Episode 455

There are fools who think everything can be solved as long as they recite spells properly. I won’t say who they are, but if I had to give a hint—it’s one of the royals in your year.

“Just say Gainando.”

What’s more important than incantations is knowledge. Imagine a tower built by a wizard who thinks just stacking up some stones will make a building. Maybe it’ll keep its form for a little while thanks to magic, but how long will that mana last?

“Hm.”

Lee Han recalled the spells he’d used until now.

Unlike other wizards, Lee Han had often used his overwhelming mana to greatly extend duration.

‘How long could it last?’

…That was a rhetorical question. I wasn’t asking you to calculate. You absurd boy.

The skull headmaster looked at his student in disbelief.

What he’d meant was, “Magic is an act of bending the world’s order by will, so don’t get arrogant—understand and flow with order as much as possible,” not, “How long can you brute-force through by ignoring order with raw mana alone?”

“Ah, I see.”

Sand, rock, wood… The elements you’re working with are basic, but even with soil, you can break it down into gravel, sand, clay, or into granite, limestone, basalt…

The earth-element magic and sand-stone transformations Lee Han used were basic spells in magical construction, but to go further, you had to understand the diverse properties of materials, and comprehend load and stress.

How to map the inside, put in beams, distribute the roof’s weight…

As he nodded along, Lee Han suddenly became curious.

“Will I have to use what you just explained today?”

It was too technical for just idle chit-chat.

Not today.

“?”

But you’ll learn all this in your second year anyway. In classes like -Foundations of Magical Architecture- or -Intro to Magic Materials-…

“No.”

Lee Han stopped coaxing the tree to grow and answered flatly.

• * *

Repairing the cracks in the stone house, replacing the washed-out dock supports with newly grown trees, and working hard on other repairs…

If the job was big, the skull headmaster stepped up, smaller ones Lee Han handled.

That’s everything.

“……”

Lee Han had a rather complicated expression.

By now, he was starting to realize something.

‘Damn. He really just came out here to do repairs.’

There was no evil scheme, suspicious exam, or hidden treasure vault.

When the skull headmaster saw Lee Han’s face, he stifled a laugh.

Don’t look so arrogant. You don’t have to make that face just because you failed a few spells.

The earth-element and transformation spells you learned today were accomplishment enough.

The skull headmaster knew well how the other professors wrung Lee Han dry.

Even without him pressing, the others would be tough on him anyway.

‘I’ll make a note in the break room.’

“Yes… Thank you…”

Since you worked hard, take some food with you.

With a glance, the skull headmaster conjured food from midair.

Round wooden casks filled with beer and mead, and piping hot dinners just out of the kitchen.

Lee Han smiled and nodded.

“Thank you.”

‘I definitely shouldn’t eat this now.’

One Einrogard rule was never to eat food from the skull headmaster during exam week.

The fact that lavish dishes were still hot made it more suspicious.

It was obvious that starving students would be tempted to eat even while knowing better.

The skull headmaster, seeing Lee Han didn’t give in, clicked his tongue.

You’re not planning to keep it all to yourself instead of sharing with your classmates, are you?

“If anyone feels wronged, they can challenge me to a duel.”

……

The skull headmaster cursed Lee Han.

To oppress your classmates just because you’re good at magic.

‘What a rotten brat!’

Just then, a Death Knight came running from a distance.

-Master.

All right. We’re done here. Shall we head back? Are the professors getting ready?

-Yes.

During exam season, it wasn’t only students who suffered.

Professors struggled with preparations, too.

The skull headmaster had summoned a few… notorious professors to the lounge for him to review their plans in advance.

Nothing else unusual?

-Professor Ingeldel is very depressed. If you gave him some gold coins as a reward, maybe…

That’s what you’d expect from an old-fashioned knight. These days, wizards don’t get happy over a handful of coins.

‘?’

Lee Han had no idea what that meant, but the skull headmaster sounded firm.

So why is he so down? The flood will end eventually; tell him not to worry. It won’t kill anyone to get a little wet.

“……”

Lee Han had to restrain himself from smacking the skull on the back of the head.

-That’s not why…

The Death Knight pointed at Lee Han and explained what happened.

He reported how Lee Han fell into a trance and how they tried to reproduce it by climbing the ship again. The skull headmaster cracked up.

Krahahahahahahaha!

-……

“……”

Both the Death Knight and Lee Han stared at the skull headmaster, who just kept laughing and laughing, as if the world was ending—

Ah, sorry. It was just so funny. No wonder you looked exhausted. Ingeldel’s really diligent, too. If I’d been there, I would’ve helped.

“Really a shame.”

Go on, head back. If you ever want to try again, let me know.

‘He’s the Headmaster. He’s the Headmaster.’

Lee Han swore at Moradi and at the skull headmaster both, swallowing every retort.

He couldn’t let himself be baited by that provocation.

‘Is it because I lack power? Am I just not strong enough?’

• * *

“……”

Flap flap flap!

A faint sound of pages turning. A strange scene spread before his eyes.

