Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 587

‘Did I answer too quickly?’

Lee Han answered quickly because he felt guilty.

He knew coming early to finish the test was not really fair.

However, the tree spirit’s reaction now suggested that Lee Han was missing something.

What is it?

“Do you know me?”

—From the master…

The tree spirit’s voice was slow and heavy, as was typical for its kind.

Lee Han realized that the master was the Skull Headmaster.

‘Ah, one of the Headmaster’s minions?’

If that were the case, it wouldn’t be strange for him to have heard the story.

Lee Han felt a slight relief.

—…Heard.

“Ah, yes, I see. But about coming to help… do you perhaps manage this jungle?”

The Torreya tree spirit nodded.

To be precise, rather than managing, he was in a position to clean up the mess he had caused, but the forest keeper didn’t like to talk much.

And cleaning up was close to managing, in a way.

‘No, I’m in luck.’

Lee Han marveled at his good fortune.

With the help of the forest keeper who managed this jungle, he could easily pass through it.

If only he could confirm the jungle’s secret…!

“Siana Priest. Sharukal Priest. This is fortunate.”

“I understand perfectly.”

“We just have to pretend to be here to help, right? Haha!”

The priests understood Lee Han’s meaning and quickly prepared to lie.

Pretending to be there to help and following the forest keeper to check the path through the jungle!

In their bright expressions, there wasn’t a hint of the conviction that priests shouldn’t lie.

Lee Han paused for a moment.

‘Is it okay for the priests to be so accustomed to lying?’

But then he thought, ‘Maybe in Einroguard, you have to do what you need to survive.’

“Then let’s go!”

The Torreya tree spirit was pleased with Lee Han and the students’ attitude.

It must be the final exam period, yet they were so willing to help clean up the jungle, which had nothing to do with the exam.

They were truly kind students.

One of the characteristics of Avaltara, a plant monster that the Skull Headmaster had ordered to be brought in this time, was its strong vitality and reproductive power.

Just throwing one seed could instantly turn the surroundings into a jungle with its potent power.

To neatly dispose of Avaltara, one had to eliminate the plants acting as the core, nestled within the jungle.

Of course, it wasn’t an easy task.

Avaltara wasn’t exactly a monster that actively attacked or devoured intruders, but it wasn’t one that stayed still either.

The more one provoked it, the more lushly Avaltara would create a jungle, pushing back the intruders.

They followed the tree spirit into the jungle. Thick vines hung down like green ropes, and the air was heavy with the smell of damp earth and strange flowers. The sounds of unseen insects buzzed around them.

The forest keeper moved swiftly through the jungle, as if gliding, despite his slow way of speaking.

-Here…

Lee Han asked, pointing, “This tree? Is this the one?”

Siana Priest leaned closer. “Is there something special about this tree? It just looks like… a tree.”

The tree spirit just blinked slowly.

Sharukal Priest sighed. “Could you maybe… speak just a little bit faster? We’re trying to understand!”

-Destr…

The forest keeper continued to speak very slowly.

The students guessed among themselves.

“Destroy here?”

“Is he telling us to destroy it?”

“Maybe it’s ‘grasp’?”

“Maybe it’s ‘dig up’…”

-Oy…

“He meant to destroy it!”

Having gotten the answer, the students immediately drew their staffs and swung them.

Sharukal pulled out a nearby branch and transformed the end into an axe blade. Then, he swung it with force.

Clang!

“Uh… uh oh.”

Sharukal was flustered.

A strong recoil, as if he had struck a hard rock with an axe, made his hand tingle.

“It seems it’s not an ordinary tree.”

Siana nodded at Lee Han’s words.

“It certainly seems so. Step aside.”

“Wait, just a moment. Just one more time…”

“Ah, it’s one try per person. Move. Quickly.”

‘Was there such a rule?’

Lee Han was puzzled, but Siana pushed Sharukal aside and took out a potion bottle.

“Die!”

“Ooooh!”

The priests cheered from behind.

Seeing that, Lee Han reconsidered what he had thought earlier.

‘Is it okay for the priests to be so combative?’

Sssssss-

Whatever Siana had mixed and carried around, a considerably toxic liquid seeped into the tree’s roots.

However, the tree remained unchanged, without showing any signs of withering.

“Woo! Move aside! Move aside!”

“Ah, really!”

“Next is the power of the Sissenja Order…”

“If it fails, does that mean the power of the Sissenja Order is weak?”

“What nonsense!”

-Fire…

While the priests were actively chattering, the forest keeper slowly opened his mouth.

Siana listened to it and told her friends.

“Fire! He says to use fire!”

“Is it okay?”

It wasn’t that the priests didn’t know about fire, which was why they hadn’t used it.

Since it was a jungle and they didn’t know how it would spread, they had refrained from using fire.

Chik-

“It doesn’t seem to burn well, so it should be fine.”

“Then I’ll summon fire.”

After the priests showed that the fire didn’t spread much even when it was set around the tree, Lee Han stepped forward with his staff.

Since the tree they had to destroy seemed to have a stronger defense than expected, it seemed Lee Han had to step in.

‘As long as it doesn’t spread around.’

Lee Han felt a thrill of excitement. It had been too long since he used fire magic.

“Burn…”

Lee Han raised his staff. He focused his magic, and a ball of bright orange flame appeared at the tip. It pulsed with heat, and Lee Han could feel the power thrumming in his arm.

The flame started to burst out wildly, but Lee Han focused his magic. He made the flame smaller and aim it at the tree bark.

The tree had withstood other means, but it couldn’t withstand this fire. The flames slowly spread out and engulfed the tree.

