Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 286

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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 285

‘Strange?’

Gainando making a sacrifice.

Even if hardship changes a person, could it change them this much?

Yoner tilted his head in confusion. Lee Han didn’t give his friend time to ponder.

“We need to move quickly. Yoner! There’s no time!”

“Ah… right. That’s right. Yes!”

Gainando’s charge was far more effective than expected.

Whether the curse magic was particularly effective, or the arrogant sprint irritated it, the sand octopus raised its body that had been firmly guarding the turning point and began chasing after Gainando.

Even Professor Thunderstep, who had initially said ‘I told you not to attack the sand octopus!’, couldn’t help but be impressed.

He had somehow managed to lure out that sand octopus!

“Provocation is also a skill. Excellent!”

Gainando’s horse ran out like it was possessed, avoiding the legs of the pursuing sand octopus.

“Save me!!”

“What is Gainando saying?”

“Can’t hear! Ask later and run!”

“Now’s our chance, friends!!”

Not only Lee Han’s group, but other tower students who had been waiting for an opportunity also spurred their horses with all their might.

Preparing for any unforeseen circumstances, Lee Han cast magic on his friends’ horses.

“Be fulfilled!”

The horses affected by Ogonin’s fulfilling satisfaction magic maintained their composure even as sand-mixed winds flew at them from all directions.

Puhheung!

Ponrig grumbled as if asking why he wasn’t getting the same treatment.

“Run! It’s dangerous if that thing comes back!”

Clatter clatter clatter!

A dead heat unfolding from all sides.

Since the student who reached the turning point first would receive higher scores, the competition was brutally fierce.

Thud!

Lee Han collided with a Black Turtle Tower student charging from the side. Ponrig let out an angry growl.

“Bear with it, Ponrig.”

“Wardanaz. You won’t call me cowardly, will you? Since it’s a competition, I won’t back down!”

“Understood.”

Lee Han immediately swung his staff and launched a water orb.

The Black Turtle Tower student, who never expected someone to cast magic while sprinting at full speed, was eliminated just like that.

Puhihing…?!

Ponrig was bewildered even while running at full speed.

I’m not allowed to attack, but my master can?

* * *

Gainando, who returned late, brushed off his sand-covered clothes and shouted.

“Hey, you cowardly bast…”

“I’m impressed. To lure a monster away by yourself for your friends.”

Professor Thunderstep spoke with an admiring voice. Gainando immediately responded.

“…It was difficult, but I thought it was a noble duty I should fulfill as a member of the Imperial Family.”

‘That definitely seems like something he learned from Lee Han.’

Yoner thought to himself as he watched Gainando.

Whatever else, he hadn’t been that quick-witted before.

When he thought about who was around to learn from, there was only one person.

“Thank you, Gainando.”

“Thanks to you, we passed!”

“I didn’t know you would sacrifice yourself like that!”

Other tower students also crowded around to thank him.

Since he had lured away the sand octopus by himself, they couldn’t help but be grateful. Even students who usually disliked him for being annoying came to express their thanks.

Gainando looked around at his friends with a moved expression, then nodded and answered.

“It wasn’t an easy choice.”

“But what did you say earlier?”

“I said please take care of what comes after.”

“Was it that long of a sentence…?”

While Gainando was chattering behind him, Lee Han checked his grade with Professor Thunderstep.

“Perfect score.”

“Thank you, Professor.”

“No need for lengthy words, you all did well… but there’s one thing I’m curious about. Why did you mistake the sand octopus for a hydra earlier?”

Lee Han hesitated.

After thinking for a moment, he said.

“I heard that Professor Thunderstep brought a hydra.”

“What? Really?”

Professor Thunderstep seemed genuinely surprised.

The fact that even the professor didn’t know made Lee Han’s head spin.

‘What’s going on?’

“If that’s true, he managed to bring one quite well. It was already difficult before, but it must be even harder to obtain these days. Should I ask to see it?”

“You didn’t know either, Professor?”

“I didn’t hear about it. He probably didn’t want to bother getting advice from me.”

As a renowned explorer in the Empire, Professor Thunderstep was skilled at handling all kinds of monsters and animals.

Naturally, if Professor Thunderstep had brought a hydra, he was planning to give all sorts of advice on how to raise it.

“Do you have any idea why Professor Thunderstep brought it?”

“Well? I don’t need to know everything about that guy. Maybe he needs it for potion research?”

Mages basically weren’t very interested in anything outside their own research.

Even if Professor Thunderstep secretly brought a hydra, that was Professor Thunderstep’s business, not Professor Thunderstep’s.

Of course, he was concerned about whether the hydra was being raised well or not…

“Could there possibly be hydra-related questions on the final exam?”

Even as Lee Han asked, he hoped Professor Thunderstep would answer ‘How could that be?’ or ‘That’s ridiculous.’

“Oh! I hadn’t thought of that.”

However, Professor Thunderstep looked at Lee Han as if he had a good idea.

“That could be possible.”

“…”

Lee Han sighed inwardly.

‘I should have waited on the day the hydra was brought and launched a surprise attack.’

To think he would pay such a price for letting his guard down!

* * *

Professor Thunderstep crossed his arms and waited for the students with a triumphant expression.

“You’re here?”

“Hello, Professor.”

“The test you’ll see today might destroy your soul.”

“…”

“Cheer up!”

The student who entered glared at him as they went in, but Professor Thunderstep didn’t care.

The exam he had created was intoxicating him to that extent.

