Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

“Hm. This is really strange.”

The third-year student, Barglios of House Elvali, who had been asking the highly probable questions from the book in order, tilted his head.

Usually, by this point, at least one of them should have hit, but the answer kept coming back no.

That’s a relief.

Even though he still hadn’t gotten an answer, Lee Han felt slightly reassured.

Thankfully beyond words, the wood spirit was not angry.

…Of course, there were still plenty of possible reasons left, but just the fact that it wasn’t angry for any of the reasons that had come up so far was fortunate enough.

But this isn’t my fault.

At Einroguard, if you studied long enough, everyone ended up meeting things like the King of Ghouls or the King of the Frost Giants.

And to survive encounters with things like that, sometimes you had to make a few deals with evil beings…

“All right. At times like this, you have to try a strange question too.”

“Oh. What is it?”

“Is it because you’re taking lectures from every school?”

“……”

Naturally, the answer was no.

Lee Han glared at the upperclassman. The orc student adjusted a pair of glasses with an awkward expression.

“It’s a strange question. When you get stuck, sometimes you have to try things like this to find the answer.”

“That was too strange a question.”

After that, Barglios asked a few more questions.

Even for the most likely possibilities, like Did you force the wand to endure excessively powerful magic or mana? or Did you let a dangerous monster touch the wand?, the spirit continued to answer no.

“Wow. What on earth is it?”

“Is it possible the spirit likes me too much, so it won’t answer?”

“That’s nonsense. Why is someone taking lectures from every school saying the kind of thing a Valdrogard student would say?”

When it came to magic, Barglios did not compromise by even an inch. Lee Han drooped and nodded.

“Are you dissatisfied because you have been unable to display your abilities… Wait. This is it, isn’t it? Look at this!”

When the answer came back yes, Barglios was startled.

This was one of the least likely questions in the book, so far back it might as well have been placed between Are you politically dissatisfied because of recent shifts in power within the spirit realm? and Did one of your mage ancestors happen to have had a friend with a grudge against spirits?

“Normally, there wouldn’t be any reason you couldn’t display your abilities. Did you leave this ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) wand lying around somewhere for a long time, by any chance?”

“No. I carried it around every day.”

“That’s strange. Hmm. Wait a second. Let’s check the spirit’s abilities first.”

Since Barglios was a summoning-magic major, the orc upperclassman remained calm and started checking even in this baffling situation.

After casting a few spells, the abilities this wood spirit possessed were…

“The Authority of Recovery, the Authority of Life, and the Authority of Resilience. Those three. Impressive. A spirit you haven’t even contracted with is lending you this much power. You must have made a very good impression.”

“I was lucky. But that’s strange.”

“What is?”

“Professor Thunderwalk only told me about one of them. That it was good for growing plants.”

Professor Thunderwalk had definitely given Lee Han a brief explanation when Lee Han first brought the wand back.

That it would be very good when growing plants…

“That is the Authority of Life, but… I don’t know. Professors don’t really care about students in the first place.”

Is that so?

Lee Han found the upperclassman’s words strange, but accepted them for the moment.

“First, the Authority of Recovery. You’ve probably experienced it a few times too. It’s a useful spirit authority for mages. It restores mana.”

“?”

Lee Han had no memory of the wand restoring his mana.

He went back through memory just in case, but nothing came to mind.

“This probably isn’t it. Here. Have you failed to display the Authority of Recovery? Look. The Authority of Recovery did activate, so… huh?”

The wood spirit answered coldly that it had indeed been unable to display the Authority.

At that, Barglios was flustered.

“Has the magic effect on my glasses worn out?”

“No. I think you saw it correctly.”

Lee Han spoke in a slightly darkened voice.

Now that he thought about it, even if the wood spirit did possess an authority that restored mana, Lee Han probably would never have had a chance to use it.

An authority that restored mana only mattered if mana actually decreased. If it just kept staying full, what was it supposed to restore?

“The other two couldn’t possibly have gone unused too, right?”

“The Authority of Life is the one you mentioned just now…”

“Yes. Alchemists like that one. It helps when growing plants.”

“Yes. I think that one was used.”

“That’s a relief. Have you failed to display the Authority of Life?”

The wood spirit replied at once that it had not displayed the Authority of Life either.

“……”

“…Did you really use it?”

The orc upperclassman, who had maintained an intellectual attitude up until now, stared at Lee Han through those glasses with a rough look in the eyes.

At this point, it almost seemed like Lee Han had only used the wand once a year when wiping the dust off it.

“Do you know how many plants I’ve grown?! That’s a false accusation. The spirit is mistaken!”

“Hmm. Did the mage replace the Authority of Life through another means?”

The wood spirit answered yes at once.

Lee Han asked, hardly daring to believe it.

“Did I replace it with mana?”

The answer was yes.

Lee Han felt a sharp sense of emptiness.

He had thought all this time that things had grown well thanks to the wand, and it turned out to be nothing more than a placebo effect.

He had simply believed on his own that things were growing well thanks to the wand, so the effect had increased when he scattered mana around the area.

“I thought I was using the wand’s power.”

“C-cheer up. Sometimes people do fall into misunderstandings like that. So what did you replace it with?”

“It seems I unconsciously scattered my mana. I believed things would grow well because of the help of the wood spirit, but that was…”

“……”

Barglios looked at Lee Han as if staring at a madman and subtly took a step farther away.

If Barglios had been a spirit, then to the question Did you avoid him because you were afraid?, the answer would have been yes.

What the hell even is this bastard?

Of course, since magic was an academic discipline that brought about change through a mage’s firm will, one could say that this too was a form of primitive magic.

