Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 709

Startled, Lee Han immediately apologized.

“I’m sorry, Professor. Did you perhaps dislike the pocket watch?”

If it was Professor Verdus, Lee Han thought, he would be shouting already. Something like, ‘Does magic skill mean everything? I’ll blast you even if I’m dying!’ But this was Professor Garcia. Lee Han knew Professor Garcia was kind, so there must be a good reason for his reaction.

Professor Garcia took deep breaths, his shoulders still shaking slightly. He pressed his hands against his face, hiding his embarrassment. When he lowered them, his eyes were a little red.

“…Lee Han, where did you get that?”

“Huh? I bought it cheaply from an antique shop outside the school.”

Professor Garcia thought Einroguard was always making strange things appear. He thought the students sold everything they could find. He even thought the Headmaster made the students too interested in money.

With a wave of the professor’s wand, the pocket watch flew back, and the shattered wall became normal again.

“Lee Han. Actually, this watch… I made it.”

“Huh?!?!?!”

Lee Han was more surprised than when he learned that the Skull Headmaster was actually from royalty.

How could the kind Professor Garcia have written these words on a pocket watch?

Congratulations, you foolish and idiotic junior. If you are reading this, you must have experienced great magic.

If you master the magic engraved on this watch, come find me. Then I will surely share my plan!

-From your great senior

Click!

“…There’s no need to read it again, is there?”

When Lee Han opened the pocket watch and reread the letters inside, Professor Garcia quickly closed the lid.

“Ah. Did the Headmaster perhaps strongly recommend it? To write such phrases?”

“I honestly want to say yes, but… no, no one forced me. Lee Han, I wrote it. And why would the Headmaster force something like this?”

“He forced me to…”

Professor Garcia thought that he should grab the Skull Headmaster later and ask him about his conversation with Lee Han.

He didn’t understand why the Headmaster would make such a good and kind student like Lee Han have a difficult time.

“Lee Han. People… people change as they live,” Professor Garcia said slowly, as if thinking aloud. “It’s hard to believe, even for myself, but there was a time when I was very different.”

“Was Professor Verdus perhaps different in the past as well?”

“The professor was like that even back then… Lee Han.”

“I’m sorry. I was too curious.”

Professor Garcia cleared his throat and said.

“Lee Han. I was a bit rough during my school days.”

“!”

Lee Han was shocked.

Professor Garcia was a rough person.

It was as unimaginable as the intellectual Gainan or the thoughtful Professor Verdus being that way.

How could such a person be rough…

‘Hmm. Now that I think about it, I can imagine it.’

Looking at Professor Garcia’s fist and the wall that had just been smashed, he thought he could imagine it. Rather, he wondered why he hadn’t imagined it until now.

“Especially in magic, I couldn’t understand why my friends couldn’t keep up with my magic, and I got angry.”

“Anyone would be like that.”

“Usually not. Don’t force yourself to agree.”

Professor Garcia had already regained his calm. He firmly blocked any kind words.

Lee Han became slightly sullen.

“I think it was because I was taking all the school’s magic classes.”

“Anyone would become strange.”

“Lee Han, look in the mirror after this is over. Anyway, at that time, I was researching space-time magic alone, and I succeeded in making some progress. When I put that into the watch, I had this thought.”

“What…?”

“If I leave this watch in Einroguard, wouldn’t someone among the juniors see it and become interested in space-time magic?”

‘I don’t think so.’

Lee Han had an unsure look.

As can be seen from the Dark Magic and Music Magic schools, creating a new magic school that is unpopular or nonexistent was usually not an easy task.

You had to strategically gather juniors and colleagues and show them a rosy outlook for the school; they wouldn’t come looking just because you wrote exciting words on a strange item.

Fortunately, Professor Garcia seemed to have realized it himself, even though Lee Han didn’t tell him.

“But no one came.”

“The magic difficulty is a bit high, so…”

“That’s not the problem, actually.”

Professor Garcia sighed deeply.

“I’m surprised that Lee Han came to listen to this lecture, but I never imagined that he would get that watch during the vacation. Is this what they call fate…”

“Professor, you are still someone I respect!”

Professor Garcia’s worried face softened slightly at Lee Han’s kind words.

“Thank you, Lee Han.”

“In the future, if anyone asks about this watch, I’ll say the Headmaster wrote it.”

“There’s no need to go that far.”

Professor Garcia replied coldly.

After explaining his embarrassing past, Professor Garcia began to explain space-time magic.

“Time magic, in fact, when you study time magic, you surely learn about space magic. The two have things that go well together. So, if Lee Han learns time magic, he will build a base for both magics and then go into depth…”

Professor Garcia hesitated as he spoke.

“But is Lee Han really okay?”

“Yes?”

“I know you’re still taking all the school’s classes. Is it really necessary to add even more classes that aren’t here…”

“I’m fine, Professor. I want to listen to your lecture.”

Lee Han was sincere.

With all sorts of bizarre lectures lurking on the list right now, Professor Garcia’s lecture was much more trustworthy.

If he changed it because it was too difficult, he might end up meeting a second Professor Volardy.

“Lee Han…”

Lee Han was embarrassed as Professor Garcia stared at him.

