Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 505

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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 505

“He has a lot of mana, so be careful.”

Professor Boladi gathered the transformation mages in a circle and precisely pointed out Lee Han’s weakness.

He told them to be mindful that Lee Han had an enormous amount of mana, so they shouldn’t engage in power struggles but attack from various angles instead.

Lee Han, who was standing behind them, was dumbfounded.

‘Is he on my side or the enemy’s side?’

No matter how much Professor Boladi wanted Lee Han to experience and overcome various types of transformation magic, this was basically the level of cursing him to lose.

Where in the world was there a mage who revealed weaknesses in detail before a duel?

He might as well take away his staff and tell him to fight barehanded!

“Oh. Such a secret!”

The dwarven mage who had dueled with Lee Han was very surprised by Professor Boladi’s words instead of being disappointed.

Just how much mana would one need to have for such a phenomenon to occur?

“Truly amazing. Really amazing! I’ve seen mages who were born with naturally abundant mana a few times, but even they couldn’t do something like this.”

“Thank you for viewing it so favorably.”

“But is it okay to tell us all this before the duel…?”

“…”

Lee Han was left speechless by the dwarven mage’s all too valid point.

But what could he do?

He couldn’t appear like a shameless disciple who badmouths his master in front of outsiders.

Lee Han gritted his teeth and defended Professor Boladi.

“My master trusts me that much.”

“How touching!”

The dwarven mage was moved as if it were his own affair.

When he first saw them, he had suspected whether a crazy professor was abusing his student, but hearing this made him reflect on his thoughts.

“Then who will duel next?”

“Me, me! Let me do it!”

At the dwarven mage’s words, this time a human mage raised his hand.

“Really, you have no conscience. You’re too strong.”

Professor Boladi’s expression brightened very slightly.

Conversely, Lee Han’s expression darkened.

“Didn’t you also duel, sir?”

“I’m nothing compared to you. Don’t you remember breaking that mercenary’s neck in the last duel?”

“That was an accident that happened because the mercenary was being stubborn…”

The transformation mages seemed to be close friends, as they cheerfully chatted whenever they had the chance.

Lee Han listened with a gloomy expression from the side.

‘I hope they just keep talking and forget about me.’

“Begin.”

“Right. I almost forgot. Here I go!”

At the professor’s words, the human mage stepped up onto the dueling arena.

At a glance, he looked flawless and relaxed. You could feel that he had a lot of experience with this kind of magical dueling.

Lee Han looked at Professor Boladi.

It was a look of resentment, but the professor seemed to understand it differently and nodded his head.

‘Do your best.’

‘I don’t know what you mean by nodding, but I want to cast magic in that direction.’

* * *

Instead of toying with Lee Han using all sorts of flashy and varied transformation magic, the human mage transformed his staff into a chain and swung it around.

‘What?’

Hadn’t Professor Boladi called the transformation mages and emphasized it several times?

He had abnormally large amounts of mana, so they should never engage in power struggles and should attack from various directions.

Yet he was using such a straightforward method.

Lee Han was puzzled but tried to seize control of the chain for now.

If he transformed it from steel to steel and made it his own magic first…

The human mage exclaimed in admiration and shouted to the audience.

“He really seized control! Look at this!”

“Wow, just how much mana would you need to make that possible?”

“Let’s try calculating it together. So the mana would be…”

“What similar cases are there? I remember having trouble because magic didn’t work during the Haunted Forest incident 22 years ago.”

“Good example! We can use that as a reference point.”

Instead of attacking Lee Han, the human mage engaged in a power struggle.

He cast magic to try to regain the control that had been taken, but it kept bouncing off like water droplets falling on a rock.

“Magic really doesn’t work! Look at this!”

The transformation mages in the audience clapped enthusiastically. It was as if they had come to see the most popular opera in the Empire.

“Me too! Me too! Let me try next!”

“I want to experience it once too!”

“…”

As the atmosphere flowed differently than expected, Professor Boladi’s expression darkened.

Originally, an intense duel with many learning points should have proceeded in a deadly and tense atmosphere.

A serious duel only emerges when you blame yourself for a single mistake and get angry at defeat.

But right now, the transformation mages were treating it as ‘a rare magical experience you might get to try once in a lifetime’ rather than seriously trying to tear apart their opponent.

Seeing them raise their hands and line up in a cheerful atmosphere instead of with killing intent was infinitely disappointing.

“Um… I’m sorry.”

Professor Yoner tried to console him from the side, but Professor Boladi’s dejected appearance didn’t change.

* * *

The transformation mages who had each lined up to experience the magic deflection were very satisfied.

The transformation mages were happy, and Lee Han, who had avoided getting beaten up in duels, was also happy. Everyone except Professor Boladi was happy.

“This was the most satisfying thing I saw at today’s event.”

“Oh my! Earlier you said the magic I showed was the most satisfying!”

“Oops. I’m sorry!”

“Haha. It’s fine. It’s okay! My magic can be second! Really fascinating. Can I try it just once more?”

“We promised each person would only do it once! Please behave like a gentleman!”

“I’m going to try to recreate this for defensive purposes, so I’ll write you a letter when I get back.”

“How about we work together? I’d like to participate too.”

“That would be an honor.”

‘Hmm.’

Lee Han, who had suddenly ended up sitting at a table where the transformation mages had gathered cheerfully, was starting to feel flustered.

