Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 565

“I’m here, Professor. Did you not hear me arrive?”

“Oh, my apologies, Lee Han. I must be more tired than I realized.”

“Oh dear. You must take good care of your health,” Professor Verdus said gently to Lee Han.

“I have so many lectures to attend, I can’t help it.”

“Is that so?”

“Perhaps if the professor reduced the assignments, it might help me manage my health better?”

“Oh. That won’t do.”

Lee Han smiled calmly, as if he hadn’t expected anything else.

“So,” Professor Verdus began, shuffling some papers on his desk, “what brings you here, Lee Han?”

Lee Han leaned back slightly, considering. “Ah, right,” Professor Verdus continued, as if just remembering, “I was originally going to ask you to help prepare for the final exams.”

Professor Verdus opened his mouth as if he had just remembered.

“But Professor Garcia is telling me not to!”

“Really!”

“Isn’t it strange, really?”

“That’s true!”

“Right!” Professor Verdus grumbled.

“He wasn’t like this when he was a student. Professor Garcia has changed.”

“Hmm!”

“So, what I wanted to say was…”

“Certainly!”

“Huh?”

Lee Han, having repeated phrases mechanically, realized he was a beat too early. Luckily, Professor Verdus, lost in his own thoughts, didn’t notice.

“Could you persuade Professor Garcia? He listens to you, doesn’t he?”

“Really!”

“Yes, please.”

“I will try, but Professor Garcia is a strict person, so there’s no guarantee he’ll listen just because it’s me.”

Lee Han thought, ‘Persuade Garcia? Absolutely not. That would mean less work for me, and no pouch of coins. Let Verdus handle Garcia himself. Much more profitable this way.’

“Well, Garcia is strict, I suppose.”

“That’s true.”

“He broke an artifact’s barrier with his fist, you know.”

“That’s surprising! …No, what on earth did you do to get punched?”

“I didn’t do anything!” Professor Verdus grumbled indignantly, pulling a pouch from his pocket. From within the heavy-looking pouch came a familiar clinking sound. It was the beautiful sound of silver and gold coins colliding.

“I sold artifacts to get these.”

“What is this?”

“Huh? I told you in the punishment room back then. Have you already forgotten?” Professor Verdus looked at Lee Han with concern for his intelligence.

“…Wait, could this be payment for helping with the exam preparation?”

Kettle, the graduate, had grabbed Professor Verdus by the collar for the sake of the junior students’ rights and made him swear: Don’t force work, and when you do, pay the price…

“Yes.”

“Where did you get this??”

“I sold a few artifacts.”

“But… uh… are you allowed to sell them?” Lee Han paused. He liked both the gold and silver coins, but he wondered if it was really okay to sell them.

At those words, Professor Verdus also paused.

“Oh. Was I not supposed to sell them? Hold on.”

“……”

“Come to think of it, Gonadaltez might have told me not to sell them.”

“Oh dear.”

“But we won’t get caught, will we?”

“Certainly.”

Lee Han nodded. He was surprised, but on second thought, Professor Verdus was right. And even if they were caught, Professor Verdus would be the one in trouble, not Lee Han.

Lee Han thought, ‘The headmaster will take care of it.’

“Then, Professor, if I help you prepare for the final exams, will this cute and lovely pouch of silver coins become mine?”

“Wodanaz, you’re being… intense. It’s a bit much for this early in the day,” Professor Verdus looked at Lee Han with distaste.

Sometimes there were artifact artisans who named their artifacts and spoke to them lovingly, but Professor Verdus was not that type.

“Alright. Anyway, you’re giving it to me, right?”

“But Professor Garcia said no, remember? It’s best to listen to Professor Garcia.”

Lee Han wondered, ‘What on earth did he do?’

“Still, I’ll try to persuade him again.”

“Then please do.”

Professor Verdus took out a dagger from his pocket. Its hilt was carved from dark, polished wood, and silver runes, glowing faintly blue, spiraled along the blade, hinting at the enchantments within.

“Take this too.”

“Ah. Thank you.” Lee Han was slightly surprised by Professor Verdus’s gift.

It seemed Professor Verdus had become more generous thanks to Kettle. Not only a pouch of money, but also a gift like this?

“Tell the students to make this today.”

“…Professor. You have to come to the lecture hall. And assigning this is a separate matter.”

“What!? Really!?”

* * *

Later, in Professor Mortoom’s workshop…

The air in Professor Mortoom’s workshop was thick with the sharp scent of sulfur and something vaguely sweet, like burnt sugar. Glass vials clinked softly on shelves lining the walls, catching the dim light filtering through the high windows.

“Oh, isn’t the freshman final exam a bit too bland?” Cohalti visited Professor Mortoom’s workshop and was puzzled by the final exam questions.

Originally, the freshman final exam was a grand showcase of various complex dark magic spells such as undead summoning, bone/poison/darkness elements, and curses. It was an exam that tested the skills of the freshmen who would officially embark on the path of dark magic in their second year, and it also served to steel their resolve. But for all that, the exam was too simple.

Moreover, there was a thick stack of papers on Professor Mortoom’s desk behind him. Judging by the questions written on top, it was definitely the exam. Choose the creature that lives in the undead realm from the following…

Of course, this could also be called an exam, but it was indeed bland. Cohalti wondered why these questions were there.

Professor Mortoom, who had been playing with his quill, coughed and replied.

“You almost blew up the academy’s foundation during the last midterm, and you’re saying that?”

The dark magic academy students in the workshop blushed and lowered their heads. Some glared at Cohalti with resentful eyes.

The students thought, ‘Why did you have to bring up that topic?’ ‘Senior, do you have no tact?’

