Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 358

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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 358

“Magic stones are merely substitutes, and to implement the purest mana that a mage can create with magic stones…”

“Is that important right now?”

Lee Han pointed at the prostrate penguin beastman mage and spoke to Yumidifus.

He wasn’t particularly curious about how difficult it was to implement high-quality pure mana with magic stones.

Whether the crazy mage would dump his research project on him was far more important.

“Master Penguerin. Please come to your senses. Even if it’s difficult with magic stones, that’s still a part that can be substituted by other methods. What would be the irreplaceable part? It’s the brain of the mage who designed this experiment and constructed the magic.”

“…”

Lee Han clearly saw Alsicle flinch.

Seeing hope, Lee Han grabbed Alsicle’s back and began shaking him back and forth.

“Master Penguerin! If you give up here, what about all the cryomancers who entered frost elemental magic looking up to you! Will you disappoint all of them!”

“Ow, ow! It hurts!”

Though this should have been a heartwarming situation, Alsicle screamed.

Lee Han’s strength was too good.

“Ah. I’m sorry. Anyway, disappointing these mages…”

“I, I get it. Calm down. Calm down. I’ll think about it again.”

When Lee Han seemed about to grab his back again, Alsicle hurriedly stopped him and spoke.

Seeing this, Yumidifus thought to himself.

‘He probably could have just attacked.’

* * *

Eventually Alsicle calmed down and regained his composure.

Actually, what Lee Han said was accurate.

When a magic experiment succeeded, the credit belonged to the mage who created the design of the magic experiment, not to the people who helped from the side.

Alsicle, who had implemented extreme cold to this extent, was certainly a remarkable mage.

…The problem was that the reason the experiments that had failed until now suddenly succeeded lay precisely in Lee Han’s mana.

Unless Alsicle was an idiot, he naturally analyzed the cause.

Why did crude improvisation succeed when he had failed even using various top-grade rare reagents like Seorinoru horn, frost jade crystal, Binghansan, eternal snow, snow emperor pill, and so on?

“The answer lay in the quality of mana. No matter how much you try to maintain mana with various reagents and magic circles, the purity and quality falls short compared to directly infusing a mage’s mana.”

“Indeed…”

Lee Han, who was listening in front of Alsicle, suddenly asked with puzzlement.

“But why are you telling me this?”

It would have been fine for Yumidifus or Voladi to hear this, so he couldn’t understand why Lee Han, a 1st year student, needed to hear this.

“Where did the mana that just succeeded come from?”

“It came from me.”

“Then how would we need to obtain that mana?”

“Should I go to other cryomancer gatherings and post notices?”

“…No. That’s not how it works.”

If all mages’ mana had high purity and excellent quality like Lee Han’s mana, Alsicle wouldn’t have needed to go through this trouble.

“It’s hard to obtain such mana.”

“Oh my. How unfortunate…”

“Help me!”

When Alsicle tried to grab Lee Han’s hand and cling to him, Lee Han lightly dodged.

Having been through so much with professors, he had maintained a defensive stance while Alsicle was speaking.

“I’m sorry. That’s impossible.”

“Why!”

“I have my own life, and working here 24 hours throughout the vacation is a bit…”

“…I wasn’t thinking that?!”

Alsicle was shocked by Lee Han’s terrifying idea.

Since mana had to be invested, if he overworked like that, even a remarkable mage would collapse quickly.

Moreover, the other party was a 1st year student.

“I don’t do that many experiments to begin with. It would be about two or three times a year.”

“Ah. Only that much?”

“…That’s plenty though?”

If it was that much, he could help since he owed him a favor.

When permission was granted, Alsicle’s face brightened. Alsicle nodded repeatedly and said.

“Thank you! In return, I’ll pass on my secret frost elemental magic to you. Enough that you could take over my research project someday!”

‘I’m not happy about that.’

Lee Han cursed inwardly at Alsicle, who kept trying to pass on even his own research when things were already difficult.

He was a wicked mage through and through.

“Yes, well… thank you.”

“Good. Let’s start right away.”

