Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 835

How long had he been walking?

Lee Han stopped hearing the crazy voice. He realised the mad voice had gone quiet.

‘What is it? Did I turn it off?’

Lee Han checked his staff, wondering if he had turned off the Echo Stone without meaning to. He hated the voice so much.

But the staff was not in his hand.

“? !”

Before he could understand what was happening, the black book appeared above his hand. It fluttered its pages.

Unlike before, when he had just learned to think about his own soul, Lee Han could feel the connection between the black book and his spirit.

‘Ah, I see. So, being connected to my soul like this allowed it to appear in my dreams whenever needed.’

Lee Han tried to use his magic to break the link. The black book, startled, fluttered wildly.

If the connection were broken, it could not appear before the wizard and help him.

“Are you telling me not to?”

Affirmative.

“Alright, I get it… wait a minute. Have you been listening to me all this time? And why should I listen to you?”

……

The black book trembled because Lee Han was becoming stronger. It had felt his power grow from the moment he held the sword.

“More importantly, I think you’re mistaken. I’m not asleep. I was walking through the forest of the mad spirit ki… spirit king.”

Lee Han decided to talk about his complaints later. First, he wanted to fix the book’s mistake.

It seemed this black book was misunderstanding something.

Lee Han was not asleep; he was walking through the forest.

‘I’m already exhausted. If it tells me to learn magic now, I’ll break the connection.’

The black book fluttered, as if it knew that Lee Han was not asleep.

“You know I’m not asleep? Then you’re calling me to learn magic while I’m suffering from a curse? You’re as wicked as your master…”

Before Lee Han, whose tongue was sharper than usual because of the curse, could say more insults, a strong power came from the empty space ahead.

Lee Han turned his head.

The empty wasteland was empty no longer. Standing where only the black book had been, was something else.

“…!” Lee Han gasped.

He stepped back, surprised. He could feel a strong power coming from it, but it was the way it looked that shocked him most.

It was a tree.

But not like any tree he had ever seen. This tree looked like anger itself, like violence made into wood.

*Can trees even look like this?* Lee Han thought, his eyes wide.

The tree spirits he knew were kind and calm, like the gentle trees in a park. They were always peaceful.

Fire spirits were wild, and lightning spirits were fast, but tree spirits were always calm. That was just how it was.

But this tree spirit broke all the rules.

It was like someone had taken a tree and twisted it, carved it into a huge, two-legged monster. Its branches were sharp like claws, and its wooden face looked furious.

*Crack!*

The wood groaned and cracked as the tree monster moved, a sound like bones breaking.

Even the sound of wood, which usually made people feel happy, sounded scary and angry now.

“Hey, thanks. Thanks to you, I’m free from the seal.”

The tree spirit spoke like a back-alley thug.

Lee Han, puzzled, asked back.

“Who are you?”

“What? Who? This little… Never mind. It’s a good day, so I’ll let it slide. This body is the Hornbeam Gambling God Saratan. Remember it well.”

‘What nonsense is this?’

Lee Han, tilting his head, realised something.

The Frost Giant King’s blue gemstone, a space-shifting ore, and the Echo Stone were in the entity’s head.

‘The staff!’

A high-ranking tree spirit was sealed inside the staff.

The entity was that tree spirit.

“How did you get free…”

Before he could finish, a fist flew.

Wham!

A fist made of rough wood stretched through the air and hit Lee Han.

But Lee Han did not spit blood or fall.

He had met so many crazy people this year, he was ready from the moment he saw it.

He predicted the attack, raised his telekinesis to block it, and quickly bounced back to lessen the hit. The black book fluttered as if to say, ‘Well done.’

“What? You’re not dead? You’re putting up quite a fight, aren’t you?”

“Why are you doing this?”

“How dare you open your mouth while this body is speaking. Be careful. I won’t show mercy twice.”

……

Lee Han was shocked by how easily the tree spirit spoke.

To get angry at someone for speaking after listening to everything, saying they were going to say more…

‘The Mad Tree King should have the ‘Mad’ taken off. It should be given to that guy.’

He could see why the kind tree spirits had sealed the entity.

Lee Han watched the tree spirit carefully. The tree spirit kept talking, happy to be free.

“Hey, do you know how frustrating this body was? Stuck in the hands of a weak and foolish human, unable to use my powers, unable to resonate. I was dying of frustration.”

“Indeed. I apologize. I was inadequate.”

“Good, you know it, human.”

Lee Han decided he would be angry with the talking oak trees when he got back.

How could they give such a thing to a student?

And Professor Willow had to be grabbed as well.

-No, how could you give this to me? What do those oak trees have against me?

-Oh, it’s not like that. You don’t understand. He has been thinking about his mistakes for a long time. His anger should be less now. So, I gave him to you to help a young wizard and make up for his bad actions. I think you can persuade and befriend this spirit. Haha…

A professor should say, ‘He’s probably very vicious, so don’t wake him up even if you have to give up your powers,’ but what was that?

Of course, Professor Willow had also said, ‘It’s best not to rush waking him up,’ but Lee Han didn’t think about it.

