Episode 226

Whether Lee Han felt wronged or not, Professor Voladi continued speaking as if admonishing him.

“The Rock Drake is not a monster you’re supposed to be fighting right now.”

‘Then does that mean the Demon Ghoul is a monster I should be fighting now?’

Lee Han swallowed his words inside.

It was all the more annoying since it was the person who had forced him to fight the Demon Ghoul talking like that.

“As I said before, impatience can ruin a wizard.”

“Yes. I understand.”

“Your goal should not be approached with impatience. Keep that in mind.”

“Yes. I unde—my goal, sir?”

Lee Han paused.

His goal?

‘Did I ever tell Professor Voladi that I wanted to become an imperial official? Or that I wanted to become the richest person in the Empire?’

No matter how much he thought about it, he hadn’t.

If there was another goal…

‘I did want to punch the skull principal once.’

“Excuse me, but what goal are you referring to?”

“Wasn’t it to complete the form of perfect combat magic through multi-school magic training?”

“…!”

When you hear something so absurd, sometimes you can’t even say, ‘Excuse me?’

That’s exactly how Lee Han felt right now.

Magic was a dangerous discipline by nature, but few faced danger as directly as combat wizards who used magic in battle.

These combat wizards always had the same concern.

-How can I refine magic to be even more suitable for combat?

If you think about it, magic was actually the least suitable technique for combat.

If you want to kill someone up close, swing a sword; from afar, shoot an arrow. Spending years training to produce blade-like hands or wind arrows—how inefficient is that?

Of course, no one denied the destructive power of high-circle spells.

…But such spells came with enormous restrictions when cast on the battlefield.

Preparation, reagents, concentration…

And if you tried to cast such magic, the enemy wouldn’t just stand by. Since the enemy had eyes too, they’d try to kill the wizard first.

Even while focusing to cast high-circle spells (which could kill the caster if failed), you had to worry about incoming attacks.

That’s why magical combat was so difficult. Even excellent wizards became useless on the battlefield if they weren’t specially trained for combat.

Anyway, because they specialized in such difficult things, combat wizards were always conscious of their weaknesses and tried to compensate for them.

-I’ve trained in fire elemental magic my whole life. But in the last battle, I got hit by an arrow from behind and started to worry. What should I do?

-Cast area fire magic around you to completely block off enemies’ approach.

-That’s impossible. I have friends moving with me.

-Then learn to create a curtain or shield of fire.

-I tried, but it consumes too much mana, and with the properties of fire, it can’t block specially treated arrows.

-There’s no helping it. Take this robe.

-Is this a robe enchanted with defensive magic?

-No. It’s a robe earth-elemental mages usually wear. If you wear this, archers will target others first. Earth-elemental mages are usually the toughest.

-……

But as anyone who has learned magic knows, it’s not easy to eliminate all your weaknesses with just a single school of magic.

There are things only imbuement magic can do, and things only summoning magic can do.

If you reach a high enough level, you can compensate through application even with a single school, but that’s only possible for those called archmages…

The easiest way was to learn magic from other schools as well.

Of course, there were reasons why most other combat wizards didn’t choose this “easiest” way.

-To block surprise attacks on the battlefield, I want to learn divination magic; to summon shields for my protection, summoning magic; to reduce damage if I get hit, enhancement magic; and finally, healing magic in case of injury. What do you think?

-Don’t you feel something is off with what you just said?

…It’s hard enough to master a single school of magic, but to learn several?

Even students at Einrogard, the Empire’s top talent, rarely trained in more than two or three schools.

Sure, learning them together had its synergies, but the human body and mind had limits.

“Wait. I understand the explanation, but why are you telling me all this?”

Lee Han, who had been listening, asked, feeling the conversation was heading in a strange direction.

“Weren’t you learning all these schools to complete combat magic?”

At Professor Voladi’s question, Lee Han responded firmly.

“It’s a coincidence!”

“It was a coincidence? I see.”

‘Did he accept that?’

“Sometimes, intuition is a better guide than reason. Since you have an aptitude for divination magic, even more so.”

“……”

‘This is driving me crazy.’

Come to think of it, Professor Voladi was someone who only looked at results, not causes or reasons.

Since Lee Han was already taking lectures from several schools of magic, he must be thinking, ‘Then he should become a combat wizard who utilizes all those magics.’

“Professor. Completing perfect combat magic through multi-school training may sound ideal, but… isn’t it unrealistic?”

Lee Han tried to persuade Professor Voladi.

It sounded ideal but was an unrealistic path of training.

Professor Voladi nodded.

‘Did he accept…?’

“But with you, it’s different. You’ve received high marks in every lecture.”

“……”

Lee Han was angry at the professors.

Why were they all so loose-lipped?

Shouldn’t a student’s aptitude and grades be kept private?

“In that case, the possibility isn’t low.”

Professor Voladi’s theory was as follows.

Currently, Lee Han had finished ‘basic’ elemental training without delay.

