How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 139

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magic Family (139)

“Let’s go.”

Cheringen gestured with his hand.

I turned around one last time and headed toward the exam hall.

The first-year exam would take place in the evening, so there was still plenty of time left, but seeing the first-years loitering around here made me turn my head involuntarily.

Cheringen, who had been watching this, said.

“You seem to be constantly worrying about something lately.”

“Mm, yeah. Did it interfere with training?”

“No, not at all. I didn’t mean anything particular by it.”

He smiled and nodded toward the exam hall again.

At any other time, no one would have cared, but today the situation is different.

‘He needs to pass today’s exam to move on to the second round.’

Whether it turns out well or badly, I have to make sure he passes.

Of course, there’s no need to worry too deeply about it.

Based on what I saw today, Adelbert absolutely won’t fail in the first round.

* * *

‘Ah… so this was it.’

That dawn, I rested my chin on my hand and stared at Adelbert across the desk.

There had been things that were hard to understand, like his favorability suddenly increasing and him starting to shed tears, but I was able to realize the reason even before thinking deeply about it.

The Antagonist muttered slowly with barely open eyes.

“…I don’t understand why it had to be that way. All my friends with similar abilities received grades according to their usual performance…”

‘He’s decided he’s found someone to talk to.’

Just in case, I had stopped by Bavaria and then visited him once more, and the Antagonist obediently opened the door for me.

Most of what I said seemed to bounce off his ears, but instead it seems his heart softened because he decided he’d found someone to share his worries with.

I wonder if no one had tried to have a conversation with the Antagonist until now…

‘Well, this guy probably wouldn’t have accepted it.’

The Antagonist would have driven everyone away while not knowing his own desires. It was worth sitting there for an hour and a half using script interpretation as an excuse.

This is going more smoothly than expected.

I had been wondering what to do next to make him let me close, but contrary to his prickly impression, does he trust people easily?

‘Is it because he’s young, or is that just his nature?’

It’s probably the former, but no matter how I look at it, I can’t get used to the childhood of the villain who would lead hundreds of mages to try to kill Elias.

It would be interesting to raise him in the complete opposite way.

I tossed him a purified candy I had been thinking of giving to Fai.

“Want to eat this?”

“…”

The Antagonist ate it without complaint and fell silent.

Aside from being a little sleepy, he was tolerable to be with.

The next day, I also spent most of my time with Adelbert.

When classes ended, Elias sent call requests, but since I can talk to Elias anytime, I rejected them all.

‘It’s obvious he’d cause a scene if I told him I was with Adelbert.’

This is something I’m doing so Elias and I can get along well, so he shouldn’t cause a scene.

For some reason, Leo also contacted me when he usually doesn’t, but right now I’m not attending any meetings at Bavaria and only receiving written reports.

In that situation, I didn’t have the energy to take the Antagonist’s calls. We meet in the classroom in the morning anyway, so there’s no need to talk on the phone.

Two days passed without incident, and it became the morning of exam day.

Since it was exam day, I had a brief sparring session with the Antagonist from the morning.

Adelbert, who looked much healthier than a few days ago, greeted me calmly.

“Thank you, Senior. Could you train with me once before the exam?”

“Sure.”

Compared to the beginning, this is tremendous progress.

The Antagonist still doesn’t seem to have completely abandoned the idea that I’m Pleroma, and he seems to have slight doubts about my magical abilities, but given the situation, he didn’t voice such doubts.

“After rambling on by yourself so enthusiastically, you recovered on your own.”

“…It’s because Senior often dragged me out.”

The Antagonist spoke while avoiding eye contact, seeming embarrassed.

That was true. Every time the Antagonist tried to return to his room, I held him back and pushed him into the training ground.

‘You have to pass, don’t you?’

Even if I want to raise and use him, he needs to achieve some position somewhere to be used efficiently.

Even if he whines, let him whine while training.

Fortunately, with today’s Adelbert, he’ll pass this first round smoothly without any problems.

And so, after lunchtime passed, it became time for the second-year exam.

Once each person’s waiting turn was over, they could return to the classroom, but not only Class 2 students but even Class 1 students were all staying and waiting without leaving their seats.

I now realized that the reason was because of our team.

From when our team was called, the chatter of students who had been talking loudly until now completely disappeared.

“Lucas.”

Cheringen, standing in front of the exam hall, smiled playfully and extended his hand.

It was obvious what he wanted me to do.

The Antagonist had been continuously attempting something like high-fives during the past three days of training with me.

‘Well, there’s nothing I can’t do for him.’

Since it’s before the exam, to build up our resolve as well, I lightly hit the Antagonist’s hand.

Cheringen and I matched surprisingly well.

The Antagonist was skilled like Leo, and accordingly, he definitely had composure.

No matter how I moved, the Antagonist moved to match my rhythm.

As we entered the exam hall, he spoke.

“I saw the score sheet earlier. The average was 5.2 points, and everyone took between 5 to 10 minutes.”

Unlike the 1-1 round, these are dismal scores.

Most finished the exam around 8 minutes.

“And among the second-years, only two teams received scores in the 9-point range.”

“I see.”

Victims are classified into a total of 9 grades.

