Episode 195

“…Sorry.”

Lee Han apologized for now.

He really hadn’t imagined that the Snow Hedgehog would just run away.

‘Isn’t that monster way too cowardly for a monster?’

A monster should attack ferociously regardless of the opponent’s magic power, but if it’s this timid…

“Ah.”

“?”

Next to him, Priest Siana made a sound as if she had just remembered something.

“I think it’s better to chase the Snow Hedgehog, Lee Han of the Wardanaz Family.”

“Why is that?”

Lee Han was ready to refuse whatever Priest Siana said.

He should be grateful the monster ran away—there was no reason to force himself to catch it.

Only those foolish Black Turtle Tower students would have the misconception, ‘There’s no way Wardanaz would be satisfied with just driving the monster away’…

“Snow Hedgehogs like to gather Cold Sleep Lotus.”

“!!”

Cold Sleep Lotus.

It was an ingredient you could only get by digging through snow after a blizzard, breaking the frozen surface of a lake, and diving into the water.

Naturally, he had excluded it from the start, thinking, ‘I shouldn’t even try to get this one.’

“Let’s chase it! Sharkan, follow its trail! Nillia, help!”

At his shout, the Black Turtle Tower students looked at Lee Han with an expression that said, ‘I knew it.’

Lee Han almost hit his friends one by one but held back.

• * *

While there were students like Lee Han who rationally collected the easiest ingredients first, there were also students who tried to gather the hardest ingredients to impress Professor Thunderstep.

The White Tiger Tower students were just that.

Amazingly, they were trying to break through the thick ice of the lake in this extreme cold to get Cold Sleep Lotus.

Crack!

“Got it!”

The White Tiger Tower students, who finally succeeded in breaking the lake ice with an axe, bumped fists.

In such cold weather, breaking the ice was no easy feat.

If you just swung the axe, your clothes could get soaked with sweat and freeze, so you had to swing slowly and gradually.

“Be careful.”

“I know. Okay, I’m going in!”

One of the students took out a round orb engraved with a pattern.

It was a <Fake Eyeball> they had bought from the Black Turtle Tower students.

“Show me, O Eye! Show me what I cannot see!”

An artifact that showed the user a clear view of the area around the orb.

It was disposable, but among the failed products you could get at school, it was one of the better ones.

The students fixed the orb securely to a stick and put it into the lake.

They were wearing several layers of leather enchanted with minor cold resistance, but if you fell into the lake, that was meaningless.

That’s why the students moved cautiously.

“There it is! The hook!”

The students who spotted the Cold Sleep Lotus tried to pull it out with a hook.

The tightly clustered Cold Sleep Lotus was slowly being dragged up. The students’ faces brightened.

“Got it out!”

“Keep digging! Let’s take it all!”

-■■■■! ■■■■!

“?!?”

“What the!?”

That was before the Snow Hedgehog appeared.

With a flapping sound, the Snow Hedgehog began to dash across the lake. The White Tiger Tower students, focused on fishing, were a step too late to react.

“Th… That…”

“Don’t come this way!”

Despite the students’ cries, the Snow Hedgehog charged on.

The Snow Hedgehog aimed for the hole the students had made. The weakened ice broke in a chain reaction, and a huge cracking sound erupted.

Splash!

The Snow Hedgehog dove straight into the lake.

…And so did the White Tiger Tower students.

• * *

“Why are those guys on the lake? That’s dangerous!”

Ahsan was flustered as he watched the White Tiger Tower students fall into the lake in the distance.

But Lee Han saw something different.

‘Wait. They dug up Cold Sleep Lotus?’

A basket left on the lakeshore.

And Lee Han’s eyes sparkled when he saw the basket full of Cold Sleep Lotus.

He hadn’t expected them to succeed in digging it up.

“We have to help!”

Nillia shouted urgently.

Wasn’t this accident caused by chasing the Snow Hedgehog?

At her words, Lee Han, who had been thinking about how to borrow some Cold Sleep Lotus, nodded.

“Yeah. Let’s help them and borrow some Cold Sleep Lotus in return.”

“Huh? What?”

“Move!”

Lee Han didn’t answer and sprang into action.

First, save the ones who fell in!

Lee Han grabbed the pole the White Tiger Tower students had stacked and moved it. The students floundering on the lake managed to grab the pole.

“Get out!”

“Wa… Wa… Wa…”

The White Tiger Tower students couldn’t even speak properly from the cold. They shivered as they grabbed the pole and climbed up.

But not everyone could do so. Some staggered, unable to muster strength, as if their arms were numb.

‘I have to pull them up myself!’

In a brief moment, Lee Han’s mind spun quickly.

How could he get the students who fell into the water up onto the lakeshore?

‘Control the water below…’

Lee Han chanted a spell again.

It was a spell aimed at the feet of the students who had fallen into the lake.

Water element magic was the most familiar and comfortable magic for Lee Han.

Now, even in urgent situations, he could cast it as naturally as breathing.

‘…Lift them up!’

Splash!

The students’ heads shot up above the water. But that was as far as it went.

It wasn’t easy to scoop up someone who had fallen into the water with a net of water.

‘It’s not working!’

The distance and the wide area he was trying to control made it hard to maintain the power of the water.

If it had been water he summoned himself, his control would have been much stronger, but the lake water was not easy to handle.

Lee Han clicked his tongue inwardly.

‘Should I just summon water separately and pour it in? No… The moment I pour it in, it’ll mix with the lake water and weaken.’

