Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 268

Baishada was astonished, thinking, “Are all Einrogard students like this?”

It made sense. Einrogard was a school for the Empire’s best students.

Even if an arrow only went halfway into a rock, they would complain, “Ah, it only went halfway!”

“Tell your friend to stop talking nonsense,” Giselle said.

Deurkeu replied, “He’s your colleague too, isn’t he?”

Baishada didn’t hear Giselle and Deurkeu’s conversation.

Baishada thought, “I remember hearing about a ranger who came to Einrogard from another fortress. I wonder if they are like this too?”

If all Einrogard students were so talented, then the ranger from the Shadow Rangers fortress must be the same.

Baishada admired the ranger he had never met.

“To be that good to get into Einrogard!” he thought.

“If you want to aim better, why not use less power?” Baishada asked.

Lee Han asked, “Less power?”

“Yes. You seem too focused on power. You don’t need so much,” Baishada explained.

Lee Han responded, “But what about Rakshasa Fiends with tough armor? I thought we needed a lot of power to beat them.”

Baishada said, “Well, yes, but first-year students usually don’t fight those monsters, do they?”

Baishada was surprised.

Of course, some monsters had tough defenses, but it was rare to encounter them, especially for a first-year student at a magic school.

Lee Han smiled sadly. Baishada didn’t understand why Lee Han was acting this way.

“You’re right. I’ll forget about power and focus on aiming,” Lee Han said.

Giselle said sarcastically, “Why don’t you try using Lesser Guidance?”

Of course, she wasn’t serious.

In 부여 magic, ‘guidance’ magic was very hard. It made things move to a target by themselves. It was much harder than magic to make things go faster or heavier.

“Oh. Thanks, Moradi,” Lee Han replied.

However, Lee Han was already using ‘automatic defense’ magic, so >Lesser Guidance> was worth trying.

Since they were similar, Lee Han quickly cast >Lesser Guidance>.

Giselle was speechless. Deurkeu, standing next to her, said with surprise, “I didn’t know you would give advice.”

“Shut up,” Giselle snapped.

Deurkeu looked surprised.

Lee Han reduced the power enhancement magic and added >Lesser Guidance>.

After some tries, he found a good combination.

‘>Lesser Accuracy Enhancement>, >Lesser Aim Enhancement>, >Lesser Guidance> twice, and >Lesser Penetration Enhancement>. This seems like a good mix,’ he thought.

It was the best he could do with his current skills.

He pulled back the bowstring. It twanged sharply. The arrow whizzed through the air and thwack! hit the center of the rock.

Baishada clapped happily.

“Excellent!” he exclaimed.

“Thank you. I didn’t think it would work so well,” Lee Han said, slightly surprised.

He realized that magic could easily replace archery (though it took more than one spell).

He was starting to see why wizards were annoying.

“It feels too easy to shoot a bow like this,” Lee Han said.

Baishada said, showing his pride as an archer, “It’s okay. It’s better to use helpful tools than to give up. Great archers use good bows and arrows. They always look for better ones.”

Archery was a deep skill with no end.

Archers didn’t care if wizards used magic because they were confident in their own skills.

“I see. Thank you for the kind words,” Lee Han said.

Lee Han fired several arrows in a row. Baishada was surprised to see the arrows splitting the ends of the previous arrows.

“Magic really is a cheat!” he thought.

“Moradi, thanks for the advice,” Lee Han said.

Lee Han picked up an arrow, excited, and said, “I should practice a few more times.”

Some might ask why learn archery when there’s magic, but the bow had advantages.

Its long range was a big advantage.

A skilled archer could easily shoot over a hundred meters, which was very hard to do with magic.

New students like Lee Han, who often fought monsters, needed ways to attack from far away.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Baishada was surprised by how hard Lee Han was practicing.

“Monsters aren’t coming to Einrogard, are they? Haha,” Baishada joked.

“Students, it was a joke,” he added.

Professor Thunderstride lit his pipe and puffed out smoke.

Students often thought professors were mean for giving so many assignments, but professors didn’t like grading them either.

Giving assignments meant the professor had to grade them.

Yet the students complained, “Why do you make it so hard!”

“This is a problem! These young ones, really!” Professor Thunderstride said.

Professor Lightningstep asked, “Isn’t it true that you made it difficult?”

“No. But should I make it easy?” Professor Thunderstride grumbled as he poured tea for Professor Lightningstep.

Potion bottles from the students were all over the table, a jumbled mess.

“This one is missing Setrivi’s Dew Potion. This one doesn’t have enough Lower Mental Enhancement Potion. I told them to make Dobruk’s Blood Drop Potion, but did they scoop up sewer water? It smells awful!” he complained.

“Be quiet, I’m trying to drink tea,” Professor Lightningstep said.

An alchemist like Professor Thunderstride could often tell what was in a potion just by looking at it and sensing its magic.

The Aurum’s Golden Potion was a pre-final assignment.

It wasn’t too hard, but it was annoying because it required making and mixing many potions.

