Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 510

Professor Milly liked facts and thinking things through, not just feelings. But this time, she felt sure about something, really sure, without needing to check again.

It was unusual for her to be so certain.

‘But how?’

Going into another world, a world that wasn’t real life, was not easy. You couldn’t just decide to do it suddenly.

The creatures in other worlds did not like people who came into their space. Even spirits, who were usually easier to talk to, could become very angry if someone was even a little bit rude.

So, to go into another world, you had to plan very carefully. You needed to know the area, talk to the creatures living nearby, and ask permission from the boss of the place you wanted to go through. This took a lot of time, even if you were very skilled.

Impossible, unless a powerful being from the Spirit Realm extended an invitation!

Lee Han walked on the sea path that appeared in front of him. He felt worried. The air around him felt more and more threatening.

He could see past the sea path into the deep ocean. Strong spirits were moving around, showing off their magic in a scary way. If the sea path wasn’t strong like a wall, they would have started fighting right away.

‘Something’s not right,’ Lee Han thought. At first, he thought the special mark, the sigil, was like an introduction. He thought Ufinu was using it to tell other spirits, ‘This person is okay, even if he has a lot of magic, you can trust him.’

But something felt wrong. If it was supposed to be a friendly introduction, shouldn’t some spirits be nice and welcoming? Instead, the air around him felt more and more angry, and only scary creatures were hiding nearby…

Lee Han closed his eyes and recalled Professor Voladi’s teachings.

If something seems suspicious…

‘Strike first!’

“Arise, warriors of bone!”

Right away, skeleton warriors stood up. These were the skeleton warriors, glowing with the dark magic he learned the day before. They surrounded Lee Han to protect him.

When the spirits beyond the sea wall saw this, they got even angrier. They looked like deep-sea fish. *Thud! Thud!* They banged on the water wall and growled. They looked so dangerous, they would have attacked right away if something wasn’t stopping them.

*Splash!* “Lightning!”

Suddenly, a creature jumped over the wall, water splashing everywhere. It looked like an anglerfish spirit and rushed towards Lee Han on the sea path, spraying water. Lee Han acted fast and sent out lightning.

Even though lightning was supposed to hurt it, the deep-sea fish spirit didn’t stop. It kept coming straight at him. Instead, it shot water at Lee Han.

*Wham!* ‘This is not a normal spirit!’ Lee Han thought. He could feel the power on his skin. This enemy was strong.

The fact that it didn’t run away when it saw Lee Han, and seemed eager to fight, showed it was not just any spirit.

Lee Han quickly dodged the attack because he could sense danger and see a little bit into the future. The water shot past his head and smashed into the ground with a loud noise, breaking it apart. Lee Han made a clicking sound with his tongue. He knew this enemy was much stronger than him.

‘I will never trust a spirit again!’ Lee Han thought angrily. Why was this so difficult, after he trusted Ufinu and came here?

But he couldn’t think about being tricked by the spirit now. He had to stop the enemy in front of him. Lee Han sent his skeleton warriors forward.

The deep-sea fish spirit ate the skeleton warriors like they were tiny snacks.

-?!

But then, one skeleton warrior, not just any skeleton, but one glowing with dark magic, attacked from inside! The fish spirit stopped for a second, and Lee Han used that chance to finish his spell right away.

“Unleash, the lightning of Perkuntra!”

A lightning bolt several times thicker than before struck the deep-sea fish spirit. The deep-sea fish spirit, which had been momentarily stopped by the dark element, let out a sharp cry as it was struck by the lightning.

‘One more time!’

Lee Han saw his chance again. He made a shield of water, and then made one of the skeleton warriors explode!

*KABOOM!*

Even the deep-sea fish spirit, which wasn’t too hurt by the first lightning, was hit hard this time. About half of its body was gone.

Because of all the magic damage from the attacks before, it worked better than Lee Han thought.

But then, something unexpected happened. The deep-sea fish spirit healed itself right away.

“……”

Lee Han was shocked. He knew fighting spirits in the Spirit Realm was dangerous, but he didn’t think it would be this unfair! Creatures from other worlds were super strong in their own places. The deep-sea fish spirit healed itself like drops of water coming back together.

*Squelch-*

The deep-sea fish spirit had been hurt once, so now it was more careful when it attacked. Instead of thinking the skeleton warriors were weak and just eating them, it tried to destroy them by shooting water bombs.

It didn’t need any fancy magic like Yumidihus. Every time a huge ball of water hit them, the skeleton warriors broke into pieces of bone.

*Thud thud thud!*

Now that the skeletons were gone, the deep-sea fish spirit attacked again.

“Arise, warriors of bone!”

-…?!

But the deep-sea fish spirit was still not taking Lee Han seriously enough.

If he was using magic from the Undead Realm, he couldn’t summon the skeletons again right away. He would have to wait. But Lee Han’s skeletons were different. He made them himself each time. He could summon them again and again as long as he had magic.

The skeleton warriors grabbed onto the deep-sea fish spirit from both sides. Even this very angry spirit had to pay attention now. It knew the magic user might make another explosion. But instead of exploding bones, Lee Han did something else.

*Stab!*

Lee Han used the Taggart poison magic he learned from the Ghoul King’s palace. He put it on the tips of the skeleton warriors’ spears. It wasn’t perfect poison magic yet, but it was strong and burned the spirit.

