Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 412

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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 412

“What!? How with a golem?!”

“How on earth!”

At the golem summoning mages’ reaction, the dark mages wondered what they were talking about, then belatedly realized the situation.

They must have misunderstood seeing Einroguard’s student Wardanaz controlling the golem.

“Ah. That wasn’t something we did…”

“Quiet! Be quiet. We… we can figure this out.”

“No…”

The dark mages were flustered.

They were trying to explain, but the summoning mages refused out of pride and fell into contemplation among themselves.

“What? How can a golem endure such waste? The mana consumption must be extreme?”

“Aren’t they collecting and recovering the dispersed mana?”

“How efficient could that be! It would be hard to recover even a tenth of it. Could it be… could it be they’ve developed a magic circle method we don’t know about?”

“Dark magic… is there such a thing in dark magic? Some rare property that negative mana has…”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing! If there was such a thing, we would have known too!”

“Other methods? Other methods??”

“Don’t stare so directly. Isn’t it obvious! Glance at it casually.”

The summoning mages groaned and whispered.

Though they were sneakily glancing at the golem out of pride, they couldn’t figure it out at all.

There wasn’t some new magic circle they didn’t know about, nor new materials being used, and on the surface it was an ordinary golem…

How on earth were they operating it to maintain mana while repeating such delicate movements?

“Maybe they just put in a lot of mana?”

“…Even if we can’t find an answer, do you really want to make such ridiculous jokes?”

There were no mana stones or potions around the golem, so such a crude method couldn’t be the answer, could it?

“Hey.”

“Wait! Just wait a moment.”

“No… just let us explain…”

“Just wait!! Just wait a moment I said!! Hey!!”

“…”

The dark mages made displeased expressions.

The guys who usually fought every time they saw each other’s faces were acting like this, so there was no way they’d feel good about it.

They were trying to tell them…

“Ugh… urgh… urrgh.”

“Grr… grrr… grrrr.”

“Huk. Kuk.”

The summoning mages continued pondering.

Some summoning mages were so frustrated their eyes were even welling up with tears.

Not only had they been pushed back by the dark mages with golems, but they couldn’t even guess how.

When the summoning mages sent looks of defeat while trembling with humiliation, the waiting dark mages suddenly felt their hearts racing.

Huh?

“Actually, what happened was…”

“Shh. Wait a moment.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Let’s not bother telling them. Those guys said there was no need to explain.”

“…!”

Unaware that the dark mages were pulling a wicked trick, the summoning mages gritted their teeth and said.

“Not yet… it’s not over yet. I don’t know what method you used, but before this festival ends, we’ll definitely give you an answer. Wait!”

The summoning mages could no longer remain there and hurriedly turned around, enduring their humiliation.

The dark mages had no particular response, so they just laughed.

“…Kekeke! Kekekekeke!”

“Wahahahaha!”

“…Just you wait!!”

After the summoning mages left, the dark mages looked at each other with exhilarated faces.

How long had it been since they felt this refreshed!

“…Excuse me. Dark mages?”

“…”

When Lee Han, who had been watching what just happened from behind, called out, the dark mages finally realized their mistake.

* * *

“Why aren’t the golem guys preparing and just standing around like that?”

“Who knows? Did some problem arise?”

Summoning mages from other fields looked puzzled at the atmosphere of the golem summoning mages.

Among inanimate object summoning magic, mages who specialized in golems were loud and had tremendous pride.

It was natural since they were intuitively powerful summoned creatures and in high demand in the Empire.

But today their atmosphere was as if someone had died…?

“Are you okay? If you guys don’t prepare, we’ll go first?”

“…Do whatever you want…”

“!?”

Everyone was shocked when the guys who would normally jump up and down saying ‘How dare you covet someone else’s turn!’ gave way with pale faces.

“Can we really go first?”

“Yeah…”

“Are the guys who usually looked down on ego items really okay?”

“Yeah…”

“…No. Are these guys really okay?”

“I’m getting worried about this…”

Even the summoning mages who were going to just pass it by at first started murmuring.

They were starting to seriously worry about the golem summoning mages.

