Episode 568
Episode 568
"Are you alright?"
Professor Voladi stared intently at Lee Han, who seemed to be choking.
Lee Han coughed violently and waved his hand.
"Yes. I'm fine."
"Now, about the form transformation of the Lightning Element..."
"Cough, cough."
He coughed again, but Professor Voladi waited calmly.
"...Yes."
With a resigned voice, Lee Han answered.
"I heard it's still unstable."
"Yes."
"The form transformation of the Lightning Element is difficult, so keep practicing."
"Yes."
Lee Han remained tense, sharply observing when Professor Voladi might attack.
It was about time for the usual "I'll help you practice, you're dead meat" routine.
However, Professor Voladi said nothing more after that.
Instead, he pried open the baby basilisk's mouth and shoved another chunk of green meat inside.
"?"
This left Lee Han bewildered. 'What? Is this a trick?'
Professor Voladi, who had been feeding the creature, sensed Lee Han's gaze and turned his head.
"Do you have something to say?"
"I thought you were going to attack me, Professor."
"Why would I?"
"......"
Lee Han was speechless.
Was that even a question? 'Hasn't it been rare for you to not attack during lectures?'
Honestly, even if the lecture's name was changed to <Professor Voladi's Brutal Assault>, it wouldn't feel out of place at all.
"Well, you often attack to help with magic practice, don't you?"
"Ah."
Professor Voladi nodded slightly, as if finally understanding what Lee Han meant.
Then he looked at his overly impatient student with concern.
"You're rushing too much."
"Excuse me?"
"Practicing the form transformation of the Lightning Element like that could be dangerous."
"Excuse me???"
To the student, who seemed excessively surprised, Professor Voladi gave a detailed explanation.
Even if one lost control while transforming the Water Element, it wasn't particularly dangerous.
Water, unless refined into something sharp, drastically reduced its lethality.
In contrast, failing while attempting to transform the Lightning Element carried a much higher risk.
He was well aware that this boy from the Wardanaz family could unleash several times his usual power in dangerous situations—but even considering that, practicing Lightning Element transformations in such a way was still too hazardous.
By the time the explanation ended, Lee Han's jaw had dropped.
"Is it hard to understand?"
"No! I understand!"
Lee Han swallowed his shock.
He had always assumed Professor Voladi mindlessly adhered to the "You'll learn if you don't want to die" teaching style—but it turned out he actually had some reasoning behind it.
It felt like a natural disaster—a typhoon or earthquake—suddenly saying, "Actually, I had a plan all along."
'Is this... a relief?'
His feelings were complicated, but at least he was glad no attack had come.
With finals approaching, returning battered and bruised would've been a huge disadvantage.
"I've said it many times—don't rush."
"......"
Even if it was a relief, he couldn't help the anger rising inside him.
Lee Han suspected this might all be part of Professor Voladi's scheme to provoke him.
-■■■■! ■■■■!
'Hmm. Calm down.'
Watching the baby basilisk screech pitifully as it devoured the meat chunk brought him back to his senses.
Lee Han decided to simply be grateful for surviving today.
"Yes. I won't rush. I can fix it into a spear shape with my staff, but other forms are still difficult."
"Naturally."
Truthfully, even with relatively easier elements like Water, freely transforming them was extremely difficult.
Especially for someone who hadn't been practicing magic for long.
Because of this, most wizards didn't obsess over it too much. Even among Einrogard's seniors, few reached the pinnacle of such transformations.
For example, with the Fire Element, mastering just three forms—arrow, spear, and barrier—was enough to cast spells without major issues.
"If a situation arises where another form is needed, you can simply respond with a new spell."
If it weren't for Professor Voladi, who placed extreme importance on mastering fundamentals in magical combat, Lee Han wouldn't have dug this deep into such training.
"Lucky you started by learning the spear form first. It's highly versatile. Next, try approaching it with the mindset of splitting the spear."
"You mean dividing it into something like a dagger?"
"Exactly. Daggers would work, or even orb shapes. Try splitting it into forms you're familiar with. That should be advantageous."
Lee Han summoned a lightning spear onto his staff and began altering its form.
The tip of the spear split apart and hovered midair. Just as he had once reshaped water orbs, Lee Han focused intently on manipulating the lightning's form.
'More like a jagged rock than a smooth orb.'
Unlike the water element, which maintained a perfectly spherical shape, the lightning element crackled unevenly in all directions even when forced into an orb-like form.
Crackle!
The moment his concentration wavered, the lightning element slipped from his control and discharged.
The baby basilisk flinched in shock as the bolt flew toward it.
"Keep practicing."
Once Professor Voladi finished feeding the baby basilisk, he grabbed it by the scruff and stood up.
The still-growing Serpent King hissed in protest but couldn't break free.
Thud.
-"Go run."-
The basilisk stared at Professor Voladi in disbelief, eyeing the toys laid out before it.
An assortment of playthings and a miniature racetrack set up in the center of the classroom.
Surely he didn't mean for it to run through that?
The baby basilisk shook its head desperately.
Being force-fed tonic earlier had been unfair enough, but this was outright humiliating.
How could a noble and untamed Serpent King, a proud and ferocious beast, be expected to frolic around like some common pet, leaping over ridiculous toys?
