Episode 1063

Yukveltire was appalled when she saw the magic circle her junior brought back.

Currently, the two spells Yukveltire was trying to fuse were as follows.

One was Baquantalana’s Dimensional Rod.

Despite its unassuming name, this was an extremely high-level spell. Even Yukveltire could only implement it indirectly by borrowing the power of several magic circles rather than casting it herself.

When dimensions shift and overlap, even the sturdiest reality gets torn and shaken like a sheet of paper.

At this moment, the dimensional rod spell momentarily molds invariance—an unchanging force which no transformation can violate—into the shape of a rod.

If you want to rapidly summon and modify multiple dimensions, such a fixing spell is essential.

The other was Aximan’s Refraction.

This was just as difficult as the dimensional rod. Through the creation of strong refraction, it would link dimensions that normally would never be connected.

Normally, you didn’t force together such difficult spells.

Yukveltire may have been a genius, but she wasn’t the type of wizard to do something pointlessly inefficient.

But this time, she needed to combine the two spells to improve efficiency and secure additional dimensions with the leftover mana—so she tried anyway.

‘How… How can this be?!’

As she checked all the magic circles, shock trembled in Yukveltire’s eyes.

She knew her junior was an outstanding wizard beyond his year.

But this was just beyond all imagination.

For him to submit an improvement she herself hadn’t managed, right on the spot?!

“How… How did you do this? Ah, I see. It’s Professor Garcia, isn’t it?”

Yukveltire, usually so composed, lost her cool, trying desperately to accept it.

“No, Professor Garcia left earlier.”

“Then it must have been the Headmaster.”

“The Headmaster left even earlier, though.”

“That… That can’t be?”

Lee Han didn’t tell the real truth.

Actually, this was out of consideration for his Senior. The fact that there’s a portrait of the young Skeleton Headmaster in a deep basement chamber of the Spatial Labyrinth is a hard truth to face.

‘If Senior Yukveltire ever saw it, she might actually faint.’

“I… I… brought something inferior to my junior’s magic…”

“…So what should I do for the next step?”

Lee Han worked hard to change the topic, since his Senior seemed so shocked.

But Yukveltire still couldn’t recover, only mumbling things like “Am I not worthy?”

“Senior, I’ll start drafting the upper diagram, then!”

Seeing this wouldn’t do, Lee Han gathered the diagrams and quickly left his seat.

He hurried to see the young Skeleton Headmaster for advice.

• * *

-Here. Repeat after me. Let go of your regrets; you won’t cling to this any longer. Of course, I understand why you’re resentful, wizard. But that’s your magic. You can’t put it on your disciple.

-Let me… out…

‘Hmm. This scene is surreal every time.’

Lee Han shuddered as he visited the basement and saw the ghost wailing in the old chest, with the portrait of the young prince lecturing before it.

No matter how many times he saw it, it never became normal. Only Lee Han could bear it—an ordinary Einrogard student would’ve fainted long ago.

-Oh! Disciple! You’re here again!

The young prince smiled brighter than the most beautiful flower in the empire.

Suddenly, Lee Han recalled how his friends would go mad under illusion magic or dark magic.

‘Did my friends feel like this back then?’

Maybe this was karma for being so carefree because he had lots of mana.

“Master, um… It’d sound strange if I asked you to treat me harshly, wouldn’t it?”

-What are you talking about, Disciple?

“I’m not sure what I mean either. Please forget it.”

Lee Han quickly diverted and pulled out the diagrams.

“It’s about the new compressed fusion circle you gave me. I was hoping for some advice on where to start.”

-Hmmm. Let’s see… What would fit my disciple best as a starting point…

The young prince inside the painting tilted his head in thought. It felt like the basement brightened even though he hadn’t used any light magic.

Then the wailing voice cried out again inside the old chest.

-Let… me out…

Lee Han nodded unconsciously. He understood the sentiment.

Someone get me out of here too!

-This spell is difficult to the extreme, so…

“Oh! Should I tell them not to attempt it, then?”

-It wouldn’t do for me to hinder you instead of helping, Disciple. There are a few methods.

‘Tch.’

-Right now, is it this stone mirror that’s bearing the pressure from the dimensional distortion?

On the current diagram, the artifact -Yukveltire’s Stone Mirror- was installed to withstand the distortions and pressure from fusing and casting the spell.

“Yes. Ideally, it’d be best to install a structure like a Mage Tower to distribute it, but we don’t have that kind of luxury right now…”

-It’s a habit of incompetent magicians to waste resources inefficiently. No worries, Disciple. I think this artifact will suffice for now. But there are some improvements to make—should I tell you what to watch out for?

The young prince intended to improve the artifact placed at the starting point for the operation.

If the artifact could bear more distortion, a clever disciple could attempt several more spells to complete the diagram’s magic.

“…Master, about that.”

Lee Han hesitated.

He didn’t want to sound spoiled to someone so kind and generous, but thinking about the shock his Senior just received, he had to ask.

“If I relay these notes, just how shocked will the other wizard be?”

-Hm?

The young prince in the portrait was momentarily taken aback, but still thought about it seriously.

