Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 57

Thwack!

A dull thud.

Lee Han’s iron ball he sent with magic hit the mud golem right on target.

But something unexpected happened.

“!”

Lee Han’s face fell.

The magic link to the iron ball was broken.

The iron ball was stuck deep inside the mud golem and wouldn’t move.

‘I was careless.’

Lee Han clicked his tongue.

Mud golems are magic monsters.

If magic things go inside them, their magic fights back.

Clatter-

The bone summon shook its hand, it looked like it was begging to go.

“Can you retrieve it? Then… go!”

At Lee Han’s command, the bone summon darted forward.

Bouncing and climbing over the mud golem, the bone summon tried hard to pull out the iron ball stuck in its back.

“……”

“……”

But the iron ball was lodged too deeply. The bone summon whimpered, flailing its hands, but couldn’t reach it.

“Alright, come back.”

The bone summon went back, looking sad.

Thankfully, the mud golem didn’t attack back.

‘I won’t need to become invisible then.’

Lee Han, ready to run if needed, stood up straight and got ready to attack again.

The iron ball was stuck, but…

‘I can still use water orbs.’

He didn’t want to admit it, but he had to use what Professor Volardi taught him.

He learned to make water orbs by dodging things Professor Volardi threw at him during practice.

The problem was, water orbs might not be strong enough.

‘Are they weaker than iron balls?’

Even though it was raining, Lee Han used the iron ball first because it was stronger.

Also, iron balls are easy to use.

Just lift, focus, and throw.

Because they are heavy and easy to focus magic on, they are very strong.

Water orbs were harder to use in many ways. It was much harder to make them.

You have to get water, make it into a ball, and then throw it with magic. It takes many more steps than using an iron ball.

That’s why Lee Han, who was very good at using iron balls, always got hurt by Professor Volardi for not being good at water orbs.

“Spring forth!”

Lee Han made a water orb float in the air.

Water jumped up and quickly became a ball. Maybe because of the rain, it was easier.

Thwack!

‘I knew it, not strong enough.’

The water orb burst, but it was weaker than the iron ball. The hole it made in the mud showed that.

The bone summon shook, like it agreed.

‘Let’s think. Even if the professors are mean, they wouldn’t make a golem like this without a plan.’

Lee Han thought hard again.

Of course, Professor Thunderfoot didn’t make this golem, but Lee Han didn’t know that.

‘Professor Thunderfoot probably knows I’m learning from Professor Volardi. They probably talk. If I use the magic Professor Volardi taught me, maybe I can win.’

Whirr.

Lee Han looked up.

The water orb was spinning around. Lee Han smiled a little sadly.

Because Professor Volardi always bothered him, he was making circles even when he wasn’t trying.

Suddenly, he had an idea.

‘What if I spin the water orb really fast?’

Spinning the water orb might make it go through things better.

Lee Han stopped drawing circles with the water orb and began to spin it.

Whoosh!

* * * *

Meanwhile, far from the training grounds…

Professor Inguldel looked very unhappy. Headmaster Skull saw this and sent a message in his mind to Professor Thunderfoot.

-Do something.

Professor Inguldel was very special and hard to replace at the magic school.

If Professor Inguldel quit and left, it would be a disaster.

Headmaster Skull would have to say sorry to the Emperor again, saying, ‘I didn’t mean to make him suffer,’ and make excuses to the government people, saying, ‘I promise, I’m not trying to bother the people testing us,’ and beg the knights, ‘Please, just give me one sword teacher, I promise I won’t bother them.’

Just thinking about it was terrible.

-Why me…

Professor Thunderfoot complained, but he went to the basement of his cabin and poured a lot of honey wine from a barrel made by dwarves.

It was the Headmaster asking, after all.

-Don’t forget snacks.

“……”

Professor Thunderfoot took smoked meat and vegetables from his cabin shelves.

Then he saw the vegetables Lee Han had picked and left.

‘Oh. I wanted to eat those.’

Professor Thunderfoot’s cabin had been taken over, so he wanted to eat those vegetables he had picked first.

But Headmaster Skull seemed to know everything.

-You’re not going to keep all that good food for yourself, are you?

‘Damn it.’

Professor Thunderfoot gave in and took everything.

Thud!

“Come on, Professor Inguldel. Have some. This is honey wine I made, vegetables from my garden, and meat I smoked.”

“Wow! Wine from our magic-making professor! It’s like the best thing in the world!”

“……”

Headmaster Skull wasn’t good at saying nice things.

Luckily, Professor Inguldel was a nice elf. He raised his glass and said nice things.

“This is really good, Professor Thunderfoot.”

“Thank you.”

He wasn’t just saying it to be polite; it really tasted great.

A good magic-maker is also a good cook and drink-maker. It had to be delicious.

The mood became lighter. The Headmaster, who was very thin, spoke in a warm voice.

“No need to worry too much about the students. Things were much tougher in my day.”

“……”

“……”

As the Headmaster began a ‘back in my day’ story that seemed to go back ages, the younger professors stayed quiet.

Well, things must have been hard back then!

Besides, there are many interesting students among the new freshmen this year. They’ll handle most problems on their own.

“That is correct.”

Professor Ingeldorf nodded, looking a little embarrassed.

Listening to the Headmaster, he felt like he might have been too worried. Maybe it was partly the mead.

Right? Among the students who went to the mountain range, even the boy from the Wodanaz family is quite smart.

