Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 828

At those words, Yukbeltire, in a rare display of fluster, grabbed Ihan’s wrist.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“I was thinking of doing something else.”

“Why? Are you perhaps running away?”

Yukbeltire quickly tried to hurt Ihan’s pride.

He was quite intrigued by the black obsidian staff.

‘…I want to see the staff completed,’ he thought.

However, Yukbeltire still didn’t understand Ihan.

Ihan had no pride.

“Yes.”

“……”

Yukbeltire was so shocked he couldn’t speak.

“A wizard’s pride… self-respect… such… and you’re a Dirett junior… as a junior, honorably…”

‘Oh dear. He can’t even provoke me properly,’ Ihan thought.

To make someone angry, you need to know what matters to them.

Yukbeltire didn’t understand Ihan. That’s why his attempts to provoke him failed.

“Dirett senior would probably applaud if I ran away.”

“That’s true, Dirett is unnecessarily lenient.”

“He’s quite lenient with you too, senior…”

“?”

Yukbeltire was puzzled by Ihan’s words.

Was Dirett lenient with him?

“How rude Dirett is to me…”

“Yes, yes, that’s right, senior.”

“……”

Seeing Ihan be just as disrespectful as Dirett made Yukbeltire’s fingers tremble again.

“When you said ‘King-level’ spirit earlier, you meant a Spirit King, right?”

“Yes.”

“How am I supposed to get a Spirit King’s branch?”

“Wasn’t the lightning spirit you contracted a Spirit King?”

“……”

This time, Ihan was speechless.

That… That’s right?

‘Certainly, Perkontas held the title of Thunderclap King,’ he thought.

Among beings from other dimensions, titles like King or Noble symbolized their strength.

On the continent, kingdoms and royalty were determined by bloodline, but spirits could not hold the title of King unless they were truly powerful.

“So… um… yes. I understand. But I contracted a lightning spirit, so would he be able to give me a branch?”

“No. You’ll have to find a tree-type spirit. Ask him to introduce you.”

‘Should I send a letter to Arsil, then?’ Ihan wondered if he should swallow his pride and send a letter to his brother.

He didn’t want to admit it, but Arsil would likely introduce him to a high-ranking tree spirit with a title like Forest King or Sacred Tree King.

“Alright. I’ll ask the lightning spirit and send a letter to my brother. I don’t know when I’ll receive it, though.”

Originally, sending letters out of Einrogaard was quite difficult, but now it was relatively easy for Ihan.

He’d taken dozens of people out; surely a letter was nothing!

“Then I’ll have to wait until I find a way to get the materials.”

“Tell me more about the Echo Stone,” Yukbeltire suggested slyly.

It wasn’t that he didn’t have communication artifacts of this type, but this Echo Stone’s form was unusual and unique, making him curious as a member of the Enchantment Magic School.

From what he heard, it seemed to be connected to an ancient being…

“I already told you everything earlier.”

“I’m asking you to tell me about the stone’s origins.”

“Why do you need that?”

“It’s necessary to increase the staff’s perfection.”

“How so?”

“…Don’t tell me if you don’t want to.”

“Are you… are you angry right now?”

“I’m not angry. I find it unpleasant that you keep accusing me of expressing such irrational emotions.”

‘This person. He really seems interested in the black obsidian staff…’ Ihan felt the suspicion he had casually dismissed turning into certainty.

After the lecture (Ihan eventually told him about the Echo Stone), Ihan was about to get up when something suddenly occurred to him.

“By the way, senior.”

“What is it?”

“Are there any pop quizzes in this lecture?”

“No.”

“I see.”

Ihan smiled at the news that there were no pop quizzes.

“Then what about midterms? Tests?”

“There aren’t any.”

“…Oh, there aren’t any midterms either?”

At this point, Ihan began to worry.

Having no midterms wasn’t necessarily good. Ihan worried the headmaster, who was a skeleton, might suddenly appear and add a midterm as punishment for Professor Verdus.

“This lecture is about completing a staff anyway. It’s enough to just bring a completed staff.”

“I see…” Ihan nodded at the clear-cut criteria of evaluating everything with the final exam, then paused.

“Then what do we do for the remaining period if we finish this first?”

“Skip class and pursue whatever research you want.”

“…!”

At first, it sounded like nonsense, but upon reflection, it made sense.

This lecture didn’t check attendance anyway.

‘If I finish early, does that really mean I can do whatever I want with the remaining lecture time?’

Ihan thought about what he could do when this lecture time was free.

He could preview the >Poison, Bone, Blood> lecture, prepare for >The Hideously Beautiful Creatures> in advance, or perhaps manage the garden a bit more before the >Potions from a Single Drop Instead of Complex Magic> lecture.

‘Hmm. Strangely, even though I imagined it, I’m not particularly happy,’ he thought.

“Anyway, I understand. Thank you, senior. I’ll contact you as soon as I have news about the materials. Give my regards to Dirett senior, make sure he eats, stop bothering other people…”

“Are you done? Let’s go.” Lagesa urged from behind.

Ihan stopped talking and bowed his head.

“Then, see you next time.”

“I never bothered any…”

Regardless, Lagesa and Ihan were already far down the hallway.

“What’s the next lecture? Please let it be a fun one without Bible.”

“>Magical Algebra and Esoteric Geometry>…”

Lagesa screamed like a pirate stabbed in the chest.

Of all things, it had to be math!

Ihan realized he had misread and belatedly corrected himself.

“Ah. I misread.”

