Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 270

A student quickly ripped off his cloak, which was smoking, and waved it wildly to put out the flames.

But then, more red feathers began to fall. They fell faster and faster, like a sudden downpour of fire, and the students screamed in alarm.

“Shelter! Get under cover!”

“Cover? Where? There’s nowhere to hide!”

*Whoosh!* Professor Alpen waved his wand. A shimmering shield appeared above them. Red feathers rained down, hitting the barrier with sharp *cracking* sounds, like tiny whips.

“Th-thank you, Professor!”

“Phoenixes are playful creatures, but their play can be dangerous. We must be careful. They enjoy their little jokes.”

*‘One joke is enough, thank you very much,’* Lee Han thought, looking up with worry.

High above, as if it hadn’t noticed the chaos below, the phoenix shook its magnificent body again, sending more feathers drifting down. The students looked at each other, then sadly dropped the phoenix decorations they had made onto the dusty ground.

“Wodanaz was right! He told us to study, not celebrate a phoenix!”

“How were we supposed to know it would do *this*?”

“*Cough, cough*. A phoenix, you say? Just what we needed.” Professor Mortoom made a clicking sound with his tongue, clearly annoyed. “As if you students weren’t already behind on your studies, now *this*.”

“It only started a few small fires,” Gainando said, sounding like he was trying to protect the phoenix. He seemed strangely fond of it.

*‘Small fires? That’s still a problem!’* Lee Han thought.

“*Cough*. Maybe it’s calm *now*. But mythical creatures are known for being unpredictable. Who knows when it will suddenly decide to do something else, even if it seems peaceful now?” Lee Han remembered the flames that had sprung up just from the phoenix shaking its feathers. He was definitely worried.

“What do you think the phoenix *will* do?”

“*Cough*. You still don’t get it. Just by existing, these creatures are trouble. They’re like wild storms, too powerful to control themselves. If that phoenix decided to give you a friendly hug, you’d be nothing but ashes!”

Professor Mortoom’s words painted a clear picture. Mythical beasts, with their immense power, were walking disasters, even without meaning to be. They simply couldn’t control their own strength, and their unpredictable nature made them even more dangerous.

“*Cough*. Isn’t the beauty of the undead so much better in comparison? A beauty that is controlled, predictable.” Silence fell over Lee Han and his friends.

*‘Even if it’s dangerous, a phoenix is still better than zombies,’* Lee Han thought.

*‘Shhh, be quiet. He’s going to get angry,’* whispered another student.

Professor Mortoom changed the subject abruptly. “So,” he said, “how is your talisman work coming along?”

“Yes, Professor,” they replied. This semester in black magic, they were learning about curses, poisons, and using bones in their spells. Lee Han thought these were the kind of magic skills that wouldn’t exactly make you popular at parties.

“*Cough*. I will not give you a separate assignment before the final exam.” A few students cheered quietly. “*Cough*. Instead,” Professor Mortoom continued, “you will create a simple talisman.” The quiet cheers stopped immediately.

Talismans. Normally, you might think of them as matching halves of a charm, used to prove who you are if you meet someone later. But in black magic, talismans had a darker purpose.

“Watch closely.” Professor Mortoom snapped a bone tablet in two. A dark, swirling mist of curse magic poured out from one half. *Click!* As soon as he pushed the two pieces back together, the dark mist vanished as if it had never been there.

“One half holds the curse,” Professor Mortoom explained. “The other half contains the magic to keep it locked away. Together, it’s just a bone charm. But break them apart, and the curse is released.”

The problem was, making these talismans was far from simple. “*Cough, cough, cough!*” Rapardel choked, tears streaming down his face from the stinging fumes. A cloud of dark curse magic escaped from his magic circle and drifted through the air. “*Achoo! Achoo! Achoo!*”

“Hey! Stop sneezing so loudly! It’s not your personal workshop, you know!” Gainando snapped. Rapardel glared back, full of resentment, but he was too weak from the fumes to argue properly. “You… *Achoo! Achoo!*”

“It’s always the clumsy ones who complain the loudest,” Gainando sneered. “Isn’t that right, Lee Han?” But Gainando, who had been so smug just moments before, suddenly went white. “…L-Lee Han,” he stammered, “I… I can’t move my arms…”

“You’ve been poisoned,” Lee Han said, a hint of sympathy in his voice.

Rapardel was working with curses, and Gainando with poisons. Making these talismans was proving to be dangerous work. They had to infuse the bone pieces with powerful, concentrated magic, and even experienced magicians could be affected by the fumes.

Imirgue carefully lowered half a bone medal into a bronze basin. He could feel the dark magic rising from the basin, seeping into the bone with a faint bubbling sound. *‘Ugh,’* he thought. Even with his giant blood giving him some resistance to magic, curses and poisons were still terrifying.

“*Ugh… ugh…*” Imirgue shivered, quickly pulling the bone medal out of the basin with thick tongs. He was afraid even a tiny touch could poison him. *Sssssss!* He only breathed a sigh of relief when he had quickly joined the two halves of the bone medal together.

“…Aaaaargh!!”

“?!” Lee Han jumped, turning to Imirgue. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“H-his bare hands! Look at his bare hands!”

“Oh,” Lee Han said calmly, “I thought something serious had happened.”

Imirgue blinked. Lee Han was so calm, it made Imirgue wonder if he was overreacting. But no, he wasn’t imagining it. Lee Han, the student from the Wodanaz family, was dipping his bare hands into the basin of dark curses.

“This little bit won’t hurt me,” Lee Han said casually. Imirgue stared, speechless.

