Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 121

The talking book, as if it suddenly understood what it had said, started to make excuses.

“Of course, I didn’t mean for you to keep getting hurt. I just meant for you to visit often.”

“Ah. I see.”

Leehan felt less worried and opened his pouch.

Inside were hard, rock-like fragments.

“Griffin gallstones.”

“Oh…!”

Leehan thought back to the books he had read.

According to the alchemy books, griffin gallstones were certainly…?

“Do they have a powerful effect on mana recovery?”

“Indeed. You know your stuff.”

Leehan was disappointed.

‘Not very useful.’

He had already learned in Professor Wooregeoreum’s class that mana recovery potions had little effect.

A mana reduction potion, perhaps, but mana recovery…?

The talking book was surprised by Leehan’s reaction.

Not knowing what it was would be one thing, but knowing and reacting like that made no sense.

Unless you were raising griffins yourself…

“They’re precious, you know? Real griffin gallstones.”

“Thank you. But I haven’t really had a shortage of mana…”

“Ah.”

The talking book finally understood Leehan’s reaction.

It realized that a freshman with that much mana would never feel a shortage.

“Hmm… I do know a few demons with the ability to absorb mana. But they’re too dangerous to introduce you to.”

“I appreciate the thought.”

Leehan said this as he subtly stepped back.

As a demon summoned by the Skull Headmaster, it didn’t seem wise to get too close.

“Please come back soon! We can chat more about Skull Castle!”

The talking book, not noticing Leehan’s thoughts, fluttered its pages in farewell.

Deuregyu said admiringly.

“Even though you’re a demon god summoned and trapped by the headmaster, you’re so kind to Leehan. Leehan, he must recognize your abilities.”

Demons, too, are bound to favor those with talent.

That must be why he was being so kind to Leehan.

“I think it’s a little different…”

But to Leehan, the conversation they just had was far from that.

That was…

‘Probably because there’s no one else to badmouth the Skull Headmaster with.’

Who else would badmouth the Skull Headmaster?

There weren’t many who could.

Thinking about it that way, Leehan suddenly felt a little sorry for the talking book.

Being stuck with the Skull Headmaster must be awful!

Basic Imperial Geometry and Arithmetic.

Just as mathematics was the foundation of all sciences, this lecture was also very important.

From calculating mana to creating magic circles, to developing new spells, as the level of magic increased, it became impossible to solve things with intuition and senses alone.

As such, the students had to recognize the importance of this lecture and study hard, but…

‘Did he cast a sleeping spell?’

Leehan looked around.

The students were already wiped out. Gainan was nodding off, snoring softly.

The only ones still awake were Asan (who was stabbing the back of his hand with a quill), Adenarte (expressionless, but Leehan had seen the princess cast a spell on herself to stay awake), and Yoner.

Leehan took out a coffee.

When Leehan handed the coffee to Yoner, Yoner took it like it was the most precious thing and sipped it slowly.

“I’m so sleepy…”

Leehan nodded.

It felt like the air in the lecture hall was thinning.

Yoner, having finished doodling by drawing a water bottle on a shape, turned her head to refresh herself.

For some reason, Leehan seemed even more upright than usual.

‘He must have stayed up all night?’

“Aren’t you sleepy?”

“One cannot sleep during a sacred lecture… Yoner.”

“????”

Yoner was taken aback by her friend’s sudden strange words.

What’s wrong?

‘I have to make a good impression.’

Leehan glared.

To be honest, the professor’s voice made even Leehan, with his iron will, sleepy.

The voice, with its unique rhythm, made people sleepy as if it were hypnotizing them.

If he didn’t know the professor’s identity, he would have suspected him of being a master of mental magic.

Alpen Knighton.

The professor in charge of Basic Imperial Geometry and Arithmetic, and originally a high-ranking imperial administrator.

An imperial official who had tried to cut the research budget of numerous wizards, earning various grudges!

He had made so many cuts that the professors at the magic school still held grudges.

But Leehan was different.

‘I have to make a good impression…!’

If he was a high-ranking imperial administrator, that was one of the best positions in the empire.

There was no way someone sitting in such a position would have no connections.

What if he made a good impression on such a professor?

-Wodanaz, my boy. Talents like you are what the empire needs. Come to the empire after you graduate! I’ll recommend you.

-Thank you, Professor!

The kind of master-disciple relationship where they build affection and resentment together in the workshop, compared to a simple recommendation and never seeing each other again, was the true master-disciple relationship that Leehan wanted.

To do that, he had to make a good impression on Professor Alpen Knighton.

‘But he really doesn’t seem to care about the students.’

Leehan thought about it.

Professor Alpen Knighton was typically the type of person who thought, ‘I’ll go my way, so you guys follow along.’

Whether the students followed the lecture or not, he did his job.

He was the type who was very satisfied with himself, making him even more difficult.

‘He’s similar to Professor Volardi, but difficult in a different way.’

Professor Volardi wasn’t uninterested in the students, or rather, the student.

It was a problem because he was too interested.

Professor Volardi wanted students to learn, but he expected them to understand very quickly, maybe too quickly.

“What are you worrying about?”

“I was wondering how to get into the professor’s good graces.”

“…Isn’t it enough??”

Yoner asked in a surprised voice. Leehan asked back, puzzled.

