I Refuse To Be A Mage - Chapter 2

Upon hearing the bell, Ji Chi suddenly remembered that he was no longer a god-level player with fifty unique pieces of equipment. He was now just a humble, once-in-a-decade occurrence—a Magic Academy repeater.

This year’s entrance ceremony still had a place for him.

Fine then.

Ji Chi closed the panel and took one last look at his black-haired, black-eyed reflection in the blurry mercury mirror on the wall before pushing open his room door and walking out of the dormitory building.

It was around nine o’clock in the morning. The academy’s magnificent Gothic architectural complex bathed in warm sunlight, with towering spires that seemed covered in a thin layer of gold foil, solemnly displaying the academy’s proud status on the Demon Sword Continent.

In the distance stood an even more ornate and elaborate building that was particularly conspicuous—that was the entrance ceremony hall where the new students needed to go.

Ji Chi had departed quite late. Most of the new magic students had already arrived at the hall by now. The brick-paved road was cold and deserted, with only a lone figure desperately running ahead.

However, that desperately running figure was truly pitiful to watch. A speed of 1m/s and they dared call it desperate? Even Ji Chi before his transmigration wouldn’t have been so pathetic as to take a full minute to run 50 meters.

But the little mage was indeed trying his hardest. His frail figure swayed precariously, and his already pale face had turned completely white. Ji Chi had no doubt that he would collapse halfway if he ran two more steps.

Ji Chi sighed, lightly pushed off with his right foot, and his entire body shot forward gracefully, reaching behind the little mage in the blink of an eye.

“Are you also going to the hall? Shall I take you there?” Ji Chi tilted his head to look at the little mage who was drenched in cold sweat, with a touch of empathetic sympathy.

The little mage struggled to move his steps and looked up at him with difficulty. “Do you….huff….have a teleportation scroll? I’ll… huff… buy it from you with gold coins… hah—”

Although the little mage before him wore the academy’s uniform robe, the clothing patterns faintly visible at his collar still revealed his wealthy or noble status—being able to wear blue equipment at this age wasn’t something that could be achieved with money alone.

Ji Chi glanced at him briefly and then looked away without much thought.

To save backpack space, he had sold all equipment below orange grade for money. The last time he wore blue equipment was a year or two ago. If he weren’t so familiar with this game, he would have long forgotten the differences between white, green, and blue equipment.

“I don’t want your money. I run very fast and can reach the hall immediately.”

The little mage looked at Ji Chi’s equally slender frame with suspicion. “How is that… possible! There’s so… little time left, even rangers… can’t run that fast!”

Without another word, Ji Chi scooped him up under his arm and started running toward the hall.

The little mage was startled. Before he could scold Ji Chi for his audacity, he saw the scenery on both sides rapidly retreating.

He was stunned. “What’s… happening?”

This wasn’t because the little mage was inexperienced—the root of all evil lay with the development team.

Speaking of this damn development team, they were quite interesting, stubbornly imposing stereotypes on the mage profession—pale, slender, and frail.

Their health was so fragile they’d fall with one poke. Ji Chi’s habitual armor-wearing was because of this—God knows how many times he died in the early game due to this fragile attribute!

Similarly, low-level mages’ movement speed was pathetically slow, sometimes they couldn’t even catch up to small monsters in the newbie village.

Fortunately, the speed bonus from max-level characters was quite powerful. When the two stood at the hall entrance, the little mage’s dumbfounded expression hadn’t yet faded.

“I’ll go ahead first. Goodbye.” Ji Chi had only wanted to give him a lift. Having achieved his purpose, he mercilessly left him at the entrance.

“Wait—” The little mage snapped back to his senses and hurriedly called out to him. Whether from exhaustion or embarrassment, his cheeks were flushed red. He looked away and said in a low voice, “I’m Brandon from Class S. If you need anything, you can find me—hey, what are you doing? Don’t think you can be so presumptuous just because you helped me once!”

“Shut up. I’m also in Class S. They’ve started roll call.” Ji Chi grabbed Brandon by the collar and strode forward.

When their names were called, they had just hurriedly reached their class seats. Professor Joseph’s icy gaze swept over them both from above his glasses. He closed the attendance book without saying any reproachful words, only gesturing for them to quickly find seats.

Evan had spotted Ji Chi as soon as they entered the hall. He now waved hurriedly and quietly called Ji Chi to sit beside him.

“You got ready so quickly. I had already thought up excuses for your lateness.” Evan grinned at Ji Chi, showing his small white teeth. His transparent blue pupils held undisguised joy, and his slightly tousled golden hair made him look like a warm little sun. He tilted his head and looked curiously at Brandon behind Ji Chi. “Who is he?”

Brandon followed behind Ji Chi. After hesitating for a moment, he sat down next to Ji Chi and responded proudly upon hearing the question. “Brandon Elliott.”

Ji Chi nodded and added, “Mm, picked him up on the road.”

Brandon stiffened and stared in disbelief, “Don’t you know what the Elliott surname represents…”

“Quiet—” Professor Joseph frowned deeply. His thin, blade-like lips moved rapidly several times, and a magical ripple spread throughout the vast hall in the wind. The previously noisy hall instantly fell into dead silence.

Brandon touched his throat with his hand, trying to speak again to explain his noble status to this humble commoner, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t utter a single word.

