Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 426

Professor Verdus shuffled into the Headmaster’s office when he was called. He blinked, looking at the Headmaster who sat behind his large desk. The Headmaster was so thin he looked like a skeleton dressed in robes. Professor Verdus stared, his face blank. He truly had no idea why he was here.

The Headmaster sighed, a long, tired sound. “Bibly, Bibly,” he said, shaking his head slowly. “How many times must I tell you this?”

“What is it?” Professor Verdus asked, sounding confused.

“Prepare only the very basics for your lectures,” the Headmaster said, his voice weak but firm. “I am not trying to stop your important research. I just want you to teach the students the simple things first. Do you understand?”

“But I prepared everything very carefully!” Professor Verdus answered back, sounding upset.

The Headmaster took another deep breath. He tried to stay calm.

“Usually, when I say prepare the basics, it doesn’t mean making your first-year students do all the work.”

“But the other students are not very smart!”

The ‘others’ Professor Verdus was talking about were his own students, the older students learning Enchantment Magic.

Normally, these older students should have been helping Professor Verdus prepare the lectures and helping the younger students. But things were not normal.

Everyone knew that in the magic school, students were often like their teachers.

The students who stayed with Professor Verdus to learn Enchantment Magic were like him in some ways. For example:

-I don’t know what the professor is doing, so I will make my own magic item.

-The professor is in detention? That explains the empty chair. I guess I will use it.

Professor Verdus didn’t expect his students to respect him. Their relationship was more like wizards sharing a workshop than a teacher and students.

It was actually worse than that. Wizards in a workshop would at least worry if one of them disappeared.

There was no way those older students would help him with his work. If Professor Verdus called them, they would probably ignore him.

“They aren’t not smart; you taught them that way.”

“No matter how I taught them, if they were smart, they would have done well on their own. Look at Wodanaz.”

The Headmaster’s head started to hurt, something that hadn’t happened in a long time.

Professor Voladi thought his teaching was perfect because of Lee Han. Professor Verdus thought the other students were not smart because of Lee Han. It was all very annoying.

These teachers should have been allowed to fail, but they were lucky enough to have a genius student. Now they were acting like they had done something amazing, which was infuriating.

“Just be quiet and prepare the lectures for the second-year students and above yourself.”

“Wodanaz can do it, though…”

“I know. I can see that.”

“But why can’t he do it?”

“I don’t want you making your student do it instead of you, so you can relax,” the Headmaster said honestly.

Professor Verdus looked at the Headmaster, wondering how he could think such bad things.

“Professor, don’t wander off. Do you think I will prepare it myself if you don’t? Quickly, the magic stuff… Oh. Headmaster. What are you doing here?”

“I’m telling him not to make you do the work for the older students’ lectures.”

“Haha. That’s funny,” Lee Han said, as if it was a joke.

The Headmaster saw his reaction and felt a little bad about what he had said.

The students taking Enchantment Magic were surprised by how the lecture hall looked.

Neat stacks of old books were placed on each desk. They smelled of old paper and magic. Magic circles were set up so they could try out magic easily. There were also magic materials and metals for testing spells.

Seeing all this, the students thought,

“Did we come to the wrong lecture hall?”

“But the professor is over there.”

A beaver beastman was not a common sight. The students looked around, confused.

“Wodanaz, do you know what’s happening?”

Wodanaz always knew what was going on. The students asked him, hoping he would know something.

Lee Han nodded. “Today’s Enchantment Magic lecture is not about drawing magic circles. It’s about putting spells directly into things. It’s getting harder, so they prepared extra magic circles, books, and practice materials.”

Drawing magic circles on things made it easier for wizards to prepare complex magic.

Putting magic directly into things by saying spells was much harder.

The wizard had to create the magic structure with spells, step by step.

“I see… Wait. Wodanaz. How do you know all this?”

Well, I am Wodanaz,” Lee Han said with a small smile. “I have a knack for understanding these things quickly.”

“I prepared it.”

“I prepared it, I said.”

“O-oh, okay.”

Lee Han’s words made his friends quiet.

No wonder they hadn’t seen him lately.

‘Is it normal for a first-year student to prepare all this?’

‘Of course not. Even I know this isn’t normal, and I come from a knight family.’

‘But honestly, isn’t this better than what Professor Verdus usually does?’

The White Tiger Tower students whispered, thinking it was true.

Professor Verdus’s style was, to be honest, not good. There was no nice way to describe it.

If Professor Verdus had prepared today’s lecture, the students would have started by looking for the right books, digging through the wooden boxes in the storage room, taking out the wrong magic circle and setting their clothes on fire, and then getting yelled at by Professor Verdus.

“Wodanaz, are you going to prepare the lectures from now on?”

“…What do you mean?”

The White Tiger Tower student had asked with hopeful eyes, but he stepped back when he heard the cold voice.

“Ah, no. I was just… curious.”

The basics always start with the elements.

In every magic school, the basics were often taught with the elements.

The elements were very familiar to wizards.

Could you find a wizard who didn’t know about fire, water, wind, and earth?

Of course, some wizards worked more with lightning and darkness, but those were rare.

“Watch closely. Like this.”

Professor Verdus waved his wand. A plain wooden board became very hot. When water was sprinkled on it, it sizzled.

Lee Han asked, “Professor, you didn’t say a spell.”

“Huh? I don’t need to.”

“…It would be good for the students to hear it, wouldn’t it?”

Professor Verdus made the students angry in a different way than when he was drawing magic circles.

The professor said the students were not good enough to do silent casting. Then he said the spell again.

“Heat, hide your shape and stay here.”

