Episode 199

Kumandas was flustered, but soon pulled himself together.

There was a lot he had to do right now.

He had to give the imbuement magic lecture in place of Professor Verdus, who had been dragged off somewhere, and somehow secretly persuade the freshman in front of him to come to the Twisted Dimensional Corridor…

“Senior! Hello!”

“Senior! We…”

“Wait!”

The fourth-year seniors firmly stopped the freshmen, who were about to chirp like birds.

Since they had also been first-years once, they knew exactly what the freshmen were about to say.

“Don’t ask any questions about school life! Don’t ask where the food storages are, what floor the test information is on, where the useful books are in the library, how to escape, or anything else! We’re only going to talk about imbuement magic!”

“……”

The first-year students became sullen at the seniors’ firm attitude.

But the seniors were desperate.

One mistake and they could be dragged to the punishment room.

‘They’re watching out for the skeleton principal.’

Lee Han thought he understood why the seniors were acting this way.

With the skeleton principal’s personality, there was no way he would just let seniors help their juniors.

“Let’s not make things too difficult for the seniors. They must have their own circumstances.”

Lee Han said as he swept the butter cookies on the table into his coat.

His friends nodded.

“Yeah, the seniors must be feeling the pressure too.”

“Would the principal really complain about them teaching juniors?”

“You never know.”

“……”

The fourth-year students inwardly shed tears at the innocent conversation of the juniors.

‘Still so naive!’

‘But isn’t anyone going to point out that Wardanaz kid is sweeping up all the snacks?’

“Ahem. Then let’s start with imbuement magic.”

The fourth-year students taking imbuement magic cleared their throats and began the lecture.

Imbuement magic.

Magic cast on people or objects, including enhancement, inscription, blessing, and more.

If you succeeded in permanently casting it on an object, it became an artifact, and if you became skilled enough to cast it professionally on people, you were praised as an enchanter. The uses of imbuement magic were truly vast.

Compared to the breadth of black magic as a field (assuming Professor Mortum’s claim was correct), but its limited practical use, it was no wonder imbuement magic was so popular.

“Juniors, don’t cast imbuement magic on your bodies for a while.”

One of the seniors said firmly.

“If you’re not confident in your skills and cast imbuement magic incorrectly, you can get seriously hurt.”

If you failed to cast imbuement magic on an object, the object would just break, but if you failed on a person, the damage could be severe.

“Until you gain more skill, we’ll only study imbuement magic on objects.”

‘Indeed… hmm?’

Lee Han paused as he listened to the senior’s explanation.

…Didn’t the book the skeleton principal gave me teach enhancement magic first?

“……”

It was all in the past, but Lee Han felt oddly wronged.

That black book bastard…

“I heard you all learned <Minor Cold Resistance> first, but actually <Minor Cold Resistance> is a difficult spell to fully master at this stage. It’s only a bit easier now because the weather is cold; when it warms up, it’ll get even harder. Don’t get greedy and take your time learning other spells first.”

At the senior’s words, Lee Han’s friends stared at him. Lee Han pretended not to notice.

“Alright, then… let’s begin.”

<Paper Hardness Enhancement>.

This was an easy spell that beginners learned as a stepping stone to get used to imbuement magic.

The principle was simple.

Just make soft paper hard.

Lower-year students would put such paper under their coats to use as armor.

“Paper, become hard!”

“Paper, turn to steel.”

“Incantations are just tools to help you focus your will, but don’t make them too specific or add unnecessary restrictions. You’ll just end up tying yourself down.”

The seniors were better at teaching than Professor Bible. When they divided up the students and taught them in an orderly way, the efficiency was visibly better.

In fact, even if Lee Han had taught, he would have been better than the professor.

Kumandas asked his friends.

“Can I teach that one?”

“Go ahead. But why?”

“It’s nothing, really.”

Kumandas couldn’t tell his friends the truth.

-You know that accident I caused last time? To fix it, I need the freshman’s ability.

-When you were suspicious during the last assignment, I thought you’d finally lost it. Tsk tsk.

…That’s the reaction he’d get.

“Hmm. Try casting it.”

Kumandas stared intently at the students in front of him. To be precise, he focused only on Lee Han.

“…?”

Lee Han whispered to Yoner next to him.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“Not really, did you?”

“Did I take the snacks too blatantly earlier?”

“The seniors were first-years once too, so it’s too much if they glare at you for that.”

“Right? I don’t get it.”

Lee Han quickly accepted it and tilted his head.

If not that, then why?

“Paper, become hard.”

Lee Han succeeded in casting the spell easily.

He had already forced himself to learn spells several times harder than this, so Paper Hardness Enhancement wasn’t difficult at all.

“Really impressive.”

Kumandas praised him for now.

In fact, he hadn’t even looked at the spell Lee Han cast. Since the other students were succeeding, it wasn’t a difficult spell.

Something else was more important.

‘I have to get the message across somehow!’

“Uh, can you tell without knocking on it?”

Angrago next to him asked curiously. Kumandas answered roughly.

“With experience, you’ll be able to do it too.”

“Oh…!”

Angrago, amazed, knocked on Lee Han’s paper.

Before the spell, it had been a flimsy sheet, but now it made a solid sound like hard wood.

Angrago had succeeded too, but it wasn’t this hard.

Imbuement magic was considered a success once you passed a certain threshold, but even among successes, there were differences.

“How do you make it this hard?”

“Try putting in more magic power.”

Kumandas replied without even looking at Angrago. Angrago put in a bit more magic power and swung his wand.

