Episode 449

Usually, the atmosphere among students studying in a professor’s workshop varied from case to case.

Some places were close and tightly knit, while others had a dry atmosphere where everyone just did their own work.

And Lee Han didn’t mind the latter at all.

‘Honestly, it’s hard to believe Professor Verdus’s disciples are even seniors.’

Lee Han could vividly recall Professor Verdus showing up at his mansion during the break, tilting his head in that odd way.

If there were seniors among Verdus’s disciples who took after their master, that meant the number of people tilting their heads at Lee Han’s house during breaks would multiply severalfold.

That could never be allowed.

“This way.”

Anpagon entered the twelfth classroom on the first floor, west wing of the main hall, and stacked desks to make stairs.

Then he knocked three times on the red carving in the ceiling.

Slide—

A hidden passage appeared. Lee Han watched closely and took notes.

‘So there was a place like this.’

“Where are we?”

“My workshop.”

Anpagon yawned as he spoke. The human race wasn’t particularly weak among races, but not particularly strong either.

So, as a member of the human race, Anpagon couldn’t help but feel tired from overwork.

Lee Han pulled out a thermos of coffee from his backpack and offered it. Anpagon accepted it with a brief thank you.

And he felt something odd.

‘…How does a first-year have coffee?’

“You don’t work in your dorm room but in your workshop.”

“Yeah.”

By second or third year, many Einrogard students would search the school for a space to claim as their workshop.

Because…

“In first year, practicing in your dorm room is fine. But—”

“But after just a little while, the scale gets too big for the dorms.”

“!”

Anpagon looked at Lee Han in surprise.

He hadn’t expected a first-year junior to know this.

“That’s right. How did you know?”

“Ah, well…”

Lee Han recalled the magic he’d practiced.

Countless skeleton warriors.

Destructive lightning elements, fire elements, and other destructive forces.

And even hazardous reagents and dangerous spells from other schools.

It was a bit much to practice those in a dorm room.

A slight mistake might have made chaos in the common room.

“…I also became uncomfortable practicing magic and had to find a new place.”

Anpagon raised his mental evaluation of his junior a bit more.

Truly, as expected of a junior handpicked by the skeleton principal, he was quite advanced for a first-year.

“By any chance, can you use second-circle magic?”

“Pardon? Uh, yes.”

‘Looks like he can use it, but he’s not fully confident yet.’

But that didn’t matter.

Even being able to use second-circle magic as a first-year was quite impressive.

Anyway, Anpagon would have to do most of the work.

He wasn’t stupid enough to leave most of the tasks to a first-year.

“Here we are.”

Anpagon stopped in front of the entrance to an attic-like workshop.

He took down a long cloak with a hood, which covered the whole body.

“Put this on.”

“What’s this?”

“Protective gear. It’ll prevent accidents during artifact work.”

“Ah, so upperclassmen wear these in class?”

You didn’t need it much when you were younger, but as the artifacts’ level rose, so did the amount of magic and the risk.

No wonder they wore this kind of gear to work.

“No. We made this ourselves. The professor usually asks why we’d need such a thing.”

“……”

In Lee Han’s head, he could hear Professor Verdus innocently saying, ‘Why do you need that? Just don’t make mistakes!’

“Sit down.”

“Yes.”

Anpagon pulled out chests filled with reagents and tools, spread them on the table, and lit up the dim attic.

A makeshift lantern with a carved magic circle into a mana stone flickered and then faded.

Anpagon clicked his tongue.

“It’s run out of life. Guess I’ll need to work on this first…”

“I’ll handle it.”

“You sure?”

He should really save his magic for the later tasks, but Anpagon wondered whether a first-year junior could carve the magic circle into a new mana stone.

The -Light Enchantment- spell was relatively simple, but for a first-year it was another story.

And the makeshift lantern Anpagon made was quite small, too, so the magic stone was also small.

Naturally, drawing a magic circle on it would be all the harder.

“Light!”

“……”

But instead of carving a magic circle into the stone, Lee Han just summoned an orb of light inside the lantern.

Anpagon was left speechless.

‘What…’

Basically, Anpagon and the other disciples of Professor Verdus were among the least sociable at Einrogard.

So when a first-year junior made such an adorable blunder, he wasn’t really sure how to respond.

If you just summon a light orb, it’ll only last a few minutes…

‘…Not worth pointing it out. If it disappears, I’ll just redo it.’

Not wanting to waste time now, Anpagon decided he’d just redo it when the light orb faded.

“The exam won’t be that hard.”

It sounded grandiose, but it wasn’t that difficult.

They weren’t making something from nothing.

As a third-year, Anpagon remembered the tests he’d done in years one and two, so he could just bring out one of those.

It was just that prepping was a bit of a hassle.

“See this artifact?”

Anpagon pulled out a small metal rod.

With one swing, the tip grew white-hot and spewed flames. A fire-generating artifact.

“Yes.”

