Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 570

“Ah. So it is.”

‘So it is, my foot…’

The Skull Headmaster glanced at his disciple before continuing.

“Being able to hold a lot of mana means you can engrave a lot of magic. Besides, you have a few too many artifacts right now.”

Lee Han looked himself over at the Headmaster’s words. He was wearing bracelets, rings, a belt, and a necklace, like a jewelry merchant.

“It is a bit much.”

“In fact, it’s just too much. You rarely come into contact with high-level magic now, but wearing artifacts so haphazardly is a bad habit.”

Artifacts have magic inside them. They create their own flow of magic. Wizards control magic flow. So, artifacts can affect wizards. Especially as the number of artifacts increased, so did that impact. Even if it doesn’t lead to an accident, it can affect spellcasting.

“Fortunately, I’ve been lucky, so it’s been alright.” Lee Han replied, sounding relieved.

Perhaps because the artifacts were simple and had a lot of overlap, they never seemed to interfere with his spellcasting.

“Yes, haha, fortunate indeed.” The Skull Headmaster stopped himself from saying, ‘It probably did affect you, but you just didn’t notice.’ There was no reason to stop him if he wanted to improve his skills.

“But thinking about next year, you should really organize your artifacts. It would be good to put them all into Behemoth’s Bone this time.”

“Understood.” Lee Han nodded at the Skull Headmaster’s advice. Even though the Headmaster was not nice, he had never been wrong about magic.

Skilled wizards always accurately understood the dynamics of the artifacts they wore: how to use them to create synergy, and how to avoid causing adverse effects.

‘Huh?’ Lee Han, who had been trying to understand, suddenly felt a sense of doubt and asked a question.

“But Headmaster, next year is my second year. Is there really a chance a second-year would come into contact with such dangerous high-level magic?”

“Your words are indeed correct. Just like a first-year wouldn’t normally meet the King of Ghouls.”

“……” Lee Han was speechless and became sullen.

The Skull Headmaster fashioned Behemoth’s Bone into a crude necklace. “I deliberately made it clumsy so you can keep filling it.”

The generous capacity of Behemoth’s Bone made it easy to engrave multiple spells within it. The Skull Headmaster wanted Lee Han to gain experience by adding spells to this bone necklace whenever he needed them, thus completing the artifact himself.

“Headmaster…” Lee Han blinked, surprised. He hadn’t expected *that*. The Skull Headmaster, for all his grumbling and strange ways, was actually trying to help him. A small smile touched Lee Han’s lips, quickly hidden. He wouldn’t let the Headmaster see he was grateful.

“If you gain experience this way, you can even be my assistant instead of Bibble when I make artifacts later.”

“Headmaster…” Lee Han turned serious. To try and improve his disciple’s skills for his own selfish desires!

Whirr!

First, the iron bracelet that Professor Garcia had temporarily made was extracted. The Skull Headmaster rounded the magic circle engraved on the iron bracelet into a small, bead-shaped core, then embedded it into the bone necklace.

“You’re watching how it’s done, right? You’ll have to do it yourself from now on.”

“Wait, just a little slower…”

“I know you’re faking it. Now, next is the belt. This is too crude. Isn’t it almost time to graduate?” The Skull Headmaster clicked his tongue as he looked at the Invisibility Magic Belt.

It was a belt that allowed the use of invisibility magic in exchange for being cursed with mana absorption. The problem was that this invisibility magic was crude. The belt made him invisible by bending light around him, like a trick of the eye.

“I’ll change it to a different method and put it in.” The Skull Headmaster extracted the pattern engraved on the belt in the same way, made it into a core, and then embedded it into the bone necklace. The newly installed core resonated with the previously installed core, then stabilized and quieted down.

“Ack!!!”

“Why?” The Skull Headmaster looked at Lee Han as if to ask why he was screaming.

“That belt could have been sold! Why did you just break it!”

“What crazy person would buy a cursed mana-absorbing item…” The Skull Headmaster was dumbfounded.

Sometimes, there were eccentric black mages who would demand, ‘Pay for my bone!’ if someone stepped on a bone in front of their tower, but this disciple was worse than those lunatics.

“Still, it was something that could have been sold…”

“I didn’t just break it; I made it better and put it in the bone necklace.”

“But you can’t sell the bone necklace.”

“So, are you saying I should leave the belt as it is and copy the same magic to put in the bone necklace?”

“Oh, are you going to do that for me?” Lee Han cast an expectant gaze, but the Skull Headmaster ignored him and moved on to the next task.

“Invisibility Magic Necklace.” This was a work of the spire keeper who worked under the Skull Headmaster.

It was the same magic as the one he had just added, but adding the same magic to an artifact could still be meaningful. Sometimes, the same magic could create an amplification effect. In the case of invisibility magic, the area of effect was expanded (originally, it only protected the wearer), and Lee Han knew this, so he often used it when hanging out with friends.

The Skull Headmaster added the core and said, “You can cast invisibility magic on others, right?”

“Huh? No.”

“What? I gave you the book. Didn’t the book teach you?”

“…Yes…”

“Huh. Should I have made it more cruel and violent…”

“……” Lee Han briefly considered whether he should bury the Skull Headmaster’s book deep in the ground as soon as he got back.

“It’s not bad to use artifacts, but it’s not good to rely on them too much. Keep that in mind.”

“Ah, yes.”

“And why do you have so many artifacts that absorb fire? Are you a member of the Fire Watch?”

The Skull Headmaster frowned. “Afraid the flame magic might go berserk…”

The Skull Headmaster did not get angry, even though Ihan’s answer was surprisingly kind. He made a clicking sound with his tongue, showing he was annoyed.

