Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 565

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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 565

“I just arrived. More importantly, are your ears blocked?”

“I’m sorry. I must not have heard because I was tired.”

“Oh my. You need to take better care of your health.”

Professor Verdus lightly scolded Lee Han.

“I can’t help it since I’m attending so many lectures.”

“Is that so?”

“I was wondering if you could reduce the assignments, Professor. Wouldn’t that help with health management?”

“Uh. That won’t work.”

Lee Han smiled calmly as if he hadn’t expected anything.

“So what brings you here?”

“Ah. Right. I originally came to ask you to help prepare for the final exams.”

Professor Verdus spoke as if remembering.

“But Professor Garcia told me not to!”

“Oh my!”

“Isn’t that strange, really?”

“Indeed!”

“Right!”

Professor Verdus grumbled.

“She wasn’t like this when she was a student. Professor Garcia has changed too.”

“Oh my!”

“So what I’m saying is.”

“Indeed!”

“Huh?”

‘Oops.’

Lee Han realized he had responded a beat too early while just repeating “Oh my” and “Indeed.”

Fortunately, the dense Professor Verdus didn’t notice.

“Could you persuade Professor Garcia? Professor Garcia listens to what you say.”

“Oh my!”

“Right. I’m counting on you.”

“I’ll try my best, but Professor Garcia is a strict person, so there’s no guarantee she’ll listen to me just because it’s my words.”

‘I absolutely must not say anything.’

Lee Han had no intention whatsoever of persuading Professor Garcia.

For whose benefit would he make such a persuasion?

“Well, Professor Garcia is strict indeed.”

“Indeed.”

“She broke through an artifact’s force field with her fist.”

“Oh my! …No wait, what exactly did you do to get punched by her fist?”

“I didn’t do anything!”

Professor Verdus grumbled as if feeling wronged and pulled out a pouch from his chest. From inside the heavy-looking pouch came a familiar jingling sound. It was the beautiful sound that could only be made when silver and gold coins collided.

“I went through all the trouble of selling artifacts to exchange for this.”

“What is this?”

“Huh? I told you in the punishment room back then. Did you already forget?”

Professor Verdus looked at Lee Han with eyes that seemed worried about his intelligence.

“…Wait, don’t tell me this is payment for exam preparation?”

Graduate Kettle had grabbed Professor Verdus by the collar and made him swear for the sake of his junior’s rights.

Don’t force work on him, and when you do assign work, pay compensation…

“Yeah.”

“Where did you get this??”

“I sold a few artifacts.”

“No… uh… is it okay to sell them?”

Lee Han hesitated.

Gold coins and silver coins were nice, but he first wondered if it was really okay to sell them.

At those words, Professor Verdus also hesitated.

“Uh. Was I not supposed to sell them? Wait a minute.”

“…”

“Now that I think about it, I think Gonadaltes told me not to sell them.”

“Oh my.”

“But it’s fine as long as we don’t get caught, right?”

“Indeed.”

Lee Han nodded.

He was surprised, but thinking about it, Professor Verdus was right.

And even if they got caught, Professor Verdus would be the one taken away, so what did it matter to Lee Han?

‘The Principal will handle it himself.’

“So then, Professor. If I help prepare for the final exams, this cute and lovely silver coin pouch becomes mine?”

“Wardanaz. You’re being kind of creepy.”

Professor Verdus looked at Lee Han with disgust.

Sometimes there were artifact craftsmen who gave names to artifacts and spoke to them lovingly, but Professor Verdus wasn’t that type.

“Understood. Anyway, you’re giving it to me, right?”

“But Professor Garcia said no, didn’t she? It’s better to listen to Professor Garcia.”

‘What exactly did he do?’

Lee Han became curious about how Professor Garcia had persuaded Professor Verdus.

“Still, I’ll try to persuade her once more.”

“Then I’m counting on you.”

Professor Verdus pulled out a dagger from his chest. Judging by the complex mana structure he could feel, it was an artifact with more than one magic spell cast on it.

“Take this.”

“Ah. Thank you.”

Lee Han was slightly surprised by Professor Verdus’s gift.

Thanks to Senior Kettle, Professor Verdus seemed to have become more generous.

Not only giving a money pouch but also giving such gifts freely?

“Tell the students to make this today.”

“…Professor. You need to come to the lecture hall. And assigning this is a separate matter.”

“What!? Really!?”

* * *

“Uh, isn’t the new students’ final exam a bit too bland?”

Cohorti had visited Professor Mortum’s workshop and looked at the final exam questions with puzzlement.

Normally, the 1st year final exam would feature a full cast of various and complex dark magic including undead summoning, bone/poison/dark elements, curses, and more.

It was an exam that served to test the abilities of new students who would begin walking the path of dark magic in earnest in their 2nd year, and to help them steel their resolve one last time.

But for such an exam, the test was too modest.

There was even a thick stack of papers piled on the desk behind Professor Mortum. Judging by the questions written on top, it was definitely exam questions.

Choose the creature that lives in the Undead Realm from the following…

Of course, this could also be called an exam, but it was indeed bland.

Cohorti wondered why such questions existed.

Professor Mortum paused his quill and coughed before answering.

“You’re saying that when you almost blew up the school faction’s foundation pillar during the last midterm exam?”

“…”

“…”

The dark magic school students in the workshop blushed and lowered their heads.

A few glared at Cohorti with resentful eyes.

‘Why did he have to bring up that topic of all things.’

‘Does Senior have no sense of the situation?’

“…I’m sorry.”

“Cough. And you’re saying that after begging a junior for reagents?”

“I’m truly sorry!!!”

Cohorti threw away all dignity as a fourth year and lowered his posture.

