Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 192
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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 192
“What?”
“What do you mean?”
The Blue Dragon Tower students looked at Professor Lightningstep as if asking what he was talking about.
-We’re close friends!
That made Professor Lightningstep even more dumbfounded.
“Look! Isn’t it trembling!”
“Huh? Wasn’t it shivering because it’s cold?”
“…”
Of course, making them obey through fear was also one method of taming.
In urgent situations, since there was no time to become friends, they had to make them listen even by intimidating them.
But now was not the time for that.
And in the first place, if they tamed it that way, wouldn’t the snow lizard definitely run away when Lee Han wasn’t around?
If they gave it to endure during the blizzard period and lost it in just one day, that would be absurd in its own way.
“Become friends like those Black Turtle Tower students over there. Stop scaring it!”
“Strange… I thought we had become friends.”
“Weren’t we friends?”
Even at the Blue Dragon Tower students’ questions, the snow lizard just hiccupped and rolled its eyes around.
Unable to watch any longer, Professor Lightningstep shook his head and called Lee Han.
“You, come here.”
“This isn’t really my fault though…”
“I know. But worldly affairs are sometimes unreasonable.”
Professor Lightningstep also knew that Lee Han hadn’t particularly done anything wrong.
It wasn’t Lee Han’s fault that the snow lizard, sensitive to mana, got scared and trembled just from his approach.
But worldly affairs are sometimes unreasonable.
Since it had come to this, Lee Han had to stay separated.
“Sorry. Next time I’ll bring a monster that’s insensitive to mana.”
“Oh. Are there such things?”
“…They’re not non-existent, but it might take some time to obtain one.”
“…”
Lee Han looked at his friends imitating the snow lizard with a dejected expression.
Professor Lightningstep felt sorry and comforted Lee Han.
“Still, isn’t it better since you don’t have to make such a ridiculous spectacle?”
“Professor. They can all hear you.”
* * *
After the lecture ended, the students returned to their towers with the snow lizards they had befriended.
Crack crack crack crack crack!
The snow lizard broke through the mountain of accumulated snow and instantly created a path.
Professor Lightningstep still felt a bit sorry and headed toward the cabin with Lee Han.
“Don’t worry too much about it. You can’t befriend every monster. Snow lizards are timid and sensitive to mana. Monsters that are mana-insensitive and fearless wouldn’t have this problem.”
“Those kinds aren’t exactly common…”
Professor Lightningstep kicked his nephew’s shin under the table. Professor Thunderstep bit his beard and screamed internally.
“Go get something to drink.”
“Yes…”
Professor Thunderstep opened the lid of a jar containing milk, heated it, then mixed in tea.
Lee Han slipped a warm scone into his coat pocket with an expressionless face.
“The snow lizard’s time won’t last very long. Once the blizzard stops, there’ll be no need to see it.”
“When do you think it’ll end? This week?”
“Uh…”
“Hmm…”
The two professors hesitated.
Lee Han suddenly became anxious.
Surely he wouldn’t have to attend classes by breaking through blizzards for the rest of the semester?
“It’s something the students need to resolve.”
“…But they’re upperclassmen, so they should handle it well, right?”
“Well, that’s…”
The two dwarf professors continued to trail off their words.
Lee Han seemed to believe in the upperclassmen, but the reality was a bit different.
The higher the grade level, the more the students’ abilities increased.
And the quality and quantity of work the students had to do also increased.
In such a situation, what if a heavy snow accident occurred at the school?
-There’s a blizzard, but I’m not too inconvenienced, so I’ll handle my tasks first and then look into it.
-There’s a blizzard, but I’m managing okay, so I’ll do today’s magic experiment first and then think about it.
…This kind of procrastination was highly likely to occur.
‘No way.’
From the two dwarf professors’ attitude, Lee Han sensed an ominous sign.
‘Are the upperclassmen postponing the solution?’
It’s human nature to postpone things unless they’re urgent personal matters.
Lee Han, who realized the truth, became angry.
‘Just what grade level caused this accident to be so irresponsible!’
