Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 554

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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 554

“No? Can we go?”

“I don’t think it’s a question worth pondering that deeply…”

He had just asked casually without much thought, never expecting such deep contemplation.

Yoner looked displeased as he tried to lift up his frustrated friend.

“Lee Han. Get up. I know you’re suffering, but you can’t keep doing this.”

“…All spirits are ungrateful bastards.”

The basilisk hissed in agreement.

“Yeah. Maybe they are. Anyway, get up. There’s a squirrel spirit here too.”

The squirrel spirit made of ice and frost tugged at Lee Han’s cheek as if to show its presence.

At that sight, Lee Han perked up slightly.

At least there was one spirit remaining.

Tap tap-

“You want to make a contract?”

Nod nod-

“There are plenty of other good mages out there.”

“No, Lee Han.”

“That’s right. Wardanaz. Don’t say such things.”

Worried the squirrel might run away, the two friends hurriedly intervened.

Whether the spirit wanted to contract out of sympathy or confusion, if it wanted to contract, then they should contract. Why say unnecessary things?

Fortunately, the squirrel spirit didn’t mind. It rubbed its tail in front of Lee Han, showing affection.

“See? Lee Han. Spirits don’t forget the kindness of being saved, right?”

“…Maybe so.”

Ilendil, having finished her work behind them, walked over to where the underclassmen were.

She looked pleased seeing the squirrel spirit and Lee Han getting along well.

For spirits to show such affection like that. It was impossible with ordinary care and affection.

“Here.”

Ilendil pulled out a handful of ice pine nuts that the squirrel spirit liked from her pocket and offered them.

The squirrel spirit immediately ran to Ilendil, rubbed its head against her palm, and began munching on the pine nuts.

Lee Han, who had just taken out his staff to make a contract, stared at his senior intently.

“It eats well. Right?”

“Senior, why do you keep staying here? Don’t you have a lot of things to do?”

“Uh… are you angry by any chance…? Why?”

* * *

When they emerged from the forest, the surroundings were already pitch dark. Only the moon and stars twinkled, illuminating the students’ path ahead…

“???”

Lee Han, who had been petting the squirrel spirit after completing the contract, was puzzled when he spotted torches flickering in the distance.

In principle, students weren’t supposed to wander around on nights like this.

Unless they were on duty or had tasks assigned by professors, they should be in their dormitories.

Of course, some students wandered around at night regardless, but they didn’t carry torches while doing so.

It would be like sending a signal asking to be caught by the Death Knights patrolling inside Einroguard.

‘What’s going on?’

“Wardanaz!! You bastard. I thought you were dead!”

“???”

Angrago, looking disheveled as if he’d been beaten up and down, embraced Lee Han tightly.

Lee Han grabbed Angrago’s face with one hand, pushed him away, and asked.

“What happened? Did the Principal perhaps?”

“Contaminated Ones sent by the Principal burst out of the forest and are attacking the dormitory!”

“Ah.”

“Oh.”

“Hmm.”

Lee Han, Yoner, and Priest Siana hesitated.

They knew this incident had nothing to do with the Skeleton Principal.

“There’s no way we could sleep. Everyone’s out tracking them down right now.”

“I see.”

Lee Han could now understand why all his friends were outside.

Not many students could sleep peacefully while Contaminated Ones kept trying to enter the dormitory.

Moreover, if this was the Skeleton Principal’s doing, they absolutely couldn’t fall asleep. They had to find and resolve the cause as quickly as possible.

“Wardanaz. Thank goodness you’re here. Quickly command the remaining guys and help us find the source!”

“But Wardanaz isn’t from White Tiger Tower…?”

Priest Siana tilted her head, but Angrago ignored her.

What was so important about that right now!

Lee Han yawned loudly and said.

“Are Moradi and Salko searching through the forest right now?”

“Yeah!”

“I see. Tell them to search moderately and come back. We already caught the culprit. We need to go get some sleep.”

At Lee Han’s words, Yoner and Priest Siana nodded simultaneously.

They were exhausted from wandering around all day. They felt like they’d collapse if they closed their eyes right now.

“What? Wardanaz! Wardanaz! Come back! Are you planning to abandon your duty as a knight!”

‘Crazy bastard…’

He was too tired to even think of arguing back.

Lee Han and his friends waved once and slowly walked toward the dormitory.

* * *

Friday.

Lee Han, having some rare free time, entered his secret base and immersed himself in concentration.

The common room and library weren’t bad places to study, but it was really hard to concentrate because of other friends.

-Wardanaz. Do you happen to know about the miraculous event that occurred in the southern Empire recently? And do you know which religious order caused that miracle? As a hint, it’s neither the Apha Order nor the Agltakwa Order.

-Wardanaz. Why do you think people should learn magic? It’s not that I absolutely hate studying, but I suddenly became curious…

Lee Han was the type to tell himself he could manage even in harsh environments, but he couldn’t ignore the efficiency of a quiet space.

He needed to fill the contents of two books: 【On Wardanaz’s Water Orb Bullets and Their Basic Principles】 and 【On the Limitations of Water Orb Bullet Magic and Its Development Direction】, write up Professor Alpen’s proposed pocket knife fortress design commission, organize the magic he learned this week…

‘Hmm.’

Lee Han wondered if he should also organize the lightning spear he used when fighting the Contaminated Ones yesterday.

He had certainly achieved the goal of fixing the form of lightning element, but the problem was…

‘I can’t remember how I did it.’

