Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 854

Chapter 854

Yi-Han was about to apply force to the same spot Professor Garcia had grabbed but stopped.

'It's too precious to use now.'

If he used it once, Professor Verduus would never allow a safe distance again, and it was too valuable to waste on such venting.

'Huhu. Professor Verduus probably doesn't even dream of his weakness!'

Professor Verduus, completely unaware of his disciple's evil intentions, began his explanation.

In fact, even before this small aerial sailboat, Professor Verduus's long-cherished wish had been an airship.

Not this small sailboat, but a massive flying sailing ship. Moreover, he dreamed of a fully automated flying sailing ship.

It wasn't that there were no flying mounts in the empire even now.

Even without using winged beasts like griffins or unicorns to fly around, enchantment mages of some skill could create flying artifacts and fly around.

Even more skilled enchantment mages could increase the size of these artifacts and adjust their balance to carry additional people.

But this was only when a mage rode and directly controlled the artifact.

Instead of such an imperfect compromise, Professor Verduus wanted perfection where the flying sailing ship itself could fly around on its own without even a single mage on board.

Of course, the difficulty increased by thousands of times.

Magic to gather and amplify wind had to be engraved on the sails, masts, bow, and crow's nest, and magic to lighten weight and reverse gravity had to be engraved on the large keel supporting the center of the hull floor.

Harmoniously linking these magic circles was a brain-burning task, and there were several equally difficult tasks to handle on top of that, so it was natural that Professor Verduus hadn't solved it even after suffering for decades.

'Thanks to that, I suffered during the break too.'

Yi-Han had also (forcibly) helped Professor Verduus to solve the mana problem needed for the massive flying sailing ship.

The rough idea was to oversaturate some magic circles with mana, measure how much efficiency came out, and try to make up for it with that...

'Wait. I remember all this?!'

Yi-Han was shocked that the contents of his work with Professor Verduus last year remained in his head.

It seemed less unfair to remember the ideas of Gainando's amateurish detective novel.

He had already forgotten that, but Professor Verduus's theory remained like this. Just thinking about it was very unpleasant.

"This is like a child's toy compared to what I showed you last time."

"Lady Ragesa would be really happy to hear that."

"Lady Ragesa is originally of a low level, so that's why."

"..."

'I must definitely report this.'

Yi-Han deeply noted what he had just heard in his mind.

"It doesn't move completely automatically, and someone needs to control it. By holding this wheel here."

"What level of mage needs to do it?"

Mages could control such flying artifacts.

The question was, what level of mage could control it?

If it was a really well-made flying artifact, even a Baldurguard student could ride it, and if it was poorly made, only someone like Professor Verduus could ride it. Not just for skill, but who would be sad if it crashed?

"Mage?"

"What? Isn't a mage controlling it?"

"This was made so that even non-mages can control it from the start. How many mages do you think there are among pirates?"

"...!"

Yi-Han was greatly shocked by Professor Verduus's nonchalant words.

He had forgotten, but the beaver bast-, no, beaver mixed-blood professor in front of him was certainly a genius.

'I forgot. Professor Verduus was someone who hadn't died yet despite that personality.'

The fact that he had survived under the skull principal with that personality could be seen as proof of his genius.

To think even non-mages could control it.

It sounded simple, but just making the wheel-shaped helm used for navigating the sea usable by ordinary people when flying through the air required a massive amount of magic.

First, the sense of air resistance had to be changed to feel like seawater resistance, the sails had to be adjusted one by one as if moving on the sea, and besides that, all kinds of situations that could occur when there was no mage had to be prepared for.

"How do you land without a mage?"

"If you throw this anchor with gravity magic, the ship descends on its own."

"What about departure?"

"The ship is set to float the moment the anchor is raised."

"What about turning? When encountering rain clouds? When encountering monsters?"

Yi-Han asked in detail, but Professor Verduus answered one by one without showing any sign of boredom.

Yi-Han was about to admire the meticulously completed small flying sailboat but stopped.

"But Professor. Isn't this already completed then?"

From what he had just heard, there didn't seem to be anything lacking.

Was he perhaps talking about the specs after completion in a situation where it wasn't completed yet?

"No. There are still parts that need improvement."

"Where? Are you talking about this part where the paint is peeling?"

"That's fine."

"Then are you talking about this figurehead attached to the front of the sailboat? It does look a bit unfinished, but it doesn't seem that important..."

"Huh? That's completed. It's a beaver."

"...Oh. Um. I, I see. It looks majestic."

Yi-Han was inwardly surprised at the statue Professor Verduus had attached, saying it was a beaver.

'I thought it was a chimera.'

"If it's not that either, then what is it?"

"It needs to move completely automatically without a helmsman!"

Yi-Han was surprised once again at Professor Verduus's words.

It was already surprising enough, but to aim for something even more difficult from here.

Above all, wasn't that a problem Professor Verduus himself hadn't solved yet (although it was for the massive flying sailing ship)?

'Lady Ragesa is no ordinary person either.'

Well, looking at the amount of gold coins invested, it seemed like she should aim for that level.

Otherwise, who would invest in Professor Verduus?

