Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 724

“Senior. Senior.”

“Huh?”

The senior looked up at Lee Han’s call, pausing from his own work.

“Something seems strange. I’m a sophomore, but this lecture is for juniors.”

The senior asked, startled, “What? Wait, did Professor Verdus *ask* you to join this class?”

Lee Han didn’t fully understand the question, but he denied it. “That’s not it. I chose it myself, with the help of the Calendarium… Wait. Why did you ask if they forced me to take the lecture?”

“Ah, never mind. It’s just a silly rumour I heard. I was just wondering.” The senior waved it away.

It was one of those stories about Einroguard he’d heard when he first arrived.

The rumour said if a student was really talented, the lectures would choose them!

The senior and his friends had worried, ‘What if I’m so good that the professor invites me?’ but it never happened. The professors at Einroguard barely noticed they existed.

Lee Han’s face became serious, but the senior didn’t notice. He kept talking.

“If you got help from the Calendarium, that lecture should be the best fit for you, right?”

“But I’m a sophomore, and this is a junior lecture.”

“Yeah, it’s weird. But sometimes, exceptional people take a lecture from the year above them. Senior Yookveltiere did that too.”

“Is that so…” Seeing the senior’s reaction, Lee Han wondered if he was overreacting.

“Then, lectures like >Those Terribly Beautiful Creatures>, >Elemental Magic and Its Applications>, and >Poisons, Bones, and Blood> aren’t particularly strange either?” Lee Han asked, showing his schedule. The senior paused.

There were too many junior lectures.

Usually, even geniuses only take one lecture from the year above, right?

“Don’t they usually only take one? It’s a bit much…” Another senior, sharpening his equipment, chimed in.

“That’s him, though,” the first senior said.

“Ah, that’s right. Goodness. And here I am, a junior, still stuck with these stereotypes.”

Lee Han reminded himself not to get angry and asked again, “It is strange, right?”

Lee Han had even more lectures he hadn’t mentioned yet.

No matter how he looked at it, these lectures seemed more like junior level than sophomore.

“Yeah, it’s weird, but you’ll be fine. Good luck! The Calendarium knows what it’s doing, right?”

“A wizard is the master of artifacts, not a slave. Shouldn’t I change the lectures now? What if I take some lower-level lectures?”

“Ah, that won’t work,” the senior sharpening his equipment answered.

“I tried to take a sophomore lecture this year, and the professor kicked me out.”

The professors at Einroguard were indifferent, but they were strict in some areas.

Students should take lectures that match their level, and they wouldn’t allow students to deliberately take easy lectures.

‘There’s no freedom at all!’

Lee Han felt tricked by Einroguard again. They promised freedom to learn magic, but it felt like they were controlling everything!

While Lee Han was furious, the seniors asked questions. They had as many questions as Lee Han did.

“Wodanaz, I have a question…”

“Ah, yes. Please ask.”

“Why were you with Professor Verdus?”

“…?” Lee Han was taken aback by the bizarre question.

“Isn’t it lecture time?”

“What? Wait. Did you actually come on time for the lecture?”

“???”

Seeing their junior confused, the seniors kindly explained. “You don’t have to come on time for Professor Verdus’s lecture. He doesn’t care whether we’re here or not.”

“But shouldn’t we listen to the lecture?”

“What lecture?”

Lee Han turned around. There was definitely nothing there.

Come to think of it, Lee Han had come at the start of the lecture, but he didn’t seem to have learned anything so far.

“Just come whenever you want and leave whenever you want.”

“Bring your work and work on it, then leave. I came here after working somewhere else.”

The students at Einroguard were taking advantage of Professor Verdus’s indifference.

If the professor didn’t care about the students, the students could study on their own.

“But aren’t there things you get stuck on?”

“You have to learn that yourself. Like that.”

Just then, one of the seniors seemed stuck on something. He got up with a groan, walked to Professor Verdus’s workbench, and snatched some work while Professor Verdus was deep in thought.

Wham!

The senior ran out of the lecture hall like a madman.

Professor Verdus jumped up and ran after him. “Stop right there! You vile and filthy thief!”

“I’ll learn from it and return it!”

The seniors nodded at the echo coming from outside. “That’s how you do it.”

Lee Han didn’t ask, ‘Can’t I ask questions?’ because he knew the answer.

It would be faster to steal Professor Verdus’s work and learn from it than to ask questions.

“Alright, let’s go too.”

