Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 542
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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 542
Meanwhile, Professor Boladi and Ikurusha, who were waiting below, were puzzled by Lee Han’s whereabouts as he returned later than expected.
“He’s late.”
-Hmm.
Ikurusha’s expression also darkened as he seemed worried.
Of course, considering just the strength of the giants who went with Lee Han, they were reliable forces that would be hard to find opponents for even in this treacherous mountain range.
However, Ikurusha also knew well how willful those giants could be.
If they saw a Behemoth on the road and thought ‘That looks delicious!’ and rushed toward it in a group, a young student like Lee Han would likely get swept along.
-Still, if it’s that student, he probably would have contacted us if there was a problem, so maybe it’s fine?
“There seems to be a misunderstanding.”
-??
Ikurusha looked at the professor wondering what he was talking about.
“It’s more likely that Wardanaz is leading the giants around.”
-What… do you call that talk?
Ikurusha was dumbfounded by Professor Boladi’s words.
So now he was saying that a young student was forcibly dragging the giants around?
With the giants going ‘Ugh, we want to go back now’ and the student saying ‘No! Move to the next location!’?
No matter how he thought about it, it didn’t make sense.
“He has a personality that enjoys challenges.”
-No, no matter how much he enjoys them, dragging giants around isn’t at the level of a challenge…
Even a mage who liked challenges would change their mind to ‘Actually, I think I liked a comfortable life’ if put together with giants.
Ikurusha was 100% certain.
That’s how rough and violent the giants’ daily life was.
-We’re back!
-!!
Ikurusha, who had been talking, was startled to see the giants returning from far away.
They were covered all over with swamp mud and debris, and even had minor wounds.
For giants to sustain that level of injuries, there weren’t many suspects even in this mountain range.
-What have you been doing?
-We went with the old Yatcha to deal with a Gul Dragon.
-We weren’t going to do it originally, but we did it because of the mage.
-!
Ikurusha looked at Lee Han with shocked eyes.
Normally, Ikurusha would have understood it as ‘The Yatcha asked and the student helped, so the giants agreed,’ but because of what Professor Boladi had said, he momentarily fell into a misunderstanding.
-Really?!
-Huh? That’s right.
‘Why is he acting like that?’
Lee Han was puzzled when Ikurusha showed a shocked expression he had never seen before.
Come to think of it, it was understandable.
He had gone up saying he would work moderately with the giants, but ended up accomplishing something too big.
“I’m sorry. Thanks to the Yatcha elder, I had no choice but…”
“It’s fine.”
Professor Boladi stopped his disciple’s apology as if he had already expected it.
“It’s already done.”
“Ah. Yes.”
“But refrain from excessively reckless challenges. I remember telling you this before.”
“…”
Lee Han looked at the professor in disbelief.
Who was saying such things to whom right now?
* * *
Ratford asked, seeing Lee Han unusually droopy and sluggish.
“Didn’t you sleep well?”
“No… I climbed mountains and caused a commotion this morning…”
“Oh my. Was it because of the White Tiger Tower?”
A White Tiger Tower student passing by behind them flinched.
‘Gasp. Is it really because of us?’
“No. Because of the Gul Dragon and the giants…”
‘Phew. It’s not.’
The White Tiger Tower student who had been relieved walked a few more steps and then screamed.
“What? Gul Dragon? Giants??”
“Why are you eavesdropping on other people’s conversations! You thief!”
“No, no…! I heard it while passing by. While passing by!”
While Ratford was bickering with the White Tiger Tower student, Lee Han stuffed a thick chicken sandwich with pickles into his stomach.
He felt the need to recover his energy before the illusion magic lecture began.
Crunch!
At the crispy sound, he looked to the side and saw Ymirg tearing into a thick chicken leg whole.
When their eyes met, Ymirg hesitated and then asked.
“Do, do you want some?”
“This is enough for me. But… never mind.”
Lee Han was about to ask why Ymirg wasn’t sitting next to his Black Turtle Tower friends but sitting next to Lee Han and Ratford, but stopped.
While Ratford was originally close to him, Ymirg had been somewhat shy.
‘Hehe. It was worth working hard to feed him during the flood.’
Lee Han felt pleased that his efforts had triumphed over the Wardanaz family’s infamy.
When he first entered Einroguard, even though he helped the Black Turtle Tower students, they still showed reactions like ‘Eek! Wardanaz monster, no, family!’ which still slightly bothered him.
“Huh? Why is Ymirg sitting over there?”
“Oh no…! We’re late! We should have sat next to Wardanaz!”
The Black Turtle Tower friends who belatedly remembered the characteristics of illusion magic lectures regretfully slapped their knees.
When various illusion magics confused the five senses, having someone like Wardanaz who stood firm and unwavering was very helpful.
To know this and prepare in advance. Indeed, an honor student was different.
“Damn. I should sit behind him.”
“Move! I sat here first!”
“Don’t you White Tiger Tower guys have confidence in yourselves? You badmouth Wardanaz so much, but when it comes to times like this, you try to use him?”
“No… it’s not like that? I never had even the slightest thought of using Wardanaz as a shield…!”
“…”
Lee Han, who had been listening to the conversation, felt betrayed.
‘These ungrateful bastards.’
“Now, now. Nice to see everyone!”
The lecture hall door opened and Professor Kirmin entered. Among Einroguard’s professors, he could proudly claim to be one of the best dressed in terms of fashion.
Professor Kirmin took out a small stone fragment from the front pocket of his vest made of deep blue velvet and threw it at the nearest student.
Pop!
