Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 152

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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 152

Fortunately, Yumidifus wasn’t a crazy person like Professor Boladi.

If it had been Professor Boladi, he would have shoved Lee Han deep under the river water and then said ‘evaporate your way out,’ but Yumidifus didn’t do that.

The purpose of today’s outing was to enlighten the young mage and make him recognize the vast world of water magic.

There was no reason to push him so unreasonably.

It would be sufficient to just experience and try out the various attributes of water magic.

“The incantation is as follows.”

Yumidifus taught the incantation and movements of the 1st Circle magic, 【Water Evaporation】, in detail.

In fact, 【Water Evaporation】 was embarrassingly called a 1st Circle magic.

A typical trap magic!

Even among spells positioned in the same circle, their difficulty varied drastically.

Magic that was much more difficult than other spells of the same circle was usually called ‘trap magic.’

【Water Evaporation】 was positioned in the 1st Circle but was magic of a difficulty that novice mages could never learn.

The evaporation attribute was that difficult.

“Give it a try.”

Having finished the brief lecture, Yumidifus watched Lee Han.

Usually, water elemental mages practicing the evaporation attribute would set out liquids to evaporate in front of them and practice.

They would start by practicing with easily evaporating liquids like strong alcohol, then gradually change to liquids with higher boiling points to increase the magic’s intensity.

However, Yumidifus didn’t set anything in front of Lee Han.

It meant he should first practice the movements and incantation to complete the magic.

Yumidifus wasn’t harsh enough to demand ‘evaporate liquid!’ right away when he had just learned it and hadn’t practiced yet.

“…”

Lee Han looked at Yumidifus once, then looked again at the river water flowing proudly.

‘Is he telling me to evaporate the river water now?’

Because Yumidifus had explained too little, Lee Han couldn’t help but misunderstand.

Actually, it wasn’t really Yumidifus’s fault.

Usually when told to try magic they’re learning for the first time, who would try to practice movements and incantation first rather than immediately trying to dry up the river next to them?

If we had to assign blame, this was Professor Boladi’s fault.

Because of Professor Boladi, Lee Han was misunderstanding Yumidifus.

‘Can’t be helped. Let me do my best. I should at least make an attempt so I won’t fall into the water.’

Lee Han had an intuition about what would happen if he kept failing at magic.

He would probably end up going into the river water.

“Evaporate!”

“What…?”

Yumidifus was shocked to see Lee Han casting magic directly at the river water in one swift stroke without practicing movements or incantation.

Not going to practice…?!

Hissss!

Steam rose up over the river.

Though not quite a steam explosion like Yumidifus could create, it was still a considerable amount of water vapor.

“…”

Yumidifus was astonished.

‘A real… genius.’

Among the Imperial Mages, the word ‘genius’ was somewhat overused.

Every Tom, Dick, and Harry claimed to be a genius.

The mages who came to Yumidifus to learn magic, except for Voladi Bagrec, all claimed to be geniuses.

-Master Yumidifus. For the future of Imperial Magic, you must do your utmost to teach me magic. I am one of the most outstanding geniuses among the Imperial Mages.

-Master Yumidifus. It’s embarrassing to say this myself, but I am a genius of magic. You don’t need to teach me every single spell like this.

-Master Yumidifus. With my genius magical abilities, I can see that this magic isn’t particularly good either. I think it would be better to improve it somewhat.

In fact, it wasn’t completely wrong.

The mages who sought out Yumidifus were reasonably outstanding mages in the Empire.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to find him in the first place.

However, the eyes of a mage like Yumidifus, who had experienced every kind of battle imaginable, were strict and harsh.

That level of talent was something any mage serious about exploring magic should naturally possess, not a treasure worth boasting about.

However…

The boy before his eyes was definitely different.

He could feel an aura that only the real deal could possess, completely different from the self-proclaimed geniuses that every Tom, Dick, and Harry claimed to be.

He seemed to possess all the elements that would be considered talented even if he had just one: innate mana capacity, delicate control power, and deep, rich thinking ability.

‘The river? Will he end up going into the river after all?’

While Yumidifus quietly marveled, Lee Han quietly worried.

To Lee Han, it seemed like he had succeeded reasonably well, but that wasn’t what mattered.

What mattered was how it looked in Yumidifus’s eyes.

Was it a failure after all?

‘Isn’t this level pretty good for a first attempt?’

Lee Han wasn’t the type to be conceited, but objectively speaking, the evaporation magic seemed to have worked quite well.

Compared to other magics, the Evaporation Attribute was quite compatible with Lee Han.

First of all, Lee Han could accurately and concretely visualize the image of ‘evaporation’ itself…

Most importantly, 【Water Evaporation】 could be accomplished by brute force.

Mages who didn’t have as much mana as Lee Han had to carefully and delicately control their mana to complete incantations, but Lee Han could complete incantations by simply pushing through with mana.

For Lee Han specifically, Water Evaporation was much easier than Water Orb Control.

“Well done. Very excellent.”

“!”

Lee Han inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, it seemed he wouldn’t have to go into the river.

“Actually, I didn’t mean for you to evaporate the river. For practicing magic for the first time, a flowing river like that isn’t an appropriate target.”

Not only the volume, but continuously flowing river water was several times more difficult to cast magic on.

Having accomplished that, the boy before him had every right to feel proud.

However, instead of doing so, Lee Han made a stiff expression.

‘…What did he just say?’

Come to think of it, Yumidifus hadn’t told him to do a practical test directly against the river water.

He had thought of Professor Boladi and misunderstood on his own.

“But seeing how you accomplished it in one go like this, I think I understand why you cast magic against the river water. It’s well-founded confidence.”

