Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 1163

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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 1163

Lee Han reflected again.

How many times had he been fooled by just looking at a clean exterior appearance?

‘From now on, I should just think that any mage is automatically a crazy bastard.’

And in fact, Garko was a mage who had gone crazy in a refined way.

Claims that an ancient mage was actually from his own school of magic were just…

‘My claim that the Skeleton Principal was a benevolent prince in his youth would probably sound just as crazy to the Empire people.’

“Indeed. I had no idea. I only knew it was from the Enchantment Magic School.”

When Lee Han played along, Garko gained momentum. For the first time, resentment could be felt in the gentleman’s voice that had never lost its courtesy.

“The Enchantment Magic School is always like that. They act cunningly, pretending to be craftsmen, pretending to know nothing. Not all enchantment mages are like that, but there are definitely some shameless enchantment mages!”

“Is Professor Verdus on that list… ah, it’s nothing.”

Lee Han couldn’t overcome his curiosity and was about to ask ‘Is Professor Verdus also on that shameless list?’ but came to his senses.

It would be one thing if he were a fellow Einroguard student, but he couldn’t badmouth a professor to an outside mage.

“Do you know why I entered this ruin among the many ruins in the Northern Region? It’s because of this ancient book.”

Garko took out an old book. On the well-bound book was written “On the Secrets of Transformation Magic” in green letters.

“This ancient book is one that deeply analyzes places where lost transformation magic might be sleeping.”

The goals of mages were diverse in their own ways. So much so that sometimes even one person’s goals would change whimsically.

In that regard, Garko’s goal was to excavate and restore lost transformation magic.

Excavating such lost magic was never an easy task. There were reasons why lost magic hadn’t been discovered until now.

Unexcavated ruins were relatively less dangerous, but sometimes one had to break through dangerous territories where people’s access had been cut off for hundreds of years.

‘Indeed. I wondered why his responses were so skillful.’

The skill to subdue a chimera like that when facing it for the first time without any information wasn’t developed in just one or two attempts.

“Student Lee Han. I have no greed for the magic of this ruin. What I want is just one thing.”

Garko’s eyes blazed up. Lee Han tensed slightly. Originally, guys who said they had no greed in situations like this were more frightening.

“What is that?”

“If Bakwantalana’s magic turns out not to be enchantment magic, please don’t hide it! If you publish it later, I hope you’ll definitely reveal the truth.”

“…Al, alright.”

It was a much more trivial request than expected, but Garko was sincere.

What if Bakwantalana’s undiscovered magic wasn’t enchantment magic?

What if it was even transformation magic??

‘It’s quite possible.’

Unlike Lee Han, who was a unprincipled mage taking all schools, Garko, who was from a transformation mage family from birth, had deeply analyzed Bakwantalana’s magic and even established his own hypothesis.

Looking at magic like 【Bakwantalana’s Sorrow】, one could feel deep knowledge of transformation magic.

A mage who didn’t know transformation magic well couldn’t have created such magic.

Surely there must be powerful transformation magic among Bakwantalana’s spells!

Garko didn’t stop and began explaining the intertwined history of enchantment magic and transformation magic using his sociability.

Lee Han regretted not having Catten or Giselle by his side. There was no one to interrupt the conversation.

‘Angrago. Come here and interrupt the conversation.’

When he sent a signal with his hand, Angrago, who was waving his staff looking for patterns, tilted his head.

Then he clapped his fist as if he understood.

“Wardanaz says don’t disturb this side. Let’s check the other side first.”

“…”

* * *

Fortunately, a pattern was discovered after 30 minutes.

Lee Han moved his steps while being tormented by the thought that some of the enchantment magic he knew might actually belong to the transformation magic school.

“Then… I’ll open it.”

Sarataan inside the staff made a swallowing sound.

If the password for going down didn’t work here, there would be no greater embarrassment.

Unlike living organisms that were vulnerable to contamination, mechanical devices and magical devices like this didn’t change much, so it seemed like it would be fine…

‘If it doesn’t open, I have to pretend to be dead.’

Sarataan was even thinking of becoming a dead staff and keeping his mouth shut if it didn’t open.

Kurrrung-

Fortunately, such a worst-case scenario didn’t occur. The pattern glowed, the wall split, and a path leading downward revealed itself.

-It worked! Kuhaha, it worked! It worked!

“…Be quiet since you’re being noisy.”

Lee Han was grateful that only he could hear the voice of the spirit inside this staff.

If everyone else could hear it too, it would have been quite embarrassing.

“What should we be careful of from here?”

-From this deep level, it’s nature as it is.

Above, there were truly various facilities, starting from spaces used by workers and technicians or when fellow mages visited, to places storing various equipment and magical tools.

However, the very bottom didn’t need such pretenses. It was enough to just extract the necessary magical power from the natural environment.

-That doesn’t mean there’s no danger though. There are three main things to be careful of. First are spirits.

“Everyone, be careful of spirits.”

At Lee Han’s words, the students and adventurers heightened their vigilance.

Spirits that appeared in places rich with natural magical power like this were often powerful and ferocious, making them extremely dangerous.

What kind of spirits would they be?

“Underground, with lots of bedrock nearby, there’s a high possibility of rock-type spirits.”

“It might be dark spirits.”

“…I don’t sense any spirit energy?”

