Episode 270
Episode 270
One student frantically tore off his burning cloak and shook it up and down to extinguish the flames.
But the number of red feathers was far greater than expected. As the feathers multiplied like an intensifying rainstorm, the students screamed.
"Take cover under the shade!"
"What shade?! Hiding under trees won't help!"
Whoosh!
Professor Alpen swung his staff, casting a massive canopy over the students' heads.
The red feathers struck the canopy with sharp thwacks, producing piercing sounds.
"Th-thank you!"
"Phoenixes are mischievous creatures in many ways. Since they love playing pranks, it's best to stay cautious."
'If they pull this stunt twice, I'll get burned.'
Lee Han suppressed his disbelief and looked up.
Oblivious to the chaos below, the phoenix high above in the distant sky shook its body, scattering feathers everywhere.
The students exchanged glances before throwing the commemorative ornaments they had made for the phoenix onto the ground.
"This is why the Wardanaz told us not to celebrate phoenixes and just study instead."
"How were we supposed to know this would happen?!"
"Cough. A phoenix appeared? How unfortunate."
Professor Mortum clicked his tongue at the news of the phoenix's appearance.
The freshmen already had enough on their plates, and now a phoenix had to show up too.
"It did start a few fires, but it didn't do anything worse. It was just sitting there quietly."
Gainando, who seemed to have taken a liking to the phoenix, subtly defended it.
'Starting fires is already a problem, isn't it?'
"Cough. It might seem harmless now. But most phantasmal beasts are capricious by nature. Even if it's behaving now, who knows when it might throw a tantrum?"
Lee Han had already witnessed how just a few feathers shed by the phoenix had set the surroundings ablaze.
Naturally, he couldn't help but worry.
"What do you think the phoenix might do?"
"Cough. You still don't understand. Phantasmal beasts are disasters just by existing. They're like uncontrollable storms. If one flies over and decides to hug you, wouldn't your whole body burst into flames?"
As Professor Mortum said, phantasmal beasts with immense power were beings that brought destruction and chaos wherever they went, regardless of their intentions.
Since they couldn't control their own overwhelming strength, they inevitably caused harm to their surroundings.
And if they threw an incomprehensible tantrum due to their capricious nature...
"Cough. Compared to that, how beautiful are the undead? So well-controlled and predictable, this beauty."
"......"
"......"
Lee Han and his friends fell silent, at a loss for words.
'Even if it's a bit dangerous, I'd still take a phoenix over the undead.'
'Shh. Don't upset the professor.'
"So, how's your work coming along?"
"Yes."
This semester, the fields of Black Magic Lee Han and his friends had studied were primarily curses, poisons, and bones.
They were all branches of magic that seemed universally unpopular wherever you went.
-Cough. I won't assign a separate project before the finals.
-Hurray!
-Cough. Instead, we'll replace it with a simple tally-making assignment.
-......
Tally.
Originally, a tally was an ornament split in half, meant to be matched later to verify identities upon reunion...
But in Black Magic, tallies served a different purpose.
-Watch closely.
Professor Mortum split a bone tablet in half. Immediately, an intense surge of cursed energy erupted from one side.
Click!
But the moment the two halves were rejoined, the cursed energy vanished instantly.
-One half contains the power of a curse. The other holds the power of a cure. When combined, it's just an ordinary ornament—but the moment they're split, their power is unleashed.
Curse magic was relatively easy to learn and quick to cast, but if the opponent was a skilled mage, there were too many ways to block it.
Poison magic was similar. If successfully administered, it could be lethal, but since it was magically concocted, poisoning a skilled mage was difficult.
To compensate for these weaknesses, black mages would often create and carry stronger curses and more potent poisons in advance.
Naturally, using pre-prepared materials would multiply their effectiveness several times over.
In black magic, the tally served as a safe storage item for such things.
The problem was...
"Cough. Hack. Cough."
Raphael was tearing up from the acrid smoke, coughing violently.
A mass of curses had leaked beyond the magic circle and was now drifting through the air.
"Achoo! Achoo! Achoo-oo!!"
"Ugh, stop sneezing so loudly! Do you think you own this workshop?"
When Gainando scolded him, Raphael glared back furiously, but his condition was too poor to retort.
"You bastard... Achoo! Achoo!!"
"See, the less skilled ones always get angrier. Right, Lee Han?"
Gainando, who was still perfectly fine and acting smug, suddenly paled.
"...L-Lee Han. My body... I can't move..."
"You've been poisoned."
Lee Han spoke with a tone of pity.
Raphael had been crafting a tally imbued with curses, while Gainando worked on one laced with poison—neither of which was an easy task.
Since they had to saturate the tallies with highly concentrated curses and poisons for storage, even a mage could easily fall victim if careless.
Imirg cautiously submerged a half of a bone medallion into a bronze basin. With a bubbling sound, he could feel the curse inside the basin transferring into the bone.
'Ugh...'
Though his giant bloodline granted him higher magic resistance than other students, that didn't mean he was fearless against poison or curses.
No human could remain unafraid of such things.
"Ugh... Ughhh."
Shuddering, Imirg used thick tongs to pull out the bone medallion half, terrified that even the slightest contact might transfer the curse to him.
Sssss!
Only after barely attaching the other half of the bone medallion could Imirg finally exhale in relief.
"...WAAAAAH!!"
