Episode 286

‘Strange?’

Gainando, a sacrifice?

No matter how hardship can change a person, could it possibly change someone this much?

Yoner tilted his head, confused. Lee Han didn’t give his friend time to dwell on it.

“We have to move quickly. Yoner! There’s no time!”

“Ah… right. Yeah!”

Gainando’s charge was much more effective than expected.

Whether the curse magic was especially effective or the audacious dash had provoked it, the sand octopus, which had been firmly standing guard at the turning point, rose and began chasing after Gainando.

Even Professor Lightningstep, who at first had complained, “I said not to attack the sand octopus!” couldn’t help but be impressed.

He actually managed to lure out that sand octopus!

“Provocation is a skill, too. Excellent!”

Gainando’s horse dashed ahead, dodging the chasing sand octopus’s tentacles as if possessed.

“Help me!!”

“What’s Gainando shouting about?”

“Can’t hear! Ask him later, just run!”

“This is our chance, everyone!!”

Not only Lee Han’s group, but also students from other towers who had been waiting for an opportunity, now whipped their horses forward with all their might.

Just in case, Lee Han cast spells on his friends’ horses.

“Be fulfilled!”

Horses under the effect of Ogonin’s Full Satisfaction spell remained calm, even as wind mixed with sand blew in from all directions.

Pffhh!

Fongrif grumbled, as if protesting why he didn’t get a spell, too.

“Run! It’ll be dangerous when that thing comes back!”

Clatter clatter clatter!

A dead heat erupted everywhere.

Whoever reached the turning point first would get the highest score, making the competition fiercely intense.

Thunk!

Lee Han collided with a student from Black Turtle Tower racing alongside him. Fongrif let out an angry growl.

“Hold it in, Fongrif.”

“Wardanaz, I won’t call you a coward. But I won’t back down because it’s a competition!”

“Got it.”

Lee Han immediately swung his staff and fired a water orb.

The Black Turtle Tower student, who never imagined someone could cast a spell while sprinting at full speed, ended up eliminated on the spot.

Puhihing…?!

Even as he ran at full speed, Fongrif was dumbfounded.

He’s not allowed to attack, but his master is?

• * *

Gainando, who returned late, shook the sand-covered clothes off himself and shouted.

“Hey, you cowardly bas—”

“I’m impressed. To lure the monster alone for your friends.”

Professor Lightningstep said in an admiring tone. Gainando replied immediately.

“…It was tough, but as royalty, I believe it was a noble duty.”

‘That’s definitely something he picked up from Lee Han.’

Yoner thought to himself as he watched Gainando.

At the very least, he hadn’t been so quick-witted before.

If he thought about who nearby could have taught that, there was only one person.

“Thanks, Gainando.”

“Thanks to you, we made it!”

“Didn’t expect you to sacrifice yourself like that!”

Students from other towers crowded over to thank him.

Since he had drawn out the sand octopus by himself, how could they not be grateful? Even students who usually disliked him came to thank him.

Gainando, looking overwhelmed, glanced around at his friends and simply nodded.

“It wasn’t an easy decision.”

“But what did you say earlier?”

“I said to take care of things afterward.”

“Was it that long…?”

While Gainando chatted in the background, Lee Han checked his score with Professor Lightningstep.

“Full marks.”

“Thank you, Professor.”

“You don’t need to go into all the details, you all did well… But I’m curious—why did you mistake the sand octopus for a hydra earlier?”

Lee Han flinched.

After hesitating a moment, he answered.

“I heard Professor Thunderstep brought in a hydra.”

“What? Really?”

Professor Lightningstep looked genuinely surprised.

Lee Han’s mind raced at the fact that the professor didn’t know.

‘What is this?’

“If that’s true, it’s amazing he got it. It’s even harder to get nowadays than before. Maybe I’ll ask to see it?”

“Professor, you didn’t know either?”

“I had no idea. Probably didn’t want to bother asking me for advice.”

As a renowned imperial explorer, Professor Lightningstep was skilled in handling all kinds of monsters and animals.

Of course, if Professor Thunderstep brought in a hydra, Lightningstep would have wanted to give all sorts of advice on how to raise it.

“Do you have any idea why Professor Thunderstep brought it in?”

“No idea? I don’t need to know everything about that guy. Probably needs it for potion research?”

Wizards generally weren’t interested in anything outside their own research.

Even if Professor Thunderstep secretly brought a hydra, that was his business, not Lightningstep’s.

Of course, he was curious whether the hydra was being raised properly…

“Could there possibly be a final exam problem involving the hydra?”

Even as he asked, Lee Han hoped Professor Lightningstep would say, “No way, that’s impossible.”

“Oh! I hadn’t thought of that.”

But Professor Lightningstep looked at Lee Han as if he’d made a good point.

“That’s possible.”

“……”

Lee Han sighed internally.

‘I should have been waiting to ambush him on the day he brought in the hydra.’

So this is the price for letting his guard down!

• * *

Professor Thunderstep waited for his students, arms folded and face brimming with confidence.

“You’re here?”

“Hello, Professor.”

“The exam you’re about to take may destroy your soul.”

“……”

“Good luck!”

The student entered with a glare, but Professor Thunderstep paid it no mind.

The exam he made was enough to intoxicate even himself.