Brandon gave up and slumped in his seat with an irritated expression.

Ji Chi curved the corner of his mouth. His magic resistance was extremely high, so naturally he wouldn’t be affected by this small debuff, but this didn’t prevent him from pretending to be one of the weaklings and quietly waiting for the dean to begin his speech.

The surrounding sixteen-year-old boys and girls, with their excessive energy, weren’t as well-behaved as he was. Even restricted by the silence magic, they found ways to express their wild thoughts through various gestures and expressions.

Every corner of the hall was staging vivid pantomimes.

Ji Chi became slightly lost in thought while immersed in this cheerful atmosphere. Even though it was the same scene with the same sensations, it was vastly different from what he had experienced in the holographic game.

Professor Joseph glared fiercely at a gesticulating boy, Brandon pointed at the dean’s crooked wig and laughed silently, and Evan touched his arm with some concern.

This feeling was like—this world had come alive, and he was integrating into it as a normal person.

Normal person—these words brought a bright gleam to Ji Chi’s pupils. This was also the identity he had dreamed of for a full twenty-five years.

Perhaps in this world, he could make up for all the incompleteness in his life, piece by piece.

Evan didn’t understand what Ji Chi was thinking, but he could sensitively perceive that there seemed to be something more in his repeater roommate’s eyes.

Evan arbitrarily attributed this something to determination to study hard. Like a priest, he contentedly patted Ji Chi’s hair, only to have his hand swatted away by Ji Chi’s smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

Facts proved that no matter which world you were in, the dean’s speech was extremely boring.

After listening for a short while, Ji Chi lost interest in experiencing student life and opened the game panel to continue his research.

Since he wanted to live anew in this world, he had to consider his future path.

The Demon Sword Continent was divided into seven professions and seven races, each race and profession having corresponding skills and professional talents.

Humans excelled at concocting potions; demons were absorbed in summoning souls; elves were skilled at wandering with bows; dwarves devoted themselves to crafting machinery; undead hid in dark stealth; orcs roared in bloodthirsty battle; angels yearned for the source of light.

The seven races respectively had racial skill bonuses for alchemist, summoner, ranger, engineer, rogue, warrior, and mage—seven professions in total.

Ji Chi had originally run through all seven racial territories as a human to collect skills from all seven professions.

Very good, now he had to run through them all over again. Ji Chi smiled 🙂

That’s right, just like in the game, he didn’t plan to put much effort into the mage profession, even though his initially chosen profession talent could easily place him at the pinnacle of the mage path.

Ji Chi, no longer limited by illness, was just that rebellious!

But soon, Ji Chi discovered an unexpected delight. The moment the entrance ceremony began, the human racial skill unlocked.

Player completed hidden quest: [Join Human Society], obtained human racial skill.

Skill: [lv. max Soul Healing (Alchemist)] unlocked

Description: [Legendary quality potion recipes unlocked, crafted potion attributes +500%]

Ji Chi recalled that there was indeed such a hidden quest. At the time, he had tried to join other profession societies with his mage identity, was rejected countless times, and only succeeded in joining an engineer society with a total membership of 2, finally obtaining this racial skill.

Ji Chi immediately switched the page to the synthesis tab. Sure enough, in the potion synthesis section, several orange-glowing icons lit up prominently.

A full backpack of legendary quality materials, plus legendary quality potion recipes—if he couldn’t successfully graduate from the Magic Academy, he could compete for the position of Imperial Alchemist Association president.

The truth was just that weighty.

Ji Chi contentedly closed the panel, and even the long-winded dean seemed amiable to him now.

This good mood lasted until the entrance ceremony ended and the teachers of each class led their students to the classrooms.

Professor Joseph placed the attendance book on the podium. Under the deep wrinkles of his eyes, his sharp gaze swept over the dozen or so boys and girls below the stage.

“For the next three years, you will improve yourselves in the Magic Division. I hope you will successfully level up and graduate smoothly.”

When he mentioned leveling up, he deliberately looked at Ji Chi, clearly dissatisfied with this once-in-a-decade disgrace of the Magic Academy.

Several noble boys in the class had long noticed the black-haired, black-eyed Eastern boy and deliberately asked with a smile, “How can we successfully level up?”

Professor Joseph pushed his glasses. “Before next summer’s test, become a junior mage.”

The questioning boy asked exaggeratedly, “Ah, really? There are still magic apprentices in the academy?”

Unfriendly snickering immediately arose from around them.

Evan pursed his lips and looked at Ji Chi with concern.

Junior Mage was a title possessed by those with magic power around lv.5, but the title’s evaluation didn’t just depend on mana points—it also required a certain number of learned spells.

Children with normal magic talent had already learned several spells through various means before turning sixteen and coming of age.

Even Evan, despite being a commoner, had mastered more than ten light magic spells early on at the cathedral. When his magic power increased a bit more, he could even directly advance to intermediate mage.

Ji Chi’s situation was different. Although his max-level character’s magic power could rival legendary archmages, since he only knew the newbie default [Fireball] basic attack magic, he would still have to repeat the year without exception.

After weighing his options, Ji Chi decisively raised his hand.

“Any other questions?” Professor Joseph had no good feelings toward Ji Chi, his tone ice-cold.

“What are the requirements for transferring to another division?” Ji Chi smiled and asked sincerely.