"?!"
Startled, Lee Han turned to look at Imirg.
"What's wrong? What happened?"
"Bare hands! Bare hands!"
"Oh, is that all?"
His classmate's utter nonchalance made Imirg wonder if he had misjudged the situation.
But no—when he looked again, the Wardanaz family member was indeed plunging his bare hands into the bronze basin filled with curses.
"This much is fine."
"...????"
"Don't worry. I won't die."
"N-No, that's not—"
Imirg glanced nervously at Raphael and Gainando, who were sprawled out behind the table.
They looked like they could very well die...
Unfazed by Imirg's horrified stare, Lee Han focused on his work.
It wasn't as if he had discarded his gloves and tongs for no reason.
Crafting a tally was harder than expected.
Though bone was an excellent medium for absorbing curses or poison, simply dipping and swishing it a few times wasn't enough to properly saturate it.
Creating a proper tally required painstaking effort.
He had to carefully coat the bone with a combination of reagents to make it more receptive to curses, then submerge it and check if it was absorbing the curse properly. If not, he had to force the curse into the bone using mana if necessary...
This process—layering curses like meticulously applying paint—demanded stubborn patience rather than flashes of inspiration.
'And the more I do this, the more I understand why black magic is unpopular.'
Lee Han gripped the bone fragment barehanded, trying to sense the flow of the curse.
Using gloves or tongs made it difficult to perceive such subtleties.
"Ghhh... Lee Han. Hand me my coat."
Gainando, who had barely managed to rise from the workshop floor, pointed weakly at his coat draped over a chair.
Lying paralyzed had made him feel three times colder.
"Here."
"Thanks... Agh, my vision! I can't see!"
"Oops. Sorry."
When the time came, Professor Mortum opened the workshop door and reappeared.
"Cough. Have you all finished?"
"Yes."
"Yeah."
Lee Han and his friends nodded and held out their tallies. Their faces were already pale despite the short time that had passed.
"Let me see..."
Professor Mortum split open Gainando's tally. A fairly decent stream of venomous energy gushed out from within.
When the professor flicked his fingers, the venomous energy that had spread from the tally swirled in a circular motion before returning inside the tally.
"Cough. You've made this quite well."
"...Really!?"
Gainando was so shocked he nearly toppled backward. Grabbing Raphaël's arm to steady himself, Raphaël glared at him with clear disgust.
"Why are you so surprised?"
"W-well, I've never heard praise like this in other lectures..."
Gainando said with an embarrassed expression.
Having never received compliments in other classes, he was stunned by Professor Mortum's praise.
At this, Professor Mortum gave an uncharacteristically benevolent smile.
"Cough. A mage cannot excel at every type of magic."
"?"
"?"
Imirg and Raphaël glanced sideways at Lee Han. But Professor Mortum, oblivious, continued speaking.
"Your talent lies in black magic. If you excel as a black mage, there's no reason to envy other magics. Cough. Isn't that right?"
"That's correct!"
"Your Highness, you just don't study at all."
Raphaël said with disbelief.
Since the struggling White Tiger Tower students had been forcibly taught by Lee Han, Raphaël knew exactly how much Gainando hated studying.
While the White Tiger Tower students had grudgingly sat down to practice with quills, Gainando had been the only one attempting to escape.
"Quiet. Are you jealous?"
"This lunatic..."
Raphaël was exasperated by Gainando's sudden arrogance over making one decent tally.
"Cough. Now this..."
Professor Mortum split open Lee Han's tally.
After a long silence, he turned to look at Gainando. Sensing the situation, Gainando burst out indignantly.
"Professor! Please evaluate me objectively, not in comparison to Lee Han!"
Professor Lightning Steps gazed curiously at the mountaintop.
The phoenix, which had been floating in the sky scattering feathers, seemed to have grown bored and flown to the peak of the mountain range. As a result, a red halo shone behind the summit.
"Fascinating. Phoenixes aren't creatures you see so easily."
Lee Han glared at his friends. They averted their eyes.
"You're very lucky. A phoenix isn't something you can meet just because you want to."
'That logic is flawed.'
Professor Lightning Steps' words were hard to accept.
By that reasoning, the Frost Giant King was also a being one couldn't meet just by wanting to, yet Lee Han hadn't felt particularly fortunate about that encounter.
No matter how rare it was, there was no way a phoenix—a phantasmal beast that rained fire from the sky—could be considered a good thing.
"Enough about the phoenix. We should begin today's lecture."
Professor Lightning Steps gestured with his chin toward the massive cauldrons. The students were puzzled by the sight of cauldrons more suited to an alchemy class.
What in the world...?
"Today's lesson won't be too difficult. In fact, it'll be much easier than what you're used to. I thought you could use a break from your suffering during finals week, so I planned something to lift your spirits..."
Lee Han wasn't fooled.
'What exactly are you planning?'
Thud!
"Come here. Cerberus."
The students froze at the sight of the massive three-headed hound.
The middle head of Cerberus surveyed the students, its eyes gleaming brightly.
-Woof!
"D-do we... have to defeat it?"
Lee Han blurted out without thinking, and Professor Lightning Steps responded as if he'd said something absurd.
"Don't make ridiculous jokes. Do you really think I'd ask that?"
"Right? Haha."
Lee Han inwardly sighed in relief.
I thought we had to fight it!