Episode 107
Episode 107
Even with his eyes covered, Lee Han could tell what was happening.
He didn't want to admit it, but he could feel it throughout his entire body.
Right now, Professor Voladi was summoning elements other than just the Lightning Element.
'Which means...'
The fact that Lee Han was dodging lightning bolts with his eyes covered was already an incredible feat in itself.
He'd been too busy dodging to notice, but there was no way Professor Voladi would be smiling over something trivial.
While it might seem like he was simply reading the trajectory and dodging before the lightning bolts were fired, this was actually difficult even with eyes open.
Dynamic Visual Acuity honed through swordsmanship training.
Innate Mana Sensing.
Without either one of these, it would have been impossible.
But when Lee Han made it look too easy, Professor Voladi casually raised the difficulty without batting an eye.
If Professor Garcia had passed by and seen this, she would've shrieked, "What are you doing!?"
Making someone perform a task that was difficult even with eyes open—in complete darkness, no less.
The problem was that Lee Han had pulled it off perfectly even under those conditions.
So Professor Voladi, completely unfazed, raised the difficulty yet again.
A professor and student, both refusing to hit the brakes.
Thanks to this, on the very first day of his elemental detection training, Lee Han found himself facing an absurdly brutal level of trial.
In a way, he'd brought this upon himself.
'...Are the other elements just decoys?'
Unaware that he'd dug his own grave, Lee Han simply focused.
He could sense the presence of elements other than the lightning bolts. This was no time to be distracted.
There was only one reason Professor Voladi would summon other elements in this situation.
A trick!
The method Lee Han used to dodge the lightning bolts in an obscured space was simple.
With his vision blocked and his Dynamic Visual Acuity rendered useless, he'd relied purely on his Mana Sensing.
Even the lightning bolts, which appeared to travel in simple straight lines, contained countless minute fluctuations in their mana flow within that short span.
Realizing that the mana condensed slightly right before firing to gain explosive force, Lee Han had detected these precursors and dodged accordingly.
But now, with elements of other attributes starting to mix in...
He had to distinguish between the different mana attributes, detect their precursors, pick out only the lightning bolts, and catch the moment their mana condensed.
And given Professor Voladi's sadistic tendencies, there was a good chance the decoy elements of other attributes would join the attack, so he had to stay alert for those too.
'Can I even do this?'
Lee Han turned his head toward the elements radiating their presence in the darkness.
Frankly, it seemed impossible.
In that case...
'Just take the hits as painlessly as possible!'
Lee Han's prediction was wrong.
Astonishingly, he'd succeeded yet again.
"......"
Even Professor Voladi, who normally would've spoken up immediately, was momentarily silent in shock.
'He's a natural.'
The Wardanaz boy's gift wasn't just his vast mana reserves.
Come to think of it, being born with such an immense amount of mana meant that learning to control it and wield magic would inherently be an extraordinarily difficult task.
Especially for a freshman.
Perhaps because of his humble nature, the Wardanaz boy didn't seem to realize how remarkable his rate of learning magic actually was.
Of course, his progress was still exceptionally fast by normal standards, but compared to the childhoods of the empire's constellation of genius mages, he did seem slightly behind.
But that was only when disregarding his mana capacity.
Mastering magic at that speed while possessing such vast mana reserves was proof of his talent in itself.
Normally, his sheer mana volume made this hard to notice, but when it came to sensing ambient mana, the story was different.
In fields unaffected by mana capacity penalties, glimpses of his talent were bound to surface.
Snap!
Professor Voladi made the blindfold covering Lee Han's eyes disappear.
Despite having accomplished such an incredible feat, the Wardanaz boy remained composed. The professor didn't feel the need to say anything either.
"I didn't expect you to pass everything on the first day."
"...It might be because the professor cleared them all at once."
Lee Han spoke politely, implying 'So please go easy on me from now on.'
However, professors generally didn't grasp meanings when conveyed politely like this.
"There's no need to thank me."
"?"
For a moment, Lee Han wondered what he meant.
Then he belatedly understood.
Professor Voladi thought Lee Han had said, 'Thanks to the professor assigning everything at once, I was able to pass like this.'
'...This is insane.'
As Lee Han despaired, Professor Voladi continued speaking.
"Originally, I planned to spend more time on elemental detection training. But it seems unnecessary now."
Lee Han felt relieved. Judging by Professor Voladi's words, today's lecture appeared to be over.
Professor Voladi held out a cloth-wrapped bundle.
"You seem tired."
"...!"
Lee Han was startled.
Of course, he was exhausted—having dodged lightning bolts with his eyes open and then with them closed.
But he never imagined in his wildest dreams that Professor Voladi would show concern like this.
'What's this?'
At first, he wondered if there was some kind of trap inside the bundle, but Professor Voladi wasn't the type to harbor malice like the Skeleton Principal.
Lee Han carefully unwrapped the bundle.
'Are there medicinal herbs inside?'
Inside was a magic textbook. Professor Voladi nodded and said:
"It's a book on basic lightning magic and its applications. Master it by next class."
"......"
Professor Voladi wasn't the type to harbor malice like the Skeleton Principal.
He was just a bit of a madman, that's all.
Lee Han belatedly realized what Professor Voladi had meant by 'You seem tired.'
He had simply voiced his observation about Lee Han's condition.
That remark and the bundle were completely unrelated!
"...Understood."
Lee Han controlled his expression as he tucked the book away.
Even if he wanted to curse, he'd have to wait until he was somewhere Professor Voladi couldn't hear.
