Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 327

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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 327

Of course, the compensation for dark mages working in the public cemetery was never bad.

Dark mages were just mages suffering from baseless… well, baseless rumors and prejudice, but they were certainly not pushovers.

If the pay wasn’t good, which dark mages would take on such work?

However, Lee Han held the belief that ‘even when doing the same work, if the pay increases, that’s a good thing.’

“No, Dalcard sir. We simply devoted ourselves to the city, so such…”

“If those who devote themselves don’t receive compensation, who would devote themselves? I’ll speak strongly to the city council members to secure additional budget.”

Having obtained the desired answer, Lee Han coughed again.

“Cough. Cough…”

“Oh my. Please stop talking and rest. It seems the mana you expended in the last subjugation hasn’t recovered yet.”

“Thank you…”

Lee Han staggered and placed his arm on Gainando’s shoulder. Gainando looked bewildered but pretended to support him.

“They truly are excellent mages.”

Feeling Daihal’s gaze, Lee Han exited the public cemetery.

Diret, who had stayed quiet unable to interrupt his junior’s acting, asked quietly.

“But junior. What are you referring to when you say ‘last subjugation’?”

“Cough cough cough.”

“Cut it out.”

“Yes sir.”

* * *

“…So these crazy apprentice knights who don’t know their place are saying they want to go catch that thing again. Aren’t they completely insane? I don’t understand why the knight orders don’t provide character education like Einroguard does.”

Lee Han criticized the apprentice knights with anger, but Diret wasn’t listening.

The previous story had been too shocking.

“No, you should have run away, why did you…”

“That was also because of those White Tiger Tower students??”

“Uh, uhm. Right.”

His junior looked so wronged that Diret couldn’t say anything more.

‘If Professor Mortum finds out about this, it’ll become quite troublesome…’

To think he encountered an ancient evil being not recorded anywhere.

If Professor Mortum found out, he would definitely get excited and conduct all sorts of investigations.

And the preparation for those investigations would be done by his disciple, while the subject of investigation would be the person who experienced it most closely…

That junior qualified for both.

“Senior. Thank you for helping today. Let’s have a meal together before you go.”

“Hmm.”

Diret hesitated slightly.

Originally, he didn’t like visiting noble family manors because it was uncomfortable, but if it was his junior’s request, that was a different story.

“Alright. I can’t refuse when my junior asks like that. But junior.”

“Yes?”

“Isn’t that person a professor?”

Seeing Professor Verdus sitting blankly and waiting in front of the manor’s main gate, Lee Han felt just slightly sorry.

* * *

“Wa, isn’t Wardanaz eating?”

“Lee Han originally likes studying more than eating.”

Gainando acted like he knew in response to Ymirg’s question.

Of course, if Lee Han had been there, it would have been words worthy of a smack to the back of the head.

“…Juniors. Why exactly is Professor Beeble here?”

“Oh. He just came to visit?”

“He just came to visit?”

“Yes.”

“Someone who acts so arbitrarily… that’s right though.”

Diret was convinced before he could even harbor doubts.

Professor Verdus was certainly capable of such behavior.

“But even so, shouldn’t he give some time to rest?”

Diret put down his strawberry madeleine and spoke.

The student had just finished struggling to catch an undead chimera, so wasn’t it too much to take him away without giving him time to rest?

“Don’t you think so? No matter how long he waited, it would only be a few hours at most.”

“Oh. No?”

“No?”

“He came and has been waiting since last night.”

Since it was evening now, he had been waiting for nearly a full day.

“He came since last night… wait. Wait a moment.”

Coming last night was also strange, but that could be because the professor and disciple were close.

“If he came since last night, why did you guys go to the public cemetery?”

“Lee Han suggested we run away in the morning…”

“…”

Diret was at a loss for words and put down his coffee cup.

…Was this self-inflicted?

* * *

“Did you wait long? I’m sorry.”

Lee Han apologized with a fake expression.

The other party was a professor, after all.

However, Professor Verdus, as expected, didn’t care at all.

“Huh? No. Let’s get to work. Oh right. I replaced the helmet.”

“Ah. Thank you!”

Lee Han was genuinely delighted by Professor Verdus’s words.

‘I can sell it!’

“How much would this be worth?”

“Worth?”

“Yes.”

“Who would buy something like that? It’s a dangerous artifact.”

“…Uh… now that it’s fixed, wouldn’t it be safe if the user is careful?”

“That’s true. But it’s dangerous if you’re not careful. People don’t buy things like that.”

“…”

Lee Han glared at the helmet. The Helm of Wisdom spoke cautiously.

Since it’s come to this, how about trying to draw out the wisdom within me…

“Shut up.”

Lee Han lost interest in the helmet. Now that he knew it wouldn’t make money, there was no reason to be interested.

“Professor. I have a question.”

“What is it?”

“Could I make and sell artifacts?”

“That would be difficult.”

Professor Verdus answered immediately.

Since artifacts were expensive items, the experience of the person who made the artifact was quite important.

For new artifact crafters, they had to steadily participate as assistants in other artifact creations to build experience, expand their network, then seize opportunities to showcase their own artifacts before they could make their name known in the Empire.

‘This sounds like a story I’ve heard many times before.’

Every industry was harsh to newcomers. Lee Han frowned at the mention that it would easily take over ten years.

“Wait. How about this approach? Make them cheap and sell them cheap.”

Even at Einroguard, there were incomplete failed artifacts lying around everywhere.

