Episode 405

At Lee Han’s protest, Professor Millei paused to consider, then accepted his objection.

“Very well. Please try it yourself.”

“……”

Even with the professor’s permission, Lee Han felt unsettled.

Professor Millei was watching Lee Han’s every move with an unwavering, stern expression.

With someone so upright and strict, it was impossible not to feel nervous.

‘He never puts this kind of pressure on the other students when they practice, does he?’

Complaining to himself about the unfair treatment, Lee Han unrolled the magic-inscribed paper.

High-level archmages often created summons on the spot without such aids, but for most mages, prior preparation was crucial—be it reagents, scrolls, artifacts, and so on.

-Paper Bird Summon- was one of those spells requiring prior preparation.

Without a scroll with a properly inscribed magic circle, a mage would have to construct the summon’s structure from scratch with each casting, making the magic circle inscription step perhaps the most critical in the spell.

Scratch, scratch, scratch—

The quill glided smoothly across the paper. -Paper Bird Summon- was extremely famous in the Empire, and its magic circle was fairly well-known, but reproducing it was up to the mage’s skill.

If just tracing the circle meant the spell would work, why would so many aspiring magicians struggle and shed tears against that wall?

The -Paper Bird Summon- circle was never simple. Even at Einrogard, students commonly made several mistakes each.

‘…Did the pain of Professor Verdus’s classes help in situations like this?’

Then Lee Han was surprised.

His own magic circle was so clean and precise he barely recognized it.

He had practiced at the end of last semester but not at all during the vacation, so he hadn’t noticed…

When did his skill improve this much?

Professor Millei spoke slowly, as if this was to be expected.

“Let’s add voice.”

Lee Han focused more intently and began weaving in the necessary characters.

To modify a completed magic circle was not a matter of simply adding more lines and symbols.

One needed to understand the circle’s mechanism and anticipate the changes this would produce.

A forced modification could cause the summoned bird to stab its master instead of echoing a voice.

‘Engrave it here… need more ink here. Is the circuit flowing right? This part would short, so disconnect here…’

Focusing so deeply, Lee Han didn’t even notice when he was done. Professor Millei spoke first.

“It’s complete.”

“Ah, yes. But I still need to check if it functions correctly…”

“No need. I suggest raising the difficulty.”

Professor Millei turned away as if that settled the matter.

At the same time, Lee Han’s improvised scroll bloomed into a paper bird.

The bird zipped over to the White Tiger Tower students and shouted loudly,

—Focus on the lesson!!!

“Ahhh!”

“I–I was focusing! What the—!”

The startled White Tiger Tower students looked around in a panic at the sudden ambush.

It was a flawless improvement.

The Blue Dragon Tower friends nearby looked at Lee Han and commented.

“You should raise the difficulty.”

“Looks like you really should, Wardanaz.”

“…No dinner for you guys.”

“!??!”

• * *

Professor Mortum still seemed a little embarrassed, flushing when he saw Lee Han.

“Cough. Were you able to control the golem properly?”

“Yes, Professor. Is Senior Ogoldos doing all right?”

“He’s fine… Usually, it’d be him worrying about you, not the other way around.”

Ogoldos was now a senior, yet being fussed over by a junior. But Professor Mortum held nothing against him.

It wasn’t out of concern for his dwindling number of students.

He simply understood Ogoldos’s circumstances.

Frankly, it wouldn’t have made much difference had it been another student!

“Today’s lesson is on the dark element, right? What should I prepare?”

Despite missing two weeks, Lee Han both understood the lesson best and was already preparing—an odd situation, but Professor Mortum no longer found such things surprising.

Why be surprised by these things now? The professor answered calmly.

“The other students will keep working on the dark element… cough. You’ll be working on bone-element magic.”

“??”

Lee Han was caught off guard.

“Oh. Did I skip something in the syllabus?”

“No. You already know how to use dark element.”

“But there’s still a lot I lack…”

Professor Mortum ignored Lee Han’s reply.

It was too trivial to even bother answering.

“Cough. More importantly, I heard something from Ogoldos… It was hard to believe, so I wanted to confirm it myself.”

“Oh, you mean the King of Ghouls?”

Lee Han responded as if he’d been waiting for this.

“Surprisingly, he really was the owner of that palace. His behavior doesn’t show it, but—”

“…Cough, cough! Who was wondering about that?!”

Professor Mortum replied, exasperated.

That the King of Ghouls was the master of the undead palace was obvious.

Who else would own it?

“Then what was so hard to believe?”

“Ogoldos said you summoned and tried to control more than ten undead at once, struggled desperately, and then only once you cut down to one could you control it easily. He said he was amazed…”

“……”

Lee Han experienced a rare moment of embarrassment.

“That’s just… a habit from practicing with…”

“Cough. How could that be habit?”

Even for the sake of practice, the moment you summoned over ten undead, a mage should feel a keen sense of crisis as their magic neared depletion.

