Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy
chapter-280

The loop of misfortune caused by the wrong question.

It was a nightmarish situation for a divination mage.

And the best way to prepare for such a situation was…

'To not get involved in the situation in the first place.'

It was a somewhat absurd answer, but it was the correct one.

Instead of attempting divination magic right away, the key was to recognize the trap hidden in the question and react accordingly.

The professor didn't expect the freshmen to have advanced techniques like leaving a sign in the divination that only they could recognize to escape the loop, or forcibly twisting the divination's point in time to the distant future or further ahead.

Just recognizing the trap in the question and reacting was enough to receive a high evaluation.

In contrast, the worst reaction was to attempt divination magic right away.

If a freshman jumped into a trap question unprepared, they would inevitably struggle until their mana ran out and faint, caught in the loop.

That should have been the case, but…

Yi-Han casually waved his staff and attempted divination magic again and again.

Even Professor Parsellet was momentarily at a loss, unable to grasp the situation.

'What in the world...?'

Not noticing the perplexed look the professor was sending him, Yi-Han cast divination magic once more.

However, he couldn't see the future properly.

When nothing appeared before his eyes, Yi-Han tilted his head and canceled the magic.

It was as natural as breathing.

Of course, a considerable amount of mana was consumed in the process, but it had little effect on Yi-Han.

'Was this not the right approach to the problem?'

"Urgh..."

"!"

Yi-Han focused on the painful groans coming from beside him.

Although he couldn't see his friends due to the professor's curtain of illusion, he could hear them.

No matter how he listened, these were the agonizing sounds made when a magic attempt went terribly wrong.

"Ugh..."

"Ack..."

Thud!

It didn't end with just painful groans; there were even sounds of people collapsing on the floor.

Thanks to the rigorous training from Professor Boladi, Yi-Han could now assess the situation using his other senses even when his vision was blocked.

Judging from the dragging sounds and the absence of further groans…

'They failed and were eliminated from the test?!'

Yi-Han couldn't understand it.

Of course, it wasn't an easy problem, but it wasn't to the point of collapsing like in Professor Boladi's tests.

'Could it be...?'

Yi-Han quickly grasped the situation.

It seemed that the divination magic question this time wasn't a simple test but one that involved recognizing the hidden trap.

If one failed to recognize the trap and just charged in, they could collapse like the friends who were just dragged out.

...Of course, Yi-Han had already attempted it a few times!

'I was lucky. It seems I could endure it because I have a lot of mana.'

Yi-Han sighed in relief.

Considering the amount of mana consumed by the divination magic, it wasn't surprising that the other students collapsed.

Now he had to approach it more cautiously.

'Did he realize it?'

Professor Parsellet raised an eyebrow when Yi-Han stopped the magic.

Although he was a beat late, judging from his reaction, he must have realized the true meaning of this test.

'Yes. Now stop the divination magic and point out the trap in this test... No!'

Yi-Han cast divination magic again.

Professor Parsellet was even more flustered than before.

Why!?

He realized it was a trap, so why was he doing such a thing?

'Come to think of it, there's no need to hold back on attempts.'

The reason Yi-Han resumed casting divination magic was simple.

Upon reflection, there was no need to approach it cautiously.

Because he had an abundance of mana!

Yi-Han repeatedly cast divination magic while pondering how to break through this loop.

In fact, he could have just thought about it without casting divination magic, but Yi-Han naturally repeated the attempts as if breathing, since he had plenty of mana.

Professor Parsellet, who finally grasped the situation, couldn't help but chuckle in disbelief.

'What a foolish approach...'

It was good that he realized the problem was strange, but then he should have approached it differently, not try to force his way through with power.

What kind of behavior was that?

"Professor, I think I found the answer."

"!"

Yi-Han, who had been continuously attempting, finally spoke.

Professor Parsellet was surprised but prepared to hear the answer.

"Go ahead and tell me."

"I think the answer was to find the trap hidden in the question. One shouldn't carelessly attempt divination magic with such a question."

"That's correct."

Professor Parsellet nodded.

It was a good answer.

The problem was…

'Then why did he keep casting divination magic?'

Normally, he should have answered immediately when he realized it earlier, but he continued casting divination magic before answering, so she couldn't help but be curious.

Unable to resist her curiosity, Professor Parsellet asked a question.

"But how did you figure out the answer? Was it a logical deduction?"

"I did make some logical deductions... but I used divination magic."

"So, in what way?"

Professor Parsellet's voice grew rough, slightly exasperated.

"I thought it would be difficult to find the answer with the given question, so I set the point in time to the distant future. I used divination to see the point after the test ended and figured out the answer."

"..."

Professor Parsellet was momentarily at a loss for words.

She had suspected it, but she didn't expect him to actually use that method.

Escaping the loop or seeing a future further than the loop and using that as a clue to figure it out was also a method, but…

It wasn't an ability expected of freshmen. No matter how talented they were, this didn't make sense.

First of all, the uncertainty of divination increased as the time became more distant.

Moreover, finding clues from an unrelated future to figure out the answer to the question was no easy feat.

It was a technique that only experienced divination mages knew…

'Could it be...!'

Professor Parsellet realized.

