Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 192

Professor Lightningfoot looked at the Blue Dragon Tower students. They seemed confused. “Yes?” he asked.

“What are you talking about?” one student replied. The students stared at him, as if they didn’t understand. “But… we *are* friends!” one of them said. This made Professor Lightningfoot even more surprised.

“Look! It’s shaking!” another student pointed out.

“Really? I thought it was just cold,” said a third student, sounding unsure. The students looked at the snow lizard, then back at Professor Lightningfoot, still puzzled.

Professor Lightningfoot thought to himself. Making students obey by scaring them could work for training. In emergencies, you don’t have time to be nice. You just need them to listen, even if they are afraid. But this wasn’t an emergency.

Also, if he trained the lizard by fear, wouldn’t it run away as soon as Lee Han left? He gave them the lizard to help with the blizzard. Losing it in one day would be just silly.

“Be friends with it, like the Black Turtle Tower students! Stop frightening it!” Professor Lightningfoot said, raising his voice a little.

“But… we thought we *were* being friendly,” one student mumbled, confused. “Yeah, weren’t we friends?” another student echoed. Even as the students asked, the snow lizard let out a small whimper, its body still shaking. It quickly blinked its eyes, looking very scared.

Professor Lightningfoot couldn’t watch anymore. He sighed and called to Lee Han. “You, come here.”

“It’s not my fault, you know…” Lee Han said, walking over.

“I know,” Professor Lightningfoot replied. “But sometimes, things just don’t make sense.”

Professor Lightningfoot understood it wasn’t Lee Han’s fault. The snow lizard was just very sensitive to magic and got scared easily, even just by Lee Han coming near. It was just the way things were. So, Lee Han had to stay away from the lizard.

“I’m sorry,” Lee Han said. “Next time, I’ll find a monster that isn’t bothered by magic.”

“Oh really? Are there monsters like that?” Professor Lightningfoot asked.

“…Well, there are some,” Lee Han replied, “but it might take a while to find one.” Professor Lightningfoot nodded slowly. Lee Han looked over at his friends. They were making funny faces, trying to copy how the scared snow lizard looked. Lee Han’s face fell. He looked sad.

Professor Lightningfoot felt a little bad for Lee Han and tried to cheer him up. “Still,” he said kindly, “isn’t it better that you don’t have to do something so silly?”

“Professor,” Lee Han said, a little louder, “I can hear you.”

After class, the students led the snow lizard back towards their tower. *Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham!* The snow lizard, surprisingly strong, pushed through the deep snowdrifts, making a path quickly.

Professor Lightningfoot still felt a bit sorry for Lee Han. He took him to a small cabin. “Don’t worry too much,” he said. “You can’t be friends with every monster. This snow lizard is just very shy and easily affected by magic. A monster that isn’t bothered by magic and isn’t scared would be fine.”

“But aren’t those kinds of monsters very hard to find…?” Lee Han asked.

Professor Lightningfoot nudged his nephew’s leg under the table with his foot. Professor Thunderfoot winced, but kept quiet. “Bring us something to drink,” Professor Lightningfoot said to his nephew.

“Yes…” Professor Thunderfoot mumbled. He opened a jar filled with milk, warmed it over a small fire in the cabin, and then mixed in some tea. The cabin was small and cozy, smelling of woodsmoke and warm milk. Lee Han, looking a little down, quietly took a warm scone from a basket on the table and slipped it into his pocket.

“The snow lizard will only be useful for a short time,” Professor Lightningfoot said. “Once the blizzard stops, we won’t need it anymore.”

“When will it stop?” Lee Han asked. “This week?”

“Um…” Professor Lightningfoot mumbled. “Well…” Professor Thunderfoot added, also sounding unsure. The two professors looked at each other, avoiding Lee Han’s eyes. Lee Han felt a sudden chill, colder than the blizzard outside. *Surely*, he thought, *I won’t have to go to classes in this blizzard for the rest of the semester, will I?*

“It’s something the older students are supposed to fix,” Professor Lightningfoot finally said, slowly.

“…They’re seniors, right? So they’ll solve it quickly, won’t they?” Lee Han asked, trying to sound hopeful.

“Well, um…” Professor Lightningfoot started, then stopped. “That’s…” Professor Thunderfoot added, his voice fading away. The two professors looked down at their tea, not meeting Lee Han’s gaze. Lee Han *wanted* to believe the seniors would handle it, but something in the professors’ silence made him doubt it.

