Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 532

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 532

His friends shouted resolutely.

Lee Han was slightly flustered by his friends’ intense reaction.

“Why?”

“What do you mean why… If it’s not allowed, then it’s not allowed!”

Nilia waved her hands, expressing her feelings about divination.

Gainando agreed as well.

“Lee Han. There are many mages who ruined their lives by doing divination wrong. You shouldn’t depend on such potions.”

“You asked me to give you some divination potion before exams once it’s completed.”

Gainando turned his head, pretending not to hear.

Lee Han decided to ask the alchemy experts.

Yoner and Priest Siana might think differently from such non-experts.

“No.”

“You must not.”

“…”

Lee Han became slightly dejected.

‘I went through all the trouble to make it.’

“Wardanaz. I think a bit differently.”

“Right. It might be dangerous if you drink it frequently, but wouldn’t it be quite good if you use it appropriately when occasionally needed?”

“Thank… no.”

When his Blue Dragon Tower friends looked at him with slightly mad gleams in their eyes, Lee Han hesitated.

‘These guys’ eyes look scary.’

“What’s wrong? Wardanaz? Should we go get it right now?”

“Ah, no. It’s not even completed yet.”

* * *

A slight wrinkle formed on the forehead of Professor Alpen Naiton, who taught 【Advanced Basic Imperial Geometry and Arithmetic】.

Originally, it was natural for students to become distracted as the weekend approached, but today they were particularly distracted.

“Everyone be quiet.”

“So when we get to go outside…”

“I’m telling you no. Setting fires is the worst strategy.”

“But when else would we get to set fires?”

At the rebellion of students who usually listened well, the old professor opened his mouth disappointedly.

“Since everyone seems unable to concentrate today, instead of a lecture, let’s have a simple additional exam…”

“We’re sorry, Professor!”

“Won’t you shut your mouths!”

Students who weren’t confident about exams quickly suppressed their chattering friends.

Gainando, who had been secretly playing card games, got hit in the face with a Magic Missile and rolled around.

When the lecture hall became quiet, Professor Alpen nodded and resumed his lecture.

“Precise calculations are essential in the preparation process of magic, and remember that if you don’t learn this, you’ll face difficulties later. When you all become second-years, you’ll begin to lead and research magic in earnest…”

As the old professor always said, magic wasn’t just about chanting spells and waving wands.

Preparing reagents, drawing magic circles, and calculating mana flow.

Mages who couldn’t do this groundwork could never achieve greatness.

“The blueprint we’ll study today is the castle gate of the famous Ganistalas Castle. It’s also called 【The Miracle of Three Mages】. Since it’s such a famous castle gate, you all probably know about it…”

Gainando tilted his head and asked.

“Why is it called the Miracle of Three Mages?”

The old professor didn’t get angry at his student’s foolish question and explained with dignity.

“The treasury of the Lord of Ganistalas Castle was completely empty due to consecutive rebellions and raids at that time. So when building a new castle gate, he only provided less than 1/10th of the gold coins compared to the usual budget.”

Bang!

Lee Han struck the desk with his fist in outrage.

“How could such a thing happen!”

“…”

“Is… is that really something to get so angry about?”

Gainando was flustered by his friend showing a side he’d never seen before.

However, Professor Alpen nodded as if he sympathized with Lee Han’s outrage.

“No. It is something to be angry about. It’s truly a regrettable history. If others around had helped the lord, it would have been finished much faster… Anyway, the three mages of the castle completed the castle gate despite such adverse conditions. That was close to a miracle. Now. The blueprint we’ll study today is precisely the blueprint of that castle gate.”

At Professor Alpen’s historical story, the students received the blueprints with interest.

Of course, Lee Han was displeased.

‘How is this being presented like a heartwarming story?’

The lord cut the budget to 1/10th, but the mages somehow completed it with their blood, sweat, and wisdom, so you should learn from that.

It sounded like a heartwarming story at first glance, but Lee Han knew well the evil hidden in the structure of such stories.

It was always the case that excellent predecessors innocently tormented ordinary successors.

If the three mages completed the castle gate with 1/10th of the budget, they should say ‘Let’s analyze and reflect on the problems of that situation where only 1/10th of the budget could be provided,’ not ‘Shall we learn from that wisdom too?’

Lee Han continued grumbling inwardly while moving his quill.

“Mr. Wardanaz.”

“!”

At the old professor’s call, Lee Han momentarily thought his inner thoughts had been discovered.

“Yes?”

“Mr. Wardanaz doesn’t need to look at that.”

“Ah, no… Why not? I respect the miracle shown by the three mages of Ganistalas. I want to become such a mage too.”

Feeling guilty, Lee Han quickly made excuses without even wetting his lips.

At that sight, Professor Alpen was pleased.

Unlike other mages who didn’t care about budgets at all and wastefully squandered reagents luxuriously, this boy from the Wardanaz Family had a broad perspective.

“What touching thoughts… But it’s fine.”

“Why is that?”

“Well, Mr. Wardanaz already saw this exam content during the midterms.”

“…”

“…”

Not only Lee Han but also Yoner, who had been drawing blueprints and calculating beside him, was so dumbfounded that he dropped his quill.

What did I just hear?

“I… I see.”

Unlike his other friends who were shocked, Lee Han was definitely professional. He nodded without any change in expression and showed an attentive posture.

Even now, recalling taking a different exam alone during midterms made the professor seem like a madman, but he couldn’t exactly say ‘You are a crazy person.’

‘It’s originally a professor’s privilege.’

“Follow me.”

“Yes.”

