Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 224

Anyway, from now on, try going in alone… Listen to everything before you leave!

As Lee Han strode away, the Skeleton Headmaster grumbled and shouted.

“Please understand, Headmaster. I heard he defeated all those Shadow Wraiths. He must be exhausted.”

Professor Garcia arrived late and took Lee Han’s side, making the Skeleton Headmaster so angry he could barely speak.

“You don’t even know…! You say that because you didn’t see it yourself…! Professor Garcia, do you know how easily he caught them?”

“Is there such a thing as easy or difficult when it comes to defeating monsters? It’s all equally hard.”

Sometimes, the most obvious things are the most irritating. The Skeleton Headmaster was speechless.

But he really did catch them easily…

“Alright, everyone, go inside and rest. You’ve worked hard. Lectures will start tomorrow, so until then…”

The students, exhausted, looked slightly touched by Professor Garcia’s warm words.

“…you can rest by reading the books you brought.”

The students’ faces fell.

“How is that resting…?” one of them muttered.

“?” Professor Garcia didn’t understand the students’ reactions.

The Skeleton Headmaster nodded with a pleased expression.

“Professor Garcia is right. Everyone, go back and rest by reading books.”

“Did I… say something strange?”

“Nothing at all. You did very well, Professor Garcia.”

Despite their resentment, the students returned to their towers and took turns reading.

“Gasp! Lee Han, did you know this? There are minerals called fake gold. Alchemists used to make this and sell it as gold?” Guinando asked, surprised.

Lee Han and Yoner answered at the same time.

“You can’t do that anymore.”

“There are too many ways to check now.”

“I see. Wait. How do you two know so much about it?”

At Guinando’s question, the two looked away quickly, pretending to be very interested in their books.

‘The amount of studying is increasing.’

Looking at the new books they had brought from the library, they were newly aware of how much they had to study.

The students were each copying books according to the path they wanted to take, and Lee Han was…

“Wodanaz, drink this.”

“Wodanaz, eat this.”

“…Why are you giving me these?”

“Just, because? I was helped a lot in the library! So!”

Whenever his friends saw the pile of books in front of Lee Han, they would give him a snack or a drink as they passed by. No matter how much of a Wodanaz he was, they couldn’t help but worry about the amount of books.

‘It’s sadly comforting that, among the books I have, the ones written by Headmaster Skeleton and Professor Voladi are the kindest.’

Lee Han thought to himself as he scanned the books. It was really like that, no joke.

Basically, magic books didn’t neatly summarize only the key points in an easy-to-understand manner. They were full of metaphors, slang, and codes that only the wizard himself knew, so interpreting them, comparing them, and figuring them out was all work.

In that respect, the black book of the Skeleton Headmaster, who directly taught him (though semi-forced), and the lightning magic/blood magic books of Professor Voladi, which accurately wrote down the key points, were definitely good books.

‘Considering Professor Voladi’s personality, I need to make progress with these books as quickly as possible.’

Given Professor Voladi’s personality, it wouldn’t be strange if he suddenly launched an unreasonable attack, saying, ‘You’ve mastered magic A, right? You haven’t? Then master it now.’

It was better to master it in advance if he didn’t want to get beaten up for no reason.

‘Is the next magic a combination of lightning element and enchantment magic… Is blood magic a shockwave type? Surprisingly normal.’

Lee Han, who had only intended to check for a moment, suddenly came to his senses.

Time was disappearing in an instant.

‘First, I need to read the books for the lectures I’ll be taking next.’

Knock knock knock-

” ?”

The sound of someone knocking on the lounge door was heard.

The students of the Blue Dragon Tower already knew from experience that someone knocking on the lounge door in the middle of the night was not a good sign.

“…Who is it?”

Knock knock knock-

“……”

“…Let’s decide who opens it with rock-paper-scissors.”

The friends who were nearby gritted their teeth and played rock-paper-scissors.

And Guinando opened the door with a sad expression.

“Surely the Headmaster wouldn’t send another strange thing to our door…”

“Aaaargh! Undead!!!”

“I knew it! I knew it would be like this!”

The students jumped up from their seats and threw their books. And they tried to knock over the table to create a barricade.

-I have come to deliver snacks on the Headmaster’s orders.

“……”

“…D-Don’t be fooled. There might be a trap inside the snack basket.”

But there really wasn’t any trap inside the basket.

The undead sent by the Skeleton Headmaster put down the basket filled with freshly baked bread and white rice cakes with red bean filling and turned around without hesitation.

-Then, study hard.

“T-Take care going back?”

“Wait.”

Lee Han stopped the undead from leaving.

“How can we believe that these snacks aren’t a trap?”

“Wodanaz. Surely that’s not the case, right?”

“Even so, would he set up a trap even in the snacks?”

In fact, Lee Han wasn’t suspicious of the snacks themselves.

Rather, he had other intentions.

‘I’ll stall for time and try to talk to them.’

What he had felt while dealing with the warehouse keeper and the spire keeper last time was that the Skeleton Headmaster’s minions knew a lot more than expected.

If he could get even a hint of the evil plan that the Skeleton Headmaster was setting up, it would be a great help.

To do that, he had to find some fault and get the other person to open their mouth.

“Answer me. How can we believe that these snacks aren’t a trap?”

-As expected, you’re quick-witted!

The undead exclaimed as if impressed, then chanted a spell. Then, a thick fog filled the lounge so much that they couldn’t see an inch ahead.

