Episode 221
Episode 221
Throughout the journey, the White Tiger Tower student who had been by Lee Han's side persistently put forth hypotheses.
-From what I can see, Wardanaz wasn't swept away and dragged along. Wardanaz chased after the Rock Drake to catch it.
Of course, it was such an extreme and radical hypothesis that even Gainando from the Blue Dragon Tower couldn't accept it.
-Aren't they just pulling tricks because they don't want to go help those bastards?
-Ah, no way!
"I told you! Didn't I tell you?!"
"Did... did you really catch it?!"
The students from the Blue Dragon Tower found it hard to believe and just stared at each other.
While some White Tiger Tower students or Black Turtle Tower students might believe strange rumors like 'Wardanaz secretly studied magic and mastered all sorts of wicked arcane arts before even entering the Magic School,' the Blue Dragon Tower students knew better.
Having lived together, they weren't fooled by such absurd nonsense.
The Blue Dragon Tower students were cool-headed and shrewd.
Though Lee Han was a prodigious talent—receiving praise like 'You're the one who will bring prosperity to this school of magic' from professors in every lecture he attended and harboring ambitions to 'awaken the secrets of all magical disciplines'—he wasn't the kind of person to do something as ridiculous as those rumors suggested.
Moreover, something like hunting a Rock Drake... no matter how much of a genius Lee Han was, it wasn't something he could do right now...
"Woah, Wardanaz!"
When Lee Han staggered out, his friends screamed.
He looked so battered that it seemed like he must have been seriously injured while walking among the Rock Drakes.
Lee Han waved his hand as if to say he was fine. It meant he wasn't hurt.
"Did you catch the Rock Drake?!"
"...What? What nonsense is that?"
"Ah, no... It's just lying there..."
Lee Han looked at his friends as if they were the most pitiful beings in the world.
Under that gaze, the Blue Dragon Tower students felt themselves growing infinitely stupid.
"They fought each other and collapsed."
"Ah... R-right."
The Blue Dragon Tower students glared at the White Tiger Tower student who had been loudly spouting nonsense earlier.
'Because of that bastard!'
But the White Tiger Tower student was still muttering absurdities.
"He made them fight each other?! With mental magic?!"
"What's going on? Did Wardanaz really catch it?"
"They say he made two Rock Drakes fight each other?"
"I... I knew it!"
"I could tell ever since he mentally subdued Durgyu!"
If Lee Han had been slightly less exhausted, he might have noticed the White Tiger Tower students whispering nonsense, but he was far too drained.
He had barely managed to maintain balance and endure while two Rock Drakes charged at each other, intent on killing.
No matter how overflowing his mana was, the toll on his concentration had been immense.
"Dismantle the Rock Drake. It's huge, so just cutting out the good parts for eating should be enough."
"G-got it."
"?"
He had spoken to the Blue Dragon Tower students, but when the passing White Tiger Tower students suddenly rushed over, Lee Han was puzzled.
'Doesn't matter, I guess.'
For now, he just wanted to rest a little.
After closing his eyes briefly, Lee Han got up from his spot.
Students were bustling around, cleaning up and organizing things.
'...At least they've learned something.'
What left the bitterest taste in Lee Han's mouth was the fact that he was proving Professor Voladi's theory—'You learn fastest when thrown into precarious crises, so you need to keep facing them'—correct.
Every time he was pushed into a truly life-threatening situation, he ended up learning or realizing something, which filled him with self-loathing.
...Was this really the right method for a mage?
'No matter what, this doesn't seem like the proper way.'
While standing firm on the back of a Rock Drake that had burst from underground was manageable with just the <Lesser Manipulation> spell, it wasn't enough to withstand a head-on collision between two Rock Drakes.
He had to anchor himself firmly to the Rock Drake's back—not in the air.
As a last resort, Lee Han gripped the Rock Drake's scales and channeled mana through his fingertips. It was to enhance his physical abilities, not just with Enhancement Magic but beyond.
Yet even that wasn't enough. His body kept shaking violently as if about to be flung off.
But there was no other choice.
Lee Han desperately poured out mana, poured it out, and poured it out again.
And at some point, he realized.
-This mana...?!
Though they didn't develop advanced academic theories like mages, knights also utilized mana to execute remarkably diverse techniques.
These skills were considered secret arts passed down through knightly families, rarely leaked outside and seldom used even among the knights themselves.
However, Lee Han had recently witnessed a rather peculiar swordsmanship that employed mana.
When the young apprentice knights of the White Poplar Knights had visited.
Back then, Labda of the Enge Family had used an extremely unusual swordsmanship.
A bizarre technique where, the moment swords clashed, the mana flowing through the blade would pull the opponent's sword toward it.
Upon asking other students, he learned it was called the 'Absorbing Sword,' a signature technique of the Enge Family.
A rare swordsmanship, quite famous even among knights.
...Now, it seemed Lee Han had inadvertently grasped the essence of 'suction.'
Thud-
Lee Han emitted mana from his hand and stuck it to the rock.
Immediately, he felt a sticky attraction between his hand and the stone.
"......"
'I should be learning mana circulation instead of this.'
Though this property change allowed him to cling to the Rock Drake's back and barely survive, it wasn't what Lee Han needed to focus on right now.
As a swordsman, he needed to perfect the continuous mana circulation within his body to maintain mana proficiently...
So why had he grasped this peculiar mana property change—something one would only ponder when creating new swordsmanship?
'Professor Ingoldel might find this ridiculous if I tell him.'
Actually, Lee Han was mistaken.
Professor Ingoldel would have been delighted rather than baffled.
