Surviving as a Mage in a Magic Academy Chapter 790

Chapter 790

"Professor. Actually..."

Full of resentment, Yi-Han reported to Professor Willow what had happened.

The tree spirit dwelling in this staff was really too much, even for him.

Let's say it was a superior spirit with various powers.

But shouldn't it be considerate of the mage's circumstances since it was dwelling in a staff?

Even after Yi-Han had fought the King of Frost Giants and the King of Ghouls, it still grumbled 'Not enough yet'.

At this point, it should be called a spirit of destruction, not a tree spirit. It seemed it wouldn't be satisfied until Yi-Han was destroyed.

"I-I see."

Professor Willow was flustered when the Wardanaz family boy put his staff on trial and reported it.

They had just asked one question because the staff's spirit was complaining that it still hadn't awakened itself, but they didn't expect such a long complaint in return.

"Of course, maintaining friendships with spirits is difficult... Even I, with spirit blood flowing in me, sometimes feel at a loss. But if you listen carefully, you can understand the spirit's thoughts."

"For example, the master's destruction?"

"...It usually doesn't go that far. Hmm. In my opinion... This spirit was probably quite a high-ranking spirit."

Professor Willow said, closely examining Yi-Han's staff.

Multiple powers and a strong desire to prove its abilities.

This was usually the behavior shown by high-ranking spirits.

"But Professor. I don't quite understand. High-ranking spirits aren't like this, are they?"

Yi-Han asked back, not understanding.

While Yi-Han was unpopular among low and mid-rank spirits, he had friendships with powerful high-ranking spirits, so he knew the difference between the two well.

The stronger spirits become, not only does their power increase, but their ego and intelligence rise, and the very rank of their existence ascends.

Just look at Ferkuntra.

Unlike other spirits, it had a true name, titles, and subordinate spirits, territories, and powers under its command.

In comparison, the spirit in Yi-Han's staff had never spoken a word or shown any distinct powers.

Yet it was a high-ranking spirit?

That sounded similar to calling Gainando a great mage of the dark magic school.

"That's right. It's not common."

Professor Willow continued their explanation while tapping the leaves that had settled like a beard.

"But there are occasional exceptions. High-ranking spirits that have been sealed or confined, losing their power. These spirits have lost their power but retain their dignity."

"!"

Yi-Han was surprised to hear the professor's explanation.

To think the tree staff's spirit, which he had thoughtlessly assumed was a low-ranking spirit, was actually a high-ranking spirit with a true name.

"That might be why it's asking you to awaken its powers. It can recover its strength through resonance with its master."

There were several ways for a spirit that had suffered a great blow and lost its power to recover, and one of them was to receive help from the mage it contracted with.

As the mage borrows and uses the spirit's remaining feeble powers, those powers gradually amplify.

It would be a long journey, but once it crosses a certain threshold, the spirit can regain its original power with a powerful resonance.

'Oh dear. Hearing that makes me feel a bit sorry.'

Yi-Han reflected on Professor Willow's words.

He had thought the staff's personality was just stubborn and nasty, not that it couldn't use its powers, but from the other party's perspective, it wasn't like that.

As the master, he should have repeatedly used and strengthened the powers, which would have gradually recovered the spirit's own strength, but he hadn't done so. How frustrating must that have been?

"Wait a moment, Professor. For other things I don't know, but in the case of the power of rigidity, the spirit told me to use stronger magic instead of substituting with mana. To recover, shouldn't it use its powers little by little, even if they're weak?"

"If it could use its powers that flexibly, it wouldn't be a sealed spirit. For a high-ranking spirit to recover its fitting presence, the mage must also show abilities befitting that."

The tree spirit's powers were high in difficulty to use.

Instead of compromising and using a weak power of rigidity, Yi-Han had to learn stronger magic and meet stronger enemies to awaken the power of rigidity.

'Hmm. I take back feeling sorry.'

Yi-Han immediately withdrew his apologetic feelings.

This wasn't Yi-Han's fault, but the fault of the other spirit.

What was this crazy thing expecting from a 2nd year Einroguard student?

'At this point, it really seems to be a spirit of destruction, not a tree spirit.'

"I see. Thank you, Professor."

"It would be better not to rush too much in awakening this."

"Haha. Yes. I'll keep that in mind."

Yi-Han immediately agreed with Professor Willow's words, as he had no intention of rushing at all.

"Spirits sealed like this are especially violent and vicious."

"I see... Wait a moment, Professor. Aren't all high-ranking spirits violent and vicious?"

As an example, there was Fer-something spirit.

Basically, spirits with power were arrogant and violent.

"That's not true. Spirits have various dispositions. For example, isn't the Thunder King contracted with you, little one, quite refined?"

"...?!"

Yi-Han was startled to hear Ferkuntra described as elegant.

To say Ferkuntra was refined among spirits??

'That's nonsense. What on earth are spirits?'

"The oak trees gave you this gift, right? If the oak trees were managing it, it means this spirit was sealed by other spirits."

Sealed spirits usually fell into two categories.

Spirits sealed while fighting evil enemies, and spirits sealed by other spirits.

The former often had normal spirits, but the latter had many violent and vicious spirits.

How much havoc and violence must they have wreaked for other spirits to seal them?

"Sp-spirit of destruction!"

"?"

Professor Willow tilted their head at Yi-Han's words.

It was a spirit they had never heard of.

"No, to give me something like this. What grudge do those oak trees have against me?"

