Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 62

Lee Han took the potions and carefully placed them in his pouch.

“To receive such wonderful potions, I’m so happy I could cry…”

“What brings you here? If there’s anything I can help you with, I’ll do whatever I can.”

Lee Han told Priestess Siana about the terrible trap hidden in the alchemy assignment.

Priestess Siana listened carefully, her brow furrowed in thought. Then, her eyes widened slightly, and she said, ‘Ah!’

“I thought some of the ingredients looked a bit strange, and I was going to look through some books later to compare them…”

“We’re gathering the ingredients now to experiment and find out what the problem is. Would you like to join us? We desperately need the help of Priestess Siana, who is unparalleled in alchemy.”

At Lee Han’s words, Priestess Siana nodded without hesitation.

“Of course, I must help. I’ll bring the students from the Phoenix Tower!”

Priestess Siana rushed off, her eyes shining with excitement. Lee Han watched her go, thinking, *If only getting help from the White Tiger Tower was this simple.*

Getting the Black Tortoise Tower students involved was even *easier* in a way, but also more chaotic.

Nilia and Ratford arrived with a whole group of their friends from the black market. Actually, convincing them to help with the potion ingredients was the easy part. The hard part was managing the crowd that swarmed around Lee Han as soon as they saw him. They thought he was there to trade, and everyone wanted to be first.

“Wodanaz!” shouted one student, waving a rough-looking knife. “Look at this staff-knife! Even the White Tiger Tower students would want this!”

“Hey, move aside!” yelled another, pushing forward. “Wodanaz, what about this golem evasion charm I found?”

In comparison, the White Tiger Tower students…

“It’s Wodanaz!”

“Don’t face him alone!”

“……”

Unable to watch any longer, Derqyu tried to go in and get his friends out, but the White Tiger Tower students wouldn’t budge easily.

Lee Han eventually gave up and returned.

‘Well… the numbers should be enough even without them.’

As students from the three towers had gathered, there were plenty of leftover ingredients.

Lee Han and Yoner, with the help of Priestess Siana, gathered the remaining ingredients separately and precisely measured the quantities.

These were the experimental materials to find the recipe.

“Everything’s ready. I think we can test it now.”

“Thanks for all your hard work, everyone.”

The students gathered in their seats and sighed.

The students sighed. ‘We have to do all this work again because of Professor Uregeol’s… trick,’ one student muttered, stopping himself from saying something worse.

“Wodanaz. Now that I think about it, you’re using your outing pass to go out tomorrow, right?”

“!”

The Blue Dragon Tower students knew that Lee Han had received an outing pass, but the other tower students didn’t.

Not only the Black Tortoise Tower students but also the Phoenix Tower students stared at Lee Han with wide, surprised eyes.

“Y-you received an outing pass?!”

“As expected of Wodanaz.”

“No, how can you get one? Do you have to catch a golem or something?”

“That’s not important right now! Wodanaz, what are you going to bring back??”

The students surrounded Lee Han in a circle.

They were incredibly envious that he was going out for a day on Sunday, but more important was what Lee Han would bring back from outside.

“From outside… if I can go outside, what should I bring back? There’s so much I can’t choose!”

“Ca-calm down and let’s sort it out one by one.”

Lee Han was quiet, but his friends were even more excited.

‘If I can go out, what should I buy and bring back?’

“Definitely something to eat. Something sweet and small in size, as much as possible.”

“Let’s rent a carriage and bring it back, Wodanaz!”

“Don’t you remember when we enrolled? Carriages aren’t allowed, are they?”

“Food is good, but what about clothes? Honestly, the clothes we’re wearing now aren’t clothes, they’re rags.”

‘Aren’t they comfortable…?’

Nilia tilted her head.

These clothes are comfortable enough…

“I definitely want to wear sturdy and comfortable clothes.”

“Shoes too! And hats and cloaks! And…”

Asan, who was listening from the side, chimed in.

“I need books and stationery like quills.”

“Dalcard… what nonsense are you talking about? Can you eat books? Can you drink ink?”

“No. I like food too, but I seriously need books.”

Asan was also quite serious.

While preparing for the assignment, the students were setting foot in the magic school’s library one by one.

But of course, this library was not a warm and cozy place where you could easily find books according to the correct classification method.

‘Who the hell classified this?’

It was a messy, disorganized place. You couldn’t help but say ‘Wow!’ when you saw it – but not in a good way.

That was exactly what this school’s library was like.

As such, even if they tried to refer to books for the assignment, finding the book itself was a task.

They missed the friendly bookstores outside. You could ask the kind owner for a book, and they would wrap it nicely in paper for you, like a gift.

“If we stay like this, there’s a 95% chance we’ll collapse before we even do the assignment. We need to find at least the basic textbooks required for the subjects.”

“Hmm… that might be a valid point.”

The students, who had been clamoring for butter cookies, chocolate cookies, caramel waffles, milk roll wafers, and maple syrup candies until just now, nodded seriously.

“And not only books but also calculation artifacts are needed. I’m going to die trying to calculate by hand.”

“That makes sense too.”

“I’m bored with nothing to read, so I need some magazines or novels. And new cards or a chessboard.”

“…?”

The friends nodded, then paused.

Something was strange.

“Gainan, you bastard! Is that what’s urgent right now!”

“It’s urgent, that’s why I said it! You guys are saying what you need, why can’t I!”

“Hey guys. Wodanaz went to bed.”

“?!”

