Episode 1067

He heard the spirit shouting something, but the focused young prince paid it no mind.

What mattered most now was teaching his disciple magic.

Compared to that, whatever an evil spirit was shouting didn’t matter at all.

If they were lucky, maybe the spirit would have a change of heart, but most wouldn’t overcome their nature. The prince never expected much from wicked beings anyway.

Understood! I’ll endure a bit longer!

‘This sort of situation won’t come often…’

Ignoring the spirit again, the prince mused.

Ancient times had already proven that the right amount of tension enhances a magician’s learning ability—and his disciple was especially well-suited to this.

He had to teach as many spells as possible whenever opportunities like this arrived.

That sort of great chance wouldn’t come so often.

If it were the Skeleton Headmaster, he’d say, ‘If a crisis is necessary, I’ll manufacture one myself!’ But the young prince was still inexperienced and naïve; he hadn’t had such wicked ideas yet.

He merely wanted to teach his disciple anything he could whenever a fortuitous opportunity arose.

‘Is there any way I can do even more?’

Gaaaaaah!

With Lee Han’s resources and the prince’s encouragement, Saratan held on with pure grit.

His body kept breaking and healing, but for a powerful high-rank spirit like Saratan, this much pain was unfamiliar and intolerable.

For such a spirit to hang on so tenaciously was truly remarkable.

“Master! Could you maybe help now?”

Lee Han, who assumed that the prince would step in if things got dangerous, now called out in mild panic.

Saratan’s scream had hit a new level entirely.

-All right. Disciple. When you cast teleport just now, what did you feel?

“Eh? Well… uh… Saratan here…”

Agogogogogogo!

The young prince gestured. Whatever spell he cast, Saratan’s scream went on mute.

-There. That’s better.

“That doesn’t actually help just by muting the noise, does it…?”

-So, Disciple. What did you sense while casting teleport?

“…Even the cast speed, the precision of the coordinates… I found it difficult.”

-Exactly. Even after one successful cast, becoming skilled at teleport magic is not easy.

Because it was among the most difficult types of spells, teleport required massive time and effort just to master even after success.

Plus, there were all sorts of extra aspects to learn.

Plain teleport, pierce-type teleport for targets with strong anti-magic, swap-type teleport for exchanging objects at two locations…

‘But what does any of this have to do with—?’

While reinforcing the spirit with mana and various buffs, Lee Han was getting impatient.

His teacher’s lecture didn’t seem especially relevant to the immediate pressure from the refraction spell.

The lesson was extremely valuable, but how would it help against the spell pressure?

“Master! Got it! Where should I cast teleport?”

Lee Han finally cut in.

He wasn’t skilled enough, but there was no other choice. Saratan’s body truly looked like it was being wrung out.

At this rate, the spirit’s will would collapse before Yukveltire even finished the spell.

-Not yet, Disciple. Listen just a bit more.

The young prince skillfully delayed.

He planned to teach a few more teleportation magics at this rate.

If possible, he wanted Lee Han to even learn actual self-teleportation now…

Crack!

“!?”

A loud snapping noise made Lee Han whip his head around in alarm.

He thought it might be Saratan’s back breaking, but it wasn’t. Saratan was still holding on.

It was elsewhere. Lee Han saw that Yukveltire’s face had gone even whiter than ever before.

A crack had appeared in the thin adamantite plate.

The very core supporting and receiving all these spells was cracking. Lee Han was aghast.

“W-what…? No… I definitely calculated the load right?!”

Everything Lee Han and Saratan were suffering through was to disperse the pressure from the spell.

No matter how reliable adamantite sounded as a material, it couldn’t handle all this magical load alone.

And yet, to have a crack form like that was unbelievable.

-The adamantite purity isn’t as high as you thought. There are other impurities mixed in.

“Huh? Of course, it’s an alloy!”

Lee Han raised his voice in surprise.

It wasn’t like Yukveltire was some continental emperor who could use pure adamantite plates.

The Skeleton Headmaster wouldn’t waste such luxury either—

…Well, maybe he could, but at least he wouldn’t do it in front of his students.

“It’s almost impossible for an Einrogard student to get pure adamantite!”

-Indeed, Disciple. What a regrettable misunderstanding. You assumed you were working with the same quantity of material, but they turned out not to be the same at all…

“…Master, you’re not smiling right now, are you?”

Lee Han felt something strange.

Of course, the young prince always had a gentle smile.

But was he now smiling for some other reason, as if he was enjoying this situation…?

‘Must just be my imagination?’

-Disciple, it seems the only option is for you to learn a brand-new spell right now.

There was clear happiness in the young prince’s voice at the prospect of teaching another spell.

“I’m stopping. Get out, now!”

Behind him, Yukveltire called out coldly.

She wanted to throttle Professor Verdus’s neck out of frustration, but failed spells couldn’t be undone.

