Chapter 36

Chapter 036

‘Calm down. They probably haven’t figured out my intentions yet.’

Lee Han composed himself calmly.

No matter what, the vampire professor couldn’t possibly read his inner thoughts.

- I’ll enjoy this lecture that no one else listens to!

‘Hmm. If I get caught, it will be more embarrassing than dangerous.’

“Did you have any questions?” Professor Vlad asked, looking at Lee Han slowly again.

“Can I ask any question?”

“No. It has to be a question about the lecture.”

‘Isn’t that obvious?’

There was no way Lee Han would consult on how to escape school...

But thanks to this, he felt he could definitely understand the professor’s personality.

A strict rule-follower, both to others and himself.

He had met many of this type before, so it was easier to deal with them.

‘The difficult ones are the crazy professors like Principal Rich.’

If he just did what he was told, there would be no problem, so what could be difficult?

“Do you have any questions?”

“Hmm...”

Lee Han pondered.

What should he ask?

Professors always said, “Feel free to ask questions,” but if you really asked casually, you’d get a “Why don’t you know this?” in return.

Asking questions also required some skill.

‘Maybe I should start with the basics.’

“What is the purpose of rotating this holy stone bead?” Lee Han asked curiously.

He asked a question about the lecture, but he was genuinely curious.

What was the meaning of just spinning this bead?

Professor Vlad tilted his head slightly at Lee Han’s question, a look of genuine confusion on his face.

“Didn’t you read the lecture title?”

“......”

Lee Han wasn’t flustered.

Professors were all like this!

- If I teach you 1+1=2, solve a higher-order differential equation. Can’t solve it? Why? Why not?

“Yes. I know the lecture title is ‘Repetitive Learning of Basic Magic Combat.’ But... how exactly does rotating this holy stone bead relate to basic magic combat?”

“Hmm.”

Upon receiving Lee Han’s question, Professor Vlad froze.

Lee Han was flustered by the professor’s statue-like stillness, as if someone had turned off the power.

“...Professor?”

“Wait a moment.”

Professor Vlad spoke to Lee Han with an expression that didn’t even blink.

What could he do?

Lee Han waited.

How much time had passed? Just as Lee Han started to regret asking the question, Professor Vlad spoke.

“I can explain now.”

“Huh?”

“I was struggling with how to explain something so obvious.”

Lee Han was shocked.

He had been thinking about this all along...?

‘No. Don’t panic. Considering he’s a professor, it’s not that strange.’

“Alright. I can kill you with just this quill pen.”

“......”

This was definitely flustering. Lee Han immediately reached for his staff.

Seeing Lee Han’s quick reaction and balanced stance, Professor Vlad continued.

“I’ll cancel it. It’s too difficult with just a quill pen.”

It didn’t really comfort him.

While Lee Han was pondering whether to run or call for help, Professor Vlad continued.

“As you can tell from what I just said, in magic combat, it’s not about high-level grand magic. A minimal magic that can cut off your opponent’s breath is enough.”

After finishing his words, Professor Vlad had a regretful expression, as if he had spoken too much.

“Do you understand now?”

“...No. Please explain in more detail.”

“!?”

Surprised, Professor Vlad froze again like a statue.

Lee Han felt a bit regretful, but it was too late to back out.

‘Now that it’s come to this, I must get an answer.’

A moment later.

“The current training of rotating the holy stone bead is for controlling projectile magic. As you might have guessed, even the same ‘Magic Missile’ spell can vary greatly depending on the mage who casts it.”

‘I had no idea about that.’

“A mage who is not accustomed to combat will not be able to cast spells properly in a combat situation. They will be overwhelmed by the noise, heat, and the threat of being targeted on the battlefield. However, a mage who has internalized spell control through repeated training can handle such situations.”

Without using any incantations or staff, Professor Vlad cast a spell.

Magic Missile.

Despite its grand name, it was a 1st-circle spell.

The principle was simple: gather and shape mana into a sphere, then launch it.

A mana sphere about the size of a fist would be launched.

Being a 1st-circle spell, its power wasn’t particularly great. Among mercenaries, the topic of “Is a thrown rock stronger or a Magic Missile?” often came up.

...But Professor Vlad’s Magic Missile shattered that prejudice instantly.

The spacious lecture hall transformed into a galaxy.

Dozens, even hundreds of mana spheres filled the space.

Professor Vlad waved his hand, and all the mana spheres flew in one direction.

Some in a straight line, some in a curve.

Some in a regular pattern, some in an irregular pattern.

Some quickly, some slowly.

And all these movements converged on one goal.

The enemy’s vital points.

Bang!

With a loud noise, the mana spheres collided and disappeared.

Lee Han felt as if he saw a non-existent person collapse, hit precisely in all their vital points. Professor Vlad’s magic was that precise.

Lee Han realized anew that when something reaches the pinnacle of precision, it can be beautiful.

