Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 1047

Chapter 1047

Whether the two friends were bewildered or not, the dragon and her contractor competed fiercely.

Yi-Han threw the bone utilizing all his experience from battling the King of Ghouls and King of Frost Giants.

"Following the master's command... freeze!"

As Yi-Han shot out cold doppelgangers, cast illusion magic in front, twisted trajectories with telekinesis, and summoned creatures to divert attention, Eandurde thought inwardly at this overwhelming magic.

Did they really need to go this far?

"Huff, huff... Eandurde. Help me too. There are other bones here, want to hide them somewhere in the mansion?"

"Yes..."

Eandurde answered with a slightly lifeless voice unlike usual.

It felt like the most trivial order she had received so far.

"Basil, you..."

-!-

"Go over there and eat snacks."

-...?!-

The baby basilisk felt some humiliation but the snacks looked too delicious to ponder what it was.

  *

'That craftsman mage truly has outstanding skill.'

Yi-Han thought looking at Jourin sleeping with heavy breaths.

Having done every possible play with the bone, Jourin was sleeping contentedly on the chain.

Catching thrown bones and bringing them back, finding bones hidden in mansion corners, dodging and throwing bones, secretly gifting bones to knights standing guard outside and so on.

But all these plays would have lost their shine without craftsman Gashufa's skill.

Not only could various meats, fish and sweet desserts be attached to the bone, but it burst with satisfying texture and crisp sounds if bitten, and even had a soft feel normally in preparation for playing with front legs.

'Could this craftsman have some connection with dragons? How could he make something so perfectly suitable?'

"Good work, Eandurde."

His junior shook her head while cleaning up bone items that had been shattered from Jourin excitedly biting them.

She was certainly tired. She had to move quickly like when fighting in the arena to match excited Jourin's pace.

But acknowledging this as hard work hurt her pride as a warrior.

'Not hard at all!'

"I'll definitely repay you later. Come to think of it, I'm really glad you and Jourin became friends."

"..."

Eandurde felt shy at those words.

Though she would have denied it before, now she had to acknowledge it.

Jourin was certainly her friend.

"Now then, watch your friend for me. I need to undo these chains."

"..."

Eandurde freshly marveled.

Showing absolutely no mercy even between dragon and contractor.

That might be the very manifestation of the Einroguard spirit.

"What are you doing? You took Jourin's side once before so you don't need to this time."

"That's... not the issue..."

Still, being a good junior, Eandurde began watching Jourin. The happy gold dragon was deep in sweet sleep making snoring sounds.

"I thought it was resolved through conversation earlier."

"Ah... maybe it can be resolved through conversation? Her Highness isn't such a bad person after all."

-?-

"?"

The baby basilisk and Eandurde looked at Yi-Han incredulously as his words and actions differed.

If it could be resolved through conversation, why the chains while she slept?

"If I break the chains she'll be less stubborn, which will make persuasion easier."

"Ah."

"And if persuasion fails I'll need to escape too."

"..."

Though the latter seemed more sincere no matter how they thought about it, Eandurde said nothing.

Actually, she still felt somewhat sorry about bringing her respected senior and getting him handcuffed.

'How should I break it?'

Yi-Han pondered seriously.

In some ways, he seemed to be pondering more seriously than during Einroguard final exams.

But it couldn't be helped. This was a problem of that level of difficulty.

Breaking the magically treated chain without waking sleeping Jourin!

'Must consider the resistance to pure mana impact as perfect level.'

Thanks to advice from some tactless mage, the chain completely blocked the method of crudely breaking it with mana.

With a structure that dispersed mana impacts in all directions, it might take decades to build up damage and break it with pure mana alone.

'But physical resistance...'

Yi-Han looked at Jourin smiling happily, dreaming who knows what.

Even while sleeping she had precisely buried Yi-Han's sword she had snatched earlier in her chest. She was clearly worried about the chain's physical weakness.

"Cold, dwell within."

Yi-Han cast a simple lesser cold element magic.

For magic below 4th Circle, if you properly mastered the element's application you could quickly adapt without needing to learn each magic separately.

Cold element was an element Yi-Han had quite high understanding of, having completed doppelganger magic.

Control of cold element was even easier thanks to experience built with water and lightning. Yi-Han rapidly changed the cold's form in the air.

'Dagger.'

A dagger made of cold was created in the air.

Actually, cold sculptures, arrows, and cone-shaped projectiles were attack magic cold element mages often used.

In terms of difficulty, about 2nd Circle. Up to here wasn't particularly difficult.

Ting-

Yi-Han lightly bounced the dagger off the chain. The seeping cold dispersed and disappeared.

'As expected cold is meaningless and I need to give sharper and harder impact. If I strike using telekinesis and enchantment magic... there will be sound and impact.'

-Sen…-

Though insufficient physical destructive power could be supplemented with telekinetic magic and enchantment magic, noise and impact were problems.

Wouldn't Jourin sleeping on the chain ahead wake right up?

'For noise... what was the principle of soundproofing magic? I think there was silence type among dark magic curses. Was it putting up a barrier? Seems doable.'

Befitting the next leader of Einroguard's dark magic school, Yi-Han somehow completed soundproofing magic on the spot.

It was a scene that would have brought tears of emotion to Direth's eyes.