Lee Han, who was also heightening his nerves and detecting the surrounding magical power, felt something strange.

Regardless of spirits disliking Lee Han, Lee Han was a mage with very excellent senses for detecting magical power, and these senses also applied to detecting spirits.

But around here, he couldn’t sense any spirit energy.

-Surely… surely they must be hiding…

“If the watchman above was contaminated to that degree, isn’t it possible that contaminated energy flowed here too and the spirits left?”

-…That’s highly likely!

Sarataan exclaimed in surprise.

Certainly, now that he heard it, that was the case.

“…”

Lee Han seriously considered whether to hit this spirit once.

How absurd would the mages and adventurers feel?

‘Is this bastard doing this on purpose because it’s not his reputation at stake?’

“What’s the second thing?”

-The second is magical traps. Bakwantalana is an excellent enchantment mage.

There were no obstacles as threatening as an enchantment mage’s traps.

Lee Han checked the surroundings again with a serious expression.

Various magical movements existed in nature, but to find magical traps among them, one had to find regular movements.

It would take some time, but…

-You don’t need to find them with your senses. As I said, I’ve built ruins like this many times.

“Many times?”

-…Don’t nitpick my words. Now. Over there. Bakwantalana often used stone towers with stones haphazardly stacked as markers. Care…

Lee Han carefully grabbed the stone tower with his hand.

Then a massive torrent of magical power surged up from beneath the stone tower and flowed through Lee Han. Like lightning flowing through a person’s body.

The difference was that the torrent of magical power that just flowed couldn’t deal any blow to Lee Han. No matter how much magical power it was, it was insignificant compared to Lee Han’s magical power.

-…I was going to tell you to touch it carefully. I was.

Sarataan spoke in a dumbfounded voice.

He never expected that a cunning mage like Wardanaz would just grab it carelessly without caution.

“You should have said not to touch it first.”

Lee Han grumbled.

Actually, regardless of Sarataan’s words, Lee Han himself had grabbed it because he was confident.

Traps that dealt damage with pure magical power rather than creating separate physical effects had difficulty having any particular effect on Lee Han.

…Of course, I didn’t expect all these connected traps to be completely destroyed.

Lee Han found other stone towers and cleanly destroyed them as well. The friends behind him didn’t seem to notice what had happened.

“Wardanaz. What are you doing?”

“I’m destroying traps.”

“…Are you joking?”

His friends looked at him intently, confused.

While it was rare for Wardanaz to joke about such things, even considering that, it was an incomprehensible sight.

Disarming magical traps was supposed to be a much noisier and more spectacular affair. At the very least, there should be magical energy flying in all directions.

But Wardanaz approached stone towers where no magical energy could be felt and simply scattered the stones around as if playing a prank.

‘Were those even traps to begin with?’

Garko explained on their behalf.

“Excellent work. To think you could break through magical traps in such a way. The reason you can’t sense any traps near those stone towers is because Bakwantalana’s magic is that superior. This floor you’re standing on may feel like ordinary rock, but this rock is a magical substance created through transformation magic. Thanks to that, it’s not easy to notice the traps beneath it.”

“I, indeed…!”

“Amazing!”

The students who heard the explanation were shocked and stirred with excitement.

Though the White Tiger Tower students were often scolded by Lee Han, Giselle, and sometimes Catten to ‘show some interest in magic!’, they were fundamentally mages of Einroguard.

No matter what, they weren’t lacking in knowledge about magic.

As such, they could understand just how incredible what they had just heard was. To think magic had already been cast without the visitors noticing at all.

After finishing disarming the traps, Lee Han suddenly had a thought.

‘Wait. If the floor was created through transformation magic, then it’s not natural as it is.’

Lee Han was irritated by how information kept being left out bit by bit.

That bastard Sarataan!

To grumble about not being trusted after doing this. In terms of shamelessness, this spirit was even more shameless than Gainando.

“What about the third one?”

-Actually, there’s a high chance the third one doesn’t exist. Not all ruins have them.

“I see.”

Lee Han nodded and then spoke to his group.

“Everyone prepare yourselves. There’s a high possibility something dangerous is here.”

-…

Sarataan raged and pursed his lips. Of course, he couldn’t be seen since he was inside the staff.

-I’m telling the truth! Bakwantalana would often cast additional magic even in these depths, but only for magic he cherished. Sometimes competitors or enemies would come to attempt theft or destruction. The third one is a projection. Bakwantalana’s magical projection. But since the number of magic he cherished was small…

“Everyone! There’s a high possibility Bakwantalana’s projection will appear!”

“!!”

-…Don’t you dare blame me if it doesn’t show up!

Though he shouted in frustration, Sarataan still explained the projection’s capabilities.

It would cast Bakwantalana’s pre-designated spells in sequence, and while those who knew about these spells could easily prepare for them, intruders who didn’t know would be swept away.

Are you the master?

Suddenly, telepathic waves resonated throughout the entire depths. Lee Han, who had been listening to Sarataan’s explanation, asked in puzzlement.

“What process is this?”

-…Huh, I’ve never heard of anything like this.

Sarataan was very flustered.

It sounded like the projection’s voice, but did the projection ever speak to intruders like that?

Confirming spirit slave. Match confirmed. Checking race… Mismatch. My apologies. You are not the master.

“…”

-…

Could it have mistaken him for the master after seeing him ordering Sarataan around like a slave?

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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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