Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 967

Even though the younger student decided he would ‘only think of himself from now on,’ the older students didn’t care.

The same thing happened when Lee Han got out his warm black tea from a thermos that seemed to work by magic. He also ate a tasty pork sandwich.

‘Wow,’ Lee Han thought. He had just decided not to care about others, but he was surprised inside.

Back at Einrogard, the younger students, like Gainan, would stare at him with hungry eyes whenever he brought out food. They looked like they really wanted it. In Einrogard, good, warm food was very tempting, almost impossible to say no to.

But the older students from the magic school were only paying attention to what they were doing. They acted like Lee Han wasn’t even there. There was a reason these students were chosen to study with Professor Verdus.

Lee Han started to feel annoyed. He didn’t realize it, but it was because he felt a bit like a caretaker for the younger students back at Einrogard for so long. ‘How can they not even notice the food I brought?’ he thought.

‘Wait, what am I even thinking?’ Lee Han shook his head. ‘I should be happy if they ignore me. Why am I complaining? That’s silly.’

“…Senior Sigunting, what are you doing?” Lee Han asked.

“Looking at this magic thing,” Sigunting, a dwarf student a year older, answered. He was holding a crossbow that glowed with different colors of magic.

Now that they were underground, even students who weren’t fighters had to be careful. In Einrogard, you always needed to be ready to defend yourself.

“Yes, it has lots of different kinds of magic in it,” Sigunting said. The magic coming from the arrow in the crossbow was the kind that would follow its target and guide itself. It could probably make even someone who was bad at aiming shoot very well.

The feathers at the back of the arrow had magic to make it go faster and cut through armor. With all that magic, even if it just touched a steel shield, it could go right through.

Also, the crossbow itself had magic to help see in the dark and see things more clearly. The part you use to load the arrow had magic to make you feel more confident, help you calculate shots, and even help you draw better…

“…?” Lee Han thought he must have seen wrong and looked again. But he was right.

“Senior,” he said. “Does this crossbow really have magic to help with calculations and drawing?”

“…That’s right!” Sigunting looked at Lee Han, surprised. ‘He can figure out the magic on this thing even before I tell him?’ Sigunting thought. ‘No wonder other magic users think he’s so good.’

“Amazing! How did you know?”

“But why would a crossbow need help with calculations or drawing?” Lee Han asked. “Magic does the aiming anyway…” He thought it would be better to add even one more fighting spell instead of those other kinds of magic.

But Sigunting looked at Lee Han like he was someone who only cared about fighting.

“What are you saying? It’s already strong enough for fighting. We should add magic that’s useful for everyday things.”

“Everyday things…?” Lee Han repeated, confused.

“Yes,” Sigunting said.

Lee Han was about to ask when anyone would need calculations or drawing in everyday life, but then he happened to look to the side. He saw Yukbeltyre and Anpagone busy drawing plans for magic items, using their free time.

“…Oh, I see. I wasn’t thinking clearly,” Lee Han admitted.

“It happens,” Sigunting said. “Wodanaz, you should carry something like this too. It will save you time.”

“I understand…” Lee Han said.

After getting advice from Sigunting, Lee Han quietly put his magic thermos and sandwich wrapper back in his bag. Seeing the older students studying so hard made him feel a little embarrassed that he was just eating.

“Okay, Senior,” Lee Han said. “Then, what other fighting magic items did you bring besides this?”

“That’s it,” Sigunting answered. He didn’t understand why Lee Han was asking. Unless you were a magic user who was obsessed with fighting, most mages didn’t carry many weapons.

For them, magic was for research and making dreams come true, not just for fighting.

“Do you, by any chance, have lots of fighting magic items, Wodanaz?” Sigunting asked.

“I… I only have one,” Lee Han said, and laughed a little. He quickly changed the subject. To be honest, he could do many spells with just his staff, so you could say he only had one. But he knew Sigunting wouldn’t understand that.

“Then I’ll go talk to the other older students!” Sigunting said and walked away.

‘That guy is good at magic, but he spends too much time on things that don’t matter,’ Sigunting thought. ‘Well, nobody’s perfect.’

