WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Surviving in the Magic Academy

Chapter 54

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- Luka: Is today the day the message board closes? It still seems fine, though.

┗ Jun: Evron-ssi has already left.

┗ Luka: Oh, boss. He already left? Then I guess it’ll cut out soon.

┗ Nadia: So you were on the message board. It has already been a week, so why haven’t you paid the points yet?

┗ Nadia: If you lost the duel, you should accept your defeat. What do you think you’re doing, running away like that?

┗ Luka: Ah, looks like it cut out now. I can’t see anything.

┗ Nadia: What an obvious lie.

┗ Nadia: Hurry up, enclose the points, and apologize to our ‘Safe Climbing Group.’

┗ Nadia: Hello? Answer me... (Signal disconnected)

I passed through the cave and reached the underground. The view opened up before me, and the upside-down city came into sight. The city looked exactly the same as ever. Still, it also felt a little new.

When was the last time I came here? I thought back carefully. I had not visited when I went to attend Professor Heisen’s final lecture, so it had been almost six months.

I remembered my first visit to this place. I had been deeply impressed by the sight of this strange city. Of course, I had mostly wandered around near the very bottom, so I had never gotten a proper look at it.

The temptation to visit the upper levels stirred in my chest. But I shook my head and forced the thought away.

I had quite a lot of points right now, but I had no idea how much it would cost to buy what I needed. The more points I saved, the better.

As soon as I thought of points, a mirror bug floated up from inside my clothes. It displayed the number of points I had.

18,021 points.

It was an enormous amount, more than I had ever had before. To be honest, it did not feel very real. Points were not physical things like gold or mana stones.

Still, there was no doubt that it was a huge number. Once I built a system for earning points, this many points came pouring in.

If this was what came from only two hundred people, just how many points were the people running this city earning? I could not even imagine it.

Eighteen thousand points. It was definitely a large amount. But it still did not feel like enough. If anything, I was worried that even this might fall short.

After all, even I did not have a proper grasp of what I needed. An item that could hold the information from my shadow tree in its place. No one in the tower had been able to answer that question.

Ah, except Professor Irian. She had said there was something fairly useful. Then she pulled something out from a gap in space.

The moment I saw it, I half lost my mind and could not remember anything else. All that flickered through my memory was the sight of her looking at me as if I were pathetic.

When I recalled that shape again, my head began to throb.

Let’s stop thinking about it.

I shook my head and pushed the thought aside. In any case, that was why I had come here, wondering if this city might have something.

I fiddled with the medal in my hand. A small swirl was engraved into it.

It was the medal Hwaryeong had left me before. After we traded for Professor Irian’s lecture seat, she had given it to me, saying that if I used it, she would come.

I remembered how capable she had been, seeing through all my intentions from our very first meeting. Someone like her could probably tell me about a material that met the conditions I needed.

On top of that, she was from a great family connected to Hongryeong, so it would be better to keep this connection going. With that thought, I had brought it along.

I rode the wind upward and floated into the air. The magical power flowing toward the city gently wrapped around my body. At the city entrance, many people were still standing in line.

I joined the line and looked over the people around me. I saw plenty who were stronger than me. But there were also quite a few below me. They had a slight awkwardness on their faces.

Come to think of it, was this when new students arrived? When I roughly counted the dates, it was. A little over a month had passed since the twelfth lecture ended.

These were already the third group of new students to arrive since I enrolled. Before, I had not even had the room to think about that. Forget new students, I had been too busy keeping myself alive.

They would soon go through course registration too. They would pour all their points into any professor with an open lecture. Just like I had.

Now that I thought about it, more than half the lectures had already passed. Only eight lectures remained. Once those ended, all the students would leave.

As I thought about that future, the line quickly grew shorter. I passed through the checkpoint and entered the city. The bottom of the city, which I had not visited in a long time, was still dark and damp.

I headed straight for the center of the city. The flow of people that began at the dock continued all the way there. I looked up at the massive sign hanging above.

[Arcana General Trading Company]

It was my first visit since I sold the lecture seat. Even when I needed something now and then, I had only had to stop by street stalls or private shops, so I had not bothered coming here.

I swallowed and slowly went inside. The interior of the building split into paths for buying and selling. Last time, I had taken the selling path.

Then what would the opposite side be like? Thinking that, I stepped onto the buying path. At that moment, the space changed, and all the people disappeared. At the same time, the medal shone and shot magical power somewhere.

I looked around. It was a small room with a single desk. It looked very similar to the place I had visited last time.

Were they all like this? The upper levels might be different. I walked over and sat in the chair placed before the desk. Since the medal had sent a signal, someone would appear.

Soon, a woman opened the door and entered the room. When she saw me, her face filled with a smile. But her eyes remained sharp.

“It has been a long time. I am Hwaryeong, a Grade 2 employee of Arcana General Trading Company’s Fifth Division Customer Response Department. Thank you for calling me.”

She lowered her head. I bowed back and returned the greeting. When I glanced at her chest, I saw a golden name tag there that I had not seen before.

