Episode 221
by CristaeEpisode 221
The White Tiger Tower student who had been beside Lee Han the whole way kept proposing hypotheses.
-In my opinion, Wardanaz wasn’t swept away and dragged off; Wardanaz chased after the Rock Drake to catch it.
Of course, it was such an extreme and radical hypothesis that even Gainando from the Blue Dragon Tower didn’t accept it.
-Isn’t he just pretending because he doesn’t want to go help those bastards?
-N-no!
“What did I say! What did I say, huh?!”
“Di… did he really catch it??”
The Blue Dragon Tower students just looked at each other, unable to believe it.
Even though a few White Tiger Tower or Black Turtle Tower students believed strange rumors like, ‘Wardanaz secretly researched magic and mastered all sorts of evil arcana even before entering magic school,’ the Blue Dragon Tower students did not.
Because they lived together, they weren’t fooled by such ridiculous rumors.
The Blue Dragon Tower students were cold and clever.
Lee Han was definitely a great wizard candidate who, in every class, heard from the professors, ‘You are a talent who will prosper this school of magic,’ and who himself had the ambition to ‘master the mysteries of all fields of magic,’ but he wasn’t someone as absurd as those rumors suggested.
All the more so, something like hunting a Rock Drake—even if Lee Han was a genius, there’s no way he could do that now…
“Wa, Wardanaz!”
As Lee Han staggered out, his friends screamed.
He looked such a mess coming out from between the Rock Drakes that they wondered if he had been seriously injured.
Lee Han waved his hand as if to say he was fine. It meant he wasn’t hurt.
“Did you catch the Rock Drake?!”
“…What? What nonsense is that?”
“N-no… You were collapsed over there…”
Lee Han looked at his friends as if they were the most pathetic people in the world.
With that look, the Blue Dragon Tower students felt endlessly stupid.
“They fought each other and collapsed.”
“Ah… I, I see.”
The Blue Dragon Tower students glared at the White Tiger Tower student who had been making a fuss earlier.
‘Because of that guy!’
But the White Tiger Tower student still muttered nonsense.
“You made them fight each other? With a mental-type spell?!”
“What’s going on? They say Wardanaz caught it?”
“They say he made two Rock Drakes fight each other?”
“A-as expected!”
“I knew it ever since he subdued Deorgyu with mind magic!”
If Lee Han had been a little less tired, he might have realized that the White Tiger Tower students were gossiping nonsense, but he was too exhausted for that.
He had managed to keep his balance and endure in a situation where two Rock Drakes were charging at each other as if to kill.
No matter how overflowing with mana he was, the drain on his concentration was tremendous.
“Dismantle the Rock Drake. It’s big, so just cut off the best parts to eat.”
“O-okay.”
“?”
He had spoken to the Blue Dragon Tower students, but when the passing White Tiger Tower students rushed over, Lee Han was puzzled.
‘Doesn’t matter.’
For now, he just wanted to rest a bit.
- * *
After a short nap, Lee Han got up from his seat.
Students were busily moving around, cleaning up everywhere.
‘…I did learn a few things.’
What Lee Han found most bitter was that he was proving Professor Voladi’s theory himself: ‘You learn quickly when thrown into dangerous situations, so you must keep experiencing crises.’
Every time he fell into a precarious crisis, he learned and realized something new, which made him feel self-loathing.
…Is this really the right way for a wizard?
‘No matter what, this doesn’t seem like the right method.’
Enduring on the back of a Rock Drake surging up from underground was doable with just -Minor Manipulation- magic, but it wasn’t enough to withstand the head-on collision of two Rock Drakes.
He had to be firmly anchored to the Rock Drake’s back, not just floating in the air.
Lee Han grabbed the Rock Drake’s scales as a last resort and radiated mana through his fingertips. It was to reinforce his body with strengthening magic and boost his physical abilities further.
Even so, it wasn’t enough. His body kept being shaken as if it would be thrown off.
But there was no choice.
Lee Han desperately poured out mana, again and again.
And then, at some moment, he realized.
-Mana…?!
Even if he couldn’t invent advanced scholarly magic like wizards, knights also used mana to perform quite a variety of techniques.
These skills were considered secret arts handed down in knight families, rarely leaked and seldom used even by the knights themselves.
However, Lee Han had recently witnessed a peculiar sword technique using mana.
When the young apprentice knights of the White Oak Knights had visited.
At that time, Labda of the Enghe Family had used a very unique sword technique.
A bizarre sword art that drew the opponent’s sword toward his own, using mana flowing through the blade at the moment of clash.
When he asked other students, they said it was Enghe Family’s unique Sword Absorption (吸劍).
It was rare, so even among knights, it was quite famous.
…It seemed Lee Han had inadvertently realized the mystery of ‘absorption (吸)’ just now.
Tap-
Lee Han radiated mana from his hand and stuck it to the rock.
Then he felt a sticky attraction between his hand and the rock.
“……”
‘I should be learning mana circulation or something instead of this.’
He had managed to survive by clinging to the Rock Drake’s back thanks to this change in property, but honestly, this wasn’t the task Lee Han needed to work on now.
As a swordsman, he needed to master the continuous internal mana circulation to maintain mana skillfully…
Why did he have to realize this peculiar change in mana property, something to ponder when creating a new sword technique?
‘If I tell Professor Ingeldel, he might be dumbfounded.’
In truth, Lee Han was mistaken.
If it were Professor Ingeldel, he would be delighted, not bewildered.
