Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

While the ancient Archmage and the king from another dimension were still reeling in confusion, Lee Han was taking the 【Practical Healing Magic】 exam.

The exams in the Healing Magic School were usually all the same.

Endure while treating an endless flood of patients.

“Junior, congratulations! We got lucky!”

“What???”

Lee Han stared at his senior in disbelief.

The hunter in front of him had been vomiting purple slime nonstop for quite a while now.

What part of this was supposed to be lucky?

But the Healing Magic School senior was grinning as though genuinely overjoyed.

“The patients managed to come directly to the school! There were rumors that wild flying monsters had increased dramatically and blocked the roads!”

Patients from all over the Empire came to Einroguard for countless reasons, but that was only possible when the roads remained open.

No matter how badly they wanted treatment, traveling to Einroguard became nearly impossible once frenzied wyverns started roaming the skies in packs.

And if things got even worse, the nightmare scenario would begin.

-Pack the artifacts. We’re making house calls.

-…

For the already exhausted Healing Magic School students, breaking through outside dangers to reach patients was several times harder than treating them inside the school.

But contrary to the rumors, the patients had somehow made it all the way to Einroguard on their mounts.

How could that not be fortunate?

“I-I see. That is lucky.”

“Right?!”

The senior burst out laughing in relief and hurried toward a newly arrived patient whose left hand kept transforming into different metals.

I think the senior qualifies as a patient too.

Lee Han thought to himself.

Of course, it was good if the senior was happy…

…but surely there should be limits.

“Urgh… urgh… uuuurgh…”

The hunter vomiting purple slime flailed weakly.

Bartrek hurried over with a bucket, then tossed the filled one straight into the magical bonfire to burn it away.

“Alright. Keep vomiting.”

“Uuuurgh…”

The hunter glared resentfully at Bartrek.

If he was a mage, shouldn’t he focus on healing instead of telling the patient to keep throwing up?

Still, Bartrek’s approach was actually fairly orthodox.

Aside from vomiting slime, the rest of his condition is stable. In cases like this, leaving it alone is usually the correct choice.

Bartrek checked the hunter’s pulse and body temperature again. Nothing seemed abnormal.

It looked like some form of contaminated magic or curse, and in situations like these, it was often safer to wait for the symptoms to pass naturally unless the patient’s life was in immediate danger.

Trying to forcefully investigate could aggravate the curse and make things worse.

“Bartrek. From what I can tell, there’s a weak parasite attached to his soul.”

“Huh? What??”

The dwarf froze mid-run with the new bucket.

He figured that out in such a short time?!

Without detection or exploration magic, checking a patient’s condition should’ve been impossible.

Bartrek frowned, assuming his House Wardanaz friend had secretly cast magic while he was away disposing of the bucket.

“Wardanaz! We already agreed not to use magic! It could make the condition worse!”

“I didn’t use magic.”

“What?”

“I said I didn’t. Look.”

Lee Han slowly extended his hand.

The weak parasite clinging to the hunter’s soul immediately began to peel away.

No spells.

No techniques.

No artifacts.

He was interfering with the other person’s soul through sheer force of will alone.

“There.”

With a flick of his fingers, the parasite extracted from the soul disintegrated helplessly.

The hunter blinked as the heaviness weighing down his body suddenly disappeared.

“Wha… how did you even realize there was a parasite attached to my soul without using magic? And how did you remove it?!”

Bartrek shouted in shock.

Even the hunter stopped vomiting long enough to stare blankly at Lee Han.

To not only perceive a soul without magic, but directly interfere with it?

“Uuuurgh…?”

“You really didn’t use magic? Was that some kind of blessing?”

“Well…”

Lee Han hesitated over where to begin.

There was currently a deranged ancient mage spirit wandering around the mountain range, and while assisting with that being’s work, he had gained insight into certain forms of ancient magic, which in turn had strengthened his understanding of souls…

This explanation is going to take forever.

“It’s a fairly long story. Is that alright?”

“Of course!”

“Uuuurgh!”

Both immediately agreed.

In essence, perceiving and manipulating souls was a special talent, similar to perceiving and manipulating spirits.

Not only the Illusion Magic School, but many other schools of magic also dealt with souls in one form or another.

There were techniques for reading emotions and thoughts by observing the color or wavelength of a soul, techniques for grabbing and tearing souls apart, and even methods for temporarily splitting and duplicating one’s own soul.

But the ability the boy from House Wardanaz had just demonstrated was both simple and absurdly extraordinary.

To perceive and interfere with souls without relying on magic at all…

“Right now, there’s something like an ancient Archmage’s spirit wandering around the Einroguard mountain range—”

“…”

“…”

The explanation had somehow begun far deeper in the past than either of them expected, and both listeners stiffened.

***

“…So in the end, I got tricked by that evil king of yatcha and ended up signing an unnecessary contract. Do you understand so far?”

“I’ll hear the rest later, Wardanaz!”

Bartrek finally gave up and rushed back to the patients.

Professor Alcasis was glaring over here with murderous eyes.

“Thank you, mage sir! I’ll never forget this kindness!”

Meanwhile, the hunter who had finally stopped vomiting also expressed his gratitude.

Lee Han picked up his quill and asked,

“But how did you even end up infected by a parasite like that? Soul parasites aren’t exactly common.”

It wasn’t just curiosity.

Records like this needed to be properly documented so future students could use them as reference material.