No matter how much of a fourth year he was, this was a mistake that would inevitably stain his reputation.

“Good, now that you understand. Help with the problems.”

“Yes…”

The fourth year student with an embarrassing past sat at the table and mixed poisons.

“Ankle-binding poison?”

“Yes.”

It was a relatively peaceful poison that made footsteps sluggish.

Cohorti completed the poison mixture in a single motion.

“What’s next?”

“Bone-eating poison.”

It was a powerful poison that forcibly stimulated bone regeneration to destroy parts of the body almost completely.

Cohorti completed the poison with two motions and one reagent addition.

“Next?”

“Ahrak’s red poison.”

Ahrak was a dark mage from the Empire’s past who made a name for himself with poisons.

Though he couldn’t overcome the poison he created himself and met a tragic end by turning into a handful of bloody water, there were still many dark mages who respected Ahrak.

Cohorti groaned and carefully swung his staff. Ahrak’s red poison could make you bleed from your eyes, nose, ears, and mouth for a whole week if made incorrectly.

“That’s enough. …Wait a minute. Why are we making this? Why would we use this for final exams?”

Cohorti, who had been making it, finally felt something was strange.

Diret, who had finished working inside and come out, explained instead.

“That’s not for final exams, it’s for today’s lecture. I need to teach about poison magic, but there are some juniors with strong resistance.”

“Ah. There was that giant hybrid underclassman, right?”

One of the students spoke up as if remembering.

“Black Turtle Tower, right? Hehe. That works out perfectly.”

“Hey. Don’t transfer your fights to the juniors.”

Diret gave a light warning.

Even if it just rained from the sky, students from each tower would bicker and fight, saying things like ‘It’s raining because of those Blue Dragon Tower guys!’ ‘No, it’s raining because of the White Tiger Tower students’ experiments!’ ‘You’re all wrong, it’s Black Turtle Tower…’

And this didn’t change even as years passed and grades went up.

The students from each tower, united by competitive spirit, couldn’t help but compete through their juniors. The giant hybrid underclassman was a very reliable asset.

“And he’s not a kid who likes fighting.”

“That can’t be. Where is there a giant hybrid who dislikes fighting?”

“Since you’re learning dark magic, you probably dig up graves and eat corpses.”

“No… I, I don’t do that…”

The junior who heard what Diret said felt very wronged.

“I only dug up graves to steal corpses, I never ate them. I’m not a ghoul.”

“That’s not the point… Never mind. Anyway, don’t say useless things to the juniors. I’m really worried since you’ll all be too busy to see next year.”

“Oh. Senior. Are you going to advance to fifth year?”

“Yeah. I’ve decided.”

Diret spoke in a slightly tired voice.

At Einroguard, quite a few people finished their studies in second or third year due to personal circumstances, but those who seriously wanted to explore magic as a discipline usually completed up to fourth year.

After completing fourth year, they would forge their own path with the wisdom and knowledge they had accumulated.

But among them, a few unfortunate ones, or rather, those hungrier for wisdom and knowledge than others, would advance to fifth year.

They would assist their masters while pursuing higher realms together.

Of course, it wasn’t an easy choice.

Even fourth year alone was disgustingly and terribly busy.

Most active participation within Einroguard was limited to third years, as fourth years were too busy being absorbed in magic before graduation to think of anything else.

If fourth year was like this, how painful and terrible would fifth year be?

And what was even harder than that were the non-magical tasks.

Fifth years were now close to the traditional concept of direct disciples.

Before the Empire’s magic schools established collective education systems, the continent’s mages had passed down enlightenment through much more primitive educational methods.

The one-on-one master-disciple method of eccentric masters and pitiful disciples that often appeared in fairy tales was exactly this old method.

Of course, this method had many adverse effects. You could tell just from the fact that several disciples who killed their masters emerged. The higher mages’ realms became, the more inversely proportional their character became.

But Einroguard’s fifth years brought to mind the vanished old concept of direct disciples.

As you could tell from professors only allowing qualified students to advance to fifth year, these fifth year students certainly fit the description of direct disciples.

“Will you be alright?”

“The professor will give you a lot of work!”

“Cough. Cough.”

Direct disciples usually had tremendously increased workloads.

Managing the professor’s other disciples was among the easiest of these tasks.

Now they had to research entirely new magic of different dimensions, present papers to the Empire’s academic world (and also prepare presentation materials), request grants and manage research funds, participate in external presentations…

If someone like Professor Verdus was your master, it would become hell among hells.

“Professor Mortum is on the decent side.”

“Thank you, Diret.”

Professor Mortum glared at the other students. They were ungrateful brats.

“And I’m more worried about magical research than the professor’s work. I might not be able to show my face for the entire year.”

“We’ll come visit you!”

“Cough, cough.”

Professor Mortum coughed in disbelief.

“Are you seriously calling that encouragement?”

“Enough, everyone. Stop worrying about me. What I want to say is that I’m worried about you guys. When juniors come in, treat them properly. Don’t bully them even if they’re from other towers.”

“And don’t get bullied by juniors.”

Cohorti added. The students who heard this tilted their heads, wondering what he meant.

‘What’s he talking about?’

“Cohorti’s words are… actually right. Is 【Ahrak’s Red Poison】 finished?”

“Wait. Senior Diret. I almost forgot, but even for a giant hybrid, 【Ahrak’s Red Poison】 would be too harsh. Wouldn’t another poison be better?”

“Don’t worry about it. The poison for Ymirg is bone-eating poison.”

“Ah. I see.”

The student who answered and sat down suddenly paused.

‘Huh?’

Then who are you planning to feed 【Ahrak’s Red Poison】 to?

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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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