Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 790

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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 790

“Professor. Actually…”

Filled with indignation, Lee Han reported to Professor Willow what had happened.

The wood spirit dwelling in this staff was truly an insufferable fellow.

Fine, he could accept that it was an excellent spirit with various powers.

But since it dwelled in a staff, shouldn’t it show consideration for the mage’s circumstances?

Even after Lee Han fought the Frost Giant King and the King of Ghouls, it still grumbled that it was “not enough yet.”

At this point, it should be called a Destruction Spirit rather than a wood spirit. It seemed like it wouldn’t be satisfied until Lee Han met his doom.

“I-I see.”

Professor Willow was flustered when the Wardanaz Family Boy put his staff on trial and filed a complaint against it.

He had only asked a simple question because the staff’s spirit was still complaining about not being awakened, but he hadn’t expected such a lengthy grievance in return.

“Of course, maintaining friendships with spirits is difficult… Even I, who has spirit blood flowing through me, sometimes feel overwhelmed. But if you listen carefully, you can understand a spirit’s thoughts.”

“For example, the master’s destruction?”

“…Usually it doesn’t go that far. Hmm. I think… this spirit was probably quite a high-ranking spirit.”

Professor Willow said while carefully examining Lee Han’s staff.

Multiple powers and a strong desire to prove its abilities.

This was typically behavior shown by high-ranking spirits.

“But Professor. I don’t quite understand. High-ranking spirits aren’t like this, are they?”

Lee Han asked back, not understanding.

Though Lee Han was unpopular among low and mid-level spirits, he had connections with powerful high-ranking spirits, so he knew the difference between them well.

The stronger spirits became, the more not only their power but also their ego and intelligence increased, and their very existence itself ascended to a higher level.

Just look at Perkuntra.

Unlike other spirits, didn’t it have a true name, titles, spirits under its command, territory, and powers?

In contrast, the spirit in Lee Han’s staff had never spoken a single word nor shown any distinct powers.

Yet it was a high-ranking spirit?

That sounded like calling Gainando an Archmage of the Dark Magic School.

“That’s right. It’s not typical.”

Professor Willow continued his explanation while tapping the leaves that had settled like a beard.

“But there are occasional exceptions. Sealed or imprisoned high-ranking spirits that have lost their power. These spirits have lost their strength but retain their dignity.”

“!”

Lee Han was surprised by the professor’s explanation.

The spirit of the wooden staff, which he had casually assumed was a low-level spirit, was actually a high-ranking spirit with a true name.

“Its request to awaken its powers might be for that reason too. It can recover its strength through resonance with its master.”

There were various ways for a spirit that had suffered great damage and lost its power to recover, and one of them was receiving help from the mage it had contracted with.

As the mage borrowed and used the spirit’s remaining weak powers, that strength would gradually amplify.

Though it would be a long, long journey, at some point when it crossed the critical threshold, the spirit could regain its original power with powerful resonance.

‘Oh my. When I hear it like that, I feel a bit sorry.’

Lee Han reflected on Professor Willow’s words.

It wasn’t intentional, and he might not be able to use it anyway, but he had thought the staff had a really stubborn and nasty personality, when it wasn’t like that from the other party’s perspective.

As the master, he should repeatedly use and strengthen the powers for the spirit’s own strength to gradually recover, but since he wasn’t doing that, how frustrated must it have been?

“Wait a moment, Professor. I don’t know about other things, but in the case of the Unyielding power, the spirit said I should use stronger magic, not that I replaced it with my mana. If it wants to recover, shouldn’t it use its powers little by little, even if weakly?”

“If it could use its powers that flexibly, it wouldn’t be a sealed spirit. For a high-ranking spirit to recover its dignity-appropriate existence, the mage must also demonstrate corresponding abilities.”

The wood spirit’s powers had a high difficulty of use.

Instead of using the Unyielding power weakly as a compromise, Lee Han had to learn stronger magic and encounter stronger enemies to awaken the Unyielding power.

‘Hmm. I take back feeling sorry.’

Lee Han immediately withdrew his apologetic feelings.

This wasn’t Lee Han’s fault but the other spirit’s fault.

What was that crazy fellow expecting from a second-year Einroguard student?

‘At this point, it really seems like a Destruction Spirit rather than a wood spirit.’

“I see. Thank you, Professor.”

“It would be best not to rush awakening this.”

“Haha. Yes. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Since Lee Han had no intention of rushing, he immediately agreed with Professor Willow’s words.

“Sealed spirits like this are particularly violent and vicious.”

“I see… Wait a moment, Professor. Aren’t all high-ranking spirits violent and vicious?”

As an example, there was a certain Pe- spirit.

Spirits with power were basically arrogant and violent.

“That’s not true. Spirits have various temperaments. For example, the Thunder King contracted with you, young one, is quite refined, isn’t it?”

“…?!”

Lee Han was shocked by the statement that Perkuntra was noble.

Among spirits, Perkuntra was considered refined??

‘That’s ridiculous. What exactly are spirits?’

“The Oak Trees gave you this gift, right? If the Oak Trees were managing it, then this spirit was sealed by other spirits.”

Sealed spirits were usually divided into two types.

Spirits sealed while fighting evil enemies, and spirits sealed by fellow spirits.

The former often included decent spirits, but the latter mostly included violent and vicious spirits.

How much chaos and trouble must they have caused for fellow spirits to seal them away?

“De… Destruction Spirit!”

“?”

Professor Willow tilted his head at Lee Han’s words.

It was a spirit he’d never heard of.

“No, giving me something like this. What grudge do those Oak Trees have against me?”

