Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 5

Magic was in the very air of the academy, a silent hum that tingled on your skin.

It was called many things. Some whispered the word ‘Mana,’ while others, especially in the East, spoke of ‘Ki.’ Scholars used grander names like ‘Aether,’ and priests referred to ‘Holy Power.’ Whatever the name, this power was the source of all magic, the lifeblood of every wizard.

It was the power to change everything. To shape the world itself!

Using magic took energy. So, young wizards, who had less magic, got tired quickly.

But Lee Han stood there, untouched, after seven tries…

“What’s your name, student?”

“Lee Han, sir.”

Professor Garcia, the troll, chuckled softly.

He was pleased that Lee Han had given his own name instead of his family’s.

It was rare for nobles, especially those from great houses, not to mention their family name.

“Come over here.”

“Uh…”

Lee Han approached, feeling uneasy.

‘Should I have acted like I was tired too?’

Everyone else was using magic and staggering, so it was a bit strange that he was standing there perfectly fine.

He wondered if he hadn’t used the magic properly.

“Hmm. Hmm. I see.”

As Garcia nodded, holding Lee Han’s wrist, Gainando whispered to Yoner behind him.

“Hey, is he going to be okay? Trolls eat people, right?”

“…He can hear everything you’re saying, you idiot. Keep it down.”

“?”

Garcia released Lee Han’s wrist and said,

“Lee Han, stay behind for a moment after class.”

“Ah, yes, sir.”

After that, the class ‘Understanding Basic Magic’ didn’t have any more magic practice.

Instead, Professor Garcia sternly lectured them on the mindset of a wizard.

“When you’ve used up all your magic, you must rest. Especially when your skills are still lacking! Don’t be impatient if you run out of magic. With training, the amount of magic you have will increase, and as you gain experience, your magic consumption will decrease. Every year, some new students try to practice magic secretly. They get too eager and push themselves too hard. This is dangerous. Some students collapse and get seriously hurt. Never do that. And you, student. I don’t swallow students.”

“I… I’m sorry.”

Gainando trembled as he apologized.

“Alright. That’s all for today’s lecture. There are other elective courses being held all over the school, so go and listen to them and think about what you want to learn. If you’re not sure, you can come to my office and ask.”

“……”

“……”

The students exchanged glances.

-You can go to the troll-blooded professor’s office and talk to him alone?

-Are you crazy?

…It was that kind of exchange.

“Wodanaz, be careful.”

“That’s right. Trolls are weak against fire and acid.”

“But there’s neither here, right?”

“…Wodanaz, be careful.”

With the support of the other students, Lee Han stood before Professor Garcia.

“Actually, I heard about you beforehand, Lee Han.”

“?”

Lee Han paused, surprised by the unexpected words.

What is it?

“Would it be quicker if I said I heard it from the Headmaster?”

“…!”

Lee Han’s face stiffened at the mention of the mad Lich Headmaster.

Professor Garcia said with a smile,

“Don’t worry. The Headmaster can seem a bit… unusual at times, but he means well.”

“…Excuse me??”

How could that be true?

However, Professor Garcia pretended not to hear and continued,

“Every year at the beginning, the Headmaster scans the new students and briefly tells the professors about them.”

The students didn’t know it, but the Lich Headmaster had a very sharp eye.

The new students entering this school were a motley crew of young men and women who had just come of age in the Empire.

A keen eye was needed to prevent accidents from happening.

-Be careful of that dwarf. Judging by the looks of him, he’s going to burn down the dorm room at least three times.

-Ha! That’s a demon hybrid. Professors who use holy magic, be careful. Don’t get hurt for no reason.

-That’s a pickpocket from the >White Raven> guild?? Professors, be careful. Surely no one will come complaining about being pickpocketed by a student? I’ll throw anyone like that in the dungeon.

Of course, there were many professors who ignored the Headmaster’s words.

The Lich Headmaster had a sharp eye…

But he also had a mad personality to match.

-That orc… I have a feeling he’ll be good with a spear.

-He comes from a family of master swordsmen for generations, though?

-Shut up! Tell him to use a spear.

-……

That Headmaster had said this about Lee Han:

-That one has the qualities of a great fool.

-…??”

Great fool.

It meant very foolish.

Of course, the professors weren’t foolish enough to take those words at face value.

There was a famous saying among the proverbs of the eastern Empire.

-Sometimes, being very foolish looks like being very wise.

It was an old proverb that one should not be deceived by appearances and should seek true wisdom.

If so, the Headmaster’s words meant this:

-It’s hard to tell now, but I see the potential for him to become great later on.

The reactions of the professors present were divided in half.

‘Saying that must mean he has some talent’ or ‘Did he perhaps have a heavy drink with someone from the Wodanaz family yesterday?’

And Professor Garcia felt like he now knew what the Headmaster’s words meant.

‘So that’s what he meant.’

“Um… what did the Headmaster say?”

Lee Han felt a little uneasy.

Being favored by a professor had its advantages and disadvantages.

If you were favored, you could get good grades and letters of recommendation. It was an advantage that couldn’t be ignored.

But…

If you received a certain level of favor, the following conversation would begin.

-Lad. It’s a waste to let your talents rot like this.

-Thank you!

-That’s right. You should come to graduate school!

-Excuse me? I’ve never thought about…

-Do you know how fierce the competition is if you go out and get a job now? If you go to graduate school and get a degree, you’ll get a job with better conditions, and above all, you can delve deeper into the field you love. Isn’t that great?

-When you put it that way, it does seem like it.

It would be better if you met a professor with a good personality.