Grade 2 Employee, Hwaryeong.

“You were promoted while I wasn’t looking. Congratulations.”

She had clearly been a trainee employee last time, but her position had changed before I knew it. At my congratulations, she covered her mouth and laughed.

“Oh, not at all. In a way, it’s thanks to you, Evron-nim. I am simply grateful.”

I could not understand what she meant. When I blinked at her with that feeling plain on my face, she brewed a cup of tea and handed it to me.

I was startled when I saw it. A flower was blooming inside the teacup. Though it was a little clumsy, it was clearly the Perfect Tea magic I had made.

“It’s the tea that’s popular in the city these days. The magic you created, Evron-nim. Its structure is fairly simple, so it was easy to understand. I was impressed when I tried it too.”

She poured tea into her own cup as well and smiled. She savored its fragrance, then continued.

“You taught us so many things like this, so of course I should thank you.”

I felt my face stiffen.

My magic had spread this far, throughout the city at that. It must have leaked from the tower. Since I had released the magic cheaply on the message board, of course it would have flowed into the city too. I had expected that.

But that was not the important part. There had to be a reason she had gone out of her way to show it to me. I could not guess what it was.

For now, I smoothed my expression again and smiled. I set all my worries aside in a corner of my mind. I could think about them again later. Right now, I had to focus on Hwaryeong in front of me.

“I’m glad I could be of help.”

She propped her chin on her hand and stared at me. Her eyes sparkled with interest.

“We’ve been hearing interesting news from your side lately. This magic, for one, and some entertaining rumors came from that tower too. Stories like my younger brother getting chased out by a first-floor mage.”

“I see.”

She was talking about Jun. I understood why that had spread. A wanderer defeated a mage from a great family. What story could be more appealing than that?

“That friend will probably be picked up by some other organization later. After all, he accomplished something difficult.”

Then she added,

“Of course, Arcana General Trading Company is more interested in you than in that friend, Evron-nim.”

“Me?”

A giant organization that controlled a city like this was interested in someone like me? I asked in surprise at the completely unexpected story.

“Because this mirror bug you created is a very useful item.”

She placed a sheet of paper on the desk. Then she took a pen from her clothes and began writing down several numbers.

“In fact, we research things like that too. We even have fairly promising results. But then there is the matter of cost. Magical power is a problem, and materials are a problem. So in the end, most of them are abandoned because the cost cannot be managed.”

She smiled. The numbers written on the paper seemed to represent points. Most of them were over ten thousand.

And beside them was the cost it took me to make a single mirror bug. Twenty-five points, the total cost of the materials that composed it.

“In that sense, your case is quite special, Evron-nim. I once examined that puppet called a mirror bug, and it had a structure other mages would have difficulty making. Your innate magic is probably involved.”

My body stiffened.

Had my puppet been analyzed to that extent? It had not even been four months since I made the mirror bug. Yet they had even figured out my innate magic. I had not noticed at all.

As if noticing my tension, she smiled gently. Her eyes shone brighter than ever.

“There have been quite a few cases like that before.”

She flipped the paper over and drew a huge circle. Then she marked several small dots inside it and connected them to one another.

“It is said that there was once a time when every tower and city in the university was connected beyond space, just like this paper. That was the work of one person’s innate magic.”

“Then why is it now...?”

I trailed off as I asked. Had there been some kind of problem? She beamed and answered.

“Because that person graduated.”

“Graduated?”

I asked blankly. It was a reason I had never imagined.

“Yes, a real pity. If it still existed, it would have been so convenient. You’ve seen them a few times, haven’t you? The transfer gates all over the continent.”

“Ah.”

I remembered the huge transfer gate in the university city. It was connected to every part of the continent and carried people and goods. Was that something that originated from the university?

“That is what that person did after graduating from the university. Thanks to that, humanity was able to develop greatly. Mages being able to come to the university more easily was just a bonus. That person is still continuing to make transfer gates even now.”

I briefly thought back through history. Transfer gates had first appeared on the continent over ten thousand years ago, and they were things that had endured even longer than the current Emperor.

And as Hwaryeong said, more of them were still being created.

I had assumed they were being made by the Empire. But that was not the case. I had never imagined a mage who had lived for over ten thousand years was still managing them.

“People with strange magic like that sometimes enter the university. So of course we cannot help being interested in you, Evron-nim.”

I could only blink. I could not understand her exact intention, but one thing was clear.

They knew more about me than I did.

I felt a little dazed. I had only come here to find something that might help my magic, so I had not expected to hear all this.

She briefly swept her gaze around the room, then leaned a little closer to me. Then she quietly whispered in my ear.

“So be careful. A powerless pig never knows when it might be eaten.”

After saying that, she naturally pulled away. As if nothing had happened.

“Let’s end that story here. Shall we discuss the transaction now? Could you tell me what you came here to find?”

Holding up a new sheet of paper, she smiled brightly at me. I had no choice but to smile awkwardly back.

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