Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 230

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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 230

Lee Han returned to the tower, imagining himself becoming His Imperial Majesty’s right hand and throwing the Skeleton Principal into an underground prison.

‘Hmm.’

If he were an ordinary student, he would have rather said ‘Even if you beat me to death, I can’t study this! Please just send me to the punishment room instead!’ But unfortunately, Lee Han had the personality to try doing whatever he could manage, even when given impossible assignments.

A personality of digging his own grave, which only he was unaware of.

‘Ugh…’

Lee Han entered his private room and flipped through the book 【Ancient Basic Necromancy – On True Undead Summoning】.

Though it was mixed with ancient characters and various languages and codes, the book’s structure itself was surprisingly orthodox. Thanks to this, he could vaguely understand what kind of content the book contained.

‘…No. Two-thirds of this book is useless content for me.’

Thud!

Lee Han closed the book and was surprised.

The ancient basic necromancy book was one that dealt with the third method of undead summoning that Professor Mortum had mentioned, from basics to advanced levels.

Instead of just summoning undead, it was a method of casting powerful magic on corpses to raise them.

True to being a method that wasn’t used much nowadays, the difficulty was high and the mana consumption was enormous.

Accordingly, one-third of the book’s content was about methods to amplify the mana needed for black magic, and another third was about methods to conserve mana consumed when casting magic.

In other words…

Two-thirds of the book’s content combined was unnecessary.

‘Well, it’s good that the amount is reduced.’

From Lee Han’s perspective, it was a relief.

He already had a lot to study right now, so he didn’t want to increase the amount further.

Moreover, when he glanced at it earlier, the methods weren’t very pleasant.

Mix soil from a 17-year-old grave with bone powder from 11 years ago, put it in Kranten solution, and drink it three times daily to increase mana…

Training methods that made him think ‘Ah, this is why black magic isn’t popular.’

Lee Han was grateful for having abundant mana for the first time in a while.

To think he didn’t have to do such things!

The remaining third of the book contained practical content.

All kinds of corpses, their characteristics when necromancy was performed on them, precautions when performing it, and so on.

A knight’s corpse contains high-purity mana in the bones, making it good for raising. Since knights are petty about giving up their comrades’ corpses, one should aim for times when their guard is lax during the new moon each month…

Lee Han unconsciously looked around his private room.

…No one’s here, right?

‘As expected of an old book, the methods are quite extreme.’

But it wasn’t incomprehensible.

Necromancy that summoned from other dimensions was also strongly influenced by the reagents and materials used.

The more powerful and sacred bones or corpses of beings were used, the stronger the beings from other dimensions that were summoned.

Much more so for necromancy that utilized corpses 100% to raise them – it was bound to be more greatly affected by the corpses.

Therefore, a mage should develop the habit of carrying minimal bone fragments in coat inner pockets, belt pouches, sleeve pockets, inside boots, etc. So as not to be caught off guard when unexpected situations arise. Situations where corpses cannot be obtained come more often than one thinks…

‘It has more advantages than I thought.’

The old-style necromancy, that is, classical necromancy, had more definite advantages than expected.

Summoning-style necromancy had limits in strengthening the summoned undead.

Since beings from other dimensions were summoned, there were limits even when the mage tried to apply various enhancements.

Unless one summoned stronger beings instead.

However, classical necromancy that directly created them could be enhanced indefinitely if one had the skill.

For example, if magic was cast on a pile of bones to make them fight in the form of a Skeleton Warrior, enhancement was possible through various methods from the types of bones to all kinds of enchantment magic.

Moreover, they were much more durable.

With summoning-style necromancy, once they took a hit and were reverse-summoned, they couldn’t return from the other dimension until they recovered.

However, with classical necromancy, if the mage had enough mana, they could wave their staff again to repair and raise them.

‘I understand why the Skeleton Principal told me to learn it…’

Seeing the advantages, he could understand why he was told to learn it.

Of course, that didn’t make his anger disappear.

‘…Everything else is disadvantages.’

Enormous mana consumption.

Complex magical structures that had to be hand-crafted for each undead (frankly, it was equivalent to making one artifact per undead).

Even tactical operations where the mage had to concentrate and give individual commands.

Of course, as magic level increased, mana consumption could be reduced through various methods, magic could be cast more easily, and giving commands became more convenient…

No matter how he thought about it, the entry barrier was excessively high.

‘The 【Skeleton Warrior Summoning】 that this book starts with in earnest is… 4th Circle.’

4th Circle might sound simple, but outside school, a 4th Circle mage would be one who received flattery like ‘Oh, great Archmage sir.’

It was just that there were too many outstanding mages at Einroguard, so phrases like ‘come having learned 4th Circle magic’ popped out casually.

Lee Han was truly infuriated anew.

‘Isn’t it too much, both Professor Boladi and the Skeleton Principal?’

If it were around 2nd-3rd Circle, he would have pretended not to be able to do it while preparing in advance, but with 4th Circle magic piling up, it was absurd.

Lee Han sighed and took out the bone fragments he had brought from Professor Mortum.

“The magic that can be cast on the left arm is as follows… Levitation, Rotation, Binding, Strike…”

What could he do?

It was an assignment, so he had to do it!

* * *

“Why isn’t Wardanaz coming out?”

Even though it was the weekend, seeing Wardanaz only prepare a simple breakfast and not come out of his private room, the Blue Dragon Tower students were puzzled.

While it didn’t matter to Gainando whether he overslept or became undead in his room, when Lee Han wasn’t visible for even a few hours, it was concerning.

