“Those at the Immortal Phoenix are all nice individuals devoted to their faiths. It’s just…”
“Is that possible? I mean, human nature and all.”
“I’m in the midst of prayer, so please be quiet. Anyway, feelings of envy and jealousy are of no help to our faith, but it seems some of the students are still struggling to let go of their worldly desires. ”
Last week, one of the new students at the Immortal Phoenix had brewed some Energy Recovery Potions for their fellow priests and priestesses, hoping to use the knowledge that they acquired from the temple to help those in need.
It was truly an act worthy of praise.
‘If it was me, I would’ve sold it for money.’
– The potion helped relieve my fatigue. Thank you!
– Even Priestess Siana from the Order of Flameng seems impressed by the quality of the potions. They’re really well made! Who knows, you might even be better than her?
That last sentence was a joke that was casually thrown out during one of their conversations and wasn’t meant to be taken seriously.
Priestess Siana, who was also at the scene, merely nodded and smiled.
In the end, their conversation ended on a good note, and no one thought much of it afterwards.
…However, the very next day, Priestess Siana brought out her own batch of Energy Recovery Potions.
– ??
– I’ve made some as well. Please feel free to take them.
– Oh, that’s very kind of you!
– They’re such high-quality potions!
Things didn’t end there, and she brought another batch of Energy Recovery Potions the subsequent day.
– Um, thank you…?
– Yeah, they’re great…
And then again the next day.
By that point, the other priests and priestesses knew what was going on.
– The potions made by Priestess Siana are the best!
– Nothing can compare to them!
It was only then that Priestess Siana stopped making Energy Recovery Potions.
“…S-she’s quite competitive, huh?”
Yi-han was taken aback by the story he’d just heard.
She had to be a lunatic to keep brewing potions over a single joke, stopping only when others praised her to be the best.
“The story doesn’t end there.”
“….”
‘There’s more to this?’
The priest that distributed the Energy Recovery Potions first eventually approached Priestess Siana to praise her for her work.
– As expected of you, Priestess Siana. Not many people can brew such high-quality potions.
Tijiling had been present at the time, and she witnessed Priestess Siana leave after completely ignoring the words of the priest.
– …?!
It was only a few days later that she acknowledged the priest’s presence.
‘How petty can she get?’
Yi-han was horrified.
If she behaved like this over a joke made about some potions…
‘Uh, what did they say back in the classroom again?’
He had been showered with all kinds of praise during alchemy class, being called a genius and whatnot.
Looking back, it had been way over the top…
Now that she was done with her story, Tijiling ended her prayer.
Yi-han, however, still had questions he wanted answers to.
“Do you think Priestess Siana would try to spike other people’s drinks out of jealousy?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Unfortunately, Tijiling no longer wished to speak and maintained her silence.
Left with no other option, Yi-han made up his mind.
‘If I end up traveling with her, I’m not having anything that she recommends.’
***
Time quickly passed, and the next day arrived despite all the pain and misery the students had to go through trying to complete their assignments.
‘Assignments aside, there are bigger problems.’
Yi-han was currently worried about two things.
First, how were they going to infiltrate the White Tiger’s tower?
Second, they would have to journey into the mountains to acquire the ingredients needed for alchemy. What kind of crazy traps would they encounter along the way?
‘It’s hard to tell which is the bigger concern.’
However, Yi-han was soon brought out of his reveries as the academy forced its students to trudge along to their next class.
His next class was , and Professor Bolady was standing in the classroom waiting for his arrival.
“You’re 11 seconds late.”
“Sorry, I had to visit the stables early in the morning to take care of my horse.”
“No need to apologize. By being late, you’re only harming yourself.”
‘I’d really like to know where the professors learned their manners of speech.’ Yi-han got to his seat while thinking so.
The classroom was as desolate as ever, with only the two of them present.
Professor Bolady snapped his fingers, prompting Yi-han to take out his staff and start rotating the iron orb.
After his battle against the anti-magic extremists, Yi-han clearly felt an improvement in his control.
His mastery over was incomparable to before, and the iron orb drew a near-perfect circle while maintaining a constant speed.
‘He completed what should have taken 2 years,’’ Fortunately, Professor Bolady’s thoughts weren’t reflected in his expression.
If Yi-han knew what the professor was thinking, he would’ve been seriously pissed.
-Why in the bloody h*ll are you teaching me something that requires two years to learn??
And why is that the first thing you teach??
“Not bad.”
“Thank you.”
Professor Bolady’s “not bad” was equivalent to an “Excellent!” from any other professor.
Yi-han knew better than to expect actual praise from him.
“I was told you were taught how to conjure water.”
“Yes.”
“Show me.”
“Gush Forth!”
A ball of water appeared in front of Yi-han.
Thanks to the punishment by Professor Garcia, he had a much easier time maintaining its shape now.
“Compress it until it’s as small as a marble.”
“I’ll try my best.”
Yi-han tightly grasped his staff and focused on the task in front of him.
Soon, the ball of water that was in the air began to lose its shape as it became distorted.
Since he had a tremendous amount of mana, reducing the mass of the water while simultaneously keeping it round was a difficult task.
That was when Professor Bolady grabbed the iron orb, sending off alarm bells inside Yi-han.
Woosh!
The orb came flying toward his face, accompanied by a sharp sound.
‘Sonuvabich…!’
Through sheer instinct, Yi-han compressed the puddle of water, increasing its hardness and reducing its size until it was as big as a fist.
Kang~!
The iron orb collided with the water, falling to the ground after losing its strength.
