Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 182

People often say that bright stars burn out quickly. It was often true for wizards with great talent; their lives were sometimes short.

Wizards with little talent were happy with what they had. But talented wizards always wanted more magic, more power.

Magic was like the sun – powerful and bright, but dangerous.

Magic was like the sun: wonderful, but if you got too close, it could burn you.

“Is there no one to tell me?”

Dirette bit her lip.

The professors at this school were so focused on their own magic subjects.

When a talented new student arrived, they only cared about teaching them *their* magic. They didn’t think about what else the student needed to learn.

By the time the new students realised what was happening…

They would be trapped in a world of magic they couldn’t control, a kind of magic prison.

“Only someone unusual like Professor Garcia could handle that kind of pressure!”

Moreover, now that the midterm period was over, wouldn’t they be learning more magic fields during the remaining period?

Someone had to tell them.

Right now!

“Hey, freshman!”

Dirette took a deep breath and shouted.

“Be careful! You’re being deceived by the professors…”

“???”

Lee Han was taken aback by the shout that suddenly came from behind and turned his head.

Pop!

But there was no one where he looked.

“……”

“W-what was that just now?”

“I don’t know, but it feels like something bad.”

Lee Han frowned. He could feel a weak magic power in the empty hallway, and it felt familiar.

‘This feels like the Skull Headmaster’s magic power…’

Could it be?

With a bubbling sound, the potion in the pot slowly turned a dark grey colour, like lead.

Lee Han carefully turned off the heat.

Now only the final step of the Vitality Bone Regeneration Potion remained.

‘All I have to do is add the freshly picked thistle flowers.’

“‘Why is mine still blue? It should be changing colour!’ one friend complained.”

“‘Mine is still blue too! Doesn’t yours look grey yet?’ another worried.”

Leaving his friends, who were still arguing about the colour of their potions and looking worried, Lee Han looked at Yoner.

Let’s go pick thistle flowers!

“The test will be over tomorrow.”

At Lee Han’s words, Yoner nodded.

Even though it was only for a week, it felt like several weeks had passed.

To have to do this one more time…

“It was really tough.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

“……”

Yoner almost said, ‘Lee Han, did you make things harder for yourself?’

He would have said it if the other person was Gainando, but it was Lee Han.

He was already a friend who was having a hard time.

“Did you think the exams went well?” Yoner asked.

“Okay, I guess,” Lee Han replied.

Yoner looked surprised. “Just okay? Lee Han, you’re usually amazing at everything!”

“Well,” Lee Han said, “I got perfect scores in Black Magic.”

“And Summoning Magic?”

“Perfect.”

“Illusion Magic?”

“Perfect there too… Actually,” Lee Han paused, “you’re right. I did do well. Sorry, Yoner, I just said ‘okay’ without thinking.”

Yoner almost got angry at Lee Han for the first time.

“What’s going on?”

Students were gathered and whispering in the place where the thistle flower field was supposed to be.

Lee Han approached with a puzzled expression.

And then he was shocked.

“…!”

All those thistle flowers had disappeared.

“Did you guys pick them all?”

Lee Han asked as politely as possible.

Of course, just because his attitude was polite didn’t mean his voice was friendly.

The students who were gathered flinched and stepped back at the murderous intent in his voice.

“No, Wodanaz. Someone had already picked them when we arrived!”

“Why should I believe you?” Lee Han said, his eyes fixed on them.

“Think about it, Wodanaz! You need freshly picked thistle flowers! Why would we pick them first! We wouldn’t be able to use them either!”

The White Tiger Tower student grabbed his wooden sword and trembled.

Because of what had happened so far, words like ‘When dealing with that Wodanaz guy, go with at least four people’ were already circulating within the White Tiger Tower.

To think I would have to face him alone like this…!

“That makes sense.”

Lee Han lowered his wand for now. The White Tiger Tower student brushed his chest.

“Wait a minute.”

“Step aside.”

There were messy footprints near the thistle flower field. They were the footprints left by the students who came first.

However, Lee Han paid attention to the footprints inside the flower field. They were footprints he had seen somewhere before.

‘This is…’

Lee Han carefully checked and measured the shape of the footprints.

The Black Tortoise Tower student who saw it asked in surprise.

“Are you distinguishing the footprints of the first person who entered the flower field? How?”

It was incomprehensible how Wodanaz, who was not a hunter, knew how to use such a skill.

Then Lee Han asked as if he didn’t understand either.

“Doesn’t your tower have Nilia? Why didn’t you learn it?”

“…B-because I’m not a hunter?”

“??”

Lee Han gave him a very incomprehensible look. The Black Tortoise Tower student suddenly felt like he had done something wrong even though he hadn’t done anything wrong.

‘Where have I seen that look before…?’

The Black Tortoise Tower student realized belatedly.

That was the look the professor gave him when he looked at him with pity.

‘Why! Why do I have to learn hunter skills…’

“Yoner.”

Lee Han approached Yoner with a serious expression and whispered.

“I know who the culprit is.”

“Who is it? A White Tiger Tower student?”

“No. Professor Thunderstride.”

“……”

Professor Thunderstride moved with a bottle of well-made brandy.

