Episode 230

Episode 230

Lee Han returned to the tower, imagining himself as the Emperor’s right hand, putting the skull principal in the underground prison.

‘Hmm.’

If he were an ordinary student, he would have said, ‘Even if you beat me to death, I can’t study this much! Just send me to the punishment room instead!’ But unfortunately, Lee Han had the personality to try as much as he could, even when given absurd assignments.

A personality that dug his own grave, unbeknownst to himself.

‘Ummm…’

Lee Han entered his private room and flipped through the book -Ancient Basic Necromancy – On True Undead Summoning-.

Although it started with ancient characters and mixed in various languages and codes, the structure of the book itself was surprisingly standard. Thanks to that, he could vaguely tell what the book was about.

‘…No. Two-thirds of this book is useless to me.’

Thud!

Lee Han closed the book and was surprised.

The ancient basic necromancy book was a book that dealt professionally with the third method of undead summoning that Professor Mortum mentioned, starting from the basics.

Instead of simply summoning undead, it used a method of casting powerful magic on a corpse to raise it.

As expected from a method rarely used these days, the difficulty was high and the mana consumption was enormous.

Accordingly, one-third of the book’s content was about methods to amplify the mana needed for black magic, and another third was about ways to conserve mana when casting magic.

In other words…

Two-thirds of the book’s content was unnecessary.

‘It’s good that the amount is reduced.’

From Lee Han’s perspective, it was a relief.

He already had a lot to study, and he didn’t want to increase the load.

Besides, when he glanced at it earlier, the methods didn’t seem pleasant.

If you mix 17-year-old grave soil and 11-year-old bone powder, put it in Krangten solution, and drink it three times a day, your mana will…

‘Ah, this is why black magic isn’t popular’—the training methods made him think that.

Lee Han was grateful, for the first time in a while, that he had a lot of mana.

How lucky he was that he didn’t have to do those things!

The remaining third of the book contained practical information.

All kinds of corpses, the characteristics when performing necromancy with those corpses, precautions when performing, etc.

A knight’s corpse contains high-purity mana in the bones, so it’s good to raise. Knights are stingy about giving up their comrades’ corpses, so you should aim for times when their vigilance is lax at the new moon every month…

Lee Han unconsciously looked around his private room.

…No one here, right?

‘As expected of an old book, the methods are really reckless.’

But it wasn’t incomprehensible.

Even necromancy that summoned from another world was strongly influenced by the reagents or materials used.

The more powerful and mystical the bones or corpses used, the stronger the beings summoned from the other world would be.

All the more, in necromancy that raised the dead by using the corpse 100%, the influence of the corpse could only be greater.

Therefore, a magician should develop the habit of carrying at least a fragment of bone in the inner pocket of his coat, the pocket of his belt, the sleeve pocket, or inside his boots. So as not to be embarrassed if a situation arises. Situations where you can’t obtain a corpse come more often than you think…

‘There are more advantages than I thought.’

Old-fashioned necromancy, that is, classical necromancy, had more definite advantages than he expected.

The summoning-type necromancy had limits in strengthening the summoned undead.

Because you were calling in beings from another world, there were limits to how much a magician could strengthen them in various ways.

Unless you summoned a stronger being instead.

However, with the classical necromancy of making them yourself, you could strengthen them as much as your skill allowed.

For example, if you cast magic on a pile of bones and made it fight in the form of a skeleton warrior, you could strengthen it in various ways, from the type of bone to various enchantments.

Moreover, it was much more durable.

The summoning-type necromancy, if hit once and reverse-summoned, could not return from the other world until it recovered.

But classical necromancy could be restored and raised again as long as the magician had mana to swing the staff.

‘I can see why the skull principal told me to learn this…’

Looking at the advantages, he could see why he was told to learn it.

Of course, that didn’t make his anger disappear.

‘…The rest are all disadvantages.’

Enormous mana consumption.

The complicated magic structures that had to be crafted by hand for each undead (it was like making an artifact for each one).

And even tactical operation, where the magician had to concentrate and give individual commands.

Of course, as your magic level increased, you could reduce mana consumption in various ways, cast magic a bit more easily, and giving commands became easier, but…

No matter how he thought about it, the entry barrier was excessively high.

‘The -Skeleton Warrior Summoning- that this book starts in earnest with… is 4th Circle.’

Though they called it 4th Circle, outside of the school, a 4th Circle magician would be showered with flattery as a ‘Great Magician.’

There were so many outstanding magicians in Einrogard that they could casually say things like, ‘Come back after learning 4th Circle magic.’

Lee Han was truly angry again.

‘Professor Voladi and the skull principal, aren’t they both too much?’

If it were around 2nd or 3rd Circle, he would have reluctantly studied in advance, but when 4th Circle spells piled up, he was at a loss for words.

Lee Han sighed and took out the bone fragments he received from Professor Mortum.

“The spells that can be cast on the left arm are as follows… Levitation, rotation, binding, striking…”

What could he do?

It was an assignment, so he had to do it!

• * *

“Why isn’t Wardanaz coming out?”

Even though it was the weekend, the students of Blue Dragon Tower were flustered by the sight of Wardanaz not coming out of his private room after only preparing a simple breakfast.

They didn’t care if Gainando slept in or turned into an undead in his room, but if Lee Han was out of sight for even a few hours, it made them nervous.

