Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 827

Lee Han pulled Yukbeltyre to a quieter corner of the lecture hall, the high ceiling making their whispers feel small. “Why are you so nice to all the other seniors,” he hissed, “but you’re acting like *this* with Lagesa?”

Yukbeltyre blinked, looking utterly lost. He tilted his head, a slow, bird-like movement.

*Kind to other juniors?* Yukbeltyre frowned slightly. What nonsense was this junior spouting now?

“I haven’t been particularly kind to any other students. If anything, I’ve been especially kind to you, a junior from the Wodanaz family, because of Dirett.”

Lee Han frowned, not understanding. “When was that?”

“When I gave you advice about the wand earlier, remember?”

“…That’s just a given since it’s a lecture.”

Lee Han clenched his fists, taking a deep breath to stay calm.

“If it were another junior’s question, I wouldn’t have even listened to such a vague inquiry. The questioner’s competence is important, you know.”

“How else am I supposed to ask? I’m a second-year, for crying out loud.”

He had to create a wand that could handle everything from powerful spirits to various gems of authority, and it was too much to expect a second-year like Lee Han to figure it all out from the start.

“And you said it was interesting, didn’t you? If you weren’t interested, you would have ignored me even if Dirett had spoken up.”

“When did I ever say that?”

“You said putting in the black stone was an interesting attempt, and you asked where I got the Echo Stone.”

Yukbeltyre was speechless for the first time in a while.

He was interested in his junior’s research?

In the research of a junior who was still in their second year and had flatly rejected his own artificial dimension research?

He absolutely couldn’t admit it.

“No, I’m not.”

“You’re not?”

“No. I’m not interested.”

“Anyway, that’s not important right now. Aren’t we supposed to be persuading Lagesa?”

Lee Han didn’t really care whether Yukbeltyre was interested in his research or not, so he didn’t press the issue.

“You should at least treat her the same way you treat the other seniors.”

“I don’t understand… I’m respecting Lagesa, if anything.”

Yukbeltyre kindly explained to the clueless junior.

Unlike ignoring juniors whose names he didn’t even know, he was properly conveying his opinions to Lagesa as much as he respected her as a fellow wizard…

“…You don’t even know their names?”

“Why should I remember them?”

‘Maybe it’s better if this person just remains indifferent,’ Lee Han thought to himself.

He answered questions properly for indifferent juniors, but for Lagesa, whom he was interested in, he only said what he wanted to say, annoying her. Perhaps he should just remain indifferent.

‘Come to think of it, he’s the kind of person who scratches Dirett’s nerves raw too.’

“Anyway, I’ll do the talking. Just stay behind me.”

“But you won’t be able to explain it properly at your level.”

“Shut your mouth and stay still before I tell Dirett.”

Yukbeltyre was appalled by the junior’s rudeness and shut his mouth.

How could he be so impolite?

They walked over to where Lagesa was standing, still looking impatient.

“So, this bronze golem is useful, and this senior is also conducting artificial dimension research…”

“You mean that arrogant fellow from last time?”

“How do you know about that, Lagesa?!” Lee Han was shocked.

It was shocking that the sponsor knew about the incidents that had occurred during the artificial dimension research in advance, but he was even more curious about how she had found out.

How could a pirate wandering the seas…?

“The wizards who participated there sent letters to inform me, you know?”

Lee Han was horrified to realize that the wizards of the Empire were communicating more closely than he had thought.

He had to be more careful in the future.

If he wasn’t careful with his actions in the future, a wizard from the far east, whom he had never even met, might blurt out something like, ‘Oh! The disciple of the Demon King has arrived!’

“But that was a mistake on the part of those wizards.”

“You have to take all of that into account to be an excellent wizard. It’s the arrogance of young wizards to think they can perfectly control an imperfect world.”

“But for some magic, such sensitive control is essential…”

Lee Han, who had been making excuses, suddenly wondered why he had to do this.

‘I just needed to catch one duke, so why do I have to persuade Lagesa too?’

Even if he did, it felt like she would just annoy him…

Still, with the determination to see it through since he had already started, Lee Han praised Yukbeltyre enthusiastically.

He was highly respected in the Blue Dragon Tower and provided a lot of help (which wasn’t a complete lie considering the Calendarium), had excellent friendships (which made sense since he had friends like Dirett), and was respected by his juniors (Lee Han decided to respect him for a while)…

Lagesa, who had been listening with a pitiful expression, clicked her tongue and said.

“Alright, alright, you little brat. You’re quite the artist at exaggerating a lot for a senior from the same school. If it were me, I would have thrown him out the window long ago.”

“Haha. I don’t know what you mean.”

Lee Han replied, pretending not to understand.

And if he were to throw someone, he would probably start with Professor Verdus.

“Come here, disciple of Bible.”

At Lagesa’s call, Yukbeltyre trotted over with a triumphant attitude.

“Your junior’s persuasion has touched the heartstrings of this old pirate. Fine. The people of the Empire will laugh at Bible for being fooled by a simpleton and then fooled again by his disciple, but I’ll sponsor you.”

Yukbeltyre’s eyes widened and trembled slightly with excitement.

“Junior of the Wodanaz family. I’ll give you a compliment for this. You managed to persuade a stubborn and obstinate wizard.”

“Senior… please lower your voice or just shut up…”

Yukbeltyre said, looking at Lagesa. Lagesa snorted and scoffed.

“You may live your whole life stuck in the magic tower without any friends, but this daughter of Torgard has a reputation and fame, you know? Anyway, sponsorship is good, but there’s a condition.”

“I’ll let you visit the artificial dimension second when it’s completed.”

