Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 685

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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 685

There were various ways for mages to borrow power from beings of other dimensions.

First, there was the forceful method.

Subduing beings from other dimensions and then making them submit so they couldn’t escape.

If one had the ability to subdue and make them submit, it was the simplest and cleanest method. The lord of a certain magic school or the family head of a certain family enjoyed using this method.

Next was trickery.

Making contracts with beings from other dimensions while inserting all sorts of complex deceptions into those contracts to benefit the mage.

This method worked well on beings like demons who were greedy and targeted people.

In the end, if you’re greedy, you’re bound to be deceived.

There were as many demons who fell for mages’ tricks as there were people who fell for demons’ tricks.

Lastly, there were contracts.

Building friendship and camaraderie with beings from other dimensions and helping each other.

This was a method commonly seen with beings like spirits who were friendly and gentle toward people.

And surprisingly, Diret was attempting to research a quasi-perpetual motion machine using demonic mana through this last method.

“Huh, is that possible?”

Lee Han was even more surprised than he had been moments before.

While he didn’t particularly hold prejudices against demons, basically demons were beings who would stop at nothing to achieve their own purposes.

Even if the demons seen in the Wardanaz Family or Einroguard appeared kind and docile, that was only because they were bound by contracts, and it wouldn’t be strange if they immediately bared their fangs the moment those contracts were released.

“It’s not impossible. Though I am encountering some difficulties…”

“I think forcibly extracting mana would be much better.”

“…Hey, I told you to drag that person away!”

When Yukveltire offered advice from afar, Diret shouted in an irritated voice.

* * *

Lee Han was able to leave the exchange venue only after another three hours had passed.

It wasn’t because recovery took a long time. In fact, he had recovered enough to move around after about 30 minutes.

The following 2 hours and 30 minutes were spent talking with the mages who participated in the exchange.

-Our magic tower is researching the cultivation of Extreme Magic Whale Stöekul. Are you perhaps interested?

-I don’t know much about sea creatures.

-Haha. Just having that insane mana… no, that tremendous mana would be enough. You’re most welcome!

-…

-Our guild is researching the Empire’s spirit forests and their influence. We absolutely want to have Lord Wardanaz join us.

-I don’t get along very well with spirits though.

-Uhahaha! What a joke! How could someone who borrows the power of such great spirits not get along with spirits?

-…

Of course, most of the proposals ended up making Lee Han sad.

Fortunately, there were a few tempting proposals. Lee Han diligently took notes to refer to when accepting requests after returning to Einroguard.

-Ignore the proposals from the mages here. I’ll make you an offer you can’t refuse. My research…

-No, why does this person keep slipping out? Drag him away quickly!

There were incidents where the troublesome senior interfered and caused a ruckus, but somehow he managed to barely escape.

“I’m… exhausted…”

Diret, who had barely managed to bring Lee Han out, muttered in a voice full of fatigue.

Come to think of it, this seemed to be the first time forcibly extracting a popular junior from other mages.

Basically, students from the black magic school were usually far from this kind of attention.

Who knew it would be this tiring!

“Junior. This way.”

“I’m fine now though.”

“No.”

Diret spoke firmly.

Even though he had received help from healing magic as well as his own mana, the aftereffects of unifying with a great spirit were not something to take lightly.

Even if he seemed fine now, a rebound could suddenly return and make him collapse.

“It’s not simply a matter of mana or stamina, but the amount of magical information can also damage a mage’s brain. Didn’t you feel magic different from usual when you unified with the great spirit?”

“!”

Lee Han realized what Diret was talking about.

The power of lightning that Perkuntra used was completely different from the lightning magic Lee Han had used until now.

From how to handle lightning elements to what level magic could be extended to.

That intense memory remained to some extent even now that the unification had been released.

“Forcibly practicing magic that doesn’t match your level is dangerous, but forcibly stuffing it into your brain is even more dangerous. You need to be careful for a while.”

“But Professor Bagrek forcibly made me practice magic that didn’t match my level. The Principal even forcibly stuffed things into my brain…”

At his junior’s question, Diret pretended not to hear.

“Hm?”

“Professor Bagrek and the Principal…”

“What did you say?”

“…It’s nothing.”

Instead of catching his senior’s evasion, Lee Han resolved to be careful for a while.

It seemed right to not recall the magic Perkuntra had shown him and take care of his body until he was ready.

‘Still, this seems like worrying a bit too much…?’

Lee Han stared intently at the back of the head of Diret’s summoned creature, a high-rank demon, that was carrying him.

-■■■?

“Ah. It’s nothing. Thank you for carrying me.”

The high-rank demon nodded with a stoic expression. Seeing this, Diret said,

“He says he was surprised that you have a kind personality despite your appearance.”

“I get that misunderstanding often. Really, beings that judge people by their mana.”

Lee Han spoke indignantly. Diret wondered if it was really only because of his mana.

‘I don’t think you can contract with a great spirit just by having a lot of mana…’

“More importantly, Senior.”

“Huh, huh? I wasn’t thinking anything?”

“What? No, I was wondering about all those people gathered on the street over there. What’s going on?”

“!”

At his junior’s words, Diret looked over and was startled.

The streets of Plahur City where darkness had fallen since dawn had not yet come.

The light from mana lamps dimly illuminated the silhouettes of people on those streets.

