Episode 213
Episode 213
The carriage flew like an arrow. It didn't seem like much time had passed, yet the main gate of the magic school was already visible in the distance.
For a moment, Lee Han felt a warm, nostalgic sensation, as if he'd returned home.
And then goosebumps rose on his skin.
'Did I just fall victim to some mind magic?'
"Quite a lot of snow has melted already."
The Skeleton Principal's voice carried a quiet note of regret. Lee Han cursed inwardly.
"It melted faster than expected."
"Yes. I thought it would last longer. There was no need to resolve it so quickly."
"I'll be more careful in the future."
Lee Han gave a half-hearted reply as he stepped out of the carriage.
Though patches of snow still remained, the bitter cold from days before had completely vanished.
It was warm spring weather.
'At least I didn't waste the entire weekend.'
Priests were visible here and there. Lee Han's face brightened.
To think he could meet the priests without losing the rest of Sunday.
That alone was good fortune.
If the cold had lasted just a little longer, he might have missed them entirely...
From behind, the Skeleton Principal's voice, thick with regret, reached his ears. Lee Han pretended not to hear and kept walking.
"You must have had a very difficult time."
The priests of the Fire Order and Afha Order spoke with deeply sympathetic expressions.
That students had nearly frozen to death in their absence...
It was only natural their hearts would ache.
"Still, it wasn't all bad. The cold actually made fire element training easier."
At Lee Han's words, the priests laughed. They thought he was joking.
"Young Lee Han of the Wardanaz family always finds the positive in every situation, don't you?"
"With that attitude, you'll weather any trial that comes your way."
Lee Han, wearing ten Rings of Flame Absorption, four bracelets, and two necklaces, paused at their reaction.
"Did you think I was joking...?"
"Now then, shall we resume your flame training?"
Inside the tent, paper birds began fluttering about.
Once one learned to control fire's movement to some degree, the next step was target practice against moving objects.
Truthfully, hitting the targets wasn't particularly difficult training for Lee Han.
He'd already manipulated other elements in far more complex and precise ways.
The real challenge was maintaining consistent firepower while moving flames to hit targets.
The moment his concentration wavered, the flames would grow in size and scatter in all directions.
Other mages who wielded fire elements channeled mana to sustain their flames after summoning them, but Lee Han had to learn how to restrain his mana to the absolute minimum to prevent his flames from running wild after summoning.
...It felt slightly unfair, but there was no helping it.
Whoosh!
The flames swirling around Lee Han struck the paper birds with perfect accuracy.
The priests' faces brightened.
Compared to last time, the firepower was noticeably more stable.
Of course, he was wearing ten flame-absorption rings, four bracelets, and two necklaces, but even accounting for that, it was remarkable progress.
"Excellent! Your skills have improved greatly."
"Have they?"
Despite this, Lee Han still seemed slightly dissatisfied.
The experienced priests didn't miss the note of discontent in the Wardanaz scion's voice.
"Is something troubling you? Feel free to speak your mind. A priest's ears are always open."
"Well, you see..."
Lee Han began slowly.
The truth was, fire elements were more specialized and had narrower applications compared to other elements.
Water and earth, with their inherent flexibility, could be adapted for attack, defense, and various other uses...
But fire was considerably more limited in its applications.
As such, when wielding fire elements, one inevitably became fixated on destructive power.
"When I focus on controlling the flames, even when successful, the firepower seems weakened. A few days ago, when I clashed with a monster..."
The priests of the Afha Order weren't surprised by Lee Han's words.
This was a concern that anyone who practiced Fire Element magic would face at least once.
While fire's inherent nature was undeniably destructive, those who experienced actual combat quickly realized that applying fire elements in battle was surprisingly difficult.
No matter how destructive it was, the flames had to actually reach the enemy to be meaningful.
Water and earth could easily take shape, and maintaining momentum in those forms was relatively straightforward.
Lightning, though difficult to control, was an element that inherently contained tremendous speed.
But fire was not only difficult to shape—maintaining and accelerating its momentum was several times harder than with other elements.
To overcome this flaw, one had to deliberately mold it into proper 'arrow' or 'spear' forms, maintain that shape, and even imbue it with 'projectile' properties to perfectly compensate for its weaknesses—but doing so would drastically increase the Circle difficulty.
This was certainly not a method suitable for someone who had just begun learning fire elements.
In the end, novice fire mages would either sluggishly move flames to attack their enemies, summon fire in wide areas to suppress foes, or resort to Enchantment Magic altogether.
"It's a common concern, Lee Han of the Wardanaz family. You could say it's a transitional phase before your magic reaches a higher level. Fire Magic is particularly easy to counter if the opponent is prepared, so it's understandable to feel frustrated. But if you keep training without giving up, your magic will improve, and your current worries will be easily resolved. Which monster did you face that made you feel your firepower was lacking?"
The priests asked Lee Han the name of the monster he had fought.
They wanted to hear its weakness and offer advice.
Rather than impatiently trying to increase the power of his Fire Magic right away, it would be better to learn how to approach the monster.
"I heard it was the Frost Giant King."
"...The Frost Giant King, you say?"
"Yes."
"...That doesn't sound like a problem with your Fire Magic—it's just that your opponent was too strong, Lee Han of the Wardanaz family."