As he had to leave early Sunday morning, Lee Han finished the alchemy assignment and went straight to his private room.

‘I can’t sleep.’

Lee Han was dumbfounded.

He wasn’t a child, yet he was tossing and turning like the night before a picnic…

But this was far from the innocent anticipation of a picnic.

It was closer to being nervous before a difficult exam.

‘Can I really do well?’

Anyone would think he was taking some kind of graduation exam, but Lee Han was serious.

It was a legitimate outing using an outing pass, but Lee Han was not careless.

This school definitely had a trap.

‘Let’s think. What kind of problems could there be?’

Lee Han thought that using a carriage or horse would definitely be prohibited.

As it was during enrollment, he wasn’t someone who would allow such things.

‘Surely they’ll allow me to carry things myself, right? I need to bring as much as possible… how far is the nearest village?’

Distance was also a problem to consider.

He had a carriage during the first escape, but not now.

This school could put a village farther than a day’s journey away and say, ‘Go and come back in a day!’

‘Damn it. I should have learned a magic that allows me to move quickly!’

Lee Han lamented.

If he had learned body enhancement magic, he wouldn’t have to worry about this.

…Of course, that wasn’t a concern for a freshman.

Whirr!

“…?!?”

Suddenly, a book placed on the bookshelf popped out and opened on its own.

It was the black book without a cover that the Headmaster had given him.

Tentacles made of letters popped out of the black book and wrapped around Lee Han.

“What…?”

Before he could finish speaking, Lee Han was somewhere else.

A desolate wasteland with nothing in the sky or on the distant horizon.

Lee Han knew instinctively.

It was an illusion created by the black book.

Bang!

The black book appeared in front of Lee Han. The black book fluttered in the air, revealing a page.

The magic written on that page was the magic Lee Han had been taught before but hadn’t completed, >Gonadaltez’s Nimble Steps>.

“Now… is it telling me to learn this?”

The black book shook its body up and down. It seemed to mean yes.

“Could it be that you recommended this because I was worried?”

The black book shook its body up and down again.

Lee Han felt a little better because it looked cute.

It was more thoughtful than he thought.

“Wait. I don’t have time to learn it now. I have to go out tomorrow. Send me back.”

The black book stopped abruptly in the air, then shook its body slowly to the side.

It was as if it was serious.

“……”

Lee Han regretted thinking it was thoughtful just now.

There was no way the book the Headmaster gave him would be so normal.

“…Burn!”

Lee Han tried to cast fire magic.

But the magic wasn’t cast. The black book shrugged and opened the page again.

It was as if it was saying that he couldn’t use anything other than >Gonadaltez’s Nimble Steps>.

“……”

Lee Han sighed and adjusted his wand.

Prisoner number 24601!

“Um. Master. I’m not a prisoner.”

Ah, right. Sorry. I get confused because of my age.

“……”

Lee Han yawned as he listened to the Headmaster and his summon’s conversation.

He wasn’t shocked by that level of conversation anymore.

The black book forcibly dragged Lee Han into illusion training, but fortunately, it didn’t take away his sleep.

It was only training in his dreams.

Of course, he couldn’t help but be mentally exhausted…

‘I hate myself for being grateful for even this much.’

Congratulations on your outing, Wodanaz! It’s a well-deserved reward for your achievements, so you can be proud!

“Thank you.”

The rules are simple! Leave when the sun rises today and return to the front gate by the time the sun rises tomorrow. If you don’t return, a pursuit team will be dispatched.

“……”

He had guessed, but hearing it out loud made him feel absurd.

The only luggage you can bring in is what you carry on your back. You can’t rent a carriage, horse, or other vehicle!

“I understand.”

Then do your best!

“…?”

Lee Han was puzzled.

‘The rules are more lenient than I thought?’

Lee Han had prepared for a limit on the amount of money he could use, a limit on the weight of his luggage, and a limit on the volume of his luggage.

But there were none.

What is it?

Lee Han ran hard.

Thanks to that, he was able to reach his destination when the sun was overhead.

Philone Village.

It was the closest village to the magic school.

“…So, you’re saying there are no noble families’ mansions in this village right now?”

“Tsk tsk. You must be a student who escaped from the magic school. It’s always like this. When the semester starts, the school tells people to leave and move their mansions far away.”

“……”

The great families of the Empire didn’t just leave the school when the semester started.

They would buy mansions in nearby villages in preparation for the vacation and have their servants and slaves waiting.

It was a waste of money worthy of a great family, but Lee Han was counting on it.

He was going to find them with a silver coin ledger containing the students’ signatures and get some pocket money…

Lee Han was speechless.

‘This school is crazy.’

“Then where did those mansions go?”

“They went to Granden City over there.”

“How long does it take to get to Granden City…?”

“You’d have to ride a horse for several days…”

“……”

Lee Han realized why they didn’t bother to impose a limit on the amount, weight, or volume.

From the beginning, they had blocked all means for the student to secure money.

So that if a student who escaped arrived at the nearest Philone Village, they would realize their mistake and despair!

“…Do they really have to go this far??”

“What did you say?”

“It’s nothing.”

Lee Han raised his head.

Now that it’s come to this, he would never back down.

“Where is the nearest merchant guild building here?”

“Merchant guild building? It’s over there on that street… why?”

“I’m going to borrow money.”

“……”

The villager was shocked.

He looked like a noble family’s son no matter how you looked at him…

‘Is this okay?’