Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 249
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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 249
‘Huh?’
As Diret said, powerful demons classified as high-rank didn’t submit just from being hit a few times.
If they submitted from being hit a few times, would they be powerful demons?
They’d just be wild beasts.
However, Cohorti was certain he had seen the demon avert its gaze.
“Diret. Diret.”
“Can’t you see I’m busy finding the way back? Will you find it instead?”
Diret replied curtly.
He was currently finding a new side path because the route his junior wanted to take was blocked.
It was even more troublesome since several paths had disappeared during the relocation week, and now he was being disturbed.
“Could I hit that demon a few more times?”
“Do whatever you want. But I’ll hit you later too.”
“…Ha, haha. What a joke…”
Cohorti said that, but it didn’t really sound like a joke.
“Knock down!”
Along with the incantation, magic was cast on the demon trapped in the crystal cage.
The demon hit by the shockwave Cohorti fired let out a pained scream like before and averted its gaze…
…or not, and just watched blankly with an expression of ‘what is this mage doing?’
Embarrassed, Cohorti asked the demon.
“Did I cast it too weakly?”
Of course, the demon didn’t answer. Cohorti cast once more.
This time with more focus and strength.
Thwack!
The shockwave fired and the demon flinched. And that was the end of it. It was completely different from before.
‘…Did I see wrong??’
Cohorti pondered and carefully said.
“Could you ask the junior to use magic once more…”
“Do whatever you want.”
“Really!?”
“Yeah! Ask the junior to do your assignments too. Ask him to take your exams for you. Why not ask him to graduate for you too?”
“…Just… just this once… just once…”
Diret stepped back with eyes that said ‘how should I kill this bastard.’ Cohorti carefully got permission from Lee Han while reading the mood.
“Should I just cast it normally?”
-Yeah. Do it comfortably. Comfortably!
‘What’s going on?’
Lee Han moved his steps with curiosity.
Though he couldn’t know the exact reason, Lee Han thought the upperclassmen seemed quite stressed.
While powerful demons didn’t submit to violence, that was separate from mages accumulating stress.
If words didn’t work, it was natural for magic to be used.
Since the upperclassmen had to manage their mana, they were asking Lee Han who had mana to spare.
‘I understand.’
Any student doing difficult experiments had to fight the desire to smash the experimental equipment.
‘It would be more convenient to get closer.’
Lee Han approached the crystal cage more closely.
He could aim from his current position, but casting up close was more comfortable.
Swoosh-
“?”
As Lee Han approached, the demon that had been boldly glaring outside the crystal cage lowered its gaze.
‘Did I see wrong?’
Lee Han tilted his head curiously and leaned toward the demon.
Then the demon slowly backed away and obviously avoided eye contact.
“…Flash!”
-■■■■■! ■■■■■!
The demon that screamed in pain knelt down and pressed its forehead to the ground.
It was clearly a 100% certain posture of submission.
“…”
“…”
Cohorti and Diret were so shocked by the sight that they dropped their staffs.
* * *
Powerful beings from another dimension rejected the world’s order just by breathing and brought their own rules.
Having their own rules meant they had strong resistance to magic, which was the power to change the world’s rules.
The magic resistance these beings possessed was formidable.
This was why the demon had given Cohorti that ‘what is this mage doing’ look when he cast magic earlier.
Of course, magic resistance wasn’t invincible. There were various methods to overcome it.
Either cast high-difficulty magic specialized in penetration, or use the same magic but increase the mana amount tremendously to break through with force…
However, the latter was actually an unrealistic method.
Just blindly increasing mana in the same magic wasn’t the answer.
The increased mana did make the magic effect somewhat stronger.
But in that case, it was better to just learn and cast higher-level magic. There was no reason to crudely put a lot of mana into lower-level magic.
Due to the magic’s inherent limitations, there were constraints on how much the effect could be strengthened, the casting difficulty increased with more mana, and most importantly, a mage’s mana wasn’t infinite.
Acting so recklessly was perfect for mana exhaustion.
-You understand, right? Junior?
Diret and Cohorti warned very thoroughly, worried this reckless junior might collapse from mana exhaustion in some corner of the magic school hallway.
They knew this outstanding junior was naturally gifted with abundant mana.
They also knew he had excellent magical talent and was learning magic faster than other students.
But even so, they couldn’t just watch.
As upperclassmen, they had to warn against dangerous actions.
-Mana exhaustion is much more terrifying than you think!
-How’s your condition now? Are you dizzy or breaking out in cold sweat?
“Yes… I’m fine.”
‘They’re worrying excessively.’
If Lee Han would collapse from this much, he would have collapsed long ago.
Actually, Lee Han already knew that he instinctively over-invested mana when casting magic.
The duration of his light magic and enchantment magic was evidence of this.
The effect of penetrating magic resistance like just now was unexpected, but anyway, Lee Han hadn’t overexerted himself casting lightning magic.
If this was overexertion, he would have collapsed before!
“I’m really fine, so you don’t need to worry. So… did that demon submit because of the damage?”
-No.
-That’s not it.
Befitting fourth year students majoring in dark magic, Diret and Cohorti answered firmly.
Of course, the powerful magic attack Lee Han had just shown was surprising.
But the demon didn’t submit because of that. High-rank demons weren’t that fragile.
