WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Surviving in the Magic Academy

Chapter 60

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- Evron: I will be holding the Third Duel Tournament. Applications will be open for two days starting tomorrow, and the tournament will run for four days after that.

As before, there will be no separate participation fee, so I hope many of you will apply.

As with the previous tournament, I plan to upload videos of this tournament to the message board as well. Please keep that in mind.

The tournament rewards are as follows.

1st place: One-month third-floor access pass

2nd place: Two-week third-floor access pass

3rd place: One-week third-floor access pass

4th place: 1,000 points

5th place: 500 points

Tournament applications are being handled by the puppet stationed at the tower entrance, so please find that puppet and let it know you wish to apply. I would appreciate it if everyone participated in good spirits and enjoyed themselves.

┗ Hongryeong: Then I suppose I will take first place again this time.

┗ Goro: Haha, do you truly think that will happen? I will be the one to win this time.

┗ Hongryeong: There will be no mistake like last time, Goro-ssi.

┗ Omon: That was funny back then. I never thought you would charge in while stripping off all your clothes. Isn’t the video still there?

┗ Hao: But why are we doing this? There’s no participation fee anyway, so I’ll participate, but still.

┗ Yuna: I don’t know. Evron-ssi came back from the advancement evaluation last time and suddenly started holding these.

┗ Cassian: I want to participate too.

I could hear people murmuring. They were waiting for the duel that would soon begin. I could feel many of them looking at me.

I quietly looked around. Nearly everyone in the tower seemed to have gathered, and people were talking among themselves as they surrounded the central hall where I stood.

I glanced at the mirror bug. It was almost time. I loosened up for a moment, then gave a loud cough. The sound rode my magical power and rang clearly through the area.

“Everyone has gathered. I’m sure all of you have been waiting for this moment. Who is the strongest person in this tower? The time has finally come for that to be revealed.”

The noise died down, and everyone fell silent. I could feel interest overflowing in their eyes. The level of attention was different from the finals of the last tournament. Well, that just meant they were looking forward to this duel that much.

“First is Hongryeong-nim. He was also the winner of the previous tournament.”

I snapped my fingers and gave the signal. The large mirror bugs flying around the area began showing videos on their screens.

Scenes from the previous duels appeared on them. They showed him cutting down his opponents with clean, decisive strikes.

Hongryeong slowly walked out between the mirror bugs. A relaxed smile rested on his face. I bowed my head slightly to him and continued.

“And his opponent is none other than Cassian-ssi.”

As soon as I said that, the mirror bugs began displaying Cassian on their screens. She had taken down every opponent with only her scabbard, without even drawing her sword.

“This is her first time participating in the tournament, but she left a powerful impression on us by defeating every opponent she faced in a single blow.”

She entered the central hall, looking around as if she found the situation strange. The mirror bugs enlarged her image and showed it to the others.

“Beat him to death!”

“Avenge me!”

The sword-wielders shouted. Their emotions felt intensely bound together. I could even feel their strong killing intent toward Hongryeong.

Cassian paid them no attention and fiddled with the sword at her waist. The bear puppet that had followed her in lightly patted her back.

“Now, both of you possess great power. That is how you defeated everyone else and reached the final stage. I will not speak at length. Shall we all watch this final match?”

The two of them began raising their magical power. I took the bear puppet with me and slowly left the central hall, heading toward the magic circle I had prepared beforehand. It was a multi-layer defensive barrier installed to block the aftermath of this duel.

Every spell activated, and the battle began. The signal for the start was a wind Hongryeong stirred up with a light motion. It rose like a storm and shot toward Cassian.

She lightly twisted her sword and blocked the wind with her scabbard as she advanced. In the blink of an eye, her body moved sharply, closing the distance to Hongryeong.

The air grew taut, and the two of them began surging with magical power as each tried to devour the other’s territory.

Hongryeong controlled the wind from his fingertips and stirred up another whirlwind. It was a massive lump of magical power, incomparable to the one before.

Cassian slowly drew her sword before it. Then she swung it lightly. But the magical power contained in that swing was utterly terrifying.

The instant magic and sword clashed, the air shook, and a chilling roar spread outward. The two of them each took one step back from the recoil. Then they once again poured killing intent toward each other.

