Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 1190

Just as Sigunting was about to ask Anpagon about the strange smell of burnt sugar coming from under the door, another scream ripped through the quiet hallway.

“Aargh!”

Sigunting jumped, nearly dropping his cup of lukewarm tea. “Did you hear that? That sounded like… Professor Verdus! Shouldn’t we, maybe, go see if he’s alright?” He glanced nervously at the closed door of the Professor’s workspace. The heavy oak was usually covered in glowing runes, but today they seemed strangely dim.

Anpagon calmly took another sip of his tea, his eyes half-closed. “Why would we do that?” He raised an eyebrow, looking at Sigunting over the rim of his cup. “Really, Sigunting,” he said, his voice smooth and a little bit mocking. “If Professor Verdus is having a… *moment*, the best thing we can do is enjoy the peace and quiet out here. Think of it as a lesson in advanced wizarding patience. Besides,” he added with a sly smile, “it’s always better to let a senior wizard sort out his own problems, isn’t it?”

Sigunting felt a flush of embarrassment creep up his neck. Of course, Anpagon was right. Rushing in would be foolish. The right thing to do when a professor is potentially exploding was definitely calm tea-drinking and philosophical thinking. Anpagon, as always, was proving how wise he was.

“This is absurd!” another voice shouted from inside.

“Doesn’t sound like he’s being attacked,” Anpagon commented calmly.

“Blast it,” Sigunting muttered, feeling a bit silly.

Sigunting felt strangely cheated.

He had trusted Anpagon’s silly idea, but it turned out it wasn’t about attacking Professor Verdus after all. He felt strangely cheated.

“Ughhh…” The sound came again.

“That’s… the sound of magic being blocked,” Anpagon observed.

Sigunting shivered. ‘Will I become like that when I’m a fourth-year?’

Sigunting suddenly felt sad as he watched Anpagon figure out the professor’s state of mind just from a groan. He really didn’t want to end up like that – all serious and knowing.

“If it’s the sound of magic being blocked, isn’t that a bit odd? Magic doesn’t just suddenly get blocked,” Sigunting pointed out.

“True. There’s usually some kind of warning sign,” Anpagon agreed, nodding.

Professor Verdus did occasionally go a bit mad because of magic, but there were usually signs. He would often ask students strange questions like, ‘What do you think of this spell?’ ‘Why isn’t this working?’ But there had been none of that this time.

“Could it be because of the assignment the junior submitted?” Sigunting wondered.

“It’s not easy to drive a professor mad… even if it’s Wodanaz…” Anpagon was lost in thought.

A mad junior and a mad professor were both scary. But if he had to choose, Professor Verdus was the crazier of the two. Could an assignment really drive Professor Verdus to such a state?

“Not thinking of going in to check?” Sigunting asked.

“Are you mad? If you want to go in there, summon some mercenaries. I’m definitely not going in,” Anpagon said firmly.

Anpagon was disappointed by Sigunting’s strong refusal. A foolish junior would have been tricked into going…

Bang!

Startled by the sudden noise, the two turned around.

Yookbeltyre, who hadn’t been seen in a while, was staring at them.

“What’s the matter, Senior? I’m busy, by the way,” Sigunting said.

“Me too. Don’t even think about giving me work,” Anpagon added.

“I wouldn’t dream of giving work to incompetent juniors like you, so spare me the pointless chatter,” Yookbeltyre said sharply.

Sigunting, stung by the cold tone, retorted.

“The reason I made a mistake back then was because it wasn’t my major…”

“Calm down. I’m not talking to you. I’m pointing out the mistakes I made,” Anpagon said, stopping Sigunting from making excuses. Yookbeltyre stated plainly.

“I was talking to both of you.”

“……”

“……”

Every student of the Buyeo Magic Academy had experienced being semi-forcibly ordered by Yookbeltyre to do a very hard task.

When they entered the academy as freshmen and got an order from a senior, they would follow it without much thought. And most students would make at least one mistake during that task. How could they not make a mistake when suddenly given a very hard task as a sophomore?

The only one who didn’t make mistakes in those tasks was Wo, the crazy top student.

“So, what brings you here?” Anpagon asked.

