Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 928
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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 928
Diret pretended not to hear and opened the door.
A cool breeze blew from beyond the empty door where nothing could be seen, absorbing the reagents prepared in front.
As the triangular bone made of gold and the spine of the spirit tracker disappeared, the empty space beyond the door transformed into a landscape of the Undead Realm.
“Can you see it?”
“Yes. Amazing.”
Using artifacts, it was possible to explore the Undead Realm without entering it or sending a projection.
This door served as a kind of proxy.
“Approaching this way, we can avoid the spirits getting scared and running away.”
“…Yo, you want to use such an artifact just for that?”
Diret was flustered by his junior’s words.
Among the dangers one could face in another dimension, spirits getting scared and running away was a very minor problem.
In fact, it couldn’t even be called a problem. The problem would be spirits attacking, not running away.
Lee Han said with a slightly dejected tone.
“I suppose it would be a waste of reagents?”
“No! You can use it!”
Diret hurriedly consoled his junior in his confusion.
Knowing that his junior had suffered several hardships because of spirits, he couldn’t treat him coldly.
If it were another junior from the Black Magic Academy, he would have scolded them saying ‘stop whining and accept it,’ but the junior before him had done too much for the academy.
“The reagent costs seem like they’d be expensive though.”
“It’s fine. I’ll get them from the professor’s reagent vault. He won’t notice once or twice.”
Naturally selling out Professor Mortum’s reagent vault, Diret proceeded with the exploration.
Other dimensions were difficult to navigate with ordinary maps like when exploring regions of the Empire. This was even more true if that dimension was the eccentric Undead Realm.
Diret took out a scroll-shaped map and chanted a spell.
“O pale horse with eight legs, guide us to the place where up and down are reversed and poison fog is thick.”
Along with the words, a ghost horse with eight legs appeared from beyond the door.
As the ghost horse carried the artifact on its back, the view suddenly flipped. Lee Han watched with interested eyes as the rapidly passing scenery of the Undead Realm went by.
In the distance, a giant skeleton dragon was swimming through the dark sky of the Undead Realm, spewing ice in all directions, while a nearby swamp sucked in all the darkness before its position inverted to become a new sky.
Without deep knowledge and appropriate quick thinking, most areas of the Undead Realm were quite dangerous places.
“O pale horse with eight legs, guide us to the place that spews smoke.”
Diret held the map personally written by Professor Mortum and chanted the spell again.
This wasn’t a simple map but could be considered a simple artifact containing Professor Mortum’s memories and intentions.
To find one’s way in the complex Undead Realm, this level of preparation was almost essential.
“Found it.”
Diret gestured as he discovered obsidian mirrors spewing smoke from beyond the door.
Seeing the palace constantly changing forms, it seemed to be the place Professor Mortum had mentioned.
“From now on, we need to be careful. Junior.”
Even though the artifact was protecting them, negotiating with powerful beings of the Undead Realm was dangerous.
A single wrong word or gesture could provoke anger and result in an attack.
“I’ll keep that in mind. What should I do?”
“All you need to do, junior, is watch.”
Diret spoke with confidence.
Diret wasn’t harsh enough to give tasks to a second-year student using an artifact for the first time.
The junior only needed to play a supportive role from the side.
“Now then, O fierce beast who rules death and darkness. Greetings.”
-Get lost.
“…”
“…”
The growling voice of the fierce beast from within the palace.
Diret felt shame for the first time in a while. To be so coldly driven away while his junior was watching from the side.
‘No, no. This is strange!’
Something was odd.
Usually, powerful beings didn’t hastily drive away those who had contracts with them or connections.
At the very least, they should ask what purpose brought them here, right?
“Senior?”
“Th, this is strange. Haha.”
“Since it’s a being from the Undead Realm, it’s natural for it to act eccentric and rude. I’ll definitely get revenge someday.”
Lee Han glared at the being from the Undead Realm that dared to insult his sky-like senior.
No matter how much power it boasted in the Undead Realm, how dare it give such insults?
“…No! There’s no need for that!”
When his junior started planning revenge against an excessively powerful being, Diret became even more flustered.
Though it was embarrassing, he didn’t want his junior to form a grudge relationship with a big shot from another dimension.
“In the Undead Realm, words like that are just common. You understand? Don’t think about revenge or anything like that.”
“Hmm. I understand. Then shall we just withdraw?”
“If you have anything to ask, ask it last.”
From Diret’s perspective, there seemed to be only enough leeway to throw one question. After that, they would have to withdraw whether an answer came back or not.
“I’d like to ask if Sharkan is doing well.”
“Understood. If you tell us about Sharkan’s condition, we’ll withdraw like this.”
No answer came back. Diret shook his head slightly.
“It seems we should withdraw. Sorry, junior.”
“It’s fine. The other party is the bad one.”
Lee Han deepened the grudge in his heart even more.
Let’s see about this!
That’s when it happened.
The palace that had been continuously changing forms suddenly stopped and took the shape of a main gate.
And from within that main gate, a giant four-legged fierce beast burst out.
“!!”
“?!!”
‘Did it read my inner thoughts?’
Lee Han was startled.
Unless it had read his mind about getting revenge later, there was no reason for the palace’s owner to come bursting out like that.
To read Lee Han’s inner thoughts when he wasn’t even present but at Einroguard.