“It’s fine. I’m not going to die.”

“N-no, but…” Imirgue was completely bewildered, glancing at Rapardel and Gainando, who were slumped unconscious over their worktables. They certainly looked like they might be dying…

Lee Han ignored Imirgue’s horrified stare and went back to his talisman. He wasn’t being reckless by using his bare hands; he had a reason.

Creating these talismans was proving to be much harder than Lee Han had expected. Bones were good at holding curses and poisons, but you couldn’t just dip them in and hope for the best. To make a truly powerful talisman, it needed care and attention.

It involved mixing special liquids to help the curse stick to the bone, then carefully soaking the bone, checking if it was absorbing the magic properly. If not, he had to use his own magic to force the curse deeper into the bone. It was a slow, careful process, like painting layer after layer, demanding patience more than any sudden flash of brilliance.

*‘No wonder black magic isn’t exactly a popular hobby,’* Lee Han thought. He held the bone fragment in his bare hand, trying to sense the flow of the curse magic. He couldn’t feel it properly through gloves or tongs; he needed direct contact.

“*Ugh…* Lee Han, my coat, please.” Gainando, who had just managed to stagger to his feet from the floor, pointed weakly at his coat hanging on a chair. Being paralyzed and lying on the cold floor had made him freeze.

“Here,” Lee Han said, handing it over.

“Thank… *Ack!* I can’t see! I’m blind!”

“Oops, sorry,” Lee Han said, a little too calmly.

As the lesson time ended, Professor Mortoom opened the workshop door and stepped back inside. “*Cough*. Finished, everyone?”

“Yes, Professor,” they mumbled. Lee Han and his friends held out their completed talismans. Their faces were pale and strained from the fumes and magic.

“Let’s see…” Professor Mortoom broke Gainando’s talisman in half. A cloud of potent poison hissed out. With a flick of his wrist, the professor gathered the poison into a swirling green ball, then pushed it back into the talisman pieces, sealing it away. “*Cough*. Not bad. Actually, quite good.”

“…Really?” Gainando was so shocked he nearly stumbled backwards. He grabbed Rapardel’s arm to steady himself, and Rapardel recoiled with a look of pure disgust.

“Why are you so surprised?” Rapardel sneered.

“I… I’ve never been told I did anything well in any other class before,” Gainando mumbled, looking embarrassed but also pleased.

Professor Mortoom’s praise was so unexpected because Gainando was used to being told he was hopeless. A rare, almost kind smile touched Professor Mortoom’s lips. “*Cough*. No magician is skilled in every type of magic.”

Imirgue and Rapardel exchanged glances, both looking at Lee Han. But Professor Mortoom didn’t notice their confusion and went on. “Your strength is in black magic, Gainando. If a black magician is truly skilled in black magic, they have no need to wish for any other kind of power. *Cough*. Isn’t that so?”

“Exactly!” Gainando puffed out his chest proudly.

“You just don’t study at all, Prince,” Rapardel said, rolling his eyes. Rapardel knew that Gainando only did well when he was forced to study with Lee Han, and even then, Gainando spent most of the time trying to sneak away.

“Quiet, you’re just jealous,” Gainando retorted.

“You arrogant fool…” Rapardel muttered, shaking his head at Gainando’s sudden confidence.

“*Cough*. And now, Lee Han’s talisman…” Professor Mortoom broke Lee Han’s talisman. He fell silent, staring at it for a long moment, before finally looking back at Gainando. Gainando, sensing something was wrong, cried out in protest, “Professor! Please judge mine fairly, without comparing it to Lee Han’s!”

Professor Lightning Foot gazed at the mountain peak with wide-eyed wonder. The phoenix, which had been drifting in the sky and showering them with feathers, had now settled on the highest point of the mountain range, as if bored with its game. A fiery red glow surrounded the peak, like a halo.

“Incredible,” Professor Lightning Foot breathed. “A phoenix! These creatures are rarely seen.” Lee Han shot a look at his friends. They quickly looked away, pretending not to notice. “You are truly fortunate,” Professor Lightning Foot continued, “most wizards never see a phoenix in their entire lives.”

*‘Lucky? Falling fire feathers don’t feel very lucky,’* Lee Han thought, unconvinced.

If rarity was the measure of luck, then meeting the King of the Frost Giants should also have been considered lucky, and Lee Han certainly hadn’t felt that way then either. Rare or not, he couldn’t bring himself to like a creature that rained fire from the sky.

“Enough about the phoenix for now,” Professor Lightning Foot said, nodding his chin towards a row of huge pots. The students frowned, confused. Those pots looked like something from an alchemy class, not their usual beast studies.

*What are we doing now?* Lee Han wondered.

“Today’s lesson will be something a little different,” Professor Lightning Foot announced. “Much easier than usual, in fact. I thought you deserved a break, after all that hard work preparing for your exams…” Lee Han didn’t believe him for a second.

*What trick is he planning now?*

*Thud!* “Come on out, Cerberus!” The students gasped, staring as a massive, three-headed dog lumbered into view. Cerberus’s middle head turned, its eyes gleaming as it looked over the students.

*Woof!*

“A-are we supposed to… fight it?” Lee Han blurted out before he could stop himself. Professor Lightning Foot stared at him, as if he’d said something completely insane. “Fight Cerberus? Don’t be absurd! Do you think I would ask you to do something so dangerous?”

“Of course not! Ha ha…” Lee Han forced a nervous laugh, relief flooding through him. *Phew! I thought we were going to have to battle a three-headed monster!*