Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 309

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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 309

“Let’s eat.”

The soup in the pot placed over the campfire bubbled vigorously. The soup, made by stir-frying the fresh vegetables and meat they had brought, then adding water and opening canned goods for seasoning, was quite properly made.

Of course, Lee Han had cooked it.

“??”

“????”

Gu Bon and Bijidek missed the timing to say ‘Why are you doing this?’

They just quietly received their wooden bowls.

The White Tiger Tower students ate far too naturally.

“That Wardanaz fellow. His skills are still the same.”

“He’s as amazing at cooking as he is at magic.”

“But Gu Bon sir. Do adventurers usually eat like this too?”

Durgyu asked out of curiosity. Gu Bon pondered how to explain this, then scratched his head vigorously before answering.

“Usually when solving nearby jobs, or on the first or second day of a request, we do eat well…”

For requests that were close by or seemed like they would end quickly, adventurers also took care of the quality of their food to some extent.

However, when entering distant expeditions or large-scale ruins and dungeons, there was none of that.

It was all about efficiency and compression. When you never knew when you might go hungry, no crazy person cared about taste.

“I see. For today’s kind of request, eating like this is appropriate.”

“I thought adventurers only ate dried jerky.”

“There must have been some exaggeration.”

“…No, even when we eat well, it’s rare to eat this well usually…”

Gu Bon said in bewilderment.

‘Eating well’ only meant eating the fresh fruits, bread, or rice cakes they brought before they spoiled, not preparing something this elaborate.

Starting from obtaining water for cooking, didn’t cooking with fire also consume that much fuel? Few adventurers spent that much energy on a single meal.

“Don’t you eat like this?”

“Yes… both water and fire take effort.”

“I see.”

Lee Han nodded and looked at his friends. The White Tiger Tower students protected their soup with their hands out of habit from Einroguard.

“I’m… I’m not giving it back.”

“I had no intention of taking it. I already cooked it, so what can I do. Well, without magic, all this would be work.”

Even from Lee Han’s perspective, if this had been done without magic, it would have consumed quite a lot of time and energy.

“Then from next time, we’ll also simply use adventurer preserved rations…”

“You, you don’t need to decide so hastily, Wardanaz.”

“That’s right. Didn’t Gu Bon sir here also say to eat well when you can eat well.”

Angrago and Raphadael desperately tried to persuade Lee Han.

Honestly, this tasted better than the meals served at the knight order’s official lodging.

Gu Bon’s accomplice, Bijidek, tilted his head.

“This soup is amazingly delicious.”

“Isn’t it because the ingredients are good?”

“I helped and watched while cooking, but the ingredients weren’t particularly special… Could the water be special?”

“Water? What about the water?”

“It’s water summoned by the mage.”

“Ho. Indeed. That could be it.”

While the two adventurers whispered, Angrago scraped his bowl clean and scraped the pot with the ladle until Lee Han hit him.

“Stop eating so much. These two gentlemen need to eat too.”

“Ah… no… if there’s leftovers, it’s wasteful…”

* * *

When the time came, Lee Han quietly stood up.

The two adventurers said they would take night watch among themselves, but Lee Han refused.

If he carelessly developed lazy habits, it could become troublesome later when the adventurers weren’t around.

‘By the way, the guild really recommended sincere people.’

The way they tried to step forward and do everything themselves whenever something needed to be done left a strong impression on Lee Han.

He had heard that among adventurers, there were many with poor character, but it seemed the guild had recommended truly trustworthy talent.

“Eyes, pierce through the darkness.”

There was no need to just sit around boredly for night watch.

Lee Han cast dark vision magic and began reading his magic book. It was a terrible madness that would make other White Tiger Tower students shudder if they saw it.

【Ancient Basic Necromancy – On True Undead Summoning】

A true dark mage need not mind the moods of undead from other realms, and should be able to move dead beings with pure will alone. Here are the commands for skeletons…

While other dark mages comfortably contracted with undead from the undead realm and summoned them, Lee Han was using old-fashioned dark magic that directly assembled bones to create them because the Skeleton Principal had insisted ‘learn orthodox ancient dark magic,’ but it wasn’t without advantages.

If there really were no advantages, Lee Han wouldn’t have done it no matter how much the Skeleton Principal insisted.

‘I hope the skeleton warriors’ attacks become perfect within this vacation.’

Summoning skeleton warriors was now possible, but their movements were quite limited and often failed.

If he could just reach the stage where skeleton warriors automatically attacked enemies, it would be more convenient when facing bol… no, when facing enemies.

Rustle-

“?”

Lee Han raised his head. It seemed like there was a sound of something brushing through the thicket somewhere.

‘An animal?’

Flash!

Before his thought could finish, light flashed and exploded from below. The intruder prevention magic he had set up just in case had activated.

It had no attack power, but it was enough to confuse the intruder and allow them to respond.

Lee Han moved as a skilled Einroguard student without any waste.

Thud!

“Get up! We’re under attack!”

“Is, is it the Principal!?”

When he kicked his friends’ backs, the White Tiger Tower students got up in a fluster.

“It’s not the Principal!”

“Th… thank goodness.”

“It’s not good news! Everyone grab your weapons first!”

The experienced Gu Bon and Bijidek were very tense.

The students’ skills were excellent, but such surprise attacks and chaotic battles required considerable composure separate from skill.

Of all times, intruders had to appear when they were on a request with students.

‘Please let it be nothing serious!’

