"...I'm sorry."
Yi-Han apologized first. He had never imagined that the White Snow Hedgehog would just run away. 'Isn't that creature too cowardly for a monster?' he thought. Monsters were supposed to attack ferociously without regard for their opponent's mana, not be so timid...
"Ah."
"?!"
Sianna, the priestess at his side, seemed to have remembered something belatedly.
"It would be wise to chase the White Snow Hedgehog, Mr. Yi-Han of the Wardanaz family."
"Why is that?"
Yi-Han was ready to refuse whatever Sianna was going to say. He believed that one should be thankful if a monster flees, not force it into a corner without reason. Only the foolish students of the Black Tortoise could think, 'Would the Wardanaz be satisfied just by driving a monster away?'
"The White Snow Hedgehog likes to collect Cold Submerge Lotus. It's an ingredient that can only be gathered by breaking through the frozen surface of a lake during a snowstorm."
"!!"
Cold Submerge Lotus.
This was something he had initially decided not to even attempt collecting...
"Let's chase it! Sharakan, follow its trail! Nillia, help me!"
At his shout, the Black Tortoise students looked at Yi-Han with an expression of 'I knew it.' Yi-Han almost hit his friends in frustration.
If there were students like Yi-Han, who pragmatically chose to collect easier materials first, there were also those who sought to impress Professor Uregor by gathering the more challenging ones. The students of the White Tiger were among them.
Astonishingly, in this harsh weather, they were attempting to break the thick ice of a lake to collect Cold Submerge Lotus.
Crack!
"We did it!"
Finally, the White Tiger students succeeded in breaking the ice with their axes and bumped fists in celebration. Breaking ice in such cold weather was no easy task. Swinging an axe carelessly could lead to sweat-soaked clothes freezing, so they had to do it slowly and cautiously.
"Be careful."
"I know. Here I go!"
One student pulled out a round bead with engraved symbols. It was the <False Eyeball> they had bought from the Black Tortoise students. An artifact that provided a clear view around the bead to its user. Though disposable, it was considered a fine piece among the failed experiments available at the academy.
The students securely attached the bead to a rod and lowered it into the lake. Despite wearing several layers of leather enchanted with lesser cold resistance magic, falling into the lake would render such protections meaningless. They moved with utmost caution.
"There it is! The hook!"
They had spotted the Cold Submerge Lotus and tried to extract it with a hook. The tightly packed material slowly began to be pulled up. Their faces brightened.
"We got it!"
"Keep digging! Let's take all of it!"
-■■■■! ■■■■!
"?!?"
"What's that!?"
Before them, the White Snow Hedgehog appeared.
With a crackling sound, the White Snow Hedgehog began to dash across the lake. The fishing-focused White Tiger students were too slow to respond.
"That... that thing..."
"Don't come this way!"
Despite the students' shouts, the White Snow Hedgehog paid them no heed and charged towards the hole they had made in the ice. The weakened ice shattered in a chain reaction, followed by a massive crashing sound.
Splash!
The White Snow Hedgehog plunged into the lake.
...And so did the students of the White Tiger.
"Why are those kids on the lake? It's dangerous!"
Asan was flustered upon seeing the students of the White Tiger falling into the lake in the distance. However, Yi-Han noticed something different. 'No. They've dug up the Cold Submerge Lotus, haven't they?' He saw the baskets left on the lakeshore, filled with the Cold Submerge Lotus, his eyes shining with realization. They had succeeded in extracting it.
"We must help them!"
Nillia cried out urgently. It was their pursuit of the White Snow Hedgehog that had caused this accident. At her words, Yi-Han, who was contemplating how to borrow the Cold Submerge Lotus, nodded.
"Yes. Let's help them and borrow the Cold Submerge Lotus as compensation."
"What? What did you say?"
"Move!"
Yi-Han didn't respond but sprang into action. He would first rescue those who had fallen in! He picked up the poles stacked by the White Tiger students and moved toward those struggling in the water. The students barely managed to grasp the poles.
"Get out!"
"Ugh... Mm... Mm..."
The students of the White Tiger couldn't speak properly due to the cold. Shivering, they clung to the poles and climbed up. However, not all could do so. Some, their arms seemingly paralyzed, struggled to exert any strength.
'I must lift them out myself!'
In a brief moment, Yi-Han's mind raced for a solution. How could he get the students out of the water and onto the shore? 'By manipulating the water beneath them...' He cast another spell, targeting the water beneath the students.
Water element magic was the most familiar and comfortable for Yi-Han. Even in dire situations, he could cast it as naturally as breathing. '...Lift them up!'
Splash!
The students' heads bobbed up, but that was it. It wasn't easy to rescue someone from water with a net of water. 'Isn't it working?'
The distance and the large area he was trying to control weakened the force of the water. If it had been water summoned by Yi-Han, his control would have been stronger, but the lake's water was not so easily manipulated. Yi-Han clicked his tongue in frustration.
'Should I summon water separately and add it? No... it would weaken as soon as it mixed with the lake water.'
As he pondered, a cold winter wind brushed against Yi-Han's cheek. A streak of inspiration flowed through his arm before he even thought it through. Instinctively, he began chanting a spell, a moment of enlightenment for a mage.
