Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 227

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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 227

While listening, Lee Han couldn’t help but think ‘That’s strange, I’m sure I was attacked this morning and told to implement something like that,’ but he decided not to say anything.

It didn’t seem like saying it would lead to anything good.

“Often, some mages look only at the results of summoning magic and mistakenly think it’s the easiest and most convenient magic… If you came here with such misconceptions, I ask that you leave now.”

Professor Milay spoke in a stern voice. Gainando, who had been about to get up because he wanted to go to the bathroom, looked around nervously and sat back down.

‘Well, summoning magic does require quite a lot of groundwork.’

Lee Han didn’t notice Gainando groaning beside him and pondered deeply over what he had just heard.

Right now, if mages from other schools wanted to magically implement a dancing sword, they would have to cast several spells in succession.

However, summoning mages could just summon a dancing sword directly.

Looking only at this result, summoning magic seemed much easier and more convenient, but…

Naturally, if there were advantages, there were also disadvantages. There was no such thing as perfect magic.

To summon a dancing sword all at once, various groundwork had to be done beforehand.

Like compressing magic in advance into octahedral metal that had been magically treated like what Professor Milay had just thrown (which is why summoning magic required particularly many such reagents), or compressing magic into magic circles.

‘That said, making contracts with intelligent beings is difficult in its own way.’

Lee Han looked at Sharkan’s bone fragment hanging from his belt.

Even with Sharkan, if Lee Han hadn’t made efforts to befriend him, he might have had his throat bitten while sleeping.

Clatter!

Sharkan’s bone fragment moved as if protesting.

“Today we’ll practice making the reagents and magic circles needed for summoning magic. It will be tedious work, but remember that not even the slightest mistake is tolerated in summoning magic. It’s not uncommon for summoned items to attack the mage.”

“Lee Han. Lee Han.”

When Gainando poked him, Lee Han nodded as if he understood.

“Don’t worry, Gainando. I’ll help you.”

“!”

A student who tried to understand what the professor taught by hearing it for the first time in the lecture hall was a beginner.

A student who tried to understand what the professor taught after hearing it in the lecture hall and then later was intermediate.

A skilled student had already studied to some extent what the professor would teach before coming.

And Lee Han was exactly that kind of person.

Someone who had absolutely no trust in professors!

“Now. You’ve done this feather pen summoning magic circle several times so you know it well, but when you try to make it from scratch, there are some difficult parts. This ◇ pattern area is a typical trap…”

“That’s… that’s not it…”

“Even if it’s difficult, just bear with it a little. I’ll explain it well.”

“I said I want to go to the bathroom, you bastard!”

* * *

Nod, nod-

‘Oh dear.’

Lee Han sighed as he watched the White Tiger Tower student nodding off beside him.

Seeing things like this, he could definitely feel that his friends were 1st years.

To doze off so openly like that.

If Lee Han were to sleep (though he would never sleep), he would never sleep so carelessly.

‘Professor Milay must have already noticed.’

Looking around, it wasn’t just White Tiger Tower students who were dozing off, but students from all towers were falling asleep.

It was understandable.

Sitting in place continuously, drawing magic circles using specially crafted magic ink and various magic stone powders, and carving letters and patterns – even mages with iron-like mental fortitude couldn’t help but get sleepy.

There weren’t many people like Lee Han who could repeat such work for 24 hours and think ‘Well, this much is nothing new.’

‘Is it done?’

Lee Han checked the completed magic circle.

It wasn’t just made with paper and ink, but was a magic circle that included various materials like metal fragments and magic stone powder.

The more complex the item to be summoned through summoning magic, the more complex the magic circle became.

Even Lee Han had to start over several times due to mistakes.

To think it took this much just to summon a magic feather pen that would scribble ‘I am a student learning summoning magic.’

He was worried about how complex it would become at higher levels.

‘Come to think of it, professors can just make their disciples do it.’

Thinking about the amount of labor hidden behind flashy magic made Lee Han feel bitter.

When Empire people thought of magic, they imagined spectacular miracles, but in reality, everything in the world worked similarly.

“Well done.”

Before he knew it, Professor Milay had approached and was quietly observing Lee Han’s work.

Given Professor Milay’s strict nature with praise, that level of compliment meant he had really done well.

“Thank you. I was lucky.”

“…I’m sorry for the misunderstanding.”

“?”

Lee Han wondered what Professor Milay was talking about.

‘Misunderstanding? What does he mean?’

Had he mistaken Lee Han’s summoning magic level for Gainando’s level after seeing them together earlier?

If that was the case, an apology would make sense.

“No. It’s fine.”

“The other students will need more time. In the meantime, feel free to do whatever you want.”

“Uh…”

Lee Han hesitated.

It was easy to misunderstand, but when professors said such things, you couldn’t just let it slide.

The meaning implied by those words varied depending on the professor’s personality.

If Professor Garcia said ‘Do whatever you want during the remaining time, student Lee Han,’ that would really be okay.

He could even line up some lecture hall chairs and take a nap.

However, when the Skeleton Principal said ‘Do whatever you want during the remaining time,’ taking a nap would be suicidal.

The moment he closed and opened his eyes, he might find himself transported to the punishment room.

‘There’s a simple way to find out.’

