Episode 1163

Episode 1163

Lee Han reflected on himself once more.

He ought to stop being fooled by neat appearances, but how many times had he been fooled now?

‘From now on, I’ll just assume any magician is crazy by default.’

And, honestly, Garco was a relatively well-mannered, crazy magician.

Claiming that an ancient magician was actually from his own school—well…

‘If I said the Skull Headmaster was a nice prince in his youth, Imperial citizens would also think that’s equally crazy.’

“I see. I didn’t know. I just thought Baquantalana belonged to the Enchantment school.”

As Lee Han played along, Garco became more animated. The gentlemanly tone he’d kept until now was tinged with wrath.

“The Enchantment school is always like that. Pretending to be craftsmen, acting clueless, behaving cunningly. Not all Enchantment magicians are like that, but it’s certain there are some shameless ones among them!”

“Is Professor Verdus in that list… ah, never mind.”

Lee Han’s curiosity almost got the better of him—he was about to ask, ‘Is Professor Verdus on your shameless list too?’ but came to his senses.

Maybe within Einrogard students, but he couldn’t criticize a Professor to an outsider magician.

“Do you know why I came to this ruin out of all the many ruins in the North? It is because of this old book.”

Garco produced a worn-out book. On its well-bound cover, in green letters, was written -On the Vision of Transformation Magic-.

“This old text deeply analyzes the places most likely to hold lost transformation magic.”

Magicians all had a wide variety of goals. Their obsessions could even shift fickly from time to time.

In that sense, Garco’s goal was to discover and restore lost transformation magic.

Unearthing such lost spells was never easy. If a magic had yet to be discovered, there was always a reason.

If it was an unexplored ruin, it was relatively less dangerous, but sometimes he had to break into places that hadn’t been touched for centuries.

‘I see. No wonder he handled things so deftly.’

To subdue an unknown chimera with no prior info—such skill did not develop in a day or two.

“Student Lee Han. I have no greed regarding the magic of these ruins. I want only one thing.”

Garco’s eyes blazed. Lee Han tensed a little. Usually, those declaring they had ‘no greed’ in situations like these were the scariest.

“And what is that?”

“If it turns out that Baquantalana’s magic is not Enchantment but something else, please don’t hide it! If you publish anything, I hope you present the truth.”

“…Al-alright.”

It was a rather trivial request, but Garco was sincere.

What if Baquantalana’s undiscovered magic turned out not to be Enchantment?

What if it was even transformation magic??

‘It’s entirely possible.’

Unlike Lee Han, the unprincipled magician who took all curricula, Garco, born into a transformation magician family, had deeply researched Baquantalana’s magic and developed theories of his own.

Just look at spells like -Lament of Baquantalina-: they displayed profound insight into transformation magic.

A spell so knowledgeable of transformation magic couldn’t have been created by anyone but an expert.

There must surely be powerful transformation spells among Baquantalana’s magics!

Garco didn’t stop, eagerly using his sociability to explain the tangled history between Enchantment and transformation magic.

Lee Han regretted not keeping Catten or Giselle by his side. There was no one to interrupt the conversation.

‘Angrago. Come over here and interrupt, would you?’

When Lee Han gestured, Angrago, who was waving the staff around searching for the emblem, tilted his head quizzically.

Then, as if realizing, he clapped his fist into his palm.

“Wardanaz said we shouldn’t disturb him here. Let’s check the other side first.”

“……”

---

Luckily, the emblem was found after 30 minutes.

Lee Han walked along, tormented by thoughts that some of the Enchantment spells he knew might actually belong to the transformation school.

“Well then… I’ll open it.”

Saratan made a swallowing sound from inside the staff.

If the password to descend didn’t work here, it’d be an incredible embarrassment.

Unlike organisms, which were vulnerable to contamination, mechanical and magical devices like these were less likely to be altered, so he felt fairly confident…

‘If it doesn’t open, I’ll have to play dead.’

Saratan was even considering becoming a dead staff and quietly staying silent if it didn’t open.

Krrrrung—

Fortunately, the worst didn’t occur. The emblem glowed, the wall split open, and a passage leading downward appeared.

-It’s open! Khaha, it’s open! It worked!

“…You’re loud, say it more quietly.”

Lee Han was grateful that only he could hear the voice of the spirit in his staff.

If everyone else heard it too, it would be rather embarrassing.

“What should we watch out for from here?”

-From this lower layer, it’s all natural.

Above were facilities—places for workers and technicians, or for visiting fellow magicians—storage for equipment, magical tools, and so on.

But the bottommost area needed no such embellishment. It was enough to extract the necessary magical power from the natural surroundings.

-That doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous. There are three major things to watch out for. First, spirits.

“Everyone, be careful of spirits.”

At Lee Han’s words, students and adventurers became wary.

Spirits appearing in magic-rich places like this tended to be very powerful and ferocious, making them extremely dangerous.

What kind of spirit would it be?

“There are lots of bedrocks underground nearby, so probably a rock-type spirit.”

