Episode 353
Episode 353
"Why are you doing this?"
Alsicle stared at Yumidihus with blank eyes.
"Alsicle Pengerin. Do you know what kind of reagents these are?"
"Lord Yumidihus..."
At his teacher's absurd question, Alsicle trailed off as if pitying him.
"You... can't recognize what these reagents are...?"
"......"
Yumidihus hesitated, debating whether to smack his pitying disciple, but ultimately held back.
"...I didn't ask because I couldn't recognize them. Frost Roe Deer Antler, Ice-cold Acid, Eternal Snow, Snow-yellow Reagent—these are all here."
"Then why did you ask?"
"I was wondering if you can afford to use these when your pockets aren't exactly deep. You have your own research to conduct too."
The biggest challenge when learning Frost Element Magic was the nature of the ice element itself.
Life, by its very nature, was a being that emitted heat and rejected cold.
No matter how cold and harsh the environment was made, it was never easy for a living mage to accept ice into their body.
That was why ice elemental mages often used reagents to alter the properties of ice.
To retain the coldness of ice while ensuring it didn't harm the mage's body.
Of course, this was no easy task, and expensive reagents were required.
The rarer and more expensive the reagent, the better its performance, so Alsicle bringing out such costly reagents wasn't a bad choice.
...It just looked like he was spending his entire fortune.
'Ah!'
Only then did Alsicle seem to belatedly realize his own situation.
Seeing him hesitate and glance around nervously, Yumidihus sighed in exasperation.
"Even now—"
"Surely, Lord Pengerin doesn't really need these kinds of reagents."
"......"
"......"
Yumidihus and Alsicle simultaneously turned to look at Lee Han.
But Lee Han continued without changing his expression.
"A skilled mage doesn't discriminate when it comes to staves, right?"
"That's true, but what Alsicle is trying to—"
"Isn't that so, Lord Pengerin?"
"O-of course."
At Lee Han's question, Alsicle nodded.
"For me, those reagents are just... decorative. I don't even need them—I could just go outside and pick up a snowflake, and that'd be enough..."
"I knew you'd say that. Please proceed."
"......"
Yumidihus decided that he should never leave Lee Han alone with Alsicle again.
At first, he had worried that Alsicle might bully Lee Han, but now it seemed more likely that, left alone, Lee Han would devour Alsicle without hesitation.
Whoooosh!
Despite being inside a sealed Magic Tower, a blizzard colder than the snowy mountains outside began to rage.
The astonishing thing was that this freezing blizzard had no effect on Lee Han's body.
Cold, yet not cold.
A phenomenon only magic could create.
"Ice elemental magic is inherently difficult to use outside specific environments."
Alsicle wobbled unsteadily as he pointed at the ceiling.
A massive magical core embedded in the tower's ceiling was scattering frigid energy.
Among the elements, ice was particularly hard to maintain naturally, so without specific natural conditions or magical devices like this, it was simply impractical to use.
For a mage who had reached mastery, such inconveniences were trivial, but the problem lay with novice mages.
Alsicle rummaged through a corner before pulling out a staff, his face filled with pride.
"Here. Look at this. See?"
"This is..."
"Right. It's the Egg of Frostagon."
The giant insect egg embedded at the tip of the staff emitted a strange blue glow as it scattered icy energy.
A staff with such ice attributes was a tremendous help to novice mages.
"Do you know how rare this staff is? At the auction for ice mages in the northern region where this was sold, three people were severely injured, and seven others were wounded."
"...?"
Lee Han, who had been listening, thought to himself.
'Why were there casualties at an auction?'
"I'll lend you this staff, Wardanaz. For someone as... no, not as... ugh... I mean, for a prodigy like you, it'll be a perfect fit."
Alsicle couldn't bring himself to say Lee Han was either more or less talented than himself, so he ended up phrasing it vaguely.
"Thank y—"
"Wardanaz. You have that stone given by the King of Frost Giants, don't you?"
"......"
Lee Han cursed himself for not kicking Professor Voladi out earlier.
'Damn it. I got careless. I shouldn't have let my guard down.'
Professor Voladi had a knack for ruining the mood, even in someone else's lecture.
Still oblivious to the situation, Alsicle blinked and asked,
"A stone given by the King of Frost Giants?"
"Well... um..."
No matter how quick-witted Lee Han was, even he couldn't find the right words in this situation.
The ever-helpful Professor Voladi answered in his stead.
"It's a stone obtained after defeating the King of Frost Giants. It's embedded in his staff. Better than the Egg of Frostagon."
"......"
Lee Han could see tears welling up in Alsicle's eyes.
Alsicle turned his head away for a moment, sniffled, then turned back. His expression was dignified, but his eyes were red.
"Then... I guess you don't need the staff."
"Right."
"...Could you maybe leave? Voladi Bagrak?"
Alsicle spoke in a sulky tone, but Professor Voladi replied earnestly.
"If there's a flaw in education, it must be pointed out."
"Grr..."
Alsicle couldn't refute him.
Unlike Voladi Bagrak, who had extensive experience teaching students as an Einrogard professor, Alsicle had none.
Of course, Lee Han was speechless.
'I knew he had no conscience, but this is truly impressive!'
To lie so brazenly just because there was no one to testify about Einrogard.
"...Start by summoning frost."
"Freeze."
With Lee Han's incantation, a chilling aura began gathering at the tip of his staff.
The air grew colder, and goosebumps rose on Lee Han's skin.
"Your basics are solid. Let's start with shape transformation. Cone form."
