Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 72

“Still, if we’re going to be in the same group, I think we should clear up any misunderstandings.”

“No!”

Dergyu understood now. Lee Han wasn’t just having a misunderstanding; he was looking for any chance to cause trouble for Giselle. Of course, he’d claim it was self-defense…

“It’ll be fine… probably. I’ll pass messages between you two… I’d appreciate it if you did that.”

“Oh, Dergyu. You seem to like passing messages.”

Dergyu didn’t even have the strength to reply.

A few students from the Blue Dragon Tower shuffled up to the swordsmanship classroom. The White Tiger Tower students looked displeased.

“What business do you have here?”

“We’ve come to help make sure you lot don’t gang up on Wodanaz!”

“…What? That’s what we should be saying!”

The White Tiger Tower students were genuinely aggrieved. Of course, they had struck first, but Wodanaz was clearly winning when it came to who had been hit more. However, the Blue Dragon Tower students wouldn’t listen to such excuses.

They made threatening noises, then grabbed Lee Han’s arms and pulled him away as soon as he appeared.

“Let’s go quickly! Who knows what those guys are planning.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“The summons are running wild and it’s dangerous, Wodanaz! We’ll protect you!”

Lee Han was dragged away without even getting to say goodbye to Dergyu. ‘I really am fine,’ he thought.

The Blue Dragon Tower students kept casting wary glances around them as they spoke.

“You have to be careful, Wodanaz. The White Tiger Tower guys are like beasts.”

“Alchemy class is next, right? Let’s move together.”

Yoner looked at Lee Han being dragged along by his friends with a puzzled expression.

“Why are they holding your arms and dragging you?”

“Maykin! You can’t be so careless! You have to assume the outside of the tower is unconditionally dangerous right now!”

Yoner, who knew Lee Han’s skills, stared at him with an odd look. ‘Lee Han could probably beat all of you even if you ganged up on him…’

“That’s right. The situation is very dangerous right now.”

“The unparalleled genius that the Fremen Order boasts of, the master of alchemy, Priest Siana. It’s been a while.”

Lee Han spoke while his arms were still being held by his friends. The Blue Dragon Tower friends tilted their heads. ‘An unparalleled genius? A master of alchemy?’ They knew Priest Siana was skilled in alchemy, but was he that good?

Priest Siana smiled pleasantly and held out a flask.

“I made this monster repellent potion. Lee Han of the Wodanaz family, please take it and use it. If you spray it around, it will emit a scent that monsters dislike.”

“I am deeply moved by such a wonderful gift.”

Nilia, who arrived late, whispered in confusion.

“Why do you talk so formally in front of Priest Siana?”

“Nilia, if you want to make a living in imperial society, you have to do at least this much…”

Nilia didn’t understand. Lee Han didn’t expect Nilia to understand right away. ‘Anyway, thank you,’ Lee Han thought.

Lee Han carefully received the monster repellent potion and put it away. Seeing summons roaming the school grounds in the third week of the semester, he figured they might even enter the dorms by the fifth week, and maybe a demon would appear at the school around the seventh week…

“Everyone, take your seats.”

Professor Uregeoreum yawned as he opened the door to the Gaksugwan. The students all suppressed their hatred and greeted him.

“Did you all finish the potion?”

“Yes (thanks to you, we suffered).”

“Of course (we’ll see about this someday).”

Even though Lee Han didn’t have mind-reading abilities, he felt like he could hear the true feelings hidden in the students’ words.

“What? You all finished? Are you sure you didn’t miscalculate?” Professor Uregeoreum asked with a voice full of disappointment.

Priest Siana replied in a curt tone.

“It seemed like there was a problem with the method the professor taught us, so we all put our heads together and thought about it.”

“…Why would you do that? You all don’t even like each other!”

Professor Uregeoreum grumbled, making a sound that would make even tower students who didn’t like each other band together.

“Anyway, you’ve all worked hard. Having made the Low-Grade Spirit Affinity Potion from start to finish, you can say that you’ve completely taken your first step as novice alchemists. Of course, the result won’t be perfect.”

Professor Uregeoreum grabbed one of the flask bottles submitted by the students that was placed in front of the table and opened the stopper. Then, he grabbed a strangely moving branch and shook it from above. A very faint fire, like a candle, was lit on the branch.

“Look. The power of the potion is weak, right?” Professor Uregeoreum blew out the fire.

Then, he opened the flask bottle next to it and shook the branch again. The same faint fire was lit very slightly. Professor Uregeoreum blew out the fire with a very satisfied expression.

Whoosh!!

However, a strong fire soared from the next flask bottle, enough to burn the branch completely. Professor Uregeoreum, who hurriedly pushed his beard back to avoid it, glared at Lee Han with resentful eyes.

Lee Han felt very wronged. ‘Hey, he’s the one who didn’t look at the potion bottle label…!’

“Of course, there are some well-made potions, but it’s still too early to be arrogant. If you get cocky just because you have a little luck, you’ll get seriously hurt.”

Asan nodded as if the professor’s words were quite impressive. Lee Han wanted to tell him not to be fooled, but he didn’t have the chance.

“So…” Professor Uregeoreum waved his wand, opening all the stoppers of the flask bottles and checking the flames. At the same time, a quill pen floating next to him quickly wrote down the numbers.

Lee Han saw a ’10’ beside his name – a perfect score. He sighed. “Ten. How boring.”

Thinking to himself: “Can a professor even *give* a perfect score like that?”

“Today, we will practice with spirits, an important element in alchemy. A great alchemist should not only be able to complete potions but also be obsessed with how to improve their effects. And the easiest way to do that… is through spirits.”

