Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 679

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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 679

Diret restrained his urge to shout as a dignified senior and guided Lee Han inside.

As expected, once they passed through the door, the old manor revealed a completely different scenery.

The wide dome-shaped space painted in white was filled with a scholarly atmosphere.

Mages wearing various peculiar outfits gathered in small groups, having serious conversations.

-You’re saying research funding has been cut off?

-That’s right! *sob*, of course I did embezzle some gold, but that was all for the sake of greater magic.

-I know. I understand! Cutting research funding just because you embezzled a little gold. How rude. What do they think magic is? The development of magic stops because of people like that!

-What do you think about the staff styles popular in the capital?

-Making such an unstable structure just for one fire element? It’s simply vulgar! The trend will die down soon!

While mages were conversing in the front of the dome, in the back of the dome, mages who would present at today’s exchange meeting were preparing.

Lee Han spotted Gawon preparing among them and silently wished him well.

Diret left his name in the guest book and called Lee Han.

“Junior. Here. You need to see this first.”

“What is it?”

“Snacks. The refreshments at this exchange meeting are decent.”

Diret personally picked up a plate and put some fruit leather and tea cookies on it.

“Remember this. The apricot fruit leather and chestnut tea cookies here are delicious.”

“Ah, yes.”

Lee Han was slightly flustered by Diret’s serious demeanor.

For a moment, he thought it was Gainando.

“Um, Senior Diret. Shouldn’t we be preparing more for magic or such things at an exchange meeting?”

“Hm?”

Diret chuckled at his junior’s words while sipping tea.

“More than half of what’s presented at exchange meetings is garbage. If we don’t at least pick tasty snacks, it’ll be a waste of time.”

In fact, saying half was being generous.

Though he said he came for inspiration, there wouldn’t even be one or two pieces of magic that could inspire a mage like Diret today.

And that was only if he was lucky.

“Fortunately, Princess Yukveltire is participating in today’s exchange meeting. Her work should be worth watching.”

“Who is that?”

“Ah. You wouldn’t know. She’s my friend. She’s also your senior. She’s also advancing to 5th year…”

Diret tried not to show it in front of his junior, but his last words contained unmistakable anxiety and melancholy.

Lee Han encouraged him.

“Cheer up. Senior, you’ll be able to do well.”

“…I don’t know what you’re talking about?”

Diret realized he had shown an unseemly side in front of his junior and coughed pretending not to know.

“So what was that story about the Principal earlier?”

“Hmm. That story will be quite long to tell.”

“We have plenty of time anyway. Preparation will take longer.”

Diret shrugged his shoulders as he answered.

“So the reason we went to the Sorrow Mountain Range was…”

Lee Han told the story starting from why they went to the Sorrow Mountain Range to why the Principal ended up taking the unicorn.

Diret had initially been leisurely crunching on snacks, but before he knew it, he had put down his teacup and was focused on the story.

“So? So what happened?”

“The unicorns! What about those poor unicorns?”

Even other mages nearby joined in.

Lee Han and Diret looked at the mages in bewilderment.

“Well, this is internal Einroguard business, so it’s a bit awkward for outsiders to hear…”

“Please! I’ll keep it secret!”

“Please tell us! *sob*! What happened!”

The mages pleaded desperately, but Lee Han and Diret coldly got up and moved to another spot.

“…So that’s how the Principal ended up taking the unicorn.”

Only after hearing the whole story could Diret take a deep breath.

“Junior, you really…”

“?”

“…There are so many things to point out that I don’t know where to start. You really manage to survive by sheer luck!”

“I was lucky.”

‘Isn’t that unlucky?’

Diret only thought to himself as he spoke.

“I don’t know about other things, but I’m a bit worried that you seem to be getting too close to the Principal.”

“Because friends might misunderstand me as a spy?”

“…No… Magic. I was talking about magic. The Principal’s magic isn’t easy.”

Diret looked at his junior as if he was absurd.

‘Well.’

Lee Han deeply empathized, especially since he had received an impossible assignment when they parted at the Sorrow Mountain Range last time.

“So Professor Bendozol is returning from this year?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm, hang in there, junior.”

Lee Han suddenly became anxious at Diret’s words that contained many meanings.

“…Was he that severe?”

“A little? I still can’t forget rescuing a friend who accidentally got inside a kraken’s stomach.”

Diret looked into the air with eyes filled with memories.

Of course, Lee Han couldn’t indulge in such sentimentality. He looked at his senior with a gaze of horror.

“Don’t worry too much, junior. It’s a path we’ve all walked. Of course, 2nd year lectures will be a bit more difficult, but junior, you’ve already taken them hard enough. It won’t be much different.”

“Thank you for the warm comfort…”

Lee Han answered with complicated feelings, not knowing whether to be happy or sad.

“Oh right. Senior Diret. Do you know what small world magic is?”

When he asked, remembering what he heard from the Skeleton Principal, Diret looked at Lee Han with a puzzled expression.

“I do know, but why? It’s not magic you should be interested in yet, junior.”

Though puzzled, Diret took out the paper he had and drew simple diagrams while explaining.

They had time anyway, and in Diret’s view, the junior before him was someone completely obsessed with magic, so it wouldn’t be strange for him to be interested.