The students coughed and were horrified.

“R-Really?!”

“Wodanaz, how did you know?”

-Do you think first-year students can stop me?

The undead skillfully stirred around and immediately tried to run out the entrance.

“Flash!”

But Lee Han’s spell was cast first. The undead was startled by the lightning that sharply pierced the entrance.

‘How?’

The smokescreen that the undead had spread now was a magical cloud of smoke that couldn’t be seen through.

Even more so for a first-year student.

Even if the other person was a talented individual who was praised by their master, they were still young, unpolished gems.

But how?

“Flash, flash, flash!”

Lee Han fired lightning without hesitation. The area around the main entrance of the lounge was smashed by the continued barrage of spells.

Only then did the undead realize.

‘This guy!?’

Lee Han wasn’t checking the undead’s location and casting spells now.

He was remembering the location before the undead cast the spell and pouring a barrage around it.

It was amazing that he remembered the location in that short amount of time, and it was also amazing that he believed it and fearlessly spammed magic.

The undead thought that the boy wasn’t praised for nothing.

‘But now that I’ve been caught, it’s over.’

In this situation, being caught with his intentions meant that it would inevitably lead to defeat.

Passing through the students of the Blue Dragon Tower who were coughing in the cloud of smoke, the undead approached Lee Han.

“Wodanaz! What should I do…”

“Everyone, don’t move and stay still!”

Screams and shouts filled the air because they couldn’t see ahead.

Chaos itself.

It was a very good situation for the undead.

“Wodanaz!”

The undead cast a spell to change his voice.

A voice similar to that of the Blue Dragon Tower students came out. They had no choice but to be deceived.

“Wodanaz, I’ll go help you!”

“I told you to stay still!”

“Wodanaz!”

Despite Lee Han’s warning, the undead shouted in the student’s voice and approached.

He was planning to subdue Lee Han as soon as he got close and leave leisurely.

Surely that first-year boy wouldn’t be able to tell that the undead was approaching.

But the undead was mistaken about one thing.

Even if it was a friend, Lee Han would mercilessly…

“Wodana… Ack!”

Wham!

…throw a punch.

Surprisingly, a punch flew right away. The undead, hit by the punch imbued with magic, was blocked from casting a spell due to the impact.

-Cough…

‘What?’

Lee Han had thrown a punch as soon as someone approached him.

But the sensation he felt at his fingertips was strange.

A sensation as hard as bone.

At that moment, Lee Han immediately realized who the other person was.

Combat experience and senses that had gone through all sorts of situations derived the correct answer even in this situation.

‘It’s an undead!’

It was clear that the undead had secretly approached.

“Surrender!”

Lee Han shouted and threw a punch. He released magic as if going berserk, prepared to waste magic power.

At the same time, he kicked the invisible opponent’s leg as it was. The magic imbued with the newly learned mysteries of absorption (吸) broke the opponent’s balance.

“I said surrender!”

Thwack! Thwack thwack thwack!

“Surrender!”

Thwack thwack thwack thwack thwack!

“If you don’t surrender…”

As he threw punches like that, the cloud of smoke cleared.

The undead was completely beaten to a pulp and sprawled on the floor.

-Give… me a chance… to speak… to surrender…

This first-year was stronger in close combat than he thought.

“So what happens if you eat that?”

The undead, surrounded by the Blue Dragon Tower students who were making fierce expressions, answered in a dejected voice.

-That’s…

“A transformation curse? Is the use of magic prohibited? Are we moved to another place? Like a punishment room?”

Lee Han’s friends were all impressed by his sharp guesses.

He noticed the undead’s trap earlier, and Wodanaz’s observation skills were truly superhuman.

‘How did he figure it out?’

‘That’s what I’m saying.’

The undead was also curious about that.

He was curious about how he knew that the snack was a trap, and he was also curious about how he knew that the undead was approaching.

How on earth?

“Since you can’t answer, it must have been an even more evil poison.”

-No… If you eat it, you’ll sleep soundly.

“…Huh? That’s all?”

-Because there are lectures with pop quizzes tomorrow…

“……”

“……”

The students’ expressions hardened.

It was surprising that there were pop quizzes tomorrow, and it was also surprising how silly the Skeleton Headmaster was to personally put sleeping pills in the snacks and send them.

‘I should never eat the snacks that the Headmaster gives me in the future.’

“Hey. It’s not a big deal after all,” Guinando said, sounding disappointed.

He thought there would be a terrible curse or poison, but all it did was make them sleep soundly.

“What nonsense are you talking about, Guinando? Pop quizzes are a serious matter.”

“That’s right. That’s the worst trap.”

“R-Really?”

When his friends with good grades became serious, Guinando grumbled inwardly.

As if exams are that important!

The undead, having finished speaking, adjusted his broken bones. Lee Han felt a little sorry and apologized.

“I’m sorry.”

-It’s nothing. It doesn’t hurt.

He was still soft-hearted like a first-year. The undead waved his hand as if he was okay and tried to get up.

Thud-

But Lee Han stopped him from getting up.

-…I have many places to go now. Can you let me go?

“What lectures are you having a pop quiz on tomorrow?”

-It’s too much to tell you even that…

Lee Han raised his wand.

It meant that he would attack first before the other person could cast a spell.

The undead canceled what he had just thought about him being soft-hearted.

‘What a vicious guy…!’

Is he really a first-year?