Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 232

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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 232

‘Well, decorating your own room would be fun.’

He had been wondering why his friends had been talking so much about how to decorate their private rooms lately, and now he knew.

Of course, Lee Han couldn’t understand it at all.

Why on earth?

‘Isn’t a private room just fine as long as you can sleep in it?’

True to someone who had skeleton warriors lined up in his own room, Lee Han had no interest in decorating his private room.

“This is a big problem… I brought this thinking Wardanaz would definitely be satisfied.”

“Does it seem too cheap to Wardanaz? This is actually pretty decent pottery…”

“See, what did I tell you! There’s no way Wardanaz would be satisfied with ordinary nice decorations. The castle walls of the Wardanaz family are made of pure silver, and the windows of the manor are composed of rubies and sapphires. Of course he can’t be satisfied with something like this!”

‘That’s not true.’

The Black Turtle Tower students were boldly creating false rumors right before his eyes.

He knew that various false rumors circulated outside since the Wardanaz family was so reclusive, but this felt a bit unfair.

It wasn’t that the family lacked wealth, but Lee Han himself had never indulged in luxury.

If only he could have indulged in luxury, then he wouldn’t feel so wronged!

“This is terrible. We don’t have anything else to offer. Would it work if we promised to pay during the vacation?”

“You call that a proposal? If you were Wardanaz, would you work for a few silver coins? Don’t you know about nobles’ honor and pride?”

Thud-

Lee Han placed his hands on his friends’ shoulders.

Then he said kindly.

“I see you’re troubled because you don’t have anything suitable. Then just pay me back in silver coins during vacation.”

“…!”

“Is, is that really okay?”

“Of course. Richmond from your tower has done that before too. You don’t need to feel burdened.”

“But… why…?”

When the Black Turtle Tower student muttered as if he couldn’t understand, his friend jabbed him hard in the ribs.

“Idiot. Wardanaz is trying to save face for us.”

“Aha!”

‘What aha.’

The Black Turtle Tower students seemed to think that Lee Han was just saying he’d accept silver coins as a formality so they wouldn’t feel embarrassed if he helped them for free.

Just from that, Lee Han could guess the financial status of the other students.

‘Rich bastards.’

Even though the Black Turtle Tower was mainly composed of commoners, things were different if you entered with money.

The top merchants in the Empire had wealth that even major noble families couldn’t compare to.

Compared to Lee Han, who couldn’t even receive pocket money unless it was for learning necessities, they could probably spend silver coins like water.

“Thank you, Wardanaz. I didn’t expect you to help us like this.”

“Think whatever you want. Now, sign here. Where should I come to find you?”

“You can come to the Tutanta family…”

Salko, who was writing the contract, became slightly confused.

Lee Han’s expression looked too serious.

…He’s not really doing this for the silver coins, is he?

* * *

“Everyone drink some water.”

“Thanks, Wardanaz.”

As they entered the desert region, the heat surged up. It was similar terrain to the library wasteland from before, but much hotter and drier.

“Spring forth.”

Of course, that didn’t mean water wouldn’t come out. Lee Han summoned water from the air without hesitation.

“Magnetite, show us the direction.”

Salko tapped the sandy ground while chanting the spell. Then a pattern appeared on the sand.

“This way is north.”

“Nice magic. Can you teach me?”

“You’re good at joking. There’s no way you’d need something like this… Wait. Are you serious?”

Salko was flustered by Lee Han’s interest.

Many mages would skip over these daily life-related spells without bothering to learn them.

There was no need to use magic just to find direction. Servants or slaves could know the directions.

“Why are you like that? It seems like decent magic.”

“…No, it’s not difficult to teach. It’s not hard magic, but those without aptitude for earth elements can’t handle this magic well…”

As he spoke, Salko remembered how Lee Han had advanced by crushing maze walls to powder when breaking through the school’s labyrinth last time.

“…but don’t worry about that.”

“Why not?”

