Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 1210
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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 1210
-Hmm. No. This might not be a clue after all.
The hamster quickly regained his composure like the seasoned mage criminal he was.
Even if there was hidden magic in the fortress, the possibility of it being in this underground prison was slim.
Only ignorant novices would read old fairy tales and think ‘There might be treasure in the underground prison!’ In general, valuable things weren’t stored in underground prisons.
What was usually kept in underground prisons were prisoners.
Really valuable things were placed in nearby locations like the upper floors of the fortress where only confirmed individuals could enter, not in ambiguous places like underground prisons…
“No. Please trust my intuition. There’s something in the underground prison!”
-R-really?
The hamster wavered slightly.
It was rare for this mage from the Wardanaz Family to speak with such confidence.
He was always annoyingly chattering while staying one step back, but now he was showing such certainty.
There really might be something there.
When the hamster seemed convinced, Lee Han moved quickly. If he gave it time, this hamster would regain his senses.
Fortunately, there were no other vampires near the underground entrance. Due to the nearby collapse, even the undead who had lost their reason didn’t seem to wander around this area.
“This is…”
Lee Han, who had descended through the collapsed entrance, was amazed to see the terrible traces in the passage.
Vampire undead were embedded everywhere like decorations hanging on walls and ceilings.
-He’s escaping… we must stop him…
-That cunning archmage played tricks… enemies have invaded…
These undead still couldn’t grasp the situation despite the battle having ended long ago and themselves having fallen.
The undead above the fortress were similar, but they were in a better situation than these. At least they could move around.
The hamster observed the traces keenly, not caring whether the undead were crawling miserably or hanging, since they might be clues to the magic hidden in the fortress.
-Seems like enemies dealt with by an assassin. Quite a swift one.
Even among battle mages, their schools varied greatly. Since there was no correct answer to this problem, the mage’s individual characteristics were revealed even more clearly.
This battle mage’s style was speed-oriented.
It was a magical combat method where relatively high-level magic was invested in speed and stealth, while attack magic combined low-circle spells to provide minimal destructive power.
To fight this way, one needed the insight to quickly identify enemy weaknesses and the skill to strike at vital points. Otherwise, insufficient destructive power would become a hindrance.
-Interesting, but far from powerful and extraordinary magic. Do you really think there are clues here?
The hamster asked again with puzzlement.
Of course, the achievements shown by such battle mages were amazing and unique, but it wasn’t the magic the hamster was looking for.
What this hamster wanted was powerful and extraordinary ancient magic that the Yachaowang would be interested in and Seinguiros would hide, not techniques that trained and combined ordinary magic to the extreme like that.
“Of course. I’m even more certain now. But look at this undead here.”
Lee Han pointed to an undead with only its upper body and asked.
Unlike the hamster, he still lacked experience and couldn’t immediately identify what magic had been used.
The undead groaned at Lee Han.
-The assassin… escaped… must pursue…
“I know. I know. Be quiet.”
-The assassin… escaped I tell you… very evil…
When the undead who had lost reason wouldn’t listen, Lee Han cast a curse to seal its mouth.
The hamster squeaked and asked.
-What are you telling me to look at? Its miserable state from being struck by an evil deity?
“Not that, but this severed trace here. What kind of magic does this seem like?”
Looking at the undead’s upper body, it seemed to have been first struck by a sphere-shaped elemental magic, then severely cut when its feet were briefly bound.
He knew the former, but the latter wasn’t easy to guess.
-Let’s see… with that cutting power, wind or ice… neither. If it were wind, the cut surface would be more destructive, and if ice, there would be frost visible. Most likely dark element was used.
“What? The ass… assassin was also proficient in dark elements?”
-Even if you’re not a master of elements, you can still use magic. You just need to learn as much as necessary. As I said, this assassin is the type who creates destructive power through skill and combination, so wouldn’t be particularly constrained by such things.
“I see. I see.”
Having roughly figured out what he needed to know, Lee Han began reverse-calculating the magic based on the remaining clues.
‘Dark element type, with cutting power means sword form. Since the attacks happened simultaneously, he didn’t go and swing it directly, so summoning… then it would be summoning behind the enemy and swinging. Since he dislikes waste, he wouldn’t maintain the sword but made it disappear instantly.’
-…Aren’t you looking for clues?
To the hamster’s question, Lee Han answered firmly.
“This is the clue. Please trust me.”
-A-alright.
The hamster was gradually becoming confused.
It was good that he seemed reliable, but what was this guy believing in to be so confident?
“Hmm… Is this 【Surprise Dark Sword】 about 3rd circle?”
-4th circle. Can’t you even count circles?
The hamster forgot his confusion and was dumbfounded.
The current Empire’s magic classification system was neat and easy enough for this ancient-worshipping mage criminal to acknowledge.
It would be understandable for a complete beginner just entering magic, but for a mage at a level where graduating from Einroguard wouldn’t be strange to be confused about how many circles…
“I don’t usually count magic circles, so I got confused. People can make mistakes sometimes, yet you criticize me so harshly for that.”
Lee Han actually argued back.
Generally, mages would learn 1st circle magic for a long period, then learn 2nd circle magic for a long period, developing in that manner.
