Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 445

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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 445

Gainando, who still hadn’t grasped the situation, asked in confusion.

“Didn’t you say fishing was also possible?”

“…Would that work?”

The students weren’t fools.

In this weather, in this situation, Einroguard wasn’t lenient enough to allow them to bring back the necessary aquatic creatures through fishing.

And in fact, even in normal weather, most aquatic creatures were difficult to catch by fishing. If you carelessly cast a line, the monsters would drag the fisherman in.

“If we catch one fish…”

Fish aren’t around in this… weather.

The Tanzhuer resting behind them replied as if it were absurd.

It usually didn’t want to get involved in the mages’ conversations, but Gainando’s words were too ridiculous.

“Go into the water in this weather? Really?”

“I told you. Never trust the professors.”

“Even so, still…”

“Can’t we just insist we caught that Tanzhuer?”

The Tanzhuer shot water at the student who had just spoken.

Splash!

The student who got hit by the water fell straight into the sea. The students fell silent.

“Sigh…”

“What can we do. Let’s prepare.”

After being at Einroguard for a long time, instead of going through the stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance over several days, they could quickly get through them in 30 seconds.

The students who accepted it instantly sighed deeply and became lost in thought about how to enter the water.

“Underwater breathing and… what else do we need?”

“We need light to brighten our vision. Even if waterproofing is too much, we’ll need something that generates heat so we don’t freeze to death.”

“I’m glad I learned the 【Latent Heat Bestowal】 magic.”

The students who had successfully learned 【Latent Heat Bestowal】 magic proudly raised their staffs.

Lee Han became dejected. Yoner, who was listening nearby, hurriedly consoled him.

“…L, Lee Han. You’re good at other things.”

“Wouldn’t it be a bit better since it’s raining?”

Lee Han waved his staff with an incantation just in case. Then flames shot up from his cloak.

“Fire!!!”

“Wardanaz! Put it in the water!!”

He quickly put the cloak in the water, but the fire didn’t go out easily. The students were shocked by the flames that burned even underwater.

“…”

“…”

Hiss-

Lee Han pulled out the cloak with a bitter expression. The friends around him spoke urgently.

“I, I’ll cast latent heat bestowal for you. That’s honestly not even that important of a magic.”

“You can cast other things! We can help each other!”

The tower students from various towers, who usually savagely mocked other tower friends when they made magic mistakes, were united this time and quickly stopped him.

* * *

“Damn!! Me again?!”

“Sorry. Go in and come back quickly.”

“Ugh…”

The student who lost the lottery tied a rope around his body and jumped in with a splash.

‘These first years are quick-witted.’

Professor Lightningstep looked around at the students with a satisfied expression.

Originally, since this was an individual exam, the students could move separately without any problem.

However, now the students were gathering in small groups and cooperating without anyone telling them to.

These were students who already knew wisdom more precious than difficult magic incantations.

“You bastard… you bastard! Are you rigging the lottery?!”

“D, don’t talk nonsense! What do you mean rigging the lottery!”

“Wardanaz! Come here! Judge this! This bastard rigged the lottery!”

“Why are you calling Wardanaz! Wardanaz! Don’t come!”

Of course, there were disputes in some places, but where people gather, there are always disputes.

Even this much was sufficiently remarkable.

Splash, splash, splash!

Students dove and came up in various places. Thanks to the light orbs Lee Han had floated, the area above the dock was as bright as broad daylight.

‘…Let’s overlook that.’

Having an excellent first-year friend was also an ability of the students. Professor Lightningstep decided to let that slide.

“What do you see?”

“I don’t see anything? I think we need to go deeper.”

The students who came up exchanged information with puzzled faces.

By now, something should have appeared, but perhaps because the sea was turbulent, they couldn’t see a single living thing.

“It’s my turn.”

Lee Han prepared to enter while reciting the underwater breathing incantation.

【Gonadaltes’s Dark Vision】 and 【Gonadaltes’s Nimble Steps】 too.

And 【Spatial Awareness】 and 【Truth Light Bestowal】…

‘How many is he casting?’

Professor Lightningstep was dumbfounded watching.

Anyone would think he was infiltrating a demon duke’s fortress instead of entering water!

“I’m going!”

“W, wait a moment.”

Gainando, who was in the same turn, hesitated and shouted.

“Why?”

“I need to prepare mentally…”

Splash!

Lee Han kicked Gainando to push him in, then jumped in himself.

‘Going deep down.’

Even though he was firmly tied with rope, entering the water made him shake roughly. The aftermath of the spirits’ rampage was affecting even underwater.

The students who came down together were also floundering as their limbs got tangled due to the unexpectedly fast current.

-Everyone stay calm.

Lee Han first called his friends together.

Since they had to go deeper, they needed to adapt here before going down.

-The current is faster than expected, but we can overcome it with magic. We learned water elemental magic in the first semester. Anyone confident in water elemental magic here, raise your hand.

Three of his friends raised their hands. Lee Han nodded.

-Control the water element. Like this… Move!

Lee Han cleverly applied the magic.

Originally, it was magic that moved water to create shapes or relocate it, but underwater, it became a fairly decent means of obtaining propulsion.

Swoosh-

As the current split and Lee Han was pushed forward, his friends nodded.

They understood the principle.

-I understand. Wardanaz.

-I’ll try. Move!

-…

-…???

The students were confused by the complete lack of change.

-Move! Move! I said move?? …Ugh!