"Ah. That's not it. There's a misunderstanding. They probably gave it to you meaning for it to follow a young mage, help, and atone after reflecting and having its temper subdued for a long time."

"..."

Even after hearing the explanation, Yi-Han didn't feel very good.

Why involve Yi-Han in the rehabilitation of a troublemaker spirit when they could handle it themselves?

"In my view, with your abilities, you should be able to persuade this spirit and become friends with it. Haha..."

"Haha, haha, hahaha."

Yi-Han laughed artificially and made a decision.

'I should ignore this spirit's opinion when making a new staff...'

  *

"Wardanaz. This is a red maple."

"I see."

"This is a green maple. This is a black maple. This is a jade maple..."

"...There's no need to remember such strict classifications of maple trees..."

Nillia, excited about explaining the greenhouse, ignored Yi-Han's words.

"What surprised me is that there are trees I've only seen in the northern mountains in this greenhouse. Let's go over there, to the cold dry climate zone!"

'I should have come with someone other than Nillia.'

Nillia, who had shown Yi-Han around focusing on plants she liked, finally seemed satisfied and started a proper explanation.

"In the last lecture, we each took charge of this vegetable garden area. We'll be growing them all semester. Last week, friends all divided up and took charge of your area, Wardanaz."

"Nillia!"

Yi-Han was slightly moved by his friends' consideration.

Even in the bleak Einroguard, such friendship existed.

Such friendship always moved people...

"...Wait. Isn't this a mandrake seedling???"

Yi-Han, befitting the top student of his year, guessed what plant it was just from the leaf shape settled in the vegetable garden.

Nillia admired that ability.

"That's amazing. How did you guess?"

"..."

Despite such admiration, Yi-Han glared at Nillia with a sense of betrayal instead of being pleased.

"To plant a mandrake in my vegetable garden when I'm not here. Isn't that too much?"

Even though Yi-Han took lectures at a difficulty level one step higher than others, he didn't expect even his friends to act like professors.

This really felt like betrayal.

"What? N-no! Mine is a mandrake too!"

Nillia jumped up and denied, having received an absurd misunderstanding.

The other friends had all planted mandrakes in their vegetable gardens too.

From the start, the seedlings Professor Willow gave were mandrake seedlings...

"Ah. So the semester assignment was just mandrakes. Wait. Nillia. You said earlier that you didn't do much."

-We didn't do much. It was the first lecture, so the professor explained what kind of lecture it was and showed us some rare and interesting plants...-

Yi-Han asked, recalling what Nillia had said earlier.

Nillia answered, puzzled.

"We didn't do much, right? We just received seedlings and planted them."

"...Nillia, you seem to have really gotten used to Einroguard too. To describe planting mandrake seedlings as not much."

"...!!!"

When Yi-Han sighed and spoke as if feeling sorry, Nillia almost collapsed from resentment and anger.

'Hey! For you to say such things...!'

She felt so wronged that a friend who ended with 'We should be careful' when there was a mad doppelganger targeting the outskirts of the territory would say such things.

"Kuuuk...!"

"What's wrong?"

"...It's nothing. Look. I'll teach you how to manage mandrake seedlings."

Yi-Han nodded and listened attentively.

Although he had learned from books, it would be much better to hear from Nillia who had heard directly from Professor Willow.

"First, water it like this."

Nillia started sprinkling water on the mandrake seedling using a watering can filled from a bucket.

"Water... it."

Yi-Han, who had been taking notes, suddenly felt puzzled.

'Can't we just use water magic?'

Unlike Gainando who couldn't use water magic well, Nillia had a spirit and could use basic water magic.

So why was she moving by hand like that?

"I see. So mandrakes prefer pure water, not water touched by magic. I didn't know that."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Nillia perked up her ears, not understanding what her friend was saying.

"Since you're not summoning water with magic but scooping it from the stream with a bucket..."

"Ah. That."

Nillia, who had already emptied the watering can, stretched her back once and then refilled the watering can.

"I have to give it five times with this bucket, so I'm saving mana. It drinks too much water, so it's a waste to use magic."

"...I'll just summon the water."

When Yi-Han summoned water, Nillia sent a look as if she found her friend adorably praiseworthy.

As always, the Wardanaz family boy was most impressive when doing such simple repetitive labor.

Splash!

The water mass summoned in mid-air kept filling the bucket. The work progressed quickly.

"Huff, huff. Good. This should be enough to satisfy the mandrake's thirst."

Nillia said, sweating profusely.

The mandrake's leaves had become moist, but Nillia seemed to have dried out a bit in the meantime.

"Why don't you drink some water?"

"Ah. I'll drink after we're done. There's no time. Now, next we have to catch the mana aphids. They appear after the mandrake drinks all the water. These bastards are invisible, you know? So we have to make this potion to reveal their forms."

Nillia, who had filled the watering can with the potion she had made, started looking for pests hiding near the seedlings.

Yi-Han shook his head at the sight of Nillia moving non-stop in the hot and humid air of the greenhouse.

"This lecture must be no ordinary hardship."

"What are you talking about? This is an easy lecture at this level."

"How can you say that while working continuously without rest before the lecture even starts?"

"But Wardanaz, you take many lectures much harder than this while... Last year you managed a vegetable garden and took care of the stables every dawn. This year you've joined several clubs..."

"..."

Yi-Han, who had taken a hit from his friend, turned the watering can towards Nillia.