Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 36

Lee Han took a deep breath to calm down. *He can’t know what I’m really up to,* he thought.

No matter what, a vampire professor couldn’t possibly read Lee Han’s mind.

Taking this lecture alone when no one else is listening to get honey!

“Hmm. If I get caught, it would be so embarrassing to get caught sneaking around like this.”

“I asked if you had any questions,”

Professor Voladi’s head turned slowly, his eyes, which seemed to hold no warmth, fixed on Lee Han.

“Can it be any question?”

“No. It must be a question related to the lecture.”

Wasn’t that obvious?

It wasn’t as if Lee Han was going to ask for advice on how to skip school…

Lee Han thought, *He’s definitely a rules person. Those are easy to handle.*

“Don’t you have any questions?”

“Um…”

Lee Han pondered.

What should he ask?

Professors always said, ‘Feel free to ask questions,’ but if you asked too freely, you’d often get, ‘Why don’t you even know that?’ in return.

There was a knack to asking questions.

Should I start with something basic?

“What is the purpose of this training, rotating this spirit stone orb?”

Lee Han asked with curiosity.

He asked because he was told to ask questions about the lecture, but he was genuinely curious.

What was the point of just spinning this orb around and around?

Professor Voladi tilted his head, a slow, almost bird-like movement. His pale face showed a flicker of confusion.

“Didn’t you read the lecture title?”

“……”

Lee Han didn’t panic.

Professors were always like this!

Like teaching you to write your name, then asking you to write a whole book! *Why don’t you know how to do that already?*

“Yes. I know the lecture title is >Repetitive Learning of Basic Magical Combat>. But… what specific connection does rotating this spirit stone orb have to basic magical combat?”

“Hmm.”

Professor Voladi stopped moving completely. His eyes seemed to glaze over, and he became as still as a stone statue.

Lee Han watched him, a little nervous now.

Had he asked the wrong thing?

The professor remained silent for a long moment.

Just as Lee Han started to think he’d somehow broken the professor, Voladi blinked, his eyes focusing again.

“Wait,” Professor Voladi said, his voice a little slow, as if waking from a deep thought.

“Give me a moment to… organize my explanation.”

After another short pause, he continued, “It is… so fundamental, it is difficult to put into simple words.”

“It is… so fundamental, it is difficult to put into simple words,” Professor Voladi repeated.

He picked up a simple wooden pointer from the desk.

“Think of it this way.

Many wizards focus on powerful, flashy spells.

But in a real fight,” he tapped the pointer lightly against his palm, “sometimes, the smallest, quickest magic is the most effective.

It is not about grand gestures, but about precise control.”

He looked at Lee Han expectantly.

“Do you understand?”

“…No. Please explain in a little more detail.”

“!?”

Professor Voladi blinked, his eyebrows rising in clear surprise.

He seemed genuinely taken aback that Lee Han didn’t understand.

Lee Han thought, *Well, I’ve asked now. Might as well see this through.*

“The current training of rotating the spirit stone orb is training to control projectile-type magic.

As you may have already guessed, even the same >Magic Missile> spell can have a world of difference depending on which wizard uses it.”

I hadn’t guessed at all, but.

Lee Han thought, trying to look like he had.

“A wizard who isn’t used to combat can’t even use magic properly when a fight starts.

They get confused by the chaos, the noise, the danger.

But a wizard who has trained their magic control, who has made it part of their body, can do this.”

Professor Voladi raised his hand, no wand in sight.

A faint blue glow appeared in the air before him, growing quickly into a ball of light the size of a fist.

Then another appeared, and another, until the air shimmered with dozens, then hundreds of glowing spheres.

The lecture hall, which had been dim and quiet, suddenly pulsed with soft blue light.

A low hum filled the air, growing slightly louder as more spheres appeared.

Professor Voladi made a small gesture with his hand.

Instantly, all the spheres shot forward, like a swarm of glowing bees.

Some flew straight, others curved and weaved.

Some were fast, others slower, but all were aimed with incredible precision.

Lee Han watched, amazed, as the spheres converged on an invisible point in the air, then vanished with a soft *pop* sound, leaving a faint smell of ozone.

It was as if he had seen an invisible enemy struck again and again in every vital spot.

The sheer control was breathtaking.

Lee Han realized that magic wasn’t just about power, but about perfect skill.

“The goal of the training is to freely control projectile magic in this way.

Do you understand a little better now?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Professor Voladi nodded, revealing a very slight sense of relief on his face as Lee Han understood.

He had been at a loss as to how to explain it if he didn’t understand here.

So. It wasn’t just that the professor was trying to get paid for doing nothing.

Lee Han felt a little sorry for misunderstanding Professor Voladi.

