Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 858

‘This can’t be happening.’

Stunned, Lee Han began to deny reality.

Only the Kitchen Club is kind; the other clubs must be different!

-Why are you doing this? Why are you stepping up?

-Junior, you’re a second-year. Logically, it doesn’t make sense for you to be gathering midterm information for yourself, does it?

But the seniors from the other clubs gave equally cold replies.

Lee Han deeply regretted it.

‘Come to think of it, no one told me to follow them.’

Now that he thought about it, Senior Palcrius had suggested going to other seniors, but hadn’t specifically called Lee Han himself.

Lee Han felt a wave of unfairness.

“Wait, Junior. There is one exam you need to gather information for.”

Perse, the Blue Dragon Tower senior, spoke as if he had just remembered something.

“So, second-years are supposed to do something after all!”

“No. It’s not that. Second-years usually don’t, but there’s an exception.”

“What is it?”

“This time, when you take the >Understanding Intermediate Combat Magic< exam, record it." >Understanding Intermediate Combat Magic< was Professor Voladi's course. If any seniors had taken it, they would have left records, but since no one was taking it, Lee Han had to record it. "It won't be used for a while, but maybe another junior will take it someday." "...But a new student came to the first year." "Really?! How many?" Perse was startled. A new student in Professor Voladi's class? Could it be that Professor Voladi was finally changing his teaching methods a little? Lee Han subtly changed the subject. He didn't want to give the exact number of one. "Anyway, I understand. When I take the exam this time, I'll leave a record so that future juniors can refer to it." "Okay. You don't have to work too hard. Just record it appropriately." "What do you mean? Are you saying that I can do it moderately because there won't be any juniors taking Professor Baegreg's class anyway?" "Oh, no… I just meant that from a junior's perspective, it's already something to be grateful for that a senior recorded it, so I didn't want to take up too much of your time." "Ah, I see." ‘I need to be careful what I say in front of this junior,’ Perse thought to himself. Just like how you shouldn't mention the number '5' in front of a fourth-year, there are some etiquette rules in Einroguard. Until now, there hadn't been any students of Professor Voladi, so he didn't feel the need, but seeing the junior in front of him, he felt the need to be careful what he said. ‘But how many came in?’ "Eandurde. Thank you again." "?" The only first-year student in Professor Baegreg's faction, munching on the rice cake he received from his senior, tilted his head. "No. It's nothing. More importantly, the lecture is over; don't you have to go?" "Want to watch?" "...Don't attack Professor Baegreg if I get hit." Eandurde chewed on the rice cake with a dissatisfied expression. To increase the odds of winning against a strong opponent like Professor Voladi by even 1%, shouldn't they both attack together? ‘What a commendable fellow,’ Lee Han thought, feeling a slight pang, but he couldn't show it. Professor Voladi was staring intently from the side. "Haha. Junior. The purpose of the professor's lecture is for me to receive teachings, not to attack the professor, knock him down, and laugh at him." "Is that so…" Eandurde nodded, puzzled by the strangely specific details of the victory. After Lee Han gave the junior a snack and returned to the lecture room, Professor Voladi asked a question. "Did you learn a lot from Lagesa?" "Uh…" Lee Han paused at the professor's question. Did I learn a lot? ‘I think I learned a lot. But I don't know if that has anything to do with magic.’ As a pirate, he seemed to have learned a lot about stealing, robbing, raiding, and scamming, but not really magic… ‘I did learn Lagesa's secret magic. But it blew up the hallway.’ Lee Han decided to answer appropriately instead of digging his own grave by saying these things in detail. ‘Yes. I learned a lot.’ "You're too greedy. Lagesa's magic has many difficult parts, so there's no need to study it right now." “……” Could it be that 'I didn't learn much' was the correct answer! Lee Han was dumbfounded inside. Regardless, Professor Voladi began to point out Lee Han's current state one by one. Since his first year, Lee Han had been learning many things from different magic groups. Professor Voladi was trying to put all of this together and make it useful for magical fighting. Now that Lee Han was becoming a second-year, Professor Voladi saw that Lee Han was interested in too many different kinds of magic. It was hard for him to pick one to focus on. Even this semester alone, he was exploring not only Water Prison Orb but also the Spirit King's Lightning, and the suspicious secret of the Ancient Clone, wasn't he? "Not exploring, but forced to…" "Hmm?" "It's nothing." "Anyway, I recommend completing one without increasing it any further. It doesn't have to be Water Prison Orb. Do what you want." Professor Voladi realized that telling his disciple to 'start with Water Prison Orb' was meaningless. Given this disciple's personality, there was a high possibility that he would become twisted, saying, 'Hmph. Don't arbitrarily define my magic learning.' "...But I think I was pretty good at doing what you told me… Were you dissatisfied with the Water Prison Orb-related book last time?" "No." ‘That's a relief.’ He hadn't heard the evaluation of the book he was writing because Lagesa came in the middle. He was worried, but it didn't seem like he had failed. Professor Voladi continued with a blank face. "However, based on past precedents, it seems meaningless to tell you to develop Water Prison Orb." “……” Come to think of it, every time Professor Voladi talked about Water Prison Orb, Lee Han seemed to learn and bring back other strange magics one by one. It wasn't intentional, but from Professor Voladi's point of view, he couldn't help but feel that his disciple was very interested in other magics. "Do what you want. I'll adjust the exam content next week accordingly." ‘Wait. Is this a good thing?’ Lee Han was initially embarrassed, but after thinking about it, Professor Voladi's misunderstanding wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Wasn't he saying that he would give the exam on the topic Lee Han chose? Then he could choose the easiest and most confident field of magic. ‘No. It won't be that easy. I don't know what the exam topic is.’ If he believed in the psychokinesis magic he had completed in the 5th circle and said, 'I'll take it with psychokinesis!', and Professor Voladi deliberately brought an exam that was difficult to use psychokinesis, Lee Han would suffer like crazy. "Professor. If there's anything decided about the exam content, could I know even a little bit?" "Hmm." Professor Voladi showed a faint embarrassment on his usually unchanging face. ‘Oh.’ Lee Han saw hope at the same time as doubt because the person who would have immediately said no if it was really impossible was acting like that. "Professor. I also helped Eandurde's lecture a lot." "Why are you saying that?" "...Just saying." Lee Han cursed the professor in his mind. Professors basically had no heart. If a disciple helped diligently, 'That's commendable! What do you want?' should come out, not 'Isn't that natural?' But Professor Voladi thought that his disciple was interested in teaching, so he stepped up. As such, he couldn't read the intention even if he suddenly brought up such a story. "...Originally, I was asked to keep the contents of this exam a secret." ‘It’s the headmaster again,’ Lee Han cursed, guessing the culprit. First of all, Professor Voladi had no friends. Professor Kirmin was there, but he wasn't the kind of person to recommend keeping the exam contents a secret. "It's okay, Professor. You don't have to listen to such requests." "I'm not sure about that. I think you need to know when I see the difficulty of the exam." "...?" Lee Han was starting to feel scared. Because Lee Han had been harassed by real lunatics recently, Professor Voladi had become relatively kinder and gentler, but wasn't Professor Voladi originally one of the real lunatics in the first year? What did he prepare? "Professor. Trust me and tell me! I will definitely protect my honor." "Okay. The decided exam content is a dragon." “……” "Wow!" Eandurde looked at his senior, uttering an exclamation mixed with respect and admiration. The senior of the Wodanaz family catches dragons around the second year! Of course, Lee Han didn't have the mental capacity to clear up the misunderstanding. He stared at his teacher with wide eyes and asked a question. "...Dragons in the Empire… aren't they… not common?" Even the rare basilisk was only a species of least concern compared to dragons. Dragons were a species that couldn't be met even if one wanted to in the current Empire. There was no publicly known existence itself. ‘Maybe it's His Majesty the Emperor? Surely His Majesty the Emperor wouldn't come because of the exam.’ If the Skeleton Headmaster persuaded the Emperor and called him for the midterm exam, Lee Han was honestly going to admit it. If it was that elaborate of malice, it was right to just suffer. How could he stop that? "That's right." "Where on earth did you get it?" "Hmm." Professor Voladi was more embarrassed than before. He had no choice but to say it because he had to give the information necessary for his disciple's fair exam, but there was also a promise with the other party. "Professor. What kind of dragon it is is also more important than you think. Please give me a chance to come up with a fair countermeasure." "Hmm. Okay. The opponent is Zaurin." “……” Lee Han's face changed more grotesquely than when he met the crazy Ancient Clone in person. The third child of His Majesty the Emperor, and the dragon Lee Han met when he visited the capital following the Skeleton Headmaster! Eandurde looked at Lee Han with eyes that shone as brightly as they could. "Wow, wow… Dragonslayer!" "Eandurde. That's not it. Calm down." "Royalslayer!" "That's not good at all." A royalslayer might sound cool in fairy tales, but in reality, a royalslayer was just the most heinous criminal in the Empire. Lee Han tried to grasp the reality as much as he didn't want to be listed as the Empire's public enemy number one. "Professor. How on earth did you contact Zaurin? No. More than that, I think there's some misunderstanding. Zaurin is still a young dragon who likes to play. If you visit this harsh and rough Einroguard, which even demons hate, you'll be greatly disappointed." Eandurde tilted his head. Einroguard wasn't really that bad, to be honest. "Her Highness's abilities are sufficient." "No. It's not a matter of ability. Professor. Her personality is the problem! Professor, you know it too. To become a combat mage, you have to be cold and bold." The reason why Professor Garcia, despite having such innate talent, wasn't called a combat mage (honestly, Lee Han thought he could be considered a combat mage) was because of his kind and good-natured personality. Such a person was not suitable for a combat mage who had to throw several spells in a split second shorter than a second and cut off the opponent's breath. In a similar sense, Zaurin was still a young dragon. She would not be able to adapt to Einroguard's harsh environment, and it would be even more difficult to entrust her with Lee Han's exam. "This is a trap. The headmaster is trying to make things difficult for you by setting a trap." "Her Highness sent a letter herself." “……”