Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy
chapter-542

Meanwhile, Professor Bagrak and Ikurusha, who were waiting below, were puzzled by Yi-Han's whereabouts as he was returning later than expected.

"He's late."

-Hmm.-

Ikurusha's expression also darkened with worry.

Of course, considering only the strength of the giants who went with Yi-Han, they were a reliable force that would be hard to find a match for even in this rugged mountain range.

However, Ikurusha also knew well how the giants acted on their own whims.

If they saw a Behemoth while walking and rushed in, saying, 'It looks delicious!', a young student like Yi-Han had a high possibility of being swept away.

-Still, I think that student would have contacted us if there was a problem, so maybe it's alright?-

"I think there's a misunderstanding."

-??-

Ikurusha looked at the professor, wondering what he was talking about.

"Rather, it's more likely that Wardanaz is leading the giants around."

-What... Is that even something to say?-

Ikurusha was dumbfounded by Professor Bagrak's words.

Was he saying that a still young student was forcibly dragging the giants around?

While the giants were like, 'Uh, we want to go back now,' the student was like, 'No! Move to the next location!'?

No matter how he thought about it, it didn't make sense.

"He has a personality that enjoys challenges."

-No, no matter how much he enjoys it, dragging giants around is not at the level of a challenge...-

Even if a mage liked challenges, if they were put together with giants, they would change their mind and think, 'Actually, I think I liked a comfortable life.'

Ikurusha was 100% sure of that.

That's how rough and violent the giants' daily life was.

-We're back!-

-!!-

Ikurusha, who was talking, was startled to see the giants returning from afar.

They were covered in mud and debris from the swamp and had minor injuries.

There weren't many suspects in this mountain range who could inflict that level of injury on giants.

-What have you been doing?-

-We went to get rid of the ghoul dragon with old man Yaksha.-

-We didn't want to do it at first, but we did it because of the mage.-

-!-

Ikurusha looked at Yi-Han with shocked eyes.

Originally, Ikurusha would have understood it as 'The Yaksha asked, the student helped, and the giants agreed,' but because of the words Professor Bagrak had left, he momentarily fell into a misunderstanding.

-Really?!-

-Huh? Yeah.-

'Why is he acting like that?'

Yi-Han was puzzled when Ikurusha made a shocked expression that he couldn't normally see.

Come to think of it, it was understandable.

He had gone up saying he would do some appropriate work with the giants, but he had accomplished too big of a task.

"I'm sorry. Thanks to Elder Yaksha, I had no choice..."

"It's alright."

Professor Bagrak stopped his disciple's apology as if he had already expected it.

"It's already done."

"Ah. Yes."

"But refrain from excessively overexerting yourself. I remember telling you that last time too."

"..."

Yi-Han looked at the professor in disbelief.

Who was saying that to whom right now?

***

Ratford asked, seeing Yi-Han drooping unlike usual.

"Did you not sleep well?"

"No... I climbed the mountain in the morning and caused a commotion..."

"Oh dear. Is it because of the White Tiger Tower?"

A White Tiger Tower student passing by from behind flinched.

'Gasp. Is it really because of us?'

"No. Because of the ghoul dragon and giants..."

'Phew. It's not.'

The White Tiger Tower student, who was relieved, walked a few more steps and then screamed.

"What? Ghoul dragon? Giants??"

"Why are you eavesdropping on someone else's conversation! You thief-like fellow!"

"Ah, no...! I just overheard while passing by. Just passing by!"

While Ratford was bickering with the White Tiger Tower student, Yi-Han stuffed a thick chicken sandwich with pickles into his stomach.

He felt the need to recover his energy before the illusion magic lecture began.

Crunch!

Looking to the side at the crunching sound, Ymirg was tearing into a thick chicken leg whole.

When their eyes met, Ymirg hesitated and asked.

"Do-do you want some?"

"This is enough for me. Rather... No."

Yi-Han was about to ask why Ymirg wasn't sitting next to his Black Tortoise Tower friends but next to him and Ratford, but he stopped.

Ratford was originally close to him, but Ymirg was a bit shy.

'Hoho. It was worth feeding him diligently during the flood.'

Yi-Han felt satisfied that his efforts had triumphed over the Wardanaz family's notoriety.

When he first entered Einroguard, even though he had helped the Black Tortoise Tower students, they had reacted like 'Eek! Wardanaz monster, no, family!', and that still slightly remained in his heart.

"Huh? Why is Ymirg sitting there?"

"Oh no...! I'm late! I should have sat next to Wardanaz!"

The Black Tortoise Tower friends, who belatedly recalled the characteristics of the illusion magic lecture, regretfully hit their knees.

When various illusion magics confused the five senses, having someone like Wardanaz who didn't waver and stood firm was very helpful.

Knowing that and preparing in advance, as expected, the top student was somewhat different.

"Damn it. I should sit in the back."

"Move! I sat here first!"

"You White Tiger Tower guys have no confidence? You badmouth Wardanaz so much, but at times like this, you try to use him?"

"Ah... No? I never had the thought of using Wardanaz as a shield...!"

"..."

Yi-Han, who was listening to the conversation, felt betrayed.

'These ungrateful fellows.'

"We-well. Hello, everyone!"

The classroom door opened and Professor Kirmin Ku entered. His outfit was one that he could boast as being one of the best in fashion among the professors of Einroguard.

Professor Kirmin Ku took out a small piece of stone from the front pocket of his dark blue velvet vest and threw it at the student closest to him.

Bang!

"Ugh... Ahhh. Ahhh!"

