Episode 732
by Cristae“I’d like to brush up on basics too, though.”
“Hm?”
Direte sounded genuinely puzzled.
It really didn’t seem necessary for this junior.
“You can already use third-circle poison-element magic, right?”
“It’s still not perfect.”
The -Fang Poison- creation magic Lee Han had inherited from the undead sorcerer, Verdus, was about third-circle, but his casting still wasn’t fully stable.
“You’re such a perfectionist, junior. Others insist they’re experts if they can even cast it once.”
“I’m calling it imperfect because it’s not perfect!”
Lee Han felt a bit wronged.
Given time, he could call forth poison, but that wasn’t the same as being mastered yet.
“Bone-element magic was fourth circle.”
-Summon Skeleton Warrior- didn’t originally require fourth-circle mastery.
Normally, if you contracted with an undead-class skeleton warrior, the difficulty plummeted.
But Lee Han had been pushed by a few unpleasant necromancers to learn the ancient style nobody really used anymore, and so ended up with the much harder fourth-circle -Summon Skeleton Warrior-.
Instead of calling from another realm, this magic forced the mage to assemble bones one by one, making it much harder.
All the effort wrestling with -Summon Skeleton Warrior- had given Lee Han a solid grounding in bone magic.
“…That’s right. But I bet there are still basics I haven’t mastered?”
Direte was a gentle senior.
Even if his junior was stubborn, rather than getting angry, he’d quietly set things up to let him have his way.
Sure enough, as soon as Lee Han breezed through the basic spells Direte listed, Lee Han’s expression soured.
“Let’s just go straight to the hard spells.”
“Wise thinking, junior.”
“You know why blood isn’t usually used as an element, right?”
“Yes.”
Even imperial black magicians who used bone, poison, even darkness wouldn’t use blood transparently—because it was inefficient.
“But it’s not like nobody uses blood as an element. A few spell-criminals actually do.”
“The Headmaster?”
“…Junior. When I say spell-criminal, I mean it literally. Not as a metaphor.”
Blood element was not only less powerful than bone, but hard to obtain and preserve.
It fell out of favor, especially as some criminals kidnapped innocent victims and forcibly harvested massive amounts of fresh blood for their spells.
But from Gonadaltes to Professor Mortum and even down to Direte, the tradition of black magic at Einrogard was “Just because something’s unpopular doesn’t mean you should never use it.”
At the very least, you should know enough to spot its weaknesses if you ever meet someone who does use it.
Tap—
Direte took out a small glass vial, pulled out the cork, and let a red liquid flow out with a faint noise.
There was a bloody smell, but an aura of unfamiliar magic, too.
“This is synthetic blood made by alchemy. Usually you use this to cast blood-element spells—because of its flexibility.”
Just like you’d use a bone fragment containing mana as a reagent for bone spells, blood magic often needed special reagents as well.
Lee Han caught a nuance in Direte’s explanation and asked,
“So this isn’t used as the reagent for other spells, only blood-element spells?”
“Correct.”
The black magic senior, flapping his wings, seemed pleased with his clever junior.
There was no helping it: blood-element spells were so demanding that even alchemically synthesized blood wasn’t as good as the real thing.
Direte took out a bone fragment saturated with bloodenergy.
“This is a fragment I regularly feed with my own blood. I could use synthetic blood, but using my own has advantages—control over the spell, and easier blood magic, if needed.”
“Understood.”
Since Lee Han had strengthened a bone with darkness before, he immediately got it.
Infusing bone with blood was essentially just another way of strengthening bone magic.
‘You don’t need to push yourself with blood element magic, but just using tricks like this boosts potency, huh.’
“Ordinarily, darkness and poison are more popular, though. Blood just doesn’t have many special effects, and its uses are a bit limited… but as I said—”
“There’s always a use if you learn it, right?”
Direte smiled broadly and nodded.
“Let’s start with this.”
“Yes. How hard is this spell, anyway?”
Direte just smiled and motioned for Lee Han to start.
Lee Han found it odd, but began dripping his own blood onto the bone fragment.
“Blood, gather here…”
The bone fragment was stained crimson and linked with Lee Han much more powerfully than before.
Lee Han immediately grasped the benefits Direte mentioned about feeding his own blood.
Summoning a skeleton warrior with this bone would mean far more precise control.
“Success.”
“Knew you would, so there was no point saying how hard it was. Wouldn’t have mattered.”
“…Just say it anyway…”
After that, Direte taught Lee Han about blending bone and blood, blood and poison, poison and bone.
Poisons that could be amplified by blood; spells that could explosively shatter bone and scatter poison, and so on.
A lot of them were pretty advanced, so Lee Han kept his focus sharp.
