Episode 773

‘Does he do this with everyone he meets?’

If he went around asking, “Senior! Junior! Please teach me magic!” to everyone he met, it made sense that he had such a reputation.

Of course, passionate learning was better than no enthusiasm at all, but only up to a point.

If you kept pestering people for years, it was understandable they’d get fed up.

‘Wait. This isn’t the time to be distracted.’

Lee Han snapped himself back to reality.

Right now, there was a knife-wielding robber—no, a sword-wielding senior in front of him.

And, for some reason, that sword-wielding senior held Lee Han in surprisingly high regard.

“There seems to be a misunderstanding, senior. How can you judge someone’s qualifications just based on that conversation?”

Lee Han, who seriously did not want to tutor a fifth-year senior, spoke firmly.

And, in truth, this wasn’t wrong.

‘He called me qualified just because we had one conversation. Suspicious no matter how you look at it.’

There was a good chance he was going to make Lee Han tutor him no matter what Lee Han said.

“Haha. Junior, do you know how many magicians have tried to teach me? I can tell just from a single word if someone is capable of teaching or not.”

Catten said proudly—though it was hardly something to be proud of.

Lee Han couldn’t laugh. It wasn’t funny at all.

“R-really? Which part?”

“Well, all the magicians who tried to teach me started with basic arithmetic, trying to get numbers in my head. But you didn’t.”

“……”

Lee Han wanted to say, “That’s just because Direte mentioned it!” but he couldn’t sell out Direte like that.

‘Wait, I should have said Yukveltire senior told me.’

“Just that much tells me you’re one of the better people to attempt teaching me.”

“That’s too much praise… Didn’t you meet anyone like that among your White Tiger Tower friends?”

“Hm. They all tried to force numbers first.”

‘Damn it, Moradi! You clever jerk!’

Lee Han silently fumed at Giselle, who was blameless.

How could she have missed such an opening!

‘I guess I should have tried teaching numbers from the start.’

Thanks to what he’d heard from Direte and his experience tutoring first-year delinquents, Lee Han accidentally passed.

“And you proposed a different practice method from the usual. I’ve heard explanations of -Lesser Flame Barrier- dozens of times, but you’re the first to suggest casting it while risking setting your body on fire.”

“……”

Now it was time to blame Professor Zorzic of the Benmalfa Family.

Lee Han cursed that Professor Zorzic would never, ever become the principal.

“That’s just because I have so much magical power that it’s hard to control…”

“You’ve experienced such struggles!? That’s even better! Junior, you just might be the one who can teach me!”

Catten was delighted at Lee Han’s reported struggles.

A genius who’d overcome such hardships to take every department’s courses might just be able to teach him.

“…Don’t be too disappointed if I can’t, all right?”

Lee Han said, half resigned.

If it didn’t work out, surely Catten would give up on his own.

The fifth-year senior stroked his long, side-swept feline whiskers as he smiled.

“Disappointed? I’ve failed so many times before—there’s nothing to be disappointed about at this point! Junior, don’t worry. Come with me.”

Catten, with a mincing step, pulled Lee Han forward.

Lee Han asked, curious.

“Where are we going?”

“Ah. As I said, you’ll teach me magic, and I should also pass on swordsmanship to you. I think learning more swordsmanship will definitely help your magic training.”

‘Does he mean I should cut down the professor and run away?’

As far as Lee Han could tell, the only way swordsmanship would help magic training was using it to cut through and escape from professors.

“Do you really think I can learn your swordsmanship, senior?”

“I heard from the younger tower students—it’ll be no problem!”

“……”

Lee Han resolved to hunt down the White Tiger Tower second years later.

“You probably learned about intention in last year’s swordsmanship class, right, junior?”

“Yes.”

The secret principles handed down among the empire’s old swordsmen often contained vague lines like ‘put your fury into your sword’ or ‘put your faith into your sword.’

It wasn’t mere emotional discipline; swordsmen could actually alter the properties of magical power through sense and instinct.

Professor Ingeldel had explained this as “embedding intention into the sword.”

“When you master controlling your magic, fully grasp the sword forms, and finally learn to infuse intention into your sword beyond the ordinary and focus it all in one point…!”

The sword shone like a star.

Any magician could create a light source, but the brilliance radiating from the senior’s sword was fundamentally different, holding an uncanny mystery.

It was condensed magic power beyond magical rationale: ‘aura.’

“Amazing! How did you realize this…?”

Catten pondered Lee Han’s flattery seriously.

Then answered.

“I think it was the punishment room, junior. Staying in the punishment room repeatedly made me reflect deeply on swordsmanship.”

“…I see.”

“If you can’t control magical power, you can’t gather it in your sword. If you can’t master the forms, you can’t control it. If you can’t gather intention, you can’t condense it. You have to cover all three.”

Lee Han nodded.

He himself had tried to forcibly gather and smash magical power to fake aura, so he understood well.