Now he had to train some advanced techniques (like evaporation, rotation, or the floating ice shield)…

…But if Lee Han had the grand goal of multi-school training, that deserved respect.

So Professor Voladi was preparing to help him apply and combine what he learned from other magic schools.

“Now you’ll be moving on in earnest with other schools of magic.”

“Excuse me, but how is that?”

“I told you to bring books from the library, didn’t I?”

“……”

To think it would connect like that.

Lee Han lamented inwardly.

He should have set the library on fire!

‘Wait. Maybe this isn’t all bad.’

Come to think of it, even if the other schools would now be taught in earnest, that wasn’t all bad.

Since Professor Voladi would try to help him apply and combine what he learned, the pace might slow down a bit.

And the other schools of magic might not be taught as harshly as Professor Voladi’s own.

‘While I’m learning how to apply and combine different magics, this class will be peaceful and warm.’

As Lee Han was trying hard to find the positive side of things, Professor Voladi’s voice rang in his ear.

“Prepare.”

“……”

A storm of magic missiles, ready to rain down from all directions.

Come to think of it, Professor Voladi only said he’d help Lee Han apply other schools’ magic to combat, not that he’d stop the advanced lessons he was already teaching.

Of course, they’d be done together.

“…Freeze!!”

• * *

Professor Voladi was sincerely disappointed.

Because of the urgent desire to catch the Rock Drake, his student from the Wardanaz Family had failed to complete the floating ice shield spell.

Of course, it wasn’t a complete failure.

Lee Han had succeeded in summoning the ice shield and even in floating it in the air.

But he hadn’t fully succeeded at “move autonomously and block attacks.”

Because he was still not used to imbuement magic, the ice shield moved on its own or collided with things, so there was still a way to go.

Nevertheless, this was an incredible achievement—especially for a first-year student.

But neither the teacher nor the student in the classroom considered it incredible.

‘Strange. Why is this so hard?’

Lee Han panted.

His mana was fine, but his mental energy was severely drained.

It was much harder to summon and maintain cold than usual.

It hadn’t been like this before…

“Ah.”

Lee Han, realizing the reason, paused.

“What is it?”

“Professor. Unlike last week, now that the Frost Giant King is gone from the school, it’s not an environment suited for cold magic.”

“I see. I’ll bring cold into the classroom next time.”

“……”

Lee Han was speechless at how Professor Voladi so matter-of-factly brushed off the fact that he’d forgotten.

‘…A born professor, really.’

• * *

“Lee Han. It really seems like there was something in those snacks…”

His friends worried over Lee Han’s gloomy expression.

He’d said the skull principal’s snacks were fine and ate them, but maybe there was actually a trap?

“It’s just that the classes are hard.”

“I see. If that’s all…”

Other friends whispered next to the relieved Gainando.

-Is it really okay to relax?

-Right now, the extra classes Wardanaz is taking are roughly…

But what could they do?

Their friend was already walking that path.

The Blue Dragon Tower students forced a smile and said,

“But today’s summoning magic class should be a bit easier!”

“Yeah. Wardanaz, you’re especially good at summoning magic. There shouldn’t be any trouble…”

But as soon as the students sat down, Professor Millei adjusted his monocle and spoke firmly.

“Since you’ve all brought books from the library, today’s lecture will be a bit difficult.”

“……”

“……”

Lee Han shook his head with a bitter expression. His friends felt like their hearts were breaking at the sight.

“Wardanaz…!”

“Hang in there! Don’t collapse!”

Of course, the students from other towers couldn’t understand this scene at all.

“What’s with those Blue Dragon Tower kids?”

“Why are they worrying about Wardanaz? It’s not like Wardanaz worries about them?”

“Quiet.”

Professor Millei quieted the students. Unlike the skull principal, this old professor could quiet the students without any magic.

“Up until now, you’ve been casting summoning magic using magic circles. That’s because summoning magic is difficult.”

With those words, Professor Millei waved his staff.

Stone fragments rose from the floor, collided, turned into metal, and then into a sword.

But the professor didn’t stop there. He waved his staff again and cast imbuement magic.

The sword then danced as if it were alive.

“Can everyone see this sword?”

“Yes!”

“To complete this dancing sword, I cast several spells.”

Lee Han, who had done something similar in the morning, nodded.

Professor Millei took an octahedral reagent from his pocket and tossed it, then waved his staff.

The same dancing sword was summoned.

“There are dozens, hundreds of ways to reproduce the same phenomenon. Of those, summoning magic is the shortcut.”

It was much easier to summon a dancing sword in one go than to create a sword from nothing, then cast imbuement magic on it to complete it.

“But that’s why summoning magic has so many preparations, is so complicated, and is so difficult. Whether you’re summoning a living thing or an inanimate object.”

The students who had heard this many times nodded.

“A dancing sword like this is something you can’t reproduce in dozens or hundreds of ways at your level. That means you can’t reproduce it with summoning magic either.”

“…?”

Lee Han tilted his head slightly.

‘Hmm. I’d better just stay quiet.’