Episode 49

Episode 049

In the Empire, black magic inevitably had a bad reputation.
First of all, even outwardly, it looked gloomy, dark, and eerie.
Moreover, the spells it used were ominous and unsettling.
Curses, undead summoning, dark elements, poison elements, yin energy, and so on.
Of course, people considered it unclean.
-Hello, residents of the village. I’m your newly appointed dispatched magician. My major is elemental magic, especially fire.
-Oh! Then we won’t have to worry about the cold in winter!
-H-hello, I’m the new dispatched magician. My major is… uh, black magic…
-What? What did you say?
-Black magic, specializing in undead summoning.
-…Someone, don’t let the magician near the graveyard.
Because most people found it unsettling, the new students here felt the same.
Each had entered school with high ambitions, but nobody wanted to learn persecuted black magic.
However, Lee Han gazed at the professor with great curiosity.
‘The path can be found where others don’t go.’
Since before entering, Lee Han had thought black magic was valuable.
After all, not many students would flock to it, so there would be less competition.
And just because you took black magic classes didn’t mean you had to become a black mage.
‘I can just get the credits and go in a different direction.’
He would be taking various other magic classes anyway, so there was no reason to worry this early.
And as far as Lee Han could tell, the life of an imperial black mage wasn’t that bad.
Though people feared them, there were so few mages that, once hired, they were never discharged from an official post.
The ultimate iron rice bowl!
“I figured you would all react this way.”
Professor Garcia, sensing the students’ mood, spoke up instead.
“But contrary to public prejudice, black magic is a field full of profound mysteries and logic. You’re all still unrefined mages. To know what you have a talent for and what you should aim for, you need to keep challenging and experiencing new things. I hope you learn magic with wizardly curiosity, rather than giving up opportunities due to prejudice.”
Professor Garcia’s words were calm yet reasonable. The freshmen stared at him with slightly moved expressions.
“Well, then. Who wants to assist Professor Mortum in teaching black magic?”
“……”
“……”
Of course, that was one thing, but black magic was still black magic.
Students lowered their heads to avoid Professor Garcia’s gaze.
“Lee Han! Lower your head! Lower it!”
Gainando tugged at Lee Han’s collar in panic.
“If you hang out with a black mage, when you die you’ll become an undead soldier!”
“…Are you really a mage?”
Lee Han looked at Gainando in disbelief.
It was understandable if ordinary people didn’t know magic, but why would you believe such a thing?
“I’ll help.”
“!!”
Lee Han raised his hand.
The students stared at Lee Han with surprise and awe.
They knew that the boy from the Wardanaz family was acting as a leader for the Blue Dragon Tower.
But even so, to volunteer for the black magic demonstration was unexpected.
Even the Black Tortoise Tower students, who were wary of Lee Han from rumors about Wardanaz, had their attitudes changed.
“Lee Han!”
Professor Garcia looked at him very gratefully.
Lee Han knew exactly what that look meant.
That anxious feeling when you invite a close colleague to teach, but all your students just sit there silently like they’ve eaten honey.
It’s enough that professors sometimes secretly prep their students: “Hey, you raise your hand and ask a question.”
He couldn’t imagine how grateful Garcia must be to Lee Han for stepping up.
“Cough, cough. Thank you. Please, come closer.”
As Lee Han approached Professor Mortum, he realized why the temperature in the classroom had dropped.
A substantial amount of magical power flowed out of the standing Professor Mortum.
And not just any magic—it was of the yin (陰) attribute.
Cold and eerie, this negative energy was the very symbol of black magicians.
Magical power was fundamentally colorless, but often its attribute had to be changed depending on the spell to be performed.
In black magic, you often needed to change your mana to the yin attribute in this manner.
‘No wonder this field has a bad reputation.’
Not only was the public image bad, but students approaching would be repelled by this magic leaking out casually.
Even students considering this field would be terrified and back away.
Professors everywhere really did have no knack for attracting students.
“You have a lot of mana.”
“Thank you.”
“Good. Take your staff… Let me demonstrate first.”
Professor Mortum coughed multiple times and then waved his hand.
Instantly, the disorderly yin magic spilling out arranged itself in neat order.
“Arise, servants of bone!”
With a chilling rattling sound, summons made of bone suddenly appeared among the students from thin air.
They performed strange dances, spinning around the room. The students looked like they were about to faint.
Professor Mortum asked Lee Han in a pleased tone.
“Cough… Well, how is it? All right?”
“Excuse me?”
“I prepared it thinking the students would enjoy it.”
“Hm. It’s interesting.”
Lee Han avoided the truth to save the professor’s feelings. Professor Garcia gave him a grateful look with his eyes.
“Of course, I’m not going to have you try anything of this level. Cough. That’s a spell far too difficult.”
It was obvious, but Lee Han felt extra thankful for such an obvious statement.
If only Professor Voladi could hear this!
“First, try converting your mana to a yin attribute.”
Lee Han drew out his mana.
Having already converted it to light and water before, he knew the knack for changing attributes.
Visualize the image in your mind, focus on that image, and dye your mana accordingly.
Pop!
“You’re quite good.”
