Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 764

“Whoa!”

“Are you sure you’ve thought this through properly?”

Imirge and Raphaelle whispered from behind, sounding unsure.

They tried to be positive. But it was hard to see an empty vault as ‘financially sufficient’.

Lee Han nodded calmly.

“Yes. The Black Magic Faculty has plenty of money.”

“…??”

“???”

The two wondered if Lee Han had found some secret property or vault of the Black Magic Faculty that they didn’t know about.

But Lee Han had his own reasons.

‘After all, raising the price too much will only reduce the number of buyers. And it would be like advertising that the Black Magic Faculty is poor.’

If the price was too high, the Einrogaard students might steal the mushrooms or look for them somewhere else, instead of buying them even if they complained.

Besides, what if rumors spread that the Black Magic Faculty was poor?

‘Every transaction will suffer.’

Lee Han was just a second-year student. But he was already learning how tough business was in Einrogaard.

This, too, was a world of survival of the fittest, where showing weakness meant being devoured.

“Agdung, would you explain to them how rich our Black Magic Faculty is?”

“Huh?”

Agdung was surprised by the sudden question.

He didn’t really know how the Einrogaard Black Magic Faculty was doing economically.

“I’d appreciate it.”

“Ummm.”

However, he couldn’t ignore Lee Han’s words.

Agdung felt pressured. He tried hard to think of something.

“How rich the Black Magic Faculty is… Ah, we got honey tea as soon as we arrived.”

“That’s amazing!”

It seemed amazing. The other seniors were very surprised.

The Buyeo Magic Faculty didn’t even offer a glass of water, whether outsiders came or not.

‘Was the Black Magic Faculty richer than I thought?’

“That honey tea was made for Dirett and the other seniors to drink…”

“Yes?”

“Never mind. Please continue.”

Lee Han looked unhappy.

It was made for the hardworking seniors, but the professor was being generous to outsiders.

But there was nothing he could do. This, too, was a fate he had to accept as the professor’s student.

“And the new students are many more than in our Callarogard.”

“Really?!”

“??”

The seniors, and even Lee Han, were a little surprised.

Was it?

‘If it’s zero versus zero, then several times is technically correct…’

“Also, the upperclassmen in the faculty are very busy with many requests. You can tell just by seeing this second-year student helping me with my work.”

“Agdung, I think that’s enough.”

Lee Han quickly stopped him.

If he went any further, the Einrogaard seniors would notice something was wrong.

“Everyone, be careful when picking Sanhwan mushrooms.”

Agdung advised as they harvested the mushrooms from the patch after the deal was done.

Since Sanhwan mushrooms were reagents used in curses that scattered or reduced magical power, carelessly inhaling the powder from the mushrooms could damage a mage’s magical power.

“It’s best to cover your face with a cloth. It’s even better if you cast a simple windproof spell.”

“I see…”

Lee Han nodded at Agdung’s advice and thanked him. Then, he picked Sanhwan mushrooms with his bare hands and filled a basket.

Agdung stared at Lee Han, who was walking away, completely astonished.

As expected of the professor’s student, everything he did was amazing.

‘Now that I think about it, the friends in the faculty who are in the same year might also be special.’

Agdung suddenly had that thought and looked around at his other friends.

“Gainando, I told you that Mist Cloud mushrooms are sensitive to temperature and vaporize if you touch them wrong. I gave you ice.”

“Eeeing. It’s cold.”

“Did you learn cold resistance magic just to use it when eating shaved ice? Use it now!”

“……”

Wasn’t that the reason?

While Agdung was a little confused, a wave of eerie magical power rippled through the air from far away.

Agdung frowned at the wave. It was a familiar wave as a mage of the Black Magic Faculty.

‘An Afflicted or a Corrupted?’

Afflicted were monsters that were reborn as mutants when the magical substances of the continent accidentally mixed with magical power of a different kind.

The wastewater or slime that mages carelessly threw away in their workshops were typical examples of Afflicted.

Corrupted were monsters that were born when beings from another dimension fell onto the continent and lost their essence, unable to overcome the environment of the other dimension.

Various rampaging spirits, demons, and, very rarely, even angels could be seen among the Corrupted.

Both could be challenging enemies, but experienced mages usually had ways to deal with them.

Moreover, the Black Magic Faculty were experts in dealing with such Afflicted and Corrupted beings.

“What’s going on?”

Lee Han, sensing something was wrong, quickly ran to Agdung’s side.

He was farther away, but his sense of detecting magical power was so sensitive that he caught the wave from that far away.

Agdung wasn’t surprised.

It wouldn’t be strange if the professor’s student had caught it even sooner than he did.

“It seems like an Afflicted or a Corrupted… I’m wondering whether to use >Begone, Ye Tainted Ones!> or >Resolve Against Corruption> first. Which should I use?”

Agdung asked, trying not to use honorifics.

Lee Han was surprised by the question.

“…I don’t know either of them?”

“?!?”

Agdung was shocked by Lee Han’s answer.

He had thought that the professor’s student would have mastered them.

>Begone, Ye Tainted Ones!> was a 3rd Circle defense spell that stopped Afflicted from approaching, and >Resolve Against Corruption> was a 4th Circle defense spell that stopped Corrupted from approaching. Both were good for getting rid of them.

