Episode 187

After finishing his monologue, Lee Han realized that his fingertips were trembling slightly.

He had tried to stay calm, but the shock must have been great.

‘No matter what, isn’t this a bit too much?’

-Normally, the midterms of lower-year students end without much impact on the school, but the midterms of upper-year students… cause quite a lot of trouble.

What Direte said while eating red bean rice cake was as follows.

Since lower-year students still had low magical skills, even if they made mistakes or caused accidents during exams, the aftermath wasn’t that big.

But upper-year students were different.

As the scale of magic increased, any mistake could have a serious impact on the entire school.

-Should a senior really do this to juniors?

-If you’re upset, become a senior and do the same. And it’s not like we want to do this. When several accidents overlap, unpredictable things just happen.

Sometimes, because summoning magics overlapped, the connection to the elemental realm where lava elementals lived became stronger, and the school was once covered in lava.

Other times, because the flow of mana became tangled, strange phenomena occurred where completely different magic would come out even if you tried to cast a spell.

-Of course, I know you’re angry, but junior, think about revenge later and be careful.

-Understood. I’ll stockpile as many supplies as possible and try to get artifacts so I can respond to any situation. I’ll also let the friends in the tower know so there won’t be any damage…

-I… I didn’t mean for you to prepare that professionally, but it’s not a bad idea.

After finishing his conversation with Direte, Lee Han returned to the tower (apologized to Gainando for earlier) and made various preparations with his friends.

He went to the Black Turtle Tower’s black market to find usable artifacts, organized and calculated the supplies stored in the tower, and dug up anything edible from the garden as a priority…

But even so, he couldn’t help but feel heavy-hearted.

‘This week will be tough too.’

• * *

“This is the worst Sunday.”

“This isn’t bread, it’s a blunt weapon, isn’t it?”

The friends who received the bread and rice for breakfast were dumbfounded.

Maybe because of the cold, it had already hardened.

“Did you see outside? Back at the mansion, we used to have snowball fights in this kind of weather…”

“This isn’t the time for that. If we don’t clear the piled-up snow, we can’t get out the door.”

“Why aren’t the professors solving this?”

“Because it’s the students’ fault, so the students have to solve it.”

“Wardanaz!”

The students in the lounge, holding black blunt weapons—no, black bread—with pitiful expressions, brightened up.

They expected Lee Han’s appearance would solve this problem.

“Unfortunately for everyone, there’s no telling when this blizzard will end. We won’t be able to get ingredients from the garden for a while, either. We’ll be on a rationed diet for a while.”

“…!”

“Don’t worry, Wardanaz. We’re Einrogard students too. We won’t complain just because we’re a little hungry.”

“That’s right, Wardanaz!”

Lee Han was a bit worried at his friends’ excessive confidence.

‘These guys are pretty gluttonous.’

Other towers lived hungry from the start, but thanks to Lee Han, the Blue Dragon Tower had become quite picky.

Will they be okay?

“Today’s dish is canned beans.”

“…C-can’t we open another can? Do we have to eat only beans?”

“No. We have to save.”

The Blue Dragon Tower students looked gloomy at the thought of eating hard bread with canned beans.

But fortunately, Lee Han wasn’t so cold as to just open a can of beans and put it in a bowl.

Lee Han put the onions, garlic, and mushrooms he had dug up from the garden the day before into a pan, and stir-fried them with the beans in oil.

Then he opened another can, added tomatoes, onions, and garlic, and simmered it generously, seasoning with salt and pepper.

The Blue Dragon Tower students’ expressions brightened a little. Even the princess, sitting nearby, had a faint look of admiration on her usually expressionless face.

Breakfast time.

Even though the blizzard started up again outside, the meal was delicious.

“Wardanaz. I think we all need to work together.”

“That’s right. You need to give us orders.”

At his friends’ words, Lee Han fell into thought.

The Blue Dragon Tower students were right.

The situation was so big that it would be hard to respond without joining forces.

What’s the first thing to do now?

“We have to clear the snow in front of the tower. If we don’t, we can’t even go to lectures.”

“Surely the professors will take that into account, right?”

“No way.”

“Absolutely not.”

At someone’s naive comment, the friends shook their heads seriously.

“And aren’t all our coats spring coats? If we go out, we’ll freeze to death.”

At Lee Han’s words, his friends’ faces turned serious.

Certainly, because of the spring weather, they hadn’t thought of such a cold situation…

“I did prepare thick winter fabrics just in case something like this happened. I didn’t expect to use them so soon… Let’s eat and then make coats.”

“???”

“?????”

The friends nodded, then paused.

…Why did you prepare that?

“Wardanaz. Did you know something like this would happen?”

“No.”

“Then how…?”

“I just thought we might need thick fabric someday, so I bought it.”

“As expected of Wardanaz. You can’t let your guard down even with a 1% chance.”

Ahsan said with an admiring expression. Of course, some students were still puzzled, thinking, ‘He’s lucky, but do you really have to go that far?’

“Let’s make as many cold-weather items as possible. There should be some usable artifacts too.”

The advantage of a magic school was that incomplete artifacts rolled around like stones on the roadside.

“This lantern with the frozen mist trapped inside is a bit awkward for this situation, right?”

“Put it away in the corner.”

After finishing their meal, the friends took out thick fabrics and started looking for usable artifacts.

And Lee Han put on a ring, a bracelet, and a necklace one by one.

With a clicking sound, the flame-absorbing accessories released their power.

“Open the door and step aside.”

“Wardanaz. I trust y…”

“Ahsan. Step aside before I hit you.”

“O-okay.”

Ahsan grumbled as he stepped back.

He said he trusted him, so why!

‘I didn’t want to play with fire near the tower, but I have no choice.’

