Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 520

Lee Han stopped talking as soon as he heard Yoner.

“Wait…” Lee Han thought.

“Is that right?”

“They must think I’m older than I am. Maybe they think I’m a third or even fourth-year student,” Lee Han’s mind raced. “They definitely don’t see me as just a first-year, or even a second-year.”

If it was the Skull Headmaster, it wouldn’t be surprising if he prepared a hydra for the third and fourth years.

However, Gainando had another thought.

“Maybe the Headmaster wants us to avoid the hydra, not fight it. What if the test is to sneak past it?”

“That’s… true.”

His friends seemed unsure after he said that.

It was much harder to fight the hydra than to just avoid it.

“Even if we have to fight it, Lee Han will do it alone.”

“That’s… huh?”

Lee Han looked at Gainando, surprised.

His other friends seemed to agree with Gainando.

‘These guys.’

Just as Lee Han decided he would fight the hydra, and his friends would help, Professor Voladi appeared above them.

Lee Han froze.

He thought the Skull Headmaster had prepared the test, but what if it was Professor Voladi?

‘No, that doesn’t make sense. The final exam is giants? Could it be that we have to face giants riding hydras?’

“What’s wrong?”

“Shhh.”

Lee Han put his wand over Gainando’s mouth to quiet him and listened carefully.

Professor Voladi stopped in front of the Death Knights and looked at the hydra.

“Still rough.”

“-Sorry. They’re quite ferocious…”

“Is what I asked for ready?”

“-Yes. We fed them plenty, so it should be ready to extract now.”

One of the Death Knights went up to the hydra and went deep into its huge mouth, as if he was being eaten.

After a few minutes, the Death Knight came out with a small bottle of thick venom from the hydra’s poison sac.

“-Here it is. But what are you going to use this for?”

“As food for the basilisk.”

“-You’re raising a basilisk too?”

The Death Knights looked at each other, thinking, ‘Professor Muze is crazy, like always.’

The professors at Einroguard were usually strange, but the ones without students were even more so.

But the Death Knights didn’t say anything.

It wasn’t their problem.

“-The basilisk will love it.”

“-I hope it eats a lot and bites the students.”

“I hope so too.”

Professor Voladi said goodbye and left.

Lee Han sighed in relief.

‘He wasn’t here for the exam.’

Professor Voladi had just come to get food for the basilisk, not to set up Lee Han’s exam.

Lee Han felt very relieved.

-Keeeeeek!

The baby basilisk showed it disliked the poison with a sharp hiss.

Lee Han was confused.

“Isn’t poison good for you?”

‘Of course, it’s not good for me…’

The baby basilisk thumped its tail, showing it really didn’t want to eat it.

Even if the medicine was good, it couldn’t be forced to eat it.

“I see. Well… I can’t stop the professor if he tries to feed it to you.”

……

The baby basilisk looked sad.

Just then, Gainando made a sound.

“Ugeogeogeo.”

Gainando, with his wand in his mouth, pointed far away.

The Death Knights were finishing up and leaving.

It was a good time to go investigate.

“Let’s go!”

The students quickly opened the door and crawled out.

The hydra, its earlier rage spent, lay sprawled out like a giant, scaly rug. Its nine heads rested on the ground, each one snoring with a sound like a rusty engine trying to start.

Lee Han saw a sign in front of it.

Large Hydra

For 4th Years

Next to it was another sign.

Small Hydra

For 3rd Years

They couldn’t see it underground, but there was a smaller hydra next to it. The small hydra yawned and turned its heads around.

Even with the invisibility spell, the students froze when they saw the awake hydra.

Lee Han knew the invisibility spell might not be enough to fool a monster’s senses.

Lee Han carefully waved his wand.

Even with the invisibility spell, if the hydra felt something strange and flicked its tail, it would be a disaster.

‘Gonadaltes, I’m counting on you!’

Lee Han could summon many creatures. The easiest and smartest one was Gonadaltes, the skeleton warrior.

The skeleton warrior made a noise behind the small hydra, and the small hydra turned all its heads and quickly ate the skeleton warrior.

‘Thank you, Gonadaltes.’

Lee Han thanked his summon in his mind and left the hydra’s area with his friends.

Imirgue, who was taking dark magic with him, asked, embarrassed.

“D-Don’t you get angry if you treat a summon like that?”

Dark magic users often spent time in graveyards and put mud on their clothes to get close to undead summons.

Summons from other dimensions could become unhappy at any time, and even if they had a contract, they could turn against you if you weren’t careful.

So, sending an undead summon as bait like Lee Han was doing was very dangerous.

“No. Gonadaltes is loyal and kind, so it’s okay.”

“……”

Imirgue watched, amazed, as the heads of the small hydra tore apart the skeleton warrior, and then it disappeared.

