Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 260

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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 260

When the lecture ended, Professor Verdus approached Lee Han with an innocent expression on his face.

“Now you have time to learn, right?”

“…Professor. I don’t think I’ll have time right now because I’m worrying about my final exam assignment.”

Lee Han said, pointing to the shield.

Professor Verdus asked back with a surprised expression.

“What are you talking about!? There are so many things that need to be fixed on this shield!?”

“Of course that’s true, but I have to fix it at my own level.”

“Ah!”

At Lee Han’s words, Professor Verdus let out an exclamation as if he had just realized.

Lee Han wanted to hit Professor Verdus.

“That’s difficult!”

“Right?”

“Hmm… hmm… mmm… what you can do at your level…”

Professor Verdus closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then opened his mouth.

“There is!”

“Oh. What is it?”

“How about adding attack reflection magic?”

“…How exactly is that something I can do at my level?”

Although Lee Han didn’t know much about enchantment magic yet, he could guess that the ‘reflection’ attribute in enchantment magic would definitely not be easy.

The concept of turning the direction of incoming attacks right back couldn’t possibly be easy.

Compared to attributes like floating, automatic, and defense, the answer was clear.

“That’s the easiest one though?”

“Is that so…”

Lee Han seriously began to consider whether he should start studying the reflection attribute or just paint the shield and insist he had upgraded it.

‘If my final exam grades are ruined, how much damage would that do to my overall score…’

While Lee Han was pondering, Professor Verdus asked innocently again beside him.

“Anyway, now that you’ve chosen, you have time to learn, right?”

“No?”

“?!?!??!”

Professor Verdus looked at Lee Han with the kind of expression he might make when all his collected tree bark had burned up.

* * *

‘How satisfying.’

Lee Han sat down and felt pleased as he recalled Professor Verdus’s expression.

In fact, this was like a lifeline for Lee Han.

The moment he said ‘Yes, I’ll learn’ to Professor Verdus, it was obvious that Professor Verdus would grab onto Lee Han and not let him go until he was satisfied.

He had to endure and endure again.

‘I hope I can hold out until graduation if possible.’

Lee Han imagined telling Professor Verdus ‘I’ll learn tomorrow’ the day before graduation and then graduating.

Of course, it might be difficult to hold out that long…

“Anyone done with the 【Basic Imperial Geometry and Arithmetic】 assignment?”

“Who would have finished that already? …Wardanaz?”

One Blue Dragon Tower student was speaking when he suddenly looked at Lee Han.

Lee Han replied as if it was absurd.

“I haven’t finished it all either. No. Can’t you see the assignments piled up in front of me?”

While his friends chose one or two magic schools to attend, Lee Han was currently taking additional classes in dark magic, summoning magic, illusion magic, enchantment magic, divination magic, transformation magic, healing magic, and so on.

Faced with a pile of books several times thicker, his friends quietly looked down.

They were afraid that if they made eye contact with Lee Han, they might end up having to study additionally together.

‘I should start thinking about the 【Basic Imperial Geometry and Arithmetic】 assignment too.’

Saturday.

It was a weekend when it wouldn’t be strange for everyone to be lounging around, but with final exams about a week away, a tense atmosphere lingered inside the tower.

Until next week would be hellish pre-final exam assignments, until the week after that would be hellish final exams…

There were even lectures where assignments and final exams were linked or combined.

The 【Basic Imperial Geometry and Arithmetic】 assignment belonged to exactly that category.

-Submit a draft design for a simple magical structure. Once submitted and confirmed, you’ll begin construction. Efficiency and economy will be the evaluation criteria.

-Do… do we also have to obtain the materials ourselves?

-Unfortunately, I won’t allow materials other than the designated ones. Please use only the materials provided.

-Thank you!!

-??

It wasn’t an assignment with an absurd difficulty level like enchantment magic.

However, this was also an assignment that consumed quite a bit of time.

Choose a structure, choose appropriate magic for the structure, choose materials needed for that magic, make the estimate as tight as possible, and if it passes, make it directly…

‘…The mage I initially imagined was a bit more mystical.’

Since entering Einroguard, it seemed like the mystery about mages was disappearing day by day.

Lee Han glanced out the window. The sun was already rising overhead.

The moment he went out to the spire stables with Ponrig this evening, he had to consider his entire weekend gone.

He needed to finish as many assignments as possible…

“Yoner. What would be the simplest structure?”

“Huh?”

Yoner, who had been drawing a simple potion storage box beside him, looked up.

“A magic lamp or box? A simple trap?”

“Hmm.”

Lee Han took notes one by one and fell into thought.

Was there something simple, easy to complete, low in material costs, and yet able to receive good evaluation?

“…If such a thing existed, I would have done it first, wouldn’t I?”

Yoner was worried that something might be wrong with his friend because he had studied too much.

However, Lee Han was seriously absorbed.

It seemed like something was about to come to mind.

“…Yoner. I found it!”

“What?”

Yoner was so surprised he almost broke his quill pen.

Did he really find something that met the conditions he just mentioned?

Could such a thing exist??

“Look at this.”

Lee Han drew a magic lamp in the form of a long pole.

It was a structure that emitted light through magic, often installed on the main roads of cities, castles, fortresses, or villages.

Since it illuminated dark streets, there was nowhere it couldn’t be installed, and thanks to this, it often became a source of livelihood for many apprentice mages.

But that also meant there had been a lot of research on it.

Brighter, cheaper, longer-lasting, more efficient, more brilliant, with additional functions – all kinds of improved magic lamps existed.

Professor Alpen Naiton said efficiency and economy would be the evaluation criteria, but if it overlapped too much with existing designs, it would naturally result in point deductions.

