Episode 1190
by CristaeProfessor Thunderstep faced his student’s forced criticisms with maturity rather than anger.
He relaxed his gaze and smiled as kindly as he could. That made Lee Han instinctively more cautious.
-I think I can feel a sinister aura.
“I think so too.”
Lee Han agreed with the baby basilisk.
Indeed, as a monster that was the snake of snakes and harbored the deadliest poison, he was sensitive to dark vibes.
Regardless, Professor Thunderstep focused intently on the blueprint below.
‘This… could really shatter Professor Verdus’s mind!’
If the schematic Lee Han had made was practical and sensible, the one beneath it was a parade of flashy black magics.
-Eye of Ahrak-, -The Living Wall-, -Boiling Darkness-—even for Thunderstep, these were advanced black magics he’d never even heard of!
He had no idea what kind of black magicians might have participated.
‘Descendants of Ahrak? But those eccentric freaks wouldn’t help with a student project. Legion of Oondorgu? Those lunatics, same. And that—surely that’s a spell of the Obsidian Tower? The grumpy ones there wouldn’t give away anything for free…’
No matter what, he couldn’t think of any black magicians he knew. Thunderstep gave up at last.
Apparently, there were black magicians in the faction that he didn’t know.
“But how does this finish off Professor Verdus?”
Lee Han, growing a little curious, asked.
He wasn’t necessarily out to “finish” Professor Verdus—it was just pure, mage-like curiosity.
How could this blueprint “finish off” Professor Verdus?
“It’s simple. These advanced black magics must be secret spells unknown to the world at large, right?”
“They probably are.”
He’d only half-listened to the black magicians as they rambled, so his memory was fuzzy. But it was surely true—Lee Han nodded.
“You surely heard some explanations about these spells.”
“Yes. But I don’t understand them all—the magic is just so complex…”
Obviously, he hadn’t written exhaustive explanations, methods, and understanding for such high-level black magics in the blueprint.
If he had, a whole stack of books wouldn’t have been enough.
He simplified them as much as possible and included only the needed information, leaving the rest for the magician to handle.
That’s why the black magicians gathered up north had tried so hard to cram as much black magic into him as possible.
“That doesn’t matter!”
“I think it does…”
“What matters is, Professor Verdus doesn’t know these spells.”
No matter how much of a mad genius Verdus was, there was no way he could reverse-calculate these sorts of black magics—not even his specialty—based only on sparse notes. They were not such easy spells.
“What if you turned this in together? Hm? Submit it as an appendix—as one of your concept alternatives? Could Professor Verdus just look at it and move on?”
“……”
Lee Han wavered slightly.
He could sense Thunderstep’s evil intent, but apart from that, the proposal was still tempting.
Verdus was the sort who simply could not let a magical problem go until he solved it.
If you threw him an unsolvable black magic puzzle, what would he do?
“I’ll think about it. Since these weren’t all my work, I’ll have to consider it carefully.”
“Haha, sure, think it over. But I have to say, I feel a little wronged here. You run to the young headmaster for advice and then leave me hanging. Haha.”
“…I’ll do my best to turn it in together.”
Lee Han resolved that, even if he got help from the young prince in the future, he’d hide it better.
Seeing Professor Thunderstep in this state, he was more than a little aggrieved.
‘I should just say I got advice from another-dimensional being.’
“By the way, are you ready for Professor Reji’s exam?”
“Huh? Uh…”
Without noticing Lee Han’s hesitation, Thunderstep smirked and turned away.
“You’re not thinking of trying to turn into a dragon, are you? Don’t do it.”
“……”
“?”
The answer he wanted—something like “Who would turn into a dragon, come on, professor, so funny”—didn’t come, and Thunderstep paused.
It felt like a cold, ominous chill behind him.
That chill took solid form and attacked as sharp words.
“…Uh, am I not allowed to turn into a dragon?”
Thunderstep nearly screamed.
“You want to see the professor?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Senior Anpagone from the School of Enchantment looked at Lee Han in disbelief.
Why see him outside of class when just seeing him during was a waste?
“I have something to turn in early, about the exam.”
Thinking back, Professor Verdus’s midterm was set up as an assignment you could just turn in and go.
There was no need to waste time until class just to show off some magic.
As they talked, another upperclassman, Shigunting, approached.
“Oh, what brings you here?”
“I wanted to see Professor Verdus.”
“Why?”
“……”
Lee Han was touched by the warm, caring Enchantment School atmosphere.
Juniors who cared for you like this!
‘I swear I’ll be a senior like this too.’
“I just have an early submission about the exam.”
“Hmm. Might be tough right now.”
“?”
“Come take a look.”
The seniors pointed Lee Han to Professor Verdus’s workshop door.
There was a sign:
Making up for lost work time
Do Not Disturb!
“He’s always hated being disturbed, but he never locked the space down like this before. But with all the recent—uh—divine punishments…”
“Divine punishments?”
“Oh, slip of the tongue: attacks. He’s been assaulted so much lately, he’s gotten pretty touchy.”