Experienced black mages usually mastered these spells…

“You really haven’t learned these two spells?”

“I’m sorry.”

Usually, Gainando was the one who apologized for not mastering spells, but this time, Lee Han rarely apologized.

‘What did I miss?’

Lee Han wondered.

He definitely hadn’t heard about those spells during last year’s Black Magic lecture.

Could it be that he missed it because he was absent for a week?

‘Damn it. I should have made the Black Magic lecture a priority.’

“Ah, no. There’s nothing to be sorry about! Don’t apologize! Don’t apologize!”

Agdung exclaimed, horrified that the professor’s student was apologizing.

Then, he explained what kind of spells the two were.

“…They’re these kinds of spells.”

“…Senior. I’m a second-year student.”

“Right? …Oh, that’s right?”

Only after Lee Han glared at him was Agdung able to realize it.

Lee Han was still a second-year student!

‘Why haven’t I noticed this obvious fact??’

He knew it in his head, but he hadn’t connected this fact at all.

He was too focused on the fact that he was the professor’s student…

‘…That’s right. No matter how much of a professor’s student he is, he’s still a second-year student…’

Agdung felt a little bad.

Even if Lee Han was the professor’s student, it was too much to suggest using spells that he hadn’t even learned yet.

“…I’m sorry. Could you call our friends? I’m going to set up a defensive spell on the field.”

“Yes. I’ll help too.”

“Thank you.”

At Lee Han’s words, Agdung grinned, rattling his bones.

‘I should take responsibility for this.’

As the highest grade student, even if the school was different, Agdung felt responsible and sensed the approaching wave of the enemy.

Lee Han, who was waiting beside him, asked Agdung.

“Senior. Do Afflicted and Corrupted emit magical power of the same kind?”

“Ah. Not exactly. Both feel like violent and twisted magical power, but the Afflicted feel more like a mutation of existing magical power, while the Corrupted feel closer to a reversal, I guess…”

“I see. Senior. I think what’s approaching now is an Afflicted.”

“!?!”

Agdung was surprised by Lee Han’s sudden answer. The opponent wasn’t close enough to be identified yet.

“Why do you think so?”

‘Could he really tell the difference from here?’

If he could feel the difference at this distance, it was truly amazing.

It was already amazing that a second-year student could sense the magic wave at all…

“First of all, isn’t this area where the Einrogaard seniors are always doing magic and research? I think there’s a much higher chance of an Afflicted appearing than a Corrupted. Generally, the chance of a Corrupted appearing is much lower anyway.”

“That’s a good point.”

Agdung nodded.

Because Lee Han was clever, he was calm even in a stressful situation.

“And I’ve been focusing my senses, and I feel like the magical power has been changed.”

“……”

“Senior?”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

“Yes?”

“No. I said it’s nothing. Then let’s prepare to cast >Begone, Ye Tainted Ones!>”

Agdung quickly changed the subject.

If he made a few more mistakes, Lee Han might think that Callarogard was a strange place.

Of course, it was a strange place, but the students of the magic schools of the Empire, except for Valdrogard, all tried to hide the embarrassing parts of their magic schools.

Their magic schools were always embarrassing, but they should be embarrassed among themselves, not show it to outsiders.

“Black stone, cloves, sacred bone fragments, golden hair. Oh. I’ve used up all the golden hair.”

“Would my hair work?”

“Oh. Good idea?”

Lee Han told his friends to pluck some of Gainando’s hair. Gainando screamed.

“Ye Tainted Ones, fear the mage who wields that power. Ye Tainted Ones, fear the mage who wields that power…”

He repeated the spell.

It was a technique to make the magic stronger by repeating the same spell.

To cast a defensive spell over a wide area like a mushroom field, the power had to be increased in this way, even if it took time.

“Hoo. Let’s take a break.”

Agdung stopped the spell for a moment, feeling his bone joints aching.

Turning the flesh into an undead made him less tired, but that didn’t mean there was no pain.

“The bones in your arm are a bit worn. You should replace them before they break.”

Gainando asked, and Agdung laughed.

“Since I can replace them like this, how good is this method? Like this… take out… the bones… and… insert… new… ones… done!”

Gainando wanted to say, ‘I just wait quietly for my skin to heal even if it gets scratched,’ but he didn’t say it because Agdung had worked so hard to replace his bones.

‘Black mages all seem so strange.’

“Okay. Let’s start again.”

“I’ll help too.”

Lee Han, who had been watching closely, asked how to cast the spell.

Since there was a senior black mage, he could be corrected if he made mistakes.

Agdung knew that too, so he agreed. It was good to have a reliable helper for this work that required stamina.

“I’d appreciate it. The west side is almost finished, so could you just finish up the west side a little? I’ll start on the remaining areas…”

“Ye Tainted Ones, fear the mage who wields that power.”

Once he chanted the spell, a powerful magic circled around the mushroom field.

Siana clenched her fist, looking disappointed.

“I cast it twice…!”

“I, I thought it would be twice too…”

“……”

Agdung could only watch the conversation between the Einrogaard second-year students, confused.