Episode 585
Episode 585
While the true Skeleton Warrior Gonadaltes was engaged in bloody combat in an unknown dimension, the classroom was gradually descending into chaos.
"Waaaah! What! What is this!"
"Selamodir. He seems thoroughly enraged. It would be wise not to provoke him further."
As the seal-like Selamodir sent classroom desks flying and slapped the student who summoned him across the face, Professor Milley intervened by swinging his staff.
To the huffing Selamodir, Professor Milley began explaining in the language of seals.
"■■ ■■■■ ■■■..."
After hearing the explanation, Selamodir swung his front flippers.
From its demeanor, Lee Han sensed a strong message: 'I'll let it slide just this once, but be more careful from now on!'
Soon, Selamodir returned to his own dimension.
Professor Milley spoke as if nothing had happened.
"As you can see, summoning beings from uncertain dimensions is dangerous. Everyone should remain alert."
"......"
"...W-Wardanaz. Did you see that?"
Nilia nervously tugged at Lee Han's cloak hem.
The sight of Selamodir slapping someone's cheek with its flipper had been utterly shocking.
But Lee Han couldn't respond.
He was too busy dealing with the Hell Sulfur Dog that had stuck its head halfway out of the magic circle, whining as it struggled to fully emerge.
"Surround it! Push it back so it can't come out!"
Lee Han attacked the Hell Sulfur Dog alongside his Skeleton Warriors.
Fortunately, the magic circle's size restriction prevented it from fully passing through, but if it kept twisting like that, there was a chance it might break free.
They had to defeat it before that happened!
After being repeatedly beaten, the Hell Sulfur Dog cursed the mage who forcibly summoned it before finally retreating beyond the dimension.
"Good work, Gonadaltes. But let's keep searching for something better. We can't submit that one."
After praising his Skeleton Warrior, Lee Han belatedly noticed his friend.
"What's wrong, Nilia?"
"N-nothing really?"
"??"
While other students collapsed exhausted, Lee Han persistently continued dimensional fishing by sending out summons. Watching this, Professor Milley said:
"The Hell Sulfur Dog should be sufficient. Why do you keep searching?"
"No. I'll find and secure something better."
"?"
Professor Milley looked puzzled at the student who had already secured full marks.
"You've already done enough, what are you—"
"No! I need something better—"
"Wardanaz! Calm down! That's more than enough!"
"Exactly! If you bring something stronger, we'll all be in danger too!"
Lee Han's friends rushed to stop him.
The Hell Sulfur Dog alone had been dangerous enough—they feared what might happen if he brought something even better into the classroom.
They were sitting right there too!
"I still need to keep searching!"
The old professor slightly raised his eyebrows before swinging his staff to erase Lee Han's magic circle.
"Lee Han. Full marks. Next."
His friends wiped their sweat and released the arms they'd been restraining.
Nilia, watching carefully (she'd just tied a rope around Lee Han's left leg), asked:
"You got full marks, so isn't that fine?"
"I thought I might find something undiscovered yet."
Lee Han sighed as he got up.
Seeing this, Nilia suddenly felt guilty.
Had she and their friends been too focused on their own safety, blocking their friend's talent?
He was just trying to achieve the best possible result...
"I was going to name any new discovery after the professor to curry favor too..."
"You—"
Nilia's expression darkened.
After feeling guilty for him, this jerk?
"So you see, Yoner, those summoning magic students really do have terrible personalities."
"Ugh... yeah."
Yoner looked at his grumbling friend—who had just returned with a perfect score on his Summoning Magic exam—with a complicated expression.
'Shouldn't someone stop this guy?'
"Lee Han. Wouldn't it be better to focus on studying Transformation Magic?"
"Ah. Right."
The grumbling friend's mind immediately snapped back to the exam.
Yoner marveled at this convenient reaction.
'Next time something happens, I should just bring up exams.'
"Transforming an arm turned out to be harder than I thought."
Lee Han spoke in a much calmer voice than before.
Unlike other magic, Transformation Magic was significantly more difficult for someone like Lee Han.
Even something as simple as changing hair color required several times more effort, concentration, and mana from him compared to his peers.
And in the process, things would catch fire...
In that regard, the final exam for Transformation Magic—transforming one arm—wasn't as easy as it seemed. In fact, it was one of the subjects Lee Han had practiced the most.
"Want me to take a look?"
"Really? That'd be a big help. Tell me right away if the shape looks off."
Lee Han transformed his other arm (the one not holding his staff) into a leopard's foreleg.
Apparently, a sharkan's form seemed more manageable than a griffin or basilisk.
Thanks to consistent practice, his arm maintained a somewhat leopard-like shape this time instead of chaotically shifting into dozens of forms like before.
Seeing this, Yoner sighed in relief and admiration.
"That's way better than last time!"
Lee Han smiled faintly, pleased.
His efforts had paid off.
At first, when his arm kept flickering uncontrollably, he'd felt utterly lost, thinking, 'Is this even possible?' But now, he'd finally made progress...
"It's a perfect drake's foreleg."
"?"
Lee Han froze.
"It's a leopard?"
"Huh?"
Yoner was even more bewildered by Lee Han's response.
Scales, claws, curved joints—no matter how he looked at it, it was unmistakably the foreleg of a dragonkin monster.
"It's... not a leopard, right?"
Yoner chose his words carefully, mindful of his friend's current state.
Even students taking just one exam got sensitive during test periods, let alone someone like Lee Han.
