Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 592

Slightly hurt, Lee Han looked at his friends and asked,

“Are you guys… maybe not so excited to go into my labyrinth?”

“W-What are you talking about, Wodanaz!?”

“No way! I want to go in!”

The students were surprised and answered quickly.

But, none of them could look Lee Han in the eye.

‘I don’t want to go in.’

‘I hope someone else goes in instead of me!’

The first-year students knew Lee Han well after a year.

Which maze would be the hardest in this illusion magic final exam?

Everyone knew it would be the maze made by Wodanaz. Even students who didn’t study divination magic could guess that.

They hoped it would only be very hard. But what if he made a super hard maze, like the secret maze his family had? That would be much too difficult for first-year students. And he was inviting them in!

“…I think you guys are misunderstanding something.”

Lee Han saw his friends looking at each other. He understood how they really felt and quickly spoke.

He shouldn’t get angry now. He had to calm his friends’ fears with kindness.

“I don’t want to make the maze too hard.”

“Ha!”

“Pfft!”

“……”

“S-Sorry. It just… came out without me thinking.”

The friends who laughed quickly apologized when they saw Lee Han’s eyes.

They were starting to worry that if they didn’t apologize, they might be the first ones dragged into Wodanaz’s special maze.

“Friends! Why would I make the maze too hard? Think about it. I’m just like you guys.”

Lee Han spoke softly, which he didn’t usually do.

When he put his arms around the two friends who had laughed, they quickly nodded.

Seeing that his words seemed to be working, Lee Han smiled, happy that they seemed to believe him, and said again,

“Everyone, tell me even one reason why I would need to make the maze too hard.”

“You’re Wodanaz.”

“You’ve always been like that.”

“You take all the classes from every school.”

“I heard you were looking at something different during the divination magic exam.”

“The arithmetic exam too.”

“The general magic exam too.”

Lee Han wished he hadn’t asked as answers came from everywhere.

‘Damn it. I shouldn’t have asked that.’

“Wodanaz…”

Professor Kirmin looked at Lee Han with pity.

A student should learn from their teacher, but he didn’t need to be like Professor Voladi in this way.

“Alright. Everyone calm down! I’ll decide the order for visiting the mazes.”

“Wodanaz is from Blue Dragon Tower, so how about the Blue Dragon Tower students go in first?”

“You little… Wodanaz is staying in Phoenix Tower now!”

“He keeps exploring the school with the Black Tortoise Tower students, so wouldn’t the Black Tortoise Tower students be the best at exploring?”

“How about making the White Tiger Tower guys do it?”

The students sharing their ideas looked at Ratford, puzzled, and asked,

“Huh? Why?”

“No reason, really? I just want to send them…”

“You crazy jerk!”

The White Tiger Tower students were angry that Ratford was trying to send them to a death trap for no reason, and they got mad.

Professor Kirmin started to organize things.

“I said calm down! I’ll decide right now.”

The students from each tower watched the professor nervously.

Which unlucky students would end up entering Wodanaz’s maze?

“Everyone will visit each other’s mazes once. Got it?”

“……”

“……”

The students were quiet at Professor Kirmin’s words.

The professor nodded, thinking the students understood.

But, a moment later, the students grabbed each other and started fighting.

“It’s because of you guys! You should sacrifice yourselves and go in!”

“Shut up! If that’s the case, you guys go in right now!”

Professor Kirmin sighed and waved his wand.

The students, affected by the illusion magic, struggled and fell away from each other.

Lee Han, watching with cold eyes, thought to himself.

‘…I will do my best.’

He always did his best, but it seemed like he would have to do even better for this exam.

…Hey, shouldn’t someone stop Wodanaz?”

“That’s why I told you not to bother him…”

The White Tiger Tower students stared at Lee Han’s shed with scared eyes.

The students taking the illusion magic class were gathered around the professor’s workshop to change their sheds into mazes.

Some students were getting more materials from the forest. Others were digging around the shed and laying the base. Still others were placing artifacts and checking if they worked.

And some students were even tearing down the shed and building a new one.

“Uh-huh. Yes. A little more. No. This way. Yes, yes. Good job, Gonadaltes.”

Lee Han was busy working, even calling the skeleton warrior Gonadaltes.

The old shed had many problems.

It was simple, and the materials were only wood, stone, or straw. If he used the wrong magic, the shed might not be strong enough and fall apart.

‘I learned a lot from the traps in the underground warehouse.’

Lee Han had learned a lot from the black magic school students this time.

The linked magic traps were made to stop people from getting into the underground warehouse.

The traps weren’t just well-made because they used powerful magic.

They were well-made because they had a strong anger that couldn’t be found in other traps.

An anger that would stop anyone at all costs!

‘The strength of the magic isn’t important. How the magic is linked is what’s important.’

Lee Han looked through the magic books, thinking about which illusion magic spells to link together.

The new shed was taking shape. It was a shed made with a frame of bones.

“Space, be twisted!”

When you enter, you lose your way and see the path split into many paths. He used a simple magic trick to twist space. It was called ‘Low-level Space Distortion’ magic.

Lee Han was happy to see the magic working well because he had changed the frame from the start.

‘The start is good.’

“Wo… Wodanaz.”

“?”

Some White Tiger Tower students came up to him from behind. They held a whole roasted chicken covered in seasoning.

“Eat this while you work.”

Ihan frowned as the White Tiger Tower students approached, holding out plates. On each plate was grilled meat, smelling delicious. But meat? From *them*? It was like they were offering gold. The White Tiger Tower students never shared their precious meat.

*Why now?* Ihan thought, his eyes narrowing. There had to be a trick. “They poisoned it,” he muttered to himself. “Cowardly lot.”

