Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 1023

Asking older wizards for help is very important, more than you might realize.

Just look at Lee Han; how many problems did he face because he didn’t ask for help from senior wizards?

Even with this dimensional incursion, if Lee Han had asked a senior wizard…

Actually, that’s not quite right.

Senior Wizard Alsicl had actually brought him along, so this was an exception.

But even so, Lee Han called Alsicl.

Surely, he would not be unlucky again.

Mr. Alsicl!

Huh? What is it?!

Alsicl, who was purifying poison in the reagent storage with his students, was startled by Lee Han’s urgent voice.

There’s a ghost here!

What!?

Alsicl’s chair scraped loudly as he jumped up, wand already in hand. The other students, startled, fumbled for their wands and swords, the metal scraping against stone in the reagent storage.

Where!?

Here.

…There’s nothing here?

I cast a spell.

……

The friends looked at Lee Han with awkward expressions. Giselle thought to herself,

Reacting too quickly is also a problem.

Because he defeated it too quickly, there was nothing left for the others to see.

Y-yes, well… good job. Counterattacks are important…

What kind of ghost is it?

How should I know? You just smashed it.

Alsicl grumbled and checked near the fireplace.

A faint chill lingered near the fireplace, the only sign of the ghost’s passing. It was a whisper of cold magic, nothing more. ‘Looks like Wodanaz really blasted it,’ Alsicl muttered, impressed.

Wizards often cause trouble even after death.

Magical messes in their workshops are so common that it’s not even worth mentioning. Restraints on summoned creatures or dimensional passages are released, causing monsters from other dimensions to pour in.

Even if the wizard cleaned up the workshop, danger remained.

The wizard’s own soul and body, having experienced so much magic, were dangerous.

A wizard’s strong will often caused bizarre resistance against the decay of the flesh.

Ah, like Headmaster?

Well, no. That’s… a lich is also right, but it’s too much to put in the same category…

Alsicl was flustered by Gainan’s innocent question.

Wizards can become liches to avoid death, but that is very different from these simple ghosts. Liches are much more powerful.

Lichification was a high-level grand magic that only wizards who had reached the pinnacle of black magic could perform, and ghostification was just…

You just need a lot of regrets and grudges.

I think there would be a lot in Einroguard, but why haven’t I seen one?

Alsicl replied as if asking what they were talking about.

A mediocre ghost would have been immediately defeated. What is Einroguard, Valdrogard?

Ah.

Lee Han, who had been thinking hard, belatedly recalled.

Wait, I think the ghost asked me to undo the magic it left behind!

Indeed. It’s quite a common purpose among wizard ghosts. Didn’t you hear that, Prince?

I just told it to get lost.

Hmm.

Alsicl seriously considered the difference in the ghost’s reaction.

Ghosts that weren’t evil spirits like this weren’t usually that dangerous, but there was no such thing as absolute in magic.

Didn’t he almost go straight to the Imperial Prison when he acted carelessly while tracking down dimensional monsters?

Didn’t you not ask Gainan because you couldn’t trust him?

Maybe…

Surely that’s not the reason. Everyone, think about it seriously.

Alsicl lectured the Einroguard students. Lee Han continued to inspect the kitchen and asked,

Is it difficult to completely defeat a ghost in battle?

No. If you can blow it away like you did just now, it doesn’t seem like a very strong ghost. It must have been a non-combat wizard even in life. But it’s better to resolve these things peacefully…

Ah. Well, there’s no need to fight and destroy the facilities and reduce the value of the mansion.

W-well, that’s also true, and wizard’s mansions usually have a lot of secrets. It’s never bad to inherit it completely from the owner.

Then I’ll change the plan and go down to the basement.

Gainan frowned at the messy kitchen, but the other friends were all for it.

Good thinking, Wodanaz. Skipping one meal won’t kill us.

Let’s check the suspicious places first.

Agh. That’s why the other tower guys are like this.

Gainan rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath, ‘Of course *they* want to go to the creepy basement. Show-offs.’

The Blue Dragon Tower students also wanted to check the basement first.

I hope it’s an alchemy school.

I hope it’s summoning. It would be helpful if there was any useful research.

……

Gainan became gloomy and moved behind Lee Han. There were many people, but not many friends to rely on.

Oh dear. You must be hungry, Gainan. Would you like to eat this?

…!

Gainan’s eyes widened as Lee Han rummaged through the basket and took out a sandwich.

When did you make that?!

I made it while cleaning up the dimensional incursion earlier.

Lee Han…!

-Undo the magic I left behind…

Aaargh!

Gainan threw the chicken sandwich and screamed.

The wizard ghost had reappeared near the stairs leading to the basement.

Lee Han skillfully caught the sandwich with telekinesis, then shoved it into Gainan’s mouth and pushed him back. It was almost a work of art.

Alsicl watched and admired.

The Green Lumistone Magic Tower wizards would shed tears of emotion if they saw this!

There were very few wizards who honed such detailed control of telekinetic magic to that extent.

What magic do you want me to undo?

Lee Han asked, ready to counterattack immediately if the opponent did anything suspicious.

Even if it seemed like a harmless ghost, he couldn’t let his guard down.

-Below… my research is there… follow me…

Wait! Why didn’t you ask the Prince here earlier and just chased him away?