The duel continued like that. Dozens of mirror bugs had taken positions in every direction, capturing the entire bloody fight on their screens.

I watched their fight very carefully. If I had been in there, I would have been blown away by the aftermath of their magical power alone.

That was how powerful the force inside felt. Yes, this was the kind of fight I wanted. A deep satisfaction rose in my chest.

People could not be trusted.

That was the thought I had started having after returning from the advancement evaluation. Six months had already passed since I reached the second floor. The fifteenth lecture had been held, and now only five lectures remained.

To be honest, all the bitterness I had felt back then had already faded. Once I received the points, I realized they were more profitable than I had expected.

The first month, only five hundred points came in. Because of that, I did not even notice they had arrived.

But the next month, it was one thousand points, and the month after that, one thousand five hundred points. Like that, the number of points coming in kept changing.

By now, it was three thousand points. If this continued for five years, a full thirty thousand points would be deposited every month.

Once I thought about the points like that, my resentment melted away like snow. Since this was not only a loss for me, Professor must not have found much fault with it either.

Yes, depending on how I looked at it, it was a benefit. But I still needed to reflect. Something like this could happen again in the future.

There were two main reasons this incident had happened. The first was that I had not relied on Professor enough.

All this time, I had been half-absorbed in running the tower. The feeling of two hundred mages moving according to my words was intoxicating. Because of that, I had thrown myself completely into handling everything.

In the process, people noticed Professor’s laziness. Since Professor had never once shown herself until now, that was only natural.

In the middle of that, I appeared holding a delicious-looking piece of bait. How could they resist? Even I would have poked it at least once. That was how this incident happened.

So from now on, I had to cling to Professor. She was the only person I could rely on.

This incident was the same. The proper timing had already passed, but what would have happened if I had gone to her right after it happened and asked for help?

Professor would have found it annoying. And she would have beaten me until I was on the verge of death. Even so, she might have stopped this incident, at least.

After all, I was confident she would grant a desperate request from me. That was how perfectly I was providing convenience for her alone.

The second was my lack of power.

I had decided I would not fight. So I had even shaved away my realm to create puppets. Until now, I had thought that idea was reasonable enough.

The others in the tower used my puppets and respected me. But the university outside the tower was a place far more faithful to the logic of power.

After having so much taken from me this time, I realized it again. The reason they had targeted me so easily was that I had no power to protect myself.

Of course, I was weak. No matter what I did, I probably would not become as strong as them. But power did not only mean my own strength.

After the evaluation ended, I shut myself inside the tower and made many puppets. It was purely to calm myself down.

No. 0 handled all the mirror bugs for delivery. All I had to do was plant my tree stems into the things it made.

Like that, I stopped eating and drinking and did nothing but handle puppets. And among the many puppets I created, I came to understand something.

People could not be trusted. But puppets could be trusted. Puppets were lives born from my hands, and they were beings I could commune with.

After coming to the university, I had only made puppets for others. That suited me best, and it was also the best way to earn points.

Then there was no reason I could not make puppets for myself instead. Strong puppets that would become my power alone.

That was why I had started holding tournaments.

The reason I had not made puppets with offensive functions before was simple. I had no talent for offensive magic. But now, I had found another method.

Hongryeong and Cassian’s fight was almost over. Because of the magical power raging inside, I could not properly tell what the result was.

As that magical power showed, they were extremely strong. Their magic was the same. And their fight was even now being recorded as a video and stored inside my shadow tree.

As the magical power settled, the winner was revealed.

There was only one person standing in the central hall. It was Cassian. Even though her neck was half cut and blood was pouring out, she held herself upright and gathered her magical power.

Hongryeong seemed to have already been sent to the infirmary. Soon, Cassian staggered too, then turned into light and disappeared.

The people watching the duel sent them off with applause. What a beautiful fight. It was a bloody battle worthy of the finals.

Starting tomorrow, both of them would go up to the third floor and continue training. How much had I clung to Professor to prepare a prize that would appeal to them? This was the result I had obtained only after begging even while getting hit several times.

This duel tournament was satisfying too. All of this would become nourishment for my puppets.

People could not be trusted. So I would make puppets. Puppets that existed only for me. I would steal the talents of other mages like this and place them inside.

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