Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 455

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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 455

There are often idiots who think that everything will be solved if they just memorize spells well. I won’t say who specifically, but I’ll give you a hint – it’s one of the fourth-year Imperial Family members.

“Just say it’s Gainando.”

What’s more important than spells is knowledge. Think about a tower built by a mage who thinks that just piling up stones will make a building. It might maintain that form for a while thanks to mana, but how long will that mana last?

“Hmm.”

Lee Han thought about the magic he had used so far.

Unlike other mages, Lee Han often greatly extended duration with his overwhelming amount of mana.

‘How long could it last?’

…That was a rhetorical question. I didn’t tell you to calculate it, you ridiculous fool.

The Skeleton Principal looked at his disciple with an expression of disbelief.

The question he had just asked meant ‘Since magic is an act of twisting the world’s order with will, don’t become arrogant and try to understand and follow the order as much as possible,’ not ‘How long can you endure by ignoring order and relying only on mana?’

“Ah. I see.”

Sand, rocks, wood… The elements you’re handling now are basic ones, and going further, even when using the same earth, it’s divided into gravel, sand, or clay, and granite, limestone, or basalt…

The earth elemental magic and sand-rock transformation that Lee Han handled were basic magic in magical architecture, and going deeper required understanding the properties of various materials and comprehending load and stress.

How to understand the internal space, insert support beams, distribute the weight of the roof…

Lee Han, who had been nodding while listening, suddenly became curious and asked.

“But will there be an opportunity to apply what you just told me today?”

It was too specialized to be casual conversation.

Not today, right?

“?”

But you’ll learn it all anyway when you become a second-year student. Things like 【Basic Magical Architecture】 or 【Basic Magical Materials】…

“No.”

Lee Han stopped making the tree bloom and became serious.

* * *

Repairing the cracked parts of the stone house, replacing the blown-away supports of the dock with newly bloomed trees, diligently repairing other damages…

The Skeleton Principal handled the large-scale work while Lee Han dealt with the smaller tasks.

That’s done.

“…”

Lee Han wore a very complicated expression.

At this point, he was beginning to realize.

‘Damn. He really came out here for maintenance work.’

There were no evil schemes, suspicious tests, or hidden treasure vaults.

The Skeleton Principal chuckled at Lee Han’s expression.

Such an arrogant brat. There’s no need to make that face just because you failed a few spells.

Just the earth elemental magic and transformation magic that Lee Han learned today was sufficient achievement.

The Skeleton Principal knew well how much the other professors squeezed Lee Han.

Even without pushing further here, the other professors would torment him on their own.

‘I should write it in the common room.’

“Yes… thank you…”

You worked hard, so take some food with you.

The Skeleton Principal summoned food from the air with a single glance.

Round wooden barrels filled with beer and honey wine, and steaming hot feasts freshly made from the kitchen.

Lee Han smiled and nodded.

“Thank you.”

‘I absolutely must not eat this now.’

One of Einroguard’s rules was to never eat food given by the Skeleton Principal during exam periods.

The fact that the lavish feast was steaming hot was also very suspicious.

It was clearly intended to make hungry students eat it even though they knew better, because it would be too wasteful.

The Skeleton Principal clicked his tongue when he realized Lee Han wasn’t falling for it.

Don’t tell me you’re planning to monopolize it without sharing with the students?

“If there’s a wronged student, I’ll tell them to settle it with a duel.”

…

The Skeleton Principal cursed at Lee Han.

To oppress other students just because you’re good at magic.

‘What a wicked brat!’

Meanwhile, a Death Knight came running from afar.

-Master.

Yes. The work is finished, so we’ll head back soon. Are the professors preparing well?

-Yes.

During exam periods, it wasn’t just the students who suffered.

The professors also had unexpected hardships preparing exams.

The Skeleton Principal called certain professors with criminal records to the common room separately and ordered them to have their content inspected by the Skeleton Principal first.

Was there anything unusual?

-Professor Ingoldel is very disheartened. Perhaps if you gave him gold coins as a reward to console him?

How like an old-fashioned knight of bygone eras to say such stuffy things. Modern mages don’t get happy just because you give them gold coins.

‘?’

Lee Han thought it was nonsense, but the Skeleton Principal was confident.

So why is he disheartened? Tell him not to worry too much because the flood will end someday. Students won’t die just from getting their hands a little wet.

“…”

Lee Han had to hold back hard to avoid attacking the back of the Skeleton Principal’s head.

-That’s not it…

The Death Knight looked at Lee Han and pointed at him as if it was perfect timing, explaining what had happened.

When he explained about falling into a trance and climbing the ship to recreate that trance again, the Skeleton Principal absolutely burst out laughing.

Kahahahahahahaha!

-…

“…”

The Death Knight and Lee Han stared at the Skeleton Principal, but the Skeleton Principal didn’t care and laughed.

He laughed and laughed and laughed again.

And as if he would laugh until the world ended…

Ah. Sorry. It was too funny. No wonder you looked tired – you did such a thing. Professor Ingoldel is really a diligent person. If I had been there, I would have helped.

“What a shame.”

Be careful going back. If you want to try challenging again next time, let me know.

‘The opponent is the Principal. The opponent is the Principal.’

Lee Han endured while cursing Moradi and the Skeleton Principal.

He absolutely must not fall for that provocation.

‘Is it because I lack power? Because I lack power?’

* * *

“…”

Flip flip flip!

The faint sound of pages turning. An unfamiliar scene unfolding before his eyes.

