Episode 240
Episode 240
The long-awaited weekend had finally arrived.
Normally, they would have been celebrating surviving the grueling lectures together, but...
...this weekend was different.
A mountain of final assignments piled up before them.
No matter how bold a student might be, it was impossible to ignore all these assignments.
Otherwise, they might truly end up confined in the Punishment Room even during vacation.
Angrago Alpha, a student of the White Tiger Tower, let out a yawn.
The morning sunlight felt unusually harsh today.
"Angrago."
"Why are you calling me?"
"Aren't you tired, but also kind of proud?"
"Actually, yeah, a little."
Angrago nodded at his friend's words.
While the other White Tiger Tower students were still asleep in the dormitory, Angrago and his friend were already heading to Professor Verdus's Sacred Pavilion Hall.
To be working on assignments as early as Saturday morning...
Where else would you find such diligent and earnest students?
Angrago couldn't help but feel smug.
"Neither the Phoenix Tower nor the Blue Dragon Tower would be out this early like us."
"I think so too."
Creak—
With that, Angrago pushed open the door to the Sacred Pavilion Hall.
The first-floor classroom of the Sacred Pavilion Hall, which Professor Verdus had opened for students, was dark and devoid of any presence.
The two White Tiger Tower students absentmindedly reached for the cord of the glowing Artifact hanging from the ceiling...
"Don't turn it on."
"AAAAAH!!!"
Angrago screamed and tumbled backward.
It was only natural—hearing a human voice in a pitch-black, empty classroom.
Though it was laughable for a mage to fear ghosts or spirits, it couldn't be helped.
And above all...
'An intruder!!'
The memory of the intruder who had turned the school upside down last week flashed through Angrago's mind. He swiftly drew his wooden sword and brandished it.
"Don't come any closer! I'll cut you down if you do!"
"Too loud. Be quiet."
"...Wardanaz?"
"Yeah."
Lee Han, with a tired expression, summoned a light into the air of the classroom.
His face usually didn't show much emotion, but even so, he looked especially exhausted today.
"How long have you been here?"
"Since yesterday afternoon."
"......"
"......"
The two White Tiger Tower students coughed awkwardly.
Suddenly, they felt foolish for being proud of waking up early in the morning.
"Why were the lights off?"
"I was working on a magic circle. It's harder to see when it's too bright."
Lee Han took a sip of coffee as he spoke.
With multiple professors pestering him—"When will the Floating Steel Shield be done?" "When are you planning to show us the shield?" "I'm curious about the shield"—Lee Han had postponed countless other tasks to focus on this.
He had been immersed in the work without sleep since classes ended on weekdays...
But at least he had made some progress.
'If I add the magic circle, it should work somehow.'
The most difficult and crucial part of the Floating Shield.
It was the part where he had to command the shield to "circle around its owner and automatically block incoming danger."
For a mage, executing such a complex command solely through wand movements and incantations was enough to make one's brain twist—especially for a beginner.
No matter how you looked at it, it wasn't Lee Han's lack of ability but rather the absurdly high difficulty of the magic itself...
But Lee Han refused to give up and approached it methodically.
—Just as he had broken down and cast high-level spells before, he would do the same with the Floating Shield.
Breaking it down step by step.
Lee Han already had a track record of this.
Take, for example, the spell known as <Yumidihus' Water Prison Bomb>, which fired a fiercely rotating bullet of water.
No matter how much of a genius Lee Han was, his current skill level made it impossible to cast it all at once...
Yet, astonishingly, he had succeeded.
He had levitated a Water Orb and kept spinning it until it worked.
It was only possible because of his immense mana reserves!
With mana to spare, Lee Han had no qualms about tackling complex spells by breaking them into manageable steps.
Breaking it down step by step.
Lee Han already had some experience with this approach before.
The spell in question—dubbed <Yumidihus's Water Prison Bullet>—fired a violently rotating water projectile.
Even for a genius like Lee Han, casting it in one go was impossible at his current level...
Yet astonishingly, Lee Han had succeeded.
He'd suspended the water orb and kept feeding rotation into it until it worked.
Only possible because of his monstrous mana reserves!
With mana to spare, Lee Han had no qualms about tackling spells by breaking them into stages.
[This method would be virtually impossible for any other mage, who'd collapse from mana exhaustion after a few attempts.]
Of course, even segmented, this particular spell's difficulty was daunting.
So Lee Han brought out the magic circles too.
Since magic circles could substitute parts of a mage's casting process, they were indispensable for high-difficulty spells.
The problem was...
"Is this... actually complete?"
"More or less got the framework done."
"...Wait, you can finish a magic circle this fast??"
As experienced during the festival, magic circles weren't easy to create.
The higher the complexity, the more errors and variables cropped up.
And the only way to verify them was for the mage to test relentlessly.
"Hence pulling an all-nighter."
"......"
"......"
Was that something an all-nighter could fix?
The two White Tiger Tower students felt something was off but couldn't strongly object.
Because Lee Han was the top student of their year, and they were just...
...regular students.
If Lee Han declared, "Any magic school student should finish a Floating Shield magic circle overnight," they had no grounds to argue.
'This feels wrong...'
'If Professor Nayton were here...'
Angrago kept tilting his head skeptically but let it slide for now.
"Wait. So the Floating Shield is complete!?"
"No. If cast now, it'll drop after a few seconds. The duration amplification isn't done yet."
Combining Lee Han's incantation with the auxiliary magic circles engraved on the shield could somehow make it float and move around.
The issue was duration.
Such a powerful spell consumed incomparably more mana than lower-circle magic.
