Episode 576

Episode 576

Monday.

The students stepped out of the dormitory tower doors, carrying feelings of tension, frustration, fear, regret, resignation, and expectation.

“Are you looking forward to it, Nillia?”

“My goodness. How confident do you have to be…”

“N-no. I was just looking forward to it because the semester ends after this week!”

“There’s no need to be humble. Nillia. We’re the ones who didn’t study, so you can be confident.”

“I’m not confident, I’m telling you…!”

As if to bless the final week, thick snow began to fall from the sky.

“It’s snowing.”

“Wearing warm clothes like this, it actually feels kind of pretty.”

“Yeah. It could snow even more, honestly.”

The students felt a bit more at ease.

When you walked around in worn-out, tattered coats, no matter what magic you put on, the cold wind seeped through. But now, armed with sturdy winter gear, it was a different story.

Students who had wrapped themselves thickly in fabric brought from outside and put hot, heated potions into their coat pockets faced the heavy snowfall with composure.

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

Nillia looked serious.

If you had ever spent the night in the coldest parts of the northern mountains, you would know deep down just how terrifying snow could be.

What kind of reckless talk was that!

“Everyone, pray that the snow doesn’t get worse until next week. Got it?”

“S-sorry, Nillia.”

“We were wrong…”

Nillia’s friends from the Black Turtle Tower looked at her nervously, crestfallen.

It was just that the white snow looked pretty, but Nillia was too strict.

• * *

Lee Han was the first to arrive at Professor Garcia’s classroom.

He had woken up early, dropped by the stables to soothe the sulking Fongrif, and planned to return to the dormitory to prepare breakfast, but the acolytes had woken up early and helped out, so things wrapped up much quicker than he had expected.

“Hello, Professor.”

“Student Lee Han. Why did you come so early?”

Professor Garcia, who was making a final check of the final exam prepared in the classroom, looked at Lee Han in puzzlement.

“I wanted to help.”

“I gave you a break so you could rest, and you show up early?”

Professor Garcia waved his hand, telling him to go sit to the side.

“Just prepare for other exams. The finals are already all set, anyway.”

“Yes. But if you need an extra hand, please let me know.”

Lee Han glanced at the exam area as he walked by.

Professor Garcia’s final exam was a comprehensive test that checked all the daily life magic they had learned over the semester.

Enter deep underwater with -Water Breathing-, detoxify with -Lesser Detox-, find your way underwater with -Vision Amplification-…

Professor Garcia had shown it in person last week, so Lee Han already knew about it.

But…

“Professor, shouldn’t the water be darker?”

Lee Han asked in surprise.

He distinctly remembered telling Professor Garcia, ‘I think the water needs to be darker?’

“Oh, that? After looking at it, I think it’s fine as it is.”

“Is that so…?”

‘It should really be darker.’

No matter how much he thought about it, it seemed like it needed to be darker, but Lee Han just nodded for now.

If Professor Garcia said so, there must have been a reason.

“By the way, Professor, were the fake passages added?”

“No. I didn’t think it was necessary.”

“Ah. Wouldn’t it be good to add some fake passages?”

He was blocked when it came to infusing darkness elements into the water, but Lee Han believed that fake passages would be a worthwhile addition.

It would definitely make the exam even more interesting.

“It would make it too hard.”

“I see…”

Lee Han felt a bit anxious.

Just like before, Professor Garcia had shown him so much kindness, but Lee Han had yet to repay any of it.

‘I have to find some improvement somehow.’

“By the way, the poison…?”

“Student Lee Han. Please sit down and study something else.”

“Yes…”

Lee Han sat down, disappointed.

As he pulled out a book to read, Professor Garcia seemed to remember something and asked.

“Student Lee Han.”

“Oh! Is there something you want me to do?”

“No, it’s not that. Do you raise giants by any chance?”

“?!?!!”

• * *

“Am I the only one who thinks it’s weird that Lee Han is just sitting there?”

Gainando asked his friends as he prepared to take the test.

From the time they had entered the classroom, Lee Han had been sitting next to the professor, reading a book from another school of magic.

“It’s not weird.”

“I bet he took the test first.”

“Or maybe he just passed by. Face forward, Gainando. Did you cast Water Breathing correctly? Don’t spit water this time like last time.”

“That was a one-time mistake!”

“One time becomes two, two times becomes three. Go on in.”

Splash!

One by one, the students entered the water to take the exam.

While Lee Han was wracking his brain and writing as much as he could about -Wardanaz’s Water Bomb and Its Basic Principles- from the side, he paused for a moment.

Then, he approached Nillia as she finished the test and came up.

“Hah, huff. Almost fell for it…!”

“Nillia. Nillia.”

Nillia was happy to see Lee Han approaching.

Professor Garcia’s final exam was more exhausting and demanding than expected.

While finding the right way out without falling into traps in the dark water, you couldn’t let your guard down for a second.

To see a friend who’d been waiting come to root for you in such a tired and exhausted state—this must be what friendship was.

“Here. Drink this.”

“…Thank you.”

Nillia was slightly moved, and her usual sharp attitude softend a bit.

As she sipped the hot coffee, Lee Han quietly asked,

“By any chance, did the water feel too bright to you?”

“What? What are you even talking about?”

“Like, was it too easy to find the passages when you got inside…”

“No. It was dark and hard to find.”

Nillia shivered and spoke.

The water was colder than she thought, and the physical toll was not easy.

“Really? Are you sure you didn’t cast the magic wrong?”

“…Wardanaz, what… are you up to right now?”

Nillia looked at Lee Han, highly suspicious.

She’d been touched at first, but as the conversation went on, there seemed to be a more sinister motive behind it.

“No, nothing at all. Here, have this too.”