“Where to?”

Shuffle-

The seniors flocked to Professor Verdus’s workbench and quickly copied it.

“Ah ha, like this…”

“His skills are outstanding, though.”

“That’s why he’s still alive. Did you know that assassins are waiting in a nearby city? Nobles who got their gold stolen hired them.”

“Damn it. Is there no way to help those people?”

Lee Han quietly followed the seniors and copied the work.

Professor Verdus’s workbench was a total mess, like a giant trash heap. But if you looked closely, you could find amazing things hidden in the junk.

Students were searching for scraps of paper with plans for magical objects or strange circles drawn on them. Even finding one of these could help them learn a lot.

Before long, Professor Verdus returned, panting. The senior was gone.

Professor Verdus shouted, “There are too many thieves in this school!”

The students pretended not to know and sat back down.

“…Where did that senior go?”

“Professor Verdus may be crazy, but he’s not cruel. He must have just been subdued.”

Professor Verdus only cared about retrieving his work, so he didn’t punish the student or send him to the disciplinary room.

The missing senior probably got hit a few times, so he’ll recover and come back.

But as time passed, the senior didn’t return.

“He’s not coming back?”

“He must have been hit pretty hard. Don’t worry about it and do your work, junior.”

‘No wonder they’re taking Professor Verdus’s lecture; their personalities are similar to the professor’s.’

Lee Han thought something very mean about the seniors.

Professor Verdus called Lee Han again. He needed an assistant.

The seniors, focused on their work, were puzzled.

‘I asked why he came early, but I didn’t hear why he was with Professor Verdus?’

Coming early was possible because he didn’t know the lecture, but being close to Professor Verdus’s workbench was unusual.

Professor Verdus wasn’t the type to let wizards near his workbench.

Magic research was a secret for wizards, and workshops were off-limits.

‘Is it okay to get that close?’

The seniors stopped working and looked at Professor Verdus and Lee Han with curious eyes.

Some enchantment magic students acted as commentators. “Very strange… very strange indeed. For Professor Verdus to call him like that.”

“Does he need chores done, perhaps?”

“Professor Verdus doesn’t make anyone do chores.”

Professor Verdus was crazy, especially about his magic.

He couldn’t tolerate minor tasks that didn’t meet his standards.

He never called students for simple chores.

“Hey, aren’t we matching materials today?”

“Let’s watch for now.”

The students watched with interest. Some sent paper birds to friends who hadn’t come, telling them to hurry.

“The one for the Green Luster Stone Tower is finished today!”

“Oh. Then…”

“Let’s do the next one!”

Lee Han stared at Professor Verdus’s head.

“I’m taking the lecture; shouldn’t I do my own work?”

“Just do this and then do it! You’ll be done quickly!”

“What are you talking about?”

As he was about to ignore him, Professor Verdus slammed the floor, opened a secret door, and handed over wand materials.

Lee Han nodded. “I wanted to help anyway, Professor. Let’s get to the next task.”

“Remember the mana emission enchantment?”

The exact name was >Bibles’s Mana Emission Enchantment>.

It was magic Professor Verdus had taught last year.

“Yes.”

Thud thud thud!

When Lee Han turned, the seniors gestured for him to continue. “Don’t mind us.”

“The floor is slippery because of the mana. Keep going!”

Lee Han was puzzled, but Professor Verdus told him to concentrate, so he turned back to the workbench.

“You need to learn magic like that.”

“Oh. What kind of magic?”

“Absorption, amplification, augmentation, acceleration, explosion, inflection, conversion…”

“Do you not know ‘a little’?” Lee Han grumbled, but he sat down and began to learn magic.

>Bibles’s Mana Emission Enchantment> makes mana magical, so things touched by it glow with power.

It cast magic on the mana itself, not the material.

‘Amplifying the mana inside the artifact by applying various processes to it.’

It was magic worthy of Professor Verdus, who created detailed artifacts.

Lee Han knew the advantages of this method, so he agreed to learn it.

‘It’s impossible to learn everything, but it’s good to learn whenever I have the chance. Each time I learn one, it becomes easier to prepare other enchantment magic.’

Lee Han started by learning absorption. The theory wasn’t difficult, as it was the opposite of emission.

“Are you done yet?”

“Please wait a moment.”

“Are you done yet?”

“Just a moment.”

“Are you done yet? Are you done yet? Are you done yet?”

“Just… I’m done.”

Thud thud thud!