Episode 421

Lecture room furniture appearing and flying in with no warning.

The ever-considerate Professor Voladi explained to Lee Han, even as he attacked him, why this was necessary.

Although divination magic is known as one of the most mysterious and difficult to learn branches, in truth, anyone—not just wizards—could practice divination.

Just as you can predict rain if the skies are cloudy or foresee the end of the world if the skeletal headmaster becomes virtuous, divination at its core was the ability to look at the past and present to predict the future.

Divination magic is the field of developing this ability to its extreme.

One of the methods for developing it was to gain as much experience and knowledge as possible relevant to the field you want to predict.

Want to divine the location of teleportation magic in advance?

The more you got hit by teleportation magic, the more accurate your divination magic would become.

“That’s about right.”

“That’s ri—cough!”

Lee Han took a blow to the jaw from a chair that materialized from the floor. His vision swam and his balance was lost.

“…Professor. Can’t I just try practicing divination magic directly?”

Getting up from the floor, Lee Han asked sincerely.

Professor Craer had warned about the unknown price of recklessly using divination magic, but Lee Han felt he was already paying the price right now.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“It’s dangerous.”

“……”

Lee Han looked at the wreck of the classroom.

About 30% of the smashed furniture had broken by colliding directly with his own body…

‘If I die from getting hit by a chair, the skeletal headmaster will be overjoyed.’

Lee Han gathered his strength and stood again.

He felt like he was getting better at taking hits than at predicting them.

He found that if he gathered mana in his body by reflex right as the furniture struck, the impact was lessened.

Unbeknownst to Lee Han, this was a trick used by veteran mercenaries who frequented chaotic battlefields.

“Wait.”

“?”

Professor Voladi gestured for Lee Han to pause, then took out a potion from his robe and drank it.

A powerful surge of magical energy could be felt.

“A mana restoration potion?”

“Yes.”

Normally, Professor Voladi would beat Lee Han senseless all class without breaking a sweat, but teleportation magic was an exception.

Due to the difficulty, mana consumption was much higher.

Even though the spells he used were combat-optimized—fast-casting and low mana cost—it was still taxing.

“Oh my. Professor, maybe we should take a break…”

“No need. Don’t worry.”

“Don’t too many mana potions put a strain on your body?”

“This much doesn’t matter.”

“……”

Lee Han glanced at the box of mana potions.

‘If I smashed that box…’

“Shall we start again?”

Instead of answering, Lee Han immediately leaped aside. He realized it was one of Professor Voladi’s traps.

Sure enough, an attack came flying. It was a nasty attack, taking advantage of how an opponent would let their guard down when responding to a question.

‘If I just destroy that box…!’

Dodging about half the attacks and blocking the rest with his body, Lee Han managed to approach.

He then rolled over the box of mana potions.

CRASH!

“Oh! Professor, I’m so sorry!”

“Don’t mind it.”

“But now the potions are gone, so today’s lecture…”

Creak—

The classroom door opened and Professor Thunderstep entered with a large crate.

“Brought mana potions. Should I just leave them here?”

“Thank you.”

“Was there a dragon or something? Why so many potions…?”

Only then did he notice the classroom in complete disarray and Lee Han strewn across the box.

‘Hmm. I’d better not get involved.’

“I’ll just leave these here. Wardanaz, good luck!”

Before Lee Han could say a word, Professor Thunderstep quickly shut the door and left.

Lee Han glared at the door with a gaze full of hatred.

• * *

Near the end of class, Professor Voladi finally brought up actual magic.

“I am not an expert in divination magic.”

“…?”

Lee Han wondered what nonsense this was, but Professor Voladi was serious.

From a common perspective, someone like Professor Voladi wouldn’t be called an expert in his school.

He just learned what he needed from each school, refined it for combat, and used only that—almost more of a heretical approach.

A true specialist would dig deeply into their field, constantly researching new mysteries, publishing multiple papers a year at the Imperial Scholarly Society, and never forgetting to pay their annual dues.

“The magic I’m teaching you, don’t use it in front of actual divination mages.”

“??”

Lee Han was horrified, thinking Professor Voladi was about to teach him some forbidden evil spell.

‘Should I report him to the headmaster? Would Voladi take revenge on me?’

But despite his worries, the spell Professor Voladi produced was perfectly normal.

-Baegrek’s Momentary Prognostication-.

A composite of divination and enchantment magic: when cast on a mage, it granted them the ability to “foresight” future moments in combat by about one second.

Naturally, as with all divination spells, the more combat experience the target had, the better the magic performed.

If you wanted to divine teleportation magic, you’d have to get hit by it as much as possible…

‘I understand it in my head, but can’t accept it in my heart.’

Lee Han muttered inwardly, then asked curiously,

“But why shouldn’t I use this spell in front of divination mages?”

He wondered if Professor Voladi had stolen it from a famous seer.

It wouldn’t surprise him; the professor would do just fine even without Imperial law.

“They wouldn’t like it.”

Divination mages despised those who used divination solely for material gain.