Lee Han was nervous about meeting Professor Garcia. Everyone said the professor was strange and difficult. Some students even whispered that he was a little bit mad. Lee Han really just wanted to get good grades and make a few useful friends at the magic school. He definitely did *not* want to get noticed by Headmaster Lich, who everyone said was scary and like a skeleton. Befriending the Headmaster and getting involved in strange magic was the last thing on his mind.

Professor Garcia smiled thinly as Lee Han sat down. “Ah, Lee Han. Sorry to keep you waiting. I can’t tell you exactly what Headmaster Lich said… but I can tell you about *your* talent. What the Headmaster told me is something like this…”

Lee Han’s eyes widened. His talent? ‘Is my talent… something special enough to be talked about separately like this?’ In the Wodanaz family, no one had ever said much about his talent. He knew he could do magic, of course. His father, the head of the family, had once said, “Your magical talent is decent enough.” And that was all. So, hearing about it now was a surprise. ‘Is this… bad news?’ Lee Han suddenly thought about starting an alchemy workshop with Yoner. Maybe that was a safer path.

“Lee Han’s magical power is very abundant,” Professor Garcia said.

“…Yes? Is that all?” Lee Han was dumbfounded.

Not ‘there’s a problem casting spells’ or ‘light attribute magic is inherently incompatible, so you can’t use it,’ but simply that his magical power was abundant?

Well, at least it wasn’t bad news…

But was it really necessary to mention it separately?

‘I thought everyone had different innate magical power, and it could be overcome with training and skill? Is it that important to mention separately?’

“Of course, that’s not all.”

“Ah… I see.”

“Lee Han’s magical power is truly, incredibly, exceedingly abundant.”

“???”

“Really, truly, insanely, incredibly, exceedingly abundant, you see?”

“Oh.”

Only then did Lee Han understand why Professor Garcia had called him in separately to speak so seriously.

After hearing the detailed explanation, Lee Han thought.

‘Isn’t this a good thing?’

Magic required magical power.

If magical power was insufficient, one had to draw in the magical power from the surroundings, gather it separately with a magic circle, or use a magic stone containing magical power as a substitute.

But if one had abundant magical power, there was no need for that.

A very useful talent for a wizard…

“It’s become unfortunate.”

“???”

However, Professor Garcia was looking at Lee Han with a gaze mixed with pity and concern.

From that look, Lee Han realized that something was going wrong.

“Isn’t it usually good to have a lot of magical power?”

“Usually, it is good to have a lot. But Lee Han, your magical power is truly, incredibly, exceedingly abundant. Water in a glass bottle is easy to handle, but wouldn’t it be very difficult to control the water of a vast ocean?”

At Professor Garcia’s words, Lee Han realized the seriousness of the situation, and his expression hardened.

So, what he was saying was…?

‘The difficulty of magic is going up like crazy?’

Even learning the very simple spell called ‘Glow’ today, not a single student had succeeded.

Magic was that difficult of a subject.

Drawing out magical power, concentrating it, binding it with will…

All of this required superhuman concentration.

But if the amount of magical power became so enormous that it was uncontrollable, the already high difficulty would increase even further.

“Here. Take these bracelets.”

Professor Garcia placed two bracelets in Lee Han’s hands. They were made of dull, grey iron and felt cold and heavy, like they had been taken straight from a blacksmith’s forge.

“They are bracelets that absorb magical power. They will be helpful.”

“!”

Lee Han was touched by the fact that, being a magic school, they immediately provided a solution.

“If I just wear these, there won’t be any major problems!”

“Huh? No. It’ll still be terribly difficult even if you wear these, you know?”

“……”

“The magical power is so enormous that nothing can really be done. It’s just better to do something rather than nothing.”

Professor Garcia was a relatively kind and gentle person, but he was a wizard.

Wizards never beat around the bush in these matters.

“…Any other advice, perhaps?”

“Hmm… If you use a lot of magic to consume the magical power, it might be a little better. Lee Han, you can practice basic magic training on your own. You definitely won’t have an accident due to magical power depletion.”

“…Thank you.”

In a way, he had been granted a privilege, but Lee Han wasn’t particularly pleased.

‘Ah, should I take subjects that don’t involve using magic?’

It was a magic school, but there weren’t only subjects that involved using magic.

Alchemy, for example, involved less use of magic.

Lee Han, having left the professor’s room, felt his head growing heavy with thought.

‘If I don’t choose my path well from the first year and manage my grades properly, I’ll regret it when I graduate later…’

“You’ve come out alive!” Gynan Do and Yoner were waiting below the stairs.

Gynan Do, genuinely worried, scanned Lee Han up and down.

“What are you looking at?”

“I’m checking to see if there are any bite marks from the professor,” Yoner said.

Lee Han stared at Gynan Do as if he were absurd.

‘Well, seeing the skeletal Headmaster, it’s strange not to suspect the professor.’

“What did you hear?” Yoner asked curiously.

Lee Han shrugged. “They told me to practice magic a lot.”

“How dare they…!” Gynan Do was angry as if it were his own problem.

To dare tell a scion of a great family to practice magic a lot.

What an impudent thing to say!

‘If he gets this angry from hearing that, is he going to challenge the professor to a duel if he fails a test and has to retake it later, this guy?’

“Forget about my stuff. I want to check out some elective subjects before the next mandatory subject. Do you have any subjects in mind?”

“For me, it’s naturally alchemy,” Yoner replied.

Gynan Do scoffed, adjusting his robes importantly. “Alchemy? Really, Yoner? That’s for people who can’t handle *real* magic. Stick to spells, like a proper wizard.”

“……”

Lee Han could clearly see it. Yoner’s fist clenching!