Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 329

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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 329

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing.”

Priest Tijiling bowed her head slightly with an apologetic heart.

She was ashamed of herself for having such thoughts for a moment.

When she thought about it, how much dedication had the Wardanaz family boy shown for his friends?

Just thinking about the meals the Phoenix Tower students had eaten, the priests couldn’t lift their heads in front of Lee Han.

“I’m sorry.”

“??”

Lee Han was puzzled by Priest Tijiling suddenly apologizing.

What’s this about?

‘Is it because she invited me to the order’s event?’

For Lee Han, who was already going with dark ulterior motives, such an apology actually made him feel somewhat sorry.

“No. There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

“She must be sorry for interrupting your work.”

Professor Verdus said as if he understood.

How much must Wardanaz want to continue his magic stone work right now?

He must be burning inside having to postpone it because of some trivial promise made long ago.

“Ah… then there’s really nothing to be sorry about.”

Lee Han said firmly with complete sincerity.

* * *

The Frisinga Order’s temple was usually visited by many cursed people.

Those who unknowingly visited cursed areas and got cursed, or those who accidentally wore cursed artifacts, and so on.

The priests of the Frisinga Order kindly treated every single one of these visitors without exception, purified artifacts, and sometimes even wore them themselves.

The last part was a bit strange, but anyway, there were few as reliable as the Frisinga Order for ordinary people afflicted with curses.

“Priest! Please help me! After putting on this bracelet, my arm turned into an undead’s arm!”

“Priest! My race…! I don’t want to live as a smelly dwarf! Sob sob!”

“I went traveling last week, and I don’t know what I touched wrong, but my skin turned to bronze…”

The Wardanaz family carriage carrying the three arrived in front of the temple’s main gate. Professor Verdus looked at the people standing in line and said.

“Interesting. Good for research.”

“Professor. I think it might be better if you kept your mouth shut until we enter the temple.”

In front of people already on edge from being cursed, saying ‘you’re a great research case’ might result in knives flying their way.

“Lee Han of the Wardanaz Family!”

Priest Mehrid came running out joyfully. He must have worn another cursed artifact since they last met, as a strange helmet was dangling above his head.

“I’ve heard so much about it. Thank you so much.”

“Not at all. I only did what I had to do.”

Lee Han answered humbly, but his heart wasn’t actually humble.

Considering the meals he had actually prepared for the Phoenix Tower students, Lee Han had the right to be proud.

“…But why is the professor here?”

Priest Mehrid whispered in a confused voice.

Lee Han knew well that in times like this, he had to act confidently.

“He came to help.”

“What? That professor? Oh, no… I don’t mean I dislike it.”

Lee Han completely understood Priest Mehrid’s reaction.

Indeed, even Lee Han would be quite surprised if Professor Verdus said he came to help.

“As an artifact expert, he’ll be helpful for this kind of event.”

“That’s true, but it doesn’t seem like he’d help… Oh, no. I don’t mean I dislike it.”

‘He’s quite realistic.’

Priest Mehrid was a priest, but he was definitely not the type to turn away from reality.

He was a thoroughly realistic priest.

“Don’t worry. Just this once, the professor will earnestly help.”

“Is that so? What happened?”

“Today’s event needs to end quickly so he can take me and put me to work.”

“…”

Priest Mehrid looked at Lee Han with a complex expression.

* * *

Having one excellent mage certainly made it easier to help with the order’s work.

Professor Verdus sat with his arms crossed, and when someone came to him, he immediately said.

“You’re cursed with fire!”

“What?!”

“I said you’re cursed with fire!”

Lee Han kindly explained on his behalf.

“He says the accessory in the box you’re holding is cursed with fire. If you wear it carelessly, you could get burned.”

“Oh, my…”

The customer who brought the accessory blinked in terror.

“Then what should I do?”

“Professor. Can you remove it?”

“Give it here!”

“Oh, my. Thank you, priest.”

“I’m not a priest. I’m a mage.”

Professor Verdus took the accessory and began removing the curse on it. The person who brought it kept bowing gratefully.

Lee Han got inspiration from this.

‘Hmm. This could be a business too.’

Putting up a sign saying ‘We remove curses’…

The problem was the monopoly system called the Frisinga Order. Moreover, the most threatening aspect of this order was that it was free.

Isn’t there anywhere without the Frisinga Order?

“Look at this. This is a burn curse. Do you see the pattern carved here?”

“Even if you say that, it’s magic I don’t know.”

“Memorize it. You need to memorize it so you can do it next time the same magic appears.”

“Oh…”

Lee Han was amazed by Professor Verdus’s shameless words.

Not ‘you should memorize it because it’ll help you later’ but ‘you should memorize it so you can do it later.’

Was he seriously planning to assign curse artifact removal work to a first-year student?

‘He really is crazy.’

“Put some mana into this.”

Professor Verdus handed Lee Han the working magic tool he was holding. The light was flickering as if all the mana put into it had been consumed.

Lee Han grabbed the equipment without much thought and infused it with mana. Professor Verdus was very satisfied with the mana that surged up.

