Episode 240

Episode 240

The weekend finally arrived.

Normally, since it was a break after grueling lectures, it wouldn’t be enough to congratulate each other for making it through…

…but this weekend was different.

A mountain of pre-finals assignments.

No matter how brazen a student was, they couldn’t ignore all these assignments.

If they did, they might really end up locked in the punishment room even during vacation.

A White Tiger Tower student, Angrago Alpha, yawned.

The morning sunlight felt especially harsh.

“Angrago.”

“Why are you calling me?”

“I’m tired, but don’t you feel a bit proud?”

“Honestly, I do a little.”

Angrago nodded at his friend’s words.

While the other White Tiger Tower students were sleeping in the dorm, Angrago and his friend were heading to Professor Verdus’s Artifact Tower.

To be moving for assignments from Saturday morning.

Where could you find such diligent and hardworking students?

Angrago couldn’t help but feel proud of himself.

“Phoenix Tower and Blue Dragon Tower students probably didn’t come out as early as us.”

“I think so too.”

Click—

With those words, Angrago opened the door to the Artifact Tower.

The classroom on the first floor, opened for the students by Professor Verdus, was dark and empty.

The two White Tiger Tower students absentmindedly reached to pull the string of the ceiling’s light artifact…

“Don’t turn it on.”

“Waaahhh!!!”

Angrago screamed and tumbled backward.

It was only natural—hearing a human voice in a pitch-black classroom where no one should be.

It was funny for a mage to be afraid of ghosts or spirits, but it couldn’t be helped.

And more importantly…

‘An intruder!!’

As the image of last week’s intruder who turned the school upside down flashed in his mind, Angrago quickly drew his wooden sword and swung it.

“Don’t come closer! If you do, I’ll cut you!”

“Shut up. Be quiet.”

“…Wardanaz?”

“Yeah.”

Lee Han conjured a light in the air of the classroom with a tired face.

His expression, normally hard to read, looked especially exhausted today.

“How long have you been here?”

“Since yesterday afternoon.”

“……”

“……”

The two White Tiger Tower students cleared their throats.

Suddenly, after feeling proud of coming out early, they felt stupid.

“Why was the light off?”

“I was working on a magic circle and it’s hard to see if it’s too bright.”

Lee Han said, sipping coffee.

With so many professors pestering him with “When will the floating iron shield be ready?” “When will you show us the shield?” “I’m curious about the shield,” Lee Han had put off countless other tasks to focus.

As soon as the weekday lectures ended, he had worked through the night without sleeping…

Thanks to that, he had made some progress.

‘If I just finish the magic circle, it should work somehow.’

The hardest and most important part of the floating shield.

It was giving the shield the command: “Circle around your master and block any incoming danger on your own.”

A mage had to cast this complex command with just staff movements and a spell, so for a first-timer, it was enough to twist your brain.

No matter how you looked at it, it wasn’t that Lee Han lacked skill—the magic itself was just set at a ridiculous difficulty…

But Lee Han didn’t give up and tried a different approach.

-Just like I broke down high-level spells into parts to cast, I’ll do the same with the floating shield.

Approaching it in parts.

Lee Han had experience with this.

Namely, the so-called -Yumidihus’s Water Prison Shot-, a spell that shoots fiercely spinning water bullets.

No matter how much of a genius he was, with his current skill level, he couldn’t cast it all at once…

Amazingly, Lee Han succeeded.

He floated a water orb and kept spinning it until it worked.

It was possible because he had an abundance of magic power!

Since he had magic to spare, Lee Han felt no resistance to breaking things down into steps.

A method virtually impossible for other mages, who would collapse from magic exhaustion after a few tries.

Of course, the difficulty of this magic was high even broken down.

So Lee Han even used a magic circle.

A magic circle, which replaces part of the mage’s casting process, was essential for such high-difficulty spells.

The problem was…

“Is this finished?”

“It’s roughly put together.”

“…Wait, you can finish a magic circle this quickly??”

As he’d experienced during the festival, magic circles weren’t easy to make.

The harder and more complex, the more errors and variables cropped up.

And to check these, a mage had to personally and steadily test them.

“That’s why I stayed up all night.”

“……”

“……”

Can you finish it just by staying up all night?

The two White Tiger Tower students felt something was off, but couldn’t strongly object.

Because Lee Han was the top of the class, and they were just…

…students.

If Lee Han said, “A real magic school student should be able to finish a floating shield magic circle in one night,” they couldn’t argue.

‘Something’s off…’

‘If only Professor Knighten were here…’

Angrago, tilting his head repeatedly, decided to let it go for now.

“Wait. So is the floating shield complete!?”

“No. If I cast it now, it’ll fall in a few seconds. I haven’t finished the duration extension work.”

Combining the power of Lee Han’s spell and the auxiliary magic circles engraved on the shield, he could at least make the shield float and circle around.

The problem was duration.

Such a powerful spell consumed far more magic than lower-circle spells.

If he just cast it without any measures, it wouldn’t last even a few seconds.

So duration extension was essential…

Lee Han massaged his furrowed brow. Just hearing about it made him feel even more tired.

‘Honestly, it’s already ridiculously complex. I’m worried if I can even add duration extension on top of this.’

Even as it stood, the magic circles on the shield were precarious.

Lee Han himself was amazed it had even been completed, given how tangled the circles were!

