Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 359

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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 359

Dark mages didn’t stay near cemeteries because they liked cemeteries.

Of course, some peculiar dark mages did like cemeteries, but few mages would choose cold and gloomy cemeteries over warm and comfortable fireplaces.

Dark mages stayed near cemeteries because it was advantageous for dark magic.

By becoming familiar with the aura of death, they could become more intimate with undead summons, gain additional mana for various dark magic spells, and most importantly, conduct magical experiments without worrying about others’ opinions…

…Actually, the last reason was quite important.

Most people didn’t want dark mages conducting research next door.

Even the dark mages themselves didn’t want to research in their own manor courtyards.

When all sorts of poisons were sprinkled on flowers and undead trampled across the grass, even the most beautiful courtyard would inevitably turn into a cemetery.

Especially if it was the manor of a prestigious and historically deep noble family…

“Ah. Senior, you’ve arrived?”

Lee Han, who was controlling undead in the garden in front of the manor, was delighted to see Diret.

The undead bowed their heads with slow and awkward movements. Seeing this, Diret was startled.

‘He’s improved this much in such a short time?!’

He knew that Lee Han was having difficulties with undead control.

In a way, it was natural.

A mere 1st year student was trying to control undead using classical dark magic style.

Rather, the fact that he had made them move like this was remarkable in itself.

“How did you make them move?”

“Ah. I still have a long way to go. Originally, they should move more elegantly…”

The original elegant standard was to precisely weave dozens or hundreds of commands into one.

For a living being, walking was as easy as breathing, but making a skeleton warrior with no will walk required dozens or hundreds of detailed instructions like ‘put strength into the foot bones,’ ‘put strength into the shin bones,’ ‘transfer it to the thigh bones,’ and so on.

Of course, it was impossible to do all this individually, so a mage had to be able to weave these dozens or hundreds of commands into one and give the command ‘walk.’

All those complex mana flows and understanding were absolutely not something a 1st year student could obtain through trial and error. Extensive experience was essential.

So Lee Han employed a shortcut.

“I just poured in more mana.”

“…!”

Instead of giving detailed instructions one by one, he poured the command ‘walk’ with tremendously strong mana.

Of course, the effect was disastrous.

The undead were incredibly slow after all.

If he had given detailed instructions one by one, they would have been much faster.

But the important thing was that they moved.

Once he made them move, it was possible to adapt sensually through repetition. Besides, didn’t this junior have mana to spare even after such ridiculous waste?

It might be a much faster path than overworking his brain calculating each command.

“That’s actually a very good method?”

“Senior…”

Lee Han looked at Diret with a slightly hurt expression. Diret was flustered.

“Why?”

“I’m not stupid, so how could I not understand insincere words? You don’t need to force yourself to praise me like that.”

“No… Hey!”

Diret felt very wronged.

It was a crude method, but he had praised it because the results were good, yet this junior!

“I’m telling you it’s not like that!”

“Yes. If senior says so, then it must be so.”

At his junior’s words that made him into a ‘bad senior who oppresses juniors with authority,’ Diret flapped his wings in frustration.

Meanwhile, Lee Han took the luggage Diret had brought.

“I’ll carry it for you. What is this?”

“Ah. That’s a visiting gift…”

Lee Han glanced inside the box. It was full of unidentifiable bones.

When he felt for mana, he could sense strong yin mana emanating from them.

“Thank you so much, senior. I never expected to receive such a gift…”

“Really?”

Diret looked slightly embarrassed. It was a gift he had chosen thoughtfully, but he hadn’t expected his junior to be this pleased.

“Please sit here. I’ll prepare something to drink.”

“Ah, I’ll also…”

“You came as a guest, so that wouldn’t be right. But the others…”

“These guys are also juniors who take dark magic classes.”

“I see!”

Lee Han’s eyes flashed for a moment.

Seniors from the same school of magic.

…Come to think of it, Lee Han had no choice but to meet seniors from all schools of magic, but anyway, it never hurt to make a good impression on seniors from the same school.

“Please all sit down. I’ll bring drinks shortly.”

“Y-yes.”

“A-ahem. Well… not bad.”

The dark magic school students did their best to show that they were ‘very accustomed to this kind of treatment.’

Of course, they all looked awkward, which made Lee Han think something else.

‘Are they not feeling well?’

When Lee Han politely bowed and disappeared, the dark magic school students who had been sitting in awkwardly arrogant poses immediately relaxed and whispered.

“What’s this?? Did he curse you?”

“Didn’t you threaten him?”

“…”

Diret regretted bringing these bastards along.

“You call that talking…”

“It’s already strange that a Blue Dragon Tower student, especially one from the Wardanaz family, is learning dark magic! Why is he being so polite?!”

“It’s creepy that a Blue Dragon Tower student is acting like this???”

“Isn’t he not from Blue Dragon Tower?”

The dark magic school students murmured among themselves.

Basically, Blue Dragon Tower students didn’t learn dark magic.

Why would those who had many external concerns like honor, reputation, and family learn dark magic?

Even if there was a truly unusual Blue Dragon Tower student, the problem still remained.

Why on earth was he being so polite?

‘Certainly.’

Diret could understand his juniors’ bewilderment.

Basically, magic school students didn’t show such courtesy unless they were seniors from their own tower.

Inside the magic school, they wouldn’t be openly rude since they could get beaten up, but outside they often ignored others with an attitude of ‘do I know you?’