As Lee Han hesitated, a cold, bitter wind brushed his cheek.

At that moment, a flash of inspiration flowed through Lee Han’s arm.

Before he could even think, Lee Han instinctively chanted a spell.

It was the so-called enlightenment of a wizard.

“Freeze!”

Crack crack crack crack crack!

Just as he had realized how to control the water element when Professor Voladi threatened his life, Lee Han felt like he understood what the cold element was.

Forgetting even the current situation, Lee Han became absorbed in controlling the cold. The enlightenment made him forget even the bitter cold.

‘No way!’

Yoner looked at Lee Han in shock.

Unlike the other students who thought, ‘Wardanaz can use even evil forbidden arts, so what’s surprising about any magic he uses,’ Yoner had a rough idea of what magic Lee Han could and couldn’t use.

And cold element magic was something Lee Han couldn’t use.

If he could, he wouldn’t have struggled so much storing ingredients in the first place.

But now, Lee Han was using cold element magic.

There was only one possible explanation.

He had figured it out on his own without learning from the professor!

-Meikin. A good wizard learns quickly, but a great wizard learns on their own.

-Is that possible?

-Of course. If you keep learning, there will come a time when you realize it on your own. That’s when you can truly call yourself a wizard.

Shaa—

A wide sheet of ice formed in the water and pushed the fallen students up.

The friends quickly pulled the White Tiger Tower students, now looking like drowned rats, out of the water.

“Light a fire!”

“T-the flint is wet?”

“Are you really a wizard!?”

“Ah… Oh, right. Sorry.”

“Bring the potion!”

The students hurriedly lit a fire on the lakeshore and massaged the hands and feet of the White Tiger Tower friends.

“Yoner, help! We need to make more potion!”

“Huh? Oh, sorry.”

Yoner snapped out of it and prepared the potion.

It felt strange.

There were so many friends here, but Yoner was the only one who realized how amazing what he had just seen was.

Just then, Lee Han walked over, muttering something.

Yoner became curious and listened closely.

What could Lee Han be saying?

‘Maybe about what he just realized?’

“When I get back to the tower, I should practice freezing the ingredients that spoil easily first.”

“……”

Yoner turned his gaze to the cauldron, pretending not to hear.

Things in the world were often more anticlimactic than expected.

• * *

“Wardanaz… Thank you. I have no idea why the Snow Hedgehog suddenly appeared.”

“That was actually our f—”

“It’s fine.”

Lee Han cut off Nillia’s words.

“We may be from different towers, but it’s only right to help students in danger.”

“…???”

Nillia looked at Lee Han in disbelief. But Lee Han’s expression didn’t change at all.

“Now then, about the Cold Sleep Lotus…”

“The Snow Hedgehog is coming back!”

“!”

All the students turned in surprise.

The Snow Hedgehog really was approaching.

But it was a little different from before. The Snow Hedgehog slowly approached and dropped something.

It was a bundle of Cold Sleep Lotus.

“…!”

“T-that’s…”

“Wardanaz, the Snow Hedgehog must have been moved seeing you save your friends!”

“How…! It’s a miracle!”

The students present were truly amazed.

Who would have thought a mere monster would be so moved as to give such a gift?

It was a miracle that warmed their hearts even on a snowy, cold day.

Nillia tilted her head.

“That’s not it, it looks scared? It has a habit of giving gifts so you won’t chase it…”

“Shh. Nillia, it’s better to stay quiet.”

Ratford covered Nillia’s mouth.

There was no need to ruin the mood.

• * *

Professor Thunderstep praised the students who brought various ingredients.

He then trimmed the ingredients and stored them in glass jars so the students could keep using them.

He did say a few unnecessary things, though.

-You brought Cold Sleep Lotus? You really brought this? How did you get it?

-……

Thanks to that, the White Tiger Tower students, whose bodies had been frozen stiff, were now burning with anger.

Lee Han finished a simple lunch and headed to Professor Voladi’s lecture room.

‘This week… won’t the focus be on cold?’

Lee Han thought as he headed to the lecture room.

Professor Voladi was the hardest to predict among the professors, but this much he could guess.

Since the blizzard outside was a rare opportunity, Professor Voladi was likely to make use of it.

“You’re here.”

“Yes.”

“Among the elements, cold is one of the trickier ones. Even more so in magic combat. But you can overcome its limits with proper application.”

Lee Han wasn’t surprised at the vampire professor getting straight to the point.

He nodded as if he expected it. There was even a faint confidence in his expression.

He had just awakened to the cold attribute on his way here.

“It’s hard to maintain and lacks instant destructive power, but cold magic is useful in the following situations…”

Lee Han focused and took notes on Professor Voladi’s explanation.

At some point, Professor Voladi finished his explanation.

“Cast a cold generation spell.”

Lee Han nodded.

“Freeze!”

Cold shot out from the tip of his staff, lowering the temperature of the lecture room. Frost settled on the desks in front of Lee Han.

Normally, cold element magic was something you had to get a feel for through countless trials and errors.

Even in the amazing situation where a freshman had figured it out on his own, Professor Voladi’s expression didn’t change.

“Well done.”

‘Huh?’

“I thought it would take a day, but I can move the lesson ahead. The next spell you’ll cast is…”

“……”

Only then did Lee Han snap back to his senses.

‘What was I doing?’

He had been so happy about awakening to the cold element earlier that he’d let his guard down.

…He should have pretended not to be able to do it a few times!