Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 1199

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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 1199

-More than that, that brat may act smart but he’s still quite sloppy.

The hamster squeaked in evaluation.

On average, most mage criminals were bound to die, disappear, or be dragged to the Empire’s underground prison before becoming major archmages.

That’s how dangerous the path of unauthorized magic was. Not only the Empire’s knights, but all other mage criminals were potential enemies too.

That mage called Enstair was being quite careful, but seeing him now, the hamster thought he’d disappear in about ten years even without being deceived.

To see such magical power moving before his eyes yet not think that artifacts might not work.

Of course, it wasn’t easy for ordinary mages to think of such things, but it was still a stupid mistake nonetheless.

‘But do I really just need to go downstairs?’

-Right. Just go down and I can handle it as easily as twisting a child’s wrist.

A wary opponent was difficult, but once he went downstairs and approached this workshop’s mana core, he could employ all sorts of techniques.

After confirming various escape methods, he could calculate counter-magic before the guy could even react.

Enstair was overconfident that even a mage criminal like Antagondals couldn’t fully grasp and reverse-calculate the complex internal magical structure with just one visit.

But that was only the kind of thinking a frog-in-the-well mage would have.

The hamster was confident he could disable all escape methods with just one visit.

-His level is obvious anyway.

‘Wait. But you can’t use magic right now, can you?’

Lee Han felt puzzled.

Even if the hamster could calculate, he couldn’t cast magic, right?

-What are you talking about? You have to cast the magic. I’ll give instructions and you solve it.

“…”

Lee Han looked at the hamster on his shoulder in shock.

He had been relying only on the hamster, but suddenly?!

‘Would I be able to do it?’

-Are you starting again?

‘Excuse me?’

-That tiresome… making others let their guard down with ‘I can’t do it.’

“…”

Lee Han was dumbfounded by the hamster’s words.

When had he ever done that?

‘When did I ever do that? I said I wasn’t confident because I really wasn’t confident.’

-Among the things you said you weren’t confident about, has there ever been even one failure?

‘…Even if there hasn’t been, that doesn’t prove I was exaggerating.’

Lee Han felt very wronged.

Every time he had to succeed at difficult magic, he felt tremendous pressure, but this hamster was packaging it as pretending to be humble.

Let him do it himself!

‘Wait. Come to think of it, why didn’t the professors point this out?’

-Those mages probably thought you could do it sufficiently at your level.

“…”

Lee Han newly realized there wasn’t a single trustworthy person in the world.

To think they had hidden such sinister intentions while discussing the plan so seriously.

Of course, it wasn’t the professors’ fault. The professors had simply accepted it thinking ‘he must be able to do it’ when Lee Han nodded and said he understood.

“I’m curious what kind of conversation you’re having with that hamster for so long.”

Enstair asked with a curious voice.

Originally, mage criminals shouldn’t interfere with each other more than necessary.

But the sight of a powerful mage criminal talking with a hamster made even a mage of Enstair’s level unable to contain his curiosity.

What kind of being was that hamster that he kept having conversations with it?

Could it be some powerful being from another dimension?

“I originally like talking with hamsters. It’s my only hobby.”

“…Ah! I-Is that so?”

Enstair was so flustered he forgot his pride and used honorifics.

To think an evil mage criminal’s hobby was talking with hamsters. Well, mages who lived long were basically prone to going crazy.

The hamster shouted in anger.

-You cursed brat! What kind of nonsense rumors are you spreading!

‘No, no. The other person is suspicious…’

-■■■■! ■■■■■!

‘Don’t curse in ancient languages I can’t understand.’

* * *

Enstair introduced the golem he would bring to the commission.

Einroguard’s golems usually didn’t pay much attention to appearance. There was no one to see them, and if there was money to spend on such things, it was much better to focus on performance.

However, Enstair’s golem was neat, befitting a summoning mage who did business outside.

Precisely interlocked bronze and brass parts. And small summoning magic circles and ancient characters carved on top of them.

Except for one thing, it looked like it would sell for a high price at an auction house.

Except for the real heart pulsating and throbbing in its chest.

“This golem is a masterpiece with a still-beating elf heart embedded inside. And… I’ve added a bit of secret magic as well.”

As he spoke, Enstair hesitated slightly. Lee Han felt a familiar aura from the golem.

‘Isn’t this Sainguiros Sect power?’

-Creepy. Right. Looks like he stole and brought out a holy relic from that sect.

‘It’s definitely creepy.’

To use human body parts for magic.

Lee Han shuddered at the sight of powerful and twisted mana breathing life into the battle doll’s entire body.

-What I find creepy is your sense of recognizing Sainguiros Sect power just from the nature of mana without knowing the magic or structure. Are you a mage hunter?

“…”

What the hamster had noticed was because there were phrases used by the Sainguiros Sect among the characters carved on the elf heart.

When using power, such traces and evidence were bound to remain.

In contrast, Lee Han had recognized what kind of magic it was just from the sensation of mana without knowing such characters.

It was truly a creepy sense.

‘Stop saying useless things and analyze the magic. Do we need to go further down?’

-No. I found everything.

“!!!”

Lee Han was shocked.

Right now, the two were looking around the corridor where golems were displayed above, not the mana core located deep underground.

In this corridor where cool air circulated, the golems were visible between dim light sources, but no means of escape to the outside could be seen…

-He’s not an idiot, so he wouldn’t let us go further down from here. What, would he kindly tear apart the mana core to show us? And mages all think similarly.