These were remnants that upperclassmen had failed to complete and thrown away.

Of course, these artifacts would have an Empire bounty placed on them the moment they were sold at full price, but that didn’t mean they were completely useless.

Even adventurers would be tempted if they could obtain artifacts at relatively cheap prices, even if they were incomplete failures.

“What? That’s a waste of mana.”

Professor Verdus was negative about Lee Han’s business plan.

A mage’s mana was a limited resource.

Every bit of mana should be saved to create masterpieces, so why waste it on such things?

And even just considering money, selling one masterpiece was better than selling dozens of cheaply made trash.

“I see. So there are no other problems besides wasting mana?”

However, Lee Han filtered Professor Verdus’s words as he pleased.

What’s wrong with wasting a bit of mana?

And what’s wrong with poor cost-effectiveness?

‘It’s much better to earn money in advance than to work for ten years building experience before starting. And failures are what come out naturally during practice anyway.’

Lee Han quickly drew up a blueprint in his mind.

To make artifacts with the most useful functions possible and sell them continuously…

“Alright. Let’s begin!”

Professor Verdus, unaware of Lee Han’s schemes, began laying out equipment.

Chisels and awls, hammers, planes and saws, small welding wands enchanted with extreme flame magic, glasses with lenses for different purposes, and so on.

“Professor. There’s something I’d like to try.”

“Oh. What is it? What is it??”

Professor Verdus asked excitedly when Lee Han showed enthusiasm.

“I’d like to try making water creation artifacts or dark vision artifacts.”

“What? Why would you make such trash? It’s a waste of time, mana, and materials!”

Of course, being excited didn’t mean he listened well to Lee Han’s words. Professor Verdus was very cold when it came to artifacts.

Water creation artifacts and dark vision artifacts were uninteresting artifacts that weren’t particularly difficult – any mage could make them with just time and effort.

Professor Verdus couldn’t possibly favor such waste of materials.

“Professor. There’s something I’ve realized while studying magic lately.”

“??”

“Since I have so much mana, I think I need to waste some to get warmed up.”

“Really??”

“Yes. But if I try other magic, when I switch to enchantment magic, I can’t adapt right away. I think I warm up better by practicing with the same enchantment magic.”

“Why are you so lacking in talent?”

“Ugh. That’s what I’m saying.”

Lee Han answered with fake sadness. Professor Verdus was genuinely sorry about his disciple’s lack of talent.

“What to do. So can you do enchantment magic well this way?”

“Oh. Should I stop then?”

“That won’t do.”

‘Damn.’

Lee Han clicked his tongue inwardly at Professor Verdus not being completely fooled.

“Fine. If that’s the case. Even though it’s a boring, unrewarding, time-wasting artifact…”

Professor Verdus grumbled as he began taking materials from his pocket.

Lee Han hesitated when he saw him take out a blue gem, aquamarine, and place it on spirit whale leather.

Even though Lee Han hadn’t mastered all materials yet, he knew well that those two materials were damn expensive.

“Wait. Wait. Professor.”

“What?”

“You’re using aquamarine and spirit whale leather?”

“Yes.”

“Um… are those essential for water creation artifacts?”

“Essential, right?”

Lee Han once again realized he needed to ask Professor Verdus questions in a different way.

“I mean, will the water creation magic not work at all without them?”

“Not exactly. But the efficiency would be trash. If an already trash-like artifact has trash efficiency too, it would be truly meaningless.”

“But using such materials for practice is too wasteful.”

‘And I won’t even break even.’

There was no way Lee Han, who was trying to obtain an optimized crafting method, could make artifacts with aquamarine or spirit whale leather.

“But without them, the efficiency becomes too trashy.”

“How much?”

“For a leather water pouch this size, it would take about a week to fill completely.”

“!”

Professor Verdus’s words certainly made sense.

‘A week is… too slow.’

A leather water pouch that could hang from one’s waist taking a whole week to fill.

Lee Han newly realized that a mage’s magic was truly miraculous power for those who couldn’t use magic.

For someone who couldn’t use magic to use magic, that much preparation was necessary.

“Isn’t there another way? Like injecting a lot of mana.”

“That works too, but… the artifact’s lifespan becomes shorter.”

If you over-inject mana when already making it with cheap materials, the artifact’s lifespan would inevitably shorten.

Moreover, it was a waste of mana.

“That’s fine! The efficiency improves anyway, doesn’t it!”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

Professor Verdus tilted his head while looking at his enthusiastic disciple.

Why does he like that so much?

‘Does he enjoy making trash?’

* * *

Deer leather, Koyak thread, copper ring.

These were the materials that went into the water creation artifact, a portable leather water pouch.

Lee Han wasn’t the type to be greatly impressed by or take pride in his own skills or talent, but when he made this leather water pouch, he couldn’t help but feel proud.

‘I did it!’

He had somehow managed to create an artifact that produced water using not-too-expensive materials.

Professor Verdus, who had been nodding off with a bored expression beside him, yawned and asked.

“Are you done?”

“Yes.”

“Warmed up, right? Now then.”

Professor Verdus spread out the blueprint he had been waiting and waiting for on the table.

The blueprint was so long and complex that it filled the entire long rectangular table.

“…What is this?”

“An aerial flying sailing ship.”

Seeing Professor Verdus confidently present a project that seemed like it would take Lee Han about a hundred years to even attempt, Lee Han seriously considered feigning illness once again.

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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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