Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 221
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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 221
The White Tiger Tower student who had been by Lee Han’s side the entire way consistently put forward a hypothesis.
-In my opinion, Wardanaz wasn’t swept away and dragged along. Wardanaz chased after it to catch the Rock Drake.
Of course, it was such a radical and extreme hypothesis that even Gainando from Blue Dragon Tower couldn’t accept it.
-Aren’t those bastards just making excuses because they don’t want to go help?
-No, no!
“What did I say! What did I tell you!”
“Did… did you really catch it??”
The Blue Dragon Tower students found it hard to believe and just stared at each other.
Even if some White Tiger Tower students or Black Turtle Tower students believed strange rumors like ‘Wardanaz secretly studied magic before entering magic school and mastered all sorts of evil secrets,’ the Blue Dragon Tower students were different.
Living together meant they wouldn’t fall for such ridiculous rumors.
The Blue Dragon Tower students were cool-headed and clever.
Lee Han was indeed exceptional material for a great mage – he heard things like ‘You are a talent who will make this school flourish’ from professors in every lecture he attended, and he himself had the ambition to ‘master the secrets of all magical fields’ – but he wasn’t as absurd as those rumors suggested.
Moreover, something like hunting Rock Drakes, no matter how much of a genius Lee Han was, wasn’t something he could do right now…
“War, Wardanaz!”
When Lee Han staggered out, his friends screamed.
Walking out from among the Rock Drakes, he looked so disheveled that they thought he might be seriously injured.
Lee Han waved his hand as if he was fine. It meant he wasn’t hurt.
“Did you catch the Rock Drake?!”
“…What? What nonsense are you talking about?”
“Ah, no… they’re lying over there…”
Lee Han looked at his friends as if they were the most pathetic people in the world.
Under that gaze, the Blue Dragon Tower students felt themselves becoming infinitely stupid.
“They fought each other and collapsed.”
“Ah… I, I see.”
The Blue Dragon Tower students glared at the White Tiger Tower student who had been noisily chattering on the way here.
‘Because of that bastard!’
However, the White Tiger Tower student was still muttering nonsense.
“You made them fight each other? With mental magic?!”
“What’s going on? Did Wardanaz really catch them?”
“He made two Rock Drakes fight each other?”
“As… as expected!”
“I knew it from when he mentally subdued Durgyu!”
If Lee Han had been just a little less tired, he would have noticed that the White Tiger Tower students were whispering bullshit, but he was too exhausted for that.
He had maintained balance and endured in a situation where two Rock Drakes were charging at each other as if to kill.
No matter how overflowing his mana was, the consumption of concentration was enormous.
“Butcher the Rock Drake. Since it’s big, just cutting out the good parts to eat should be enough.”
“Al, alright.”
“?”
He had spoken to the Blue Dragon Tower students, but when passing White Tiger Tower students rushed over, Lee Han was puzzled.
‘Doesn’t matter.’
For now, he just wanted to rest a little.
* * *
Lee Han, who had briefly closed his eyes, got up from his spot.
Students were busily moving around in all directions, cleaning up.
‘…I did learn something.’
What made Lee Han most bitter was that he was proving Professor Boladi’s theory that ‘you learn quickly when thrown into precarious crises, so you must continue experiencing crises.’
He felt self-loathing because he really did learn and realize something every time he fell into precarious crises.
…Was this really the right method for a mage?
‘Even so, this doesn’t seem like the right method.’
Enduring on the back of a Rock Drake that burst up from underground was sufficient with just 【Basic Control】 magic, but it wasn’t enough to endure a head-on collision between two Rock Drakes.
He had to be firmly fixed to the Rock Drake’s back, not floating in the air.
As a last resort, Lee Han grabbed the Rock Drake’s scales and radiated mana from his fingertips. Not only enhancement magic, but additionally to strengthen his physical abilities.
Even so, it wasn’t enough. His body kept shaking as if it would fly away.
But there was no choice.
Lee Han desperately poured mana, poured, and poured.
And at some point, he realized.
-Mana…?!
Even if they couldn’t create the advanced scholarship that mages did, knights also used mana to perform quite diverse techniques.
These skills were secrets passed down in knight families, so they weren’t easily leaked, and the knights themselves rarely used them unless necessary.
However, Lee Han had relatively recently witnessed unusual swordsmanship using mana.
When the young apprentice knights of the White Poplar Knight Order came to visit.
At that time, Labda of the Enge Family had used quite unusual swordsmanship.
Strange swordsmanship that used mana flowing through the sword to pull the opponent’s sword at the moment of clash.
When he asked other students, they said it was the Enge Family’s unique Absorption Sword technique.
It was rare swordsmanship, quite famous even among knights.
…Now Lee Han seemed to have inadvertently grasped the mystery of absorption.
Thud-
Lee Han radiated mana into his hand and pressed it against the rock.
Then he felt a sticky attractive force between his hand and the rock.
“…”
‘I should be learning mana circulation instead of this.’
Although this property change allowed him to cling to the Rock Drake’s back and barely survive, this wasn’t actually the task Lee Han should be doing right now.
He needed to complete the continuous mana circulation within his body so he could skillfully maintain mana as a swordsman…
Why had he realized such an unusual mana property change that he should only worry about when creating new swordsmanship?
‘Professor Ingoldel might find it absurd if I tell her.’
Actually, Lee Han was mistaken.
Professor Ingoldel would rather be delighted than bewildered.
-Excellent, Wardanaz. Outstanding swordsmen always find fragments of their own swordsmanship in their youth. Because you are so serious about the sword, the sword has responded to you. Now try to incorporate that realization into your own sword. It wouldn’t be bad to recreate the moment you gained the insight. What kind of moment was it?