“By the way, senior, I suddenly got curious. What year is this course aimed at?”
“Third year. Why?”
“…Isn’t it strange for me to be in here?”
“Huh? Not really?”
“……”
Direte took out his pocket watch and checked the time before speaking.
“We’ve got a little spare time. Guess we can go.”
“How about just taking a break? You seem to need a rest right now, too.”
“Where I’m going is a break, junior.”
“?”
Direte gave a mysterious smile and gestured for Lee Han to follow him outside.
That smile made Lee Han uneasy.
Usually, nothing good came from Einrogard wizards smiling like that.
“I go here whenever I’m tired.”
‘More and more worrying…’
If this was the summoning school, maybe. But with the black magic school… there was a real chance he’d end up in a cemetery or underground toxic crypt for “rest.”
Direte was a good person, but even good people could have some weird hobbies.
Sliding open a side corridor in the second basement, Direte lightly tapped a wall that stretched endlessly ahead.
Immediately, the staircase they stood on rolled forward with a lurch.
“!”
“It’s a bit outside the main hall.”
Direte explained to keep Lee Han from panicking.
Einrogard was so vast that upperclassmen couldn’t afford to walk everywhere. It just took too long.
Among popular tricks was using side passages connected to distant places from the main hall.
The main hall’s endless wings reached out all through the campus, and finding the right ones let you zip across the territory in a blink.
Thunk!
“We’re here. Let’s go up.”
Direte summoned an upward staircase and led the way. Lee Han followed, half-fearing a graveyard or deadly marsh.
But there was no cemetery or stench of corpses—just leaves rustling in the wind.
The secret passage led to the middle of a forest.
“Where are we?”
“Shadow Woods. Take a look around and you’ll see why.”
Lee Han scanned the clearing and trees beyond.
It was broad daylight, but the woods were so dark it looked like dusk. Deep green trees crowded together.
Between their trunks and in the bushes, dark-element magic seemed to swirl in regular cycles.
“A place thick with darkness?”
“Exactly. For a black magician, a place like this is perfect for restoring mana.”
So it was true Direte came here often—he summoned a table and chairs immediately.
Making sure the area was safe, Lee Han took a seat and looked around.
‘Definitely great for black magicians.’
Places with strong darkness elements were perfect for their school.
Even if you didn’t directly use darkness, the mana properties here would be helpful.
Indeed, Direte, who had used a lot of magic in class, took deep gulps of air and quickly felt restored.
But apart from the mechanics, Direte just looked genuinely happy to be here.
“Oh—and junior, don’t mention this to anyone else.”
“Even other black-magic seniors?”
“Especially not them. No need to tell them about this place. It’s not like they’ll ever make it to fifth year anyway.”
“Understood.”
As Lee Han nodded, he felt something off about what Direte said.
‘Is that a suggestion to become a fifth-year…?’
“Wait! There!”
“?”
“We have to catch that, junior. Shadow snail!”
Having spotted a rare creature of the Shadow Woods, Direte hurried Lee Han.
After summoning a familiar, Direte soared into the air to give chase.
“Hang on tight. Let’s go!”
Direte, with Lee Han aboard, swooped after the swiftly fleeing shadow snail.
Lee Han watched the scenery change underfoot, bracing in case of monster attack.
That’s when everything shifted.
“…?!”
Lee Han realized he’d fallen into an illusion.
Since he was high in the sky right now, this scene made no sense.
‘What is this? Ordinary illusions shouldn’t affect me…’
After so many failed attempts by toxins and outside illusions, Lee Han was confused.
In the illusion, an elegantly dressed wizard spoke. His outfit was so unique and obviously old-fashioned, Lee Han couldn’t guess his origins.
-Teacher, I have come as you commanded. Now, please, answer me. What should Antagondals do?
‘!’
Lee Han’s eyes flew open in shock. He had heard the name Antagondals before.
Why was that magical criminal in Einrogard’s domain?
But the person before Antagondals was even more shocking.
A human-shaped skeletal headmaster.
‘…!!!’
Even when “human,” the skeletal headmaster wasn’t exactly warm and friendly. But now, in the illusion, the headmaster exuded coldness and arrogance.
It was like he was ignoring Antagondals even as the other begged and pleaded; finally, Antagondals, furious, forced himself to speak again.
-Very well, I will wait! Teacher, I’ll return for your answer!
That ended the vision.
Direte, chasing the shadow snail, cheered with joy.
“Junior, do you see?!”
“Senior!!”
“What!? Why?!”
When the junior suddenly grabbed his shoulder and shouted, Direte nearly lost control.
But that was nothing compared to the news the junior was about to deliver.
“This is bad! The Headmaster has finally gone mad!!!”
“…I have no idea what you’re talking about, so explain slowly!”