"Frost, take the shape of a cone!"
"Arrow form."
"Frost, take the shape of an arrow!"
"...Shield form."
"Frost, take the shape of a shield!"
"......"
When Alsicle suddenly fell silent, Lee Han wondered if he'd made a mistake.
"...Are you learning Frost Element Magic for the first time right now?"
"Huh? No. I've learned it before from Professor Voladi."
"What?!"
Alsicle's face brightened as he exclaimed.
"You should've said so from the start! You scared me!"
He had been shocked, thinking Lee Han mastered it instantly.
Hearing otherwise, his mood instantly warmed.
Professor Voladi, who had been watching, spoke up.
"That kind of varied shape transformation wasn't part of—"
"So, what's the next lesson?"
"Projection."
Alsicle swung his staff.
A shard of ice hovering in the air let out an ear-splitting screech as it shot forward.
Clang!
"I suppose this is why Archmage Yumidihus wanted you to learn Frost Element Magic. Water isn't the best element for projection."
"But isn't it fine if used for manipulation?"
Lee Han asked, puzzled.
Though 'projection' and 'manipulation' seemed similar, their principles differed.
What Alsicle had just demonstrated was launching an ice shard with precise trajectory calculation and a single burst of force.
In contrast, the Water Orbs or iron pellets Lee Han often used required the mage to manually track and control each target.
It allowed for meticulous control, but mastering it to a usable level demanded immense effort.
"Why go through all that trouble? Just learn another element and master projection magic."
"...For quick responses in emergencies?"
At his student's answer, Professor Voladi nodded approvingly.
But Alsicle couldn't comprehend Lee Han's words.
"Isn't it rare to end up in such situations? You could just avoid getting into those predicaments in the first place. If you try to prepare for everything like that, you'd have to prepare for every possible scenario. Above all, it would take way too long to achieve usable power through control magic."
"......"
Without realizing it, Lee Han glanced at Professor Voladi. The professor looked puzzled, as if wondering why Lee Han was staring at him.
"If you want to use it in combat, it's better to learn attributes suited for battle. Let's take a short break and practice projectile spells instead."
"Ah. I'm fine, though."
"No. Even if you seem okay now, there must be some mana depletion."
Alsicle pulled the cork from a mana recovery potion and took a sip. Then he tossed another bottle to Lee Han.
"Drink up and recover your mana. Ice elemental magic consumes way more mana than you'd think. If you treat it like other elements, you could get seriously hurt. Heheh. Didn't know this part, did you?"
Alsicle looked extremely pleased to have something new to teach Lee Han.
"Usele—"
"Thank you. I'll drink it properly."
Before Professor Voladi could lower the room's temperature further with unnecessary remarks, Lee Han cut him off and drank the potion.
Of course, it had no effect whatsoever.
Projectile spells were a fundamental concept used across numerous elemental magics.
Whether it was Flame Arrows, Frost Arrows, or Stone Arrows—anything that required shaping and launching required mastery of the projectile attribute.
Of course, learning this wasn't simple.
At the very least, you needed a sense of distance, spatial awareness, and had to learn how much mana to channel to achieve the right amount of force—
Thunk!
"Did I hit?"
The ice shard Lee Han launched pierced straight through the target.
Projectile spells weren't easy, but compared to the far more difficult control magic he had already mastered, this was relatively simple.
Alsicle's mouth fell open.
He had practiced form manipulation, but projectile spells were definitely not his forte...
"P-pretty average. Just normal, really."
"Is that so?"
Lee Han was puzzled.
He didn't seem to have made any mistakes, yet it was only "average"?
"What should I improve?"
"...Didn't I say water and ice elements are closely related? This is one of those connections."
Having already dug himself into a hole, Alsicle had no choice but to commit.
Crack!
As he swung his staff, the ice shard embedded in the wall evaporated, violently absorbing the surrounding heat.
Instantly, the frost spreading around the ice shard exploded outward in a rapid expansion.
"You need to combine it with the evaporation attribute to cast something like Explosive Frost Arrows if you want high marks."
As he spoke, Alsicle subtly glanced at Professor Voladi Bagrak.
Even he knew he was spouting nonsense.
Frost Arrow projectile spells were already 3rd-Circle magic—adding the evaporation attribute on top of that?
Considering the difficulty of the evaporation attribute, this would rank among the most challenging 4th-Circle spells—
Crack!
When Lee Han cast the spell, the launched ice shard struck the wall and evaporated, dealing damage.
Succeeding on the first try, Lee Han was overjoyed.
He had learned the evaporation attribute with water magic, but he never expected it to translate so smoothly to ice magic.
"I did it!"
"W-well... i-it's still a b-bit lacking?"
"Really?"
Lee Han was starting to feel skeptical.
This seemed above average to him...
'Are the standards for ice elemental mages just ridiculously high?'
"Professor. Is ice elemental magic normally this stri— Ah, never mind."
"?"
Lee Han quickly abandoned his question for Professor Voladi.
Asking him would be pointless anyway.
"Understood. What should I fix this time?"
"You need to compress each step of the process and cast it all at once!"
Alsicle exclaimed brightly, having finally come up with a plausible condition.
Truly proving mastery meant being able to cast the spell in one go rather than executing each step separately.
"That might take some time, honestly."
"Right?! Right?! RIGHT?!"
Alsicle nodded eagerly, absolutely delighted.
'Is this really something to be this happy about?'
Professor Voladi spoke up from the side.
"I'll help."
"Haha. No need."