The >Latent Heat Imbuement> spell looked simple, but it was actually very hard.

It wasn’t just about adding fire. You had to take away some parts of fire to leave only pure heat.

And, of course, that heat had to be added to something.

Because they had to do all of this with just a spell, and no magic circle, the students looked stressed.

“And once you’ve done that, then comes this.”

Professor Verdus then explained more spells for adding magic to things. These spells could be done quickly, without using a magic circle.

Professor Verdus liked spells like the >Latent Heat Imbuement> he just showed. He liked spells that were not just about adding elements, but had something special.

It wasn’t because he wanted to help the students learn better. He just hated magic that was boring. That was just his personality.

Following >Latent Heat Imbuement> was >Light of Truth Imbuement>.

This spell was usually used on a wand. It added magic to make light better at finding things.

It was a spell that always gave off light. This light was good for finding secret doors or magic tricks that hid things.

“!”

“!!!”

Scritch scritch scritch—

The students’ eyes widened, and the speed of their quills increased.

Students who had ever gone out at night quickly understood how helpful this spell would be.

Einroguard had so many secret passages and traps, it could easily be called Einro-dungeon.

So much so that if a classroom was on the second floor or higher, students wouldn’t go alone but in groups.

So, students really wanted spells like this.

‘Making the Latent Heat Imbuement spell was much harder work. They don’t appreciate it.’

Lee Han understood their feelings but felt slightly resentful.

The Latent Heat Imbuement spell needed many more things to get ready, after all.

Next, Professor Verdus taught them >Windbreak Imbuement>. This was a spell to protect things with wind. It made a wall of wind around equipment to stop weak things thrown at you and change the path of strong things. He also taught >Essence Imbuement>. This spell added magic to cloth so it could clean poison from liquids. And there were other spells too.

Rowena raised her hand politely. “Sir, Wodanaz,” she began, “about the >Light of Truth Imbuement> spell… when we cast it, should we change the element first, and *then* add the magic, or…?”

Lee Han blinked at her. “Uh, Rowena,” he mumbled, glancing towards Professor Verdus, “the Professor is right there, you know.”

Rowena looked genuinely surprised, her eyebrows arching. “Oh! Right. But… maybe you haven’t learned it properly yet?” she asked, a hint of confusion in her voice.

Lee Han sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “No, no, I’ve learned it,” he said, a little louder this time, “but seriously, the Professor is literally standing right there!”

‘He’s mastered it, then.’

‘He’s mastered it, has he.’

The White Tiger Tower students practicing nearby thought to themselves.

Well, considering he helped the professor prepare it, it would be stranger if someone of Wodanaz’s skill level hadn’t mastered it.

“But the professor is a bit…”

Rowena was quite honorable among the (self-proclaimed) knights of White Tiger Tower.

So, she didn’t say more, but everyone present understood.

“Hmm. He is a bit, isn’t he.”

Lee Han gave up and decided to just explain it.

He had, in fact, practiced it quite a bit while preparing with Professor Verdus, so he was reasonably proficient.

“The way I do it isn’t necessarily the only right way, so just take it as a reference. First, the light element, then elemental attribute conversion, then imbuement. That order seems to work best. The thing to watch out for during imbuement is that, since you’re not relying on the power of a magic circle, the mana consumption might be severe.”

“How severe is the mana consumption?”

“I don’t know. I can’t feel it. That’s what the books say, though.”

“……”

“……”

The White Tiger Tower students stared blankly at Lee Han, but he ignored them.

“So, don’t invest too much mana in the light element or attribute conversion. Spells cast like this are inherently weaker anyway. Think of it as increasing speed and casting time instead of maximizing effect…”

“Thank you.”

Rowena bowed her head politely.

Lee Han’s guidance was clearly effective, as her progress was immediately noticeable. Then, another White Tiger Tower student asked.

“Wodanaz, can I ask you something too?”

“Oh. Then me too.”

“…It’s all well and good, but I need to practice too.”

“?!”

“?!?”

The White Tiger Tower students were astonished.

Even Professor Verdus was taken aback.

“What?! You haven’t all mastered it yet!?”

“…It’s possible not to master it…”

Lee Han barely stopped himself from saying, ‘You little—’

It would have slipped out if only White Tiger Tower students were present.

“Why haven’t you mastered it?!”

“Ignore the professor.”

“You hold back, Wodanaz.”

The White Tiger Tower students desperately placated Lee Han.

If Lee Han got angry, they would be the only ones to suffer…

Asking Professor Verdus would only result in a dog’s breakfast of an explanation…

“But really, what haven’t you mastered? Windbreak magic?”

“I haven’t seen Wodanaz use the wind element, though.”

“Earth element? Wodanaz, ask if you’re curious.”

Salco, another tower student, turned his gaze with curiosity.

“>Latent Heat Imbuement>.”

“?”

“??”

His friends tilted their heads.

Professor Verdus also tilted his head.

“It’s the easiest one, are you braind-”

“It, it might be hard!”

The White Tiger Tower students desperately steered the conversation back on track.

“It’s surprisingly difficult! I can’t get it to stick either! Getting it to stick to materials it’s not supposed to is subtly difficult…”

“It does stick, though.”

“Huh?”

His friends were puzzled.

If you can get the heat to stick in >Latent Heat Imbuement>, isn’t there nothing particularly difficult?

“Then where are you stuck? Tell me, Wodanaz. I can help…”

Lee Han brandished his wand.

The wand then began to blaze from the inside out.

It wasn’t a direct application of flame; rather, the heat became unbearable, causing it to ignite from within.

“…Never mind, I guess.”

“Hang in there!”