“Ah. That’s not it. There’s a misunderstanding. After reflecting for so long, its temper would have cooled down, so they probably gave it to you meaning for it to follow a young mage, help, and atone.”

“…”

Even after hearing the explanation, Lee Han didn’t feel very good.

The troublemaker spirit’s rehabilitation should be handled among themselves, so why drag Lee Han into it?

“From what I can see, with your abilities, you should be able to persuade this spirit and become friends with it. Haha…”

“Haha, haha, hahahaha.”

Lee Han laughed artificially while making a resolution.

‘When I make a new staff, I’ll have to ignore this spirit’s opinion…’

* * *

“Wardanaz. This is a red maple.”

“I see.”

“This is a blue maple. This is a black maple. This is a jade maple…”

“…There’s no need to distinguish and remember maple trees so precisely…”

Excited about explaining the greenhouse, Nilia ignored Lee Han’s words.

“What surprised me is that this greenhouse has trees I used to see in the Northern Mountains. Over there, let’s go to the cold dry climate zone!”

‘I should have come with someone other than Nilia.’

After thoroughly showing him around her favorite plants, Nilia finally seemed satisfied and began giving proper explanations.

“During the last lecture, we each took charge of sections of this vegetable garden. We’ll be growing them throughout this semester. Last week, your friends divided up and took care of your section, Wardanaz.”

“Nilia!”

Lee Han was slightly moved by his friends’ consideration.

Even in the bleak Einroguard, such friendship existed.

Such friendship always moved people…

“…Wait. Isn’t this a mandrake seedling???”

Lee Han, worthy of being the year’s top student, identified what plant it was just from the leaf shape settled in the vegetable garden.

Nilia was impressed by that ability.

“That’s amazing! How did you get it right?”

“…”

Despite such admiration, Lee Han glared at Nilia with a sense of betrayal instead of joy.

“How could you plant mandrakes in my vegetable garden while I was away? Isn’t that too much?”

Even though Lee Han took lectures at a difficulty level one step higher than others, he never expected his friends to act like professors too.

This really felt like betrayal.

“What? No, no! I planted mandrakes too!”

Nilia jumped up and denied the absurd misunderstanding.

All the other friends had planted mandrakes in their vegetable gardens too.

The seedlings Professor Willow had given them were mandrake seedlings in the first place…

“Ah. So the semester assignment was just mandrakes. Wait. Nilia. Earlier you said it wasn’t much.”

-It wasn’t much. Since it was the first lecture, she explained what kind of lecture it was and showed us rare and interesting plants…

Lee Han asked, remembering what Nilia had said earlier.

Nilia answered with confusion.

“It wasn’t much, right? We just received seedlings and planted them.”

“…Nilia, you seem to have gotten quite used to Einroguard too. To describe planting mandrake seedlings as nothing much.”

“…!!!”

When Lee Han sighed and spoke as if feeling sorry, Nilia almost collapsed from injustice and anger.

‘Hey! If you say something like that…!’

It was truly unfair that a friend who ended with ‘I should be careful’ even when an insane doppelganger was targeting the estate outskirts would say such things.

“Grrrgh…!”

“What’s wrong?”

“…It’s nothing. Look. I’ll teach you how to manage mandrake seedlings.”

Lee Han nodded and listened attentively.

Though he had learned from books, it would be much better to hear from Nilia who had learned directly from Professor Willow.

“First, water them like this.”

Nilia put water from the bucket into a watering can and began sprinkling it over the mandrake seedlings.

“Water… them.”

Lee Han, who was taking notes, suddenly felt puzzled.

‘Couldn’t she just use water magic?’

Unlike Gainando who wasn’t good at water magic, Nilia had spirits and knew how to use basic water magic.

But why was she moving around manually like that?

“I see. Mandrakes prefer pure water rather than water touched by magic. I didn’t know that.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

Nilia perked up her ears, not understanding what her friend was saying.

“Since you didn’t summon water with magic and scooped stream water with a bucket instead…”

“Ah. That.”

Nilia, who had already emptied the watering can, stretched her back once and then refilled the watering can.

“I have to give it five buckets worth, so I’m saving mana. It drinks too much water, so it’s a waste to use magic.”

“…I’ll just summon the water.”

When Lee Han summoned water, Nilia looked at her friend with eyes that said he was precious beyond words.

As always, the Wardanaz family boy had the greatest presence during simple repetitive labor like this.

Splash!

The mass of water summoned from the air continuously filled the bucket. The work progressed quickly.

“Huff, huff. Good. This should be enough to quench the mandrake’s thirst.”

Nilia spoke while sweating profusely.

The mandrake’s leaves had become moist, but Nilia seemed to have dried up slightly in the meantime.

“Why don’t you drink some water first?”

“Ah. I’ll drink after I’m done. I don’t have time for that. Now. Next, we need to catch the mana aphids. They appear when the mandrake finishes drinking water. These guys are transparent, you see? So we need to make this potion to reveal their forms.”

Nilia put the prepared potion in the watering can and began searching for pests hidden near the seedlings.

Seeing Nilia moving without rest in the hot and humid air of the greenhouse, Lee Han shook his head.

“This lecture must be quite difficult.”

“What are you talking about? This is an easy lecture.”

“You’re saying that while working non-stop without rest before the lecture even starts?”

“But Wardanaz, you take way more difficult lectures than this. Last year you managed the vegetable garden and the stables every dawn. This year you even joined multiple clubs…”

“…”

Lee Han, hit by his friend’s words, turned the watering can toward Nilia.

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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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