What were the odds it wouldn’t break if he added a duration extension magic circle?

‘…99% chance it’ll break. Do I have to redo it?’

No matter how tough Lee Han was, the thought of redoing it from scratch was daunting.

‘If I do it without a magic circle, it’ll be even harder.’

“Still, can we see it once?”

“See it?”

Angrago asked in a nervous voice as Lee Han seemed to glare at him.

“A… no. I’m not demanding to see it, are you mad? You’re not mad, right?”

“I’m not mad.”

Lee Han was just tired.

“I always wanted a floating shield. So I just wanted to see how it works…”

“Alright. Fine.”

“…You’re really not mad?”

“I said I’m not.”

Lee Han stood up.

Unlike mages who had to calculate their remaining magic each time they cast a spell, Lee Han could cast again without consequence.

He might as well check if it works, since the magic circle was finished anyway…

“If you’re unlucky, it might fall in just one second, so watch closely.”

“O-okay!”

“I’m ready, Wardanaz!”

The White Tiger Tower students’ eyes sparkled. Anyone could see their faces were full of excitement.

‘Why do these guys like shields so much?’

Not being from a knight family, Lee Han couldn’t understand the White Tiger Tower students’ irrational attachment to arms and armor.

Weapons like swords, shields, and armor were part of a knight’s body and pride.

-My goodness. Did you see that knight? He’s still using a sword made by the Aeron Guild!

-Using that cheap sword they crank out and sell en masse? Tsk tsk. Where’s your pride as a knight?

Because of pride, knights always sought rarer and more expensive arms.

“Rise and protect your master, O shield!”

Lee Han chanted.

At that moment, the steel shield that had been lying on the desk soared into the air and began to slowly circle around Lee Han.

Angrago exclaimed.

“It’s really floating!!”

“Wardanaz! Wardanaz! Can I attack it!? Not that I want to attack you, but I’m curious about the shield’s performance…”

“Hurry. I don’t know when it’ll end.”

The White Tiger Tower student hurriedly threw a wad of paper.

The shield spun and blocked the paper wad.

“Let me! I’ll throw from behind!”

“Okay! Throw it!”

‘Did these guys drink last night or something?’

Lee Han, exhausted from staying up all night, couldn’t keep up with the White Tiger Tower students’ excitement.

Why were they so hyped?

Thud!

“It… it blocked it!! Even though I threw from the blind spot!!”

Lee Han almost said, ‘Your attack was so obvious, I could sense it from a mile away, what blind spot,’ but he was too tired.

Anyway, the shield seemed at least half-successful.

If only he could extend the duration…

“Next one!”

“Alright, this time it’s a chair!”

“I’m throwing a wooden sword!”

Bang! Thud! Crash!

The two White Tiger Tower students kept throwing things in excitement.

Actually, it might have been less about the shield and more about the thrill of throwing things at Lee Han.

“…What, what are you all doing?”

“What are you guys doing?”

Students who arrived late were appalled at the bizarre scene in the classroom.

White Tiger Tower students throwing junk at Lee Han.

If it wasn’t Lee Han, people would have reacted with, “Those White Tiger Tower jerks are bullying someone!”

“Wardanaz made a floating shield and we’re helping him test it!”

“I think that’s enough now.”

“Just one more! Let me throw just one more!”

“Go ahead…”

Lee Han, too tired to care, sat back in his chair and paused.

‘Wait. Hasn’t it been over an hour now?’

Huh?

• * *

“Moradi. I hope you’re not too upset. In a way, this is lucky for us. We have overwhelming power compared to the other groups.”

Deorgyu tried to cheer up Giselle.

On a golden weekend, only a few strange people—like students from the Shadow Patrol—would want to go mountain climbing.

Yet the reason they’d gathered to enter the mountain range was simple.

Both Giselle and Deorgyu suspected Professor Ingeldel’s final exam wouldn’t be easy.

Already, some White Tiger Tower students had thrown aside other pre-finals assignments and gone into the mountains to secure good prey in advance.

Even if they failed other classes, they were determined to get good grades in swordsmanship.

Of course, for Giselle, it was enough to drive her mad.

‘You lunatics, stop dragging down the tower’s average grades! That’s why we get looked down on!’

“Moradi. Considering all the assignments we have, you know we can’t waste time even on the weekend. Let’s not fight and do well together.”

“I know, so stop nagging. How much have you done on the imbuement magic assignment?”

“I’ve made a lot of progress. Thanks to Lee Han’s help. If you’d like, want to work together?”

“……”

Giselle hesitated.

Getting involved with Wardanaz never ended well…

…but in this situation, she was tempted by Wardanaz’s magical skill.

Especially since she couldn’t expect much intellectual advice from other friends in the tower!

“Wardanaz would never help out so easily.”

“Hmm. True, Lee Han… may not help out entirely for free…”

Deorgyu had enough conscience not to say Lee Han would help for nothing.

“Lee Han hasn’t finished the imbuement magic assignment either. If you work together and just ask him questions, he’ll answer. He knows there’s no point in fighting before finals.”

“You two were here first.”

“Lee Han!”

As Lee Han arrived, Deorgyu greeted him warmly.

And then, seeing the shield spinning around Lee Han, he was shocked.

“N-no… This can’t be?! This can’t be…!”

“What are you talking about?”