Finally, the prince answered.

-This much should be all right. Disciple, if a junior this brilliant is researching such magic, a Senior won’t be shocked just by hearing a few tips.

A brilliant mage recognizes other brilliant mages.

The young prince trusted Yukveltire.

Someone researching magic at this level wouldn’t be shocked hearing about possible improvements—if anything, she’d get fresh encouragement to throw herself into the work.

“Of course. Understood! I’ll relay it just as is!”

• * *

Thud!

Yukveltire flopped over after hearing the improvement notes. Lee Han yelled in shock.

“Senior!!”

“…Don’t make a scene. I’m just a little fatigued from the long journey.”

“For that, your legs sure gave out…”

Lee Han hurried to the kitchen to fetch some hot chocolate. It was meant for Gainando, but this was an emergency.

‘She’s family, so Gainando won’t mind.’

“Here. Please drink some. Something hot should help you recover a bit.”

“Chocolate…”

“Chocolate?”

When his Senior muttered, Lee Han was confused.

This was hot chocolate?

“…I want to eat cream wafer sticks…”

“……”

Lee Han wondered for a moment if Gainando had transformed. But he didn’t sense any magic traces.

Truly astonishing.

“The ones you made before…”

“What… That was ages ago… And those are pretty tedious to make, you know.”

Come to think of it, he had once served homemade sweets for his Senior, who had stubbornly refused to eat properly.

Back then, she barely touched them and just picked at them, but now?

Yukveltire stared silently with a pale face.

It was an unspoken demand, as if eating those was the only way to regain the energy to get up.

Lee Han barely managed to restrain himself from hitting her and dashed back to the kitchen.

‘Damn. Should’ve just given the hot chocolate to Gainando.’

“Oh? Lee Han, what are you doing?”

Gainando, who just came into the kitchen, looked curiously at Lee Han.

Lee Han answered bluntly.

“Making snacks.”

“Hmph. You’re making them for Princess Joulin again, aren’t you?”

Gainando was surprisingly sharp.

He knew Lee Han wouldn’t make snacks for him unless there was some achievement to reward.

“To think a dragon gets served snacks. Isn’t this too unfair? This isn’t a fairy tale. And in fairy tales, dragons like that all end up… Hey, Lee Han, where’d the hot chocolate from here go?”

“Your sis drank it.”

“…Adenart?!”

“No, the one above her.”

Having finished speaking, Lee Han left. Gainando was stunned in confusion and shock.

-What kind of person just takes the second-year’s stuff?!

Leaving Gainando’s shout behind, Lee Han hurried back and shoved the snack into his Senior’s mouth.

“Eat up and get up. These were supposed to go to whoever finished first.”

“Mmng.”

“Anyway, do the improvement notes make sense?”

“……”

As she reread the notes, Yukveltire’s gaze grew unfocused.

Lee Han gave up and said,

“Actually, I have the young Headmaster in my basement. He’s the one giving the advice, so please stop being shocked and get up.”

Thud!

Yukveltire toppled over again. Lee Han gloomily looked out the window.

For some reason, he missed Senior Direte.

• * *

-Welcome, wizard.

“……”

Yukveltire’s eyes showed the fiercest movement they’d shown all day. Lee Han whispered beside her.

“Calm down. I told you about this, right?”

“I’m perfectly calm. You’re the one who should calm down.”

“I’m on your right, not left.”

Lee Han frowned at the sight of Yukveltire answering to the left.

Maybe the shock had been too great?

The young prince in the painting smiled, spreading his arms.

-The magic you proposed was truly excellent. But I am curious… is it really necessary to combine these two spells right now?

The young prince saw right through what kind of spell Yukveltire intended.

The fusion of these two spells was one step in the process toward a larger goal, not the objective itself.

Of course, if completed, the process would be dramatically shortened, but was it worth pushing yourself this hard for?

-Even if you don’t fuse these two spells, there are many methods if you spend more time.

“Is that so?”

Lee Han looked at his Senior in puzzlement.

He thought there was a clear reason to combine the two spells for greater efficiency and securing extra dimensions. He never expected there might be another way.

‘Did she pick the hardest way on purpose, just because I was helping?’

“There is a reason.”

-What is it?

Yukveltire quietly explained.

In her school of magic, there was a Professor Bur. An argument with this professor was the root of it all.

-This is too tough for someone at your level. Use an easier method!

-I don’t think it’s quite that bad…

-Pah! You can’t do magic like this! If you manage it, I’ll crawl on all fours like Bendosol all next semester!

-……

Of course, Yukveltire had little desire to make a professor crawl around on all fours.

There wasn’t much to gain—that was just emotional and wasteful.

“But when I thought it through, I figured this efficiency was worth investing in…”

-You just want to make him crawl on all fours!

The young prince pointed out, dumbfounded.

To rope your disciple into attempting such a difficult spell over something so petty!

-Wizard, I know you can’t see straight right now because you’re furious, but please let it go. Isn’t your time too precious to be wasted on such trivial arguments? Right, Disciple?

“Actually, I wanted to try this magic too.”

-?!