Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 746

Angalo wrung his hands, his eyes wide with worry. “Do you think the Headmaster will save him?” He spoke, his voice a thin thread of anxiety.

Giselle bit her lip, glancing at the scattered scrolls on the table. “Maybe… maybe it’s different this time. Because it’s his fault, and Wodanaz is… well, Wodanaz.”

They huddled in the dimly lit common room, dust motes dancing in the weak light filtering through the high windows. The Skull Headmaster was known for many things, but kindness wasn’t one of them. Stories whispered through Ainrogard of students vanished and forgotten, and the Headmaster’s only response: ‘They left on their own, let them find their own way back.’

Giselle’s hand flashed to the hilt of the silver sword at her hip. The steel whispered as it cleared the scabbard. Her eyes narrowed. “Just wait.”

Suddenly, a shimmering message materialized in the air above the table, the Princess’s words glowing brightly: “-The Headmaster says he understands!”

Giselle stared, her breath catching in her throat. “Really…? Just… just ‘understands’?”

A murmur rippled through the common room. Students exchanged uneasy glances. “Just ‘understands’? That’s it?” someone whispered.

Adenart’s quill hovered over the parchment, ink dripping onto the table. He stopped writing, his brow furrowed.

Hope drained from the students like water from a cracked bucket. Reality, cold and hard, settled in. It seemed faster to ask the other professors than to trust the Skull Headmaster.

Angalo frowned. “Wait… why are we talking about *professors*? Plural? Who else would help besides Professor Garcia?”

Silence hung heavy in the air as the friends exchanged worried looks. There was really no one to talk to other than Professor Garcia.

“What about Professor Verdus?” Angalo asked.

Lee Han’s message flickered. “-Professor Verdus? Guys, trust me, that’s a terrible idea. He’s… unpredictable.”

“What about Professor Begreck?”

“-Begreck? You might get attacked just for asking. Seriously.”

Giselle glared fiercely at Angalo. “Hey! Stop bothering Wodanaz!” She was getting annoyed that he kept asking the captured guy for escape methods.

“But, but Wodanaz knows the professors best!” Angalo protested.

Tiziling spoke, her voice soft but firm, “Professor Garcia will know what to do. She’ll explain everything to the right professors.”

Angalo nodded eagerly. “Professor Garcia is amazing! She’d probably punch that doppelganger right in the face!”

The friends inwardly tilted their heads at Angalo’s unfounded belief, but said nothing. They needed hope right now.

“Then let’s go to the seniors,” Giselle declared.

“Can we persuade them?”

“We have to trick them,” Giselle said. “Don’t mention the crazy doppelganger. Just say he disappeared somewhere in the mountains.”

Some of the friends didn’t like Giselle’s plan.

“I think we need more details,” one said.

“It’s weird to just say he disappeared. What if we say he went to tame a new animal and vanished?”

“That would work on the Quidditch Club seniors,” another replied.

Even the disciples were putting their heads together, planning how to deceive them. Angalo clicked his tongue.

“Wow. I didn’t know you guys were so good at lying.”

Whack!

“Why, why did you hit me, Moradi!?” Angalo cried.

The crazy doppelganger attacked every time Lee Han cast a spell below the 3rd circle, then lamented, “Fate, cursed be…”

The honor-seeking spirit left by the old royal family looked at Lee Han with contempt. “Your Highness, you should have thrown away such trivial spells within two or three years of starting magic.”

“I learned these spells a year or two ago… Ack!”

After attacking the impudent disciple again, the crazy doppelganger began to explain that the lower-level elemental magic, enchantment, transformation, divination, summoning, etc., that Lee Han was currently casting were, in his view, excessively rudimentary magic.

This kind of magic was only used for boiling water and lighting fires, not for showing achievements in front of a teacher. The only magic that this lowly thing showed that was tolerable was the Water Orb Bullet magic.

“Then are you saying I should practice 4th circle magic?”

Another attack sent Lee Han flying backward.

“…5th circle?”

The crazy doppelganger sighed and stopped trying to attack. Lee Han couldn’t read the other person’s mind, but he could feel that the other person was cursing fate inwardly. He was probably thinking something like, ‘How did I end up with such a stupid guy?’

“Fine. 5th circle. Let’s compromise on 5th circle. You lowly thing.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Then cast it.”

“…I haven’t learned any?”

Instead of attacking, the crazy doppelganger shuddered at his disciple’s terrible stupidity, and then said, “Shield magic.”

“Shield magic?”

“Create the shield magic I told you about last time so that I, the royal, can explain it.” The crazy doppelganger’s voice strongly conveyed that he was truly exhausted and willing to compromise to this extent.

Of course, from Lee Han’s perspective, it was just nonsense. How could he do something he had never done before, regardless of whether the other person was disappointed or not? It was practically telling him to create a new magic…

“I’ve never done it.”

“Then do it now.”

With those words, the crazy doppelganger flicked his wrist, and a blast of unseen force slammed into Lee Han, sending him sprawling backwards across the rough stone floor. Pain shot up his spine as he landed hard. The solid bedrock cracked open with a grinding rumble, revealing a dark opening. Dust billowed out, thick with the scent of old parchment and something else… something faintly metallic and cold. Lee Han tumbled down into the darkness, landing with a thud on a stone floor.