“Will you be checking the results, Professor?”

If he was going to check the results of magic circle or reagent creation, that wasn’t really ‘do whatever you want freely’ but closer to ‘Let me see how far you can go, don’t play around and work hard.’

If he wasn’t going to check, then he could rest comfortably.

‘Hmm.’

The old professor fell into thought at the words brought up by the student from the Wardanaz family.

Originally, Professor Milay didn’t particularly like giving special treatment to one student.

Equality and strictness.

That was Professor Milay’s belief.

As such, no matter how outstanding Lee Han’s talent in summoning magic was, looking at additional results separate from other students was…

‘But there was a fault.’

Professor Milay reflected.

Professor Milay himself, who should maintain the rule of fairness among students, had initially approached that Wardanaz family boy with prejudice.

He had arbitrarily thought of him as an arrogant student intoxicated by his own talent, so he couldn’t help but feel sorry.

In that case…

“Very well. I’ll check it.”

“…”

‘Damn it.’

Lee Han grumbled inwardly.

Professor Milay was ultimately the same type of person as the Skeleton Principal.

What freedom was he talking about!

“Understood.”

Lee Han sighed inwardly and began moving his feather pen.

Among the things Lee Han could do at his current level, something that wouldn’t make Professor Milay say ‘Is that all?’…

‘A floating shield, I suppose.’

Although Lee Han had received passing marks from Professor Boladi for all forms of elemental transformation, it wasn’t without preferences.

After all, mages inevitably become more familiar with the forms they use frequently.

In that regard, the forms Lee Han was most comfortable with now were orbs and shields.

A shield would be more impressive than an orb.

‘Since autonomous movement is impossible with my current magic, I’ll have to use some tricks to fill in certain parts.’

Even if a shield that moved and blocked on its own was too much, he could at least create shields that stayed fixed in place and blocked with various elements.

This alone might look a bit weak, so if he added some movement, even if imperfect…

‘But what is he trying to do?’

As a mage herself, Professor Milay couldn’t help but be curious.

Moreover, Lee Han was objectively one of the most talented students among this year’s class.

It was natural to wonder what such a student would do when given free time.

‘Looking at the form, it’s a shield.’

Professor Milay felt slightly disappointed.

His ambition was a bit excessive.

He probably gained strong confidence in water elemental forms after seeing him handle water orbs last time.

But the order was wrong.

He should first become familiar with water shield magic, and only after being able to draw the mana structure and flow of that magic with his eyes closed should he attempt to draw it as a magic circle.

Attempting the magic circle first without that foundation was reckless.

Even if they were both water elemental magic, orb form and shield form were completely different forms.

‘But failure will also serve as a lesson.’

Professor Milay nodded faintly and sent silent encouragement.

There was no mage who didn’t fail.

It only differed in how one accepted that failure.

* * *

“Everyone has worked hard.”

Lee Han looked up.

The other students had also roughly completed their magic circles and were stretching.

‘I was almost done. What a shame.’

“I think you’ll all feel quite disappointed when today’s lecture ends like this.”

At Professor Milay’s words, the students hesitated, unsure if they should answer ‘Yes!’

“Yes!”

Seeing Gainando answer cheerfully, the students were impressed.

Professor Milay accepted it graciously.

“Of course.”

“Too bor…”

Lee Han poked Gainando’s side from an invisible angle. Gainando’s words were cut off.

“But what we did today is a process that mages walking the path of summoning magic will experience thousands, tens of thousands of times in the future. It would be good to prepare yourselves in advance.”

Professor Milay waved her staff along with her words.

Then the lecture hall’s form changed. The students were pushed to the corners and a large empty space appeared in the center.

“In the remaining time today, we’ll learn about contracts.”

“…!”

“!!!”

The students’ expressions brightened.

Not the complex and headache-inducing summoning of inanimate objects, but summoning that involved meeting beings from other realms, communicating with them, and forming contracts.

In fact, this was the more common image of summoning magic.

‘It’s dangerous though.’

Having inevitably contracted with an unheard-of spirit like Perkuntra, Lee Han was well aware of the dangers of such contracts.

Why would contracts with intelligent beings be dangerous?

Because the other party could also screw over the mage at any time.

This was especially true if that mage was a 1st year student. For demons who had rolled around in the demon realm for hundreds of years, deceiving young mages was nothing.

Naturally, Professor Milay was well aware of such dangers too.

“Never, absolutely never try to peek into or explore other realms when only students are present.”

The magic circle Professor Milay had cast in the center of the lecture hall was a passage equipped with safety devices.

A passage that allowed glimpses into the Spirit Realm, but limited the power of spirits that could approach.

Beings above a certain level of power couldn’t approach at all.

‘The professor is so thorough about safety measures, yet I have no idea what kind of nonsense the upperclassmen did to summon the Frost Giant King.’

Lee Han cursed the absent upperclassmen and fell into thought.

“Student Lee Han.”

“Yes?”

“Student Lee Han, please use this magic circle.”

“May I ask why?”

When Professor Milay called forth a different magic circle instead of the Spirit Realm one, Lee Han was puzzled.

“I heard that spirits avoid you. I’ve found and opened one of the Undead Realms.”

“…Thank you.”

Lee Han tried not to show his bitterness.

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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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