Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy - Chapter 837
Regardless, the Blue Dragon Tower students had been deeply moved by their friends’ devotion to Lee Han.
The White Tiger Tower students immediately bristled and started shouting.
“Like you idiots could properly treat Wardanaz!”
“If it were Phoenix Tower, maybe, but you guys aren’t any better than us!”
Ironically, when it came to healing magic alone, the White Tiger Tower students actually had better grades than the Blue Dragon Tower students.
Most White Tiger Tower students planned to join knight orders or other combat-related professions after graduation, and in those fields healing magic was essential.
Since they were constantly getting injured while sparring or brawling with one another, their healing-magic proficiency naturally ended up excellent.
“We’ll do a better job than you, so quit worrying!”
“Our sincerity is on a completely different level from yours!”
The Blue Dragon Tower students laid Lee Han down and tried to pry the branch from his hand.
But just like before, it refused to budge.
“It really is because of this branch, isn’t it?”
“Should we actually remove it?”
“Are you insane? Do you know how hard Wardanaz worked to get that thing?”
Every student gathered there held a branch of their own.
The timing had differed from person to person, but in the end, everyone had received a branch from the forest.
Some, like Gainando, had obtained one absurdly quickly, while others, like Lee Han, had received one painfully late.
If we burn it and Wardanaz wakes up, he’ll probably burn us alive first…
Everyone knew how much Lee Han had suffered to obtain that branch.
Even after the others rested once they received theirs, Lee Han had continued wandering through the forest alone.
At first, his friends had casually assumed:
Gainando got his immediately, so Wardanaz will probably get his soon too.
But after Lee Han spent nearly three straight days roaming the forest, their expressions gradually changed.
—Shouldn’t we stop him?
—I tried talking to him, but he didn’t respond at all. It’s like he’s under some kind of spell.
—But Wardanaz is practically immune to magic, isn’t he?
—Honestly, it looked like he cast something on himself.
Then, while everyone watched anxiously, Lee Han suddenly collapsed.
The students who had gathered nearby to see when he would finally receive his branch panicked and rushed over.
—Wardanaz!!
—The forest captured Wardanaz!
—I told you! Spirits hate Wardanaz! This was obviously a trap!
Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—Lee Han had still been clutching a branch in his hand.
At least it meant he had succeeded in obtaining one.
The problem was that he still wouldn’t wake up afterward.
“Tonic potions didn’t work. Awakening magic didn’t work either…”
“Wasn’t there some old fairy tale about a princess collapsing after eating a poisoned apple? How did she wake up again?”
“The dwarfs hired a dark mage and turned her into a lich. Hey. Is this really the time for ridiculous stories like that?”
Gainando snapped at them with complete seriousness, making the others stare awkwardly.
It was unsettling enough when a normal person acted strange.
When someone like Gainando suddenly started acting reasonable, it was twice as disturbing.
After every ordinary method failed, the Blue Dragon Tower students finally brought out one of the stronger spells available to them.
“Hm. We have a scroll for <Magus Ahiman’s Mana Circulation>. It takes at least three people to activate.”
According to the spell record, <Magus Ahiman’s Mana Circulation> rapidly accelerated the flow of mana within a mage’s body.
When mana surged through the body at extreme speed, curses and negative effects trapped within it were either ground away or forcibly expelled.
Naturally, the spell itself was high-circle magic, and the mana consumption was enormous. Three mages were required just to activate it.
Gainando immediately shot his hand into the air.
“I’ll do it.”
“Good. Then let’s have Adenart, Asan of House Dalcard, and Kirak handle it.”
“…Hey!”
Gainando jumped up and down furiously beside them, but nobody paid attention.
The scroll was both rare and expensive. Once wasted, they had no way to replace it.
“Magus Ahiman was a dark mage! I’m from the dark magic school, so obviously I should do it!”
“Magus Ahiman, your junior seeks your power…”
Who’s your junior!?
Gainando grumbled internally.
Those idiots weren’t even from the dark magic school, yet they were casting the spell without him.
THUD!