No matter how composed you were, exams had a way of shaking you.
Just seeing his friend's reaction to the perfect Summoning Magic score was enough to tell Yoner he was struggling.
"It's a leopard, right? Hold on."
Lee Han stared intently at his transformed arm.
Then, startled, he exclaimed:
"Wait, it's not a leopard?!"
When he first started practicing, it had definitely been a leopard's arm—but at some point, it had turned into something completely different.
What the—?!
Yoner calmly stepped in to explain.
"You know how a monster's appearance is shaped to withstand and maintain the mana it contains, right? Maybe an ordinary leopard's foreleg just isn't sturdy enough to handle your mana..."
A monster's physical traits and mana were deeply interconnected.
Monsters with strong mana—and the ability to sustain it—developed physical traits to match.
This theory applied to Transformation Magic as well.
It usually came up as a problem when a mage tried to transform into a monster far beyond their level, but the reverse could also hold true.
"But leopards are pretty strong, aren't they?? And this isn't just any leopard's foreleg—it's a sharkan, a proper monster..."
"But it's not working, so..."
"......"
Lee Han's expression twisted at Yoner's words.
"Should I just go with a drake at this point?"
"Wardanaz! Wardanaz! You hear?!"
A student from the Blue Dragon Tower came running toward the two sitting in the courtyard.
He was taking the same Transformation Magic class.
"Hear what?"
"About Professor Luji's exam. A friend went ahead to check it out."
'Oh no!'
At his friend's words, Lee Han realized he'd been careless.
Sure, Professor Yonlamo had said the final exam was about transforming one arm—but he couldn't take that at face value.
For all he knew, he'd walk into the classroom only to hear, "Actually, the final exam is about surviving a malevolent transformation curse."
Of course, as an Einrogard student, one should always check the exam location in advance and prepare anything that might help with the test.
"Damn it. How could I make such a mistake...!"
As Lee Han genuinely grew frustrated, the Blue Dragon Tower student flusteredly spoke up.
"Ah... no. Wardanaz, you didn't even have time for that. It was physically impossible—"
"So? What's the matter?"
Yoner, sensing the conversation was veering off track, steered it back on course.
"It seems the exam isn't about transforming an arm? The rumors are spreading fast among those who went to check."
"I knew we shouldn't have trusted the professor!"
Yoner felt a slight pang in his heart seeing Lee Han accept this without a second's doubt.
He didn't remember Lee Han being this jaded at the start of the year...
"Explain properly. What exactly happened?"
"Well, so..."
The friend recounted the rumors he'd heard.
This time, Professor Yonlamo's exam was being held in the 3rd-floor Jade Forest Lecture Hall.
While the 3rd floor wasn't a place first-years frequented often, it was still within their reach. Students familiar with the 3rd-floor layout went to scout the area near the lecture hall, but...
"It's turned into a complete jungle. You couldn't even see the lecture hall doors."
"A jungle?!"
"Yeah. The ones who went said they couldn't find any path, so they had to turn back."
"I think I know what's going on."
Lee Han spoke coolly.
At this, the Blue Dragon Tower student's eyes lit up.
The ever-calm and rational top student of their year would surely have a solid prediction for a situation like this.
"What is it, Wardanaz?"
"There must be a hint related to Transformation Magic. We'll probably have to use the Transformation Magic we learned this semester to find a path through the jungle and enter the lecture hall."
"Of course...!"
The student nodded repeatedly, clearly finding this explanation plausible.
However, Yoner, who had been listening beside them, wore a doubtful expression.
'Is that really it?'
He wasn't sure if Professor Yonlamo was the type to go to such lengths to test students before the actual exam.
Sure, it was possible, but Lee Han seemed slightly off his game due to exhaustion.
Was it right to let him agonize over this?
"Alright. I should go spread the word. Thanks, Wardanaz!"
After the friend left, Lee Han fell deep into thought.
"I'm not sure if my current level of Transformation Magic will be enough to break through."
"Lee Han. Maybe you should get some sleep first? How much have you slept?"
"About three..."
"Three hours? That's rough."
"Three days ago..."
"Hey."
Professor Paselet Kraer of Divination Magic let out a weary sigh.
There were many opinions on which professor suffered the most during the year-end exams, but Professor Kraer was always high on that list.
And not just because of exam preparations. He also had to simultaneously prepare the grand spell to locate next year's incoming freshmen.
A spell capable of detecting the positions of all qualified candidates across the entire Empire.
Even with the combined efforts of the great mage Gonadaltes and Einrogard's vast mana reserves, this was no simple task.
If external diviners knew of this spell, they'd lose their minds in shock.
"Professor Kraer! Professor Kraer!"
"Ugh—I'm working on it now!"
The drowsy Professor Paselet quickly summoned another personality to jolt himself awake.
Falling asleep in front of the Skeleton Principal at year-end would lead to nothing good.
"I have something to tell you. It seems you won't need to prepare the additional location-confirmation spell for the field."
"?"
Professor Paselet was more bewildered than relieved.
The method for locating new students involved roughly identifying their positions across the Empire first, then going to those areas to pinpoint their exact locations through divination.
Both steps required enormous amounts of mana, so preparations had to be made in advance by paying the price beforehand.
And of course, this involved a process so complex it could be called the essence of divination magic.
"Are you serious, sir?"
"Yep. We'll just use mana on-site to find them."
"......"
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Headmaster. If you're planning to commit a crime, I'd rather you just let me—"
......
The Skeleton Principal glared at the professor.