Episode 842

Professor Garcia wondered if he had spoken too harshly and felt a touch of regret.

“Sorry, Student Lee Han. I snapped at you for no reason.”

‘Hmm. He doesn’t apologize to Professor Verdus, though.’

Lee Han thought to himself.

Although Professor Garcia apologized for the curt words to Lee Han, he never apologized for leaving the work to Professor Verdus.

And, in truth, Lee Han agreed with that.

‘He’s right. There’s no reason to apologize.’

Feeling sorry here was something only a first-year Einrogard student would do.

A professional Einrogard student or professor would never apologize.

Even if the two of them hadn’t left the work to Professor Verdus, he would have found some excuse to put it off anyway.

“But is it okay for me to do this?”

“What sort of scheme… wait, what did you say, Professor?”

As Professor Verdus began to speak, Professor Garcia nearly snapped in annoyance, but held back.

After all, there was a student listening.

“It seemed like Yukveltire wanted to do this.”

Normally, Professor Verdus would do whatever seemed interesting to him, regardless of whether the student cared, but there were a few exceptions.

One of those was when an angry Professor Garcia was standing in front of him.

If it turned out later that this staff project was actually a topic Professor Verdus’s disciple wanted, then…

At that point, not just his clavicle but his entire skeleton could be pulverized.

Professor Garcia’s strength awakened the common sense slumbering within Professor Verdus.

“I told you not to pull any schemes, remember?”

But Professor Verdus’s earnest intentions didn’t get through to him.

At the noise from his shoulder, Professor Verdus let out a scream.

“I-it’s not a scheme!”

“How do you know Yukveltire wants to do it? You don’t even know what your students want, do you?”

“That’s true, but this time Yukveltire really did want… Ack! Aaagh!”

“Enough already. Don’t try to foist this onto Yukveltire.”

Surrendering to brute force, Professor Verdus closed his mouth.

He hadn’t brought it up out of a desire to foist responsibility onto his student, but out of fear that Professor Garcia would completely chew him out; thus, he had no further intention of pursuing the matter.

‘I said it clearly. It’s not my fault.’

“Then, shall we begin?”

“Yes.”

“Can you take your hand off my shoulder?”

“No.”

“Okay…”

With a drooping, pitiful posture, Professor Verdus started his work.

Luckily, neither Lee Han nor Professor Garcia wavered at all.

• * *

“The Professor’s skills are remarkable.”

No matter what else could be said, Lee Han couldn’t help but be impressed.

Special metals that absorbed magical power, like black magnetite, were quite difficult to refine and process. Even blacksmiths who didn’t use magic would use magical tools—this was only natural.

Yet despite such adverse conditions, Professor Verdus was skillfully shaping the black magnetite.

‘Of course, maybe it’s because Professor Garcia has his hand on his shoulder, but even taking that into account, he’s truly impressive.’

Whoosh-!

Professor Verdus took out a necklace with a small glass cube hanging from it and blew on it. Flames flickered within the glass cube.

‘Small World!’

Lee Han was surprised to sense that the enchantment magic embedded in that necklace might actually be a Small World spell.

Maybe he was wrong, but it certainly felt powerfully magical.

The flames within the glass cube emerged on the breeze, coiling around and enveloping the black magnetite.

If it had been ordinary magic fire, it should have been snuffed out instantly, but instead the flames blocked the black magnetite’s properties and softened the ore.

‘For him to refine it by transforming reality itself like that… it must be a Small World.’

“Professor Verdus really is a master artisan.”

Professor Garcia nodded in agreement.

The Small World spell ‘Flame of the Magnum Opus’ that Professor Verdus was currently using could melt and burn all manner of rare and unique materials.

There were probably only a handful of enchanters in the Empire who could carry around such a fabrication-specialized Small World in the form of an enchantment.

“Hnnn!”

Professor Verdus gripped the heated black magnetite, shaping it with his hands.

The second way to refine metals that absorb magic is simply to put up with it.

Every time the magic is absorbed, you keep casting spells, enduring through the brute force method!

Apparently, even that was a bit tough, because Professor Verdus glanced askance. Lee Han met his eyes, looking puzzled.

“Is there something I can help with?”

“Yes! …Ack! Aaagh!”

“Face forward, Professor.”

Before Professor Garcia even had to say anything, he communicated through strength alone.

Since Lee Han still didn’t understand what was happening, he asked a question.

“What’s the matter?”

“Student Lee Han. Professor Verdus was looking at you to borrow your magic. Just ignore him.”

“Aha.”

Having a student with infinite magical power meant that, instead of restoring his own strength with potions and artifacts, he could just have the student do the work.

Now understanding, Lee Han called out to Professor Verdus.

“Professor.”

“?”

“Good luck.”

“……”

With a pout, Professor Verdus went back to his work.

The third method for refining magic-absorbing metals.

Viiiiing—

A huge forging hammer attached to a magical device appeared.

In ancient times, an artisan would have to personally enchant a hammer and control it to strike metal.

But these days, imperial artisans didn’t use such primitive techniques. They just used massive magical forge equipment with built-in gears and devices—no need to cast spells repeatedly.

Just pull the rope, and the hammer pounds the metal automatically with steam from magical combustion.

“Won’t the magic just get absorbed by the black magnetite?”

“That’s why I modified it. Look here, Student Lee Han.”

Professor Garcia pointed above.

