Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 207

Even though his crown was damaged, the Frost Giant King spoke softly.

He was happy with what the challenger had shown.

I wondered how he would get past the crown’s strong defenses. Then I saw it – he used evaporation! Evaporation is a very hard water magic trick. Even water magic experts struggle with it. It takes a lot of magic power to use, and it’s hard to understand. Most good wizards find it too difficult. But this young wizard could do it!

You are very good at controlling cold magic. I think you have grown stronger because you were wise enough to put aside your pride. Using evaporation was impressive, and so was your control of cold magic.

Many wizards don’t focus on controlling elements well. Instead of just throwing ice pieces at enemies, they usually learn big, powerful spells. Also, cold magic is harder to control than water or earth. Even if it’s very cold around, it takes real skill for a wizard to control many ice pieces at once.

Lee Han decided to listen quietly.

It wasn’t really about pride that he only used fire magic. But he thought it was better not to say that out loud.

Here is a gift for you, brave fighter.

As the Frost Giant King said this, a blue stone that glowed was put into Lee Han’s wand. It was a stone made of very strong cold magic.

“When the snow melts and spring comes, it will be hard to use cold magic. So, I am giving you this cold magic.”

“…Thank you!”

Lee Han was very happy.

Of course, the Frost Giant King didn’t know what Lee Han was really thinking! Lee Han planned to use this cold magic to practice fire magic!

‘When the cold from outside goes away, fire magic will be harder again. But if I can make cold myself, it will help a lot.’

He knew there would be limits, but even if he could make cold magic just a few times a day, it would be great.

The Frost Giant King said, ‘Cold is the best element of all…’

‘Hmm,’ Lee Han thought, pausing at the King’s words.

He was starting to see that wizards and spirits always thought their own magic element was the best, no matter what.

‘I don’t agree,’ Lee Han thought. But he stayed quiet. He got a gift, so it was polite to listen.

…If you learn this well, you will be the strongest. I will wait to fight you again, brave fighter.

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Lee Han replied.

The Frost Giant King, acting like a true king, turned and left in a grand way.

Lee Han watched him go, feeling thankful and respectful as he vanished.

‘But please, let’s not meet again,’ Lee Han thought. He was grateful for the gift, but he really didn’t want to fight him again. His body was still aching from dodging all those attacks.

“Good job,” Professor Voladi said.

“Thank you,” Lee Han replied.

Professor Voladi lowered the magic shield and walked to Lee Han. When the older students saw this, they quietly sighed in relief. Professor Voladi had seemed crazy just moments ago (and still kind of did…). But seeing him say “good job” to the first-year student who had suffered so much, they thought, ‘Okay, maybe he’s not completely heartless.’ If he hadn’t said anything nice, the older students would have been even angrier.

“You could have finished faster if you didn’t keep using fire magic,” Professor Voladi added.

Lee Han and the older students were silent. The older students were shocked. They couldn’t believe their ears.

‘Is he serious?’ they thought. ‘This is too much!’ If a first-year student beat the Frost Giant King, even Headmaster Skull would have cried with joy and praised him like crazy…

“I was wrong,” Lee Han said.

Instead of getting mad, the first-year student quickly agreed he made a mistake. The older students felt a sharp pain in their hearts when they saw this. ‘I’m a senior, and I can’t even help him!’ one thought. ‘What have I learned at this school?’ another wondered. A first-year student was suffering because of a crazy teacher, and they couldn’t do anything. They felt helpless and upset.

“I should have used cold magic, not fire,” Professor Voladi said.

“Exactly. If you had made the floating cold shield,” he agreed.

The older students were staring angrily, but the professor and Lee Han didn’t notice. They were just calmly talking about the fight. ‘Ah, I see. He wanted me to use a floating cold shield,’ Lee Han thought. Lee Han wasn’t really bothered. Actually, for Professor Voladi, this was almost praise. He did start with “Good job,” after all. Of course, everyone else thought the professor was crazy… ‘He wanted me to use a floating cold shield to block attacks and get more time. Then, attack with lots of cold pieces instead of just a few strong ones,’ Lee Han realized. Now that the fight was over, Professor Voladi’s ideas made more sense. Professor Voladi had expected a lot. If Lee Han had used the floating cold shield to buy time and then attacked with many cold pieces from all around, he might have won. The crown’s defense wasn’t perfect. …Let’s forget about the part where he expected Lee Han to learn very advanced magic in a week…

“The crown had weak spots. You could have attacked from all sides at once, or tried to break through by making the cold pieces spin,” Professor Voladi said.

“I’ll remember that,” Lee Han replied. He kept the advice in mind. Whether he liked it or not, it was good to remember Professor Voladi’s lessons to stay alive later.

“…Did he just say spinning?”

“Should we tell the Emperor about him?” The older students got even more upset when they heard about adding spinning to cold magic, which was already so hard.

“But evaporation was still great,” Professor Voladi said.

“Thank you!” Lee Han replied.

Professor Voladi nodded quietly, then turned and walked away slowly. The professor vanished into the dark hallway, which was slowly getting warmer after the cold magic stopped. As soon as the scary professor was gone, the older students ran to Lee Han.

“…Are you okay?!”

“Are you alright?!”

“Yes? I’m fine,” Lee Han said, a little shy. The older students suddenly surrounded him like they were acting strange.

“Is this because of the Frost Giant King fight? I fell a lot, but I’m not really hurt.”