-Grrowl!
The four-legged fierce beast that burst out suddenly lay down on the ground and began rolling left and right.
Confused by the unidentifiable behavior, Diret shouted.
“What in the world is that behavior?”
“…It looks like it’s playing? Senior. May I ask directly?”
“Try it. Never reveal your name or location though. You could face retaliation if you’re not careful.”
“Understood. …Sharkan?”
As soon as Lee Han finished speaking, the giant four-legged fierce beast joyfully raised its body.
Diret was even more bewildered.
“That’s… Sharkan? Your summoned creature, junior?”
“It seems like it…”
In fact, Lee Han was just as bewildered.
What was before his eyes was clearly a powerful undead being, not just some summoned creature.
But what this powerful undead being was doing right now was unmistakably Sharkan no matter how he looked at it.
Rolling around excitedly and digging at the ground…?
Thud!
The four-legged fierce beast suddenly stopped its movements.
Then he rose majestically and slowly walked back into the palace.
-Get lost.
“…What was that just now?”
Naturally, the Einroguard students weren’t going to obediently get lost in this situation.
Lee Han held his ground, determined to get an answer no matter what.
-I told you to get lost.
“I won’t back down until I get an answer.”
-Mage. How dare you test the patience of the fierce beast that rules death and darkness…
His words cut off as the fierce beast suddenly burst out of the palace again.
And just like before, he barked while searching for Lee Han.
“…”
“…”
Thud!
The four-legged fierce beast regained his senses again. True to being a powerful existence of the Undead Realm, he didn’t lose his dignity even after such a disgraceful display.
-Get los… Grrowl!
But even that dignity couldn’t last through the third time.
After rolling back and forth on the floor for the third time, the four-legged fierce beast no longer told them to get lost.
-…You despicable mage. To trap the fierce beast that rules death and darkness with such a scheme!
“?!”
Lee Han was also at a loss for words and flustered by this unimaginable false accusation.
* * *
Eventually, the fierce beast gave up and began explaining.
When a projection grows stronger, the main body also recovers power accordingly.
Every time Sharkan absorbed mana, the fierce beast as the main body had also been steadily recovering power.
The quality of the mana was so pure and excellent that the recovery period, which should have taken much longer, was shortened in an instant.
The problem was that in the process, Sharkan had also gained self-awareness.
Originally, the fierce beast that rules death and darkness had intended to temporarily lend out a fragment-like projection without self-awareness, not to create a subordinate projection with a new personality.
Up to that point, it was still manageable. Even if it was a projection with a new personality, he could embrace it with a generous heart as the master.
But Sharkan was more stubborn than expected.
-You are Sharkan. You are a projection split off from the fierce beast that rules death and darkness. You should carry yourself with proper dignity and tear apart enemies.
-Grrowl!
-…You are Sharkan. I understand having affection for your contractor, but the fierce beast that rules death and darkness submits to no one. Think again.
-Grrrrowl!
-…Grrowl! I treated you generously and you dare!
The fierce beast eventually gave up on persuasion and captured Sharkan, confining him within his own existence.
He planned to release him once he reflected and lowered his tail.
This was also why he had dealt so coldly with the mages’ visit.
If he made contact with the mages and heard news of the contractor, wouldn’t it only prolong the rebellion period?
However, Sharkan exceeded the main body’s expectations not only in stubbornness but also in ability.
He had been quiet, making the main body think he was reflecting, but as soon as the contractor arrived, he went wild and temporarily seized control from the main body.
Normally, this would be growth worthy of great praise.
For his projection to become this strong in the Undead Realm full of countless enemies.
It was certainly something to be proud of.
…The problem was that what he did with that newfound strength was merely make a fool of himself in front of his contractor.
-Do you understand, despicable mage? Your gift has corrupted the fierce beast’s projection.
“It’s not like I forced it on you, and you could have stopped absorbing it midway.”
Lee Han naturally protested.
To eat it up happily when recovering his own power and then complain about it now.
Even shamelessness had its limits.
‘Do all undead have no conscience?’
The fierce beast growled low.
Normally, he would have easily dismissed the mage’s protest, but the current situation didn’t allow for that.
Having just recovered his power, he couldn’t keep fighting with his own projection.
-Mage. Tell me what you want. In exchange, I will persuade Sharkan.
“Would it be possible to return Sharkan to me?”
-That is impossible. Keep in mind that Sharkan is no longer the insignificant undead monster he once was.
While weak undead monsters could be summoned relatively easily, powerful undead monsters found it difficult even to cross dimensional barriers.
Now that the fierce beast as the main body had recovered his power and awakened, Sharkan was both fierce beast and projection. Summoning him would require an enormous price.
“If it’s mana, I can pay it each time I summon him.”
-…
The fierce beast, struck in an unexpected spot, made a low growling sound.
Come to think of it, his opponent was a mage who had restored the fierce beast with great mana through some unknown means. Such a mage might indeed be able to pay the price needed for summoning with mana.
Suppressing Sharkan’s attempts to burst out from within with superhuman will, the fierce beast spoke.
-Mage. If you make a new contract, you might regret it. The price for summoning the fierce beast that rules death and darkness would be insufficient even if you scraped together treasures from the depths of your soul… Never mind. Mana will do.
“???”
Lee Han was bewildered when his opponent suddenly gave in.
What was that about?
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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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