Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

"Did you have a vampire friend?"

Gainando, who hadn't fully grasped the situation, tilted his head.

Yi-Han seriously considered staying at Gainando's house tonight for a moment.

"He's here."

However, Professor Boladi kindly blocked such worries.

Seeing Professor Boladi walking out from inside, Gainando said in surprise, "Why is the professor here? Shouldn't we call the guards and chase him away?"

Yi-Han was momentarily intrigued but came to his senses.

"Professor! I'm overjoyed that you visited my humble home!"

"It's not humble."

Ignoring Gainando's comment, Yi-Han threw a question with a hypocritical smile.

"But how did you know to come here?"

"The principal told me."

'Should I really kill him?'

Yi-Han thought about exterminating the evil lich of Einroguard along with the evil King of Ghouls he had exterminated.

"Wait. Did the principal also tell the other professors by any chance?"

Professor Boladi nodded.

Yi-Han felt dizzy.

'This is crazy.'

The professors who might visit the mansion now...

'Professor Garcia Kim is fine. I should rather treat her well. Professor Uregor Gumdar is... well... not impossible to treat. Professor Bungaegor Choidal probably won't come due to her personality. If Professor Ingurdel comes, Sir Arlong would be happy.'

After considering, there were about two of the most dangerous and difficult professors left.

Professor Boladi and Professor Beavle Verduus.

And one of them was in front of him right now.

"But why are you here during the break, Professor?"

Gainando asked with an innocent face. Yi-Han thought he did well to buy Gainando cotton candy earlier.

'The cotton candy was worth it.'

"I have something to talk about."

"Can't you send a letter?"

"It's difficult with a letter."

"Why?"

"I have a lot to talk about."

"Can't you write a long letter?"

Professor Boladi gestured lightly. Gainando, who had a silence spell cast on him, waved his hands in anger.

How dare he attack an imperial prince outside Einroguard!

'Protest for me! Yi-Han! For the honor of the imperial family!'

'Sorry.'

Yi-Han avoided his gaze.

As a professor's disciple, how could he stop what the professor was doing?

"Let's go inside, Professor."

"Alright."

Yi-Han personally carried the teacups and teapot instead of the servants.

"I'll carry them for you."

"Yi-Han... You're excellent."

Despite being born with the blood of a great noble family, the servants were all moved by his admirable attitude of personally serving his teacher.

Yi-Han almost threw the saucer.

'Let's not take out my anger on innocent people.'

Professor Boladi sipped the green tea he poured and slowly opened his mouth.

"I heard you defeat a basilisk."

"Cough."

Yi-Han coughed while drinking green tea together. It felt like hot green tea was hitting his throat.

"That's... a misunderstanding."

"What's the misunderstanding?"

"That basilisk wasn't even an adult..."

"A newborn basilisk. Enhanced by potions. Attempting Petrifying Evil Eye recklessly and exhausted from the rebound. Is there anything wrong?"

"Ah. That's right."

Yi-Han was relieved to see Professor Boladi grasping the situation more accurately than he thought.

He was worried about receiving absurd misunderstandings.

"I didn't know you could deflect the Petrifying Evil Eye with just mana."

"...Wasn't it because it was a newborn?"

"Well. The penetrating power of the Petrifying Evil Eye shouldn't differ that much."

Professor Boladi carefully lifted the cage he had put down behind him.

Inside, a familiar egg was well-placed in a soft nest.

It was the basilisk egg that Professor Boladi had obtained during his last outing.

"I was going to use it for the 2nd-semester lecture, but I'm worried."

"...You don't have to worry too much. That basilisk last time was excessively careless..."

Despite Yi-Han's persuasion, Professor Boladi didn't stop worrying.

Yi-Han suddenly felt self-loathing while persuading.

'Why am I doing this to face a basilisk in the 2nd semester?'

The result of persuading the professor well was merely a future of confronting a basilisk.

Thinking about it, it was truly bitter.

But if left alone, Professor Boladi's personality would bring an even crazier monster...

"I heard you repelled the King of Ghouls."

"Cough."

"Are you not feeling well?"

When Yi-Han choked for the second time, Professor Boladi asked, raising his eyebrows.

"No... I'm fine."

Yi-Han coughed a few more times and regained his composure.

Just like with the basilisk earlier, Professor Boladi would have grasped the accurate truth unlike others.

Then there was no need to be more frightened than necessary.

"I heard you overwhelmed the King of Ghouls, is that true?"

"Cough, cough."

"You really seem to be unwell."

Professor Boladi was genuinely worried.

"Unlike Einroguard, where recovery is possible even if you make mistakes due to haste, it's impossible outside. Let go of your haste."

"...Ah. Yes."

Yi-Han wanted to say, 'I'm not the kind of person who goes around looking for basilisks and the King of Ghouls to become strong like you think, Professor,' but he didn't.

It was a meaningless thing to do.

"I didn't overwhelm it. It was because the opponent was so incomplete..."

"Yes. You overwhelmed it because it was in an incomplete state. You did overwhelm it, right?"

Anyone could see that he had overwhelmed it, having defeated the King of Ghouls and cleanly completed the nearby missions.

If he hadn't overwhelmed it, he would have collapsed near the cave.

Yi-Han, whose words were blocked by Professor Boladi's logic, regretted it.

'I should have pretended to be sick.'

"The King of Ghouls wasn't in the records."

Even if they were beings from another realm, those with a reputation were usually recorded, but there were always exceptions.

Beings like the King of Ghouls, who descended long ago and were sealed, couldn't have records.