He couldn’t go to Professor Boladi and say ‘Professor, I tried casting a lightning spear but I can’t remember how.’

In that case, Professor Boladi would say ‘Indeed, your abilities grow when your life is in danger, let me help you’ and try to kill Lee Han.

The safer method was for Lee Han to recall and complete it again before Professor Boladi tried to kill him.

Actually, he had considered hiding it from Professor Boladi entirely, but…

‘Professor Boladi is strangely fast at gathering information.’

He didn’t seem like someone with good relationships with other professors like Professor Garcia, but oddly enough, he often knew whenever Lee Han learned magic from other schools.

As if they shared information in some professor lounge.

Junior. Junior.

“!”

As words were carved onto the notebook that communicated with Diret, Lee Han picked up his quill pen and approached the notebook.

-What’s the matter?

I heard some strange rumors, so I wanted to ask you something. Is that okay?

-Yes. What are you curious about?

I heard that you’re too loved by the forest spirits. Is that really true? They say the forest spirits love you so much that they all returned to their own dimension at your request.

-??????

Lee Han almost dropped his quill pen for a moment.

-What on earth are you talking about?

I happened to hear your name, and they said you’re close with spirits. It seemed a bit strange.

Basically, it wasn’t easy for dark mages to become friendly with spirits.

By associating with undead, that distinctive smell would seep into their souls.

Dark mages have a hard time being close with spirits, don’t they?

-Ah. That’s right. Now that I think about it, you’re correct. Could that be why spirits avoid me?

No. Now that I think about it, for a junior like you, it’s more likely because of your mana amount. Spirits are sensitive, after all.

“…”

Lee Han frowned at his senior’s words.

-Couldn’t it be because of dark magic…

That possibility would be low, right?

Feeling like asking more would only make him sadder, Lee Han changed the subject.

-It’s probably because of Senior Ilendil. Contaminated Ones appeared in the forest this time, and I helped out with that matter a bit.

Lee Han briefly explained what had happened this time.

After hearing the explanation, Diret seriously pondered where to start asking questions again.

They tried to artificially create a dark spirit? That wouldn’t be easy. Among spirits, dark spirits are really unstable and tricky.

-That’s really true. I don’t understand why they didn’t request help from the excellent seniors of the Black Magic Academy.

Diret became silent for a moment.

Lee Han intuitively felt that his flattery had successfully worked and was pleased.

It’s not quite to that extent.

-I think that way.

Well… anyway, if it’s Ilendil’s matter, it’s natural not to request help. They don’t get along very well.

“?”

Lee Han hesitated, not understanding.

Ilendil didn’t seem like a particularly evil or violent person.

-What happened?

Ilendil is a dryad hybrid, right? Someone who loves and cherishes the forest. Our academy students have been attacked by Ilendil when they entered the forest to collect reagents…

-Ah.

Lee Han thought he understood what had happened.

Ilendil was a relaxed and kind-looking person, but it was also true that curses immediately flew from his mouth the moment the forest was hurt.

-That’s unfortunate. Still, I’m proud that you heard about yesterday’s events, Senior.

Apart from the grudge between Ilendil and the Black Magic Academy seniors, Lee Han was internally grateful.

As he had aimed, Ilendil had definitely spoken well of him to other seniors.

Otherwise, there was no way Diret would have heard the rumors.

Proud?

-Yes. Isn’t it good? Getting a good evaluation among the seniors…

I’m not sure if you know, but Ilendil has a bit of a… eccentric image.

-Is that so? To what extent?

A bit more than the Black Magic Academy?

-…

Lee Han’s face turned pale.

So Ilendil praising you isn’t necessarily only good for you as a junior… The friend who told me the story was also a bit…

Diret moved his quill pen with concern.

In fact, the friend who had told Diret the rumors also found Lee Han very strange.

-Diret. Lee Han of Wardanaz Family, isn’t that the junior you mentioned? The admirable one?

-That’s right. Why?

-You know Ilendil, right? He was praising that Wardanaz, saying he met a junior who’s completely the same type as himself… He’s not a strange junior, is he?

“…”

After hearing the explanation, Lee Han buried his head on the table in despair.

‘Damn it. I thought he was a decent person since he was respected within the Alchemy Academy.’

-Senior Diret. Please help me, Senior. That I’m not a strange person…

Well, I’m sorry.

Diret apologized sincerely.

I’ll try my best to speak up, but since I’m also from the Black Magic Academy, it won’t be that effective…

“…”

For such a sad reason, Lee Han couldn’t say anything.

-No, Senior. Just thinking about it is enough, thank you.

Yeah. Anyway, be careful. Especially when entering the forest. Ilendil isn’t a bad kid, but he can get a bit violent when his affairs get involved.

‘From now on, when entering the forest, I must cast invisibility magic first without fail.’

Lee Han firmly resolved not to get involved with Ilendil.

Come to think of it, he had instinctively felt reluctant from the time Ilendil showed his popularity with spirits, and he had probably sensed this kind of problem through intuition.

After ending the conversation and feeling empty for a moment, this time the mirror vibrated.

Lee Han approached the mirror.

I’d like to buy more information about the 1st year student from the Wardanaz family that we talked about before.

“…”

The mirror in front of Lee Han, who was contemplating whether to just pretend he didn’t see it, continued to vibrate.

The information you gave last time was useful. I should thank you for that.

But I heard a new rumor recently.

I heard he’s an oddball who’s close friends with Ilendil from the Alchemy Guild. Is that true?

-Absolutely not.

Lee Han found himself writing down a response without realizing it.

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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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