Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 843

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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 843

“Hmm. Hmmm.”

After much deliberation, Lee Han made his decision.

‘I’ll go with a medium-sized skeleton golem.’

He could earn extra points for it being his first medium-sized or larger summoned creature, and since skeleton warriors were the summoned creatures Lee Han had assembled most often, it seemed like it would give him at least some advantage.

And later, when he needed to assemble a new summoned creature, there was the trick of choosing a large skeleton golem…

“I’d like to try a medium-sized skeleton golem.”

“Good. Junior. …Wait a moment.”

‘Huh. Did he catch on?’

Lee Han flinched when Diret called out to him.

Had Diret perhaps noticed Lee Han’s strategy of choosing something that seemed difficult but actually had easy aspects, and would also allow him to cleverly escape future tests?

“Your staff changed?”

“Ah. Yes. I completed it.”

“What? You should have told me that first! That’s great.”

Diret beamed with joy as if it were his own achievement.

“That Yukveltire girl, whatever else you might say about her, she does work quite diligently on magic that interests her. She says staff crafting is simple and boring, but she asked about obsidian several times, so I thought she must be interested.”

“Professor Verdus made it for me though…”

“?!”

At his junior’s answer, Diret was so shocked his wings fluttered upward.

“How!?”

No matter how he thought about it, the only way to get Professor Verdus to do work was through threats.

“Professor Garcia threatened him for me.”

‘So it really was threats.’

Though it was an expected answer, it was somehow even more bewildering. Diret nodded and tried to remain calm.

“I, I see. How fortunate that Professor Garcia persuaded him.”

The threat had subtly changed to persuasion, but Lee Han just let it slide.

After all, at Einroguard these two words were often used with the same meaning…

“The staff isn’t familiar in your hands yet, right?”

“Yes. I’m planning to try using the wood spirit’s power first.”

“What about the obsidian?”

“I’m being careful with the obsidian though?”

Lee Han answered, thinking Diret was talking about magic being canceled due to the staff’s obsidian when casting spells.

However, Diret slowly shook his head.

“Maybe because it was Professor Verdus, he didn’t explain it properly.”

“Senior Yukveltire didn’t really give me a proper explanation either…”

“Listen, junior.”

‘He’s changing the subject.’

Diret began explaining about obsidian.

While common sense dictated that mages shouldn’t use minerals that absorb mana, mages were fundamentally a tribe that lived far from common sense.

They were the type who, upon discovering poisonous mushrooms, instead of avoiding them would nibble on them bit by bit wondering ‘How can I use this effect?’

Naturally, there were research cases with obsidian as well.

“The most representative is counter-magic. You probably haven’t learned it yet, junior…”

“I learned it from the Principal last year. He said I’d likely encounter mage criminals often, so he taught me how to dispel their dark arts.”

“Of course I knew you would have learned it, junior.”

Thanks to becoming quite accustomed to his junior from the Wardanaz family, Diret continued speaking without changing his expression.

Counter-magic was a technique of considerably high difficulty among the various advanced magical arts.

Since there wasn’t a separate spell called ‘counter-magic’ to begin with, but rather counter-magic encompassed all methodologies for breaking opponent’s magic, it was inevitably high in difficulty.

Identify the opponent’s magic in advance and interfere to shatter it before then.

While it sounded simple, for this to be possible one needed sharp senses to first identify the opponent’s magic, vast knowledge to distinguish the identity of that magic, and the quick reflexes to stay one step ahead of the opponent.

“I actually rarely use counter-magic myself. Though I do frequently use 【Baldoron’s Mana Hammer】.”

“I understand. That method does suit you well, junior. But you can’t just blow away all magic like that, right? And some magic causes too much damage if you don’t block it before it’s cast. The obsidian in this staff will help you use counter-magic.”

When Lee Han himself cast magic, the moment he focused his mind on the obsidian part rather than the wood part, the magic would become disrupted or dispelled.

Then what if he made contact with an opponent’s magic and then focused his mind on the obsidian part?

“…This creates strong interference and disruption. Of course, making contact with the opponent’s magic also requires considerable mana and concentration, but it’s definitely worth trying.”

“It does seem so.”

Lee Han nodded in amazement.

Actually, he had only thought of obsidian as having the advantage of allowing the staff to withstand powerful magic casting.

Who would have thought it had advantages for counter-magic as well.

“Where did you learn this, Senior Diret?”

“Dark magic school mages often have contact with demons, so we occasionally use obsidian.”

“…”

Lee Han inwardly regretted asking.

Indeed, when it came to high-ranking demons, it was often difficult for mages to subdue them through pure force.

Skills like deceiving the opponent, negotiating, or tying them up and running away became much more important.

In such cases, metals like obsidian became unexpectedly useful.

While it bound one’s own magic, it also bound the opponent demon’s magic…

“Then shall we practice a bit? Eight curses of 2nd circle or below. I’ll randomly choose from these and cast them, so try to interfere with counter-magic before they’re cast.”

‘Ugh. That’s too much.’

Time was already tight for making the skeleton golem, and Lee Han shuddered at his senior’s strictness in reducing that time further to increase the difficulty.

But Lee Han couldn’t bring himself to refuse.

If he refused and Diret thought he was an arrogant junior…

‘He might think I listen diligently to other lectures but half-heartedly attend senior’s lecture.’

That absolutely couldn’t happen.