"Yes."

"Even so, it's better to be careful. Such beings are persistent."

Yi-Han naturally knew that too.

If it could generously let it go after being defeated by a greenhorn like Yi-Han and reverse-summoned to another realm, it wouldn't be an evil being.

It was probably recovering its strength and sharpening its blade in its own realm.

However, Yi-Han wasn't very worried.

'Isn't it unlikely to meet again?'

After taking such a blow and being reverse-summoned, it wouldn't dare to descend again for a while as it would be recovering, and then the remaining possibility was for Yi-Han to visit the realm where the King of Ghouls was and directly seek it out...

Unless Yi-Han was quite crazy, there was no reason for him to do such a thing.

"So I prepared a way to deal with such beings."

"...!!"

Yi-Han endured the hot tea water hitting his throat and swallowed. However, he couldn't hold back his eyes from bulging.

"There's... such a method?"

"Yes."

Professor Boladi calmly began his explanation.

Originally, the path Yi-Han was walking now was the path of perfected combat magic that mastered and fused magic from all other schools of magic.

...Of course, Yi-Han didn't think he was walking that path, but that wasn't important.

Anyway, this path of perfected combat magic also valued the completeness of each individual school, so Professor Boladi never rushed or urged.

The disciple hastened easily due to talent, but Professor Boladi understood as a teacher.

If the teacher didn't understand that, who would?

However, considering this King of Ghouls extermination battle, it was safer to accumulate combat magic experience related to dark magic now.

That way, he could maintain an advantage even when clashing with the King of Ghouls again.

"I see."

Yi-Han, who heard the explanation, nodded.

In fact, he only nodded but didn't agree inwardly.

"Can't we just avoid it?"

"If you could avoid it by avoiding, it wouldn't be an enemy. I heard from Professor Mortum. You've already mastered the 4 basic areas of dark magic: curses, poisons, bones, and necromancy."

"Yes..."

Yi-Han nodded with a bitter smile.

He wasn't even surprised by this anymore.

'I hope he coughs more later.'

"It's not a bad choice. They're the basics of the basics in dark magic. But beings like the King of Ghouls are difficult to deal with using the areas I just mentioned."

"That was definitely the case. It dodged lightning elements too easily as if it had precognition, and I had to use flame elements for area of effect to make it work."

"The powers of evil beings from other dimensions often surpass the wisdom of mages."

Professor Boladi wasn't surprised.

Beings summoned from other dimensions often possessed not only precognition but also bizarre powers that made precognition seem trivial.

"But there are ways to deal with them. One of them is dark elemental magic."

"Dark elemental... magic?"

Among the various elemental types, dark elements were in the category of being difficult to learn, like lightning or cold.

If lightning elements were difficult to control and cold elements were difficult to maintain, dark elements were in the category of being difficult for mages to conceptualize, in other words, imagine.

"Such beings enjoy using dark elements based on negative energy. If a mage knows how to handle it, it can also be predicted."

"I see."

Professor Boladi put down a book. The title was written in a familiar handwriting that he had seen many times.

<Basic Dark Elemental Magic and Its Applications>

Seeing the familiar handwriting, Yi-Han suddenly realized.

'Wait. Does giving me a book mean he has no intention of teaching me directly?'

"You're not going to teach me directly?"

"Yes. I have something to do. Master it."

Yi-Han pondered whether he should like this or not.

It was fortunate that he could avoid Professor Boladi's teaching of chasing him with a knife from behind, but...

Is it okay to learn dark elements, which are already difficult, alone?

'I'll take it for now, and even if I say I couldn't master it later, he won't kill me, right?'

Yi-Han, who received the book, asked without much thought, "May I ask what you have to do?"

Professor Boladi answered while getting up from his seat.

"I'm going to meet Eumidiphos to prepare what I need for the 2nd-semester lecture."

"I see. ...Wait a minute, Professor. Professor! It's gotten dark, so why don't you stay the night? There are many rooms in the mansion!"

"No. I'll come next time. Thank you for the hospitality."

Professor Boladi lightly greeted the servants and left the mansion's main gate.

Yi-Han felt that the sight of Professor Boladi disappearing far away was an ominous sign.

'I should have put sleeping pills in the green tea!'

Yi-Han said to the servant next to him, "From now on, tell the other professors except the one who looks like a troll mixed-blood that I'm not at the mansion even if they visit."

"I understand...?"

The servant found Yi-Han's order strange but answered.

What in the world?

Yi-Han had a slightly late dinner with Yonaire and Gainando, who had been waiting.

Gainando picked at his food as if he had no appetite.

"What's wrong? The chefs will be disappointed."

"I ate too much cotton candy earlier..."

Yonaire regretted bringing him to her friend's house.

Feeling that gaze, Gainando pointed at Yi-Han.

"Yi-Han doesn't have an appetite either!"

"Does it look the same to you now?"

Putting having no appetite for dinner because of eating too much cotton candy and receiving an additional assignment from a professor during the break on the same level.

In Yonaire's view, Yi-Han would be innocent even if he attacked Gainando.

"No. We should eat well at times like this. Thank you, everyone."

Yi-Han nodded and picked up the spoon.

No matter how difficult and painful, one should always eat well.

-It's an intruder. Catch him!-

-Wait, wait! You'll understand when you hear my identity! I'm Professor Beavle Verduus of Einroguard!-

"..."

Tak! Yi-Han put down the spoon in anger.

Startled by his appearance, Gainando hurriedly picked up his spoon.

"I, I'll eat well."