In the end, aura was a condensation of magic beyond one’s limits; without true insight, it couldn’t be achieved.

“First, you must perfect this much, junior.”

“…A-any tips?”

Catten thought once again.

“Hm. If you follow my way, you’d spend the break in the punishment room…”

“I’ll do my best during class time.”

Lee Han answered quickly.

Answering wrong here could mean he’d be stuck in Einrogard for the holidays again.

“As expected. Junior, you’re talented enough to take all departments. You can do this.”

‘He didn’t call me here just to torment me, did he…?’

Even after all the praise, Lee Han felt no joy.

“Once you master aura, then…”

As Catten spoke, he swung his aura blade toward the lava. The radiant sword scribbled a bright arc through the air.

It was a powerful attack, and it ended there. Lee Han was confused about what was being shown.

“…Watch!”

Catten’s sword dance had only just begun.

After a single strike, he slashed again, and reality within the aura’s reach subtly changed.

“!!!!”

Lee Han, who had directly witnessed Direte’s personal world magic, realized in shock what this was.

Right now, the senior was summoning a sub-world via swordsmanship!

Of course, unlike Direte’s -Pentagrammaton-, this was less sophisticated, less systematic.

It was a primitive, limited, fleeting sub-world manifested only at the instant the sword was swung.

Even so, a sub-world was a sub-world.

As the rules of reality changed, the aura suddenly transformed into water and exploded outward.

With a shout, Catten pulled all that water into a barrier.

“Huuff… ha!”

Sadly, the water barrier lasted only a few seconds; it quickly lost power and collapsed.

Unlike magic, which could create complex, multi-step phenomena, swordsmanship could only produce momentarily destructive effects—sustaining a water barrier like this was nearly impossible.

That the barrier lasted a few seconds was an achievement in itself.

Just forming aura was great, but manifesting a sub-world with it…

“Huff… huff. Did you see that, junior?”

“I saw.”

Catten, out of breath, explained.

“That too… I perfected it… in the punishment room…”

“……”

‘Is he a punishment room maniac?’

“Incredible. To realize a sub-world with a sword…”

“Sub-world? What’s that, junior?”

“……”

Lee Han hadn’t expected a fifth year not to know what a sub-world was.

“So… Basically, it’s like this. For magic, it’s around the fifth circle…”

“Gasp! They have something like that in magic, too? I thought it only existed in swordsmanship!”

‘…He really should be in the knights.’

Lee Han was exasperated by Catten, but also impressed.

Whenever he’d faced knights like Allarlong or Ziklin, he’d sensed something beyond mere sword skills or aura, a higher tier of force—if masters could do this, it made sense.

Even the late-stage forms of the Wall Rock Sword Lee Han learned weren’t fully taught by Allarlong.

‘So a sub-world is possible by swordsmanship too.’

Suddenly Lee Han was curious.

“Senior, is something like this possible with swordsmanship?”

“Like what?”

“Like this…”

Lee Han briefly described the personal world magic he knew.

Not just altering yourself, but transforming a much wider area into an extension of your own order—the ultimate secret of a master magician.

When he finished describing the realm the skeleton principal had once shown, Catten burst into laughter.

“Magic can’t even do that, junior! How could a magician turn such a vast area into their own world!”

“…Senior, that’s a real magic.”

“?!?!”

Catten was visibly shocked.

After hearing Lee Han’s account, the fifth-year senior awkwardly nodded in acceptance.

“Who knew there was a grand magic like that… Junior, you astonish me.”

“You’ve never heard of it?”

“I always ask about only the easy spells…”

Catten had heard about -Lesser Flame Barrier- dozens of times, but never of sub-worlds or personal worlds.

“And as far as I know, swordsmanship can’t pull off anything like that. Hmm… One can twist reality for a moment, but as for changing such a vast component—I can’t even imagine how.”

Unlike the magician’s sub-world, a swordsman could only twist reality for a fleeting moment in the arc of a swing.

That was natural, since it was all instinct and sensation.

Of course, for a mage, even that seemed like a shortcut or a great trick…

“Well, that’s not what matters. Like I’d ever reach that anyway.”

“Junior, what’s that about? Don’t define your limits so early. You can do it. What was going through your mind when you learned swordsmanship last year?”

“Uh.”

Lee Han didn’t think he should say he wanted to coast with good grades.

“I… I wanted to see where the path of the sword would take me…”

“I knew it! Junior, just as I haven’t given up on magic, you mustn’t give up on swordsmanship.”

“Th-thank you.”

“Ever since I realized these secrets, I’ve been trying to increase my repertoire of special techniques. Hmm. One day, I’ll be able to unleash techniques as diverse as those mages have.”

‘This is swordsmanship madness…’

Lee Han inwardly shuddered as he listened.

“Junior, think about it. If I could do this with just a few spells, how many secret arts could I create if I learn more magic?”

“I’m honestly a little scared!”

“Hm? Scared?”

“In a positive way. Like… the punishment room, senior.”