Episode 982

Episode 982

After a moment of silence, Lee Han spoke quietly.

“To restore the forest, you’d have to personally inspect the depths of the earth as well.”

“That doesn’t seem to be the case.”

The mad clone sneered beside him, but Lee Han pretended not to hear.

“Wh-what brings you here… You came because of that, right? The Echo of the Demigod…”

“Hm?”

Lee Han tilted his head, not getting what she meant, but then belatedly realized.

“Ah! You mean that artifact!”

“?”

“???”

Both the mad clone and Ellendil looked puzzled by Lee Han’s reaction.

If he hadn’t come because of the artifact, then why had he come?

“Then what brings you here?”

“I came to ask you to tell the Watchman Club member something nice about me.”

“……”

The mad clone looked at his disciple with a contempt so deep that it couldn’t possibly get any greater.

Ellendil was just as dumbfounded.

If he had come with the mad clone to practice using a demigod-related artifact, she could at least understand it.

But to visit the forest just to fool that new Baldrogard brat?

And with the mad clone of the skeleton headmaster!

“Wh-why would you… Couldn’t you do that later…?”

“She’s way too suspicious of me right now. If I wait, it’ll only get harder to fix.”

“……”

So can’t you just leave it alone?

Ellendil didn’t think the Baldrogard student would be any use.

What could she possibly be good for?

At best, maybe squeeze some wealth out of her…

‘Surely he’s not thinking that?’

Ellendil suddenly became suspicious.

She had thought of him as a truly kind junior who loved spirits, but seeing him hanging around with the mad clone changed her mind quite a bit.

Whoever stays by a lunatic’s side, no matter how normal they seem, should be doubted.

“Now, please go talk to her one-on-one and convince her I’m not a bad person, but a good one.”

“I-I’m no good at stuff like that…”

“What do you mean! You’re a fourth-year, aren’t you?”

‘What’s that got to do with anything…’

Ellendil grumbled to herself.

A first-year who struggled to build friendships had the same problem even by the time they became an upperclassman.

The mad clone interrupted to prevent further wasting of time.

“Disciple, in the meantime, you tame the artificial demigod.”

“Senior, aren’t you using it for the forest’s regeneration?”

The artifact -Echo of the Demigod- was a powerful artifact that contacted and connected with divinity to draw in its power.

Ellendil used this artifact for the forest’s regeneration and recovery, while the mad clone wanted Lee Han to use it to torment him—no, to tame the artificially summoned demigod.

“The royal will open the channel personally. This is Melitsa.”

After seeing the cult’s symbols and insignia nearby, the mad clone spoke calmly.

With a very raw apprentice, it would be one thing, but the mad clone could channel divine power and create a link without relying on an artifact.

“Isn’t it the Jarmis Order?”

“Must be the name changed. Happens often.”

Jarmis, the god of the hunt, also had an aspect as the god of the forest.

But during the mad clone’s era, it was called Melitsa.

“Was he also both the hunter and the god of the forest back then?”

“No, he wasn’t.”

“So the attributes of gods can change or get added over time.”

“That’s right. What you’re about to do with your artificial demigod isn’t much different in principle. Just much cruder and rougher…”

The power created by the collective unconsciousness of countless souls on the continent over time and the power consciously invoked by a lone wizard were fundamentally different.

The former could even give birth to new gods, while the latter could at best persuade an artificial demigod.

Ellendil forgot even about contacting the new club member and listened in.

Hearing a history of divine change from an ancient wizard was fascinating even to this dryad half-blood student.

‘Indeed… If old attributes a god once had could be rediscovered, maybe that could be used as well.’

Ellendil quietly admired her junior for thinking that far ahead.

That wasn’t the sort of reasoning a second-year should have.

“I see. Teacher, may I ask one more thing?”

“Are you just asking these lengthy questions to avoid taming the artificial demigod?”

“…Yes.”

“Get started.”

“Yes.”

“……”

Ellendil stared at her junior as if dumbfounded.

What the…?!

• * *

Ipheldrem: Truly a rude person!

“……”

It wasn’t hard to speak one-on-one with the new Baldrogard member, but persuasion was much harder.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Gonadaltes is a bit of an odd wizard, but not a bad person.

Ipheldrem: Hmph. I’d heard Einrogard wizards were eccentric, but not to that extent.

‘Why you little…’

Ellendil was irritated.

Every Einrogard student, from the kindest to the most wicked, instinctively bristled when the Baldrogard student insulted them.

She’d once seen a priest friend from the Phoenix Tower, known for being kind, curse out the Baldrogard student.

Granted, the other had wasted and thrown away food, but if she hadn’t been a Baldrogard student, even that priest friend would have held back a little more.

Ipheldrem: More than that, can I ask you one thing?

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: What is it?

Ipheldrem: Just to check—you’re an Einrogard student, right?

‘You’re the only one here who isn’t an Einrogard student…’

She still seemed to think this club was full of students from magic schools all over the empire.

But the Watchman Club was only for Einrogard students.

Except for the Baldrogard member, there were no outsiders.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Of course.

