Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 399

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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 399

However, the excited Priest Siana couldn’t hear and ran off.

Not long after, priests began rushing out of Phoenix Tower in a fluster.

“Is it really true?!?!”

“Ah… What a shame! If only I had drawn the lots properly, you surely would have awakened our order’s divine magic!”

“Damn it!”

Lee Han was dumbfounded by the priests who no longer hid their true intentions.

Was it okay to treat divine magic like that?

“Divine magic like that…”

“To me! Please give me a chance this time! If we try today, it might work!”

Nigisol and Siina shook their heads and answered the priest’s words.

“Divine magic puts quite a strain on the body, and you’ve already cast it twice today.”

“That’s right. Do it next time.”

“…They’re saying they succeeded!!”

“Ah, no… we’re doing it in order…”

“Didn’t you steal away the true glory that Wardanaz could have received!”

“What are you saying!”

The Phoenix Tower priests began arguing, raising their voices at each other.

Of course, compared to Blue Dragon Tower or White Tiger Tower, it was a much more gentle and polite argument, but the fact that priests were arguing to that extent was quite shocking in itself.

The Skeleton Principal, who was floating over from afar, thought the same.

No way…! How on earth!!!

The Skeleton Principal, who had flown over without much thought and witnessed this unbelievably entertaining scene, was completely captivated.

How exactly did you do it?

“…”

Lee Han cursed inwardly that if the Skeleton Principal wasn’t an archmage, he would have launched an attack right away.

Traditionally, the sheep of Phoenix Tower never fought with each other no matter what they did! Wardanaz. I’m truly proud of you!

Though he received heartfelt praise from the Skeleton Principal, he wasn’t happy at all.

Lee Han sighed and said.

“Why did you come?”

Ogonin is waiting for you. Since you came several weeks late, it’s understandable that he’d be waiting.

“Ah.”

Illusion Mage Ogonin was teaching Lee Han illusion magic from a distance.

Since he had come several weeks late after the second semester started, he must have been waiting quite a while.

“I’ll go now.”

Let’s watch the fighting a little more before going. When will I see this again?

“…Can’t you just stop them?”

Lee Han said, unable to bear it anymore.

However, the Skeleton Principal answered seriously.

Fighting like that is also good for those priests.

“Pardon?”

The Empire’s priests, even if from different orders, grow up being forced into similar vices. Devotion, sacrifice, patience…

“Those aren’t vices but virtues…”

Priests forced into such vices have their thinking patterns and values rigidly hardened, making it difficult to think freely. I’ve always wanted priests to break out of that shell and think beyond their world.

“…”

Lee Han was honestly impressed by the Skeleton Principal’s words.

Certainly, the Empire’s priests had all grown up living in temples from childhood, knowing only the world of their orders.

No matter how good their faith was, growing up that way would inevitably rigidify their thinking.

Why should they fight? To learn how to reconcile with each other. Not fighting sounds good at first, but it means suppressing what they want without revealing it to each other. If they can’t even reveal what they want, how can they discuss faith? To continue living as priests, they must learn to express their will and clash with others.

“Principal…”

Lee Han called the Skeleton Principal with a slightly emotional voice.

For the first time, he was truly moved…

Yes! Grab him by the collar! That’s right! Grab his collar! Ah really, they’ve never fought so they just keep trembling their hands! Grab the collar! Grab it!

“…”

‘I was moved for nothing.’

Lee Han immediately regretted it.

* * *

-I’m sorry. I’ve been busy with many things…

-Ah, not at all. You’re learning fast enough right now.

Ogonin was indeed kind.

When Lee Han said he couldn’t practice illusion magic much because he had many things to do, he kindly answered that it was understandable.

-I’ll work harder.

-…Just learning the mist magic is already amazing enough!? You just need to refine what you’ve learned! Don’t push yourself unnecessarily!!

Lee Han felt sorry for Ogonin’s kind words.

If other professors worked hard by grabbing collars and launching attacks when students couldn’t learn, while he slacked off just because Ogonin taught kindly, that wouldn’t be right.

What wrong had the good-natured Ogonin done?

‘I should work harder.’

It’s finished. Good work.

When the lecture ended, the morning star was already rising. Before he knew it, a week had ended and Saturday had already arrived.

‘This is trouble. I haven’t finished preparing for alchemy yet.’

“Thank you.”

What thanks? Ogonin was the one who taught. By the way, a lot of the smell has left your soul.

The Skeleton Principal, being undead himself, described the aura of undead as if it were a foul odor.

It’s not easy for it to fade this quickly… Did you do group prayers with the priests every day?

“Something like that. I practiced divine magic.”

What? Such a waste?

“…It’s not systematic and lacks some theory, but it’s not exactly wasteful, is it?”

Divine magic certainly had its uses.

The power to overcome through faith what would require much more complex and difficult paths to implement with magic.

Of course, to an archmage like the Skeleton Principal, it was unimpressive.

That’s what waste is… Wait. Don’t tell me what the priests were fighting about earlier was?

The Skeleton Principal was shocked.

He had been curious about what he had done to make the priests fight, but if that Wardanaz had awakened divine magic, it made sense.

It was bait on a completely different level from simple donations or visits.

You awakened it? So?

“Yes.”

That’s impossible! Were you that stupid?! No, if you were that stupid, you couldn’t have learned all those magics until now?