The other two professors agreed with the Headmaster.

Lee Han was getting attention from all three of them, so they had to agree.

The Headmaster was happy that the younger professors agreed with him.

“Yes, so don’t worry too much. The Wodanaz family lad I mentioned is smart enough to learn from my magic book on his own, and another one is…”

” ?”

” ?”

The two professors, who had been quietly sipping their honey mead, stopped.

“Wait… what?” Professor Ingeldorf asked, putting down his mead mug with a clink.

“Did you just say… your magic book? He’s learning from *that*?”

Professor Ingeldorf and Professor Thunderstride stared at the Headmaster, shocked.

Of course, a professor could give personal lessons to a student. It was a school for learning magic, after all, so that was normal.

But the Headmaster was a bit different.

As you could guess from what he just said, wasn’t he a strange old man with different ideas than the professors of today?

The Headmaster realized he had said too much.

The Headmaster was like a wizard from very old times. He did not give up easily. Instead, he argued even more strongly.

“Am I not allowed to give a single lesson as the Headmaster and leader of this school?!”

“……”

“……”

The Headmaster felt that the mood was not good. The two professors were not going to let it go easily.

Realizing he was in a bad spot, the Headmaster changed his approach.

“It’s not just me. Professor Voladi Bagrek is also giving personal lessons, isn’t he? And Thunderstride, you’re giving personal lessons too!”

He was trying to pull in other professors who were there and not there, like someone drowning grabbing at straws.

Truly, he was an ancient archmage for a reason.

“No… I am only teaching things that are right for first-year students. Professor Bagrek is doing the same. But you are not!”

Thunderstride said, sounding surprised.

The tasks that Thunderstride gave Lee Han were a little hard on the body, but they were very safe and wouldn’t make him go crazy.

But the Headmaster was the kind of person who would teach all sorts of hard and strange magic, even to a first-year student.

“Professor Bagrek is also teaching magic that isn’t right for first-year students. I heard he’s practically teaching 3rd Circle magic.”

The Headmaster, having pulled Thunderstride in, now focused on Professor Voladi Bagrek, who wasn’t there.

And this wasn’t a lie.

Last time he heard, Professor Voladi was indeed teaching something like 3rd Circle magic.

-Last time, the boy from the Wodanaz family passed the training of drawing a perfect circle with iron beads.

-Is that so? He’s very good. It’s 1st Circle magic (Magic is ranked in Circles, with 1st Circle being the easiest for beginners), but it would be hard to show that level of control with just 1st Circle.

-So he moved on to the next course.

-What was the next course? Water Orb magic? That would be 2nd Circle.

The Circle, which measures how hard magic is, is based on the number of steps in the spellcasting process.

Summoning water and keeping it in the shape of an orb was 2nd Circle magic. (Imagine a ball of water, floating in the air, perfectly round and clear.)

-He made an orb of water and is now making it draw a circle.

Adding control to that would almost make it 3rd Circle.

Of course, the result was the same, but that didn’t mean it was 3rd Circle magic.

3rd Circle magic needed all those steps to be linked together with a single wand movement and spell, making it appear all at once.

Summoning water, making an orb, and then rotating it in a circle, doing it step by step, wasn’t really 3rd Circle magic.

But even this was a great thing.

After all, wasn’t it proof that if he got used to magic and got faster, he could use 3rd Circle magic?

For a first-year student who should be struggling with 2nd Circle magic to be able to do this now.

Another professor would have been surprised, but the Headmaster calmly accepted it.

-I see. That’s a good thing.

And then he thought this.

‘If Professor Voladi is doing this, then it’s okay for me to personally pass on some magic!’

“What is this nonsense?! Professor Bagrek is Professor Bagrek, and your magic is your magic!”

Professor Thunderstride didn’t believe the Headmaster.

He doubted that Professor Bagrek was really teaching 3rd Circle magic, and even if that were true, the Headmaster’s teachings felt much more dangerous.

“I’m really teaching safely! I’m only teaching magic that’s right for their level. I swear on my honor!”

“……”

“……”

“I swear on my magic!”

“Ah. If that’s the case…”

“Then I will believe you.”

The two professors barely stopped being suspicious when he swore on his magic.

They had worried that he was trying to destroy their brains by teaching ancient magic that even the Headmaster couldn’t understand to a first-year student.

Luckily, that didn’t seem to be the case.

“But what is Professor Bagrek teaching?”

“Water attribute combat magic.”

The two professors were impressed after hearing a detailed explanation from the Headmaster.

As the Headmaster said, it wasn’t really 3rd Circle magic, but it was amazing that a first-year student was showing that level of skill with magic.

An amazing result that was only possible with talent and hard work!

“I’m not a wizard, so I don’t know much, but is it normal for students of that grade to show that level of achievement?”

“It’s very rare. He must know a lot about the water attribute. Of course, that’s not enough, and he needs many other talents as well… Wait, Professor Bagrek specializes in magical combat, doesn’t he? So, is he repeating that training now? It’s very hard on his magical power and his mind…”

Oh dear. What an awful person.

“……”

“Well, he probably won’t do more than that. The training he’s doing now isn’t a problem, so isn’t it worth doing? The magic is already hard, so it probably won’t get any harder.”

Whoosh!

‘Completed it.’

A sphere of water spun quickly in place, making a sound.

Lee Han lifted his throbbing head and looked up at the mud golem.