Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 843

After much thought, Lee Han made up his mind.

“I’ll make a medium skeleton golem.”

He would get bonus points for summoning a medium-sized golem, his first of that size. Also, he was best at making skeleton warriors, so this seemed like a good choice.

Besides, he could choose a large skeleton golem later if he needed to show off even more.

“I’ll make a medium skeleton golem,” Lee Han said.

“Good choice, Junior,” Dirette replied, then paused. “Wait a minute.”

*Uh oh,* Lee Han thought, his stomach tightening. *Has he figured it out?*

He tensed as Dirette looked at him closely. Could Dirette see through his plan? Did he know Lee Han was choosing the medium golem because it was secretly easier than it looked, a clever way to avoid harder tests later?

“Is that a new staff?” Dirette asked, his winged form leaning forward.

“Oh, yes,” Lee Han said, relaxing slightly. “I just finished it.”

“What? You should have shown me sooner!” Dirette exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “That’s fantastic! Well done!” Dirette beamed, his eyes shining as if *he* had crafted the staff himself.

“Yukbeltire, for all his faults, is very diligent when it comes to magic that interests him. Making staffs might be simple and boring, but he asked about blackstone a few times, so I figured he was interested.”

“Professor Verduz made it for me, though…”

“?!”

Dirette was so surprised by his junior’s answer that he flapped his wings.

“How!?”

No matter how he thought about it, the only way to get Professor Verduz to do something was by forcing him.

“Professor Garcia forced him.”

*It really was coercion.*

It was the answer he expected, but it still flustered him. Dirette nodded, trying to remain calm.

“I, I see. It’s fortunate that Professor Garcia persuaded him.”

Coercion was subtly changed to persuasion, but Lee Han let it slide.

“The staff isn’t quite familiar in your hand yet, is it?”

“No. I’m planning to use the tree spirit’s power first.”

“What about the blackstone?”

“I’m being careful with the blackstone, though.”

Lee Han answered, thinking Dirette meant the blackstone in the staff could cancel spells.

However, Dirette slowly shook his head.

“Maybe because it’s Professor Verduz, he didn’t explain it well.”

“Yukbeltire-sunbae didn’t exactly explain it well either…”

“Listen, Junior.”

*He’s changing the subject.*

Dirette began to explain about the blackstone.

It was common sense for wizards not to use minerals that absorbed magic, but wizards were, by nature, far removed from common sense.

Instead of avoiding poisonous mushrooms, they would nibble at them, wondering, ‘How can I use this effect?’

Naturally, there were research cases involving blackstone as well.

“The best example is counter-magic. You probably haven’t learned about that yet…”

“I learned it from the Headmaster last year. He said I’d likely meet magical criminals and taught me how to undo their secret arts.”

“Of course, I assumed you would have learned it.”

Dirette, quite used to his Wodanaz family junior, continued without changing his expression.

Counter-magic was a high-level skill among the various advanced techniques of magic, and it was quite difficult.

In the first place, ‘counter-magic’ wasn’t a separate spell; rather, it was all about how to break the opponent’s magic, so it was bound to be difficult.

You have to guess the opponent’s magic in advance, mess with it, and break it.

It sounded simple, but to make it possible, it required a keen sense to grasp the opponent’s magic first, vast knowledge to know the nature of that magic, and the speed to be one step ahead of the opponent.

“I’ve hardly ever used counter-magic myself. I use Valdororn’s Magic Hammer often, though.”

“I understand. That method suits you well. But you can’t just blow away all magic like that, can you? And some magic, if not stopped before it’s cast, causes too much damage. The blackstone in this staff will help you use counter-magic.”

When Lee Han himself cast magic, the magic would be messed up or stopped the moment he focused on the blackstone part of the staff instead of the wooden part.

So, what if he focused on the blackstone part after touching the opponent’s magic?

“…This is how strong interference and disruption come into play. Of course, touching the opponent’s magic also requires a lot of magic power and focus, but it’s worth trying.”

“I think so too.”

Lee Han nodded in amazement.

In fact, he had only thought of the blackstone as making the staff able to withstand powerful magic.

He never knew it had advantages for counter-magic as well.

“Where did you learn this, Dirette-sunbae?”

“Wizards from black magic schools often have to deal with demons, so they sometimes use blackstone.”

“……”

Lee Han regretted asking.

Indeed, with high-ranking demons, it was often hard for wizards to beat them with just power.

The ability to trick, bargain, or even tie them up and run away became much more important.

In such cases, metals like blackstone became surprisingly useful.

His own magic was tied, but the opponent demon’s magic was also tied…

“Then, shall we do some simple practice? Eight simple curses. I’ll pick one and cast it, so try to stop it using counter-magic before it’s cast.”

*Ugh. He’s being too harsh.*

Lee Han shuddered at his senior’s strictness, which cut into the already limited time he had to create the skeleton golem and made it harder.

But Lee Han couldn’t refuse.

If he refused, Dirette might think he was an arrogant junior…

*He might think I listen closely to other lectures but only half-heartedly to his.*

He absolutely couldn’t allow that.