“No… it’s a misunderstanding.”

“Right. It must be a misunderstanding.”

Yumidifus nodded with a benevolent smile playing at his lips.

“At first I thought Voladi Bagrec had forced you into it…”

‘That’s exactly right.’

Lee Han said to himself. But it didn’t reach Yumidifus’s ears.

“…but now I see that wasn’t the case.”

It wasn’t that Bagrec had forced him, but clearly the disciple was learning each magic he taught too quickly.

Yumidifus resolved inwardly that he should cancel one misunderstanding about Bagrec.

“Yes…”

Lee Han answered with a voice tinged with subtle sadness.

It was sadness from not being able to openly badmouth Professor Boladi.

Lee Han thought that when he graduated later, he might visit Professor Boladi before even the Skeleton Principal.

* * *

Yumidifus didn’t ask Lee Han to cast more magic.

Having just seen him master it in one try, why would he do such a thing?

“It seems you should eat more than me.”

Instead, they took a rest.

Lee Han prepared a suitable place for Yumidifus to sit, spread out a blanket, then prepared food and drink to offer.

Yumidifus looked at Lee Han with a gaze mixed with gentle emotion.

“I didn’t expect to receive such treatment.”

“Uh… haven’t your other disciples ever done things like this?”

“They haven’t.”

“…?”

Lee Han, who had been puzzled, thought of Professor Boladi.

And he understood.

‘That’s entirely possible.’

Lee Han made milk tea with the black tea he had stolen from Professor Thunderstep. The sweet drink loaded with sugar helped recover his tired brain.

Even if mana was infinite, using magic inevitably reduced concentration and caused mental fatigue.

For a magic school student, it was good to recover whenever possible.

Professor Thunderstep would surely be happy that his drink was being used this way.

‘Third years?’

Yumidifus took a bite of his sandwich and cast his gaze into the distance.

Judging by their attire, they were definitely third-year students from Einroguard.

Looking around to see what they had hidden in the mountain, they swung their staffs toward the ground. Soil erupted, revealing magical materials and reagents contained within.

He had prepared various things to do it secretly, but he couldn’t fool the eyes of a mage like Yumidifus.

“Do you see over there?”

“What are you referring to?”

“Right. You wouldn’t be able to see it.”

Yumidifus thought of the Skeleton Principal.

Since he was very serious about keeping new students separated, it was natural that he would make them unrecognizable through magic.

“Let me undo it for a moment. That should be fine, right?”

When Yumidifus waved his staff, Lee Han could also see the upperclassmen in the distance gathering magic materials and reagents.

“Can you see it now?”

“Yes. I can see it. That’s…?”

“You’ll probably learn this when you advance in grade, but obtaining materials and reagents needed for one’s own studies is also part of being a mage.”

Yumidifus explained calmly as if it wasn’t surprising.

Seeing how they were looking around furtively while hiding, it was certain they had stolen or taken it.

‘How sad that even third years have to do this.’

Lee Han shuddered at the fate that lay before him.

Couldn’t they just give materials and reagents generously?

“Go and try to take it from them.”

“…Excuse me?”

“I want to see how you fight. I think you could win.”

“…”

The problem wasn’t whether he could win or not, but that he had to attack upperclassmen.

Even if they had committed thievery, upperclassmen were still upperclassmen, weren’t they?

Lee Han looked at Yumidifus with bewilderment, but Yumidifus showed no sign of changing his mind.

“Battle mages grow by feeding on their opponents’ blood. Real combat experience is better the sooner you get it and the more you get.”

Lee Han inwardly cringed at Yumidifus saying such brutal words with the appearance of a kind grandmother.

He’s just an aged Professor Boladi!

“Yumidifus sir.”

“Don’t tell me you can’t do it. I know for certain that you can. Excessive humility is also poison. You’ll learn soon enough, but mages don’t need to go easy on someone just because they’re upperclassmen.”

“No. It’s not that I can’t… may I wear a mask?”

“…”

Yumidifus was genuinely impressed.

* * *

Lee Han didn’t recklessly charge in just based on Yumidifus’s words.

Third years at Einroguard would be people who had endured several times the hardships that Lee Han and his friends had experienced to get where they were.

If he carelessly provoked them, Lee Han could end up being the one who got hurt instead.

Lee Han put on a mask and cast invisibility magic. The mask was absolutely necessary in case the opponent dispelled the invisibility magic.

Then he carefully approached from behind and cast magic at the two upperclassmen.

“Kuk!”

“Kraaaagh?!”

The two seniors who were caught off guard collapsed on the spot.

Lee Han immediately grabbed the boxes containing materials and reagents. Names were engraved on the boxes.

-Osyu Gonadaltes

Seeing that, Lee Han was shocked.

‘Are they insane??’

Do Third Years even rob the Principal’s Storage?

No, rather than them deliberately stealing, it was more likely that the Principal had guided them to it.

Either way, it was truly unbelievable.

‘Oh wait. This isn’t the time for this.’

Lee Han quickly withdrew from the scene.

“Well done.”

Seeing Lee Han return, Yumidifus was extremely satisfied.

It seemed Baegreck hadn’t wasted time after all – it was nearly perfect.

Surprise Attack, First Strike, Achievement, Withdrawal.

It was the very essence of Magical Combat.

“Was there anything written about whose items they were?”

“They seem to be items from the Principal’s Storage.”

“I see. Then it would be better for you to keep them rather than return them.”

“…?!”

Lee Han was surprised.

And he obediently nodded his head.

“Yes. I’ll do that.”

At the sight of his obedient disciple, Yumidifus looked at Lee Han with warm eyes.

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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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