Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 970

Lee Han felt strange words echoing in his mind, words he didn’t understand. Then, the forest around him twisted and swirled, colors running together like paint in water. The air grew cold, and a strange scent, like old books and lightning, filled his nose.

A voice whispered, “Perhaps we will meet again, student.”

“Wait!” Lee Han tried to shout, wanting to ask more. “What about the small world…?”

A powerful figure, like a king from old stories, seemed to bow his head to a fading figure of a wizard. The wizard looked weak, but even as he disappeared, you could feel his love for magic burning bright.

But Lee Han didn’t understand any of it. As the strange dream-world faded away, he thought in confusion, ‘Wait… did that mean it didn’t matter which magic school I went to?’

It seemed like he could have just waited and things would have been fine!

Suddenly, Lee Han gasped and sat up quickly.

“Whoa, you okay, Lee Han? You yelled pretty loud!” asked Si-gun-ting, looking surprised.

The seniors were startled when their junior woke up with a shout. They knew they had to be careful of nightmares when exploring underground areas.

What seemed like an ordinary dream could be a warning of danger.

“Ah, it’s nothing. I was just thinking deeply about magic in my dream…” Lee Han said.

Si-gun-ting and An-pa-gon were impressed.

Students from Bu-yeo magic school knew they loved magic the most. Among all the schools in Einrogaard, they were the most dedicated. They were proud of this.

This wasn’t just empty pride.

After all, which wizard would learn magic under Professor Verduce?

Just learning magic under Professor Verduce was enough to make students the most into magic.

But to be so focused on magic even in their dreams…

‘He’s no ordinary guy,’ they thought.

‘If he’s thinking about magic even in his dreams, it must take a lot of mental strength. Impressive.’

Meanwhile, Yuke-vel-tire quietly came up to Lee Han from behind. Seeing that Lee Han seemed worried, Yuke-vel-tire asked.

“I’m fine, senior,” Lee Han said, waving his hand.

“Good. I was looking into ways to train magic in dreams anyway; could you tell me more about what happened in your dream?” Yuke-vel-tire asked.

“Go away, senior,” Lee Han replied.

Lee Han was quickly getting used to the Bu-yeo magic school.

When a senior spoke to him, he would first answer sharply and rudely.

-Just a wasted trip.

-I told you.

The group was startled by the voices of other students coming from above the cliff.

“Are we being followed?” one asked.

“No! They don’t seem to know we’re here. It looks like they found the Steel Shoes another way…” another replied.

-Who’s there!

Soon, they seemed to notice the group’s presence and shouted sharply.

An-pa-gon, staying alert, replied, “We’re from the Bu-yeo magic school. Who are you?”

“Are you crazy? We’re from the Transformation magic school… No! Wodanaz! Why are you there?!” one of them exclaimed.

The surprised Transformation magic school seniors quickly realized what was happening.

“Ah. Wodanaz also took Bu-yeo magic,” one said.

“Yes… More importantly, how did you find this place, seniors?” An-pa-gon asked.

The Transformation magic school students on the cliff thought for a moment before speaking.

If it were only Bu-yeo magic school students, they would have ignored them, thinking, ‘Why should I answer you? You little students from Verduce’s school?’ But Lee Han was there.

“Senior Zaroon borrowed our potion and didn’t return it often, so we secretly put a tracking spell on him,” one of them explained.

The Bu-yeo magic school students, including Lee Han, were shocked.

They weren’t the only ones casting spells like that!

“One of us can turn into an Alicanto, so we were able to get through easily. More importantly, how did you guys get here so fast?” another Transformation school student asked.

The Transformation magic school seniors were confused.

They were lucky enough to have a student who could turn into a bird in this area, so they arrived quickly, but that wouldn’t be the case for the Bu-yeo magic school.

“You didn’t force your way down through the golem cave above, did you…” one of them asked.

Lee Han’s face twisted at the explanation.

He had learned another lesson that day.

Don’t just blindly accept a senior’s tempting offer!

‘Damn it. If I had just checked with the Transformation magic side, it would have been much easier to come,’ he thought.

To think there would be more people who had placed tracking spells besides Yuke-vel-tire.

It was Lee Han’s mistake to underestimate the Einrogaard seniors.

