Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 402

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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 402

“This will take some time.”

When the alchemists from the Paragranium Guild who had returned said this, Professor Thunderstep asked back as if wondering what they were talking about.

“What… are you trying to summon that would take so long?”

“According to our calculations after hearing what Yoanen Meikin said, we thought that even if we reduce the intimidating presence, lower-level spirits might just get crushed.”

“It’s not that bad. …Probably.”

Lee Han timidly objected.

He had never seen a spirit get crushed in front of him so far.

“Since it will take time, it would be better to check other things first.”

“Other things?”

“Please wait a moment.”

One of the alchemists stood up and went outside.

Lee Han and Professor Thunderstep looked at each other.

What are they doing?

“What is it?”

“Well…? I don’t really know either…”

After a few minutes passed, the alchemist returned with Professor Boladi.

“This person has agreed to help with the verification. Thank you once again.”

“It’s what I should do as a professor.”

“…”

“…”

Lee Han and Professor Thunderstep simultaneously lamented.

Of all the many professors in the school, why on earth!

* * *

When a mage cast magic, it always left traces.

The moment they wove their will with mana to change reality, mana was emitted around the mage.

This emitted mana remained to some extent even after the magic ended, and sharp mages could detect such traces.

And one of the goals the alchemists of Paragranium wanted to achieve with this potion was to hide such mana emissions.

“It would be useful in combat.”

Professor Boladi rarely showed faint satisfaction in his voice. Lee Han felt terror.

“Why on earth would you make such a potion?”

“There are rare animals and plants that are affected when they sense the lingering traces of magic. This potion will be of great help when dealing with such creatures.”

“Also when training disciples.”

Professor Boladi added from the side, but the alchemists didn’t understand.

‘This is maddening.’

Until now, there were roughly three ways Lee Han could detect when Professor Boladi was about to attack.

Mana emission, the killing intent he exuded, and visible movements.

But in the case of killing intent, Professor Boladi not only skillfully controlled it but even used it for deception, so Lee Han, who lacked experience, was at a disadvantage.

He had been managing somehow by sensing mana emissions and visible movements, but now one of those was disappearing.

Thwack!

When Professor Boladi, who had taken a sip of the potion, swung his staff, Lee Han barely managed to block it. It was fortunate he was concentrating, as it was several times more difficult than usual.

Professor Boladi seemed to feel this too, as he nodded and requested.

“I’d like to receive several bottles of this potion.”

“We’ll send them once they’re completed.”

“…”

Lee Han thought he should stock up on some too.

He never knew when he might have to fight with profess… no, other people.

What he realized from fighting Professor Boladi was that exploiting gaps in experienced combat mages was quite tricky.

‘Conventional ambushes actually don’t work.’

Conventionally, there was no way that casting invisibility magic and ambushing wouldn’t work.

However, the story was different with combat mages.

Since the method of casting invisibility magic and ambushing was so well-known, everyone had one or two countermeasures prepared.

To exploit a combat mage’s weakness, creative methods that could surpass the opponent’s thinking were needed.

【Paragranium’s Veil】 could be one such method.

If an opponent who was revealing themselves right in front suddenly ambushed without any warning signs, even an experienced combat mage would be flustered.

“The spirit is ready!”

“Finally?”

Lee Han grumbled while massaging his numb arm.

If it had been summoned just a little earlier, there would have been no need to call Professor Boladi.

“Now. This way…”

When they opened the door and went out, a cool breeze brushed past Lee Han’s face.

Looking at the sky, he could see the form of a bird-shaped spirit wavering. Anyone could tell it was a wind spirit.

“Oh. If we become friends, would a contract be possible?”

Lee Han asked with delight.

The spirit Lee Han could currently summon was Perkuntra, who was among the worst in terms of cost-effectiveness in Einroguard.

It was like a special move that couldn’t be summoned again for a while once called, so there were many cases where he couldn’t summon it when he actually needed it.

And even when summoned, it was questionable whether it could really be active.

But that wind spirit looked really useful.

If he had such a spirit right away, he could have asked it to search when the White Tiger Tower students disappeared last time…

Flutter!

As soon as Lee Han came out, the wind spirit suddenly flapped its wings frantically and returned to the spirit realm.

“…”

“…”

An awkward silence fell.

It was Professor Boladi who broke the silence.

“It couldn’t fool even the spirit’s eyes.”

“We’ll try to improve it a bit more!”

The alchemists spoke enthusiastically.

Such failures didn’t hurt the alchemists at all.

New discoveries required hundreds of failures.

Rather, minor trials like this just before completion were something to be grateful for. It allowed them to increase the completeness even more.

“…”

Of course, it was unavoidable that it hurt one student.

* * *

Even though it was the weekend, Lee Han studied outside instead of returning to the tower.

In the garden in front of the main building, many first-year students could be seen gathered in small groups, playing.

“Wardanaz. Don’t you need to stop by Phoenix Tower?”

“Don’t ask stupid questions. It’s obvious who Lee Han considers his real friends. Right?”

Gainando became triumphant and answered instead.

‘It’s because I feel sorry watching the priests fight.’

Right now, the Phoenix Tower priests were sitting in the common room like some kind of conclave, having conversations with the determination to see it through to the end.

-The next divine magic should be from our order…

-No! We must respect the person’s wishes most! Since he’s learning enchantment magic, our order should!

-Since he’s learning divination magic, shouldn’t it be our order?

-I heard he’s trying to raise a basilisk, so our order should…

Seeing that, even Lee Han couldn’t help but feel burdened.

