Chapter 61
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: White Light Daggers
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"……."
Professor Ahn Jeong-wan, who had stayed late in the ward to organize research materials, stared blankly ahead with a dumbfounded expression.
"Hup!"
Lee Se-hun, supporting himself with one hand on the floor while stretching his body out flat like a starfish.
It might look like a simple stunt at first glance, but Ahn Jeong-wan, who recognized its secret, let out a soft gasp of admiration.
'Maintaining that pose perfectly without even a drop of mana…….'
Any cadet at Babel could support their own body weight with one hand easily enough, but holding it steady without the slightest tremor, without mana, was an entirely different matter.
It required not just a perfect sense of balance and deep understanding of one's own body, but total control over every muscle.
'I knew he wasn't ordinary, but I didn't expect this level…….'
As Ahn Jeong-wan watched in fascination, Lee Se-hun, who had been holding the pose, lightly kicked off the floor with his hand.
Thud—!
He floated up about a meter, spun half a turn in the air, and landed cleanly. Having shown off his physical prowess, Lee Se-hun looked at Ahn Jeong-wan with a triumphant grin.
"What do you think?"
"……No need for you to stay hospitalized any longer, that's clear. I'll handle the discharge paperwork, so just grab your things."
He'd thought it was nonsense when Lee Se-hun first demanded discharge, but with proof like this right in front of him, there was nothing left to say.
At Ahn Jeong-wan's approval, Lee Se-hun nodded slightly.
"Thank you."
"Just doing my job—no need for thanks. More importantly……."
Ahn Jeong-wan examined Lee Se-hun's body from various angles, his face lighting up with curiosity.
"You said you used a recovery skill and elixirs to heal, right?"
"Yes."
"Mind sharing what skill it was?"
A skill capable of allowing safe ingestion of elixirs despite total bodily debilitation couldn't be anything ordinary.
Seeing Ahn Jeong-wan's keen interest, Lee Se-hun pondered briefly before answering.
"It's a B-rank skill called Mind-Body Tempering."
Spirit-Linking Magic was a skill known only to him and his master, and revealing it now would invite headaches.
So he substituted it with a known skill of similar effect, and Ahn Jeong-wan's eyes widened in shock.
"Mind-Body Tempering? You ingested elixirs with that?"
"That's right."
"Huh……."
Ahn Jeong-wan looked incredulous at Lee Se-hun's response.
The B-rank skill 'Mind-Body Tempering' was exactly what its name implied—a body manipulation skill for honing one's physique. It could certainly facilitate bodily recovery via elixirs.
But was it easy? Far from it. Unlike other skills, it required the user to manually control every process.
'Not only profound knowledge of one's body, but perfect understanding of the elixir's components and mechanisms. Even the top third-year in Regenerative Healing would struggle with that—not second-year, even.'
Recalling the skill levels of the cadets he taught, Ahn Jeong-wan mulled it over before looking at Lee Se-hun.
"Ever thought about taking my Physical Evolution class?"
"Pardon?"
"It's the one I teach. It'd be a huge help for handling Mind-Body Tempering, too."
Lee Se-hun's face turned ambivalent at the offer.
'I've already studied that field to death because of Spirit-Linking Magic…….'
He might jump at an unfamiliar subject, but this one held no appeal or need. As he decided to decline, just before he could speak—
"If that's not your thing, how about temporary teaching assistant?"
Sensing his reluctance, Ahn Jeong-wan proposed an alternative.
"……Temporary TA?"
Entrusting it to a first-year freshman—and from Forging Department, not Regenerative Healing, no less.
Others might gasp in surprise, but Ahn Jeong-wan nodded without hesitation.
"We're starting elixir lessons soon, and I want to show the cadets a real example. You seem skilled enough in Mind-Body Tempering to handle it without issue."
Ingest an elixir in front of the other cadets and demonstrate the process.
Politely put, a live demo; bluntly, being a guinea pig.
No matter the precautions, the inherent risks of elixirs made it unappealing.
"The elixirs for the class are Rare-grade, five kinds. In exchange, I'll provide items of equal value. What do you say?"
"Call me anytime."
To Lee Se-hun, who could chew elixirs raw without issue, it was an offer too good to refuse.
A small park near the Borsippa dorms.
Having completed discharge, Lee Se-hun arrived at a secluded corner and sat on a bench, replaying his conversation with Ahn Jeong-wan.
'Five Rare-grade elixirs…….'
Not as potent as the Hero-grade 'Yin-Yang Pill' he'd taken, but depending on the type, they could match it.
With his physical stats still at Babel's lower-mid tier, it was a golden opportunity, but doubt crept in as well.
'What's his real angle?'
In his past life as a master blacksmith, Lee Se-hun had met countless people and could vaguely discern their types.
Harmless allies. Polite but backstabbing opportunists. Hesitant potential clients weighing a commission.
Ahn Jeong-wan had given off the strong vibe of the last one.
'Louise said he's well-respected even in Ascus Ward…… So why entrust it to a cadet?'
Only two possibilities came to mind.
Either Ahn rated him that highly, or it was a job no ordinary blacksmith could handle.
As he pondered the inscrutable motive, lost in thought—
Pzzt!
A streetlamp suddenly sparked and died.
One by one, the surrounding lights followed, plunging the bench area into darkness in an instant.
Lee Se-hun narrowed his eyes, scanning the surroundings amid the abrupt change. Then, something shot rapidly from the distant bushes.
Pfuk!
A murky black dagger embedded in the tree behind his bench.
Matted to blend with shadows, it was barely visible, but its size and the whoosh of air felt familiar.
'That's…….'
