Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 507

The crow-like sorcerer, whom Lee Han was meeting for the first time, hugged the straw doll tightly before setting it down.

“It might look roughly made, but it’s a sturdy item with some magical processing,” he said.

Dark magic is strong and special, but it doesn’t easily go into just anything.

Even simple water magic can make things waterproof easily. But with dark magic, it’s easier to just find something that dark magic *likes* to go into.

The powerful and unique characteristic, being the opposite of life, actually made this harder.

That’s why even this simple-looking straw doll needed its own magical preparation.

“Of course, even with that, it takes a while. You have to soak it in dark magic dozens of times,” the sorcerer explained.

People who don’t know magic think it’s all exciting shows. But really, magic is often boring and takes a lot of work.

Even making a simple straw doll for curses took much longer than one might think.

“Alright. Give it a try,” Dirette said.

“Yes,” Lee Han replied.

Lee Han raised his wand, calling on the dark magic.

With the straw doll right in front of him, it was easier than usual.

He didn’t need to control his power much; he just had to bring the dark magic to the straw doll and let it absorb it.

However, as the straw doll took in the dark magic, a strong, dark energy appeared behind Lee Han.

Dirette shook his head, opened the window, and let in a breeze.

As someone who worked with dark magic, Dirette was resistant to it, but he couldn’t be careless around this new student.

Dirette knew he had to be careful. One small mistake with dark magic could cause big problems, even shut down Professor Mortuum’s important workshop, the Black Abyss.

“Reduce your magic power. This is enough,” Dirette instructed.

“Oh. Is that so?” Lee Han asked.

“Behind you… No, never mind. Concentrate,” Dirette said, deciding against distracting him.

He just made the room more breezy. He didn’t want to break Lee Han’s focus and risk an accident.

Kwaaah-

The straw doll, now full of dark magic, quickly got smaller and shriveled up.

Lee Han’s eyes widened. The straw doll, once as big as his hand, was now tiny, no bigger than his thumb. It looked like a dried leaf, all shriveled and small.

“Is this made to squeeze the dark magic and keep it from getting out?” Lee Han asked.

“No. It’s just finished and shrunk,” Dirette replied calmly.

The curse doll, which should have taken weeks to make, was done right away, but Dirette acted like it was normal.

“Professor! I’ll be right back, just going into the dungeon next door!” Dirette called out.

“Why?” Professor Mortuum asked.

“The straw doll is finished!” Dirette explained.

“What? Cough, why would that… Ah. I see. Go ahead,” Professor Mortuum said, coughing a few times and accepting it calmly.

All the dark wizards except Lee Han were calmly accepting the situation.

“Is it normally okay for it to be completed this quickly? Is there a problem…?” Lee Han asked, unsure.

“No. It just happened quickly because you injected too much dark magic. The structure is simple, so there’s nothing to worry about. You can relax,” Dirette said.

Dirette paused. “No, wait. There could be a problem. Put in a moderate amount of magic power. It’ll be troublesome if the straw doll explodes,” he added.

“You said it was a sturdy item with magical processing…” Lee Han pointed out.

Dirette pretended not to hear his junior’s question.

“Ahem, Dirette!” Professor Mortuum opened the door again and called for Dirette.

“Before you go into the dungeon…” Professor Mortuum began.

“You mean the defense artifact? I’ll prepare it,” Dirette replied.

Taking a first-year student into the underground dungeon needed equipment like defense artifacts.

“Cough. No. Bring me some bones of Atalab from the second-floor warehouse. Take care of the defense artifact yourself… Honestly, it’s probably not even necessary,” Professor Mortuum said.

Dirette thought, ‘Even so, isn’t he being a bit too much, sending his junior in like that?’

Dirette looked at Lee Han and said, “Don’t worry too much about it.”

“The professor just called your name…” Lee Han said, confused.

“Why is a first-year student, about to enter a dungeon, worrying about things like that?” Dirette asked, trying to brush it off.

The large and small dungeons hidden throughout Einroguard were so many that even the skeletal headmaster couldn’t keep track of them all.

With such strong magic power, there were bound to be many naturally occurring dungeons.

Some schools’ students artificially secured or managed dungeons because of the magic they studied, and one of those was the Dark Magic School.

