Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 563

Upon hearing Lee Han’s words, Professor Alpen checked again, wondering if he had missed something.

It was clearly a brilliant composition, showing how well Professor Verdus had taught him.

The artifacts were arranged very well, neatly and efficiently. Professor Alpen thought this arrangement was excellent, maybe even better than what older students could do.

But no matter how he looked at it, it didn’t seem possible to reduce mana consumption as much as Lee Han had concluded.

“How?”

“Pardon?”

Professor Alpen said, “Wait,” pointing. “The artifacts at the south gate – with spells like >Reinforced Hardness> – they need mana stones, right? At least three crates a day?”

“Ah. I’m sorry. I forgot to write something down,” Lee Han said quickly.

Lee Han apologized and added, “My calculation is based on the idea that we put a lot of magic power into the artifacts when we make them. If we do this, simple artifacts in the fortress can work for over ten years without needing more magic power later.”

” ?”

“? ?”

Professor Alpen and the guild members looked confused. They frowned and tilted their heads, not understanding what Lee Han meant.

One of the guild members asked, “Is there… is there such a thing, Professor? We don’t know much about magic, but are there artifacts like that? It’s the first time we’ve heard of it.”

Professor Alpen explained to the bewildered guild members, “Hmm. As far as I know… theoretically, such an effect exists.”

He continued, “If you broadly divide the structure of an artifact, it can be divided into the core that makes up the magic and the power unit that supplies mana to that core.”

Professor Alpen added, “At this time, the enchantment mages would put their heart and soul into carving and refining the magic circle to increase the efficiency of this power unit.”

He explained, “The amount of mana consumed by the artifact varied depending on the perfection of this part.”

Professor Alpen said, “But in theory, instead of putting in such effort, what if you strongly imbued the core with mana to its limit and then sealed it?”

He concluded, “It would be possible to supply mana on its own without much effort from the outside.”

“But there are no wizards who make magic in this way, are there?” a guild member asked.

That was right.

There was a reason why Professor Alpen and the guild members were bewildered.

It was because there were very few wizards who made artifacts in this way.

Structuring or increasing the strength to withstand the over-imparted mana was only a minor problem, and the biggest problem was that there were no wizards who could impart that much mana.

Why would a wizard inject a dangerous amount of mana that could cost them their life when it would be much more stable to supply mana regularly?

It’s not like it’s an artifact that can’t be supplied with mana again once it’s made…

“Huh? There aren’t any?” Lee Han asked, surprised.

“Not that I know of,” Professor Alpen replied.

“……”

Lee Han was embarrassed.

This was a very common method when he was learning from or helping Professor Verdus.

Lee Han recalled Professor Verdus and gritted his teeth. “Damn it. I trusted him.”

He remembered trying to get Professor Verdus’s attention. He’d called, “Professor?” Nothing. “Professor!” Still nothing. He had to shout, “PROFESSOR VERDUS!” finally making the old wizard jump in his seat.

Lee Han continued in his memory, “I’m sorry. You weren’t listening.”

Professor Verdus replied, “What are you talking about? You didn’t call me.”

Lee Han asked, “Anyway, Professor. I have a question. The enchantment magic grimoires I’ve seen don’t impart mana to artifacts like this. Aren’t you imparting too much?”

Professor Verdus responded, “It’s okay. It’s okay. Look. It’s more efficient because we impart a lot.”

Lee Han asked, “That’s true, but why not in the grimoires?”

Professor Verdus said, “Because they’re old grimoires.”

Lee Han pointed out, “It’s a book that came out last year?”

Professor Verdus insisted, “That’s old. And the guy who wrote that grimoire is stupid.”

Lee Han countered, “No… he’s a wizard with quite a bit of experience and has published several papers…?”

Professor Verdus brushed it off, “He can still be stupid. Here. It’s okay, right? It’s efficient, right?”

Lee Han questioned, “Is the safety okay?”