The black book given by the Skeleton Principal was floating in the air with its pages revealed.

“No…”

Lee Han felt his head throb slightly.

Even though Lee Han had thought ‘I lack power’ before falling asleep, he didn’t expect it to come like this.

“Sorry, but I need to rest today.”

It wasn’t an exaggeration—he really needed to rest.

Right now, hadn’t he spent the entire day swimming on the sea and following the Skeleton Principal around doing Einroguard repair work?

With another test waiting tomorrow, rest was essential.

Flutter!

However, regardless of what Lee Han said, the black book paid no attention.

3rd Circle magic, 【Gonadaltes’s Surging Power】.

It was an enchantment magic, specifically belonging to the enhancement magic category.

Since it was magic cast on living beings rather than inanimate objects, the difficulty was higher, and above all…

‘I know concentrated types have severe failure risks and side effects.’

Enhancement magic required even more caution when casting than enchantment magic.

If enchantment magic failed, it only ended with artifacts or materials breaking, but if enhancement magic failed, limbs could be broken.

And among those, concentrated enhancement magic was even more dangerous.

Magic that concentrated on improving only specific functions rather than overall bodily functions.

Naturally, the performance was much more powerful, but there were corresponding risks.

The more concentrated it was to achieve such effects, the more severe the backlash when it failed.

Of course, sometimes there were backlashes even when it succeeded…

“But since it’s magic created by the Principal, maybe it’s different somehow?”

?

“…”

The book had no mouth, but Lee Han could sense a ‘what are you talking about?’ intention from the way the book just fluttered.

“…Let’s just practice. I might need to throw a punch at the Principal someday.”

* * *

Morning.

Lee Han got up from his sleeping bag. The library ceiling gradually brightened, and he could see light pushing back the darkness beyond the barricade.

He had been tormented so much by the black book that he still felt phantom pain as if his limbs were breaking.

【Gonadaltes’s Surging Power】 showed him intense pain when it failed, just as expected.

‘I really shouldn’t mess with enhancement magic.’

Lee Han understood why enhancement mages received expensive silver coins.

And he also understood why enhancement mages sometimes got grabbed by the collar.

No matter how urgently mercenaries or adventurers needed magic, if there were such side effects, they couldn’t help but flip out.

People were naturally different when they were in a hurry versus when they weren’t.

“Gainando. Get up. We need to eat breakfast.”

Lee Han kicked Gainando, who was rolling around beside him.

Usually Gainando would jump up at just the mention of breakfast, but today he didn’t even pretend to hear and was deeply asleep.

‘What’s this?’

Lee Han frowned. He felt something was off.

Poke-

When he flipped Gainando over with his staff, there was chocolate around his mouth.

Among yesterday’s feast that the Principal gave them, there was definitely…

‘There was chocolate cake.’

Lee Han called his friends.

And he told them to hang upside down all the guys who couldn’t get up right now.

“Should I write ‘I stole and ate food I was told not to eat at night’ underneath?”

“Yeah. Don’t let them down right away even when they wake up, wait a bit longer before letting them down.”

“Don’t worry, Wardanaz. I’m very skilled at this kind of punishment.”

Salko winked as if to leave it to him.

Guilds with strict discipline didn’t forgive thieves.

“It’s making an example of one to warn a hundred. Don’t feel bad, Wardanaz.”

“I wasn’t particularly feeling bad…”

-People with morning tests, come out quickly! The Tanzhuer is waiting!

The sound of friends shouting from the dock outside the library could be heard.

Lee Han nodded and finished preparing to leave.

“Isn’t everyone ready? Let’s get going.”

“Wait. Wardanaz isn’t here.”

“Doesn’t he not have a test this morning?”

“No. Wardanaz definitely has one. His schedule is completely packed.”

“…”

Lee Han suddenly felt bitter hearing the conversation at the dock.

It felt even more so seeing his friends stop their conversation when they saw Lee Han.

“Let’s go.”

“Y-yeah. Wardanaz.”

“You worked hard yesterday, but are you feeling okay? Moradi was worried about you.”

Lee Han nodded and pushed the White Tiger Tower student who had just spoken off the Tanzhuer.

Splash!

“Gasp! What, what are you doing!”

“Sorry. I didn’t get much sleep so my foot slipped.”

* * *

Lee Han wondered if there was anyone more bitter than him at Einroguard as he pushed open the lecture hall door with his staff.

Then surprisingly, someone who looked even more bitter than Lee Han was waiting.

It was Professor Boladi.

‘What?’

Lee Han was surprised.

The mad professor who seemed like he would kill people with an expressionless face was making such a bitter expression.

“Professor?”

Lee Han called Professor Boladi from the raft. Professor Boladi, who was standing on the water, looked at Lee Han and opened his mouth.

“This midterm exam is…”

“…”

Even Einroguard’s top student, who had overcome all kinds of dangers and trials, couldn’t help but be nervous at this moment.

What could it be?

“…canceled.”

“!!!!!!!!!!!”

Lee Han was shocked.

Even if he had heard that Einroguard was closing down, he probably wouldn’t have been more surprised than now.

“Is that really true!?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because of the flood.”

Professor Boladi must have been quite pained and troubled as he explained slowly.

There was originally an underground dungeon prepared for the midterm exam.

Since Lee Han was taking all the different schools, it was a very interesting and beneficial comprehensive underground dungeon created by combining all the magic from those schools.

‘Water Spirit, thank you.’

Lee Han resolved to express gratitude whenever he met the Water Spirit in the future.

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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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