Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 954

“That was a truly fascinating discussion, Archmage. Thank you.”

“Yes, very insightful! And Gona Deltes here was also very impressed,” one wizard said, nudging Gona Deltes playfully.

Gona Deltes added, slightly nervous but pleased, “Haha! Yes, thank you! It was… amazing!”

The wizards, delighted, left the side chamber.

They had actually spoken to him. The Great Archmage! The wizards could hardly believe it as they walked away. He wasn’t scary at all, not like the stories said. He was… almost friendly.

The noisy chatter of the delighted wizards faded as they left, and then, silence dropped like a heavy curtain. The Mad Doppelganger stood in the quiet room, saying nothing.

Mad he might be, but he was still a part of the Archmage. His cleverness was clear to see.

He had learned something important. Shouting and blaming never worked with a student who wouldn’t listen. It was a waste of breath.

Instead, the Mad Doppelganger silently began to explain the magic once more.

“Let us return to the tale of the Black Emperor’s Crown.”

“Yes.”

Ilrendil felt a strange shift inside him. It wasn’t fear now, or shock. It was… awe. Could it be? Did his junior have some kind of… connection to the Mad Doppelganger? A piece of him, like those dark magic objects people whispered about? Why else would he be so… patient?

“The previous casting was performed with the aid of royalty.”

Lee Han had been semi-forced to cast the Black Emperor’s Crown to welcome the students of Valdrogard, his wicked adversaries.

“Wh-what?” Ilrendil stammered, completely surprised. This was news to him! A second-year student? That spell? He almost shouted, “You can’t be serious!”

“When?!” Ilrendil blurted out, then instantly regretted it as the Mad Doppelganger’s eyes narrowed.

“Quiet,” the Mad Doppelganger said, his voice low and sharp. “Do you have no manners at all?”

“S-sorry…” Ilrendil mumbled, shrinking back.

Ilrendil hunched his shoulders, stepping back quickly. He knew the Mad Doppelganger wasn’t always as harsh as he seemed. He’d heard stories. But facing that intense gaze directly, fear was a cold wave washing over him.

“I used it when the Valdrogard students came last time.”

“I… don’t seem to recall hearing about that.”

Ilrendil remembered, someone had whispered in the Watchers’ Club, “Hey, did you hear? Someone used forbidden magic on those Valdrogard students?”

Another voice, full of false confidence, had answered, “Hmph, I know who it was. Yukbeltire. Fifth year, Blue Dragon Tower, top of Enchantment Magic. Comes from a powerful family, you know.”

“…You!” Ilrendil gasped, his eyes wide. And then, even more memories flooded back, making his blood run cold.

When the Watchers’ Club had been discussing ‘Who cast the forbidden ancient magic?’, this junior, using the alias Gona Deltes, had clearly framed Yukbeltire!

All the members of the Watchers’ Club had been convinced, thinking, ‘Yes, Yukbeltire is exactly the sort to do that’…!

To think that the real culprit was someone else entirely! Ilrendil felt a chill run down his spine.

“H-how could you tell such a lie…?”

“Pardon? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You… you tricked them!” Ilrendil accused, his voice shaking. “You made everyone think Yukbeltire did it!”

“I don’t recall such a thing.”

Lee Han blinked, his eyes wide and seemingly innocent. He looked like he hadn’t understood a single word.

Ilrendil grew confused, wondering if his junior truly didn’t know.

‘F-forgotten it? Really?’

“Enough!” The Mad Doppelganger’s voice cut through the air like ice. “This pointless talk has gone on long enough.” He turned back to the artifact, ending the conversation instantly.

The fact that he had waited this long for a conversation that wasn’t even related to magic was already extremely unusual.

“How much do you remember?”

“I remember the general form, but nothing beyond that…”

Lee Han glanced at him cautiously.

Lee Han remembered the last time. The Mad Doppelganger had guided him through every tiny detail of the spell. The shape of the magic, how to move his wand, even the ancient words from a long-ago kingdom that needed to be carved into the air. Everything, down to the direction of the flames.

All Lee Han had really done was contribute his magical power.

It couldn’t be helped, as summoning the Black Emperor’s Crown was far too difficult a spell for the current Lee Han.

There was nothing he could have done even if he had wanted to.

The fact that he remembered even the general form proved Lee Han’s growth.