A final exam crafted with sweat and tears, just short of the point where the skull principal would say, “Isn’t this too much?”

With this, he could shatter the souls of arrogant freshmen who, after finishing the midterm or pre-finals, dared to think, “I think I finally understand alchemy now.”

“Hello, Professor.”

Lee Han entered with a grim face. Professor Thunderstep nodded as well.

The student who’d pushed the assignments so far as to get a perfect score was now entering, which had led to the exam’s difficulty being increased.

Perhaps the student sensed his own fate, as his face was tense.

“The test will be a lot harder than before.”

“I expected as much.”

Lee Han held back a sigh as he spoke.

What was with professors, anyway?

Shouldn’t it be good if students do well on exams?

‘It’s because the student did well thanks to good teaching—why do professors get offended by that?’

“Yes. That’s it exactly. Hehehe…”

“……”

Professor Thunderstep, in his sheer delight, forgot the possibility that someone might try to assassinate him after graduation.

Lee Han stared at Professor Thunderstep and resolved to one day sneak up on him at night with a mask.

‘What could he want with the hydra in the first place?’

He’d talked with his friends before coming, and on the way, but he really had no idea.

-Do you think we have to hunt the hydra and use its toxin in the potion?

-Are you crazy?! There’s no way. At the very least, we’d have to subdue or persuade the hydra and borrow its venom.

-That’s still pretty crazy.

-Maybe the exam actually has nothing to do with the hydra? That could happen.

-Are you sure you’re a wizard from Einrogard? How can you think so naively?

-I’m sure we’ll have to get some ingredient from the hydra.

-Maybe the hydra is guarding the ingredients…

“I’m ready, so please let me know.”

“All right. Let’s begin.”

Professor Thunderstep walked forward.

The students watched him with nervous eyes, waiting for his next move.

Just what kind of exam would it be?

Gyolla’s Dansha Potion

Irjunden’s Night Mist Potion

Aurum’s Soul Amplification Potion

Dobruk’s Cinnabar Potion

…

…

Names of potions filled the blackboard.

Many of them they’d never even heard of before.

Professor Thunderstep, savoring the students’ awestruck reaction, said,

“You’re not choosing one from this list. By the time class ends today, submit as many of these as you can.”

Every single one was time-consuming and difficult.

Some could only be made by combining other potions.

In other words, he’d compiled a list of potions with the expectation that it would be impossible for anyone to make them all!

It was a deliberately brutal exam.

Professor Thunderstep turned to Lee Han with a sly smile. His outstanding student seemed hesitant, apparently surprised as well.

“Professor?”

“What’s wrong? If you have any questions, ask away.”

“There’s no hydra?”

“Hydra? What… Hold on! How did you know about that?!”

Professor Thunderstep was startled.

He’d brought it in at night so that other professors, especially Professor Lightningstep, wouldn’t see it—how could Lee Han know?

“I witnessed it by chance.”

“You unlucky little… Well, there’s no helping it. I spent a fortune on it. I may even need your help raising it later.”

He’d wanted to harvest the hydra’s poison regularly, but a full-grown hydra was just too expensive and difficult to manage.

So Professor Thunderstep had bought a baby hydra as a last resort.

With some effort, it would produce a similar effect.

“That’s all?”

“What? Are you suspecting I snuck it in behind everyone’s backs? Absolutely not! I got full approval for this!”

Professor Thunderstep spoke firmly, worried Lee Han would misunderstand.

You couldn’t hide something like bringing a hydra in from the skull principal, anyway.

“That’s not what I meant…”

“?”

“I just wondered if ‘hydra’ would appear on the exam?”

“Why would a hydra be on the exam?”

Professor Thunderstep looked at Lee Han as if he were talking nonsense.

Why would a hydra show up in a first-year alchemy test? That made no sense.

“…That’s true.”

“Right?”

Lee Han accepted this and returned to his seat.

Only then did Professor Thunderstep realize he hadn’t gotten any comments on the exam itself due to the hydra discussion.

‘Oops. Too bad.’

He really wanted to see a student broken before the profound and immense nature of alchemy…

Tap tap tap—

Lee Han quickly took potions out of his backpack and lined them up.

Every one of them was a potion that was hard to make.

Moreover, the quality was not lacking. It was as if they’d been carefully crafted by an alchemist’s workshop.

‘Wait…?!’

Professor Thunderstep was aghast.

He’d guessed Lee Han might have gotten a few potions from outside, but thought there’d be at most two or three.

How did a student with neither easy means of acquisition nor gold coins get that many?

As Professor Thunderstep was too shocked to speak, Lee Han steadily continued his work.

He stoked the fire under a cauldron, and started making the potions he could with the ingredients he had…

‘Lucky me.’

He’d been worried the hydra might make a mess of things, but it turned out to be completely irrelevant.

Thanks to that, the exam wasn’t so hard after all.

He’d brought all sorts of potions just in case something like this happened.

Combining three finished potions and waving his staff, Lee Han completed Irjunden’s Night Mist Potion.

“Isn’t it really a relief? There’s no hydra. I was so worried but now I can relax.”

“Lee Han. The professor is glaring at you.”

Yoner whispered after sensing Professor Thunderstep’s stare.

The professor was so shaken, his beard was trembling down to the tips.