“What’s enough?”

“It’s not bad to get attention from the professors, but if you get too much, it seems like it’ll be hard on you…”

Yoner cautiously advised.

Before entering the school, she never imagined she would be giving this kind of advice to a friend.

Don’t get too much attention from the professors. What kind of advice was that?

But looking at this boy from the Wodanaz family now, she couldn’t help but give this advice.

I’m seriously worried!

“It’s okay, Yoner. This much is fine. And Professor Alpen Knighton is different from the other professors.”

“Okay… I won’t stop you if you’re okay with it…”

Yoner felt uneasy for some reason.

Why did she feel like her friend was digging his own grave?

“…That’s all for today. Remember this equation. It will be necessary when calculating mana.”

Meanwhile, Professor Alpen finished the lecture.

Gainan, who heard ‘that’s all’ in his sleep, miraculously raised his head.

“Is it over? Is it over??”

“Then, let’s have a short quiz now.”

“…It’s over…”

Gainan realized it was over in a different sense and grabbed his head.

Looking around, all the students who had been collapsed until just now had come to their senses and were despairing.

“Lucky you.”

“What’s lucky?!”

Gainan was shocked by Leehan’s muttering.

Had his friend gone crazy while he wasn’t looking?

Leehan ignored Gainan and thought.

‘I’ll definitely get into Knighton’s good graces with this quiz.’

He couldn’t afford to lose to the freshmen in this lecture hall in mathematics, if nothing else.

He would definitely show something!

Flutter-!

A distance was created between the students, and test papers began to appear in front of them.

Leehan lightly tapped the side.

A transparent barrier summoned by Professor Alpen was blocking the space. When he cast his gaze, his vision blurred.

‘Cheating will be difficult unless you know magic.’

It seemed like learning magic also meant learning how to get around it.

As Leehan was thinking, he heard the professor’s voice.

“You may submit and leave once you have solved everything.”

‘I figured.’

“You may not leave if you have not solved everything.”

“…?”

Leehan almost missed it because it was added so naturally.

But listening to it, something felt strange.

‘You can’t leave if you don’t solve everything?’

The very act of saying something so obvious separately felt a bit strange.

Whether Leehan was the only student who thought so, someone raised their hand and asked.

“Professor. Are you saying that we can’t leave until we fill in all the blanks?”

“That’s right.”

“Phew.”

The students were relieved. Until the professor’s next words fell.

“…With the correct answers.”

“Uh… What happens if the answer is not correct?”

“You’ll have to solve it until you fill it in with the correct answers, I suppose.”

Professor Alpen stared at the student as if they had asked a trivial question.

The faces of the students who realized the situation turned pale.

‘We can’t leave until we get everything right??’

‘Right now… uh…’

The students instinctively turned their heads to look out the window.

They were planning to enjoy the rest of the afternoon and evening once this lecture was over, but suddenly the story had changed.

It was impossible to know exactly how many hours Professor Alpen would keep them for…

‘Surely he won’t lock us up until night?’

‘Don’t you still not know this school?’

‘He wouldn’t lock us up until tomorrow, would he…?’

Scritch scritch!

Leehan started moving his quill like crazy.

Now it wasn’t a question of whether he could get into the professor’s good graces or not.

It was a question of whether he could get out of the lecture hall or not.

‘I’ve roughly solved everything…’

Leehan was lost in thought as he looked at the circles on the test paper.

Because it was a magic test paper, a circle appeared each time he got the correct answer.

But the last question was holding Leehan back.

One day, Skull Castle received 3892 imperial gold coins from the emperor to build the Imperial Vilteron Ballroom. The magic used in the Vilteron Ballroom at this time is as follows…

(Omitted)

…When these magics and potions were used, how many imperial gold coins did Skull Castle have left?

‘No matter how I think about it, 720 is correct.’

Leehan couldn’t understand.

He checked the magic circles several times, checked the amount of potion used in the magic circles, and checked the labor costs involved in the production…

Even after doing the calculations, the answer did not change.

Why?

Looking around, some friends had caught up with Leehan, put down their quills, and were staring intently at the last question.

Everyone was stuck on the last question together.

‘Was there something we originally knew that we had to use instead of solving it with the information given in the problem? Is it a problem that can be solved with a different idea?’

Leehan thought about it.

Skull Castle is the Skull Headmaster’s castle.

If the Skull Headmaster received gold coins, would he have left them and returned them to the emperor?

‘I don’t think so.’

Leehan, who was lost in thought, wrote ‘0’ on the answer sheet without much thought.

There was no penalty for getting it wrong, so he thought he would just try it out.

Swish-

However, a circle was drawn on the test paper. Leehan was shocked.

‘What the…??’

Professor Alpen also realized that Leehan had solved everything and turned his gaze.

“Faster than I thought. Well done. Full marks, Mr. Wodanaz.”

He received the praise he wanted so much, but Leehan was not happy. Rather, he was confused.

“Pro… Professor.”

“Why?”

“May I ask about the last question?”

“Ah.”

Professor Alpen said with a slight smile on his stern face.

“I guess it was fun. I wanted to give the students who were tired of the exam a laugh.”

“…Oh…”

Leehan wondered if he should change his plan to get into the other person’s good graces.