Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 846
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 846
‘How pitiful.’
To think that such an arrogant duke would change like that.
Even though he hadn’t particularly liked Duke Ikalderen, he felt sympathetic enough to pity him.
And the most surprising thing about this whole affair was that Yukveltire herself had no malicious intent whatsoever.
‘Even if she had tortured him intentionally, she probably couldn’t have done it this well…’
Even if Lee Han and Yukveltire had joined hands with one playing the good interrogator and the other the bad interrogator, they probably wouldn’t have achieved results like this.
True to being Professor Verdus’s disciple, she had a natural talent for tormenting people.
‘Anyway, I should tell my senior about this.’
Lee Han was going to find Yukveltire and tell her that he would take care of the duke for the remaining few days.
It would be a bit troublesome, but Duke Ikalderen was so pitiful that he felt he should do at least that much.
He had already secured sponsorship for two research projects…
“Oh. Senior!”
Just as he went up and came out of the Dark Tower, he saw Yukveltire passing by.
Yukveltire, who had been winding her pocket watch with her pale, slender fingers and checking the time, slowly turned her head at her junior’s call.
“Good day.”
“Yes. Nice to see you.”
Lee Han quickly threw the staff he was holding into a nearby grave pit so the other person wouldn’t notice.
Honestly, it would probably be fine to show it, but what Diret had said kept bothering him.
If his senior were to harass Lee Han using her authority and status, nothing good would come of it, so it was right to be careful.
‘Wait. Did wood spirits dislike places like that?’
After throwing it, he remembered that wood spirits didn’t like places like grave pits.
Being spirits related to life, they couldn’t help but detest the corpse energy and evil energy of the Black Magic Academy.
‘Well, can’t be helped.’
Lee Han quickly gave up.
What could he do about something already thrown?
And the wood spirit was sturdy and fierce, so going into a grave pit a bit wouldn’t be a problem.
“Senior. What brings you here?”
“I need to return a book I borrowed from Diret. What about you?”
“Well… I came because I was curious if Duke was doing well.”
Yukveltire shook her head slightly as if he had done something pointless.
“Duke is being managed perfectly. Don’t waste time unnecessarily.”
“…”
Lee Han was dumbfounded.
He was even more dumbfounded because she was so confident about it.
‘To say such things so confidently after nearly starving someone to death?’
“Did you perhaps check on him today?”
“No.”
“…Why not?”
“Wardanaz Family junior. You’ll soon learn this too, but what’s important in enchantment magic is efficiency. Just as there’s no need to recalculate a perfectly calculated magic formula, there’s no need to visit Duke again when he’s being managed perfectly.”
Yukveltire spoke without a shred of doubt.
Since she had put in exactly the amount of food the duke wanted, there was no need to manage him until the set period ended.
“…Ah, yes… But senior. Would it be alright if I managed Duke from now on?”
“Why?”
Lee Han was about to say ‘Duke wants to kill you, senior’ but held back.
He was worried that Yukveltire might show unnecessary stubbornness.
“As your junior, I want to help with your work.”
“Good thinking, even if late. My artificial dimension research is…”
“I don’t want to do that.”
“…”
When Lee Han immediately refused, dissatisfaction bloomed on Yukveltire’s expressionless face.
Why did this junior keep refusing when he had the qualifications, talent, and even respect for his senior?
“I’m a bit too busy to do that too. Anyway, may I take charge?”
“Do so. But don’t fail to manage Duke and kill him or anything. He’s an important hostage.”
“…”
Lee Han unconsciously clenched his fist tightly.
‘She’s my senior. I absolutely must not attack. She’s my senior. I absolutely must not attack.’
“Yes. I’ll do my best. Then I’ll be going…”
“Wait.”
“?”
Yukveltire called out to Lee Han as he was about to turn around.
“How is your staff creation coming along?”
“The staff?”
After glancing once at the grave pit beside him, Lee Han spoke carefully to test his senior.
“I’m looking for obsidian. But senior. What would you think if someone completed my staff for me?”
“If they completed it, then they completed it.”
Yukveltire answered immediately as if it was nothing.
At that answer, Lee Han inwardly sighed with relief.
‘What? Was Senior Diret worrying for nothing?’
Even though Senior Yukveltire was a bit very strange, she wasn’t someone who would get angry or harass her junior just because someone else completed a staff for them.
“Did someone offer to complete it for you?”
“I did hear such a proposal…”
“You should refuse. It’s obviously some low-level fraud. Seeing how they’re trying to steal a work that another enchantment mage touched first, they must be shameless trash.”
This was the first time Lee Han had seen Yukveltire speak this long and fast. She spat it out in one breath without even breathing.
“No… you just said if they completed it, then they completed it.”
“Did I?”
“But the person who made the proposal is a fraud and trash…”
“They are a fraud and trash. If anything, that’s a mild expression. Even if their soul was cursed for eternity to wander hell for life, it wouldn’t be enough.”
“…”
‘She should just get angry instead of this…’
Lee Han was amazed at his senior’s attitude of saying she wasn’t angry while strongly showing her lingering resentment.
The fortunate thing was that Professor Verdus would bear most of that anger…
…but the worrying thing was that some of it might splash onto Lee Han too.