“…Urgh!”
“Gah!”
“…Ngh.”
The three students staggered backward with groans. Their faces had turned deathly pale from mana exhaustion.
“Potion! Somebody bring a potion!”
“Here! Drink this first!”
The spell scroll had already blackened and crumbled into ash.
The others asked cautiously.
“Well? Did it work?”
“No… Wardanaz has too much mana. The spell barely affected him at all, and the scroll burned out first. We nearly exhausted all our mana.”
“…”
The Blue Dragon Tower students stared at Lee Han with fresh disgust.
What kind of monster is this guy?
Gainando immediately started jumping around again.
“That’s why you should’ve let me do it!”
“…Lady Ragesa. Are you really not going to give us any advice?”
The Blue Dragon Tower students turned toward the old pirate watching from the rear.
Ragesa paused while reaching for her snuff.
“I already told you. Just wait.”
“…”
You call that advice!?
“Then we should never have asked.”
“As expected of a pirate. Cold-blooded to the core.”
“No wonder you invested in Professor Verdus.”
The instant Gainando spat out the final insult, he was yanked upside down into the air with a scream.
Ragesa grumbled irritably.
“You complain even when I answer. Then quit whining and work harder.”
“That’s exactly what we’re doing!”
Bartrek, one of the alchemy-school students bent over a massive cauldron, shouted angrily.
As though backing up the White Tiger Tower dwarf, Siana raised her voice too.
“Once this potion is finished, even dead people will wake up!”
“Oh? Then work hard.”
Ragesa’s sarcastic response made Yonair suddenly uneasy.
…Maybe we really are supposed to just wait?
As Yonair had suspected before, Ragesa resembled the Skull Principal in certain ways.
Maybe all elderly archmages eventually converged into the same species.
They all seemed to enjoy telling people the correct answer first, then sitting back to watch them struggle uselessly anyway.
Nillia asked Ratford anxiously.
“Isn’t this potion… way too difficult for us to make?”
“Don’t worry. We’ll test it before giving it to him.”
The potion they were currently brewing, the <Dragon Heart Elixir>, was a powerful tonic capable of reviving even the nearly dead.
Whatever curse or condition Lee Han was trapped under, its power should have been enough to force it out.
The problem was the potion’s difficulty.
Normally, only fourth-year students or above could brew it safely.
And yet these second-years were attempting it in a rush by emptying out their backpacks for an unconscious patient.
“How are we supposed to test it?”
“We give someone a single drop.”
“To who?”
Ratford glanced sideways toward Gainando.
Nillia gasped in horror.
“T-That’s terrible!”
“Huh? Since Lady Ragesa’s a powerful mage, I figured one drop of a badly made potion wouldn’t hurt her. Everyone already agreed.”
“Ah.”
Only then did Nillia realize her mistake.
Ratford hadn’t been looking at Gainando.
Ratford had been looking at Ragesa, who was currently dangling Gainando upside down while cackling.
“How are you even going to make her drink it?”
“We’ll slip a drop into her tea. So once it’s done, everyone keep quiet.”
The alchemy-school students whispered among themselves.
Meanwhile, Ragesa remained blissfully unaware that a group of second-years was conspiring to drug her tea.
After receiving the signal, Giselle exchanged glances with the other White Tiger Tower students.
“…Let’s go fetch water for tea while we wait.”
“Get mine too.”
“Why can’t Lady Ragesa get her own water? You won’t even help your friend.”
“This is helping. And in case you forgot, the daughter ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) of Torgerd is a guest of Einroguard.”
“…Fine.”
After glaring at her for a moment, Giselle reluctantly relented.
The White Tiger Tower students grumbled as they followed behind.
“It’s already annoying enough fetching water, but we have to do it for someone like her too?”
“She’s basically a bandit.”
Hm. Something feels off.
Ragesa paused mid-motion while pelting the fleeing Gainando with bird droppings.
Years spent sailing dangerous seas and battling enemies had sharpened her instincts.
And right now, those instincts were screaming.
