Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 496

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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 496

Now. What’s the difference between the blood magic used by Professor Bagrek and the human sacrifice forbidden arts favored by mage criminals?

“When Professor Bagrek uses it, it’s legitimate magic authorized by Imperial law, but when mage criminals use it, it’s illegal, isn’t it?”

…That’s also correct, but focus on the magical aspects.

Professor Boladi’s blood magic was ultimately a forbidden art that used his own blood as a medium to amplify mana.

No matter how much a mage’s blood was the most powerful and ancient reagent, offering one’s own blood couldn’t possibly be good for the body.

As magic advanced to higher levels, the structure became more complex and the risks the mage had to bear grew larger, so how unstable would it be if this blood magic was added on top of that?

The fact that even the mage who developed blood magic died in a magical accident was enough to guess.

So mage criminals approached it cleverly.

-Why should I bear the danger? I just need to make someone else bear it.

“That’s the human sacrifice forbidden arts.”

Right. It’s a technique to avoid danger by offering the flesh of others, not the mage himself.

The Skeleton Principal made a disapproving tsk-tsk sound.

Lee Han was moved just a little bit.

He thought he was just a crazy mage, but he actually knew how to be angry about the harm mages caused to civilians.

It felt like seeing another side of the Skeleton Principal.

Such shortcuts are self-defeating moves that diminish one’s own skills. Magic isn’t a convenient technique that grants whatever you want. If you gain something, you lose something, and the accompanying danger is also magic, but if you forget that, you’re bound to fall eventually.

“…Ah. I thought you were angry about the evil crimes of mage criminals.”

Well, I was angry about that too.

The Skeleton Principal said casually.

So what you need to learn is as follows.

The artifacts clattered and arranged themselves in a row.

Learn the unique mana patterns felt from their forbidden arts. It will help you recognize mage criminals first.

“Indeed.”

Oh. If you recognize them first, kill them immediately. Don’t get caught off guard trying to show mercy.

“…Yes… well.”

And you’ll need to learn curse breaking too.

“Ah. I’m confident about that.”

Lee Han prepared what he learned from Baldoron, the so-called 【Mana Hammer】.

The Skeleton Principal was dumbfounded at his disciple’s attempt to crudely blast it away with mana.

‘Since he has so much mana, he can keep doing such crude things without getting hurt!’

If it were any other mage, they would have suffered badly after trying it once or twice and then reflected, ‘Ah, I was too crude! As a mage, I should properly dispel magic with intelligence, but I tried to smash it with mana like a beast!’ But this disciple had too much mana to have a chance to reflect.

Not such a crude method… you need to be able to immediately block what they’re casting when you see it.

The Skeleton Principal didn’t deny the act of crudely wielding mana to smash completed magic itself.

If other students had chattered, ‘Why do mages need to study? Just cut it down with mana in one stroke!’ he would have immediately hung them upside down, but at least for Wardanaz, that method was the right method.

But that method wasn’t invincible.

Really excellent mages wove their magic to block even external impacts…

Most importantly, with Wardanaz’s level of talent, there was no need to crudely gather strength to destroy it. He could just use his head a little.

You know about the concept of magic counters too.

“Yes.”

Counter.

This concept, also called reverse magic, was something that enchantment mages and healing mages especially needed to know well.

Mages implement magic by changing reality with their own will and corresponding price.

Then how should you dispel that magic?

The standard way was to completely understand the structure of that magic first, then twist it starting from the weak links one by one.

Sometimes you could smash it with great force from outside…

All these concepts were called counters.

It might not feel that relevant yet, but it will become increasingly important as you go higher. Cast a magic spell.

Lee Han quickly prepared a water orb. Toward the Skeleton Principal’s white, round skull.

The Skeleton Principal’s eyes flashed for a moment.

Then the magic Lee Han was preparing became tangled. As if impurities had gotten into the structure being formed by mana.

Do you understand?

“Did you insert mana into the weak link?”

Right.

The Skeleton Principal said with satisfaction.

Without any special explanation, he immediately realized what had happened, which was extremely satisfying from a teaching standpoint.

When you become familiar with counters, this becomes possible too. Interfering with the opponent’s magic casting itself.

If you could identify and dismantle the structure of completed magic, you could also intervene while that magic was being completed.

If you stabbed your mana into the weak link of the opponent’s magic, that alone would make delicate magic shake, slow down, or be canceled.

That’s not all.

The Skeleton Principal shot mana at Lee Han’s wrist.

Just like stabbing mana into the weak link of opponent magic, you could do similar things to a mage’s body.

It was much more advanced and complex, but if you succeeded, the opponent mage would just become powerless.

The moment mana flows, the counter I inserted will activate and deal damage. Try it.

Bang!

Enormous mana flowed out from within Lee Han like a wave and completely smashed the mana needle the Skeleton Principal had inserted.

“?”

…

An awkward atmosphere flowed for a moment.

…And you can also dispel that counter. Just like this.

“I, I see.”

Lee Han said nothing.

The ending was a bit strange, but magic counters were definitely a useful concept.

Not just dispelling completed magic, but a technique to interfere with casting and actively check enemy mages.

To use this against mage criminals, he needed to understand the magic mage criminals frequently used.

You’ve learned the mana patterns felt from the artifacts?

“No…”

Lee Han was dumbfounded at the Skeleton Principal trying to move on immediately after showing the artifacts earlier without giving much time to look.