Asan, curious, pointed to Gainan and asked.

Then the wizard ghost replied in a slow voice.

-I do not ask… those without qualification…

……

Indeed!

No, no. I don’t think that’s what he means?

Alsicl was flustered and stopped the students who were understanding.

The qualification he was talking about couldn’t be magical skill.

What talent did the wizard ghost have to guess Gainan’s Einroguard grades as soon as he saw him?

Ghost, please answer for the sake of your purpose. What does qualification mean?

-Mastered magic… that wizard… is qualified…

The students then realized that the qualification was not Einroguard grades.

Is he a summoning wizard?

No. He might be an enchantment wizard.

Well, since the Prince has been eliminated, he’s probably not a black magic wizard.

I’ll just ask directly.

Lee Han interrupted his friends’ conversation.

No matter how he thought about it, there were too many options.

What magic are you talking about?

The ghost pointed to Lee Han’s wand.

Lee Han was startled by the sight of him pointing to the blue gemstone of the Frost Giant King.

Was he a person related to the Frost Giant race!?

Lee Han. I think he’s talking about the space-time ore next to that stone.

Ah.

Lee Han became embarrassed.

He was related to space magic!

But you managed to guess that I had mastered space magic just from this stone.

Space-time ore was a convenient item that even wizards who had not mastered space magic could use.

Then the wizard ghost replied in a faint voice.

-Clock…

??

-Such… a flamboyantly decorated magic item… is not carried around unless you are a wizard who specializes in space-time magic…

!

Lee Han then realized what the ghost was talking about.

The cracked glass, [Limited Time Acceleration> magic-enchanted pocket watch!

It was an artifact created by Professor Ga of Einroguard during his school days.

I-is this so flamboyantly decorated with magic? It looks ordinary to me.

-Read… the space…

At the ghost’s words, Lee Han cast the [Space Perception> magic with a puzzled expression.

Even if there was any distorted space around him, this magic allowed the wizard to make correct measurements with an absolute sense.

But there was nothing to catch.

-Deeper… more focused…

???

He didn’t understand, but Lee Han focused his senses more.

He thought the other person might be mistaken, but once he had cast it…

…!

Surprisingly, Lee Han’s senses caught a faint distortion. Along the outer surface of the pocket watch, space was engraved as if it were a decoration.

The most amazing thing about this delicate magic was that it was completely useless.

What was the point of such a distorted local space?

Only a wizard who knew how to perceive space would look at it and react with ‘Amazing! Such a delicate decoration!’…

Would they even see it? Wouldn’t they think I’m doing something useless?

-Do not waste magic in such places…

……

The ghost seemed to think so too, and gave advice.

Showing off with a means that only one in a hundred people could see was, no matter how he thought about it, a stupid thing to do.

This is not the magic I cast. And the person who cast this magic is tens of times wiser than you.

-I do not know…

The wizard ghost didn’t seem to pay much attention to Lee Han’s words.

And from the beginning, it was doubtful whether the ghost could even think properly. According to Alsicl, this kind of ghost was an incomplete existence, wasn’t it?

Unlike liches, who inherited almost all of their knowledge and abilities from their lifetime, it was impossible to know what parts of a ghost had been lost.

By the way, the facilities upstairs don’t seem to have anything to do with space-time magic. Did you also study other school magic?

-I do not know other school magic…

Surely different… Ah.

Lee Han paused.

Do you happen to know Erindalbell? A great wizard, with a kind personality, and often makes mistakes…

-I do not know…

The owner has changed several times.

Come to think of it, there was no guarantee that this wizard ghost was the previous owner.

It wouldn’t be strange if the owner had changed several times in the meantime. Rather, looking at the diverse and complex mess, it was highly likely that several wizards had used it.

But didn’t the previous wizards undo the magic?

-They tried to undo it, but they all failed…

!

Lee Han was slightly worried.

Suddenly, he lost confidence when other wizards had failed.

Can I really solve this?

Wait. Even if you failed, you can get help from another wizard, right? Is that cheating?

-No… it does not matter…

The ghost didn’t care at all whether he got help or not.

He just wanted the magic he had left behind to be completed.

-But the other wizards… all asked me to keep their failure a secret…

……

Lee Han was dumbfounded.

What was this?

What are they doing?

If they failed, they should have told another wizard and solved it, but they hid it until they sold the mansion because of their pride.

Moreover, it wasn’t just one person who did that, but several people did the same thing.

Wizards are really…!

Hmm. But if I can’t solve it either, I’ll have to hide it until I sell it.

Apart from being dumbfounded, Lee Han learned another thing.

When selling a wizard’s workshop, you should hide as many flaws as possible.

-Here it is…

Arriving at the end of the long underground circular staircase, the stairs spiraled downwards, cold and damp under their feet. The air grew heavy with the smell of dust and something else… something faintly metallic. The ghost passed through the door.

Lee Han tried to open the door and go inside. At that moment, the space beyond the door split into countless spaces.

???!?!

-I was trying to create a space of infinitely changing possibilities that would be determined by the wizard’s will… but it became uncontrollable… Undo this magic…

I’ll go get someone for a moment.

Lee Han immediately gave up and prepared to call Professor Garcia.