Gu Bon and Bijidek desperately hoped the intruder would be a shepherd wandering the area, a traveler, or a lost adventurer.

“Hold your shields and keep your heads down.”

“Protect Wardanaz!”

“!?”

However, the students’ movements exceeded the two adventurers’ expectations.

The moment the light burst, they immediately got up, grabbed weapons and shields, and formed ranks – their proficiency was extraordinary.

‘As expected of knight family origins!’

It wasn’t particularly because of knight family origins, but the two adventurers’ misunderstanding deepened further.

“Damn it, what are you guys doing here!”

A rough voice burst out from below. It was clear their vision had been damaged by the light.

‘If we’re going to attack, we should attack now…’

Gu Bon pondered. If it had been a party of aggressive adventurers, they would have attacked the other party first and then looked.

But all the students here were from knight families. There was a high possibility they wouldn’t choose such cowardly acts.

“We’re adventurers who came from Granden City to solve the request at Unfurled Hill. If you don’t reveal your identity, we’ll attack!”

“We came to Unfurled Hill first two days ago. Get lost!”

The White Tiger Tower students were flustered by the sounds coming from below.

They still didn’t know much about the customary rules of adventurers.

“Should we retreat?”

“No! Originally it’s customary for the side that arrives late to retreat, but that’s not absolutely set in stone, and when they’re being so unreasonable without any evidence…”

“Got it. We’ll retreat!”

“!”

His friends and the adventurers were surprised by Lee Han’s shout, but they didn’t object.

It was out of respect for Lee Han’s authority.

“Tch… There’s no need to be considerate of those bastards.”

“Bear with it. Getting into a brawl with those bastards would be more shameful.”

While Angrago and Raphadael were feeling regretful, Lee Han spoke again.

“We need confirmation that your side won’t attack while we retreat. Show yourselves!”

“Don’t talk nonsense. How do we know you bastards won’t attack?”

“One person from each side comes out to confirm. How about it?”

“…Fine.”

Lee Han spoke to Raphadael.

“I’m counting on you.”

“Yeah. Got… wait a minute.”

Raphadael narrowed his eyes as he remembered when he went to the Undead Realm with Lee Han before.

“You don’t tell me…”

“Don’t think strange thoughts and move quickly. Tell me immediately if there’s anything suspicious.”

“…”

* * *

The mercenary, Buldahak, walked out with a frown.

Buldahak’s frown deepened even more when he saw Raphadael.

‘What? He’s just a greenhorn…?’

Buldahak also preferred to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, but this changed things.

For a greenhorn, wasn’t he equipped quite well?

Usually greenhorn adventurers often stumbled around without proper weapons, let alone armor, but the greenhorn before his eyes was the complete opposite.

He must have dressed up using family heirlooms or wealth he brought from home.

‘If that kind of guy is in the party, it probably isn’t that impressive.’

Buldahak’s fingers twitched unconsciously. He was strongly tempted to signal his subordinates behind him to launch an attack.

“Flash forth.”

With a small murmur, a sharp bolt of lightning struck Buldahak’s back from behind.

Crackle!

“Gah… Huh?!”

Buldahak’s limbs stiffened and his weapon fell from the completely unexpected attack.

It was so unexpected that even Raphadael was startled.

“War… Wardanaz!?”

“Flash forth, flash forth. Flash forth.”

Lightning bolts flew again and the mercenaries hiding in the nearby thicket screamed and rolled around.

“It’s a mage!!! There’s a mage!”

“Find the mage… Kyahak!”

The remaining mercenaries finally grasped the situation and looked around, but couldn’t see anything.

“Light the torches!”

“We’ll be targets…”

“You idiot! Mages can see through darkness! Light them quickly!”

‘I should stop using lightning magic.’

Lee Han thought as he changed positions.

From the beginning, saying he would retreat obediently and sending Raphadael forward was to buy time and assess the enemy’s numbers.

Once the assessment was complete and he got behind them, he immediately started attacking.

With precisely striking lightning magic, he first took down the threatening ones.

Though he had invisibility cast, if he kept using lightning magic, his position might be discovered and he could face counterattacks.

Of course, that didn’t mean he couldn’t use magic.

“Spring forth.”

Water orbs quickly split apart and moved in different directions.

It was an attack whose origin was completely impossible to track.

Thwack!

“He’s already used a lot of magic! The mage can’t use any more magic… Gah.”

The shouting mercenary collapsed, and as a water orb struck another mercenary’s jaw, the remaining mercenaries were terrified.

“We surrender!”

“We surrender, Sir Mage! We surrender!”

Gu Bon finally came to his senses and shouted.

“Put down your weapons and raise both hands! Anyone who moves even slightly will be attacked! Bijidek! Go tie those bastards up!”

“We’ll go too.”

The White Tiger Tower students and Bijidek tightly bound the fallen mercenaries and those who surrendered.

“This guy is… Buldahak! It’s Buldahak!”

Bijidek shouted in surprise.

“Who is he?”

“He’s a criminal with an Empire bounty on his head!”

“Oh. How much is the bounty?”

Lee Han dispelled his invisibility and revealed himself from behind.

Gu Bon asked curiously.

“How did you know this person was Buldahak?”

“I didn’t know.”

“Pardon?”

“If we were going to fight anyway, striking first is always advantageous.”

The White Tiger Tower students nodded in agreement with Lee Han’s words.

“As expected of Wardanaz.”

“He never lets his guard down. We should learn from that attitude.”

“…”

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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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