Even ordinary people who didn’t know magic weren’t easy to get out once they fell into the swamp of depression, but mages were especially more dangerous.

An exploded mage was several times more dangerous than an exploded ordinary person.

If they caused an accident…

“Look. I understand you’ve hit a wall. But nothing changes by being gloomy like that.”

“Right. Come here. At times like this, it’s better to not think about anything and watch other mages’ magic instead. Oh right. The Einroguard students are going to show summoning magic, so let’s watch that. It’s not often you get to see orthodox magic of the orthodox. They’re disciples of Lady Milay herself.”

“Summoning small things won’t matter…”

“…Can’t we just dump these bastards in a pit and leave?”

“Shh. Bear with it.”

The other summoning mages coaxed and soothed the golem summoning mages with fellow summoning mage friendship.

Eventually the golem summoning mages got up pretending to be defeated.

“Sigh… how on earth did they do it.”

“I don’t know what it is, but stop worrying about it! Let’s just watch the students’ magic.”

“Is that a paper bird?”

“Already at that age?!”

“You still can’t summon paper birds, can you?”

“I, it doesn’t suit my aptitude…”

The summoning mages sat in the audience seats, chattering about this and that.

Among the summoning mages participating in today’s festival, there were quite a few who could use higher circle magic than Einroguard’s students.

However, mages who had built up all the basics of summoning magic as solidly as Einroguard’s students before advancing were extremely rare.

Magic was a narrow and difficult path even for people with chosen talent.

When you could see what you could do right in front of you, there weren’t many mages who could endure and patiently build other foundations, and not many environments where that was possible either.

As such, to the mages participating in today’s festival, Einroguard’s first-year students didn’t look like subordinates at all.

They looked like the precursor to a massive wave that had begun surging from the distant vast ocean—still small for now, but once it gained momentum, it would easily engulf small boats.

“It begins. Paper birds!”

“Clean! To summon them all at once!”

Admiration and applause leaked out from among the summoning mages.

However, several summoning mages just watched without any change in expression.

These were among the most skilled mages participating in this festival.

Knowing Einroguard’s level, they weren’t impressed by just that much.

“Juniors, please…”

“Shh. Master will hear.”

The upperclassmen watched anxiously. They could feel Professor Milay pretending not to be while being tense.

“Stop right there!”

Whirl-

As the paper birds that had been flying straight stopped, the applause grew stronger. However, the upperclassmen sighed quietly.

The minor mistakes their juniors made caught their eyes.

“They should be able to stop immediately upon hearing the command, but they were a bit late.”

“The movements weren’t clean either…”

“There was waste when making the magic circle. Since mana leaked, the movements wavered like that.”

Sure enough, the skilled summoning mages remained expressionless.

The next paper birds that flew in let out voices.

Applause and cheers erupted, but still the expressionless faces of several summoning mages didn’t soften.

“They should have made them sing! They should have made them sing instead…”

“You couldn’t even succeed and you want the first-years to do that??”

“If they had just succeeded, everyone would have given a standing ovation!”

“Let’s just go threaten them to stand up now. Going to the punishment room would be better.”

While the upperclassmen chattered, one of the first-years belatedly launched a paper bird. It was the student who took the longest to prepare and launched last.

“…Oh, isn’t that Wardanaz? The one who was with the dark mages earlier.”

“Why was he with the dark mages?”

“Who knows…? Is there something in dark magic that helps with paper birds?”

The paper bird Lee Han sent was ordinary.

Like the other paper birds, it flew up into the air in circles and slowly swam through the sky.

Many summoning mages applauded but were puzzled.

‘Is he just late?’

‘I should clap so he won’t be embarrassed.’

Even the upperclassmen couldn’t immediately notice and were flustered.

“Is he late because he couldn’t prepare?”

“Did the dark mages hold him back? These dark mages…!”

“No. He’s originally the one who takes dark magic classes…”

Thud!

One of the summoning mages who had been expressionless stood up from his seat and looked toward Professor Milay.

Professor Milay nodded with a blunt motion. It meant he permitted what was about to be done.

