Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 504

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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 504

‘Wait.’

Lee Han shuddered at the ominous thought that suddenly struck him.

Could it be?

“By any chance, is this an upperclassmen’s event?”

If this was an event for students learning transformation magic and none of Lee Han’s friends knew about it…

…wasn’t this an upperclassmen-only event?

Professor Boladi briefly showed an expression as if he had never thought about Lee Han’s question.

“That’s probably the case.”

“I think you should have checked that first… Did Professor Yoner readily accept?”

The professor nodded slightly.

‘He didn’t threaten him at swordpoint, did he?’

Lee Han was slightly suspicious.

Professor Yoner was among the more timid of the professors.

If Professor Boladi had threatened him at swordpoint, it wouldn’t be strange if he had said ‘Let’s participate!’

“Professor. I just had a thought – Professor Yoner readily accepted, but won’t the upperclassmen think it’s unpleasant?”

Einroguard students had a somewhat exclusive side to them.

Hadn’t the White Tiger Tower students petulantly gotten angry when Lee Han had invaded their dormitory?

Just as students displayed pointless pride according to their respective towers, the schools of magic would probably be the same.

And even within the schools of magic.

‘They’d probably find it unpleasant if a first-year junior kept poking around.’

It wasn’t for nothing that the nail that sticks out gets hammered down.

Unless it was a specialized school of magic lacking manpower like healing magic or dark magic, they wouldn’t like a junior showing off.

“Were you worried about that? It’s fine.”

“Ah. Did the upperclassmen also say it was okay?”

“I meant I would discipline any student who thought it unpleasant.”

“…”

Lee Han glanced once at the sword Professor Boladi was wearing.

‘He’s not going to discipline them by stabbing them with his sword, is he?’

“…I’ll just work hard to get into the upperclassmen’s good graces myself.”

Professor Boladi patted Lee Han’s shoulder as if he was proud of him.

The basilisk made a sound as if displeased.

* * *

The ouroboros, a snake biting its own tail, was a beloved entity in alchemy and transformation magic.

As it symbolized eternal circulation, mages of both schools of magic couldn’t help but love this entity.

So the transformation mages’ event was also named 【Day of the Ouroboros】.

Crack!

A whip held by one student transformed into a snake and coiled around another student’s wrist.

Despite the snake coiling around his wrist, the affected student wasn’t flustered at all. When he calmly recited an incantation, the snake’s fangs transformed directly into cotton.

Bang!

When the student with his wrist bound struck the floor with his staff, the floor suddenly rippled and turned into a swamp.

The student who lost his balance dropped the snake whip and staggered. He quickly tried to transform the swamp back into solid earth, but failed the spell and it turned into honey instead.

“I lost.”

“It was a good match.”

The student who got up by grabbing his friend’s hand looked around at the other transformation mages gathered in the auditorium.

Though 【Day of the Ouroboros】 sounded grand, the rules were actually simple.

It was a day to show off each person’s achievements using only transformation magic. Such events were common in other schools of magic too.

Magic duels using only transformation magic, presentations of new transformation magic research, unique transformation abilities of the Empire’s rare monsters, and so on.

“Everyone stop playing around and come here. We need to prevent the outsiders from causing trouble.”

“I hate dealing with outsiders – can’t we just have the Death Knight do it…?”

“No. Bear with it.”

The transformation magic school students of Einroguard frowned as they watched the outsiders actively roaming around inside the auditorium.

Inviting outside mages to such events was natural, and treating those mages as hosts was also natural.

But the students really didn’t want to do those natural things.

It wasn’t because the outside mages were unpleasant or rude.

It wasn’t because they had assignments piled up like mountains either.

They just…

Really just didn’t want to do it.

“Want to play rock-paper-scissors and have the loser not do it?”

“Hello!! Einroguard students!!”

“Eek.”

Pop!

One transformation mage from outside approached while demonstrating racial transformation magic.

It was a specialty that transformation mages often showed off – magic that changed one’s race.

The magic itself wasn’t particularly special, but there was nothing quite like it for simple greetings or breaking the ice in conversation.

The transformation mage seemed extremely excited as he transformed from elf to human, from human to dog beastman, from dog beastman to orc.

Then he looked at the students with expectant eyes. He had expected the students to show something in response.

“…”

“…”

However, the students’ reaction was different from what he expected.

They all fidgeted and avoided his gaze.

“???”

“…”

“…”

“Um, did I make some mistake?”

“N-no, no!”

“Nice… nice to meet you! Nice to meet you!”

“Ah… yes.”

The transformation mage retreated with an awkward expression.

The students looked at each other with faces full of self-loathing.

“You should have answered…! You were closer!”

“No, he was looking at you. You should have answered!”

Though there were exceptions, mages who majored in transformation magic were generally cheerful and sociable in personality.

Perhaps it was related to the characteristics of transformation magic.

But the students majoring in transformation magic at Einroguard were a bit peculiar.

They were very…

introverted.

“Everyone stop it. Ah. I should have learned dark magic…”

“M-my stomach feels a bit queasy, give me one more potion.”

“No. If you drink too much confidence potion, you’ll become a complete scoundrel.”

The transformation magic students just earnestly prayed for the event to end quickly, for the outsiders to leave, and for them to be able to talk about magic among themselves.

“It’s the mad professor!”

“What? The mad professor?”

The students turned their heads.

Indeed, the mad professor was entering with a first-year student.

“What on earth is he thinking?”

“I heard he got a disciple…”

“Aren’t they following and monitoring to prevent escape?”

“Surely not… but it’s possible.”

However, that didn’t resolve all the questions.

Why on earth would they bring a first-year student to such an event?

No matter how he looked at it, it seemed like meaningless harassment.

“Why did Professor Yoner give permission?”

