Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 256
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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 256
“Is expressing the number 4 that difficult!? Hey! That’s a 1!”
“Gainando. That’s not a 1, that’s the middle finger… never mind.”
Lee Han was about to give Gainando advice but stopped himself.
Getting along with summoned creatures was also part of what a mage had to do.
Rather than Lee Han giving advice unnecessarily, it would be best for Gainando to realize it himself.
‘And above all, it’s bothersome.’
Having finished submitting his assignment, Lee Han quickly turned around. There were still mountains of other assignments remaining.
“Why do you keep making 1… If you keep acting like this, my friend who’s a terrifying archmage won’t leave you alone! Lee Han? Lee Han!!”
Lee Han pretended not to hear and ran out.
* * *
“…What’s going on?”
Having abandoned Gainando and rushed to the alchemy lecture hall, Lee Han paused at the scene unfolding before him.
In front of the Phoenix Tower students led by Priest Siana, other students attending alchemy lectures were standing in a long line waiting.
“Here you are.”
“Sob sob. Priest. Thank you. There’s only you.”
“You, you don’t need to be so…”
“No! There’s only you, Priest! So, if you could just give me a little more…”
“That won’t do. I’m sorry.”
“Please! Please just a little more!”
Jeers erupted from among the students waiting in line behind.
“Are you the only one with assignments?!”
“Why don’t you get lost already?! What a shameless guy!”
“…????”
Behind the confused Lee Han, Yoner appeared.
“It’s because of assignments.”
“Because of assignments?”
“Yeah.”
Under Yoner’s eyes, sleepiness and fatigue had accumulated. Lee Han looked at his friend with a pitying expression.
“The alchemy pre-final assignments are more troublesome than expected, right?”
“They’re just very troublesome.”
Kind Professor Thunderstep had instructed them to make a potion of appropriate difficulty as a pre-final assignment.
-Make Aurum’s Golden Potion. It’s not a particularly difficult potion, so you should all be able to make it.
Of course, the students weren’t fooled.
Aurum’s Golden Potion wasn’t particularly high in difficulty to make itself.
The brewing process was relatively simple, and there weren’t many additional procedures to perform…
However, the ingredients required were horrifyingly complex.
First, you had to mix a Lower Mental Enhancement Potion and Setrivi’s Dew Potion to make the base, then you had to add a mixture of Lower Mental Enhancement Potion and Dobruk’s Blood Drop Potion, and then again Lower Mental Enhancement Potion and Belezen’s…
Since making one potion required other potions A, B, C, D, E, and so on, this potion was already like the archenemy of alchemists.
No matter how the difficulty itself wasn’t that high, making a few mistakes was natural for 1st year level, but if you made even one mistake, you had to prepare all the potions again from the beginning.
Make the Lower Mental Enhancement Potion again, make Setrivi’s Dew Potion again, make Dobruk’s Blood Drop Potion again…
Professor Thunderstep had said ‘Heh heh, if you can make something like Aurum’s Golden Potion, you’ll make fewer mistakes and be able to make other potions skillfully too,’ but the students were already plotting to drop Professor Thunderstep into a cauldron.
“I heard that the Phoenix Tower priests have a lot of 【Lower Mental Enhancement Potions】.”
“!”
Most of the Empire’s religious orders upheld virtues like frugality, thrift, and devotion as their banner.
As such, Phoenix Tower students adapted to Einroguard faster than anyone else.
Not only that, they even gave generously to other friends.
The survival skills of Phoenix Tower students who grew up working in temples were not far behind even compared to Black Turtle Tower students.
-Would you like some dessert? I have a piece of black bread from school and coffee made from dandelion roots.
-…I… I appreciate the thought, but Wardanaz is waiting with dinner prepared, and he’ll be disappointed if I snack!
And the place where such survival skills showed best was potion brewing.
Since they all grew up in temples, even if they didn’t major in alchemy, they had heard and helped a lot with potion making.
While White Tiger Tower students searched mountains and forests for prey, and Black Turtle Tower students scraped together various odds and ends to run black markets, Phoenix Tower priests would gather materials and make potions whenever they had spare time.
