Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 576
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 576
Monday.
The students left the dormitory tower door carrying emotions of tension, frustration, fear, regret, resignation, and anticipation.
“Are you actually looking forward to this, Nilia?”
“My goodness. How confident must you be…”
“Oh, no. I was looking forward to this week ending so the semester would be over!”
“You don’t need to be modest, Nilia. We’re the ones who didn’t study, so you can be confident.”
“I’m telling you I’m not confident either…!”
As if blessing the fact that it was the final week, thick snow began falling from the sky.
“It’s snowing.”
“Since we’re dressed warmly, it actually looks kind of pretty.”
“Right. I think it could snow even more.”
The students were much more relaxed.
When wearing old, worn-out coats, cold wind would seep inside no matter what magic they cast, but the story was different when they were properly armed with winter gear like now.
The students who had wrapped themselves thickly in fabric scrounged from outside and put hot heating potions in their coat pockets remained composed even in the heavy snowfall.
“Don’t talk nonsense.”
Nilia became serious.
Having spent nights in the coldest parts of the Northern Mountains, she could feel to her bones just how terrifying snow could be.
What dangerous talk!
“Everyone pray that the snow doesn’t get worse by next week. Got it?”
“S-sorry, Nilia.”
“We were wrong…”
The Black Turtle Tower friends became dejected while watching Nilia’s expression.
They had just thought the white snow was pretty, but Nilia was too strict.
* * *
Lee Han was the first to arrive at Professor Garcia’s classroom.
He had woken up early in the morning to stop by the stables and soothe the sulking Ponrig, then returned to the dormitory to prepare meals, but thanks to the priests waking up early to help with the work, it finished much faster than expected.
“Good morning, Professor.”
“Student Lee Han. Why did you come so early?”
Professor Garcia, who had been doing a final check on the final exam prepared in the classroom, looked puzzled upon seeing Lee Han.
“I wanted to help.”
“What’s the point of coming early when I told you to rest?”
Professor Garcia waved her hand and told him to go sit to the side.
“Just prepare for other exams. The final exam preparations are all finished anyway.”
“Yes. But please call me if you need any help.”
Lee Han glanced at the exam site as he walked over.
Professor Garcia’s final exam was a test that comprehensively checked all the life magic learned during the semester.
Enter deep underwater with 【Underwater Breathing】, neutralize poison with 【Minor Detoxification】, find the way underwater with 【Vision Enhancement】…
Lee Han already knew this since Professor Garcia had shown it directly last week.
But…
“Professor. Shouldn’t the water be darker?”
Lee Han asked with confusion.
He had definitely told Professor Garcia ‘I think the water should be darker’?
“Oh, that. Looking at it, I think that level should be fine.”
“Is that so…?”
‘I think it should be darker though.’
No matter how he thought about it, it seemed like it should be darker, but Lee Han accepted it for now.
If Professor Garcia said so, there must be a reason.
“Oh right, Professor. Were fake passages added?”
“No. I didn’t think we needed to go that far.”
“Ah. Wouldn’t it be good to add fake passages?”
While adding darkness elements to the water was blocked, Lee Han thought fake passages were worth adding.
It would surely make for a much more exciting exam.
“It would become too difficult.”
“Is that so…”
Lee Han became slightly anxious.
Just like last time, Professor Garcia had shown such kindness, but Lee Han hadn’t been able to repay any of it.
‘I need to find improvement points somehow.’
“What about the poison…?”
“Student Lee Han. Sit down and study something else.”
“Yes…”
Lee Han sat down reluctantly.
As he took out a book to study and read, Professor Garcia suddenly seemed to remember something and asked.
“Student Lee Han.”
“Ah. Is there something for me to do?”
“That’s not it. Do you happen to raise giants?”
“?!?!!”
* * *
“Is it just me or is it weird that Lee Han is sitting over there?”
Gainando asked his friends while preparing to take the exam.
From the moment they entered the classroom, Lee Han had been sitting in a chair next to the professor reading books from other schools of magic.
“It’s not weird?”
“He probably took it first.”
“Or maybe he just passed. Look ahead, Gainando. Did you cast underwater breathing properly? Don’t spit out water like last time.”
“That was just one mistake!”
“One time becomes two times, and two times becomes three times. Now, go in.”
Splash!
Students entered the water one by one to take the exam.
Lee Han, who had been writing 【On Wardanaz’s Water Orb and Its Basic Principles】 as thoroughly as possible nearby, paused his actions for a moment.
Then he approached Nilia, who was coming up after finishing the exam.
“Gasp, huff. I almost got tricked…!”
“Nilia. Nilia.”
Nilia was happy to see Lee Han approaching.
Professor Garcia’s final exam was more tiring and mentally draining than expected.
She couldn’t relax for even a moment while finding the correct answer and coming out without falling into traps in the dim underwater.
Being so exhausted and tired, seeing a friend who had been waiting approach to cheer her on made her think this was what friendship was.
“Here. Drink this.”
“…Thanks.”
Nilia was slightly moved and softened her usually sharp attitude.
As Nilia was sipping the warm coffee, Lee Han casually asked.
“Wasn’t the underwater area too bright?”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“Like when you went inside, the passages were too easy to find…”
“No. It was dark and hard to find.”
Nilia said while shivering.
The water was colder than expected and the stamina drain was considerable.
“Really? You didn’t cast the magic wrong?”
“…Wardanaz you… what are you doing right now?”
Nilia looked at Lee Han with very suspicious eyes.
She was moved at first, but as she kept listening, this conversation seemed to have some sinister intent hidden in it.
“No. Nothing. Here. Eat this too.”