“Nice. You’re good at it.”

‘Oh no.’

When Professor Verdus made an expression like ‘I’ve found another use for you,’ Lee Han thought ‘oh no.’

Professor Verdus discovering Lee Han’s usefulness was never helpful for his life.

Crack, crackle, crack!

“Done. Take it. The curse is removed.”

“Amazing!”

The priest standing nearby expressed admiration for Professor Verdus’s skill.

Even the experienced priests of the Frisinga Order couldn’t have resolved it that quickly. It was truly remarkable skill.

“It’s not impressive at all? Even a caterpillar could have done that.”

“I… I see…”

When the priest looked bewildered, Lee Han thought he should just keep speaking instead of the professor.

“Professor. I’ll just speak on your behalf, so please focus on your work.”

“Oh? Thanks.”

* * *

“This one can’t be dispelled.”

Professor Verdus couldn’t solve every curse either.

The bracelet engraved with ominous patterns looked likely to just shatter if the curse was removed.

“So it really was a cursed item? Damn, no wonder it felt unsettling… Thank you, mage. I’ll leave it here.”

The person who had brought the bracelet set it down with disappointment.

They had come hoping to appraise something valuable, only to find it was cursed.

Items like this that couldn’t be dealt with were usually handled by the Order.

Cursed artifacts were fundamentally difficult items to process.

“But what kind of curse is on this item?”

After another customer left, Lee Han stretched and asked.

“Mana emission suppression.”

“Mana emission suppression? Is it like absorption?”

“It’s different from absorption. Are you stupid?”

Lee Han nodded at Professor Verdus’s gentle correction of his disciple’s mistake.

“The mechanism would be different indeed.”

While a mana absorption curse would drain a person’s mana the moment they wore it, a mana emission suppression curse would restrict that person’s ability to release their mana.

Both were curses used to place restrictions on people who could use mana, but their methods were different.

“May I try wearing it once?”

“Go ahead.”

Lee Han put on the bracelet.

‘Better to experience it now before getting hit with it at Einroguard.’

It would have horrified others to hear, but Lee Han was pragmatic.

It was better to experience it first rather than at Einroguard. He could prepare countermeasures that way.

“I don’t feel much different.”

“Try using magic.”

At those words, Lee Han summoned a water orb.

The water orb that appeared in the air was controlled without any problems.

“It works fine?”

“Try something more complex.”

“Something more complex…”

Lee Han had already mastered the basic applications of the water element.

For more difficult areas beyond this, he would need to go into evaporation or rotation.

‘Let’s try rotation.’

The rotation property was something Lee Han hadn’t perfectly mastered yet. His limit was spending a lot of time on it or adding it at an incomplete level.

Whiiiiiish!

“!”

Lee Han was startled.

The water orb was rotating with a sharp sound.

To achieve this level without pouring tremendous amounts of time into it?

‘What is this…? Could it be!’

Lee Han grasped the situation.

For example, a mana absorption curse would continuously absorb 1 unit at a time.

A person with 10 mana wouldn’t last long, but someone with 10,000 mana could endure much longer.

In contrast, a mana emission suppression curse would limit usable mana to 10, whether you had 100 mana or 10,000 mana.

Normally this would be a very troublesome curse, but for Lee Han it was different.

Having usually struggled to handle his enormous mana, when he was forced to use only a small amount, that control became much easier.

It felt like switching from heavy armor to light armor after wearing only the heavy kind.

Whiiish! Whiiiiiish!

Lee Han felt an exhilarating pleasure from the mana flowing exactly as he intended.

This was when a mage felt a thrill close to omnipotence.

Controlling the power to change the rules of the world oneself.

What could be more ecstatic than this?

‘Is this how other mages always felt?’

Actually, it wasn’t.

The reason Lee Han could use magic relatively easily despite having so much mana was because he had the talent for it.

Now that the unnecessarily excessive mana was removed, he could feel this level of control, but other mages usually didn’t experience such things.

“Professor. This is excellent! To think such an artifact existed… Why did Professor Garcia give me a mana absorption artifact instead of something like this?”

“Well…”

Before Professor Verdus could explain, Lee Han’s bracelet shattered.

Crack!

“…”

Lee Han looked down at the bracelet’s remains with bitter eyes. Professor Verdus nodded and said.

“That’s what happens.”

“…You could have told me earlier.”

Unlike mana absorption artifacts that rarely broke, mana emission suppression artifacts broke far too easily depending on the mage’s capabilities.

This was even more true for Lee Han with his endless mana.

One wrong spell and it would just shatter.

To find something that could withstand whatever magic Lee Han used, it would be faster to look among ancient relics.

“Still, at least one more artifact with mana emission suppression function will… appear today, right?”

“Who knows? And it’s not a function, it’s a curse.”

‘Oh right. That’s true.’

At Professor Verdus’s words, Lee Han came to his senses.

He had been too greedy…

Fortunately, three more artifacts with mana emission suppression curses appeared after that.

Crack!

Actually, two more.

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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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