Professor Thunderfoot made a fist, then opened his hand. Then, a dainty rabbit, seemingly made of snowballs, appeared on his palm.

All the students in the room gasped.

Lee Han suddenly remembered something and glanced at his waist. The bone summon, tied to his belt, rattled as if asking what was wrong.

‘Hmm. There’s a reason why true black magic isn’t popular.’

“This little fellow is Professor Rabbit, my Frost Spirit. Don’t let his cuteness fool you! He might look like a snowball, but he could crush every single one of you without breaking a sweat.”

Professor Rabbit nodded with an air of pride. The students were very bewildered.

He doesn’t look like it at all…

“I’m not asking you to contract with a spirit like this from the start. It’s too much for your level.”

Making a contract with a spirit was like making a new friend, but a very serious one.

“Don’t even think about trying to contract one right away with a conceited attitude. First, think about befriending the spirits. Befriending spirits requires only sincerity and devotion. If you approach with a haughty heart, the spirit will quickly notice.”

The students took notes, listening intently to Professor Thunderfoot’s words.

Frankly, it was the most exciting lesson they had heard so far.

Compared to the risk of going to the mountains to collect materials and throwing ingredients into exploding cauldrons on time, ‘meeting and befriending spirits’ was a very exciting and romantic task.

Yes, this is what I wanted!

The alchemy classroom smelled faintly of sulfur and burnt sugar. Sunlight streamed through the tall windows, illuminating swirling dust motes above the worn wooden desks.

Professor Thunderfoot threw jewels and special powders to make the magic circle stronger and attract spirits.

“Drink the potion.”

The students drank the potion with expectant looks. Lee Han also drank the potion.

“Now, go meet the spirits.”

Thunderfoot waved his wand. In that instant, Lee Han’s vision went dark.

Lee Han had seen this kind of scenery before.

It was similar to the scenery shown in the black book given by the Skeleton Headmaster.

The difference was that the black book dragged Lee Han’s mind into the scenery within his mind and forced him to practice magic, while Thunderfoot sent him to the spirit world and forced him to meet the spirits.

‘A surreal scene, indeed.’

The air in the lava realm shimmered with heat, making the rocky ground look wavy. Molten rock glowed orange and red, like rivers of fire snaking through the black landscape. The air smelled of smoke and hot stone, and the ground vibrated with a low rumble.

On the other side, the snow mountain was a blinding white against a grey sky. Sharp winds howled, whipping snowflakes into a frenzy. The air was biting cold, and the ground crunched underfoot. In the distance, you could hear the deep roar of an ice storm.

He must have fallen near the realms of the Fire Spirits and Ice Spirits in the infinitely vast spirit world.

Not bad.

Both Fire Spirits and Ice Spirits were useful spirits.

Fire Spirits were useful for boiling soup or making fried eggs, and Ice Spirits were helpful for keeping fresh chunks of meat…

‘No, what crazy thoughts am I having.’

Lee Han shook his head to come to his senses.

Befriending spirits had nothing to do with one’s bloodline or magical prowess.

Only sincerity.

Like Professor Thunderfoot said, Lee Han didn’t even think about trying to contract one right away.

If he tried steadily and sincerely, someday a spirit would reach out to him.

Lee Han blinked. The fire puppy wasn’t just flames shaped like a dog. Its ‘fur’ flickered with orange and yellow fire, and sparks danced around its paws as it hopped. It had bright, intelligent eyes that glowed like embers.

Lee Han cautiously called out to the puppy.

“Uh… hello? Fire Puppy? Are you… a spirit? A fire spirit?”

The Fire Puppy Spirit turned its head to look at Lee Han with an expression that said, ‘Is this crazy guy spouting nonsense?’

Yelp! Yelp!

And then it ran away like crazy. It looked terrified.

Lee Han was bewildered. *What did I do wrong?* he wondered, a frown forming on his face.

“Fire Puppy Spirit! Come back, Fire Puppy Spirit!”

No matter how desperately he called, the spirit did not return. Lee Han wondered if his title was too burdensome.

‘Well, since it’s a spirit, it might prefer something simple.’

Lee Han approached a Fire Pigeon Spirit a little more simply.

“Hey, Pigeon? Fire Pigeon? You okay?”

The Fire Pigeon Spirit screamed like a madman and ran away.

Lee Han began to feel a sense of unease.

…Huh?

In reality, only a few seconds had passed, but the students came back talking excitedly.

“Wow, did anyone else see the lake? I think I saw a carp spirit! It looked right at me, and it didn’t swim away when I talked to it!”

“I petted a little cloud spirit! It was so fluffy! Do you think that means it liked me?”

Professor Thunderfoot frowned, plugging his fingers into both ears at the noisy voices of the students.

“Enough, enough! Go chatter in your tower. Anyway, you all know how difficult it is to meet and befriend spirits in the spirit world. From now on, whenever you have time besides lectures, try to contact the spirit world and befriend the spirits. If you can get help from spirits, it will be of great help in alchemy.”

“Yes!”

As the students stood up and walked out with satisfied expressions, Thunderfoot called Lee Han aside.

He was curious about his experience in the spirit world.

‘Even if he’s outstanding, the spirits won’t listen to him easily until they become friendly.’

“How was it?”

“It’s a disaster.”

Professor Thunderfoot smiled contentedly.

Yes!

That’s how a freshman alchemist should be!

“How so? Did the spirits not listen to you that much?”

“They ran away as soon as they saw me.”

“…?”