It was an irrational and unreasonable attitude, but weren’t most of Einroguard’s mages like that originally?
‘I’ll tell her later.’
Or never tell her at all.
“I understand. Senior. I’ll keep that in mind. Then I’ll really be going…”
“Wardanaz Family junior.”
“Yes?”
“You will refuse the proposal, right?”
“…Yes. Then I’ll really be going now…”
“Good.”
Lee Han sighed with relief and turned around. He planned to come back and pick up his staff once Yukveltire disappeared far away.
“Wardanaz Family junior.”
“!?”
Yukveltire, who had been moving away, suddenly stopped and called out again.
Lee Han was startled, wondering if his inner thoughts had been discovered.
“Yes?”
“You really should refuse the proposal. Do you understand?”
“…I get it already.”
Yukveltire called Lee Han three more times after that to torment him before finally leaving completely.
Lee Han added Yukveltire to his list of people to avoid for a while.
Insane Doppelganger
Verdus
Yukveltire
‘Hmm.’
After pondering, Lee Han picked up his quill and changed the danger order.
Yukveltire
Verdus
Insane Doppelganger
Verdus
Yukveltire
* * *
The 【Advanced Illusion Magic and Soul Theory】 lecture was a third-year class taught by Professor Kirmin Ku.
Originally, such advanced illusion magic could be taught to second-year students, but the reason this lecture was only available from third year was because of soul theory.
Souls, that is, spirits.
When illusion magic reaches a certain level, exploration of existence and souls becomes essential from that point on.
Lower-level illusion magic actually didn’t require approaching souls.
Illusions were, in a way, closer to the concept of deceiving opponents, and souls didn’t necessarily need to be involved in such deception.
Even Pahait’s illusion magic series that Lee Han learned last year was possible to cast without studying souls, as it distorted vision through the power of flames.
“However, that’s just simple thinking. For illusion magic to surpass a certain level, one must be able to explore souls more deeply than mages of other schools.”
Professor Kirmin wrote letters on the blackboard with illusions.
Detecting the opponent’s soul, recognizing one’s own soul, expanding and contracting the power of this soul, directly interfering with souls to confuse and strike them…
It wasn’t just for pursuing higher-level magic.
To cast illusion magic against enemies or monsters with high magic resistance, this approach to souls was essential.
Professor Bol Mo said ‘deceiving mages above a certain level with illusion magic is several times harder than magic from other fields,’ but this was only half the truth.
“A truly excellent illusion mage cannot be stopped even if you try to stop them. When you’re sitting in the middle of your workshop sighing ‘it’s safe here,’ and you experience your own shadow changing on its own, you can no longer look down on illusion magic. Did I tell you about the time I got one over on Professor Bagrek?”
“Professor. I think we’ve heard that story over a hundred times.”
“Hmph. Fine. I just won’t tell it then.”
‘No!’
Lee Han glared at the upperclassmen.
Just because they had all heard it, they were blocking a junior’s chance to learn.
It was so frustrating.
‘Ugh. I’m curious. How exactly did he get one over on him?’
If he knew the weakness, Lee Han might be able to use it when dealing with Professor Boladi later.
“Everyone, remember last lecture? Let’s continue from there. Wardanaz, you come up front.”
Professor Kirmin called Lee Han separately.
Since he had missed the previous lecture, the professor felt the need to explain things separately.
“What those friends are doing now is practicing contemplating and recognizing souls. Wardanaz. As I just explained, you have to start with recognition first. This is harder than you think too. I’ll understand if you can’t manage it today.”
Even for mages, becoming aware of and recognizing their own souls was harder than expected.
Forcibly recognizing something that was naturally as automatic as breathing wasn’t easy.
So students started by recognizing others’ souls rather than their own.
The upperclassmen in the lecture hall used various elixirs and magic to amplify and resonate the power of their souls.
The enlarged souls became much easier to see.
“From now on, we’ll do light astral projection. Wardanaz. I’ll go around once and come back, so try to feel the sense of wrongness. There’s a soul there now.”
“Um. Professor.”
“?”
“I think I can already do soul recognition…”
“?!”
Professor Kirmin was flustered.
“Did Professor Bagrek make you do soul recognition too? Even so, that’s going too far??”
“No.”
Lee Han quickly cleared up the misunderstanding.
If he stayed quiet, Professor Boladi, who was innocent—well, not innocent but not guilty of this particular matter—might be falsely accused.
“The thing is…”
Last time he learned ancient dark magic, and this dark magic absorbed others’ pain, and to use it properly he had to go deep into souls…
It was a vast and long story, but Professor Kirmin listened patiently like one of the few ‘relatively normal’ professors at Einroguard.
If it had been someone else, it wouldn’t have been strange for them to interrupt several times saying ‘Wait. Does that make sense?’
‘Hmm.’
When Lee Han finished telling how he learned necromancy from the Skeleton Principal’s insane doppelganger, used that magic to heal another cursed mage, and even cursed his own soul to find it and overcome trials, Professor Kirmin felt a question arise beyond his amazement.
‘Then doesn’t Wardanaz not need to take this lecture?’
The first semester goal of the 【Advanced Illusion Magic and Soul Theory】 lecture was to recognize and become familiar with souls.
…There had never been a student who learned everything on their own before even taking the lecture like this.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————