Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 772

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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 772

Shock and silence.

Diret understood the shock his junior had received well enough to wait for him to recover from it.

“…H-how does that make any sense?”

“Which part? White Tiger Tower 5th year? Or 0 schools?”

“Everything is confusing… How can someone advance to 5th year after failing?”

The common joke among Einroguard’s underclassmen, ‘If you keep failing, won’t you eventually reach 5th year?’ was quite different from reality.

Einroguard wasn’t kind and gentle enough to send you to the next grade just because you failed.

Once you failed, the place that student usually went was the punishment room.

Instead of going outside during vacation, staying in the punishment room would usually solve most failures.

Students aiming to graduate in their 4th year couldn’t be helped that way since it was graduation, but generally the standard process was failure → punishment room → overcoming.

But to not only endure continuous failure but even reach 5th year?

“First, that bastard Jahan… spent entire vacations in the punishment room.”

“…”

Lee Han suddenly felt chills.

To think a person had never been able to go outside even once and had been trapped in Einroguard continuously since enrollment.

It was enough ordeal to turn even a normal person into a monster like the Skeleton Principal.

“Th-that’s too cruel, isn’t it?”

“These things happen at Einroguard too, junior. Not only me, but even Yukveltire and the professors tried to teach him…”

Without realizing it, Lee Han swallowed.

It seemed more nerve-wracking than when he met the Skeleton Principal’s insane doppelganger.

“…We failed. Jahan couldn’t understand even the slightest bit about calculations or laws needed for magic. It’s like he was cursed by numbers.”

“I-I see.”

Lee Han nodded.

Magic was fundamentally an advanced process that required being able to sense and move mana, calculate mentally, and concentrate, so it couldn’t be done with just instinct alone.

Even if one luckily learned a few spells, they couldn’t progress beyond that.

If Catten of the Jahan family was truly cursed by numbers as Diret said, it wouldn’t be strange for him to have failed consecutively.

“Wait. Then how did he become a 5th year?”

“His swordsmanship was excellent.”

Catten possessed swordsmanship skills that didn’t fall behind even when compared to not only his same-year students but also upperclassmen White Tiger Tower seniors.

He could create aura with mana and deploy various secret sword techniques to somehow supplement his lacking magic.

-Student Jahan. The exam was clearly to create a wall made of water…

-I created it, Professor.

-This is swordsmanship… Of course, creating a wall of water by swinging a sword is impressive, but… what kind of sword technique is this?

-It’s a secret technique I created in the punishment room to pass the exam. I swung my sword all day long to manifest a wall of water.

-…Wouldn’t it be better for you to just join a knight order?

Impressed by his dedication and talent, the Skeleton Principal and other professors suggested ‘How about graduating early and joining a knight order?’, but Catten firmly refused.

Catten himself was determined to pursue magic.

-Men of the Jahan family do not break their resolve once decided. Principal. Since swordsmanship is also a technique for handling mana, perhaps when I reach mastery, I might discover a connection with magic.

-…I know a bit of swordsmanship myself, but regardless of the connection between the two, reaching mastery in swordsmanship won’t give you enlightenment about magic…

-Principal. Didn’t you tell us not to set limits on magic!

-How sneaky of you to use my own words against me. This bastard.

Eventually, the Skeleton Principal, swayed by Catten’s stubbornness, allowed him to advance to 5th year.

If you’re going to say that much, then show some results with your sword research!

…As a result, the monster known as a 0-school 5th year student was born.

“…Couldn’t he just go to a knight order?”

“Junior. Me, his seniors, and his juniors have all said that at least a hundred times each.”

From what he heard, this was a swordsmanship talent comparable to Jicklin, Giselle’s sister, so it was incomprehensible why he was doing this at Einroguard.

Wouldn’t just letting him focus on swordsmanship be a consideration for the Empire’s swordsmanship world?

But regardless of what others said, one’s own will was ultimately important, and Catten was convinced that by pursuing swordsmanship, he would someday be able to understand magic.

“I see. Well. At least he’s not a senior with a bad or strange personality, right?”

“After hearing that conversation, you’re asking if he’s not a strange senior?”

“…But at least he’s not a strange senior like Professor Verdus or Senior Yukveltire, right?”

“He’s not that kind of guy. But… hmm… no. I don’t think I need to tell you this in advance.”

“…”

Lee Han wanted to say ‘Don’t you know there are two ways to make people angry, senior?’ but held back.

The senior in front of him was too pitiful a person to get angry at.

“Understood. Then I’ll go listen carefully.”

“Right. Good luck.”

“Oh. When should I come help with the similarity research?”

“It’s still far off.”

“Then I’ll come this weekend.”

Lee Han greeted him and went outside.

“Did you not hear me say it’s still far off?”

Diret grumbled at his junior’s back.

When your junior was too smart, it was hard to even lie.

‘Right. I should put in some gold coins.’

After Lee Han left and Diret was alone in the Dark Magic Hall, he approached the safe.

Since the Dark Magic school was so poor, Diret sometimes secretly put in his own money.

Especially since it looked like there would be 0 new students this year, he was worried enough to open his wallet a bit…

-!!!!!!

A shrill scream burst out from the Dark Magic Hall.

* * *

The 【Sword and Life】 lecture was held in the Hell’s Edge lecture hall on the 6th floor.

‘I’m lucky it was a toxic swamp that burst on the 6th floor.’

Lee Han passed through the poisonous fumes the swamp was emitting with his bare body and opened the door to the Hell’s Edge lecture hall.

Inside, hot heat and lava flowing like a river greeted him.