Professor Voladi patiently explained to the uncomprehending young creature.
"Your slow growth might be due to lack of exercise."-
The baby basilisk hissed in protest, but the professor paid no further attention.
Picking up a toy stick, he began prodding the basilisk from behind until it finally moved.
Swallowing its fury and shame, the baby basilisk had no choice but to trudge through the course.
"Don't stop."
Nearby, Lee Han—who had been concentrating on his lightning magic—watched in fascination as Professor Voladi and the baby basilisk circled the classroom like they were on a leisurely stroll.
Did basilisks actually enjoy walks like this?
"Do basilisks normally like walks?"
"They do. According to Professor Lightning-Step, they're creatures with surprisingly large territories."
"Oh no, I never made mine exercise..."
"You can start now."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Lee Han nodded, chastened.
He had assumed the baby basilisk disliked walks since it always preferred coiling around him. But seeing how swiftly it was slithering now, it seemed the creature actually enjoyed movement.
Guilt pricked him—he'd unknowingly forced it to suppress its nature for his own convenience.
'I should take it out for walks from now on.'
As Lee Han pondered this, Professor Voladi relentlessly poked the basilisk with the toy stick.
"Pick up the pace. Faster. Faster. Faster. Faster. Faster. Faster. Faster."
The baby basilisk let out furious hisses as it looped the course again and again.
It jumped through hoops, climbed toy stairs, and even swam across a patch of rough sand...
By the time exhaustion set in, Professor Voladi finally stopped prodding it.
Instead, he began waving the stick in front of the basilisk—to stimulate its predatory instincts.
"Bite it."-
"Seems you still need more exercise."
As Professor Voladi made to stand again, the baby basilisk hastily snapped at the stick.
Only then did Professor Voladi look satisfied.
If he kept up this training, someday even this baby basilisk would become useful.
"By the way, Professor. Have you heard about the vampiric monster appearing?"
Professor Voladi stopped waving the stick and let out a faint sigh.
"The final exam with the giant is enough. Try to curb your greed a little."
"...I was just mentioning it!"
"Is that so?"
The professor replied in a tone that clearly meant 'I don't believe you, but I'll pretend to since you said so.'
For a moment, Lee Han nearly lost his sanity in frustration.
"Perhaps you could offer some advice? ...I'm absolutely, absolutely not asking because I want to capture it. I'm asking in case the vampiric monster attacks."
"You nearly died to the Death Knights, and you think it would reappear near the school?"
"...It might."
"I see."
Professor Voladi expressionlessly glanced at his student before continuing.
"It's a classic regeneration-specialized monster."
Einrogard had countless monsters popping up in unpredictable places, and even for a professor, memorizing all their names would be impossible.
Yet, despite never encountering it himself, Professor Voladi deduced the monster's type just from hearing about the Death Knights' encounter.
No matter how bizarre or unusual a monster was, it couldn't defy the laws of nature itself.
By learning monsters' habits, traits, and governing rules, even an unfamiliar monster could be analyzed.
The fact that it survived the Death Knights' attacks and regenerated meant it possessed a recovery ability most monsters couldn't even mimic.
"Such regeneration is a powerful ability, but it comes at a cost."
Lee Han nodded as if he understood.
Magic was the same way.
The stronger the spell, the more mana, longer casting time, or complex reagents it required—just like the vampiric monster's regeneration.
"It kept seeking blood—perhaps that's the fuel for its regeneration."
"Highly likely. Blood is a potent reagent in curses too."
But that alone wasn't enough.
Sacrificing defense and other abilities was necessary to achieve such regeneration. And didn't that thing also move at unimaginable speeds?
"Must be centuries old."
Many monsters had vampiric traits, but the level of ability shown yesterday was something only a monster several centuries old could display.
"Are there monsters older than centuries roaming Einrogard?"
"There are some over a millennium old."
For a moment, Lee Han almost blurted, 'Like the Headmaster?' but stopped himself. That probably wasn't what the professor meant.
"Probably sealed or hibernating underground somewhere."
'It's terror incarnate.' The thought that far older monsters than the vampiric one might be buried like junk in some basement was terrifying.
Was this a magic school or the labyrinth of hell?
Crackle!
Finally, as the lightning took shape, Lee Han beamed.
It wasn't perfect, but he had somehow managed to form a new shape.
"Ah, Professor. I think I succeeded at one. I used an object's form as the core, but still..."
"A dagger?"
Professor Voladi assumed Lee Han had shaped the lightning element into a new form using a dagger or orb as the core.
A dagger would resemble a spear fragment.
An orb was the shape Lee Han had worked with most recently.
Both were simple and familiar forms.
In contrast, difficult shapes included armor, shields—and cloaks.
Since the lightning element wasn't suited for defense, maintaining wide forms like armor or shields didn't fit well.
Moreover, cloaks had the added challenge of needing to flow softly, making them even harder to shape.
"No."
"An orb?"
"I somehow managed to fix it into a cloak shape. Look."
With a proud expression, Lee Han pointed at the sparking, crackling cloak.
Seeing it, Professor Voladi seriously wondered if he had underestimated his student too much.