Professor Garcia seemed to be moved by the strong trust sent by his excellent student.

“I was a bit negative in the first year, but these days I think someone should stop Lee Han…”

While Lee Han was speechless, Professor Garcia changed the subject.

“Then shall we start with >Time Perception> and >Space Perception>?”

“Ah. I’ve already mastered both.”

“…When? Did you perhaps master it with someone else?”

Professor Garcia crossed his arms and gave him a suspicious look.

Lee Han, who didn’t notice the look because he was focused on magic, answered honestly.

“I mastered it with Alsicl during the last vacation.”

“Aha.”

Professor Garcia secretly wrote in his magic book, ‘Hang Alsicl of the Pengairin family upside down.’

“Wait.”

“What’s wrong, Lee Han?”

Professor Garcia slyly closed the magic book, worried that he might have been caught. Lee Han didn’t notice at all and replied.

“I mastered >Space Perception> with Valpatan-sunbae at the beginning of last year.”

“Aha!”

Professor Garcia added ‘Hang Valpatan student as well’ below the memo.

External magicians and seniors were all doing the same thing.

Smiling so that Lee Han wouldn’t notice, Professor Garcia said.

“Then we can move on to the next magic, Lee Han!”

“Professor, are you perhaps angry…?”

“What are you talking about, Lee Han? I’m not angry at all.”

Professor Garcia made excuses, feeling stabbed inside by his sharp student’s feeling.

“The next magic is >Lower-Level Internal Time Extension>. It’s a 2-circle magic, but the difficulty is comparable to 3-4 circles, so don’t rush too much. Got it?”

“Yes.”

The extreme difficulty of time magic lay in the fact that the concept of magic itself directly clashed with the laws of the world.

What if a magician wants to light a fire?

He could simply trick the laws of the world and make it seem like a spark had landed on the firewood.

Since it wasn’t a difficult phenomenon for fire to ignite on firewood, tricking it wasn’t very difficult either.

But what if a magician wants to slow down time?

That itself was a clash with and a near-rebellion against the world itself.

To withstand this, the magician needed tremendous resistance.

Before using such powerful magic, the magic that was close to a trick was >Lower-Level Internal Time Extension>.

Magic that increases the time inside the magician, that is, the perceived time, rather than the outside.

The experiences of seasoned combat magicians or swordsmen saying that time slows down during battle were the simple examples of this magic.

‘The difficulty will be lower since it only deals with the inside.’

Lee Han felt that Professor Garcia was somehow trying to get him used to the relatively low-difficulty magic before the full-fledged time magic.

Of course, it was low in difficulty within time magic, but it was by no means easy when looking at the absolute difficulty…

“Thoughts from a flash to a moment, from a moment to an instant!”

Lee Han focused, chanting a long and complex spell unlike other 2-circle magics.

The only good thing was that Lee Han had experienced time slowing down a few times.

…It was unclear whether it was good to have done this a lot, but it helped at least now.

“In the case of this magic, the caster must directly confirm whether they have succeeded or failed. Lee Han, judge with Time Perception magic.”

“Thank you.”

Professor Garcia handed him a teacup as if telling him to take it easy.

It was because he thought that Lee Han, who would be abused by other school professors anyway, didn’t need to overdo it from here.

Lee Han gulped down the hot tea in one go and cast the magic again. Professor Garcia looked at the empty teacup and thought to himself.

‘…Should I make it hotter next time?’

‘Tch.’

Lee Han moved his feet with regret.

In the end, he failed to fully master the magic.

He had a few sensations of time slowing down, but if he couldn’t fully control it, he hadn’t mastered it.

Professor Garcia comforted him that it was still very fast, but Lee Han wasn’t fooled.

‘Professor Garcia is generous in these areas.’

Just as it was hard to believe if Professor Verdus said, ‘You’re slow!’, it was also hard to believe Professor Garcia saying, ‘You’re fast now!’

“I think we need to persuade that junior directly. He’s born with the qualities of the Stonemason Club. We need to take him before the Library Club guys do.”

“I’ve heard a lot of rumors about the Wodanaz family, but it’s amazing.”

‘Damn it.’

Lee Han immediately cast an invisibility spell at the sound he heard beyond the hallway.

He hadn’t even seen the juniors yet, but he was already avoiding the seniors.

‘I need a more reliable way to be wary.’

-But I heard that junior listens to all the school’s magic, is that true?

-Hmm. I couldn’t believe it either, so I checked, and it seems to be true. The crazy rumors about the Wodanaz family didn’t arise for no reason. It’s truly terrifying…

-Which is scarier, moving the seawater whole to make a reservoir or listening to all the school’s magic? I think the latter is scarier.

Lee Han couldn’t stand it as he passed by and almost blasted the seniors’ backs with magic.

People who don’t even know why he ended up listening to everything were so easily spouting nonsense.

At that moment, Lee Han felt a change in magic power that only he could feel. It was the special note that Diret had made, >Einroguard’s Whisper>.

‘What is it?’

Lee Han was puzzled, wondering if his friends had already started charging their magic power and scribbling.

I have a proposal for you.

-Hmph. Get lost.

……

‘Oops. Was I too harsh.’

Lee Han thought for a moment as the other party fell silent.