Though the priests of the Afha Order were kind, they couldn't help but turn serious at such a statement.
Against a powerful being like the Frost Giant King, just how many Circles would one need to cast a spell strong enough to feel the impact of Fire Magic...?
"Wait a moment. But why did you end up facing the Frost Giant King in the first place?"
One of the priests caught onto the oddity and spoke up.
Come to think of it, it was strange.
The name "Frost Giant King" was so overwhelming that they had almost overlooked it...
Lee Han was still a first-year.
There was no reason for him to clash with the Frost Giant King.
"I happened to run into him while helping some seniors with their work."
"What year were they?"
"Pardon?"
"What year were they?"
"Fourth-years... I believe."
The priests murmured among themselves. Lee Han thought he caught words like "trash" and "scoundrels."
"But thanks to that, my Fire Magic has improved."
Still, since they were seniors he'd have to see around in the future, Lee Han defended them.
Of course, the seasoned priests of the Order weren't fooled by such words.
"Lee Han of the Wardanaz family. While surviving a dragon's lair leaves you with many gains, no one would ever recommend entering a dragon's lair in the first place. From now on, it would be best not to associate with such seniors. They sound like very bad people."
"Understood."
Since the priests were so serious, Lee Han nodded.
Defending them here would only make his seniors seem even more like trash.
"Try increasing the bird's speed."
"Yes."
The priests began speeding up the Paper Birds. Lee Han focused intently on controlling the flames.
A flame the size of a fingertip darted swiftly, chasing after the birds.
Watching his rapid progress, the priests forgot their earlier stern expressions and smiled warmly.
Though they couldn't forgive exposing a freshman to the Frost Giant King...
Seeing how much he had grown, it seemed that intense experience had indeed been helpful.
Whoosh! Swish-swish!
"...?"
Every time Lee Han succeeded, the priests increased the number and speed of the Paper Birds—but then, they began to sense something odd.
Since paper birds inherently had to be faster than flames, there came a point where Lee Han had to skillfully herd and strike them one by one rather than trying to shoot them all down.
But now, the boy from the Wardanaz family was simply maneuvering his flames to explode them.
No matter how you compared it, they were faster than the paper birds.
"Try increasing the speed."
The priest controlling the paper birds nodded. The birds flew as if determined to make this a full-on speed contest.
Lee Han was so focused he couldn't even hear the priests' conversation. As the paper birds darted swiftly through the air, his flames matched their speed.
In terms of sheer movement speed, there was almost no difference from other elements.
'So fast!'
Though the priests of the Afha Order had seen all kinds of flames, they couldn't help but be astonished by the speed of these.
To achieve such velocity just by controlling them, without any additional magic?
'Ah, I see. It's the mana...!'
An overwhelming amount of mana wasn't just a disadvantage after all.
The priests had never seen flames move this fast before.
...Of course, they'd also never seen a novice mage who couldn't control his flames because he had too much mana either...
"It seems meeting the Frost Giant King truly helped him a great deal."
"Even if that's true, it's not something to say out loud. Be careful."
"My apologies. That was thoughtless of me."
"......"
Lee Han, who had just downed the paper birds and broken his concentration, paused at the conversation he overheard.
'If I ever talk about it, I should leave out the seniors.'
It seemed to sound far stranger than he'd thought.
Monday morning.
Professor Garcia's face was unusually bright as he entered the classroom.
His positive energy made Lee Han feel a slight sense of anticipation.
'I wonder what good news there is?'
Though Mondays after the weekend were always painful, the magic school made them even more so.
Every Monday, summoned monsters would break free, or the Skeleton Principal would set traps, or an early winter would arrive, or the Skeleton Principal would launch a surprise attack...
But seeing Professor Garcia's expression, maybe this week would be worth looking forward to.
Could a truly peaceful and warm week finally be upon them?
"Did something good happen, Professor?"
"Good question."
Professor Garcia replied in an elated voice.
"Last night, we finally caught the monster that had been lurking in the depths of the library. It was a botched summoning that had been bothering students for months. Now, nothing will hinder their studies."
"O-oh, really?"
The first-year students in the classroom couldn't share Professor Garcia's happiness.
After all, none of them had ever ventured deep into the library.
Einrogard was already complicated enough, but the library was one of its most labyrinthine places.
There was no systematic cataloging, of course—today's shelves could be in a completely different location tomorrow, an ever-changing maze of disorder!
Being sensible, the first-years had only ever searched for books near the relatively safe entrance, never venturing further in.
"Con... congratulations?"
"Congratulations?"
Still, since Professor Garcia had said it, the students forced themselves to offer their well-wishes. The professor nodded happily.
"Now, the other professors won't hesitate to pull out books for their lectures either."
"...?"
Lee Han, who had been listening blankly, suddenly froze.
A foreboding sense of unease crept over him.
"Uh, Professor?"
"Yes, Lee Han?"
"Does this mean... the lectures so far have used fewer books than usual? Out of consideration for us?"
"Well, I suppose that was part of it."
"Then... does that mean future lectures are likely to involve more books from the library?"
"I suppose so?"
"......"
The students' expressions darkened as realization dawned.
Gainando muttered under his breath,
"If we set the library on fire, wouldn't it stay closed for a while?"