Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 79

The bone hand moved back slowly, like it was saying, “Please, go ahead.” It was almost too polite for a monster made of bones.

As Lee Han stepped closer, the bone hand trembled and rolled backward, as if trying to show it meant no harm.

“…?” Lee Han was confused.

Professor Mortoom spoke, clearing his throat. “Hmm. Undead summoning looks amazing, right? Like magic! But it’s actually very hard work.”

He explained, “Magicians who want to learn summoning often start with objects. Like this bone hand.” He pointed to the trembling hand. “But they always ask themselves, ‘Why objects? Why can’t I summon something that can think for itself?'”

“Even summoning a magic sword is tricky,” he continued. “You have to decide what the sword can do, how it will move on its own. As magic gets stronger, you need to make it almost like it’s alive! Imagine how hard that is for magicians!”

He sighed dramatically. “Why can’t we just summon something with its own mind from the start? It would be easier, right?”

“Well,” Professor Mortoom said, answering his own question. “There’s a problem. If it has its own mind, it might not listen to you! And undead monsters? They are even more likely to disobey than other monsters.”

From the start, summoners and the undead were opposites. Summoners were alive, and the undead were dead. It was hard to become close, even if they tried.

So, black magicians used different ways to become friends with the undead, such as living in tombs, putting rotten stuff on themselves, and making necklaces out of bones and flesh.

These weren’t things that black magicians did because they liked them. It was a hard task to hide their life energy and get closer to the undead.

“……”

“……”

The students listening looked as pale as the undead, but Professor Mortoom didn’t notice.

“Hmm. So, first, try to become friendly with the bone hand in any way you can. If you become friendly with the bone hand, you’ll eventually become friendly with other undead monsters.”

Spending time closely with undead monsters would stain the soul with their energy.

If one spent time with the lowest-grade undead monsters like the bone hand, they would eventually be able to handle even more powerful undead monsters.

“Professor.”

“?”

Lee Han, who had been quietly waiting for Professor Mortoom to finish, raised his hand and called out to the professor.

“Are there any undead that are a bit cowardly?”

“?”

Most undead monsters were not cowardly, as they were not alive. Professor Mortoom scoffed as if to say, ‘What are you talking about?’

…but was surprised to see the bone hand trembling in front of Lee Han.

“?”

Professor Mortoom stared at the bone hand he had summoned. What was it doing instead of dealing with the students?

The bone hand lowered its head in front of Professor Mortoom as if it was ashamed.

‘Can’t you approach quickly?’ Despite Professor Mortoom’s command, the bone hand trembled and didn’t want to approach Lee Han.

Professor Mortoom wondered if there was something wrong with the reagent he had used.

Splash! Splash! The other bone hands were happily slapping Guinando’s cheeks. They were all perfectly fine.

‘Did the bone hand feel close because it was traveling with the bone summon? No… then there’s no reason to be afraid.’ Only one conclusion remained.

Professor Mortoom was horrified. Could it be…?

“Hmm. Try summoning one yourself.”

“Is that alright?”

“Yes. The good thing about black magic is that it gives you practical experience. Summoning magic will just make you study for a year.”

“……”

Professor Mortoom threw a bone fragment needed for the magic and drew a magic circle on the floor. Lee Han held his staff and focused. He was worried about Professor Mortoom’s actions.

‘He seems to be rushing the lesson too much to show that black magic is better…’ Fortunately, it seemed that Lee Han could stop the bone hand even if it attacked.

Lee Han chanted the spell.

“Appear, bone hand!”

As he threw the bone fragment and swung his staff, the magic-infused bone fragment began to turn into a bone hand along with strange smoke.

It wasn’t the bone hands that Professor Mortoom had summoned, which he controlled tightly. It was a new bone hand that Lee Han had summoned himself.

The summoning magic’s spell was controlling the undead monster like a chain around a beast’s neck, but an inexperienced novice magician couldn’t handle that chain well.

Professor Mortoom watched the bone hand closely. If the bone hand overcame the chain and attacked Lee Han, he was planning to reverse summon it first.

Roll roll roll-

“……”

“……”

The new bone hand that Lee Han summoned was even more obedient than the bone hand that Professor Mortoom had summoned. The bone summon hanging on Lee Han’s belt shook jealously.

You have too much magic power.” The truly flustered Professor Mortoom calmly explained.

Come to think of it, there had already been signs since the curse. He just didn’t know it would be so severe that the undead monsters would be frightened and submissive to that extent…

Lee Han asked seriously, like a patient diagnosed with a disease. “I see. Professor, is there any way to fix it?”

“Hmm. Why fix it? It’s a great talent!”

“?” Lee Han was confused.

Well… It’s because it’s hard to use magic and the spirits run away?

“Hmm. If you have such a talent, there’s no need to befriend undead monsters. Just control them with force. What a great talent.”

Black magicians didn’t roll around in tombs because they liked it. They did it because they had to become friends with the undead monsters somehow.

But what if there was no need to do that? In Professor Mortoom’s view, controlling undead monsters was a much higher level of control than befriending them. It was just difficult.

“But Professor, undead monsters can be summoned and controlled, but spirits can’t.”