“…”

The urge to close the door was strong, but Lee Han endured it.

‘Wait. The elemental magic lecture was like this too. All of Einroguard’s lecture halls are unique. I can’t hastily judge the lecture content by the classroom’s characteristics.’

Of course, the professor teaching 【Elemental Magic and Its Applications】 had set Lee Han’s body on fire, but Lee Han tried to accept it as positively as possible.

‘…Why is no one here?’

When he saw no one among the lava and igneous rocks, Lee Han felt the urge to retreat once again.

‘No. Professor Verdus’s lecture was like this too. The seniors might be coming late because they have plenty of time.’

Unlike Lee Han, a 2nd year at Einroguard, the 3rd and 4th years were people overflowing with leisure.

So they might be coming late.

“Oh. Are you a junior? Please come in.”

When he discovered Lee Han had come, a short cat-like student waved happily.

It was a male student with quite thick animal blood, and Lee Han instinctively flinched upon seeing him.

‘Animal hybrids with cute appearances… have been dangerous in my experience.’

Based on Lee Han’s experience so far, animal hybrids with cute appearances often had personality problems.

Lee Han secretly called this the 【Hybrid Personality-Cuteness Inverse Proportion Hypothesis】.

The most fitting example was definitely Professor Verdus.

If not for his appearance with thick animal blood that evoked sympathy and cuteness, Professor Verdus wouldn’t have been able to preserve his life until now.

‘Among hybrids with ruined personalities, only those with thick animal blood and cute appearances survive. It’s quite a persuasive hypothesis.’

“Are you by any chance Senior Catten of the Jahan family?”

“That’s right! Junior.”

‘Damn.’

Lee Han lamented inwardly.

He had thought that if it was a senior attending the same lecture, it might be okay even if they were a bit dangerous, but it turned out this senior was the one conducting the lecture.

“How did you know my name?”

“Well… other seniors told me.”

“I see. I also know your name, junior.”

Catten took off his long-brimmed fedora and smiled with satisfaction. Lee Han hesitated.

“Yes? Why is that?”

“You’re Lee Han of the Wardanaz family, aren’t you? Ever since I heard the rumor that you take courses from all schools of magic, I’ve been wanting to meet you, and to think you’d come to this lecture.”

“…”

Lee Han regretted not grabbing Diret’s ankle earlier and pestering him for information about this senior.

With the other person acting like this, he was genuinely scared.

‘He’s not trying to retaliate against me just because I’m taking courses from all schools, is he?’

Unfortunately, Lee Han was from the Blue Dragon Tower while his opponent was from the White Tiger Tower.

If the 2nd year friends had been whining and begging for revenge…

“When will the others arrive?”

“Other people?”

“Yes.”

“There are no other students taking this lecture.”

Catten blinked and stared at Lee Han.

“…How do you know that?”

“Well, excluding you, junior, all the students taking swordsmanship lectures are from the White Tiger Tower, and I already asked the White Tiger Tower students about it.”

“…”

Lee Han resolved to grab the White Tiger Tower students by the collar when he met them later.

If a crazy senior had been going around asking about lectures, they should have shared that information instead of just letting it slide!

“Should I try persuading them again? It seems too wasteful for me to take this kind of lecture alone.”

“There’s no need for that, junior. And I was the one who prevented them from attending.”

“Yes?”

Lee Han was surprised by the unexpected words.

Was it okay for a professor to visit students and threaten them not to attend?

‘What a novel method.’

It was a method that would be terrifying if Professor Verdus found out about it.

Going to students first and threatening them not to attend lectures…

“This lecture has certain qualifications for attendance, you see. I asked around and told those who didn’t seem suitable not to attend.”

“By qualifications, do you mean swordsmanship?”

Lee Han was puzzled.

Of course, Lee Han had excellent swordsmanship among his peers, but if even Giselle and Durgyu, not to mention the seniors, had given up, there was no reason for Lee Han alone to attend.

“Ah. Haven’t I taken the test yet?”

Lee Han asked cautiously, hoping he could leave the lecture hall if he failed here.

Then Catten shook his head.

“It is a test, but not swordsmanship. It’s something closer to wisdom. Now, junior. Please take this book.”

Catten handed Lee Han a book.

It was 【Basic Fire Magic】, a book written quite some time ago, but with good explanations that 1st year students had found useful to pass around.

“?”

“The back section, 3rd Circle page. 【Lesser Flame Barrier】. Do you know about this magic?”

“Yes.”

“Can you explain it?”

“Yes?”

Catten urged him on as if to say go ahead.

Lee Han pondered slightly about how he should explain it.

‘Hmm. The senior probably hasn’t learned that many spells.’

According to Diret, except for a few basic spells learned through intuition, Catten covered everything else with swordsmanship.

Lee Han prepared to explain as if the other person was Gainando who didn’t know numbers.

“So first, this 【Lesser Flame Barrier】 is magic that uses fire elements and shape transformation. For fire elements, since there’s also the phenomenon of reverse fire, precise calculations are essential, but sometimes when you have too much mana or can’t do calculations, you need to use other methods. I recommend casting protective magic before using the spell, and while it may seem reckless at first, if you repeat it, you’ll surprisingly find there are many parts that can be substituted with intuition…”

“You pass, junior.”

“??”

“Please take care of me.”

“Uh, what do you mean?”

“I’ll teach you swordsmanship, and you’ll teach me magic. Hmm. Won’t we create a synergistic effect together?”

“…”

Lee Han thought he understood a bit of what Diret had been trying to say earlier.

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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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