Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

“Still, if we’re going to be in the same team from now on, I might need to clear up the misunderstanding.”

“No!”

Dolgyu also understood now.

Although Yi-Han said it was a misunderstanding, that wasn’t a misunderstanding.

Yi-Han was always ready to give Jijel a hard time whenever the opportunity arose.

Of course, Yi-Han would claim it was self-defence, though…

“It’ll be fine… Probably. I’ll act as a mediator between you two… I hope that helps.”

“Oh, Dolgyu. Seems like you liked being the messenger.”

“….”

Dolgyu had no strength to retort.

***

 A few students from the Blue Dragons Tower were gathered in front of the swordsmanship training room, chatting and waiting.

The White Tigers Tower students spoke with displeased expressions.

“Why did you all come here?”

“We’ve come here to help prevent you all from attacking Wardanaz as a group!”

“…Wh-what? That’s something we should have said!”

The White Tigers Tower students were truly feeling unfair.

Of course, they had taken the initiative, but considering the exchange of blows, they had been overwhelmingly dominated by Wardanaz’s attacks.

However, the students from the Blue Dragons Tower weren’t buying such excuses. They made threatening noises and quickly grabbed onto both arms of Yi-Han as he emerged, pulling him back forcefully.

“Let’s go quickly! Who knows what kind of dirty tricks those bastards might do.”

“I will be okay, though.”

“It’s dangerous enough with the summoned monsters unleashed, Wardanaz! We’ll protect you!”

Yi-Han was unable to even say his farewell to Dolgyu properly as he was dragged along.

‘I’m really okay, though.’

The students from Blue Dragon Tower exchanged wary glances and spoke.

“You need to be careful, Wardanaz. The White Tigers Tower punks are like wild beasts.”

“The next class is Alchemy, right? Let’s go together.”

Yonaire looked puzzled as she watched Yi-Han being dragged along by her friends.

“Why do you hold both of his arms and drag him along?”

“Maykin! You can’t lack that much sense of safety! You have to consider the area outside the tower as inherently dangerous!”

‘Even if you all gang up on him, it seems like Yi-Han would still win…’

 Knowing Yi-Han’s abilities, Yonaire looked at them with a very strange expression.

“That’s right. The current situation is very dangerous.”

“The Order of Flameng’s pride, the unmatched prodigy, a master of alchemy, Priestess Siana. It’s been a while.”

 Trapped between his friends holding onto his arms, Yi-Han spoke.

‘The unmatched prodigy?’

‘A master of alchemy?’

His friends from the Blue Dragons Tower tilted their heads.

While Yonaire knew that Siana was skilled in alchemy, was she really at that level?

Priestess Siana smiled proudly as she held out a flask.

“This is a potion I’ve created to repel monsters, Yi-Han of the Wardanaz family. Take it and give it a try. If you sprinkle it around, it emits a scent that monsters dislike”

“I’m truly touched by such a wonderful gift.”

Arriving belatedly, Nilia whispered with curiosity.

“Why do you speak so formally in front of Priestess Siana?”

“Nilia, to survive in society within the Empire, you have to do this much…”

“??”

Nilia didn’t quite grasp the situation. Yi-Han didn’t expect Nilia to understand immediately either.

‘Well, I’m grateful anyway.’

Yi-Han carefully accepted and kept the potion for monster eradication.

Seeing the summoned monsters roaming around the academy grounds during the third week of the semester, Yi-Han could not help but wonder if, by around the fifth week, those summoned monsters might even make their way into the dormitories.

Around the seventh week, there was even the possibility that demons might appear in the academy…

“Everyone, take your seats.”

Professor Uregor stepped in, yawning, and opened the door to the Angular Pavilion. All the students suppressed their resentment and greeted him.

“Is the potion all ready?”

“Yes (Thanks to you, we had a hard time).”

“Of course (Let’s see about that someday).”

Despite not having telepathic abilities, Yi-Han felt as if he could hear the unspoken thoughts within the words of the students.