There was definitely a conspiracy brewing somewhere.
“You, brat. What are you hiding?”
“Stop throwing bird droppings and save Lee Han already! You lunatic who invested in Professor Verdus!”
“I’ll say this much—your nerve is impressive!”
Ragesa switched to horse dung instead and laughed in admiration.
For a penniless mage, the brat had remarkable courage.
WHOOSH!
“Tutanta, what are you doing!?”
“My mistake. Sorry, everyone.”
Apparently the Black Turtle Tower students had mishandled the firewood, because thick smoke suddenly billowed across the entire campsite.
Coughing, Ragesa waved a hand irritably.
“You’re all hopelessly clumsy. Do it properly.”
“We brought the tea.”
It seemed the White Tiger Tower students had fetched the water while the Phoenix Tower students brewed the tea.
When one of the priest-robed students offered her a cup, Ragesa accepted it without much suspicion.
The moment she swallowed a sip, however, she detected a faint scent hidden beneath the smoke and commotion.
“…You little bastards slipped <Dragon Heart Elixir> into my tea?! Don’t tell me you used me as a test subject!”
“She’s fine! Hurry and give it to Wardanaz!”
“You little—! And the elixir won’t work anyway! Right now he’s struggling to subdue another spirit inside the spiritual realm—”
Ignoring Ragesa entirely, the students hurriedly poured the completed potion into Lee Han’s mouth.
At that exact moment, Lee Han’s eyes snapped open.
“…!”
“He woke up! He woke up!!”
“Wardanaz is awake!”
“We did it!”
“Did what…?”
Ragesa grumbled while feeling the elixir violently accelerate the flow of mana throughout her body.
Once the effect ended, the backlash would probably leave her feeling sluggish and suffocated for a while afterward.
Still… it’s surprisingly good.
Honestly, Ragesa had never expected a bunch of second-years to successfully complete <Dragon Heart Elixir> just by pooling their brains together.
They were students from completely different towers, working under extreme time pressure.
Under normal circumstances, that should have led to fighting, not cooperation.
Yet these brats had combined their strengths perfectly.
The White Tiger Tower students fetched water without raising suspicion.
The Black Turtle Tower students caused a distraction to dull her awareness.
The Phoenix Tower students used their priestly image to lower her guard…
…Wait. Is it really okay for priests to be doing this?
Ragesa decided not to think about it too deeply. That was a problem for the religious orders to deal with.
“You little brat. I wondered why you kept provoking me without any fear. So this was your plan.”
That imperial Blue Dragon Tower brat had recklessly thrown himself into danger to distract her. Clearly he’d been plotting something from the beginning.
“What are you talking about!? Put me down!”
“Fine, fine.”
THUD!
After getting back to his feet, Lee Han slowly looked around the campsite and the gathered students.
Seeing branches in everyone’s hands, it was obvious he had been the last to obtain one.
“…How much time passed?”
“It’s the final day of the period the Gwangmok King granted us. We have to leave today.”
We were here that long!?
The thought sent chills down Lee Han’s spine.
Had the Gwangmok King anticipated this outcome from the very beginning?
While Lee Han stood there stunned, Yonair hesitated before speaking quietly.
“Lee Han. About that prophecy. The one involving the Imperial Family and misfortune.”
“…Gasp!”
At those words, something suddenly flashed through Lee Han’s mind.
Hadn’t Princess Yukbeltire touched him recently while helping make that staff?
“I knew it… The Imperial Family has never brought anything good into anyone’s life…!”
“…”
Yonair instinctively glanced around.
Fortunately, Adenart and Gainando didn’t seem to have heard.
“I think I understand what you mean, Yonair. You’re saying my recent bad luck means the prophecy might actually be real, right? Thinking about it now, I really did come into contact with the Imperial Family recently. No wonder things turned out so terribly.”
“Uh… right. About that. Promise you won’t be too shocked?”
“What is it? Did Gainando carry me around while I was unconscious?”
“Uh… yes. And the Imperial Princess too.”
“…”
“Wardanaz collapsed again!”
