Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 563

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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 563

At Lee Han’s words, Professor Alpen checked again, wondering if he had missed something.

It was certainly an excellent composition that showed Professor Verdus had taught well.

This composition, which efficiently and cleanly arranged artifacts without any waste, seemed like even Lee Han’s seniors wouldn’t have been able to do better.

However, no matter how much he looked, it couldn’t reduce mana consumption as much as Lee Han had concluded.

“How?”

“Pardon?”

“I mean… Look here, Wardanaz. Just looking at the artifacts positioned at the southern gate, aren’t there 【Hardness Enhancement】, 【Corrosion Prevention】, and 【Enemy Detection】 spells cast on them? Then wouldn’t at least three chests of intermediate quality or higher magic stones be consumed per day?”

“Ah. I’m sorry. I forgot to write that down.”

Lee Han apologized and added.

“This is the result calculated under the assumption that the artifacts would be overcharged with mana during creation. Among the artifacts deployed in fortresses, simple artifacts can be maintained for over ten years without separate mana supply if overcharged with mana during creation.”

“?”

“??”

Both Professor Alpen and the guild members had question marks on their faces.

They couldn’t quite understand what the first-year student in front of them was saying.

“Is there… is there such a thing? Professor. We don’t know much about magic, but do such artifacts exist? This is the first time we’re hearing about this.”

“Hmm. As far as I know… theoretically, such an effect does exist.”

Professor Alpen explained to the confused guild members.

If you divided the structure of artifacts broadly, you could separate them into the core that constitutes the magic and the power unit that supplies mana to that core.

At this time, enchantment mages would carve and refine magic circles to increase the efficiency of this power unit, putting their heart and soul into it.

The amount of mana the artifact consumed depended on the completeness of this part.

But theoretically, instead of putting such effort into it, what if you imbued the core with mana to its limit and then sealed it?

It would be possible to supply mana on its own without any special effort from the outside.

“But aren’t there no mages who make them this way?”

That was right.

There was a reason Professor Alpen and the guild members were confused.

It was because mages who made artifacts this way were extremely rare.

Structuring it to withstand overcharged mana or increasing its strength was just a minor problem, and the biggest issue was that there were no mages who would imbue that much mana.

When you could just supply mana regularly for much more stability, why would a mage need to inject a dangerous amount of mana that could cost their life?

It wasn’t like it was an artifact that could never be supplied with mana again once made…

“Huh? There aren’t any?”

“As far as I know, there aren’t.”

“…”

Lee Han was bewildered.

This was a method he had used so commonly when learning under Professor Verdus or helping with work.

-Professor.

-…

-Professor.

-…

-Professor! Professor! Professor!!

-Ugh! Why are you shouting in my ear? What’s wrong?

-I’m sorry. You weren’t listening.

-What are you talking about? You didn’t call me.

-…Anyway, Professor. I have a question. The enchantment magic grimoires I’ve seen don’t imbue artifacts with mana like this. Aren’t you imbuing too much?

-It’s fine. It’s fine. Look. It’s more efficient when you imbue a lot, isn’t it?

-That’s true, but why don’t the grimoires…?

-Because they’re old grimoires.

-But this book came out last year?

-That’s old. And the guy who wrote that grimoire is stupid.

-But… he’s a mage with considerable experience who’s published several papers…?

-He can still be stupid. Now. It’s fine, isn’t it? No problems, right? It’s efficient, right?

-Is the safety okay?

-That’s why you have to do it well so it doesn’t explode. Since it hasn’t exploded so far, you’re doing well.

-Professor, you’re not just saying this carelessly because you’re annoyed, are you?

-Why don’t you trust me? Trust me.

‘Damn it. I trusted him.’

Lee Han thought of Professor Verdus and gritted his teeth.

To be fooled again after being fooled like that!

He knew something was strange, but it seemed like people outside didn’t do it this way.

‘Well, there’s no way they’d do it this way.’

Looking at the expressions of the people around him anew, Lee Han wondered why he hadn’t noticed it himself.

Did intelligence decrease when you entered Einroguard?

Making it this way would consume too much of the mage’s mana, and if you made even one mistake during creation, the risk of accidents would greatly increase…

“I’m sorry. I unconsciously calculated it this way out of habit from working with Professor Verdus.”

“Professor Verdus, you say? Did Professor Verdus teach you this way?”

“Yes.”

Lee Han had slight expectations when the old professor reacted quite strongly.

‘Maybe he’ll go beat up Professor Verdus?’

If so, he thought he’d like to see it a little.

“Truly amazing. Professor Verdus! A genius isn’t a genius for nothing.”

“…???”

Unaware of Lee Han’s shock, Professor Alpen continued speaking.

“Right. Actually, I heard that Professor Verdus was struggling to teach disciples because his genius was excessively outstanding, but seeing this, it seems those words were somewhat exaggerated. To so excellently pass on his secret techniques to his disciple like this.”

“No… uh… is this a secret technique?”

Lee Han was flustered.

Of course, if it was a method passed down secretly, it could all be called secret techniques, but by that logic, Gainando’s 【Secretly Eating Snacks During Lecture Time】 could also be called a secret technique.

But wouldn’t you be treated as crazy if you normally went around calling such things secret techniques?

“It’s certainly worthy of being called a secret technique, Wardanaz. Didn’t you increase the efficiency of artifacts like this? You might not know well because you lack experience, but this is truly an amazing result.”