“…You can go as much as you want. The condition I’m talking about is helping this poor junior make his wand.”

Yukbeltyre didn’t understand.

Why would he do such a thing?

Lee Han didn’t understand either.

He just didn’t like it.

“I don’t want to?”

“No… why are you?”

Lagesa was taken aback when Lee Han refused, not Yukbeltyre.

She had naturally expected this poor junior to be grateful.

“I heard you’re making a wand with black stone? That’s usually not easy, is it?”

“I’d rather take out the black stone than work with Professor Verdus…”

Lagesa couldn’t help but be impressed by the logically perfect rebuttal.

Yukbeltyre questioned as if he didn’t understand what she was saying.

“She designated me, not Professor Verdus. Junior.”

“Haha. I must have misheard.”

“…Still, doing it alone is too difficult. It’s a shame to waste the opportunity to make a good wand, and… Ah, never mind. Anyway, you need help. Brat.”

Lagesa started to speak but swallowed her words.

Lee Han asked out of curiosity.

“What was the reason you were about to say at the end?”

“I’m a little worried that you’ll be too hurt if you hear it.”

“Haha. It’s okay.”

“Alright. I see. Anyway, you’re a guy who listens to all the schools, including Bible’s, so I was going to say that having one more strange person next to you now won’t make any difference…”

Sadness and pain welled up deep in Lee Han’s eyes. Lagesa regretted saying it when she saw that.

“Hey. That’s why I didn’t want to say it, because I was worried you’d be hurt.”

“Ah, no. I’m not hurt.”

“I’m sorry. Anyway, it’s a good opportunity, you know? Don’t miss the chance to make a better wand.”

Considering the hardships and trials that this boy from the Wodanaz family would face in the future, the experience of making a wand himself would surely be quite useful.

If he could change and adapt the wand to match the hardships and trials, it would be much easier to overcome them.

Yukbeltyre, who had been calculating carefully next to him, finally opened his mouth as if he had made up his mind. He was tapping his fingers and muttering to himself.

When he calculated the time wasted helping his junior and the time saved by the gold coins he would receive from Lagesa, it was more profitable to receive them.

“I’ll help.”

Lee Han sighed. This was going to be even more complicated than he thought.

“You be quiet. Do you think your opinion is important right now?”

In fact, Lee Han might have been the one who knew the most about the rare metal called black stone.

Wizards usually didn’t bother with metals that had such magic-absorbing properties.

It was even more so because they were afraid of having their magic interfered with if they carried it around.

“I don’t think anything happened.”

“You must have just blasted it with magic!”

Yukbeltyre drew a picture on the paper.

Yukbeltyre drew a stick figure with wild lines for hair and arrows shooting out in every direction. It looked more like a monster than a wizard.

“What is this?”

“It’s a wizard.”

Lee Han momentarily wondered if he was drawing a troll because of his hideous drawing skills.

“Shall I draw the picture?”

“Why?”

“Because the picture is hard to recognize…”

“…I think this is enough.”

“I don’t think it’s enough.”

“The important thing is the concept of magic, not how you draw it. Got it? And it’s efficient to make a choice because it’s quick and you can see what it is, right? Dirett recognized it well too.”

“Ah, yes.”

Lee Han was slightly flustered when the other person suddenly started talking on and on.

“Are you upset because of something I said?”

“Not at all. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“That’s a relief. Then, about this black stone wand. I know the disadvantages, but what are the advantages?”

If there were disadvantages, such as absorbing the surrounding magic power and interfering with the wizard, there must also be advantages.

Lee Han was going to listen to it in detail and decide.

“It can easily store magic power, and it has excellent durability when casting spells. Strong magic can sometimes break the wand if it can’t withstand it. Also, it can be said to be powerful as the core of magic.”

The storage capacity was certain as it constantly absorbed magic power, and it was natural that it had excellent durability as it had to withstand it.

But the story that it was powerful as the core of magic was something Lee Han hadn’t thought of.

‘Is that so?’

The role of the wand was similar to that of a spell.

Magic was possible without it, but it could amplify and control the wizard’s abilities if it was present.

Magic was fundamentally an unstable discipline as it changed reality, and various means were prepared to control it.

The wand was the same, just like the spell was for the wizard’s concentration.

The core, center, and origin of the phenomenon of magic.

That was the role of the wand.

In the case of the black stone wand, it would absorb all the surrounding magic power, so its presence would be very clear even when casting unstable and difficult magic.

To put it bluntly, even if he used magic in a coma, he would feel the presence of the black stone wand…

“I think it’s definitely worth trying.”

“That’s right. You want to learn high-circle magic as quickly as possible, so it will be easier to cast.”

“…I was just talking about the wand’s durability.”

Yukbeltyre ignored his junior’s protest and continued to say what he wanted to say.

“But you can’t make it with just black stone. You need a powerful material to maintain other dimensional stones, magic stones, and tree spirits.”

“Will it be in Professor Verdus’s warehouse?”

“No. It won’t be there. Those kinds of materials are used as soon as they come in.”

“Why is the professor so extravagant?”

Yukbeltyre also stole and used them as soon as they came in, but he quietly changed the subject.

“The best material to control black stone, as the core of the wand, is…”

Lee Han quietly listened to his senior’s words.

‘Please be an easy-to-find material. Please be an easy-to-find material.’

“A branch from a king-level spirit would be good.”

“…Shall we do something else?”

Lee Han was about to crumple up the paper he had been scribbling on.

Lee Han was about to crumple up the paper he had been scribbling on.

Lee Han was about to crumple up the paper he had been scribbling on.