Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

"Why are you doing this?"

Alcicle stared at Eumidiphos with a blank gaze.

"Alcicle Pengerin. What kind of reagents are these here?"

"Lady Eumidiphos..."

At his mentor's absurd question, Alcicle trailed off as if it was regrettable.

"You can't recognize what these reagents are...?"

"..."

Eumidiphos considered beating her disciple like a dog for pitying her, but she held back.

"...I'm not asking because I can't recognize them. It's frost deer horn, ice cold powder, thousand-year snow, and snow emperor pill, isn't it?"

"Then why are you asking?"

"I'm asking if it's okay for you to use these when your financial situation isn't that good. You need to do research too."

The biggest problem when learning cold element magic was the attribute of the cold element itself.

Life was fundamentally a being that emitted heat and rejected cold.

No matter how cold and harsh the surrounding environment was made, it wasn't easy for a living mage to accept cold into their body.

So cold element mages often used reagents to transform the attributes of cold.

Into a cold that retained the chill but didn't harm the mage's body.

Of course, it wasn't an easy task and required expensive reagents.

The more expensive and rare the reagent, the better the performance, so it wasn't a bad choice for Alcicle to take out such expensive reagents.

...It's just that it looked like Alcicle's entire fortune.

'Oops!'

Alcicle seemed to have belatedly realized his situation.

Seeing him hesitate and look around, Eumidiphos sighed at his pathetic appearance.

"Even now..."

"Surely it's because Mr. Pengerin doesn't need such reagents much."

"..."

"..."

Eumidiphos and Alcicle simultaneously looked at Yi-Han.

However, Yi-Han continued speaking without changing his expression.

"An excellent mage doesn't choose their staff, right?"

"That's true, but what Alcicle is trying to do..."

"Right? Mr. Pengerin?"

"O-Of course."

Alcicle nodded at Yi-Han's question.

"For me, such reagents are just... like decorations. I should say I can just go out and pick up a snowflake without needing such things..."

"I knew you'd be like that. Now, please proceed."

"..."

Eumidiphos thought she should never leave Yi-Han alone with Alcicle in the future.

At first, she was worried that Alcicle might bully Yi-Han, but now it seemed it wouldn't be surprising if Yi-Han just devoured Alcicle when left alone.

Whooosh!

Despite being inside a sealed magic tower, a snowstorm colder than the snowy mountains outside began to rage.

What was amazing was that this cold snowstorm had no effect on Yi-Han's body.

Snow that was cold but not cold.

It was a phenomenon that only magic could create.

"Originally, cold elements are difficult to use unless in a specific environment."

Alcicle waddled and pointed to the ceiling.

The huge magic core placed on the tower's ceiling was scattering cold.

As cold elements were one of the most difficult to maintain naturally among the elements, the reality was that it was inconvenient to use unless in a specific natural environment or with such a magic device.

It wasn't a problem at all for mages who had reached a high level, but the problem was for mages who were newly learning.

Alcicle rummaged through the corner and took out a staff. His expression was full of pride.

"Now, look at this. See it?"

"This is..."

"Yes. It's a Frostagon egg."

The huge insect egg embedded at the end of the staff emitted a strange light, scattering blue cold energy.

Such a staff with cold attributes was a great help to mages who were newly learning.

"This staff is so rare that at an auction gathering of cold mages in the north where it appeared, three people were seriously injured and seven were hurt."

"...?"

Listening, Yi-Han thought to himself.

Why were there casualties at an auction gathering?

"I'll lend you this staff, Wardanaz. For a talented person like you who is m... not as g... ugh... well, it will suit you well."

Alcicle couldn't bring himself to say that Yi-Han had more talent than him, nor could he say less, so he ended up expressing it indirectly.

"Thank y-"

"Wardanaz. You should have a stone given by the King of Frost Giants."

"..."

Yi-Han cursed himself for not sending Professor Bagrak out.

'Damn. I was complacent. I shouldn't have let my guard down.'

Professor Bagrak had a knack for ruining the atmosphere not only in his own lectures but also in others'.

Alcicle, who hadn't grasped the situation yet, blinked and asked,

"A stone given by the King of Frost Giants?"

"That's... um..."

No matter how eloquent Yi-Han was, he couldn't find the right words in this situation.

The kind Professor Bagrak answered for him.

"He has a stone from battling the King of Frost Giants on his staff. It's better than a Frostagon egg."

"..."

Yi-Han could see tears welling up in Alcicle's eyes.

Alcicle turned his head for a moment and sniffled, then turned back. His expression was noble, but his eyes were red.

"Then... you won't need the staff."

"That's right."

"...Can't you go out for a bit? Boladi Bagrak?"

Alcicle spoke to Professor Bagrak in a very sulky voice.

However, Professor Bagrak answered seriously.

"If there's a wrong part in the education, it should be pointed out."

"Ugh..."

Alcicle couldn't refute Professor Bagrak's words.

Unlike Boladi Bagrak, who had a lot of experience teaching students as a professor at Einroguard, Alcicle had no teaching experience.

Of course, Yi-Han found it absurd.

'I knew you had no conscience, but you're really amazing!'

To tell such a blatant lie when there was no one to testify about Einroguard.

"...First, call the cold."

"Freeze."

With Yi-Han's spell, cold energy began to gather at the end of the staff.

The surrounding air became even colder, and goosebumps formed on Yi-Han's skin.