“Wait. No.”

Then the Skull Headmaster thought, “Wait a minute. I am the one wearing all these magic items. I made things harder, and now I’m worried about my own magic?”

He thought to himself, “What a ridiculous fellow I am.”

The Skull Headmaster stopped feeling sorry for Ihan. He squeezed the center parts of the flame absorption artifacts, making them smaller, and pushed them into the bone necklace.

“Underwater breathing… that could be useful. I can remove it later if there’s not enough space. Magic emission suppression? Why does he have such a cursed item? Does he collect cursed things?”

“It makes fine control easier when I wear it, so I use it sometimes.”

The Skull Headmaster simply destroyed it. Ihan let out a mournful scream.

“No!”

“What do you mean, no? This weak magic item doesn’t really stop anything! It’s all in your head. You just need to be stronger in your mind!”

The Skull Headmaster quickly and skillfully finished organizing the artifacts and made them smaller to fit into the bone necklace.

On the table were the items Ihan couldn’t wear: the Bracelet of Ten Thousand Evils, which looked dark and dangerous, the Skull Headmaster’s signal ring, shining with a faint light, and a simple silver spoon that could detect poison.

“You don’t need these detoxification artifacts, why don’t you destroy them?”

“Absolutely not. I’d rather sell them.”

Ihan said seriously.

The Skull Headmaster didn’t seriously intend to destroy them either, as he casually cleared away the remains and snapped his fingers.

Then, for the first time, a red glowing core appeared in the air. Ihan could see it was a core of magic, squeezed together tightly, just like when the Headmaster had made the artifacts smaller.

Creak!

The Skull Headmaster neatly inserted the core.

“What is this?”

“It’s a secret. I’m putting it in for you to figure out. I shouldn’t be giving you such special treatment, haha.”

“Then you could just take it out…”

The Skull Headmaster ignored him, pretending not to hear.

He was annoyed that Ihan seemed ungrateful, even when given something valuable. But he knew that talented students were often a little unusual. He thought it was a teacher’s job to be understanding and kind, even when students were difficult.

“Next time, think about it yourself, decide on a magic, and put it in. Personally, I would advise a defensive magic.”

Most of the magic in the bone necklace right now was support-oriented, and this boy from the Wodanaz family had more than enough means of attack, so defense was the most suitable.

He explained, “If you sort artifacts into types, defensive ones are most wanted. Wizards can use attack or support magic themselves. But it’s hard to stop attacks that come suddenly and get past their magic shields. Defensive artifacts are always needed because they can easily close these gaps in protection.”

“Like a water shield?”

“Not bad. But it will be a little difficult to make it automatically cast when attacked. Ask Professor Verdus.”

“Um. I don’t think I need defensive magic…”

“I understand very well that you don’t want to talk to Professor Verdus, but no matter how genius you are, it won’t be easy to make this alone.”

“I understand. I’ll ask…”

The Skull Headmaster looked at his disciple with a fresh perspective. Originally, many wizards learned defensive magic first. Unless they were combat wizards who roamed the battlefield, they rarely had to fight, so defense was prioritized over attack. Anyway, they would be accompanied by escorts later, so why would they try to attack themselves?

“You keep sending enemies, Headmaster.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. And your seniors learned defensive magic well even in those situations. You aggressive fellow.”

“Wasn’t the blood-sucking monster sent by you, Headmaster?”

“I have my preferences. If I sent that, I swear on my true name, I will hand over the headmaster’s position to you.”

“No… I don’t want it.”

“Lad. There’s no need to be modest. You’ll get used to it as you go. Anyway, do you know any other defensive magic?”

“Ah. I learned Lightning Mantle.”

The Skull Headmaster looked at Ihan with the same look that Professor Volardi had sent. Is he really only picking difficult magic on purpose?

From the Greenbelt family, a master of dance, Ihan’s face brightened as he spotted Professor Krinbel down the hallway. Originally, there weren’t many professors who made you feel relieved when you encountered them down the hallway. Professor Garcia, perhaps? The Skull Headmaster and Professor Volardi were very dangerous figures, and Professor Verdus, while not dangerous, was a very tiring figure. In comparison, Professor Krinbel was not yet a dangerous or tiring professor. If he was really lucky, Professor Krinbel could enter the position of a safe and kind professor like Professor Garcia.

“Hello, Professor.”

Ihan was flustered when Professor Krinbel, who usually greeted students with the brightest and most cheerful attitude among the professors, had a serious expression.

“Professor?”

“Ah! Wodanaz student! I’m sorry! I was lost in thought for a moment!”

“Is it because of the final exams?”

“How did you know?!”

Ihan was even more flustered. ‘Is there something the professor is worried about because of the final exams?’ Professor Krinbel had already declared that he would ace the final exams (from Ihan’s perspective) a long time ago.

-Everyone dances, everyone enjoys, everyone wins!

-Professor, hooray!!

Ihan cautiously asked, wondering if the Skull Headmaster had raised any objections to the educational policy.

“Is there any problem?”

“Ugh! Wodanaz student! Originally, professors shouldn’t say things like this! But I can’t help it!”

Professor Krinbel beckoned Ihan to come into an empty classroom. Ihan checked the path to make sure he could escape at any time and went inside.

“Wodanaz student! I think you know the giants of the mountains. The giants know the Wodanaz student well!”

“I know them a little. But why…?”

“I sometimes teach the giants how to dance, and the giants are saying strange things! They have to fight the Wodanaz student during the final exams!”