"Stop, no! You have to stay calm. Stay calm."

In the 1st semester, Professor Kirmin Ku had taught basic and interesting magic, but from the 2nd semester, he gradually started teaching how to deal with illusion magic.

And to learn how to deal with illusion magic, one had to be hit by it a lot.

"Not only at Einroguard but also when you travel around the empire, you'll often encounter illusions or sorcery. If you don't learn it in advance, you can suffer a big loss. I told you the story of the unfortunate dwarf Guriang Geum who was greatly deceived by illusion magic last time, right?"

"Yes!"

"Now. An opening!"

Professor Kirmin Ku viciously spewed out smoke trapped in a glass bottle at the student who had just inhaled to answer.

The smoke scattered the student's mana, temporarily paralyzed his resistance, and drew him into an illusion.

"Principal! Ahhh! It's the principal!!"

Seeing the student fall into the illusion of the skull principal attacking him, Professor Kirmin Ku smiled apologetically.

"I'm sorry. This is how you learn."

There were two main ways to block illusion magic.

One was to prevent being caught in the illusion magic itself.

Having strong resistance like Yi-Han, wearing various artifacts to defend, or being wary of illusion magic and avoiding contact.

Illusion magic couldn't be cast freely without any restrictions like command magic.

Usually, it required some form of contact, and just blocking this contact at the source could have some effect.

"Huff...!"

As the professor approached, one student held his breath and closed his eyes.

Then Professor Kirmin Ku smiled and waved his staff. The magic flew and plunged the student into an illusion.

"Ah. Wardanaz. Can you run an errand for me?"

"Yes. Professor."

Yi-Han stood up, showing wariness. Professor Kirmin Ku waved his hand as if it was alright.

"You have a naturally strong resistance, so you don't have to be that wary. I'm not Professor Bagrak."

"The principal also always tells me to trust him."

Professor Kirmin Ku made a genuinely hurt expression.

"Hey, I'm trying to teach you how to deal with illusion magic for your sake, but comparing me to the principal is too much, isn't it?"

Yi-Han carefully received the note and stepped out into the corridor. Fortunately, there were no unusual attacks until he left.

'What errand is it?'

[Stand in the corridor while attacking students.]

[Kirmin Ku]

"..."

-Ahh! Wardanaz! You stupid Wardanaz! What if you just leave!-

-Haha, you can't let your guard down like this! Illusion mages must always maintain their vigilance, have you forgotten that?-

While Yi-Han was out for a moment, Professor Kirmin Ku had annihilated all the students who had only trusted Yi-Han.

When everyone woke up from the illusion, drenched in cold sweat, Professor Kirmin Ku spoke as if it was unfortunate.

"It's actually impossible to not get caught at all. Especially when your skills are low. So..."

Professor Kirmin Ku, who was speaking, made eye contact with Yi-Han.

"Yeah. Except for you, Wardanaz."

"I didn't say anything, Professor."

"You have to know how to calmly escape even if you get caught."

The second way to block illusion magic was to calmly dispel it after getting caught.

It started with becoming aware first.

Once you became aware, you increased the sense of discomfort felt around you one by one, and when you accumulated enough of that discomfort, you grasped the structure of the magic cast on you and dispelled it in reverse.

At this time, the more you knew about various magics, the more advantageous it was. After all, it was easier to identify the identity if you already knew the magics rather than figuring it out one by one with instinct.

"Illusion magic is a field that becomes more advantageous the more skilled the mage is, but that doesn't mean you can't practice. Wardanaz. I'm telling you just in case, but you know it's forbidden to break it with force today, right?"

"Professor. I'm really sorry for completely destroying the magic circles last time. But I really didn't know what would happen and made a mistake..."

Yi-Han inwardly grumbled at the pettiness of Professor Kirmin Ku, who was still scolding him for accidentally blowing away the magic circles in the last lecture.

How could he have predicted that!

"Yeah. Mistakes can happen. I thought someone like you, Wardanaz, would have done it knowingly."

"Oh."

The students next to him sent gazes of respect and emotion.

Could it be that Wardanaz had destroyed the magic circles for their sake?

"No, you crazy bastards."

"Aw..."

The students immediately became indifferent at Yi-Han's serious expression.

Thud!

As the professor waved his staff, mountain-like chests piled up in front of the students.

They were boxes made of roughly carved wood, but each had a sharp and intricately made lock part.

The students groaned at the mana felt from there.

They guessed what they would be doing today.

"When you explore ruins or dungeons, you'll often see illusion magic connected to mechanical devices. An excellent mage can even disable the mechanical device just by looking at the structure of the illusion magic."

"Professor. I'm not going to enter a dungeon in my life..."

"You're overflowing with confidence? But it's better to put that confidence aside for now. When you're at Einroguard, it's not you who chooses the dungeon."

The student who had grumbled and received an ominous prophecy about his future grabbed the box with a sad face.

Poof!

"Ugh!"

The student who touched the box incorrectly was hit by the smoke coming from inside and fell into an illusion magic.

Seeing that, the students were even more disgusted.

Who would like such trivial and time-consuming work?

Most mages only loved the flashy aspects of magic, and few loved the bothersome aspects as well.

"Hey. This is fun, right? Ratford. Can you check? Is this solved correctly?"

"It's excellent."

"How good do you have to be to enter a dungeon without bringing a separate technician?"

"I think this level is sufficient, but...?"

"What are you saying. Ratford. You're all good, but your flaw is that you overestimate me too much."

"No, I really think it's sufficient..."