It was clearly not an ordinary number.

“This is bad!”

“Are they suspicious people? Perhaps Anti-Magic Extremists?”

“…They’re not that suspicious! Those are mages!”

“What mages?”

“Mages who heard rumors about the exchange!”

Since Plahur City was a great city, there were many mages, and among them, there were far more mages who didn’t participate in the exchange.

Not all mages were interested in exchanges.

But there were occasional exceptions.

When rumors spread that would make even mages sitting in their mansions jump up, mages would swarm like this.

“Ugh. Senior told me to give Senior Yukveltire a blow, so I did…”

“…I didn’t know you’d give such a blow! How could anyone predict that!”

Diret felt this was really unfair too.

No professor could have predicted this would happen in that situation.

“Can’t we just push through?”

“There are too many for that. Even just exchanging a word with each would take several hours. Junior. If you want to work as a mage for a long time, research is important, but…”

“The ability to secure research funding is also important, right?”

“…No, no. Not that.”

Diret was flustered when his junior gave a more realistic answer than expected.

Diret didn’t yet know that the junior before him had received the praise of ‘Bureaucrat Destroyer’ from the Skeleton Principal during vacation.

“That’s important too, but the lesson I wanted to share was not to associate with strange mages.”

“Ah.”

Lee Han nodded.

It was certainly sound advice.

“Do you mean people like Professor Verdus or Senior Yukveltire?”

“…No… people even stranger than those two.”

Diret almost answered yes for a moment but shook his head and came to his senses.

Though it wasn’t something an Einroguard student should say, there really were many strange people among mages.

It would be better if they were simply mages obsessed with research.

Fraudsters who had no real interest in magic but tried to deceive others to extort gold coins, criminals who used magic to pull off big scores, brokers who tried to earn commission by introducing mages to other guilds or magic towers…

Since the path of magic was treacherous, there were surprisingly few mages who seriously wanted to walk that path.

Therefore, mages who seriously walked the path of magic had to avoid associating with suspicious characters.

Getting involved with them would only waste one’s own time!

“There was once a senior who was popular in that way.”

“From the Dark Magic school?”

“No. From another school… Hey. What did you mean by that?”

“I was just asking to confirm.”

“Anyway, that senior often had such people come to him with proposals, and there seemed to be something tempting among them. He accepted a proposal and did something together with them.”

“What happened?”

“It appeared in the Empire newspaper that an Einroguard graduate mage was caught committing fraud with magic…”

Diret spoke in a dejected voice.

Even though time had passed, it was still a painful memory.

He still vividly remembered how the Skeleton Principal had flown into a rage and conducted searches of the students.

‘Oh no.’

Lee Han listened even more intently since it wasn’t someone else’s business. He himself had dreams about business ventures.

‘I definitely need to be careful.’

“If they’re mages participating in exchange meetings, they’re at least somewhat decent, but there’s no need to associate with every single one of those mages.”

“Wait. Isn’t that Senior Yukveltire over there?”

“What? That’s nonsense…”

Diret narrowed his eyes at Lee Han’s words and looked ahead.

Yukveltire was standing on the main road with her guards.

“When you find him, explain my research and make the proposal.”

“Yes. Understood.”

“These mages here are getting in the way. Buy off anyone who can be bought.”

“…”

Instead of dispersing the petty merchants for his junior’s sake as a senior should, seeing her trying to buy them off for her own use, Diret hung his head low.

She was his friend who would be embarrassing anywhere.

“Let’s go around back… there’s an alleyway over there…”

“…Cheer up.”

“I’m fine…”

Despite saying that, Diret’s wings seemed particularly droopy today.

* * *

-No, why are you mages doing this in the middle of the night? The citizens are frightened.

-We’re just trying to find someone…

“This won’t work. Let’s go inside.”

Diret chose to enter a building when he saw there were more mages than expected.

When dawn broke, they would give up and disperse.

“Do you know a place?”

“There’s a workshop nearby.”

Since the exchange meeting venue itself was located in the mage district of Plaher City, there were several workshops of guilds and magic towers nearby. The same was true for workshops established by Einroguard’s schools themselves.

‘Hmm?’

Lee Han brightened up but then hesitated.

Come to think of it, he wondered if it was okay for the Dark Magic school to have a workshop here.

Even if it was the mage district, shouldn’t it be in a more secluded place on the outskirts, near a cemetery?

“Is it really the Dark Magic school’s workshop?”

“Alchemy school.”

“Ah.”

“…Right, well. The Dark Magic school probably shouldn’t even have a workshop here.”

“No, senior. Why are you saying that? I just thought the location wasn’t suitable because of reagent supply. But can we enter an Alchemy school workshop?”

“I’m relatively close with the Alchemy school kids… I even got permission from Professor Thunderstep to enter. And there won’t be anyone inside.”

Diret cast a spell. With a clanking sound, the workshop door opened. A pungent smell of various mixed reagents wafted from inside.

-Who’s there?

“…We’re screwed.”

Diret muttered quietly. Lee Han climbed down from the high-rank demon’s back and asked.

“What’s wrong?”

“There happens to be a junior I’m not close with. Someone called Ilendil… Oh. Wait. Junior.”

Diret, who belatedly recalled the memory, looked at Lee Han expectantly.

Lee Han answered firmly.

“I’m not close with them either.”

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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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