Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 187

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 187

After finishing his monologue, Lee Han realized that his fingertips were trembling slightly.

He had tried to stay calm, but the shock must have been greater than he thought.

‘Even so, isn’t this going a bit too far?’

-Usually, underclassmen’s midterm exams end without much impact on the school, but upperclassmen’s midterm exams… cause quite a lot of trouble.

What Diret said while eating red bean rice cake was as follows.

Since underclassmen still had low magic skills, even if they made mistakes or caused accidents during exams, the aftermath wasn’t that severe.

However, upperclassmen were different.

As the scale of magic had grown significantly, when they made mistakes, the aftermath became serious enough to affect the entire school.

-Is it okay for seniors to do this to their juniors?

-If you feel wronged, become a senior and do the same thing. And this isn’t something we do because we want to. It’s just that when several accidents overlap, unpredictable things happen.

Sometimes, due to overlapping summoning magic, the connection to the spirit realm where lava spirits lived became stronger, causing the school to become covered in lava.

Other times, because mana flows became tangled, a strange phenomenon occurred where casting magic would produce completely different magic.

-Of course, I understand you’re angry, junior. But think about revenge later and be careful.

-Understood. I’ll stockpile as many supplies as possible and try to obtain artifacts so I can respond to any situation. I’ll also inform my tower friends about this to prevent any damage…

-I… I didn’t mean for you to prepare so professionally, but it’s not bad.

After finishing his conversation with Diret, Lee Han returned to the tower (apologizing to Gainando) and made various preparations with his friends.

He visited the black market in Black Turtle Tower to find useful artifacts, organized and calculated the supplies stored in the tower, and prioritized harvesting edible things from the vegetable garden…

But even so, he couldn’t help feeling troubled.

‘This week is going to be tough too.’

* * *

“This is the worst Sunday.”

“Isn’t this a blunt weapon rather than bread?”

The friends who received the morning bread and rice were bewildered.

Perhaps due to the cold, it had already hardened stiff.

“Did you see outside? Back at the manor, we used to have snowball fights in weather like this…”

“This isn’t the time for such talk. If we don’t clear the accumulated snow, we won’t be able to get out the door.”

“Why aren’t the professors solving this?”

“Well, since it’s something the students caused, they probably want the students to solve it.”

“Wardanaz!”

The students who had been holding black blunt weapons—no, black bread—with pitiful expressions in the common room brightened up.

They expected Lee Han’s appearance to solve this problem.

“I’m sorry to say this to everyone, but we don’t know when this blizzard will end. We won’t be able to get ingredients from the vegetable garden for a while either. We’ll have to go on a conservation diet for some time.”

“…!”

“Don’t worry, Wardanaz. We’re Einroguard students too. We won’t complain just because we’re a bit hungry.”

“That’s right, Wardanaz!”

Lee Han felt slightly worried about his friends’ excessive confidence.

‘These guys have quite serious gluttony.’

While other towers had lived hungry from the beginning, the Blue Dragon Tower had become quite picky about food thanks to Lee Han.

Would it be okay?

“Today’s cooking is canned beans.”

“…Can’t we open some other canned goods? Do we have to eat only beans?”

“No. It’s about saving.”

The Blue Dragon Tower students made gloomy expressions at the thought of eating hard bread with canned beans.

However, fortunately Lee Han wasn’t cold-hearted enough to just open canned beans and serve them in bowls.

Lee Han put onions, garlic, and mushrooms he had dug up from the vegetable garden the day before into a pan and stir-fried them with beans in oil.

Then he opened one more can, added tomatoes, onions, and garlic, boiled it generously, and seasoned it with salt and pepper.

The Blue Dragon Tower students’ expressions brightened slightly. A very slight emotion of admiration appeared on the expressionless face of the Imperial Princess sitting beside them.

Breakfast time.

Even though a blizzard had started falling outside again, the meal was delicious.

“Wardanaz. It seems like we all need to join forces.”

“Right. You need to give us instructions.”

At his friends’ words, Lee Han fell into thought.