Lee Han focused his senses, probing the area around the workshop entrance.
There was definite unease—far more than usual.
It wasn’t just that the door was reinforced or cracks sealed up. The entire space was twisted and tangled, blocking all access.
‘No idea how to break this.’
Lee Han could usually sense the structure of most magic by feel alone, but this barrier was so twisted he couldn’t even get a hint.
‘Maybe if I brute force it…’
Thunk!
A rush of powerful mana crashed, but the twisted space flexibly dispersed it in every direction.
Then a pre-recorded message from Professor Verdus played.
-Don’t break it by force, Wardanaz! If you do, I’ll make you build it back again!
“……”
“…Didn’t think he’d have something like that.”
Even as they grumbled, the seniors admired Verdus.
Not just the magic, but predicting Wardanaz would try to brute-force it was impressive.
If only he used those skills for good…
“Seniors. Please help.”
“Sorry, but I can’t break that either. It’d be faster to wait for class and catch him then—he’ll have to come out.”
Cracking this kind of spatial seal wasn’t impossible, but it took a long time.
More practical just to wait for class, when Professor Verdus would crawl out anyway.
“Wait, he’ll come out, right?”
“I mean…he wouldn’t just hunker down after what happened, would he?”
But no one could completely deny how tenacious Verdus could be.
As the seniors murmured, Lee Han went into thought.
‘Hmm. All I need is to get the assignment inside.’
It wasn’t like he needed deep conversation with Verdus.
Given their past chats, that would probably only make his blood boil.
Everything he needed was in the thick document; if only he could slip it in somehow…
“Is there no way to just get this inside?”
“Hmm. Would be tough. That spatial seal…”
“Wait. If it’s just a little object, it might be doable.”
“!”
At Anpagone’s words, the two juniors turned.
“Really?”
“Yeah. It’s not easy, though. There are some conditions. You need someone who knows spatial magic. Doesn’t have to be full-on phased, but at least intermediate-level teleportation…”
Since the task was to push an item through a spatial barrier, you obviously needed a spatial magic adept.
Anpagone frowned, trying to recall if anyone in his year specialized in space magic.
“I can do that.”
“……”
“…I figured.”
‘Didn’t really, though…’
Shigunting shot Anpagone a doubtful look.
“Next, you need a device that can weaken Professor Verdus’s spatial magic.”
“There’s something like that?”
“Yukveltire’s got an artifact. -Yukveltire’s Long Spear-—temporarily nullifies spatial warping. Won’t take down the whole seal, but enough to weaken it.”
Anpagone’s plan was simple.
Weaken Verdus’s magic, then use spatial magic in the gap to toss the item inside.
Since it was small, and Wardanaz’s magical prowess was more than up to it, it should work.
“You’re not trying to slip in something dangerous, are you?”
“It’s just an early exam submission.”
“Got it. But if this exam submission threatened the professor, I’d be even more motivated.”
“…Where’s -Yukveltire’s Long Spear-?”
Lee Han changed the subject. The two shrugged.
“Obviously, Yukveltire has it. You’ll have to get his permission.”
“That’ll be the hardest part of the plan.”
“……”
Certainly true.
Yukveltire wasn’t the sort to lend an artifact kindly.
Lee Han hesitated, then stood up.
“Please wait a moment.”
“???”
When the junior left with just that, the upperclassmen were confused.
Wait a while?
“No way he’s going to borrow it, right?”
“No first-year would be dumb enough to try that. He must be going to trade something.”
At “trade,” both looked deeply displeased.
Memories of losing out in deals with Yukveltire flashed before them.
Other faction seniors helped juniors. The Enchantment School, though, specialized in ruthless trades.
After a while, Lee Han returned, breathless.
“I got it!”
“…Are you working for him now? Wasn’t that a terrible loss?”
“Oh, no. I stole it.”
“?!?!?”
They were stunned.
How?!
“How did you get it? Yukveltire never lets go of it so easily!”
“I can’t give details, but I got help from someone close to him.”
“Senior Direte?”
“No. Someone else.”
“There’s no one but Senior Direte, though?”
“Someone else, I said.”
Lee Han, rarely, got annoyed.
Why wouldn’t they believe him?
“O-okay. You got it, so that’s enough. We’ll set things up. Wardanaz, you get ready to toss the item in.”
“Yes, sir!”
Magic was complicated to prep, but once ready, often went fast and simply.
Once Anpagone activated the spear to weaken the distorted space, the assignment teleported inside in an instant.
“Thank you!”
“What, you brought the spear, you did the magic. Just make sure to return it and don’t get caught.”
“Yes!”
Nodding, Lee Han grabbed the spear and ran off.
Watching him go, the two Enchantment seniors smiled in spite of themselves.
Maybe having a wicked senior was the price to get such a fine junior…
-Aaagh!
“???”
“Was that Professor Verdus screaming just now?”
“So the mission included a function to attack the professor after all!”
“What the heck…”