Blue Dragon Tower students were especially like this.

Inside, they bowed their heads in fear, but why would they do that outside?

Blue Dragon Tower students rarely had occasion to meet others anyway, and even when they did, they just ignored them and went about their business.

And that was even more annoying.

It would be better if they growled and snapped like White Tiger Tower…

“We met in the punishment room. We became close when he brought me food there.”

“You, senior?”

“Uh… no… he was the one who brought food though.”

“…”

“…????”

The juniors looked at Diret with eyes mixed with shock, suspicion, and bewilderment.

How did he manage to make a Blue Dragon Tower student from a noble family serve him in the punishment room?

No matter how much they tried to believe him, only one thing came to mind.

‘It’s a curse. Definitely 100% a curse.’

‘No. Poison. Poison would be cleaner and less detectable than a curse. On the condition of giving antidotes weekly…’

‘Shouldn’t we stop Senior Diret? If another article appears in the Empire newspaper…’

“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but it’s all a misunderstanding. You bad bastards.”

* * *

When Lee Han personally brought a teapot and glass bottles filled with juice so cold that dew formed on them to serve, the dark magic school students looked at Lee Han with pitying eyes.

“?”

“Junior… please explain. These bas… these guys think I’m threatening you right now.”

“That’s ridiculous… I’m not being threatened.”

Despite Lee Han’s words, the dark magic school students nodded with pitying looks as if thinking ‘sure, of course.’

“…It seems like no matter what explanation I give, it won’t mean anything?”

“I must be crazy for bringing them. What’s so good about these guys… Did you call the other first years?”

“Yes. I called them.”

Having heard the purpose of today’s gathering, Lee Han had also called his other friends.

Come to think of it, the Prince was among them too.

‘…Senior will handle clearing up the misunderstanding himself.’

Lee Han decided to leave it to Diret to handle. Honestly, it was bothersome.

“Can I ask a few questions?”

“Yes.”

Lee Han could sense that not all the upperclassmen present were favorably disposed toward him.

It was natural.

In any world, if there were people who viewed newcomers favorably, there were also those who viewed them with hostility.

What kind of thoughts the newcomer had, how sincere they were, and so on.

Showing a proper attitude at this time would make things much easier going forward.

‘I’m ready.’

Lee Han also knew his own weakness.

The fact that he was attending magic classes from too many different schools.

…While this wasn’t intentional, it could still look somewhat unfavorable.

However, Lee Han was confident he could more than make up for this.

Honestly, where else would you find a first-year student working as hard at dark magic as Lee Han?

“I saw earlier that you had summoned skeletons. Is it okay to do that in the manor courtyard? Won’t the courtyard get dirty?”

“If it gets dirty, that would actually be better. It would help when practicing dark magic.”

“…I noticed earlier that you seem to summon undead in a slightly different way?”

“Yes. I’ve always had great interest in dark magic, and I had the ambition to directly research dark magic that isn’t commonly used nowadays to make new discoveries. Fortunately, Professor Mortum evaluated my ambition favorably and allowed me to practice like this.”

What the Skeleton Principal and Professor Mortum had forced was repackaged as something Lee Han had volunteered for himself.

The dark magic school students, unaware of this, could only look at Lee Han with admiring eyes.

Why on earth was such a talent in dark magic?

“Hmph.”

However, the upperclassman who had asked the question didn’t give in easily like the other students.

As if to show he was different from others, he shook his head a few times then threw out more persistent questions.

“Anyone can have ambition. What’s important is how you achieve it. I’m curious if you’re doing well with the basics. Do you know how to cast curses?”

“Yes.”

“Poison?”

“I can make acid poison.”

Diret interjected from the side.

“He can also handle dark elements.”

“…!”

At those words, the upperclassman showed a surprised expression then nodded heavily.

Though he didn’t say it aloud, it was a sign of surrender indicating he had no more questions.

“Sorry, junior. Ogoldos isn’t normally such a prickly guy.”

While the other students were drinking their beverages, Diret briefly took Lee Han aside to apologize separately.

“He’s quite serious about dark magic. So he dislikes it when new juniors just dabble briefly then disappear.”

“I understand. That’s understandable.”

Actually, in Lee Han’s eyes, an upperclassman like Ogoldos wasn’t particularly offensive.

The real madmen were on the professor side – no matter how much the upperclassmen tried, they couldn’t become true madmen.

“…Sometimes I really wonder if I’m actually threatening you by feeding you poison or something. For such a promising junior to be in dark magic…”

“But I’m attending all the other magic classes too.”

“I know that, so keep quiet about it.”

Diret explained a bit more about how often such gatherings were usually held and why they were held.

Dark magic students exchanged information among themselves and shared useful jobs or opportunities for vacation…

“Oh right. I heard a rumor that professors fought in the street trying to drag you away, but that’s fake, right?”

“No. It’s real. But where is Professor Mortum?”

“Professor Mortum? When we have gatherings, he’s usually in Granden City. …Wait. You said it’s real?”

“He’s in Granden City? Why is that?”

“He tells us not to feel burdened about calling him to gatherings if we need help with magical research. But we usually don’t talk much about magical research even at gathering venues. Hey, junior. But just now…”

“…Senior. Wait a moment.”

Lee Han felt something was off and stopped Diret’s words.

Professor Mortum wasn’t nearby, but strangely he felt like he could hear a voice.

A voice saying ‘Call me too!’

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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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