As students got older, their magic skills got better. But they also got more homework and bigger projects. So, what happens when a big blizzard hits the school? Lee Han imagined what the senior students might be thinking: *“Blizzard? Meh, I’m fine. I’ll finish my project first, then maybe I’ll look into the blizzard thing later.”* Or: *“Snow? So what? I have a magic experiment due today. I’ll do that first, then think about the snow problem.”* Lee Han realized there was a good chance the seniors were just putting it off.

*No way,* Lee Han thought. He saw a bad sign in the way the two professors were acting. *Are the seniors really just delaying fixing it?* He knew people often put things off if they weren’t urgent. Lee Han started to get annoyed as he understood the situation. *Which grade caused this mess? And are they being so lazy about it?*

“Still,” Lee Han said, trying to stay positive, “if we just wait, won’t it get fixed eventually?”

“What if it doesn’t?” Professor Lightningfoot asked, raising an eyebrow.

“If it doesn’t…” Professor Thunderfoot added, “…then you might have to solve it yourself.”

“And if you do,” Professor Lightningfoot said, smiling slightly, “the professor in charge will be very impressed with you.”

Lee Han stared at the two professors, completely shocked by their ridiculous idea. *How could a first-year student fix something caused by older students taking an exam?* “How can you even say that?” Lee Han asked, his voice rising.

“Yeah,” Professor Thunderfoot mumbled, “I think that’s asking too much too.”

“You agreed with him!” Professor Thunderfoot grumbled at Professor Lightningfoot. Professor Lightningfoot just shrugged his shoulders.

“But we’re not wrong,” Professor Lightningfoot said. “If the older students are being lazy, then the only way to get it done is for someone else to do it.”

“But don’t actually try to fix it,” Professor Thunderfoot quickly added. “I don’t know what kind of mess the seniors made to cause this blizzard, but it won’t be easy. ” He warned Lee Han, just in case. “I haven’t looked into it closely, but for a problem this big to happen, it must involve very powerful magic. It’s definitely not something a first-year student should try to handle.”

“What do you think of me?” Lee Han asked, a little offended. “Do I look like someone who would rush into something like that without thinking?”

“Yes,” Professor Lightningfoot said immediately.

“Definitely,” Professor Thunderfoot agreed. “…” Lee Han felt a pang of hurt. *Why do they think that about me?* he wondered. *Why do they misunderstand me so much?*

“No, I wouldn’t!” Lee Han insisted.

“Okay, okay,” Professor Lightningfoot said. “I believe you. Now, take some snacks and go back to your tower. Oh, and even back at the tower, keep your distance from the snow lizard, okay?”

“And don’t try to get involved just to get a good grade,” Professor Thunderfoot added. “There’s no need to rush in just to impress the professor. Just wait for the seniors to fix it.”

“Ah, okay, I get it, I get it,” Lee Han mumbled, sounding annoyed. He opened the cabin door and stepped out into the snow.

Professor Doo Dwarf watched Lee Han walk away and muttered to the other professor, “Doesn’t he look like he’s about to jump right in, even now?”

“He certainly does.”

To the two Dwarf Professors, Lee Han seemed like a freshman who would dedicate his life to magic.

Even if Lee Han said no, the professors were sure he would study magic deeply. He wanted to learn so much!

‘Should I have tried harder to stop him…?’

Evening.

The students gathered for the extra Dark Arts class were writing quickly in Professor Mortuum’s workshop.

They were learning the 2nd Circle spell Bone Shackles Summoning, which was an upgrade from the 1st Circle spell Summon Bone Hand.

They also studied other versions of the 1st Circle spell Lesser Paralysis Curse, like Lesser Silence Curse, Lesser Darkness Curse, and Lesser Fracture Curse.

And there was more.

In the poison section, they learned about different poisons besides Arsenic Mist Creation.

In the summoning section, they learned about summoning undead creatures besides just bones.

And this was all before they even learned necromancy or dark arts, which were the most important parts of dark energy.

Gynan Dole looked dizzy, and Raphaelle was holding his head and groaning.

“Ahem. I’m not teaching you to master everything right now.”, Professor Mortuum said.

Gynan Dole’s face brightened.

“Ahem. But if you want to study Dark Arts seriously next year, it would be good to master one or two of these spells. The world of Dark Arts is huge, so you need to choose what to focus on.”

Gynan Dole’s face darkened.

“Ahem… Ah. These idiots had to make the school even colder…”, Professor Mortuum coughed, looking annoyed.

Lee Han became curious and asked, “Do you know why this happened, Professor?”

“Ahem. Yes. It’s because one of my students was involved in the accident.”

