How to Survive as a Mage Inside a Game-Chapter 54: Altius Summons (4)

Staring down at him was Karl, face blank and indifferent as ever.

Raphan didn’t want to admit it, but he had no choice.

Even if this was a complete mess, Raphan was still a veteran of Altius.

His pride and ego were at odds with the cold logic of a seasoned mage—logic that had already made its judgment.

He’s far stronger than me—at least in terms of pure mana.

Where the hell had this monster come from?

Regardless, there was no point in continuing this fruitless mana duel.

Fwoosh!

Raphan threw up a shield, cutting off Karl’s mana field.

Karl let out a soft chuckle as he watched.

So, the man was finally swallowing his pride and actually using magic.

“...Fine. I admit it.”

Regaining his composure, Raphan narrowed his eyes at Karl.

“It wasn’t a trick. You’re really a 5-circle mage at your age, and your mana even surpasses mine. It’s hard to believe, even seeing it with my own eyes.”

Karl burst out laughing again.

“‘Your mana even surpasses mine’? That sounds like you think you're still better than me in every ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) other way.”

“...You’re undoubtedly gifted. ‘Genius’ doesn’t even do you justice. However—”

Raphan raised his energy again and continued.

“Mana alone isn’t everything to a mage. The gap in age and experience isn’t something talent can easily overcome.”

“......”

“I’m Raphan, 5th Squad Leader of Altius’s Combat Division. Sure, I made a bit of a fool of myself just now, but I didn’t get this far just to be steamrolled by some rookie, no matter how much mana he’s got.”

Truthfully, there was no need to continue.

Remic hadn’t died or been seriously injured. Karl’s level had already been made abundantly clear. At this point, all Raphan needed to do was confirm his identity and settle things down.

But Raphan had no intention of ending things here.

His pride had been shattered—and he wanted to restore it.

He needed to beat this kid and erase the humiliation he’d just suffered.

And he believed he could.

The earlier mess had just been a raw mana clash.

But a mage’s power wasn’t just about quantity.

It was about how many spells one had mastered, how well they could be applied in real-time, casting speed, precision in control, and more.

If it came down to a real spell duel, then surely someone like him—with decades of combat experience—would have the upper hand.

Of course, Raphan only thought that because he knew nothing about Karl.

Karl shrugged.

“If you want to keep going, I won’t stop you.”

“...You seem pretty confident with force magic. How about a simple force duel?”

A force duel.

Just as the name implied—a spell match using only force magic.

It was a common method mages used for non-lethal sparring.

It also emphasized precise mana control, making it a popular way to test technical skill.

Raphan intended to use it to subdue Karl and restore his pride.

Was that really so humiliating for him? Well...

He had just been completely humiliated in front of all these trainees by a younger mage.

Of course he’d want to recover his dignity.

Karl was starting to get annoyed with the whole thing, but decided he’d humor the man a little longer.

“I’m fine with whatever.”

Karl’s casual answer made Raphan grit his teeth inwardly.

This is the last time you’ll get to act cocky.

He began pulling in mana and said,

“You can have the first—”

“Then I’ll take it.”

Fwoosh!

Before he could even finish the sentence, Karl’s force magic was already flying at him.

Raphan panicked and threw up his own force field, but he was a beat too slow—and nearly went tumbling backward from the impact.

“......”

Raphan stared at Karl in disbelief.

Karl responded with an innocent face.

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“Weren’t you just about to say I could go first?”

“...Yeah. Go ahead, then.”

Karl’s casting speed was clearly superior.

Raphan bit his lip and focused, beginning serious force manipulation.

Cocky bastard. But when it comes to control, I’ve got the edge. I’ll beat it into him properly.

Two, then four. Four to eight. Eight to sixteen. Sixteen to thirty-two.

Raphan rapidly split his force into dozens of bolts and fired them at Karl.

Karl responded by splitting his own and intercepting every one.

Raphan grinned inwardly and ramped up the split.

Got you. Should’ve focused on defense. Trying to keep up with my splits? You’ll hit your limit first.

He was a master at mana control—he could split force dozens of times over.

Trying to match him bolt for bolt was a losing battle.

Boom boom boom boom—!

“......”

But as time went on, it wasn’t Karl who was struggling.

Raphan’s face was growing visibly paler.

He had already fired over a hundred split force bolts, but Karl still looked completely relaxed.

In the end, it was Raphan who faltered first—forced to switch to defense.

Karl stopped firing and just stared at him.

“Why’d you stop? Oh—don’t tell me that’s as far as you can go?”

Raphan’s face flushed red.

Grinding his teeth, he compressed his force and launched it straight ahead.

BOOM!

Karl’s and Raphan’s force blasts collided midair.

Naturally, the weaker side would be the one pushed back—but Raphan smiled confidently.

Now I’ll show you what I’m really capable of!

If Karl pushed back, Raphan planned to shift the angle and let the force slide off harmlessly.

Or so he thought.

But when he reshaped his force into a concave surface and tilted it—

Instead of deflecting, Karl’s force tunneled straight through and wrapped tightly around Raphan’s body.

“...Ghhhk!”

Karl released the spell after a moment, letting Raphan drop.

Raphan stared at him in shock.

Karl tilted his head slightly, as if to say keep going.

