Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 1023
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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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Chapter 1023
The habit of seeking help from senior mages when problems arose was more important than one might think.
Just look at Lee Han – how many troubles had he endured because he hadn’t developed this habit?
This dimensional erosion investigation too, if Lee Han had asked a senior mage for help…
‘That’s not right.’
Come to think of it, senior mage Alsicle had dragged him along, so this was an exception.
But still, Lee Han called for Alsicle.
Surely there wouldn’t be two exceptions where help wouldn’t be useful.
“Alsicle sir!”
-Huh? What?!
Alsicle, who had been purifying the poison in the reagent storage room with the priests, was startled when Lee Han called out urgently.
“A ghost appeared here!”
“What!?”
Crash!
Not only Alsicle but all the other friends immediately drew their staffs or swords and came running.
“Where!?”
“Here.”
“…There’s nothing there?”
“I cast a spell on it.”
“…”
His friends looked at Lee Han with very displeased expressions. Giselle thought to herself.
‘Being too quick to react is also a problem.’
Because he had defeated it too quickly by himself, there was nothing for others to confirm even if they wanted to.
“W-well then. Good… good job. Counterattacking is important…”
“What kind of ghost do you think it was?”
“How would I know? You just smashed it to pieces.”
Alsicle grumbled as he checked near the fireplace.
He could sense the faint energy of a spirit, but nothing more than that. It seemed Wardanaz had properly dealt a fatal blow.
“It seems to be a real ghost. And it appears to be a mage ghost too.”
Statistically, mages often caused trouble to their surroundings even after death.
Magic laid down in workshops leaking out after the owner’s death and turning the surroundings upside down was so common it didn’t need mentioning, and summoned creatures or dimensional portal restraints being released, causing monsters from other dimensions to swarm in, was also quite frequent.
Even if the mage himself had cleanly organized his workshop, the danger didn’t completely disappear.
The mage’s own soul and body, having experienced countless mana and mysteries, were themselves risk factors.
The powerful will of mages who craved secrets often caused strange resistance phenomena against the decay of the flesh.
“Ah. Like the Principal?”
“…N-no. That’s also… a lich is correct, but that’s too much to put in the same category…”
Alsicle was flustered by Gainando’s innocent question.
While lichification was now one of the means for mages to resist death, the level difference was too severe to put it in the same category as such ghosts.
Lichification was advanced grand magic that only mages who had reached the supreme realm in the dark magic school could perform, while ghostification was just…
“You just need to have many lingering attachments and grudges.”
“There should be many at Einroguard, so why haven’t we seen any?”
When someone wondered, Alsicle answered as if asking what nonsense that was.
“Half-hearted ghosts would be immediately exorcised. What do you think Einroguard is, Baldroguard?”
“Ah.”
While the others were talking, Lee Han, who had been thinking deeply, belatedly recalled his memory.
“Wait, I think the ghost asked me to undo the magic it left behind!”
“Indeed. That’s quite a common purpose among mage ghosts. Prince, didn’t you hear such words?”
“I just told it to get lost and chased it away.”
“Hmm.”
Alsicle seriously pondered the difference in the ghost’s reactions.
Most ghosts that weren’t evil spirits like this weren’t that dangerous, but there were no absolutes in magic.
Hadn’t they almost gone straight to the Empire’s prison when they acted carelessly while tracking the dimensional monster?
“Didn’t it ask Gainando because it found him unreliable?”
“That might be…”
“As if that would be the reason. Everyone think about it seriously.”
Alsicle lectured the Einrogard students. Lee Han asked while continuing to inspect the kitchen.
“Would it be difficult to completely exorcise the ghost through combat?”
“No. If you blew it away immediately like before, it doesn’t seem like a ghost with strong combat power. It was probably a non-combat mage in life too. However, it’s better to resolve such things peacefully…”
“Ah. Indeed, there’s no need to fight and damage facilities, lowering the manor’s value.”
“…T-that’s true too, and originally mage manors have many secrets. There’s nothing bad about receiving them intact from the owner.”
“Then let’s change the plan and go down to the basement.”
Gainando made a sad face looking at the untidy kitchen, but the other friends were all in favor.
“Good thinking, Wardanaz. You won’t die from skipping one meal.”
“Let’s check the suspicious places first.”
“Ugh. This is why those guys from other towers.”
Gainando grumbled at Salko and Giselle’s reactions, but the Blue Dragon Tower students also wanted to check the basement first.
“I hope it was the alchemy school.”
“I hope it was summoning. If there’s any useful research, it might be helpful.”
“…”
Gainando became dejected and moved behind Lee Han. There were many people but not many friends to rely on.
“Oh dear. You must be hungry, Gainando. Want to eat this?”
“…!”
When Lee Han rummaged in his basket and pulled out a sandwich, Gainando’s eyes widened.
“When did you make this?!”
“I made it earlier while cleaning up after the dimensional erosion.”
“Lee Han…!”
-Undo the magic I left behind…
“…Aaaah!”
Gainando screamed while throwing the chicken sandwich.
The mage ghost had appeared again from the direction of the stairs leading to the basement.
Lee Han skillfully caught the sandwich with telekinesis, then put it in Gainando’s mouth and pushed him back. It was skill close to artistry.
Alsicle watched in admiration.
‘The mages of the Malachite Magic Tower would shed tears of emotion if they saw this!’
Mages who polished the detailed control of telekinetic magic to that degree were truly rare.
“What magic do you want us to undo?”
Lee Han asked the question after preparing to immediately counterattack if the other party made any suspicious moves.
