Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

Fortunately, the incident didn't lead to a fire. Thanks to Yi-Han's quick action, the students had time to close the windows and hurriedly extinguish the flames.

"My... my assignment..."

"When I return to the mansion, I'm throwing away all the phoenix fairy tale books!"

The bewildered students exhaled heavily and glanced out the window.

The phoenix flapped its wings, looking at them as if wondering what was wrong.

Tap tap!

"Why is it doing that? Why is it behaving like that!"

"Isn't it asking us to open the window? It's pointing at the window!"

"In, in the fairy tales, didn't the mage who granted the phoenix's request receive a great reward?"

"Don't you dare open it!"

At Gainando's words, his friends shouted with a growl.

Being fooled twice was one thing, but being fooled a third time meant they weren't qualified to be mages.

■■■■■■...

Suddenly, the phoenix began to sing. Rather than singing, it was closer to a melodious cry.

The phoenix's song even quelled the anger of the student whose assignment had just been burned.

"...Wouldn't it be okay to open it?"

Smack!

"Ah!"

"Get a grip."

Yi-Han struck his friend's solar plexus with his staff.

Looking around, surprisingly, all the students' faces had their anger subsided.

'What's this? Does it have an effect that interferes with the mind?'

No matter how beautiful the song was, it couldn't soothe the anger caused by a burned assignment. There had to be some magic influence.

Among monsters, there were some that could enchant people's minds with sound.

If the phoenix's song had such power...

"Cover your ears."

Yi-Han personally stuffed cotton into his friends' ears. Then, the student who had just had his anger quelled exploded again.

"Is that damn bird playing with me?!"

'The song was the cause.'

The students covered their ears and waited. When the song ended, Yi-Han spoke again.

"It's over."

"Wardanaz! Give us orders!"

The student with the burned assignment spoke with fiery eyes.

"Orders?"

"Yes!"

"I'll do anything!"

At his friends' passionate cries, Yi-Han also responded solemnly.

"Then... let's sit down and study again."

"..."

"...Huh?"

"What do you mean 'huh'? I said sit down and study again."

"Ah, no. Weren't we going to catch the phoenix?"

"How am I supposed to catch the phoenix?"

At Yi-Han's question, his friends were at a loss for words.

Huh?

'Come to think of it...'

'Indeed, now that you mention it...'

They had thoughtlessly assumed Wardanaz would catch it, but thinking about it carefully, the phoenix wasn't a monster that first-year students could catch.

"Why did I think Wardanaz would catch it?"

"Me, me too."

"It's probably because you don't want to study. Sit down quickly."

The students who were putting on their coats dejectedly hung them back up. The princess secretly put the flame resistance potion she had taken out of the box back in.

"But it's bright now, so it's good for concentrating. Don't you think?"

'Even though he's my friend, he really seems crazy sometimes.'

With that thought, Gainando picked up his quill.

Contrary to the expectations of some friends (actually, there were more than that), Yi-Han had no intention of catching the phoenix at all.

In fact, even if he wanted to catch the phoenix, he had no idea how to do it.

How could a first-year student catch a mythical beast with eternal life that resurrects no matter what attack it receives?

However, when the phoenix blocked their way to the morning lecture, he seriously thought, 'Should I catch it?'

■■■... ■■■...

The phoenix sang and circled in front of the students.

It looked ridiculous, as if it were playing around, but seeing the flames flicker beneath it with each circle, they couldn't laugh.

"Th-this is a divine revelation telling us not to attend the lecture!"

"Don't talk nonsense. Everyone scatter! Distract its gaze!"

Professors never understood being late.

Even if the world ended on the way, professors wouldn't consider it, so there was no way they would understand because of a mere phoenix.

"Freeze!"

"Wait. Wardanaz. Right now, ice magic, because of the phoenix..."

Sizzle!

"...can be considered a very effective choice."

"Were you about to say ice magic wouldn't work because of the phoenix?"

"Wh-when did I..."

Seeing the ice shards forming in the air, the Blue Dragon Tower student changed his words.

Yonaire whispered urgently.

"Yi-Han. If you provoke it unnecessarily, you might be the only one in danger."

The relatively realistic Yonaire wasn't even thinking of catching the phoenix.

That was something only friends with sawdust instead of brains in their heads would think...

"You have a point. Wardanaz. Even if we try, let's set up bait just in case. Bait for the phoenix to chase."

Gainando seemed to think Asan's words made sense and nodded his head. Then he asked.

"How do we set up the bait?"

"Well..."

"?"

Yi-Han stopped the conversation before the two could argue.

"I'm not trying to attack. I'm trying to distract its gaze."

As he spoke, ice shards began to swirl in the air. The phoenix, which had been blocking the students' way and whining as if asking them to play, showed interest in the ice shards and chased after them.

"Run!"

The ice shards didn't last long and melted away. Yi-Han sent the next ice shard to distract the phoenix's gaze and ran.

Gainando shouted while panting.

"Why, do we have to, go this far, to study!?"

The Blue Dragon Tower students running alongside him unknowingly nodded their heads.

"Everyone, you've worked hard throughout the semester. If you learned various schools of magic this semester, next semester you will learn basic and practical magic that doesn't belong to any school."

Professor Garcia Kim used the last lecture of the semester to receive questions from students instead of cramming knowledge into their heads.