Without countermeasures, it wouldn't last more than seconds.
Hence duration amplification was essential, but...
Lee Han rubbed his furrowed brow. Just hearing about it made exhaustion surge.
'Honestly, it's already disgustingly complex. I'm worried if duration amplification is even possible here.'
Though complete, the magic circles currently engraved on the shield were precarious.
Even Lee Han thought, 'How did this even get finished?'—they were that convoluted!
Now, what were the odds they wouldn't malfunction after adding duration amplification circles?
'...99% chance they'll break. Do I have to redo it all?'
Tough as Lee Han was, the thought of starting from scratch was daunting.
'If not magic circles, manual casting would be... even harder.'
"Can't we at least see it in action?"
"See it?"
Angrago shrank under Lee Han's glare, voice trembling.
"I-I mean, you don't have to show us. Are you mad? You're not mad, right?"
"I'm not mad."
Lee Han was just tired.
"I've wanted a floating shield forever. Just wanted to see how it'd move..."
"Got it. Got it."
"...You're not mad, right?"
"I said I'm not."
Lee Han stood up.
Unlike mages who had to calculate remaining mana with every spell, Lee Han could cast again without consequence.
Might as well test if the circle worked properly now that it was done...
"Bad luck, and it might sink in one second. Watch closely."
"Y-yeah!"
"We're ready, Wardanaz!"
The White Tiger Tower students' eyes sparkled. Their excitement was palpable.
'Why do these guys love shields so much?'
Coming from a non-knightly family, Lee Han couldn't comprehend their irrational obsession with armaments.
To knights, weapons and armor were extensions of their bodies—emblems of pride.
-"Gods. See that knight? Still using an Airon Guild sword."
-"Tch. Using that mass-produced trash. Have some dignity as a knight."
Knights pursued rarer, costlier arms purely for pride.
"Rise and protect your master, O shield!"
Lee Han chanted the incantation.
At that moment, the steel shield lying haphazardly on the desk shot into the air and began slowly orbiting around Lee Han.
Anglo let out an astonished gasp.
"It really floated up!!"
"Wardanaz! Wardanaz! Can we try attacking you!? Not that we actually want to attack you, we're just curious about the shield's performance..."
"Hurry up. I don't know how long this will last."
A White Tiger Tower student hastily threw a crumpled ball of paper.
The shield spun around and blocked the projectile.
"Me next! Let me try! I'll throw from behind!"
"Fine! Throw it!"
'What the hell are these guys on?'
Exhausted from staying up all night, Lee Han couldn't match the White Tiger Tower students' excitement.
Why were they so thrilled?
Thunk!
"It... it blocked it!! Even from a blind spot!!"
Lee Han almost said 'Your attack was so clumsy I could sense it coming from a mile away, what blind spot?' but was too tired to bother.
At any rate, the shield seemed half-successful for now.
Now if only he could extend the duration...
"Next one coming!"
"Alright, this time it's a chair!"
"I'm throwing a wooden sword!"
Clang! Thud! Bang!
The two White Tiger Tower students kept excitedly hurling objects.
Truth be told, they might have been more excited about the act of throwing things at Lee Han than about the shield itself.
"...Wh-what are you all doing?"
"What are you guys up to?"
Students who arrived late were shocked by the bizarre scene in the classroom.
White Tiger Tower students throwing junk at Lee Han.
Had it been anyone else, they would've reacted with "Those White Tiger Tower bastards are bullying someone!"
"Wardanaz made a floating shield and we're helping test it!"
"I think we can stop now."
"Just one more! Let me throw just one more thing!"
"Fine..."
Lee Han, who had sat back down in annoyance, suddenly paused.
'Wait. Hasn't it been over an hour already?'
Huh?
"Moradi. Don't take this too hard. In a way, this is fortunate for us. We have overwhelming combat strength compared to other teams."
Durgyu tried to cheer up Giselle.
Only a few peculiar individuals—like students from the Shadow Patrol—would want to spend their golden weekend climbing mountains.
Yet there was only one reason so many had gathered here to enter the mountain range.
Both Giselle and Durgyu had guessed Professor Ingoldel's final exam wouldn't be easy.
Already, some White Tiger Tower students had abandoned other final assignments to scout the mountains for suitable prey beforehand.
They were determined to get good grades in swordsmanship class, even if it meant failing other courses.
Of course, Giselle was nearly losing her mind over this.
'You crazy bastards, stop dragging down the tower's average grades! That's why people look down on us!'
"Moradi. You know we can't afford to waste time, even on weekends, considering how much work we have. Let's not fight and just do our best."
"I know already, so stop nagging. How much progress have you made on the Enchantment Magic assignment?"
"Quite a lot, actually. Thanks to Lee Han's help. Why don't we work together, if you're okay with it?"
"......"
Giselle fell into thought.
Getting involved with Wardanaz never ended well, but...
...in this situation, Wardanaz's magical abilities were undeniably tempting.
Especially since she couldn't expect intelligent advice from other friends in the tower!
"Wardanaz would never agree willingly."
"Hmm. It's true that Lee Han... probably wouldn't help us unconditionally..."
Even Durgyu had enough conscience not to claim Lee Han would assist them for free.
"Lee Han hasn't finished his Enchantment Magic assignment either. If we work together and ask questions along the way, he'll answer. He knows fighting each other won't help before the finals."
"So you two came first."
"Lee Han!"
Just as Lee Han arrived, Durgyu turned his head in welcome.
Then he froze in shock upon seeing the shield orbiting Lee Han.
"N-no way... This can't be! This makes no sense...!"
"What are you talking about?"