Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 456

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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 456

In fact, the idea that midterm exams absolutely had to be taken was also a kind of fixed notion.

If there were unavoidable circumstances or the professor had other ideas, midterms could be replaced with different assignments or combined with final exams.

Of course, the Skeleton Principal didn’t easily give permission for this.

Basically, there were so many unscrupulous bast-, scoundrels among Einroguard’s professors that if given free rein, exams like ‘This is bothersome, so shall I throw a staff and give an A+ to the student it flies farthest to?’ might appear.

But in a situation like this, there really was no choice.

The prepared dungeon was flooded!

“This is truly regrettable, Professor.”

“I suppose it is.”

‘What do you mean “I suppose it is”?’

Professor Boladi thought Lee Han would also be genuinely distressed.

Of course, Lee Han wasn’t particularly distressed.

But when a professor is suffering, showing a happy expression as a disciple is tantamount to declaring ‘I have no sense of propriety.’

Lee Han tried his best to make a pained expression.

‘Imagine losing the top rank in my year. The Skeleton Principal is sneering beside me.’

“What about the basilisk?”

Rattle!

The sound of the basilisk egg trembling with fear could be heard from inside the backpack Lee Han had set down beside him.

Since it needed a lot of care these days, Lee Han had been carrying it around in his backpack, which was how it ended up meeting this crazy mage.

“…Won’t it take a bit longer?”

“I sought advice from Professor Lightningstep. He says there are elixirs that can accelerate growth.”

“But there are side effects of becoming violent and ill-tempered.”

Being close with Professor Lightningstep, Lee Han had heard about this before.

-Since you handle animals well and are skilled in alchemy, you might think this later.

-Do I handle animals well?

-Since you’re good at intimidating animals and skilled in alchemy, you might think this later.

-…

-Buying rare animal cubs cheaply and accelerating their growth with all sorts of elixirs to sell them…

-Such a method exists! Magic is truly amazing!

-…Listen to the end. Magic is fundamentally about changing the world’s rules and providence. Doing it recklessly doesn’t end well.

Professor Lightningstep had told him the story of a foolish dwarf alchemist who once tried to raise manticores en masse on a ranch to sell to knight orders.

Feeding growth elixirs to monsters that already had savage wild natures was excessively dangerous.

When the monsters eventually exploded with rage, where would that fury be directed?

-By any chance, was that Professor Thunderstep?

-…No! Is that what you thought of Thunderstep!?

Anyway, since it was such a dangerous thing, Lee Han had no intention of feeding elixirs to the basilisk.

The basilisk egg clung tightly to Lee Han. It clearly sensed who would protect it.

“Wouldn’t it be good if it became violent and ill-tempered?”

Professor Boladi tilted his head.

It’s going to fight anyway, isn’t it?

“…”

…

Lee Han felt like the egg was glaring at Professor Boladi with fury.

He couldn’t be certain, but somehow it seemed that way.

“Wouldn’t it be a more formidable opponent if it remained cold and calm?”

“Indeed… Do you prefer that kind of battle?”

“It’s not that I prefer that kind of battle… Damn it. I prefer it.”

Lee Han couldn’t bear to abandon the basilisk egg, so he admitted it.

The egg was too frightened.

‘I need to change the subject.’

“Don’t be too disheartened, Professor. There must be many ways. Like casting underwater breathing magic and going down…”

“I did consider it.”

At Professor Boladi’s blunt response, Lee Han felt his heart sink.

He had just been joking without much thought!

‘If I fail to control my tongue one more time, I’ll curse myself.’

Lee Han reflected very deeply.

“But the damage was severe.”

“Oh my.”

Once again, Lee Han was deeply grateful to the water spirit.

If it hadn’t been for the great flood, he would have had to endure that with his body.

“So is today’s lecture over?”

Lee Han asked with a slightly expectant voice. If it ended early, he was thinking of going to catch up on his studies.

The Skeleton Principal and White Tiger Tower students spouted nonsense like ‘You don’t need to study anyway,’ but Lee Han wasn’t fooled by such words.

They were definitely trying to sabotage Lee Han’s grades.

“If it’s over, then I’ll be going…”

Professor Boladi slowly shook his head. Then he walked across the water and climbed onto Lee Han’s boat.

Lee Han was dumbfounded at having his boat suddenly stolen, but couldn’t say anything.

‘Good heavens, a staff-wielding bandit.’

Professor Boladi paid no heed and waved his staff.

Then the boat began moving rapidly as if someone invisible was pushing from behind.

Swoooosh-

“?”

At first, Lee Han sat there without much thought, but as the boat began moving farther and farther from the main building, he became slightly flustered.

‘What’s this?’

If they continued heading north like this, they would reach Einroguard’s proud Hell Mountain Range (it was actually just a mountain range, but Lee Han and his friends called it the Hell Mountain Range).

Since the carefully prepared dungeon was ruined, he thought they would just do some simple practice or training and finish…

Thud-

Even with the great flood, the entire mountain range hadn’t been submerged. As they approached to some degree, dry land and dense forests came into view.

Professor Boladi looked at Lee Han. It meant to get off.

“Professor. I have a question…”

Instead of answering, the professor raised one finger. It meant to be quiet.

At that sight, Lee Han suddenly felt ominous.

Though Professor Boladi was a crazy mage, he was still a crazy mage who answered questions.

Why was he suddenly not answering questions?

‘Is this a situation where making noise would be dangerous?’

Lee Han quickly reviewed the monsters that appeared in the mountain range in his head.