“You just showed them and kept talking about magic. Wait a moment… Hmm. I’ve learned them all.”

You’re really the Empire’s best at exaggerating. Now. Next are the weak links. You felt those together while learning the patterns too, right? Just check them.

‘How did he know?’

Lee Han thought there was a reason he was an Archmage.

He felt the Skeleton Principal’s seasoned skill at completely blocking any intention to go slower with the lessons.

“How did you know?”

Are you asking seriously?

The Skeleton Principal looked at Lee Han with eyes like looking at an idiot.

How can you lack self-awareness this much?

Now. Next, let’s try it directly. I’ll cast, so try stabbing mana into the weak links.

“Understood.”

Hurry up! After finishing all this, you need to learn the magic effects on the artifacts too.

“…”

* * *

The Skeleton Principal’s ambition unfortunately could not be realized.

When dawn and morning passed and Friday’s sun rose overhead, the Skeleton Principal reluctantly released Lee Han.

We’ll have to do the artifact analysis next time. Oh my. Are you sleepy?

“Yes.”

If you become a lich, you don’t need to sleep.

“…”

Lee Han walked out cursing the Skeleton Principal.

He had learned too much at once while practicing reverse magic, and his head felt completely stuffed.

‘The sun feels unusually more dazzling…’

As he came out to the courtyard, he could see friends everywhere working hard, dripping with sweat.

They had received a day off, but it didn’t really mean much.

So much had been swept away by the flood that the workload had increased accordingly.

Lee Han let out a sigh.

‘I need to restore the vegetable garden too. I hope not too many trees were blown away. Unlike vegetables, fruits will take some time… I wonder if the Blue Dragon Tower guys are doing well? The common room was flooded, so I should check on it once. Did the stove get swept away too? It’s a shame since I just added it…’

“Lord Wardanaz. Lord Wardanaz.”

“Hm?”

Lee Han turned his head.

Ratford was cheerfully calling out to Lee Han.

“Where have you been? I was worried since I haven’t seen you since yesterday.”

“I was caught by the Principal.”

“Oh no…!”

Ratford was genuinely sympathetic.

Then he lowered his voice and asked.

“I heard when I was young that His Imperial Majesty is fair and just, so he reads every single complaint letter that gets reported.”

“…Ah, no. It wasn’t quite that bad.”

Or was it?

Lee Han started to speak but became confused about what ‘that bad’ actually meant.

“It’s a holiday today, right? What are you doing?”

“I was getting some materials needed for rebuilding the black market.”

Ratford waved the wooden plank he was holding.

Lee Han thought the wooden plank looked similar to the material of lecture hall desks but didn’t say anything.

“Oh right. Ratford. There’s a place I need to check, would you come along as a guide?”

Though he had been busy going out for requests, Lee Han hadn’t forgotten about the graduate senior who had been trapped in the deep punishment room.

-Take this. It’s the location of the room my friends and I used. There should be some useful stuff left.

If there were useful things, he needed to get there first as quickly as possible to claim them.

The only thing you learn while at Einroguard is that there’s nothing good about being frugal.

“That’s not difficult. But before that…”

Ratford hesitated. Lee Han asked curiously.

“Is there something wrong?”

“I think you should get some sleep.”

“I’m fine though?”

Instead of explaining, Ratford held out a mirror. Lee Han saw that his reflection had turned into a vampire and nodded.

“I’ll go sleep for a bit.”

* * *

Usually, a tired person couldn’t just sleep for a little bit.

Lee Han was the same, and when he woke up, it was already evening.

-Shouldn’t we call a professor…

-I told you his pulse was normal…

-Priest Siana. Even so, sleeping like a corpse like that isn’t normal…

“…Thank you all.”

Lee Han thanked the Phoenix Tower priests and went to meet Ratford.

Lee Han walked with a sandwich in one hand, made with rye bread filled with tomato, bacon, cheese, and lettuce, when he spotted Ratford approaching from afar.

“Ready?”

“Yes.”

Lee Han glanced behind Ratford.

A group of Black Turtle Tower students was heading somewhere with fishing rods.

“Where are they going?”

“Ah. To salvage things from the new reservoir created by this flood…”

‘I should check that out later.’

Lee Han was intrigued by the very interesting news, but the map was the priority right now.

‘Main Building 3rd floor.’

The Main Building, the oldest building in Einroguard, was an unpredictable collection of magic befitting its history, but there were some general rules.

The lower floors were relatively stable, while the higher floors became more eccentric.

In that regard, the Main Building’s 3rd floor was safe enough by Main Building standards that even first-year students could occasionally set foot there.

The fact that the room the upperclassmen used was located on such a Main Building 3rd floor meant…

‘Lucky.’

Well, after going through so much hardship, it was right that there should be some lucky times too.

Lee Han nodded while thinking that.

The two first-year students climbed up the broken corridor on the 2nd floor. The Polimorph’s forest with the 【Forest Mouse】 was not visible today.

‘Past the blue handkerchief lecture hall, turn left, then knock on the ceiling to open a new corridor…’

Clatter, thud, bang, crash!

Walls disappeared, ceilings became floors, and paths that didn’t exist were created, but the two first-year students were already used to it and didn’t even glance at it.

“…Wait.”

“What’s wrong?”

Lee Han frowned.

The text written on the map didn’t make sense to him.

…Next, if you walk on the ceiling, a new lecture hall will appear…

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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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