'Impact is the problem.'

If he struck strongly the chain would shake and wake Jourin.

Then...

'Should I cut it? Enhancing cutting power rather than impact.'

-Seni…-

Thinking of the magic and methods Yi-Han had, cutting sharply was harder than breaking with impact.

But he couldn't not do it just because it was difficult. Yi-Han pondered once more.

'To think I can't get help from small worlds or Arna at a time like this.'

While making unreasonable complaints, Yi-Han stared intently at the cold dagger.

'If I draw out cutting power with Beavle's enchantment series, and draw out aura with my mana too, who knows what might happen.'

Though it dispersed mana each time it touched the chain, Yi-Han overflowed with mana anyway. He could just replenish what was consumed.

But with that plan, now the dagger's durability was a problem.

When breaking with impact earlier he had planned to just fire once and break it, but if cutting with sharpness this dagger needed to endure somewhat.

'Damn. Should have practiced cold element normally too. Even earth element would have helped.'

-Senior…-

While having crazy thoughts, Yi-Han pondered methods to raise the cold dagger's durability.

What methods were there besides using high difficulty applications of that element?

'If I input more mana... too crazy a thought.'

Yi-Han immediately denied what he had unconsciously thought of.

Inputting more mana than necessary into magic with already set mana quantities was foolish.

It was like mindlessly raising heat or increasing salt when cooking.

Moreover, Yi-Han was already casting quite precariously with much more mana than other mages due to his innate constitution...

But once the thought arose it strangely wouldn't disappear.

Yi-Han felt dissonance himself at this inexplicable thought.

It felt like he could do it now.

Before he had been overwhelmed just controlling overflowing mana while following existing magic, but now with accumulated experience it felt like he could use this mana more flexibly!

Though he hadn't realized it himself yet, confidence from what he had built up so far was unconsciously leaking out.

'...Right. Let's try it. Surely she won't wake up because of this.'

-Senior...!-

Yi-Han prepared magic intending to try summoning a cold dagger with several times more mana than usual.

Normally it would fail during casting or have side effects.

"Cold..."

It was truly a strange sensation.

More mana than usual control flowed out in all directions. That mana that hadn't formed magic's shape seemed about to fail the casting any moment.

However, the mana neither scattered easily nor caused problems. Yi-Han realized he could control this mana.

The mana bound by strong will quickly returned and took form.

Though similar in form to the original magic, this was clearly different magic.

Yi-Han could finally realize what he had done.

'Magic improvement!'

In the empire, besides magic like <Fire Arrow> there was also magic like <Garcia's Fire Arrow> or <Bagni's Fire Arrow>.

These were results of later mages reinterpreting and improving relatively basic and common magic.

Naturally they needed to be clearly superior and differentiated from the original magic. If not, they would just be treated as jokes and buried.

What Yi-Han had just cast was theoretically the same.

Magic newly constructed by exceeding the mana limits of existing magic.

'...Hmm. Come to think of it, this is a bit subtle.'

Yi-Han regained his composure.

Though excited at first, thinking carefully this was an improvement meaningless except for Yi-Han.

It was good to greatly increase the power and performance of lesser magic, but what mage would pour in mana endlessly like this?

But it was enough for Yi-Han to use. Checking the cold dagger just summoned, Yi-Han resolved.

'This might work.'

Enhance cutting power and draw out aura to somehow strike...

......

Focused Yi-Han smiled sinisterly while looking at the cold dagger, not knowing hungry Jourin had woken up and was staring at him.

-Yi-Han...!-

"!?"

Startled, Yi-Han unsummoned the cold dagger and turned his gaze.

Jourin, who until just now had been the happiest dragon in the empire, looked at Yi-Han with a wronged and sad expression like she had lost everything.

-Yi-Han tried to escape!-

"I don't know what you mean, Your Highness. As an Einroguard student, I was just practicing magic?"

Yi-Han called Eandurde without blinking while lying.

"Why didn't you call me?!"

"...I kept calling...!!!"

The second most wronged person in this mansion cave was Eandurde.

When Jourin stirred and tried to get up she had kept calling her senior, but he hadn't noticed being deeply immersed in the magic world.

"No. I did that?!"

"Yes..."

"How could I get so absorbed in magic? That makes no sense."

-......-

"..."

While Eandurde and the baby basilisk looked on incredulously, Jourin shouted in a somewhat urgent voice.

-Yi-Han would change his mind when you see the gift Jourin prepared!-

"No matter what gift I receive, I don't think I'll want to keep wearing chains... Wait. Surely it's not some outrageous and unconscionable shameless gift related to dragon flesh?"

When Yi-Han's voice became somewhat stern and chilly, Jourin hurriedly answered.

-No!-

"Whew. I believed in you."

-It seemed like you didn't believe…-

Jourin grumbled quietly while guiding Yi-Han to the inner cave.

It was Jourin's private space where even visitors to this mansion weren't allowed.

-Here! Here!-

"?"

Beating the ground with her front legs, Jourin pointed at a pitch black hole. The strange whirlpool of mana emanating from inside was reminiscent of a dungeon.

"What is this dungeon-like thing?"

-It is a dungeon?-

"..."

Yi-Han seriously pondered whether to first ask why such a thing was in the mansion, or first ask why this was a gift.