She understood why Yi-Han had used divination magic repeatedly even after realizing it.

"Don't tell me you kept casting divination magic until you found the answer?"

"That's right."

When the professor figured out the method he used, Yi-Han answered with a purely admiring expression.

As expected of a professor, it wasn't for nothing.

To guess how Yi-Han found the answer after just a few exchanges.

"..."

Professor Parsellet felt a throbbing headache, not knowing where to begin teaching this absurd student.

What kind of nonsense was this…

The fact that the person in question was standing there with an innocent expression, as if asking, 'Did I do something wrong?' made the headache even worse.

"Sigh... You did well. You did well, but... It seems there are a few more things you need to learn."

"Ah. Is that so?"

"Next week..."

"Next week is the break, though."

Yi-Han suddenly felt a sense of foreboding.

Surely she wouldn't spout nonsense about coming to the magic academy during the break, right?

'If she says something like that, I might really have to send a petition to His Majesty the Emperor.'

"...Then next semester."

"Ah. Yes. That much is fine."

"You must come."

"Yes. I understand."

"You absolutely must come. Do you understand? Swear sincerely one more time."

"..."

Professor Parsellet didn't notice, but the look in Yi-Han's eyes as he stared at the professor was strangely changing.

'Do you not have any disciples?'

Professor Mortum, no, professors with few disciples were very sensitive about their new disciples running away.

If a student simply decided not to take the class at the beginning of a new semester, there wasn't much a professor could do.

Of course, they could use various threats and persuasion, but once a mage made up their mind, it wasn't easy to sway them.

Professors with plenty of disciples could afford to have a relaxed attitude, saying, 'If you don't want to take it, don't. I don't care,' but professors with few disciples could really end up with no one taking their class if they did that.

Of course, there were occasionally professors who would sit confidently in the lecture hall even without a single disciple, but that had to be considered an exceptional case.

'Since I'm going to take it anyway, I should be considerate of her.'

There was no harm in being considerate of the professor's position since he was going to take the class anyway.

Yi-Han kindly said, "Don't worry, Professor. Why wouldn't I come?"

"You’re already taking dark magic, summoning magic, illusion magic, enchantment magic, transformation magic, and healing magic."

Yi-Han was at a loss for words.

As expected of an outstanding divination mage, she was very sharp.

'She's definitely right about that!'

Direth suppressed a yawn as she waved her staff.

She had to make full preparations for the juniors who would soon be taking the dark magic final exam.

Coholti, who was in the same year, also waved his staff.

"Is everything ready?"

"Everything's ready. But don't you think there are too few bones? Shouldn't we bring more? The number of poison bottles seems a bit low too."

"It's fine. I heard there are less than five freshmen learning dark magic this time."

"..."

At Direth's answer, Coholti made a complicated expression.

It wasn't necessary to have many juniors, but when there were too few juniors learning the same magic as oneself, it made one feel conflicted.

"Why isn't anyone interested in dark magic?"

"Isn't it because of the King of Frost Giants summoned in the hallway last time?"

"T-That was a problem with an artifact, not related to dark magic!"

Coholti's face turned red.

Of course, Direth knew very well why dark magic wasn't popular.

'It would be strange if it were popular.'

If Direth saw an article in the Imperial Newspaper titled <Young Dark Mages Increasing... Is Dark Magic Leading the Trend of Imperial Magic?>, she would think, 'Is the empire collapsing?'

It's just that every aspect of that magic was likely to be unpopular…

"Ah. They're coming in."

As the first-year students entered one by one, the fourth-year students hurriedly hid behind the lecture hall.

It was a place with a recognition-lowering magic circle, so the first-year juniors couldn't see them.

"Hmm. Isn't the difficulty too high?"

Coholti suddenly seemed worried as he looked at the first-year juniors.

This dark magic final exam was a culmination of what they had learned in the first semester.

Curses, poisons, and bones.

A test that checked the fundamentals of these three areas.

It might sound simple, but such tests were usually more difficult.

Since they had to confront all three areas of dark magic head-on, if they were lacking in even one, there was no way to compensate for it.

"This should be fine. Why are you saying that now after deciding it together with the professor last time?"

"No... I'm just worried there might be even fewer than five..."

"..."

That was certainly true.

Direth was surprised that Coholti made a valid point for once.

Of course, it was too late to change it now, but…

Click-

The door opened, and a student entered.

The student who entered cast curse magic in succession at the curse magic dummies, knocking them down, and then threw the bone fragments on the desk to cast bone magic.

In the center of the spacious lecture hall, a storm of bones raged, and the bone magic dummies were scattered about.

Clatter clatter clatter!

All of this happened in less than a few seconds.

Coholti watched with wide eyes and a gaping mouth, dumbfounded.

'What the???'

The freshman didn't stop there. Without a break, he summoned poison from the air and put it into the poison bottles.

The poison bottles, reacting to the properly made poison, emitted smoke. The higher the quality of the poison they contained, the thicker the smoke the bottles emitted, and they released such a foul smoke that it filled the entire lecture hall.

"W-Was it too... too easy? Huh? Strange? The level of the freshmen...?"

"No. It's just that one person who's strange."

Direth, who belatedly recognized the familiar face of the junior, answered coldly.