'Come to think of it, isn't this week pop quiz week?'
Upon reflection, the magic Professor Voladi had assigned wasn't the pressing issue.
While Professor Voladi didn't give pop quizzes, other lectures certainly did.
-■■■!
Outside the classroom, in the main building's courtyard, the roar of a summon made Lee Han turn his head.
"What's happening out there?"
"The professors are dealing with escaped summons."
"??"
Lee Han didn't understand.
Just last week, escaped summons had been roaming the school, and the professors hadn't cared at all.
Why the sudden change?
"Did something happen? Why now?"
"Probably because they'd be disruptive during exams."
"......"
Speechless, Lee Han bowed before leaving the classroom.
'Shouldn't have asked...'
The book Professor Voladi had given him, On Basic Lightning Elemental Magic and Its Applications, turned out to be better than expected.
'Wait. Who wrote this?'
Considering that most magic textbooks didn't account for freshmen readers at all, On Basic Lightning Elemental Magic and Its Applications was remarkably considerate.
Even the 1st Circle spell Lightning Creation wasn't explained with just the incantation and gestures.
Unlike other 1st Circle elemental magics, lightning elements were particularly difficult to stabilize after creation. The most common mistake novice mages made was losing control after summoning lightning, scattering it in random directions. To prevent this, prepare as follows: First, wear thick clothing that doesn't conduct lightning well, and ensure no one is nearby when...
Lee Han checked the back, curious to find other books by the same author. But there was no name.
'Was this written within the Magic School?'
In the Empire, most books weren't mass-produced systematically. Many were handwritten by individuals in limited quantities before being passed down.
Books within the Magic School were even more so.
Even without going to the library, the books were already chaotically disorganized, with over half of them so illegible you couldn't even tell what they said.
Fundamentally, mages were the types who only cared about their own satisfaction, never bothering to consider others!
'If I were the bookstore owner, I'd throw out all those books.'
Separate from his hatred for Professor Voladi, Lee Han decided he should read this book a bit more.
Books weren't at fault, after all.
And in the next class, Professor Voladi would undoubtedly proceed with the lecture under the assumption that Lee Han had already mastered this book...
"Greetings, Wardanaz!"
Startled by the cheerful voice from behind, Lee Han flinched. This was absolutely not a good sign.
Fortunately, the face was a familiar one—Professor Kirmin Ku, one of Professor Voladi's few friends.
"Are you heading to your <Understanding Basic Magic> lecture? Right?"
"Yes."
"Perfect! We can go together. I was just on my way to the lecture hall myself."
Professor Kirmin was so cheerful that it was hard to believe he was friends with Professor Voladi.
Lee Han felt a faint glimmer of hope at the sight.
Young, good-natured, and socially adept professors statistically had a higher chance of treating students well.
Of course, there was no guarantee that rule applied in the magic school, but...
"Do you teach Illusion Magic?"
"That's right. Professor Bagrak doesn't care for Illusion Magic, but it's quite useful in many ways."
No matter how deeply you delved into any field of magic, its depths were boundless.
Setting up barrier magic to prevent intruders or casting hallucinations on enemies were just the tip of the iceberg when it came to Illusion Magic.
Some mages combined it with spatial magic to create bizarre, reality-defying labyrinths, while others fused it with Mental Magic to fell opponents with just a single glance.
Listening to the explanation, Lee Han thought to himself:
'This would be great for stealing.'
Wrapping illusions around himself to avoid detection, dismantling pre-existing illusion spells—no matter how kindly Professor Kirmin explained it, Lee Han couldn't help but think differently.
"Wardanaz. Seeing you last time, I could tell you have a talent for Illusion Magic."
Lee Han brightened at Professor Kirmin's words.
Normally, hearing something like "You have talent" from a professor was cause for caution.
The moment you let your guard down, you could get dragged under a professor's wing and forcibly made their disciple.
But Lee Han was already too late to worry about that. From the moment he entered the magic school, he had no choice but to learn under a professor.
The important thing was finding a kind and decent one.
And Professor Kirmin might just be that kind and decent professor.
He couldn't be sure yet, but...
'Illusion Magic isn't bad. If you master anything well, you can make a living anywhere, right?'
"In Illusion Magic, there's something even more important than vast mana reserves, exceptional elemental affinity, or extraordinary calculation skills—precise control. And from what I've seen, Wardanaz, you're a natural."
"...???"
Lee Han was baffled.
What did he mean by that? Lee Han, who was far from having precise control due to his overwhelming mana?
'Is he mistaken because of that assignment I submitted?'
That was something he'd beaten into himself through sheer repetition until Professor Voladi accepted it—not because of any innate talent.
"Th... Thank you."
"I'm curious—do you have a particular field of magic that interests you? Talented freshmen like you usually don't settle for just one; they explore multiple areas."
"I haven't decided yet."
Professor Kirmin rephrased his question.
"Then... aside from Professor Bagrak, which professors have you met with outside of lecture hours?"
Rather than asking about Lee Han's interests, this was a way to find out which professors were interested in him.
Disciples didn't just choose their masters—masters chose their disciples too.
"Well, there's Professor Thunderstep..."
"Ah. Alchemy."
"Professor Lightning Step."
"Zoology."
"And Professor Willow."
"Botany."
"Professor Mortum..."
"Black Magic, huh?"
"Professor Miley too."
"Summoning Magic. Wait. Hold on."
Professor Kirmin paused.
There were too many.