Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy
chapter-497

"It sounds like a poetic metaphor."

Ratford was not flustered, as befitting an Einroguard student.

Just as the ceiling had just become the floor, it was not surprising to walk on the ceiling instead of the floor in Einroguard.

"Somehow make the ceiling the floor again..."

"..."

Ratford was at a loss for words upon seeing Yi-Han, who had already stood upside down.

Yi-Han had lifted a water orb high in the air, grabbed it with both hands, and then turned his body upside down to stand on his hands.

Seeing that, Ratford exclaimed in admiration.

'If you have a good body, you don't need to use your head!'

He understood why someone like Yi-Han hung out with the beast-like kids from the White Tiger Tower.

As Yi-Han forcibly attached his feet to the ceiling and took a few steps, the view suddenly shook and the direction of gravity reversed.

Ratford was standing on the floor, while Yi-Han was walking on the ceiling.

"Let's go. Ratford."

"Mr. Wardanaz."

"What?"

"Did other students who came here also walk like this?"

"Wouldn't they have?"

'I don't think so...'

Ratford thought to himself, holding his trembling arms.

Fundamentally, a mage was not a profession that was good at physical abilities rather than intelligence.

Fortunately, there were no particular difficulties after that. Yi-Han easily reached the destination.

The so-called <Kettle's Secret Base>.

However, there was no door or window in front of it. Ratford was puzzled, looking at the wall.

"There's nothing here."

"There's a spell. Just a moment."

Yi-Han looked below the map and cleared his throat.

"As an honorable Einroguard student, I swear that I will never trust, be bribed by, or snitch on professors."

"..."

Ratford made a face that was at a loss for words at the entrance method created by the seniors.

It seemed to have a more intense initiation ritual than a thieves' guild.

"Especially the principal, I will be even more suspicious of him."

'It wasn't the end?'

"This will continue until I graduate, so I will be the hidden puddle that wets the professors' ankles and the bird poop that falls on the professors' heads..."

"..."

After about a minute of cursing the professors, a small door about waist-high appeared on the wall with a rumbling sound.

"Done. Ratford. Let's go in."

"Einroguard seems like a really scary place."

"You're saying that now?"

Finally, a large warehouse was revealed after passing through a low-height passage.

Yi-Han pushed aside the sign that read <No Professors Allowed!!!> and looked around the warehouse.

"This is..."

Ratford opened his mouth with a trembling voice.

As a skilled thief, he had a sense of success.

Of course, at first glance, no special treasures were visible.

On the large table in the center of the warehouse, all kinds of untitled magic books were rolling around in disorder, and on the bookshelf located on the wall, there were more strange reagents or broken artifact fragments than books.

It was even more of a sight further inside.

From broken golems to leftover canned food boxes, empty wine bottles, ball game sticks, rusty bronze mirrors, and so on, the warehouse was packed with a jumble of items that made it daunting to even know where to start cleaning.

But treasures usually come out of such places.

Just the thought of searching through this made his heart pound.

"It wasn't a place used only by senior Kettle."

Yi-Han muttered.

No matter how you looked at it, it wasn't a place used for only a year or two. Graffiti from decades ago was commonly seen.

It was probably a place that had been used for generations among the graduates.

"It seems like no one has entered here for the past few years. The dust..."

"It seems to have been forgotten."

Considering the structure of Einroguard, it was common for rooms or lecture halls to be forgotten for a few years.

"I don't know how to use this place."

"Mr. Wardanaz, you can think about it."

"What about you, Ratford?"

"I'm going to do some treasure hunting."

Ratford immediately rolled up his sleeves and started checking the nearest junk one by one.

'This is definitely not a one-person job.'

Yi-Han summoned Sharakan and the skeleton warrior.

"Sharakan. Try to find something useful. Gonadaltes. You prioritize clearing out the large items first. We need to widen the usable space."

As a merciful master, Yi-Han used bone fragments to strengthen Gonadaltes several times to help the skeleton warrior.

Still, the back of the skeleton warrior looked somewhat dismal.

'It must be my imagination.'

Yi-Han turned his gaze.

Even with the help of the summons, he had no idea how long it would take.

'For now, I should do what I can.'

Yi-Han organized the books scattered on the table, dusted them, and put them on the bookshelf.

If it looked like a magic book, it went in the magic book section; if it looked like a notebook, it went in the notebook section.

And the reagents or broken artifact fragments stuck inside the bookshelf were taken out separately and put in a wooden chest.

'I'll have to slyly ask Professor Verduus to fix them later.'

If a broken artifact was placed next to Professor Verduus when he was concentrating, he might unknowingly fix it.

'What's this?'

Yi-Han paused, looking at a white notebook with nothing written on it.

Other notebooks had graffiti like 'Professors die' 'Skull principal die' 'I'll get you after graduation' one by one, but it was strangely bothering that this one was empty alone.

He tried to lift it from the table, but surprisingly, it didn't move as if it was firmly fixed.

Suddenly, a drop of blood formed on the fingertips of Yi-Han's hand holding the white notebook.

And the notebook absorbed that drop of blood.

'Magic!'

Yi-Han immediately reacted, as he had been told by the skull principal not long ago to 'be careful of evil magic criminals.'

"Ratford, be careful! There's evil magic!"

"Gasp!"

Ratford screamed and curled up his body.

Yi-Han also let go of his hand and pointed his staff at the notebook.

"..."

"..."

However, nothing happened.

Slightly embarrassed, Yi-Han explained as if making an excuse.

"The notebook absorbed blood."

"Isn't that a wickedly cursed artifact?!"

Ratford ran over in horror.

"Burn it right away!"