“We don’t have time, so teach quickly. I was planning to return to the city on the weekend.”

At Voladi Bagrec and Yumidifus’s urging, Alsicle grumbled.

“Unlike basic magic, my secret magic can’t be learned just because you teach it quickly…”

Alsicle looked at Lee Han and changed his words.

“…though with you, Wardanaz, you might be able to do it.”

“That’s impossible.”

Lee Han firmly denied it, but the three mages didn’t even pretend to listen.

* * *

【Penguerin’s Frost Elemental Clone】 was a 4th circle magic.

Unlike other clone magic, it had an appearance so similar to the master that they were indistinguishable from the outside, shared vision with the clone, and could even perform close combat using frost elements when necessary.

Considering the magic’s effectiveness, it was strange that it was only in the 4th circle.

Of course, the difficulty of the frost elemental clone magic was correspondingly among the highest in 4th circle magic.

Lee Han’s senses had become warped from succeeding at 4th circle magic several times, but originally this was absolutely not a difficulty level for a 1st year to attempt.

“Though you’ve learned lower circle frost elemental magic well, I don’t think you’ll master this magic quickly.”

“That’s a relief.”

Lee Han was relieved when Alsicle was calm, unlike his earlier words.

“Ah. Of course I’m not dismissing your skills! With your ability, you could definitely reach the stage just before the clone.”

“…? Isn’t that also quite difficult?”

Lee Han became afraid that even Alsicle might be influenced by Professor Boladi and Yumidifus.

The lowest stage in clone-type magic was a clone that was obviously fake and had no movement.

Lee Han could implement something similar with illusion magic right now.

If he cast 【Pahait’s Lesser Illusion】 and 【Ogonin’s Thin Mist】, it would appear from the outside as if there were multiple Lee Hans.

To advance further from here, one had to control the clone’s form and incorporate movement to make it more convincing…

The 【Penguerin’s Frost Elemental Clone】 magic had succeeded in both of these.

In other words, the stage just before this meant completing at least one of form or movement.

That alone was at least 3rd circle.

“This magic incorporates many magic from other schools to avoid casting at high circles. That’s why it’s more difficult…”

‘Did you just ignore what I said?’

“…you said you’re learning transformation magic and enchantment magic too, right? You’re very lucky.”

“Yes…”

“One unfortunate thing is that dark magic is quite helpful when practicing this clone magic. Unlike other summoned creatures, undead summons don’t complain even when you cast frost elemental magic on them. So they’re good for practice.”

One of the best ways to practice handling the movements of multiple clones was to practice with undead summons.

Undead summons had few complaints and didn’t greatly resist even when given weapons imbued with frost elements or when frost elements were wrapped around their bodies.

Casting frost elemental magic on such undead summons and moving them delicately as desired was good practice.

“I also learn dark magic though.”

“What!?”

“I said I learn dark magic, didn’t I?”

Yumidifus spoke as if it was strange.

Lee Han had definitely mentioned dark magic when talking about the magic he learned.

“Did you? Huh? Why does it feel like I didn’t hear that?”

“…So, anyway, you’re saying that summoning undead from dark magic and practicing with them helps a lot?”

Lee Han quickly changed the subject, feeling sorry for the dark mages for no reason.

Alsicle nodded.

“The more magic you cast and try to move them directly, the better. Can you summon undead by any chance?”

“Yes. I can summon skeleton warriors.”

“Good. Skeleton warriors. The more the better. Could you manage up to three?”

“Yes.”

“Oh! Could you do more? How many can you manage?”

“I can’t move them yet, but up to 15…”

“…???”

Alsicle was confused in many ways.

First, he was surprised that the summoned creatures couldn’t move, and he was also surprised that Lee Han could summon up to 15 skeleton warriors.

Even a decent summoning mage would have their soul shattered, mana depleted, or brain burned out…

“I’m learning a somewhat old-style dark magic.”

When Lee Han explained that he was learning old-style dark magic from evil dark mages, Alsicle became very interested.

“So it’s harder to control…”

“That would be even better for practice! You’re really lucky!”