The friends, who were wolfing down sandwiches stuffed with jam, cheese, smoked meat, and eggs between toasted bread, began to get anxious when Lee Han didn’t show up.

“Didn’t you make Wardanaz mad yesterday?”

“N-no! I mean, I did suggest it, but I said I didn’t want to go to the undead realm. And even though Lee Han said he had a lot to study, I did bother him to play a card game! But that much is normal, right?!”

“……”

“You trash. It’s your fault!”

“Hurry up and go apologize!”

“Ah… I said it’s not!”

Gainando grumbled and knocked on Lee Han’s private room door.

After a moment, Lee Han’s voice was heard.

-The door’s open. Come in.

“Lee Han. These guys are slandering me with baseless accusations… Uwaaaaah! Lee Han is being attacked by the principal!”

“!!!”

“Everyone, come here! Wardanaz is being attacked!”

The students, traumatized by being attacked by undead inside the tower, rushed over.

Things had been quiet, but now, on the weekend, the skull principal had sent an undead infiltration team into Lee Han’s private room.

It was truly a despicable trick.

“We have to go up ri—”

Thud!

The princess raised her staff with a calm expression and stopped her friends.

“Why?!”

“If we rush in blindly, we’ll be counterattacked! Lower yourselves and cast magic from the stairs!”

A follower conveyed the princess’s intent to her friends.

It sounded plausible enough that the friends crouched at the bottom of the stairs and prepared their magic.

“Wardanaz! We’re coming to help now!”

“Now!”

The princess dashed forward and cast Magic Missile.

A blue light flashed, and a mass of mana flew rapidly.

Clang!

But the attack was blocked by a water shield. Lee Han, pulling one of Gainando’s ears as he had fallen, spoke.

“Everyone, stop. I’m not being attacked.”

“Wa… Wardanaz!!”

“…No. You ARE being attacked!!”

The friends were shocked.

Lee Han’s private room was filled with skeleton warriors.

“These weren’t sent by the principal. I raised them. They’re not ready to move yet, though…”

Lee Han tapped his staff. The skeleton warriors didn’t budge.

‘I still have a long way to go.’

• * *

Having already learned -Bone Hand Summon Magic- and -Bone Restraints Summon Magic-, and being skilled at various elemental transformations and control, Lee Han was used to it.

“Bone. Shoot forth.”

Crack!

“Bone. Take the form of armor.”

Crunch!

“Bone. Become a wall.”

Crackle!

Simple necromancy spells using bones, as presented in the book for basic training.

Transforming the shape of bones or firing them in various ways—Lee Han couldn’t help but be familiar with these spells.

‘…But isn’t this too easy?’

Lee Han tilted his head.

Remembering how he had to worry about fire spreading when dealing with fire elements, bones really were much easier.

‘Are bones supposed to be easy? Well, maybe it’s because I practiced with other elements beforehand.’

If Professor Mortum were there, he would have said, ‘Black magic is never easy, cough, it’s just that your talent is exceptional,’ but only Lee Han was in the private room.

The dark elements or negative energy, bones, or poisons used in black magic were all on the difficult side, not the easy.

If you went around saying, ‘Bones are easier than fire elements,’ people would say, ‘You’re half-crazy, just like a black magician.’

“Well then… come out.”

Having passed all the basic training, it was time to start practicing skeleton summoning in earnest.

Before that, Lee Han summoned the skeleton warrior he had contracted with in the undead realm.

-■■■…

The summoned skeleton warrior prostrated itself before Lee Han, showing respect.

Given the difference in their mana, it was only natural.

Sharkan, who had been summoned earlier, yawned and tapped the floor with his tail.

‘Why are you summoning such a low-level summon when I’m here!’—that’s what it meant!

“Right. Nice to meet you. I need a name for you…”

-■■!

Despite its low intelligence, the skeleton warrior was shocked and refused.

It meant it didn’t dare receive a name.

“No. I just need something to call you by. You’re… Gonadaltes.”

-■■■■…!

The skeleton warrior seemed too honored to accept, but Lee Han was firm.

“Gonadaltes. The reason I summoned you is to practice classical necromancy. I need to create undead using bones and corpses, and it would be nice to have a textbook by my side.”

Just as you learn the basics of artifact-making by following an already completed artifact, it was good to follow along with a completed skeleton warrior to make an autonomously moving skeleton warrior.

Gonadaltes, no, the skeleton warrior straightened its posture.

“Thank you. Shall we begin?”

Three hours later.

Lee Han sat in his chair, frowning, staring at the scattered piles of bones.

‘This isn’t easy.’

Forming the shape of a skeleton warrior wasn’t that hard.

Slightly more difficult than a shield or armor.

But making the warrior move flexibly was a different matter.

Crash!

Trying to make it shoot a bow automatically, another skeleton warrior broke itself apart.

‘Raising them again every time they break isn’t easy either.’

As Lee Han thought that, he paused.

‘Come to think of it, I could just raise several from the start, couldn’t I?’

Instead of raising one and having it break, it seemed better to raise several from the beginning.

Of course, it would consume a lot of mana, but that didn’t matter, and as for the mental and concentration cost…

‘If I could handle dozens of water orbs, I should be able to raise a dozen or so skeleton warriors. If not, I can just reduce the number later.’

• * *

“Got it? They’re failures, so they’re not that great.”

“…Lee Han. You know most magicians don’t walk around with fifteen summons at once, right?”