Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 807

Just then, Ethan turned around.

“Gasp!”

“We… we didn’t mean anything by it! Hoo… Master Wodanaz,” one of the Death Knights stammered, sounding very surprised.

Ethan raised an eyebrow. “?” He looked at them suspiciously. *Why were they so shocked?* he wondered.

“I was just going to ask,” Ethan said slowly, “how you blocked my lightning magic earlier?”

Ethan knew he needed to be careful when practicing strong lightning magic.

Especially after he had recently damaged the Einroguard main building in an unfortunate accident.

The lightning magic he had used so far was fine to practice in a regular classroom, but if he wanted to use stronger magic, he needed to be careful.

“Ah!” The Death Knight seemed to relax a little. “What we used was the Shield of Magus Ahiman. Ethan, since you study black magic, you must have heard of Magus Ahiman, right?”

“Yes,” Ethan replied. “Isn’t he a really famous black magician?”

“That’s right.”

Ethan thought for a moment. “The one who became undead because he was too poor and failed at his research…”

The Death Knight paused. “…Out of all the amazing things he did, *that’s* what you remember?”

Besides becoming undead because of research failures and bankruptcy, Magus Ahiman was a great black magician who left his mark on imperial magic history.

The Shield of Magus Ahiman was a useful spell that even the Headmaster’s Death Knights liked to use.

“It’s a crystal shield made with dark magic. This shield uses energy from around it to work.”

Basically, those who use dark energy or elements can make similar effects on living things.

Just by touching it, living things would lose energy and become tired.

The Shield of Magus Ahiman makes this effect stronger by layering it carefully.

This spell, made with a very smart combination of magic, was a big improvement. Even the Death Knights from long ago liked it and used it.

“Could I use it too?”

“Of course!”

“Thank you! What circle is it?”

“It’s a 5th circle spell.”

Ethan, who had been happy, turned serious. The Death Knights looked at each other, confused about why he was making that face.

“5th circle should be manageable, I think…”

“Manageable? I’m already getting ready to learn *one* 5th circle spell, and now you want me to learn *another* one on top of that?!”

The Death Knights, discouraged by Ethan’s words, lowered their helmets.

The Mad Doppelganger scolded them coldly when he saw this.

“Knights were always ignorant and foolish. Even the brains they had would have rotted away, so what would they know?”

“…”

“When are you going to defeat that jerk, Master?”

The Death Knights were angry, but the Mad Doppelganger ignored them and kept explaining.

“Spirits are pure power. Trying to use their power in magic is like humans trying to become immortal, which is foolish. However, magicians…”

‘This is bad. The explanation is putting me to sleep.’

Ethan realized the Mad Doppelganger’s long talk was harder and made him sleepier than he thought.

Before, he had stayed awake because he was worried about an attack, but now that the illusion was just talking, he started to get sleepy.

‘Guinan Dodo gave up too. I can endure.’

Ethan gritted his teeth, remembering Guinan Dodo, who had struggled to stay awake in the lecture hall.

He had bothered his friend to stay awake, so he couldn’t fall asleep himself.

“…So, the first thing to do is to increase the power of lightning.”

“Yes! Wow!”

Ethan was happy the talk was over and acted extra excited.

The Mad Doppelganger saw Ethan’s excitement and was pleased.

“How much do I need to increase the power of lightning?”

“Until the space around it changes. It needs to be that strong to make the change possible.”

“Ah, I understand. I’ll work hard.”

“Make sure you do it within this week.”

“Trust me!”

Ethan’s attitude made the Mad Doppelganger happy, so he didn’t say anything else and disappeared.

The Death Knight, who had been watching, asked as if he didn’t understand.

“But Master Wodanaz, I thought you said you weren’t confident in learning from this Mad Doppelganger. Don’t you have other things to do?”

“It’s fine.”

The Death Knight was a little impressed by Ethan’s confident answer.

He thought the Headmaster’s successor was different.

It was a difficult learning plan, but he was adding to it without fear.

It was amazing how Ethan could handle so much.

“I’m not going to do it anyway.”

“…”

Ethan said this very confidently.

He had agreed to avoid making the Mad Doppelganger angry, but he didn’t plan to learn the magic.

It was impossible anyway.

‘It’s just an illusion. If he gets angry, I’ll just apologize for not being able to do it even though I tried my best.’

The Mad Doppelganger didn’t understand his student.

Even though they were far apart and it was just an illusion, the Mad Doppelganger thought that if he showed Ethan magic secrets better than Einroguard’s lessons, Ethan would follow him.

But Ethan was the type to get out of anything he didn’t want to do, unless he absolutely had to.

“Actually, I just thought Master Wodanaz would be able to learn it.”

“Why would you think that?”

The Headmaster’s Mad Doppelganger and the Dalcard family ancestors were small problems compared to the whole Club Week.

Most students didn’t even know these things had happened. They just said, ‘This year, a rich person who spent a lot of money came and left.’

For the students, Club Week had just begun. They had dealt with generous people who arrived early, so it was time for annoying guests to arrive.

“They’re here…!”

“Damn it. Why are those poor people coming?”

Some of the older students recognized the guests and complained.

For Club Week, only people who were checked and offered Imperial gold could visit Einroguard.

But there were exceptions.

Usually, only members of Einroguard could be invited. But there was an exception. People from other clubs connected to Einroguard could also be invited.

