Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 467

The skeletal Headmaster was genuinely bewildered.

Clearly, sirens hadn’t been mentioned among the trials the professors had discussed.

Who could have done this?

“It was in the Lightning Gait Professor’s exam…”

The Lightning Gait Professor wasn’t one to set such unreasonable exams for first-year students.

‘Then what about the Headmaster…?’

The students were dumbfounded that the Headmaster seemed to think he was useless.

Ah!

The skeletal Headmaster suddenly understood.

‘-If you haven’t decided on the exam content yet, increase the difficulty several times over! Avenge my grudge against Tanzu!’

Hadn’t he impulsively urged them to increase the exam difficulty as he passed by?

Moreover, with the spirit flood having submerged the entire exam site, it wasn’t strange for the Lightning Gait Professor to change the exam content while increasing the difficulty.

But even so, who would have thought they would overlap like this.

“I don’t think that’s…”

It didn’t matter. Sirens were hard to stop even if you knew about them.

-Master, the sirens are running away.

?!

The skeletal Headmaster turned his head at the Death Knight’s words.

The sirens were pointing at Lee Han’s face, whispering, and then turning around and running away quickly.

……

“……”

Both master and disciple watched the retreating figures of the sirens with confused faces.

“Quickly, pour the coffee!” Gainando shivered, his teeth chattering.

“Hold on!” Wodanaz replied, fumbling with the tin coffee pot. “My fingers are like ice! They won’t even bend properly.”

With the strange siren gone, a wave of relief washed over the students. They rushed to pour steaming coffee into their cups. Lee Han’s warming spell, *Latent Heat Imbuement*, had helped, but diving repeatedly into the freezing water was taking its toll. Even though it had been less than an hour, exhaustion was setting in, and the biting cold seeped into their bones.

Thankfully, they had managed to light a crackling fire and had brought coffee and tea. Gainando took a large gulp of the hot coffee. A pleasant warmth spread through his chest, chasing away the chill. Slowly, his stiff fingers began to regain feeling.

“You know,” Gainando mumbled, more to himself than anyone else, “in a way, this is almost… like a picnic.”

Wodanaz stared at him, aghast. “A picnic? Are you completely mad?!”

Another student, Elara, scoffed. “Don’t start talking nonsense just because you’ve had a sip of that fancy coffee! We’re freezing, exhausted, and probably going to fail this exam!”

Gainando stammered, “Ah, no, I just meant… trying to see the good side of things… you know?”

Even as Gainando was being scolded, some students were still preparing to enter the water, not giving up.

These included students from the White Tiger Tower and Black Tortoise Tower, who possessed insane stamina, and Lee Han, who was simply obsessed with grades.

“Heh, heh, Wodanaz… why don’t you give up? You may not know swordsmanship, but you can’t keep up with our training as knights.”

‘Shouldn’t you not gloss over swordsmanship like that?’ The Black Tortoise Tower student listening from the side thought to himself.

If you’re a White Tiger Tower student, shouldn’t you compete with swordsmanship instead of saying you may not know swordsmanship…?

Lee Han replied with an apathetic face.

“Whatever you say, I’m going in again.”

“G… good! Let’s compete then!” The White Tiger Tower students, understanding it as a stamina competition, burned with enthusiasm.

Of course, Lee Han wasn’t very interested in the competition between the White Tiger Tower students.

‘I’ll keep searching until the time runs out.’ Having suffered this much, he was determined to get first place, even if it meant being resentful.

Splash!

The students jumped back into the water. Lee Han checked the Underwater Breathing and Dark Vision spells still cast on him, then skillfully descended.

How long had it been since the flood at the school that he had become so accustomed to diving?

‘Is it really true that hardship makes a person grow?’

As Lee Han was having such useless thoughts, someone approached him.

Tap tap-

“!?”

Lee Han was startled and aimed his staff. Then the other party was also surprised and shouted as if telling him not to cast a spell.

-♩♪! ♩♪♪!

-Cowardly trap! We were just leaving! You thought we’d ambush you?!

The siren took out a stone tablet with furious eyes and quickly wrote on it.

Son of a b…

-Ah. Wait. Could it be that they stayed behind to help?

Looking closely, it was the siren who had been the oarsman on the ship when dealing with Mack.

Moreover, they didn’t seem to have any intention of attacking. Lee Han wondered if it was possible.

Nod-

The siren nodded up and down. Of course, even though they answered, their eyes were full of resentment and contempt.

They stayed behind to help because they received help with Mack last time, but he dares to suspect them like that…

-I’m sorry. Being in Einrogaard makes me distrust people.

At Lee Han’s words, the siren crossed their arms and thought for a moment, then nodded as if acknowledging it.

Even to the siren, the students of Einrogaard seemed to have lived quite harshly.

Wag wag-

The siren wagged their finger as if telling him to follow.

Having watched the skeletal Headmaster’s work from the side, they knew where the most precious treasure was hidden.

‘That way.’

As the siren pointed their finger and indicated the direction, Lee Han hesitated and asked.

-Wouldn’t you like to go first? It’s not because I don’t trust you.

-……

The siren firmly resolved to repay the favor as quickly as possible, even if it was dirty and mean, and then never associate with this boy again.

Passing through the submerged pillars of the tower and avoiding the suddenly erupting hydrothermal vents of the deep sea, they reached the destination the siren had pointed to.

Seeing the scattered fragments of wooden fences that made it difficult to approach, Lee Han was inwardly appalled.

‘Did he really put it here for us to find?’

It seemed like the skeletal Headmaster had put it there so that he could later say, ‘I put it here, but you couldn’t find it? How boring.’