The hunter answered awkwardly.

“Well… I made a bet with a friend to enter some ruins and come back out alive.”

“Ruins? What kind of ruins?”

The danger level varied enormously depending on the type of ruins.

Old hunting lodges abandoned by hunters were usually harmless.

Ancient mage towers once used by magical criminals, on the other hand, were practically as dangerous as Einroguard’s upper floors.

Since the parasite wasn’t particularly strong, maybe it was just a small mage tower ruin?

“From what I heard, they were supposedly ruins once inhabited by an ancient evil god that died long ago.”

“…”

Lee Han’s expression immediately turned serious.

The hunter seemed to realize just how reckless that sounded and lowered his head.

“That’s… I’m sorry. Really! Damn alcohol. Damn gambling.”

“Next time you get cursed over a bet like that, go to Valdrogard instead.”

Even so, thinking about it calmly, the odds that the parasite truly came from something related to an evil god were fairly low.

If it really had originated from such a being, it would’ve been vastly stronger, and there was no way Lee Han could’ve ripped it out through willpower alone without using special magic.

Most likely the rumors were exaggerated, or it’s contamination left behind by mages who explored the ruins afterward.

What are you doing right now?

“!”

Lee Han brightened immediately when the insane duplicate’s phantom emerged from the 【Echo Stone】 embedded in his staff.

“Master! You regained your senses!”

Royalty has never lost consciousness. Do not worry yourself over such trivial matters, mere disciple.

Hmm. Would he get angry if I brought up the past?

Lee Han nearly asked whether the insane duplicate wanted to regain the gentle personality from the old days, comparing him to the ancient young Skull Principal, but stopped himself.

Come to think of it, if Professor Verdus suddenly said, “Return to the obedient freshman you used to be, Wardanaz,” Lee ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) Han would probably want to punch him too.

What are you doing right now?

“I’m taking an exam.”

You failed to grasp the meaning behind the question. It was not truly asking what you are physically doing, but—

-Wardanaz! Over here!

“Ah. I’ll contact you again later. I’m busy right now.”

Lee Han shut off the stone and hurried away.

Seeing his senior call him over so urgently, it looked like help was needed.

A moment later—

How dare you?

“No, I said I’d contact you later!”

Lee Han stared in disbelief as the insane duplicate’s phantom appeared again.

He had clearly promised not to appear whenever he pleased anymore, so what was this now?

Did the shock from the revelation conveniently erase parts of his memory?

Look upon the vast ocean of magic before you, my disciple, and compare it to these wretched insects crawling around here. Which do you think holds greater value?

“The latter. I told you already, I’m taking an exam.”

Lee Han scolded him as though asking what kind of nonsense he was talking about.

It was fortunate that the insane duplicate had regained his senses, but perhaps the shock still lingered, considering the absurd things he kept saying.

…Regardless of your contributions, this attitude of yours—

The insane duplicate coldly attempted to lecture his disciple on manners.

Meanwhile, Lee Han ignored him entirely while examining the patient beside him and speaking with his senior.

“No, how did the internal organs turn into cotton?!”

“Calm down! It’s not the worst-case scenario yet!”

“It’s full of cotton balls! How is that not the worst-case scenario?! We need to call the professor!”

“No! The professor’s busy too!”

“Then… ah. Master, since you’re here, could you help a little? Do you know what kind of magic this is?”

It is a curse employing triple transformation magic. Pathetic. To be deceived by something so obvious.

“Indeed…! So that’s the trick!”

A common tactic among vermin.

Lee Han immediately accepted the advice and followed it.

As expected, the transformation magic had been layered multiple times in order to confuse anyone attempting to dispel the curse.

“More importantly… Master, should we remove this curse immediately, or is it better to stabilize the patient with potions and leave it alone for now?”

Of course you leave it alone. Is that even a question?

The insane duplicate answered immediately.

He could not simply ignore matters when his disciple continued asking questions so foolish they offended common sense.

Royalty is telling you not to waste time on this pathetic little exam and to return immediately for secret instruction, disciple.

“Yes, yes. I’ll finish this first and contact you later.”

Having gotten all the answers he needed, Lee Han mercilessly shut off the Echo Stone once more.

The Healing Magic School senior beside him asked curiously,

“What kind of artifact was that just now? Its performance is incredible.”

“Haha. Thank you.”

There were many intelligent artifacts capable of answering their owner’s questions, but the stone embedded in Lee Han’s staff possessed exceptional performance even among them.

After all, the being providing the answers was rather extraordinary…

With the irritating chatter finally gone, Lee Han’s work speed naturally increased.

Once he finished treating all the patients assigned to his section and cleared out the beds, they unexpectedly received a brief period of rest.

“Break time! Break time!”

“Hurry downstairs and collapse!”

The upperclassmen rang bells and waved frantically.

Whenever rest became available, they had to take it immediately. Otherwise, they’d never survive the schedule.

Lee Han and his friends bolted downstairs without hesitation.

To the sleeping bags!

As he ran, Lee Han used telekinesis to spread out his friends’ sleeping bags in the warmest spots near the fireplace.

Bartrek and Priest Tiziling looked deeply moved.

“Wardanaz…!”

“It’s nothing worth making a fuss over.”

Lee Han immediately threw himself onto his own sleeping bag beside them.

At that moment, a familiar face suddenly appeared overhead.

It was the Skull Principal’s insane duplicate.

“…”

“…”