Episode 585

While the real skeleton warrior Gonadaltes fought a bloody battle in the unknown dimension, the classroom was gradually descending into chaos.

“Waaaah! What is this! What is this thing!”

“Selamodir is seriously angry. You should be careful not to provoke it.”

When the seal-like Selamodir flipped a classroom desk and gave a watery slap to the student who summoned it, Professor Millei intervened by swinging his staff.

To the angry Selamodir, Professor Millei began to explain in seal language.

“■■ ■■■■ ■■■…”

Having heard the explanation, Selamodir waved its forepaw.

From that gesture, Lee Han sensed a strong message: ‘I’ll let it go just for today, but be careful in the future!’

Soon Selamodir returned to its own dimension.

Professor Millei spoke as if nothing had happened.

“As you can see, summoning beings from uncertain dimensions is a dangerous affair. You should all remain alert.”

“……”

“…W-Wardanaaz. Did you see that?”

Nillia, nervous, tugged on Lee Han’s cloak.

It was such a shock to see Selamodir slap someone across the cheek with its flipper.

But Lee Han couldn’t answer.

He was busy concentrating as he dealt with the hellfire sulfur hound, which was halfway sticking its head out of the magic circle and struggling to get loose.

“Surround it! Push it in so it can’t get out!”

Lee Han attacked the hellfire sulfur hound with his skeleton warriors.

Thankfully, the magic circle was limited in size, so it couldn’t get through, but if it kept twisting its body like that, it just might break through.

It had to be repelled before it crossed over!

The hellfire sulfur hound, which had been pounded continuously, ended up retreating beyond the dimension while cursing the mage who had forcibly dragged it here.

“Well done, Gonadaltes. But let’s try to find something better. We can’t submit that one.”

After praising the skeleton warrior, Lee Han finally noticed his friend.

“What’s going on, Nillia?”

“N-nothing at all?”

“??”

• * *

Even while other students collapsed from exhaustion, Lee Han doggedly kept sending summons, fishing through the dimensions. Professor Millei said,

“The hellfire sulfur hound should be enough. Why do you keep searching?”

“I’ll find and secure something even better.”

“?”

Professor Millei showed a puzzled expression at the student who already had a perfect score.

“You should have enough already, so what are you…”

“No! I need something even…”

“Wardanaaz. Calm down. That’s more than enough!”

“Yeah! If you bring back something even stronger, we’ll be in danger too!”

Lee Han’s friends rushed over to stop him.

Even the hellfire sulfur hound had looked dangerous—who knew what would happen if he brought something even stronger into the classroom?

They were all here too!

“I still need to keep looking!”

The old professor’s eyebrows arched up and he erased Lee Han’s magic circle with a swing of his staff.

“Student Lee Han. Full marks. Alright. Next.”

Relieved, his friends let go of the arms they had been holding.

Nillia, who had just pulled on Lee Han’s left leg with a rope, glanced at him and asked,

“It’s fine since you got full marks, right?”

“I thought I might be able to find something undiscovered.”

Lee Han sighed as he got up.

Seeing that, Nillia suddenly felt guilty.

Had she and the others thought only of their own safety, and stifled their friend’s talent?

Her friend was just trying to do his absolute best…

“If I found something, I was going to name it after the professor as a bonus to flatter him…”

“Hey.”

Nillia looked stern.

She had just felt guilty, and this guy?

• * *

“So, Yoner. The summoning magic students really have bad personalities, I’m telling you.”

“Uhh… yeah.”

Yoner, who had just gotten a perfect score on the summoning magic test, gave his grumbling friend a complicated look.

Shouldn’t someone stop this friend?

“Lee Han. Wouldn’t it be better to study transformation magic?”

“Ah. Right.”

The grumbling friend’s mind instantly switched back to the exam.

Yoner was impressed by how convenient this reaction was.

‘From now on, anytime something happens, I’ll bring up exams.’

“Transforming the arm was harder than I thought.”

Lee Han spoke in a calmer voice than before.

Unlike with other magic, in Lee Han’s case, transformation magic was particularly challenging.

Even a spell as simple as changing hair color required several times more effort, focus, and mana than his friends.

And sometimes, fires would break out…

In that sense, the final exam in transformation magic, transforming one arm, was harder than expected. In fact, this was one of the classes Lee Han had been practicing the most.

“Want me to take a look?”

“Really? That would help. Tell me right away if it looks weird.”

Lee Han transformed his other arm, the one not holding his staff, into a leopard’s forepaw.

Compared to griffons or basilisks, Sharkan seemed the most reasonable choice.

Thanks to steady practice, instead of his arm morphing into dozens of shapes like before, he managed to somewhat maintain the form of a leopard’s forepaw.

Yoner, seeing this, was relieved and impressed.

“It’s much better than last time!”

Lee Han smiled in satisfaction.

His hard work had paid off.

At first, when his arm kept flipping back and forth, he had wondered, “Is this even possible?” But he had finally made progress like this…

“It’s a perfect drake’s forepaw.”

“?”

Lee Han froze.

“It’s a leopard?”

“Huh?”

Yoner, at Lee Han’s words, was even more confused.

Scales, claws, knobby joints, etc.

No matter how you looked at it, it was a front limb from a dragon-type monster.

“A leopard… isn’t it, though?”

Yoner, considerate of his friend’s current state, spoke cautiously.

