Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 240
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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 240
The weekend had finally arrived.
Normally, after such grueling lectures, this respite would be cause for celebration among those who had endured together…
…but this weekend was different.
Mountains of pre-final assignments.
No matter how brazen a student might be, they couldn’t ignore all these assignments.
Doing so would truly result in being locked in the punishment room even during vacation.
The White Tiger Tower student, Anglago Alpha, yawned.
The morning sunlight felt particularly harsh.
“Anglago.”
“Why are you calling me?”
“I’m tired, but don’t you feel a bit proud?”
“Actually, I do feel that way a little.”
Anglago nodded at his friend’s words.
While the other White Tiger Tower students were sleeping in the dormitory, Anglago was heading to Professor Verdus’s Sacred Workshop with his friend.
Moving like this for assignments from Saturday morning.
Where else could you find such diligent and sincere students?
Anglago couldn’t help but feel intoxicated with himself.
“Neither Phoenix Tower nor Blue Dragon Tower would have come out this early like us.”
“I think so too.”
Click-
Anglago opened the door to the Sacred Workshop as he spoke.
The first floor lecture hall of the Sacred Workshop that Professor Verdus had opened for students was dark without any sign of people.
The two White Tiger Tower students thoughtlessly tried to pull the string of the light artifact hanging from the ceiling…
“Don’t turn it on.”
“Aaaaaahhh!!!”
Anglago screamed and tumbled backward.
It was natural since a human voice came from the dark, empty lecture hall.
It was ridiculous for a mage to fear ghosts or spirits, but it couldn’t be helped.
And above all…
‘Intruders!!’
As the intruders who had turned the school upside down last week came to mind, Anglago quickly drew his wooden sword and swung it.
“Don’t come closer! I’ll cut you if you approach!”
“You’re loud. Be quiet.”
“…Wardanaz?”
“That’s right.”
Lee Han brought light into the air of the lecture hall with a tired face.
Though his face normally didn’t show emotions well, even considering that, he looked particularly tired today.
“How long have you been here?”
“Since yesterday afternoon.”
“…”
“…”
The two White Tiger Tower students coughed awkwardly.
Suddenly they felt stupid for being proud of coming out a bit early in the morning.
“Why were you keeping the lights off?”
“I’m working on magic circles, and when it’s bright I can’t see them well.”
Lee Han said while sipping coffee.
Since various professors had been pestering him with ‘When will the floating steel shield be ready?’ ‘When are you going to show us the shield?’ ‘I’m curious about the shield,’ Lee Han was concentrating while putting off numerous other tasks.
He had been immersed in this without sleeping as soon as weekday lectures ended…
Thanks to that, there had been some progress.
‘If I use magic circles too, it should work somehow.’
The most difficult and important part of the floating shield.
That was the part where you give the shield the command to ‘circle around the master and automatically block when danger approaches.’
Since mages had to cast this complex command with only staff movements and incantations, first-time mages couldn’t help but feel their brains getting twisted.
No matter how you looked at it, it wasn’t that Lee Han’s abilities were lacking, but that the magic’s difficulty setting was wrong…
Lee Han didn’t give up and approached it.
-Like when casting high-difficulty magic by breaking it down, approach the floating shield by breaking it down too.
Breaking it down to approach.
Lee Han already had several precedents for this.
The magic called 【Yumidifus’s Water Orb】, which shoots out fiercely rotating water projectiles.
No matter how much of a genius Lee Han was, he couldn’t cast it all at once with his current abilities…
Surprisingly, Lee Han succeeded in casting it.
He floated a water orb and kept spinning it until it worked.
This was possible because of his massive mana!
Since his mana was overflowing, Lee Han had no resistance to approaching things by breaking them down into stages like this.
This method was practically impossible for other mages who would collapse from mana depletion after a few practice attempts.
Of course, this magic’s difficulty was at a level that was hard even when broken down.
So Lee Han even mobilized magic circles.
Since they replaced part of the mage’s casting process, magic circles were essential elements for such high-difficulty magic.
The problem was…
“Is this perhaps completed?”
“It’s roughly put together.”
“…Huh, could magic circles be completed this quickly??”
Like they had experienced during the festival before, magic circles weren’t something that could be made easily.
The more difficult and complex they became, the more various errors and variables appeared.
And to check this, mages had no choice but to personally test them consistently.
“That’s why I stayed up all night.”
“…”
“…”
Could staying up all night really accomplish such a thing?
The two White Tiger Tower students felt something was strange but couldn’t strongly object.
Because Lee Han was the year’s top student and they were just…
…students.
If Lee Han said ‘Magic school students should be able to complete floating shield magic circles in one night,’ they couldn’t refute it.
‘This is strange…’
‘If Professor Knighton were here…’
Anglago, who had been tilting his head repeatedly, decided to let it slide for now.
“Wait. Then is the floating shield completed!?”
“No. If I cast it now, it’ll fall after a few seconds. The magic duration amplification work isn’t finished.”
If Lee Han combined the power of his incantations with the auxiliary magic circles carved on the shield to help the incantations, he could somehow make the shield float and move around.
The problem was the duration.
Such powerful spells consumed incomparably more mana than low circle magic.
If cast without any countermeasures, it wouldn’t last even a few seconds.
So duration amplification work was essential…
Lee Han rubbed his furrowed brow with his hand. Hearing himself talk suddenly made him feel fatigue washing over him.
‘Even now it’s honestly damn complicated, and I’m worried whether duration amplification on top of this is even possible.’
Though completed, honestly the magic circles currently carved on the shield were precarious.
The magic circles were so complexly intertwined that even Lee Han thought ‘It’s amazing this got completed!’
