Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 400

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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 400

Lee Han flatly refused.

“I think the Principal constantly giving such conveniences is also special treatment.”

…Are you drunk by any chance?

Ignoring the Skeleton Principal’s bewildered reproach, Lee Han asked another question.

“But Principal, do you happen to know much about the Paragranum Guild?”

‘Says he’s refusing special treatment…’

At Lee Han’s shameless question right after what he just said, the Skeleton Principal asked back in an incredulous voice.

I do know them well. But why should I tell you?

“Thanks to me, the Phoenix Tower priests aren’t fighting. Please answer as a reward.”

…What a piece of trash! I give up.

The Skeleton Principal was honestly impressed.

Such shamelessness.

What are you curious about?

“The Professor invited them, but I’m worried whether I can pass their test.”

They are picky ones.

The Skeleton Principal acknowledged it.

The alchemists of Paragranum Guild were notoriously stubborn, so their test standards would certainly be quite demanding.

It would be difficult to pass with just ordinary completion.

But as I said before, while magic may have no gaps, mages do have gaps.

“?”

You don’t understand. I’m saying to impress those alchemist bastards through other methods.

“…Uh, like pushing them into a lake and then rescuing them?”

The Skeleton Principal almost reflected on his educational policies for a moment.

‘No. That must be because of the other professors.’

Having quickly finished rationalizing, the Skeleton Principal answered.

Not such crazy methods… I mean gentle and moderate methods. Like how you impressed other students.

“…Uh, perhaps…”

Not White Tiger Tower, but Phoenix Tower!

“Ah.”

Before Lee Han could ask ‘Do you mean hit them with a wooden sword and then save their lives to impress them?’, the Skeleton Principal quickly spoke.

“But is it okay to do it that way? Shouldn’t I do it fair and square with alchemy…”

What nonsense are you spouting. How could a first-year beat Paragranum’s alchemists through fair and square methods? As long as you extract their secrets by any means necessary, that’s victory.

“…”

* * *

‘Did I bring them for nothing?’

Professor Thunderstep thought while dining with the alchemists.

Come to think of it, Paragranum wasn’t the only alchemist guild in the Empire.

Wouldn’t guilds without a history of occupying buildings in the capital and setting them on fire have been better?

“Ahem. They’re all outstanding students.”

“Yes. Einroguard’s students are certainly impressive.”

The Paragranum alchemists brought their forks to the ceviche dish with sauce, then frowned and pushed the bowl aside.

However, Professor Thunderstep was too absorbed in the evaluation of the students’ potions to notice this.

“I-Is that so?”

“Yes. No residue is visible, and the colors separate cleanly. It’s a well-made potion.”

“Then there might be students who will pass?”

“That’s not the case.”

“…”

‘Did I really bring them for nothing?’

Professor Thunderstep made a sour expression.

While he had sternly told the students ‘You must do well to satisfy these alchemists from the guild!’, as a professor, it was natural for him to favor the students’ side.

The students needed to achieve some results for him to save face as a professor and feel proud – if the students were completely wiped out, he couldn’t help but be upset.

But the Paragranum alchemists were stricter than expected.

“If they made it this well, you could acknowledge it…”

“That won’t do, Professor. Don’t you know our guild’s rules well? Only those who create new potions can enter.”

‘You crazy bastards, that’s your guild admission requirement…!’

Hearing that they were testing first-year students with actual guild admission conditions made his head spin.

“Then what about this potion? Wasn’t it improved quite well?”

“It’s an excellent potion, but replacing silver grass with water drop flowers is too… ordinary. It lacks brilliance.”

“…”

Knock knock knock-

“Professor?”

“Come in.”

When a student attending alchemy class knocked on the door, Professor Thunderstep hurriedly put away the potions and answered.

“I’ve prepared the potion as you instructed… Oh, were you dining?”

“No. Since you brought it, let me see it.”

Professor Thunderstep received the potion the student offered.

It seemed to be based on night mist potion with two ingredients changed, but unfortunately it was a bit obvious.

Replacing specific materials with similar components was something anyone could do.

Still, it was made quite well…

“It’s mediocre.”

“This would be difficult to pass.”

“It’s impossible.”

“…I’m sorry!! I’ll redo it!!”

“W-wait! Wait!”

As the student shouted and turned to run out, Professor Thunderstep tried to stop them somehow.

But the student was already far away.

“…Please tell me first from now on.”

“Yes. We’ll do that.”

What was most frustrating was that the Paragranum alchemists felt nothing strange about what had just happened.

Whether the student ran out or not, the alchemists only talked about alchemy among themselves.

“So using new materials there would be…”

“I think it would be better to rebuild from scratch.”

“It would be an inefficient method, so why bother…”

“Ahem. Ahem.”

“Oh. Are you trying to give advice?”

“…Not that, do you have any advice for the student who just came?”

The alchemists fell into thought for a moment.

Then they spoke in unison simultaneously.

“Please make it again?”

“…Never mind.”

After that, students who had made potions came one by one and were rejected.

When the visits suddenly stopped, Professor Thunderstep realized word had spread.

‘Ugh…’

He understood why students were too scared to come.

But if things continued this way, the students would suffer a major blow to their pride, and Professor Thunderstep’s own pride would…

Knock knock knock-

“Are you there?”

“!!!”

At Lee Han’s voice, Professor Thunderstep’s eyes widened greatly.