“What? It’s all finished? Are you sure you didn’t make a mistake in checking it?”

With a voice filled with disappointment, Professor Uregor asked. Priestess Siana responded in a curt tone.

“We’ve been pondering collectively over the method you, Professor, provided because it seems to have some issues.”

“…Why would you do such a thing? Aren’t you on bad terms with each other?!”

“….”

“….”

Even the Tower students who weren’t on good terms with each other naturally grouped together, causing Professor Uregor’s grumbling.

“Anyway, you’ve all worked hard. Since you’ve gone through the process of creating the from start to finish, you can consider yourselves as novice alchemists who have taken their first steps. Of course, the final results might not be perfect.”

Professor Uregor picked up one of the flasks placed on the table in front of him, which the students had submitted, and opened the lid.

Then, he grabbed a peculiarly moving twig and shook it above the flask, causing it to sway. A faint candle-like light faintly appeared on the twig.

“Look. The power of the potion is weak, isn’t it?”

Professor Uregor swiftly extinguished the flame.

Then, he opened the adjacent flask and shook the twig once again. The faint light appeared again, just as before. Professor Uregor turned off the flame with a satisfied expression on his face.

Fwoosh!!

“….”

However, in the next flask, an intense flame burst forth from the twig, burning it completely. Startled, Professor Uregor quickly pulled his beard back to avoid the flames and shot a resentful look mixed with annoyance at Yi-Han.

Yi-Han felt extremely unfair.

‘Seriously, he wasn’t even looking at the potion name tags…!’

“Of course, there might be some well-made potions, but it’s too early to be arrogant. If you act too smug and rely on luck, you’ll end up with a seriously hurt ego.”

Asan nodded, quite impressed by the professor’s words. Yi-Han wanted to warn him not to be deceived, but he didn’t get the chance to do that.

“Now, then…”

Professor Uregor swung his staff and opened all the flask lids, then observed the flames. At the same time, a floating quill beside him swiftly jotted down numbers.

Yi-Han could see the number ’10,’ indicating a perfect score, written next to his name.

-10. Boring guy.

“….”

Was it okay for a professor to be like this?

“Today, we will practice an essential element in alchemy, spirits. A skilled alchemist should not only focus on merely completing a potion but also understand how to enhance its effects. And among those methods, the relatively easier one is… dealing with spirits.”

Professor Uregor gestured with clenched and unclenched fists. Suddenly, a cute rabbit made of snowflakes appeared on his palm as if it had been created from a snowball.

All the students present exclaimed in admiration.

Yi-Han suddenly had a thought and turned his gaze towards his waist. The bone-summoned monster bound to his belt rattled as if questioning why he was behaving that way.

‘Hmm, there’s a reason dark magic isn’t popular, I see.’

“This is Master Rabbit, the ice elemental I often use. It might look small and cute, but never underestimate it. It’s a spirit that could easily take all of you here down by itself.”

Master Rabbit nodded with a sense of pride. The students were greatly baffled.

It didn’t look like it at all…

“You’re not expected to form contracts with spirits like this from the beginning. It’s beyond your current level.”

Forming a contract with a spirit was similar to taking out a loan from a bank, at least in concept.

First, you had to get familiar with the lesser spirits and raise your credit rating within the spirit realm to be able to contract with even more powerful spirits.

“Don’t even think about being audacious enough to contract all at once. First, focus on getting to know the spirits. Getting close to spirits is solely about sincerity and genuine effort. If you approach them with arrogance, the spirits will quickly notice.”

The students listened intently to Professor Uregor’s words and took notes.

Honestly, among all the lecture materials they had heard so far, this was the most exciting topic.

Compared to the risks of going to the mountains to gather dangerous materials and timing the ingredients into exploding cauldrons, ‘getting to know the spirits’ felt like a fascinating and romantic task.

That was what they wanted!

Professor Uregor scattered gems and reagents around the corners of the classroom, drawing magic circles as he went.

For wizards to connect to the spirit realm, it was advisable to attempt it in places where the aura of the spirits was strong, such as areas abundant with mountains and water.

