Episode 154

When Lee Han heard the name “Potion of Nemesis Detection,” the first thing that flashed through his mind was, of course, the skeleton principal.
Setting aside emotional issues, being able to pinpoint the skeleton principal’s location would be a huge help for survival.
‘I could drink the potion whenever I’m about to do something dangerous.’
“Priest Siana, the unparalleled genius produced by the Fleming Order. How do you designate the target?”
There were various ways to designate a target for a curse or potion.
You could recite the incantation while picturing the person’s name or face, or you could bring an item related to that person…
For a potion, it was probably the latter.
“If you put a single strand of the target’s hair into the finished potion, that’s all you need.”
“Hair.”
“Yes, hair.”
“……”
Lee Han fell into deep thought.
‘…Does a lich even have hair?’
No matter how he looked, the skeleton principal had no hair.
He could try to get hair from when the principal was alive, but considering the principal’s age, it would have already rotted to dust.
‘So I can’t use it on the skeleton principal.’
It was a shame, but there was nothing to be done.
Priest Siana, seemingly interested, continued.
“If Lee Han of the Wardanaz Family wants to make it, I’ll help.”
“But isn’t this a pretty difficult potion for us to make together?”
“But Lee Han of the Wardanaz Family is someone who enjoys difficult challenges.”
“…Huh?”
Lee Han paused.
Where did such a crazy rumor come from?
‘Did the White Tiger Tower guys spread it?’
“That’s not true.”
“Even humble… haha.”
“It’s really not true.”
Lee Han’s voice was tinged with bitterness, but Priest Siana didn’t notice.
“Wardanaz. How should I finish this part?”
“Wait. Let’s finish it together.”
Friends who had gathered to complete Professor Alpen’s magic circle called out to Lee Han.
Thanks to everyone’s help, the magic circle was nearing completion.
‘Wait. There’s a gap?’
Lee Han, drawing lines on the floor while looking at the book the professor had given, paused.
Whether it was a mistake or intentional, a part of the magic circle was left empty.
Originally, there should have been orbs of light at regular intervals along the corridor, and an illusionary statue in the center…
As it was, there would be missing orbs of light, making it look awkward.
‘Should I go ask Professor Knighten?’
Lee Han hesitated.
Asking a professor when something was wrong or unclear was riskier than one might think.
-You don’t know this? What have you been listening to in my lectures?
-Are you saying I made a mistake? Unbelievable. Of course, I left it blank so you’d do it on your own.
Whether it was a mistake or not, the reaction could be unexpectedly harsh
Of course, Professor Alpen didn’t seem that crazy, but all the other professors at the magic school had seemed normal at first too.
After some thought, Lee Han made a decision.
‘I’ll have to solve it myself.’
It was fortunate he’d received training in imbuement magic properties from Professor Bible Verdus.
…Was it fortunate?
Lee Han shook off his stray thoughts and focused again.
“Step aside. I’ll cast ‹Light Imbuement›.”
He swung his staff and cast the spell.
The ‹Light Imbuement› magic Lee Han cast filled the missing part of the magic circle.
The other students were impressed, but the princess tilted her head.
For this kind of installed magic circle, the organic connection of the whole was very important.
If the sources of magical power placed throughout the circle acted as batteries, the complex lines of the circle acted as channels to transmit power.
But the imbuement magic Lee Han used to fill the missing part wasn’t really connected to the overall magic circle.
Wouldn’t that mean the magic wouldn’t be transmitted?
Tap tap—
The princess pointed to a corner of the magic circle. Lee Han immediately understood what she was getting at.
“It’s fine.”
“…??”
Of course Lee Han knew, since he was the one who prepared this magic circle.
But the magic circle Professor Alpen gave was not something a mere freshman could fix or add to and complete.
So?
‘It just needs to work while people are watching.’
The purpose of the magic circle was to decorate the area with orbs of light and illusionary statues.
As long as it worked properly while people were watching, there was no problem.
“But isn’t it hard to maintain for long?”
One of the princess’s followers asked, puzzled.
It was very difficult to extend the duration of imbuement magic.
That’s why imbuement magic that lasted semi-permanently was called an artifact.
If you cast imbuement magic with just a staff and incantation like Lee Han, it was hard to last more than a few minutes.
“Right. But don’t worry. I’ll just recast it every day. Then it’ll never go out.”
“……”
“…???”
The princess and her followers were momentarily stunned, unable to understand.
Regardless, Lee Han called Ahsan.
“Ahsan. Go get the professor. Before any other problems come up… No, since it’s finished, let’s show the professor.”
“Got it, Wardanaz”

• * *
  Professor Alpen Knighten, who taught ‹Basic Imperial Geometry and Arithmetic› to the magic school freshmen, was walking with his friend Kendri Baku.
  Both were from high-ranking imperial families, so they weren’t alone.
  Other guests who had come to the magic school were behind them.
  “Did you come from Baldrogard?”
  “Yes. I came to see the outstanding students and renowned education of Einrogard, but I’m embarrassed.”
  The wizard who had led the students from Baldrogard looked embarrassed.
  Even if they were just guests visiting the festival, it would be a lie to say there was no sense of rivalry between magic schools.
  As a wizard working at Baldrogard, he wanted his students to show something.
  Reading that feeling, Alpen and Kendri reassured him.
  “A student’s outstanding talent doesn’t appear just because you force or rush it.”