Since everyone except Lee Han was close friends, he couldn’t help but feel even more awkward.

‘Shouldn’t the professors or upperclassmen come by now? I’m just a 1st year student?’

Normally when outsiders continued talking like this, someone from the host side should come out as a secretary or person in charge to join the conversation, but something was strange.

Why was only Lee Han here?

“Are you interested in transformation magic, Wardanaz?”

“Yes. Though I am learning other magics as well.”

“Oh my! That must be difficult.”

“Still, learning transformation magic together is good, isn’t it?”

“You’re absolutely right. Oh, Wardanaz. If you come to my manor, please stop by once.”

“You should stop by my territory once too! It’s in a somewhat remote area, but it’s a truly beautiful place!”

“…”

Lee Han struggled not to lose his composure.

The transformation mages here weren’t the type to casually say ‘let’s have a meal together sometime.’

The moment they brought up such words, they were the type who would seriously set dates and exchange letters.

“I mainly research metals. If you’re very interested in metal transformation, please contact me.”

“I’m primarily training in biological transformation. Once…”

While the mages frantically spoke to Lee Han, the upperclassmen stood at a distance watching.

“Oh…”

“That’s impressive…”

It wasn’t admiration for the magical ability he had shown earlier.

It was admiration for how he skillfully answered without wavering or sweating despite the transformation mages continuously approaching him.

Amazing!

“But shouldn’t we help our junior?”

“Right. …You go.”

“Ah, no. Let’s go together. Then.”

“…”

“…”

The upperclassmen timidly looked at each other, waiting for someone to make the first move.

They really didn’t want to join that group of transformation mages.

“You said you needed to discuss bat transformation…”

“You, you also said you had to ask about new metals.”

Professor Yoner, who had somehow appeased Professor Boladi and returned late, was speechless seeing his disciples stuck to the wall.

These guys really!

* * *

Lee Han bundled together the addresses he had received from the transformation mages. It was thick enough to be a small book.

“Professor. Please don’t worry too much.”

Professor Boladi’s back looked particularly sad as he returned after the lecture ended.

Actually, whether the professor was sad or not wasn’t Lee Han’s concern, but Professor Boladi was a bit of an exception.

The sadder he got, the more likely he was to do something crazy.

“I learned a lot about transformation magic.”

This wasn’t empty words.

Since they were people researching transformation magic in various fields, just listening definitely felt like it broadened his perspective.

From mages who transformed into various creatures to mages who memorized over hundreds of types of metals and could transform between those metals.

Or mages who aggressively researched the properties of such transformation magic to delve into curses that decompose opponents, or mages who focused on the direction of mana rather than matter to attempt transformation.

Of course, Professor Boladi would have been satisfied only if Lee Han had experienced this directly with his body while rolling around, but there was no need to learn while getting beaten up, was there?

“Then what magic are you thinking of learning?”

“!”

Lee Han felt a sense of ‘oh no’ at the professor’s question. Seeing him ask with an expressionless face, he was far from sadness.

‘Damn. Still far off.’

The moment he said he learned a lot here, it was natural for ‘then which magic among those will you learn?’ to come up.

To make such a careless mistake even after being caught like this.

‘Among the magic I heard today, the easiest one would be…’

Lee Han desperately made his mind work. He felt more desperate than when fighting the King of Ghouls.

What transformation magic wouldn’t be rejected by the professor as too easy, wouldn’t cause painful ordeals during training, and could show at least some results while buying time?

“Transformation magic!”

“?”

Lee Han was flustered and turned his head when someone answered instead of him.

The dwarven mage he had seen at the earlier event was cheerfully waving his hand.

“He showed the most interest in it, and where else would you find something as useful as transformation magic?”

“Hmm.”

Professor Boladi looked at the dwarven mage as if telling him to say more.

The dwarven mage shouted with passion to somehow draw the Wardanaz family boy into his area of expertise.

“I think transformation magic is the flower of transformation magic. It helps in combat situations as combat situations go, and is useful in non-combat situations as non-combat situations go. Infiltration? If you can transform into birds or rats, you can enter anywhere. Escape? How many situations would there be with no animals nearby?”

The dwarven mage earnestly tried to persuade the professor.

After listening to everything, Professor Boladi seemed quite satisfied and nodded.

“Good. That’s reasonable.”

“I knew you’d be satisfied. Then may I lend you a book?”

“No… no.”

Lee Han, who had been listening blankly, instinctively came to his senses and interrupted.

He felt that it would be dangerous if he left things as they were now.

“That’s too much for me. How could I take such a thing…”

To a mage, a grimoire wasn’t just a simple book.

It was something similar to one’s roots and one’s foundation.

They didn’t easily lend such things to others. Mages wouldn’t hesitate to kill over a single grimoire.

“Wardanaz. Of course, lending books isn’t a common thing. But connections aren’t something you can easily come by either, are they? If a mage like Wardanaz consistently shows interest in transformation magic, and among that, shows interest in transformation magic, how delightful would that be?”

“You can’t learn only transformation magic.”

Professor Boladi spoke from the side, but the dwarven mage pretended not to hear and ignored it.

And before Lee Han could answer, he pressed a grimoire into his hands.

“If there’s anything you don’t understand, write to me. You can visit during vacation too.”

“No… what is this…”

“Oh. Keep my visit secret from the other mages.”

“…”

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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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