Episode 496

Chapter 496

Now. What’s the difference between the blood magic Professor Baegrek uses and the ritual of human sacrifice that magical criminals favor?

“If Professor Baegrek uses it, it’s a legal, government-approved magic under Imperial law, but if magical criminals use it, it’s illegal, isn’t it?”

…That’s true, but focus on the magical mechanism.

Professor Voladi’s blood magic was, at its core, a technique for amplifying magical power using his own blood as the medium.

No matter how powerful and ancient a reagent a wizard’s own blood is, offering one’s own blood can’t be good for you.

As you climb to higher magic, the spell structure gets more complicated and the wizard’s risks increase, so adding blood magic makes it even more unstable.

Just looking at how the wizard who developed blood magic died in a magical accident shows enough.

That’s why magical criminals approached the problem differently.

-Do I have to take all the risks? If someone else takes them, it’s fine.

“That’s the ritual of human sacrifice.”

Right. It’s a technique that sacrifices not the mage’s own flesh, but someone else’s, thus avoiding the risk.

The Skull Principal clicked his tongue, displeased.

Lee Han was a little impressed.

He’d thought he was just a mad wizard, but to see that he could get angry at the harm wizards cause civilians made Lee Han see another side of him.

Taking such shortcuts ends up sabotaging your own skills. Magic isn’t a convenient art that gives you everything you want. When you gain something, something else is lost—and the risk involved is magic itself. If you forget that, you’ll end up falling.

“…Ah. I thought you were mad about the villainous crimes of magical criminals, Principal.”

Well, that too makes me mad.

The Skull Principal replied roughly.

So, here’s what you need to learn next.

The artifacts clattered and lined up in a row.

Memorize the unique magical energy patterns you feel from their dark arts. It’ll help you identify magical criminals early.

“I see.”

Right. And if you spot one, kill them right away. Don’t get cocky trying to show mercy—you’ll get yourself killed.

“…Um… Sure.”

Also, you need to learn ‘dispel’ too.

“Ah. I’m confident in that.”

Lee Han prepared the so-called -magic hammer- he learned from Baldororn.

The Skull Principal was speechless at the sight of his student planning to simply hammer away with raw magical energy.

‘He has so much magical power that he never gets hurt, even if he keeps doing such reckless things!’

Normally, any other wizard would take a beating once or twice, then reflect, ‘Ah, I was too reckless! A wizard should undo magic with intellect, but I tried smashing it open with brute force like some animal!’ But this student had so much magical energy that he never got the chance to reflect.

Rather than such a brute-force method… shouldn’t you be able to stop a spell the moment you see them casting it?

The Skull Principal didn’t reject the idea of smashing finished magic spells with brute force.

If any other student had insisted, ‘Why do wizards need to study? We can just cut down spells with magic power!’ he’d have had them hung upside down immediately. But for Wardanaz, that method worked.

But the method wasn’t invincible.

Truly outstanding mages could design spells that resisted even external shocks…

Above all, with Wardanaz’s talent, there was no need to use brute force. Just a little thought would do.

You do understand the concept of a magic counter, right?

“Yes.”

A counter.

Also called ‘reverse magic,’ this concept was especially critical for enchantment and healing mages.

A wizard, by sheer will—and equivalent price—changes reality and manifests magic.

So, how do you unravel that magic?

The correct way was to fully understand the structure of that spell and then untwist it, starting from the weakest link.

Sometimes you could break it from the outside with overwhelming force…

All these concepts are called ‘counter.’

It may not strike home for you yet, but as you rise, this will become ever more important. Cast a spell.

Lee Han quickly prepared -death orb-, aiming it at the Skull Principal’s pale, round skull.

In that instant, the Skull Principal’s eyes flashed.

Just like that, the spell Lee Han was preparing unraveled. As if a contaminant had entered the magical structure forming under his power.

Do you get it?

“You pressed magical energy into the weak link?”

Correct.

The Skull Principal replied with satisfaction.

For a teacher, nothing was more pleasing than a pupil who could immediately see what had happened without explanation.

Once you become familiar with counters, you can do even more. You can disrupt the casting of your opponent’s magic itself.

If you can recognize and dismantle the structure of a completed spell, you can also interfere while the spell is still forming.

If you inject your magical energy into a spell’s weak link, sensitive spells can waver, slow down, or cancel entirely.

And not just that.

The Skull Principal shot magical energy into Lee Han’s wrist.

Just as you’d poke at a spell’s weak point, you could do something similar to a mage’s body.

It was far more advanced and complex, but if you succeed, the target wizard simply became helpless.

When magical energy flows, my counter will activate and hit you. Try it.

BANG!

A huge wave of magical power surged inside Lee Han, shattering the counter energy that the Skull Principal had injected.

“?”

……

A brief awkward silence followed.

…You can also dispel a counter like that. As just demonstrated.

“I-I see.”

Lee Han didn’t comment further.

The last part seemed a bit odd, but the concept of magical counters was useful.

Not only did it allow you to dispel completed magic, but it let you disrupt casting or actively restrain enemy wizards.

To use it on magical criminals, you’d have to familiarize yourself with the spells they most commonly used.

You memorized the magical energy pattern from the artifact, right?

“…No…”

Lee Han was dumbfounded; the Skull Principal had already moved on before he’d even had much time to look at the artifacts.