“Just listen quietly. Anyway, this magic should be used in places with plenty of earth. Also, it doesn’t cast well in places without magnetite powder. So you need to be careful…”

As he spoke, Salko looked at the water mass floating beside Lee Han.

A cold water mass maintaining its form even under the blazing sunlight.

“…Never mind that either.”

“Aren’t you teaching too carelessly?”

Lee Han complained, but Salko ignored him.

Meanwhile, the other Black Turtle Tower students went ahead to check the path.

“Here. Let’s start leaving markers so we can see them on the way back.”

“Be engraved.”

Desert terrain changed when wind blew, but markers left with mana were different.

A small marker was engraved on the sand. It was a marker that would easily last an hour or two.

“Good work. Let me blow some wind for you.”

“Can I call a spirit?”

“Yeah. We’ve rested for over three days, so the spirit will listen to our request.”

When a low-grade wind spirit with a faint form appeared, a gentle breeze began to blow.

Lee Han admired their cooperation from behind.

‘Why can’t the guys from our tower do things like that?’

It wasn’t that the kids couldn’t do magic.

In terms of magical skill alone, they were close to being the best among the four towers.

…Except most of those spells weren’t magic that helped in real life like this.

Honestly, wasn’t 【Magic Decoration for Waltz】 magic pretty useless during explorations like this?

-Grrrrrowl!

“?”

Sharkan suddenly made a sound full of killing intent. At that reaction, Lee Han thought a monster had appeared.

‘There’s no monster though?’

Suddenly Lee Han’s instincts sent an intense warning.

A sensation he’d felt a lot recently.

It was exactly that sensation when all his nerves stood on end when Professor Boladi would suddenly launch surprise attacks.

“…Shield, unfold!”

Lee Han chanted the spell without hesitation.

Using magic first without confirming the situation might have been a stupid thing to do, but it was different for Lee Han.

Someone who could waste freely in situations like this!

“Wardanaz?! Why?!”

“Salko, defend!”

“…Got it!”

At Lee Han’s shout, Salko began preparing defenses with the Black Turtle Tower students.

Clang!

A sharp sound rang out as the attack struck the water shield.

Lee Han’s expression hardened as he watched the dagger fall, unable to pierce through the thick water shield.

Though it seemed like a feeble attack since it couldn’t penetrate the water shield, this was absolutely not the case.

‘These are guys who know how to deal with mages!’

Having been tormented by Professor Boladi to a sickening degree, Lee Han knew well how other enemies dealt with mages in combat.

-Any method will do. Enemies always take down the mage first.

-Indeed… A mage would be a variable in many ways. How should we prepare?

-Perfectly.

-…I haven’t recovered yet… Ugh!

Grandiose attacks took too long to prepare and were too noisy.

To take down an unprepared mage, a single dagger was sufficient.

The problem was that Lee Han had sensed the killing intent first and entered a defensive stance.

“Shield, unfold. Heat, distort the air!”

It was unfortunate for the enemies.

Originally, there weren’t many mages skilled in combat among mages.

Especially if they were magic school students.

“Feet, wrinkle the earth. Rise, warriors of bone!”

The enemies were shocked to see him consecutively cast spells and raise defenses in an instant, not even giving them a few seconds.

“What the hell is that bastard?!”

“Damn it, he’s an upperclassman! Get ready! He’s someone who’s properly learned magical combat!”

“…I’ll make you regret meeting a 5th year from Einroguard!”

“Shit…! Of all the rotten luck!”

“…”

The Black Turtle Tower students looked at Lee Han with bewildered expressions while hiding behind barriers of water and earth.

* * *

The notoriously infamous adventurer organization in the Empire, 【Viper of the Maple Tree】.

While Imperial adventurers generally cared about their reputation and were mindful of others, there were those among them who didn’t care about such things and accepted illegal requests.

【Viper of the Maple Tree】 was exactly such a group.

People who would accept all kinds of illegal requests as long as they were given appropriate gold coins!

Of course, 【Viper of the Maple Tree】 wouldn’t normally have touched Einroguard, where the Empire’s prominent mages gathered.

