Episode 108

Professor Kirmin, trying to calm his confusion, decided to keep asking questions for now.

“What do you talk about with Professor Uregeom?”

“Usually we organize ingredients in the hut and talk about what to grow in the garden.”

Professor Kirmin nodded, making an “Mmm” sound.

It was clear to him that Professor Uregeom was quite fond of this Wardanaz boy.

An alchemist rarely allowed anyone into their hut so easily.

What’s more, he remembered seeing a few Blue Dragon Tower students walking around with reagents from Professor Uregeom’s laboratory.

Wardanaz must have gotten some from Professor Uregeom and shared them with his friends.

‘Professor Uregeom must think of Wardanaz as his alchemy protégé.’

“And with Professor Lightning Step?”

“I’m learning about the animals that live near the magic school and how to handle them.”

‘…Looks like it’s the same for Lightning Step…’

Professor Kirmin looked at the staff Lee Han was carrying.

It was filled with the strong vitality of a tree spirit.

The only professor who would give something like that was Professor Willow.

‘Professor Willow, too??’

Clatter!

Making a rattling sound, the leopard bone summon tied to Lee Han’s belt jumped down.

Lee Han spoke firmly, as if scolding a pet.

“No! Come back right now!”

The imperfect leopard bone summon whimpered and returned.

Professor Kirmin didn’t quite grasp what had just happened.

“I’m sorry. This bone summon hasn’t been listening to me lately.”

“That summon, could it be?”

“Oh, you know? Professor Mortum gave it to me.”

“……”

Necromancy, too!

Professor Kirmin was dumbfounded and counted on his fingers in his mind.

He had no idea how many professors had already approached Lee Han first.

It was shocking, and he had one more question.

‘With so many professors after him, why does he still study under Bagrag?’

From a student’s perspective, there seemed absolutely no reason to want to study under Professor Bagrag…

“Professor?”

“Ah. Sorry, sorry. The summon made me think of something. That summon isn’t listening because it’s gotten stronger.”

“Then should I frighten it into obedience?”

“Undead are hardly frightened, so that’s tough.”

“?”

Lee Han wondered at that.

Then what about the undead summons in Professor Mortum’s Black Darkness Hall that had cowered before Lee Han?

‘Hmm. Maybe he’s just not familiar because it’s not his field.’

Professors were often surprisingly ignorant about other fields. Lee Han wasn’t surprised.

“Don’t get too anxious. A strong summon means it’s intelligent. Right now, as it grows stronger, it doesn’t listen, but once it matures, its mind will grow too and it’ll listen better. …But why are the undead bones so few?”

“Professor Mortum told me to gather them by wandering around the school.”

“Ah…”

Professor Kirmin nodded.

It was really the kind of thing Professor Mortum would do.

“He’s not just giving it to you, but adding some fun… right?”

“Oh… yes. Something like that.”

Lee Han nodded for now.

Professor Kirmin was definitely skilled in social interactions. If it were Professor Voladi, he’d have said, ‘What a waste of time.’

“Still, that Sharkan is really a rare and precious monster.”

“…Wasn’t it a leopard?”

“Ah.”

Professor Kirmin froze.

He’d accidentally revealed the gift Professor Mortum had prepared to surprise the student (though whether students enjoyed such surprises was another question).

“Of course it’s a leopard. A leopard.”

“……”

There was no way Lee Han would fall for that.

When the class ended, he decided to hit the library and find out what kind of monster a Sharkan was.

‘So it’s not just an ordinary leopard?’

Hopefully it wasn’t one of those undead monsters that kills its master.

Sensing Lee Han’s gaze, the leopard bone summon wagged its bones excitedly. Lee Han stroked its head for now.

…If he treated it kindly now, maybe when it got stronger, it wouldn’t bite its master’s neck.

“Anyway, looks like Professor Mortum likes you a lot, too.”

“Professor Mortum likes all his students.”

Lee Han was sincere.

Since there were hardly any students taking necromancy, even Gainando was shown special affection from Professor Mortum.

To the point that even knights learning black magic just to hunt necromancers were diligently attending his classes.

“No wizard likes a disciple without talent. No matter how kind a wizard.”

Professor Kirmin once more counted the professors mentioned in their conversation.

Counting those not even brought up, it was really a lot.

At this rate, he was worried about Wardanaz boy’s health.

Surely all those professors already giving him guidance wouldn’t step back easily, and Wardanaz might end up being dragged into every class.

And with Professor Bagrag, he must’ve already been mentally and physically exhausted…

Was he really okay?

‘Hmm. I’m conflicted.’

Professor Kirmin wavered between wanting a talented student and wondering if he would only end up making a struggling student’s life even harder.

After much deliberation, Kirmin’s internal scales tipped toward taking the student.

“Wardanaz. If you don’t mind…”

“By the way, I’ve also met with the principal separately.”

“…With Konadaltes? What did you talk about?”

“I received a magic book. Could you take a look at it to see if it’s okay?”

Lee Han wanted to use the kindly looking Professor Kirmin’s help to explore the principal’s evil magic book.

But this had the opposite effect.

Professor Kirmin looked at Lee Han in horror.

Of all people to get involved with, it had to be the school’s biggest lunatic.