“You just showed them and then kept talking about magic. Hold on… okay, I’ve got them all.”

You really are the best whiner in the Empire. Now, next is the weak link. I assume you picked that up while recognizing patterns? Just do a quick check.

‘How did he know?’

Lee Han was starting to think: no wonder he’s called an archmage.

The Principal’s veteran skill at blocking any attempt to slow down the lesson was unmistakable.

“How did you know?”

Are you asking because you’re genuinely curious?

The Skull Principal looked at Lee Han as if he were an idiot.

How could you be so un-self-aware?

Now, next, try it for yourself. I’ll cast, so you inject magical power into the weak link.

“Understood.”

Hurry up! You’ve still got to learn about the magical effects on the artifact after this.

“……”

• * *

Unfortunately, the Skull Principal’s ambitions were unfulfilled.

After the sun rose high in the sky on Friday and morning had passed, the Skull Principal released Lee Han with a note of regret.

I suppose the artifact analysis will have to wait for next time. Alas. Are you sleepy?

“Yes.”

If you became a lich, you wouldn’t need sleep.

“……”

Lee Han cursed the Skull Principal under his breath as he left.

His mind overflowed, having practiced so much ‘counter-magic’ in one sitting.

‘The sunlight feels especially dazzling today…’

Upon stepping into the courtyard, he saw friends everywhere working up a sweat.

They may have gotten a day off, but it really meant nothing.

There’d been so much damaged by the flood that the chores increased accordingly.

Lee Han sighed.

‘I have to restore the vegetable garden, too. Hopefully not too many trees were swept away. Fruit, unlike vegetables, will take time… I wonder if the Blue Dragon Tower folks are okay? Their lounge was flooded—should at least check it. Is the oven gone too? Just when I finally added one… what a waste…’

“Wardanaz. Wardanaz.”

“Hmm?”

Lee Han turned his head.

Ratford was waving to him delightedly.

“Where have you been? We were worried since you’d gone missing since yesterday.”

“I was caught by the Principal.”

“Oh no…!”

Ratford looked sincerely sympathetic.

Then, lowering his voice, he asked.

“When I was young, I heard that His Majesty the Emperor is so fair and just he reads every single anonymous petition.”

“…Ah, no. It’s not to that extent.”

Isn’t it?

Lee Han trailed off, unsure what ‘to that extent’ even meant.

“It’s our day off, isn’t it? What are you up to?”

“I was gathering materials needed to restore the black market.”

Ratford waved the plank he was holding.

Lee Han thought the wooden board looked a lot like classroom desk wood, but didn’t comment.

“By the way, Ratford. There’s a place I need to check—could you come along as my guide?”

Busy with commissions, Lee Han hadn’t forgotten about the graduate senior who had been imprisoned in the deep punishment room.

-Take this. It’s the location of the room my friends and I used. There should be some usable stuff left.

If there was anything worthwhile, it was best to go quickly and claim it first.

The key lesson at Einrogard: there’s never any benefit to being frugal.

“That’s not hard at all, but before that…”

Ratford hesitated. Lee Han looked at him curiously.

“Is something wrong?”

“You really need to get some sleep.”

“I’m fine.”

Instead of answering, Ratford held up a mirror. Lee Han looked in and saw he’d transformed into his vampire race. He nodded.

“I’ll just sleep a little then.”

• * *

Normally, when someone is tired, they can’t ‘just’ nap for a short while.

The same was true for Lee Han—when he woke, it was already evening.

-Shouldn’t we call a Professor…?

-His pulse was normal, I said…

-Priest Siana, even so, isn’t it weird to sleep like a corpse…

“…Thank you, everyone.”

Lee Han thanked the Phoenix Tower priests and went to meet Ratford.

With a sandwich of rye bread, tomato, bacon, cheese, and lettuce clutched in one hand, Lee Han spotted Ratford in the distance.

“Ready?”

“Yes.”

Lee Han glanced behind Ratford.

A group of Black Turtle Tower students were heading somewhere, carrying fishing rods.

“Where are they going?”

“Oh. Since the flood, a new reservoir formed—they’re off to retrieve things…”

‘I’ll have to check it out later.’

Lee Han’s ears perked up at the intriguing news, but for now, the map took precedence.

‘Main Building, 3rd Floor.’

The main building, the oldest structure at Einrogard, was a total concentration of unpredictable magic matching its long history, but general patterns did exist.

The lower the floor, the more stable; the higher, the stranger.

So, the third floor of the main building was relatively safe—even first-year students could sometimes set foot there.

For the seniors’ room to be on the third floor of the main building…

‘That’s lucky.’

Well, after going through that much trouble, sometimes luck was on his side.

Lee Han nodded in agreement.

The two first-years climbed up a broken hallway on the second floor. The -Forest Mouse- in the Forest of Polymorphs did not appear today.

‘Past the blue handkerchief classroom, turn left, then knock on the ceiling to open up a new corridor…’

Thunk, clunk, clang, crash!

Walls vanished, the ceiling became the floor, and new paths appeared, but the two first-years were used to this and didn’t react.

“…Wait.”

“What is it?”

Lee Han frowned.

He didn’t understand the note written on the map.

…Next, if you walk on the ceiling, a new classroom will appear…