“Ugh… Ahhh. Ahhhhh!”
“Stop, no! You need to stay calm. Stay calm.”
Professor Kirmin had taught basic and interesting magics in the first semester, but from the second semester, he was gradually teaching countermeasures against illusion magic.
And to learn countermeasures against illusion magic, one had to experience it a lot.
“Not just at Einroguard, but when traveling throughout the Empire, you’ll often encounter illusions and phantasms. If you don’t learn in advance, you might suffer great losses. Did I tell you the story of the unfortunate dwarf Kuriangeum who was greatly deceived by illusion magic last time?”
“Yes!”
“Now. An opening!”
Professor Kirmin despicably blew smoke trapped in a glass bottle at a student who had just inhaled to answer.
The smoke scattered the student’s mana, temporarily paralyzing their resistance before drawing them into an illusion.
“Principal! Aaah! It’s the Principal!!”
Seeing the student fall into an illusion where the Skeleton Principal was attacking them, Professor Kirmin smiled apologetically.
“Sorry. This is how you learn.”
There were two main ways to block illusion magic.
One was to prevent being caught by illusion magic in the first place.
Either by having strong resistance like Lee Han, wearing various artifacts for protection, or being wary of illusion magic and avoiding contact.
Illusion magic wasn’t something that could be cast freely without any restrictions like incantations.
Usually, some form of contact was basically required, and simply blocking this contact at its source could be somewhat effective.
“Hnngh…!”
As the professor approached, one student held their breath and closed their eyes.
Then Professor Kirmin smiled and waved his staff. Magic flew out and trapped the student in an illusion.
“Ah. Wardanaz. Could you run an errand for me?”
“Yes, Professor.”
Lee Han stood up with a wary expression. Professor Kirmin waved his hand dismissively.
“You have naturally strong resistance, so you don’t need to be so wary. I’m not Professor Bagrek or anything.”
“The Principal always tells us to trust him too.”
Professor Kirmin looked genuinely hurt.
“Hey, I’m trying to teach you how to deal with illusion magic for your sake, and comparing me to the Principal is too much, isn’t it?”
Lee Han carefully took the note and went out to the corridor. Fortunately, there were no particular attacks until he left.
‘What kind of errand is this?’
Stand in the corridor while I attack the students.
Kirmin Ku
“…”
-Argh! Wardanaz! Wardanaz, you idiot! What do we do if you just leave!
-Haha, you can’t let your guard down like this! Did you forget that illusion mages must always maintain vigilance?
While Lee Han was briefly away, Professor Kirmin had completely wiped out all the students who had been relying only on Lee Han.
As everyone woke up from their illusions drenched in cold sweat, Professor Kirmin spoke regretfully.
“Not getting caught at all is actually an impossible method. Especially when your skills are low. So…”
Professor Kirmin, who was speaking, made eye contact with Lee Han.
“Right. Except for you, Wardanaz.”
“I didn’t say anything, Professor.”
“You need to know how to calmly escape even if you get caught.”
The second method of blocking illusion magic was to calmly dispel it after getting caught.
It started with awareness.
Once aware, you gradually increase the sense of discomfort felt around you, and when you accumulate enough of that discomfort, you understand the structure of the magic cast on you and reverse-dispel it.
At this time, the more you knew about various magics, the more advantageous it was. After all, knowing magics in advance made it easier to identify them than figuring them out one by one through instinct.
“Illusion magic is a field where experienced mages have more advantages, but that doesn’t mean you can skip practice. Wardanaz. Just in case, you know that using force to break things is forbidden today, right?”
“Professor. I’m really sorry about destroying all the magic circles last time. But I really didn’t know what would happen and made a mistake…”
Lee Han internally grumbled at Professor Kirmin’s pettiness for still nagging about accidentally blowing up the magic circles during the last lecture.
How could he have predicted that!
“Right. Mistakes can happen. Though someone of your level, Wardanaz, probably did it knowingly.”
“Huh.”
“You really did it knowingly?”
The students nearby looked at him with respect and admiration.
Could it be that Wardanaz had destroyed the magic circles for their sake?
“No, you crazy bastards.”
“Aww…”
At Lee Han’s serious expression, the students immediately became indifferent.
Thud!
As the professor waved his staff, mountain-like piles of chests stacked up in front of the students.
They were boxes made by roughly carving wood, but each one had intricately and sharply crafted lock sections.
The students groaned at the mana they could feel from them.
They could guess what they would be doing today.
“When wandering through ruins or dungeons, you’ll commonly see illusion magic connected to mechanical devices. A skilled mage can disable even the mechanical devices just by looking at the structure of the illusion magic.”
“Professor. I’m never going to enter a dungeon in my life…”
“You’re quite confident, aren’t you? But you’d better put that confidence aside for now. When you’re at Einroguard, dungeons aren’t something you choose.”
The student who had grumbled for no reason and received an ominous prophecy about his future grabbed a box with a sad face.
Pshh!
“Kheuk!”
The student who touched the box wrong was hit by smoke coming from inside and fell under an illusion spell.
Seeing this, the students became even more disgusted.
Who would like such fiddly, labor-intensive work?
Most mages also loved only the flashy aspects of magic, and few loved even the troublesome parts.
“Hey. This is interesting though? Ratford. Can you check? I solved it properly, right?”
“Very excellent, sir.”
“What level should I be at to enter dungeons without bringing a separate technician?”
“This level seems sufficient…?”
“What are you saying, Ratford. You’re good at everything, but overestimating me is your flaw.”
“No, it really seems sufficient…”
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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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