In midair hovered the black book the headmaster had given him, open for Lee Han.

“No way…”

Lee Han’s head ached slightly.

Even though he’d thought before bed, ‘I’m not strong enough,’ he didn’t expect the book to appear like this.

“Sorry, I really need to rest tonight.”

He wasn’t faking—he truly had to rest.

He’d spent the whole day swimming in the sea and following the headmaster on repair duty.

And with an exam tomorrow, rest was essential.

Flap!

But the black book didn’t care what Lee Han said.

3rd-circle magic, -Gonadaltes’s Boiling Power-.

Imbuement magic, of the enhancement type.

Because it was cast on living things, it was more difficult—and more than that…

‘Focus-type spells have huge risks and side effects.’

The enhancement magics required even more caution than imbuement magics.

If an imbuement spell failed, the artifact or material broke. If an enhancement spell failed, you could literally break your limbs.

Focus-type enhancement magic was even riskier.

Instead of raising general bodily functions, it boosted one specific area.

Which—sure, made the effect much stronger, but hugely increased the risk.

The more you focused, the more severe the backlash if it failed.

Even if you succeeded, sometimes there were side effects…

“Still, since the headmaster made this spell, maybe it’s different?”

?

“……”

The book had no mouth, but Lee Han could tell from the way it fluttered its pages: ‘What are you talking about?’

“…Let’s just practice. Maybe I’ll need to punch the headmaster one day.”

• * *

Morning.

Lee Han sat up in his sleeping bag. The library ceiling brightened, and light pushed back the darkness past the barricade.

His limbs still tingled with phantom pain from how the black book had tormented him.

-Gonadaltes’s Boiling Power- was just as he feared—a spectacularly painful experience for failures.

‘I’m never messing with enhancement magic.’

Now he understood why enhancement wizards got paid so much silver.

And why, on occasion, those enhancement wizards got grabbed by the collar.

No matter how desperate mercenaries or adventurers were for magic, with side effects like that, anyone would lose their mind.

People are like that: they act differently when desperate.

“Gainando. Wake up. Time for breakfast.”

Lee Han poked Gainando, who was snoring nearby, with his foot.

Usually, Gainando would jump up at the mention of breakfast, but today, he showed no sign of waking.

‘What is this?’

Lee Han frowned. He felt a strange sense of wrongness.

Thwack—

Lee Han flipped Gainando over with his staff—and spotted chocolate at the corner of his mouth.

Yesterday, among the dishes the headmaster had given them…

‘There was a chocolate cake.’

Lee Han called his friends together.

Then he told them to hang up everyone who couldn’t get up by their ankles.

“Should I write, -I secretly ate food I was told not to eat at night- under them?”

“Yes. And don’t let them down right away, even when they wake up—give it a bit.”

“Don’t worry, Wardanaz. I’m an expert at this kind of discipline.”

Salko winked reassuringly.

In any guild with strict rules, thieves were never forgiven.

“It’s exemplary punishment. Don’t worry about it, Wardanaz.”

“I’m really not worried abou—”

-Anyone with a morning exam, hurry up! The danju-eo is waiting!

From the library’s dock, Lee Han heard friends calling out.

He nodded and got ready to go out.

“That’s everyone, right? Let’s get going.”

“Wait, Wardanaz isn’t here yet.”

“I thought he didn’t have a morning exam?”

“No, Wardanaz always does. His schedule’s packed.”

“……”

Hearing this as he approached the dock, Lee Han felt abruptly bitter.

He was even more stung when his friends fell silent as soon as they saw him.

“Let’s go.”

“Y-yeah, Wardanaz.”

“You really worked hard yesterday. Are you feeling okay? Moradi was worried about you.”

Lee Han nodded and pushed that White Tiger Tower student off the danju-eo.

Splash!

“Pft! What the hell was that for?!”

“Sorry. Didn’t sleep enough—my foot slipped.”

• * *

Lee Han wondered if there was anyone in Einrogard more bitter than him as he pushed open the classroom door with his staff.

To his surprise, someone inside looked even more down than he did.

Professor Voladi.

‘No way?’

Lee Han was shocked.

The insane professor who looked like he could kill a man with no change of expression—wearing a bitter face like that?

“Professor?”

Lee Han called out to Professor Voladi from atop the raft. Standing on the water, Professor Voladi spoke.

“This midterm…”

“……”

For once, even the top student of Einrogard, who’d overcome endless dangers, couldn’t help being nervous.

What could it be?

“…is canceled.”

“!!!!!!!!!!!”

Lee Han was stunned.

Even if someone told him Einrogard was shutting its doors, he’d be less surprised than now.

“Is that true!?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because of the flood.”

Professor Voladi sounded tortured as he explained it slowly.

There had been an underground dungeon all ready for the midterms.

Since Lee Han took classes from every school, it was a comprehensive and very fun, beneficial, combined underground dungeon.

‘Water spirits, thank you.’

Lee Han resolved to thank water spirits whenever he met them from now on.