…She would say such things and be pleased.
Hadn’t her disciple, who was very serious about swordsmanship (at least in Professor Ingoldel’s opinion), gained insight toward his own swordsmanship?
“Wardanaz. Are you feeling alright?”
“Ah. Yes. Thanks.”
Lee Han took his hand off the rock and fully stood up.
The realization was something to think about later; right now he had to solve the immediate problems.
“Try some.”
“What is it?”
“Roast beef. I used Rock Drake meat.”
The White Tiger Tower student offered a thick-cut, grilled, juicy and moist crimson chunk of meat.
‘But if it’s Rock Drake meat, wouldn’t it not be beef?’
Lee Han had that thought as he received the plate.
Of course, the White Tiger Tower students had no resistance to such details.
They were already boiling dandelions and acorns to make coffee, so what difference would there be between drake meat and beef?
“Thank you for the meal. Thanks…”
“No need to be grateful, Wardanaz. You’re the one who caught it.”
The White Tiger Tower student seemed slightly embarrassed as he scratched under his nose.
It felt awkward to be serving a meal to Wardanaz like this, though it shouldn’t have been surprising.
Who could have predicted that they would end up serving a meal to Wardanaz before entering the dungeon—no, the library?
“This is really…”
“I said it’s fine, Wardanaz. No need to be grateful.”
“No. It’s dry. Who cooked this?”
“…”
The White Tiger Tower student looked at Wardanaz as if dumbfounded.
“This is delicious enough… isn’t it?”
“What nonsense are you talking about.”
Lee Han walked forward.
Looking to the side, he saw the Blue Dragon Tower students also making subtle expressions.
They were grateful that the White Tiger Tower students had cooked so diligently, but…
…their expressions clearly showed something was lacking!
“Lee Han!! You’re awake!”
Gainando jumped up from his seat.
And he blurted out what all the Blue Dragon Tower students had been thinking but couldn’t bring themselves to say out of conscience.
“Could you cook inst— mmph mmph.”
“Please shut up…!”
“Do you want to be called the Blue Beggar Tower?!”
The Blue Dragon Tower friends, their shame activated, covered Gainando’s mouth.
But everyone who needed to hear had already heard.
“…Wardanaz. If you want, you can do it.”
The White Tiger Tower student standing in front of the meat called out to Lee Han.
Several crossed their arms and stared at Lee Han.
Their eyes seemed to say, ‘Let’s see how well you can do.’
‘No matter how much of an archmage you are, you can’t possibly be skilled at cooking, the flower of camping, right?’
‘I’ve been grilling meat since I learned to walk. Wardanaz. How many years have you been grilling?’
‘These guys weren’t even this competitive about swordsmanship…’
Lee Han stood in front of the meat with a reluctant expression.
The strangely heated gazes were absurd.
“Everyone thinks Lee Han won’t be able to pull it off.”
Durgyu muttered to Giselle who was beside him.
Giselle, who had been wiping dust off her sword, looked at Durgyu with eyes that said ‘I’m not curious.’
She had no interest in the foolishness they’d been engaging in.
“But Moradi. Lee Han’s cooking skills are beyond imagination.”
‘So what…’
I’m not curious!
Giselle shook her head as if it was too bothersome to even curse, and grabbed her sword again.
* * *
Several White Tiger Tower students cast respectful gazes that Lee Han had never seen even when he defeated them with magic or sword.
That’s how delicious the meat was.
It was a taste of mysterious magic.
‘…Should I have just grilled meat and brought it on the first day of swordsmanship lectures?’
If he had, he might have seriously been able to win over about a quarter of the White Tiger Tower students…
“If you’re done eating, let’s move.”
“Wait. Wardanaz. Hold on.”
“?”
“We need to collect water. See this grass here? If you pull this grass, the roots contain water…”
“Spring forth.”
“…”
“Fill the water. Let’s go.”
The White Tiger Tower students understood why knights always grumbled about mages when they drank.
The frustration of seeing someone do with a single staff what knights had to suffer through all kinds of hardships to accomplish!
“Mages really…!”
“Aren’t you mages too?”
Meanwhile, Lee Han checked the downward entrance.
“There’s a locking mechanism.”
“It’s a locking mechanism that opens by manipulating mana.”
“We’ve been searching around for books.”
The White Tiger Tower students shared the information they had discovered.
A locking mechanism that opens when you manipulate mana to create a specific shape.
As such, it was difficult to open without knowing the shape.
But Lee Han…
‘I have plenty of mana, so should I try a few commonly used shapes?’
“Step aside.”
Lee Han placed his hand on the locking mechanism and poured in mana.
He’d try the most famous and frequently used symbols and patterns first…
Crack!!!
Lee Han’s expression hardened.
Perhaps the device’s mana capacity limit was lower than expected, as it felt like the inside couldn’t withstand the mana Lee Han poured in and got smashed.
‘…I’m screwed.’
Lee Han felt the gazes of the White Tiger Tower students watching from behind.
If he said he accidentally broke the device, they might scream ‘Wardanaz, you evil mage! You’re showing your true colors!’
“???”
Of course, the White Tiger Tower students, who weren’t thinking such thoughts at all, tilted their heads in confusion.
‘Is he working on it?’
‘That must be it.’
Clunk!
As the device broke, the part that was holding it in place also broke, and the door opened to reveal stairs leading downward.
The White Tiger Tower students’ eyes widened in amazement.
To open it right away without even taking a breath!
“…How did you figure it out?”
Giselle asked in disbelief.
No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t deduce the answer.
Lee Han calmly managed his expression and answered.
“Wisdom and inspiration.”
“…”
Giselle bit her lip. It was frustrating, but she had no choice but to acknowledge that Wardanaz’s brain.
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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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