Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 267

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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 267

In fact, Giselle also thought it would be better to learn from a Shadow Patrol member rather than the Wasteland Star Catcher.

‘The Wasteland Star Catcher is too obsessed with appearances.’

They had skill, but felt too excessively packaged, which made her feel repulsed.

“Really… you want to… learn from me?”

Baishada asked hesitantly.

His voice cracked slightly due to nervousness.

“Would that not be okay?”

“It’s not that it wouldn’t be okay… *cough*. Wait a moment.”

Baishada opened the lid of his water bottle and moistened his throat.

Then he drank a tension-relief potion. It was a potion he didn’t even drink when hunting large monsters.

“Honestly, I thought you’d all go over there.”

“The Shadow Patrol is better than the Wasteland Star Catcher.”

At Lee Han’s words, Baishada’s black eyes sparkled. His eyelids trembled as if he was deeply moved.

“Is that really true? I never thought an Einroguard student would think of us this way…”

It was actually because of their friendship with Nilia, but Lee Han’s group didn’t bother to mention it.

The hunter in front of them looked so pitiful in his happiness.

Even Giselle stayed quiet.

“Good! I’ll definitely help you find and catch more impressive prey than the other students.”

Baishada spoke with a voice full of enthusiasm.

Who would have thought such a thing would happen at Einroguard, which he hadn’t expected much from.

When he returned to the Northern Mountains, he was definitely going to tell the other patrol members.

How happy his comrades would be!

“Uh… wait a moment.”

“?”

“Actually, we’ve… already finished preparing for our final exam assignment.”

“???”

“???”

Baishada was shocked.

Durgyu was also shocked.

“When?!”

“Weren’t you his friend?”

Baishada was flustered. The three had seemed close.

“When we were chased by that lizard last time. We met a giant and cut some of his hair.”

“Lee Han. Even though I’m your friend, what you just said is too incomprehensible to just let slide with friendship…”

Durgyu spoke with an expression of an oncoming headache.

Lee Han talking about giant hair as if he’d picked up a stone on the roadside confused Durgyu.

“It’s a bit of a long story.”

Lee Han briefly explained what had happened.

Meeting the giant -> couldn’t play chess -> won the bet -> escaped with the spoils.

“Was the giant that bad at chess?”

“He was bad at it.”

“…”

Giselle was about to say something but held back. Speaking would only damage her own dignity.

“Sorry, Durgyu. I should have told you originally, but I missed the timing because I was worried the other White Tiger Tower students nearby might be disappointed or jealous.”

“No, I can understand that. It really was fortunate.”

“Wait. Mages.”

Baishada, who had been unable to follow the conversation, finally caught up.

“So winning a bet against a giant… let’s say that’s fine. I don’t really understand the other things either, but let’s say they’re all fine. So you have the spoils now?”

“Yes.”

“Then what am I supposed to do?”

“…Uh… would you like to hunt together? We need some meat.”

“…”

* * *

Baishada became slightly dejected but soon regained his spirits.

Above all, the students had valued the Shadow Patrol higher than the Wasteland Star Catcher, so what did it matter?

“That’s right. And what’s important is the result, isn’t it? The other students will think we defeated the giant thanks to you, Baishada.”

“That’s good, but… is that okay?”

Baishada tilted his head.

Of course, he wanted to let these young mages know that the Shadow Patrol was superior to the Wasteland Star Catcher.

But that seemed like deception…

“It’s fine for you to do that. If the results are good, then everything’s okay – that’s what we learned at magic school.”

“Really? That’s surprising.”

“??”

“???”

With time to spare, Baishada took the three of them to look for suitable prey while giving various advice.

“Do you know how to walk when going up a slope like this?”

“Don’t rush, try to step on the ground with your whole sole, and synchronize your breathing with your steps to minimize fatigue.”

“Correct! That’s amazing!”

Baishada was genuinely surprised.

From what he could see, Lee Han seemed to be from a great noble family, so he wouldn’t have grown up climbing mountains.

Yet he was this skilled.

If it weren’t for his status, Baishada would have thought he’d learned from another Shadow Patrol member.

‘Hmm. It’s getting harder to speak up.’

In fact, it was difficult to say he’d learned from a Shadow Patrol member in this atmosphere.

The other person was teaching him one by one and was very excited, so it took courage to say ‘I’ve already learned all this before.’

“Now, try walking up once.”

“Is this correct?”

“Correct! You’re doing well!”

“…”

Durgyu, who knew Nilia, looked at Lee Han with bewildered eyes.

Lee Han pretended not to see and ignored him.

* * *

Baishada skewered several birds he had shot down. After removing the feathers and innards, the golden-brown roasted bird meat was a delicacy for hunters.

“Is it because it’s the Phoenix Festival period? The fire is quite strong.”

Baishada clicked his tongue and adjusted the intensity of the fiercely burning flames.

Lee Han, who had already been warned by Professor Boladi, didn’t just let Baishada’s words pass.

‘The fire energy really is getting stronger.’

“Come to think of it, has a phoenix ever been summoned at the magic school?”

“A phoenix??”

The three students were flustered by the question.

A phoenix, no less.

Wasn’t it quite a rare magical beast among magical beasts? It was a monster whose origins were unknown.

“I’ve never seen one, but why are you asking about phoenixes?”

“Ah. I’ve never seen one either, but I’ve heard stories that they very occasionally show themselves during festivals. I thought if one appeared, it might appear at the magic school. Since it’s a magical beast, it would like places with a lot of mana.”