Even ruthless villains weren’t without intelligence. The more those who engaged in evil money-making were, the quicker their wits and the more sensitive they were to strength.

However, this time the story was different.

An extremely expensive request had come in.

-There’s an artifact I want in Einroguard.

-But Einroguard is…

-I know. It’s a place outsiders can’t easily enter. I’ll arrange a way for you to get in. There’s a guide who went in first, so follow them in and meet up. They’ll give you detailed explanations.

-…

The adventurers didn’t ask ‘If a guide already went in, why do we need to go in too?’

They didn’t ask because they all knew the answer.

‘If we can succeed in stealing and bringing out a mage’s treasure with just two or three lives, it’s a bargain. Especially if it’s Einroguard.’

Though it was a proposal reeking heavily of blood, the adventurers didn’t refuse.

After all, wasn’t an adventurer’s life one of bearing risks?

What mattered was how big the profit was.

-Good. We’ll do our best.

“What are we going to do?!”

The adventurers shouted in rough voices.

Their luck was absolutely rotten.

Who would have thought they’d encounter Einroguard students as soon as they came out of the well through the underground passage?

And they were 5th years at that.

To adventurers who knew Einroguard’s reputation, 5th year students were quite a burden. Weren’t they practically archmages, rare even among adventurers?

Moreover…

“Looking at his reaction, he’s trained in magical combat! Subduing him is impossible. We have to kill him!”

“We agreed not to touch magic school students!”

“I know that too, you damn idiot! Who isn’t afraid of retaliation? But there’s no way to subdue him!”

“…Damn cursed gods. Fine! Kill him!”

The adventurer Gelliack gritted his teeth and nodded.

Looking at the other side now, that opposing mage’s skills were no ordinary matter.

It was already surprising that he blocked a surprise attack from an invisible direction, but he had half-completed a fortress in less than a few seconds.

Illusions flickered, and barriers of water and earth, along with skeleton warriors, were covering the mages.

Gelliack had seen Einroguard students a few times before. He knew well how absurd this reaction was.

He had seen students who could use higher magic than what was just cast, but this was the first time he’d seen a student who could consecutively succeed in casting spells without wavering in such a deadly combat situation.

‘The luck is just absolutely…’

Thunk!

But Gelliack wasn’t the only one with bad luck.

The 5th year students they encountered today were equally unlucky.

Would Gelliack and his companions have entered the den of mages without any countermeasures?

Gelliack and his companions feared mages more than anyone else.

Naturally, they had gathered as many anti-mage preparations as they could.

Meeting them in such a situation was pure misfortune for the mages.

“Tear the scroll! Quickly!”

“Shut up! Do you know how much this costs… Here goes!”

As Gelliack tore the scroll, a tremendous storm of magical power began to rage.

An ancient magic scroll that could no longer be created!

It was a scroll containing the 【Storm of Magic Crushing】 spell that would blow away all surrounding magic with powerful force.

The scroll was so expensive that Gelliack’s fingertips trembled even as he tore it.

“Ugh!”

“Gasp…!”

With agonized sounds, the Black Turtle Tower students knelt down with pale faces.

At the same time, all the barriers, illusions, and summoned creatures disappeared.

The forcible cancellation of cast spells had dealt damage to the connected mages themselves.

‘It’s powerful no matter how many times I see it.’

The damn expensive cost was a flaw, but there was no better death sentence for mages.

When they invested all their mana to cast spells, this would erase it all at once and shake up their mana.

It was an ambush that precisely targeted the weakness of mages who couldn’t use magic without mana.

Moreover, the more excellent the mage, the easier they were to catch.

Gelliack had once seen even a 5th circle mage subdued by this single scroll.

“Shield, unfold. Heat, distort the air. Feet, wrinkle the earth. Rise, warriors of bone…”

“…??!?!?”

That’s why when the 5th year student began layering spells again as if nothing had happened, Gelliack could only blink his eyes.

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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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