"Freeze!"
Zzzzzzzzzz!
Just like when Professor Boladi threatened his life, and he suddenly understood how to control the water element, Yi-Han felt he understood what the cold element was. Forgetting his current predicament, he immersed himself in controlling the ice. The revelation made him forget even the harsh cold.
'It's impossible!'
Yonaire stared at Yi-Han in astonishment. Unlike other students who thought, 'Wardanaz knows even dark magic, so what's surprising?' Yonaire knew to some extent what magic Yi-Han could or couldn't use. And cold element magic was something Yi-Han didn't know.
If he had known it, he wouldn't have struggled so much with storing ingredients. But now, Yi-Han was using cold element magic. There was only one reasonable explanation.
He had learned it on his own, without learning from a professor!
-Maykin. A good mage learns quickly, but an outstanding mage learns on their own.-
-Is that possible?-
-Then. As you continue learning, there will come a time when you'll learn on your own. That's when you can truly be called a mage.-
Swoosh-
A wide slab of ice formed in the water, pushing the fallen students upwards.
Their friends hurriedly pulled the students of the White Tiger out of the water, looking like drowned rats.
"Light a fire!"
"But, my flint is wet?"
"Are you even a mage!?"
"Ah... Right. Sorry."
"Bring the potions!"
The students quickly lit a fire by the lakeside and massaged the hands and feet of the White Tiger friends.
"Yonaire, help me! We need to make more potions!"
"Eh? Oh, sorry."
Yonaire quickly regained her senses and prepared the potions.
It felt strange.
Despite being surrounded by so many friends, Yonaire was the only one who realized the significance of what she had just witnessed.
Yi-Han emerged just then, murmuring to himself.
Yonaire, curious, listened in.
What was Yi-Han saying? 'Perhaps about what he just did?'
"When we return to the tower, I should practice freezing the perishable ingredients first."
"..."
Yonaire pretended not to hear and turned her gaze to the cauldron.
The affairs of the world were often more mundane than one expected.
"Wardanaz... Thank you. I have no idea why the White Snow Hedgehog suddenly appeared."
"It's actually our f..."
"It's fine."
Yi-Han interrupted Nillia.
"Even though we're from different towers, helping a student in distress is something we must naturally do."
"...???"
Nillia looked at Yi-Han in disbelief. However, his expression remained unchanged.
"Now, about the Cold Submerge Lotus..."
"There! The White Snow Hedgehog is back!"
"!"
All the students turned their eyes in surprise.
Indeed, the White Snow Hedgehog was approaching.
But this time, it was different. The White Snow Hedgehog slowly approached and gently placed something down.
It was a bundle of Cold Submerge Lotus.
"...!"
"That, that is..."
"Wardanaz. Maybe the White Snow Hedgehog was touched by your act of saving your friends!"
"It's a miracle...!"
The students were truly amazed.
Who would have thought that a mere monster, moved by emotion, would leave such a gift and go?
Despite the cold snowy weather, it was a heartwarming miracle.
Nillia tilted her head in confusion.
"That's not it. Looks like it's scared? This behavior of giving gifts so we won't chase it..."
"Shh. Nillia. It might be better to keep quiet."
Ratford covered Nillia's mouth.
There was no need to break the mood.
Professor Uregor praised the students for collecting various ingredients.
He then trimmed the ingredients and stored them in glass bottles for the students' continued use, though he did make some unnecessary remarks.
-"You managed to get Cold Submerge Lotus? You actually got this? How did you manage?"-
-...-
Thanks to this, the White Tiger students, who were frozen solid, warmed up with anger.
Yi-Han quickly had his lunch and headed toward Professor Boladi's lecture room.
'This week... it might revolve around cold, right?'
Heading to the lecture room, Yi-Han thought.
Professor Boladi was the most unpredictable among the professors, but even so, Yi-Han could predict this much.
The current snowstorm outside was an opportunity that didn't come often, so it was likely that Professor Boladi would utilize it.
"You've arrived."
"Yes."
"Cold among the elements is tricky. Especially in magic combat. But through appropriate application, its limits can be overcome."
Yi-Han was not surprised by the Vampire Professor's direct approach to the main topic.
He nodded as if he had expected it, and a faint confidence could be seen in his expression. He was, after all, on his way back from learning the cold element by himself.
"Maintaining it is difficult and it lacks instantaneous destructive power, but cold magic is useful in the following situations..."
Yi-Han focused intently on Professor Boladi's explanation, taking notes.
At some point, Professor Boladi finished his explanation.
"Now, cast an ice generation spell."
Yi-Han nodded.
"Freeze!"
Coldness shot out from the tip of his staff, lowering the temperature of the lecture room. Frost settled on the desks in front of him.
Normally, mastering cold element magic would require numerous trials and errors. Yet here was a freshman who had learned it on his own, an astonishing feat that did not even elicit a change in Professor Boladi's expression.
"Well done."
'Eh?'
"I thought it would take a day, but we can move ahead in the curriculum. The next spell to cast is..."
"..."
Only then did Yi-Han snap back to reality.
'What was I doing?'
He had lost track of himself in the joy of his recent learning of the cold element.
...He should have pretended to struggle a few times!