“You...!!”

Even after that, Raphan tried every method he could think of to find a weakness in Karl—but he was blocked every time, and often countered instead.

At this point, it looked like Karl was just toying with him.

The surrounding trainees stared in stunned silence. The look of total disbelief was written plainly across their faces.

“......”

Raphan’s expression was drenched in defeat.

By now, there was no choice but to admit it.

It wasn’t just Karl’s mana—he surpassed Raphan in every way.

Raphan hadn’t felt this powerless since becoming a deputy squad leader of Altius’s Combat Division.

“Would you like to keep going?”

Karl asked, and Raphan—staring blankly—slowly shook his head.

Letting out a long sigh, he finally opened his mouth, a look of complete resignation on his face.

“...Just who are you?”

His earlier questions had been more like an interrogation—but this time, he sounded genuinely curious.

“You don’t seem like someone from another school... but I’ve never heard of a mage like you at the main branch either.”

“......”

“Even if you were from some obscure sub-branch far from the capital, no one’s ever heard of you. That just doesn’t add up. Who the hell—”

Suddenly, Raphan froze mid-sentence, eyes widening.

Something clicked in his mind.

A few months ago, a shocking event had made waves at the main branch.

Sharon Rachel, granddaughter and disciple of Elder Hurst, had supposedly lost her spot as an officially ranked mage—replaced by someone else, under direct appointment by the Elder Council.

Most had brushed it off as a rumor, but it was later confirmed as true and had caused quite a stir.

The full details were never made public, but it was known that the individual had been recommended by Elder Seindal himself.

There had even been speculation that Elder Seindal had been secretly raising a hidden disciple...

“...No way...”

Raphan turned back to Karl with wide, trembling eyes.

Next to him, Lyle, sensing the tension, carefully opened her mouth.

“Senior... um, this person is also an officially appointed mage from the main branch. Appointed directly by the Elder Council...”

“...!!”

The final puzzle piece dropped into place.

Raphan’s mouth hung open as the truth dawned on him.

“Elder Seindal’s hidden disciple... so that’s you!”

The surrounding trainees gasped in shock and turned to stare at Karl.

Amid the sudden uproar, Karl frowned and spoke flatly.

“Please don’t go spreading ridiculous rumors. I’m not Elder Seindal’s disciple.”

“W-What? But...”

“I’m not his disciple. I’m the disciple of his friend.”

That’s when another voice cut in.

Everyone turned their heads.

A new group had appeared at the entrance of the training hall.

A white-haired elderly man, and a young woman—his granddaughter—standing at his side.

“H-Hurst Elder!”

Raphan recognized him instantly and bowed, startled.

Meanwhile, Sharon, standing beside Hurst, saw Karl and visibly recoiled.

“...You!”

She pointed at him with a trembling finger, face twisted in disbelief.

Karl glanced between her and Hurst.

So that’s the elder heading the Sky Sword delegation?

With a twitch of his brow and a half-surprised look, Karl gave a slightly awkward bow.

Of all the people... it had to be him?

Would’ve been a lot nicer if Seindal had just come himself.

* * *

After things had mostly calmed down, Karl followed Elder Hurst to a private reception room.

It felt a little awkward, sitting across from each other like this when neither of them were part of the local branch.

Still, Karl had business with him, so he had no complaints.

“......”

For a moment, silence filled the room.

Crunch.

Sharon sat beside her grandfather, glaring at Karl while chewing on a cookie like it was vengeance-flavored.

Karl ignored her and turned back to Hurst.

The old man, also staring at Karl, let out a dry chuckle.

“Well, this is a reunion I never expected. I assume collecting Seindal’s research materials is going well?”

“Uh... oh.”

Karl paused, not immediately understanding what he meant—but then quickly nodded.

Right. That had been the excuse he’d given for running off after being appointed.

Hurst, clearly not buying it, clicked his tongue lightly and continued.

“Utterly ridiculous. 5-circle? What the hell have you been doing to get that far already? Did you stumble into a dragon’s lair and raid it for elixirs or something?”

Sharon’s eyes twitched like she was having a seizure.

“5... 5-circle...?”

She turned to look between Karl and Hurst in disbelief.

Ever since losing to him, she’d been grinding her teeth in pursuit of revenge—training with everything she had.

And now he was already a 5-circle?

Hurst winced a bit for her sake, but didn’t try to sugarcoat the truth. He quietly averted his eyes from his granddaughter.

“Aah...”

Sharon’s face slowly drained of color, her soul visibly leaving her body.

Karl watched her for a moment, then casually said,

“Just got lucky, I guess.”

“Hmph. If circle breakthroughs were about luck, I’d be an archmage by now... Anyway, what brings you here?”

He was genuinely curious why Karl had returned—now a high mage—after disappearing with the excuse of gathering research materials.

Karl gave an awkward laugh, then got to the point.

“I heard you’re leading the Sky Sword Castle delegation. There’s going to be a friendly match between students, about that mana stone mine dispute.”

“...Yeah, that’s right. So you do know what’s going on.”

Hurst raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t expected this to be the topic.

“It’s nothing complicated. I just wanted to ask you for a favor.”

“......?”

Then Karl said something even more unexpected.

“Would you be willing to take me with you as part of the delegation?”