As such, they had quite a lot of 【Lower Mental Enhancement Potions】 accumulated…
When the situation became like this, they decided to share them with friends without any conditions.
“Oh no!”
Having heard Yoner’s explanation, Lee Han sighed.
“I should have gone to Phoenix Tower… Ah. Sorry, Yoner. It’s not that I have complaints about Blue Dragon Tower.”
“Honestly, looking at what you do, Lee Han, I don’t think anyone could say anything even if you had complaints…”
Yoner thought that if they had any conscience, Blue Dragon Tower students should keep their mouths shut.
“And I find it quite regrettable too.”
“Right?”
Lee Han and Yoner sighed together.
If you had surplus supplies, you should efficiently barter them to increase capital, not distribute them for free.
The shameless students from other towers were taking advantage of the Phoenix Tower priests’ goodness.
‘If I had been there, I would have taken command.’
Having finished sighing, Lee Han got in line with Yoner.
Regrettable was regrettable, but if they were distributing potions, he had to receive them.
“How many bottles of 【Lower Mental Enhancement Potion】 would be enough?”
“Twenty bottles… No. Even twenty bottles would honestly be a bit worrying.”
“The finals will probably be similar, right?”
“Yeah…”
Yoner’s face darkened.
If the pre-final assignment was this vicious, he was worried about how damn… no, how difficult the final exam potion would be.
However, Lee Han hadn’t despaired yet.
‘There’s a way.’
Lee Han had plans to go outside this weekend.
If he went outside and bought all the useful alchemy materials and potions to bring back…
Whatever difficult problem Professor Thunderstep presented, he would be entering with half of it already solved.
“Heh heh heh…”
“Lee Han of Wardanaz Family?”
The Phoenix Tower priests tilted their heads when Lee Han didn’t respond even when called.
Yoner was also slightly flustered and tapped Lee Han’s shoulder while calling him.
“What’s wrong? Are you shocked because of the assignment?”
“Ah. It’s not that…”
“Hurry up and receive it!”
A White Tiger Tower student standing in line behind Lee Han grumbled. When Lee Han stared at him, the student averted his gaze.
“Priest Siana, a brilliant rising star talent of the Flaming Order. Good to see you.”
“Compared to Lee Han of Wardanaz Family, who is an insightful and understanding person of alchemy, I’m nothing special.”
Priest Siana welcomed him warmly while starting to put potion bottles into the basket one by one.
The basket filled up in an instant…
And then one more in another basket…?
“?”
“??”
Lee Han and Yoner looked at each other.
‘It seems like she’s giving more?’
‘She’s definitely giving more.’
“Here. Take it.”
“Uh… thanks.”
Lee Han briefly wondered whether he should say ‘You gave me too much by mistake’ or just accept it.
However, before that, a student who had received his portion earlier shouted in disbelief.
“Priest! It looks like Wardanaz got twice as much as me?!”
‘It looks like about three times as much.’
In fact, even twice seemed like a rough estimate.
“Well, what you just received is a potion given by the priest, and what Mr. Wardanaz received is a potion given by Priest Siana, who is a brilliant rising star talent of the Fleming Order.”
“…”
“…”
“Do you have any complaints? Should I give it again…”
“N-no.”
The student who had just complained quickly came to his senses and backed away.
“Priest Siana, who is like a golden star of the Fleming Order…”
“It’s too late to do it now. Next!”
Lee Han thought to himself.
‘Tsk tsk. Should have done it earlier.’
As he always felt, there was nothing wrong with flattering in advance.
Seeing these attempts to do it belatedly made him feel even more so.
“Wardanaz…! To even have the priest in the palm of his hand…!”
“Are your eyes just decorative?”
Lee Han was dumbfounded by the reaction of students from other towers.
How was this Lee Han manipulating Priest Siana?
They just didn’t do it in advance!
* * *
Professor Rozine, who was in charge of the 【Basic Imperial Language and Logic】 lecture, praised the students as soon as she entered.
“Wow! Student Shailes! Professor Lightningstep praised that the horse you’re taking care of is in very good condition?”