Professor Willow probably didn’t think Lee Han would wake up the sealed spirit so fast.

‘But how did that guy wake up? I didn’t even use my powers.’

After thinking, Lee Han knew why.

The only reason was the Mad Tree King’s forest.

‘But the seal shouldn’t be so weak that it recovers just by entering the forest… wait a minute. This isn’t reality, but the world of the soul. In reality, did a branch somehow get into my hand?’

No matter how much he thought about it, nothing else made sense.

To think the seal of a mad spirit would break just by getting a branch!

Lee Han could only laugh because it was so unlucky and strange.

Who knew the forest’s gift would become a disaster?

“Then get lost. Let’s not meet again. If you tell people that this body was used as a staff, I’ll rip out your tongue.”

The tree spirit shouted curses and threats. He was not thankful at all that a student had freed him.

Lee Han cursed in his mind but bowed politely.

“Yeah, get lost!”

‘There are already so many strange guys around me, why add another one like that?’

It was a shame to lose the power of a strong spirit, but Lee Han didn’t want someone with such a bad temper.

However, the black book fluttered and gently shook its head.

” ? ”

It told him to get ready. It rose onto his hand and prepared magic. Lee Han raised his guard.

…What? Why isn’t it working? Damn it. The seal wasn’t completely released? These spirit bastards I’ll tear to pieces!

The tree spirit, about to leave, couldn’t move as if tied down, and cursed angrily.

It thought its mind had returned and the seal was released, but now it saw the seal wasn’t completely released.

If it was another spirit, it might have been thankful that it was released this much, and cheered for the wizard. Because that would make the next seal release sooner.

But Saratan, the Hornbeam Gambling God, thought the opposite, as expected of a sealed tree spirit.

“Hey. No, I have to crush you.”

“Why on earth?”

“At least I should be able to move where I want, right? Huh?”

Attacking the wizard wouldn’t release the seal or give back his power, but he could escape somewhere else.

Right now, his main body was tied to that wizard, so escape was impossible.

The tree spirit walked closer. He planned to easily crush the scared young wizard.

“Your Majesty, the Gambling God! Please, just listen to one word!” Lee Han said, rolling his eyes.

“What? Try it. Go on.”

The tree spirit stopped at Lee Han’s polite shout.

Then, Lee Han used the black book’s power and slammed the tree spirit with all his telekinesis.

!!

The tree spirit was horrified as it flew backwards.

The wizard was much stronger than he thought, but he was more shocked that a human had tricked him.

How could he be beaten by a young human who wasn’t even fully grown?

“I’ll kill you..!”

Flutter!

The black book moved faster than Lee Han had ever seen.

That meant the opponent was dangerous.

“Ugh!”

Lee Han was vomiting blood from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth.

The black book had used high-level magic, overloading his mind.

His body was strong because of his endless magic, or else he might have turned to dust.

Even though it was a world of souls, the damage here was serious. If the soul was hurt, it would affect his real body.

‘That bastard…’

Lee Han cursed the black book. But the black book couldn’t help it, given who the opponent was.

‘…This is, Gonadalte’s Fall…!’

As the black book used Lee Han’s hand to cast Gonadalte’s Fall, the overload that Lee Han felt was sent to the opponent.

Saratan felt bad because of the strange feeling that spirits don’t usually feel.

“Hey, release it! I’ll kill you if I catch you!”

Lee Han felt better and sighed.

The magic that the black book had just finished by using Lee Han’s mind appeared.

Small World, Dendrobium!

!!!

Saratan was scared by the magic he didn’t know and moved back.

Magic of the Small World changed reality, so even strong beings from other worlds were careful.

Crack!

A giant tree grew, taking root in the air.

Saratan laughed, not believing that a tree spirit was using tree magic against him.

“Are you crazy?”

Saratan stopped defending and made a giant wooden club. He was going to smash the weak magic and the wizard at once.

“Then die!”

The tree spirit attacked strongly.

Then, black flowers bloomed on the ends of the tree’s branches.

?!

Saratan was confused when he swung his wooden club and it felt like it hit nothing.

He should have destroyed the wizard and the magic, but what was happening?

‘…It’s stopping the nearby physical attacks!’

Lee Han knew it first.

Small World magic changed the local space, so there were new rules.

This tree was making the nearby physical attacks disappear.

Because he was sealed, he couldn’t destroy the magic with his own power. He should have moved away and dragged the wizard out.

But Saratan was angry that a young wizard had hit him and kept swinging his club. The more he did, the more his attacks missed.

Thud!

“Are you done! You’re really dead, you human bastard!”

Saratan was happy when the wooden club hit the ground.

It seemed the strange magic was over.

But Saratan was too excited to see that the flowers on the tree branches had changed.

Red flowers had bloomed.

…Kroooooh!

Saratan screamed as his power was pulled out of him.

Lee Han watched, breathing hard, and suddenly asked.

“…Wait a minute. This was the magic that Headmaster Skull used when he was young, right?”

The black book fluttered as if it hadn’t heard.