Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 1066

“Hold still!” Lee Han shouted, his hands glowing with a warm, golden light as he stepped closer to Saratan, his staff held out.

Magic flowed from Lee Han’s hands, down the wooden staff, and into the giant tree spirit. Saratan felt the power rush through him, like life returning to his branches. He sighed, relief washing over him.

“Th-thank you…” he whispered.

“Hey, you blockhead! Why did you lie when I asked if you were pushing yourself too hard earlier!” Lee Han unleashed a torrent of harsh criticism.

He’d thought the reaction was odd earlier; it turned out the spirit was bluffing.

Saratan felt the gratitude he’d just experienced vanish as the barrage of complaints continued without end.

‘Why is Lee Han acting so good?’ Saratan grumbled inwardly with rising anger, then suddenly staggered.

Incredibly, the initial impact wasn’t entirely over. The power remaining within the magic circle surged once more.

“Ack! …This mirror doesn’t seem to be helping much…!”

Yoo Kveltire’s eyes widened. He desperately wanted to retort to the spirit, but he couldn’t afford to, as he needed to concentrate on the magic.

‘The stone mirror isn’t helping? It must be because the spirit isn’t using it properly. He shouldn’t be confronting it head-on like that; he should be angling it…’

“Senior, don’t worry about this; focus on the magic. I’ll handle it!” Lee Han warned Yoo Kveltire, who had flinched as if he were about to stop casting and argue back.

“Saratan, how are you doing?”

“Th-thank you. My strength is returning a bit…” Saratan managed to catch his breath as Lee Han continuously poured magic into him.

“Can you withstand the next one?”

“What?” Saratan inadvertently looked up at the wizard’s words.

Just as the first trial ended, a new wave of energy surged. ‘The second trial!’ Yoo Kveltire gasped, his voice strained. ‘Fixing the Dimension Rod!’

The second trial was about fixing the Dimension Rod of Bakhantallana. This rod was special because it kept its shape even when dimensions were mixed up and twisted.

The essence of enchantment magic was fixing this special property onto a real object, no matter how.

Yoo Kveltire took out a thin plate made of adamantite and attempted to fix the magic. He looked like he was trying to control a wild, kicking animal.

“Th-that’s a bit…”

‘What on earth did Master believe in to tell me to use that guy?’ Lee Han cursed Saratan inwardly as he moved.

It seemed that channeling magic into Saratan’s essence within the staff wasn’t very efficient. It would be better to stick close and deliver the magic directly.

“Get ready! If you collapse, I’ll make sure you never come out of that staff again!”

“Understood! Understood!”

Lee Han positioned himself behind Saratan, treating the giant tree spirit like a bulwark or shield. As long as this tree spirit held up properly, Lee Han wouldn’t be in danger.

With a cracking sound, several split pieces of stone grazed Lee Han’s cheek.

Dimension Rod magic was based on the principle of extracting invariance created in the process of ruthlessly mixing dimensions. Just as a blacksmith had to pour fire and pressure to forge steel, so too was it with this magic.

Naturally, the aftereffects flew all around. Even though Saratan was taking most of the impact, fragments of warped and split space still flew towards Lee Han.

…Ugh… Ugh… Ughhh…

‘Is he still okay?’ Lee Han gauged the spirit’s condition, who looked even more tormented than when he was being tortured inside the staff.

True to his nature as a tree spirit, his body’s sturdiness was extraordinary. Even with power rushing in like a storm, he was still intact.

…Of course, that was only from Lee Han’s perspective. Saratan himself was in agony, constantly repeating injury and regeneration. If he weren’t being instantly replenished with magic from behind, he would have collapsed in an instant.

“Master! Is this the right way to go?”

-You’re doing well, disciple. Just keep going like that, and it will be enough.

The young prince’s voice was far too calm, considering the chaotic situation in the basement. Saratan wanted to shout for him to step forward like before, but the pressure was too intense, and he didn’t have the leeway.

-But it wouldn’t be bad for you to manage a few spots, disciple. Cast a space stabilization spell under the painting of the farmer holding straw?

“Space stabilization magic… Understood!” Fortunately, it was a spell he knew. Lee Han cast a 2-circle spell to block off the dangerous area.

Looking ahead, Yoo Kveltire was drenched in cold sweat, his pale face even paler. It was the typical appearance of a wizard casting high-level magic.

Yoo Kveltire’s eyes met his junior’s, and he mouthed something. Lee Han focused, wondering if he had something important to say.

‘What is it? Does he need help?’

-My, artifact, not, fault…

“…If you distract me with any more nonsense, I’ll stop the research, whatever it is!” Yoo Kveltire flinched at Lee Han’s rebuke.

Like a typical junior wizard, he was quite emotional.

“Master, what’s next?”

-Next, move the dimensional rift next to the chest where the wraiths are imprisoned.

“…How do you expect me to do that?” Lee Han was slightly taken aback.

He was currently casting magic while using Saratan as a shield to replenish his magic, so it was difficult to move directly. But even if he could move directly, moving a rift would have been bewildering.

How was he supposed to do that?

-You can use space magic, disciple.

“Oh… understood.” Lee Han was going to use the [Stone of Spatial Movement] embedded in his staff.

This stone, obtained from a statue within the school, had a low-level spatial movement spell on it.

-No, disciple. You can’t cast it with that stone.

The young prince advised kindly. The magic on the [Stone of Spatial Movement] was only enough to teleport small, light objects; it couldn’t move a rift like that.