“It’s not just that… Of course, we were worried about that too… But the things the professor just said to you! Are you really okay?”

Kumandas was more worried about Lee Han’s feelings than his body. If Kumandas had been forced to fight the Frost Giant King in his first year by the professor, and then heard those words after winning, he would have thought about leaving school. The professor should be praising him non-stop!

“Was that… a good thing he said?”

“…Just now?”

“Hey, Junior,” one of the older students said, sounding annoyed. “Do you even know what a compliment is?”

“It *was* a compliment,” Lee Han said. He sounded like he didn’t care. “Looks like everyone got it wrong.”

The fourth-year students stared, their mouths hanging open. They were more surprised by this than anything else all day.

‘This… this bloke…’

‘How tough is he…?’

They realised something important about this first-year student. It wasn’t just his magic skills. It was his strong spirit.

He wouldn’t give up, no matter how strange the teachers were!

“…Junior. I respect you.”

“Junior. I respect you.”

“Junior… Don’t fall over.”

“????”

The fourth-year students each patted Lee Han awkwardly on the shoulder once and walked away.

What was that all about?

“Lee Han.”

“Theurgh.”

As Theurgh approached, Lee Han waved his hand as if to say he was alright. He could feel the worry etched on Theurgh’s face.

And behind him was Giselle.

Lee Han paused as Giselle approached with a frown. He thought she was going to start another fight.

“Go back and make sure you don’t have any injuries.”

But instead of picking a fight, Giselle left behind words that sounded suspiciously like concern before turning away.

“????”

Lee Han was astonished.

What was really going on?

“Wodanaz… Be careful.”

“Wodanaz. That lecture… Never mind. Go back and make sure you haven’t been hurt.”

It wasn’t just Giselle. The White Tiger Tower students each left a word of concern for Lee Han before turning away.

Lee Han asked Theurgh.

“Can you explain what’s going on right now?”

“Well… um…”

Theurgh struggled to find the right words.

Even to the White Tiger Tower students, who were practically Lee Han’s enemies, Professor Voladi’s lecture had been too harsh.

-Hey, isn’t Wodanaz going to die at this rate?

-Is this even allowed? Even if it’s Wodanaz…

-Isn’t that going too far?

So much so that from the middle of the challenge, they were worried about Lee Han and cheering him on!

Theurgh couldn’t bring himself to say, ‘You were struggling so badly that everyone was worried about you.’

That would hurt Lee Han’s pride.

“Maybe… maybe your challenge touched the hearts of the White Tiger Tower students from very proud families?”

“Theurgh. What silly things are you saying? There’s no way.”

“……”

Theurgh pouted.

Congratulations. I was wondering when you’d solve it.

As they emerged from the distorted dimensional corridor, the Skeleton Headmaster floated to greet the students.

The White Tiger Tower students spoke with proud expressions.

“Yes, Headmaster. We did it.”

Well done.

However, the fourth-year students’ faces were deathly pale.

The Skeleton Headmaster’s gaze was also fixed on the fourth-year students.

You lot obviously failed. You pathetic lot.

“Headmaster! Dirette is not at fault. It’s because of us…”

Kumandas desperately defended them.

Dirette was already furious…

Kumandas could be murdered before he even left the punishment room.

What silly things are you saying with that hard head of yours? It’s your fault for having bad friends.

“……”

Kumandas retracted his earlier thought of ‘Isn’t Professor Voladi worse than the Skeleton Headmaster?’ after seeing Voladi.

The Skeleton Headmaster was worse.

Right. Then, about the punishment room…

“Headmaster!”

What?

The Skeleton Headmaster grumbled and looked at Lee Han.

I had something to say to you anyway. Tell me later.

“It’s not that… Didn’t we solve this problem?”

Yes. Well done. Happy?

“No. We usually receive a reward, don’t we?”

…Surely not.

The Skeleton Headmaster felt a sense of foreboding and frowned.

Don’t do it. I hate that sort of thing.

“Our seniors…”

Don’t do that. It makes me want to throw up.

“Please don’t send them to the punishment room.”

“Y-yes, that’s right!”

“Please forgive our seniors!”

Lee Han had only said it because he thought, ‘It’s better to save an outing pass and make the seniors owe me a favour,’ but the simple-minded White Tiger Tower students immediately fell for it.

The Skeleton Headmaster wore a look of utter agony at the enthusiastic response.

Just take the outing pass. I won’t set any traps, I promise.

“It would be better to just forgive our seniors…”

The Skeleton Headmaster let out a deep sigh. It was a sigh so deep it felt like it reached the darkest depths of the magic school’s basement.

…Get out of my sight. You foolish show-offs.

“Th-thank you!”

The fourth-year seniors didn’t even have a chance to properly thank Lee Han.

They sent him heartfelt gratitude with their eyes and hurried away.

The Skeleton Headmaster watched their retreating figures with deep regret.

“Thank you, Headmaster.”

My pleasure. The weekend is just a few hours away now.

“Is that so?”

You’re going out with me. Wodanaz.

“……”

Lee Han wore an expression colder than the Frost Giant King’s crown.

Anglah, who was standing next to him, exclaimed without a clue.

To go out with the Headmaster on the weekend.

The rumour that Wodanaz was receiving direct magic instruction from the Headmaster was indeed true!

“W-wow! With the Headmaster…!”

Lee Han stared blankly at Anglah.

It wasn’t even a glare, but Anglah felt his heart freeze over and quickly shut his mouth with a ‘Gasp’.