“His skills are supposedly outstanding. I heard from a friend in the dark magic school that he’s from the Wardanaz Family.”

“You don’t believe those rumors about the Wardanaz Family, do you? The Wardanaz Family is just an ordinary great noble family. It’s not like they teach secret arts to five-year-olds.”

“It’s not exactly ordinary though…”

While the students were muttering in the corner, Lee Han walked in with Professor Boladi.

External transformation mages were showing off various things (one mage was receiving applause for transforming his arm into a swarm of bats), Professor Yoner was taking questions in the center, and the upperclassmen were…

‘I don’t see them?’

Lee Han was puzzled when he couldn’t see any upperclassmen at all, then finally realized.

“Professor. Um… shouldn’t the Principal’s prohibition be lifted during events?”

He knew the Skeleton Principal cast perception interference curses on the upperclassmen, but didn’t he sometimes lift them when necessary?

And now was exactly when it was necessary.

If a first-year student participated in such an event but couldn’t even talk to upperclassmen…

“Why?”

“…”

“Ah. Lee Han.”

Professor Yoner saw Lee Han and gestured to him. Then spoke quietly.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t refuse the request.”

“That’s understandable.”

Lee Han understood.

Even if Professor Boladi didn’t threaten while pointing a sword, he would have threatened while wearing one.

“I’m truly sorry.”

“…No, it’s really fine.”

Lee Han was rather flustered when Professor Yoner apologized so much.

The professor who brought him was the bad one, not the professor who gave permission.

“Still, the mages participating in this event are all outstanding transformation mages, so there’s much to learn…”

“Let’s go.”

While the two were chatting, Professor Boladi, who had disappeared somewhere, suddenly returned.

“Where to?”

“I got permission.”

Professor Boladi gestured with his chin toward the back.

The transformation mages who had been dueling on the makeshift dueling arena were looking this way and whispering.

-A first-year… student, isn’t it?

-Must be seeing things.

-Surely you’re not asking us to duel with a first-year student now? Isn’t that a bit dangerous?

‘So this is humiliation.’

Lee Han felt embarrassed as the external mages looked at him with worried and confused gazes.

Professor Boladi had gone around saying ‘Please duel with my disciple’ ‘Please duel with my disciple’ ‘Please duel with my disciple’ and harassed them until they agreed, but now that they had agreed, they were clearly flustered because the opponent was too young.

A dwarven mage who appeared to be in his forties looked at Lee Han with a reluctant expression and asked.

“Aren’t you a first-year student? I wouldn’t interfere with Einroguard’s teachings, but isn’t this kind of duel a bit early?”

“It’s fine.”

Before Lee Han could answer, Professor Boladi replied.

As Professor Boladi turned and walked toward the spectator seats, the dwarven mage whispered again.

“Did the professor perhaps threa… no. What am I saying. I’d appreciate it if you forgot that.”

Watching the dwarven mage swallow his words because they seemed too rude, Lee Han clicked his tongue bitterly.

All the transformation mages here were good people.

That made it even more painful.

* * *

“…The rules are as follows. Let’s begin.”

‘This is maddening.’

Lee Han’s mind was racing as he faced his opponent.

He had experienced magic duels several times before, but today’s occasion was a bit special.

A place where only transformation magic could be used.

The problem was that Lee Han’s transformation magic wasn’t very extensive.

Basically steel-focused with simple transformations, colors, and rock-to-sand conversions.

Challenging an experienced transformation mage with this was like attacking the Skeleton Principal with a fork.

Professor Boladi probably wanted Lee Han to experience as many different defeats as possible.

Usually one learns more from defeat than victory.

Experience various defeats and learn which transformation magics to master…

Swoosh!

“!”

The dwarven mage suddenly sprouted wings and soared into the air, gliding through the sky.

At the same time, his cloak suddenly spread out like a tent, blocking Lee Han’s vision. Lee Han instinctively knew the dwarven mage was trying to transform into another monster.

‘If I let him, it’ll be over immediately!’

Lee Han swung his staff, thinking to deal with the enemy’s cloak first.

Then sighs erupted from the transformation mages nearby.

“Ah!”

“That’s not the way!”

“Oh no…!”

“Oh dear!”

Since the dwarven mage had already cast transformation magic on the cloak, it wasn’t a good choice for Lee Han to cast transformation magic on that same cloak.

Interfering with an opponent’s magic was several times more difficult.

In such an urgent situation…

Crack!

“!?”

The cloak transformed into a steel hook and flew toward the dwarven mage.

The dwarven mage, who was trying to transform into a hippogriff, was startled by the steel hook grabbing his ankle and his magic wavered. He ended up in a peculiar state with only his arms and legs transformed into those of a hippogriff.

“Wow! To succeed at that like that!”

“Amazing! Excellent!”

‘…They’re getting rather annoying?’

Lee Han was starting to find the transformation mages admiring from the spectator seats somewhat bothersome.

At first he was slightly moved by their concern for him, but now their excessive reactions to every single spell were getting annoying.

The dwarven mage quickly tried to shake off the steel hook by waving his staff.

However, surprisingly, the steel hook wouldn’t come off. The magic bounced off as if it were ore with stubbornly accumulated mana.

Faced with a situation even an experienced transformation mage had never encountered, the dwarven mage panicked and failed his landing.

Normally, even bound by the steel hook, he could have cast magic to subdue Lee Han, but the dwarven mage cleanly acknowledged defeat.

Having shown such an opening in a duel was as good as losing.

“I lost, I lost! Amazing! How did you transform that? Is it a secret art of Einroguard?”

While Lee Han pondered how to explain in a way that would disappoint his opponent less, Professor Boladi hid his disappointment and began approaching other transformation mages to talk.

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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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