“Junior, you should know what it means for a mage to cast magic.”

“Changing reality with the mage’s will…”

Since it was such a famous saying, Lee Han answered without much thought. Diret nodded and continued his explanation.

“Right. But strictly speaking, most magic doesn’t really change reality. It’s closer to cleverly deceiving reality.”

Diret pointed to a passing mage who was wearing a brilliant light cloak magic.

The light cloak changed into seven different colors, creating unique magical wave patterns.

“That magic is probably 【Asen’s Seven-Color Illusion Cloak】. The orthodox way to cast that magic requires two magic circles, five types of reagents, and incantations of four verses or more. But why can’t it just be cast with incantations, will, and gestures? That would be much more convenient.”

“Because there’s insufficient mana.”

Lee Han answered immediately.

“…”

At the unexpected answer, Diret looked at his junior with a slightly stunned expression.

“That… that’s also correct, but that wasn’t the story I was trying to tell, junior. I wanted to talk about how changing reality isn’t as easy as you’d think.”

Magic wasn’t a discipline that created something from nothing without any cost.

Whatever phenomenon one wanted to achieve, a price was necessary.

Whether mana, reagents, or incantations…

“The reason all those complex methods are employed is because it’s essentially closer to deceiving reality rather than changing it. Various methods are employed to deceive skillfully. To truly change reality is difficult with lower-level magic. Much higher-level magic is needed, and all sorts of secrets are required… one of which is the realm of small worlds.”

Having said this much, Diret pondered how to explain it well.

“Do you happen to know unique world magic? You probably don’t…”

“I know. I’ve seen it before.”

“Ah. You know that? …What? Where did you see it?!”

Diret was startled.

Did he see it at the Wardanaz Family?!

“I’ll ask about that later… Unique World magic is the pinnacle and supreme realm of magic. It changes the world itself according to the mage’s will. But it’s equally abstruse and difficult magic… and few people even aim for it.”

Not all mages dreamed of magic like Unique Worlds the way the Skeleton Principal did.

Since mages’ goals were fundamentally the pursuit of knowledge, only magic related to their own purposes was important.

Magic that was difficult to reach even after grinding away one’s entire life was inefficient as a means.

In comparison, Small World magic was much more localized and limited, but it changed reality using principles similar to Unique World magic.

‘Like a budget version of Unique World magic.’

Lee Han understood in his own way after hearing Diret’s explanation.

After all, since the Skeleton Principal had some semblance of conscience (though he had immediately recommended learning Spirit Words magic), he couldn’t directly tell him to learn Unique Worlds right away.

Instead, he must have recommended starting with Small Worlds, which more people had learned.

Unique World magic was a mage’s individual supreme realm that no one could teach.

In comparison, Small World magic was theorized to some extent and was at a level that could be learned by grinding away time and talent.

“Once you can deploy a Small World, from that point you can truly say you’re changing reality. The magic you can deploy within it becomes more diverse too.”

“Do you know how to use it too, Senior Diret?”

“If I prepare very, very thoroughly, just briefly in limited situations.”

Diret briefly explained the Small World he had learned, ‘Pentagrammaton’.

It was a type of Small World realm that released the limits of dark magic within the mage and in close proximity.

“But there’s rarely any occasion to use it. Rather than using this, it’s much more convenient to just prepare in other ways.”

If Diret needed to prepare magic beyond his limits, he would just cast various spells in his workshop to strongly control the area, then amplify his own abilities with elixirs.

Strongly controlling an area with magic and amplifying one’s own abilities produced roughly similar effects to a Small World.

Mages were always beings who pursued efficiency.

“That’s amazing!”

Lee Han looked at Diret with eyes full of respect.

“I told you I can only use it briefly.”

“Still, amazing is amazing. I respect you.”

At his junior’s words, Diret looked away bashfully. It wasn’t a bad feeling to receive praise, but it was also somewhat embarrassing.

Diret coughed and changed the subject.

“But why Small Worlds? Did someone tell you to learn it?”

“Yes.”

“…Which crazy bastard?!”

When an affirmative answer came back to his joking question, Diret was horrified.

“The Principal told me to learn 5th Circle magic so I could begin by the end of this year.”

“That crazy bastard has lost his mind!”

Diret was furious.

At that sight, Lee Han was even more moved than before.

How many people would get angry at the Skeleton Principal for the sake of their junior?

Loyalty surged up naturally.

“This won’t do. Junior. I’m writing an anonymous complaint.”

“No, no. It’s fine.”

“What’s fine about it?!”

“I was planning to make excuses and get by.”

“How?”

“I was just going to learn mainly easy magic and then insist I did what he asked.”

“…”

Diret was getting angry but was left speechless from absurdity.

So right now…

Wasn’t he saying he was confident he could learn easy 5th Circle magic?

Feeling anew that the junior before him was a genius incomparable to himself, Diret shook his head.

“…I understand. Junior. It’s your business, so I should respect your decision. But if you feel it’s not working out later, don’t endure it and tell me.”

“Yes. If it seems difficult, I’ll just speak directly to His Majesty.”

“Right… huh?”

Diret, who had been speaking, tilted his head.

Didn’t he just say directly, not an anonymous complaint?

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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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