A workshop hidden inside the rocky mountain revealed itself.

“!”

Except for being slightly antique, it was generally similar to Ainrogard’s magic workshops. There were various reagents and magic books…

‘It’s similar except for the fact that there’s no exit.’

“I’ll give you a day.”

Lee Han didn’t ask the crazy doppelganger, who was disappearing beyond the wall, ‘What happens if I fail?’ He could guess without having to ask.

‘Let’s guess what that bastard is thinking.’

Sitting in a chair, Lee Han was lost in thought. Even if the opponent was crazy, figuring out their thoughts was quite important.

‘What’s the connection between telling me to learn 5th circle magic and telling me to create shield magic?’

Creating magic sounded grand, but it could easily become simple if approached easily. Right now, if he creatively composed the >Flame Creation> magic with his own spells, movements, and mana flow, he could attach a name like >Wodanaz’s Flame Creation>.

But this kind of magic development was meaningless. Usually, magic like >Flame Creation> had almost perfect efficiency as it had been developed over a long history. Forcing himself to touch it would only result in magic that was slower and consumed more mana than the original magic.

To be a little more meaningful, it had to have at least one better aspect than the existing magic. Specifying shape changes, or delving deeper into the attribute of flame…

The shield magic that Lee Han unconsciously created was the magic he cast to block the crazy doppelganger’s attack. To summarize the characteristics…

‘It’s a telekinesis-based magic. The casting speed is very fast. Incantationless? I cast it incantationless. Is it really true that people can do anything when faced with a life-or-death crisis?’

As Lee Han was carefully summarizing, Professor Volardy’s theory suddenly came to mind, making him shudder.

‘No. You can’t place a coincidental phenomenon as a general educational theory.’

Lee Han returned to the main topic. ‘Does organizing and creating this shield magic help in learning 5th circle magic?’ He couldn’t think of anything else. Otherwise, why would he talk about 5th circle magic and then make a fuss about creating shield magic?

“-Hey, are you okay???”

“??”

Lee Han, who was drawing the telekinesis magic spells and mana structure he had learned, trying to fit them to the shield shape, was surprised by Dirett’s sudden contact. He had told his friends, but he hadn’t told Dirett. He didn’t want to add more anxiety to a 5th grader whose life was already full of difficult trials.

“-What’s going on?”

“-I should be the one saying that! Where are you?!”

“-I’m in the Blue Dragon Tower dormitory?”

“-You really want to die???”

“-…I was kidnapped by the crazy doppelganger.”

“-Yeah! The rumor’s going around the club!”

‘Ah.’

Lee Han realized what had happened. It seemed his friends had visited each club to ask for help.

“-The Quidditch Club thinks you were wrestling a Hippogriff. Kitchen Club says you were hunting a giant sheep. Library Club… something about a sleeping secretary. It’s chaos!”

“-I think my friends are lying. Moradi probably planned it.”

Lee Han thought that Moradi was the only one who could come up with such lies.

“-Good strategy. So, where are you?”

“-I don’t know. It’s a workshop inside a rocky mountain in the mountains, so it’ll be hard to track. This crazy doppelganger isn’t an ordinary wizard.”

“-Okay. I understand.”

“-…Senior, you’re not writing a petition, are you?”

Dirett, who was far away in the main building, jumped, nearly dropping his quill. ‘How did he know?!’

“-A petition is a bit… It might harm you, Senior.”

“-Is that what’s important right now?!”

“-No. The Headmaster said he’d come to find me too.”

“-You believe that??”

‘You’re poking at a sore spot.’

In fact, Lee Han was also skeptical about whether the Skull Headmaster would really come to help.

“-Besides, if it’s the Headmaster’s doppelganger, it won’t be easy to resolve by sending a petition.”

“-So? Are you going to be trapped there forever?”

“-Absolutely not. I’m planning to wait and find a gap to escape.”

“……”

Dirett took a deep, shuddering breath, forcing himself to calm down. He rubbed his temples, his anger slowly giving way to worry. Certainly, Lee Han’s words weren’t wrong.

Having directly seen the magic left by the Skull Headmaster’s crazy doppelganger, he was feeling with his whole body how excellent a wizard he was. It wouldn’t be easy to find such a wizard if he was determined to hide. Even if it looked ordinary on the surface, it would contain dozens of secrets and mysteries within.

In the end, the most likely and fastest way was for the junior inside to find a gap and break out, then request rescue.

‘This is the only way!’

Dirett slammed his fist on the desk, making the inkpot jump. ‘Useless magic! What good is any of this if I can’t even help you?!’ He grabbed his quill.

“-Okay. Do you have a plan to find a gap?”

“-Yes. I’m planning to create new magic as he tells me and learn a few 5th circle spells. I’m going to aim for a gap when the opponent is satisfied and careless.”

“……”

Dirett buried his face in his hands, a strangled groan escaping his lips.