Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 458

Why on earth?

“Is your alchemy exam partner perhaps a giant?” one friend asked, eyes wide.

“Has to be,” another nodded seriously. “Why else would you need *that* much poison?”

“Wait, what are you two talking about?” Leehan frowned, confused. “Giants? Exam partner?”

“Don’t worry, Wodanaz, we get it!” one friend patted him on the shoulder, misunderstanding completely. “Trust us, we’ll help you make a potion strong enough!”

The friends, misunderstanding Leehan completely, waved their hands as if to say not to worry.

“No, really, it has nothing to do with the exam…” Leehan tried to explain.

“Yeah, yeah,” they replied dismissively.

“I get it, I get it,” another one said.

Ignoring his protests, the friends opened their alchemy books and began reading >Precautions for using potions on highly resistant subjects>.

Since they believed the exam partner was a giant, they wanted to create the most powerful potion possible.

The Princess looked around carefully. She thought hard, head tilted. Finally, she closed her book and opened the same book as her friends. Siana the Priestess, sitting next to her, had already opened the book long ago.

Bartrec, an alchemy major from the White Tiger Tower, saw this as he passed by and was startled.

‘The exam partner must be a giant!’ Bartrec thought.

Bartrec practically ran, his eyes wide with excitement, to tell his friends this secret.

A little later, Yoner, who had finished his duty, asked Leehan.

“Is it true that the alchemy exam partner this time is a giant?”

“……”

“This exam is about creating >Dobruk’s Sustaining Potion>,” Professor Uregeoreum announced.

>Dobruk’s Sustaining Potion> was a defensive potion that preserved life energy, even in places full of dark and gloomy energy.

It was very useful for black mages who worked in such places for a long time, as well as adventurers or mages who might have to enter such places.

“The giants drink it?” one student asked.

“Does it have to be effective on giants too?” another added.

“??” Professor Uregeoreum was taken aback by the students’ questions, which suddenly made the exam much harder.

‘What’s this? Did I catch something from Wodanaz?’ he wondered.

As far as Professor Uregeoreum knew, students never wanted to make the exam more difficult, except for one student whose family name started with Wo and ended with Z.

“No?” Professor Uregeoreum asked.

“Oh? It’s not? Not for giants…” the students murmured.

“If it’s not a giant… Aha! It must be another race with strong resistance. Wodanaz is crazy, so he practiced with giants on purpose,” one student exclaimed.

“I’m behind you,” Leehan said.

“S-sorry. It’s a habit,” the student apologized.

Professor Uregeoreum realized that a false rumor had spread without him knowing.

It was a common occurrence.

Einroguard was a place where strange rumors sprang up as soon as you blinked.

“I don’t know what stories you’ve heard, but you’ll be testing the performance of the potion you made yourselves. After you all drink the potion, come out here and walk,” Professor Uregeoreum instructed.

Professor Uregeoreum pushed open heavy wooden doors at the back of the hall. A cold, dark air rushed out, smelling faintly of damp earth and something metallic. He pointed to a pre-made dark blue shade.

It was a space where dark elements and yin energy were mixed, and vitality was rapidly consumed with just a few steps.

“Ah. Wodanaz, you… you are excluded,” Professor Uregeoreum said.

“Yes?” Leehan was surprised.

Why?

Behind him, the White Tiger Tower students nodded as if they knew it would happen.

“The giant was only for that Wodanaz guy,” one student said.

“Indeed, it’s reasonable…” another agreed.

Leehan rolled his eyes inwardly. ‘They’re all imagining things,’ he thought.

Professor Uregeoreum looked at Leehan as if asking something obvious.

“You’ll be fine even without drinking the potion, so testing won’t work. Don’t drink it and submit it to me,” Professor Uregeoreum explained.

“……” Leehan clicked his tongue.

It was an opportunity to get something for nothing!

“Professor, but we have to get the ingredients from outside now, and it’s raining too much. If you could give us more time…” Leehan asked.

“Take the reagents from the cabinet next to you and use them,” Professor Uregeoreum replied.

“?????”

“…Why are you surprised? You didn’t think I’d tell you to get the reagents from outside in this weather, did you?” Professor Uregeoreum asked.

The alchemy exam proceeded surprisingly logically.

The students were taken aback by Professor Uregeoreum’s provision of all the reagents and tools.

-Isn’t this a trap?

-It’s a trap. Be careful. The tools might suddenly break.

-The reagents might be spoiled.

But surprisingly, nothing special happened until the end.

While his friends were murmuring, Leehan, thinking that ‘if there’s a trap, it’ll come out as I work,’ completed the potion first.

Professor Uregeoreum carefully checked the potion and then took a sip.