You had to mix the Lower Mental Enhancement Potion and Setrivi’s Dew Potion to create the base, then add a mix of the Lower Mental Enhancement Potion and Dobruk’s Blood Drop Potion, and then another mix of the Lower Mental Enhancement Potion and Belezen’s…

“Isn’t that why students don’t like it when you give them things like that?” Professor Lightningstep asked.

Professor Thunderstride felt wronged and said, “Alchemy is a subject like this.”

He had gone through similar tasks to become an alchemist. Challenges help alchemists improve.

If they were annoyed by this, how would they make harder potions later?

“Uh… uh?” Professor Thunderstride said.

“What’s wrong?” Professor Lightningstep asked.

“Something’s strange?” Professor Thunderstride held the potion bottle up to the magic lamp. But even after looking again, it was still strange.

Too…

It was too clean and perfect.

“What’s wrong with it?”

“It’s too well-made.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“No. The assignment was to make it poorly.”

“……”

Professor Lightning-Step looked angrily at his nephew, but Professor Thunder-Step didn’t seem to notice.

The students weren’t getting materials from a supply depot. They were finding things all over the school to make their potions. So, it shouldn’t be perfect.

There should be some mess and leftover bits…

This Aurum’s Golden Potion was too perfect.

What is this?

“This, this… it looks like it was made with a potion bought from the Alchemist Guild’s workshop?!”

“Good eye.”

“No, this isn’t just a good eye! Who made this?”

Lee Han Wodanaz.

“……”

Professor Thunder-Step looked at the name on the potion label and didn’t know what to say.

How did he do it?

“You told them to use any means necessary, so the students used any means necessary.”

“Even so, how could he buy a potion from outside!? How did he do it!?”

“He probably bought it when he went out last time.”

“How could he have guessed that the assignment would be Aurum’s Golden Potion back then?”

“Really? How curious.”

Professor Lightning-Step was interested, since it wasn’t his problem.

But Professor Thunder-Step felt differently.

Even if he was his favorite student, this was about his pride.

How dare he avoid the hard work in an assignment that was supposed to be hard?

“Blame yourself, Wodanaz. The final exam will be harder because of you,” Professor Lightning-Step said, watching his nephew mutter.

Is it because of people like him that people think alchemists are always sad and stay locked in their rooms?

Tuesday.

Professor Alpen Knighton looked at the students’ assignments with a serious face.

For their class, ‘Basic Shapes and Math for Magic,’ the students had to draw plans for a building.

And the final exam was to actually build that building.

Since the two were connected, most of the students were already building.

The evaluation was next week, so they needed to be almost done this week. Plus, next week was full of final exams for other classes, so they had even less time.

“Professor Knighton.”

“Professor Fluywork. Hello.”

Professor Alpen nodded to Professor Rosine.

They both used to work for the Emperor, so they knew each other.

“The students’ assignments are very good! You’ve taught them well, Professor.”

“They still need to learn a lot, so I’m not completely happy yet.”

“This is good enough. They are only first-years.”

“Even if they are first-years, they are still wizards. They wouldn’t want us to be too easy on them.”

“……”

The students in the back frowned.

That’s not true!

“Mr. Wodanaz. Mr. Wodanaz.”

Lee Han was pushing glowing mana stones into a red pillar made of sandalwood. Rowena from White Tiger Tower called his name. He looked up and shook his head.

“I’m busy right now, so I can’t make any snacks. Tell the Princess to be patient, Rowena.”

“……”

The Princess was working on her assignment with her friends nearby. She stared at Lee Han, looking surprised and a little angry.

“Huh? No. I didn’t come because of the snacks.”

“Ah. Is that so?”

Lee Han put down his hammer and looked at her.

“Then why did you come?”

“Could you lend me some mana?”

“……”

“……”

“Isn’t, isn’t that a dark wizard?” Asan said, sounding disgusted.

Wizards think magic that steals mana is very wrong.

It’s a strong reaction because it’s like taking something more important than life itself from a wizard.

Gainando quickly said, “No, that’s not true!”

“Dark wizards aren’t the only ones who absorb mana!”

“Oh? Is there no such method?”

“There… well, there probably is.”

“Don’t come closer.”

“You! Other schools probably have such methods too!”

‘I don’t think they do.’

Rowena understood she was wrong. She quickly said, loudly, “I am not a dark wizard!”

“…No. You should say you don’t intend to steal mana, not that you’re not a dark wizard.”

“I don’t intend to steal mana…”

“Yes, yes.”

Lee Han understood what was happening.

Making magic circles and magical structures uses a lot of mana. Lee Han could add mana without getting tired, but other students had to rest. If Lee Han added mana, they could finish faster.

“You don’t have to pay me back right away. You can owe me.”

“Ah. Is that so?” Rowena pulled out a big piece of meat and looked very happy.

The students at Einroguard liked paying money more than trading. Lee Han was happy about this.

“Wait!”

“?”

Lee Han was confused when Angaro from Alpha family stepped in.

What is he trying to say?

‘Is he trying to interfere?’

White Tiger Tower students are proud. Lee Han thought they wouldn’t want help from someone from another Tower, even if they were friends.

“Wodanaz. I’ll pay double, so start with me…”

“……”

“……”

“Is that guy a knight? Is that really the White Tiger Tower?” Gainando said, confused.