“Still, if we wait, it’ll be resolved eventually, won’t it?”
“What if it doesn’t get resolved?”
“If it doesn’t… you’d have no choice but to solve it yourself, wouldn’t you?”
“If you solve it directly, the supervising professor would give you a high evaluation.”
Lee Han was speechless at the two professors’ absurd words.
How could a new student solve an accident caused by upperclassmen during their exams?
“You’re saying that now…”
“Yeah. Even I think that was a bit too much.”
“You agreed to it though.”
Professor Thunderstep grumbled. Professor Lightningstep shrugged his shoulders and said.
“But nothing we said was wrong. When upperclassmen slack off, we have no choice but to step in and solve it ourselves.”
“Don’t actually try to step in and solve it. I don’t know what kind of accident the upperclassmen caused to create this mess, but it won’t be easy to resolve.”
Professor Thunderstep warned just in case.
Though he hadn’t looked into it in detail, for an accident of this scale to occur, the magic involved must be considerable.
This wasn’t something a new student should try to resolve.
“What do you take me for… Do I look like someone who would recklessly jump into such things?”
“Yes.”
“You do.”
“…”
Lee Han was slightly hurt by the two dwarf professors’ reactions.
Why such a misunderstanding?
“I won’t.”
“Alright. I understand. I’ll trust you, so pack some snacks and head back. Oh, and even when you return to the tower, don’t get close to the snow lizard.”
“And don’t be tempted by rewards. There’s no reason to jump in just to get a reward from your supervising professor. Just wait for the upperclassmen to solve it.”
“Ah. I said I understand.”
Lee Han grumbled as he opened the cabin door and stepped out.
The two dwarf professors watched his retreating figure and muttered.
“Don’t you think he’ll jump in anyway?”
“It does seem likely.”
To the two dwarf professors, Lee Han already seemed like a new student who had devoted about half his life to magic.
Even if he said no, he would eventually take that step because of his curiosity about magic!
‘Should we have warned him more strongly…’
* * *
Evening.
The students gathered for the additional dark magic lecture were diligently moving their quill pens in Professor Mortum’s workshop.
The 2nd circle magic 【Bone Restraint Summoning】, which was an advanced version of the 1st circle magic 【Bone Hand Summoning】.
And other variations of the 1st circle magic 【Lesser Paralysis Curse】 they had learned initially, such as 【Lesser Silence Curse】, 【Lesser Darkness Curse】, 【Lesser Fracture Curse】, and so on.
That wasn’t all.
In the poison category, besides 【Acid Generation】, there were various other types of poisons.
In the summoning category, not just bones but various undead summons.
They hadn’t even learned necromancy or dark magic, which was the essence of negative energy, and it was already this much.
He could see Gainando’s eyes spinning in circles beside him. Raphadael was also holding his head and groaning.
“Cough. Of course, I’m not teaching you to master all of this right now.”
Gainando’s face brightened.
“Cough. But if you want to study dark magic in earnest next year, it would be good to master one or two of these perfectly. The world of dark magic is vast, so you need to choose and focus.”
Gainando’s face darkened.
“Cough… Ah. These idiots had to make the school even colder…”
Professor Mortum coughed and made an irritated expression.
Lee Han suddenly became curious and asked.
“Professor, do you know the reason for this accident?”
“Cough. Yes. One of my disciples participated in the accident.”
“!”
Lee Han had to make an effort to manage his expression for a moment.
There was nothing good about showing too much hatred for a senior from the same workshop.
“I see… How exactly did such an unfortunate accident occur?”
“Because those novices are all greed and no sense.”
Professor Mortum coughed and gave a simple explanation.
One dark magic major, one summoning magic (elemental spirit) major, one ancient magic major.
-We found a spirit incantation in the ruins! It’s incomplete, but if we restore it properly, this year’s Empire summoning academia will be our stage! We need your help as an ancient magic expert!
-This looks like Olodel school style. Dark magic is mixed in. Let’s call a dark magic specialist.