It was time to back out, not insist.

-Be quiet.

“We have to—”

-Now, Disciple. Listen closely.

Yukveltire was muted instantly. It was an astounding illusion magic.

‘How…? How did he do that?’

Lee Han had studied magic, yet had no idea how this was accomplished.

It wasn’t cast directly on him, nor directly on Yukveltire…

“M-master, she wants us to fall back. Shouldn’t we pull out if it’s too much?”

-Would that magician just leave you alone? Wouldn’t she come back and ask you again?

The prince paused with his head cocked.

Now that he thought about it… maybe that would be good?

‘No, she might not ask again.’

While the prince pondered, Lee Han was already convinced. That Senior was exactly the kind of person who’d never stop pestering him.

…Professor Verdus has to learn his lesson too!

“You’re right. What do I do?”

-Do you remember the rhythm spell you once showed in the tower?

“Rhythm spell…?”

Lee Han recalled the conversation he’d once had with a great artist.

A rhythm spell drew on the logic of music magic to strengthen a spell’s power.

There were repetitive spells and other ways to strengthen a spell, but few could match the peak of a rhythm spell.

In fact, Lee Han had managed to complete the complex composite enchantment spell -Bible’s Flying Sword- thanks to a rhythm spell.

Normally, it was too complex and delicate for him to cast.

-Use that to cast the spell I describe.

Royal Aurum.

This spell was a transmutation magic passed down in the prince’s family—in other words, the royal lineage.

Every transmutation spell Lee Han had learned thus far had fixed outcomes.

-Jarun’s Inelastic Rubber- made swampy rubber. -Rock-to-Sand Transmutation- made sand. Always a fixed result.

Fixing results in transmutation was necessary. Otherwise, the magic’s difficulty skyrocketed.

But this spell the young prince named had “gold” in its name, but wasn’t actually about gold.

“Damn it!”

-?

“Nothing.”

It turned a material temporarily into an almost universal, non-existent, imaginary material.

It was similar to a philosopher’s stone or dragonstone.

Of course, compared to either of those, any other reagent would pale in comparison…

“…So the point is to use it to cover the adamantite damage?”

-Just keep the effect up until the spell finishes. After the refraction spell ends, the pressure won’t matter anymore.

“But what circle is this spell?”

-Hurry, Disciple! Quickly now!

Lee Han looked at Saratan.

There was no way he could do this one by teleport; for this, he’d have to leave Saratan for a moment.

“Are you all righ—?”

-He says he’s fine. Go!

The prince silenced Saratan and took a bit of the burden away, waving for Lee Han to hurry.

‘Is he really fine?’

With some doubt, Lee Han rushed over. Yukveltire was mouthing something.

“Senior, what are you—?”

“Mmphmphmphmphmph.”

Yukveltire, usually so stoic, was waving with an angry face.

She pointed at Lee Han, then toward the door.

She was saying: “Stop the magic, get out!”

-Disciple!

“Ah, yes, right.”

Quickly he moved to the adamantite plate under the painting’s urging. Yukveltire stomped her foot in frustration and glared at the prince.

The young prince only smiled innocently.

Yukveltire mentally raised his threat rating to the highest level.

Very High—Young Prince–

High—Skeleton Headmaster

Mid-High—Professor Verdus

Meanwhile, singing drifted by from the back. Surprised by the incongruous song, Yukveltire turned.

‘Refraction…!’

The -Aximan’s Refraction- spell was being inscribed on the plate.

Despite the crack, and her certainty the plate would collapse, the adamantite held its form.

Looking closer, pure gold gleamed in the cracks.

Not real gold, but a magically formed, otherworldly gold.

It substituted for the lost adamantite, maintaining magic.

The moment she understood the trick, Yukveltire looked at her junior in shock again.

To pull off such high-level transmutation so casually?

“Master! Will this actually hold?!”

-Keep maintaining it just a little longer. You’re doing great!

“No, the maintenance won’t last—”

Lee Han was alarmed by how the magic gold looked ready to dissolve and revert to normal at any moment.

It devoured more and more mana, never satisfied—like a young basilisk.

Who’d imagine it would take that much mana to maintain a handful of gold?

‘Am I casting this wrong??’

Confused but trusting his teacher, he gritted his teeth and kept the magic up. Fortunately, he didn’t have to worry about running out of mana.

The young prince smiled at the sight.

Normally, you’d cast several magic-reserve spells before starting, but his disciple was tough enough to just tough it out.

Honestly, he almost wanted one or two extra problems to pop up at this point.

-Are you all right, Spirit?

Yes… Thank you for your concern…

-Are you really okay? You won’t collapse or be unable to go on?

I’m okay! If that guy’s holding, I am too!

The young prince let out a subtle, unseen sigh.

This spirit was truly useless.