The magic’s role was just to amplify the massive hammer’s weight and raise it to the ceiling.

When it was dropped, even if the power disappeared due to the black magnetite, the force remained intact.

‘Ah, I see.’

This time, Lee Han was truly impressed.

Using a Small World spell or simply enduring the loss of magic is impressive, but this method took an unexpected approach.

‘I should have thought of this before hearing about it. Have I grown too reliant on magic lately?’

“I’m reflecting, Professor Garcia. I was taught since entering not to rely too much on magic, but here I am unable to think of this sort of approach.”

“You’re too harsh on yourself, Student Lee Han. Actually, being able to reflect like this is what’s impressive. It’s not easy for a wizard to forget magic.”

“Haha. True, I suppose.”

Lee Han and Professor Garcia chatted heartily.

Meanwhile, drenched in sweat, Professor Verdus turned his head, panting.

“Can I take a short break?”

“No. Finish and then rest.”

“Ugh…”

‘Really, he’s so cool.’

Lee Han once again sent his most admiring gaze of the year.

That’s the kind of wizard I want to be!

• * *

“Hm.”

Lee Han looked over the finished staff as he walked.

Ideally, he would have liked to spend a few days leisurely testing and getting used to it, but Einrogard’s tight schedule (especially for Lee Han) didn’t allow for that.

-Huff, huff. All done. Let me go now.

-Did you really finish? If you left anything out out of laziness, your bones are going with it, Professor.

-I don’t cut corners on projects I’m interested in! There’s not a single flaw!

-Your projects should be flawless even if you’re not interested… fine. Just give me any precautions I should know.

-As with any powerful new staff, it’ll take a while to get used to. Could be a few days, maybe up to several months. Both materials are so strong and unique it’ll be even more so in this case. You’ll need to experiment.

‘The powers of the wood spirit were -Power of Recovery-, -Power of Life-, and -Power of Persistence-, right? Now that the King of the Fighting Hornbeams has awakened, there should be even more. If I could use -Power of Propagation-, that would be great.’

Even though Lee Han attended every school of magic’s lecture, that didn’t mean he learned every kind the same way.

There were elements—like earth or tree—that weren’t often used among elemental magics.

In that sense, the Mad Tree King’s branch was definitely useful. Even without investing extra time, Lee Han would now have an edge in tree and earth element spells.

‘Since those two elements have a close relationship, they’ll affect each other. The problem is…’

The time it would take to get used to the staff, as Professor Verdus had mentioned.

If this were a standard-issue staff for freshmen at Einrogard, it’d be different, but with something made from materials this powerful, some trial and error was inevitable.

Imagine if he tried to conjure a wall of wood but instead accidentally trapped himself inside a wooden coffin. What a hassle that would be.

‘…I should run some practice drills.’

Taking his eyes off the Mad Tree King’s branch, Lee Han looked at the black magnetite.

This ore, emitting a subtle glow of black and purple, made up a significant axis of the staff’s form in a curious way.

He’d initially chosen it to regulate the Mad Tree King’s branch, but the material itself was far from ordinary, and it would certainly have an effect.

“Water.”

At the spell, a familiar mass of water appeared.

‘It has gotten faster. The magic’s gotten stronger too.’

While controlling the water, Lee Han accidentally concentrated on the black magnetite part of the staff.

Immediately, the water mass scattered into the air.

‘It’s become trickier to control… but not impossible.’

Most students would have complained, but Lee Han had already been through too much to grumble about struggles such as this now.

Entering the -Poison, Bone, Blood- lecture room, Lee Han found Direte sitting and reading a copy of -Monthly Black Magic Trends-.

“You’re here, Junior?”

“Hello, Senior Direte.”

Bowing his head in greeting, Lee Han noticed several black magic reagents set up at the front of the classroom.

-Bones of a Giant Beast-: Skeleton Golem

-Shriveled Toad Hide-: Demon Toad

-Spirit Fragment of the Tooth Maw-: Tooth Maw

…

…

Being a sharp junior, Lee Han quickly understood what Direte intended by laying out these reagents.

“Is this for undead enhancement?”

“That’s right.”

Direte smiled in satisfaction.

It felt rewarding to have prepared so diligently and brought these out.

Whether they used ancient orthodox black magic or current imperial black magic, no black magician disliked strengthening and evolving their undead minions.

Just as an expert watchman club player might raise their mount from infancy, so a black magician enhanced their undead summons with various upgrades.

‘Is this a quiz? I’d better do my best.’

With a serious expression, Lee Han scanned the reagents.

Currently, the skeleton warriors under his command could be enhanced or strengthened by adding dark or blood elements.

Both were rare and powerful techniques, but there was still a limit to what could be done with skeleton warriors.

Maybe it was time to learn how to craft and summon new types of undead.

‘Skeleton Golem… hmm. It’s similar to a skeleton warrior, but I’m not sure I can handle a middle-class or larger summon on my first try. Was the demon toad the thing Direte Senior summoned during that mansion kidnapping incident last time? Not bad, but will I be able to replicate the muscles…? Tsk. If I choose the easy one, Senior Direte will give me a low score, right?’

‘Hehehe. He likes it. He really likes it.’

Direte was delighted to see his junior contemplating seriously.

After all that had happened lately, and with a pop quiz coming up this week, he’d wanted to prepare something that would let Lee Han relax a bit—and it seemed to have worked.

Who knew he’d enjoy it this much!