Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

Still, it wasn’t a pointless request.

At the moment, the most dangerous person when it came to thunderfire was Professor Voladi Bagreg.

Of course, Professor Yonairmo from the transformation magic school could become dangerous too, but based on everything Lee Han had experienced so far, Professor Yonairmo wasn’t the type to force the issue.

At the very least, Professor Voladi Bagreg had agreed to forget about it…

That puts out the most urgent fire for now.

“He awakened magic like that and asks us to pretend we never saw it? I truly can’t understand it. I may not be a mage, but shouldn’t you strike while the iron’s hot?”

“I agree. An opportunity that comes once in ten thousand times, and he just throws it away? No matter how talented he is, isn’t that arrogance? Opportunities are precious.”

The knights listening nearby muttered among themselves.

Even to people who knew nothing about magic, Lee Han’s behavior looked like someone kicking away fortune after it rolled right up to his feet.

No matter the reason, if someone had successfully cast such an advanced spell, shouldn’t they devote themselves to it with everything they had? [N O V E L I G H T] That was the only way to truly make it their own.

Naturally, to Lee Han—who was already juggling five or six high-level spells on the same level as thunderfire—it all sounded ridiculous.

Once in ten thousand times, my ass.

Opportunities like that showed up on their own while attending lectures. By the knights’ logic, Lee Han should have mastered ten fifth-circle spells already.

And this is exactly why mages hate knights.

When he first entered Einroguard, Lee Han had genuinely thought:

I’ll learn magic calmly and rationally. I won’t pick up irrational prejudice against knights.

But after spending time around the White Tiger Tower students and outside knights, resentment had naturally piled up.

“Wait, wait. Calm down, everyone. Wardanaz has his own circumstances.”

Perhaps noticing the hostility flashing across Lee Han’s face, Professor Ingledel hurriedly stepped in to stop the others.

“What circumstances?”

“He’s already practicing several spells on a similar level, so he can’t focus on this one immediately.”

“…Professor Ingledel. Even if he’s your disciple, isn’t that lie a little excessive…”

“…”

Professor Ingledel nearly drew his sword out of sheer frustration.

***

If Einroguard’s students built information networks to prepare for exams, then Einroguard’s professors devoted themselves to catching students off guard.

Professor Thunderstep was one of those professors.

Green light flickered from the lamp in his hand.

“Kuk kuk kuk.”

He’s my nephew, but honestly pathetic.

Professor Lightningstep watched Professor Thunderstep’s sinister laughter with disbelief.

“Do you really have to go this far just to trick students?”

“Trick them? What nonsense are you talking about?”

Professor Thunderstep bristled immediately at the accusation from his elder relative.

“This is something every Einroguard professor has to do. If you don’t poke at students’ weak points every now and then, they get arrogant and complacent.”

“…Professor Kim doesn’t seem to do things like this.”

“That’s because Professor Kim is soft-hearted.”

“Professor Verdus doesn’t seem to do it either…”

“…”

“That was a poor example. Forget I said that.”

“Thank you.”

Professor Lightningstep immediately apologized.

Come to think of it, Professor Verdus probably didn’t care about exams in the first place.

“You’d be surprised how crafty and petty Einroguard students are. Upperclassmen and underclassmen all work together to fool the professors!”

Professor Thunderstep vented his accumulated frustrations as if he had been waiting for the chance.

First years were manageable since they lived in relative isolation, but second years used tricks professors could hardly imagine.

Getting upperclassmen to investigate past exams or predict future ones was only the most basic tactic.

If professors prepared carelessly, they could end up suffering the humiliation of every student earning perfect scores.

“Could that really happen? So you’re going to prepare traps like this every single time?”

“Not every time. But every now and then, you have to catch them off guard. That’s what keeps students tense.”

Once students started thinking This professor is unpredictable, they naturally became cautious.

That was why professors occasionally prepared exams completely outside expectations.

And the trap Professor Thunderstep had prepared this time was none other than Nephertem.

By deliberately showing students the Nephertem he was cultivating, he intended to make them assume the exam would revolve around it.

“I set it up perfectly. The students won’t even realize it’s bait.”

A hidden hideout beneath a cliff.

Heavy sinking incense concealing the place.

After going through all that trouble and discovering the Nephertem cultivation pool, no student would suspect it was a deliberate trap prepared by the professor.

“…Wait. If you hide it that carefully, what if the students never find it?”

Professor Lightningstep raised the obvious concern.

The plan sounded plausible enough, but if nobody found it, then Professor Thunderstep would just be wasting effort alone.

“I already thought about that too.”

“How?”

“There’s that Wardanaz kid. He’ll find it somehow.”

Annoyingly convincing.

Professor Lightningstep frowned inwardly.

The logic was absurd, yet strangely difficult to refute.

The boy from House Wardanaz probably really would uncover something like that.

“And Wardanaz won’t keep it to himself. Ha! Students really are… like reagents bubbling around inside a cauldron.”

“Please stop with those irritating alchemist metaphors.”

Professor Lightningstep scolded him from the side, but Professor Thunderstep ignored him completely.

To survive as a professor at Einroguard, one needed hobbies.

And this was one of Professor Thunderstep’s greatest pleasures.