-Excellent. Wardanaz. Outstanding swordsmen always discover fragments of their own sword art in their youth. The sword answers you because you are that earnest about it. Now, let’s try to incorporate that realization into your own sword. It wouldn’t be bad to reproduce the moment you attained it. What was that moment like?
…he would say things like that, delighted.
A student who is very earnest about swordsmanship (at least in Professor Ingeldel’s mind) seemed to have attained enlightenment to move toward his own sword art.
“Wardanaz. Are you alright?”
“Ah. Yeah. Thanks.”
Lee Han took his hand off the rock and stood up completely.
Enlightenment was for later; for now, he had to take care of what was in front of him.
“Hold this.”
“What is it?”
“Roast beef. Made with Rock Drake meat.”
The White Tiger Tower student held out a thick, juicy, moist, crimson chunk of roasted meat.
‘But if it’s Rock Drake meat, it’s not beef, is it?’
Lee Han thought that as he took the plate.
Of course, the White Tiger Tower students had no objections to such details.
They were already boiling dandelions and acorns to make coffee; what difference would Drake meat or beef make?
“Thanks for the food. Thank…”
“No need to thank me, Wardanaz. You caught it.”
The White Tiger Tower student awkwardly wiped under his nose.
It felt strange to treat Wardanaz to a meal like this.
Who could have predicted they would end up serving Wardanaz a meal before entering the dungeon—or rather, the library?
“This is really…”
“I said it’s fine, Wardanaz. No need to thank me.”
“No, it’s tough. Who cooked this?”
“……”
The White Tiger Tower student looked at Wardanaz as if dumbfounded.
“It’s plenty tasty… isn’t it?”
“What nonsense.”
Lee Han walked forward.
Next to him, the Blue Dragon Tower students also wore odd expressions.
They were grateful the White Tiger Tower students had worked hard to cook…
…but it was clear something was missing!
“Lee Han!! You’re up!”
Gainando jumped up from his seat.
And he said what all the Blue Dragon Tower students were thinking but couldn’t say out of conscience.
“Why don’t you coo… mmph.”
“Please, shut up…!”
“Do you want us to be called the Tower of Blue Beggars?!”
The Blue Dragon Tower friends, struck by shame, covered Gainando’s mouth.
But everyone had already heard it.
“…Wardanaz. If you want, you can do it.”
The White Tiger Tower student standing in front of the meat called out to Lee Han.
A few folded their arms and looked at Lee Han.
Their eyes said, ‘Let’s see how good you really are.’
‘No matter how much of a great wizard you are, there’s no way you’re good at cooking, the flower of camping, too, right?’
‘I’ve been grilling meat since I started walking. How many years have you grilled, Wardanaz?’
‘These guys weren’t this competitive even with swordsmanship…’
Lee Han stood in front of the meat with a sour expression.
Their oddly heated gazes were ridiculous.
“Everyone thinks Lee Han won’t be able to do it.”
Deorgyu muttered to Giselle beside him.
Giselle, who had been wiping dust from her sword, looked at Deorgyu with eyes that said, ‘I’m not interested.’
She hadn’t cared about this nonsense from the start.
“But Moradi, Lee Han’s cooking skills are beyond imagination.”
‘So what…’
Not interested!
Giselle shook her head as if even cursing was too much trouble, and grabbed her sword again.
- * *
Even the White Tiger Tower students who had never looked at Lee Han with respect when he defeated something by magic or sword now looked at him with admiration.
That’s how good the meat was.
It was the taste of mystical magic.
‘…Should I have just grilled meat and brought it on the first day of swordsmanship class?’
If he had, he might have seriously recruited about a quarter of the White Tiger Tower students…
“If you’re done eating, let’s move.”
“Wait. Wardanaz. Hold on.”
“?”
“We need to gather water. See this grass? If you pull it up, the roots hold water and…”
“Spring forth.”
“……”
“Fill the water. Let’s go.”
The White Tiger Tower students felt they finally understood why knights grumbled at wizards every time they drank.
The sense of futility when all the hard work knights had to do was accomplished with a single staff!
“Wizards are really…!”
“Aren’t you guys wizards too?”
Meanwhile, Lee Han checked the door leading downward.
“There’s a lock.”
“It’s a mana-powered lock.”
“We were searching around for a book.”
The White Tiger Tower students shared what they had found.
It was a lock that opened by moving mana to form a specific shape.
If you didn’t figure out the shape, it was hard to open.
But Lee Han…
‘Since I have plenty of mana, should I just try a few commonly used shapes?’
“Move aside.”
Lee Han placed his hand on the lock and infused it with mana.
Starting with the most famous and commonly used symbols and patterns…
Crack!!!
Lee Han’s expression hardened.
Apparently, the device’s maximum mana capacity was lower than expected, and it couldn’t withstand the mana Lee Han poured in. He felt the inside break.
‘…I’m screwed.’
Lee Han felt the gazes of the White Tiger Tower students behind him.
If he admitted he broke the device by accident, these guys might scream, ‘Wardanaz, you evil wizard! You’re showing your true colors!’
“???”
Of course, the White Tiger Tower students, who weren’t thinking that at all, tilted their heads.
‘Is he doing it?’
‘Must be.’
Clunk!
When the device broke, the part that held it in place also broke, and the door opened, revealing stairs leading downward.
The White Tiger Tower students’ eyes went wide in amazement.
To open it instantly without even pausing to breathe!
“…How did he figure it out?”
Giselle asked, unable to believe it.
No matter how she thought, she couldn’t deduce the answer.
Lee Han calmly managed his expression and answered.
“Wisdom and brilliance.”
“……”
Giselle bit her lip. Frustrated, but she had to admit Wardanaz’s intellect.