Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

“Such… such an upperclassman existed?”

“Huh? Yeah.”

Hormasi thought Lee Han’s voice had risen a little with excitement.

Must be my imagination, right?

“Why didn’t I know about an upperclassman like that until now?”

“Like I just said, because Jarun is antisocial and eccentric?”

“How many antisocial eccentrics are there in Einroguard? That’s not even a flaw here. I think this is someone who doesn’t waste time on {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} useless things and diligently focuses on work.”

“Professor Verdus is like that too, but nobody likes Professor Verdus…”

“How dare you say such a thing!”

“S-sorry. Right. You’re in the enchantment magic school too, aren’t you?”

Hormasi belatedly remembered that Lee Han also belonged to the enchantment magic school and apologized.

To be precise, enchantment magic mages did not get angry when someone insulted Professor Verdus.

They simply got angry because it felt ominous and unlucky to mention Professor Verdus’s name under any circumstances.

“…No, Hormasi. I failed to control my emotions. I apologize.”

“Anyone can get like that when it comes to that professor. Don’t worry. I don’t care about that sort of thing at all.”

“Then perhaps we should prepare a gift before meeting Jarun?”

“…”

Hormasi felt slightly hurt.

Hormasi was also an upperclassman from the transformation magic school, so why did Lee Han only respect that crazy eccentric upperclassman?

*****

If Einroguard’s territory had a great mountain range, then the seventh floor had a small mountain range.

Of course, from the students’ perspective, great or small did not feel all that different. Having a few fewer peaks did not make the climb any less exhausting.

Fortunately, though, the students had prepared several ways to move through the seventh floor.

RUMBLE!

After entering the basement of an abandoned house and getting into a mine cart, Hormasi knocked on the side three times.

The mine cart began racing down the rails on its own.

“Living in an underground cave. A truly frugal and humble person.”

“Is… is that so…?”

Hormasi looked at the bundle Lee Han was carefully holding with disbelief.

No matter how Hormasi looked at it, did they really need to bring such a gift for the upperclassman they were about to meet?

THUD!

The mine cart stopped after only a few minutes. In that short time, they had descended so deep that everything around them was pitch-black. All that was visible was the faint glimmer of plants and minerals twinkling far away across the underground valley.

Stopping in front of a large cave, Hormasi held out a hand toward Lee Han.

“Wardanaz. Don’t move carelessly from here. You might get caught in a trap.”

“Thoroughly guarding one’s own workshop. Such excellent security awareness.”

“…Jarun! Jarun! Hormasi is here! Open the door!”

No sound came back.

Hormasi cursed and shouted again.

“Jarun! It’s lecture time! Come out, or I’ll set this place on fire!”

Still, no sound came back.

Hormasi spat and muttered.

“Having to do this every time I come here. Fierce flames, transform into a mouse and enter!”

The powerful flames pouring from the bottle transformed into a mouse and began scurrying inside.

How much time had passed?

Flashes of fire, curses, and shouts burst out from within.

“Hormasi, you damned bastard! I’ll demand compensation!”

“Tell that to the professor! The professor ordered it!”

“The professor doesn’t pay!”

With a huffing sound, a short dwarf burst out from inside.

The ends of the dwarf’s beard and hair were singed from putting out fires, and the rest of the appearance was shabby and terrible, like an eccentric hermit.

This was Jarun of the Western Steel-Boot dwarves.

Jarun held a hammer-shaped staff and rolled a wary gaze around, as if watching for other attackers.

“Where are the others?”

“There aren’t any. Jarun. I told you, I came for the lecture!”

“Hmph. You say that, then attack me to extort gold. You think I’ve been fooled only once or twice?”

Saying that, Jarun stepped back.

Among Einroguard students, there were several who would reassure Jarun by saying, “The lecture has started, Jarun, come out already, haha,” and then attack to plunder Jarun’s gold.

Seeing that, Hormasi muttered irritably.

“Completely insane. At this rate, Jarun won’t even graduate and will stay forever as one of Einroguard’s lunatics.”

“No, Hormasi. Jarun is just deeply wounded.”

“…Wardanaz, have you met Jarun before by any chance?”

Hormasi could not understand Lee Han’s strangely favorable attitude toward Jarun.

Until now, there had not been a single student who reacted favorably after seeing Jarun.

“I haven’t.”

“Then why do you like Jarun so much?”

“I don’t like Jarun. I respect Jarun. Just as I respect you, Hormasi.”

“Hmm. But it feels like you respect Jarun more than me.”

Hormasi looked at Lee Han suspiciously.

Sharp instincts.

Naturally, Lee Han liked an upperclassman who hoarded gold more than an upperclassman who checked basilisk defecation schedules.

“Let’s hurry up and start the lecture.”

“…Study on your own today. I have business.”

“Are you going to the punishment cells again?”

“If I go, I go! Don’t interfere!”

Seeing that Jarun seemed especially hard to persuade today, Hormasi expressed dissatisfaction by tapping the wall with a riding crop.

“I came here on business too. Then at least let me inside. I need to see what’s going on if I’m going to make excuses to the professor.”

“What? Absolutely not! You’re after my gold, aren’t you?”

“Jarun! I have no interest in your smelly rocks! What kind of fortune is it when you don’t even keep a single mouse? Do you think everyone goes mad over shiny yellow stones like you?!”

Lee Han flinched slightly.

Jarun seemed to think Hormasi’s words had some merit. After pondering for a moment, Jarun pointed at Lee Han.