“But… the mana consumption is dangerous… and accidents are dangerous too…”

“Didn’t you say there were no particular problems while continuously working with Professor Verdus?”

“…That’s right…”

Professor Alpen patted Lee Han’s shoulder with his strong hand.

“Wardanaz. I usually advise students to be humble. But I’ll have to give you slightly different advice. Be moderately humble! This is something you can be proud enough of. Both you and Professor Verdus who taught you.”

Feeling very wronged, Lee Han pulled out his last resort.

“But Professor. Doesn’t Professor Verdus usually act a bit like an eccentric?”

He started bringing up Professor Verdus’s reputation and clinging to it like a drowning ghost.

No matter how little time Professor Alpen had spent at Einroguard, if he recalled the times he’d been victimized by Professor Verdus, he would realize that this result was more ‘a crazy master overworking his disciple without caring about safety’ rather than ‘beautiful inheritance between a genius master and genius disciple.’

“That’s true.”

“Right?”

“But aren’t all Einroguard professors like that?”

“…”

Lee Han was speechless for the first time in a long while.

* * *

The guild members who finished listening to the explanation and understood were moved to the point of tears.

A disciple who had been directly taught by a genius professor of Einroguard was going to use secret techniques to arrange the fortress’s artifact deployment.

“This… we might be in a historic moment right now.”

“Right, right.”

The guild members from various guilds all had hearts filled with the same emotion.

“It’s like…”

“【The Miracle of the Three Mages】, isn’t it.”

The guild members unconsciously muttered at the same time.

The Miracle of the Three Mages.

At that time, the treasury of the Lord of Ganistallas Castle was completely empty due to rebellion and raids.

The budget that the three mages of the castle could use was less than 1/10th of the usual gold coins.

Nevertheless, the three mages joined hands with the construction guilds of Ganistallas and achieved a miracle.

This miracle wasn’t simply a miracle of the mages alone.

It was also a miracle of the guild members who helped the mages complete the castle gate.

While mages thrilled at the greatness of magic in that tale, the guild members holding hammers and chisels thrilled at the beauty of craftsmanship in that story.

‘Why are they bringing up such a story?’

Lee Han was horrified listening to their conversation.

Why would they bring up and be moved by such a terrible tale of an evil lord exploiting mages and guild members with less than 1/10th of the proper budget?

No matter how he thought about it, it was incomprehensible.

But the guild members continued their conversation regardless.

“Buildings built with soul never disappear and remain forever. Yes. Perhaps this 【Pocket Knife Fortress】 might become our 【Miracle of the Three Mages】.”

“Let’s make our guild’s name known throughout the Empire!”

“Yes, let’s make our guild’s name known throughout the Empire!!”

The stonemason guild and carpentry guild members, who had been somewhat awkward with each other just moments ago, shook hands and made firm resolutions.

Professor Alpen showed a moved expression at the sight.

Naturally, the professor also knew about their awkward relationship.

Since multiple guilds had joined forces to receive the contract, they had no choice but to calculate profits and losses among themselves.

However, when the glory of possibly making their name known throughout the Empire appeared before their eyes, they united like true craftsmen.

“Wardanaz. Are you watching? Your magic brought them together.”

“No… no matter how generous I am, that’s not right…”

“Haha. I told you it’s fine to be moderately humble!”

‘Did I make a mistake accepting this commission?’

Lee Han had never regretted accepting a paying commission before.

But this time, he felt like he might regret it a little.

‘Come to think of it, all of this might be because of Professor Verdus.’

Lee Han resolved that once this matter was over, he would definitely get revenge on Professor Verdus.

* * *

Coming out of Professor Alpen’s room, Lee Han felt several times more tired than before.

-We will definitely make the mage’s reputation known throughout the Empire!

-Yes… thank you. But if you just pay me well, that’s enough for me…

-No! Please wait!

‘Hmm. Surely the payment won’t be delayed.’

Even if the guild members got excited and talked about ‘building a structure that will be known throughout the Empire,’ it didn’t really resonate with Lee Han.

Rather, he was worried that they might get too excited.

Worrying about them getting excited might seem strange at first glance, but there was a reason for his concern.

Building a structure with the budget received from the Empire->Getting excited and trying to improve the structure’s quality->Costing more than the initially calculated estimate->We’re sorry, mage sir, please wait a little longer!

Lee Han was worried that after he had helped reduce costs, they might try to raise the quality in other areas.

‘Just in case, I should speak to the professor again later.’

Since speaking directly might sound rude, he planned to say something like ‘I’m worried about the guild members, so let’s just build it moderately.’

“Student Lee Han. Student Lee Han.”

“Ah. Professor.”

When Professor Garcia called him, Lee Han looked up with delight.

There were very few cases at Einroguard where he felt happy when a professor called him, and Professor Garcia was one of those very rare cases.

“What’s the matter?”

“Would you like to come in for a moment?”

Lee Han followed Professor Garcia into the lecture hall without any suspicion.

In the middle of the lecture hall was a deep, dark pit so deep that the bottom couldn’t be seen.

“…I trusted you, Professor!!”

Lee Han immediately drew his staff and rolled to the side.

Professor Garcia was flustered by his reaction.

“Why, why? What did I do wrong?”

“…Weren’t you going to push me into the pit?”

“…Student Lee Han. Has Professor Bagrek ever pushed you into a pit like this?”

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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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