It looked like a light straw, but the rift was actually very powerful magic, where dimensions were mixing together.

“Then…?”

-You’ll have to cast intermediate spatial movement magic. Now, follow me.

The young prince guided him kindly. With such natural guidance, Lee Han couldn’t bring himself to say that he hadn’t even learned low-level spatial movement magic yet.

-Once you master this magic, you’ll be able to move even heavy objects quite easily, though not beings with souls.

“I, I see.”

“P-please. Hurry…” Saratan could barely utter a word, groaning in pain.

He didn’t know what kind of magic lecture was happening behind him, but he felt that he had to learn and cast the magic as soon as possible to reduce this pain.

“No. I’m saying the magic is difficult!” Lee Han protested to the spirit.

Now that he thought about it, Lee Han hadn’t even learned low-level spatial movement magic in the first place. Spacetime magic was among the most difficult of all schools of magic, and Professor Garcia knew this, so he didn’t force Lee Han to learn it.

He judged that it was enough to solidify the basic low-circle spells first. …Of course, the fact that his disciple was overdoing it in other schools of magic also played a part…

But now, suddenly, he was being told to learn from the intermediate level.

‘Wasn’t this 5-circle?’ Spacetime magic was known to be very hard. Some wizards even thought a 5-circle spacetime spell was as difficult as a 6-circle spell from other types of magic.

“Then… cough… please change it to something easy… ugh… do…” Saratan threw away honorifics and gave harsh advice.

If he hadn’t been receiving magical assistance, he would have collapsed and disappeared, but this wizard was constantly replenishing his magic, so he couldn’t collapse, and the pain continued.

“That’s a bit…” Lee Han hesitated.

Lee Han felt bad saying no to the smiling prince. It was hard to refuse him when he was being so kind.

So… son of a… then… learn it…

“Alright. Alright. Just hold on a little longer.” Lee Han soothed Saratan, dodging the fragments flying at him.

‘That guy. He’s really exaggerating.’ Just by the fact that the prince wasn’t stepping in, he could tell that the situation wasn’t that serious yet.

If it were truly dangerous, wouldn’t the prince have stepped in?

‘I did learn the basics, but…’ Lee Han focused, recalling the basics of space magic he had learned from Professor Garcia and the spell he had just heard from the prince.

Spatial movement was easy to mistake for a projectile-type magic because of its appearance, but when you thought about it…

‘…It’s actually similar to dimensional magic.’ Pressing down on and twisting space with immense magic to create a path for the object to move.

That was the basic principle of spatial movement.

Lee Han took a deep breath. His experience with using Small World magic and other powerful spells helped him adapt relatively quickly.

Concentrate the magic and twist space!

Crack!

A broken brick that had failed to be controlled was teleported to Yoo Kveltire’s feet, creating a shattering sound. Yoo Kveltire, who had been struggling with the blocked magic, was startled and frantically waved his hands. It was a sign to hurry up.

“……” Thinking that he should apologize later, Lee Han focused again.

‘I need to direct it the other way.’ Of course, Yoo Kveltire was a wizard, so he could block the spatial movement with his own magic resistance or sense the signs and react first.

But he was very exhausted and focused on high-level magic. If he wasn’t careful, he might go down in Einrogard history as the junior who assassinated his senior.

-You’re doing well, disciple. If you shorten the casting speed and refine the coordinates more accurately, it will be enough.

“Thank you.”

“Hurry… hurry up…”

“I get it! Just be quiet.”

After several attempts, Lee Han barely managed to move the rift. The dimensional rift was a much more difficult target than an ordinary chest or stone. Even as he sent it, his wrists throbbed, and a headache rose.

“Is it done?”

-Excellent, disciple.

“A-am I alive…?” Saratan opened his mouth again as the pressure lessened slightly.

It seemed that the pressure had decreased, either because of the wizard’s magic or because he had endured as much as he could.

“Aheman’s…”

“Third trial! It’s the third trial, Saratan!” Hearing Yoo Kveltire’s spell, Lee Han realized that his senior had overcome the blocked part and was summoning the final magic.

Saratan staggered at the news. His body still had strength left, but his will was broken.

A spirit whose will was broken showed it outwardly. Saratan’s giant body shrank and staggered like a rotten old tree.

“E-end… it’s over… give up…”

“What do you mean, give up, you blockhead!” Saratan was startled by the dull blow that struck him from the side.

The wizard, whom he thought would have run away, was scolding him while supporting him from the side.

“Hang in there! We’re almost there! I’ll cast the magic with you!”

“Wh-why…?”

In this situation, it was standard for the wizard to give up and retreat if the spirit collapsed. But this wizard didn’t leave his side, even though he was scolding him. Rather, he was taking a step forward and trying to shoulder the burden together.

Saratan inadvertently looked at the young prince. Was this what the great wizard meant by a virtuous heart?

‘The spirit is more fragile than I thought.’ The young prince thought inwardly.

He wanted to help the magic of the wizard with the silver hair and teach his disciple a few spells along the way, but the spirit was more fragile than he thought, so the opportunity didn’t arise.

He was barely able to impart one spatial movement spell. Even though he had been confined for so long, he was more dramatic than he had anticipated.

“Wizard! Is this what you were talking about!?”

-Yes?

“The virtuous heart! I think I understand a little now!”

-Is that so? That’s good. Then hold on a little longer.

“Oh.”