The deep-sea fish spirit made a noise of pain and backed away. It had breathed in the dark magic and the poison. It thought Lee Han was just a beginner magic user, but he was more annoying than it expected.

Bang!!!!!

“!?”

Both Lee Han and the deep-sea fish spirit were surprised. A massive magic spear, like a thunderbolt, was lodged between them.

-What are you doing?!

A merman spirit with strong armor and angry eyes rushed over. The deep-sea fish spirit got scared and lowered its head.

-Why did you attack the magic user who was invited by Ufinu?

-… (mumbled sounds)

-What are you talking about? If he’s here in this place, it means he was invited!

The merman spirit was very angry with the deep-sea fish spirit. ‘That magic user has Ufinu’s mark! Ufinu, who protects the sea and storms, gave it to him so he could come here. If someone comes with that mark, he’s Ufinu’s guest! How could you ignore that and attack him? If something bad happened, Ufinu would be embarrassed!’

“I have a question,” Lee Han said.

-“Ask,” said the merman spirit.

“But if you invited me, shouldn’t you have made sure nothing bad would happen to me here?”

-……

The merman spirit couldn’t answer. He was speechless.

-This is the Hell Sea Corridor. It’s full of angry spirits.

“Where is that place?”

-That is the Blade Abyss Gorge. Even angrier spirits live there.

“Then what about over there?”

-That is the Abyss Sea. The angriest spirits of all live there.

“…Are there no spirits that are not angry?”

The merman spirit looked a little ashamed when Lee Han asked that. He put his big spear behind him and said, -“This place is just naturally where strong and angry spirits live, so…”

“Oh, okay. Can I meet Ufinu?” Lee Han asked. He wanted to see Ufinu. But not just to be polite. He wanted to complain and say, ‘I almost died because of you!’ If his teachers at Einroguard heard him say that, they would have said, ‘He really learned his lessons about complaining properly!’

-Hmm. Where Ufinu lives…

The merman spirit looked Lee Han up and down, thought for a moment, and then shook his head.

-“A magic user like you would be destroyed in a second if you went there.”

“Wouldn’t magical power help?”

-No matter how much magical power you have… No, you actually have a lot. But it’s still impossible.

The merman spirit was surprised, but quickly became serious again and strongly told him not to go. “It’s like when you go deep under the sea, the water pressure gets stronger. It’s the same in the Spirit Realm. The deeper you go into the places where strong spirits live, the harder it is for someone from outside to handle.”

“I get it,” Lee Han said. “But more than that, I want to make a deal with a water spirit.”

-“The spirits here are all angry and might even hurt their own master, so I don’t think that’s a good idea…”

-“Then why did you invite me here in the first place?”

The merman spirit started sweating a lot when Lee Han asked that. Everything he said was true. Ufinu might have just been in a good mood and given Lee Han the mark, saying, ‘Magic user, I’ll give you the key to my place!’ But now that he thought about it, there was no good reason for a young magic user to come here.

-“Ufinu’s actions might seem to make no sense at first, but there’s a deep secret reason…”

‘That sounds like a lie,’ Lee Han thought. He looked at the merman spirit like he didn’t believe him. The fact that the merman couldn’t explain it clearly made it seem very fake.

“Then, can you ask some nice and peaceful spirits from other places, not here, to make a deal with me?”

-“Hmm. That’s a little… It’s hard to get involved with spirits from other places. They belong to their own areas, so I can’t just step in.”

“Hmm,” Lee Han thought for a moment and then asked the merman spirit. “Then, if you could make a deal with me…”

-“…Which place’s spirit do you want?”

Nilia flew on the eagle spirit, going smoothly over the mountains. “Aaaah, I’m sorry! I won’t eat eagles again!” Nilia quickly said sorry, thinking the eagle spirit was mad. But the eagle spirit wasn’t angry. It ran around happily a few times, then carefully put Nilia down and rubbed its head on her.

“…!” Nilia was very happy that the eagle spirit, which could control the wind, had picked her. These eagle spirits were proud and hard to please. They never chose a master who wasn’t right for them. But this one had chosen her!

‘I’m so glad I worked hard as a Shadow Patrol!’ Nilia thought, feeling very happy about making a deal with the new spirit. Then she saw Lee Han’s tired face as she came out of the magic circle and jumped a little.

“Y-you don’t have to make a deal with a spirit if you don’t want to! Right?!”

“Huh? I did make a deal.”

“!” Nilia was surprised by her friend’s answer. Lee Han made a deal with a spirit?

“What!? How!? Did you force it to agree!?”

“Why do you think that?”

“…Oh, never mind.” Nilia’s ears drooped down, and she felt silly. She realized she had been a bit mean to her friend.

“I made a deal by talking to it nicely.”

“I want to hear! Tell me everything!” Nilia thought she should cheer Lee Han up this time. Hadn’t Lee Han and Yoner always made her feel better? Now it was Nilia’s turn to make Lee Han feel good. Nilia got ready to listen carefully and looked at Lee Han. Lee Han looked like he was thinking about how to begin his story.

“So, there’s a territory of deep-sea spirits managed by a great spirit named Ufinu.”

“…?”

“I was summoned to that territory of spirits…”

“Wait. Just a minute.”