Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 119

“Spring forth!”

Ethan said the magic words again and again. Slowly, water began to rise from the ground. It swirled and twisted in the air, forming many round balls of water.

Spatial Awareness magic was more than just knowing the space around you.

It also made magic attacks from far away stronger.

It drastically increased the number of water spheres one could control, which would normally be limited because you need to control each one.

Wizards could also combine different kinds of magic together, but this needed a lot of magical power.

Dergru and Giselle stopped fighting. They stared at the many water spheres, their faces showing surprise and wonder.

There were simply too many of them.

‘Incredible!’

Bickelnetz stopped to counterattack and stood still.

Normally, giving a powerful wizard time was a major mistake. A short magic word could change the fight.

However, Bickelnetz watched instead of counterattacking.

It was too amazing to stop the flow with an attack.

Even if Ethan was from Einroguard, how could a first-year student do magic like *that*?

Bickelnetz turned to Professor Ingoldel, surprised. “Professor,” he asked, “can *all* first-year students at this school do magic like that?”

If that were the case, he wanted to tell off the White Poplar Knights.

If a first-year who had just started learning magic was that strong, what were the White Poplar Knights doing?

“No.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Definitely not.”

Not only Professor Ingoldel but also Dergru and Giselle spoke seriously.

Whoosh!

At that moment, Ethan’s attack started again.

The water spheres that appeared in the air began to fly, each with a different path and speed.

Even though Ethan didn’t want to admit it, it looked like Professor Volardy’s Magic Arrow Control.

When it came to sending many things flying, he had to look like Professor Volardy.

‘I need to say something to Professor Volardy.’

Professor Ingoldel watched Ethan, worried. He remembered what another professor, Volardy, had said: “Compared to Professor Begreck, I am nothing.”

Professor Volardy seemed to have extreme ideas about magic. Ingoldel worried Ethan was learning these extreme ideas. He thought, “Is it dangerous for Ethan to control so many water spheres so early?”

The wizard professors at this magic school were, after all, wizards, so they had some extreme ways of thinking.

Now, Ethan was becoming like them because he was learning from such professors.

A new student had floated too many water spheres in the air.

No matter how much magical power he had, it would take a lot of mental energy to control them all.

Professor Ingoldel thought about visiting Professor Volardy and asking him.

Was it dangerous to have him float so many water spheres so early on?

‘I should say it carefully.’

Professor Ingoldel was the only one who could protect the students from the professors at this magic school.

Ethan felt a chill down his spine.

‘He’s strong!’

Is this how strong a top knight is? It’s almost scary.

Of course, there was another reason for the chill Ethan felt, but Ethan himself couldn’t know it.

If he had known, he would have gone to Professor Ingoldel and begged, ‘Please, don’t say anything strange to Professor Volardy!’

Right now, Ethan was too busy dealing with Bickelnetz.

Even though Dergru and Giselle were attacking from both sides and water spheres were raining down from the air, Bickelnetz remained calm.

Bickelnetz swung his sword, smashing the water spheres to pieces. He easily pushed back Dergru and Giselle as they attacked.

‘This… even weaker lightning magic won’t work.’

The reason the three students were holding out was that Bickelnetz wasn’t attacking hard.

If Bickelnetz started to attack, their combined attack would fail quickly.

They needed to hurt him while he was being nice, but it wasn’t easy.

Ethan hadn’t planned to use water spheres for the battle. The water spheres were just to confuse the enemy and make an opening.

If he could make an opening, he wanted to attack with magic like weaker lightning magic, but…

An opening wasn’t being made at all.

‘Why did Professor Ingoldel bring such a knight here…’

Regardless of his complaints, his body moved.

Towards the best way to attack now.

“I hide in the night.”

Ethan said the magic words softly. As he cast the spell while moving behind the illusion, Ethan’s body became see-through.

Bickelnetz didn’t notice because he was far away and there were many copies of Ethan because of weaker illusion magic.

‘Only this far.’

Even with the invisibility spell, Ethan couldn’t get close.

He was afraid of the knight’s senses.

He had learned from Professor Volardy’s class.

A great wizard could feel what was around them with magic power alone, even with their eyes closed.

A great knight would be the same.

If he got within a certain distance, he would be noticed right away, even with the invisibility spell.

It was too bad, but he had no choice.

Ethan took a breath and got ready.

From now on, it was a race against time.

‘I believe in you, Perkuntra!’

“Unleash, Perkuntra’s Lightning!”

Magic power exploded from Ethan’s body, then turned into lightning magic.

The lightning magic grew quickly into a ball shape. It crackled and sparked with wild energy, then shot forward!

Bickelnetz was more surprised than he had been all day.

The boy from the Wodanaz family had quietly come closer and sent lightning magic from behind.

And magic that seemed to be at least level 4!

It was amazing that a freshman had cast level 4 magic, but what was even more amazing was how fast he did it.

Casting magic in a quiet training room was very different from casting magic in a real fight.

Some magic spells can be done slowly and many times easily. But other spells, like this one, need you to be quick and strong right away.

Bickelntz thought, “A student in their first year doing this so fast, even when things are difficult?”

