Surviving As A Mage In A Magic Academy [EN]: Chapter 97

Multiplying 14 by 19 doesn’t give you 266; it doesn’t give you 417 either. Not even one digit was correct.

Lee Han asked with a questioning tone.

“Gainan, too. How do you make a low-grade mana recovery potion?”

It was the same question the other friends had asked earlier.

If it really was a Wisdom Potion, he should have been able to answer properly like before.

“Cut off the base of the Gallamaldo, and cut off the remaining part along with your little finger. At the same time, you have to tear the Seolhyang grass thinly by hand…”

He answered calmly, just like before. But Lee Han was not fooled.

Lee Han suddenly understood. The instructions! ‘Cut off the base of the Gallamaldo, and cut off the remaining part along with your little finger.’ His *little finger*!

He looked down at the cutting board in horror.

“It wasn’t a Wisdom Potion, but a Confidence Potion.”

“……”

The Blue Dragon Tower friends were genuinely disappointed.

They could have easily passed all the assignments and exams!

“But can’t we trick them by calling it a Wisdom Potion and selling it to the White Tiger Tower kids?”

“Ooh…”

“What do you mean, ‘Ooh’? No way.”

Lee Han stopped the students.

The Princess tried to get up from her seat with the potion, but she glanced at Lee Han’s expression and subtly sat back down.

“Why?! Wodanaz. Do you know how rude and arrogant those guys are!”

“They insulted you last time, too!”

“I know. But… wait. What insult did they use?”

Lee Han couldn’t resist asking, even though he was trying to ignore it.

“They said you’re much better at dark magic than the higher-grade students.”

‘Isn’t that not an insult?’

Lee Han thought to himself.

Of course, he knew what they meant, but it was too weak to be an insult.

The White Tiger Tower students said something they thought was insulting in their own way, but it wasn’t really to Lee Han…

Something like, ‘Wodanaz will starve to death after graduation’ or ‘Wodanaz won’t graduate and will be dragged away by the professors’ would have been much more insulting.

“That’s okay. I’ll take care of my own business, so don’t get angry because of me. The most important thing right now is the lake.”

“!”

At those words, the Blue Dragon Tower students remembered the assignment they had forgotten, or rather, tried to forget.

It was the assignment given by the Skull Headmaster.

“Do we really have to go to the lake?”

“Can’t we just give up on one assignment? To have to cooperate with those guys. Honor is more important than grades.”

At those words, Lee Han, Yoner, the Princess, and Asan looked at the student with surprised eyes, as if they were saying something ridiculous.

How could they say that grades aren’t important??

“Grades are honor. What are you even saying?”

“Yeah. Grades are the key to a successful… no, honor.”

Lee Han hesitated, about to say, ‘You need good grades to get ahead’.

The guys here were mostly thinking, ‘Who cares if my grades aren’t good? I have a family, so I won’t starve to death?’, so it wasn’t very effective.

And…

‘It seems dangerous to say such things later.’

After seeing Professors Voladi and Kirmin talking the other day, it felt dangerous to say ‘My goal is to become a bureaucrat and get ahead’ inside the magic school.

It might be right to hide it until I get a firm foothold and leave later.

“M-my bad. I was being thoughtless.”

The friend who had spoken without much thought apologized, unable to withstand the gazes of Lee Han and the others.

I see!

Grades are that important…!

‘I was hoping something useful would come out of the potion box.’

Lee Han looked at the lake with regret.

The water was dark and still, stretching out like a grey blanket to the horizon. A cold wind blew across its surface, making him shiver.

Specifically, he wanted potions like the Water Walking Potion or the Underwater Breathing Potion.

No matter how he thought about it, this headmaster’s assignment seemed like it would involve getting screwed over in the water.

Falling into the water or drinking it…

But the only confirmed potions in the stolen potion box were Imperial Western Wine (delicious), Cantus Potion (granted singing talent), and Confidence Potion.

Lee Han seriously considered secretly feeding the remaining potions to the White Tiger Tower students little by little.

It would be faster to feed them directly…

‘It would be a little troublesome if there were Strength Enhancement Potions or Giant Transformation Potions. They’d come to kill me first.’

Lee Han thought about the risks and decided to stop.

After all, testing unverified potions on people was ethically wrong.

“Shield, unfold!”

Lee Han chanted towards the lake.

A magician who uses water elemental magic becomes much more comfortable and stronger when water is nearby.

The magic power and mental power used to summon water are greatly reduced.

…or so he had heard, but Lee Han didn’t feel the difference.

‘Am I just unskilled?’

Whether he used the water from the lake or just summoned water, it felt similar to him.

Maybe it was because he was using low-circle magic.

The differences might not be noticeable in low circles, but they might be noticeable as you go up to higher circles…

Lee Han tried different spells, shields, boats, even a clumsy water bridge, but nothing felt right. The lake seemed to resist his magic.

There was only one reason why Lee Han was alone at the lake on a happy Sunday morning doing this.

He was looking for a way to cross the lake.

‘It’s disgustingly big, now that I think about it.’

It wasn’t unreasonable that some students from inland areas mistook it for ‘Wow, there’s a sea inside the school’.

At least, Lee Han couldn’t see the end of the lake from where he was.

He had to find a way to cross by next week. The Skull Headmaster wasn’t the kind of person to make allowances because there was no way.

“Ferry, appear!”

Lee Han tried to change the shape of the boat into a ferry shape, changing the spell in his own way.

