Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 169

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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 168

With a darkened expression, Salko slowly opened his mouth.

“The magic I was going to teach you is 【Tutanta Family’s Rock Decomposition】.”

“What. If there was such magic, why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“…”

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

Lee Han thought he heard the sound of teeth grinding for a moment.

Anyway, 【Tutanta Family’s Rock Decomposition】 was renowned for its efficient and excellent effects among decomposition magic of the same type.

Even magic that produced the same results would vary drastically depending on their structure, process, incantations, and so on.

As such, even for magic that produced the same results, choosing which magic to use was quite an important matter.

One had to consider how well it matched their aptitude, what situations they would mainly use it in, and so forth before making a decision.

In relatively simple lower circle magic, such concerns weren’t necessary, but they became essential as one moved up.

-In this situation, you must use 【Wardanaz Family’s Water Hydra Summoning】!

-You fool! Your magic skills bring tears to my eyes! There’s no need to use such expensive magic! A simple 【Giant Water Snake Summoning】 would suffice!

-Magic of that level could never solve this burning lava avalanche!

“I see. I’ve heard of the Tutanta Family’s reputation myself. To think you’d teach me such family magic. Is that really okay?”

“…Yes.”

Salko answered after a considerably long silence. Lee Han thought the other person was troubled about teaching family magic.

‘Well, teaching family magic wouldn’t be something he’d be eager to do.’

Even though he had decided to teach it, feeling conflicted about it would be unavoidable.

Lee Han nodded as if he understood Salko. Of course, this wasn’t conveyed to Salko at all.

“Now. The incantation is as follows.”

Salko explained the incantation, movements, necessary materials (a handful of rock fragments from the rock to be broken), and detailed process of 【Tutanta Family’s Rock Decomposition】.

The elf from the Tutanta Family had memorized it in much more detail and thoroughness than most grimoires. Thanks to this, Lee Han could easily understand what kind of magic this was.

…Of course, that didn’t mean learning the magic would be easy.

‘What’s this?’

Lee Han felt his head starting to throb painfully.

Separate from mana, it was close to the headache that came from depleted concentration after using complex magic multiple times.

This 【Tutanta Family’s Rock Decomposition】 magic was difficult to that degree.

He tried several more times, but it was hard to endure the headache. Lee Han paused for a moment.

“Tutanta. How long did it take you to learn this magic?”

“I haven’t learned this magic yet.”

“…?”

Lee Han was momentarily puzzled.

This bastard?

‘No. That can’t be it, surely.’

“I see. But this magic isn’t that difficult, right? What circle level is it?”

Lee Han had expected around 2nd Circle, or at most 3rd Circle if he was being really generous.

“…”

However, when Salko received Lee Han’s question, he suddenly became hesitant.

Then he answered.

“4th… Circle, actually.”

“…”

Lee Han looked at Salko with a serious expression.

This bastard couldn’t win in a direct confrontation, so he’s trying to assassinate me in a different way?

* * *

Salko really hadn’t intended to assassinate Lee Han.

After leading the Black Turtle Tower students through the labyrinth, doing such a thing would be inhuman.

It’s just that really…

‘Why did I do that?’

…he simply hadn’t thought that teaching 4th Circle magic to Wardanaz might be dangerous.

Salko himself couldn’t understand it.

Why on earth?

Before worrying about whether he should or shouldn’t teach family magic, he should have been concerned about whether it was okay to teach such magic to a 1st year student…

“Right. Salko.”

As the atmosphere became awkward, Lee Han spoke to salvage the situation.

“This 【Tutanta Family’s Rock Decomposition】 magic is probably one of the easier 4th Circle spells, right? That’s why you taught it to me.”

Not all magic of the same circle had the same difficulty level.

If this magic was remarkably easy among 4th Circle spells, then it made sense that he would try to teach it.

“No. Wardanaz. 【Tutanta Family’s Rock Decomposition】 is one of the most difficult 4th Circle spells. I’ve even heard it’s harder than some 5th Circle magic…”

“Hey. Tutanta. I don’t think saying that right now is a good idea.”

Nilia cautiously advised. Tutanta also realized belatedly and shut his mouth.

Of course, the atmosphere had already become even more awkward.

“…”

“…”

As Lee Han and Tutanta fell into wordless silence, only Nilia between them felt like dying.

“…It’s the stairs to the 4th floor! Look over there!”

“The 4th floor stairs.”

“It’s the 4th floor stairs.”

“The 4th floor stairs remind me of 4th Circle magic… Oh wait. Never mind.”

“…I’m sorry. Wardanaz.”

Salko apologized.

He never imagined that teaching Tutanta family magic would lead to a situation requiring an apology.

“No. Tutanta. These things can happen.”

‘It seems like we’ve grown more distant?’

Nilia felt that the distance between Lee Han and Tutanta seemed to have grown a bit.

Shriiiiek!

“!”

As soon as they climbed up to the 4th floor corridor, a ghost monster letting out sharp cries came rushing down the corridor.

All the students were startled and tried to flee to the stairs.

“Go down…”

Pak!

However, there was no need for that.

A blazing white beam flashed and struck the ghost monster, which instantly concealed its form.

Lee Han could hear faint voices spreading from the distance.

-Quickly evacuate! They’re new students!

-This bastard escaped…! Why did they come up to the 4th floor?!

-It’s midterm exam period!

‘I think they should hide a bit better.’

The upperclassmen of the magic school had come up to the 4th floor to catch the escaped ghost monster.

It happened so quickly that the other students didn’t seem to notice.

“It… disappeared?”

“It’s okay, right?”

The 4th floor corridor where the ghost had disappeared was quiet and peaceful.