“…Sir, are we going to keep doing this?”
“What do you mean?”
“You just threw the iron orb at me.”
“Oh, you mean that. Then yes, we are.”
“…Don’t you think it’s a bit dangerous?” Yi-han tried to convince the professor the same way he did the other students.
However, Professor Bolady wasn’t as easy to convince as the others.
“But it’s effective, right?”
“Pardon?”
“You must’ve experienced it yourself in your fight against the anti-magic extremists. Facing sudden danger, your body automatically reacts, heightening your focus and sharpening your instincts. This in turn elevates your control over magic. Why use a roundabout way when there’s a shortcut?”
“…..”
Yi-han was rendered speechless by this argument.
It wasn’t because it made sense. Rather, it was because he found the professor’s reasoning absurd.
It was such a ridiculous notion that anyone that heard it would be stunned silent.
“Seems like you’re convinced. Now get back to work.”
From a Soul Star marble to an iron orb, and from an iron orb to a water marble.
Drawing circles with the marble of water was indeed a tough ordeal, tougher than all the challenges that came before it.
Not only did he have to maintain its shape, but he also had to move it around in a circle at a constant speed.
Similar to when he battled the anti-magic extremists, Yi-han felt like his nerves were being overworked.
The shape that he drew was too ugly to be called a circle, but he kept trying.
After a certain amount of time, Professor Bolady had once again launched the iron orb towards him.
Klang!
Yi-han was quick to react and blocked the attack.
Though his control wasn’t good enough to draw a circle, he could use the water to block off attacks as long as he remained vigilant.
‘I knew it!’
However, this was all within Professor Bolady’s expectations, and a different orb came flying from the opposite direction.
Bang!
“…!”
Yi-han tried to manoeuvre his water marble, but it was too late.
The iron orb lodged itself onto his back, and he had to grit his teeth to endure the pain.
‘Fck!’
The force behind the orb was great and he could feel the impact despite putting a lot of strength into his body.
It reminded him of his time training under Arlong.
“Focus.”
“….”
Yi-han had no time to reply as he had to manoeuvre the water marble like a madman, fending off the onslaught of iron orbs.
One thing was for certain.
‘I’d rather take a class with a bazillion assignments!’
***
“Wardanaz seems awfully tired.”
“Must be the assignments. I haven’t slept a wink because of them. Also, it’s Wardanaz we’re talking about. He must be taking some insanely difficult classes.”
“True, it’s Wardanaz after all. His classes must be crazy hard.”
“I wonder when he’ll lead us into the White Tiger’s tower?”
“Good question…”
Students of the Blue Dragons whispered amongst themselves as they waited in class for to begin.
Yi-han was leaning on the walls with his eyes shut, looking totally exhausted.
This was the result of surviving Professor Bolady’s life-threatening iron orb training.
It wasn’t only the students of the Blue Dragons inside the room. Those of the Black Tortoise were there as well, and they were also chatting away.
“Does anyone here take alchemy? Is it true that you’re going up the mountains tomorrow?”
“Have rumors spread already? We’re planning on going up with students from the other towers.”
“Hey, what if there’s a way out of the academy through the mountains?”
‘If only you knew.’
Yi-han pitied the students of the Black Tortoise.
They were hoping for an escape route, but they were bound to be disappointed.
“Wait, is Wardanaz tagging along? Is he going to punish us if we make a mistake…?”
“S-surely not. We don’t even belong to the same tower.”
“……”
Yi-han let out a deep sigh.
“Hello, class.”
“It’s nice to see you, ma’am!”
The students greeted Professor Garcia politely as she entered the room.
They had learned by now that she was one of the few professors in the academy with a heart.
A heartless professor was much scarier than a troll.
“Last time, we studied elemental magic and tried a lot of exercises to get you familiar with them. However, in this course, we won’t be limiting ourselves to one type of magic. We’ll be taking a brief look at other types of magic as well, including illusion magic, summoning magic, transfiguration magic, and more. A few years down the line, you’ll be specializing in some of them.”
The world of magic was as deep and profound as an endless chasm.
Mastering all the magic in the world was not humanly possible, so they had to specialize and perform research in certain fields.
This was something everyone knew, including Yi-han.
“Today, we’ll be learning about a specific field of magic, and instead of me, we’ve invited a professor who specializes in this field to teach the class.”
This was enough to arouse the students’ interest.
Their eyes shone in anticipation, each hoping that the guest professor specialized in their field of interest.
Some were interested in elemental magic, others in spirit magic, and still others in enchantments…
‘Please be a spiritualist! I want to learn spirit magic…’
‘I’m here to learn how to heal and strengthen my body. Teach me strengthening magic!’
“Without further ado, please welcome him!”
The temperature inside the classroom dropped a notch as the door opened. The sudden chill made the students shiver.
“It’s nice to meet you… Cough, cough, I’m Professor Mortem.”
For a second, Yi-han thought the professor was a dwarf.
However, upon taking a closer look, he realized that the professor was a human, albeit a short one.
Professor Mortem kept coughing as he spoke, and it seemed as if he would collapse from a strong gust of wind.
“Is he going to be alright?”
“He should be at the ward instead…”
“Cough, I’m alright. Nothing to be worried about…”
Professor Mortem spoke softly between his coughs.
One of the students raised their hand to ask a question.
“Sir, what field of magic are we being taught today?”
“I’m here to teach you Black Magic.”
“….”
“….”
The atmosphere in the room froze over in an instant as if winter had come. It had to be known that black magic was one of the most detested forms of magic