“Did either of you touch ?” Yookbeltyre asked.

“……”

“……”

The two were shocked, but they managed to stay calm as they answered.

“No,” Sigunting said.

“Why would we touch it?” Anpagon added.

“Hmm.” Yookbeltyre thought about it. Sigunting cautiously asked.

“Did… did it disappear?”

“No,” Yookbeltyre replied.

“Yes? Then…” Sigunting trailed off.

“It’s tilted about 3 degrees from its original angle. It’s strange,” Yookbeltyre said.

“……”

Sigunting almost screamed.

How could such a madman exist? To remember the exact angle at which an artifact was placed!

“Y-you must be mistaken,” Sigunting stammered.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t make mistakes. Unlike you, Junior, who confuses acceleration and amplification attributes,” Yookbeltyre said coldly.

‘Agh,’ Sigunting cursed inwardly.

Perhaps when Sigunting died in the distant future, Yookbeltyre would come to the funeral and give a speech like this:

-To the junior who confused acceleration and amplification attributes and blew up one of my artifacts…

Whoosh!

At that moment, the spatial distortion sealing Professor Verdus’s workspace disappeared.

Professor Verdus, wearing the saddest and most miserable expression in the Empire, trudged out from within.

“…I really hate to ask this, but is something the matter?” Anpagon asked carefully.

“Do you happen to know how to use a spell called ?” Professor Verdus abruptly asked a random question. The students were all confused.

“I’ve never even heard of it… Is it dark magic? If it’s Ahrak…” Sigunting wondered.

“Then how about ?” Professor Verdus asked.

“I don’t know,” Anpagon replied.

“What do you lot even know!” Professor Verdus stamped his foot as if he was frustrated.

This was completely different from the professor who usually brushed off students’ ignorance with a casual, ‘Of course you wouldn’t know,’ ‘That’s just how you are.’

Instead of being angry, the students exchanged suspicious glances.

Could it be?

“Professor, do you perhaps not know either?” Sigunting asked.

“……”

Professor Verdus bowed his head deeply.

Actually, it wasn’t shameful for a teacher from the Enchantment Magic Academy to not know a difficult dark magic spell right away. He hadn’t been given clear instructions, only some notes from other plans.

But Professor Verdus was not happy unless he knew everything. He felt down.

‘How do you even do this magic?’ he thought.

Student 1: “Professor, I’m disappointed! You always say magic skill is everything, and you don’t even know this!”

Student 2: “Yeah! Maybe you should quit being a professor!”

The students didn’t really care if it was shameful or not. They saw a chance to tease Professor Verdus and they took it. This was their chance to make fun of him. At the Enchantment Magic Academy, you teased your teachers when you could.

Professor Verdus: “It’s because I haven’t had enough time!”

Student 1: “But you told us that only bad wizards use ‘not enough time’ as an excuse!”

Professor Verdus: “Well, if I just get some dark magic books from the library…”

Student 2: “And you also said only weak wizards blame books! Haha!”

Professor Verdus: “…Just you wait!”

Professor Verdus, feeling beaten by his own words, stomped back to his workshop. He was going to figure out this magic, no matter what. The students grinned widely. Even Yookbeltyre smiled a little.

“Oh, look, he dropped this.”

Sigunting picked up a piece of paper that looked like a student’s homework, dropped by Professor Verdus. ‘Surely a professor would remember everything on it,’ Sigunting thought, ‘no need to carry it around.’ Sigunting’s face suddenly became serious as he looked at the paper. Anpagon, curious, leaned over his shoulder.

“Hmm…” Anpagon’s face changed to match Sigunting’s. They were both confused. They didn’t even understand what kind of dark magic this was supposed to be. Professor Verdus seemed to understand it, but they were lost. ‘Is this even Imperial writing? Is Imperial writing always this hard to read?’

Sigunting asked, “Senior Yookbeltyre, can you read this?” They held out the paper to Yookbeltyre. Yookbeltyre took it, glanced at it quickly, and said, “Done. Well, if you haven’t touched anything, I’m leaving.”

“Huh? Wait!” The two juniors were surprised as Yookbeltyre just walked away.