Spirits wouldn’t even respond to the call before becoming friendly, so having the ability to scare them was useless. Professor Mortoom kindly answered Lee Han’s question.

“Hmm. There’s a good way.”

“What is it?”

“Give up summoning spirits.”

“……” Lee Han was grateful for the table.

Because his hand was under the table, he wasn’t caught clenching his fist. But Professor Mortoom was serious.

“Hmm. Why try to eat grass when you have such good teeth and claws? Black magic suits you best. I don’t usually say this, but… you have a genius-level talent for black magic.”

“Ah. I see.”

“?” This time, Professor Mortoom was surprised by Lee Han’s calm reaction.

It was a truly rare compliment, but the student was too indifferent. Perhaps because he was from the Wodanaaz family, his reaction was different from what he expected.

‘It’s too late to be fooled by professors’ compliments.’ Professors often gave compliments when they needed something. They had to be especially careful in unpopular fields.

One could ruin their life if they were swayed by compliments. Lee Han changed the subject.

“But Professor, it’s hard to cast magic because of the amount of magic power.”

“You’ll be fine once you get used to it. Hmm. I’ll help you practice.”

‘Damn it. Professors are really useless.’ They were trying to take care of only their own greed with the students.

Should a professor be like this… come to think of it, professors were always like that.

“Oh dear… thank you so much.” Lee Han, who had managed his expression, nodded.

Of course, he hadn’t decided on a career in black magic, but he had to prepare for the time when he failed in other magic and only black magic remained. Thinking about that time, it wouldn’t be good to be on bad terms with Professor Mortoom.

The professor and student smiled at each other, thinking different things.

“You jerk. I’m going to destroy you!” Guinando, whose cheeks were swollen, grabbed his staff and hit the bone hand.

Raphael, who had been hit too, was pulling out his wooden sword and hitting the bone hand. The only one who was fine was Imirgue.

He was grabbing the attacking bone hand with his strength and pressing it down, not knowing what to do. Professor Mortoom opened his mouth, sensing that Lee Han was confused.

“Hmm. Just because you have a talent for black magic doesn’t mean you’ll become friendly with the undead quickly. That’s a bad method. It’s a common mistake that young black magicians make.”

“But if you beat them like that, wouldn’t the undead monsters respect the summoner a little more?”

Professor Mortoom looked at Lee Han as if he were crazy. Lee Han felt unfairly accused.

‘You said controlling them was a good method…’

After the class, Guinando grumbled while putting the ointment he received from Professor Mortoom on his cheeks.

“Undead monsters who don’t know nobility… Lee Han.”

“?”

“Let’s go listen to summoning magic quickly. It’ll be better if it’s not undead monsters.”

“……” Would it really be?

‘Excluding spirits, demons will be fiercer than undead monsters, and monsters will basically have strong wildness.’ While Lee Han was thinking, Raphael shouted with a swollen face.

“You evil black magician. Just you wait. I’ll be watching you.”

“Gral. I think there’s a misunderstanding. Do we really have to fight as friends taking the same black magic class?”

“You jerk! You slapped my cheek earlier!”

“That was a mistake.”

While other friends were trying to get close to the undead monsters, Lee Han followed Professor Mortoom’s instructions to check what commands he could give to the undead monsters.

When he succeeded in even the difficult command to destroy themselves, Professor Mortoom was so impressed that he clapped. But there were also mistakes.

Due to a command mistake, the bone hand that Lee Han summoned slapped the cheek of Raphael, who was grumbling, ‘You evil black magician.’ It was an unfortunate mistake.

“Gral. Why don’t you believe me…”

“Lee Han. He’s already gone.”

“That’s a shame.” Guinando looked at Lee Han with fearful eyes.

…Is that why the undead follow him so well?!

“Imirgue. See you in the next class.”

“Y-yes. Lee Han. Not outside…” Lee Han was slightly hurt, but he didn’t show it.

Spirit Ritual Hall.

The Spirit Ritual Hall, which was Professor Milrei’s workshop and tower, had a different feel from the Black Darkness Hall.

‘It’s like a library.’ The magic school’s library was more like a messy warehouse, but the Spirit Ritual Hall was more like a library.

The road to the tower was well-maintained with bricks, and there were ponds and walking paths nearby. ‘The Black Darkness Hall had a pond too.’ Although it was a purple pond with poisonous bubbles rising…

Guinando stood in front of the Spirit Ritual Hall’s door and knocked. Then he looked at Lee Han and asked.

“Wait. What should I say?”

“Just say it.”

“That I was late because I got slapped by an undead…?”

“…I’ll just say it. Professor Milrei! I’m sorry for arriving late. Another professor made a prior appointment…”

“If there was a prior appointment, it can’t be helped. There’s no need to apologize.” Professor Milrei answered and opened the tower’s door.

Professor Milrei, who had walked down to the first floor to greet the late freshmen, raised her eyebrows when she saw Lee Han. She seemed surprised that Lee Han had come.

‘…What is it?’ Lee Han suddenly felt uneasy.

Surely Professor Mortoom didn’t say something like, ‘He’s going to be my student, so everyone stay away’ to the other professors?