A final exam question crafted with utmost care, precariously calibrated to just before the level where the Skeleton Principal would say ‘Isn’t this a bit too harsh?’

With this, he could shatter the souls of arrogant new students who finished their midterm or pre-final assignments and thought ‘I think I’m starting to understand what alchemy is about now.’

“Good day, Professor.”

Lee Han entered with a stern face. Professor Thunderstep also nodded his head.

The disciple who had received full marks on an assignment designed to prevent full marks, thus causing the exam difficulty to increase, was entering.

Indeed, perhaps that disciple had intuited his own fate, as his face was hardened.

“The exam will be quite a bit harder than last time.”

“I suspected as much.”

Lee Han spoke while suppressing a sigh.

He couldn’t understand why the professors acted this way.

Wasn’t it a good thing when students did well on exams?

‘The professor taught well so they did well, so why does their pride get hurt?’

“Yes. Exactly so. Hehehe…”

“…”

Professor Thunderstep was so delighted that he forgot the possibility that his disciple might come to assassinate him after graduation and laughed heartily.

Lee Han stared intently at Professor Thunderstep and resolved to try a surprise attack while masked at night next time.

‘How exactly is he planning to use the hydra?’

He had discussed it with his friends before coming and while coming, but he truly couldn’t guess.

-Don’t we have to hunt the hydra and use its poison as potion ingredients?

-Are you crazy?! That can’t be it. At the very least, we’d have to subdue or persuade the hydra to borrow its poison.

-That’s plenty crazy talk too.

-M-maybe the exam actually has nothing to do with the hydra? That could be possible, right?

-Are you really an Einroguard mage? How can you think so naively?

-It seems certain we’ll have to obtain materials from the hydra.

-The hydra might be guarding the materials…

“I’m prepared, so please tell me.”

“Right. Shall we begin?”

Professor Thunderstep walked forward.

The students waited for the professor’s next move with tense gazes.

What kind of exam could it be?

Giyola’s Cinnabar Potion

Irjunden’s Nightmist Potion

Aurum’s Soul Amplification Potion

Dobruk’s Sulfur-Mercury Potion

…

…

Names of potions filling the blackboard.

Among them were many potions they had never heard of before.

Professor Thunderstep enjoyed the overwhelmed students’ reactions and said.

“You’re not choosing one of these. Before today’s lecture time ends, submit as many of these potions as possible.”

All potions that were labor-intensive and troublesome.

Among them were potions that couldn’t be made without combining other potions.

In short, a potion list laid out thinking they absolutely couldn’t make them all!

It was truly an exam given with determination.

Professor Thunderstep grinned and turned his gaze to Lee Han. As expected, even his outstanding disciple seemed flustered and was hesitating.

“Professor?”

“What is it? If you have questions, feel free to ask anything.”

“The hydra isn’t appearing?”

“Hydra? What… No, wait! How do you know about that?!”

Professor Thunderstep was startled.

He had secretly brought it at night so other professors, especially Professor Lightningstep, wouldn’t see it, so how did he know?

“I witnessed it by chance.”

“This foolish golden… Right. If you saw it, it can’t be helped. I made a big decision and spent everything to buy it. I might need help taking care of it later.”

He wanted to steadily extract the hydra’s poison, but a full-grown hydra was too expensive and difficult to manage.

So Professor Thunderstep had no choice but to buy a baby hydra.

If he raised it properly, it could produce roughly similar effects.

“Is that all?”

“What? Are you suspecting that I deceived others and secretly brought it in? Absolutely not! I got permission for everything.”

Professor Thunderstep spoke firmly, worried that Lee Han might have a strange misunderstanding.

He couldn’t hide bringing a hydra from outside even from the Skeleton Principal.

“That’s not what I meant…”

“?”

“Wasn’t the hydra supposed to appear in the exam?”

“Why would a hydra appear in an exam?”

Professor Thunderstep looked at Lee Han as if asking what he was talking about.

Why would a hydra appear in a first-year alchemy exam? That was nonsensical.

“…You’re right about that.”

“Right?”

Lee Han returned to his seat with a convinced expression.

Professor Thunderstep only then realized that he had missed hearing Lee Han’s thoughts about the exam due to talking about the hydra.

‘Oh no. What a shame.’

He had really wanted to see him kneel before the profundity and greatness of alchemy and feel his own inadequacy…

Clack clack clack-

Lee Han quickly pulled out potions from his backpack and lined them up.

They were all potions that were difficult to make.

Moreover, their quality wasn’t poor either. As if they had been crafted with utmost care in an alchemist’s workshop.

‘No way…?!’

Professor Thunderstep was shocked.

He had suspected that Lee Han had somehow obtained potions from outside, but he thought there would be at most two or three bottles left.

How could a student with no proper way to bring them in and no gold coins manage this?

While Professor Thunderstep was too shocked to speak, Lee Han steadily proceeded with his work.

Lighting a fire under the cauldron, making potions he could create with the materials he currently had…

‘Lucky me.’

He had worried about how the hydra would appear and cause chaos, but it had nothing to do with anything.

Thanks to that, the exam wasn’t very difficult.

Hadn’t he swept up various potions in preparation for something like this in the first place?

Combining three completed potions and waving his staff, Irjunden’s Nightmist Potion was completed.

“Isn’t it really fortunate? The hydra not appearing. I was worried about it a lot, but now I’m relieved.”

“Lee Han. The professor is glaring at you.”

Yoner felt Professor Thunderstep’s gaze and whispered.

The professor was so shocked that even the tips of his beard were trembling.

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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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