“He’s so cold!” Anpagon said.

“Doesn’t he even care about this?” Sigunting replied.

“I know, right? He’s heartless. Sometimes he’s even meaner than Professor Verdus.”

As the two juniors complained, Yookbeltyre walked away and sent a paper bird to someone.

First reply: “Eyes of Ahrak? No idea! Ask someone from the Ahrak family!”

A very slight hint of disappointment flickered across Yookbeltyre’s face.

And another paper bird flew over.

“!” He hurriedly received it and unfolded it, and the following content was written.

“And since I borrowed Yookbeltyre’s spear for a while, don’t bully the juniors!”

While the older students at the Enchantment Magic Academy were confused, the professors were in shock about something else entirely.

Professor Uregeoreum looked very sorry as he spoke to Professor Yonramo. “Professor Lezh, I’m so sorry. I should have stopped him.”

Professor Yonramo didn’t answer. He was still staring at the space where his student had just turned into a dragon. It was too much to take in. Professor Garcia, who had come because of the rumors, stood with his mouth open. He clearly hadn’t believed it would really happen.

“A real dragon… I can’t believe it,” Professor Garcia finally said.

“Where’s Professor Verdus?” someone asked.

“Who knows?” another replied.

Professor Uregeoreum muttered, “Good riddance. At least we don’t have to see his smug face right now.” He thought, ‘If Verdus was here, he’d be so annoying, bragging about how he knew this would happen.’ Uregeoreum was actually glad Verdus wasn’t around.

“Did someone say… dragon transformation?!” More and more professors arrived, not caring how the rumors had spread. They came quickly, one after another. Everyone was amazed when even Professor Alcasis from the Healing Magic Academy appeared. Professor Alcasis was so rarely seen that some professors barely knew him. Professors Milrei and Kirmin were also there, pushing through the crowd.

“Professor Alcasis! We didn’t expect you!” one professor exclaimed.

Professor Alcasis said seriously, “If a student can turn into a dragon, we need to understand why. Now.”

Professor Garcia and Lee Han, still in dragon form, both looked uncomfortable. Lee Han thought, ‘Are they going to make me do dragon tricks now? They all look so serious.’

Despite the shock, the mood among the professors became quite cheerful. Professor Yonramo, now over his initial surprise, looked pleased. “Turning into a dragon is quite an achievement,” he said, puffing out his chest a little.

“Yes, Professor! You taught him so well!” Professor Garcia quickly agreed, trying to impress Yonramo. The other professors nodded, also giving Yonramo credit. They thought, ‘A student who can do magic like this must have a great teacher.’

“If dragon transformation becomes common,” Professor Milrei said thoughtfully, “it could change summoning magic completely. The dragons from other dimensions are very private, but if they can transform, maybe they will…”

“Become even more separate from normal spirits?” Professor Kirmin finished.

“Well, duh, Professor Garcia. Why would you even ask that?” Professor Milrei said, rolling his eyes.

“Ha, haha. Just thinking out loud,” Professor Garcia chuckled nervously.

Then, Professor Benmalfa stepped forward, his eyes gleaming. “Everyone,” he said loudly, “if Wodanaz, this dragon student, supports Professor Zorzik for headmaster of Einrogard, don’t you think His Majesty would be more likely to agree?” Silence fell over the group.

Then, Professor Uregeoreum spoke up, “Y-yes, you’re right! We support you, Professor Benmalfa!”

“Yes, we support you too!” others echoed.

“Thank you, thank you all!” Professor Benmalfa beamed. As the professors talked excitedly about politics and dragons, the last professor finally arrived.

It was Professor Bendozol. “…Waaaaah!” Professor Bendozol saw Lee Han in dragon form and immediately started crying loudly. The other professors slowly moved away from him. Professor Uregeoreum whispered without moving his lips, ‘Who invited *him*?’

Professor Zorzik, looking impressed, walked over to Professor Bendozol, who was now lying on the ground, sobbing. “Professor Bendozol,” Professor Zorzik said kindly, “I’m also very touched by your student’s amazing achievement…”

“Go away!” Professor Bendozol yelled, without looking up. Professor Zorzik blinked, confused.