Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy

While Yi-Han was running, other sociable students in the White Tiger Tower received similar messages.

"Professor Ingurdel is asking us to come?"

"Tell him my leg is broken."

Jijel said nonchalantly, buried in an armchair.

Dolgyu asked with a worried face.

"But Moradi. What if the professor needs our help?"

"Then you go."

"..."

Dolgyu hesitated.

Honestly, he was a bit reluctant to deal with Vice-Captain Jangcliff.

Any student from the White Tiger Tower who had met Sir Jangcliff at a gathering knew. How difficult of an opponent Sir Jangcliff was.

Once caught, it was impossible to escape even if one's arm was cut off, so he might be a more terrifying opponent than an ogre.

"Still, Sir Jangcliff is a great knight, wouldn't there be a lot to learn from talking to him?"

"Then you go."

"You go, man. Don't send Moradi."

"..."

A student who had never met him tried to chime in but was collectively scolded by his friends and shrank back.

Is... is it that bad?

Jijel frowned and bit his lip.

"Just thinking about it gives me a headache... I have to go out to a gathering I was invited to this week anyway, there's no need to get tired by meeting him already."

"Moradi. Can I ask you one thing?"

Dolgyu carefully opened his mouth.

"Go ahead."

"It might be a rude question..."

"Then don't ask?"

When Jijel said sarcastically, Dolgyu fake coughed.

"You know... the invitation Yi-Han mentioned."

Jijel nodded with an expressionless face and pulled out a dagger to stab it into the side table.

"??"

"I'm thinking of stabbing one every time you're rude. It's too many to memorize one by one."

"..."

I only said his name!

Still, Dolgyu endured and said.

"I was wondering if there was some... friction between you and Yi-Han."

"What do you mean by that?"

Batreck, who was next to them, was puzzled.

As someone who was also invited, he didn't understand the meaning behind the question.

"Friction?"

"Well... that's it."

"That must be it then."

Jijel said, twirling her hair with her fingers.

"That bastard Wardanaz invited us, but there's no way he would invite us without a reason. There must be some trap. Then why would that trap exist? There must have been friction. That's what you're saying, right?"

"Not necessarily... ahem. Ahem."

As Dolgyu looked embarrassed, Batreck protested as if it was unfair.

"There was no friction at all... um... well. Although Wardanaz almost got caught because we escaped, that's like an unavoidable natural disaster!"

"..."

"..."

All the White Tiger Tower students in the lounge, the student reading a magazine, the student peeling and eating sweet potatoes with a knife, the students wrestling, the student reading a ball game strategy book, etc., all flinched.

"Hey. It would be better to avoid Wardanaz for a while when we see him..."

"He must be really pissed off."

"Damn it. I was going to do some bartering."

"That guy needs to release the supplies quickly for the market to stabilize."

Jijel, who shook her head while looking at the whispering friends, sighed.

"Who cares if that Wardanaz bastard is pissed off or not. He's always pissed off anyway."

'That's because you try to suppress him first, Moradi...'

Dolgyu thought so but quietly endured for the sake of Jijel's dignity.

"The important thing is that once we're invited to the knight gathering, we can't not go. Choi, could you not go if it were you?"

"That's... no."

It was a great honor for them, who were still just squires, to be invited to a gathering of knights.

If it were Dolgyu, he would have gone even if the skull principal was there.

"Then... just remember this."

Instead of answering, Jijel prepared to stab another dagger into the table and gave a signal to speak.

"Go and keep your distance from Wardanaz as much as possible, avoid him until the end of the gathering, and stick with other knights..."

"...Why don't you just tell me to carry a white flag?"

Jijel was dumbfounded, but Batreck honestly felt tempted.

If other knights were by his side, wouldn't that Wardanaz bastard restrain himself a bit no matter how pissed off he was?

When learning under Professor Bagrak, Yi-Han thought how nice it would have been if the professor talked a bit more.

Instead of explaining the material with words, he explained with attack after attack, wasn't that a beast?

But after meeting a really talkative person, that thought changed a little.

"I've heard a lot. I wanted to meet you in person and hear your story since then, it's actually amazing. The Wardanaz family is the empire's top magic family, isn't it? I remember seeing the head of the Wardanaz family visiting on official business quite a long time ago from afar. When a drought occurred in the western part of the empire due to a mana backflow, the head moved the seawater entirely, removed the salt, and created a reservoir. Do you know that reservoir still remains? The name of the reservoir is..."

'I'm going crazy.'

Yi-Han looked at Professor Ingurdel with eyes full of betrayal.

He was called so urgently that he came!

Are professors beings that fundamentally betray students?

'I'm sorry.'

Professor Ingurdel also apologized with his eyes.

He couldn't think of any other way.

"Come to think of it, you're from the Alpha family, right? How is it? What do you think?"

"Uh... uhh."

Anglago, who was brought along and ended up sitting and listening to the conversation, was startled after dozing off.

What conversation were they having?

'Help me...!'

When Anglago looked at him with tearful eyes, Yi-Han sighed and intervened in the conversation instead.

"By the way, Sir Jangcliff."

"Oh. Is there something you're curious about?"

Jangcliff stopped talking for a moment and tidied his attire.

As a parrot mixed-blood, Jangcliff had colorful and splendid feathers, and his attire was no less bright and varied.

Anyone who saw him would think he was a dancer, not a knight.

"We're going to attend the knight order's gathering this week. As it's a gathering of knights, it seems I shouldn't show an embarrassing side with swordsmanship."

At Yi-Han's words, Professor Ingurdel nodded his head with a pleased expression.

He thought they were finally moving on to swordsmanship after chattering for hours.