The Einrogard professors who had arrived earlier were scattered and sitting, resting with comfortable faces.

As the midterm exams were coming to an end, the professors’ minds were also relaxed.

“Thank you for your hard work, Professor Garcia.”

Professor Thunderstride found Professor Garcia and poured him a glass of brandy.

The troll half-blood professor, who was among the youngest, received the glass with an embarrassed expression.

“It was nothing.”

“No. Where else would there be someone who works as hard as Professor Garcia?”

Professor Thunderstride sincerely respected this troll half-blood professor before him.

While other professors were immersed in their field of magic, and people like Osu Gonadaltes were indulging in all sorts of evil whims, he was silently doing his job and caring for the students.

If it weren’t for Professor Garcia, Einrogard would have been an even more hellish place.

“Professor Thunderstride, are you almost done too?”

“Yes. The students will submit it tomorrow.”

“It must be hard since the period is long.”

If it were the Skull Headmaster, he would have sneered, ‘Alchemy is just a matter of giving out problems and waiting while drinking, isn’t it the study of lazy people?’ (In fact, Professor Thunderstride also agreed to some extent).

However, the kind Professor Garcia always found the positive aspects.

“You’ll have to keep paying attention to the students collecting and making the ingredients.”

“That’s right.”

In fact, Professor Thunderstride didn’t pay as much attention as Professor Garcia said, but he nodded anyway.

There was no need to refuse someone else’s compliment and make them feel embarrassed!

And there were also parts that were true.

“I had to go to the flower field yesterday and dig up all the thistle flowers.”

“Yes? Why?”

“For the students.”

Professor Thunderstride explained with a slightly excited expression.

Freshly picked thistle flowers needed at the end of the Vitality Bone Regeneration Potion production.

The students all knew the location of this flower field.

But what if all these flowers suddenly disappeared?

Because of the tight period, there was no time to find or obtain new ones.

In the end, the students would have to complete the potion somehow without thistle flowers.

“The potion can be completed somehow even without thistle flowers. The quality will be lower, but they will overcome it with their wisdom.”

“……”

Professor Garcia’s face clouded over.

Should I praise this or not…

‘Wouldn’t it be better to just tell them to make it without thistle flowers from the beginning?’

Why bother giving the students shock and confusion?

“I… Indeed. That seems like a really good method.”

“Thank you. Professor Garcia. It’s affection for the students.”

Professor Thunderstride sipped the brandy with satisfaction.

However, Professor Thunderstride was forgetting one thing.

A student who has raided a professor’s workshop once can raid it twice.

“We’re going to Gaksugwan.”

Lee Han was tired from taking exams all day, but he didn’t hesitate for even a second.

Time was tight as it was due tomorrow morning.

There were definitely thistle flowers on the second floor of Professor Thunderstride’s tower, Gaksugwan.

“If we gather other friends…”

“There’s no time for that, Yoner. Besides, it’s dangerous if there are too many people.”

Lee Han knew very well that this was his second time. The danger had increased that much.

Quietly and quickly.

“…But let’s call Nilia.”

“You thought well.”

Yoner nodded.

It wouldn’t mean much to say ‘I didn’t call you because it was dangerous’ later.

“Um. Let’s call Raetford too.”

“Okay.”

“Asan too…”

“…Wouldn’t it be better to just call everyone?”

“Yeah. It would be better to do that.”

Lee Han gave up and decided to call his friends.

30 minutes later.

Lee Han and his friends wore dark coats and gathered in one place. Yoner suddenly had a question.

‘Don’t they have any aversion to stealing at this time?’

Everyone was so natural…

“Let’s go.”

No further explanation was needed. They had already worked together several times.

Lee Han took the lead.

It wasn’t that difficult as he had been there before…

“!”

What Lee Han saw was the sight of White Tiger Tower students wearing masks and trying to break into the main gate of Gaksugwan with clumsy movements.

‘What is it?’

At first, Lee Han thought that other students taking alchemy had come first.

But after looking closely, they were not students taking alchemy.

Could it be that they were attacking the professor’s workshop in the middle of the night to prevent Lee Han from securing thistle flowers…

‘…That’s unlikely.’

That was too much, no matter what.

“It looks like they came because of another lecture.”

Yoner whispered from behind.

“Another lecture?”

“Those guys are students taking >Basic Dance and Socializing<. In that lecture, there was a rumor that there was a potion in Professor Thunderstride's tower that makes you dance well…" "...!" Lee Han was surprised. First of all, he was surprised that there were more students taking lectures like >Basic Dance and Socializing> than he thought, and he was surprised that they were trying to borrow the help of potions just to dance well.

“You have to solve it with your own strength, why steal it?”

“I don’t think we’re the ones to talk.”

Before Yoner could finish speaking, another group of students appeared from the bushes ahead with a rustling sound.

They were Black Tortoise Tower students.

“Do those friends also take >Basic Dance and SocializingBasic Music>…”

“……”

Lee Han shook his head.

To think that three different groups would meet in front of the workshop in the middle of the night for different goals.

“Stealing is one thing, but is it okay to take the exam after taking the potion?”

“I was curious too, so I asked the professor and he said it was okay.”

“……”