Now, what were the odds it wouldn’t break when duration amplification magic circles were inserted on top of this?
‘…It looks like it’ll break 99% of the time. Should I create a new one?’
No matter how tough Lee Han was, the thought of creating this from scratch again was daunting.
‘Using a direct casting method instead of a magic circle would be… even harder.’
“Still, can’t I just take a look?”
“Take a look?”
Angrago spoke in a frightened voice when Lee Han seemed to glare at him.
“Ah… no. I wasn’t insisting you show me, but are you angry? You’re not angry, right?”
“I’m not angry.”
Lee Han was just tired.
“I’ve always wanted a floating shield. So I just wanted to see how it works…”
“I understand. I get it.”
“…You’re not angry, right?”
“I said I’m not.”
Lee Han stood up from his seat.
Unlike mages who had to calculate their remaining mana every time they cast a spell, nothing happened to Lee Han even if he cast one more spell.
Since he had completed the magic circle anyway, he needed to check if it worked properly…
“If we’re unlucky, it might sink in one second, so watch carefully.”
“R-right!”
“Ready, Wardanaz!”
The White Tiger Tower students spoke with sparkling eyes. Anyone could see they looked excited.
‘Why do these guys like shields so much?’
Lee Han, who wasn’t from a knight family, couldn’t understand the irrational obsession White Tiger Tower students had with weapons.
Weapons like swords, shields, and armor were both part of a knight’s body and their pride itself.
-My goodness. Did you see that knight? He’s still using a sword made by the Aeron Guild!
-Using that cheap sword they make carelessly and sell crudely. Tsk tsk. He should have some dignity as a knight.
Knights pursued more precious and expensive weapons, if only for their pride.
“Rise and protect your master, shield!”
Lee Han chanted the incantation.
At that moment, the steel shield that had been lying on the desk shot up into the air and began slowly circling around Lee Han.
Angrago let out an exclamation.
“It really floated!!”
“Wardanaz! Wardanaz! Can I try attacking? It’s not that I want to attack you, but I’m curious about the shield’s performance…”
“Do it quickly. I don’t know when it’ll end.”
The White Tiger Tower student hurriedly threw a ball of paper.
Then the shield spun around and blocked the paper ball.
“Me! I want to try! I’ll throw from behind!”
“Alright! Throw it!”
‘Did these guys come here drunk?’
Lee Han, tired from staying up all night, couldn’t match the excited mood of the White Tiger Tower students.
Why are they so excited?
Thud!
“It… it blocked it!! Even though I threw it from a blind spot!!”
Lee Han was about to say ‘Your attack was so clumsy I could sense it all, what blind spot’ but was too tired to bother.
Anyway, the shield seemed to be half successful.
Now if he could just extend the duration…
“Next one coming!”
“Good, this time it’s a chair!”
“Throwing a wooden sword!”
Clang! Thud! Bang!
The two White Tiger Tower students excitedly kept throwing things.
In fact, apart from the shield, they might have been excited about throwing things at Lee Han itself.
“…What… what are you all doing?”
“What are you guys doing?”
Students who arrived late were shocked by the bizarre scene in the lecture hall.
White Tiger Tower students throwing miscellaneous items at Lee Han.
If the target hadn’t been Lee Han, they would have reacted with ‘Those White Tiger Tower guys are bullying someone!’
“Wardanaz made a floating shield and we’re helping test it!”
“I think that’s enough now.”
“Just one more! Let me throw just one more!”
“Fine…”
Lee Han, who sat back down in his chair out of annoyance, paused.
‘Wait. Hasn’t it been over an hour now?’
Huh?
* * *
“Moradi. I hope you won’t feel too bad about this. In a way, this is lucky for us. It’s overwhelming power compared to other groups.”
Durgyu spoke to cheer up Giselle.
Few people wanted to climb mountains on precious weekends, except for some peculiar ones, like students from the Shadow Patrol.
Yet the reason they gathered to enter the mountain range was only one.
Both Giselle and Durgyu suspected that Professor Ingoldel’s final exam wouldn’t be easy.
Already, some White Tiger Tower students were entering the mountain range, abandoning other pre-final assignments to find suitable prey in advance.
It was their firm resolve to get good grades in swordsmanship lectures even if they failed other lectures.
Of course, from Giselle’s perspective, it was maddening.
‘You crazy bastards, stop dragging down the tower’s average grades! That’s why we get looked down on!’
“Moradi. You know that considering the amount of assignments we have to do, we can’t waste time even on weekends. Let’s not fight each other and do well together.”
“I know that too, so stop chattering now. How much have you done on the enchantment magic assignment?”
“I’ve made quite a lot of progress. Thanks to Lee Han’s help. If it’s okay with you, would you like to join us?”
“…”
Giselle fell into thought.
Getting involved with Wardanaz wouldn’t be good…
…but in this situation, Wardanaz’s magical abilities were tempting.
Especially since she couldn’t expect intellectual advice from other friends in the tower!
“Wardanaz will never comply obediently.”
“Hmm. Certainly Lee Han… might not help us wholeheartedly without any compensation…”
Durgyu had a conscience, so he didn’t say Lee Han would just help for free.
“Lee Han hasn’t finished his enchantment magic assignment yet either. If we work together and ask questions, he’ll answer. He knows there’s nothing good about fighting each other until the final exam.”
“You two were here first.”
“Lee Han!”
Just as Lee Han arrived, Durgyu turned his head happily to greet him.
Then he was shocked to see the shield spinning around Lee Han.
“No… no… this doesn’t make sense?? This doesn’t make sense…!”
“What are you talking about?”
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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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