Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 226
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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 226
Whether Lee Han felt wronged or not, Professor Boladi continued speaking in a lecturing tone.
“Rock Drakes aren’t monsters you should be catching right now.”
‘Then are Rakshasa Hungry Ghosts monsters I should be catching right now?’
Lee Han swallowed his words.
The person who had forced him to catch a Rakshasa Hungry Ghost was saying this, making it several times more infuriating.
“As I’ve said before, impatience can ruin a mage.”
“Yes. I understand.”
“You mustn’t be impatient about your goal. Keep that in mind.”
“Yes. I under… my goal?”
Lee Han hesitated.
His goal?
‘Did I ever tell Professor Boladi that I wanted to become an imperial official? Or that I wanted to become the richest person in the Empire?’
No matter how much he thought about it, he hadn’t.
If it was another goal…
‘I did want to punch the Skeleton Principal once.’
“Excuse me, but what exactly do you mean by my goal?”
“Wasn’t it to complete the perfect form of combat magic through multi-magic training?”
“…!”
When you hear something too absurd, even the word ‘What?’ doesn’t come out.
That was exactly Lee Han’s situation right now.
While the study of magic was inherently dangerous, few faced danger as directly as combat mages who used magic in battle.
The concerns of these combat mages were always the same.
-How can we refine magic to be even more suitable for combat?
In fact, from one perspective, magic was the least suitable technique for combat.
If you wanted to kill someone up close, you could swing a sword, and if you wanted to kill from afar, you could shoot an arrow. How inefficient was it to train for years to create blade-like hands and arrows made of wind?
Of course, no one denied the powerful destructive force of high-circle magic.
…It’s just that casting such spells on a battlefield usually came with enormous constraints.
In preparation, reagents, concentration…
Moreover, when you tried to cast such magic, opponents wouldn’t just stand still. Since they had eyes too, they would try to kill the mage first.
You already had to concentrate mentally to cast high-circle magic (and if these spells failed, the caster could die), but now you had to worry about enemy attacks too.
Magical combat wasn’t difficult for nothing. Even outstanding mages would become useless on the battlefield without specialized training.
Anyway, since they specialized in such difficult work, combat mages were always conscious of weaknesses and pondered improvements.
-I’ve trained in fire elemental magic my whole life. But in the last battle, I got hit by an arrow from behind and started having concerns. What should I do?
-Cast wide-area fire magic around yourself to completely block others’ approach.
-That’s impossible. I have friends moving with me.
-Then learn how to create barriers or shields with fire.
-I tried, but the mana consumption was too severe, and due to fire’s nature, it couldn’t block specially treated arrows.
-Can’t be helped. Take this robe.
-Is this a robe with defensive magic on it?
-No. It’s a robe that earth elemental mages usually wear. If you wear this robe, archers will target others first. Earth elemental mages mostly have solid defenses.
-…
However, as anyone who had learned magic would know, completely resolving your weaknesses with magic from just a single school wasn’t easy.
There were things only enchantment magic could do, and things only summoning magic could do.
If you reached a considerable level, you could apply and resolve issues with magic from a single school, but that required being at the level of a true Archmage…
The easiest method was to learn magic from other schools too.
Of course, there were reasons why other combat mages didn’t use this easiest method.
-To block surprise attacks on the battlefield, I want to learn divination magic, summoning magic to call shields to protect me, enhancement magic to reduce damage if I do get hit, and finally healing magic in case of injury. What do you think?
-Don’t you feel something strange about what you just said?
…It was already difficult to achieve greatness even when deeply studying and training in one school of magic, yet learning multiple schools?
Even Einroguard students, gathered from the Empire’s finest talents, didn’t train in more than two or three schools.
No matter how much learning them together created synergistic effects, human body and mind had limits.
“Wait. I understand the explanation, but why did this topic come up?”
Lee Han, who had been listening, asked with confusion as the conversation took a strange turn.
“Weren’t you learning magic from all schools to complete combat magic?”
At Professor Boladi’s question, Lee Han answered firmly with a serious expression.
“It’s a coincidence!”
“It was a coincidence? I see.”
‘Did he accept that?’
“Intuition is sometimes a better guide than reason. Especially since you have aptitude for divination magic.”
“…”
‘This is maddening.’
Come to think of it, Professor Boladi was someone who only looked at results when doing things, not really questioning causes or reasons.
Since Lee Han was already attending lectures from multiple schools of magic, he was probably thinking ‘Then it would be good to become a combat mage who utilizes all those magics.’
“Professor. Completing perfect combat magic without weaknesses through multi-magic training sounds ideal at first glance, but… isn’t it realistically difficult?”
Lee Han tried to persuade Professor Boladi.
Wasn’t this a training method that sounded ideal but wasn’t realistic?
Professor Boladi nodded.
‘Did he accept…?’
“But it’s different if it’s you. You received high evaluations in all lectures.”
“…”
Lee Han was angry at the professors.
Why were they all so loose-lipped?
Shouldn’t a student’s aptitude and grades be kept to oneself?
“Then the possibility isn’t low.”
Professor Boladi’s theory was as follows.
Currently, Lee Han had completed ‘basic’ elemental training without being late.