If there was a part they were stuck on in basic elemental magic, they asked about basic elemental magic; if there was a part they were stuck on in basic illusion magic, they asked about basic illusion magic; if there was a part they were stuck on in geometry and arithmetic, they asked about geometry and arithmetic...

She was truly a genuine educator.

"Professor."

"Ask away."

"There's a phoenix outside the lecture hall. How do we drive it away?"

"I couldn't sleep last night because of the phoenix!"

The Blue Dragon Tower students weren't the only victims.

Students from other towers also had bloodshot eyes due to the phoenix's pranks that officially started last night.

Even when they tried to sleep, it woke them up with a light as bright as day, and when they went out to attend lectures, it appeared and rushed at them to play...

Cases like Yi-Han cleverly driving it away were rather rare, and the White Tiger Tower students had to come out 30 minutes late because of the phoenix.

Priest Nigisor wondered aloud.

"Why are the other students acting like that? The night has become as bright as day, and the cold has disappeared. Shouldn't we be grateful to the phoenix..."

"Shh. Be quiet."

"Shut your mouth."

The quick-witted priests covered Priest Nigisor's mouth.

Just because they had all been in temples their whole lives didn't mean they lacked tact.

"Oh dear... What should we all do? Exterminating the phoenix is probably too much for your level."

Professor Garcia Kim spoke with a face full of pity.

"Even with Wardanaz? Is it too much even if we use Wardanaz?"

At Anglago's question, the Blue Dragon Tower students looked at him in disbelief.

Is Wardanaz your sword or something?

"Even if it's Yi-Han, of course it's too much..."

'Thank you. Professor.'

Yi-Han felt gratitude welling up at the sight of Professor Garcia Kim responding in an absurd voice.

Other professors should learn from her.

"Basically, the phoenix isn't a violent monster, but it's not an easy monster to exterminate either. Most attacks don't work on it."

Professor Garcia Kim waved her staff and launched a stone arrow at the phoenix outside the window.

Thud!

With a dull sound, the stone arrow pierced through the phoenix, but the stone arrow instantly burned and disappeared, and the phoenix flapped its wings as if nothing had happened.

Seeing it unaffected even after being pierced by an arrow, it seemed like it didn't feel pain at all.

"Did you see that?"

"Then... do we have to live like this forever?"

"Not, not forever. It will disappear over time. Mythical beasts that appear from other realms can't stay in reality for long."

"When?"

"When its mana runs out?"

"..."

In just two days, the phoenix drove the first-year students to neurosis.

It woke them up when they slept, rushed at them to play when they went outside for lectures, and burned their papers when they tried to study in the sunlight...

New rules were even created within the towers.

-Forbidden words of the month-

Phoenix

Festival

Bird

Chicken

Fire

Hot

Warm

The phoenix was giving the students a clear lesson.

What kind of disaster can occur just from the thoughtless actions of mages!

Who would have expected it to come like this just for celebrating the festival a little?

"Is there really no way?"

"The phoenix... it's impossible."

Yi-Han heated up the frying pan, greased it with oil and butter, and threw in the mushrooms he had dug up near the vegetable garden.

Mushrooms that absorbed oil and butter were bound to become crispy and moist.

However, despite this bribe, Professor Bungaegor didn't give the answer he wanted.

"Tomorrow is the weekend, and if this continues on the weekend, next week's exam will be a big problem. Isn't that thing summoned by the principal?"

"It's an interesting conspiracy theory, but if the principal wanted to interfere with your exams, he would have done it in a cheaper way. Summoning a phoenix. If it was done artificially, it would be incredibly expensive."

Professor Bungaegor said that while eating the mushrooms. Yi-Han suddenly realized that his most genius talent wasn't magic but cooking.

"But you've definitely learned how to avoid the phoenix, haven't you?"

"That's true, but will there be another occasion in life to use the skill of avoiding a phoenix?"

"There might not be one outside, but in a magic academy, it might happen once or twice more."

"..."

"I'm joking."

When Yi-Han's face turned serious, Professor Bungaegor spoke as if to appease him.

"It's not that I'm deliberately not telling you, but there really is no suitable method. The phoenix is a kind of... mythical beast close to a natural disaster. If you ask me to teach you how to prevent a drought or flood, it would be difficult to answer. I couldn't answer even when Professor Boladi asked."

"I see... What?"

Yi-Han, who was listening, raised his head.

He was startled by the sudden mention of Professor Boladi's name.

"What did Professor Boladi ask?"

"He wanted to capture the phoenix and use it for combat. That's probably impossible."

"..."

Yi-Han inwardly sighed in relief.

Without knowing it, he had narrowly avoided a dangerous situation.

"I think so too."

"Professor Boladi also understood. So he asked if he could borrow Cerberus..."

"...What!?"

Yi-Han's eyes trembled with a sense of betrayal.

He had gone through the trouble of cooking a hearty mushroom dish, and this was the betrayal he received?

"I told him that Cerberus is a bit too precious to be raised for combat."

"...Thank you very much. Would you like some beer?"

"Sure. But why all of a sudden?"

Yi-Han opened the secret trapdoor where Professor Uregor had hidden the beer barrel.

"Ah. Isn't Professor Uregor coming today?"

"Ah... He'll be a bit busy."

"Is something going on?"

"No. He's just racking his brain to make the final exam more difficult."

"...Please wait a moment. I'll bring you some side dishes too."

Yi-Han also opened another secret trapdoor where Professor Uregor had hidden something.