Episode 259
Episode 259
"!"
Morning.
As Lee Han stepped into the lecture hall, he was so startled he nearly tripped.
No, in fact, he was so shocked that he hit a chair and knocked it over.
Crash!
-Is something wrong?
"It's nothing."
-Good. Study hard.
The Death Knights retreated back into the hallway.
Regaining his composure, Lee Han reread the writing on the classroom blackboard.
Class canceled due to professor's circumstances
-Voladi Bagrak
'Professor...'
Lee Han was deeply moved by Professor Voladi's consideration.
There was no one as kind-hearted as a professor who canceled classes when students were busy with other lectures and exams.
Who knew Professor Voladi was capable of such thoughtfulness?
Of course, it would've been nice if he'd just told them directly instead of writing it on the blackboard...
'This much is already more than enough.'
Lee Han had a conscience. He didn't dare hope for too much good fortune.
To think he'd gotten free time like this.
-Why are you coming out again?
"The professor says class is canceled due to personal circumstances. By any chance, is there some problem with Professor Bagrak?"
Lee Han asked just in case.
Professor Voladi wasn't the type to go around getting beaten up, but the eccentricities of the Magic School made no exceptions for professors either.
-Hmm? Haven't heard anything.
-If it's this quiet, it's probably nothing serious. How touching to see you concerned for your teacher.
"...Haha. You're making me blush."
Lee Han maintained his expression and nodded.
-By the way. Were you attending Professor Verdus's lectures too?
"Yes. How did you know?"
-Professor Verdus was looking for you, Wardanaz.
"......"
Lee Han checked the time.
It was still morning.
There were at least six hours left until Professor Verdus's supplementary lecture time.
"Could you be mistaken about the time?"
-Doesn't seem so? When I asked, he said the lecture time wasn't important.
'I should stay inside the tower until lecture time.'
Lee Han resolved not to go anywhere near the Sacred Pavilion Hall until the lecture began.
"Why are you so late?!"
Professor Verdus cried out affectionately the moment he saw Lee Han.
Lee Han maintained an innocent expression.
"Huh? I'm sure I came at the right time?"
"What does lecture time matter? If I were you, I'd live here permanently!"
Professor Verdus, who found Enchantment Magic the most fascinating thing in the world, couldn't understand Lee Han.
If Professor Verdus were in Lee Han's place, he'd abandon all other lectures and just research here in the Sacred Pavilion Hall!
"That's not the point, Professor. I brought my assignment."
Lee Han presented the shield he'd infused with mana before coming.
Friends who arrived late to the lecture hall cursed him inwardly when they saw it.
'That bastard Wardanaz. If he finished something like that, he should've submitted it last.'
'Has he no conscience?!'
"Oh..."
Though Professor Verdus had always been indifferent whether students slept or danced before his eyes, for the first time he showed genuine interest.
"So this is that crude, unsophisticated shield you mentioned?"
"Your compliments never fail to delight me, Professor."
Professor Verdus examined the shield thoroughly, paying no mind to Lee Han grumbling beside him.
He'd wanted to see it ever since the Death Knights spread rumors, but that wicked, twisted Gonadaltes who only enjoyed tormenting students had interfered, delaying this moment.
"My, my..."
Professor Verdus stroked the shield, tapped it a few times, and nodded to himself.
Admittedly, the magic circles and structure still seemed clumsy and amateurish to Professor Verdus's eyes...
But the sheer amount of mana had simply overwhelmed these shortcomings, which was extremely fascinating.
Dozens of artifact designs flashed through Professor Verdus's mind.
If he could overcharge mana like this, he could finally create all those artifacts he'd been putting off.
"What year are you again?"
"First year."
"Ah, why!?"
"......"
Lee Han wasn't flustered.
He already knew full well that the other person was insane.
In contrast, the students behind Lee Han stared at Professor Verdus with looks mixing terror and astonishment.
"Why are you so low-ranked... Then you can't make a Spirit Sword yet... or a Lens Artifact either... Should I just teach you directly myself?"
As Professor Verdus muttered to himself, Lee Han felt a sense of foreboding.
"Right! I really don't want to do this, but I'll teach you myself... Huh? Where'd he go?"
"The Wardanaz kid? He said he went to get something he left in the tower."
Lee Han had hoped that if he bought some time, Professor Verdus might get distracted by other students' assignments and forget, but the professor's concentration proved far more formidable than expected.
After grading other students' assignments one by one, the moment Lee Han returned to the classroom, Verdus immediately shouted:
"80 points."
"Ah. Did I do well?"
"Huh? No. You made it like absolute dogshit."
"...Isn't 80 out of 100 pretty good?"
"Nah. It's just that the others made theirs even worse. Ah! Wardanaz!"
'Damn it.'
Lee Han raised his head.
"Did you hear that earlier?"
"I didn't hear it well."
"I'll teach you a few basic Enchantment Magic spells you'll need."
Professor Verdus wasn't the type to personally take students aside for one-on-one teaching.
Like a shepherd releasing his flock into the pasture to graze freely, he'd release students into the classroom and wait for them to learn on their own!
Since he fundamentally avoided anything he found boring, one-on-one teaching was obviously out of the question.
But this time was different.
If he wanted Lee Han to assist with Artifact production—even in a basic capacity—the boy needed to know at least a few commonly used foundational spells (by Verdus' standards).
From the professor's memory, students typically only started using those foundational spells around third year, meaning he'd have to wait two years.
"Will this be during lecture time?"