‘I did my best to remember, I hope he’s not angry.’

“You remember the form. Acceptable.”

“!”

Lee Han realised his mistake at the Mad Doppelganger’s reaction.

Judging by his reaction, he probably wouldn’t have been angry even if he had just said he didn’t know.

‘Blast. I should have just said I’d start again from the beginning.’

To think he’d raised the difficulty of the lesson by pushing ahead. It was a painful mistake.

“As I said, this artifact possesses a principle similar to that of the Black Emperor’s Crown.”

The Mad Doppelganger continued his explanation calmly.

Apart from his calm, monotonous voice, the content contained within was complex and exceedingly difficult.

If the listeners hadn’t been a fourth-year genius and a second-year disciple, they might have collapsed and given up long ago.

Lee Han concentrated, trying his best to organise and summarise the information.

‘So…’

This new artifact, he realised, could do the parts of the Black Emperor’s Crown spell that he, Lee Han, had done himself last time, under the Mad Doppelganger’s guidance.

Currently, severance and purification were essential as it was tied to an evil god, but even considering that, it was still remarkable.

‘Honestly, I’m not confident I could cast it on my own.’

“Um… I have a question.”

Ilrendil hesitated, then opened her mouth to speak, cautiously. The Mad Doppelganger remained still, like a statue.

Seeing this, and knowing Ilrendil was nervous, Lee Han stepped in.

“You may ask.”

“I-is it really okay to ask…?”

“If you ask, I will relay it.”

“If the connection with the evil god is severed, we’ll have to connect with a new god, but is there a way to connect with the god I want?”

Ilrendil asked slowly, watching the Mad Doppelganger’s reaction after each word.

Lee Han relayed it exactly as it was.

“After the connection with the evil god is severed, is there a way to connect with a new god of your choosing?”

‘A parrot?’

“It is not difficult. In the first place, this artifact has the power to amplify divinity for the purpose of connecting with divine beings. A symbol with strong symbolism and divine power will suffice.”

Ilrendil’s face brightened at the positive answer.

The reason she had coveted this artifact in the first place was to obtain the power of a god suitable for the restoration and growth of the forest.

Naturally, she had prepared symbols and the like. Judging by the Mad Doppelganger’s words, it didn’t seem too difficult.

And Lee Han’s face brightened as well.

“That’s good. We don’t have to be obsessed with the Black Emperor’s Crown; we can just use it as an artifact to borrow divine power.”

The artifact’s power was similar in principle to the Black Emperor’s Crown, but there was no rule that it had to be used as the Black Emperor’s Crown.

Rather than a difficult, dangerous, and evil ancient forbidden magic, it might be better to simply borrow the power of a benevolent god.

Besides, wasn’t Lee Han quite familiar with divine magic?

‘The Aphah Order or the Flemen Order probably wouldn’t reject me.’

“Prepare to connect to an artificial demigod.”

“…Master?”

It is said that if you look into darkness for long enough, the darkness starts to look back at you. Just as Lee Han had adapted while dealing with the Mad Doppelganger, the Mad Doppelganger had also adapted while dealing with Lee Han.

Ignore what should be ignored!

“Master,” Lee Han relayed, “she’s asking if we can just use it to borrow power from a good god?”

“I heard,” the Mad Doppelganger replied, his voice dismissive. “But a royal disciple should aim higher than such simple, ordinary magic.”

‘Ordinary?’ Lee Han thought, frowning. ‘Borrowing power from a god sounds pretty amazing to me.’

Ilrendil’s eyes flickered for a moment. “Mundane”? She didn’t show her annoyance openly, of course. The Mad Doppelganger was far too intimidating to risk showing any displeasure.

Lee Han eventually gave up.

Even if he had become a little more lenient in other areas, there were some things that the Mad Doppelganger would not compromise on. The transmission of magic was one such area.

“I understand. How do I connect to the artificial demigod?”

“Normally, you would have to create a new one, but a disciple of royalty does not need to do so.”

“Ah. You have one you made last time, don’t you.”

Lee Han frowned as he recalled the continental conquest incident of a while ago.

Come to think of it, he had tried to summon an army of artificial demigods at that time, so there would probably be more than enough.

The Mad Doppelganger raised the artifact and gave a light command. Then, as when he had summoned the Black Emperor’s Crown before, an alien order swirled around them.