“Hahaha. If that were the case, the magic school would have already become a den of countless monsters long ago, Baishada.”

Durgyu said with a laugh. Lee Han thought to himself.

‘It already seems like it’s halfway to being a monster den.’

The information that magical beasts appeared because they liked places with abundant mana was quite ominous.

Lee Han shook his head once to dispel his uneasiness and spoke to Baishada.

“You shoot the bow quite well.”

“Thanks. Want to try shooting once?”

“I’m not very confident with archery.”

Though Lee Han was someone who would step up to learn just about anything, he couldn’t easily bring himself to attempt archery.

He knew how to nock an arrow on the bowstring and shoot it at a target. He had learned that when the old knight Alarlong taught him the basics.

However, hitting small moving targets from a distance was an entirely different matter. To hit such things required bone-grinding effort.

“True, archery does require a lot of time to get used to. Besides, mages don’t necessarily need to master archery. Right. How about trying to shoot arrows with magic cast on them? There are spells meant for situations like this, aren’t there?”

Baishada brought this up entirely because he wasn’t a mage.

An experienced mage would have known that what he just said was quite absurd.

Instead of shooting a bow with an archer’s skill and experience, using various enchantment magic to assist in shooting.

It sounded plausible at first, but it was actually putting the cart before the horse.

Casting multiple spells on each arrow before shooting it.

No matter how simple the enchantment magic, the mana consumption was no ordinary matter.

Moreover, layering multiple enchantment spells on small objects like arrows caused the mana consumption and difficulty to jump dramatically with each casting.

However, Lee Han, still an inexperienced first-year, thought it was a fairly good idea before recalling that fact.

‘I have indeed learned several useful enchantment spells now.’

Though Lee Han had been studying ridiculous properties like ‘levitation,’ ‘automatic defense,’ and ‘reflection’ lately, there were actually many easier properties.

Properties that assisted with power like ‘acceleration,’ ‘weight increase,’ or ‘penetration enhancement.’

Properties that assisted in other areas like ‘shake removal,’ ‘accuracy enhancement,’ or ‘aiming assistance.’

Lee Han was already handling orb-shaped magic. He had been thinking he should try boosting power with these enchantment spells sometime.

For objects like water orbs that Lee Han summoned and maintained with mana, adding additional magic was too difficult…

But for objects like arrows that had no particular problems even without Lee Han maintaining mana, it was relatively easy.

‘I’ll start with arrows, and if the spells work well on arrows, next time I’ll try iron balls too.’

Since the difficulty increased in the order of arrows, iron balls, then water orbs, practicing with arrows wasn’t a bad idea.

“Become faster, become heavier. Become sharper.”

Durgyu and Giselle, who were watching while tearing into roasted bird meat, looked on with interested gazes.

Actually, Giselle’s was closer to ‘what the hell is he doing now,’ but it was still interest nonetheless.

“Lee Han. Did you already learn 【Lesser Weight Increase】 and 【Lesser Penetration Enhancement】 too?”

“They came up in lecture, didn’t they?”

To be precise, rather than Professor Verdus teaching them, they were among the many basic enchantment spells written in the book.

“They did come up. But they were toward the back.”

However, those two spells were located relatively toward the back, and students who already had plenty of spells to practice didn’t bother touching the ones further back first.

There were already plenty of spells to work on without grabbing those.

“For 【Lesser Weight Increase】, I had occasion to test it so I practiced it.”

“I see. …Huh? Then what about 【Lesser Penetration Enhancement】?”

“That’s my first time using it.”

“…”

“…”

Durgyu and Giselle agreed for the first time.

Such nonsense…

‘Ah, what am I thinking.’

Durgyu shook his head and dismissed the thought.

Lee Han was a great friend, but whenever he showed his talent for magic, it made him want to say ‘stop cheating already.’

“Really annoying.”

“…Moradi! You shouldn’t say such things to a teammate!”

“Why are you suddenly making a fuss? What’s wrong?”

Whether his friends chattered or not, Lee Han cast the next spell.

He accelerated it, increased its weight, enhanced its penetration, enhanced its accuracy, enhanced its aiming and…

‘What else was there to add? Ah. Shake removal.’

“Trembling, subsi…”

Lee Han, who had been waving his staff, hesitated. The incantation wasn’t cast properly and bounced off.

It was the same even after several repetitions.

“What’s wrong, Lee Han?”

“Ah. Right. I forgot.”

When layering multiple enchantment spells on something like an arrow, both mana consumption and casting difficulty rise sharply.

Having cast this many already, it was natural that no more would stick.

“…”

“…”

“Shouldn’t you normally realize that before casting?”

Baishada tilted his head and asked the two White Tiger Tower students.

The two students pretended not to hear and looked away.

“Then I’ll try it with what I have so far.”

“Try hitting that fallen rock over there.”

Lee Han steadied his breathing and aimed the bow. He could feel the complex and intricate structure of mana from the arrow.

Perhaps because he had enhanced accuracy and aiming, it felt much more comfortable and stable than when he had just nocked the bowstring.

Twang!

Crack!

With a crunching sound, the flying arrow pierced through the rock and embedded about one-third of the way in.

Lee Han felt disappointed at the arrow’s position, which was quite far from the center he had aimed for.

‘Is this the extent with two enhancements?’

“It’s still difficult indeed.”

“What are you saying…”

Baishada looked at Lee Han as if he were a monster.

Without being a skilled archer, if he had managed to embed an arrow in a rock, that was doing well – there was absolutely no reason to feel disappointed about not hitting dead center.

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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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