In the 1-1 round exam, we tested with the lowest grade, Grade 9, but this time we’re testing with Grade 6.

Since the level suddenly jumped up three steps, the number of teams receiving good evaluations definitely decreased.

The third-years were in the same situation.

Cheringen, wearing gloves that stuck perfectly to his hands, looked at me and smiled.

“Shall we give it a try too?”

I answered with a smile instead of words.

It wouldn’t be ‘shall we try.’

For him, who always occupied first place along with Leo, there’s only the option of ‘definitely succeeding.’

Of course, that’s the same for me too.

While Cheringen stared straight ahead waiting for the announcement, I fiddled with the neck part of the issued practice uniform to separate it from my skin. Unlike the school uniform, it stuck to my skin, creating a strangely alien feeling.

[30 seconds until exam start.]

As practiced, I stood at a distance from Cheringen, drew my wand from the holster and spun it. Bright red mana coiled around the ebony wand.

Cheringen, who had been watching this, said.

“Your mana always looks like fire no matter when I see it.”

“That’s because of the color.”

“Haha, right. It’s also fascinating how your eyes are pink.”

I chuckled.

That was something Elias had been saying every time he saw me lately.

Because Elias had been shouting it around loudly, unlike before, I could feel students glancing at my eyes, and now I see that Cheringen was definitely influenced too.

“I’m curious what it would have been like if your hair was the same pink color.”

“As if that could happen.”

I answered that way, but actually, the eye color doesn’t make sense either.

A person’s eye color can’t be pink.

It definitely wasn’t like this from birth.

Just then, an alert sound cut through my thoughts.

[…3, 2, 1. Exam begins.]

The air in the exam hall darkened and a mass formed in the distance.

Grades 1 through 3 were excessively powerful, so aside from their shared trait of intelligence, grouping the three together was meaningless.

Instead, grades 4 through 6 and grades 7 through 9 had their own tendencies.

Grades 7 through 9 repeat standardized attacks and defenses that can be resolved with simple quantity, but grades 4 through 6 are different. These attack and defend much more calculatedly than the lower grades.

Just like right now.

Crash—!

As soon as the start signal sounded, the core floating and writhing in the air poured vitriol onto the floor and pushed it in all directions.

‘Since it has no eyes, it’s probably trying to gauge the enemy’s position with vitriol.’

The antagonist was waiting for us to attack.

Real victims also can’t see properly ahead, so they move like that.

‘Then I’ll have to go along with that.’

I drew the shape I would spread my mana in my mind, then struck the floor with my staff.

The moment my mana touched the vitriol rushing like waves, the vitriol was drawn like a magnet and clumped together into a single pillar.

Whoooosh—

The vitriol surged up, twisting and turning as it began rushing toward me. While I deployed my attack, Cheringen leaped to the opposite side and stood beyond the core.

‘I have to take it head-on.’

Receiving it is better strategically than attacking.

If I attack, the antagonist will move much more dynamically and launch counterattacks.

That wouldn’t be a problem either, but it’s definitely a more troublesome method.

Crash—!

I infused my legs with mana and rolled across the ground, spinning my staff and gripping it with both hands.

A pale pink barrier spread out centered on the staff held horizontally.

The vitriol that had been twisting as if searching for where the mana hit rushed right up to my nose. In the instant I closed and opened my eyes, my vision turned black.

Crash crash crash! Crack— Crack—

Thud—

The vitriol was blocked by the barrier and flowed down.

Taking advantage of the moment my attention was drawn, Cheringen attacked the core, producing a dull impact sound.

The impact is momentary.

If you just launch an attack, the victim will absorb the attack with vitriol or quickly repair that area.

‘The real thing starts now.’

Though we hadn’t been at it long, the faster we finish this, the better.

Cheringen’s barrier spread out behind the core. Golden light flashed brilliantly.

Everything was as we had practiced. As I extended my wand forward, red mana surged up in an arc and flew out.

[I saw a vision in the night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.]

Whoosh—

As soon as the words ended, the attack split into four streams and flew in all directions.

The core, belatedly detecting the approaching mana, writhed as it tried to retreat forcefully backward looking for an escape route, but it was already too late.

The corners of my mouth twisted upward.

Crash! Bang!

Splat—

The vitriol that formed the core splattered and stuck to the barrier behind it.

“This has been completely pulverized.”

Cheringen’s weighty voice came from far away.

Normally it would scatter in midair then be drawn together like a magnet, but now it couldn’t do that.

We pressed and spread it from both sides to prevent it from regenerating flesh.

Now, we had to kill that part that continuously produces vitriol.

I whispered an incantation while raising my staff.

[That you may cause them to turn back.]

Whoooosh—!

The moment I brought it down, flames shot up from the floor to the tip of the staff.

As I gripped the staff with both hands and spun it in a large circle, sparks flew along its path and mana surged violently. I aimed the tip of the staff at the center of the vitriol.

The problem was that it was all black, so I couldn’t tell where the part acting as the core was….

[I will bend my bow toward his face.]

I had no choice but to trust what we had practiced.

The moment I completed the magic formula for correction, flames that weren’t hot lifted from my hands and staff and flew toward the center of the core.

