Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 96

In a big school like this, sometimes professors forgot you were even there. Lee Han knew the best way to deal with that was to stay quiet and out of sight.

The Forgotten Beast statue, standing tall and dusty in the shadows, seemed to understand this perfectly.

Suddenly, a deep, rumbling voice echoed in the quiet room. “Being forgotten can be very boring, you know,” the statue said, its stone head tilting slightly. “But thank you for visiting. It’s a nice change.”

“The Great Statue… I heard you know the wisdom needed to esc—, no, to thrive in this school.”

Lee Han changed his words, stopping himself from mentioning escape.

He couldn’t be sure when the Forgotten Beast statue might betray him.

“Wisdom… It’s embarrassing to call it that. While I may not possess true wisdom, I can share what I know. And I might be able to help with things within my power.”

“Indeed!”

Lee Han realized the statue’s boredom was actually good news.

A bored statue might be willing to talk and help, just to have something to do.

“Of course, I can’t help with things beyond my capabilities. So don’t ask me to rescue a dragon.”

“Could you perhaps make the Headmaster a little kinder?”

…What colour dragon would you prefer? A dragon would be better than that.

“I apologize. It was a joke.”

Naturally, Lee Han had no intention of asking for anything so absurd.

Lee Han wanted only one thing.

The way to the spire stables, located on the upper floors of the main building.

“Do you know the location of the stables in the main building’s spire?”

“I know about three places.”

Lee Han’s eyes flashed for a moment. He had finally found what he was looking for.

“Of those… I would like to know the easiest route.”

“That’s not difficult.”

“!”

“But before that, you must defeat me!”

“?!?!”

Lee Han was surprised by how suddenly things changed.

He gripped his wand and stared at the statue with wary eyes. But instead of attacking, the statue conjured a bronze chessboard in front of them.

“Let’s play a game!”

“……”

Boredom was a powerful thing, even for a statue. This statue had been standing here for a very long time, probably for a professor, and even it couldn’t fight off the boredom.

The Forgotten Beast statue loved chess.

The good thing about chess is that you can play it alone.

The statue’s tail and other heads swayed along with the words.

Lee Han wanted to know how good the statue was at chess.

“Did you play chess with any other new students before I arrived?”

“I did.”

“How many times did that new student win?”

“They never won.”

Lee Han’s expression turned serious.

‘Tutankha didn’t win even once?’

Lee Han didn’t know how skilled Tutankha was, but the fact that he kept trying and never won meant a lot.

It meant that this Forgotten Statue was very good at chess, and…

…that he’s cunning enough to hide it.

If the difference was too overwhelming, the opponent wouldn’t try again. He had to win by a narrow margin to give the opponent hope and make them want to try again.

To do that, the statue must be much, much better at chess.

‘Can I win?’

Lee Han didn’t think he was particularly good at chess.

Of course, it wasn’t as if he had never played chess before.

Like many students who spent a lot of time studying, Lee Han and his friends played games to pass the time, sometimes even making small bets.

And the most popular of these was chess.

Lee Han had never lost to any of the other students, but…

…but that just meant he was good compared to other students. He had never won against the professor from the lab next door, who was from another country.

That foreign professor seemed to enjoy winning against weaker opponents, and would call Lee Han over to crush him whenever he was bored.

The statue in front of him was either better than that professor or at least as good.

‘But I only need to win once, just once.’

He just needed to win once, whether by shaking the opponent up or catching them off guard.

Lee Han made a plan to win by sheer volume.

Chess was a game with unexpected variables, so he might be able to win once if he played about a hundred games.

“Oh, I should tell you now, there’s a penalty if you lose.”

“…What is it?”

Lee Han flinched.

The statue, shrouded in shadows, suddenly seemed to exude pressure.

“If you lose, you have to play another game.”

“…That’s it?”

The penalty was weaker than he expected. The statue nodded.

“And if you lose again when you challenge me again, then you’ll have to play two games. If you lose the next challenge after that, then three games…”

‘If he’s that bored, he might as well just get some work from the professor.’

Lee Han thought as he picked up a white pawn.

With a final move, Lee Han captured the statue’s king. The piece fell over on the chessboard. Lee Han was shocked.

‘Tutankha…!’

“You really are good.”

The statue was impressed, but Lee Han was slightly dumbfounded.

Incredibly, Lee Han had won.

And on the first game!

Now, he started to wonder about how good the statue and Tutankha really were. To not win even one game against this statue…

‘I was nervous for nothing.’

“Here. This is the map I made.”

“Thank you.”

Lee Han took the map from the statue and put it in his pocket. Then he asked,

“Would you like to play another game?”

Now that he realized his opponent was easier than he thought, there was no need to hesitate. Lee Han spoke to get a little more out of him.

But the statue didn’t fall for it so easily.

“No. I’m really satisfied today. It was such a fun game.”

“……”

“Thanks to you, I think I’ll be able to sleep soundly. Thank you.”

Lee Han couldn’t figure out what part of this game had satisfied his opponent so much.

Was the statue pretending to be happy because it thought it might lose if they played again?

“Yes… I’m glad to hear that.”

Lee Han congratulated him with a reluctant heart and came outside.

Salco was waiting in the hallway, carving a small statue with a chisel and mallet.

“You’re out.”

Salco brushed away the wood dust and spoke without looking at Lee Han.