Professor Verdus replied, “So you have to do it well so it doesn’t explode. You’re doing well because it hasn’t exploded so far.”

Lee Han asked, “Professor, aren’t you just saying things roughly because you’re annoyed right now?”

Professor Verdus concluded, “Why don’t you trust me? Trust me.”

Lee Han thought to himself, ‘Well, there’s no way they’d do it like this.’

Looking at the expressions of the people around him, Lee Han wondered why he hadn’t noticed it himself.

Does his intelligence drop when he enters Einroguard?

If you make it like this, the wizard’s mana will be consumed too much, and the risk of an accident will increase greatly if you make even one mistake during production…

“I’m sorry. I inadvertently calculated it this way because of my habit of working with Professor Verdus,” Lee Han apologized.

“Professor Verdus? You learned this from Professor Verdus?” Professor Alpen asked.

“Yes,” Lee Han replied.

Lee Han was slightly expectant when the old professor reacted quite strongly.

‘Is he going to beat up Professor Verdus?’ he wondered.

If so, he thought he might want to see it a little.

“Truly amazing! Professor Verdus is a brilliant man!” Professor Alpen exclaimed. “There’s a reason people call him a genius.”

Lee Han blinked, completely confused. “…? ?”

Professor Alpen, not noticing Lee Han’s shock, went on, “Yes! I heard Professor Verdus was difficult to teach because he was *too* smart, but seeing this, I think people were wrong. He’s clearly able to share his amazing ideas with his students!”

“No… uh… is this a vision?” Lee Han asked, flustered.

Of course, if it was a secret method passed down, it could be called a vision, but if that’s the case, Gainan’s >secretly eating snacks during class time> could also be called a vision.

But usually, wouldn’t you be treated like a crazy person if you went around calling that a vision?

Professor Alpen said, “It can be called a vision, Mr. Wodanaz. You’ve increased the efficiency of the artifact like this, haven’t you? You may not know it well because you don’t have much experience yet, but this is a really great result.”

“That… mana consumption is dangerous… and accidents are dangerous…” Lee Han mumbled.

“Didn’t you say that there were no problems while working with Professor Verdus?” Professor Alpen asked.

“…I did…”

Professor Alpen patted Lee Han on the shoulder with his rough hand.

Professor Alpen advised, “Mr. Wodanaz. I usually advise students to be humble. But I should give you a little different advice. Be moderately humble! This is something you can be proud of. You, and Professor Verdus, who taught you.”

Lee Han, who had become very frustrated, pulled out his last resort.

“But Professor. Doesn’t Professor Verdus act a bit eccentric usually?”

He began to cling to Professor Verdus’ reputation like a drowning man.

Even if Professor Alpen hadn’t been in Einroguard for long, if he recalled the things he had suffered from Professor Verdus from time to time, he would know that this result was more like ‘a crazy teacher overworking his disciple without caring about safety’ than ‘a beautiful succession of a genius teacher and a genius disciple’.

“That’s true,” Professor Alpen admitted.

“Right?” Lee Han asked, hopefully.

“But isn’t that the case with all Einroguard professors?” Professor Alpen countered.

“……”

Lee Han was speechless for the first time in a long time.

One guild member whispered, his eyes wide, “Wow… is this like, a really important moment for history?”

“Y-yes,” another stammered, nodding quickly. “I think so!”

A wave of excitement went through the guild members. They all felt the same thing.

“It’s like that story…” one began.

“The Miracle of the Three Wizards!” another finished, his voice full of awe.

The guild members muttered at the same time without realizing it.

The Miracle of the Three Wizards.

At that time, the treasury of the lord of Ganistallas was completely empty due to rebellion and attacks.

The budget that the three wizards of the castle could use was less than 1/10 of the usual amount in gold coins.

Nevertheless, the three wizards joined hands with the construction guilds of Ganistallas and achieved a miracle.

This miracle was not just a miracle of wizards.