“Th-thank you.”
“Student Asan! I heard you brought a wonderful spirit. Excellent!”
“I was lucky. Thank you!”
“Student Lee Han! Student Lee Han is…”
Professor Rozine paused for a moment when it came to Lee Han’s turn.
She was momentarily confused about what to choose among the many things to praise.
“…Anyway, you’re doing well!”
“?!”
Lee Han was flustered.
“What did I do wrong?”
“Well… I wonder?”
Professor Rozine continued to praise more students before standing in front.
The students, who rarely received praise from professors at Einroguard, sparkled with satisfied self-esteem on their faces.
“Professor. Doesn’t 【Basic Imperial Language and Logic】 have a separate assignment before finals?”
The professor answered happily with a bright and bouncy voice.
“Ah! There’s no separate assignment before finals. Instead, there’s a simple test!”
“…”
“No, no. I trust Professor Fluewerk.”
The students’ faces became gloomy at the sudden surprise test.
Some students were still holding onto their faith, saying ‘Professor Rozine is different though’…
“Come in.”
Hello everyone.
At the sight of a giant demon entering while uttering a low voice full of pressure, the expressions of the students who had just said ‘the professor is different though’ turned rigid.
Anyway, the professors of Einroguard…!
“Do, do we have to fight? Fighting isn’t the test, is it?”
“Surely… even so, would the professor do that?”
“There are professors who do that.”
“Don’t joke around, Wardanaz! It’s not funny at all!”
“…”
Lee Han slightly regretted not forcibly dragging his friends to Professor Boladi’s lecture.
“Mr. Oripulas here is an excellent demon who worked for the Imperial Legal Affairs Department for 131 years! What do you think was the reason such a powerful demon could be made to work as a legal officer?”
“A contract?”
“Excellent! Everyone applaud!”
The students’ applause was a bit quieter and less energetic than last time.
“Of course, Mr. Oripulas is a powerful demon. And it’s not easy for a mage to contract with a being more powerful than themselves! What should we do?”
“Uh… persuasion?”
“Correct! Everyone applaud!”
Clap clap clap.
“Today, you will attempt mock contracts with Mr. Oripulas! Mr. Oripulas will seriously consider and evaluate the conditions you propose, so please do your best in making proposals. I’m sure excellent students like you can definitely do it!”
“????”
The students looked like they hadn’t grasped the situation yet.
It was fortunate that they didn’t have to fight…
But how should they persuade?
“How are we supposed to persuade? Should we offer our hearts and blood…?”
“Gold?”
“A friend’s life?”
“A friend’s card deck?”
“Want to die?”
“First, let’s ask what he likes and start with light conversation…”
Meanwhile, one unlucky student was the first to sit in front of Oripulas.
Oripulas asked with a serious expression.
Why should I make a contract with you, young mage?
“Well… that is. If you contract with me, gold coins…”
Gold coins? Gold coins?? Are you in your right mind? Are you evaluating me as a being who would contract and help a mage’s work for mere gold coins? Just how do you see me?
“I’m… I’m sorry…!”
The student began to tear up under Oripulas’s pressure interview.
The remaining students stirred.
This…
This is no ordinary matter!
* * *
-Ca, card decks are…
-Not bad if it’s a joke, but such things have no value.
-To make you stronger, I’ll supply mana and if you need it, potions too…
-That’s something you’d say when contracting with a being weaker than you. What demon would fall for such words from someone weaker than themselves? Mana? It would be faster and stronger for me to obtain it directly than what you give. Potions? What I make is better than what you make…
-Do… do you like things like hearts or blood?
-You should go learn basic manners first.
‘This is trouble.’
Watching his friends get swept away like autumn leaves, Lee Han also grew tense.
Oripulas turned out to be more particular in his preferences than expected.
He had no idea what kind of proposal that demon would like.
‘I’ll throw them out one by one carefully while gauging the reaction. That’s all I can do.’
“Greetings.”
Hmm!
“First, let me address the basics. I’ll do my best to supply mana as a contractor…”
Pass.
“…Excuse me?”
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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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