The hamster explained the method he had discovered as if it were nothing special.

First, it seemed one spatial movement scroll was loaded.

While walking through the corridor, there was a section where the echo of sounds changed, and this was because a separate space had been created below.

When performing medium to long-range spatial movement, the principle was to clear as many objects as possible from the surroundings to avoid unnecessary interference.

And the other one was a dimensional gate.

It seemed a dimension had been connected to the wall linked with the inner wall, as traces of solid walls being strangely bent could be seen.

This was evidence commonly seen when casting dimensional magic over matter.

‘Amazing!’

-Stop it, receiving praise for something like this only makes me feel self-loathing.

The hamster squeaked grumpily but didn’t seem to be in a bad mood.

-He’s also prepared one non-magical means. There seems to be an underground passage too, but we can just collapse that.

‘How do we block the other two?’

-For the scroll, first find the exact location, then spatially move magic toward that spot.

The hamster casually said something tremendous.

Wasn’t he telling him to fire spatial magic at a scroll located in an invisible place?

Lee Han showed reluctance.

‘I’m not really exaggerating, but I don’t have the confidence to cast spatial magic of that level. There should at least be something I can detect.’

Even with enhanced senses through spatial perception magic, there were limits.

To find a scroll he’d never seen in a situation like this, so far away with many obstacles interfering with magic.

-Hmm. If that’s difficult, there is another method.

‘What is it?’

-With that mage’s skill level, creating something like a medium-range teleportation scroll is impossible. He’s even a summoning mage. The scroll was probably obtained from ancient ruins.

‘What significance does that have?’

-You fool… Such things are usually items on the verge of breaking. They only stay preserved when inside ruins.

The hamster’s instructions were simple.

Repeatedly teleport massive amounts of mana downward.

It was so simple that Lee Han felt bewildered.

‘Will that break the scroll? Just because mana density increases doesn’t mean objects break easily.’

If objects broke easily due to increased mana density, there wouldn’t be any furniture left in Lee Han’s private room or the Blue Dragon Tower common room.

-We’re not increasing density to break objects, but to cause the internal magic to malfunction.

‘That also doesn’t seem like it would be easy.’

If magic malfunctioned just because mana density increased a bit, the Empire’s various artifacts and magical structures would have collapsed long ago.

In the first place, when casting or installing magic in specific areas, they prepare for various situations…

-Then just break it with teleportation.

‘I understand. Why are you getting irritated?’

When the hamster got irritated, Lee Han nodded in understanding and sent mana downward.

The work was so quiet and simple that even while repeatedly sending it, he wondered if this was right.

How many times had he sent it?

Lee Han and the hamster felt powerful mana fluctuations occurring in the underground below the corridor.

-Done! Something seems to have malfunctioned. At this level, the scroll should be broken.

Despite the hamster’s boastful claims, Lee Han sent a gradually suspicious look.

Come to think of it, even within Einroguard, it seemed to be wrong quite often…

‘…What’s next? How do we neutralize the dimensional gate?’

-Normally it would be good to snipe the dimensional gate with teleportation, but since you said it didn’t work earlier, it probably won’t work this time either. So do the same thing.

‘Again?’

-When mana density becomes excessively high, the coordinates of the connected dimension become distorted. The escape routes end up being blocked as a result.

“…”

Lee Han felt endlessly stupid as he teleported mana downward again.

Enstair, who had been explaining the golem’s specs one by one, watched Lee Han continuously talking with the hamster and thought to himself.

‘I didn’t know that Antagondals was that crazy. The symptoms are more serious than I thought. I might need to keep my distance once the commission is over.’

Though people often said ‘crazy mage,’ there were actually fewer truly crazy mages than one might think.

Real crazy mages were threatening existences to both enemies and allies.

Seeing him continuously talking to a hamster like that, it seemed madness had seeped into his very bones.

“Are you satisfied with the golem?”

“Ah. It’s quite good. Can I purchase it?”

“You know that’s not possible.”

Enstair spoke with wariness showing. Lee Han skillfully waved his hand.

“I was just asking. Don’t be so guarded.”

“…I understand. Well, if you had any ulterior motives, the fireplace would have told me…”

As soon as he finished speaking, the dark corridor suddenly brightened and the golems’ eyes blazed red and blue.

Lee Han momentarily tensed, thinking his continuous pumping of mana downward had been discovered.

‘To subdue him right now…!’

“In, intruder!”

The startled Enstair glared at Lee Han. Lee Han replied calmly.

“Fireplace.”

“…Ri, right. Perhaps someone was tailing… No. That can’t be.”

Enstair didn’t think a mage criminal like Antagondals would have brought a tail.

It was more likely that one of Enstair’s enemies had entered.

-Hey. Could it be the Einroguard people came looking because they were worried?

‘Surely the Professor wouldn’t come down without being able to wait for that… though that does sound like him, but it’s probably not.’

-…

Ignoring the hamster’s gaze, Lee Han anxiously looked Enstair over.

Should he attack first or not?

“Seinguiros! Seinguiros assassin!”

When Enstair screamed after recognizing the enemy’s identity, Lee Han burst out in joyful exclamation.

“How fortunate!”

“…Wh, what?”

“I originally enjoy dealing with evil worshippers.”

“…”

Enstair shuddered anew, feeling this mage criminal’s madness.

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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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