Had Lee Han managed to create a design that differentiated itself from such existing designs?

“…?!”

Yoner was surprised when he saw the magic lamp Lee Han pointed to.

There was only the long pole form and nothing else.

‘Could it be?’

Yoner recalled the duration of the light orb his friend had summoned.

And also the duration of the floating shield.

“Don’t tell me… you’re planning to scrap all the design work and solve everything with just magic?!”

A secret strategy only Lee Han could pull off.

It was to throw away all the mana design and distribution nonsense and just cast the magic himself.

If others heard this, they’d say ‘what kind of design is that,’ but there was some logic to it.

As long as the magic lasted for several days, no matter how lacking the design, it could still be called a magical structure!

Of course, there was no telling how Professor Knighton would accept such reasoning, but it was certainly a brilliant idea.

“…What nonsense are you talking about, Yoner. I haven’t drawn it yet.”

Lee Han looked at Yoner as if he was being absurd. Yoner felt embarrassed and his cheeks turned slightly red.

“You haven’t?”

“No. There’s no way the professor would accept such reasoning.”

“But maybe he would…”

Yoner trailed off uncertainly.

“What I was thinking was this, Yoner. Overlapping amplification magic circles here to increase efficiency. There’ll be trial and error, but it’ll cost much less in materials.”

Lee Han’s explanation was definitely sound.

The manufacturing difficulty would increase, but with enough skill, it was a design that could save on material costs.

However, Yoner still had some lingering attachment and asked.

“…You really have no intention of doing that earlier idea?”

“I told you no.”

* * *

Flash!

Lee Han equipped the invisibility artifact on Ponrig.

“Ponrig. Good boy. You need to stay quiet until we get there. Understand?”

-Puheung…?

Ponrig sent an anxious look, wondering why Lee Han was acting this way.

Compared to other students, Ponrig’s master was quite peculiar.

“Yes, yes. Good boy.”

Ponrig kept tilting his head as he followed behind Lee Han.

The Death Knights waved at Lee Han as he walked toward the main gate of the main building.

-Don’t wander around too late, Wardanaz.

“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”

-Why are you nagging like that? He might need to wander around late. Anyone listening would think you never take night walks!

-Shh, shh! Wardanaz can hear you!

‘How heartwarming.’

Thanks to having already talked with the Death Knights around the main gate, Lee Han could move without arousing any particular suspicion.

Fortunately, the side path to the Spire Stables was still available.

‘It’s going so smoothly it’s making me anxious.’

When he arrived near the Spire Stables in less than 30 minutes, Lee Han felt strangely uneasy.

After being at Einroguard for so long, he had developed the habit of feeling unnecessarily anxious even when things went well.

‘Cover my face with the cloak…’

Lee Han roughly pulled his cloak over himself like someone going out.

When Amur visited from outside, he would pretend to be friends with Amur and leave together.

‘There’s a good chance.’

He was a bit worried at first, but seeing the people coming and going from the stables, it looked quite promising.

Surprisingly, there were many customers making it busy.

From professors to trading company staff from outside, merchants, and errand runners.

People were bustling about, bumping shoulders as they moved around.

No one paid attention to Lee Han.

“Aren’t the mages being too unreasonable?! Asking us to bring fire spirit bird eggs within a week! How are we supposed to get those in a week?!”

“Hey! Carefully put down that box over there! If that breaks, we might all die!”

“Is, is there a demon inside?”

“No. It’s a glass statue the Principal ordered.”

“…”

While listening to the heartwarming conversation, a familiar face flew in from the distance.

‘Amur!’

Amur landed skillfully and filled out the entry log.

Then he looked around.

“Over here.”

“…Finally!”

Amur hadn’t expected much, but seeing Lee Han there made him jump with joy.

“Truly amazing. I didn’t expect this! I didn’t know you could pull this off.”

“It’s too early to celebrate.”

“Don’t worry. Having made it this far, it’s as good as success. When those merchants over there leave, we’ll go out together.”

Lee Han nodded.

Though he maintained a calm expression, Lee Han’s heart was also pounding.

If this succeeded, Lee Han would secure a way to regularly leave the school.

While Amur unloaded the cargo he brought, Lee Han fed Ponrig the 【Curse Magic Dispelling Potion】.

Pop!

Ponrig, returned to his original form, scratched the ground happily.

“…I thought it was a joke, but it was real.”

Amur was amazed once again seeing the griffin yawning contentedly in the corner of the Spire Stables.

No matter how he looked at it, this wasn’t a monster a 1st year student could tame.

“Won’t the griffin being unusual get us caught?”

“Don’t worry about that. There are plenty of beasts more unusual than griffins here.”

As Amur said, the nearby beasts were overflowing with personality.

Lee Han tried to avoid the gaze of a birdman staring intently at him.

“Our turn is coming up soon. Get ready.”

“Yes.”

The Spire Stables were so wide you couldn’t see from one end to the other, but when large mounts tried to go in and out and bumped into each other, such vastness became meaningless.

Naturally, there was an established order for such times.

People flying and waiting outside near the entrance, and people sitting and waiting near the exit.

Lee Han glanced around. Perhaps due to the cold weather at high altitude, many people had their cloaks pulled up.

-Next group, depart! Depart!

The stable keeper didn’t stop Lee Han. Lee Han slowly walked forward with his griffin.

Thud!

The griffin kicked off the brick wall and soared into the sky. Lee Han felt a great sense of liberation.

“You’ve tamed a griffin.”

“…?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?”

At Professor Boladi’s calm voice coming from beside him, Lee Han nearly let go of the griffin’s reins and fell to the ground.

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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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