No matter how you looked at it, it wasn’t put there to be found.

Tap tap tap!

The siren, who had been in a bad mood since earlier, moved their fins and hit the floor.

It meant to quickly take what they needed and part ways.

‘They must be in a bad mood because of the Headmaster’s stubbornness.’

Lee Han thought so and approached the floor. Then he felt a familiar magical power.

Woo-oong-

Seeing the skeletal Headmaster’s magical power protecting the treasure with an elaborate structure, Lee Han was speechless.

If you’re going to place it here, shouldn’t you at least have the decency not to cast a barrier spell?

‘He’s really crazy.’

Lee Han clicked his tongue and focused his magical power.

Curses aside, he had to release it first…

As taught by Baldur Oren, the charged magical power became a siege hammer and strongly struck the barrier.

Clang!

The siren looked at Lee Han as if asking what he was doing.

Siren was very smart, even though she wasn’t a trained wizard. She was a descendant of spirits and had lived in Einroguard for a long time. Because of this, she knew a lot about magic.

And Ethan was not using the normal way to break barrier magic.

How barbaric…

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

But as he kept hitting it with the magic hammer, Siren’s face changed.

It was a very rough way to do it, but if he kept doing it…

Hmm. Still not working.

Ethan stopped hitting the barrier, looking disappointed.

Ethan could see the Skeleton Headmaster had carefully made the barrier strong. It was designed to stop hits from the outside.

Why are you looking at me like that?

Ethan looked at Siren, confused.

Siren was staring, as if she was hypnotized.

♪♬♩! ♪♬!

Is she trying to use magic on me?

Ethan looked away, imagining how angry Siren would be if she knew what he was thinking.

Siren sighed, finally speaking. “Don’t just hit it hard,” she said, her voice calm but with a hint of ‘really?’ in it. “Aim for the weak spot at the bottom…”

Goodness, Ethan thought, a little annoyed. Doesn’t she realize how clever my method was? Just because she isn’t a wizard?

He had to remind himself Siren wasn’t a wizard.

She wouldn’t understand the brilliance of Valdor Orn’s approach. Crude? Calling Valdor Orn’s solution crude!

But she’s right about the direction.

Ethan looked closely at where Siren was pointing and saw she was right.

It was a very small difference, but the magic at the bottom was weaker.

In normal magic, this would be a weak point.

I can feel the magic is a bit weaker here.

Siren looked at Ethan like he was talking nonsense.

All magic has weak points, but a great wizard hides them well.

Siren knew the weak spot because she had seen the Skeleton Headmaster make it. She couldn’t feel the magic was weaker at all.

Did he use wood inside to make it stronger?

Ethan felt twigs, thin and dry like kindling, woven throughout the magic barrier. It seemed to spread out and absorb any force used on the weak point.

Siren nodded, agreeing with Ethan. Then, she carefully drew on the stone slab.

She was showing the order to connect the magic, starting from the weak spot, to break it.

But Ethan suddenly made flames and set the wood on fire.

!!!!!

Siren threw the stone slab and made water to stop the fire, letting out a scream.

But the flame was born in water, so it wasn’t easy to put out. Siren used the power of the spirits and barely stopped the fire from spreading.

♪↘♪♪↗♪!

Ethan didn’t understand the words, but he knew Siren was angry. He said sorry.

I thought if it was made of wood, I could easily break it by burning it.

Did that work???

It did…

……

Siren stared at the burned barrier.

Normally, even with the spirits’ water and the barrier’s strength, it shouldn’t have burned so easily and should have fizzled out…

But the flames this wizard made were so strong they just burned the whole barrier away.

If Siren hadn’t stopped it quickly, the treasures inside would have burned too.

Tap tap tap!

Siren wrote a long message on the stone slab to explain how clumsy Ethan had been.

Ethan knew she was very angry, so he looked sorry for now.

I think I could have controlled it even if I had let it burn.

He thought, but Ethan didn’t say it.

To be honest, he wasn’t very good at fire magic compared to other magic.

Splash-

When Ethan came out, his friends ran over, looking curious.

Did you find anything?

Ah. Just a moment.

He had been arguing with Siren and hadn’t even looked at the treasure before coming out.

Ethan opened the box and read the note inside.

An outing pass.

Nothing special.

…!!!!

!!!!!!

!!!!!!

Even the Death Knight was surprised.

To not care about an outing pass…

Could this really be a first-year student?!

How could this be happening??

The Skeleton Headmaster, who had been bothering the other students, turned and flew over.

What’s going on?

Master. The student who found the outing pass…

What? You found it?

The Skeleton Headmaster was shocked.

He had planned to tease them by saying, ‘Couldn’t you find what’s right here?’ if they didn’t find it, but they actually found it.

Why did you find that again?

……

……

The students were quiet as they watched the Skeleton Headmaster scold Ethan without asking who found it.

I didn’t say I found it.

So you didn’t find it?

I did find it, but…

I see.

The Skeleton Headmaster grumbled and took the box from Ethan.

Aren’t you curious how he found it?

He didn’t want to know because he thought it would just annoy him more. He must have made Siren find it.

The Skeleton Headmaster answered quickly, not knowing he was right.

That seems a bit much…

Can’t you take a joke? A joke?

My, my apologies.

Anyway, you’ve found everything, so let’s go to the next event.

There’s more?!

When will it end??

The Skeleton Headmaster quieted the students and said,

It’s talent show time. Show me one magic each that’s good for a picnic.

Hmm.

Wodanaz, you get a perfect score. Just go over there and sit down.

No…

He felt left out, like even this was a picnic.