Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy
chapter-527

At first, he thought it was a mistake commonly made by the skull principal's subordinates, mistaking him due to mana.

However, the meaning contained in Professor Parsellet's words felt a bit different.

It seemed like she wasn't mistaking mana but seeing some other truth.

Priestess Tijiling asked in a voice mixed with curiosity.

"Could it be that you have lost your way?"

Of course, the 'losing one's way' that Priestess Tijiling mentioned didn't mean reality.

As befitting a magic that was one of the most abstruse and eccentric among magic, divination mages often suffered from various side effects.

One of them was the phenomenon of forgetting the concept of past, present, and future and losing one's way in destiny after attempting divination too deeply.

Divination mages now expressed this as 'losing one's way'.

"If it's a great divination mage like the professor, it's sufficiently..."

Although it was called a side effect, this phenomenon of losing one's way wasn't something that just anyone could experience. In a way, it was close to a lofty state.

Ordinary divination mages simply coughed up blood or lost their lives, unable to drift between the past, present, and future like that.

How difficult was it to even divine tomorrow's events?

As such, it wasn't surprising that Priestess Tijiling looked at Professor Parsellet with a gaze mixed with astonishment and respect.

A state that one might not be able to reach even after training divination magic for a lifetime.

Someday, Priestess Tijiling also wanted to reach such truth...

"No. She's just crazy."

Yi-Han firmly denied it.

"..."

Priestess Tijiling, who was always kind and gentle, asked with a rare displeased expression.

"Do you have a reason for thinking that way?"

"The professors were originally crazy."

"..."

Priestess Tijiling looked at Yi-Han with an even more displeased expression.

If Gainando or Anglago had looked at him like that, he would have hit them once with his staff, but when someone like Priestess Tijiling looked at him like that, even Yi-Han felt the pressure to add more reasons.

"Actually, Priestess Tijiling. I know my future."

"Is that... really true?"

Priestess Tijiling raised her voice as if surprised. She was really surprised, as the corners of her eyes trembled.

People who knew their own future were not common. No, such people simply didn't exist.

How could a mortal being know their future in advance?

However, Priestess Tijiling knew that the boy in front of her was from the Wardanaz family.

There were many secrets in the empire that even the priestess herself didn't know.

If it was the Wardanaz family, even if they had such knowledge...

'Did he receive a prophecy or something? But how? By what method?'

"Yeah."

Yi-Han lowered his voice so that only Priestess Tijiling could hear.

At that serious attitude, Priestess Tijiling unconsciously leaned in and concentrated.

What kind of future could it be?

"After graduation, I will multiply my assets dozens of times with connections and outstanding business sense, gain fame as a new business tycoon in the empire, and live a life of leisure."

"..."

Priestess Tijiling lost her composure and glared at Yi-Han.

Although she still had a lot to learn about divination magic, at least she could instinctively feel that the future the boy in front of her had just spoken was wrong.

***

Fortunately, Professor Parsellet soon woke up.

With a pained expression as if she had drunk about ten bottles of cheap alcohol the day before, Professor Parsellet looked at the two students.

"...I didn't attack you two, did I...?"

"No."

"You just did divination."

"You didn't even do divination. You just said some strange things."

"..."

At Yi-Han's desperate denial, Priestess Tijiling was about to say something but stopped.

Professor Parsellet sighed in relief and said,

"Thank goodness. Thank goodness. If I had attacked you guys... These days, I'm often in danger while preparing for a great magic."

"A great magic?"

Yi-Han asked, hiding his wariness.

Whether it was a professor or a senior, it was not good for 1st-year students when someone was preparing a great magic within Einroguard.

If they made a mistake by chance, they all had to bear the damage together.

"Yes. I need to locate the positions of next year's new students. Although the principal is presiding over it, the burden can't help but fall on me too."

"...!"

Yi-Han realized what she meant and was shocked.

'Is that even possible with divination magic??'

Come to think of it, it was impossible not to use the power of magic to bring new students from various backgrounds across the empire.

And naturally, finding the locations of these new students fell under divination magic.

Nevertheless, the reason Yi-Han had never thought about it was one.

The scale of the magic was ridiculously immense.

'Even if they use the power accumulated in Einroguard, to divine the locations of qualified people across the empire...'

Priestess Tijiling must have been shocked like Yi-Han, as she just widened her eyes and said nothing.

That's how shocking the skull principal's magic was.

"The rebound will be too severe... I think..."

As Priestess Tijiling spoke hesitantly, Professor Parsellet chuckled and looked at the demon mixed-blood priestess with admiration.

"Most of the side effects are handled by the principal and the principal's prisoners, so there's nothing to worry about."

'I think there was something strange just now.'

"By the way, did I really only say strange things? It seems like I was quite deeply immersed..."

Professor Parsellet trailed off, slightly puzzled.

Originally, when she was this deeply immersed in divination, she would ramble on with useless nonsense but also manage to say a few useful things.

But there was none of that this time.

"There was none."

"..."

Although it bothered her that Tijiling was strangely silent, Professor Parsellet decided not to ask further and move on.

"I see. That's a pity. Sometimes I manage to salvage something useful."

The professor, who was disappointed, looked around and pushed away the opaque gray fog surrounding the trees in the forest with her staff.

"It appeared again."

"Isn't it just fog?"

