Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 724

Chapter 724

"Senior. Senior."

"Hm?"

The senior who had been preparing his work in the meantime raised his head at Yi-Han's call.

"Something seems strange. I'm a 2nd year, but this is a 3rd year lecture."

"What? Did the professor forcibly add the lecture?!"

The senior asked in surprise.

Yi-Han didn't fully understand the meaning of the question, but he denied it anyway.

"That's not it. I chose it. With the help of Calendarium... Wait. Why did you ask if the lecture was forcibly added?"

"Ah. Don't worry about it. It's just an old false rumor I heard, I asked just in case."

The senior waved his hand as if to say not to worry about it.

It was one of the legendary rumors about Einroguard they had heard when they entered.

If a student's skills were too outstanding, from then on, it wasn't the student choosing lectures, but lectures coming to find the student!

The senior and his friends had worried, 'What if I do too well and the professor forcibly invites me?' when they heard that rumor, but such a thing didn't happen.

Einroguard professors were colder than expected.

"..."

Not noticing Yi-Han's expression hardening, the senior continued explaining.

"If you received help from Calendarium, then that lecture should suit you best?"

"But I'm a 2nd year and this is a 3rd year lecture."

"It is strange. But sometimes outstanding people take one lecture a year above too. Senior Yukbeltire did that too."

"I see..."

As the senior's reaction seemed more moderate than expected, Yi-Han wondered if he had overreacted.

"Then there's nothing particularly strange about lectures like <Terribly Beautiful Creatures>, <Elemental Magic and Its Connections>, or <Poison, Bone, Blood>?"

When Yi-Han brought up a few lecture names from the timetable and asked, the senior paused.

There were too many lectures that 3rd years took.

...Don't even exceptionally brilliant geniuses usually take just one lecture a year above in their specialized field?

"Don't they usually take just one? That is quite a lot..."

Another senior who had been sharpening equipment on a whetstone next to them interjected.

"He's that guy, you know."

"Ah. Right. Geez. To think I still have such stereotypes even after becoming a 3rd year."

"..."

Yi-Han asked again, repeating to himself that he shouldn't attack the seniors.

"It is strange, right?"

Moreover, Yi-Han still had lectures he hadn't even asked about yet.

No matter how he thought about it, the names of these lectures seemed closer to 3rd year than 2nd year.

"It is strange, but you'll probably do well. Cheer up. Calendarium must have done a good job."

"Mages are masters of artifacts, not slaves, aren't they? Perhaps I should change lectures even now? If I add lower level lectures?"

"Ah. That's not possible."

The senior sharpening equipment next to them answered instead.

"I tried to take a 2nd year lecture this year, but the professor kicked me out."

"..."

Einroguard's professors seemed indifferent, but they were thorough in some aspects.

Students should take lectures suitable for their level, they wouldn't allow students to deliberately take easier lectures.

'There's no freedom at all!'

Yi-Han was once again outraged at Einroguard's deception.

They said students could freely learn magic, but there was no freedom at all.

While Yi-Han was angry, this time the seniors asked questions. The seniors were as curious as Yi-Han was.

"Wardanaz. I'm curious about something..."

"Ah. Yes. Please ask."

"Why were you with Professor Verduus?"

"...?"

Yi-Han was flustered by the very strange question.

"It's lecture time, isn't it?"

"What? Wait. Did you perhaps come right at the start of the lecture?"

"???"

As the junior looked bewildered, the seniors kindly explained.

"You don't need to come at the start time for Professor Verduus's lectures. He doesn't care whether we're here or not anyway."

"But don't we need to listen to the lecture content?"

"What lecture content is there?"

Yi-Han looked back.

Indeed, there was nothing.

Come to think of it, Yi-Han had come at the start of the lecture but hadn't really learned anything so far.

"You can just come when you want to come and go when you want to go."

"You bring your work, work on it, and then leave. I came after working somewhere else too."

Einroguard students were making good use of Professor Verduus's indifference.

If the professor wasn't interested in students, students could study on their own.

"But don't you get stuck sometimes?"

"You have to learn that on your own. Like that."

Just then, one senior seemed to be stuck on something as he groaned and stood up from his seat.

Then he walked forward and started loitering near Professor Verduus's workbench. Of course, Professor Verduus in his focused state didn't notice.

Snatch!

The senior snatched Professor Verduus's work and ran out of the classroom like a madman.

Then Professor Verduus also jumped up and chased after the senior.

"Stop right there! You vile and filthy thief!"

"I'll learn and return it!"

The seniors nodded at the echoes heard from outside the classroom.

"That's how you do it."

"..."

Yi-Han didn't ask 'Can't we just ask questions?' He knew it wasn't allowed.

Rather than asking questions, it would be much faster to steal Professor Verduus's work and learn from it.

"Well then. Let's go too."

"Where?"

Rumble-

The seniors rushed to Professor Verduus's workbench and quickly copied and transcribed.

"Aha. Like this..."

"His skills are outstanding indeed."

"That's why he's still alive. Did you know there are assassins waiting in the towns near Einroguard to kill Professor Verduus? They say nobles who had their gold coins stolen commissioned them."

"Damn. Is there no way we can help those people?"

