Episode 709
Episode 709
Startled, Lee Han immediately apologized.
"I'm sorry, Professor. Do you perhaps dislike pocket watches?"
If it had been Professor Verdus, he would have shouted, 'Does being good at magic make you right? Even if I die today, I'll blast your face with one spell!' But since it was Professor Garcia, he assumed there must be some reason behind it.
Professor Garcia, who had regained his composure through deep breaths, covered his face with both hands in frustration.
"...Student Lee Han, where did you get that?"
"Huh? I bought it cheap from an antique shop outside the school."
"......"
Professor Garcia cursed Einrogard for somehow making mysterious objects appear, cursed Einrogard students for selling any random item they found, and cursed the Skeleton Principal who made those students obsessed with gold coins.
Whoosh—
As the professor weakly waved his staff, the flying pocket watch returned and the shattered wall restored itself.
"Student Lee Han. Actually, this watch... I made it."
"Wha—?!?!?!"
Lee Han was more shocked than when he'd learned the Skeleton Principal was actually of royal descent.
How could such a sincere and kind professor like Garcia have engraved these words on a pocket watch?
Congratulations, foolish and ignorant junior. If you're reading this, you must have experienced great magic.
If you learn the magic imprinted on this watch, come find me. Then I shall properly teach you the secrets!
—Your Great SeniorClick!
"...There's no need to read it again, is there?"
As Lee Han opened the pocket watch to reread the inscription, Professor Garcia quickly snapped it shut.
"Ah. Did the Headmaster perhaps... strongly insist you write this?"
"Honestly, I wish I could say yes... but no. No one forced me. Student Lee Han. I wrote it. And why would the Headmaster insist on something like this?"
"He's forced me to..."
"......"
Professor Garcia made a mental note to later corner the Skeleton Principal and interrogate him about what conversations he'd been having with Lee Han.
He couldn't understand why anyone would try to make such a sincere and good-natured student go through a rebellious phase.
"Student Lee Han. People... change as they live. It may be hard to imagine, but I too was very different from who I am now."
"Was Professor Verdus different in the past too?"
"The professor was always like... Student Lee Han."
"I'm sorry. I got too curious."
Professor Garcia cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Student Lee Han. During my school days, I was... somewhat rough."
"!"
Lee Han was shocked.
That Professor Garcia had been a rough person.
Even the intellectual Gainen or the thoughtful Professor Verdus couldn't compare to how unimaginable this was.
How could such a person have been rough... 'Hmm. Now that I think about it, I can kind of imagine it.' Looking at Professor Garcia's fist and the wall that had just been shattered, it did seem somewhat imaginable.
In fact, he wondered why he hadn't imagined it before.
"I was especially worse when it came to magic. I couldn't understand why my friends couldn't keep up with my magic and would get angry."
"Anyone would feel that way."
"Normally, no. Don't force yourself to agree."
Professor Garcia had already regained his composure. He firmly rejected the forced flattery.
Lee Han pouted slightly.
"Perhaps it was because I was studying all schools of magic."
"Anyone would become strange doing that."
"Student Lee Han, look in a mirror before you leave today. Anyway, back then I was independently researching spacetime magic and had achieved some success. When I embedded it in this watch, I had this thought."
"What... thought?"
"If I leave this watch at Einrogard, wouldn't an ambitious junior see it and develop an interest in spacetime magic?" 'That seems unlikely.' Lee Han made a dubious expression.
"As you can see from the Black Magic and Music Magic departments, establishing a new department for unpopular or nonexistent magic is never an easy task."
"You need to strategically gather juniors and colleagues by painting a rosy picture of the department's future. Leaving provocative messages on strange artifacts won't make people come."
Fortunately, even without Lee Han pointing it out, Professor Garcia seemed to have realized this on his own.
"But no one came."
"Perhaps because the magic was a bit too difficult..."
"That's not really the issue, to be honest."
Professor Garcia let out a deep sigh.
"Honestly, I'm surprised you even signed up for this lecture, Lee Han. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine you'd get your hands on that watch during break. Is this what they call karma...?"
"Professor, you're still someone I deeply respect!"
At Lee Han's flattery, the professor's troubled expression softened slightly.
"Thank you, Lee Han."
"If anyone asks about this watch in the future, I'll say the headmaster wrote it."
"No need to go that far."
Professor Garcia replied coolly.
After finishing his embarrassing confession, Professor Garcia began explaining spacetime magic.
"Time magic—actually, when you study time magic, you inevitably learn spatial magic as well. The two are somewhat complementary. So if you learn time magic, Lee Han, you'll build a foundation in both before moving on to advanced studies..."
The professor hesitated mid-sentence.
"But are you really sure about this, Lee Han?"
"Huh?"
"You're already attending every department, aren't you? Do you really need to add another one that isn't even on the list...?"
"It's fine, Professor. I genuinely want to take your class."
Lee Han meant it.
With all sorts of bizarre lectures lurking in the course catalog right now, Professor Garcia's class seemed far more reliable.
No need to switch just because it's difficult and risk encountering another Professor Voladi.
"Lee Han..."
When the professor stared at him intently, Lee Han felt awkward.
It seemed the professor was moved by the firm trust of his outstanding student.