In fact, this was what a normal school corridor was originally like.

‘They said it was the Beetle Classroom.’

Lee Han walked slowly and checked the lecture halls arranged along the corridor.

Griffin Classroom, Meikin Family Classroom (it was certain that they had generously sponsored it the year that lecture hall was built), Beer Candy Classroom, Burning Red Flag Ball Game Team Classroom…

And the Beetle Classroom.

“!!!”

The students’ eyes widened greatly.

Although they had struggled to climb up to the 4th floor, none of the students had expected to be able to find the classroom right away.

“Th… this easily?”

“Honestly… it wasn’t easy.”

The students cautiously opened the classroom door.

Then an undead summon that had been waiting inside the classroom welcomed the students.

-Welcome! Everyone please take your seats.

“…Who are you?”

-I am a summoned creature serving the Principal. Everyone please take your seats.

Lee Han and his friends hesitantly scattered and sat down. Then paper and quill pens appeared in front of the students.

-Now solve the problems. When you finish, you may submit and leave.

‘It’s surprisingly normal, which makes it startling.’

After continuously encountering abnormal things until now, having a proper exam appear was surprising in its own way.

Lee Han grabbed the test paper.

Although he had been preoccupied with getting to the 4th floor, the important thing in an exam was actually not the ability to find the test location, but the ability to solve problems.

First question. Write the Principal’s real name accurately.

Second question. Write the year when the Principal developed the magic 【Glory of the Dead Sun】.

Third question. Write the year when the Principal expanded the Dark Tower of the magic school…

“…”

* * *

Nilia bit her quill pen with a troubled expression.

‘Do I really have to memorize everything the Principal has done? What does that have to do with character education?’

Such complaints burst forth inside her mind, but what could she do? As a student, she had to solve it.

“Can’t we just research this and come back?”

-If you visit again, the questions will change as well.

“…”

The Black Turtle Tower students shut their mouths and looked at the test paper again.

Nilia unconsciously turned her gaze toward Lee Han. She was curious about what Wardanaz was doing.

Scratch scratch scratch scratch!

“…?!”

Nilia was shocked.

Lee Han was moving his quill pen without rest.

‘Did he get a different test paper from me?!’

But that couldn’t be the case.

Amazingly, Wardanaz was writing correct answers without being shaken by such a test paper.

The sight of him moving his quill pen without stopping even once was almost miraculous.

‘Wardanaz… am I the only one who didn’t study?’

Suddenly feeling a sense of crisis, Nilia looked around.

The other Black Turtle Tower students were also looking at Wardanaz with similar expressions to Nilia’s.

‘How on earth?!’

‘He studied even this? It’s not like he has time rotting away…’

‘How much did he study?’

When all the other students stopped moving and only stared at Lee Han, the undead summon spoke up.

-Students. Cheating is…

“N-no, we’re not.”

“It’s a misunderstanding.”

The students quickly averted their gazes.

Nilia stared intently at the test paper again. The questions were just as overwhelming as before, but her mind felt a little more at ease.

‘I’m not the only one who doesn’t know!’

* * *

Lee Han finished his answers and stood up.

About half of the students who had come with him had already disappeared.

‘I’m later than I thought. Well, the problems were easy.’

Of course, the students who had left first were those who had given up on solving the problems and decided to come back after studying more.

No one had left after solving all the problems like Lee Han.

However, Lee Han couldn’t know that much.

Going down from the 4th floor to the 3rd floor, from the 3rd floor to the 2nd floor, opening the door of the 1st floor main building and stepping outside, darkness had already descended pitch-black around the area.

An ominous bell sound could be heard from far away.

He had heard the bell that announced the time every hour several times before, but today’s bell sound was somehow a bit…?

Students. Welcome to exam period! May it be a painful week for everyone! And those who are drunk had better get up quickly!

“…”

At the Skeleton Principal’s voice echoing throughout the entire school, Lee Han let out a sigh.

Even though he had finished one exam, it seemed like it would still be a hellish week.

* * *

“Perfect score.”

“…”

Lee Han was bewildered by himself for finding Professor Boladi’s face welcoming.

Could it really be that Stockholm syndrome had developed?

‘Damn. The other professors keep doing crazy things, so Professor Boladi feels better by comparison.’

As expected, Professor Boladi didn’t give complicated exams or assignments.

He had him cast a few water elemental magic spells and then cleanly gave him a perfect score.

…Actually, objectively speaking, it was because Lee Han had suffered tremendously before the midterm period to complete his magic…

Unfortunately, Lee Han couldn’t assess this objectively.

“Yumidifus praised you a lot.”

“Yes. He seems to have looked upon me favorably, more than I deserve.”

Lee Han wasn’t surprised.

Considering the relationship between Yumidifus and Professor Boladi, it would be strange if they didn’t exchange information with each other.

“He said you won against Ogonin.”

“…Did he say that too?”

Yumidifus definitely wasn’t there at the time though?

“Professor Kirmin Ku told him.”

“Ah.”

Lee Han cursed Professor Kirmin inwardly.

After going out of his way to help a friend, this was how he repaid the favor.

He had looked favorably on him for maintaining a friendship with Professor Boladi, but this was disappointing.

“Illusion magic is a troublesome opponent in magical combat. It’s good that you won’t have to waste time learning how to counter it.”

“Thank… you?”

Professor Boladi said something ambiguous that could have been either praise or an insult to illusion magic.

“Let’s go.”

“Huh? Where do you mean?”

At Lee Han’s question, Professor Boladi looked at Lee Han as if he had asked the stupidest question in the world.

“The dungeon.”

“…”

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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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