Even if it seemed like a harmless ghost, he couldn’t let his guard down.
-Below… my research is there… follow me…
“Wait! Why didn’t you ask the Prince here earlier and just chased him away?”
Asan asked curiously, pointing at Gainando.
Then the mage ghost answered in a slow voice.
-I do not ask… those without qualification…
“…”
“…As expected!”
“N-no. I don’t think that’s what it means?”
Alsicle panicked and stopped the students who were being convinced.
The qualification mentioned there couldn’t possibly be magical skill.
What ability would a mage ghost have to guess Gainando’s Einroguard grades just by looking at him?
“Ghost, for the sake of your purpose as well, please answer. What do you mean by qualification?”
-Mastered magic… that mage… is qualified…
“Magic that Wardanaz has mastered?”
The students finally realized that the qualification wasn’t about Einroguard grades.
“Is he a summoning mage?”
“No. He might be an enchantment mage.”
“Well, since the Prince was eliminated, he’s apparently not a dark mage.”
“…I’ll just ask directly myself.”
Lee Han cut off his friends’ conversation.
No matter how he thought about it, there were too many options.
“What magic are you referring to?”
The ghost pointed at Lee Han’s staff.
Lee Han was startled when it pointed at the blue gemstone of the Ice Giant King.
‘Was it related to the frost giant race!?’
“Lee Han. I think it’s talking about the space teleportation stone next to that stone, not that stone.”
“Ah.”
Lee Han felt embarrassed.
So it was someone related to spatial magic!
* * *
“But you cleverly guessed that I had mastered spatial magic just from this stone.”
Something like a space teleportation stone was a convenient item that even mages who hadn’t mastered spatial magic could use.
Then the mage ghost answered in a faint voice.
-The watch…
“?”
-Such… ostentatiously magically decorated objects… are not carried around unless one is a mage who specializes in spacetime magic…
“!”
Lee Han finally realized what the ghost was talking about.
The cracked glass pocket watch with 【Limited Time Acceleration】 magic cast on it!
It was referring to the artifact that some professor at Einroguard had made during their school days.
“Is, is this so ostentatiously magically decorated? It looks ordinary to me.”
-Read… the space…
At the ghost’s words, Lee Han puzzledly cast 【Spatial Perception】 magic.
Even if there were any distorted spaces around, this magic would enable the mage to make accurate measurements with absolute senses.
However, nothing was detected.
-Deeper… with more concentration…
“???”
Though he didn’t understand, Lee Han concentrated his senses more.
He wondered if the other person was mistaken about something, but since he had already cast it…
“…!”
Surprisingly, Lee Han’s senses caught a faint distortion. Along the outer surface of the pocket watch, twisted space was carved like decoration.
The most amazing thing about this delicate magic was that it was truly completely useless.
What meaning could such twisted local space have?
Only mages who could perceive space would see it and react like ‘Amazing! Such meticulous decoration!’…
‘Would they really react that way? Wouldn’t they think it’s pointless busywork?’
-Don’t waste magic on such places…
“…”
The ghost also seemed to think so and offered advice.
Showing off through means that only one in a hundred people could see was undoubtedly a stupid thing to do.
“…I didn’t cast this magic. And the person who cast this magic is dozens of times wiser than you.”
-I don’t know…
The mage ghost didn’t seem to pay much attention to Lee Han’s words.
And it was questionable whether the ghost could think properly in the first place. According to Alsicle, wasn’t this kind of ghost an incomplete being?
Unlike liches who inherited almost all their knowledge and abilities from life, it was unknown what parts ghosts might have lost.
“But the facilities upstairs didn’t seem particularly related to spacetime magic. Did you also research magic from other schools?”
-I don’t know magic from other schools…
“Definitely other… Ah.”
Lee Han paused.
“Do you happen to know someone named Erindarvel? She’s an archmage, has a kind personality, and makes quite frequent mistakes…”
-I don’t know…
‘The owner must have changed several times.’
Come to think of it, there was no law saying this mage ghost was the immediate previous owner.
It wouldn’t be strange if the owner had changed several times in between. Rather, looking at that diverse and complex mess, it was likely that several mages had used it.
“But didn’t the previous mages dispel the magic?”
-They tried to dispel it but all failed…
“!”
Lee Han became slightly worried.
Suddenly hearing that other mages had failed made his confidence disappear.
‘Is this really something I can solve?’
“Wait. Even if you failed, couldn’t you get help from other mages? Would that be cheating by any chance?”
-No… it doesn’t matter…
The ghost didn’t care at all whether he received help or not.
As long as someone completed the magic he had left behind, nothing else mattered.
-However, the other mages… all asked me to keep it secret that they had failed…
“…”
Lee Han was dumbfounded.
What was this about?
‘What are they trying to do now?’
If they failed, they should have talked to other mages to solve it, but hiding it until the manor was sold because of pride.
And it wasn’t just one person who did this, but several people did the same thing.
Mages really…!
‘Hmm. But if I can’t solve it either, I’ll have to keep it secret until it’s sold.’
Apart from being dumbfounded, Lee Han learned another thing.
When selling a mage’s workshop, you should hide defects as much as possible.
-Here…
When they reached the end of the long underground circular staircase, the ghost passed through a door.
Lee Han opened the door and tried to enter. At that moment, the space beyond the door split into countless spaces.
“???!?!”
-I was trying to create a space of infinitely changing possibilities that would be determined according to the mage’s will… but it became uncontrollable… Please dispel this magic…
“…Wait, let me call someone.”
Lee Han immediately gave up and prepared to call Professor Garcia.
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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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