-"Excellent, Wardanaz. Outstanding swordsmen often discover fragments of their own unique swordsmanship in their youth. The sword answers those who approach it with sincerity. Now, let's try to infuse that realization into your own blade. Recreating the moment of enlightenment wouldn't be bad either. What was that moment like?"
...He would have happily said something like that.
After all, wasn't this a student deeply serious about swordsmanship (at least in Professor Ingoldel's eyes) gaining enlightenment toward developing his own swordsmanship?
"Wardanaz. You alright?"
"Ah. Yeah. Thanks."
Lee Han removed his hand from the rock and stood up completely.
He could reflect on the enlightenment later—right now, he had more immediate matters to deal with.
"Here, eat this."
"What is it?"
"Lost Beef. Made with Rock Drake meat."
The White Tiger Tower student held out a thick, juicy slab of meat, roasted to a moist crimson.
'But if it's Rock Drake meat, isn't it technically not beef?'
Lee Han accepted the plate while thinking that.
Of course, the White Tiger Tower students had no qualms about such distinctions.
They were already brewing coffee from dandelions and acorns—what difference did it make whether it was drake meat or beef?
"I'll eat well. Thank—"
"Nothing to thank me for, Wardanaz. You're the one who caught it."
The White Tiger Tower student rubbed his upper lip awkwardly, as if slightly embarrassed.
It felt strange, serving a meal to Wardanaz like this.
Who could have predicted that they'd end up offering Wardanaz a meal before entering the dungeon—no, the library?
"This is really..."
"I said it's fine, Wardanaz. No need for thanks."
"No. It's dry. Who cooked this?"
"......"
The White Tiger Tower student stared at Wardanaz as if he'd said something absurd.
"Isn't this... tasty enough?"
"What kind of nonsense is that?"
Lee Han walked forward.
Glancing to the side, he noticed the Blue Dragon Tower students also making subtle expressions.
They were grateful that the White Tiger Tower students had cooked diligently, but...
...Their expressions clearly showed something was lacking!
"Lee Han! You're awake!"
Gainando sprang up from his seat.
And he blurted out what all the Blue Dragon Tower students were thinking but couldn't bring themselves to say out of conscience.
"Why don't you cook instea—mmph!"
"Shut the hell up...!"
"Do you want us to be called the Tower of Blue Beggars?!"
The Blue Dragon Tower students, overcome with shame, clamped their hands over Gainando's mouth.
But the damage was already done—everyone who needed to hear it had heard.
"...Wardanaz. If you want, you can take over."
The White Tiger Tower student standing by the meat called out to Lee Han.
Some crossed their arms and stared at him challengingly.
Their eyes said, 'Let's see how good you really are.'
'No matter how great a mage you are, there's no way you'd be skilled at cooking—the flower of camping.'
'I've been grilling meat since I could walk. Wardanaz, how many years have you been grilling?'
'These guys weren't even this competitive about swordsmanship...'
Lee Han stood before the meat with a bemused expression.
The strangely heated gazes were ridiculous.
"Everyone seems convinced Lee Han won't be able to pull it off."
Durgyu muttered to Giselle beside him.
Giselle, who had been wiping dust off her sword, gave him a look that said, 'Not interested.'
She hadn't cared about this nonsense from the start.
"But Moradi, Lee Han's cooking skills are beyond imagination."
'So what...?'
Not interested!
Too lazy to even curse, Giselle shook her head vigorously and gripped her sword again.
Some White Tiger Tower students gazed at Lee Han with a respect they had never shown—not when he defeated them with magic, nor when he bested them with the sword.
The meat was just that delicious.
It was the taste of wondrous magic.
'...Maybe I should've just grilled meat and brought it on the first day of swordsmanship class.'
If he had, he might've seriously won over about a quarter of the White Tiger Tower students...
"Now that we've eaten, let's move."
"Wait. Wardanaz. Hold on."
"?"
"We need to gather water. See this grass? If you pull it up, the roots hold—"
"Spring forth."
"......"
"Fill your waterskins. Let's go."
The White Tiger Tower students finally understood why knights always grumbled about mages when drunk.
The sheer frustration of watching mages accomplish with a single wand what knights had to struggle through hell to do!
"Mages are really...!"
"You're mages too, you know?"
Meanwhile, Lee Han checked the door leading downward.
"There's a lock mechanism."
"It's a mana-operated lock."
"That's why we were searching for a book."
The White Tiger Tower students shared what they'd learned.
A lock that opened when mana was shaped into a specific pattern.
Without knowing the pattern, it was nearly impossible to open.
But Lee Han...
'I've got mana to spare. Might as well try a few common patterns.'
"Step aside."
Lee Han placed his hand on the lock and channeled mana into it.
He cycled through the most famous and frequently used sigils and symbols...
ZZZT!!!
Lee Han's expression stiffened.
Either the lock's mana capacity was smaller than expected, or the mana he'd poured in was too much—he felt the interior shatter.
'...I screwed up.'
He could feel the White Tiger Tower students staring at his back.
If he admitted he'd accidentally broken the mechanism, they might rage, 'Wardanaz, you wicked mage! Showing your true colors now!'
"???"
Of course, the White Tiger Tower students, who hadn't even considered such thoughts, just tilted their heads in confusion.
'Is he doing something?'
'Must be.'
CLUNK!
As the lock shattered, the parts holding the door in place broke too, revealing a descending staircase.
The White Tiger Tower students' eyes widened in awe.
He opened it without even pausing to breathe!
"...How did you figure it out?"
Giselle asked, sounding like she couldn't believe it.
No matter how she thought about it, she couldn't deduce the answer.
Lee Han kept his expression perfectly composed as he replied.
"Wisdom and a flash of insight."
"......"
Giselle bit her lip. As much as it galled her, she had to acknowledge that Wardanaz's intellect was undeniable.