"You have the basics down. Let's start with shape transformation. Cone shape."

"Cold, into a cone!"

"Arrow shape."

"Cold, into an arrow!"

"...Shield shape."

"Cold, into a shield!"

"..."

When Alcicle suddenly fell silent, Yi-Han thought he had made a mistake.

"...Are you learning cold magic for the first time now?"

"Pardon? No. I've learned it from Professor Bagrak before."

"What?!"

Alcicle shouted with a brightened face.

"Then you should have said so! You startled me!"

Alcicle had been shocked, thinking Yi-Han had mastered it in one go.

When he heard that wasn't the case, he suddenly felt warm inside.

Professor Bagrak, who was watching from the side, spoke up.

"He doesn't do such diverse shape transformations..."

"Now, what's the next teaching?"

"Firing."

Alcicle swung his staff.

Then, the piece of ice floating in the air flew quickly with an ear-splitting sound.

Clang!

"It's probably because of this that Lady Eumidiphos had you learn cold element magic. Water isn't a suitable element for firing."

"But isn't it fine if you use control?"

Yi-Han asked as if puzzled.

'Firing' and 'control' looked similar but had different principles.

What Alcicle had just shown was firing a piece of ice after completing precise trajectory calculations and inputting a strong force at once.

In contrast, the water orbs or iron orbs that Yi-Han often used were a method where the mage directly aimed at the target and controlled each one individually.

It allowed for delicate control, but it required immense effort to become skilled enough to use it.

"Why bother doing that? You can just learn another element and learn firing magic."

"...To quickly respond in emergency situations?"

At his disciple's words, Professor Bagrak nodded.

However, Alcicle couldn't understand Yi-Han's words.

"There aren't many situations where you'd encounter that, right? In the first place, I think you can just act in a way to avoid getting into such situations. If you try to prepare for everything like that, you have to prepare for everything. Above all, it would take too long to achieve a usable power with control."

"..."

Yi-Han unconsciously looked at Professor Bagrak. Professor Bagrak looked puzzled as to why.

"If you want to use it for combat, it's better to learn attributes suitable for combat. Let's take a break and practice firing."

"Ah. I'm fine though."

"No. Even if you seem fine now, there will definitely be mana consumption."

Alcicle pulled the cork stopper of a mana recovery potion and took a sip. Then he threw the potion to Yi-Han as well.

"Drink it and recover your mana. Cold elements consume more mana than you think. If you think of it like other elements, you can get seriously hurt. Hehe. You didn't know this, did you?"

Alcicle seemed very excited to be able to teach Yi-Han.

"Usel-"

"Thank you. I'll drink it well."

Before Professor Bagrak could lower the room's temperature further with useless words, Yi-Han cut him off and drank the potion.

Of course, it had no effect.

Firing was a concept used in many elemental magics.

Flame arrows, ice arrows, rock arrows, etc. To form something and shoot it, one had to master this firing attribute.

Of course, mastering this wasn't simple.

Basically, one needed a sense of distance and direction, and had to learn how much mana to input to obtain an appropriate force...

Clang!

"Did it hit?"

The piece of ice Yi-Han shot precisely penetrated the target.

The firing attribute wasn't easy, but for someone who had achieved control, which was much more difficult, it had to be relatively easy.

Alcicle's mouth gaped.

He said he had already practiced shape transformation, but he definitely hadn't practiced the firing attribute...

"Av-Average. It's average."

"Is that so?"

Yi-Han was puzzled.

It didn't seem like he had made any mistakes, but it was average.

"What should I fix?"

"...I said water elements and cold elements have a pretty close relationship, right? This is one of them."

Alcicle pushed on, unable to take back the words he had uttered.

Sizzle!

As he swung his staff, the piece of ice stuck in the wall evaporated, strongly absorbing the surrounding heat.

Then, the cold energy spread around the piece of ice exploded and expanded.

"You have to at least use an exploding ice arrow combining the evaporation attribute to receive a high evaluation."

As he spoke, Alcicle glanced at Boladi Bagrak.

Even he thought what he was saying was too much nonsense.

An ice arrow firing magic was already 3rd circle, but adding the evaporation attribute to it...

Considering the difficulty of the evaporation attribute, it was one of the most difficult even among 4th circle magics...

Sizzle!

As Yi-Han cast the magic, the piece of ice that flew hit the wall and evaporated, dealing damage.

Succeeding on the first try, Yi-Han was very happy.

He had mastered the evaporation attribute with water elements, but he didn't expect it to be applied so easily to cold elements as well.

"I succeeded!"

"Ah... ah... it's s-still a little lacking?"

"Is that so?"

Yi-Han started to become a bit suspicious.

This seemed above average...

'Aren't the standards for cold element mages too high?'

"Professor. Is cold element magic originally this stri... ah, no."

"?"

Yi-Han, who was about to ask Professor Bagrak, quickly gave up.

There was no point in asking someone meaningless.

"I understand. What should I fix this time?"

"You have to be able to compress each process and cast it all at once!"

Alcicle shouted with a bright face.

He had come up with a pretty plausible condition.

Certainly, to prove proficiency, one had to be able to cast the magic all at once, not by dividing the process step by step.

"That will definitely take some time."

"Right? Right?! Right??!"

Alcicle nodded repeatedly, very happy.

'Is this something to be so happy about?'

Professor Bagrak spoke up from the side.

"I'll help."

"Haha. It's fine."