The underground mines of Einrogard were full of different monsters. There were Kukas, creatures that were half-human and half-crocodile, who could use basic magic. There were also Alicanto birds, which made noises while looking for rare metals. And even wild golems, which were like living statues made of earth or metal, created by magic in the ground.

Smart students at Einrogard usually tried to avoid fighting these monsters. No one was going to give them a prize for catching monsters in the mine, so it was better to just stay away from them…

-Grrrr! A crocodile monster, waving a stick with three points that was decorated with skulls and metal, growled and ran away. It had tried to put a curse on the magic user, but it didn’t work. Instead, it was attacked right away.

Lee Han used his mind to hold the monster still, and a ball of water, strong enough to break walls made of mud, shot towards it. The Kuka realized it had made a mistake in picking a fight.

“Should we chase it?” Yukbeltyre asked. “Oh, and what were you saying just now?”

“I was saying it’s best to avoid them… No, never mind,” Yukbeltyre said, quickly changing his words. After seeing how well Lee Han fought, he realized they didn’t need to avoid monsters anymore. He had brought Lee Han along partly to protect them, but it turned out Lee Han was a great fighter.

“Let’s go straight to the south cave,” Yukbeltyre said.

“But Senior Yukbeltyre,” Lee Han asked, confused. “There are no signs that anyone has been here. Are you sure it’s okay to go this way?”

Lee Han had learned how to move quietly and observe things from Nilia in his spare time. He had become very good at it. Even in the dark mines, his skills as someone who could scout and patrol were still useful.

The path to the west had many signs that students had gone that way. But the path to the south cave looked like no one had used it in a long time. Lee Han wondered again if it was really a good idea to go there.

“Of course,” Yukbeltyre said. “Junior from the Wodanaz family, do you not trust my decisions?”

“Huh? Yes,” Lee Han replied, meaning ‘yes, I *don’t* trust you’.

“I thought you did trust me,” Yukbeltyre said. “Let’s go then.”

‘But I just said “yes” meaning “no”!’ Lee Han thought, speechless. He had said he didn’t trust him, but Yukbeltyre just changed his answer to what he wanted to believe.

One hour later. “Hah, hah…” The students came out of the other side of the cave, breathing heavily and looking exhausted. Lee Han looked the most tired of all. He had been at the front, fighting off all the enemies that came at them, so it was no surprise.

The south cave was much more dangerous than Lee Han had expected. Many crocodile monsters, Kukas, attacked them to stop them from going further. And wild golems seemed to fall from the cave walls.

Lee Han somehow stopped the curses the monsters tried to use, just by being there. And he fought off the wild golems using his mind power and his sword skills.

-Senior! When will the spell that hits everyone be ready?

-Which senior are you talking to?

-…Senior Yukbeltyre!

-Oh! Senior Yukbeltyre, when will it be ready?!

-28 more seconds.

-Then at least have the others shoot some spells to help! There are too many of them! We don’t have time to cast big spells!

-I’ll make a small fort appear for now. Wodanaz, hide behind the fort… Wait, did you defeat them all by yourself?

The attack from the monsters was so strong that they would have gotten past them quickly if Lee Han wasn’t good at magic, mind power, and sword fighting. After putting his staff and sword away, Lee Han walked over to Yukbeltyre.

Lee Han saw that Yukbeltyre’s bag was ripped, probably from the fight. Yukbeltyre was looking inside to see what was damaged.

“Senior Yukbeltyre,” Lee Han said. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure,” Yukbeltyre replied.

“Maybe you wouldn’t usually come this way,” Lee Han said, “but did you come this way because I was here?” He knew it might sound arrogant to ask that, but he couldn’t help but wonder. This path was too hard to be a normal route, and there was no reason for older students who weren’t fighters to come here. They weren’t like Professor Voladi, who liked dangerous places…

“Yes,” Yukbeltyre said simply.

“…So, you’re saying you came this way because I’m good at resisting magic and fighting monsters up close, so you thought it would be safe?” Lee Han asked.

