Episode 458
Episode 458
Poison to feed to giants?
What on earth for?
"Is the alchemy exam opponent perhaps a giant?"
"It must definitely be that."
"What are you guys talking about...?"
Lee Han asked back, puzzled.
"It has nothing to do with the exam."
"Got it. Wardanaz."
"Trust us."
His friends seemed to interpret Lee Han's answer differently, waving their hands as if telling him not to worry.
"No, seriously, it's not related to the exam..."
"Yeah, yeah."
"I said I got it."
Regardless of his protests, his friends flipped open their alchemy books and began reading <Precautions When Administering Potions to Highly Resistant Targets>.
If the exam opponent was a giant, it was best to prepare the most potent and penetrating potion possible.
The Princess, glancing subtly at the others, tilted her head in thought before hesitantly closing her book and opening the same one as her friends. Priest Siana, sitting beside her, had already flipped hers open long ago.
Batrek, an alchemy major from the White Tiger Tower, happened to pass by and was startled by the sight.
'The exam opponent must be a giant!'
Batrek turned around and dashed off to share this secret intel with his friends.
A short while later, Yoner, having finished his duties, returned and asked Lee Han:
"Is it true that the alchemy exam opponent this time is a giant?"
"......"
"This exam is about brewing <Dobruk's Preservation Potion>."
<Dobruk's Preservation Potion> was a defensive potion that preserved vitality even in places saturated with dark and yin energy.
It was highly useful not only for dark mages who worked in such environments for long periods but also for adventurers or mages who might need to enter such places.
"So the giants drink it?"
"Does it have to work on giants too?"
"??"
Professor Thunderstep was taken aback by the students suddenly raising the difficulty severalfold with their questions.
'What's going on? Did they catch it from Wardanaz?'
As far as Professor Thunderstep knew, students never voluntarily increased the exam's difficulty—
Except for one student whose family name started with Wo and ended with z.
"No?"
"Huh? No? Then for the giant..."
"If it's not a giant... Aha! It must be another highly resistant species. Wardanaz is crazy, so he deliberately practiced with giants."
"He's behind you."
"S-sorry. Force of habit."
Professor Thunderstep realized that, unbeknownst to him, a false rumor had spread.
It was a common occurrence.
Einrogard was the kind of place where bizarre rumors sprouted in the blink of an eye.
"I don't know what you've heard, but you'll be testing the effectiveness of your own potion. Once everyone has finished brewing, come out here and walk."
Professor Thunderstep opened the back of the lecture hall and pointed to a pre-prepared, deep-blue shaded area.
It was a space saturated with dark element and yin energy, where vitality would rapidly drain with just a few steps.
"Ah. Wardanaz, you... you're exempt."
"Huh?"
Lee Han was stunned.
Why?
Behind him, the White Tiger Tower students nodded knowingly, as if they had expected this.
"Giants were just for that Wardanaz guy."
"How reasonable..."
'What's reasonable about this, you lunatics?'
Professor Thunderstep looked at Lee Han as if he were asking something obvious.
"You'd be fine even without drinking the potion, so testing it on you would be pointless. Don't drink it—just submit it to me."
"......"
Lee Han clicked his tongue.
A chance to coast through wasted!
"Professor, but right now, we have to gather ingredients outside, and it's raining too heavily. If you could give us a bit more time..."
"Use the reagents from the cabinet next to you."
"?????"
"...Why are you surprised? Did you really think I'd make you gather reagents outside in this weather?"
Surprisingly, the alchemy exam proceeded with common sense.
The students were bewildered by Professor Thunderstep's preparedness, providing all the reagents and tools.
-Is this not a trap?
-It's a trap. Be careful. The tools might suddenly break.
-The reagents might be spoiled.
Yet surprisingly, nothing unusual happened until the end.
While his friends were murmuring suspiciously, Lee Han worked with the mindset of 'If there's a trap, it'll reveal itself eventually' and was the first to complete his potion.
Professor Thunderstep meticulously examined the potion before taking a small sip to taste it.
"Perfect score."
No matter how many times he heard it, those words always sounded pleasant.
Lee Han nodded his head.
"Thank you."
"By the way. I heard you've been mingling with giants? You probably know this already, but be careful when brewing potions for them. You'll need to make them much more potent."
"...Wait, how long has it been?!"
Several hours had already passed?!
Ogoldos, a second-year student of the Black Magic school, nervously checked his back again.
"I told you, there's nothing there. Ogoldos."
"Hmph. How can I trust you?"
"Sorry... I'll stop teasing you."
Coholti apologized.
Ever since Ogoldos had gone missing with a first-year junior during the break and returned, Coholti had stuck notes on his back several times saying .
Because of this, Ogoldos now growled and became wary whenever Coholti approached.
"Real mature. Very mature. As if we don't have enough juniors already. If he quits because of you, I'm definitely reporting you to the professor. Understood?"
"Ah, no! Ogoldos said he forgave me!"
"Hmph. I don't believe you."
Though Ogoldos verbally forgave him, his face was full of resentment. Diret flapped his wings and kicked Coholti in the shin.
"Ouch!"
"You only solved your problem because you got help too."
"Th-that's a bit different..."
Ogoldos, who had been listening nearby, perked up his ears.
Hearing about Coholti's embarrassing failures might lift his mood a little.
"I'd like to hear it. Senior Diret."
"Fine. If this makes you feel better."
Diret gave Coholti a disdainful look before recounting the events in detail.
