Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 50

Fortunately, Ethan didn’t have to be known as ‘Professor Killer.’

Professor Mortoom had gotten up right away.

“…Cough. You all saw that, didn’t you? That’s what a Minor Paralysis Curse looks like.”

Actually, Professor Mortoom was still very stiff.

As soon as he fell, he quickly used his magic to fight off the curse, but it was too strong, so some effects remained.

If the other Dark Arts students who learned from Professor Mortoom had seen this, they might have fainted. It was still amazing for a first-year student to knock down Professor Mortoom with that curse, even if he was surprised.

Professor Garcia knew the truth. Her eyes widened as she watched Professor Mortoom, a look of disbelief on her face. *Did he really just pretend that was on purpose?* she thought.

“That’s a relief, Professor,” Ethan said, sounding relieved.

At first, he was really surprised, but it turned out that Professor Mortoom was trying to show them how the Minor Paralysis Curse worked.

‘I knew something was strange!’

“…You have a talent for curses.”

“Is that so? Thank you.”

“…You have a talent for curses.”

“Thank you?”

Ethan knew it wasn’t good when a professor repeated himself. It usually meant trouble was coming, or the professor was being sarcastic.

‘What’s he up to now?’

Either he really had talent, or Ethan had somehow annoyed the professor.

Knowing the professor was a bit twisted, the second option seemed more likely.

‘Was the curse not as impressive as he wanted? What a shameless professor. If my first curse was perfect, would I be a first-year?’

Professor Garcia spoke up, trying to make the atmosphere less awkward. “As you just saw, curse magic is something that everyone knows a little about, even if they don’t focus on Dark Arts.”

“Low-level curse spells are not hard to learn. More importantly, learning them makes it easier to deal with other curse spells. Just because you don’t learn curse magic doesn’t mean others won’t use it on you.”

Dark Arts had many spells that could hurt people, and they were known to be quick to learn.

It was easy to understand when compared to fire-based magic.

To attack someone with fire magic, you needed to start by creating a flame, and then be able to control that flame and shoot it at the target.

But with Dark Arts curses, you just needed to focus and cast the curse. Everyone knows what it’s like to have a numb leg or a pain in their body.

So, many low-level mercenary wizards who hadn’t formally learned magic would learn one or two Dark Arts curses.

The best way to defend against a magic is to learn that magic.

It was good to have some understanding of Dark Arts, as you never knew what you might face.

Not that you had to learn Dark Arts…!

“Alright. That’s enough explanation… Shall we pair up?”

The students were more interested in curses than expected, even though the atmosphere had been indifferent at first.

They were all still young.

Even though they had heard many bad things about Dark Arts, they were tempted by the idea of an easy offensive magic.

Also, Professor Garcia’s logic that ‘you need to learn a few curses to protect yourself’ made sense.

“Is it like this, swinging it like this?”

“I think so?”

“I heard that curses aren’t just paralysis curses. I heard there are curses that black out your vision, block your breathing, or mess up your balance.”

“Wow… Oh. Are you going to learn Dark Arts?”

“No.”

Of course, just because they were interested in curses didn’t mean they were going to focus on Dark Arts.

That was that, and this was this.

“Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Ethan’s practice partner was Gainando.

The two greeted each other like nobles before raising their wands.

The rules were simple.

One side attacks first.

Then the other side attacks.

The goal was to experience casting curses and being hit by them.

Gainando’s first move.

“Hmph!”

Gainando started to focus his magic and change it into the darkness attribute.

‘Oh.’

Ethan was surprised.

Gainando was changing his magic faster than he had expected.

‘Could he have a talent for Dark Arts?’

It could be a coincidence, but Gainando had done well with other elements, so it was likely he had a talent.

He struggled with light, fire, and water, but he could quickly change to the darkness attribute.

‘Or maybe it’s just so easy that anyone can do it.’

Ethan thought.

Ethan had changed quickly, and Gainando had changed quickly too…

Maybe changing to the darkness attribute was just easy.

Professor Mortoom whispered to Professor Garcia, surprised. “No. That student…”

He thought he had been surprised enough by the boy from the Wodanaz family, but he had found another young Dark Arts wizard who was still quite good, even if not as talented.

While not as good as the boy from the Wodanaz family, he was still the kind of talent you’d see once a decade.

“You’re talking about Gainando, I guess? He does have a talent for Dark Arts.”

“You think so too?”

“Yes. You should encourage him.”

Professor Garcia didn’t stop him. She even encouraged it. This was the opposite of when she was worried that Ethan might focus on Dark Arts.

The reason was simple.

Ethan was good at almost every kind of magic: He had innate magic power, great understanding, flexible and broad thinking, and he worked hard.

Professor Garcia thought that a student like that would succeed in any field.

But Gainando didn’t seem to have any special talent.

So, if he found a field that suited him, he should learn it.

In a way, wasn’t it lucky that he was suited to Dark Arts?