“We were lucky. But… seniors, did you find Senior Zaroon? Why isn’t he here?” Lee Han asked.

“We found him, but it doesn’t matter,” one of the Transformation school students said.

“??”

“Come up if you’re curious. Wait. Only Wodanaz, you come up,” another student said.

The Transformation magic school students warned with wary faces.

Lee Han was one thing, but the Bu-yeo magic school students were not trustworthy.

It wouldn’t be surprising if they suddenly hit you in the back of the head while you were standing there.

“Understood. I’ll go up alone,” Lee Han said.

Lee Han easily went up the cliff with telekinetic magic.

And then he was shocked by what he saw in the distance.

“!!”

A familiar dwarf senior was trapped inside a large green crystal. His face was frozen in shock and horror.

“Did you seniors trap him?!” Lee Han asked.

“What? No!” The Transformation magic seniors strongly denied it.

“But it does feel good. Should we say we trapped him?” one joked.

“Wodanaz, Senior Zaroon was already trapped there when we arrived. We checked the area carefully, but there were no veins,” another explained.

After finding the crystal in which Zaroon was trapped, the Transformation magic school students searched the area.

They hoped to find traces of an Orichalcum vein, even by chance.

However, there were no traces of Orichalcum or any other veins in the area, and no signs of anyone digging or exploring.

After thinking about it, the students came to a conclusion.

-Senior Zaroon must have lied about finding a vein to get support.

“…Ah, no. Even if it’s Senior Zaroon, would he really tell such a lie?” Lee Han wondered.

“He’s lied a few times before, hasn’t he? It was different back then, though…” one of the Transformation students said.

Lee Han realized again that he had underestimated the Einrogaard seniors.

The seniors of Einrogaard could tell big lies without a second thought to get the equipment or money they needed.

Students who were used to this weren’t too surprised.

Still, Lee Han tried to defend him one last time.

“Still, isn’t a lie about an Orichalcum vein a bit much? Even the other seniors and professors are interested now, surely…” he said.

“‘Wodanaz,’ you can’t judge a madman like Steelshoe by normal rules.”

‘That’s true.’

Lee Han frowned. ‘Maybe there’s a good reason for what Senior Steelshoe did,’ he suggested.

Lee Han’s defense was immediately shot down.

They were in Einrogard, a place where strange things were normal. So, saying ‘Surely, they wouldn’t do this?’ was pointless.

“There’s no way an orichalcum vein would be found so easily. I was hoping we’d at least find another vein, but there’s nothing.”

“Judging by the looks of it, Steelshoe must have applied for it in advance for his own work later. Otherwise, there’s no way there wouldn’t be traces of exploration or mining around here. We’ve searched as much as we can, so we’re going back. Wodanaz, are you coming back with us?”

“Uh… aren’t you taking Senior Zarun with you?”

Lee Han’s question made the students from the Transformation Magic Department look at their junior as if he were talking nonsense.

“Wodanaz, Steelshoe ignored us when we greeted him and didn’t reply to our letters. He just went into his workshop alone and mined gold the whole time. We’re not exactly social butterflies, but there’s a limit. Even the enchantment magic madmen wouldn’t do that.”

‘No… they’re similar…’

Lee Han thought to himself.

“But now, I don’t want to cling to a crystal vein that I don’t even know how to handle, for such a senior. He won’t die anyway, so if we leave him alone, the Death Knights will collect him, or the professor will pick him up.”

The atmosphere of the Transformation Magic Department wasn’t as cold as the Enchantment Magic Department, but it was ruthless to some, especially in Zarun’s case. Perhaps because of his past bad actions, no one stepped forward to help him.

“Are you coming back with us?”

“…I think it’ll be difficult because I have people I came with. And there’s something I’m concerned about.”

“Okay. Then there’s nothing we can do. One last thing, don’t be too obsessed with the orichalcum vein. It’s a hard vein to find in the first place.”

“No, I’m worried about Senior Zarun.”

“Oh. Is that so? Then there’s even less need to be obsessed. Just think of it as a strangely shaped ore.”

With those words, the students from the Transformation Magic Department finished preparing to leave. One of them transformed into an Alicanto, a large bird with shining feathers, and the other students climbed on top and quickly flew away.

“-Wodanaz. Is it okay to come up?”