“Are you trying to appease me with snacks now…”

“By the way, it snowed a lot today. Do the Shadow Patrol still move and such on days like this?”

“They do, more or less.”

“Wow. That’s impressive.”

“It’s not really much to be impressed by. It’s basic. People in the northern mountains are used to snow. There was this one time, actually. We were trapped in a little hut that the mountain keepers use, and it snowed non-stop for a week. We just couldn’t get out…”

Lee Han nodded and glanced sideways.

Another friend was coming up.

“Yoner. Yoner. Here’s some coffee.”

“Huh? Tha-…”

“By any chance, did the water feel too bright to you?”

“……”

Yoner, who took a sip and thought for a moment, suddenly stared hard at Lee Han and asked in return,

“Did you tell Professor Garcia to make the test more difficult?”

“…?!”

Lee Han stared back at his friend, surprised.

Yoner shook his head.

• * *

Alchemy final exam.

Professor Thunderstep looked exasperated as he watched the students haul in bundles of reagents.

“I’ve never had students so relaxed at a test like you lot.”

“Thank you, Professor.”

“That wasn’t a compliment.”

“Then thank you, Professor.”

Professor Thunderstep addressed Ratford, who was dangling upside-down.

“You’re supposed to start the exam with gathering ingredients, but you all prepared in advance…”

“Preparation is a skill too, isn’t it, Professor?”

“It’s because of you, Wardanaz!”

Professor Thunderstep was at a loss for words at his shameless star pupil.

The one who led all his friends outside and swept up all the reagents!

“Well, yeah. Preparation is a skill. I won’t argue. The principal is the one who hates it when you go out. I don’t really care.”

“Then please put me down…”

Professor Thunderstep abruptly dropped Ratford.

Then he moved his chalk to the board and wrote.

Potion of Resistance

‘Yes!’

Lee Han was relieved when he saw the name of the potion.

Other students who had prepared a lot for the exam showed similar reactions.

-Potion of Resistance- was one of the topics many expected might appear on the final.

“What’s a potion of resistance?”

“……”

Of course, not every friend had studied a lot.

Even though Professor Thunderstep had explained it in class, he looked at the questioning student in disbelief and explained,

“I’ve told you several times, but this potion of resistance needs to work in a broad spectrum. Sometimes, inexperienced alchemists make potions that only work on one angle and get confused, but don’t make that mistake.”

The potion of resistance raised endurance—something like defense—for the drinker.

The reason it wasn’t called a defense potion was simple. It was a slightly different concept.

If your skin grew tough and bounced off an arrow, that was what a defense potion did. But if a powerful, impact-filled arrow shook your insides but dulled the pain, that was what the potion of resistance did.

Sometimes, strange monsters could inflict damage just by touching your vision or hearing.

There were monsters that could make you vomit blood just by looking at them, or knock you out just by hearing their cries.

Even putting that aside, illusion mages cast spells by targeting the opponent’s five senses.

For situations like those, a potion of resistance was vital.

‘Sprinkle ground serpent stone, crushed with a bronze mortar, three times. Then change direction with the staff twice, and when the water boils golden…’

Lee Han and other top students in alchemy proceeded with confidence.

Professor Thunderstep watched and commented,

“I think some of you forgot to measure the ingredients ahead of time?”

At this, the students took out balance-scale artifacts they had bought outside.

Seeing the scales automatically measuring out the ingredients, Professor Thunderstep frowned deeply.

‘I can see why the principal dislikes letting you out so much!’

Watching freshmen make potions easily with artifacts made him want to nitpick.

“Hmph. Potion of resistance isn’t that easy. If you rush like that, you’ll definitely…”

Bang!

Flames shot up from Nillia’s cauldron.

At last, Professor Thunderstep loosened his expression and looked pleased.

“See? This is what happens. It’ll be tough to recover that batch.”

But Nillia calmly dumped the whole contents of the cauldron out.

Then she took out new reagents from her bag and started again.

She had enough to spare, so a few more failures didn’t matter.

“……”

Professor Thunderstep decided next year’s first-year finals would use reagents that couldn’t be found on the market no matter what.

“Wardanaz. I want to verify the effect—do you have a magic you’d recommend?”

Bartrek called out to Lee Han.

Being so skilled in alchemy, it looked like he wanted to help check the potions for other White Tiger Tower students.

“Normally, after drinking it, you’d test with an attack spell, but if you can’t do that, you need to stimulate the senses.”

You could check effectiveness using loud noises, strong smells, or spicy taste.

At that, Bartrek pondered.

“Stimulus, huh…”

“There’s an onion here. How about this?”

“Good idea, maybe.”

“Did you drink the potion? Try eating it.”

Lee Han fed a piece of onion to Bartrek.

Bartrek grimaced.

“This one was brewed wrong.”

“Oh dear. Try the next potion. Did you drink? Here you go.”

“Ugh.”

Bartrek drank the potion, ate the onion, and again, drank potion, and ate onion.

Before long, Bartrek’s eyes were wet with tears.

“Bartrek! I made another batch!”

“…This one seems good. The onion’s not spicy.”

“Really?!”

Lee Han, watching from the side, tilted his head.

“Doesn’t look right to me. The color’s cloudy.”

“…Truly, thank you, Wardanaz. I almost let it slip by mistake.”

“It’s nothing.”

Lee Han cheered on Bartrek.

Finishing his own potion and then helping friends from his tower—it was admirable.

“Wardanaz. If you’re done, leave.”

“I was going to filter it to increase its purity.”

“Full marks. Go.”

“You didn’t even check.”

“It’s full marks. Move aside. It’s full marks.”

“Still, I worked hard on it…”

Professor Thunderstep chased the clingy Lee Han out of the classroom with the ladle in his hand.