Even students taking just one exam got sensitive during exam time—let alone Lee Han.

Even an iron man would be shaken during exams.

Just by Lee Han’s response to the perfect score in summoning magic earlier, you could tell he was a bit stressed.

“It’s a leopard, right? Wait.”

Lee Han stared intently at his transformed arm.

Then he exclaimed in shock.

“No, it’s not a leopard?!”

When he first started practicing, it was definitely a leopard’s arm, but at some point it had become something completely different.

What the heck?!

Yoner calmly began to explain.

“Monster’s outward appearance is made to withstand and maintain the magic they possess, right? Maybe a normal leopard’s arm just can’t handle your magic…”

A monster’s external features were closely tied to its magic.

A creature that possessed and maintained powerful magic had corresponding external features for that.

This theory also applied to transformation magic.

It usually appeared as a problem when a mage tried to turn into a monster that was far too powerful for their level, but the opposite could also be true.

“Isn’t a leopard already pretty strong?? And it’s not a regular leopard’s paw, it’s supposed to be Sharkan, a monster…”

“But since it’s not working…”

“……”

Lee Han made a complicated expression at Yoner’s words.

“Should I just go with a drake, then?”

“Wardanaaz! Wardanaaz! Did you hear!?”

A student from Blue Dragon Tower ran up to the two, who were sitting in front of the inner yard.

He was a student taking the same transformation magic class as them.

“What?”

“About Professor Reji’s test. My friend tried to check it out in advance.”

‘Ah!’

With his friend’s words, Lee Han realized he had been complacent.

Professor Yonramo had clearly said the final exam would be transforming one arm, but he couldn’t completely trust that.

He could show up at the classroom and be told, ‘Actually, the final exam is surviving a wicked transformation curse.’

Naturally, if you were an Einrogard student, you should always check the test location in advance and prepare anything that might help.

“Damn. How could I make such a mistake…!”

Lee Han genuinely regretted it, and the Blue Dragon Tower student, flustered, said,

“Ah… no. Wardanaaz, you didn’t really have time anyway. It’s physically impossible…”

“So? What’s going on?”

Yoner, worried the conversation would sidetrack, brought it back.

“It doesn’t seem like the test is about transforming your arm. That’s the rumor among the students who already checked it out.”

“I knew trusting the professor was a mistake!”

Yoner felt a little sad seeing how quickly Lee Han accepted this without a moment’s doubt.

He didn’t seem like this at the start of the year, but now…

“Tell us exactly what happened.”

“Well…”

The friend explained the rumors he’d heard.

This time, Professor Yonramo’s exam was held in the Jade Forest classroom on the third floor.

Students didn’t go to the third floor that often, but even first-years set foot there from time to time.

Students familiar with the third floor headed near the Jade Forest classroom to check it out…

“It was a total jungle. You couldn’t even see the classroom doors.”

“A jungle??”

“Yeah. The ones who went said they couldn’t find the way at all, so they came right back.”

“I think I know what it is.”

Lee Han said coldly.

At this, the Blue Dragon Tower student’s eyes sparkled.

If it was the ever-cool and rational top student, surely he could give a reliable prediction even now.

“What is it, Wardanaaz?”

“There’s probably a hint in transformation magic. I bet you have to use the transformation spells we’ve learned this semester to find the way through the jungle to the classroom.”

“I see…!”

The student nodded in agreement, thinking it sounded plausible.

But Yoner, who was listening beside them, had a puzzled expression.

‘Really?’

He couldn’t remember if Professor Yonramo was the type to go out of his way before the exam to set up elaborate trials.

It was possible, of course, but Lee Han seemed a bit off his game from fatigue, and his judgment was a little dulled.

Was it okay to let him run with this?

“Alright. I’ll let everyone know. Thanks, Wardanaaz!”

After the friend left, Lee Han hesitated deeply.

“Don’t know if I can clear it with my current level of transformation magic.”

“Lee Han, why don’t you get some sleep? How much have you slept?”

“About 3…”

“Three hours? That’s not good.”

“Three days ago…”

“Hey.”

• * *

Professor of divination magic, Paselete Craer, let out a sigh.

While there were different opinions on which professor had it toughest during final exams, Craer was never left out.

It wasn’t just because of preparing the exams. He also had to help prepare the great magic to find the new students for next year.

A spell to determine the locations of talented new students all across the Empire.

Even with the great mage Gonadaltes and the vast magical power of Einrogard, it wasn’t an easy feat.

If diviners outside heard about this magic, they’d be shocked out of their minds.

Professor Craer, Professor Craer!

“I’m working on it right now!”

Startled awake, Paselete quickly summoned another persona and stood up.

If you dozed off in front of the skeleton principal at year’s end, nothing good would come of it.

Let me tell you one thing. You probably won’t need to prepare the spell for verifying locations on-site this year.

“?”

Instead of being happy, Professor Paselete was confused.

The method for finding new students was to first roughly ascertain their locations all over the Empire, and then go to those regions and divine the exact positions again.

Both the former and especially the latter required massive mana, so it was necessary to make preparations in advance, as payment.

Of course, the process was complex enough to be called the essence of divination magic.

“Are you serious?”

Of course. I’ll just use mana on the spot and find them.

“……”

Why are you looking at me like that?

“Principal, if you’re going to commit a crime, I should just…”

……

The skeleton principal glared at the professor.