“…”

Lee Han could see why Alsicle was Yumidifus’s disciple.

‘I’m the crazy one for having expectations.’

* * *

Quite surprisingly (Yumidifus, Professor Boladi, and Alsicle were all surprised), Lee Han failed to complete the 【Penguerin’s Frost Elemental Clone】 magic during the remaining time.

Of course, Lee Han wasn’t surprised.

In fact, only the three mages were surprised.

“Did I teach it wrong…?”

For the first time in his life, Alsicle began to have healthy doubts about his own abilities. Seeing this, Yumidifus was impressed.

‘I didn’t expect this much!’

“Sorry for teaching you wrong.”

“It’s fine.”

“Good that you understand.”

“…”

Lee Han glared at Professor Boladi once and spoke again.

“I won’t forget what you taught me. I’ll practice when I go back too.”

“I hope you complete it quickly. I’ll prepare the next magic too. It’ll be a bit harder, but you’ll be fine.”

“…Yes.”

Lee Han considered practicing frost elemental magic a bit later.

“Oh right. Can I call you this fall?”

“Fall is during Einroguard’s semester. Alsicle.”

“Uh… when does the semester end?”

Alsicle counted on his fingers in response to Yumidifus’s answer.

If he stayed in school until the end of this year…

“I can’t come out?!”

“Did you think a 1st year student could leave school whenever they wanted?”

Lee Han flinched at Yumidifus’s dismissive words.

‘How did he know?’

“Can’t I visit instead?”

“For an outsider to visit, you’d need permission from Duke Gonadaltes. It won’t be easy.”

“Come on… An archmage like Lord Gonadaltes wouldn’t be petty about such things. He’ll generously give permission.”

“?”

“?”

Lee Han and Yumidifus were puzzled at the same time.

“Well…”

“Well… try your best. Maybe it’ll work if you ask nicely.”

“Yes. I’ll be waiting for your visit.”

At Lee Han’s words, Alsicle smiled brightly.

“Right! I’ll visit in the fall!”

“Yes.”

Getting into the carriage and leaving the tower, Lee Han looked back. The sight of Alsicle waving stayed deeply in his eyes for some reason.

“…He won’t get dragged to the punishment room after meeting the principal, will he?”

“He’ll probably be fine. …Probably.”

* * *

Diret walked toward the Wardanaz family manor with his friends.

“Senior. I heard a strange rumor… They said professors fought in the streets trying to take the Wardanaz family’s 1st year during vacation. Could that possibly be true?”

“Does that make sense?”

“Say something that makes sense.”

Diret’s underclassmen who studied dark magic scolded their friend.

“But why would someone from the Wardanaz family bloodline want to learn dark magic?”

“Are you ashamed of dark magic?”

“A little…?”

“…Actually, me too…”

“Everyone be quiet.”

Diret made his underclassmen quiet down.

Unlike other schools with many disciples, Einroguard’s dark magic school was so small that seniors and juniors all knew each other’s faces and names.

That wasn’t a bad thing.

Dark mages already had a hard time making a living. It would be even harder if they didn’t stick together.

So Diret would gather his underclassmen when time allowed, introducing them to each other and having conversations.

“I’m worried that the Wardanaz family junior might take dark magic lightly. From what I heard, he’s a genius learning many other magics too, so he might be using dark magic just to add another line to his reputation.”

“I told you he’s not that kind of person.”

The underclassman who had been grumbling at Diret’s warning shut his mouth.

However, his dissatisfaction didn’t disappear.

‘Hmph. How would he know if he’s looking down on dark magic…’

“!!!”

The dark mages who arrived at the Wardanaz family manor were shocked.

Skeleton warriors stood in the front courtyard of the manor, holding bone swords with frost swirling around them.

“…See. What did I tell you.”

“He’s really serious about dark magic.”

“First time I’ve seen someone summon undead in a manor of that caliber.”

“Is he crazy? What about cleaning…”

The underclassmen quickly acknowledged that the Wardanaz family’s new student was serious.

However, they couldn’t be sure if the new student was sane.

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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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