“Now, this…”

Crash!

Anpagon smacked the metal rod against the wall. The middle bent slightly.

“…You break it like this. Do you know why?”

“For repairs?”

Anpagon bared his teeth in a grin.

As an enchantment school student at Einrogard, the chances to laugh were few, so it had been a long time since he’d last done so.

“Right. Repairing is the test.”

A talented enchanter should not only be able to make artifacts but also repair those made by others.

One might think making is always harder, but fixing had its own difficulties.

Since these were made by someone else, finding out how they worked was the first step.

That step was harder than it seemed.

Even artifacts with the same effect were made by every enchanter in a different manner.

Some prioritized stability and focused on the durability of the magic circuit, while some prioritized output and pushed the limits of the circuit’s power.

Some just ignored efficiency and, as if showing off their huge reserves, simply pumped in tons of mana…

So to fix it properly, you had to analyze such things and find where it was broken—a different challenge from original creation.

“Before you can break it, you need an artifact.”

“I’ll make one.”

“No, I will.”

Anpagon again found this junior a bit odd.

Who would ask a first-year to do that, anyway?

“You just check it.”

“Really, that’s allowed!?”

Lee Han was genuinely surprised.

Anpagon answered, dumbfounded.

“Of course it is.”

“All right.”

“Pre-made ones are in that crate, so check those first.”

“Yes.”

Lee Han opened the crate and began taking out artifacts one by one.

Meanwhile, Anpagon grabbed his tools and started making more artifacts.

Given the number of students, if they wanted to finish today, they might end up pulling an all-nighter.

Chhhk, chit, cht-chit!

Bang, bang, bang—

The attic was quiet for a while.

Only the sound of work echoed—no conversation.

“Um. Senior.”

“What.”

Anpagon turned, a bit annoyed.

He’d thought this talented junior was struggling just to check an artifact?

‘Hopefully the skeleton principal didn’t bribe him or something.’

“I’m done.”

“……”

Anpagon blinked.

At first he thought his junior was bluffing, but he could see the lingering magic residue on the artifacts, so he hadn’t been joking—he’d actually tested each one.

“Already?”

“Yes. Need help making them?”

“…Fine.”

Anpagon handed Lee Han a tool.

At this point, Anpagon wanted to see just how good his junior’s skills were.

“See this magic circle? Complete the mana flow and activate it.”

“Yes.”

It looked like the amplification and maintenance segments were missing in the circuit.

Since it was a temporary, exam-use artifact, Lee Han boldly removed the maintenance part entirely.

Then he pushed in a load of mana and activated the magic circle.

“Done.”

“???”

Barely ten seconds had passed, but Lee Han said it was finished. Anpagon turned in surprise.

“Already?”

“Yes.”

Amazingly, the artifact really was working.

Anpagon was shocked seeing the magic circle Lee Han had drawn.

Instead of a complicated circuit, Lee Han skipped the unnecessary parts and replaced them with pure mana.

That was the kind of process only a professor confident in both quantity and quality of their mana—and in their control—would attempt.

What was even more impressive was that there was no significant bleeding or cracking around the circle.

Inexperienced mages often tried things like this, but ended up damaging the artifact itself, even if they completed the circle, because they didn’t consider the surrounding impact. This junior showed no such problems.

As if he’d done this kind of crafting hundreds or thousands of times.

Anpagon kept checking, practically burying his face in the artifact.

Then he glanced around.

“What are you looking for?”

“Nothing. Never mind.”

For a second, Anpagon wondered if the skeleton principal was hiding nearby to prank him.

Ever since he’d spent a huge budget for an experiment, the skeleton principal had been on his case.

-Oh look, isn’t this Einrogard’s gold hoarder, Anpagon! After you took so much of my gold last time, you still have no results?

-……

-Why not take more? Didn’t you even sneak a proposal to His Majesty last time, asking to use the gold in my secret vault?

-…Sorry…

But the skeleton principal was nowhere to be seen.

Anpagon couldn’t help but admit the junior really had made it.

‘Truly amazing.’

Enchantment students generally didn’t care about one another.

Anpagon himself didn’t know what the new second-year juniors were interested in or making.

What mattered was what he himself wanted to make, not what his juniors or seniors were up to.

Yet this junior was remarkable enough to force even him to take an interest.

“How is it?”

“Very impressive. But…”

“?”

“We can’t use this.”

“Wait, is there something wrong with it?”

Anpagon nodded.

“If you make it like this, it won’t break.”

“……”

The more complicated and delicate the magic circle and circuit, the easier it was to break.

If you finished it as simply and solidly as Lee Han, it’d be too hard to break.

Since they needed artifacts that were broken, they had to be made less sturdy.

“R-right. I missed that. Of course, senior, you’re amazing.”

“…Is that really something I should be praised for?”

Anpagon genuinely didn’t understand.

It seemed like the junior deserved the compliment for what he’d just made…