“Yes. I think you can come up.”

As the students from the Enchantment Magic Department came up one by one, Lee Han explained what had happened. Then the three seniors said coldly, “Then it’s highly likely to be a scam.”

“…Is there no possibility of a misunderstanding?”

Anpahgon, one of the older students, said, ‘It’s likely a scam.’ Sigunting, another senior student, agreed. Sigunting supported Anpahgon’s speculation.

“I can guess why he went in there too. He probably went in there so the pursuers couldn’t kill him.”

Lee Han was shocked by the novel and bold speculation, but the other seniors nodded, even Yookvelte did.

“Judging by his attire, he was definitely on the run.”

“Perhaps he found the orichalcum vein and moved for unavoidable reasons.”

Yookvelte shook his head.

“No. If he really found orichalcum, he wouldn’t have left the area even if it meant death.”

“That’s right.”

If he left his spot and it disappeared or was taken by someone else, the pain would never go away. A magician like Zarun would definitely stay near the vein. The fact that he was found here without any traces was proof that the vein didn’t exist.

“…I understand. Then let’s take Senior Zarun out and ask him.”

“What? Why would you do that?”

“You have a bad habit of wasting time on useless things, just like Direte, another student who always got distracted,” said one of the seniors.

The three seniors scolded him one by one in order of seniority. Lee Han answered firmly, “Now that I’ve come this far, I’m going to take him out and ask him, even if it’s just out of frustration.”

If he was trapped for some other reason, it would be worth it, but the seniors thought differently.

“That’s a waste of time…”

“If you don’t help me, I’ll randomly cast magic in all directions and summon monsters.”

“……”

“…Okay. I’ll help you.”

It’s scary when a usually diligent junior becomes stubborn. The seniors had no choice but to accept when their junior, who had been dedicated without complaint, became stubborn.

…It was definitely not because they were afraid of the threat.

Fortunately, Yookvelte seemed to have grasped the nature of the strange metal that had trapped Zarun.

Yookvelte examined the strange metal trapping Zarun, his brow furrowed. “This is… unusual,” he murmured, running a gloved hand over the dark, shimmering surface. “It’s a natural alloy, I think, but not like anything I’ve seen before.”

Lee Han was impatient. “Okay, okay, but how do we get him out?”

Yookvelte looked up, his face serious. “Trying to break it with force? Forget it. This stuff is incredibly strong. You’d break Zarun before you broke this metal. Steelshoe bloodline or not, he’d be crushed.”

“So, what then?” Lee Han pressed, his voice tight with worry.

Yookvelte tapped the metal thoughtfully. “Hmm… there’s black magnetite mixed in, I think. And the magic… it’s flowing strangely, almost being sucked in by the metal itself. It seems to absorb magic somehow…”

“Senior!” Lee Han interrupted, trying to keep his frustration in check.

“Hmm?” Yookvelte blinked, as if pulled back from his thoughts.

“The point, Senior! How do we get Zarun out?” Lee Han asked again, more firmly this time.

Yookvelte nodded slowly. “Right, the point. Heat. Magical heat. That seems to be the best way to melt it.”

Yookvelte quickly drew a plan on the ground. It was a drawing of a machine that would gather magic and turn it into heat, control the heat so that it didn’t leak out or cause other damage, and, as a result, could steadily melt the ore.

Lee Han nodded as he looked at the complex plan and the even more complex list of materials that went into it.

“I’ll just try to melt it with my magic power.”

“……”

A very slight tremor appeared and disappeared on Yookvelte’s expressionless face, but Lee Han had no choice. When would he ever find all those things, bring them down here, and install them again? He had to solve it on the spot.

‘Convert magic power into fire attribute and then radiate it.’

It was a much more ignorant and wasteful method than Yookvelte’s machine, but given time, the result would be the same. Yookvelte, who was watching from behind, spoke.

“Hey, Wodanaz.”

“Don’t interrupt me.”

“I’m not interrupting…”

“Senior, installing your machine takes too long.”

“That’s not what I’m saying…”

“Shhh. Then please be quiet.”

“……”

Yookvelte closed his mouth. In fact, he wasn’t really talking about the machine. A faint illusion of a crown had been flickering above Lee Han’s head since earlier.

‘…What is that magic?‘