Currently, by tossing these gems and reagents while drawing the magic circle, Professor Uregor’s aim was to amplify the aura of the spirits.

“Drink the potion.”

The students drank the potion with eager anticipation. Yi-Han also took a sip of the potion.

“Alright. Then go meet the spirits and come back.”

Uregor swung his staff. And in that moment, Yi-Han’s vision darkened.

***

Yi-Han had seen such a landscape before.

It was similar to the landscape shown by the black book given by Principal Skelly.

If there was a difference, it was that the black book brought Yi-Han’s mind into an imaginary landscape and forcefully trained magic onto him, while Uregor sent him to the spirit realm to meet the spirits forcefully.

‘It’s quite surreal.’

It was clear that he had landed near the territories of fire elementals and ice elementals in the vast expanse of the spirit realm.

It wasn’t bad.

Both the fire elemental and the ice elemental were useful spirits.

The fire elemental would be useful for boiling soup or making fried eggs, while the ice elemental would be helpful for keeping fresh pieces of meat…

‘What crazy thoughts am I having?’

To regain his senses, Yi-Han shook his head.

Forming a bond with spirits had nothing to do with one’s lineage or magical prowess.

Only sincerity mattered.

Just like Professor Uregor had said, Yi-Han hadn’t even thought about trying to form a contract all at once.

If he continued to make sincere and consistent efforts, someday a spirit might extend its hand to him.

“!”

Yi-Han blinked his eyes. On the charred ground, a lump of fiery orbs in the shape of a puppy spirit was bouncing around.

Yi-Han cautiously called out to the puppy.

“Are you the esteemed Fire Puppy Spirit, Sir?”

Yi-Han knew well that when you’re unsure about who someone is, it’s a good idea to throw around impressive titles just to be on their safe side.

The Fire Puppy Spirit turned its head towards Yi-Han with an expression that seemed to say, ‘Who’s this crazy person spouting nonsense?’

Bark!!!!!! Bark bark!!!

“??!”

And it quickly ran away. It had a frightened pale expression on its face.

“….”

Yi-Han was bewildered.

What did I do?!

“Master Puppy Spirit! Please come back, Master Puppy Spirit!”

Calling desperately, the spirit didn’t return. Yi-Han wondered if his chosen title was too burdensome.

‘Well, considering it’s a spirit, maybe it would prefer a simpler title.’

When Yi-Han spotted a Fire Pigeon Spirit, he approached it with a somewhat modest demeanour.

“Excuse me, Fire Pigeon?”

The Fire Pigeon spirit screamed like crazy and fled.

As it reached this point, Yi-Han began to feel a growing sense of incompatibility.

…Oh?

***

One by one, the students emerged from the spirit world. In reality, it had only been a matter of seconds, but all of them opened their mouths and excitedly chatted away.

“Did you happen to see too? I met a carp spirit in the lake! I kept talking to it, and it didn’t swim away. It seems like we connected on some level!”

“If it didn’t run away while I was petting it, it’s a good sign, right?”

Professor Uregor pressed his fingers against both ears, furrowing his brow in annoyance at the noisy chatter of the students.

“Enough, enough! If you want to chatter, do it in your tower. Anyway, by now you must understand how challenging it is to meet and befriend spirits in the Spirit Realm. In addition to your studies, try to make an effort to connect with spirits whenever you have free time. If you can receive assistance from spirits, it will greatly benefit your alchemical skills.”

“Yes!”

 As the students got up and left with satisfied expressions, Uregor called Yi-Han separately.

Uregor was curious about Yi-Han’s experience in the spirit realm.

‘That punk. No matter how skilled he is, spirits won’t easily listen to him until they’ve become friendly.’

“How was it?”

“There’s a big problem.”

Professor Uregor smiled contentedly.

Yes!

This is how a rookie alchemist should be!

“How was it? Did the spirits not listen to you?”

“The spirits ran away as soon as they saw me.”

“…?”