“……”

“>Essence, Energy, Spirit>. Professor Inguldel’s lecture.”

“Oh!” Lagesa exclaimed happily at the combat lecture.

Then, he looked puzzled.

“But, now that I think about it, why is a Blue Dragon Tower guy taking a White Tiger Tower-exclusive lecture?”

“…To get good grades easily?”

“Hee hee hee! You’re quite the comedian.”

“Not really… Raphaelle! Angalo!” Ihan waved, spotting his friends.

The two White Tiger Tower friends, who had been in a serious conversation, turned their gaze at Ihan’s call.

“Oh, Wodanaz.”

“I missed the last lecture. Did I miss anything?”

“…Take this.” Angalo handed over a note containing the pop quiz content.

(Visit the most dangerous place possible, survive for at least two days, and submit a journal. Weekends recommended, different timelines encouraged) -Professor Inguldel

“……”

“Ho. Professor Inguldel is teaching well, as expected.” Lagesa was satisfied with the lecture content.

As expected, Inguldel knew how to forge students like steel, living up to his reputation.

Ihan and his friends glared resentfully at the wicked pirate. Lagesa, unconcerned, asked back.

“Where else can you hone your swordsmanship like this kind of test?”

“Can’t we just do something normal? I want to enter the Imperial Swordsmanship Tournament.”

“Eh. That’s for hothouse flowers. Maybe the underground illegal fighting ring swordsmanship tournament.”

“……”

Ihan apologized to his friends with his eyes.

It was an apology for bringing Lagesa along.

Angalo groaned and said.

“I wish they’d just specify a place. I don’t know where to go. If I pick the wrong place and it’s considered easy, it’ll be worse than not doing it at all.”

In the worst-case scenario, they could suffer and then be told by the professor, ‘Did you just go play in such an easy place?’

“Finding the right dangerous place is also a skill, you young ones.”

“…We’ll figure it out ourselves!” Raphaelle finally burst out.

Lagesa burst into laughter as if he had been waiting for it and swung his staff. Raphaelle was horrified and tried to resist, but the old pirate’s attack was much faster.

Clatter!

Raphaelle, bound in chains, hung upside down in the air.

“Let me down!”

“If you want to be freed, you have to free yourself with your own skills! You’ve learned a lesson. If you mess with a wizard stronger than you, this is what happens.”

After speaking, Lagesa suggested to Ihan.

“By the way, why don’t you take your White Tiger Tower friends with you for this test?”

“Huh? Oh, wouldn’t it be a bit dangerous?”

After this lecture, Ihan was planning to go down to the punishment room to meet Perkontas.

He had to visit in person to ask for the branch.

Now that Professor Inguldel’s lecture had turned into an assignment, he had to visit the punishment room anyway…

‘Wouldn’t it be dangerous?’

Even though his friends were in their second year, he felt a bit sorry for taking them to the punishment room, especially to visit Perkontas.

“What are you talking about, Wodanaz?” Angalo said, his eyes shining.

Now that he thought about it, there were few friends who knew ‘the most dangerous place’ as well as Wodanaz.

Besides, the fact that Wodanaz didn’t want to take them made it even more tempting.

How well had he chosen?

“I’m ready. Don’t tell me you still think of me as last year’s Angalo?”

‘Last year’s Angalo, what other Angalo would there be?’ Raphaelle thought to himself while hanging upside down.

But it certainly felt plausible to follow Wodanaz.

He was incredibly good at finding dangerous places!

“Then… alright. Let’s go together.”

“You should take your other friends too, hee hee.” Lagesa suggested to Angalo.

Angalo didn’t want to lose the dangerous place he had found and looked troubled.

“There’s no need to take too many…”

“Is the knight trying to monopolize the opportunity for glory?”

“…I’ll call them right now!”

Watching Angalo being played in the palm of his hand, Ihan felt unnecessarily worried.

‘He’s not going to get angry for being tricked, is he?’

“I’ve been tricked!” Angalo shouted without realizing it.

Giselle and Dergyu looked at Angalo as if he was talking nonsense.

“What trickery?”

“Ihan didn’t trick you, Angalo.”

“Ah. No. The punishment room… I didn’t expect to come this deep…”

“Did you expect Wodanaz to take you to a cozy study with a warm fireplace?”

“You asked first, Angalo.”

Angalo had no words to retort to his two friends’ scolding.

‘Ugh. It’s unfair,’ he thought.

“The punishment room is… relatively mild, I guess.” Giselle said, looking at Ihan.

In fact, she had been prepared for a place even more terrible and dangerous than the punishment room.

“Oh. Moradi. I need to talk to you alone for a moment.”

“…This is ominous.” Giselle suddenly felt very uneasy when Ihan called her aside.

There was usually no reason to call someone aside for good news.

“Actually, the reason we’re going deep into the basement of this punishment room isn’t to survive in the dungeon, but because I have a favor to ask.”

“To whom? Are you asking a prisoner for a favor?”

“No. A high-ranking spirit. He’s in charge of the general punishment room here.”

“…Wow. I’m not surprised at all.”

“Really? That’s a relief.”

“That’s sarcasm, you idiot.”

“Anyway, I need to ask for something quite valuable. So, things might get more difficult. I thought it would be better to let you know in advance.”

“Why did that moron bring all his friends along when you told him to follow you?”

“I definitely tried to stop him.”

“……”

Giselle cast a slightly suspicious glance.

With Wodanaz’s skills, it seemed possible that he could brainwash Angalo while trying to stop him.

‘He is really something.’

‘Wodanaz is really something.’