He had thought he was just opening a strange lecture and trying to get paid.

After listening closely, this training was quite plausible.

Magic wasn’t simply over just because you knew how to cast it.

Just as you wouldn’t say you’ve mastered swordsmanship just because you know how to swing a sword, learning one magic was no easy task.

Can you cast that magic faster?

Can you cast it accurately even in a desperate and confusing situation?

And so on.

Professor Voladi was someone who valued such things.

And this projectile magic control training was also important to Lee Han.

There was one problem that Lee Han was facing right now.

“Professor. May I ask you one more thing?”

“Go ahead.”

“I recently learned the >Lesser Manipulation> magic.”

“Continue,” Professor Voladi said, his gaze sharpening with interest.

“But this magic… I can cast it, but it doesn’t stay fixed after I cast it.”

Professor Voladi’s eyebrows rose further.

He leaned forward slightly, his pale eyes fixed on Lee Han.

“It does not… stay fixed?” he repeated slowly.

“That is… unusual.”

He paused, thinking.

“Normally, even for a beginner, the problem is *moving* while maintaining the spell.

Not… losing it entirely.”

He tapped a long, pale finger against his chin.

“Unless…” He looked at Lee Han intently.

“Unless you possess a… significant amount of magical power.”

“Ah. Yes,” Lee Han said, a little proudly.

“I have been told that before.”

Professor Voladi’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Too much power,” he murmured, almost to himself.

“It can be… overwhelming, especially for delicate control.”

He looked at Lee Han with a strange expression, a mix of curiosity and something else… something almost like… hunger?

“There is a… direct method to address this,” he said slowly.

“A way to… refine your control by… reducing the excess.”

He reached out a hand suddenly, his fingers long and cold.

“It may be… a little… uncomfortable.”

Before Lee Han could react, Professor Voladi’s hand closed on his arm.

A rush of coldness spread through Lee Han’s body, and he felt a strange… pulling sensation, as if something was being drawn out of him.

“Mana Drain!” Professor Voladi said, his voice low and intense.

Lee Han felt the strange pulling sensation stop.

He looked at Professor Voladi’s face.

Even for a vampire, he looked… terrible.

His skin was even paler, almost grey, and his eyes were closed.

“Professor?” Lee Han asked, a little nervously.

“Professor? Are you alright?” He gently shook the professor’s shoulder.

Professor Voladi’s eyes remained closed.

Lee Han shook him a little harder.

Still nothing.

Then, with a soft *thud*, Professor Voladi slumped sideways and fell to the floor.

Lee Han stared at the unconscious vampire professor.

*I knocked him out?* he thought, amazed.

He’d imagined arguing with professors, maybe even outsmarting them, but he’d never pictured… this.

He’d knocked out a vampire professor.

He felt a strange mix of shock and a tiny bit of pride.

“I was going to make it easier to control by reducing your magical power with the Mana Drain spell.

I failed,” Professor Voladi said, sitting up slowly and rubbing his temples.

“Clearly, that was… not effective.”

“That’s… definitely unfortunate,” Lee Han said carefully.

Professor Voladi sighed, a faint, dry sound.

“There is… another way.

Less… direct.”

He looked at Lee Han thoughtfully.

“When you cast >Lesser Manipulation> magic, and it goes… astray, has the projectile ever moved *towards* you?”

Lee Han thought for a moment.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Precisely!” Professor Voladi said, a flicker of something like excitement in his pale eyes.

“Instinct! Even when you believe you have lost control, your instinct guides the magic *away* from yourself.

A powerful, primal defense.”

He stood up, moving with a sudden, unsettling speed.

He gestured towards the spirit stone orbs still floating in the air.

“We will use this instinct.

We will train it.

We will push it to its limits.”

Lee Han frowned, confused.

“How?”

Professor Voladi’s lips curved into a thin, almost predatory smile.

“By giving your instinct something to react *to*.

Something… immediate.

Something… personal.”

He pointed a long finger at Lee Han’s chin.

“Are you ready?”

“Ready for what?” Lee Han asked, a growing sense of unease creeping up his spine.

“For this,” Professor Voladi said, his voice suddenly sharp.

The spirit stone orbs, which had been gently floating, now began to tremble, vibrating with magical energy.

One by one, they started to move, accelerating towards Lee Han’s chin.

In that moment, something primal took over.

Lee Han didn’t think, he just reacted.

His body screamed at him.

“MOVE!!!!!”

There was still good news.

Lee Han was now quite good at handling >Lesser Manipulation> magic.

The bad news was that Professor Voladi was much more of a madman than Lee Han had thought.

I was stupid to trust the professors at this school.

I’ll never trust them again!