He now had to train in some advanced courses (evaporation, rotation, or floating ice shields), but…
…if Lee Han was envisioning the grand goal of multi-magic training, that had to be respected too.
So Professor Boladi was preparing to help him apply and combine magic learned from other schools.
“Magic from other schools will now start progressing in earnest too.”
“Excuse me, but how is that?”
“Didn’t I tell you to bring books from the library?”
“…”
To think it connected like that.
Lee Han lamented inwardly.
He should have set the library on fire!
‘Wait. This might not necessarily be bad.’
Come to think of it, even if magic from other schools progressed in earnest, this wasn’t necessarily all bad.
Professor Boladi would try to apply and combine what was learned, so the progress would slow down somewhat, wouldn’t it?
And magic from other schools was likely not to be pushed as harshly as Professor Boladi did.
‘While learning how to apply and combine different magics, this lecture will become a peaceful and warm lecture.’
As Lee Han was trying to find positive aspects of the situation, Professor Boladi’s voice reached his ears.
“Prepare.”
“…”
A storm of Magic Missiles ready to strike from all directions.
Come to think of it, Professor Boladi had said he would help apply magic from other schools to combat, but he hadn’t said he would stop the advanced courses he’d already been teaching.
Naturally, they would do both together.
“…Freeze!!”
* * *
Professor Boladi was genuinely disappointed.
Due to his eager desire to catch the Rock Drake, his disciple from the Wardanaz family had failed to complete the floating ice shield magic.
Of course, it wasn’t a complete failure.
Lee Han had succeeded in summoning the ice shield, and had even succeeded in floating that ice shield in the air.
However, he had not yet fully succeeded in making the ice shield ‘move around autonomously and block attacks.’
Since enchantment magic was still unfamiliar to him, the ice shield would move erratically or collide with things, so there was still a long way to go.
Nevertheless, this was already tremendous progress. Even more so considering he was a 1st year student.
However, neither the master nor disciple in the lecture hall thought this progress was tremendous.
‘Strange. Why is this so difficult?’
Lee Han exhaled roughly.
His mana was fine, but his mental energy was severely depleted.
Summoning and maintaining frost magic was much more difficult than usual.
It wasn’t like this last time…
“Ah.”
Lee Han hesitated as he realized the reason.
“What’s wrong?”
“Professor. Unlike last week, the school is no longer a good environment for using frost magic due to the absence of the Frost Giant King.”
“I see. I’ll bring frost into the lecture hall for the next class.”
“…”
Lee Han was left speechless by Professor Boladi’s brazenly casual way of glossing over the fact that he had forgotten.
‘…He’s a natural-born professor. Really.’
* * *
“Lee Han. I think there was something in those snacks after all…”
His friends were worried about Lee Han’s gloomy expression.
He had said the Skeleton Principal’s snacks were fine and eaten them, but perhaps there really was a trap after all?
“It’s just because the lecture was difficult.”
“I see. If that’s all it is.”
While Gainando felt relieved, other friends whispered beside him.
-Is it really okay to feel relieved?
-The additional lectures Wardanaz is taking right now are roughly…
But what could they do?
Their friend was already on that path.
The Blue Dragon Tower students forced smiles and said,
“Still, today’s summoning magic lecture should be somewhat okay!”
“Right. Wardanaz, you’re especially good at summoning magic. It shouldn’t be too difficult…”
However, as soon as the students took their seats, Professor Milay adjusted her monocle and spoke firmly.
“Since everyone brought books from the library, I’m planning to cover some difficult content in today’s lecture.”
“…”
“…”
Lee Han shook his head with a bitter expression. His friends’ hearts seemed to break at the sight.
“Wardanaz…!”
“Stay strong! You can’t collapse!”
Of course, it was a scene that students from other towers couldn’t understand at all.
“What are those Blue Dragon Tower guys doing?”
“Why on earth are they worried about Wardanaz? Shouldn’t it be Wardanaz worrying about them?”
“Quiet.”
Professor Milay silenced the students. Unlike the Skeleton Principal, this old professor knew how to quiet students without using coercive magic.
“Until now, you have all been casting summoning magic using magic circles. That’s because summoning magic is that difficult.”
Professor Milay waved her staff as she spoke.
Then stone fragments rose from the floor, collided and transformed into metal, then became a sword.
The professor’s actions didn’t end there. She waved once more, casting enchantment magic.
Then the sword danced as if it were alive.
“Everyone, do you see this sword?”
“Yes!”
“To complete this dancing sword, I cast several types of magic.”
Lee Han, who had done something similar in the morning, nodded.
Professor Milay threw an octahedral reagent from her pocket and waved her staff.
Then an identical dancing sword was summoned.
“There are dozens, hundreds of ways to reproduce the same phenomenon. Among them, summoning magic corresponds to a short shortcut.”
It was much more convenient to summon a dancing sword all at once than to create a sword from nothing and cast enchantment magic on it to complete it.
“But summoning magic requires that much more preparation, is complex, and difficult. Whether it’s a living being or a non-living being.”
Students who had heard this many times nodded.
“A dancing sword like the one just now cannot be implemented by dozens or hundreds of methods at your level. That means it cannot be implemented through summoning magic either.”
“…?”
Lee Han tilted his head slightly.
‘Hmm. I should just stay quiet.’
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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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