He didn’t like nobles, but he was willing to respect Lee Han’s pride.

He probably felt embarrassed for losing to the statue.

“I’ll guide you until you win. You won’t be able to enter alone. Tell me when you want to go next time.”

“I won.”

“…??!?!!”

Salco couldn’t believe his ears.

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

That beast statue’s chess skills were truly amazing.

Salco was very good at chess, better than anyone else in his family, but even he had never won.

He was planning to prepare with Wodanaz and try again…

He just won?

“Re, really?”

“Yeah. He said he was going to get some sleep thanks to it.”

Salco didn’t doubt the words of someone he had decided to respect for no reason.

But now, it was hard to believe Lee Han’s words until he saw it with his own eyes.

“Wodanaz, would you mind if I checked it out?”

“Sure. Do as you please.”

Salco quickly finished carving the small statue in the hallway, then opened the door again and went inside.

And he walked out with an expression as if he had been possessed by a ghost.

The statue was really sleeping.

Lee Han said to Salco.

“Thank you. I got the information I needed thanks to you.”

“I’m glad to hear that…”

For a moment, Salco looked at Lee Han with eyes full of respect without realizing it, then snapped out of it and returned to his expression.

To think I’d have such respect for someone from a noble family in my life!

Salco cleared his throat once and turned around.

“Let’s go back. I’ll guide you.”

Salco, who had turned his back, didn’t notice that Lee Han’s eyes had changed slightly.

Lee Han’s eyes, which were looking at Salco, had changed from the initial gaze to something similar to the gaze he gave Nilia.

Lee Han opened the door to the lounge with a very tired expression.

Salco, who was big and strong-looking, was actually more talkative than Lee Han expected.

-I want to tell you about the ‘Dwarf Gambit,’ the Tutankha family’s specialty, where you raise the pawn to -e4, and if the opponent counters with e5, you push it to f4.

-My specialty is sending the knight to f3 when the opponent takes the pawn, and about this…

-It happened in the game we played last time…

-Did you know? The elves tell you to send the pawn to d4 instead of e4 and respond to d5 with c4! They’re crazy!

He had been talking about chess all the way back.

Lee Han wasn’t someone who devoted his life and passion to chess like Salco.

He tried to answer as sincerely as possible so that Salco wouldn’t be upset, but he couldn’t help but feel mentally exhausted.

“Wodanaz! You’re back!”

His friends, who were doing their homework in the lounge, were happy to see Lee Han.

Yoner was huddled together with the other students, checking the potions.

It was the potion that Lee Han and Ratford had stolen from the carriage last time.

Thanks to the reagents they had salvaged from Professor Thunderfoot’s lab, they were able to conduct various experiments.

“Did you find anything out?”

“Wodanaz, we did it.”

“?”

One of the students sitting next to Yoner opened his mouth with an excited voice.

“We found the miracle potion!”

“Did you find a potion of teleportation or something?”

Lee Han asked, puzzled.

Then the students answered with embarrassed expressions.

“No… not teleportation.”

“But it’s still a great potion! I’ll show you! Gainando, too!”

The students brought Gainando. Lee Han realized that Gainando’s appearance was a little different from usual.

A little…

He looked intellectual.

‘What is it? Is that a fake Gainando?’

Gainando nodded at Lee Han, looking very calm and serious. Lee Han found this new, intelligent Gainando a little unsettling.

“Gainando. Who teaches >Understanding Basic Magic>?”

“Professor Garcia Kim.”

“How do you make a low-grade mana recovery potion?”

“To make the potion, you need to cut some plants in a special way and mix them quickly,” Gainando explained, sounding like a professor himself.

The Blue Dragon Tower students cheered at the answers that came out so easily.

“Did you see?? It’s a potion of wisdom! It’s a potion of wisdom!”

Among the alchemy potions, there was also a potion that temporarily increased the intelligence of the drinker.

Looking at Gainando’s appearance now, it was clear.

This reddish liquid is definitely a potion of wisdom!

‘Wait. Did these guys test it on Gainando?’

Lee Han had such a question, but he decided to skip it for now. There were more important things than that.

“Do you really think this is a potion of wisdom?”

Lee Han asked Yoner in a small voice. Yoner answered with a cautious expression.

“I’m not sure yet. But looking at Gainando’s reaction after drinking it, it’s possible.”

“Didn’t you drink it after checking everything?”

“No, he just came and drank it during the verification process…”

“……”

Lee Han tried to say something but held back.

‘It would be nice if it was a potion of wisdom.’

Like the students cheering, Lee Han had too many places to use the potion of wisdom if he had one.

First, drink a little during Professor Garcia’s class, drink a little during Professor Volardy’s class, drink a little during Professor Thunderfoot’s class, drink a little when meeting Professor Mortoom, drink a little when meeting Professor Milray…

Lee Han, who was counting on his fingers, reflected.

Potions were not harmless to the body. They always required a price. If he drank like that, his body wouldn’t be able to handle it.

But there were too many things that required wisdom in this school.

‘Should I check it out a little more?’

Lee Han looked at Gainando. And asked.

“What is 14X19?”

“It’s 417.”

The Blue Dragon Tower students who were listening next to him cheered at the answer that came out immediately.

But Lee Han, Yoner, Asan, and the Princess had strange expressions.

…Huh?