“Oh…! It really got harder!”

“Good. Well done.”

Kumandas answered absentmindedly, then whispered to Lee Han.

“…Are you having any trouble?”

“?!”

Lee Han was startled.

‘What’s with this guy?’

Why was he suddenly saying this?

‘Is it a trap?’

The devil is always kind.

Lee Han didn’t fall for it easily.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Come on, just tell me anything…”

While Kumandas was whispering, another fourth-year student came over and was surprised by the spell Lee Han had cast.

“Wow, you managed to put in this much magic power? If you weren’t careful, the paper could have melted.”

“Right? Have you learned imbuement magic before?”

“No way. It’s not time for that yet.”

The seniors talked in amazement.

With imbuement magic, stronger wasn’t always better.

If you went past a certain limit, the object could be destroyed by the magic power.

To push the magic power to the limit within that fine line, you needed not just talent, but experience.

“Kumandas. Kumandas. Did you see this?”

Kumandas, who had been whispering to Lee Han, “Any trouble?”, “I can help you,” “Trust me,” turned his gaze away, annoyed at his friends’ calls.

“What? Why?”

“Did you see this?”

“I saw it. I said he succeeded earlier.”

“Not that, look at the magic power in here. Isn’t it harder than wood?”

“What are you making a fuss about… Huh!”

Kumandas checked the magic power in the paper and was shocked.

His friends looked at him incredulously.

‘You said you saw it…’

• * *

“I think there are some weird seniors too.”

“Really? We should be careful.”

The students of the Blue Dragon Tower in the lounge were surprised at Lee Han’s words.

This magic school was a place where even seniors couldn’t be trusted.

‘To ask such blatantly suspicious questions.’

If he had answered honestly, he might have ended up in the skeleton principal’s punishment room.

“Are you going out again today?”

“No.”

“Then car…”

“I’ve been out at night for several days, so today I’ll just read and catch up on my studies.”

“……”

Gainando, who had been about to pull out a deck of cards, stepped back with a disgusted look.

If he got unlucky, he might end up studying with Lee Han.

“?”

While reading, Lee Han noticed a paper bird flying in through the open window.

‘What’s this?’

Come as quickly as possible using the map below!!!

-Professor Bible Verdus

‘Wow. I really don’t want to go.’

Lee Han grimaced as soon as he saw the note.

He’d rather get a note telling him to come to the Twisted Dimensional Corridor.

He didn’t even want to imagine why the professor was suddenly calling him.

‘It’s sad how I can’t ignore it…’

If a professor called, he had no choice but to go.

That was the cursed fate of a student.

• * *

‘Never seen this place before.’

The map pointed to the forest west of the main building.

Lee Han frowned as he stepped into the forest. It was only natural, since he’d been attacked by a crazy artifact not long ago.

Fortunately, the forest was quiet, but Lee Han didn’t let his guard down.

‘Pull the branch, then draw three circles on the stump…’

Lee Han followed the instructions from the map.

Suddenly, the illusion blocking his view disappeared and a building appeared.

“!”

A building symbolizing the magic school and the most complex and massive main building.

The workshop buildings, towers built all over the vast grounds by the various professors according to their own tastes.

Besides those, there were dozens of other buildings scattered throughout the magic school…

‘I’ve never seen such an obvious prison.’

The exterior, made of pitch-black, rusted metal, gave off an even more menacing atmosphere than the punishment room.

“Professor?”

“Shh. Be quiet!”

With a clatter of iron bars, Professor Bible Verdus poked his head out.

The beaver beastman professor beckoned to Lee Han.

“Quick! Come over here!”

“What on earth happened?”

“I don’t know! Gonadaltes suddenly came, got mad, and locked me up!”

“……”

Lee Han could roughly guess the situation.

There was no way the skeleton principal had put the rampaging artifact in the storage himself; someone else must have put it there…

‘So it was this person.’

I almost died because of you!

“Hurry up and open the door.”

“Uh… Professor, aren’t there other students?”

Lee Han didn’t understand.

He’d seen upper-year students earlier, so why him?

“Gonadaltes is probably watching them. That’s just the kind of person he is. Anyway, hurry up and open the door. I’m bored to death making only boring artifacts in here!”

Lee Han glanced inside the iron bars.

‘Hmm. Living better than a first-year.’

A soft bed, all sorts of fruits and tree bark.

Even though the skeleton principal was angry, he’d kept to a minimum standard.

…Come to think of it, it was absurd.

‘Shouldn’t this be for freshmen?’

“Wardanaz? What are you doing? Not opening it?”

“Professor, if I open this… won’t the principal suspect me as the culprit?”

“I’ll say I opened it myself!”

“But will he really believe that?”

“…What’s with you?! Aren’t you going to open it?!”

Professor Verdus just tilted his head, not understanding.

His student had come all this way and was saying strange things.

“Professor, I want to open it too, but… if the principal finds out later, it’d be nice to have some kind of reward so I won’t regret it.”

Lee Han hinted slyly.

Professor Verdus didn’t get angry or flustered at the fact that his student was trying to blackmail or bargain with his imprisoned teacher.

He didn’t even think of it that way. He just wondered, ‘What’s with him? What does he want?’

“Fine! If you let me out, I’ll definitely reward you! Open it!”

“Don’t worry, Professor. I was going to open it anyway. As if I’d do it just for a reward…”

“I said hurry up!”

Professor Verdus wasn’t interested in Lee Han’s excuses, so he cut him off.