As the artifact glowed, the air around them shimmered and twisted. It felt like the edges of different worlds were crashing together, rules of magic bending and breaking. A wave of cold, dark energy poured out, filling the room with a heavy presence.

And a voice familiar to Lee Han flowed out.

“whydidntyouconquerthecontinent?”

Lee Han ignored it, pretending not to hear. But the voice inside the artifact called out to Lee Han again.

“whydidntyouconquerthecontinent?”

“Your disciple is calling you. Why are you ignoring him?”

“That’s what I’m saying… um. It wasn’t a good time to conquer the continent back then…”

Ilrendil stared at his junior with his mouth open.

So, there are times when it’s good to conquer the continent?

“You don’t hold a grudge because of what happened last time, do you?”

Lee Han had fought quite fiercely to prevent the descent of the demigod army.

Turning them into hamsters, piercing them with lightning, scorching them with Zaurin’s breath…

‘He probably holds a grudge.’

No matter how he thought about it, it was hard to imagine that he wouldn’t hold a grudge.

But unexpectedly, the demigod said calmly.

“ifthecommanderthinkssothenthatmustbethecase.”

‘Huh?’

The artificial demigod was more friendly than he had expected.

Instead of vowing revenge or resentment, he respected and accepted the authority of Lee Han, the Mad Doppelganger’s disciple.

He had thought it would be an evil god driven mad by blood and rage…

“Tame this demigod from now on.”

“People call them gods,” the Mad Doppelganger said, almost dismissively. “But remember, these beings, even powerful ones, can be surprisingly simple. Like children, in some ways. Especially artificial ones like this.”

Lee Han thought, The artificial demigod that the Mad Doppelganger had summoned now should have learned efficient destruction as quickly as possible for the sake of conquering the continent, but the plan had been changed, so the learning had been reset.

It was the job of a wizard to not only summon an artificial demigod, but also to tame its power and use it precisely.

Taming and handling the power of this artificial demigod, which was no different from a raw stone, was the first thing the disciple had to do now.

Of course, it sounded like nonsense to Lee Han. To be precise, everything from ‘tame’ onwards just felt like nonsense.

“Is that even possible?”

“It is possible. Refrain from foolish questions from now on.”

Controlling or reverse-summoning all the undead nearby, nullifying or subduing attacks were all the result of precisely gathering and refining the power of the near-omnipotent demigod.

Specifically and accurately.

Otherwise, even the power of a god would simply be scattered and wasted.

“If you tame it and become accustomed to using its power, you will one day be able to summon the Black Emperor’s Crown directly.”

“Wow. That sounds really exciting.”

“Expressing joy in a place where there are eyes is vulgar, so refrain from it.”

It was certainly faster to experience something directly than to learn and study it in theory.

Except for the fact that the difficulty of the target magic was beyond imagination.

Lee Han wasn’t convinced. Would this really be faster than just practicing the Black Emperor’s Crown spell over and over, like the Mad Doppelganger had shown him? Both ways sounded like they would take forever.

Lee Han suppressed a sigh and looked at the ancient artifact. Then, he heard a faint and dim voice somewhere.

“You cannot escape me, little wizard. No matter how you try to ignore my power.”

“…Master. I don’t think this has been properly purified??”

Lee Han was startled by the voice of the evil god, which he hadn’t expected at all.

“That is correct.”

“…I thought you gave it to me after purifying and severing the connection.”

“Why should I do that? It won’t affect you anyway.”

“…I suppose that’s true.”

‘What do you mean, that’s true…’

Ilrendil swallowed his criticism.

Ilrendil wasn’t one for long talks at the best of times. But this conversation, this strange back-and-forth between Lee Han and the Mad Doppelganger, was exhausting. She suddenly longed for the quiet rustle of leaves, the smell of damp earth. She missed the forest so much, it almost brought tears to her eyes.

Ilrendil made a decision.

Once this was over, he would lock himself in the forest for a while and not deal with anyone…

“Still, you will be putting this in the forest, so please purify it. I’m already worried enough about taming the artificial demigod, I can’t take an evil god with me too.”

“…Huh?”

Ilrendil, who had been making a decision, was flustered by the unexpected words and raised his head.

He might have misheard, but what his junior had just said sounded like he was going to come to Ilrendil’s forest to practice evil forbidden magic.

…He must have misheard, right?