Lee Han tried not to show his surprise.

Lee Han didn’t want to look like he hated the senior student, especially since they were in the same class.

“Really… How did such a bad accident happen?”

“The students were just too greedy.”

Professor Mortuum coughed and explained simply that one senior student was studying Dark Arts, another was studying Summoning Magic (specifically, spirits of nature), and the last one was studying Ancient Magic.

“-Guys, check this out! Found a spirit spell in the ruins!”

“-Whoa, cool! Is it any good?”

“-It’s incomplete, but I think I can fix it. If we get it working, we’ll be famous at the Imperial Academy! I need your help, who specializes in ancient magic!”

“-Hmm, looks like Olodel style… and is that Dark Arts mixed in? We need someone who knows Dark Arts.”

“-Dark Arts? You called? Wait, this spell is broken? Why are we even looking at this junk?”

“-Relax, I fixed the broken parts! See? It’s stable now.”

“-Stable, maybe. But it’s weak. Ancient magic needs power! We need to amplify it. Let’s use that artifact, we still have some research money.”

“-Hold on…”

“-What? Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet now!”

“-No, no. If we’re boosting it anyway, let’s boost the dark energy too. It’s already got cold and darkness, but the dark magic is weak. It’s unbalanced, could be dangerous.”

“-Dark Arts guy to the rescue! Brilliant idea! Let’s do it!”

The freshmen were very angry at the seniors they didn’t even know.

Even Imirgue, the best-behaved of them all, had a fierce glint in his eyes.

Was it because of those crazy people that they were suffering from the weekend onwards?

“Professor, please punish them severely!”

“Ahem. I already am. I’m telling them to fix it quickly, but they’re not doing a very good job.”, Professor Mortuum grumbled at Gynan Dole’s words.

Seeing that, Lee Han’s hatred suddenly went away.

Of course, the other seniors might be slacking off, but at least the people involved were definitely being scolded by the professors right now.

Lee Han wasn’t cruel enough to hate such pitiful people.

“Ahem. Well, it wouldn’t be bad for the freshmen to take a look.”

“What do you mean?”

Lee Han, who had started to feel sorry for the seniors, was the first to notice something was wrong.

“The site of the failed summoning. It will be very helpful to see it.”

Professor Mortuum knew very well that there were few students who wanted to learn Dark Arts.

So, he also wanted to show the students how interesting Dark Arts could be.

Of course, it was unknown whether this would really show the charm of Dark Arts…

‘There was a path like this.’

Professor Mortuum tapped on the walls of the main building, tore open the ceilings, and moved through the building in a strange way, going up walls and through ceilings.

Lee Han wanted to memorize the path, but gave up. Seeing Professor Mortuum chanting spells, it wasn’t a path that Lee Han’s magical skills could find.

“What floor is this?”

“W-Well…”

The freshmen had already lost their sense of direction long ago.

‘A chill…’

Lee Han, coming out of the passage, suddenly felt a terrible chill.

It was a different kind of cold than the blizzard outside.

It was a cold where magic itself seemed to be cold and spread out.

And the sounds of the undead were heard.

-■■■■■…

-■■■■…

“Gasp!”

Gynan Dole hid behind Lee Han. As Professor Mortuum waved his wand, the frozen corpses melted away.

“Why are undead wandering around the main building’s corridors?”

“Ahem. It’s because they summoned the spirit incorrectly, and this is what happened.”

If the spirit had been summoned correctly, this wouldn’t have happened.

But because of the incomplete spell, the changes they made to it, and the use of artifacts to make it stronger, what was summoned was more like a wild monster than a spirit that could communicate.

It was a monster that turned the surrounding space into another dimension, even if it just stood still.

Since the spirit was mixed with cold and darkness, it was natural that undead would come from the corridor space where the magic had opened up a strange space.

“Can’t we just go inside and get rid of it?”, Gynan Dole asked innocently.

‘If the seniors were nearby, they would have heard and tried to kill him.’

“Ahem. That’s right. Wait here for a moment.”

Professor Mortuum took his wand and walked somewhere. He looked like a professor trying to scold his bad student.

Lee Han sighed, feeling a little sorry for them, and looked at the other side of the corridor.

The sight of frost and darkness swirling together was honestly amazing.

‘It would be beautiful if it weren’t causing a blizzard throughout the school.’

-Come in…

” ? ”

-Come in… you who desire power…

Lee Han stopped as someone sent telepathy from the dimension on the other side of the corridor.

And then shouted, “Professor! Someone is talking from inside the dimension!”

-…You cowardly bastard!