Crack— Bang!

There was a sound like thin mud spreading, and my mana penetrated the vitriol and reached Cheringen’s barrier that was stuck in place.

At Cheringen’s gesture, the air cleared completely and he raised his wand to the sky.

Crash!

Unlike Leo’s soft barrier, sharp golden mana struck down like iron bars. The mana trapped the vitriol remains and contaminated air inside the barrier.

Cheringen compressed the barrier and crushed the vitriol. At the same time, an alert sound ending the exam was heard.

Beep—

[1 minute 33 seconds.]

“Hmm, set a record.”

Cheringen, who walked leisurely to my side, attempted another high-five.

‘This guy really likes this.’

It makes sense he’d be happy.

It’s the shortest time even including 2nd years, no, 3rd years too.

I lightly hit his hand and waited for the score to come out.

Cheringen straightened his clothes and asked.

“What score do you expect?”

“Who knows. You?”

Cheringen didn’t answer and slowly stroked his chin while smiling.

[9.8 points. Thank you for your hard work.]

My eyes met Cheringen’s.

Soon his golden eyes gleamed with satisfaction.

9.8 points.

With this, there were now three teams that received 9 points or higher.

And we had pushed out the 2nd place team that had 9.7 points and taken their spot.

* * *

It was the best strategy.

The choice to team up with Lucas Ascanien, that is.

Cheringen thought while looking at the letters on the ranking board.

Since Class 2’s practical 1st place and the former Class 1’s practical 1st place had become a team, the 1st place spot could be considered abandoned.

Not just me, but all the students would think that way.

Leonard’s insufficient mana amount would be filled by Elias, and Elias’s insufficient technical skill would be filled by Leonard.

If the two had each teamed with different partners, it would have been completely different, but as long as the two were together, aiming for 1st place was a futile effort.

‘Then it would be better to aim for other rare value.’

As it happened, only two teams out of 36 had received 9 points or higher.

Unlike 2nd place which had 9.7 points, 3rd place had 8.5 points, showing a considerable skill gap between the top tier and upper tier.

In that situation, we had caught up right behind Leonard and Elias.

Not just in ranking, but in score as well.

‘I hope we can be the same team for the 2nd round too.’

Everyone who watched the broadcast would think the same.

From the 2nd round onward, 6 people form a team like an official team to handle a grade 4 runaway.

The difficulty would increase much more, not just because of the runaway’s grade but also because it’s proper team activity.

Well, there’s no point in looking at it now. From the second round onwards, we can’t choose our own teams.

Anyway, the roster will be announced tonight, so I’ll have to hope luck is on my side.

“Lucas. Let’s go out now.”

Cheringen showed a proper smile and gestured toward the exit.

* * *

Just like when we entered, not a single voice could be heard outside.

The students who had been waiting freely were looking at the large ranking board hung at the far end of the gymnasium.

Elias and Leo’s gazes met.

Elias looked back and forth between me and Cheringen and let out a sharp whistle.

Leo, as ordered at the beginning of the semester, managed to pull off a remarkably cold expression.

At this point, others are bound to misunderstand. Something like ‘A guy who’s only been learning for a day or two got 2nd place?’

In reality, we’re not in a competitive relationship at all.

Cheringen took off his gloves, put them in his clutch, and said to me.

“The second round team announcement is at 10 PM tonight. I hope we end up on the same team again this time.”

“Yeah. That would be nice.”

He seems satisfied too.

How could he not be satisfied?

It was a perfect win-win situation.

Cheringen asked with a smile, without a moment’s hesitation.

“And, aside from the team exam, what are you going to do about individual training from now on? I enjoyed these past two days. Would you like to continue training with me?”

‘Hmm.’

Actually, Cheringen’s movements are worth learning from too.

They’re similar to Leo’s yet different, so it’s a good opportunity for me who needs to learn various people’s methods. Plus, I’m satisfied with how well he accommodates me.

But after getting thoroughly beaten by Leo, I don’t think I’ll have the energy to train again.

I should refuse nicely.

“I’d like to do that too, but….”

“Lucas.”

Leo’s cold voice was heard.

Instantly, the gazes of students who had been deliberately focusing elsewhere turned toward Leo and me.

“Come out for a moment.”

“Why?”

“….”

Leo, who had half-turned his body, turned his head toward me with furrowed brows.

In that moment, even Elias froze with his smiling face intact, looking back and forth between me and Leo.

I shrugged my shoulders, gave Cheringen a look, and went outside.

As soon as we left the gymnasium, we could hear the students inside shouting excitedly.

“Hey hey hey hey!”

“Hey, shouldn’t we stop those guys?”

“Uhahahaha!”

With Elias’s laughter as the finale, Leo grabbed my arm and warped somewhere.

It was Leo’s training ground.

More than that….

“….”

I let out a hollow laugh.

I knew this would happen.

He’s probably thinking another guy like Hans has appeared.

“Right now everyone thinks you picked a fight with me, Leo.”

Leo’s usual behavior probably had a significant influence on this.

Leo let out a deep sigh, rubbed his face, then said seriously.

“That’s right.”

“…?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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