When he explained why winter had come to Einrogard's corridors in early summer and which lunatics had summoned the Frost Giant King, Ogoldos stared at his senior with contempt-filled eyes.
"...It wasn't just my mistake alone. Ogoldos."
"Yes..."
"There were others involved too! And I bear less responsibility!"
"Yes..."
"Enough chatter. Let's prepare."
Diret opened a chest and began scattering intact bones in various places.
They were preparing for the upcoming midterm exam.
While other schools harshly pushed first-years from the start to temper the new students who would formally begin learning in their second year, Black Magic was slightly different.
If the first semester of the first year served to separate the wheat from the chaff, the second semester's Black Magic exams were...
"Honestly, by this point, wouldn't they stay out of sheer spite even if they wanted to quit?"
"All my classmates except me quit, didn't they?"
"...Right, they did."
...a kind of bait.
Black Magic is this great, Black Magic is this fun, Black Magic can do this too.
So please, don't quit!!
Even those who endured the first semester often thought, 'Should I drop the worst one first?' when their bodies and minds grew weary in the second semester.
And usually, Black Magic had a high chance of being 'the worst one.'
"Will this be enough?"
"An Undead Wave should suffice."
Ogoldos answered with full confidence.
Having experienced something similar himself in his first-year second semester, he could say so with certainty.
The image of the supreme commander pushing forward countless undead like a tidal wave.
Few things left as strong an impression as that.
"Uh... Diret, what will we use for experiments this semester if we use up all these reagents?"
"...I'll talk to the professor and figure something out."
Diret suppressed a sigh as he spoke.
Despite all the replenishment during the break, the Black Magic school's budget was far from abundant.
The Skeleton Principal, despite being a grandmaster of Black Magic himself, was notoriously stingy when it came to Black Magic, and the Empire was particularly nitpicky about Black Magic research and experiments.
"What possible benefit could research on the defensive capabilities of a flesh golem bring to the Empire?"
"W-well, I mean, uh, stronger summons to fight the Empire's enemies—"
"There are plenty of other golems—why must it be a flesh golem? Can't summoning magic serve as a substitute?"
"...Might I ask the examiner's name?"
Coholti sighed and comforted Diret, who was also sighing.
"Don't worry too much. Even so, it's rare to leave such a strong impression on the juniors."
"Yeah, right."
"Except for that Wardanaz kid."
"......"
When Diret glared, Coholti hastily backtracked.
"Ah, no! But honestly... after wrestling with the Frost Giant King, would he really be impressed by an Undead Wave...?! He's the Headmaster's favorite disciple, after all!"
This wasn't the seniors' fault.
Having followed the Skeleton Principal around and witnessed all sorts of wicked magical secrets firsthand, how could anything else leave a stronger impression?
"And even if he isn't impressed, he'll keep attending. He listens to every school of magic, doesn't he? He'll probably take Black Magic too."
"I wonder. Do you really think so?"
Ogoldos spoke cautiously.
"No matter how talented a mage is, human ability has its limits. When I talked to him last time, he seemed... on the edge. It wouldn't be strange if he quit Black Magic—"
"You little— Then you should've done better! What kind of senior gets locked up together and then gets carried out?!"
As Coholti berated him, Ogoldos also flared up.
"Why are you bringing that up now—"
"Hey. Stop it. Enough."
Diret silenced them all with an irritated expression.
But the unease remained unavoidable.
Among the first-year juniors, none were insignificant, but losing Wardanaz would leave an especially bitter taste.
"...Did any of you mention Wardanaz's favorite food while you were locked up together?"
"......"
"......"
"Damn it, you idiots."
When the classroom door opened, what lay beyond was a pitch-black alternate dimension.
Under normal circumstances, Lee Han would've been startled, but since it was midterm season, he remained composed.
'Hmm. Must be the exam.'
The dim plains seethed with sinister, malevolent energy. It seemed a grand Black Magic spell was being prepared.
And in the distance, a white wave began to appear. Gainando, who had been rubbing his sleepy eyes, widened them in shock before rubbing them again.
"Th-th-that...!"
"......"
It wasn't a white wave—it was an army of undead.
The first-years were horrified at the sight of the undead horde suddenly charging toward them.
"Let's use Lafadell as bait!"
"You bastard!"
Lafadell, who had been standing nearby and suddenly found himself volunteered as bait, flared up in anger.
Lee Han's mind raced as he watched the dense, unstoppable tide of undead closing in from afar.
What could they do against that?
'Think. There must be a way.'
"Uh... m-maybe it's not an exam, just a demonstration?"
Imirg cautiously offered his opinion.
Frankly, it seemed too difficult to be an exam.
"It's the exam."
"Stop denying reality!"
But both Gainando and Lafadell responded negatively.
Because at Einrogard, this was entirely plausible.
Meanwhile, Lee Han took action.
"From the abyss, I summon thee—"
"You're calling that spiky spirit?!"
Gainando's face lit up as Lee Han began chanting.
Lee Han shook his head. Perkuntra likely wouldn't be much help in this situation.
Given the sheer number of enemies, Perkuntra's firepower would be overkill.
"O mage of the ancient palace, servant of kings, slayer of tyrants—I, bound by blood pact, summon thee in my hour of need!"
An undead mage, one who had resisted the Ghoul King alongside him during the break, slowly materialized.
-If this weren't an emergency, I'd scold you, but this really is dire!
"This isn't an exam—no, please help us!"
Lee Han decided explanations could wait and urgently shouted.