“Then why?”
“…”
A moment of silence fell.
“??”
Lee Han was flustered when the seniors wouldn’t write anything down for him.
What’s going on?
-Well… you see…
-This is… it’s not exactly… well… it’s not really accurate…
The two seniors beat around the bush instead of giving a clear answer.
Because what they were thinking sounded too absurd to them.
“Are they scared??”
“Does that… make sense?”
“It doesn’t make sense, but… there’s no other reason, is there…”
“…”
If two seniors told a first-year junior ‘The demon got hit by a few spells and became a bit weak-hearted, and since you happen to have a lot of mana and look cold, it probably got scared’?
That first-year junior would probably go back to the tower and say this:
-Hey. At Einroguard, you probably advance grades just by breathing. I met some crazy seniors today, and if they don’t know something, they should just say they don’t know instead of spouting nonsense…
But what could they do when no other reason came to mind!
“Senior?”
-…This is a very complex and difficult-to-explain exceptional phenomenon.
-Right… Ah. I don’t know how to explain this. It’s definitely not because we don’t know.
The two fourth-year students explained as indirectly as possible.
The demon got hit by you a few times and got scared into submission, and this might sound like nonsense but don’t think it’s complete nonsense, there’s some academic evidence…
Starting from ‘Looking at today’s cloud shapes, the demon’s heart might be particularly weak’ to baseless stories like ‘That demon might be weak to lightning’, all sorts of rambling flowed out.
“Uh… well. I understand.”
And Lee Han actually wasn’t very interested.
The Spire Stables were important, not whether that high-level demon blocking the corridor got scared seeing Lee Han or not – what did that matter.
-Oh right. You can pass through now. That worked out well!
-Right! You can go to the Spire Stables! Congratulations!
Though he felt like the two seniors were trying to send Lee Han away quickly, Lee Han didn’t mind and asked.
“But seniors. You said you were in the middle of an assignment, so because of me your assignment…”
They had been preparing a magic circle to subdue the demon, but their test subject demon had already submitted, so things got complicated.
Lee Han felt unnecessarily sorry.
-Not at all? It’s actually better.
“Excuse me?”
-Since the demon submitted, we can take this submissive demon and say the magic circle was successful. The professor finds it bothersome anyway and won’t come check directly.
Diret firmly smacked the back of Cohorti’s head as he excitedly shared tips with the first-year junior.
Smack!
“Teaching good stuff, teaching good stuff!”
* * *
‘This is it!’
Following Diret’s directions, Lee Han’s heart pounded at the murmuring sounds he heard in the distance.
Sounds that weren’t made by people, but the low calls of various beasts.
The kind of sounds you’d hear at stables.
‘This weekend…!’
This week happened to be the week Amur was visiting.
If he could just bring Ponrig along, he could fly outside proudly.
Lee Han looked around to prepare for any possible situations.
‘No particular danger factors… the Death Knights are the problem.’
Death Knights were stationed near the stables for security.
They were chatting among themselves regardless of who passed by, but he absolutely couldn’t let his guard down.
‘Those Death Knight bastards. They’re more troublesome than I thought.’
If they suddenly approached him in a friendly manner while he was passing by, it would make Lee Han’s heart sink.
Whoosh-
The wall in front of Lee Han melted away and opened, and a familiar person walked out from the passage inside.
It was so sudden that Lee Han couldn’t even cast invisibility magic.
“…!”
A strange appearance with his mouth wrapped tightly in bandages.
It was the Spire Keeper, the principal’s subordinate and servant of the magic school whom he’d met before.
The Spire Keeper didn’t seem startled upon seeing Lee Han or call the Death Knights. Instead, he greeted him lightly.
‘Ah. It’s broad daylight right now.’
Lee Han sighed with relief inwardly.
Unlike the middle of the night when anyone wandering around would be caught and thrown into the punishment room, the sun was still up in the sky during broad daylight.
It was natural for students to wander around here and there, so the Spire Keeper didn’t feel much out of place either.
Lee Han prayed that the Spire Keeper wouldn’t remember that the student in front of him was a first-year. Even so, having a first-year here would be somewhat strange.
What brings you here?
When the Spire Keeper wrote on paper and showed it to him, Lee Han immediately answered.
“Actually, I got lost while preparing an assignment before finals.”
You’re unlucky. Would it be alright if I guide you?
“Thank you. Ah. Is that by any chance the stables?”
The Spire Keeper nodded. Lee Han asked with innocent eyes.
“Could I perhaps take a look at the stables? Professor Lightningstep’s lectures are difficult and I’m struggling to keep up. I think touring the stables might help a little.”
The Spire Keeper looked troubled.
He couldn’t just let him tour a facility where student access wasn’t permitted.
Lee Han continued with a melancholy look.
“No, never mind. I must have made an unreasonable request. Actually, unlike friends who are used to riding horses since childhood, I’ve always been clumsy with physical activities… I guess I was being stubborn out of embarrassment. Please understand.”
Lee Han calmly told a lie that would have made White Tiger Tower students throw daggers if they’d heard it.
The Spire Keeper looked around, pondered, then nodded with a determined look.
I understand. Follow me.
Having received help from him at the storage before, and seeing a student trying to overcome his weak points like this, he couldn’t just leave him be.
His master would surely have acted this way too!
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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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