  “Alpen is right. There’s no need to worry about that. Baldrogard is already doing a wonderful job teaching its students.”
  Apart from a few personality disasters at Einrogard, imperial officials held Baldrogard in high regard.
  The wizards of Einrogard…
  -Two thousand seven hundred eighty gold coins?? Who am I supposed to give this to? If you’re not going to triple it, just take it all What do you mean, actually take it… Oh no
  Compared to that, the wizards of Baldrogard…
  -Imperial funding? It’s fine. We’re not poor, so we don’t need that much support. We’re nobles, not beggars. Please don’t tarnish our honor.
  No wonder imperial officials liked Baldrogard more.
  It was only natural for people like Kendri to think Baldrogard’s education was a bit more wholesome.
  Einrogard was a bit…
  Didn’t they ruin the wizards’ character by focusing too much on magic?
  “But I’m embarrassed that we showed such a poor performance against Einrogard’s fifth-year students. Of course, since the opponent was an upperclassman, we couldn’t win, but we should have shown something better…”
  “…?”
  Alpen was puzzled.
  There weren’t any fifth-year students at the festival.
  Kendri quickly and quietly explained the situation to Alpen.
  -Did Professor Baegrek beat up a Baldrogard student?
  -No. Professor Baegrek’s student did.
  -By a first-year?
  -Magical combat is separate from magical skill. If you don’t practice it separately, you can be clumsy.
  -Even so, a first-year wouldn’t have had much chance to practice magical combat either…
  -Let’s not hurt the feelings of people who came to enjoy the festival. Would fighting between magic schools help the Empire?
  -That’s true.
  The two nodded and decided to keep quiet.
  “What were you talking about?”
  “Nothing.”
  They tried to change the subject, but just then, a first-year student came running from afar.
  It was Ahsan of the Dalkard Family.
  “Professor. We finished what you mentioned before.”
  “Good work. Let’s go check it out.”
  Ahsan bowed and ran ahead, to tell his friends that guests were coming.
  Watching Ahsan’s receding figure, Professor Alpen paused.
  “…Hm?”
  “What’s wrong?”
  “Didn’t he just say it was finished?”
  “He did. I saw it last time, and they’d made a lot of progress.”
  “I didn’t mean for them to finish it…”
  Professor Alpen muttered, confused.
  -I’d like you to take on a simple magic circle project.
  He’d said he wanted them to try making a magic circle, not to finish the whole thing.
  It was hard for freshmen to complete it all.
  So Professor Alpen had told them to do their best with help from their friends, and just do as much as they could…
  “Oh dear. There was a misunderstanding?”
  “There was a misunderstanding.”
  As the saying goes, your arm bends inward—imperial officials were quick to forgive their own mistakes.
  “It must have been a good opportunity for the students.”
  “Indeed. Amazing. I didn’t expect them to finish…”
  “Could you tell me more?”
  The Baldrogard wizard asked, curious.
  When Professor Alpen explained what had happened, the Baldrogard wizard praised him.
  “Because you didn’t set a limit, the students were able to go further.”
  “Your praise embarrasses me”
  “Hahaha”
  “Hahahahaha”
  The wizards laughed and complimented each other.
  The second-year students from Baldrogard, who arrived late, asked curiously,
  “What’s going on?”
  The Baldrogard wizard explained what he’d heard.
  The Baldrogard students spoke in disbelief.
  “They finished a magic circle of that level that quickly?”
  “No way”
  Regardless of the difficulty, the speed was unbelievable.
  Making a magic circle wasn’t just about drawing shapes.
  You had to carefully calculate the amount of magic, test it yourself, and even wizards would collapse from magic exhaustion several times…
  “That could be. But even if it’s incomplete, it’s amazing that they finished enough to show the professor, isn’t it?”
  “Ugh…”
  “Well… that’s true.”
  The polite Baldrogard students had to admit it.
  Even if it was incomplete, finishing enough to show was impressive.
  “Shall we all go take a look?”
  “Yes, Professor.”
  Following the older wizards, the Baldrogard students whispered among themselves.
  “So what year did this?”
  “Who knows…?”
• * *
  When the Baldrogard students arrived at the classroom, they nodded right away.
  “They’re fifth-years.”
  “Why?”
  “That person over there. They said he’s a fifth-year.”
  “I see.”
  The students nodded as they looked at Lee Han’s face.
  As the Baldrogard third-years kept getting beaten up, rumors about Lee Han kept spreading.
  “Wait a minute. Isn’t that… Princess Adenart?”
  “A princess? Why?”
  “I heard she’s a year younger than us…”
  “Then she’s a first-year? So they made it together with upperclassmen.”
  It wasn’t unusual at Baldrogard for upperclassmen to work on magic with juniors.
  Seniors learned from juniors.
  Juniors learned from seniors.
  That was the academic spirit of a prestigious magic school.
  ‘Did a fifth-year come too?’
  Sitting and resting, Lee Han was puzzled by the word “fifth-year” coming from the visiting students.
  He didn’t think he’d seen any fifth-years from Baldrogard…
  “Wardanaz. Excellent work.”
  “Thank you, Professor.”
  Lee Han bowed politely.
  The moment of being recognized by a professor.
  The more demanding the professor, the more glorious that moment was.
  “I didn’t give you the assignment to finish it all, but you finished…”
  “…?”
  “But you completed that part separately?”
  “…Wait a moment, Professor. Wait a moment.”
  Lee Han interrupted the professor without realizing it.
  What did you just say?