The moment Lee Se-hun recognized it, more daggers rained from the bushes.
Dududu!
In the blink of an eye, ten daggers thudded into the tree. The impacts shook it violently, sending leaves cascading down.
As they fell toward his head—mana swiftly seeped along the threads tied to the dagger hilts.
Wuuung.
White glyphs appeared on the daggers as mana infused them.
Gear-like interlocking patterns spun the mana sharply, then altered its nature.
A chilling edge sharp enough to slice at a glance. The familiar aura glowed ghostly white in the dark, gathering at the threads.
Shhrrk!
Passing leaves shredded into dozens of pieces.
Flutter flutter.
Leaf fragments rained down.
Even ordinary thread now severed leaves like blades, thanks to the razor-sharp white edge. Lee Se-hun's eyes widened.
Fwosh!
Lights returned as a girl stepped into view.
Braided brown hair on the verge of unraveling, a doctor's coat splattered with dirt and leaves.
Dark circles under her eyes and pallid skin made her look ready to collapse, but a confident smile played on her lips.
"Hehe……."
Lea Claudel, beaming triumphantly yet with a hint of unhinged glee, crossed her arms and faced Lee Se-hun.
"So, what do you think!"
Lea demanded feedback out of nowhere.
Lee Se-hun stared in disbelief before glancing at the daggers in the tree.
Wuuung!
The daggers handed over by Seitz—the third-year from the Divination Department and Inoue family's fixer—as a token of reconciliation.
Originally inscribed with defensive spells and basic enchants, they had transformed utterly under Lea's hands.
Lee Se-hun was quietly impressed by her skill in turning a barely High-grade item into Rare-grade via a perfect enchant replication of his casual demo.
'Raising something teetering on High-grade to full Rare…… She's got talent.'
Durability had suffered, and any enchant damage would drop the rank again, but at the price of one step up, it was a bargain.
'No wonder she dominated the enchant industry in the future…….'
Previously ambiguous, this confirmed Lea's potential.
"Uh, is it no good? I thought I did pretty well……."
Lea mumbled, shrinking under his silent gaze.
Her self-doubt suggested the slump wasn't fully overcome, but this level was no issue.
"No."
Standing, Lee Se-hun smiled satisfactorily at her.
"It's excellent. Honestly, better than expected—I was surprised."
"……Really?"
"Who'd have thought you'd turn a casual reference into a flawless enchant. No wonder you had no time to message."
"Heh…… Yeah? You know how finicky that sword aura is? I busted over a hundred kitchen knives experimenting."
Shoulders squared at the lavish praise, Lea boasted of her ordeal like her earlier timidity never happened.
Lee Se-hun calmly collected the daggers from the tree as he watched her energetic display.
"This opens the door to mass-producing sword aura. Let's try it next time you're free."
"Sure. That much is…… Wait, mass-producing sword aura? That's possible?"
A long-standing holy grail of the hero industry—one that sank countless companies and researchers in red ink.
Lea stared at her nonchalant senior in shock, but he replied casually.
"Why not? It's already half-complete."
"……What is?"
"This."
Lea seemed unaware of her enchant's potential, but Lee Se-hun saw it clearly.
'Plenty to refine, but a bit more compression and we can mass-produce.'
In his past life, Galaxy Company's first public mass-produced sword aura line, 'Starlight' series.
The prototype that earned unknown enchanter Lea Claudel her 'Maestro' legend was none other than this White Light Dagger.
"My enchant…… for mass-produced sword aura…… Royalties if commercialized……."
Sleepless nights dulled her mind, but success meant astronomical wealth.
As Lea gaped, hallucinating being crushed by money, Lee Se-hun clapped right in her face.
Clap!
"Eek!"
"Snap out of it. This level's nowhere near enough."
"Ah, yeah. Sigh…… True."
Power too weak for true sword aura, plus abysmal durability and enchant vulnerabilities galore.
Realizing his point about prematurity, Lea shoved aside her fantasies and refocused.
"So, what's the favor from your message?"
Switch flipped, she shifted seamlessly to business. Lee Se-hun got straight to it.
"Planning to craft a weapon. To hit the specs, it'll need enchants. Can you help?"
"Enchants? Happy to. But what materials and which ones?"
Same enchant, different materials or effects spawned endless variables. Given her quirky senior's tastes, it'd be no walk in the park.
'Ivory Tower prelims are soon, a bit tight…… But perfect timing.'
Her White Light breakthrough had lifted the slump some; riding this momentum could shatter it fully.
Seeing her fired up, Lee Se-hun smiled approvingly.
"First, Dream Tusk with 'Erosion Enhancement' and 'Mana Amplification' enchants."
"……Dr-Dream Tusk?"
Lea's eyes twitched at his words.
Dream Tusk, brimming with dreamlike mana, was notoriously tricky—infamous in enchant circles.
A single mistake or distraction, and the dream mana erased surface enchants wholesale.
'Erosion Enhancement and Mana Amplification. Tough singly, together……?'
Doubt surged, but Lea crushed it ruthlessly.
'No. I'll do it!'
No more dragging by this damn slump. Vowing success come hell or high water, she faced him.
"Fine. Let's……."
"Also using Southern Vermilion Feather with 'Space Separation' and 'Target Engraving' enchants."
"……S-Southern Vermilion Feather? Vermilion Bird's plume?"
A rarity money couldn't always buy, notoriously burning enchants on contact and resetting work.
And now, etch Space Separation and Target Engraving—hours just for the spells—onto that monster.
"You can do it, right?"
Her smiling senior's gaze made Lea roll her eyes dramatically before replying.
"Can't I find someone else……?"