His most reliable card had arrived.

“Wardanaz!”

“…Yes? That’s right, but why…”

“Come in! Come in!”

Professor Thunderstep personally opened the door for him.

At this sudden welcome, Lee Han sent a very wary look.

Just as swallows flying low meant rain was coming, when professors acted kindly, bad things happened.

“Here’s the top student of alchemy class!”

“Oh.”

“Indeed.”

“How impressive.”

“…”

The alchemists of Paragranum Guild were very poor at pretending to be interested.

Lee Han thought to himself.

‘Even Gainando listening to exam content would show more interest than that.’

“…Never mind. Just take out the potions you brought.”

“Yes? I didn’t bring any.”

“What?”

Professor Thunderstep was flustered.

“Why didn’t you bring any?”

“I didn’t come to submit potions, but to help with your work, Professor.”

To be precise, it was closer to coming to assess Paragranum’s alchemists, but Lee Han said it that way out of consideration for the professor.

Professor Thunderstep was deeply moved.

When all was said and done, there was no other disciple like Lee Han.

What other disciple would actively think of their professor and come visit like this?

“You rascal…!”

“Were you having a meal?”

“Meal… I don’t even know if we ate anything. Those alchemists over there are draining people’s energy.”

“Then why did you invite them?”

“Don’t say such annoyingly accurate things.”

Lee Han, who entered the workshop through the door with Professor Thunderstep, looked around the table where the alchemists were sitting.

From what he could see, they had barely touched their food and had only talked about alchemy the whole time. It was a sight surprisingly often seen among professors, so Lee Han wasn’t surprised.

“Shall I prepare something?”

“No. Don’t do that.”

“It’s fine.”

“No. Really don’t do that. I don’t want to feed those guys anything more. If they’re hungry, they can ask for more food from the kitchen.”

“…”

Lee Han was amazed by Professor Thunderstep’s petty words.

Even so, to invite people and then act like that. It was something an ordinary person couldn’t do.

“But what’s that?”

Professor Thunderstep asked, looking at the luggage Lee Han was carrying.

“Ah. I made meatloaf without meat with my Black Turtle Tower friends. I was going to give some to my Blue Dragon Tower friends on the way…”

If meatloaf was a dish made by mixing meat and various ingredients to increase the volume and then baking it well into a lump, Einroguard-style meatloaf was a dish made by removing even the meat and baking with the remaining ingredients.

Outside, Blue Dragon Tower students would say ‘Is this cooking?’, but inside they would say ‘So this is cooking’ and devour it hungrily.

“If you really want to serve something, you can serve that.”

“Yes? I don’t want to.”

“I’ll let you take as many ingredients as you want when you leave.”

“Please use it freely.”

Lee Han offered it without hesitation.

Professor Thunderstep was dumbfounded even after saying it himself and asked again.

“…Are you okay with the effort you put in together or the feelings that went into it?”

“Professor, do you think about such things one by one when making potions?”

“I don’t know whose disciple you are, but you learned very well.”

Professor Thunderstep grumbled as he took out the meatless meatloaf, cut it, and offered it.

“Everyone seems to have eaten too little, so please have some of this while talking.”

“Thank you.”

‘They’re not going to curse, are they?’

Lee Han was slightly worried inside.

People who had been eating delicious food outside might react with ‘Is Einroguard looking down on us?’ when eating this.

“!”

As Lee Han worried, the alchemists showed surprised reactions. Lee Han whispered in a low voice.

“Why did you serve something like this?”

“Very interesting.”

“…?”

“????”

Lee Han and Professor Thunderstep looked at each other at the unexpected reaction.

The alchemists continued speaking with interest.

“To deliberately add ingredients that aren’t usually used. What a novel attempt.”

“Much more interesting than the earlier dish.”

“…??”

Lee Han slightly tasted the remaining ceviche dish.

Professor Thunderstep was an excellent alchemist, which meant he was also an excellent brewer and chef.

The ceviche made with generous ingredients through a perfect process was fresh and refreshing. It couldn’t even be compared to the fake meatloaf.

“…?????”

‘Are their taste buds broken?’

“Is there a reason you chose these ingredients?”

“Uh… Yes. Well, as an alchemist, one should always make fresh attempts even when cooking… Professor taught me that.”

Paragranum’s alchemists let out low exclamations as they looked at Professor Thunderstep and Lee Han.

And Professor Thunderstep also looked at Lee Han as if dumbfounded.

“But does that really taste good?”

“Food isn’t eaten for taste, but to consume nutrition.”

“We don’t enjoy the taste, but enjoy the new attempts contained within.”

‘I cooked for such people.’

Professor Thunderstep lamented.

He regretted not just pouring beer into boots and bringing it as a new dish.

“If it’s not rude, may we ask the student’s family name and given name?”

“I’m Lee Han of the Wardanaz family.”

“Lee Han!”

The alchemists showed signs of surprise.

Lee Han thought they were surprised to hear the Wardanaz family name.

‘Do they have a relationship with the Wardanaz family?’

“We heard much praise from Yoanen Meikin. Didn’t you work at a workshop about two months ago?”

“…I did, but…”

“How surprising to meet like this. After hearing what Yoanen Meikin said, we wanted to meet you once.”

“…What exactly did he say?”

‘Honestly, I’m curious too.’

Professor Thunderstep thought that while listening from the side.

Just how many things did this guy do during the break?

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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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