Episode 106
Episode 106
Understanding the situation, Yoner patted Lee Han's shoulder in consolation.
Spirits were like capricious unrequited loves—no matter how well you treated them, there were often times when you just couldn't win their affection.
At times like that, you simply had to accept it.
"Yoner. I'm fine."
"Mmm..."
"I'm really fine."
"Yeah, yeah."
Usually when someone added "really" in front, it was often a lie. Yoner decided to let it pass.
Nilia looked flustered as the water spirit clung to her.
Since it was the very spirit Lee Han had wanted to contract with, she couldn't just accept it.
"Hey! Get away! Go contract with that Wardanaz over there!"
Nilia tried to push the water spirit away, but it stubbornly clung to her. It seemed to have taken quite a liking to her.
The sight made Lee Han slightly sad.
'All I got was a senile lightning spirit.'
But even when sad, there were times you had to congratulate others for your friends' sake.
Lee Han spoke coolly.
"Nilia. I think there's been a misunderstanding—I have absolutely no intention of contracting with a water spirit."
"What? Really?"
Nilia's ears perked up in surprise.
"But you were trying to contract with it earlier."
"You must have misheard."
Yoner was inwardly impressed.
Lee Han had many talents, but one that could never be matched was his ability to lie shamelessly with a straight face.
When he lied so seriously without even blinking, even someone who had doubted him moments ago would waver and think, "Oh... is that so?"
"Nilia. I have no particular interest in that spirit."
"But... you've wanted to contract with a spirit since before. And you said water spirits were nice too."
'Uselessly good memory.'
Lee Han cursed Nilia internally.
Why did she only remember such trivial things when her memory should be good for assignments?
"Seems like you misunderstood. Of course I said I wanted to contract with a water spirit. But that was about a famous water spirit, Nilia."
"Ah...!"
Nilia smacked her palm with her fist as if it all made sense. Given Wardanaz's talent, that wouldn't be surprising.
The water spirit beside them also clapped its hands in amazement, as if to say, "Was that what it was about?"
Lee Han wanted to smack the spirit.
"See? So if you want to contract with that spirit, feel free. I don't mind."
"Hmm... what should I do..."
Nilia pondered.
It wasn't that she hadn't considered contracting with a spirit before, but she hadn't expected it to happen so suddenly.
"What do you guys think?"
At Nilia's question, Lee Han and Yoner exchanged glances.
From their perspective...
'Nilia needs more friends.'
'A spirit friend would be even better, right?'
After silently exchanging opinions, they both nodded.
"A water spirit would be nice, I think."
"I think so too!"
"If you both say so..."
Nilia nodded. The water spirit jumped up and down in joy.
After spending the weekend on the island with undead summons, it was possible to feel genuinely happy to see Professor Voladi's face.
Lee Han was terrified of himself for feeling glad to see Professor Voladi.
'They say there's no cure for Stockholm syndrome.'
"Good afternoo—"
"You used lightning magic last time."
"......"
Professor Voladi skipped the greetings, asking how their weekend was, and went straight to the point.
"Yes..."
Lee Han sighed inwardly.
He had been prepared for this.
Ever since meeting Professor Voladi in front of Professor Garcia, he'd had a sad certainty.
—Ah, this professor is going to teach lightning magic too.
And such sad premonitions were never wrong.
"Unlike the water element, few mages can handle the lightning element well."
"I see."
"It's harder to control than the water element."
"Yes."
"But since you've used lightning magic before, you should be able to manage what I'll teach you from now on."
"......"
Lee Han almost suggested that Professor Voladi should take <Basic Imperial Language and Logic> but stopped himself.
'What kind of absurd logic is this...'
"I heard the story."
Professor Voladi spoke while looking at Lee Han.
Lee Han was startled.
Was Professor Voladi about to skip his lecture and engage in casual chatter with the students—no, with a student?
They say people die when they suddenly start doing things they never did before...
"I heard you defeated Gonadaltes's summon, Zorban II."
"......"
The Skeleton Principal would have been delighted if he were here.
He had succeeded in pissing Lee Han off.
Lee Han was furious at the Skeleton Principal.
'It's only been a few hours...!'
He had seen the Headmaster in the morning, and now, after lunch, he was in Professor Voladi's lecture hall. In that short time, the Headmaster had been incredibly diligent in spreading the news.
Truly impressive!
"Yes... It was thanks to your teachings that I was able to defeat it."
"That's only natural. But that's not why I brought it up. I heard you got ambushed by the summon and injured your arm."
'Damn it.'
Lee Han faintly guessed why the Headmaster had mentioned it.
"An unexpected situation occurred."
"That's always the case in battle. But no enemy will listen to your excuses after the fact."
The most infuriating thing about Professor Voladi was when he made irrefutable, correct statements.
"So I prepared something."
Lee Han no longer asked, 'What is it?'
Instead, he gripped his staff and focused intently on every minute movement of Professor Voladi.
He was ready to react the moment the professor tried anything.
The professor, oddly satisfied with Lee Han's response, let a faint smile curl at the corner of his lips.
A spark crackled in the air, and a small bolt of lightning formed—then aimed straight at Lee Han.
Lee Han tried to block it first by firing a water orb, but Professor Voladi countered with an identical water orb, canceling it out.
"!"
He had no choice but to dodge. Fortunately, avoiding the incoming lightning bolt wasn't impossible.
Though lightning bolts shot in straight lines were much faster than other elemental attacks, they still didn't match the speed of actual lightning strikes.
Moreover, their trajectory was straightforward.
