Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 649

Lee Han heard a jumble of slow words: “Magic… Recovery… Bracelet… How… about… it…?”

“I… don’t… think… it’ll… be… useful… at… all…” Lee Han replied, his voice equally drawn out.

To Lee Han, it felt like about five seconds had passed.

During those seconds, the voices around him seemed to slow to a crawl. He realized the time around the watch had sped up, nearly doubling the normal pace.

‘A time magic artifact!’ he thought.

Time magic, like space magic, was known as the most difficult to master in the Empire.

It took immense talent, tireless effort, magical power, rare ingredients, and came with unavoidable risks.

These drawbacks prevented time magic from becoming a recognized school of magic.

Even divination had mages gathering to form schools, but time magic was attempted only by a few daring geniuses willing to risk everything.

‘Who would make something like this? And how did Valdor Orn even know about it?’

As he pondered, the five seconds ended abruptly.

Lee Han felt a jolt, as if every muscle in his body was screaming.

“Kugh!” he gasped.

“What about the magic recovery letter opener?” Yoner asked.

“Anything with just magic recovery is useless, even if you’re dying,” Alshicle retorted.

Their conversation returned to normal speed. Lee Han groaned and knelt, the sudden shift taking its toll.

Thud!

“Everyone, get back!” Alshicle shouted, horrified. He jumped up, waving his staff. As an experienced mage, he knew what had happened.

Lee Han had touched a faulty artifact!

“Don’t come near! It could be poison or a curse!” he warned.

“But… poison or curses shouldn’t work on Lee Han, right?” Yoner asked.

“……”

Alshicle, while casting a barrier, was impressed by Yoner’s sharp observation.

“That may be true, but there are always exceptions! And Lee Han has too many artifacts from crazy mages!” Alshicle exclaimed.

“Crazy mages?” Lee Han asked.

“I’m talking about Headmaster Gonadal! I knew he would cause trouble someday!” Alshicle said.

Mages lived with danger, and Alshicle was willing to take risks for achievement, but even he thought the Skull Headmaster was too much.

He often worried that Lee Han’s Behemoth Necklace or Bracelet of Ten Thousand Demons might turn on their owner.

“That bracelet is suspicious. Such an evil aura!” Alshicle muttered.

“Ti… time magic,” Lee Han stammered.

“What did you say?” Alshicle asked, confused.

“That pocket watch… it has time magic on it… it just accelerated…” Lee Han explained.

“!!!”

Alshicle understood immediately.

Time magic was incredibly rare, and the artifact was surprising, but that wasn’t the main concern.

Like powerful enhancement magic, time magic could cause side effects.

It isolated the area around the caster, twisting the timeline. When the magic ended, a backlash was unavoidable.

Even a short time magic spell could tear the body apart without proper preparation.

“Bring a recovery potion!” Alshicle ordered.

“You said the bracelet was suspicious!” Gainando protested, his eyes narrowed as if looking at a con artist.

He had been wrong once, and another mistake might cost Lee Han his life.

“I can be wrong! Are you going to bring it or not?!” Alshicle shouted.

“Here!” Gainando said, handing over the potion.

“Also a magic recovery potion! Hey, summon a golem and have it bring all the healing potions from the mansion!” Alshicle commanded.

“Magic recovery potion too?!” Gainando exclaimed.

“Don’t say things you don’t know! You little brats who don’t even know what time magic is!” Alshicle shouted, laying Lee Han down.

The backlash from time magic wasn’t just the physical strain of the slowed time returning.

As the isolated world collided with the outside world, the magic power inside the mage went berserk.

Alshicle knew there was nothing more dangerous than a mage losing control of their magic.

‘If I’m lucky, it’ll just be magic depletion, but if I’m unlucky, it’ll be an explosion!’ Alshicle thought, gripping his staff tightly, sweating.

“Lee Han, can you hear me? Try to control your magic…” Alshicle said.

“Hoo. I’m feeling better. Thank you,” Lee Han replied.

“……”

“……”

Lee Han suddenly got up, and Alshicle felt the urge to grab him by the collar.

Still, just in case, Alshicle began to check him meticulously.

“Are you really sure there’s nothing wrong?” Alshicle asked.

“Just a little muscle pain…” Lee Han replied.

Alshicle squeezed his eyes shut, aware of the many eyes watching. He didn’t want to be known as ‘Alshicle who invests in juniors’ or ‘Alshicle who grabs juniors by the collar’.

“That’s not even a problem…” Alshicle muttered.

“Why isn’t that a problem!” Gainando shouted, flaring up.

He had doubted the bracelet and now doubted Alshicle’s abilities.

“Lee Han, didn’t you hear earlier? Penguin Mage said the bracelet was suspicious, right? But he changed his mind right away!” Gainando said.

Alshicle summoned a snowman and ordered it to attack Gainando, who screamed and ran out of the mansion.

The penguin mage, having regained his composure, took a deep breath and said, “Right… muscle pain is a problem too. It’s probably the rebound from the time magic.”

“Ah, like how magic that omits the physical protection process during enhancement magic causes pain?” Lee Han asked.

“That’s right. It’s a much more advanced magic, but the principle isn’t much different,” the penguin mage replied.

“Still, the rebound isn’t as big as I thought. The time magic I read about seemed much more dangerous,” Lee Han said.

“……”

Alshicle got up without a word, opened the mansion door, and went outside.

He repeatedly threw snowballs at Gainando, who had defeated the snowman.