While his friends studied the blueprints, Lee Han followed Professor Alpen out of the lecture hall.

Through the windows of Einroguard’s main building, the cold winter sky was sparkling outside.

‘Would it be okay to throw snow at the professor when it snows?’

Creak-

Professor Alpen opened the door to a room and gestured for Lee Han to sit down.

Lee Han, who had been pondering how to throw snowballs, quickly came to his senses and sat in the chair.

This room was different from the room the old professor usually used. Instead of comfortable furniture or miscellaneous items that gave a sense of daily life, only one large communication artifact was positioned there.

The mirror-like artifact was something Lee Han had already seen in the Skeleton Principal’s room, so he wasn’t surprised.

He had conversed through such artifacts when learning magic from Ogonin.

Crackle-

-Administrator Naiton, Your Excellency.

The people who appeared from beyond the mirror greeted Professor Alpen. The old professor shook his head and replied.

“I’m no longer an administrator. Call me Professor.”

-Ah. I apologize.

‘What kind of people are these?’

Lee Han looked over the people beyond the mirror with interest.

He couldn’t understand why Professor Alpen had connected him with these people.

“I heard this before, but let me confirm one more time. You’re the ones who received the contract for constructing the Pocket Knife Fortress this time, correct?”

-Yes. That’s correct. By any chance, is this person…

“That’s right. Correct.”

At Professor Alpen’s answer, the people beyond the mirror looked at Lee Han with gazes mixed with expectation and curiosity.

Only then did Lee Han realize who they were.

‘They’re construction workers?’

Members of the stonemason guild, carpentry guild, and other construction-related trades were standing beyond the mirror, each equipped with their tools.

-It would be an honor if an Einroguard student would help us! What year are you? Third year? Fourth year?

The people beyond the mirror spoke with joyful voices.

In the Empire, mages were always high-level personnel, and among them, mages who could calculate and complete the magic that would go into buildings were even rarer.

Mages who had wandered battlefields learning magic through self-study or learned magic alone in the mountains with only their own intuition couldn’t handle this kind of collaborative work.

For that reason, Einroguard students could be considered the highest-grade personnel available for such work.

Anyone would want to bring them in, except for the fact that students were incredibly busy.

The old professor answered nonchalantly.

“First year.”

-…

-…???

The people were bewildered.

Lee Han was bewildered too.

“Uh. Professor. Isn’t it a bit early for me to do this?”

“How modest of you.”

‘Why don’t any of the Einroguard professors understand the concept of refusal?’

Lee Han felt bitter at the professor’s reaction.

He couldn’t understand why they always took his refusals as modesty and were pleased by it.

Couldn’t it be that he was really refusing?

“But Wardanaz has sufficient skill to take on the challenge.”

“What makes you judge that?”

“I personally saw the answer sheet from the midterm exam, didn’t I?”

“…”

Lee Han was at a loss for words.

With the other person saying that, he had nothing to say.

-Administrat… no, Professor. Are you really sure this is okay?

“I guarantee it with my name. Everyone, please trust me.”

“No…”

When the old professor staked his name without even being asked, Lee Han felt tremendous pressure.

What if Lee Han made a mistake after saying something like that?

-Hmm. If you say so, Professor…

-But even if they’re an Einroguard student, can a first year participate in this kind of construction? From what I know, usually they need to be at least third year to handle this…

-I thought so too. But Einroguard has always had many ridiculous rumors, doesn’t it? We must have been mistaken.

-Come to think of it, there was even a false rumor before that Einroguard students had to fight for their own meals, right? I must have been mistaken. Since we rarely see them, such rumors probably spread.

“…”

Lee Han listened to the people’s conversation with a gloomy expression.

Knowing the truth but being unable to speak it was sadder than he thought.

“Professor. What exactly will my role be in this fortress construction?”

“Hmm. You’ll probably be mainly handling calculations related to magic.”

Buildings above a certain scale usually couldn’t avoid having artifacts installed.

Then calculating the mana amounts of these artifacts, securing mana sources capable of supplying that much, placing the artifacts in appropriate positions so they wouldn’t malfunction with each other – all of this was the mage’s job.

In short, it was tedious work that required constant calculations.

‘Just hearing about it makes me dizzy.’

“…Will I be able to finish everything within the time limit?”

“Hmm… I think it’s definitely possible by the final exam.”

Listening to the professor’s words, Lee Han felt something was off.

“By the final exam? Shouldn’t it be finished before the final exam?”

“Wardanaz. What kind of joke… Haha. Of course, since you’re taking on work like this, it’s replacing the final exam.”

The old professor laughed at Lee Han’s words.

No matter how confident one was, trying to finish work of this scale before the final exam and then take the final exam too.

It was truly the confidence befitting a genius.

Of course, Professor Alpen intended to responsibly ensure his disciple didn’t overwork himself as a professor.

“Thank you, Professor.”

Lee Han felt slightly relieved at the fact that he didn’t need to worry about the final exam.

And then he felt self-loathing.

‘Damn. This isn’t something to be happy about.’

Thinking about it, the reason this was possible was because Lee Han had already taken the exam beyond the final exam scope during the midterm.

There was absolutely no need to be grateful to Professor Alpen.

-Professor. Where should we send the gold coins?

“I’d appreciate it if you sent them with the next eagle.”

“What gold coins?”

At Lee Han’s question, Professor Alpen answered as if it were obvious.

“Since you’re taking on an external commission, you should receive compensation. It will help when Wardanaz researches magic next year.”

“…Could you give me the fortress documents? I’ll do my best.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————