"I was skeptical back in your first year, but lately, I've been wondering if someone should stop you..."
"......"
While Lee Han was speechless, Professor Garcia changed the subject.
"Shall we start with <Temporal Perception> and <Spatial Perception>, then?"
"Ah. I've already learned both."
"...When? Did you study them with someone else?"
The professor crossed his arms and gave him a suspicious look.
Too focused on magic to notice, Lee Han answered straightforwardly.
"I learned them with Lord Alsicle during the last break."
"I see."
Professor Garcia secretly scribbled in his magic tome, "Hang the Pengerin family's Alsicle upside down."
"Wait."
"What is it, Lee Han?"
Afraid he might have been caught, the professor subtly closed the tome. Oblivious, Lee Han replied.
"I learned <Spatial Perception> early last year with Senior Balpatan."
"Aha!"
The professor added under his note, "Hang Balpatan alongside him."
Outsider mages and seniors—they were all the same.
Hiding his smile so Lee Han wouldn't notice, the professor said cheerfully.
"Then we can move on to the next spell, Lee Han!"
"Professor... are you angry by any chance...?"
"What are you talking about, Lee Han? I'm not angry at all!"
Stung by his sharp student's intuition, Professor Garcia quickly deflected.
"The next spell is <Lesser Internal Time Dilation>. It's a 2nd-Circle spell, but its difficulty rivals 3rd or 4th-Circle, so don't rush. Understood?"
"Yes."
The extreme difficulty of time magic stemmed from the fact that its very concept defied the laws of the world.
If a mage wanted to light a fire?
All they had to do was slightly deceive the laws of the world to make it seem as though an ember had caught on the kindling.
Since fire catching on kindling wasn't a particularly difficult phenomenon to begin with, deceiving the laws to that extent wasn't too hard either.
But what if a mage wanted to slow down time?
That in itself was a collision with the very fabric of the world—close to outright rebellion.
To endure such a feat, the mage would require an immense amount of resistance.
Before attempting such a full-fledged spell, there existed a shortcut of sorts—the <Lesser Internal Time Dilation>.
A spell that didn't manipulate time outside the mage, but rather the internal perception of time—subjective time.
The experiences veteran combat mages or swordsmen described, where time seemed to slow during battle, were primitive forms of this very spell.
'Since it only deals with the internal perception, the difficulty must be lower.'
Lee Han sensed that Professor Garcia was trying to ease him into time magic with a relatively simpler spell before moving on to the real deal.
Of course, it was only easier within the realm of time magic—in absolute terms, it was by no means an easy spell.
"Thoughts from an instant to a moment, from a moment to a critical juncture!"
Unlike other 2nd-circle spells, this one required a long and complex incantation. Lee Han focused intently.
The one saving grace was that Lee Han had experienced time slowing down a few times before...
He wasn't sure if having experienced it so often was a good thing, but at the very least, it helped now.
"For this spell, the caster must personally confirm whether they succeeded or failed. Use the Temporal Perception spell to judge, Lee Han."
"Thank you."
Professor Garcia handed him a teacup, as if telling him to take it easy.
After all, there was no need for Lee Han to push himself here when he was already being worked to the bone by professors from other schools.
Lee Han downed the hot tea in one gulp and began casting again. Professor Garcia stared at the empty cup and thought to himself,
'...Should I make it hotter next time?'
'Tch.'
Lee Han clicked his tongue in frustration as he walked away.
In the end, he had failed to fully master the spell.
Though he had felt time slow down a few times, if he couldn't control it completely, it didn't count as mastery.
Professor Garcia had reassured him that he was progressing very quickly, but Lee Han wasn't fooled.
'Professor Garcia is lenient in this regard.'
Just as it was hard to believe when Professor Verdus said, "You're slow!", it was equally hard to trust Professor Garcia's "You're already fast!"
"I think we'll have to persuade that junior directly. That kid was born with the qualities of the Stonemason Club. We need to recruit him before those Library Club bastards get to him."
"I've heard a lot of rumors about the Wardanaz family, but this is surprising."
'Damn it.'
Lee Han immediately cast Invisibility Magic upon hearing the voices from down the hallway.
He hadn't even met the juniors yet, and now he had to avoid the seniors first.
'I need a more reliable way to stay unnoticed.'
—But that junior is supposedly attending lectures from all schools of magic. Is that really true?
—Hmm. I didn't believe it either, but it seems to be true. The insane rumors surrounding the Wardanaz family didn't come out of nowhere. It's truly terrifying...
—Which is scarier? Moving an entire ocean to create a reservoir, or attending lectures from all schools of magic? I'd say the latter.
"......"
Lee Han nearly unleashed a spell on the seniors' backs as he passed by, barely holding back.
How dare they chatter so casually about things they didn't even understand?
—A subtle fluctuation of mana, perceptible only to Lee Han, rippled through the air.
It was the artifact notebook Diret had made for him—<Whispers of Einrogard>.
'What's this?'
Lee Han wondered if his friends had already charged it with mana and started scribbling.
[I have a proposal for you.]
—Hmph. Get lost......
'Oops. That was too harsh.'
Lee Han felt a twinge of regret when the other party fell silent.