“It could be a shadow spirit.”

“…I don’t feel any spirit presence?”

Lee Han, who was also on alert and sensing the surrounding magic, felt something odd.

Even if spirits disliked Lee Han, he was a magician with an excellent sense for detecting magic, which also applied to detecting spirits.

Yet there was no presence of spirits here.

-Definitely… they’re definitely hiding somewhere…

“If the guardian above was contaminated, maybe the tainted energy here also drove the spirits away?”

-…That is highly likely!

Saratan exclaimed in alarm.

Now that he’d heard it, it made sense.

“……”

Lee Han seriously debated whether or not to smack this spirit.

Just how ridiculous must all the magicians and adventurers feel?

‘Is this guy doing this on purpose for his own pride?’

“What’s the second thing?”

-The second thing is magical traps. Baquantalana was a master Enchantment magician.

There was nothing as threatening as traps set by an Enchantment magician.

Lee Han checked the surroundings again, this time with a serious look.

Various magical flows existed in nature, but finding magical traps meant seeking out regular flows.

It would take some time…

-You don’t need to find them with your senses. As I said, I built these kinds of ruins several times.

“How many times?”

-…Don’t nitpick my words. Look, there. Baquantalana often used loosely-piled stone towers as markers. Jus—

Lee Han carefully put his hand on the stone tower.

Then, a torrent of immense magic surged up from beneath the tower and flowed through Lee Han, like lightning flowing down a person’s body.

The difference was, this magical surge hadn’t hurt Lee Han at all. No matter how massive, compared to Lee Han’s own power, it was nothing.

-…I was just about to tell you to be careful not to touch that.

Saratan said in a stupefied voice.

He never imagined a sly magician like Wardanaz would touch it recklessly.

“Why didn’t you say not to touch it first?”

Lee Han grumbled.

Actually, regardless of Saratan’s words, Lee Han himself was confident, which is why he touched it.

A trap that didn’t produce a physical effect but attacked only with pure mana wouldn’t work on Lee Han.

…Of course, he didn’t expect all these linked traps to just get broken.

Lee Han found and neatly destroyed the other stone towers as well. The friends behind him didn’t seem to notice anything had happened.

“Wardanaz, what are you doing?”

“I’m destroying traps.”

“…Is that a joke?”

His friends stared at him, confused.

Wardanaz rarely joked about things like that, but even so, this sight was inexplicable.

Disarming magical traps tended to be a noisier, flashier spectacle. At the least, you’d expect magical currents to scatter everywhere.

But Wardanaz just approached a stone tower, which didn’t even emit magical aura, and absent-mindedly scattered the stones as if playing around.

‘Was that even a trap to begin with?’

Garco explained instead.

“Very impressive. To break through magical traps like that. The reason you can’t feel traps near these stone towers is precisely because Baquantalana’s magic is so superior. This ground underfoot may seem like ordinary rock, but it’s actually magical material created through transformation magic. That’s why it’s so hard to realize traps are waiting underneath.”

“I-I see…!”

“Amazing!”

The students, upon hearing the explanation, murmured in shock.

They were White Tiger Tower students who often got scolded by Lee Han, Giselle, or sometimes Catten—‘show more interest in magic!’—but fundamentally they were Einrogard magicians.

No matter what, they weren’t that ignorant about magic.

And they knew just how amazing what they’d just heard was. To set spells that visitors wouldn’t notice at all.

Having finished disarming the traps, Lee Han thought to himself.

‘Wait. If the floor’s made of transformation magic, that’s not the natural environment, is it?’

He shuddered at how Saratan kept leaving out details.

What a guy! To grumble about not being believed now—he was even bolder than Gainando.

“What’s the third thing?”

-Actually, there is likely not a third thing. Not all ruins have it.

“I see.”

Lee Han nodded, and told the party:

“Everyone, get ready. There’s a high chance something dangerous awaits.”

-……

Saratan pursed his lips in frustration. Though hidden in the staff, so no one could see it.

-It’s true, it is! For magic she cared about, Baquantalana would cast additional spells even in these lower layers. Sometimes rivals or enemies came to steal or destroy. The third thing is specially, her clones. Magic clones of Baquantalana. But since she cared about only a few spells…

“Everyone! There’s a high chance Baquantalana’s clones will appear!”

“!!”

-…But if none show up, it’s not my fault!

Greatly annoyed, Saratan still explained the functions of the clone.

They would cast Baquantalana’s preset spells in sequence. Anyone who knew the spells could prepare, but uninformed intruders would be swept away.

Are you my master?

Suddenly, a telepathic wave echoed throughout the whole depth. Lee Han, listening to Saratan’s explanation, wondered suspiciously,

“What’s this process now?”

-…I, I’ve never heard of anything like this.

Saratan was truly flustered.

It sounded like a clone’s voice, but did the clones talk to intruders like that?

Verifying the spirit slave. It matches. Checking species… does not match. My apologies. You are not the master.

“……”

-……

Did it think Lee Han was the master because it saw Saratan being used like a slave just now?