The complexion of one friend who was chanting a spell suddenly turned pale.

‘Acute mana depletion!’

Lee Han quickly grabbed his friend and swam up. When Lee Han emerged from the water, the waiting students asked.

“What happened?!”

“Help this guy rest!”

“???”

Lee Han didn’t even answer and threw the collapsed friend onto the dock. Then he went back down.

-Let’s try once more…

-Huff…

‘Damn it.’

When another friend collapsed, Lee Han grabbed him and went back up.

“Take care of this one too!”

Splash!

“…”

“…Uh, what exactly is happening down there?”

As Lee Han went down with them and threw friends up one by one, the students waiting above gradually became frightened.

Did he get angry because of the 【Heat Bestowal】 from earlier?

“That’s why I told you not to show off magic!”

“I didn’t think showing magic in front of Wardanaz was showing off…! Would you think that was showing off if you were him! It’s in front of Wardanaz!”

“Isn’t he angry about manipulating the lots earlier?”

While they whispered above, Lee Han was assessing the situation.

‘Using magic underwater isn’t ordinary.’

A mage’s magic was a mental process requiring high concentration, even if it looked easy.

Just like untrained combat mages couldn’t cast spells when dropped into a murderous battlefield, sudden environmental changes interfered with a mage’s magic.

Cold, dark, and turbulent water like this would be enough to hinder mages.

‘…Wait. But I cast spells?’

Lee Han suddenly had that thought but decided not to voice it.

-It seems like casting spells underwater has a higher failure rate. Everyone be careful.

-But you’re casting fine… No, never mind. I think I asked something pointless. Wardanaz.

The friend who was about to ask something quickly accepted it.

After all, Wardanaz would probably be able to cast spells even if hung upside down over lava.

-I’ll push you instead, so let’s go back down.

Lee Han floated a light orb and slowly descended.

How far down did they go?

The dirt floor settled in the sea came into view. It was a familiar place he seemed to have seen several times.

‘…This is the racetrack we made…’

Though it was absurd, Lee Han tried not to lose focus.

He had to find something alive.

-Wardanaz. Here. Here.

One friend tapped Lee Han’s shoulder and pointed below.

Surprisingly, there were directional markings carved on the floor.

‘What? Did the professor carve these?’

-Let’s go. Follow me.

-Got it.

Lee Han slowly swam following the signposts carved on the floor. The path led to an underwater cave.

-…

No matter how he looked at it, it was a cave that looked very unwelcoming to enter.

‘The professor must have prepared this?’

He had wondered how they prepared it since releasing aquatic creatures into the sea would scatter them all over Einroguard, but to release them inside an underwater cave like this.

It was very much like Professor Lightningstep, though it made him sigh.

‘What other damn thing will be inside…’

-♪♬♩♩♩♬

‘?’

Lee Han hesitated.

A clear and pure singing voice began to be heard from afar.

‘…But this is underwater…?’

Gainando’s eyes beside him suddenly became cloudy and he began to make a blissfully enchanted expression.

Lee Han was shocked and slapped Gainando’s cheek.

* * *

“Professor!!!!”

A Black Turtle Tower student who had entered from another direction came running out in terror.

He was so shocked he couldn’t even think to wipe off the water.

“What is this!! That… that… what is that thing in front of the cave!!”

“Oh. You finally found it?”

Professor Lightningstep, who was sitting, answered with slight delight.

“You have to let us enter the cave!!”

“No matter how rough the sea is, the test can’t just be casually entering a cave and quickly grabbing something. Of course you have to overcome it.”

Professor Lightningstep spoke as if asking what nonsense he was talking.

In preparation for this test, Professor Lightningstep had released various hard-to-catch aquatic creatures in the underwater cave.

The more agile, better at hiding, and better at escaping the creature they caught, the higher the score.

Of course, they couldn’t just catch them that easily. Naturally, there were also beings that interfered with the students.

“I… I was lucky to enter from behind, but if I hadn’t…!”

The Black Turtle Tower student who had been excited thinking he found the underwater cave faster than others was still outraged.

A siren!

The friends who had tried to enter after finding the underwater cave were all enchanted and unable to come to their senses. Without the rope, they would have been captured.

“Wait. Calm down. You were caught off guard, but now that you know its identity, there should be a way to deal with it. If it’s a siren…”

Sirens, hybrids of mermaids and spirits, contained ancient magic in their voices.

Mages had considerable resistance to monsters’ special abilities since they handled mana…

But a siren’s song was powerful enough to break through that.

However, now that they knew its identity, there was always a way to attack.

“Let’s try entering with our ears blocked.”

“Th… that’s right! That should work.”

Professor Lightningstep grinned. The students who saw that smile suddenly felt ominous.

…Or not?

“A siren’s song can’t be blocked just by covering your ears. It enters through your whole body.”

Angrago, who was from the coastal area, said.

Everyone was surprised by the unbelievably intellectual appearance for a White Tiger Tower student.

“Th… then? Alpha. What should we do? How should we attack it?”

“Huh?”

Angrago was flustered.

“Uh… sailors do tie themselves to the ship’s rail…”

“…But we need to go inside.”

“Is conversation or persuasion impossible? What do sirens like?”

“I know they like screwing people over…”

Splash!

Meanwhile, the sound of someone coming up from behind was heard. Angrago and his friends unconsciously turned their heads.

Lee Han was coming up holding a siren.

“…”

“…”

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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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