Alshicle’s face was much calmer after venting his anger. He returned inside and said, “It’s definitely much more dangerous. The reason your rebound wasn’t big was first, because the magic’s duration was short and its intensity wasn’t strong. Second, because you’ve trained your body to the level of a decent knight. Third, because you have a lot of magic power.”

“So, it ended at this level because the magic’s duration was short and its intensity wasn’t strong,” Lee Han repeated.

“…Hey, just forget about the first and second reasons. In my opinion, the third reason is the biggest,” Alshicle said, annoyed.

“?!”

Alshicle, annoyed by his junior’s constant nonsense, spoke bluntly, “Now, look. There’s a snowflake here. If you close the window and then open it, the snowflake will fly away in the wind right away. But what about this big table? It stays still. You’re this table. Got it?”

“Yes. But why are you angry…” Lee Han asked.

“I’m not!” Alshicle shouted.

Yoner and Nilia whispered, “I think it’s because of Gainando.”

“Right? He must be embarrassed that he was wrong earlier.”

“……”

Alshicle changed the subject, feeling like he would only lose face if he talked more.

“More importantly, you bought this artifact in the village? And even at a cheap price from a secondhand store?” Alshicle asked.

“Yes. I think Valdor Orn knew about it and recommended it…” Lee Han explained how Valdor Orn had recommended the watch in the village near the school.

Alshicle listened with interest.

“That’s possible,” Alshicle said.

“Should I send him a letter and ask what he meant?” Lee Han asked.

“It wouldn’t be very useful. I wouldn’t answer either if I were him. I’ve bothered to give my junior a teaching, but instead of figuring it out on his own, he asks right away. He’d be even more annoyed,” Alshicle replied.

‘Why are mages like this?’ Lee Han thought, but he couldn’t deny that Alshicle’s words made sense.

He had recommended it with some meaning, and it would seem lazy to ask without trying to figure it out himself.

“And I know what he meant. Since it’s an artifact with time magic on it, he probably wants you to research time magic,” Alshicle said.

“Isn’t that too much of an overinterpretation? Time magic for a student who has only finished their first year?” Lee Han asked.

“Hmm. You’re right. It’s as impossible as a first-year student implementing domain domination. Right?” Alshicle said.

“…You’re really not angry, are you?” Lee Han asked.

“I’m not angry,” Alshicle replied.

Lee Han resolved to make a special effort to prepare sardine dishes for dinner that night.

“More than that, I’m curious about who made this artifact. You said it activated when you touched the exhaustion trigger? It must be a very eccentric mage,” Alshicle said.

Usually, artifacts were made to be obvious, clearly magical.

If someone touched it without knowing and accidentally activated the magic, the caster could be seriously injured.

But this pocket watch felt like it had a rather eccentric and malicious intent.

On the surface, it looked like an ordinary object without any magic, but if you explored it deeply, its secret would be revealed.

And that secret was a magic that could inflict great damage on the caster!

In the world, these kinds of artifacts were usually called cursed artifacts.

‘That’s definitely right,’ Lee Han thought.

An artifact of that kind of trap.

“Could it be something the Headmaster made? It was an antique shop near the school, and it doesn’t seem like there are many people who could handle something like this,” Lee Han suggested.

“I don’t want to blame all misfortune on Headmaster Gonadal, but to be honest, it’s true that I suspect him. There aren’t many people in Einrogaard who can use time magic. Gonadal, and Professor Garcia…” Alshicle said.

“Ah. I think I’ve heard of the professor,” Lee Han nodded.

He had heard before that Professor Garcia’s original field was spacetime magic research.

It wasn’t for nothing that he was a freak who had taken all the schools in Einrogaard.

‘Maybe the professor was a little crazy when he was younger. How can a person take all the schools?’ Lee Han thought.

Lee Han was dragged there against his will, but Professor Garcia chose it voluntarily, didn’t he?

No matter how he thought about it, it was something only a madman would do.

“Bereg too,” Alshicle added.

“Oh, Professor Bereg can use time magic too?” Lee Han asked.

“But it probably isn’t Bereg. He only uses it in a condensed form for combat,” Alshicle replied.

“No. It’s possible that Professor Bereg made it and placed it outside. In preparation for the day I would discover it,” Lee Han said.

“…Did Bereg do something to you?” Alshicle asked, embarrassed by Lee Han’s suspicion of Professor Voladi more than the Skull Headmaster.

Even the basis for that was at the level of a crazy conspiracy theory.

“Wait. I think this is open,” Lee Han said.

The pocket watch was shaped like a glass-covered needle without a lid, but now that he looked at it, the back was open.

The back, which had originally been filled without gaps, had clearly opened as the magic was cast. Lee Han carefully opened the back.

Inside, he found a message: “Congratulations, you stupid and foolish junior. If you are reading this, you must have experienced great magic. If you master the magic engraved on this watch, come find me. Then I will give you the proper secrets! -From a great senior”

‘It’s not Headmaster Gonadal?’ Lee Han thought.

Alshicle tilted his head. It seemed like an Einrogaard student, which meant the Skull Headmaster was less likely to be the culprit.

Or perhaps the Skull Headmaster was subtly pretending to be an Einrogaard senior?

“Hmm. Could it still be Professor Bereg?” Lee Han wondered.

“…I’m not close to Bereg, but I can swear that Bereg isn’t the kind of person who would do something like this,” Alshicle said.