The Blue Dragon Tower students were right.

Since the situation was so massive, it would be difficult to respond without combining their strength.

What was the first thing they needed to do right now?

“We need to clear the snow in front of the tower first. If we don’t clear it, we won’t be able to attend lectures.”

“Surely the professors would take that into consideration, wouldn’t they?”

“No way.”

“Absolutely no way.”

At someone’s naive comment, his friends made serious faces and shook their heads.

“And aren’t all our coats spring coats right now? We’ll freeze to death if we go out.”

At Lee Han’s words, his friends’ faces became serious.

Indeed, because of the spring weather, they hadn’t even thought of such a cold situation…

“I prepared thick winter fabrics for times like this. I didn’t know we’d use them this soon though… Let’s make coats after eating.”

“???”

“?????”

His friends were nodding but then stopped.

…Why did you prepare that?

“Wardanaz. Did you know this situation would come?”

“No.”

“Then how…?”

“I bought thick fabric thinking there might be occasions to use it.”

“As expected of Wardanaz. You can’t let your guard down even with a 1% probability.”

Asan spoke with an admiring expression. Of course, some students were still puzzled, thinking ‘He’s lucky, but do you really need to go that far?’

“Let’s make as many cold weather items as possible. There should be some useful artifacts among them too.”

The advantage of the magic school was that incomplete artifacts rolled around like stones on the roadside.

“This lantern with frost mist trapped inside would be a bit awkward in the current situation, right?”

“Put it away in the corner.”

After finishing their meal, the friends took out thick fabric and began looking for useful artifacts.

And Lee Han put on a ring, bracelet, and necklace one by one.

With clicking sounds, the fire absorption accessories unleashed their power.

“Open the door and step aside.”

“Wardanaz. I trust you…”

“Asan. Step aside before you get hit.”

“Al, alright.”

Asan grumbled and backed away.

He said he trusted him, so why!

‘I didn’t want to play with fire near the tower, but I have no choice.’

When he opened the tower door connected to the common room, storm-like cold air and mountain-high piled snow welcomed Lee Han.

He couldn’t break through this tomorrow to go to lectures. He had to break through it now.

‘Melt it!’

“Blaze up!”

Whoosh!

Flames began to surge with the incantation.

Lee Han was surprised.

‘What’s this?’

Controlling the flames was overwhelmingly easier than usual.

If his usual fire magic felt like grabbing the reins of a wild horse and somehow trying to drag it along, his current fire magic was like a gentle, well-trained steed.

‘My skills couldn’t have improved so dramatically in the meantime. It must be the environment.’

The blizzard and bitter cold situation also had its advantages.

Since mana spread in nature is affected by the environment, the power of fire magic was bound to be weakened in such situations.

For a mage like Lee Han who had to click on various sealing devices whenever he used fire magic for fear of causing accidents, and still had to be careful even then, this was honestly somewhat relieving.

Whoooosh!

Lee Han began floating flames in various places to melt the snow.

“It seems like this snowfall isn’t entirely a bad thing.”

“What nonsense are you talking about, Wardanaz.”

“Don’t make cold jokes. It’s already cold enough.”

“…”

Lee Han closed his mouth.

Was it really that bad of a thing to say?

“Wardanaz. Shouldn’t you take a break?”

“I’m still fine.”

“Wardanaz. I think you should rest.”

“I’m still fine. Let’s do just a little more.”

“Wardanaz…”

“I said I’m fine, didn’t I?”

“No. It all melted…”

“Ah. I see.”

Lee Han raised his head.

Thanks to working all morning, a path out had been somewhat created.

When he turned around, his friends were looking at him with shocked expressions.

‘Is it because of the blizzard?’

“I’m going to visit Professor Thunderstep’s cabin. I need to gather what’s left in the vegetable garden.”

“Lee Han! We made potions, so take some with you!”

Yoner, who had been making potions with other friends inside the common room fireplace, gestured to him.

Cold resistance potions were bubbling vigorously in the cauldron.

Asan picked up a potion bottle and took a sip.