Suddenly a spirit hawk appeared in the air. The spirit hawk that emerged flew fiercely and tried to tear apart the paper bird.

Lee Han controlled the bird while holding back curses.

‘Are you crazy?!’

To suddenly attack someone’s summoned creature while they’re demonstrating.

If it had been Professor Boladi, he would have immediately shouted ‘attack the main body’—such rudeness.

If not for the festival setting, the opponent mage would have had several broken bones.

Lee Han gritted his teeth and concentrated, furious at the opponent mage’s cowardice in attacking while many eyes were watching.

‘Evade, evade, evade…!’

Swoosh!

The paper bird showed impossible maneuvers and dodged the attack.

Once, twice, three times.

“…!!”

“That… that thing?!”

Then even the summoning mages who hadn’t noticed began to be amazed.

“What’s wrong? What’s happening?”

“Look at the movement! That movement!”

The movement of paper birds summoned after being recorded in magic circles beforehand was bound to have limits.

Even if they tried to evade, withstanding attacks from fierce and swift summoned creatures like spirit hawks was impossible.

But now the paper bird was dodging with surprisingly precise accuracy.

The mage was clearly controlling it by directly connecting consciousness.

Whoosh-

‘…Are you really crazy!?’

Lee Han was furious when some unknown mage sprayed vision-blocking fog.

Not content with attacking the paper bird, now spraying fog so he couldn’t control properly.

Vowing to settle this after it ended, regardless of punishment rooms, Lee Han concentrated on farsight.

If he couldn’t see with the mage’s vision, he’d just see with the bird’s vision.

‘Just hold on a little… got it!’

Fortunately the farsight magic worked properly. The paper bird once again dodged the spirit hawk’s attack.

Realizing there was no need to check further, the summoning mage sent the spirit hawk back to its original realm.

And with dignified movements, extended his hand.

“Congratulations. Master Milay. You have an excellent disciple.”

“I knew Einroguard’s students were outstanding, but I didn’t know they’d be to this extent.”

As the sitting summoning mages all stood up and offered congratulations, a subtle joy swirled in Professor Milay’s eyes. Seeing their master’s reaction, the upperclassmen also breathed sighs of relief.

“There are still many shortcomings. That magic was merely copying my magic. Soon he’ll need to create his own magic.”

“You needn’t be so hasty. A young mage with that level of skill will soon find his own path.”

‘Even though he’s our master, doesn’t he go too far sometimes?’

‘That’s what I’m saying.’

The upperclassmen clicked their tongues at their master saying his disciple was lacking even in this situation.

Even so, this was too much!

Bang!

“Just now, which mage cast the fog…”

“Ah. This is the mage who impressed us.”

“I was moved.”

Lee Han, who was about to vent his anger, quickly grasped the situation seeing the atmosphere between Professor Milay and the surrounding mages.

“…Thanks to your considerate casting, I was able to overcome the crisis.”

“What. I never go easy on anyone. Hahaha!”

‘…Didn’t that junior look angry just now? Was it my imagination?’

“This is impossible!!”

“!?”

Just when they thought the commotion was over, suddenly a loud shout came from behind.

The golem summoning mages were looking at Lee Han with shocked gazes.

“He wasn’t a dark mage?!”

“Then how did he control the golem… no… wait… paper bird… uh… both…?!”

“Look here. You all right now…”

The summoning mages beside Professor Milay frowned.

Confidence was good, but what kind of rudeness was this in someone else’s territory.

“No! Please wait a moment! He controlled a golem! A golem! I saw it clearly with my own two eyes!”

“He can control golems too! He really controlled them amazingly…”

The summoning mages who didn’t understand frowned and thought the golem summoning mages were talking nonsense.

What are you saying to a 1st year student who’s exhausted from controlling paper birds?

Lee Han, noticing this atmosphere, whispered to Professor Milay.

“I think it would be better if you mediated appropriately, Professor.”

“You’re right, Student Lee Han.”

Professor Milay adjusted her monocle and opened her mouth.

“Let’s also have you demonstrate golem control.”

“…”

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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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