Yi-Han quietly copied the work following the seniors.

Although Professor Verduus's workbench looked like a huge pile of garbage due to all sorts of odds and ends, all kinds of wisdom were hidden inside.

Just picking up a few crumpled paper balls with artifact blueprints or magic circles drawn on them was a huge advancement for students.

Not long after, Professor Verduus returned after retrieving his work. The senior who had stolen the work was nowhere to be seen.

Professor Verduus shouted, panting.

"There are too many thieves in this school!"

The students all pretended not to know and sat back in their seats.

"...Where did that senior go?"

"Professor Verduus might be crazy, but he's not a cruel person. He probably just got subdued."

As Professor Verduus only cared about retrieving his work, he didn't additionally retaliate against students or send them to the punishment room.

The missing senior probably took a few hits, so he would recover on his own and return.

However, even as time passed, the senior didn't return.

"He's not coming back."

"He must have been hit pretty hard. Don't worry about it and do your work, junior."

'As expected of people taking Professor Verduus's lecture, their personalities are similar to the professor's.'

Yi-Han inwardly uttered a cold curse that would make the seniors' blood run cold.

  *

Professor Verduus called Yi-Han again. He needed assistance with his work.

Seeing this, even the seniors who had been focused on their own work felt puzzled.

'Come to think of it, we only asked why he came early, but we didn't actually hear why he was with Professor Verduus?'

Coming early and being in the classroom was possible because he didn't know the characteristics of Professor Verduus's lecture, but being close to Professor Verduus's workbench was quite unusual.

Basically, Professor Verduus wasn't someone who kept other mages next to his workbench.

In fact, it wasn't particularly strange. Originally, for mages, the magic they researched was a secret realm, and workshops or workbenches were also places that prohibited outsiders' intrusion.

Of course, it would be a bit problematic if a professor became one and didn't let students approach, but...

'Is it okay to approach that closely?'

The seniors stopped their work and looked at Professor Verduus and Yi-Han with curious gazes.

As it was a <Staff Materials and Magic Amplification> lecture, there were also some enchantment magic school students present, and they provided commentary in cautious voices.

"This is very strange... very strange indeed. For Professor Verduus to call someone like that."

"Perhaps he needs some labor-intensive chores?"

"Verduus doesn't even assign chores."

Professor Verduus was already crazy enough, but in areas related to his magic, he became even crazier.

Even for preliminary work or simple tasks that could be somewhat overlooked, if they didn't meet his standards, he couldn't tolerate them.

Naturally, he never called students for simple chores.

"Hey. Don't we have to match material combinations today?"

"Let's just watch for now."

The students sat divided by towers and cast intriguing gazes. Some students even sent paper birds to friends who hadn't come to the lecture yet, telling them to come quickly.

"The one for Malachite Magic Tower is done today!"

"Oh. Then..."

"Let's do the next one!"

"..."

Yi-Han stared blankly at Professor Verduus's fluffy back of the head.

"Shouldn't I be doing my own work since I'm taking the lecture too?"

"Do this first! You'll finish quickly once you start your work anyway!"

"What nonsense are you saying?"

As Yi-Han tried to ignore him and turn away, Professor Verduus slapped the floor, opened a secret door, and took out special staff materials from inside and held them out.

Yi-Han nodded.

"I meant I wanted to help even without you saying so, Professor. Let's start the next work."

"You remember mana emission enchantment?"

The exact name was <Beavle's Mana Emission Enchantment>.

It was one of the magic incantations Professor Verduus had forcibly taught last year.

"Yes."

Crash bang clang!

"?"

When Yi-Han turned his head, the seniors quickly set up their chairs and gestured for them to continue.

"Don't mind us."

"The floor is slippery because of the mana in the classroom. Keep going!"

Yi-Han was puzzled, but as Professor Verduus whined next to him to concentrate, he turned his gaze back to the workbench.

"You need to learn a few more magics similar to that."

"Oh. What kind of magics?"

"Absorption, amplification, augmentation, acceleration, explosion, curvature, conversion..."

"Do you perhaps not know the meaning of 'a few'?"

Yi-Han grumbled but sat down obediently and started learning magic instead of stealing Professor Verduus's work and fleeing.

<Beavle's Mana Emission Enchantment> was a magic that transformed the properties of mana, making the substance imbued with that mana emit mana.

The special aspect of this magic was that it cast magic on the mana itself rather than on the substance itself.

'Amplifying by applying various processes to the mana inside artifacts.'

Creating effects by casting magic on the mana inside magic circles in succession could produce more accurate results than creating synergistic effects by casting magic on substances in succession.

It was a magic befitting Professor Verduus, who made artifacts so precise and detailed it bordered on madness.

Yi-Han also knew well the advantages of this method, which was why he had agreed to learn it obediently...

'It might be too much to learn them all, but it's good to learn whenever I have the chance. Each one I master makes it much easier to prepare other enchantments.'

Yi-Han started with absorption. Fortunately, as it was the opposite of emission, the theory itself wasn't too difficult.

"Are you not done yet?"

"Please wait a moment."

"Are you not done yet?"

"Just a moment."

"Are you not done yet? Are you not done yet? Are you not done yet?"

"Just a... I'm done."

Crash bang clang!