If the two orders had just been lucky by chance and couldn’t awaken divine magic from then on…

The priests wouldn’t show it, but they would be very sad inside, wouldn’t they?

“I really don’t want to go back to the tower right now.”

“Right?! See!”

“But Gainando. Are you doing your assignments properly? Open your 【Advanced Geometry and Arithmetic】 book.”

“I… I didn’t bring it out.”

“Go get it.”

Gainando hung his head and walked toward the tower muttering. The Blue Dragon Tower friends hurriedly opened their books and lowered their gazes.

Of course, there were some who didn’t do that.

In the Imperial Princess’s case, whether Gainando walked away or not, she was just glaring at her open book as if trying to bore a hole through it.

“Why is she like that? Does she have overdue assignments?”

“Ah. It’s because of the alchemists from Paragranum.”

“We just got cut, but it seems the Imperial Princess got some specific points and had hers returned.”

Lee Han had already passed, but the other students hadn’t.

Most students had given up at the merciless evaluation, but a few among them had received specific feedback and were clinging on.

‘Wait. Those guys were like Professor Boladi – did they explain properly?’

In Lee Han’s view, the alchemists from Paragranum Guild were the alchemist version of Professor Boladi.

If those people became a bit more active and aggressive, wouldn’t they become Professor Boladi?

…It’s a good idea, but there are still many unresolved issues in the details. It would be good to supplement the method to completely conceal the aura. With the method written here, you cannot conceal the aura. If you could supplement a method to conceal the aura…

“…”

Lee Han was shocked when he saw the potion the Imperial Princess was researching.

Surprisingly, she was researching a potion similar to 【Paragranum’s Veil】!

Naturally, there were many gaps due to the difference in skill level, but completing it to that extent was already quite impressive.

Lee Han asked carefully.

“Did the alchemists not say anything strange by any chance?”

“??”

The Imperial Princess, who had been concentrating, didn’t notice Lee Han calling her at first, then realized belatedly and was flustered.

“What kind of… talk are you referring to?”

‘They didn’t say anything.’

Given the alchemists’ personalities, they wouldn’t have given advice like ‘Actually, we’re completing this right now, so why don’t you try this and that.’

But at the very least, couldn’t they have said something like ‘Right now, this has too many parts to fill and the difficulty is too high for a 1st year student to complete, how about trying a different potion?’

Even Professor Thunderstep would show that much consideration.

But they just said nothing and went ‘Oh, keep trying.’

‘They really are a less savage Professor Boladi.’

Lee Han felt sorry for the Imperial Princess continuing to suffer and casually said.

“Weren’t the alchemists a bit strange?”

“…?”

The Imperial Princess tilted her head.

Honestly, all mages were strange. Compared to the professors here, the alchemists weren’t particularly strange.

‘I asked the wrong question.’

Lee Han regretted it.

The other person was also an Einroguard student, so it wouldn’t have seemed particularly strange.

“Like the alchemists seemed to know too much about this potion…”

“They did answer right away…?”

The Imperial Princess stared blankly at Lee Han, not knowing what he was trying to say.

It seemed like he had something to say, but she couldn’t quite grasp it.

“Isn’t there something that reminds you of from that behavior?”

“…Ah. The Paragranum alchemists are skilled? So… they have a high probability of getting the knight order potion supply contract that the alchemy guilds in the capital are trying to secure… so the power structure of the capital’s alchemy guilds could be shaken in the future!”

The Imperial Princess looked at Lee Han with admiring eyes.

Lee Han had a lot to say but held back and answered.

“…That’s also correct, but just try adding water parsnip, golden pheasant flower, and albite here.”

Lee Han, tired of speaking indirectly, just told her the materials needed right now.

It was part of the 【Paragranum’s Veil】 recipe.

“!!!!”

The Imperial Princess looked at Lee Han several times more surprised than before.

To think of the recipe just from reading it once.

It was a flash of insight just like the Paragranum alchemists.

A realm of natural talent that she couldn’t even dare to follow with her own abilities!

“How on earth…”

“Friends! The professor is calling for people! Let’s go!”

When someone suddenly ran over and shouted, the Blue Dragon Tower friends threw down their books and jumped up.

The other tower students nearby also hurriedly gathered their things and started running.

Lee Han, who hadn’t grasped the situation yet, ran along and asked.

“What? What’s the situation?”

“We’re going to help the professor prepare for the lecture!”

“…Everyone voluntarily runs like this for that?”

“He gives us food!”

“Ah…”

Lee Han was impressed by the sight of the Blue Dragon Tower friends all running without exception.

If it had been the first semester, these guys would have been rolling around saying ‘Well, we have plenty of food anyway…’ but seeing them like this made him feel proud.

“Should I just stay in a different tower in the second year too?”

“?!?!?”

The Imperial Princess, who heard Lee Han’s muttering alone beside him, turned pale and waved her hands.

* * *

The one who called the students was Professor Lightningstep.

“Dig ditches and paths from here to here, and dig this part very deep. Whatever comes out, make sure it can’t escape from inside.”

“Yes! Professor!”

Seeing his friends smile brightly, Lee Han was shocked.

“Do you guys know what this preparation means… no, never mind.”

Lee Han decided to just keep it to himself.

What good would it do to know that something terrifying would appear in next week’s 【Advanced Mount Training】 lecture?

“Professor Milay will also use this place, so you need to dig well.”

“…”

Even the summoning magic lecture?

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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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