“Full marks,” he announced.

It was always good to hear, no matter how many times he heard it.

Leehan nodded.

“Thank you,” Leehan said.

“Oh, right. I heard you hang out with giants? I’m sure you’ll do well on your own, but be careful when making potions for giants. You have to make them much more potent,” Professor Uregeoreum advised.

“…No, seriously…!” Leehan exclaimed.

How many hours has it been?!

Ogolthos, a second-year student in the Black Magic Department, nervously checked his back.

“It’s not there, Ogolthos,” Cohalti said.

“Hmph. How can I believe you?” Ogolthos retorted.

“I said I’m sorry… I won’t tease you anymore,” Cohalti apologized.

Since Ogolthos went missing with a first-year junior during this vacation and then returned, Cohalti had stuck a note on Ogolthos’s back several times that read >I lived thanks to the first-year junior>.

Because of that, Ogolthos now growled and showed wariness whenever Cohalti approached.

“Good job. Good job. You’re going to reduce the few juniors we have even more. If he quits, you have to tell the professor. Got it?” Dirette scolded.

“N-no. Ogolthos said he forgives me too!” Cohalti stammered.

“Hmph. I don’t know,” Ogolthos said, his face full of dissatisfaction. Dirette fluttered her wings and kicked Cohalti in the shin.

“Ack!” Cohalti yelped.

“In the first place, you also got help to solve it,” Dirette pointed out.

“T-that’s a little different…” Cohalti mumbled.

Ogolthos, who was listening from the side, perked up his ears.

He thought he would feel better if he heard the ugly failure story of Cohalti.

“Tell me what happened, Diret, Senior.”

Diret sighed. “Fine, if it’ll make you feel any better.”

Diret shot Cohort a nasty look before starting to explain everything.

As Diret told the story of how winter arrived in Einrogaard in the middle of summer, and about the crazy people who called upon the Frost Giant King, Ogoltos watched him with disgust.

“…But it wasn’t just my fault, Ogoltos.”

Ogoltos just nodded slowly. “Uh-huh.”

“Seriously! Others were involved too! I was less to blame!”

“Sure, sure,” Ogoltos said, rolling his eyes slightly.

Diret snapped, “Okay, that’s enough. Everyone, quiet down and get ready.”

Diret heaved open a heavy wooden chest and tossed a pile of clean, white bones onto the floor.

This was how they prepared for the midterm exam.

Unlike other magic schools that trained their first-year students intensely from day one, Black Magic had a different approach. In most schools, real magic lessons started in the second year. But in Black Magic, the first semester exams were designed to weed out students who couldn’t handle it. The second semester exams… well, they were something else entirely.

“Seriously though,” Cohort said, “after learning all this cool stuff, wouldn’t you be too annoyed to just give up?”

Ogoltos shrugged. “Everyone else in my class quit except me.”

Cohort blinked. “…Oh, right, I forgot.”

*It was all a trick, really.* The Black Magic teachers wanted them to think: *Black Magic is amazing! Black Magic is so much fun! Look at all the incredible things you can do!* They were practically begging: *Please, please don’t quit!*

Even the first-year students who somehow survived the first semester would start to wonder, when they were tired and stressed in the second semester, ‘Which class should I drop first?’ And Black Magic was often at the top of that list.

“Are these bones enough?” Diret asked, gesturing to the pile.

“Oh, yeah. An Undead Wave will be perfect,” Ogoltos replied confidently.

Ogoltos remembered his own first year, facing a similar test. He knew how impressive it was to command a massive wave of undead.

*Imagine it,* he thought, *controlling a sea of skeletons, pushing them forward like a living tide. Nothing is quite as powerful as that feeling.*

“Um… Diret,” Cohort asked hesitantly, “if we use all these ingredients, what will we use for our experiments later this semester?”

Diret sighed heavily, running a hand through his hair. “I’ll… I’ll talk to the professor. We’ll have to get more somehow.”

Even after getting supplies refilled during the break, the Black Magic school never had much money.

The Headmaster, who was called the Skull Headmaster, was a master of Black Magic, but he was very tight-fisted with money. And the Empire was especially suspicious of Black Magic research.

*Example of a typical argument:*

“What good is studying Flesh Golem defense to the Empire?” an official would ask.

“Well,” Diret would explain, “if we can summon stronger creatures, we can fight the Empire’s enemies better…”

“There are plenty of other golems,” the official would retort. “Why a Flesh Golem? Can’t you just use regular summoning spells?”

Diret would finally lose his patience. “…Excuse me, but could I ask your name, examiner?”