Is it really okay?

‘To be good at dark magic, you have to be ruthless…!’

Imirgue thought that Wardanaz’s actions felt different from Gainando’s.

Seeing the top student in dark magic act like that made Imirgue want to try it too.

‘Maybe I’ve been too nice to undead summons until now! I should be more ruthless like Wardanaz…!’

Lee Han, sitting above, was confused by Imirgue’s clenched fist.

‘What’s wrong? Is he going to catch the hydra next time?’

Lee Han wondered if he should stop his friend.

“I think we’re out. Wardanaz.”

“Okay. Everyone worked hard.”

Once they were far enough from the hydra, the students sat down to rest.

They were tired from going through the secret passage and seeing the hydra.

Lee Han gave his friends bottles of lemonade.

‘At least it was a 3rd and 4th-year exam.’

Seeing the sign in front of the hydra, Lee Han was relieved that it wasn’t his exam.

He had lost something in the trade with the person in the mirror, but Lee Han wasn’t upset.

He was relieved!

‘The other person really thought I was at least a 3rd year…’

He had tried to look older, but he didn’t think it would work this well.

After resting and getting their energy back, the friends looked around.

“Lee Han, did you see this?”

Gonadaltes’ Garden

Students Prohibited!

“It was the Headmaster’s test after all.”

“Look at this too.”

Gonadaltes’ Garden

Students Absolutely Prohibited!

“This too.”

Gonadaltes’ Garden

Students Absolutely Absolutely Absolutely Prohibited!!!!

“…We get it from just one, so stop bringing signs.”

Lee Han stopped Gainando from bringing another sign.

He knew where he was.

‘It must be a place like a dangerous animal stable.’

Normal horses or safe animals could be kept in stables around the school, but Einroguard had many dangerous beasts.

Basilisks, hydras, griffins…

Lee Han wondered if there were too many dangerous beasts around him.

‘Huh, when did they get so many?’

If these beasts were let loose, even in Einroguard, the students would get hurt.

So, there had to be a place to take care of these dangerous beasts.

Especially with someone like the Skull Headmaster, there had to be such a place.

“Isn’t that a hellhound?”

“That’s a Stymphalian bird! I heard the feathers are expensive…”

“What? Can’t we take one?”

Seeing the rare animals flying by, Lee Han wished he had studied magic harder.

Professor Voladi was right.

You never know when you’ll need magic!

‘If I could catch them, I would!’

They were flying like arrows through the jungle, and he couldn’t see how to catch them.

“T-There, did you see?? It’s a ghost chicken! There’s a ghost chicken there!”

“I-Imirgue, you can talk without shaking me.”

“Ah, s-sorry.”

Imirgue stopped shaking Lee Han and pointed carefully.

There was a strange-looking chicken in one of the open areas.

It was much bigger than other chickens, with dark eyes, and it was pecking at the base of a tree.

‘A curse?’

As the best student in dark magic, Lee Han noticed the energy flowing from the ghost chicken’s body.

The dark magic around it was like a curse. It would probably curse anyone who touched it.

“T-That ghost chicken is really rare. I’ve never seen one before.”

Imirgue swallowed, excited. Lee Han said without thinking.

“Then why don’t you take it?”

“Huh?”

“I was wondering if you should take it. It’s there for the taking.”

The Skull Headmaster probably didn’t put it there to be taken, but Lee Han liked to follow the Headmaster’s rules.

If you can take it, take it!

“W-Well, I don’t have a place to keep it…”

“You can find a place. But is that ghost chicken just cute, or does it have other good things about it?”

Imirgue liked chickens, so he probably thought the ghost chicken was cute too.

“A-Advantages? The feathers and eggs are expensive…?”

Imirgue said quietly, wondering if that was a good thing.

Lee Han said strongly.

“Let’s take it. It’s cursed, so I should catch it.”

“!?!”

Monday.

Lee Han, whose muscles were a little better, went to Professor Lightning-Step’s class.

Skeleton warriors helped their master, who still couldn’t move well.

“……”

“……”

The White Tiger Tower students whispered and stayed away from them.

‘What’s wrong with Wardanaz?’

‘I don’t know. Don’t look at him. He looks like he wants to fight.’

Lee Han bowed to Professor Lightning-Step.

“Hello, Professor.”

“Yes. But I’m not doing well.”

“Is something wrong?”

“I trusted the Headmaster and gave him today’s class materials, but he says he lost them. I don’t know what to say.”

“Oh dear. You should complain.”

Lee Han was happy that the class would be easier today, but he didn’t show it.

“I will complain later. I trusted him! It was a tricky lesson, so I left it with him…”

“What was it?”

“Do you know about ghost chickens? You probably haven’t seen one since they’re rare.”

“…!”