However, Lee Han learned magic in a way where while learning 1st circle magic, madmen would come and teach 2nd circle magic, and while learning that, other madmen would come and teach 3rd circle magic.
Having learned so quickly and intensively, he couldn’t intuitively tell whether this magic was 3rd or 4th circle.
Wasn’t it enough to just distinguish whether he could learn it or not!
‘Isn’t this guy crazy?’
Of course, the hamster was only more dumbfounded by such a retort.
If someone who reverse-calculated and deduced magic said they mistook the circle count, no one would believe it.
“Then let’s look at the next trace. Do you understand how this one moved?”
The next question was even more puzzling.
There was a guard undead who had wrapped himself in chains around the prison cell opening mechanism, and another undead collapsed inside the cell.
At first glance, there was nothing strange, but upon careful thought, one could feel something off.
The cell would have closed immediately when this undead fell, so how did Professor Boladi enter inside the cell without a trace and kill the opponent?
It wasn’t an attack from outside either. The undead inside the cell had clearly died from close-range magic.
Spatial movement wasn’t used either. There was no way he would do such an inefficient thing just to kill one undead inside a cell.
Similarly, with the guard in front, there was no way he would kill the undead inside the cell first…
-Short-sighted thinking. It’s time magic. He must have increased speed with acceleration.
Lee Han had similar magic too. Though he needed to borrow the power of a pocket watch, he could use 【Limited Time Acceleration】 magic.
“Indeed…!”
The situation immediately became clear before his eyes.
If he could accelerate quickly and move to get behind the opponent, what magic he used for attack wasn’t very important.
Thinking that far, Lee Han realized that Professor Boladi wouldn’t have used time acceleration magic so crudely.
Wasting mana recklessly was Lee Han’s way, but Professor Boladi never did that.
‘He probably planned a route and applied time acceleration according to that route. There would be no need to waste magic otherwise.’
Just as he had placed restrictions when summoning the dark element sword earlier to summon it briefly behind the enemy, this time acceleration magic was surely the same.
As Lee Han showed interest and diligently scribbled down the magic, the hamster asked with puzzlement.
-This doesn’t seem like a clue to ancient magic?
“You mustn’t neglect even one clue. You never know when this might be helpful.”
Having finished his records, Lee Han moved deeper inside.
Inquisitors and guards who seemed to have been struck down by chains like those used by Death Knights were visible. These undead still hadn’t regained their senses and were muttering about needing to torture the assassin.
-There’s nothing here?
“Well, of course there’s nothing since the assassin escaped.”
-…?????
The hamster was flustered when the guy who had been confidently saying ‘trust me, there are clues here’ suddenly said this.
Had he really gone mad?
-You definitely said there were clues…
-You said you definitely had a clue…
Regardless, Lee Han looked around the empty solitary cell. Beyond his interest in magic, he wanted to know what had happened here.
“!”
Lee Han focused his gaze on discovering short graffiti carved at the bottom of the wall.
The graffiti was so short and simple that he would have missed it if he hadn’t paid attention.
‘This is…’
The content of the graffiti was simple.
It was writing apologizing to the Skeleton Principal for acting on his own.
Who wrote it and what they meant was all too clear.
“…”
Lee Han pondered for a moment, then quickly erased the graffiti.
As a disciple, he felt he should at least do this much for his master.
-What did you erase? Was it a clue?
“No. It was nothing important. If it were a clue, I wouldn’t have erased it. Let’s go up now.”
-You said there were clues!
“I must have been mistaken. Haha. That can happen.”
-…
While the hamster was speechless from being so dumbfounded, Lee Han swept away all the remaining undead in the area.
Even though they were spirits that had lost their consciousness, completely destroying them wouldn’t mean much, but he still wanted to do it.
‘This bastard… could he be threatening me?’
The hamster was flustered.
If that was the case, he was really too petty.
* * *
The magic appears when you go up. There’s nothing below…
As they emerged from underground, Seinguiros’s voice was heard again.
It seemed this incomplete evil deity was getting impatient as they kept wandering around strange places.
The hamster glared fiercely at Lee Han.
‘He clearly said we had to go up!’
Lee Han nodded with a shameless expression.
“Indeed. It was unexpected. Who would have known it was in the upper levels of the fortress.”
-…
Those there will welcome you mages. Hurry up. You never know when this fortress might collapse.
Seinguiros laughed pleasantly and disappeared. At that sight, the hamster seemed even more anxious.
Unlike the Material Realm, such unstable dimensions had extreme changes. A fortress that had been destroyed before could collapse again at any time.
-We must hurry as he said. If the fortress collapses, the traces of magic will disappear into the void beyond the dimension!
“I understand. Please calm down. Aren’t we going now?”
Lee Han agreed while still remaining leisurely.
It was a light attitude as if it would be nice to obtain it, but it didn’t matter if he didn’t.
Seeing this, the hamster thought to himself.
‘Surely… this guy is also a mage, so there’s no way he’s not interested in such magic… he must be pretending to be calm. He must be anxious inside right now too! He’s definitely putting on airs because he doesn’t want to show weakness in front of me.’
What a vicious bastard!
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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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