“The goal of the training is to control projectile magic like this. Do you understand now?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Seeing that Lee Han understood, Professor Vlad nodded with a slight sense of relief on his face.

He had been at a loss about how to explain if Lee Han didn’t understand.

‘So, he wasn’t just trying to earn his salary by giving a strange lecture.’

Lee Han felt a bit sorry for misunderstanding Professor Vlad.

He had thought the professor was just setting up a strange lecture to earn his salary.

But upon closer inspection, this training seemed quite reasonable.

Casting a spell was not the end of it.

Just as knowing how to swing a sword doesn’t mean mastering swordsmanship, mastering a spell is not a simple matter.

Can you cast it faster? Can you cast it accurately in a hurried and chaotic situation? Etc.

Professor Vlad valued these aspects.

And this projectile magic control training was important for Lee Han as well.

There was an immediate problem Lee Han faced.

“Professor, may I ask one more question?”

“Go ahead.”

“I recently learned the ‘Basic Control’ spell.”

“Continue.”

Professor Vlad didn’t ask where Lee Han had learned it. It wasn’t his concern.

“However, this spell... I can cast it, but it won’t stabilize after casting.”

Professor Vlad’s eyebrows raised.

Not just that it was hard to control, but it wouldn’t stabilize at all.

A very unusual case.

Usually, novice mages couldn’t move the object with ‘Basic Control,’ but they could stabilize it.

Unless they had an enormous amount of mana...

“Wait. It seems you have more mana than expected.”

“Oh, yes. I’ve heard that.”

Lee Han was delighted that Professor Vlad figured it out immediately.

If he could figure it out so quickly, he might also provide a good solution.

What method would he teach?

“Mana Drain!”

“?!”

Professor Vlad grabbed Lee Han’s arm and cast a high-circle spell.

A powerful and evil spell that literally absorbed the opponent’s mana.

“Wait...”

Lee Han knew his mana was being rapidly drained.

‘Explain first, you crazy professor!’

But it was already too late to stop. The professor’s spell was absorbing Lee Han’s mana.

“...?”

Lee Han noticed something strange and looked at Professor Vlad’s face.

As a vampire, his complexion wasn’t usually very good, but now it seemed even worse.

“Professor?”

“......”

“Professor?? Are you okay?!”

Thud!

Professor Vlad slowly let go of his hand and fell to the side. Lee Han was shocked.

Knocking out a professor.

Of course, he had imagined it many times, but he never thought he would actually do it!

* * *

Fortunately, Professor Vlad soon regained consciousness. The vampire professor immediately summarized the situation.

“You have more mana than expected.”

“...Is that so?”

Lee Han, who had his mana drained, was in much better condition than the professor who had absorbed it.

In fact, Lee Han didn’t feel particularly tired. Despite having his mana drained.

“Yes.”

Professor Vlad nodded.

If it were another professor, they would have explained how absurd the situation was.

An inexperienced mage could collapse from not being able to control the mana they had, but for an excellent mage like Professor Vlad, it was a different story.

How much mana would an excellent mage like Professor Vlad need to absorb to lose control and collapse?

But Professor Vlad didn’t say. He thought it wasn’t important.

What was important now was something else.

“I tried to reduce your mana with the Mana Drain spell to make the control easier. It failed.”

“What a pity.”

Lee Han understood what Professor Vlad meant.

The idea was that if you had too much mana, it would be hard to control the projectile, so reducing the mana might help.

...Of course, it failed.

“There is another method.”

“What is it?”

“While casting the ‘Basic Control’ spell, has the projectile ever flown towards you when it went out of control?”

Lee Han thought for a moment.

“No.”

“That’s right. It’s instinct. Even if it seems out of control, as long as the spell is cast and the mage’s will is connected to the projectile, control is still happening.”

Lee Han nodded, finding the explanation plausible.

Indeed, if the spell was cut off, the projectile should just fall to the ground like a rock.

The connection was still there.

‘Wait. Does that mean when I shot rocks at other people’s heads, it was instinct?’

He couldn’t tell if it was instinct or coincidence.

Lee Han decided not to check. Sometimes it’s better to leave the truth buried.

“Instinct is powerful. Using this instinct might help you improve your ability to control projectiles.”

“Indeed...”

“Are you ready?”

“Huh?”

“I’m going to cast it. I’ll aim for your chin, so you must defend your chin.”

Lee Han was momentarily confused by what he meant.

The floating holy stone beads explained it for him.

The beads, trembling and ready, started to fly towards Lee Han’s chin one after another.

Suddenly, Lee Han felt his instinct sharply cry out.

His body moved before his mind.

“Move!!!!!”

* * *

There was some good news.

Lee Han could now handle the ‘Basic Control’ spell quite well.

The bad news was that Professor Vlad was even crazier than Lee Han had thought.

‘I was foolish to trust the professors of this school.’

I won’t trust them again!