"Seeing that it's not moving, I don't think ordinary fire will work. And let's not start a fire here."

Yi-Han still had a great fear of fire magic.

If he burned down the warehouse he had finally secured, it would be very absurd from the perspective of the graduated senior.

"First, let's check what kind of artifact it is..."

[Are you the new owner?]

"!"

Letters appearing on the notebook page.

Yi-Han was surprised, but Ratford's expression didn't change.

"Ratford. Can't you see these letters?"

"Huh? What letters are you talking about?"

'Only I can see them.'

Yi-Han guessed that the drop of blood he had shed earlier was the cause.

It seemed to be the condition to activate this notebook.

'Can I write a reply?'

Yi-Han pondered.

Although he didn't feel any particularly suspicious mana patterns, it was originally dangerous to touch unknown objects, wasn't it?

Especially a blood-sucking notebook was even more so.

What if an evil demon was sealed inside?

[Who are you?]

[It seems like you're using this for the first time. It's rude to ask who someone is.]

"..."

Yi-Han's face hardened.

Whoever was sealed inside this notebook, it was definitely a very evil, vile, and shameless being.

Judging from the complete lack of mana felt, it would possess a powerful strength that surpassed Yi-Han's level...

[I already figured out your identity.]

Yi-Han didn't hesitate and moved the quill. The notebook quickly absorbed the ink.

[...Tell me.]

Although the face was not visible, it was felt that the other party was tense.

[Seeing that you're sealed in an evil artifact and shamelessly evading the question, you must be a powerful demon, right?]

[...My faceless idiot friend, the artifact you're writing in right now is not a sealing artifact, but a communication artifact.]

The faceless other party admonished Yi-Han as if dumbfounded.

Yi-Han was slightly taken aback.

[Aren't you trying to deceive me? In old stories, such notebooks had evil beings dwelling in them...]

[Is there such a story? More importantly, are you bad at studying? If you're going to trap an evil being, you should use a special artifact, so why would you trap it in a notebook? What if someone takes it to a used bookstore and sells it?]

'Hmm. That makes sense.'

Yi-Han was slightly embarrassed by the other party's admonishment.

Come to think of it, if it was an artifact with no mana felt at all, there was a much higher possibility that it was just an artifact without any particular danger.

In the first place, there was no way an artifact that sealed a great demon (and in a peculiar notebook form at that) would be in this students' warehouse, right?

'I read too many novels.'

[Then this notebook is...]

[It's a means created by students.]

The unknown other party kindly explained.

When advancing to the 2nd year, one could meet seniors, but that didn't mean one could completely open up and have conversations.

There was an atmosphere of sticking together by grade and by each tower, and sometimes there were professors' spies among the students.

Perhaps because of that, at some point, such artifacts began to be placed in hidden places in Einroguard.

The base material for the artifacts varied.

Notebooks that were easy to write on were the most common, and anything that was good for absorbing ink, such as parchment or mirrors, was possible.

[Now we communicate with each other through this.]

[Rather, because we don't know who each other is, it's possible to have honest conversations.]

[It may vary depending on the conversation partner, but basically, it's rude to ask for identities, so it's good to keep that in mind. You might be mistaken for a professor.]

[Thank you for the advice.]

Yi-Han first conveyed his gratitude.

If it weren't for the other party's explanation, he would still be wandering.

'It's a means for Einroguard students to have anonymous conversations.'

Indeed, while Yi-Han openly cursed the skull principal, most students were careful not to utter curses about the skull principal.

For such students, this anonymous means of communication would serve as a kind of bamboo forest bulletin board.

[It seems like it was neglected for a while before I obtained the notebook, was there anyone writing in it before me?]

[No. That's why I thought this notebook was a lost cause and just put it away.]

'This person has multiple artifacts.'

Yi-Han inferred several pieces of information from the other party's words.

Judging from the fact that they knew a lot about these communication artifacts within Einroguard, it was clear that they had many other artifacts besides this one notebook.

'Then they will know much more about the situation in Einroguard than I do.'

[If there's something I'm curious about, can I ask?]

[It's your freedom. It's also my freedom to answer. Usually, it's an equal exchange. You know what I mean, right?]

Since both parties were anonymous, there were no one-sided questions or answers.

If someone wanted to ask a question, they had to be able to pay a value worthy of it.

[I understand. What I'm curious about are the hidden places on the 3rd floor of the main building.]

[3rd floor? Are you a 2nd year?]

[Who knows.]

[Alright. If you can answer this, let's exchange.]

Yi-Han tensed up.

Could he himself meet the other party's demands?

Should he use some kind of trick?

'But if I get caught using a trick, the contact will be cut off after that.'

[There should be a 1st-year student named Wardanaz in your school.]

'How?!'

Yi-Han was startled.

It was surprising that Yi-Han's name came up, but he couldn't believe how the other party had guessed his school.

Was there a way to measure the school of the person on the other side of the notebook??

'Ah. No.'

Come to think of it, Yi-Han was just affiliated with all of them.

[Yes.]

[Find out what school magic he will take in his 2nd year.]

[I know that contacting a 1st-year is grounds for moderate punishment.]

[Then you shouldn't get caught.]

'Who the hell is this person?'

Yi-Han frowned.

First of all, it was a bit strange that they mentioned Yi-Han's name.

Did they hear rumors?

Some seniors knew Yi-Han's name because they helped the professors' work, but...

'Did it spread that way?'

And...

The other party hesitated.

As if hesitating whether or not to say this.

'What is it?'

[Make sure to ask if he will take dark magic.]

[...Are you perhaps senior Direth?]

The notebook suddenly fell silent.