The priests clapped and cheered.

“As expected!”

“It’s the power of the Plameng Order!”

“It’s the Apah Order!”

“Neither…”

While Lee Han was stopping the priests from arguing, the forest keeper thought to himself.

‘Fire was supposed to be useless…’

Originally, the forest keeper was going to tell the students that fire was also useless.

He had judged that they would use fire after swinging an axe and pouring potion.

Avaltara thoroughly protected the tree that was the core of its territory. It was common for axes, potions, and fire not to work.

To remove the tree, the proper way was to first sever the connection with the other areas of the jungle, then absorb the tree’s life force to weaken its defense, and then strike its weak point with a special spell…

But the first-year student in front of him simply set it on fire with brute force and burned it away. It was truly amazing.

However, instead of being flustered or surprised, the forest keeper simply blinked.

The forest keeper, who was originally going to tell them how to deal with it, became annoyed and pointed in the next direction.

-Next…

“Yes. Everyone, let’s move.”

The students moved, never imagining that they weren’t supposed to fight it with fire in the first place.

“I guess fire is the answer after all.”

“Let’s keep it a secret from Priest Nigisor, shall we?”

-To the place…

“How can we find our way in the jungle?” Lee Han asked persistently.

One of the things he had learned since entering Einroguard was that all knowledge would be useful someday.

Right now, they could just follow the forest keeper, but later they might be left alone in the jungle.

-The aura…

“The aura? Ah. The core tree from earlier had a defense that distinguished it from other plants. Naturally, the aura it emits would also be distinct, so you’re saying we should grasp and remember that difference and use it as a landmark to move?”

The forest keeper nodded with satisfaction.

The fact that he didn’t have to say everything made the forest keeper happy.

An admirable first-year student!

“Indeed.”

“No, no, no.”

The Siana Priest, who was next to him, was flustered and interrupted.

“What was that just now??”

“Huh?” Lee Han was puzzled.

He thought the Siana Priest might not have heard him.

“So, Siana Priest, just like feeling the flow of mana in magic, you can feel the flow of mana in this jungle, right? Even if it seems complex and chaotic and meaningless, there are patterns of mana that can be used as landmarks. The tree we destroyed earlier was one of them.”

“How do you sense and remember that…? No. That’s not important right now, so I’ll ask you later.”

The Siana Priest didn’t ask how he could capture and grasp the patterns of mana he wanted in this chaotic flow of mana.

She was quite close to this Wodanaz family boy to ask such an amateurish question.

He must have solved it with his own mysterious and special ability.

Or it could be an evil secret magic passed down in the family, but that wasn’t very important…

“You didn’t just have a telepathic conversation, did you?”

“Uh, no. Did it look like that?”

“It looked like you had a telepathic conversation.”

“Wasn’t that a telepathic conversation?!”

Lee Han was rather flustered by the priests’ reaction.

Why?

After that, Lee Han and his group followed the forest keeper and diligently helped with the tasks they were assigned.

In the process, they learned from the forest keeper how to find their way in the jungle, how to identify dangerous plants, and how to collect useful parts when removing plants.

“Lear… learned?”

“Can we really call that learning?”

The priests murmured.

It was closer to Lee Han realizing things on his own with the forest keeper standing in front of him, rather than the forest keeper teaching them.

He would have realized the same thing even if they had put a crushed rock or a Gainan doll in front of him instead of the forest keeper.

Unaware of the priests murmuring, Lee Han, who was walking in front, realized something and stopped.

‘Wait. Something’s strange.’

Come to think of it, this was the forest keeper who had to manage this jungle.

But instead of managing the jungle, the forest keeper was running around trying to destroy specific trees.

Of course, there were cases where the forest became dangerous because some of those trees were contaminated.

If a disease spread to a tree, it would quickly spread to other trees, so in such cases, it was a priority to deal with the diseased tree.

However, the trees that the forest keeper was destroying seemed to be the core trees of the area, rather than such trees.

It was as if he was trying to get rid of this jungle.

‘It wouldn’t be bad for us if the jungle disappeared… but what is it? Is it not good to keep it here?‘

Lee Han wondered why the forest keeper was getting rid of the jungle.

It certainly wouldn’t be because the students were uncomfortable…

While he was pondering, they arrived at the last tree. Following the forest keeper’s instructions, Lee Han burned the tree with fire.

At that moment, the plants in the jungle suddenly began to collapse.

As if time had been sped up, the bushes withered, the leaves turned into fallen leaves and fell, and the trees rotted into the ground.

And all of these things gathered together and formed into a single seed. It felt as if the jungle that had been here was just an illusion.

“Uh… were you really here to remove the jungle?”

-?

The forest keeper showed a different reaction for the first time today.

He didn’t understand what this disciple of his master was saying.

Wasn’t he here to remove the jungle? Then what else would he be here for?

Creak-

Professor Yonlamos opened the door to the lecture room that was revealed when the jungle disappeared, and showed himself.

“Did you clean everything up? Thank you… Oh, Lee Han? What are the other students doing here?”

Professor Yonlamos was puzzled to see the students gathered in front of the lecture room.

There was still plenty of time left until the exam.

“Wait, don’t tell me you cleaned up the jungle together? I appreciate it, but it’s the final exam period, why aren’t you preparing for the exam…”

One of the priests asked cautiously, “Professor, uh, wasn’t breaking through this jungle the exam?”

Everyone’s expression was unusual, as if they felt an ominous feeling.

“I clearly said that the final exam was about transforming your arms. Or, did I not say that?”

-Than… k… you…

Leaving the students with their decaying faces behind, the forest keeper expressed his gratitude and left.