It was also a miracle of the guild members who helped the wizards complete the castle gates.

The wizards were thrilled by the greatness of magic in that anecdote, but the guild members holding hammers and chisels were thrilled by the beauty of technology in that anecdote.

‘Why that kind of anecdote?’ Lee Han wondered.

Lee Han was horrified to hear the other person talking.

Why would they bring up and be moved by the terrible anecdote of the evil lord exploiting the wizards and guild members with a budget of less than 1/10?

He couldn’t understand it no matter how hard he thought about it.

But the guild members continued to talk without paying attention.

“A building with a soul does not disappear and remains forever. Yes. Perhaps this >Pocket Knife Fortress> will be our >Miracle of the Three Wizards>,” one guild member declared.

“Let’s make the guild’s name known to the Empire!” another exclaimed.

“Yes, let’s make the guild’s name known to the Empire!!” the others echoed.

The people from the stonemason guild and the carpentry guild, who had been awkward with each other until just now, shook hands and made a firm promise.

Professor Alpen had a moved expression on his face at the sight.

Of course, the professor also knew about their awkward relationship.

Since several guilds joined forces to receive the order, they had no choice but to calculate their gains and losses.

However, when the glory of being able to make their name known to the Empire came before their eyes, they united like artisans.

“Mr. Wodanaz. Are you watching? Your magic has brought them together,” Professor Alpen said.

“No… even if I concede, that’s not it…” Lee Han mumbled.

“Haha. I told you that you can be moderately humble!” Professor Alpen chuckled.

‘Did I take on the request for nothing?’ Lee Han wondered.

Lee Han had never regretted taking on a request that made money until now.

But he thought he might regret it this time.

‘Come to think of it, all of this might be because of Professor Verdus,’ Lee Han realized.

Lee Han vowed to take revenge on Professor Verdus after this was over.

Lee Han, who came out of Professor Alpen’s room, felt several times more tired than before.

-We will definitely make the wizard’s reputation known throughout the Empire!

-Yes… thank you. But it would be enough for me if you just gave me the reward…

-No! Please wait!

‘Hmm. I hope the reward isn’t delayed,’ Lee Han thought.

The fact that the guild members were excited and talking about ‘building a building that will be known throughout the Empire’ didn’t really resonate with Lee Han.

Rather, he was worried that the other person was too excited.

It seemed strange at first glance to worry about the other person being excited, but there was a reason for the worry.

Building a building with the budget received from the Empire -> Getting excited and trying to increase the perfection of the building -> Costing more than the initially calculated estimate -> Wizard, I’m sorry, please wait a little longer!

Lee Han was worried that they would try to raise the quality in other areas even though he had reduced the cost.

‘I should tell the professor again later, just in case,’ he thought.

He was thinking of sending a message saying, ‘The guild members are worried, so let’s make it moderately,’ because saying it directly might sound rude.

“Lee Han, Lee Han.”

“Ah. Professor,” Lee Han responded.

Lee Han raised his head, happy to see Professor Garcia calling him.

There were very few cases where he felt happy when a professor called him in Einroguard, and Professor Garcia was one of those very few cases.

“What’s wrong?” Lee Han asked.

“Would you like to come in for a moment?” Professor Garcia asked.

Lee Han followed Professor Garcia into the lecture room without any suspicion.

Lee Han followed Professor Garcia into the lecture room. In the center of the room, a dark pit opened in the floor. It was so deep that Lee Han couldn’t see the bottom, and shadows seemed to swirl within it, making it look cold and dangerous.

“…I trusted you, Professor!!”

Lee Han immediately pulled out his wand and rolled to the side.

Professor Garcia was taken aback by the sight.

“Why, why? What did I do wrong?” Professor Garcia asked, confused.

“…Weren’t you trying to push me into the pit?” Lee Han asked, still wary.

“…Lee Han. Has Professor Begreck ever pushed Lee Han into a pit like this?”