"You have nothing to worry about. Why? Above all, aren't you from the Wardanaz family? Originally, the Wardanaz family is a renowned magic family, so just showing this level of swordsmanship is enough for the knights present..."

"But I still want to prepare!"

Yi-Han hurriedly cut him off.

If he let his guard down even a little, Jangcliff would take over the conversation.

Just like an outstanding swordsman monopolizing the initiative and unleashing a barrage of attacks, Jangcliff was the same.

"Then I will explain the swordsmanship of each participating knight one by one..."

"Wouldn't it be better to show it directly, Sir Jangcliff!"

Professor Ingurdel also shouted desperately as if this was his chance.

Jangcliff hesitated for a moment. Professor Ingurdel didn't notice, but Yi-Han could tell what that meant.

'He's regretting not being able to talk more!'

Sometimes there were people like that among professors.

Those who wanted to chatter more one-sidedly but regretted not being able to...

"Alright. Let's do that."

Fortunately, Jangcliff stood up, holding a luxurious longsword with pure gold decorations.

Seeing his back, Yi-Han suddenly became curious.

'Is he really a skilled swordsman?'

Although Moradi said so, Yi-Han basically doubted what Moradi said.

Moreover, all the skilled swordsmen Yi-Han had met so far looked like they were crazy about swordsmanship.

If they were wearing a shabby coat with a sword at their waist and their eyes were shining brightly, they somehow seemed like a great master, but seeing the splendid ceremonial attire without a speck of dust and the sword with decorations, he strangely couldn't trust him...

"Ugh!"

Yi-Han flew backward.

Just like when he was hit by Professor Ingurdel, Jangcliff broke through Yi-Han's rock-like swordsmanship and came in.

Surprisingly, Jangcliff was a powerhouse on par with Ingurdel or Arlong.

Jangcliff clapped his hands in surprise.

"Amazing! I didn't know you were this skilled!"

Yi-Han coughed and wheezed. He threw his body back, exploded mana into his sword as much as possible, and finally infused mana into his body to block, but the impact was no joke.

'What kind of strong sword...!'

Contrary to his appearance, Jangcliff was a swordsman who wielded an extremely strong sword.

A swordsmanship that abandoned all feints or deceptions and only poured out attacks in the shortest distance.

Each of those attacks contained a terrifying level of power.

If these attacks were blocked, it was dangerous for the swordsman too, but Jangcliff didn't seem to care about that at all.

"Even among knights, it's extremely rare for someone to get hit and get up quickly like you, Mr. Wardanaz. The squires should see this. Oh. Do you know this? Mana isn't simply used for magic, it can also be used to completely control one's own body. Like how you blocked the attack just now..."

Yi-Han immediately kicked his foot up. As the dirt rose, Jangcliff looked at Professor Ingurdel with admiration.

To think a young man from a great family like the Wardanaz family would use such tricks.

There was only one reason.

"To think you teach even this!"

"Ah, no..."

Professor Ingurdel was flustered.

He didn't particularly teach that?

Jangcliff sent Yi-Han flying again. Yi-Han rolled and immediately prepared to counterattack.

"I'm well aware of Sir Arlong's Azure Rock Style. I don't think there's another heavy sword like that in the empire. Mr. Wardanaz, you must have learned the first five forms? Since you haven't perfectly mastered the aura."

Compared to other swordsmanship in the empire, the Azure Rock Style had a small number of simple forms.

Arlong didn't even teach the intermediate or advanced forms. The gist was that it was dangerous before mastering the aura.

"That's right."

"The Azure Rock Style has quite a lot in common with my swordsmanship. So seeing you, Mr. Wardanaz, reminds me a lot of the old days..."

Yi-Han tensed up.

Was he going to start talking about the past now?

Fortunately, Jangcliff didn't.

"If it's alright with you, I'd like to recommend a technique. Now. Watch."

Jangcliff condensed the muscles in his entire body, drew up mana, and executed a thrust as if shooting out.

The attack burst out with a roar that tore through the air. The technique itself was simple, but the flow of mana contained within was as fierce as it could be.

"You might be wondering why I'm showing you this form now. That's right. There's no need to learn techniques from other swordsmanship separately when you're already learning the Azure Rock Style well."

'Last time, I learned all the miscellaneous techniques.'

"But the reason I'm recommending this form to you is because you already know how to draw up mana to a considerable level."

Jangcliff was surprised to find out that Yi-Han knew how to draw out mana when their swords clashed.

Not just simply drawing it out and containing it, but to the point where the mana was visible.

If one used it like that without skill, they would quickly become exhausted and turn into a cripple. Only swordsmen who knew how to circulate mana to some extent could do that.

If one went a little further from here, they could reach the level of materializing aura!

At that age, to that extent.

'Truly amazing!'

...Of course, Yi-Han wasn't on the verge of enlightenment before aura, he was just recklessly wasting mana and infusing it, but Jangcliff didn't realize that.

"This form will greatly help not only in drawing up mana but also in gaining the sense to turn it into aura."

"Can... can I really receive such a thing?"

Yi-Han was slightly flustered.

There was nothing more frightening than a favor without a price.

According to Jangcliff's words, it seemed he had taught one of his swordsmanship techniques, and this was by no means a light favor.

"Of course. Shouldn't any knight wholeheartedly devote themselves to raising the empire's young knights? Become an excellent knight! I hope to meet you someday after you've built a reputation!"

Jangcliff spoke solemnly, caught up in the atmosphere, and turned around.

Now that he had passed it on splendidly, it was time to leave splendidly.

Yi-Han and Professor Ingurdel, who were blankly watching Jangcliff's back as he walked away, finally came to their senses and spoke.

"But..."

"This is... Einroguard, where mages are raised...?"

No matter how diligently they taught swordsmanship, knights wouldn't come out of here.