“Be paralyzed! Uh… please?” While the two were talking, Gainando cast the spell. The ending was a bit awkward. Professor Mortoom nodded, satisfied.

‘He has talent.’

Whoosh!

‘Ah. Is this why they told me to experience being hit by a curse?’

Ethan could understand what Professor Garcia had said as he felt the curse coming.

Why was curse magic easy to learn?

And why was it good to learn how to defend against curse magic?

‘Curse magic… had a simple and weak structure.’

Because Professor Volardi had been hard on him, Ethan quickly saw the weaknesses of curse magic.

Curse magic was like throwing a net.

You just made a net of magic power called a curse and threw it.

If the opponent was hit, the curse would wrap around them like a net.

It could be cast quickly and easily without needing to aim, but the magic itself was weak.

Shoot another magic at the curse, swing a sword, block it with a shield, prepare a defensive magic…

These were just the methods Ethan could think of, so there must be more ways to defend against it.

A magic that was easy to block as long as you knew the opponent was casting a curse.

That was why they told him to learn curse magic.

If you learned curse magic a few times, you’d quickly get a feel for other curse magics you saw for the first time.

‘No, but it’s annoying that I’m realizing this because Professor Volardi was so hard on me.’

If curse magic was a net, Professor Volardi’s magic was like a skilled swordsman’s thrust.

It was hard to block or dodge, and it kept attacking even if you blocked it.

Having faced such attacks, he naturally understood this structure quickly.

Because if you didn’t understand it, you’d get hit!

Wham!

The curse hit Ethan’s body while he was thinking. Gainando was happy that the curse had hit.

“I did it!”

“Congratulations.”

“…Uh, but where am I paralyzed?”

“Yeah, where?”

Ethan looked up and down his body, confused.

He didn’t feel any paralyzed parts.

What?

“Did it fail?”

“Maybe?”

“I’ll try again.”

Thinking it had failed, Gainando raised his wand to prepare the magic again.

“Be paralyzed!”

Wham!

The curse flew and hit Ethan’s body just like before.

Of course, there was no change.

Ethan and Gainando put their heads together and started to wonder.

“Could there have been a problem with the movements?”

“I don’t know. The magic power seems to be coming out right. Maybe it’s because I said the spell strangely? ‘Be paralyzed’ is a bit polite, isn’t it? I don’t think that kind of spell is right when casting a curse.”

“I, I see? Then should I try saying, ‘Be paralyzed, you little brat’?”

“…I think just ‘Be paralyzed’ would be enough.”

Professor Garcia had been listening to the two freshmen’s hopeless conversation. She sighed and walked over.

“The curse didn’t fail. Ethan’s magic power is just too high, so it had no effect. Gainando, you did well.”

!”

Gainando was surprised.

“What? That’s what it was? But still, to have no effect at all… Maybe I don’t have any talent for Dark Arts.”

“Is there a need to be so sure already?”

“No, I wasn’t that interested in Dark Arts anyway. If I don’t have talent, I can’t help it.”

Gainando said coolly.

He really wasn’t that interested in Dark Arts.

Why bother with Dark Arts when there are cooler magics?

“Then I’ll take a hit.”

“Alright. Get ready.”

Ethan remembered the professor collapsing earlier.

Of course, the professor had collapsed on purpose, but it was still a bad memory.

‘I need to control my power. No need to gather a lot of magic power.’

Ethan was going to gather the least amount of magic power and cast it right away.

“Paralyze!”

Professor Mortoom was startled.

He cut and shortened the spell.

In magic, the spell was more important than people thought.

Human words had power and greatly affected the wizard’s mind.

So, it wasn’t easy to shorten or cut the spell.

Even with an easy curse spell, he was already cutting and shortening it.

“Aargh!”

Gainando screamed and threw himself to the side. The other students looked at Gainando, startled.

Ethan asked, sounding confused. “…What are you doing?”

“Ah, no. I just did it instinctively…”

Professor Mortoom was startled again.

He felt the darkness attribute magic power in the curse and reacted instinctively.

That was a great talent for Dark Arts.

…Of course, there was no need to avoid it in such an embarrassing way.

The class finished in a friendly atmosphere.

The students had a good time casting and being hit by curses.

Professor Garcia made the students even happier by saying there would be no homework.

“Alright. Did everyone enjoy today’s class?”

“Yes, Professor!”

“Let’s clap for Professor Mortoom!”

Clap clap clap clap-

“Everyone must be interested in Dark Arts, right?”

Professor Garcia thought, *I shouldn’t have asked that.* She already regretted saying it.

“Professor Mortoom, please say a word.”

“Cough. Everyone… I think you’ve learned a lot about the charm of Dark Arts. I can already see a few people here who are interested in Dark Arts.”

The students tilted their heads.

‘Are you interested?’

‘No. Are you?’

‘Of course not.’

“Haha. Who would seriously try to learn Dark Arts?” Gainando said with a laugh.