"Lady Ragesa is quite bold too. Honestly, investments and sponsorships are usually made with somewhat realistic goals in mind, but to aim for something like that."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"...Didn't Lady Ragesa demand this?"

"Ragesa didn't demand this though?"

"???"

Yi-Han's soul started to feel dizzy as if he had fallen victim to illusion magic.

Was Professor Verduus using command magic?

"...Then what on earth is this? You said you were offering it to Lady Ragesa."

"Ah. Ragesa said it was enough if it could just be controlled."

Ragesa was a realistic pirate and didn't even dream of a completely automated small airship.

She just invested thinking it would be good to have a scout ship that even pirates who couldn't use magic could handle.

"Then... Isn't it completed now? You can just offer it, right?"

"What are you talking about? You've completed it this far and you want to hand it over to someone else without improving it further? Are you even a mage?"

"..."

Yi-Han closed his eyes tightly at the sight of Professor Verduus, who had forgotten the concept of investment in the meantime.

'Why did I come after receiving that letter!'

Whether he gave black purplestone or made a staff, he should have just forgotten and ignored it!

"So Professor. You've already completed it, Lady Ragesa didn't make any demands, but you think it's a shame to end it like this, so you're just holding onto it. Even though the other party is asking for it."

"Yes!"

"...Then will you give up and hand it over if you can't complete it by tomorrow?"

"No?"

"I see... There's dust on your shoulder again."

Yi-Han naturally placed his hand on Professor Verduus's shoulder.

Was it now, perhaps?

  *

In the end, Yi-Han held back once more.

'Let's look for a chance to steal it instead.'

Anyway, there would be opportunities while helping, so if it didn't work out, he planned to steal the sailboat himself and take it to Ragesa.

He had just gotten a backpack too...

'I wonder if it will fit in the backpack. Should I empty out the 6th space? It might be close.'

"Now. Follow me."

Professor Verduus took Yi-Han out of the attic.

Then he poked his head out and looked around.

"Why are you doing that?"

"In case there's an attack!"

"...But this is inside your magic tower, Professor?"

"There could be traitors."

'You're sharp in strange areas.'

Given that Professor Verduus's disciples had talked about how much they could sell their master for, Professor Verduus's concern could be seen as reasonable.

Professor Verduus didn't let his guard down even after checking the surroundings. He went into detection mode once more when leaving the main entrance of the magic tower.

Yi-Han yawned at the sight of him checking for attackers, assassins, spies, and Ragesa for nearly 10 minutes.

"You should have lived more kindly."

'He's thorough.'

Yi-Han realized his true thoughts had come out first after speaking, but Professor Verduus didn't care.

"What are you talking about? I lived kindly."

"...So where are we going?"

Professor Verduus pulled out the sailboat he had brought, grunting, and gestured for Yi-Han to get on.

When they both got on, the sailboat floated up. The upper part of the massive main building was the destination.

Flying near the main building, let alone inside Einroguard territory, wasn't a very good choice.

The Death Knights monitoring students' escapes would immediately fly up on their mounts.

However, the Death Knights didn't fly up.

Yi-Han realized that the knights already knew about Professor Verduus's sailboat.

'I see. Well, it would be too troublesome for both sides to monitor every professor's mount.'

This was good information too.

If he needed to go out later, if he just kidnapped Professor Verduus and made him ride...

"Oh. We came in wrong."

Professor Verduus pulled the sailboat back as the main building suddenly shot up and stretched in height.

Then he adjusted the height a bit and went in again. The main building that had just stretched now quietly revealed itself.

It was the spire stable that Yi-Han had seen a few times before.

Professor Verduus, who had landed lightly, took out thick spell books from his backpack one by one. Various control spells were needed to make it move on its own without a helmsman.

"Now. We're going to experiment with these one by one and record the errors."

"But Professor. I don't know these spells."

Yi-Han checked the spells Professor Verduus had taken out.

Thanks to being forcibly made a disciple, Yi-Han knew various spells he had learned, starting from <Beavle's Mana Emission Enchantment> to absorption, amplification, curvature, conversion, and more.

But this required much more complex and intuitive results.

<Beavle's Departure Enchantment>, <Beavle's Flight Enchantment>, <Beavle's Landing Enchantment>...

It seemed to be magic prepared by dividing various situations needed for flight.

Of course, it couldn't help but be complex.

It was practically the same as the magic needed for creating flying artifacts.

'So flying artifacts are made by combining like this.'

Yi-Han quickly understood, befitting a 2nd year student.

If spells like <Beavle's Mana Emission Enchantment> mentioned earlier were responsible for the basics like the four fundamental operations in artifact creation, spells like <Beavle's Departure Enchantment> were like formulas needed for specific situations.

Magic that was half-essential to learn if you wanted to create flying artifacts for specific situations.

"Ah. Really?"

Professor Verduus expressed puzzlement at his disciple's words that he didn't know.

He had thought he would naturally know.

"Yes. Should I just record the errors while you experiment, Professor?"

"Huh? No. I brought you because I need your mana. Then you'll have to learn now."

"..."

Yi-Han looked closely at Professor Verduus's shoulder once again.