Professor Mortum admired the skillful conversion.
“Thank you.”
“Try converting even more.”
Lee Han focused and continued transforming his mana.
‘Wait, he’s actually good at this?’
Watching, Professor Garcia was caught off-guard.
He was sorry for Professor Mortum, but he didn’t really want a student like Lee Han, with such promise, to follow the lonely road of black magic.
‘If he’s too good, that’s a problem in itself…’
Other magicians, when thinking of the yin attribute, tended to go through a lot of trial and error.
The yin attribute was broader and more ambiguous than expected.
Cold?
The ice attribute was cold, too.
Dark?
The darkness attribute was also dark.
Since it included many different aspects, lots of mages struggled to grasp it.
But Lee Han kept it simple.
‘Let’s just imagine something like non-Euclidean geometry or imaginary numbers… some bizarre math concept.’
Lee Han’s unique advantage was that his mind was broad in how he thought—a way of thinking other mages couldn’t follow.
Luckily, that kind of image fit perfectly, and his mana smoothly changed into the yin attribute.
More and more.
And even more.
And more and more.
“…Professor?”
Lee Han felt something was off.
Sssssssss—
Even though it was daytime, the classroom became dark, and the already low temperature sank even further so that his breath was visible.
But Professor Mortum, instead of stopping him, egged him on with a look of excitement.
He looked like an entirely different person—eyes glowing, not coughing at all.
“How far can you go? Try even more.”
“Um, Professor Mortum?”
Professor Garcia tried to stop him.
He liked seeing Professor Mortum so happy, but there were other students in the classroom.
A sinister mood filled the room, and the more sensitive students could even hear the whispers of the dead.
In Professor Garcia’s view, it was time to stop now.
‘Thinking about Lee Han’s level of mana…’
If he kept converting as much as he could out of curiosity, who knew what might happen?
“What is it?”
“Shouldn’t we stop?”
“Let’s go just a bit further. I’m curious how far he can go.”
“There will be other opportunities to test this.”
“But…”
“I said stop.”
“Oh. Very well.”
When Professor Garcia put his foot down, Professor Mortum backed down.
‘What a shame…’
Professor Mortum looked at Lee Han with a regretful expression.
One of the most important things in black magic was the amount of yin attribute mana you had.
Of course, there were few fields in magic where mana wasn’t important, but in black magic, more mana meant infinitely more possibilities.
Undead summoning?
Mana was critical.
Curses?
Mana was critical.
Same for dark or poison elements.
So he had wanted to see how far Lee Han could go, but was stopped.
‘Professor Garcia is so stingy.’
“Professor.”
Lee Han called out to Professor Mortum.
Because he had stopped converting, large amounts of mana were slowly dissipating.
“Ah, sorry. Now wave your staff like this and chant the spell. ‘Be paralyzed!’”
A low-level paralysis curse.
It was a first circle black magic—one of the easiest black magic spells.
It caused a weak paralysis, like a cramp, in the target’s arm or leg.
There’s no one in life who hasn’t experienced tingling arms or legs.
Thus, it was easy to visualize, and the staff motion was simple.
“On whom should I cast it?”
“On me, of course.”
Unlike other magic, curses needed a target.
Lee Han was taken aback.
Professor Mortum looked like he would collapse in a breeze.
‘I always wanted to use magic on a professor someday, but not like this?’
“Is it really all right?”
Professor Mortum replied with annoyance.
“Of course. Hurry and cast it.”
“No defensive magic… or anything like that?”
“Cough, cough… At most, it will just paralyze my arm or leg. How much trouble could that cause?”
‘Well, that’s true.’
Lee Han was convinced.
Come to think of it, a freshman worrying about the professor was going too far.
‘Let’s focus. If I act cocky, I might get on the professor’s bad side.’
Lee Han closed his eyes and focused, and Professor Mortum shrugged as if to urge him on.
Mages were fundamentally more mana-rich than others and could wield it at will.
This meant they had strong resistance to magic attacks.
Even if hit, their mana would instinctively protect their bodies.
And someone like Professor Mortum, who had handled yin mana all his life, would be even more resistant to it.
A freshman’s spell would have no effect even if he didn’t defend against it.
‘Once it bounces off, he’ll realize how deep and vast black magic truly is.’
Professor Mortum thought Lee Han would be deeply impressed when his magic was so easily negated.
-Even when I gave it my all, it had no effect at all…! I didn’t know black magic was so amazing. I want to learn more!
-Cough, if you want to learn, I won’t stop you.
It was the kind of optimistic thinking only a professor with a paralyzed brain could have.
“Be paralyzed!”
With the incantation, Lee Han pointed the staff at Professor Mortum.
His gathered mana explosively surged forward, crashing down on Professor Mortum.
“!!!”
The sheer amount of mana was far greater than anticipated; Professor Mortum was taken aback.
He tried to resist, but the mana already enveloped his body like asphyxia.
…In the end, Professor Mortum stiffened up, completely paralyzed, and fell back.
Thud!
“…Professor? Professor!!”
Lee Han freaked out.
For a moment, the shameful title “Professor Slayer” flashed through his mind.