“Wow. I feel like my insides are getting hot?”

“Dalcard. That’s the alcohol we used as an ingredient. We haven’t bottled the cold resistance potion yet.”

* * *

Professor Thunderstep magically cleared away the snow near his cabin, then sat inside leisurely drinking coffee.

Thanks to the heavy snowfall, everything around felt quiet and cozy.

‘Not bad.’

This kind of accident wasn’t bad at all.

Wasn’t it much more atmospheric than some disgusting monster from the shadow dimension rampaging around?

Bang!

“Professor! Please give me some of the leftover food!”

Professor Thunderstep was so startled he nearly spilled his coffee.

How is this possible?!

“How did you break through with all this snow piled up?!”

“I melted it with fire and came through.”

“There’s no way such a crude method could work… actually, it would work.”

Professor Thunderstep nodded his head as he spoke.

It was entirely possible for the disciple before him.

This guy had mana that seemed to spring forth infinitely…

“Still, you did well to think of making a path with fire magic in this weather. Fire magic shouldn’t cast well.”

“Actually, it was better.”

“?”

“?”

Only after hearing the explanation could Thunderstep understand what he meant.

‘What a monster…!’

Of course, understanding it didn’t make it any less surprising.

Just how much mana must be surging for him to say that using fire magic in this weather was actually better?

Even though he’s wearing multiple control artifacts like that!

“…Wait a moment. Let me pack you some food.”

Even if his disciple had monstrous talent, seeing him come all the way here through this blizzard to gather remaining ingredients was a bit pitiful as a master.

Professor Thunderstep packed the remaining vegetables and eggs, smoked or pickled sausages and ham, and cheeses for him.

“Would the Vegetable Garden be unusable?”

“If you have any conscience, look at the snow piled up on the Vegetable Garden…”

“Even with the Wood Spirit’s staff?”

“Even if it were the staff of the Wood Spirit’s ancestor, what’s impossible is impossible…”

Professor Thunderstep was dumbfounded by his disciple’s series of shameless remarks.

No matter how much a staff could boost vitality, if there were vegetables that could grow through such heavy snowfall, they wouldn’t be vegetables but plant-type monsters.

“Don’t just complain and look at the positive aspects.”

“What nonsense are you talking about, Professor? It’s already cold enough, and you’re making such cold jokes?”

Forgetting what he had said to his friends earlier, Lee Han spoke seriously.

Professor Thunderstep was about to scold him but remembered that his disciple excelled in swordsmanship and combat.

The professor mercifully forgave him and began explaining.

“Of course, life will be somewhat inconvenient.”

“Very inconvenient, I’d say.”

“…Right. It will be very inconvenient. But it’ll be an opportunity to practice magic you couldn’t handle before.”

“Hmm. Come to think of it, I was cautious about blood magic because it seemed like it would cause great damage to the surroundings, but with snow piled up like this, it should act as a cushion.”

“Why are you bringing up blood magic?! I was talking about the cold element and spirits!”

Professor Thunderstep was startled by his disciple’s crazy words.

“Ah. That makes sense too.”

“Right. When nature’s mana is concentrated in one direction like this, the distance to invisible other worlds becomes closer. It wouldn’t be strange for cold spirits to come out from the Spirit Realm and wander around. Not to mention the cold element.”

Such harsh weather became an opportunity to practice difficult elements that one wouldn’t normally encounter.

Cold was exactly that.

“Since you’re quite skilled with the water element, there’s a high possibility that cold will suit you well too.”

“Is that so?”

Lee Han was delighted.

Getting things for free was always a pleasant thing.

“Right. Try calling water now. You’ll probably understand what I mean right away.”

The cold mana filling nature affected the mage’s magic.

If he called water now, surely…

“Spring Forth!”

Seeing the water mass spring forth as usual without freezing or shrinking, Professor Thunderstep cursed inwardly.

This was why teaching overly talented kids was difficult.

“Now. How cold and water properties are related…”

“Aren’t we going to use the water I just summoned?”

“…Listen quietly.”

“Yes. I understand.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————