“…I apologize.”

“Cough. And you made your juniors beg for reagents, and you’re saying that?”

“I am truly sorry!!!” Cohalti threw away all pretense of being a fourth-year student and lowered his posture.

No matter how much of a fourth-year student he was, this was a mistake that could only tarnish his reputation.

“Knowing is enough. Help with the questions.”

“Yes…” The fourth-year student, ashamed of his past, sat at the table and mixed poisons.

“Ankle-Grabber Poison?”

“Yes.” It was a relatively peaceful poison that slowed down movement. Cohalti read the label. “Oh, right. That’s the one that just slows people down, isn’t it?”

Cohalti completed the poison with a single motion.

“What’s next?”

“Bone-Flesh Poison.” It was a powerful poison that forcibly stimulated bone regeneration, nearly destroying parts of the body.

Cohalti completed the poison with two motions and one reagent addition.

“Next?”

“Ahrak’s Red Poison.” Ahrak was a dark magician of the past empire who made a name for himself with poison. Although he met a tragic end, turning into a puddle of blood after failing to overcome the poison he created, there were still many dark magicians who respected Ahrak.

Cohalti groaned and carefully waved his wand. If Ahrak’s Red Poison was made incorrectly, one could bleed from their eyes, nose, ears, and mouth for an entire week.

“Done. …Wait a minute. Why are we making this? Why are we using this for the final exam?” Cohalti, who was making it, finally felt something was wrong.

Dirett, who came out after finishing his work inside, explained instead.

“That’s not for the final exam, it’s for today’s lecture. I have to teach about poison magic, but there are some juniors with strong resistance.”

“Ah. There was a giant-blooded junior, right?”

One of the students opened his mouth as if he remembered.

“The Black Tortoise Tower, right? Heh heh. This is going to be good.”

“Hey. Don’t pass on your fights to the juniors,” Dirett cautioned, with a raised eyebrow that told them he wasn’t really joking.

Even if it just rained, the students from each tower would bicker and fight, saying, ‘It’s raining because of those Blue Dragon Tower guys!’ ‘No, it’s raining because of the White Tiger Tower guys’ experiments!’ ‘You’re all wrong, it’s the Black Tortoise Tower…’ And that didn’t really change even as the years passed and they moved up in grades.

There was no way the students from each tower, who were fiercely competitive, wouldn’t compete with their juniors. The giant-blooded junior was a very reliable asset.

“And he’s not someone who likes to fight.”

“That can’t be true. Where is there a giant-blooded person who doesn’t like to fight?”

“You’re learning dark magic, so you’re going to dig up graves and eat corpses.”

“No… I, I don’t do that…” The junior who heard Dirett’s words felt very wronged.

“I only dug up graves and stole corpses, I never ate them. I’m not a ghoul.”

“That’s not the point… never mind. Anyway, don’t say unnecessary things to the juniors. I’m worried because you’ll be so busy next year that it’ll be hard to see you.”

“Ah. Senior. Are you advancing to the fifth year?”

“Yes. I’ve decided,” Dirett said in a slightly tired voice.

In Einrogard, there were quite a few who finished their studies in the second or third year depending on their personal circumstances, but those who seriously wanted to explore the academic field of magic as magicians usually finished up to the fourth year. After finishing up to the fourth year, they would now take the wisdom and knowledge they had accumulated and pioneer their own path.

But among them, some unfortunate, or rather, those who were more hungry for wisdom and knowledge than others, would go on to the fifth year. They would help their teachers with their work and pursue higher realms together.

Of course, it wasn’t an easy choice. Just the fourth year alone was terribly busy to the point of nausea. Most of those who were actively involved in Einrogard’s campus activities were up to the third year, and the fourth-year students were too busy focusing on magic in preparation for graduation.

If the fourth year was like this, how difficult and terrible would the fifth year be? And what was even more difficult than that were the things outside of magic.

The fifth year was now a concept closer to the traditional 嫡傳弟子 (direct disciple). Before the magic academies of the empire had a collective education system, the magicians of the continent had passed on enlightenment through a much more primitive education method.

The one-on-one mentorship (師承) method of a quirky teacher and a pitiful disciple that often appears in fairy tales was this old method. Of course, this method had many side effects. You could tell just by looking at the fact that several disciples killed their teachers. The higher the level of magicians, the more inversely proportional their personality became.

But Einrogard’s fifth year reminded people of the lost old concept of a direct disciple. As you can tell from the fact that professors only allow qualified students to advance to the fifth year, these fifth-year students certainly deserved the expression direct disciple.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“The professor will give you a lot of work!”

Professor Mortoom glared at the other students. They were ungrateful bastards.

“And I’m more worried about magic research than the professor’s work. I might not be able to show my face for a whole year.”

“We’ll come find you!”

Professor Mortoom coughed in disbelief.

“Is that what you call sincere support?”

“Alright, everyone. Stop worrying about me. What I want to say is that I’m worried about you guys. Treat the juniors well when they come in. And don’t bully them even if they’re from another tower.”

“And don’t get bullied by the juniors,” Cohalti added. The students who heard those words tilted their heads, wondering what he meant.

The students thought, ‘What does he mean?’

“Cohalti is… right too. Ahrak’s Red Poison, is it all done?”

“Wait a minute, Senior Dirett. I almost forgot, but even if he’s giant-blooded, Ahrak’s Red Poison will be too harsh. Wouldn’t another poison be better?”

“You don’t have to worry. The poison I’m giving Imirgue is Bone-Flesh Poison.”

“Ah. I see.” The student who answered suddenly paused.

The student thought, ‘Huh? Then who are you going to feed Ahrak’s Red Poison to?’