Having received lectures on 【What Might Appear in Einroguard’s Back Mountain?】 during spare time under Professor Lightningstep, countless monsters came to mind.

‘Damn it. There are too many.’

Come to think of it, there were too many monsters that would be dangerous if you made noise.

Lee Han wondered if he should stay alert and prepare magic in advance.

While preparing magic in advance was good, chanting spells could also be dangerous in situations requiring silence.

-Have you come?

The voice came from above.

Lee Han unconsciously looked up. Between the tall, densely grown forest trees, a familiar giant’s head was looking down at Lee Han.

Hair shorter than before.

It was Ikurusha, the mountain range giant who had made a bet with Lee Han and given up his hair.

“Lord Ikurusha!”

-Good to see you again. But please lower your voice a bit.

Ikurusha gestured as if telling him to be quiet.

-Right now the other giants are pairing up the goats, and the goats are in a sensitive period.

“?”

Lee Han didn’t understand for a moment.

No matter how sensitive goats got, weren’t they still just goats?

-Ah. Sorry. Mages don’t call them goats. The name is probably a bit different.

“What is it?”

-Was it Mountain Range Destroyer Sheep? Mountain Range Devourer Sheep? Mountain Range Collapse Sheep?

“…”

Professor Boladi answered instead.

“Mountain Range Destroyer Sheep.”

-Ah. Right.

Mountain Range Destroyer Sheep looked like sheep but were large monsters with giant-sized bodies that could pierce through rock.

Calling those things goats was as shameless as calling a Tanzhuer a goldfish.

* * *

Ikurusha guided Lee Han and Professor Boladi to his newly built house.

The cave house had a crude exterior appearance as if giants had built it with their fists, but the interior was truly comfortable.

As soon as Lee Han and Professor Boladi sat down, Ikurusha brought out a chess board.

-Since we met after a long time, let’s play a game.

“Ah. Yes.”

Lee Han was reluctant but played anyway.

The opening started with d4 and Bf4, building a solid defense, then castling queenside and pushing powerfully on the kingside, causing Ikurusha to self-destruct pathetically.

-Damn!

“Mr. Ikurusha.”

When Professor Boladi called, Ikurusha pleaded with an earnest voice.

-Could we play just one more game? I’ll play quickly with speed chess.

The professor nodded.

Ikurusha excitedly arranged the pieces quickly.

Seeing this, Lee Han had a realization.

‘Wait. If I drag out the time…!’

Whatever reason Professor Boladi had for bringing him to Ikurusha, if he just played chess until time ran out, he could just go back.

From what he saw last time, Ikurusha was a giant who liked openings starting with e4 Nf3 Bb5 when playing white.

Then Lee Han could also put his knight on f6 and create a solid black wall.

‘I’ll drag it out and aim for a draw.’

Ikurusha and Professor Boladi didn’t notice Lee Han’s wicked intentions.

Ikurusha, oblivious to this, earnestly hammered at Lee Han’s wall while lost in deep thought.

“Mr. Ikurusha.”

-Ah. Sorry. I should stop now.

“…”

Lee Han was dumbfounded watching the giant quit without regret when an excuse arose in an unfavorable situation.

Why was someone who seemed like a gentleman in other aspects like this when it came to chess…?

‘I played along with him. I should have made a bet.’

-As you know, after that impressive match last time, I’ve mentioned your story to the professors several times.

“Whaaaat???????”

Lee Han was so shocked he shouted without realizing it.

Why would he do such an ungrateful thing?

‘Are all giants shameless bastards??’

Perhaps people needed to have their heads cut off, not their hair, to prevent betrayal.

-Why are you so surprised?

“…Having false fame spread is shameful as a mage.”

-How modest.

Ikurusha looked at Professor Boladi as if praising him. The professor was expressionless but nodded as if agreeing.

-Several professors showed interest. Professor Bagrek here asked if he could get some help with his lectures, so I accepted.

“Oh…”

Lee Han held back the words ‘why did you do that’ from bursting out.

-Unlike other giants, I try to fulfill requests from Einrogard’s mages. Living in these mountains, you inevitably become indebted to the mages… Speaking of which, is the Archmage well?

“Yes.”

-That’s good. Please tell him I’m grateful once again for last time. Giant hunters are vicious and cruel bastards, so without the Archmage’s help, the damage would have been severe.

The professor nodded.

Unable to bear listening to the heartwarming conversation any longer, Lee Han carefully asked.

“But what kind of help are you providing?”

-I was asked to create various situations that a battle mage might encounter. From what I heard, even if the giants here are a bit stupid, they seemed capable of doing that well.

BOOM!!!!!!!

As soon as he finished speaking, a tremendous roar that sounded like the end of the world came from outside.

It sounded like the mountain range was collapsing.

-Oh dear. One goat escaped. We need to catch it today.

“…”

-What were we talking about? Ah. About helping with lectures. The giants can do it well, but the problem is these guys are a bit stupid… They might not understand things like power control or testing. So I thought I should call you first.

If you told the giants ‘test this mage with difficulty adjusted so he doesn’t die,’ it might be too difficult for them.

It was better to build some rapport with the giants first and get acquainted.

If the giants thought of him as their friend, they would naturally control their strength.

-Most importantly, no matter how excellent a mage is, throwing them into danger suddenly without any confirmation seemed a bit dangerous and abrupt. You need time to get used to it, don’t you?

Ikurusha shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s fine.”

-Is that so?

“If you don’t believe it, try it once now.”

“Professor. Now that I think about it, the submerged underground dungeon might have its own sense of achievement.”

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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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