Episode 321

Lee Han looked at Gainando quizzically.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah… no. You’re not mad because I ate too many snacks, are you?”

“No.”

Lee Han sighed and approached the window.

And shouted.

“It’s a professor.”

“See! I told you it was a professor!”

Professor Verdus, who had his face buried in the ground, shouted while squirming.

The knights under Allarlong, looking bewildered, asked.

“But young master, why would the professor sneak in like this?”

‘That’s what I want to know too.’

Lee Han thought so but held back and replied politely.

“There must have been some sort of misunderstanding.”

“What kind of misunderstanding would cause this…?”

Lee Han ignored the knight’s question and pretended not to hear. Then he asked a servant.

“Did he do this because you told him I wasn’t in?”

Given Professor Verdus’s personality, it was quite possible.

Even if he heard Lee Han wasn’t home, he was the type to barge in and wait inside anyway.

But the servant’s answer was unexpected.

“Ah, no. He just tried to sneak in without even asking, and got caught.”

“……”

Lee Han briefly considered sending Professor Verdus to the Granden City guard.

• * *

After dusting off the dirt and sitting down, Professor Verdus gnawed at a piece of bark and spoke.

“So, are you ready to make an artifact?”

Even though he had been pinned down by knights with his face in the ground at the mansion, Professor Verdus was completely unfazed.

He was solely focused on making the artifact.

Lee Han played innocent.

“Artifact-making? What do you mean?”

“Huh? Didn’t you say we’d do it together?”

“I have a poor memory…”

If it had been the skeleton headmaster, he would have grabbed his collar and yelled, “Cut the nonsense.” But Professor Verdus was rather naive in this area.

“Ah. Really? Last time you said you wanted to participate in artifact-making. You were really enthusiastic. Now you get to do it, isn’t that great?”

“……”

Lee Han was speechless at Professor Verdus, who openly lied right after he claimed to have a poor memory.

What kind of person is this…

‘Ah.’

Only then did Lee Han recall the Helm of Wisdom.

Come to think of it, there was no one as much an expert in artifacts as Professor Verdus.

“Professor. Please take a look at this artifact.”

“What is it?”

After receiving the Helm of Wisdom, Professor Verdus examined it here and there and answered right away.

“This is a nasty artifact. It’s cursed.”

“As I thought. Is there any way to lift the curse?”

“Seems difficult.”

There were two types of curses on artifacts.

One was a normal artifact with an evil curse layered on top.

In such cases, if you just lifted the curse, you could use the artifact normally.

The other was an artifact built with an evil structure from the start.

In these cases, lifting the curse was meaningless. As soon as you did, the artifact’s power would also disappear.

The Helm of Wisdom was a classic example of the latter.

“Ego artifacts usually have a restriction so they can’t harm their owner, but this one doesn’t. If it wants something, it’ll put its owner in danger as much as it wants.”

“I see. I thought you would have a way, professor.”

Lee Han muttered without much thought.

Then Professor Verdus suddenly retorted with indignation.

“I didn’t say there wasn’t a way!”

“No, why are you mad?”

“Hold on a second!”

Professor Verdus put down the bark he was gnawing and began to glare at the helm.

Taken aback by this unexpected reaction, Lee Han was a bit unsettled. Beside him, Gainando whispered.

“Isn’t the professor a little too sensitive to provocation?”

“Hmm.”

Certainly, if even Gainando could say that, he must be way too sensitive to provocation.

But Lee Han left Professor Verdus alone.

‘Maybe he’ll actually make it useable for me.’

If that happened, Lee Han planned to sell it with a label like, ‘Einrogard’s top artifact master Bible Verdus’s masterpiece.’

“There is a way.”

“What is it?”

“You get rid of its function to selectively give information at will.”

“?”

Lee Han wondered what Professor Verdus was talking about.

“But won’t its ability to put the owner in danger remain?”

“Just avoid that yourself.”

“……”

No matter what the Helm of Wisdom said, as long as it didn’t hide information, the listener could judge calmly.

That was Professor Verdus’s argument.

‘Is that… is that reasonable?’

While Lee Han thought Professor Verdus made sense, for some reason, he just didn’t want to accept it.

Still, it was certainly better than leaving it unchanged.

“Okay. Let’s do that, then. What should I do to change it?”

“I just need to cast a few spells and change the inner incantations. If I start now, I’ll be finished around sunrise.”

“What do I need to help with?”

“You? Nothing you can do.”

Professor Verdus answered honestly.

These were spells Lee Han couldn’t do yet, and his high mana reserve wouldn’t be useful.

“Is that so. Then, I’ll go and sleep.”

“Yeah. Go to sleep.”

Professor Verdus, forgetting his original goal, waved his hand. Lee Han bowed politely and left the drawing room.

“I should get to bed. Good night, everyone.”

“…Uh… Is that really okay?”

“It’s fine. It’s fine.”

Although the servant was bewildered, Lee Han said good night to his friends and went to his own room to sleep.

The servant, left alone in the drawing room, looked at Professor Verdus clutching the helm, feeling confused.

Is this really okay…?

Is it really okay!?

• * *

Morning.