"It's more like dregs than fog. Such things keep appearing because we're conducting a magic of such a large scale. Be careful not to touch it, as it can cause hallucinations."

"..."

Yi-Han felt slightly choked up at the professor mentioning it now.

"Hmm..."

Not knowing what the student was thinking, Professor Parsellet was lost in thought as she looked at the two.

As that thought lengthened, Yi-Han, who was standing in front, felt a slight sense of unease.

Basically, it was rare for anything good to come out of professors thinking for a long time about students.

"Excuse me. Professor. We need to pick rock violet to do our duty, and this is taking longer than expected..."

"Didn't you say you would handle it with magic earlier?"

"I did. But on second thought, it seems like too much of a waste of mana."

"??"

However, regardless of what Yi-Han said, Professor Parsellet, who wasn't listening, finished her decision on her own and opened her mouth again.

"Alright. Since we met like this, it must be fate, so I should show you this time. Both of you, follow me. It will be interesting since you're learning divination magic."

"..."

Originally, Professor Parsellet had a laissez-faire attitude of not caring much about her disciples and letting those who wanted to learn do so on their own.

However, the two disciples in front of her were a bit special among her disciples.

Tijiling's talent was outstanding enough to be coveted even among divination mages, and Wardanaz was just...

'He'll like it if I show him this.'

Professor Parsellet's other personalities strongly agreed.

-You thought very well! As I said last time, a genius shouldn't be bored!-

-I-I also think so...-

Of course, Yi-Han was deeply frustrated.

'I had a bad feeling since I saw a professor after sunset.'

He should have turned around and run away at that moment, but being curious and looking was a huge mistake from the start.

Making such a mistake, he still had a long way to go as an Einroguard student.

"Do you know what the professor is trying to show us?"

As Yi-Han was so frustrated, Priestess Tijiling tilted her head and asked.

As Priestess Tijiling, she had no idea at all.

"No. I don't know either."

"..."

Then why are you frustrated...?

***

A great magic that could affect the entire empire was not something that even the skull principal could use as he pleased.

The magic of Einroguard, which was as old as the skull principal.

The terrain that had one of the best mana veins in the empire.

In addition, there were now excellent mages to assist the skull principal, various subordinates, and even those sentenced to death who would cough up blood and die on his behalf.

As such a process was underway, unusual phenomena that couldn't be seen normally were occurring in various places in Einroguard.

Professor Parsellet waved her staff again.

Then, the fog they had seen earlier dispersed once more, and the path in the forest was clearly revealed.

"Oh my. It's a bit severe today. It would be better to just follow behind me."

"...?"

Yi-Han and Priestess Tijiling didn't know what she meant, but they could soon understand.

The path that had just been created disappeared in an instant and was filled with dense trees.

Professor Parsellet walked freely through the trees, where it was impossible to know where was where, as if there were signposts.

She was breaking through this natural labyrinth with the power of divination magic.

Crack!

One of the stones on the bracelet Professor Parsellet was wearing shattered.

Yi-Han immediately drew out his staff.

"What enemy is it?"

"No, no. It's not an enemy, it's misfortune. It blocked the misfortune that was coming to me. This is a talisman. You guys will also learn to make it this time."

Divination mages learned not only divination but also how to control that future.

Controlling might sound grandiose. In fact, rather than controlling, it was closer to a desperate attempt to slightly open the direction of a huge stream of water.

However, even that little bit was a desperate matter for divination mages. Because divining the future was that dangerous.

One of the countermeasures was such a talisman.

"When it senses misfortune, it shatters like this, and although it may seem useless..."

"I definitely want one!"

When the disciple, who usually didn't show greed, shouted with sincerity, Professor Parsellet was slightly flustered.

"Y-yes. You'll learn it soon. Around here... Good. It has accumulated appropriately."

Professor Parsellet looked around and finally found what she was looking for.

It was a spring.

However, instead of clear water like usual, it was a spring where gray was murkily accumulated and rippling like the fog they had seen earlier.

"Do you know what this is, everyone?"

"Is it a spring where poison has accumulated?"

Professor Parsellet burst into laughter, thinking Yi-Han was joking.

'It's not a joke though.'

"No. It's like dregs that flowed out while conducting this great magic. Normally, it would just bring about hallucinations, but in a situation where it's accumulated in such a high concentration, if there's a mage who can control it..."

Professor Parsellet waved her staff and chanted a spell.

The surrounding air gradually became quieter, and even the noise disappeared. The insect sounds or bird sounds commonly heard in the forest were not heard either.

"It becomes a tool that sharpens divination power very sharply in a limited way."

The professor threw a gourd to Yi-Han.

"Try drinking it once. It will be a fun experience."

While Yi-Han carefully approached the spring with the gourd, Priestess Tijiling threw a question.

"Then this spring... strengthens divination power?"

"Yes. Isn't it interesting?"

"I'm really surprised. How effective is it?"

"At the shortest, about 3 seconds, and at the longest, about 10 seconds?"

Even that was incredibly amazing.

Divination power was an ability that couldn't be easily touched even with magic.

Gulp-

As Yi-Han drank the spring water, Professor Parsellet asked in a voice filled with anticipation.

"How is it? For a moment, you felt a sense of omniscience as if you could get anything right?"

"...?"

Yi-Han hesitated.

Even after the time the professor mentioned had passed, the feeling she had just described didn't disappear.