Lee Han clutched the new staff, thinking about how to assemble the skeleton golem in the time he had left.

“…Move!”

“Junior… it’s not summoned from another dimension, but assembled by you, so shouting won’t do any good…”

“Kugh.”

The counter-magic practice that Dirette mentioned was quite successful.

Of course, Dirette had given him some leeway so that his junior could get used to the staff, but the result was quite good.

-I think I know what the feeling is, sunbae. It’s hard to stop it when it’s far away, but when it’s close, it’s definitely…

-It would be good to practice blocking magic that you know the structure of and is easy to stop.

In comparison, assembling the skeleton golem was quite difficult.

*Damn it. I don’t have much time left.*

Lee Han checked the time, looking worried.

First, in old-fashioned, no, ancient orthodox black magic, undead summoning happened like this:

Take out the core potion in which the summon’s body is squeezed, put magic into the potion to build the summon’s form, and then put in commands so that it can move without the wizard having to control it one by one.

The first step, the potion, wasn’t a big problem.

Dirette had prepared large monster bones, and Lee Han had also made the bone fragment potions he usually carried around stronger by adding dark or blood elements.

Thanks to this, even normal bone fragments could handle the summoning of a medium-sized skeleton golem.

And the second step, form building, was also immediately successful.

He had summoned skeleton warriors so often, and in emergencies, he had even combined these skeletons to create enhanced skeletons, so he understood the form much better than he thought.

The problem was the last step, the commands.

These were hard to do in a short time, as they required putting in commands one by one, linking them together, and overworking the wizard’s brain.

The skeleton golem he had summoned just before had tried to break through the lecture room wall and escape, and the skeleton golem he had summoned before that had tried to dance (Dirette was amazed and wanted to keep the setup, but Lee Han himself failed to do it again)…

And now, the skeleton golem wasn’t moving at all. He had been a little careful because the previous skeleton golems had moved on their own, and it seemed like the movement was somehow twisted.

*Ugh. This annoying skeleton golem…*

“Come to think of it, Junior.”

Dirette spoke, unaware of Lee Han’s thoughts.

It was painful to have his focus broken, but Lee Han answered. How could he ignore a senior?

“Yes.”

“I forgot to mention it earlier, but about the staff, it’s better to say that Professor Verduz made it for you even though he didn’t want to.”

“…Yes? Why would I tell such a lie?”

Apart from why he should lie, it was a lie that no one except new students would believe.

Professor Verduz voluntarily helped a student with their work?

*Seriously, that’s the biggest load of rubbish I’ve heard this year.*

“No. Listen closely, Junior. Professor Verduz sometimes helps students with magic if it’s a topic he’s interested in.”

Dirette opened his mouth carefully.

As Yukbeltire was from the Enchantment Magic School, Dirette knew Professor Verduz quite well.

Professor Verduz had a bad habit of secretly completing only the most interesting and exciting parts of the Enchantment Magic School students’ research and then leaving.

So much so that Yukbeltire would lock the door when doing his research and prevent Professor Verduz from ever entering.

“That… I think that’s possible, but why should I tell such a lie?”

“Because Yukbeltire might be disappointed. He was quite interested in the staff.”

“Hey, sunbae, you’re wrong. Yukbeltire is tough. He won’t mind.”

“……”

Dirette felt a little sorry for his friend, who was being slandered with such certainty by a junior from the same tower.

But what could he do?

It was all his own fault!

“Junior, I’ve known Yukbeltire longer than you have. Do as I say.”

“I understand. Should I say that Professor Verduz ordered it?”

It wasn’t particularly difficult, so Lee Han readily agreed.

“But if what you say is true, won’t the professor be resented?”

“Yes.”

“……”

Lee Han didn’t say anything and nodded calmly.

And then he focused on the skeleton golem again.

“Oh, and Duke Icardoren, you know.”

*Kugh.*

Dirette, unaware of his junior’s suffering, spoke about the duke he had kidnapped, no, brought along last time.

“He was too afraid to talk when I first brought him, but he seems to be doing better these days. He even talks well with Yukbeltire.”

“Is that really true? What do they talk about?”

“Yukbeltire mainly asks how much he can offer, and the duke asks for expensive ham, fresh salad, and fancy soup for his meals.”

*Did the Headmaster not starve him enough?*

Lee Han was amazed that the duke still had the energy to focus on gourmet food.

If he had been eating like the students, he would have immediately asked for roasted meats, hot pies, cakes, and chocolates, rather than such hard-to-remember menus.

“But is that really talking well? It doesn’t sound like they are really talking.”

“The duke is in a weak position, so he’ll compromise. This is talking well enough.”

*Lee Han felt a chill. Dirette’s ‘positive’ view was a little frightening.*

That’s talking well?

Pop!

“…Sunbae! It’s moving! The skeleton golem is moving properly!”

“What? Really?! I didn’t think you’d finish it today.”

“That’s a relief… Wait a minute, sunbae. What do you mean you didn’t think I’d finish it today?”

Lee Han stopped trying to celebrate with his senior and became serious.