The friends who had devoured sandwiches with jam, cheese, smoked meat, and eggs between grilled bread slices began to get anxious when Lee Han still hadn’t come out.

“Didn’t you make Wardanaz angry yesterday?”

“N-no! I mean, I did say I didn’t want to go to the undead realm even though Lee Han suggested it. And I did bother him by asking to play card games when he said he had a lot to study! But that much should be okay!”

“…”

“You piece of trash. It is because of you!”

“Go apologize quickly!”

“But… I said no!”

Gainando grumbled and knocked on Lee Han’s private room door.

After a moment, Lee Han’s voice was heard.

-The door’s open. Open it and come in.

“Lee Han. Those guys are making ridiculous accusations… AAAAHHH! Lee Han is being attacked by the Principal!”

“!!!”

“Everyone come here! Wardanaz is being attacked!”

Students who had trauma about being attacked by undead in the tower came running frantically.

Just when things seemed quiet, the Skeleton Principal had infiltrated an undead infiltration team into Lee Han’s private room because it was the weekend.

It was truly a despicable trick.

“Let’s go up right aw…”

Thud!

The Imperial Princess stopped her friends with a cold expression, holding her staff.

“Why?!”

“If we rush in recklessly, we’ll be counterattacked! Let’s crouch down and cast magic while using the stairs as cover!”

A follower conveyed the Imperial Princess’s intention to the friends.

It sounded plausible enough that his friends crouched down at the bottom of the stairs and prepared their magic.

“Wardanaz! We’re coming to help you now!”

“Now!”

The Imperial Princess rushed out from the front and cast Magic Missile.

A blue light flashed and a mass of mana flew rapidly.

Clang!

However, the attack was blocked by a water shield. Lee Han grabbed one of the fallen Gainando’s ears and said.

“Everyone stop. I’m not being attacked.”

“War… Wardanaz!!”

“…No. You are being attacked!!”

His friends were shocked.

Skeleton Warriors were filling Lee Han’s private room.

“The Principal didn’t send them – I raised them myself. Though they’re not quite ready to move yet…”

Lee Han tapped his staff. The Skeleton Warriors didn’t move a muscle.

‘Still have a long way to go.’

* * *

Lee Han had already learned 【Bone Hand Summoning Magic】 and 【Bone Restraint Summoning Magic】, and was well-versed in various elemental conversions and control.

“Bone. Be shot forth.”

Thunk!

“Bone. Take the form of armor.”

Crack!

“Bone. Become a wall.”

Crackle!

Simple necromancy spells using bones that the book presented for basic training.

These were spells that transformed bones into various forms or launched them, so they couldn’t help but be familiar to Lee Han.

‘…But this is too easy?’

Lee Han tilted his head.

Remembering how he had been anxious about fire spreading sideways when handling the Fire Element, bones were really easy in comparison.

‘Are bones naturally easy to handle? Well, maybe it’s because I’ve already practiced with other elements beforehand.’

If Professor Mortum had been beside him, he would have said ‘Dark magic is never easy *cough* you’re just exceptionally talented,’ but there was only Lee Han in the private room.

Dark elements, negative energy, bones, poison and such things used in dark magic were on the difficult side if anything, never easy elements.

If he went somewhere and said ‘bones are easier than the Fire Element,’ it wouldn’t be strange to hear ‘you’re half-mad like a proper dark mage.’

“Then now… come forth.”

Having passed various basic training, it was time to begin proper skeleton summoning practice.

Before that, Lee Han called forth the Skeleton Warrior he had contracted in the undead realm.

-■■■…

The summoned Skeleton Warrior prostrated itself before Lee Han, showing respect.

Considering the difference in their mana, it was natural.

Sharkan, who had been summoned first, yawned and tapped the floor with his tail.

What was the point of calling such a low-grade summoned creature when he was here!

“Yes. Good to see you. I need a name for you…”

-■■!

The Skeleton Warrior was startled and refused despite its low intelligence.

It meant he wasn’t worthy of receiving a name.

“No. I need a name to call you by. You’re… Gonadaltes.”

-■■■■…!

The Skeleton Warrior denied it as if too honored to accept, but Lee Han was firm.

“Gonadaltes. The reason I called you is to practice classical necromancy. I need to create undead using bones and corpses, and it would be good to have a textbook beside me.”

Just like learning the basics by looking at and copying completed artifacts when making artifacts, to make autonomously moving Skeleton Warriors, it was better to look at and copy a completed Skeleton Warrior.

Gonadaltes, no, the Skeleton Warrior straightened its posture.

“Thank you. Shall we begin then?”

Three hours later.

Lee Han sat in his chair with a frown, glaring at the scattered piles of bones.

‘This isn’t easy.’

Creating the form of a Skeleton Warrior wasn’t too difficult.

It was just a slightly more difficult shield and armor.

However, making the warrior move flexibly was a separate problem.

Crack!

While trying to make it automatically shoot a bow, another Skeleton Warrior shattered itself.

‘Raising them up every time they break isn’t easy either.’

Lee Han, who had been thinking that way, paused.

‘Come to think of it, I could just raise several from the beginning, couldn’t I?’

Rather than breaking one and raising one, it seemed better to raise several from the start.

Of course, it would consume quite a lot of mana, but that didn’t matter, and the mental power and concentration consumed…

‘I could handle dozens of water orbs, so I should be able to raise about ten or so Skeleton Warriors. If not, I can reduce the number later.’

* * *

“You understand, right? They’re failures, so they’re not really that impressive.”

“…Lee Han. You know that ordinary mages don’t carry around fifteen summoned creatures by themselves, right?”

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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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