The nature of dark magic made dungeons necessary.

“…Got it? Other schools manage dungeons too, so don’t misunderstand. I’m not lying, so be sure to ask. If they say they don’t, they’re really deceiving you. I can even prove it,” Dirette explained, more talkative than when explaining magic.

Even with the same dungeon management, somehow, the Dark Magic School’s dungeons were a bit awkward to talk about.

“Wizards should naturally manage dungeons. It would be hard to find them outside,” Dirette stated.

Dungeons varied greatly depending on the location and environment, but they also had basic common features.

That was the point where magic power had to be excessively gathered. Dungeons were surprisingly hard to find, as unique things had to happen with the gathering of magic power, and those things were what wizards could use.

“…Right?” Dirette’s voice rose slightly, as if relieved.

Lee Han continued to speak to support his senior. “Yes. A professor I know even took me into the Rakshasa Ghoul Dungeon,” he said.

“…That’s not right,” Dirette said seriously, surprising Lee Han.

Lee Han was just trying to comfort him…

Dirette tried to say something more but gave up and sighed. What was the point of saying anything? The professors wouldn’t change anyway.

“This dungeon doesn’t have Rakshasa Ghouls; it has Vampire Weasels. The structure is simple. It’s a straight line and not very deep,” Dirette explained.

Dirette led him to a dark hole in the ground, surrounded by old, leaning gravestones. This was the dungeon entrance. It smelled damp and cold, like old earth and something else… something faintly rotten.

Compared to the dungeons that Professor Voladi took him to with the determination to kill him, there were no hidden terrains or places prone to ambushes; it truly felt like a naturally formed underground space.

“Do you know about Vampire Weasels?” Dirette asked.

“Yes,” Lee Han replied.

They weren’t very strong monsters, but they were good at sensing the energy of living things.

Some hunters in certain regions even used these monsters as hunting dogs instead.

“Their attacks aren’t fatal, but it hurts quite a bit if you get bitten. Wear this artifact. It will create a physical barrier to protect you,” Dirette said, handing Lee Han the artifact.

However, instead of working, the artifact malfunctioned, making strange lights and noises.

“Why is it doing this? There’s nothing around here that should be interfering with the magic,” Dirette said, tilting his head in confusion.

Lee Han spoke cautiously.

“It might be because I carry around quite a few artifacts,” he said.

“How many is ‘quite a few’? Two?” Dirette asked.

“…Add another zero to that…” Lee Han replied.

Lee Han had vowed not to be surprised by his junior anymore, but Dirette was surprised once again. So surprised, in fact, that the wings on her back nearly stood on end.

“Lee Han! Why do you have *so many* artifacts? Are you crazy?!” Dirette exclaimed.

Old stories warned about wearing too many magic items. One story was about a wizard who wore many rings and exploded! Magic items are not made to be worn together. So, if you wear many, they will start to fight with each other. Maybe exploding is too much, but they would definitely stop working right or cause problems.

“But most of them are magic absorption types, so there haven’t been any major problems,” Lee Han quickly explained, seeing how worried Dirette seemed.

Magic absorption bracelets and belts, fire absorption rings, bracelets, and necklaces, and magic emission suppression bracelets. Even though there were many of these artifacts, the principles of magic were simple and belonged to similar categories, so there weren’t any major issues. Besides, Lee Han sometimes took some off depending on the situation.

“Right… Wait. There are still some artifacts left, aren’t there?” Dirette, being the older student, pointed out the other artifacts.

“What about this?” Lee Han asked.

“It’s a necklace with an invisibility spell.”

“This isn’t ordinary invisibility, is it…? Where did you get this? No, that’s not important right now. Anyway, this one’s fine.” The necklace made Dirette think of Headmaster Skull for a moment, but she didn’t say anything. The magic was clean, so it wasn’t something that would affect the outside.

“This is a ring of underwater breathing.”

“This is fine too. Magic like underwater breathing doesn’t usually cause any conflicts.”

“This is a silver spoon for detecting poison.”

“Why do you have this… Have you ever been the target of a poisoning attempt?” Dirette asked.

Lee Han chuckled. “Poisoning? No, no. I just found it. It seemed useful!”

