Episode 61
Episode 61
Who would have thought the students would become this distrustful?
But that aside, curiosity was still curiosity. The Thunderstep Professor sought out Lee Han, his unofficial disciple.
"Wardanaz."
"Yes, Professor."
"You'd believe me, wouldn't you?"
Just as he had believed Professor Ingoldel, surely he would believe the Thunderstep Professor too!
Lee Han nodded and replied,
"Of course! I believe you! How could I ever doubt you, Professor?"
"...Kid, I'd rather you just say you don't believe me."
The Thunderstep Professor looked irritated.
He'd rather deal with students who openly doubted him than ones like Lee Han who twisted their words like that—it just made him more annoyed.
"But seriously, you didn't run into the bull? Damn it. I prepared it at great expense... Why did a mud golem show up instead?"
"...Wait. What are you talking about?"
Professor Ingoldel, who had belatedly overheard the Thunderstep Professor's muttering, turned serious.
The Thunderstep Professor hastily defended himself.
"Hahaha... Professor Ingoldel, there seems to be a misunderstanding. Actually, I prepared both the bull and the mud golem, but it seems the bull wandered off somewhere."
"......"
Despite his excuse, Professor Ingoldel's gaze remained icy.
There was no opponent as terrifying as a swordsman whose eyes had gone cold.
In a panic, the Thunderstep Professor dragged Lee Han over.
"Wardanaz. You tell him. Who do you think prepared the mud golem?!"
"......"
Lee Han was dumbfounded by how quickly the professor had backtracked, but he played along.
The desperation in the Thunderstep Professor's eyes was just too intense.
"Of course, it must have been you, Professor."
"See? Professor Ingoldel. Look, even the clever Wardanaz agrees with me."
"I see. But do you really think a mud golem was an appropriate trial for first-years?"
"......"
The Thunderstep Professor glanced at Lee Han again, but he had already fled far away with his friends.
Though it was Saturday, the students of the Blue Dragon Tower weren't out strolling or exploring the school's mysteries—instead, they were holed up in the lounge, nursing headaches.
The assignments that had piled up during the week loomed over them like mountains.
"Damn it... What even are the logical flaws in this book? Wait, isn't the fact that someone of my noble status has to read and wrestle with this book itself a glaring flaw?"
"Ugh, how am I supposed to know how much it cost to make this magic circle? Just use the leftover funds from the family, you cheapskates...!"
The students clutched their heads, groaning in frustration.
Every single assignment was impossibly difficult.
Thanks to that, the snacks Lee Han had stockpiled in his cabinet were selling like hotcakes.
Growing tired of the constant requests, Lee Han placed a basket filled with various candies and cookies by the fireplace and set up a sign.
Apple-flavored candy—1 silver coin
Apricot jam cookie—2 silver coins
Maykin Family's Sweet Pan Chocolate—4 silver coins
A cup of sweetened black tea—1 silver coin
...
...
Though the prices were steep, the students didn't complain.
They were just happy to have access to them at all.
After all, if they stepped outside now, they'd see students from the Black Turtle Tower struggling by with fake candies, fake sweets, and fake gum...
"Pfft. You guys are only struggling because you skipped alchemy and took the easy classes."
"You think your assignments are hard? After taking alchemy, everything else feels like dessert."
"......"
A few students from the Blue Dragon Tower who had taken alchemy were bragging to their friends struggling with assignments, their expressions oozing arrogance as if they'd single-handedly slain a dragon.
"Those bastards... Wardanaz probably did all the work for them..."
"Leave them be. They're pitiful. They actually faced a mud golem."
"True. That class is insane. Who in their right mind makes students fight a mud golem?"
Instead of telling them to shut up, the other students endured their bragging out of sympathy.
It was all thanks to honor and friendship.
'They're under the illusion that they won't have to go through such things...'
Lee Han shook his head with a bitter expression.
Students who hadn't yet taken Alchemy classes were deluding themselves with thoughts like, "Well, at least we're not taking Alchemy, so we'll be fine, right?"
...But as evidenced by the Basic Mounts class, madness was practically a virtue that every professor at this school was expected to possess.
Even if you dodged one insane class, another would inevitably come looking for you.
They'd realize it when the time came!
Bubble bubble bubble—
"Ocubul orchid and small feather mushroom. Right? Add this..."
"Ugh, the smell is so pungent—are you sure this is correct?? This is really the right...?"
Students taking Alchemy had each set up their cauldrons and were huddling together, deep in thought.
They had gathered the ingredients for their assignment, the <Lesser Spirit Affinity Potion>, but their journey into Alchemy had only just begun.
If collecting ingredients was half the battle, then mixing them was the other half.
Moreover, since the ingredients were limited, the students' hands couldn't help but tremble.
Boom!
"Ah!!"
Kaboom!
"Gah!"
"Hold on."
Lee Han reached out to stop them.
As they'd learned in class, even the slightest mistake in movement or timing could cause an Alchemy experiment to fail.
But...
'Something's off.'
The current situation was a bit strange.
Even students who seemed to be doing reasonably well in Lee Han's eyes kept producing explosions and smoke billowing from their cauldrons.
Minor mistakes should only affect the potion's quality, yielding somewhat similar results—yet what they were getting was completely different from the illustrated outcome.
"What's going on?"
"...Don't tell me Professor Thunderstep taught us the wrong recipe?"
"......"
"......"
A chilling breeze swept through the lounge.
A friend working on another assignment nearby spoke up as if it were absurd.
"Come on, no way. Even he wouldn't go that far..."
"No. It makes sense! I'm 100% sure that's what happened!"
"!?"