Lee Han gripped his newly made staff while mentally planning how to assemble the skeleton golem in the remaining time.

* * *

“…Move!”

“Junior… since you assembled it yourself rather than summoning it from another dimension, shouting won’t mean anything…”

“Ugh.”

The counter-magic practice Diret had mentioned was quite successful.

Of course, Diret had been considerate to help his junior’s staff become familiar in his hands, but the results were quite good.

-I think I understand what kind of sensation it is, senior. While it’s hard to interfere when the distance is far, when the distance is close it’s definitely…

-It would be good to practice blocking magic you know the structure of and can easily interfere with first.

In contrast, assembling the skeleton golem was quite troublesome.

‘Damn. There’s not much time left.’

Lee Han checked the time with an anxious expression.

First, in the old-fashioned, no, ancient orthodox dark magic, undead summon summoning proceeded in the following manner.

Take out the core reagent containing the compressed body of the summoned creature, infuse magic into that reagent to construct the summoned creature’s form, then breathe commands into it so it could move without the mage controlling every single action.

The first process, the reagent, wasn’t much of a problem.

Not only had Diret prepared 【Large Beast Bones】, but Lee Han had originally strengthened the bone fragment reagents he usually carried around by adding darkness elements or blood elements.

Thanks to this, even ordinary bone fragments could sufficiently handle summoning a medium-sized skeleton golem.

And the second process, form construction, was immediately successful too.

This was thanks to having summoned skeleton warriors so many times normally, and in emergencies having combined these skeletons to create enhanced skeletons, so his understanding of the form was much higher than expected.

The problem was the final part: commands.

This required inputting commands one by one, linking them together, and overworking the mage’s brain, making it difficult to do in a short period.

The skeleton golem he had just summoned had tried to break through the lecture hall wall to escape, and the skeleton golem he had summoned before that had tried to dance in 3/4 time (Diret had been amazed and wanted to preserve the configuration, but Lee Han himself failed to reproduce it)…

And now this skeleton golem wasn’t moving at all. Since the previous skeleton golems had moved on their own, he had been a bit more careful, but something seemed to have gotten tangled in its movement.

‘Ugh. This annoying skeleton golem…’

“Come to think of it, junior.”

Unaware of Lee Han’s inner thoughts, Diret called out to him.

Though it was painful to have his concentration disrupted, Lee Han answered. How could he ignore when a senior like heaven itself was calling?

“Yes.”

“I forgot to mention earlier, but about that staff. It would be better to say Professor Verdus forced you to make it.”

“…Excuse me? Why would I tell such a lie?”

Setting aside why he should lie, it was a lie that no one except Einroguard’s new students would believe.

Professor Verdus voluntarily stepping forward to help a student?

‘That’s really the biggest bullshit lie I’ve heard all year.’

“No. Listen carefully, junior. Professor Verdus sometimes helps with student magic if it’s a topic he’s interested in.”

Diret spoke with a cautious attitude.

Since Yukveltire was from the Divination Magic Guild, Diret knew Professor Verdus quite well.

Professor Verdus had the nasty habit of occasionally sneaking in to complete only the most interesting and exciting parts of Divination Magic Guild students’ research before disappearing.

So much so that when Yukveltire conducted her research, she would lock the door and keep watch to absolutely prevent Professor Verdus from entering.

“That… sounds about right, but why do I need to tell such a lie?”

“So Yukveltire won’t be disappointed. She was quite interested in the staff.”

“Oh come on. You’re mistaken, senior. Senior Yukveltire has a heart made of tin, so she absolutely won’t be disappointed.”

“…”

Diret felt slightly sorry for his friend who was receiving such confident slander from a junior in the same tower.

But what could he do?

It was all her own doing!

“Junior. I’ve been friends with Yukveltire longer than you. Just do as I say.”

“Understood. I should say Professor Verdus made me do it, right?”

Since it wasn’t particularly difficult, Lee Han readily agreed.

“But if what you’re saying is true, won’t the Professor resent this?”

“Yeah.”

“…”

Lee Han said nothing and quietly nodded his head.

And focused on the skeleton golem again.

“Oh right. About Duke Ikalderen.”

‘Ugh.’

Unaware of his junior’s inner anguish, Diret talked about the duke they had kidnapped—no, brought—last time.

“When we first brought him, he was so terrified that conversation was difficult, but he seems better these days. He talks well with Yukveltire too.”

“Really? What kind of conversations do they have?”

“Yukveltire mainly asks how much he can offer, and the duke requests meals of prosciutto ham topped with truffles, chicory salad harvested no more than two days ago, and Empire southern-style mushroom consommé.”

‘Did the Principal not starve him properly?’

Lee Han was surprised that the duke still had enough energy left to focus on gourmet food.

If he had been living and eating like the students, instead of those hard-to-remember menus, he would have immediately asked for whole roasted and fried meats, hot fruit pies, cakes, chocolate, and such.

“But is this really having good conversations? They seem to be running on parallel lines.”

“Since the duke is in an unfavorable position, he’ll compromise appropriately. This level counts as having good conversations.”

‘Sometimes the positive attitude seniors show is scary.’

That counts as having good conversations?

Pop!

“…Senior! It’s moving! The skeleton golem is moving properly!”

“What? Really?! I didn’t expect it to be completed today.”

“What a relief… Wait a moment. Senior. What do you mean you didn’t expect it to be completed today?”

Lee Han was about to celebrate with his senior but stopped and became serious.

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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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