Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 106

Yoner understood how Lee Han felt and patted his shoulder to comfort him.

Spirits were hard to please, like some people you like. Even if you are very nice to them, they might not like you back.

When that happened, you just had to accept it.

“Yoner, I’m fine, really.”

“If you say so…”

“I’m really okay.”

“Alright, alright. Just saying, you looked pretty down.”

Yoner knew that when someone said ‘really’ many times, it often meant they were not telling the truth. Yoner decided to let it go.

Nilia’s face turned red as the water spirit wrapped itself around her arm. She wiggled uncomfortably, trying to shake it off.

As the one Lee Han wanted to make a contract with, she couldn’t just accept it.

“Hey! Go away! Go make a contract with Wodanaz!”

Nilia pushed the water spirit away, but it stubbornly clung to her. It seemed to like her quite a bit.

Lee Han watched the water spirit hug Nilia, and a small pang of sadness went through him. *Why couldn’t spirits like him like that?* he wondered.

‘All I got was a senile lightning spirit.’

But even when you’re sad, there are times when you have to congratulate a friend.

Lee Han said coolly.

“Nilia, I think there’s a misunderstanding. I have no intention of contracting with the water spirit.”

“What? Really?”

Nilia listened very carefully, surprised.

“But you were going to ask to contract just now.”

“You must have misheard.”

Yoner was inwardly impressed.

Lee Han was talented in many ways. But he could not lie like that. He lied so easily, without even breathing differently. Even someone who doubted him would start to wonder, ‘Is he really telling the truth?’

“Nilia, I’m not really interested in that spirit.”

“But… you’ve wanted to contract with a spirit since before. And you said you liked water spirits too.”

‘She just has to have a good memory for useless things.’

Lee Han cursed Nilia.

Why was her memory so good for such trivial things when it should be good for homework?

“You must be mistaken. Of course, I said I wanted to contract with a water spirit. But that was the story of a *special* water spirit, a named one, like Wodanaz, Nilia. Not just any water spirit.”

“Ah…!”

Nilia suddenly understood and hit her fist into her palm. The water spirit next to her was also amazed, clapping her hands, as if saying, ‘Was that what it was?’

Lee Han wanted to hit the spirit.

“Got it? So, if you want to contract with that spirit, you can do whatever you want. I don’t care.”

“Hmm… what should I do…”

Nilia pondered.

She had thought about contracting with a spirit, but she didn’t expect it to be so sudden.

“What do you guys think?”

Lee Han and Yoner looked at each other at Nilia’s question.

‘Nilia needs more friends.’

‘A spirit friend would be even better, right?’

The two finished exchanging opinions and nodded.

“A water spirit would be good.”

“I think so too!”

“If you two say so…”

Nilia’s face lit up. “Okay! I’ll do it!” she said, beaming. The water spirit squealed with delight and did a little flip in the air.

After Nilia happily agreed to contract with the water spirit, Lee Han knew his weekend was over. On Monday morning, he found himself standing nervously in front of Professor Voladi.

Spending the weekend on the island with undead summons made Professor Voladi’s face feel welcome.

Lee Han became afraid of himself for being happy to see Professor Voladi.

‘I hope I don’t start liking this,’ Lee Han thought, worried he might get used to bad things.

“Hello…”

“You used lightning magic last time.”

“……”

Professor Voladi didn’t exchange greetings or ask how he was doing over the weekend.

He went straight to the point.

“Yes…”

Lee Han sighed inwardly.

He was actually prepared.

He had a sad certainty from the moment he met Professor Voladi in front of Professor Garcia.

-Ah, this professor is going to teach lightning magic too.

And this sad premonition was never wrong.

“Unlike the water element, there are few wizards who handle the lightning element well.”

“I see.”

“It’s more difficult to handle than the water element.”

“Yes.”

“But you used lightning magic last time, so you can do what I teach you from now on.”

“……”

Lee Han was about to recommend Professor Voladi to take >Basic Imperial Language and Logic> but stopped.

‘What kind of logic is that…’

“I heard the story.”

Professor Voladi said, looking at Lee Han.

Lee Han was startled.

Lee Han thought it was strange for Professor Voladi to chat. He worried that when people act differently suddenly, it might mean something bad is going to happen.

“I heard you defeated Gonadaltes’ summon, Jorban II.”

“……”

The Skull Headmaster would have been happy if he was next to him.

It was a success in making Lee Han angry.

Lee Han was furious at the Skull Headmaster.

‘How many hours has it been…!’

I saw the Skull Headmaster in the morning, and now I came into Professor Voladi’s classroom after lunch, so he really diligently told him in that short amount of time.

Amazing, really!

“Yes… I was able to defeat him thanks to what I learned from you, Professor.”

“That is obvious. And the reason I brought it up isn’t because of that. I heard you were ambushed by a summon and injured your arm.”

‘Damn it.’

Lee Han vaguely guessed why the Skull Headmaster had told him.

“An unexpected situation occurred.”

“It’s always like that in battle. But no matter what excuses you make after being hit, the enemy won’t listen.”

The most annoying time with Professor Voladi was when he said something undeniable and correct.

“So I prepared something.”

Lee Han no longer asked, ‘What is it?’

Instead, he held his wand tightly, focusing on Professor Volardi’s slightest movement.

He was ready to react the instant the Professor made a move.