“Are you trying to appease me with snacks right now…”
“Oh right. It was snowing a lot today. Does the Shadow Patrol still move around on days like this?”
“Pretty much.”
“Wow. That’s really amazing.”
“It’s not that amazing. It’s basic. People living in the Northern Mountains are used to snow. There was this one time. We got trapped in a small cabin that mountain rangers use, and there was a blizzard for a whole week. We couldn’t get out at all so…”
Lee Han nodded and glanced to the side.
Another friend was coming out.
“Yoner. Yoner. Here. Coffee.”
“Huh? Thanks…”
“Wasn’t the water too bright?”
“…”
Yoner, who had been pondering while sipping coffee, seemed to think of something and stared at Lee Han intently before asking back.
“Did you tell Professor Garcia to raise the exam difficulty?”
“…?!”
Lee Han looked at his friend in shock.
Yoner shook his head.
* * *
Alchemy finals.
Professor Thunderstep was astounded to see students coming in with bundles of reagents packed to the brim.
“Among all the students I’ve taught, you guys are the first to take exams this comfortably.”
“Thank you, Professor.”
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
“Then we won’t thank you, Professor.”
Professor Thunderstep hung Ratford upside down and continued speaking.
“Originally exams should start from gathering materials, but to prepare in advance like this…”
“Isn’t preparation also skill?”
“It’s because of you, Wardanaz!”
Professor Thunderstep was dumbfounded by his shameless top student’s attitude.
The guy who took his friends outside in a group and swept up all the reagents!
“Right. Preparation is also skill. I won’t say anything about it. The Principal dislikes outings, but I don’t really care if you students go out.”
“Then please put me down…”
Professor Thunderstep dropped Ratford with a thud.
Then he moved his chalk and wrote on the blackboard.
Potion of Resistance
‘Perfect!’
Lee Han felt relieved seeing the potion’s name.
Students who had prepared a lot for the exam showed similar reactions to Lee Han.
【Potion of Resistance】 was one of the topics they thought might come up for finals.
“What’s a potion of resistance?”
“…”
Of course, not all friends had studied much.
Professor Thunderstep looked pathetically at the student asking despite him clearly explaining during lectures, and explained.
“I’ve said this several times, but this potion of resistance must work in a broad direction. Sometimes incompetent alchemists make potions that only work in one direction and get confused, so don’t make such mistakes.”
The potion of resistance was a potion that increased the drinker’s endurance, something similar to defense power.
The reason it wasn’t called a defense potion was simple. It was a slightly different concept from defense power.
When an arrow flew at you, making your skin hard to deflect it was a defense potion, but reducing pain even when a powerful arrow with strong impact shook your insides was a potion of resistance.
Sometimes peculiar monsters would deal damage by contacting sight or hearing.
Monsters that made you vomit blood just by looking at them or made you collapse just by hearing their cries were this type.
Also, even without going that far, illusion mages would cast magic by contacting the opponent’s five senses.
To prepare for such situations, things like potions of resistance were essential.
‘Sprinkle bear stone ground with a bronze mortar three times, change direction twice with the staff, then when the water boils golden…’
Lee Han and other excellent alchemy students proceeded with their work without hesitation.
Professor Thunderstep watched them and asked.
“Seems like you forgot to measure in advance?”
At those words, students took out new balance scale artifacts they had bought outside.
Seeing the scales that moved weights automatically to do the measuring, Professor Thunderstep frowned deeply.
‘I can see why the Principal hates outings so much!’
Seeing new students easily making potions with artifacts made him want to find fault.
“Hmph. Potions of resistance aren’t that easy. If you rush like that, surely…”
Bang!
Flames shot up from Nilia’s pot.
Only then did Professor Thunderstep relax his expression and look pleased.
“See. This is what happens. It would be quite difficult to revive that.”
However, Nilia didn’t care and emptied all the contents of the pot.
Then she took out new reagents from her reagent bag and immediately got to work.
Since she had enough to fail several more times, there was no real damage.
“…”
Professor Thunderstep resolved to make next year’s first-year finals with reagents absolutely unavailable in stores.
“Wardanaz. I want to check the effects, do you have any magic to recommend?”
Bartrek approached Lee Han.
Being excellent at alchemy, he seemed to want to check other White Tiger Tower students’ potions for them.
“Originally you should drink it then deal magical damage, but if you can’t do that, you should stimulate the five senses.”
You could check if the potion worked well with loud noise, strong smells, or spicy tastes.
Hearing this, Bartrek fell into thought.
“Stimulation…”
“There’s an onion here. How about this?”
“That might be a good idea.”
“Did you drink the potion? Try eating this.”
Lee Han fed Bartrek a piece of onion.
Bartrek frowned.
“This one was made wrong.”
“Oh no. Try the next potion. Did you drink it? Here.”
“Ugh.”
Bartrek drank the potion, ate onion, then drank the next potion, and ate onion.
Before long, tears welled up in Bartrek’s eyes.
“Bartrek! I made it again!”
“…Th, this one seems good. The onion isn’t spicy.”
“Really?!”
Lee Han, who was watching from the side, tilted his head and said.
“No it’s not? The color is murky.”
“…Thank you so much, Wardanaz. I almost made a mistake there.”
“Don’t mention it for something like this.”
Lee Han cheered on Bartrek.
The sight of him finishing his own potion and then helping his tower friends was very admirable.
“Wardanaz. If you’re done, go.”
“I was going to filter it more to increase the purity.”
“It’s a perfect score. Go.”
“You didn’t even look at it.”
“It’ll be a perfect score anyway. Move aside. Look, perfect score.”
“But still, I worked hard to make it…”
Professor Thunderstep chased the persistent Lee Han out of the lecture hall with the ladle he was holding.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————