When he opened the tower door connected to the lounge, a storm of cold and a mountain of snow greeted Lee Han.

There was no way to get to lectures through this tomorrow. He had to clear it now.

‘Melt it!’

“Burn!”

Whoosh!

With the spell, flames began to surge.

Lee Han was surprised.

‘What’s this?’

Controlling the flames was overwhelmingly easier than usual.

If normal fire magic felt like trying to rein in a wild horse, now it felt like handling a well-trained, gentle steed.

‘There’s no way my skills have improved that much in the meantime… It’s because of the environment.’

There were advantages to the blizzard and extreme cold.

Since the mana spread in nature was affected by the environment, in this situation, the power of fire magic was bound to be suppressed.

For a wizard like Lee Han, who had to wear all sorts of sealing tools and still worry about causing accidents just to use fire magic once, it was honestly a bit of a relief.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

Lee Han started melting the snow everywhere with flames.

“It seems like having this much snow isn’t all bad.”

“What nonsense are you talking about, Wardanaz.”

“Don’t make cold jokes. It’s already cold enough.”

“……”

Lee Han shut his mouth.

Was that really something he shouldn’t have said?

“Wardanaz. Don’t you need to rest?”

“I’m still fine.”

“Wardanaz. I think you should rest.”

“I’m still fine. Let’s do a little more.”

“Wardanaz…”

“I said I’m fine.”

“No. I mean, it’s all melted…”

“Ah. I see.”

Lee Han looked up.

Thanks to working all morning, a path had been made to some extent.

Looking back, his friends were staring at him in shock.

‘Is it because of the blizzard?’

“I’m going to go to Professor Thunderstep’s cabin. I need to get what’s left in the garden.”

“Lee Han! Take the potion we made!”

Yoner, who was making potions with the other friends by the lounge fireplace, waved his hand.

Inside the cauldron, the potion for cold resistance was boiling.

Ahsan picked up a potion bottle and took a sip.

“Wow. I feel like my insides are burning up?”

“Dalkard. That’s the alcohol we used as an ingredient. The cold resistance potion hasn’t been bottled yet.”

• * *

Professor Thunderstep, after clearing the snow near his cabin with magic, sat inside leisurely drinking coffee.

Thanks to the heavy snow, everything was quiet and cozy.

‘Not bad.’

If it was this kind of accident, it wasn’t bad.

It was much more atmospheric than having some disgusting monster from the shadow dimension rampaging around.

Bang!

“Professor! Please give me some leftover food!”

Professor Thunderstep was so startled he almost spilled his coffee.

How did he?!

“How did you get here with all this snow?!”

“I melted it with fire.”

“There’s no way that kind of brute force would… actually, it would.”

Professor Thunderstep nodded as he spoke.

If it was this student in front of him, it was entirely possible.

He was a guy whose mana seemed limitless…

“Still, I’m impressed you thought to make a path with fire magic in this weather. Fire magic shouldn’t work well.”

“It was actually better.”

“?”

“?”

After hearing the explanation, Thunderstep understood what he meant.

‘What a monster…!’

Of course, understanding didn’t mean he wasn’t surprised.

How much mana must he have to say it was actually better to use fire magic in this weather?

And he was even wearing several control artifacts!

“…Wait. I’ll pack you some food.”

Even for a student with monstrous talent, seeing him break through the blizzard to gather leftover ingredients made the professor feel a bit sorry as a teacher.

Professor Thunderstep packed up the remaining vegetables, eggs, smoked or pickled sausages and ham, and cheeses.

“Is the garden unusable?”

“If you have a conscience, look at the snow piled on the garden…”

“Even with the staff of the tree spirit?”

“Even if it was the staff of the ancestor of tree spirits, what can’t be done, can’t be done…”

Professor Thunderstep was dumbfounded by his student’s shameless remarks.

No matter how much the staff increased vitality, if there were vegetables that could grow through this kind of heavy snow, they weren’t vegetables but plant-type monsters.

“Don’t just complain, look at the positive side.”

“What nonsense are you talking about, professor? It’s already cold enough for such chilly jokes.”

Forgetting what he had said to his friends earlier, Lee Han put on a serious face.

Professor Thunderstep was about to scold him, but then remembered that his student was excellent at swordsmanship and combat.

The professor mercifully forgave him and began to explain.

“Of course, life will be a bit inconvenient.”

“It’ll be very inconvenient.”

“…Yeah. It’ll be very inconvenient. But it’ll be a chance to practice magic you haven’t been able to handle.”

“Hmm. Come to think of it, with blood magic, I was worried about causing too much collateral damage, but with this much snow, it should act as a buffer.”

“Why are you bringing up blood magic?! I meant cold elements and spirits!”

Professor Thunderstep was startled by his student’s crazy words.

“Ah. That makes sense.”

“Yeah. When the mana of nature is concentrated in one direction like this, the distance to unseen other worlds gets closer. It wouldn’t be strange for cold spirits to come out of the spirit realm and wander around. Not to mention the cold element.”

This kind of bizarre climate was a chance to practice difficult elements you wouldn’t normally encounter.

Cold was exactly that.

“You’re quite skilled with the water element, so you’re likely to be good with cold too.”

“Really?”

Lee Han brightened.

Getting something for free was always a joy.

“Yeah. Try summoning water now. You’ll understand what I mean right away.”

The mana of cold filling nature affected a wizard’s magic.

If he summoned water now, surely…

“Spring forth!”

Seeing the water mass spring forth as usual, without freezing or shrinking, Professor Thunderstep cursed inwardly.

Talented students like this were hard to teach.

“Now. As for how cold and water attributes are related…”

“Aren’t you going to use the water you just summoned?”

“…Just listen quietly.”

“Yes, understood.”