The Professor seemed pleased by Yihan’s reaction, a small smile on his face.

Bright sparks snapped and crackled in the air, and a small bolt of lightning appeared, aimed right at Yihan.

Yihan quickly made a ball of water to block the lightning. But Professor Volardi did the same thing at once, stopping Yihan’s water magic.

“!”

He had to dodge. Luckily, dodging the lightning wasn’t impossible.

Lightning is fast, faster than some magic. But it’s not as fast as real lightning.

Also, its path was simple and straight.

Compared to the unpredictable attacks of swordsmen like Professor Alar Rong or Professor Inguldel, the straight-shooting lightning, though quick, was easy to predict.

Predict the path just before it crackles and shoots!

Yihan tilted his head, dodging the lightning.

The lightning shot past Yihan, hit the wall with a fizz, and disappeared.

Professor Volardi nodded, as if he expected that.

“Do not block it with magic.”

“…Just dodge, then?”

“Yes.”

The Professor didn’t let Yihan answer back, and immediately attacked again. This time, there were more lightning bolts.

Yihan dodged, surprised at himself.

‘Have I always been this good at dodging?’

How much had he been pushed at the magic school to get this good at dodging?

After Yihan dodged for several minutes, Professor Volardi spoke as if he knew this would happen.

“Indeed, you do this easily.”

‘…Should I have pretended to be clumsy?’

Yihan realized his mistake. He shouldn’t have shown how good he was right away.

But Professor Volardi wasn’t easily fooled.

Even if he tried to trick him, how could he block real attacks?

Wham!

Suddenly, the lecture hall went dark. It was so dark that only Professor Volardi’s eyes could be seen.

‘In the dark? That’s just like the Professor.’

Yihan wasn’t surprised.

Professor Volardi always liked to be prepared for anything, so it made sense he would test dodging in the dark.

…But Yihan was still underestimating Professor Volardi.

Plop-

“What is this?”

Yihan was confused when Professor Volardi tossed him a handkerchief.

“To cover your eyes.”

Yihan walked toward Professor Volardi, ready to cover his eyes. But the Professor spoke again in a flat voice.

“Not mine.”

He thought so, but he really had to cover his eyes.

Yihan was shocked that his small protest didn’t work.

“…Professor, do I really need to cover my eyes when it’s already dark? Won’t it be too hard to dodge?”

“You can do it.”

Professor Volardi gestured like he wouldn’t say more. The handkerchief floated up and covered Yihan’s eyes.

A dark space where he couldn’t see anything.

And then, the sound of sparks. Lightning was being made.

‘This is crazy.’

Yihan felt fear crawl up his back.

But he couldn’t just stand there because he was scared.

Like he was sensing magic, Yihan focused on sensing the lightning around him.

He didn’t know if it would work, but he had to try.

Professor Volardi crossed his arms and watched Yihan.

Professor Volardi was sure of his teaching methods, just like Professor Garcia said (or at least, Professor Volardi thought so).

-If the students can’t keep up, that’s their problem, not mine.

There was a reason the Skull Headmaster was close to Professor Volardi.

And sadly for Yihan, Professor Volardi became even more sure of himself after meeting him.

‘He knows the basics of controlling elements.’

When Professor Volardi saw Yihan using lightning magic, he was very happy, though he didn’t show it.

Lightning is one of the hardest elements to control.

If he could use lightning, he could easily move on to the advanced class.

He should have started lightning magic right away…

…but Professor Volardi was making him practice sensing elements for a reason.

It was because of what the Skull Headmaster said.

When Professor Volardi heard that Yihan had hurt his arm fighting an undead summon, he was shocked.

That Yihan would make such a mistake.

Of course, he should have wondered, ‘Why is a freshman fighting a giant undead summon?’ but Professor Volardi didn’t think about that.

-If I were that boy from the Wodanaz family?

To stop Yihan from adding rotation to his water magic last time, Professor Volardi had thought about it from Yihan’s point of view for the first time.

Once he started, it wasn’t hard to do. Professor Volardi, thinking like Yihan, quickly decided.

‘If I were the boy from the Wodanaz family, I would want to learn how to dodge, not attack or defend.’

He could have just asked Yihan, but Professor Volardi didn’t bother and decided on his own.

In magic fights, dodging is different from attacking and defending, but it can be a more advanced and harder skill.

The key to dodging is sensing danger.

You have to know where an attack is coming from, what kind of magic it is, and how it’s made to dodge it well.

-Fools block, but the wise evade.

There’s a reason for this saying.

So, how could he get better at sensing danger?

The boy from the Wodanaz family had been training without knowing it.

Being around magic and understanding it would help him sense danger better.

Today, Professor Volardi made him focus only on sensing, not controlling magic.

And then…

Poof!

Professor Volardi made the lightning disappear.

Yihan was panting. No matter how good his stamina was, he would be tired after all that.

The boy from the Wodanaz family had dodged perfectly.

In the dark where he couldn’t see!

Yihan couldn’t see it, but Professor Volardi smiled.

He used to wonder what other wizards meant by ‘the joy of teaching,’ but now he understood a little.

Teaching was truly fun.

More lightning bolts and small flames appeared in the air than before. Water orbs and compressed wind started to form.

Yihan, even with his eyes covered, sensed something was wrong and shouted.

“Professor? Professor???”