“…That’s going to be tough. But hang in there!”

“???”

Professor Kirmin put his hand on Lee Han’s shoulder and offered words of encouragement, leaving Lee Han a little flustered.

There was something strange in his voice.

It was almost… like the tone a senior would use when saying “Hang in there!” with sympathy after you end up under a notorious professor.

“Thank you. But Professor, I was actually wondering if I could really do well in illusion magic, so I wanted to ask…”

“Wardanaz. You don’t have to learn illusion magic.”

“?!?!”

Lee Han was even more taken aback as Professor Kirmin instantly flipped his attitude.

‘What’s going on?’

‘Hang in there, Wardanaz. I’ll be cheering for you.’

• * *

Lee Han had thought students at this magic school were a bit indifferent.

Although young, they generally were treated as adults and, having grown up in various backgrounds, were quite mature.

It was the same with the class. When Professor Mortum came in, the students barely reacted.

Of course, it was a bit different for summoning class, but that was probably an exception.

However…

“Professor. The stairs I use always have an illusion spell cast on them so I can’t go up. Is there a way to dispel or bypass it?”

“Can you cast an illusion on black bread to make it taste like it’s covered in honey?”

“I want to set up an illusion ward at the lounge to block intruders. Professor Warda—no, could any other first-year break through it?”

It was just that necromancy was peculiarly unpopular.

The students were actually extremely interested in nearly every branch of magic. Even with illusion magic, this was already the fifth question.

Professor Kirmin waved his hand as if to say calm down.

“Okay, okay. If I answered every question, we wouldn’t have enough time. I’ll take questions up to here, and now let’s have a quick experience of what illusion magic is like.”

After saying this, Professor Kirmin stood quietly.

As the odd silence dragged on, the students grew uncomfortable. Gainando whispered,

“What’s he doing?”

Lee Han stared hard at Professor Kirmin, and then a sense of unease grew.

‘Could it be an illusion?’

If that was true, it was amazing.

Kirmin had walked with Lee Han into the class, even speaking with Professor Garcia, and had had no chance to swap himself out—but managed to fool the students’ eyes and ears and switch himself for an illusion.

Once Lee Han recognized the strangeness, everything around him suddenly felt different.

Just like once Lee Han had realized something about the movement of lightning elements in Professor Voladi’s attempted murder—no, lesson—he was able to keep reading it after that…

Epiphany in magic was like inspiration that revealed an entirely new world. Lee Han realized someone invisible was standing at the desk in front of him and Gainando.

“Gainando. The professor’s in front of you.”

“What?! Be paralyzed!”

Gainando, startled, immediately cast a curse. Truly a prodigy of necromancy.

Of course, Professor Kirmin wasn’t about to be brought down by a first-year’s curse. Kirmin bounced it back with a bewildered look.

Pop!

Gainando took a low-level paralysis curse and stiffened, toppling sideways.

“Well done finding me, but even so, you shouldn’t just shoot a curse out of nowhere!”

“Sorry, professor.”

Lee Han apologized for the frozen Gainando.

‘But is Gainando really talented in necromancy?’

It’s hard to paralyze even one part of the body, yet even aiming at himself, he’d frozen his whole body in one shot.

If that’s not talent, what is?

Kirmin restored himself to his original position from the illusion. Gainando silently called for the paralysis to be lifted.

“As you just saw, I could sneak in right under your noses without you realizing. This is what illusion magic can do. It lets you become invisible, spot the enemy hiding in invisibility, and create illusions to confuse your foes.”

From his movements alone, Professor Kirmin was certainly a flashy person. The students were already entranced.

Lee Han thought of Professor Mortum’s necromancy and felt a pang of sympathy again.

“But of course, you first years must start with the basics, right? Excellent wizards are keenly observant. Look at the students beside you and see what’s different. Noticing unnatural things is the first step to breaking an illusion.”

Professor Kirmin, once more, secretly placed illusions all around the classroom.

The students, seeing that the friends they’d always seen looked subtly different today, were shocked.

“Wait, you… you didn’t use to be this skinny at the entrance ceremony.”

“It’s from not eating, you moron.”

With some false starts, one by one, students in each tower began to recognize the illusions.

Professor Kirmin praised these sharp-eyed students and continued teaching.

“If you can notice strangeness just by observation, you can also learn the spell. Try dispelling the illusions cast here.”

Lee Han, along with the other students, went up to observe the illusions.

There was an illusory, locked wooden box placed before the students.

A student from Black Turtle Tower recited a spell and waved his staff as Professor Kirmin had taught. The box let out an ear-piercing scream.

“!!!!”

“Don’t get complacent when dispelling illusions. If there’s at least one illusion spell set up, that means all sorts of defenses are around it.”

Professor Kirmin gave a warning and looked at Lee Han.

Lee Han held up his staff and aimed at the illusion of the wooden box.

He clearly visualized the illusion, pictured reality as it should be, then recited the spell and swung his staff.

“Vanish, illusion!”

The illusion disappeared from the box. The princess beside him clapped quietly.

But instead of praising him, Professor Kirmin looked at Lee Han with pity and said,

“Wardanaz. You really don’t need to work so hard at illusion magic.”

“…?!”