“…Isn’t it too harsh to say that about awakening twice? I guess I was lucky.”

If you could awaken divine magic through luck, why would priests undergo such hardships? You need extreme fanaticism to even have the slightest possibility. Huh? Twice?

The Skeleton Principal, who was speaking, felt something odd about Lee Han’s number.

“But Principal, I have something I’m curious about.”

Isn’t this not the time for other stories? Twice?

“I did it once, so I could do it twice. What’s so important about that…”

What are you saying when you don’t even have faith?

The Skeleton Principal was truly surprised.

To awaken two divine magics.

He could understand why the priests were going crazy with enthusiasm. From their perspective, that Wardanaz’s faith would seem like the real deal among real deals.

Well, just looking at his outward actions, there was no one more devout and sincere than him…

Even thinking about it again, it’s unbelievable… Divine magic. And from someone of the Wardanaz family at that.

The various orders were already showing great favor toward Lee Han from the Wardanaz family, who regularly visited temples and showed interest.

Among the Empire’s renowned great families, there was none as indifferent to faith as the Wardanaz family.

And yet he awakened to two of them.

If this became known, it wouldn’t just be the priests of Phoenix Tower going crazy with enthusiasm, but priests outside would likely go crazy with enthusiasm too.

If only Lee Han had been devout in his faith, he could think ‘Yes, your deep belief and stupidity must have summoned multiple divine magics,’ but no matter how he thought about it, the Skeleton Principal saw Lee Han as far from such things.

It was truly a mysterious thing.

The evil energy from the Undead Realm will dissipate quickly. So what were you trying to ask me earlier?

“Do you know about spatial magic?”

I do. I can even use it. But no matter how outstanding you are, learning it now is impossible. Physically impossible. Even Professor Garcia would say the same thing.

“…I wasn’t saying I wanted to learn it.”

Lee Han was dumbfounded.

Why did the conversation flow that way?

Wasn’t that it? I thought you wanted to learn it.

“Just because I ask about magic doesn’t mean I want to learn it all.”

Is there any other reason to ask besides that?

“Yes. There is. More importantly, why did you mention Professor Garcia?”

Because spatial magic is Professor Garcia’s main field of research. So if you don’t want to learn it, why did you ask?

“While I was wandering around the school, I got beaten up and chased away by some enemy using spatial teleportation magic…”

The Skeleton Principal laughed.

The Skeleton Principal laughed loudly.

The Skeleton Principal laughed until the principal’s office shook, windows shattered, and finally his laughter filled and shook the main building itself.

Only after laughing for a time long enough for a new world to be created could the Skeleton Principal speak with a delighted voice.

Oh my! How unfortunate!

“…Yes. Well. Anyway.”

Lee Han wasn’t shaken by the Skeleton Principal’s mockery. He hadn’t expected anything from the other person to begin with.

“Is there a way to deal with such a guy?”

There is.

“What is it?”

Go to Professor Bagrek and ask for help.

“…”

Lee Han looked seriously at the Skeleton Principal and glared at him.

At the murderous gaze, the Skeleton Principal explained as if frustrated.

This time I’m not teasing you.

“Then the previous thing was teasing…?”

Listen carefully. If you got beaten up that badly, it was probably someone who cast quickly without giving you time to react, right? Using Einroguard’s mana, that level of casting speed is entirely possible.

The Skeleton Principal evaluated Lee Han’s combat ability quite highly.

That crazy vamp… no, thanks to enduring Professor Voladi Bagrec’s teachings and having innate mana, when it came to combat ability alone, he had quite a few advantages over other outstanding mages.

Combat wasn’t decided by who could use more complex and difficult magic. It was decided by who could stab a dagger into the opponent’s heart faster.

Since Wardanaz was a guy specialized in the latter, both in constitution and learned teachings, he would be difficult to subdue with ordinary spatial magic.

Whoever the opponent was, they were definitely someone who had overcome slow and complex casting.

“Yes.”

With the magic you currently have, responding to such a strategy won’t be easy.

Originally, mages became stronger when given time to prepare, but this was an exception.

The power of spatial magic that had overcome its weaknesses was tricky enough that even a mage like Lee Han, who had learned magic from various schools, would find it difficult to counter.

No matter what strategy you prepare, it won’t be easy.

However, there are always gaps. Even if magic seems flawless, mages always have gaps.

No matter how flawless the magic, the mage always had gaps.

The flow of mana shown before using spatial magic. The habitual positioning chosen when casting spatial magic…

If you thoroughly analyzed and prepared for such things, you could block at least one attack.

Moreover, since Lee Han had aptitude for all kinds of magic, even such a brute force method had considerable potential.

You have aptitude for divination magic too, so that works out well. You’re lucky.

“I understand, but… why does that mean I should ask Professor Bagrek for help?”

Well, to become familiar enough with spatial magic to catch such things, you need someone to keep attacking you, and there aren’t many such people. Professor Garcia is too soft-hearted to do such things.

Get continuously beaten by Professor Boladi while learning to somewhat sense the precursors of spatial magic and read patterns, then go back underground to identify the statue’s weaknesses (probably with a high chance of getting beaten again in this process too).

Lee Han was impressed by this wise advice.

And he made a decision.

‘I definitely shouldn’t go to the basement.’

If you’re embarrassed, shall I tell him for you?

“Haha. It’s fine.”

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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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