Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 854

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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 854

Lee Han was about to apply force to the same spot Professor Garcia had grabbed, but stopped himself.

‘It would be a waste to use it now.’

Once he used it, Professor Verdus would never give him a safe distance again, and it would be too wasteful to use it just for this kind of venting.

‘Hehe. Professor Verdus has no idea about his weakness!’

Professor Verdus, completely unaware of his disciple’s wicked intentions, began his explanation.

Actually, even before this small aerial sailboat, Professor Verdus’s long-cherished dream had been an airship.

Not a small sailboat like this, but a massive flying sailing ship. And a completely automated flying sailing ship at that.

In fact, it wasn’t like there were no flying vehicles in the Empire even now.

Even without using winged beasts like griffins or unicorns to fly around, any reasonably skilled enchantment mage could create flying artifacts and soar through the air.

More skilled enchantment mages could even increase the size of those artifacts and adjust their balance to carry several additional people.

But this was only when a mage was aboard to directly control the artifact.

Instead of such imperfect compromises, Professor Verdus wanted the perfection of a flying sailing ship that could navigate on its own without even a single mage aboard.

Of course, the difficulty naturally increased by thousands of times.

The sails and masts, bow and crow’s nest had to be inscribed with magic to gather and amplify wind, while the large keel supporting the center of the hull’s bottom had to be inscribed with magic to lighten weight and reverse gravity.

Harmoniously linking these magic circles together was already difficult enough to make one’s brain burn, but there were several other equally difficult tasks to handle, so it was natural that Professor Verdus had been struggling for decades without solving it yet.

‘Thanks to that, I suffered during vacation too.’

Lee Han had also been (forcibly) helped Professor Verdus to solve the mana problem needed for the giant flying sailing ship.

The rough idea was to oversaturate several magic circles with mana, measure how much efficiency came out, and try to make up for it with that…

‘Wait. I remember all of this?!’

Lee Han was shocked to find that all the work he had done following Professor Verdus last year remained in his head.

It would have felt less unfair to remember the ideas from Gainando’s clumsy mystery novel.

He had already forgotten such things, but Professor Verdus’s theories remained like this. Just thinking about it was very unpleasant.

“This is quite low-level compared to what I showed you before, like child’s play.”

“I think Ragesa would be really happy to hear that.”

“Well, Ragesa’s level was originally low anyway.”

“…”

‘I definitely have to report this.’

Lee Han deeply memorized what he had just heard in his mind.

“It doesn’t move completely automatically either, someone has to steer it. By holding this helm.”

“What level of mage needs to do it?”

Any mage could steer such a flying artifact.

The question was what level of mage could steer it?

A really well-made flying artifact could be piloted even by a Baldrogard student, while a poorly made flying artifact required someone at Professor Verdus’s level to pilot it. Not just because of skill, but because there wouldn’t be anyone to mourn if it crashed.

“A mage?”

“Yes? Isn’t it steered by a mage?”

“This was made so that even non-mages can steer it from the start. How many mages do you think there are among pirates.”

“…!”

Lee Han was greatly shocked by Professor Verdus speaking so casually.

He had forgotten, but the beaver bird, no, beaver beastman professor before him was definitely a genius.

‘I had forgotten. Professor Verdus was someone who had survived under the Skeleton Principal with that personality.’

Surviving under the Skeleton Principal with that personality could itself be considered proof of genius.

To think even non-mages could steer it.

It sounded simple, but just making the wheel-shaped helm used when sailing the seas usable by ordinary people when flying through the air required a massive amount of magic.

First, the senses had to be changed so that air resistance felt like water resistance, the sails had to be individually adjusted and applied as if moving on the sea, and besides that, all sorts of situations that could occur without a mage had to be prepared for.

“How do you land without a mage?”

“If you drop this gravity-enchanted anchor here, the ship will descend on its own.”

“What about departure?”

“The ship is designed to rise the moment you raise the anchor.”

“What about turning? What if you encounter rain clouds? What if you meet monsters?”

Lee Han questioned persistently, but Professor Verdus didn’t show the slightest annoyance and answered each question one by one.

Lee Han was about to admire the meticulously completed small flying sailboat when he hesitated.

“But Professor. Then isn’t it already complete?”

From what he was hearing now, there didn’t seem to be anything lacking.

Perhaps he was talking about post-completion specs when it wasn’t actually finished yet?

“No. There are still parts that need improvement.”

“Where? Are you talking about this part where the paint has peeled off?”

“That’s fine.”

“Then are you talking about this figurehead attached to the front of the sailboat? It does seem unfinished, but it doesn’t look very important…”

“Huh? That’s finished. It’s a beaver.”

“…Oh. Um. I, I see. It’s very majestic.”

Lee Han looked at the statue Professor Verdus had attached as a beaver and was inwardly surprised.

‘I thought it was a chimera.’

“Then if it’s not that either, what is it?”

“It needs to move completely automatically without a helmsman!”

Lee Han was shocked once again by Professor Verdus’s words.

It was already surprising enough, but to aim for something even more difficult.

Most importantly, wasn’t that a problem Professor Verdus himself hadn’t solved yet (though it was for a giant flying sailing ship)?

‘Ragesa is quite something too.’

Well, considering the amount of gold coins invested, it seemed like they should aim for that level.