Professor Verdus struck the Helm of Wisdom and asked.

“Hey. Tell me your purpose.”

My purpose is to increase my own wisdom, even if I destroy my owner…

“Good.”

It was truly a remarkable achievement.

To repair and repurpose an ego artifact in just one night.

Even the best artifact masters wouldn’t dare attempt such a feat.

Still, Professor Verdus didn’t seem moved. He simply yawned and asked,

“Where’s Wardanaz? Gotta make that artifact.”

“Uh… Lord Wardanaz went out with his friends about thirty minutes ago. He said since you seemed focused, he didn’t want to interrupt you.”

“……”

Professor Verdus frowned.

He didn’t know why, but he strangely felt like he’d been played.

• * *

“Are you really sure it’s okay?”

“I just happened to go out early by chance.”

Lee Han answered that way.

If he was ever forced to work with Professor Verdus, that time was better postponed as much as possible.

That way, he could hold out at least until then by using what he had.

Ratford looked back with a worried expression. He seemed especially concerned about Professor Verdus’s reaction.

“Let’s stay at Gainando’s house today.”

“Really?!”

Gainando’s eyes sparkled.

Last time, other royal family members he wasn’t close to came and got in the way, but this time was different.

He could call his friends and have a proper good time.

Gainando wiggled his fingers and touched the deck of cards he kept inside his cloak.

Just as Lee Han, the top student in the year, could easily recite the contents of a magic book with his eyes closed, Gainando could rattle off a list of games to play just as easily.

Mage card game, polo, pétanque, gambling, Seungmado (Board of Ascension)…

‘No chess, since Lee Han is too good at it.’

“Ratford. You brought it, right?”

“Yes.”

“Yonner. Didn’t you say you always carry yours?”

“I always have it on me.”

“!!”

Hearing his friends’ conversation, Gainando was even more excited.

His friends had definitely brought their mage cards.

“You brought them?!”

“Of course. We need something to do when we’re at your house.”

Lee Han, replying, pulled a book from his bag.

-On Basic Dark Element Magic and Its Applications-.

“……”

Gainando’s face twisted with sadness and bewilderment.

“What’s wrong?”

“Uh… it’s nothing…”

“You brought a book, right, Gainando? Let’s study black magic together.”

“I was actually planning to study something I’ve been putting off today too.”

“It’s nice to study together like this.”

Seeing Lee Han, Ratford, and Yonner chatting and laughing amiably, Gainando cried inside.

‘Magic isn’t everything in life…!’

• * *

‘Now I see why the dark element is difficult.’

Having borrowed a private room, Lee Han closed his eyes and focused on the dark element.

The basics of elemental magic were to sense the element and concretely visualize it.

In that regard, the dark element wasn’t so difficult. In fact, for other mages this was hard, but Lee Han already had a concrete concept in his mind different from other mages.

Just as this concept helped him handle lightning, it did the same for dark element.

The problem was what came next.

‘Similar to the fire element.’

With the water element, even if you failed to control it, it rarely hurt its master. The lightning element would simply dissipate rather than get out of hand, but not the dark element.

If you failed to control it, it would not only harm its master but also not disappear on its own.

If you made a mistake with such elements, like with fire…

Fwoosh!

The bright room lit by the window suddenly grew dark.

It wasn’t natural darkness. It was artificial darkness created by magic. Yin energy writhed inside, and somewhere, a chill lingered.

Lee Han threw a prepared leaf.

The vitality drained out and in an instant it turned into a dead leaf.

It was a trait unique to the dark element: draining vitality.

‘…If I’m not careful, I’ll collapse.’

For black mages who used the dark element, accidents where one’s own vitality was drained and they collapsed were constant companions. You had to pay the utmost attention to this.

Of course, the power of the newly learned dark element was extremely weak. In such darkness, you could breathe for hours without issue. So at first, one had to focus on strengthening the power of the dark element…

“?”

Lee Han looked at the leaf, which died just from being touched by the dark element.

Then looked at the section on strengthening the dark element.

‘I guess I can skip this part.’

…Once the power of the dark element is sufficiently strengthened, you have the true basis for elemental magic. The key to using dark element magic is whether the mage can control its draining quality. If not, it’s like wielding a blade that can cut even oneself…

‘If only explanations were always this straightforward.’

After reading a book that, for once, explained things in detail, Lee Han called forth the dark element again.

In short, a mage who handles the dark element must be able to stick their hand in without being affected at all.

‘In the end, you have to be able to control its traits yourself…’

Magic power raises a spell’s strength in proportion.

The higher it gets, the more difficult it is to control.

Lee Han couldn’t fully handle the fire element yet and needed various artifacts to help, so the dark element was even harder.

But you couldn’t just get rid of the magic power you had…

‘Until I can control it, should I only handle it in flame-sized bits like fire? Unlike fire, the dark element may be meaningless if used that way.’

“Lee Han! Lee Han!”

Gainando knocked on the private room door. Lee Han closed the book and answered.

“How many hours have you been studying?”

“…That’s not important right now! A great job opportunity just came up! It’s something only a black mage can do!”

‘…How could that possibly be a good thing?’

Lee Han instinctively doubted it.