These club members were usually wizards.

In the Empire, it was often said that wizards were always short of money.

“Hey, Einroguard people!” one wizard called out. “We’re from Wilderness Root Magic Tower. We heard you’re good with those famine plants, and we came to see them.”

“Yes… well… are you going to invest?”

“Haha, we spent all our money on research last year, so we don’t have any to invest… We would be happy if we could get some sponsorship here.”

“…I’ll show you around the warehouse. Please, follow me!”

Einroguard was famous throughout the Empire, so many wizards wanted to visit.

Many wizards visited Einroguard just to see it, without spending money. So, when the older students saw wizards who looked poor, they felt annoyed right away.

“Because of these guys, the rich ones don’t want to come! Honestly, these wizards!”

“The magic on this pot is amazing! How on earth did you maintain this shape?”

“You’ve seen enough! Get out of the way, will you?'”

Wizards who just came to look around were better.

More difficult were the wizards who arrived with a sense of rivalry.

“Is this the Iactus Soup Club?”

“It is.”

“My name is Bassadyn. You’ve probably heard of me. Turning the barren plains back to green…” Bassadyn puffed out his chest.

“Never heard of you.”

“What?! Never heard of me? Einroguard isn’t anything special then. Not knowing my name. Anyway, I’ve come for a contest. Do you see my potion bottles here? Who can make plants grow faster first….”

“Guest. If you’re not here to see magic, please move aside.”

“Ugh, urgh…! Keugh! Cowardly using guards…!”

The Einroguard students needed to earn every single gold coin. These guys kept interfering and disturbing them, so they felt frustrated.

“Why does the headmaster keep letting those guys in?!”

“I think it’s on purpose. He’s trying to test our temper.”

“This won’t do. I should tell the invited guests to take a good rest for the day. There are too many annoying guys.”

As the wizards from outside wandered around the 7th floor, the Einroguard students sighed.

Now that it had come to this, they had to put aside the guests with plenty of gold for a while and deal with these annoying guests.

“We’ve arrived. Is this Einroguard?”

“Yes, it is!”

The Valdrogard Gourmet Club students nodded. Their eyes gleamed with anticipation and a desire for revenge.

Last year, the Einroguard Kitchen Club had made fun of them and their cooking magic. The Valdrogard students had not forgotten this insult.

It was an unbearable wound for the honorable Valdrogard students.

That one of the two great powers leading the Empire’s magic could be so rude.

The Valdrogard students tried to look honorable. “We are not like those rude Einroguard students,” one said, adjusting his robes importantly. But inside, they were eager for revenge.

The external wizard, Garal, had to suppress his scornful look.

Garal used to be a promising wizard who conducted research with Alsicl of the Pengaerin family.

But fate is cruel. No one knew when it would show its cruel side.

Three research failures, five accidents, and one attempted assassination of a sponsor (Garal insisted it was an accident, but the sponsor didn’t believe him) passed like a storm, and Garal was not given a proper opportunity for a while.

Because of this, he had to participate in adventurer parties looking for wizards, help guilds urgently seeking wizards, or even take on useless requests from Valdrogard students with nothing to do.

The first two were better, even if they were tough.

However, the Valdrogard students’ request now made Garal feel disgusted with himself.

He had to compete against the still young Einroguard students and put them down.

No matter how good the pay was, he couldn’t believe he had to do this kind of thing.

Garal sighed, his voice sounding weary. “Where do I need to go?”

“The Kitchen Club. Please compete in magic with the members there.”

“If it’s the Kitchen Club… they must be skilled in alchemy or transformation magic. I need to be careful.”

“As expected, Garal-nim. You have an eye for it.”

‘This is obvious…’

Expecting that a wizard belonging to the Kitchen Club would be skilled in alchemy or transformation magic was too obvious.

Seeing them admire this, Garal felt his vision darken.

‘Hoo. No. This isn’t the time for me to be proud.’

Garal shook his head and pulled himself together. This wasn’t the time to be stubborn.

“On the way, you can put down any Einroguard students you see.”

“Weren’t you insulted by the Kitchen Club members?”

“The other Einroguard guys who didn’t stop them and laughed are just as vile. There! There’s one over there.”

The Valdrogard students pointed at a boy walking towards them. He looked like a statue carved from pale stone, with a calm, unmoving face.

Garal sighed and approached Ihan.

“Are you a student of Einroguard?”

“Are you perhaps a minion of the Mad Doppelganger?”

“What are you talking about? I am Garal. From the Northern Snowflake Magic Tower, although I am not working there now… Anyway, I visited after getting an invitation from the Einroguard Kitchen Club.”

“Aha.”

Ihan nodded. This person seemed to be the non-paying guest he had only heard about.

‘Wait. Isn’t that Valdrogard?’

“I want to ask you something.”

“Yes.”

“Can you tell me what materials can replace juniper, perilla, and pyrophyllite in Dobruk’s Jeolyeong Potion?”

“???”

Ihan was confused. He had never heard of such a greeting.

‘Do the Valdrogard guys ask this kind of thing as soon as they meet you?’

Garal waited for an answer with a tired face.

He didn’t feel good about suddenly throwing out such a question, but he had no choice if he wanted to satisfy the Valdrogard students.

“Please give me a moment to think.”

“Do so…”

Ihan turned around and stepped back for a moment. Then he began to whisper into his staff.

“Are you there? Master?”