Episode 221
by CristaeEpisode 221
The White Tiger Tower student who had been by Lee Han’s side the whole way had persistently put forth a hypothesis.
-In my opinion, Wardanaz wasn’t swept away and dragged off. Wardanaz chased after it to catch the Rock Drake.
Of course, it was such an extreme and radical hypothesis that even Gainando from Blue Dragon Tower didn’t accept it.
-Isn’t he just making excuses so he doesn’t have to go help those bastards?
-Ah, no!
“What did I say! What did I say?!”
“D… did he really catch it??”
The Blue Dragon Tower students couldn’t believe it and just stared at each other.
No matter how many White Tiger Tower or Black Turtle Tower students believed strange rumors like, “Wardanaz has been secretly studying magic and has mastered all sorts of evil forbidden arts even before entering the magic school,” Blue Dragon Tower students did not.
Spending so much time together, they weren’t fooled by such ridiculous rumors.
The Blue Dragon Tower students were cool-headed and clever.
In every class Lee Han attended, the professor would tell him, “You are a talent who will bring prosperity to this school,” and Lee Han himself had the ambition to “master the secrets of all fields of magic.” He was indeed an extraordinary mage prospect, but he wasn’t someone as absurd as those rumors suggested.
Besides, no matter how much of a genius Lee Han was, things like hunting a Rock Drake at this stage were…
“Wa, Wardanaz!”
As Lee Han staggered out, his friends screamed.
The sight of him walking out from between the Rock Drakes looked so battered they thought he might have been seriously injured.
Lee Han waved his hand as if to say he was fine. It meant he wasn’t hurt.
“You caught the Rock Drake?!”
“…What? What nonsense is that?”
“Ah, no… You were lying down over there…”
Lee Han looked at his friends as if they were the most pathetic creatures in the world.
Under that gaze, the Blue Dragon Tower students felt themselves become endlessly stupid.
“They fought each other and collapsed.”
“Ah… I see.”
The Blue Dragon Tower students glared at the White Tiger Tower student who had made so much noise on the way over.
‘Because of that jerk!’
But the White Tiger Tower student was still muttering nonsense.
“You made the two of them fight? With mind magic?!”
“What’s going on? Did Wardanaz really catch it?”
“I heard he made two Rock Drakes fight each other.”
“Just as I thought!”
“I knew it from when he took down Deorgyu with mind control!”
If Lee Han were a little less tired, he would have noticed that the White Tiger Tower students were whispering nonsense, but he was too exhausted for that.
He had maintained his balance and endured while two Rock Drakes charged at each other as if they meant to kill.
No matter how overflowing with magical power he was, the drain on his concentration was enormous.
“Disassemble the Rock Drake. It’s big, so just cut off the good parts for eating and that should be enough.”
“O-okay.”
“?”
He had spoken to the Blue Dragon Tower students, but when the passing White Tiger Tower students rushed over, Lee Han wondered.
‘Doesn’t matter.’
For now, he just wanted to rest for a bit.
- * *
After a moment’s nap, Lee Han got up from his seat.
Students were bustling around, cleaning up everywhere.
‘…I haven’t learned nothing.’
What left Lee Han most bitter was that he was proving Professor Voladi’s theory: “You learn quickly when thrown into a precarious crisis, so you must keep experiencing crises,” all by himself.
Every time he really fell into a precarious situation, he learned and realized something, which made him feel self-deprecating.
…Is this really the right method for a mage?
‘No matter how I see it, this doesn’t feel like the right way.’
Enduring atop the Rock Drake that had burst up from underground could be managed with -Minor Control- magic alone, but with two Rock Drakes colliding head-on, it wasn’t enough.
He had to be firmly fixed on the back of the Rock Drake, not in midair.
As a last resort, Lee Han grabbed the Rock Drake’s scales and radiated magic power from his fingertips. Not only did he use reinforcement magic, he further tried to boost his physical ability.
Even so, it wasn’t enough. His body kept shaking as if it would be thrown off at any moment.
But there was no other way.
Lee Han desperately poured, poured, and poured magic power.
And at some moment, he realized.
-Magic power…?!
He may not have created advanced academic theories like the mages, but knights also used magic power to perform all sorts of techniques.
These techniques were considered secret arts handed down in knightly families, so they weren’t easily leaked and even the knights themselves hardly used them.
But Lee Han had recently seen a unique swordsmanship using magic power.
When the young apprentice knights from the White Poplar Knights visited.
At that time, Labda from the Enghe Family had used a very unique swordsmanship.
A strange sword art that, at the moment swords clashed, pulled the opponent’s sword in with the magic power flowing through his own blade.
When he asked other students, they said it was the Enghe Family’s unique “sword-sucking” (吸劍) technique.
It was rare and quite famous even among the knights.
…Now, Lee Han felt he had accidentally realized the mystery of “sucking” (吸).
Tak-
Lee Han released magic power into his hand and pressed it to the rock.
A sticky attraction was felt between his hand and the rock.
“……”
‘I should be learning magic power circulation instead of things like this.’
Thanks to this change in property, he barely survived by clinging to the back of the Rock Drake, but actually, this wasn’t the task Lee Han should be tackling now.
As a swordsman, he needed to perfect the constant internal magic power circulation that allowed him to maintain magic power proficiently…
Why did he, at a time when he should be creating new sword techniques, come to understand this unusual change in the properties of magic power?
‘If I tell Professor Ingeldel, he might just be dumbfounded.’
In fact, Lee Han was mistaken.
If it were Professor Ingeldel, he would be delighted, not baffled.
-Excellent, Wardanaz. Outstanding swordsmen have always discovered pieces of their own sword style in their youth. Because you are so earnest with your sword, the sword has also answered you. Now let’s try melting that realization into your own sword. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to recreate the moment you gained your insight. What moment was it?