He was amazed. This young wizard seemed even better than the wizards in the Silver Birch Knights group.

‘The Wodanaz family…’ Bickelntz thought, surprised. ‘I’ve only heard stories about them. Maybe they are much stronger than people think!’

Crack-!!!!

Bright violet light burst from Bickelntz’s sword as he swung it hard to meet the lightning coming towards him.

A very loud roar, like thunder, filled the air. The lightning was ripped apart by the sword. It flew to the left and right, crashing into the ground before disappearing.

The ground was black and burned where the lightning had hit. It showed how strong the magic was.

But Lee Han didn’t care about that.

‘Perkuntra…’ Lee Han thought angrily. ‘I will never trust you again!’

His magic, which he thought was strong, had failed. Lee Han felt useless. ‘What good is it if my magic is just ‘okay’?’ he thought angrily.

Lee Han was very angry and cursed Perkuntra in his mind.

Then, something else changed. Bickelntz’s attitude was different after seeing Lee Han’s magic.

“…I am really impressed,” Bickelntz said, his voice sounding truly surprised.

Bickelntz lifted his sword. You could still see small sparks of violet lightning flickering on the sharp edge.

Bickelntz knew he couldn’t just stand still anymore. Even though Lee Han was just a young student, he was very skilled. To just stand and watch would be rude and disrespectful.

‘If someone is serious, I should be serious too,’ Bickelntz thought.

“……”

Lee Han felt cold fear go down his back.

He already knew what this meant. He had learned it many times before.

“Sir Knight,” Lee Han said quickly, “I think you don’t understand…”

Thud!

Before Lee Han could finish his sentence, Bickelntz stomped his foot hard and moved forward incredibly fast, like a bolt of lightning.

Without thinking, Lee Han quickly said the words for a spell.

“Gather, condense, and explode!”

One of the most common mistakes people who can’t use magic make is thinking, ‘If I have a magic book, can’t I just read it, practice, and use magic without a teacher?’

Of course, it’s almost impossible.

The magic books wizards use are mostly for the wizard’s own use, not for teaching others.

They don’t care if other people can understand it!

Magic books are full of codes, strange comparisons, messy writing, and shortcuts that only the writer knows.

So, it’s not surprising that Lee Han was stuck on the first page even after reading >On Basic Blood Magic and Its Applications> many times.

And that was even though this book was the most clear and complete one he had seen.

After struggling with the book for a long time, Lee Han was able to find one spell.

>On Basic Blood Magic and Its Applications>

I don’t think any blood magic user doesn’t know about Piblicus’s great Magic Missile. The amazing blood magic master Piblicus made this spell for future blood magic users, and here’s how it works…

>Piblicus’s Great and Tremendous Magic Missile>.

It was a funny and over-the-top name.

Magic Missile was a simple and easy spell for beginners.

Some soldiers would even learn only Magic Missile and call themselves wizards.

But >Piblicus’s Great and Tremendous Magic Missile> was very different from the normal Magic Missile.

It quickly gathered and squeezed together a huge amount of magic power, much more than the normal Magic Missile.

It was a simple idea, but using blood magic to make it stronger meant that the wizard didn’t need to know complex things.

The same was true for someone like Lee Han, who had a lot of magic power.

Lee Han thought this spell was useful and studied it carefully.

Of course, he didn’t think he would use it in a real fight without practicing even once…

Creak.

There was a strange sound as the magic power squeezed together and became unstable.

Lee Han was confused.

‘What’s happening?’

At first, he thought the spell had failed. But it hadn’t.

The squeezed magic power was still moving the way Lee Han wanted it to.

It felt like it would explode at any moment!

‘…!’

Lee Han realized something.

The word ‘explode’ in the spell.

Normally, a Magic Missile should ‘be shot’ or ‘be launched’.

But ‘explode’?

That meant…

‘This Magic Missile wasn’t meant to be shot at all!’

It was a spell that purposely squeezed a huge amount of magic power to make it unstable, then blew it up at close range!

There was no way such an unstable Magic Missile could stay together and fly.

This spell had completely given up on being launched from the start.

Lee Han cursed the blood magic users and focused his mind.

Giving up on the spell now would be suicide.

Now that he was here, he had no choice but to control the explosion!

‘Control it.’

Bickelntz, who was running forward, saw the explosion of magic power in front of him and was shocked.

To cast such a spell in such a short time?

“Hmph!”

Bickelntz moved magic power through every muscle in his body, making them stronger and getting ready.

It was hard to believe that such a destructive power could be cast so quickly.

While secretly respecting the young person in front of him, Bickelntz knocked Lee Han’s staff out of his hand.

Once he was sure the fight was over, Bickelntz put his sword away and walked towards Lee Han.

“Maybe you are with the Silver Birch Knights…”

Whoosh!

Lee Han pulled out his wooden sword and pushed it forward.

The wooden sword stopped right before Bickelntz’s chest.

Bickelntz looked at Lee Han with surprised eyes, then smiled slightly.

“You still have a long way to go. Making such a mistake…”

He had been so focused on the magic that he thought the fight was over when he knocked away the staff.

Bickelntz easily admitted it.

“I have lost.”

Considering what this young student had shown, he deserved to win.