But why did the word primitive exist in the phrase primitive magic?

Because it was that unstable, and that weak, which was why magic was cast by other methods now.

To create change through self-suggestion alone, without any proper incantation at all, required scattering an enormous amount of mana continuously.

Barglios simply could not believe that an individual mage had scattered that much mana.

“What is the Authority of Resilience?”

“It’s modest, but it’s useful too. It’s an authority that helps the wand endure. Against impact or when casting strong magic.”

“I really did use this one.”

“At this point… I think you’d better stop being so sure. Have you failed to display the Authority of Resilience?”

Pitilessly, the answer came back that it had indeed failed to display it.

Lee Han shouted in outrage,

“What do you mean, after how much fighting I’ve done?! Did it already forget the King of Ghouls and the King of the Frost Giants?!”

“…What king??”

“It was nothing. Upperclassman. Please ask again.”

“Asking again won’t change the answer. More importantly, there’s only one reason the Authority of Resilience wouldn’t activate. Are you perhaps still lacking?”

Yes.

When the answer came back that he was lacking, Lee Han asked, unable to understand.

“What do you mean I’m lacking?”

“Uh… It means you need to cast even stronger magic before that authority feels it’s worth using.”

“……”

Lee Han stared at the wand as if looking at a madman.

“Well, anyway, cheer up! It’s not like the wood spirit dislikes you. You just have to let it show its abilities from now on.”

Is that even possible?

After the lecture ended, Lee Han rose gloomily while receiving comfort from the orc upperclassman.

He had certainly learned a lot, but it felt like he had gained nothing.

To think that all this time, it had practically been the same as not using the spirit’s powers at all.

“There’s no need to think of it too hard. If there’s no occasion to use the Authority of Recovery, then just add other authorities and link them in. There are bound to be authorities that need mana restoration.”

If the wood spirit wanted to restore mana, then all Lee Han had to do was add magic into the wand that steadily consumed mana. From a mage’s point of view, that was rather welcome.

Of course, the crafting difficulty would rise even higher…

“Same goes for the Authority of Life. Add other authorities and link them.”

“What about the Authority of Resilience?”

“That one, aside from you casting stronger magic, I really don’t know.”

“…Thank you, Upperclassman. You must be busy, and yet you still taught me so kindly.”

Lee Han expressed sincere gratitude.

Everyone was busy with their own lectures, and since the upperclassmen were one year higher, they had to be even busier.

Helping this earnestly was not something just anyone could do.

“Ha ha. You’re not exactly a stranger. You’re a junior from the same school.”

“Are you from Blue Dragon Tower?”

“No? I meant the summoning-magic school. See you in summoning magic, Junior.”

“……”

Come to think of it, among the upperclassmen here, there was at least one shared school no matter which way he looked.

That was why he had been able to get help, but for some reason Lee Han felt bitter.

For some reason, this feels bitter.

“Hey, Wardanaz!”

From far away, Anglago spotted Lee Han and came running.

“Hurry up! If you don’t go right now, you’ll miss it!”

“Miss what?”

“You’re asking because you don’t know?! Ugh. Just follow me first! Hurry!”

“No, I really don’t know.”

Anglago practically shoved at Lee Han’s back while running forward.

“You’re a club member too, so how do you not know?!”

“That’s because the clubs I joined… Never mind. Which club is it?”

“The Jousting Club, obviously. What other club would it be?”

Anglago spoke in a voice full of excitement.

One of the things that had been anticipated all last year was joining the Einroguard Jousting Club.

“Right now… that animal is here. Can you believe it? I can actually get to see it.”

“What are you talking about? A griffin? A basilisk?”

At Lee Han’s question, Anglago cried out in horror.

“What kind of vicious nonsense is that?! Of course not! Don’t you know what the Jousting Club is? We have to bring animals people can actually ride!”

“You can ride both a griffin and a basilisk.”

From inside the sleeve came a faint hiss, as if someone agreed.

Anglago ignored it, apparently deciding that Lee Han was just talking nonsense.

Glancing around in case anyone overheard, Lee Han’s White Tiger Tower friend lowered voice and said,

“…Professor Bendozol is taking care of a unicorn right now!”

“Ah.”

Lee Han nodded, finally understanding what this was about.

Since they had rescued an injured unicorn during winter break and brought it to Einroguard, there was nothing surprising about seeing a unicorn at Einroguard now.

“That could happen.”

Does this bastard have nothing but cold mana running through his veins or what?

Anglago stared at Lee Han as if unable to believe it.

To think that a decent jousting player could hear the word unicorn and react that coldly.

Anyone with a heart should have been incapable of that.

“Wardanaz. Today I’m going to see a unicorn with my own eyes. And I’m going to ask it.”

“What?”

“Whether it wants to play jousting with me.”

That sounds like the stupidest question a unicorn could ever be asked.

That was what Lee Han thought, but since the friend looked too excited, he kept it to himself.

“Fine. Asking is your freedom. What about the lecture?”

“Ah. Of course.”

Anglago answered with grim determination.

“I’m just not going to attend the lecture. The unicorn is more important.”

“……”

Lee Han kicked the friend back toward the lecture hall.

*****

The Jousting Club members watched the unicorn from afar with anxious eyes.

A short, ill-tempered-looking professor was crying out desperately to the unicorn in pleading tones.

“Let me be the one to take care of you!”

“Professor. It seems the unicorn needs us!”

“Shut up, you noisy, ugly creatures! Get lost!”

Professor Bendozol fired off spells at the Jousting Club members. As if they had expected it, the members quickly widened the distance.