Ipheldrem: Do you know the student from the Wardanaz family? Must be a sixth-year.

“?”

Of course, it was possible there was a sixth-year student in Einrogard whom Ellendil didn’t know.

At Einrogard, it wouldn’t be surprising if a sixth-year from a hundred years ago suddenly appeared from some deep underground prison or floating castle in the sky.

But no matter how she thought about it, she didn’t think the sixth-year was from the Wardanaz family.

More likely, the other mistook the junior beside her for that student.

Granted, even for a Baldrogard student, mistaking a second-year for a sixth-year seemed absurd…

Ellendil found herself glancing at her junior.

Commander. You can’t use my power well enough. You’ll never rule the continent like this.

“I’m not trying to rule the continent, I just want to practice…”

Right. Practice for ruling the continent.

“No… I just mean practice. By the way, can you improve my success rate for casting difficult spells?”

Something that trivial…

‘Hmm. Not strange at all.’

Watching her junior chatter about magically summoned artificial demigods and ruling the continent, Ellendil could accept it at once.

It wouldn’t be strange for anyone to mistake him.

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: I’m not sure. Why are you looking for that senior?

Ipheldrem: Senior Alzadrk said she met him last time and that he’s a truly amazing wizard! And unlike the other Einrogard wizards, he’s kind, so she could form a friendship!

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: ???

Ellendil couldn’t understand and stopped her artifact to glance at her junior again.

“My magic? I do have a lot I have to practice right now. Because there’s been so much going on lately…”

Lee Han was still talking with the artificial demigod.

The artificial demigod asked about the spell Lee Han was practicing. Lately, with all the fuss—Small World and everything—Lee Han started counting on his fingers and reviewing.

Regardless of the big name of Small World, magic required constant foundational training.

If you got complacent because of reliance on a great spirit’s power or the title of Small World’s name, you’d end up destroying yourself.

“First, I need to study the advanced attributes of the water element.”

Not that Lee Han was obsessed with 5th Circle magic, but with Water Orb Projectile completed, to learn more about water element magic, he’d have to study more advanced attributes.

Water Orb Projectile was pretty much the magnum opus of water elemental attribute applications at lower circles.

Just look at Yumidihus—a higher water element spell required knowledge of vaporization, condensation, compression, and other advanced attributes.

This was actually something Professor Voladi had instructed Lee Han about long ago, which made him feel even more self-conscious.

There had been so much going on this semester that Professor Voladi had shown surprising patience, but when someone who usually never waited does, you feel that much more pressure.

It might have been easier if he’d just tormented Lee Han like before, until he mastered it.

Uuuu… that’s pathetic…

“……”

Lee Han was dumbfounded.

He hadn’t expected to hear such a thing from an artificial demigod.

Sure, she was a powerful being, but her magical knowledge should have been like an infant’s compared to an Einrogard sophomore—how dare she coach him?

“Do you even know how hard advanced water element studies are? Most of the 5th Circle students—”

“Utterly unimpressive. Such things should be learned quietly, alone, in your spare time.”

“……”

The mad clone beside him chimed in, making Lee Han even more speechless.

How was he supposed to quietly learn that kind of thing alone?

Getting help from an artificial demigod or the mad clone might not even be enough.

“…Alright. I’ll move on from water element. Lightning element—could you help me with that?”

At some point, his lightning element magic had overtaken his water element magic.

-Wardanaz’s Arc Lightning- was one circle higher than -Wardanaz’s Water Orb Projectile-.

But lightning magic was that much more unstable and incomplete. If you didn’t want to lose any limbs when later transforming your flesh with lightning, you had to get used to it in advance.

Uuuu… that’s pathetic…

“……”

This wretch?

Lee Han wondered if the mad clone was manipulating the artificial demigod.

But it didn’t seem like that.

“Fire element? After Azure Flame, I haven’t…”

Pathetic.

“…What about illusion school, specializing in spiritual bodies? I need to practice more soul-related magic.”

Pathetic.

“Necromancy? Starting from summoning greater undead, there’s so much to learn.”

Pathetic.

“……”

Lee Han endured with patience and started again.

All sorts of questions followed: predictive magic (avoiding misfortune and defense), transformation magic (becoming stronger creatures), summoning magic (new dimensional connections), enchantment magic (making auxiliary artifacts), healing magic (preparing bodily protection and restoration)—and more.

For all of them, the artificial demigod jeered. Lee Han nodded.

“Teacher. Let’s summon a different demigod.”

Commander?! That’s too cruel…!

The artificial demigod was deeply shocked and protested.

How could a commander who should lead her act so meanly?

Ipheldrem: Um? Why aren’t you saying anything?

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: Oh, sorry. My mind wandered for a moment. I’m witnessing something almost impossible to believe…

Ipheldrem: What’s going on?

Beaver-Penguin-Fox: You wouldn’t believe it even if I told you.

Ipheldrem: Are all Einrogard students given to exaggeration?

“……”

Ellendil turned again to look at her junior and the artificial demigod.

No matter how much she thought about it, this really was a sight nobody else would ever believe.