Such people would ruin the Empire’s economy and bring ruin to its citizens just to feed their own greed.

The spell Professor Voladi taught wasn’t that wicked; rather, all non-combat uses had been cut away so only combat application remained.

It wasn’t the sort of magic divination mages would appreciate.

“Well, isn’t it a bit much to criticize using it just for battle?”

Lee Han felt a stab of guilt and bristled.

He’d once considered using divination for some easy financial gain.

Compared to that, using it for battle was a practical, harm-free application.

“No need to mind if seers complain. Only the user knows how good this spell is.”

Professor Voladi stared at Lee Han in silence, making him uneasy.

‘Is he about to attack me again?’

Lee Han wondered if he should throw an inkwell or something to disrupt the spell.

But Professor Voladi did not attack.

“Thank you. I’ll make sure you can use this spell before semester’s end.”

“But…”

When you finally side with him, he responds with a murder threat—Lee Han shuddered.

‘I’ll never take his side again!’

• * *

Lee Han staggered up from the underground, suffering from dizziness.

-Baegrek’s Momentary Prognostication- lived up to its name; every failure left his mana churning and depleted.

Good thing he had so much mana. Otherwise, he might have vomited blood from exhaustion.

‘Ugh. Nausea…’

According to Professor Voladi, if it only ended in nausea, Lee Han was lucky.

Just like a wellspring tossed by a storm will still not move like a great ocean, thanks to his enormous mana reserves, he only staggered lightly despite the turbulence.

Of course, to Lee Han suffering from the nausea, this meant nothing. He cursed Professor Voladi as he climbed.

“Wardanaz!”

Angrago spotted Lee Han and ran up. Lee Han shot him a look twice as threatening as usual.

“I was looking for—why, why are you glaring? What did I do?”

“I’m nauseous… Never mind. What is it?”

“The professor’s looking for you! He said to bring you as quickly as possible… We need to hurry!”

“I see.”

Lee Han nodded.

As Angrago turned, relieved, to lead the way, Lee Han slapped himself hard, shock-clearing his head with pain.

Not letting the opportunity slip, Lee Han ambushed Angrago from behind.

CRASH!

He took Angrago down, grabbed his arm, and pinned him. Angrago yelled in fright.

“Wh-what are you doing?! What are you doing!? W-wait, is this about the increased school patrols… I didn’t rat anyone out! I didn’t, Wardanaz!”

“Just saying you didn’t rat doesn’t cut it. Security’s up several times. Why not just get caught alone and not drag others in… No, that’s not the point now. Angrago. Were you going to trick me to the end?”

“????”

Angrago had absolutely no clue why this lunatic was acting like this.

What was this?

“I-is this because you said to the headmaster that it’d be perfect if you started harassing students like him? That was just a joke…”

“…You said that crap too?”

Lee Han gripped even harder.

He could let a lot go, but being told to become the next skeletal headmaster could not be forgiven easily.

These bastards! How unlucky!

“Aaah! Aaah! Then what is it?!”

“Hoo. Angrago. If the professor wanted to call me, he’d have sent a magic paper bird, right? Why send you? I can see right through you. You want to grab me and take my supplies.”

“That’s because Professor Ingeldel asked for you…! Professor Ingeldel isn’t a mage, you crazy bastard!”

Angrago screamed, his arm aching.

He hadn’t even thought about stealing supplies—what on earth was this creative nonsense?!

“I see.”

Lee Han let go of his arm, nodding at his reply.

“You’re right. Sorry I misunderstood.”

“……”

Angrago was so dumbfounded he was speechless. Lee Han immediately switched topics.

“Lead the way. The professor’s waiting, right?”

“You shameless…”

“Hurry! Or should I just go somewhere else?”

“……”

• * *

Professor Ingeldel was not a social person. As a man who’d wandered battlefields swinging a sword, this was only natural.

In that respect, the air of Einrogard suited him.

The faculty each focused on their own work in a free environment.

It was so free that even if the headmaster called a meeting, some professors simply ignored it.

“When I dueled with Sir Bikelinz, I honestly thought, ‘I may have met the strongest knight I’ve ever faced. Maybe even the strongest I ever will face.’ Sir Bikelinz seemed to think so, too; he looked at me with respect. Speaking of looks, there seems to be something characteristic in how knights exchange looks, depending on the order. When the knights of our order exchange glances…”

Professor Ingeldel, fingertips trembling, put down his teacup.

Jeancliff of the Jeanclain family, vice-captain of the Beechwood Knights, was chattering endlessly as if determined to destroy Ingeldel’s eardrums.

“Sir Jeancliff… I’m worried I might be taking up too much of your time with this visit…”

“Not at all. Opportunities to meet a swordsman like you are rare.”

“Perhaps a spar, then?”

“After we finish our stories?”

“Actually, right now…”

“I’m so delighted. Now, where was I…”

Professor Ingeldel squeezed his eyes shut.

At this point, all he could do was pray that his most sociable student would arrive quickly.