“This is a copper ring for signaling.”

“This isn’t an artifact that would cause conflicts either. Wait, who gave you this?”

“The headmaster?”

Dirette was silent.

“This is the Bracelet of Ten Thousand Mana.”

“Okay… Wait, what??” Dirette’s eyes widened. She almost dropped the bracelet. She was horrified by the artifact that looked like a culprit no matter how she looked at it. *I can’t believe he would do this to a first-year,* she thought angrily. What kind of madman would make a first-year wear that?

After hearing the explanation, Dirette said firmly, “The headmaster has truly lost his mind.”

“Senior. Walls have ears…” Lee Han cautioned.

“Yeah, I know. The headmaster has truly lost his mind,” Dirette repeated.

Lee Han thought, ‘Cool. This was what a senior should be. Will I be able to badmouth professors so confidently when I become a senior?’

“To give this to a first-year… Sigh. Alright. Anyway, it looks like we can’t use this artifact together,” Dirette said.

“I’m sorry,” Lee Han replied.

“It’s not your fault at all. Honestly, with all those artifacts, you could probably sneeze and stop a vampire weasel!” Dirette said that and turned around.

” ?” Lee Han wanted to ask what she meant, but he missed the timing because the crow beast-person mage he was seeing for the first time started walking.

Dirette led Lee Han down a dark hallway. “Let’s go to the dungeon,” she said. “We need to test something.”

They entered a dark dungeon. The air was cold and damp. Water dripped from the stone ceiling. It smelled like old stone and something else… something a little rotten.

“The reason we raise vampire weasels in this dungeon is that there isn’t a monster as good as a vampire weasel for checking things related to dark elements. Stop right there for a second,” Dirette instructed. Dirette had Lee Han stand behind her and then walked forward.

After a few steps, suddenly, two red eyes flashed in the darkness. A small, furry creature with sharp teeth leaped out, hissing. It was a vampire weasel! It ‘thudded’ against Dirette.

“See? It attacks right away, doesn’t it?”

“Yes,” Lee Han confirmed.

“Now, let’s experiment with this.” Dirette threw a curse doll she had made in advance. Then, the vampire weasels hesitated, as if there was an invisible wall, unable to approach the curse doll.

“Since they are sensitive to detecting life force, they also feel the ominousness caused by dark elements. Basically, if those guys can’t approach, you can consider it a successful completion.”

After finishing her words, Dirette returned to her spot and gestured to Lee Han. It was his junior’s turn.

A quiet silence.

As soon as Lee Han stood in front, the vampire weasels became quiet, even before he threw the curse doll. It was as if the dungeon had no monsters at all.

Dirette didn’t say anything and had Lee Han come back.

“I’ll experiment with your doll,” Dirette said.

“Thank you.”

“Hey, don’t thank me for this. It’s just part of being a senior, right?” Dirette checked her junior’s curse doll. The vampire weasels retreated even further than before, so the effect was very clear.

“Good job. I was a little worried because the time was short, but there was no need to be. Expanding this basic process is the beginning of dark element application. They could change the doll to make the curse stronger, or put the curse on other things.”

Dirette raised her hand, and bone fragments floated in the air. They glowed with a dark purple light, and then, with a crackling sound, skeletons rose from the ground. But these were not ordinary skeletons. Black smoke seemed to cling to their bones, and their eyes burned with a cold, green fire.

Lee Han was impressed by the skeleton warriors, who were emitting dark elements unlike their original appearance. *Wow, that’s so cool! I want to learn that magic!* This was an undead enhancement magic that combined other elemental magics. Not just ending at adding bones or making them stronger, but enhancing them with various attributes. The magic was so elaborate that it seemed like this was what you had to do to be called a necromancer.

“That’s amazing! Such a combination!” Lee Han exclaimed.

“…You like this that much? You’re really a bit unique…” Dirette was flustered by the intense reaction her junior showed to the undead summons. She didn’t feel bad, but usually, people didn’t admire these undead summons like this. Especially if they were from a noble family!

“Then I’ll try it,” Lee Han said, taking out a bone fragment from his reagent pouch.

” ?” Dirette was puzzled by the sight. She hadn’t particularly shown him to do it today…?