Just breathing, you’d want to reduce the number of undead out of desperation, so how at ease was Lee Han to forget the basic truth that ‘it’s easier with fewer’?

“At least I learned it’s easier to control when it’s down to one.”

“That’s not something you learn… any normal person would just know… cough. Never mind. Let’s get back to the main point.”

Professor Mortum kindly embraced a student who had overlooked a basic fact even a fool would know.

“The reason the principal agreed to give you the -Basics of Ancient Necromancy- book is because we both believe you have the ability to advance ancient necromancy.”

“Is… is that so?”

Lee Han almost said, ‘Wasn’t it just to torment me?’—but stopped himself.

While the others could call forth their contracted undead, Lee Han was made to summon the old-fashioned way by the Skull Principal and Professor Mortum.

Ancient necromancy meant crafting undead from scratch with the mage’s own power.

Naturally, it was much harder. There was a reason old ways were left behind.

“Cough. Since you’re now fairly adept at controlling, and even tried strengthening in different ways…”

“There are still so many things I can’t do…”

Direct control only worked with a single undead, and enhancement was limited to simple amplification via merging bones.

Still quite far from a truly skilled necromancer.

Of course, Professor Mortum ignored him just as before.

“…It’s time to move ahead a little. Cough.”

The original goal for this year’s course was basic control of a single undead summon, but since Lee Han had already succeeded, there was no reason to hold him back.

Rather than explain where the initial goal ended, Professor Mortum presented Lee Han with a new one.

The reason other mages dreaded necromancers skilled in the bone element was for bone element magic’s tenacity.

Unlike other summoning types, after destruction, recovery was fast, and even the broken remains became resources—an endless engine.

If you got caught up with a mage like that, it was like being dragged into a swamp.

“In other words, bone-element necromancers have to keep casting spells after summon. They can’t just stand by.”

“I understand.”

“Cough. What kind of bone magic can you use now?”

Lee Han could fire bone shards, summon bone armor, shields, or restraints.

For a first-year sampling every school’s curriculum, being able to use these first–second circle spells was highly commendable. But for someone who could summon a skeleton warrior by old necromancy, it lacked panache.

“You’ll need to learn bone explosion next.”

Bone explosion magic, which ignited gas within bones with mana to cause them to explode, provided the simplest way necromancers boosted firepower, making it a must-learn course for those aiming to specialize.

“Wait? That’s at least a third-circle spell, isn’t it?”

“Is it? Does that matter?”

“…No, nothing at all!”

Seeing Professor Mortum’s completely sane expression, Lee Han gave up on asking.

A face like that would never yield a proper answer.

“Cough. Of course, it won’t be easy. Do you know what you need to pay the most attention to when learning bone explosion?”

“Hmm. Maintaining the magic connection?”

The farther the object was from the mage, the harder it became to affect it directly with magic.

Mages casting and controlling bone-element spells at a distance needed to manage the bone and cast spells on it simultaneously.

So connection of magical power had to be even more carefully maintained…

“Wrong.”

“Really?”

“The main thing is regulating the blast power. Cough. So you don’t get caught in the explosion yourself.”

“……”

Lee Han was left speechless by such a practical warning.

Wait a minute…

“I’ve drawn a protection magic circle here, so practice within this area. If the circle looks like it’s failing, call me. Cough. And don’t destroy the workshop. It’s a pain.”

“Yes…”

• * *

Gainando, Raphadael, and Imirg were curious what was happening inside for such loud bangs to be coming from within.

“Is Lee Han being tortured?”

“You idiot, prince. Why would the professor torture Wardanaz?”

“You’re the idiot. So why does the principal attack us?”

“……”

“Cough. Focus, everyone.”

At the professor’s words, everyone snapped back to attention.

But the explosions from inside kept drawing their concern.

“Oh, Professor.”

Raphadael carefully raised his hand. Professor Mortum glanced at him to go ahead.

“I heard the summoners are visiting soon. Do we have anything we need to prepare?”

It might seem odd for necromancers to care about a summoner’s festival, but the two disciplines overlapped more than one might think.

Necromancy included undead summoning, after all.

So naturally, among the festival participants would also be necromancers.

Professor Mortum, given his pride, would probably not want his necromancer students upstaged by other summoners.

“Cough. Don’t worry about it.”

“Oh. Really?”

“Yes. Just enjoy yourselves.”

Raphadael was a little surprised.

He’d expected detailed festival instructions from the professor.

Gainando chided him from beside.

“What do you think the professor is, to expect that? Don’t you know how many spells we need to catch up on? He doesn’t have time for festival nonsense.”

Imirg nodded in agreement.

No matter how prideful the professor, he wouldn’t go so far as to send his students to the summoner festival just to prove himself…

“Cough. As for proving anything, Wardanaz will handle that. You all just have fun.”

“……”

“……”

Somehow, the noise from inside seemed to stop.