He was trying to summon a ferry made of water.

If Professor Garcia had been there, she would have been shocked by this absurd attempt by her student.

-Even if you’re full of confidence, can’t you imagine how difficult it is to maintain the shape of a ferry?

Maintaining a water shield and summoning a water ferry to cross the lake were completely different matters.

First of all, the shield and the ferry had different sizes and densities.

Of course, the amount of magic power required was enormously different.

Besides, even if you simplify the structure of the ferry, it’s a completely different level of complexity than a shield.

On top of that, unlike a shield that just needs to float in the air, you have to keep it in shape on the water…

Lee Han soon realized that fact.

After all, summoning a ferry made of water wasn’t efficient.

‘It’s definitely ambiguous. Can I keep this afloat on the lake?’

There was also the possibility that monsters or the Skull Headmaster would jump out of the lake and attack.

Considering that possibility, a water ferry was out of the question.

‘It’s a shame I succeeded in summoning it, but I have to give up.’

Lee Han gave up cleanly. And he released the water ferry he had successfully summoned onto the lake.

It was a sight that would have shocked Professor Garcia once again.

-You can’t just release it like that after you succeeded!

‘Is it enchantment magic after all?’

If potions and water ferries didn’t work, then the next thing was enchantment magic.

A type of magic that directly engraves effects on items, materials, or living things to maintain the effect.

Water Walking Magic and Underwater Breathing Magic also fell into the category of enchantment magic.

The problem was that Lee Han had only indirectly learned enchantment magic so far.

He had learned how to use it in lectures like >Basic Imperial Geometry and Arithmetic>, but he hadn’t received formal instruction yet.

And even if he received formal instruction, it didn’t seem like he would be able to learn Water Walking Magic or Underwater Breathing Magic right away in his first year…

‘Dark magic is useless even at times like this. Alchemy and enchantment magic are closely related to real life and helpful.’

Lee Han thought about Professor Mortoom shedding tears.

‘The Lightning Spirit is also useless in the same way. Professor Uregeoreum’s Ice Spirit even helps store food and reagents… I could have frozen the water and made a path even at times like this.’

Lee Han then thought about Perkuntraga getting choked up.

‘Magic is, in a way, very weak…’

“Be careful!”

“Don’t worry. Here. Let’s push it slowly.”

“?”

Lee Han lowered his stance and approached the voices coming from beyond the bushes.

Beyond the bushes, Lee Han saw them. The White Tiger Tower students were gathered around a wooden structure. It was rough, made of planks lashed together, but surprisingly large. It looked like a small, sturdy raft, ready to be launched.

“!”

“Can we launch it like this?”

“Of course. I’ve done it several times back home.”

The goat beastman, Angaro, answered confidently, puffing out his chest a little.

When the knights were occasionally given long breaks, Angaro would follow his parents to his mother’s hometown and travel around the sea by boat.

He not only had a lot of experience touching small ferries, but he was also confident that he could build one himself.

“Let’s launch it and tell them when it’s confirmed!”

“Yeah! Everyone will be waiting. Wait… what if we find a way to the island altogether?”

“That’s a really good idea. Moradi will like it too.”

Angaro nodded.

It was good that Moradi and the other students were impressed, but more than anything…

The thought of that Wodanaz guy looking at him with a mixture of respect and resentment already thrilled him.

-Heh. Angaro Alpha. I acknowledge you. To find a path that I haven’t found yet. You’re much more amazing than I thought. I was foolish to underestimate you…

Even Wodanaz, who had mastered all evil magic, wouldn’t know this much about the wisdom of navigation.

Rustle-

With the sound of something moving in the bushes, Lee Han appeared with his staff.

“Hey.”

When Lee Han called out, Angaro and his friend instinctively raised their arms. The staff aimed at them felt like the tip of a sword.

“Y… You bastard…!”

“Cowardly…!”

Angaro was so upset that his horns were shaking.

It was a ferry he had made, saving sleep for several days.

He had worked hard to make the ferry, even giving it the name ‘Baphomet’, but he was going to be robbed like this by a staff-wielding thug.

He wanted to rush at him, but he couldn’t move easily when he thought about the magic Lee Han had shown last time.

Lee Han’s staff would be swung first before he could draw his sword and charge.

“My ferry! My ferry like this…!”

“Don’t move.”

Lee Han warned, then suddenly realized.

‘Why am I threatening them?’

In the first place, he had come out in front of the White Tiger Tower students to ask how they were planning to navigate and how they were going to find the way.

But suddenly, the White Tiger Tower students raised their arms as if they had met a robber, so Lee Han suddenly said ‘Don’t move’ without realizing it.

Habit is truly scary!

“No.”

Lee Han lowered his staff.

“I think there’s been a misunderstanding. I didn’t come out to take your ferry. I came to ask how it’s going.”

“R… Really??”

“But you aimed your staff and threatened to curse us if we didn’t hand over the ferry…”

Angaro was talking, but then he remembered that he hadn’t done that. He was too flustered and mistaken.

“There was a misunderstanding.”

The two White Tiger Tower students lowered their arms obediently. Lee Han nodded, pretending not to see.

“There was a misunderstanding.”

“You came out because you were interested in the ferry I made, right?”

“Yeah. But…”

Lee Han stopped talking and looked at Angaro with a fresh look.

This guy made the boat?

‘It might be more dangerous than the boat Gainan made…’

“Why?”

Angaro was puzzled, unaware of Lee Han’s rude thoughts.