In the past, these same friends would have said, "No way," but now they were even more suspicious of the professors than Lee Han.
They had truly become students of this school.
"This is downright cruel...! How could he deliberately teach us the wrong recipe?!"
"Figure it out yourselves—is he joking?!"
While the students vented their frustration, Lee Han quietly pondered with Yoner.
Anger was one thing, but grades were another.
No matter how much they wanted to grab the professor by the collar, they still had to submit the assignment.
"We'll have to experiment by changing one element at a time from the potion recipe the professor gave us. Yoner, any guesses?"
"The suspicious ones are probably the Devil's Beard Flower, Troll Mushroom, Malène, and Jade Dragon Flower from the recipe... Actually, as far as I know, none of these have anything to do with spirits."
"So the whole thing's a trap?"
"Probably not all of it. At most, one or two ingredients. Even if they're unrelated to spirits, they might amplify the power to summon spirits or strengthen the user's mind."
Lee Han was impressed by Yoner's quick analysis.
Though Lee Han was a fairly skilled experimenter himself, he couldn't match Yoner's extensive knowledge—having grown up reading Alchemy ingredient books since childhood.
'Should I have read Alchemy books instead of the newspaper's economy section?'
"Testing by removing one ingredient at a time would be the fastest, but the problem is... we'd run out of materials."
Lee Han fell deep into thought.
What was Professor Thunderstep thinking by planting traps in the recipe?
"At this rate, we'll probably have to dig through Alchemy books, compare old recipes, and figure out what's wrong..."
Yoner muttered in a dejected voice.
Hearing that, Lee Han thought he understood the professor's intention.
'Ah. He meant for us not to rely on others' recipes but to search through books and learn for ourselves.'
After all, knowledge gained through personal study tends to last longer than what's simply taught by others.
Realizing this sent a shiver down Lee Han's spine.
He was aligning too well with the professor's way of thinking.
He who gazes long into the abyss becomes like the abyss.
Lee Han shook his head to shake off his fear.
'I need to stop being swayed by the professors so much.'
"Want to go look for books?"
"Yoner. Even if we spent the whole weekend searching through books, it wouldn't be enough, right?"
"Probably not..."
"Absolutely not possible. I have to go out tomorrow."
Lee Han said with a hardened expression.
His eyes burned with unwavering determination that no professor could shake.
For a moment, Yoner felt something akin to admiration for that resolve.
"......"
Then he became confused.
'...Is it okay to feel this moved just by hearing about someone going out?'
"Everyone stop potion-making and gather in one place!"
"??"
"We'll figure out the method through experiments."
"But won't we run out of materials?"
"We'll pool all the materials from everyone here to maximize the leftover amount. I'll have to visit the other towers too."
"...!"
Ashan was impressed.
While the materials gathered by one person wouldn't be enough for multiple experiments, pooling all the students' materials changed everything.
That would significantly increase the leftover amount.
Yoner also nodded in agreement.
"If students from other towers join in, it would help. Others might point out things I miss."
"Priestess Siana would be great."
"But she's from Phoenix Tower. Will she come?"
"She praises the Wardanaz family a lot. If Wardanaz asks, wouldn't she come?"
Leaving his friends' voices behind, Lee Han confidently strode out of the lounge.
His retreating figure radiated absolute determination not to let his day off be stolen.
"Wardanaz...! We're counting on you!"
"I'll be back."
"Oh right, Wardanaz. Bring the Princess too."
"...Can't you guys do that much yourselves?"
Lee Han asked incredulously.
"No... We're not close with Her Highness..."
"You're the one who's closest to her."
"Somehow, dealing with royalty feels difficult."
"Fine, whatever..."
Since it wasn't particularly difficult, Lee Han nodded in agreement.
"Ah, Gainando! What if you mess up the multiplication?! We'll have to redo all the calculations because of you!"
"I didn't make a mistake! You're the one who messed up!"
"You little liar! Your formula is wrong right there!"
"......"
Lee Han was dumbfounded watching this.
These guys...?
-Your Highness. It's Wardanaz.
-!
When Lee Han knocked, the Princess looked at his hands with expectant eyes.
But Lee Han's hands held no snacks.
After hearing the explanation, the Princess nodded and went down to the lounge below, though her shoulders seemed to slump slightly for some reason.
Lee Han felt oddly guilty.
'I should bring something when I come up next time...'
Since the others were handling the ledger anyway, giving more snacks would actually benefit Lee Han.
His conscience only pricked slightly at how much he was taking advantage of his naive friends.
'Is this the place?'
Arriving at his destination, Lee Han looked around.
Being from the Blue Dragon Tower, he rarely had opportunities to visit other towers.
While the Blue Dragon Tower felt somewhat excessively luxurious and extravagant, the Phoenix Tower radiated a solemn aura. Perhaps it was due to the difference in students.
'...Wait. How do I get in?'
Only upon arriving at the Phoenix Tower did Lee Han realize he didn't know how to enter.
He decided to try entering blindly first.
Thud-
"!"
As if there was some invisible barrier at the tower's main entrance, Lee Han was pushed back.
'A magic barrier against intruders. Well, of course there would be.'
If anyone not affiliated with Phoenix Tower could enter, it would cause chaos.
"Lord Lee Han of the Wardanaz family?"
A familiar voice called from behind. A snake beastman student in priestly robes was tilting his head curiously.
The moment Lee Han saw Priest Siana, he instinctively led with flattery.
"Priest Siana who made that amazing potion last time!"
"Oh my. Such excessive praise."
"It's not praise, just stating facts."
"I made another potion this time—please take some. It'll help with fatigue recovery."
Priest Siana beamed brightly as he handed over the potion.