Compared to the unpredictable attacks of swordsmen like Professor Alarong or Ingoldel, a straight-flying lightning bolt was fast but predictable.
Predict the trajectory just before it crackles toward you!
Lee Han deftly tilted his head and completely dodged the bolt.
The lightning shot past him, struck the wall with a sizzling sound, and vanished.
Professor Voladi gave a slight nod, as if that was exactly what he wanted.
"Don't block it with magic."
"...So you're telling me to just dodge?"
"Yes."
The professor didn't give Lee Han time to question further and immediately launched the next attack. The number of lightning bolts increased.
Lee Han found himself amazed as he dodged.
'Am I really this good at dodging?'
Just how much torment had he endured at the Magic School for his evasion skills to improve this much?
After several minutes of attacks, seeing Lee Han skillfully evade them all, Professor Voladi spoke as if he had expected it.
"As expected, this much is easy for you."
'...Should I have pretended to be clumsy?'
Lee Han regretted it. There was no benefit in showing off his skills immediately when the professor asked something of him.
But Professor Voladi wasn't an opponent easily fooled by such tricks.
Even if he tried to fake it, how could he hold back against genuine attacks?
Crack!
Suddenly, the lecture hall darkened. It became so pitch-black that only Professor Voladi's pupils were visible.
'In the dark? Typical professor.'
Lee Han wasn't surprised.
Given that Professor Voladi enjoyed preparing for all kinds of combat situations, it was only natural he'd test Lee Han's ability to dodge in darkness.
...But Lee Han was still underestimating Professor Voladi.
Thud—
"What is this?"
Lee Han was puzzled when Professor Voladi threw a handkerchief at him.
"Cover your eyes."
Lee Han stepped closer to the professor to cover his eyes. Then, in a completely emotionless, detached voice, the professor spoke again.
"Not my eyes, yours."
Lee Han couldn't believe he actually had to cover his eyes.
Having failed in his small act of defiance, he was utterly shocked.
"...Professor. It's already dark enough—do I really have to cover my eyes? Won't that make it too difficult to dodge?"
"You can do it."
Professor Voladi gestured dismissively, as if refusing to entertain further questions. The handkerchief slithered up and covered Lee Han's eyes.
Complete darkness—a void where nothing was visible.
Then came the crackling sound of sparks. Lightning had been conjured.
'This is insane.'
Lee Han felt terror creeping up his spine.
But staying still out of fear wasn't an option.
Just as one would detect magic spells or a mage's mana, Lee Han focused intensely to sense the lightning sparks scattered around him.
He had no idea how well it would work, but there was no other choice.
Professor Voladi crossed his arms and observed Lee Han.
As Professor Garcia had acknowledged (at least, Professor Voladi believed so), he held unwavering conviction in his teaching philosophy.
—If students can't keep up, that's their problem, not mine.
It wasn't for nothing that the Skeleton Principal got along so well with Professor Voladi.
And unfortunately, the professor's conviction had only grown stronger after meeting Lee Han.
'His foundation in elemental transformation and control is solid.'
Though Professor Voladi didn't show it outwardly, he had been immensely pleased when he saw Lee Han wield lightning magic.
The Lightning Element was among the most difficult of all elements.
Mastering it meant Lee Han could easily advance to higher-level training in elemental transformation and control.
Normally, they would have proceeded directly to lightning magic...
...but there was a reason Professor Voladi was focusing on elemental detection training.
It all came down to the Skeleton Principal's testimony.
Upon hearing that Lee Han had injured his arm while fighting an undead summon, Professor Voladi was deeply shocked.
How could Lee Han make such a mistake?
Of course, the real question should have been, "Why was a freshman fighting a giant undead summon in the first place?"—but that nuance escaped the professor's notice.
—What if I were that boy from the Wardanaz family?
Previously, to stop Lee Han from attempting to add the Rotation Attribute to his Water Orb spell, Professor Voladi had, for the first time, tried to see things from Lee Han's perspective.
Once he started, it wasn't that hard. Putting himself in Lee Han's shoes, the professor quickly reached a conclusion.
'If I were the Wardanaz boy, right now, I'd want to learn evasion techniques more than offense or defense.'
He could have just asked Lee Han, but Professor Voladi stubbornly insisted on figuring it out himself.
In magical combat, evasion was different from offense and defense—in some ways, it was a higher-level, more difficult skill.
The core of evasion lay in perception.
To evade smoothly, one had to instantly recognize where and how an enemy's attack was coming, as well as its elemental properties and structure.
—Fools block, but the wise evade.
There was a reason that saying existed.
So how could one improve this perception ability?
Unbeknownst to him, the Wardanaz boy had already been training in it.
By continuously practicing spell detection and analysis, his perception was bound to sharpen.
Today, Professor Voladi made him focus solely on detection, excluding control and form.
The result...
Fizz!
Professor Voladi dispersed the lightning sparks hidden in the darkness.
Lee Han was panting heavily. No matter how much stamina he had, not being exhausted in this situation would have been stranger.
Astonishingly, the Wardanaz boy had dodged everything perfectly.
In complete darkness, where he couldn't see a thing!
Lee Han couldn't see it, but Professor Voladi smiled.
Back when other mages had spoken about "the joy of teaching," he hadn't understood what they meant. But now, he was starting to get it.
Teaching truly was a joy.
In the air, far more lightning sparks and small flames began to appear, along with Water Orbs, compressed wind, and various other elemental constructs.
Even with his eyes covered, Lee Han sensed something ominous and cried out urgently.
"Professor? Professor???"