Otherwise, who would invest in Professor Verdus?

“Ragesa has amazing boldness too. Honestly, investment and sponsorship are usually based on somewhat realistic goals, but to aim for something like that.”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“…Didn’t Ragesa request this?”

“Ragesa didn’t request this though?”

“???”

Lee Han gradually felt his soul becoming dizzy as if under illusion magic.

Was Professor Verdus using word magic or something?

“…Then what is this exactly? You said you were dedicating it to Ragesa.”

“Ah. Ragesa said just being able to steer it would be enough.”

Ragesa was a realistic pirate, and didn’t even dream of something like a completely automated small airship.

She had simply invested hoping for a reconnaissance ship that even pirates who couldn’t use magic could handle.

“Then… isn’t it complete now? You could just give it to her.”

“What are you talking about? I’ve completed it this far and you want me to hand it over to someone else without further improvement? Are you even a mage?”

“…”

Lee Han squeezed his eyes shut at Professor Verdus, who had forgotten the concept of investment in the meantime.

‘Why did I come after receiving that letter!’

Whether he had given obsidian or made a staff, he should have just forgotten and ignored it!

“So Professor. You’ve already completed it, Ragesa made no demands, but you think it’s too good to finish like this so you’re just holding onto it. Even though the other person is asking for it.”

“Yes!”

“…Then if you can’t complete it by tomorrow, will you give up and hand it over?”

“No?”

“I see… There’s dust on your shoulder again.”

Lee Han naturally placed his hand on Professor Verdus’s shoulder.

Was this the moment?

* * *

In the end, Lee Han held back once more.

‘I’d rather look for an opportunity to steal it.’

Since there would be opportunities while helping anyway, if things didn’t work out, Lee Han planned to steal the sailboat himself and take it to Ragesa.

He had gotten a backpack too…

‘I wonder if it’ll fit in the backpack. Maybe if I empty all of the 6th space? It seems like it’ll be close.’

“Come. Follow me.”

Professor Verdus took Lee Han and left the attic.

Then he poked his head out and looked around cautiously.

“Why are you doing that?”

“In case there’s an ambush!”

“…But we’re inside your magic tower, Professor.”

“There could be traitors.”

‘He’s sharp in strange areas.’

Given that Professor Verdus’s disciples had discussed how much they’d sell their master for, Professor Verdus’s concerns could be considered valid.

Professor Verdus didn’t let his guard down even after checking the surroundings. When leaving the main gate of the magic tower, he went into detection mode once again.

Lee Han yawned at the sight of him spending nearly 10 minutes checking whether there were any attackers, assassins, spies, or Ragesa in the vicinity.

“You should have lived more virtuously.”

‘He’s thorough.’

Lee Han realized after speaking that his inner thoughts had come out first, but Professor Verdus didn’t care.

“What are you talking about? I lived virtuously.”

“…So where do we need to go?”

Professor Verdus dragged out a sailboat with great effort and gestured for Lee Han to get on.

Once they both got on, the sailboat floated up into the air. Their destination was above the massive main building.

Flying within the Einroguard estate, especially near the main building, wasn’t a very good choice.

The Death Knights monitoring students’ escapes would immediately take flight on their mounts.

However, the Death Knights didn’t take flight. Lee Han realized that the knights already knew about Professor Verdus’s sailboat.

‘Of course. It would be too bothersome for both sides to monitor every professor’s vehicle.’

This was good information too.

Later, when he needed to go out, if he just kidnapped Professor Verdus and had him fly…

“Oops. I entered wrong.”

Professor Verdus pulled the sailboat back as the main building suddenly shot upward and stretched in height.

Then he adjusted the altitude slightly and entered again. The main building that had just stretched now quietly revealed its form.

It was the spire stables that Lee Han had seen several times before.

Professor Verdus, who landed lightly, took out thick spellbooks one by one from his backpack. Various control magic spells were needed to make it move on its own without a pilot.

“Now. We’ll test these one by one and record the errors.”

“But Professor, I don’t know these spells well.”

Lee Han checked the spells Professor Verdus had taken out.

Thanks to being forced to play the role of a disciple, Lee Han had learned and knew various spells starting from 【Vible’s Mana Emission Enchantment】 to absorption, amplification, curvature, and conversion.

But this required much more complex and intuitive results.

【Vible’s Departure Enchantment】, 【Vible’s Flight Enchantment】, 【Vible’s Landing Enchantment】…

They seemed to be spells that divided and prepared for various situations needed for flight.

Naturally, they had to be complex.

They were practically the same as spells needed for creating flight artifacts.

‘So flight artifacts are made by combining them this way.’

Lee Han, now a second-year, understood quickly.

If spells like the aforementioned 【Vible’s Mana Emission Enchantment】 handled the basics like arithmetic in artifact creation, then spells like 【Vible’s Departure Enchantment】 were like formulas needed for specific situations.

Specific situations, meaning spells that were almost essential to learn when creating flight artifacts.

“Oh. Really?”

Professor Verdus expressed puzzlement at his disciple’s claim of not knowing.

He had naturally assumed Lee Han would know.

“Yes. Should I just record the errors while you experiment, Professor?”

“Huh? No. I brought you because I need your mana. Then you’ll have to learn now.”

“…”

Lee Han looked at Professor Verdus’s shoulder once more with keen interest.

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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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