-You called? Wait. This summoning incantation is incomplete, isn’t it? Why are you calling people over something like this?
-Don’t worry. We completed the incomplete parts with substitute incantations. Look. Isn’t it stable?
-But from my perspective as an ancient magic expert, it still lacks power. It seems like amplification is needed. Let’s use an artifact of amplification. We have some research funds left.
-Wait.
-Why? You’re not going to say it’s reckless like a coward, are you?
-That’s not it. If we’re going to amplify it anyway, let’s amplify the negative energy too. Looking at it, the spirit seems to be a mix of cold and darkness, but there’s too little negative energy so the balance looks dangerous.
-See, we did well to call the dark magic specialist. That’s a very good idea.
“…”
“…”
The new students present wanted to kill the upperclassmen whose faces they didn’t even know.
Even Ymirg, the most gentle one there, had fierce eyes.
Were they suffering from the weekend because of those crazy people?
“Professor, please scold them severely!”
“Cough. I’m already doing that. I’m telling them to fix it quickly, but they’re not being very responsive.”
Professor Mortum grumbled at Gainando’s words.
Seeing this, Lee Han’s hatred suddenly subsided.
Of course, other upperclassmen might be slacking off, but at least the parties involved were definitely being scolded by the professors right now.
Lee Han wasn’t cruel enough to hate such pitiful people.
“Cough. Right. It wouldn’t be bad for the new students to take a look once.”
“What do you mean?”
Lee Han, who had been forgiving them alone, was the first to notice the dangerous sign.
“The scene of a failed summoning. Seeing it will be very helpful.”
Professor Mortum was well aware of the fact that there were few students wanting to learn dark magic.
As such, it was also true that he wanted to show students the charm of dark magic.
Of course, he couldn’t be sure if such actions could really convey the charm of dark magic…
* * *
‘So there was a path like this.’
Professor Mortum knocked on the walls of the main building and opened up the ceiling, racing through the main building in three dimensions without hesitation.
Lee Han wanted to memorize that path but gave up. Seeing Professor Mortum chant incantations, it wasn’t a path that could be found with Lee Han’s magic skills.
“What floor is this?”
“W-well…”
The new students had already lost their sense of direction long ago.
‘Cold…’
As Lee Han emerged from the passage, he could suddenly feel a hellish cold rushing toward him.
It was a qualitatively different cold from the blizzard outside.
A cold that seemed to spread as if mana itself carried the attribute of coldness.
And he could hear the sounds of undead.
-■■■■■…
-■■■■…
“Gasp!”
Gainando hid behind Lee Han. When Professor Mortum swung his staff, the frozen corpses melted away completely.
“Why are undead wandering around the main building corridor?”
“Cough. It turned out like this because someone botched a spirit summoning.”
If they had summoned the spirit with proper procedures and processes, this wouldn’t have happened.
Due to incomplete incantations, arbitrary interpretations to compensate for them, and amplification from artifacts and other things, what was summoned to this floor now was closer to a rampaging monster than a communicable spirit.
And it was a monster that turned the surrounding space into another dimension just by existing quietly.
Since the spirit was fundamentally a mixture of cold and darkness, it was natural for undead to emerge from the corridor space where the dimension had melted in.
“Can’t we just go in and defeat it?”
Lee Han was impressed by Gainando’s innocent question.
‘If there were upperclassmen around here, they would try to kill him after hearing that.’
“Cough. You’re right. Wait here for a moment.”
Professor Mortum took his staff and walked somewhere. Anyone could see it was the back of a professor about to scold his incompetent disciple.
Lee Han clicked his tongue sympathetically and looked toward the other end of the corridor.
The strange sight of frost and darkness mixing and undulating was honestly spectacular.
‘If only it weren’t covering the entire school with heavy snow, it would be beautiful.’
-Come in…
“?”
-Come in… you who desire power…
Lee Han hesitated when someone sent telepathy from the dimension at the other end of the corridor.
Then he shouted.
“Professor! Someone is speaking from inside the dimension!”
-…What a coward!
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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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