“What about that one? Who is that? I’ve never seen that face before. How can I trust that one?”

“Hah. Jarun. That’s Wardanaz. He’s from House Wardanaz. He’s attending every magic school. Out of everyone here, he has the least interest in gold. He’s just a kid crazy about magic!”

“…”

Lee Han had a lot to say, but he stood still with the gentlest, most harmless expression possible.

He wanted to go inside and take a look.

Hormasi’s shout seemed fairly effective, because Jarun flinched.

“E-every magic school?”

“Yes!”

“Isn’t that insane?”

That’s too harsh.

Lee Han felt slightly hurt.

Hormasi did not care and defended Lee Han.

“Are you any better, Jarun? Anyway, hurry up and open the door. I need to check what you’re doing so I can report it.”

Jarun grumbled while disabling the spells set up throughout the cave one by one.

What is Jarun muttering about?

-That bastard Hormasi… might have joined hands with the ones after my gold… Must never let my guard down… That one next to Hormasi too… seems like a lunatic… every magic school…

“…”

Lee Han pretended not to hear and moved on.

When they finally reached the end of the cave, an iron door came into view. Jarun opened the door and went inside.

What is this…?

It was a strange space that seemed half mage’s workshop and half miner’s workplace. If one mixed the two together in equal measure, it might look like this.

On one side, small golems were diligently mining ore with excavation equipment. The ore collected that way was immediately loaded into handcarts and moved to the workshop.

Once moved, the ore was struck with transformation magic, broken into small pieces, then soaked in alchemical solutions to extract the essence.

“Gather, my children.”

As Jarun cast the spell, pure ingots began emerging from the essence infused with melted ore.

Even to Lee Han, who was no expert, the completed metal ingots looked extremely pure and clean.

“Ugh. Why are you treating ore like children?”

Hormasi muttered in disgust. Jarun shouted back, offended.

“That’s better than you treating an ugly wyvern like a child!”

“Are you insane, Jarun? How can you compare the cutest creature in the sky to rocks??”

“Hormasi. Does Jarun do this work every day?”

Lee Han asked carefully while looking around the workshop. Hormasi nodded and answered.

“Nothing but this damned work.”

My goodness!

Now he understood why people said Jarun had the greatest talent for making money in Einroguard.

Einroguard was the Empire’s finest magic school, but at the same time, it was also a territory overflowing with rare reagents.

If one abandoned class time and constantly roamed mining areas to dig, how much wealth would pile up by graduation?

I want to get close to Jarun!

Unaware that Lee Han was rejoicing, Hormasi clicked a tongue.

A good junior had finally arrived, but Jarun was only showing things that would make that junior run away, so Hormasi could not help feeling annoyed.

“Other dwarves make liquor to welcome their juniors and feed them until their bellies burst, but what’s wrong with you, Jarun?”

“Those are Eastern dwarves, you idiot! I’m a Western dwarf!”

Jarun replied irritably.

Unlike Eastern dwarves, who were sociable, loved alcohol, and enjoyed feeding others well, Western dwarves enjoyed quiet, solitary mining.

Of course, Jarun was particularly introverted even among them…

“Jarun. I’d like to help with the work.”

“What?”

Jarun was slightly flustered by Lee Han’s sudden words.

“You want to help with the work?”

“Yes. I have experience with transformation magic and alchemy workshop work.”

“Hmph. You’re still a novice anyway. Try turning this into sand.”

Jarun took out a hard stone and held it out.

Rock-to-sand transformation magic was a simple, basic form of transformation magic, but it was enough to gauge the other person’s skill.

How finely and precisely it was ground showed whether one was familiar with transformation magic.

If Lee Han could not do this, Jarun could not assign him work. Forcing it would only increase losses.

POP!

“…Not bad. Do you happen to know <Component Amplification> or <Component Transformation>?”

“I can use both.”

“What’s the most difficult potion you’ve handled in an alchemy workshop?”

“I assisted with <Dobrooke’s Soul Revival Potion>.”

“…!!!”

Jarun stared at Lee Han in shock.

A mere second-year was already at this level. It was unbelievable.

Indeed. Not just anyone can study every magic school…!

“Jarun. Then tell us what’s preventing you from attending lectures.”

“…Follow me. I’ll show you.”

Jarun walked forward with heavy steps.

Inside the workshop sat a fist-sized golden sphere. Lee Han instinctively stared intently at it.

“What is this… Wait. It’s growing?!”

Hormasi shouted in surprise.

With the Empire’s current transformation magic, gold could not be created from nothing. At best, one could only create temporary or fake gold. This was due to gold’s inherent perfection.

But the gold was increasing, if only slightly.

“You created gold?!”

“Don’t be stupid. How could I create gold? I applied a dimensional connection.”

Jarun scolded Lee Han while explaining.

Creating gold was impossible, but bringing gold in from another dimension was possible.

Jarun had built a magic circle that made the connected dimension shift and transform constantly in split-second intervals, then added magic that secured gold the moment it was observed.

Even Hormasi let out an admiring exclamation at the completeness of the structure.

“Amazing, Jarun. With this, graduating really would be easy.”

“It’s still far from complete. I need many materials to stabilize it. I only started it today. So, do you want to help with my work?”

“Yes!”

Lee Han answered with eager enthusiasm, ready to learn under this respectable upperclassman.

Jarun glanced at Lee Han and said,

“I can’t pay you, though.”

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

Suddenly coming back to his senses, Lee Han’s face went cold as he glared at Jarun.