original, most elements are cliché but I wouldn't expect any different from a medieval fantasy reincarnation story. Still, the plot is well constructed so that its twists, such as (spoiler🙂 Ian being the son of the time dragon, can actually surprise you. Furthermore, the MC is pretty powerful from the start so you can enjoy that style a little, but when he faces off with the real antagonists he needs to actually be smart, he can't solely rely on his strength or luck.
The romance is cute and fits in very well. The characters are kinda plain, not much complexity even just to the main cast. Art is good.

Note: Krazyguy75 mixed up novel and manhwa, don't trust his review too much because the manhwa seems to have changed a few things, for instance the manhwa has a perfect ending while novel is still ongoing.

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Short! But (mostly) solid.

by q00u
2 years ago

Rating: 8.0 / 10.0

LOTS of things cut out from the novel, and some things just changed. But that's fine. Considering this as a stand-alone comic, it's great but a little short. Though, abrupt endings are still preferable to no endings at all. I do wish a little that it stayed a little truer to the source material, but it also might have turned into a slog if it dragged out.

Story-wise, even with the changes it still has some of the problems of the novel, especially early on when things are a bit too coincidental in the MC's favor. I could overlook these minor gripes, but your tolerance may vary.

In summary, an easy read, with a conclusion. What more could you ask for?

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Starts cliche and only goes downhill from there.

by Krazyguy75
2 years ago

Rating: N/A

This novel is bad. The premise is by the numbers; MC is a powerful mage who gets betrayed and as he dies uses magic to go back in time and uses his future knowledge to his advantage... except it's really awfully executed.

For example, the MC's future knowledge is... functionally useless. He uses it like twice to any real benefit, and the rest of the time it's just there to explain his talent and motivation. For the remainder of the manga, he just goes "AH THIS HAPPENED 3 YEARS EARLIER THAN IT SHOULD" which is meaningless since he neither mentioned nor prepared for it happening 3 years from now.

And then you have the MC himself. In terms of character, he's as deep as a puddle. Bland, emotionless, and his motivations are stated through internal monologues rather than through actually making the character convey them through actions. Meanwhile, the villains are cliche and boring too.

As for the plot, it's messy and pointless. Nothing he does seems like the act of a guy with future knowledge. He lucks into people that are important in the future, sure, but he doesn't seek them out, nor make preparations. Hell, the dude doesn't even know about any of the big behind the scenes conspiracies, rendering it even more pointless. And the pacing is godawful. One of the most important parts of the novel is skipped over in a timeskip; he goes from a minor character to a top tier mage and best friend of the crown prince, all off screen. Then suddenly we get big conspiracies and we're hopping all over the place, followed by an entirely pointless detour where the MC endangers everyone he cares about for literally no reason, only to overwhelmingly win via a never-before-mentioned cheat he got out of nowhere.

It's just blandly bad. Don't read this. I read to Ch. 80 and I regret having read past chapter 20 or so.

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Meh.

by SeesARead
1 year ago

Rating: 6.0 / 10.0

The MC is boring. It's a pretty standard revenge plot, but without all the spices. His growth is pretty much just physical. Last face off with rival is short and anticlimactic. Romance is forced. Pros to the manhwa are its artwork and conclusion to the existing conflicts.

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Solid

by Sniberus
1 year ago

Rating: 7.5 / 10.0

Pretty standard I would say for this type of story. I liked how there was a focus on politics but as others mentioned, there was a lack of character depth for pretty much everyone. Happy ending but the last arc did feel rushed with all these things being thrown at us without much explanation.

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Would be great if...

by BepsRose
5 months ago

Rating: 7.8 / 10.0

The ultimate villain's plan does not make sense for his goals. There are much easier and straight forward ways, especially given the skills of dobbelgangers and brainwashing he has. The 5th prince is also out-of-character dumb for going along with it. He knows he can't say "no", but he also shouldn't just be accepting when it's obvious the result will go against his own goals. Hard to enjoy the series when the logic behind what's happening is so flimsy.

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Solid Above Average

by crazyazn69
2 years ago

Rating: 6.0 / 10.0

Positives

Happy ending

Good art
Good Translation Available (so many manhwas are ruined for me because the translation is utterly atrocious. We're lucky to have good free translations available!)
Some interesting twists
Easy to read
Mostly plausible; e.g. Limited use of the anger=super powered trope or other nonsensical tropes

Negatives

Cliched (as other reviews have said)
Character depth is severely lacking
MC makes very limited use of future knowledge (thanks @Krazyguy75 for pointing this out)
Rushed dues ex machina ending

the final arc's plot twist surprise hinges on a magical item that Ian gifts without readers' knowledge of its existence. There's also this whole scene where Ian isn't sure that it will work but didn't put a backup plan in place. Yet, we hear characters exclaiming how thorough his planningw as... A lot of issues with these technical elements of the ending... (thanks again @Krazyguy75 for point out the ! magical necklace was magicked into existence without any forshadowing that I can remember

Overall: Not bad for a quick pick-me-up! Short and sweet is short in supply in the many mangha/manhwa I have read/am reading.

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Better than the reviews would suggest

by lilyinthedusk
3 months ago

Rating: 8.0 / 10.0

I delayed reading it due to the meh reviews, but I don't understand the hate.

The story was decent, the art was ok, the loose ends were explained in the end. The MC doesn't turn evil as the revenge plot would suggest, but he does his thing while keeping the focus on the revenge.

The romance is subpar, but somehow they tried to pull it off in the end. This whole romance subplot could have been done better.

8/10 for me

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Mostly boring

by Y_Sasuke
2 years ago

Rating: 6.3 / 10.0

Nothing feels alive. You don't care about anyone so it isn't fun. Nothing interesting happens too. The MC is mostly bland with being somewhat of an asshole from time to time.

The art is nice, everyone looks great, but pretty static.

... Last updated 1 year ago

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