…He would say things like this and be pleased.
His disciple, who was very earnest about swordsmanship (at least in Professor Ingeldel’s opinion), seemed to have taken a step toward his own sword style.
“Wardanaz. Are you a bit better now?”
“Ah. Yeah. Thanks.”
Lee Han withdrew his hand from the rock and stood up completely.
The insight was something to consider later; for now, he had to deal with the matters at hand.
“Hold this for a bit.”
“What is it?”
“Roast beef. Made from Rock Drake meat.”
The White Tiger Tower student handed him a thick, grilled, juicy, and moist hunk of crimson meat.
‘But if it’s Rock Drake meat, isn’t it not beef?’
Thinking this, Lee Han took the plate.
Of course, the White Tiger Tower students felt no reluctance about such things.
If they were already making coffee by boiling dandelions and acorns, what difference was there between drake meat and beef?
“Thanks for the food. Thank…”
“No need to thank me. Wardanaz. You caught it.”
The White Tiger Tower student, perhaps feeling a bit self-conscious, rubbed under his nose.
For some reason, it felt awkward to be serving a meal to Wardanaz now.
Who could have predicted, before entering the dungeon—no, the library—that they would end up serving a meal to Wardanaz?
“This is really…”
“I said it’s fine, Wardanaz. No need to thank me.”
“No. It’s tough. Who cooked this?”
“……”
The White Tiger Tower student looked at Wardanaz as if he were dumbfounded.
“It’s plenty tasty enough… isn’t it?”
“What are you talking about…”
Lee Han walked forward.
Looking to the side, even the Blue Dragon Tower students wore subtly awkward expressions.
They were thankful the White Tiger Tower students had cooked enthusiastically, but…
…Clearly something was unsatisfying in their expressions!
“Lee Han!! You’re up!”
Gainando sprang up from his seat.
And he said aloud what all the Blue Dragon Tower students had internally thought but could not voice due to conscience.
“If you would cook ins… mmmph.”
“Please shut up…!”
“Do you want us to be called the Tower of Blue Beggars?!”
Indignant Blue Dragon Tower friends quickly blocked Gainando’s mouth.
But it was already too late for those who had heard.
“…Wardanaz. If you want, you can do it.”
The White Tiger Tower student standing by the meat called out to Lee Han.
A few others crossed their arms and looked at Lee Han.
Their gaze seemed to say, “Let’s see how good you really are.”
‘Even if you’re a great mage, can you really be good at cooking, the flower of camping?’
‘I’ve been grilling meat since I could walk. Wardanaz, how many years have you grilled?’
‘These guys weren’t even this competitive in swordsmanship…’
With a reluctant expression, Lee Han stood in front of the meat.
The peculiar fervor in their eyes was ridiculous.
“They all think Lee Han can’t do it.”
Deorgyu muttered to Giselle next to him.
Giselle, cleaning the dust off her sword, looked at Deorgyu with a ‘I don’t care’ look.
She hadn’t cared about the nonsense going on since earlier.
“But Moradi, Lee Han’s cooking skills are beyond imagination.”
‘So what…’
Not interested!
Giselle shook her head as if she couldn’t even be bothered to curse, and grabbed her sword again.
- * *
Even when Lee Han had taken down opponents with magic or with his sword, some White Tiger Tower students had never looked at him with the reverence they did now.
That’s how delicious the meat was.
It was a wondrous magical taste.
‘…Maybe I should have brought just some grilled meat to the first day of swordsmanship class?’
If he had, maybe about a quarter of the White Tiger Tower students would have followed him over…
“If everyone’s done eating, let’s move on.”
“Wait. Wardanaz. Hold on.”
“?”
“We need to gather water. See this grass? If you pull it out, water gets caught at the roots and…”
“Spring forth.”
“……”
“Water, fill up. Let’s go.”
The White Tiger Tower students thought they now understood why knights grumbled to mages whenever they drank.
That sense of futility at mages doing with a single staff what took knights all sorts of trouble!
“Mages are really…!”
“But you guys are mages too?”
Meanwhile, Lee Han checked the door leading downward.
“There’s a lock.”
“It’s a type of lock that you open by moving magic power.”
“We were searching the area for books.”
The White Tiger Tower students shared the information they’d gathered.
It was a lock that could be opened only by shaping magic power into a specific form.
For that reason, unless you figured out the shape, it was hard to open.
But Lee Han…
‘Since I have plenty of magic to spare, why don’t I try running through some of the most commonly used shapes.’
“Step aside.”
Lee Han put his hand on the lock and infused it with magic power.
He started running through the most famous and frequently used symbols and patterns…
Crack!!!
Lee Han’s expression froze.
Apparently, the lock’s magic limit was lower than he expected, and it couldn’t withstand the magic Lee Han poured in and seemed to shatter inside.
‘…It’s ruined.’
Lee Han could feel the White Tiger Tower students’ eyes on him from behind.
If he said he’d broken the lock by accident, these students might yell, “Wardanaz, you evil mage! You’ve revealed your true colors!” or something.
“???”
Of course, the White Tiger Tower students weren’t thinking such things at all, and just tilted their heads.
‘Is he doing it?’
‘He must be doing it.’
Clunk!
As the lock was smashed, perhaps the fixed parts also broke, and the door opened, revealing stairs heading down.
The White Tiger Tower students’ eyes widened in awe.
Opening it instantly without even breathing!
“…How did he figure it out?”
Giselle asked as if she couldn’t believe it.
No matter how hard she thought, she could not deduce the answer.
Lee Han kept his composure and answered.
“Wisdom and brilliance.”
“……”
Giselle bit her lip. Frustrating as it was, she had no choice but to acknowledge Wardanaz’s intellect.