“Yes,” Yukbeltyre said again.

“You didn’t really think about if there might be other dangers or things you didn’t expect, did you?” Lee Han asked.

Yukbeltyre wondered why Lee Han kept asking silly questions.

“I calculated that it would work,” Yukbeltyre said. “And it did work. Why do you keep asking?”

Lee Han really regretted saying yes to Yukbeltyre without talking to Senior Dirett first. It was like a deal with the devil – it sounded good at first, but it was a trap!

“Never mind,” Lee Han said. Crack! Luckily, he had swung his sword a lot at the golems earlier, so he managed to stop himself from hitting Yukbeltyre.

Yukbeltyre finished checking his bag. “…The potions are broken,” he said, sounding upset. “!” Inside were magic potions to help recover magic and nutritional drinks. These were very important for students like them, who didn’t have much energy and weren’t trained for fighting. Yukbeltyre looked worried.

“Can’t the others share some? They brought lots, right?” Yukbeltyre asked.

“I don’t want to,” Anpagone said quickly.

“I refuse,” Sigunting added. They both said no right away. Lee Han was shocked.

“N-no. Why not?” he asked.

“There’s no reason to give them to you,” Anpagone said.

“We’re from the same school…” Lee Han started to say.

The two older students looked at Lee Han like he was saying something weird. ‘So what if we’re from the same school?’ their faces seemed to say. Lee Han realized again that he was just a normal person surrounded by crazy people.

“Wodanaz,” Anpagone said. “I think you don’t understand. Think about it this way. If I lost my potions, would Senior Yukbeltyre share his with me?”

“Of course, he would share them,” Lee Han said, assuming Yukbeltyre was reasonable.

“I wouldn’t share them,” Yukbeltyre said from behind them.

“……” Lee Han frowned, hearing Yukbeltyre’s answer. He was not helping at all.

“Why not?” Lee Han asked Yukbeltyre.

“Taking care of your potions is also part of being a magic user,” Yukbeltyre said.

“…Let’s forget about that,” Lee Han said, quickly changing the subject. “We’ll be in trouble if Senior Yukbeltyre isn’t here,” he said to Anpagone and Sigunting, who seemed more sensible.

“Isn’t Senior Yukbeltyre the only one who knows where Senior Zarun is?” Lee Han asked.

“Yes, and he’s the only one who can help us find him and get back,” Sigunting said.

“There’s no way Senior Yukbeltyre would agree to help us like that…” Anpagone said.

“I will,” Yukbeltyre said suddenly.

“……” Crack! Sigunting jumped when he saw the rock outside the cave passage suddenly split in half. ‘Could he really break a rock that far away just using his mind power, without even saying anything?’ Sigunting thought, amazed.

“…What’s happening now?” Lee Han asked, confused. Yukbeltyre said calmly, “It’s the logical thing to do since I was the one who asked you to come here.” It was Yukbeltyre’s fault that his potions were broken, and it was his idea to bring everyone down here to find Zarun. A sensible student from the magic school would give them Zarun’s location in this situation and go back up alone.

“…I’ll just share my potions with you,” Lee Han said. “You can pay me back when we get back up.”

Anpagone and Sigunting didn’t understand why Lee Han would do that.

“Why would you do that?” Anpagone asked.

“Is it because Wodanaz has too much magic power?” Sigunting wondered.

“Even if you have lots of magic, why would you waste potions on older students?” Anpagone added.

“That’s true…” Sigunting agreed.

‘I really want to punch them all,’ Lee Han thought angrily. Ignoring the words from behind him, Lee Han took out his potions from his bag.

Yukbeltyre took the potions and then asked, “There aren’t any food potions…?”

“…I’ll just make you some food,” Lee Han said. “Eat that instead.”

Yukbeltyre was about to say, ‘But that will take too long,’ but he stopped himself. He had a feeling he shouldn’t say that. Sometimes, students are better than their teachers. Even though people called Yukbeltyre ‘Little Verdus’ in a mocking way, Yukbeltyre was definitely smarter than his teacher in some ways.