Cohort patted Diret on the shoulder, trying to cheer him up. “Don’t worry too much. Honestly, this Undead Wave will really impress the first-years.”

“I hope you’re right,” Diret muttered.

“Well, maybe not Wodanaz,” Cohort added with a grin.

Diret glared at him.

Cohort quickly backtracked, “Ah, no, I mean… after actually fighting the Frost Giant King, an Undead Wave probably won’t seem like much to him! He’s the Headmaster’s favorite student, after all!”

It wasn’t really the seniors’ fault.

Wodanaz had been with the Skull Headmaster, seeing all kinds of hidden and powerful dark magic. How could they possibly impress him with a simple exam?

“But even if he’s not amazed,” Cohort insisted, “he’ll still pay attention. He’s interested in all kinds of magic at the school. He’ll be interested in Black Magic too.”

“I’m not so sure,” Ogoltos said quietly.

“Even for a great magician, there’s a limit to what one person can do. When I spoke to him last time, he seemed really stressed. I wouldn’t be surprised if he decided to quit Black Magic…”

“Are you trying to bring bad luck?” Cohort snapped. “Then you should have done better yourself! How could a senior student like you get stuck and have to be rescued?”

Cohort yelled, and Ogoltos got angry too.

“Why are you bringing that up again?” Ogoltos retorted.

“Hey, hey! Stop it, both of you!” Diret said, his face tight with annoyance. He shut them down quickly.

But inside, Diret felt a knot of worry tighten in his stomach.

All the first-year students were important, but losing Wodanaz would be a real disaster.

“…Wait a minute,” Diret said slowly, a dangerous glint in his eye. “When you guys were trapped with Wodanaz… did you happen to mention his favorite food?”

Cohort and Ogoltos exchanged guilty looks and stayed silent.

Diret’s eyes widened in horror. “No way… You didn’t!”

Cohort mumbled, “Well…”

Ogoltos added weakly, “Maybe just a little…”

Diret exploded. “You idiots!”

Ihan pushed open the classroom door and stepped through. Instead of the usual classroom, he found himself staring into a void of absolute blackness. It was like stepping into a hole in the world.

Usually, this would have been shocking, but it was midterm exam week. Ihan just thought calmly, *Okay, looks like an exam.*

The air in this dark place felt heavy and cold, filled with a sense of danger. A faint, sickly green light pulsed in the distance, hinting at some powerful, dark magic being prepared.

Then, in the distance, a pale, shimmering line appeared on the horizon. At first, it looked like a white wave. Guinan-do, who had been yawning and rubbing sleep from his eyes, blinked, then rubbed them again, staring harder.

“Wh-wh-what is th-th-that…?” he stammered, pointing a shaking finger.

Silence fell over the group as they watched.

The “wave” grew closer, and the truth became horrifyingly clear. It wasn’t water. It was a vast, writhing mass of undead creatures, a horde of rotting bodies and clattering skeletons, rushing towards them.

The first-year students gasped, fear spreading through them as they realized what was coming.

“Hey! Let’s use Raphaël as bait!” someone yelled, panic in their voice.

“You idiot!” Raphaël roared, turning on the speaker. “Why me?!”

Raphaël, who had been standing innocently nearby, suddenly found himself nominated as monster food and his face went red with fury.

Ihan’s mind raced. The undead horde was closing in, filling the entire space in front of them. There was nowhere to run.

*Think!* he told himself. *There has to be a way out of this.*

“Um… maybe… maybe it’s just a demonstration?” Imirgue suggested weakly, desperately hoping it was true.

Deep down, they all knew it was too crazy to be just a demonstration.

“It’s an exam,” Guinan-do said grimly.

“Yeah, don’t try to pretend it’s not real!” Raphaël added, his voice tight with fear. “This is Einrogaard, remember?”

While the others argued, Ihan acted. He began to chant in a clear, strong voice.

“From the deepest darkness, I summon you…”

“Are you calling that spiky spirit again?!” Guinan-do asked, his face lighting up with excitement despite the danger. “Perkhuntra?!”

Ihan shook his head quickly. Summoning Perkhuntra, he realized, wouldn’t be the best choice here. Perkhuntra was powerful, but against so many enemies, his attacks would be too focused, not effective enough against a whole wave.

“Magician of the ancient palace, servant of the king, slayer of the tyrant, I call upon you now, bound by our blood oath!”

Slowly, a figure began to materialize beside Ihan – the undead magician who had fought alongside him against the Ghoul King during the last school break.

The undead magician sighed dramatically. “-If this wasn’t an emergency, I’d be lecturing you! But yes, this is definitely a dire situation!”

“Exam… no, help us! Please!” Ihan shouted urgently, knowing he could explain the exam later.