“So the Nephertem isn’t actually used for anything?”

“It is. I’ll use it to test the completed exam results.”

“The students will be thrilled.”

Even the sarcasm only made Professor Thunderstep laugh harder.

No matter what Professor Lightningstep said, it merely added to his enjoyment.

Whoosh!

At last, the flames inside the lamp shifted into a deep violet hue.

Professor Thunderstep’s purple sandalwood incense was complete.

The true exam for the lecture <A Drop of Potion Instead of Complex Magic> was not creating potions with Nephertem.

It was dissolving this purple sandalwood incense instead.

Dissolving incense was notoriously difficult work. Even skilled alchemists could ruin everything with the slightest mistake.

A single error during the process would corrupt the incense entirely and create a complete mess.

To dissolve it properly, one had to analyze every ingredient precisely and neutralize them one by one in reverse order.

“Once they’re done, the Nephertem will be used to verify whether the dissolution succeeded.”

“What a magnificent waste of resources. More importantly, isn’t the exam too difficult? This is still only a second-year exam.”

As far as Professor Lightningstep knew, his nephew’s purple sandalwood incense was considered difficult even among advanced secret techniques.

Wasn’t this excessively hard for second years?

For the first time all day, Professor Thunderstep hesitated slightly.

“…There’s no helping it. If I make it too easy, that Wardanaz kid will help everyone else and the exam becomes meaningless.”

“…”

It sounded reasonable on the surface, but in the end it just meant he had failed to find an appropriate difficulty level and defaulted to making the exam absurdly hard.

Under Professor Lightningstep’s reproachful stare, Professor Thunderstep hurriedly added:

“I’m announcing the contents starting this weekend and giving them a full week. That’s already extremely generous.”

“I’m sure you think so…”

“No, honestly. How much have those second years benefited because of Wardanaz? Then it’s only natural they suffer through harder exams because of him too!”

Why is everything he says today so difficult to argue against?

Professor Lightningstep found himself speechless again.

Considering how many advantages the second years had gained thanks to Lee Han, it was hard to deny the logic completely.

In a sense, the exam difficulty really had escalated because everyone kept relying on him.

“…You’re right. Given the average level of the second years now, maybe this difficulty really is appropriate.”

“Haha! Exactly!”

“But let me ask one last thing.”

Professor Lightningstep’s expression turned serious.

Seeing that, Professor Thunderstep suddenly grew nervous.

What’s he about to ask?

“You prepared the Nephertem trap after predicting Wardanaz’s actions, correct?”

“That’s right.”

“And the exam difficulty also increased because you predicted Wardanaz’s actions?”

“You could say that.”

“Then why are you completely ruling out the possibility that Wardanaz solves this exam easily too?”

Professor Thunderstep relaxed immediately and burst into laughter.

As expected, someone outside alchemy still had blind spots.

“Because that’s impossible!”

“Hm?”

“I know Wardanaz has absurd magic resistance. Purple sandalwood incense won’t affect him. But this isn’t about resisting the incense—it’s about dismantling it. Resistance means nothing here. You have to analyze and neutralize every component individually. That takes knowledge and patience. There’s absolutely no way to brute-force it.”

“Hm. I may not know alchemy as well as you do, but I’m wise enough not to use the word ‘absolutely.’ There are no absolutes in magic.”

Professor Thunderstep grumbled irritably at the continued objections.

“Obviously there are no absolutes. If someone had an overwhelmingly powerful scent-breaking reagent, sure, they could dissolve it instantly. Something like the elixir I created.”

“You still have any of it left?”

“Ha! I destroyed every last drop.”

Professor Lightningstep looked mildly disgusted.

Did he really have to go that far?

“What about other scent-breaking reagents?”

“Well… there’s equal incense, but that takes a year to make. Dragon stone exists too, but that’s practically a legend.”

Professor Thunderstep listed the possibilities one by one until even Professor Lightningstep finally nodded.

Realistically, there was nothing a student at Einroguard could obtain within a week.

“…Fine. You win. But don’t get too complacent. I may know less about alchemy than you, but I’ve seen far more people. Wardanaz is a genius on the same level as the Principal.”

“…Was that supposed to be praise?”

“Damn. Now that I hear it out loud, it really does sound insulting.”

***

“Lee Han. What are you doing?”

“Oh. I’m writing promotional material for the lectures so Senior Caten can recruit more students next semester.”

“…You do know we have exams next week, right?”

“You think I don’t know that?”

Lee Han snapped irritably.

Of course he knew.

But what was he supposed to do? Professor Ingledel’s teachings had barely helped Senior Caten at all.

I’ll just stuff in a few impressive-sounding phrases and finish it quickly.

“Th-The exam schedule’s out! Professor Thunderstep’s gone insane!!!”

“What?”

“What happened?”

A student taking alchemy lectures burst into the common room pale-faced, and everyone immediately gathered around.

“The midterm details were released!”

“Is calling him insane just because he posted it early on the weekend really necessary?”

“There’s no Nephertem on it at all! I spent all my time preparing for that!”

“What kind of lunatic professor does this?!”

The students immediately exploded into curses.

What were they supposed to do when the professor intentionally misled them with advance material and then put out a completely different exam?