“What are you saying?!” one of the White Tiger students cried, his face turning red. “No way! How can you think that?”

“We would never do such a thing!” another student insisted, looking genuinely hurt. They seemed truly angry that Ihan doubted them.

The value of goods differed slightly from tower to tower. Wax was expensive in the Phoenix Tower, ink was expensive in the Azure Dragon Tower, and coffee grounds and tea leaves were expensive in the Black Tortoise Tower. And in the White Tiger Tower, meat was like gold to them.

“Are you telling me that you grilled this meat with absolutely no ulterior motive, just wanting to treat me, who is simply working?”

“…Well,” one student mumbled, looking at the ground, “not *only* to treat you.”

“There’s no need to be so harsh…”

The White Tiger Tower students were intimidated.

But having come this far, they couldn’t give up, so they lowered their voices and whispered.

“Wodanaz. We have a favor to ask.”

“I don’t know if I’ll grant it, but go ahead and ask.”

“…A safe path through the maze…”

Ihan looked at the White Tiger Tower students. He felt they were pathetic.

“Go and make your own maze properly!” he snapped.

“Ah, no…! A plump chicken for this is a good deal for you too! You won’t lose anything!”

Ihan kicked the White Tiger Tower students in the backside and chased them away.

To think they thought offering meat would make me help them cheat. Such a useless trick.

It’s all because of students like *them* that the White Tiger Tower has so many dropouts.

He could understand why Moradi was stressed.

“Wodanaz. Wodanaz.”

“Ihan. Just a safe path for us…”

“…Gonadaltes. If anyone approaches the shed, throw bones at them.”

“Ack! Don’t throw bones! We just want to talk and find a solution!”

Only after chasing away the interlopers could Ihan focus on his work.

He started covering the walls of the shed, creating corridors inside the empty space, and digging traps beneath them…

‘Hmm. Should I put something on the walls too?’

Doing this was surprisingly fun.

He could see why the senior black magic students had been so enthusiastic about setting traps!

“Wodanaz.”

“Ratford? I can’t teach you a safe path.”

“Heh heh. What do you take me for?”

Ratford let out a confident laugh from outside the shed door.

At that response, Ihan once again recalled Ratford’s background.

“Ah, right. You’re Ratford. You’re too clever for a simple maze like this.”

“I’m planning to pretend to be sick to get out of going in. Already got a potion ready!” Ratford said with a grin.

“…I’ll teach you a safe path, so just come in?”

“Huh? No, thank you.”

Ihan became slightly dejected and opened the shed door, stepping outside.

“Then what brings you here?”

“Ah. I was going to pick some Mist Cloud Mushrooms. Would you like to come with me?”

Some spells required reagents each time they were cast. For black magic spells that used bones, you needed bone powder. Other magic schools also used special ingredients like this.

Mist Cloud Mushrooms were needed to cast a spell called ‘Twilight of Evening,’ an illusion spell.

“You’re going to cast Twilight of Evening? That’s quite difficult, isn’t it?”

“Professor said ‘Twilight of Evening’ is a good spell to learn, so I’m going to try it. But wow, Wodanaz, you’re really ready for anything, aren’t you?”

Ratford glanced over the exterior of the bone shed.

Unlike other sheds, its exterior itself was eerie and sinister. Even seasoned thieves wouldn’t dare enter such a place.

“No. It would be good to cast Twilight of Evening too. Let’s go together.”

“I think it’s already quite sufficient…”

“No,” Ihan said, his eyes gleaming. “It’s still not scary enough.”

No sooner had Ihan finished speaking than a student who had been secretly trying to enter the shed screamed and ran out.

The skeleton warriors swarmed out and threw bones.

“He’s just a bit jumpy,” Ihan said, a small smile playing on his lips.

Picking Mist Cloud Mushrooms itself wasn’t very difficult.

The Einroguard mountains were huge, so high people called them the Sky Mountains. But closer to the school, the mountains were smaller and easier to walk on.

The Black Tortoise Tower students knew these mountains best. They spent their free time finding food plants and setting traps for rabbits and other small creatures.

Ratford had already identified the location of the Mist Cloud Mushroom colony, and Ihan simply had to follow him comfortably.

“Seriously, Wodanaz, why are you making the maze so dangerous? Why are you bothering so much?”

“Wodanaz,” another student said, “we need reagents because we’re not as strong at magic as you are! You don’t need them!”

“It’s enough as it is! Don’t bother! You have to prepare for other school tests too!”

…Except for the fact that every student they met on the way to the colony said such things.

The more he heard such things, the more determined Ihan became to turn his makeshift maze into a hellish maze.

“Hey… look at Wodanaz’s eyes…”

“Who pissed Wodanaz off? Who was it?”

“That’s why I said we should have offered him help with the maze earlier. He’s angry we didn’t.”

The students whispered, wondering if they should offer a sacrifice now.

“Monster!!!”

At the sound coming from the front, Ihan was startled.

‘I let my guard down!’

He had been so caught up in the thought of trapping his friends in the maze forever that he had relaxed his guard in the Einroguard mountain range. It was a fatal mistake.

Besides, there was a monster chasing Ihan right now.

“Everyone, this way!”

Ihan quickly gathered his friends and formed a line. The students asked with frightened faces.

“Wh-what is it? Wodanaz? A monster?”

“Something big is coming! Could be a troll… or even worse… a vampire monster! Everyone, stay calm… or at least try to look calm!”

Thud!

The tree in front of them flew away, and a huge shape landed in the air.

Then, through the trees, a huge shape landed. Ihan’s eyes widened. It was *that* beast again. The Mountain Ram.