"Nah. You'll learn other stuff during lectures. We'll have to set aside separate time."
"But you said they're foundational?"
"Yep. Foundational."
"If they're foundational, shouldn't they be taught during lectures?"
"Ah-ha."
Professor Verdus seemed to belatedly grasp what Lee Han was implying.
"They're foundational, but they're not what you're supposed to learn right now."
"......"
'Then they're not foundational...'
Lee Han swallowed back a curse.
Does he not know what "foundational" means?
"Professor."
"What?"
"My apologies. I'm already taking many other courses. I don't think I can spare additional time here."
"WHAT!??!?"
Professor Verdus looked as shocked as if someone had told him the world would end in one minute.
"WHY?!??!"
'Did I phrase it strangely?'
Lee Han reviewed what he'd said.
Was "I'm taking many other courses so I can't spare more time" really such a difficult statement?
"Isn't Enchantment Magic more fun?!"
"I'm not sure?"
"Enchantment Magic is more fun!"
"I'm not sure..."
"Enchantment Magic is more fun though..."
Professor Verdus muttered with a deeply shocked expression, clearly never having imagined Lee Han would refuse.
"Why is Wardanaz acting like this?"
The professor grabbed an innocent Durgyu who happened to be passing by carrying a box of materials.
"Huh?"
"He says he can't spare time because of other courses when I offered to teach him."
"Uh... doesn't that mean exactly what it sounds like...?"
Durgyu couldn't understand why the professor was struggling to comprehend this.
"Can't he just skip those other courses?"
"Wouldn't the other professors dislike that?"
"Is it bad if professors dislike it?"
"...Then those professors might attack Lee Han, no?"
As the other kept spouting nonsense, Durgyu found himself starting to talk nonsense too.
And honestly, it wasn't even nonsense.
If the headmaster could attack students, there was no rule saying professors couldn't...
"That's too much!"
"Exactly my point."
"Isn't there any way to make more time?"
"Exactly my point..."
Durgyu shot Lee Han a pleading look.
He needed to hurry and gather materials to study magic, but this crazy professor had him trapped and wouldn't let go.
Lee Han spoke to Professor Verdus.
"I have a good solution, Professor."
"Oh? Have you decided to listen after all?"
"No... Regardless of my intentions, we're short on time. So we need to create more time."
"How?"
"Right now, to gather materials, we have to get them from merchants, right?"
Practicing Enchantment Magic required all sorts of materials.
Those materials didn't come for free. Students had to work themselves to obtain them from merchants.
"If you provide those for us, we'd have more time."
"Huh? Me?"
Professor Verdus pondered Lee Han's words briefly.
Studying was something students did for themselves.
As such, his philosophy was that students should procure their own materials, but...
"Fine, whatever."
That said, Professor Verdus was the type to flip his stance in a heartbeat if it suited his needs.
"So now we've made time, right?"
"Still not enough, Professor."
"Still?!"
"Yes. Right now, we're going through a lot of trial and error. Why do you think that is?"
"Because you're all hopeless at magic?"
"......"
"......"
Students passing by with boxes in their hands glared at the back of Professor Verdus's head.
"...That might be part of it, but wouldn't just a few words of advice from you be a huge help?"
"Fine, whatever."
Professor Verdus nodded.
"Now we've made time, right?"
Lee Han was surprised at how compliant Professor Verdus was—more than he'd expected.
Huh?
'At this rate, I could push for even more...'
Lee Han almost asked Professor Verdus to balance a ball on his head and perform tricks but stopped himself.
Then, a sudden doubt crossed his mind, and he asked:
"But Professor, you haven't once told us to cut back on sleep or rest time?"
"Huh? Oh. Gonadaltes banned that. Isn't that just too much?"
"...Haha. Exactly my point."
With the professor paying for their materials and personally teaching them, the students were briefly happy.
"Professor, the mana circuit amplification part here is blocked..."
"Draw a line here."
"...????"
The student who had asked the question blinked rapidly at Professor Verdus, who had simply drawn a single line over the blocked circuit and walked away.
Huh? Wh-what?
"What does this line mean?"
"Huh?"
Professor Verdus looked flustered, as if thinking, 'How do I explain something this simple?'
The flustered professor called over the instigator of this whole situation.
"This isn't working. You explain it."
"What? Professor, if they're stuck, I wouldn't know either... Oh. This is because too much mana is concentrated at the top, so we need to disperse it. If left like this, the magic circle's lines would overload and break."
"Ohhh! I see!"
Lee Han smiled proudly as his friend understood—then froze.
'Oh no.'
He should've pretended not to know...
Professor Verdus, satisfied that the student had grasped it, nodded.
And from then on, whenever someone got stuck, he called for Lee Han.
"Wardanaz."
"Wardanaz?"
"Wardanaz!"
"......"
Lee Han briefly considered whether he should just make Professor Verdus lose interest in the students again.
"Oh, right. I should tell you about the final exam."
Professor Verdus, who had been lecturing diligently, checked the time and spoke up.
"There's still over a week left, though?"
"Artifacts take time. You're all so bad that even with this much time, most of you won't finish."
Everyone was moved by the professor's heartwarming words.
"The final assignment is simple. Remember the assignments you submitted today? Upgrade them by one level and bring them back. That's how I'll grade you."
"Hmm..."
"Ugh..."
The students fell into deep thought, wondering how to approach this.
"......"
And for the first time in a while, Lee Han felt deeply frustrated.
'Damn it.'
What the hell was he supposed to upgrade here?