“I want to build up my fundamentals too.”

“Hmm?”

Diret looked genuinely puzzled.

It really didn’t seem all that necessary for the junior.

“Wasn’t your poison-element magic already around third-circle?”

“It’s still incomplete.”

The spell for creating <Poison of Another Angle>, which Lee Han had inherited from Verdus, the undead mage, was around third-circle in difficulty, but the casting still wasn’t fully complete.

“You really are a perfectionist, Junior. The other kids insist they’ve mastered something perfectly the moment they can cast it at all.”

“No, I’m saying it’s incomplete because it isn’t complete!”

Lee Han felt a little wronged.

Sure, if given enough time, he could call forth the poison, but didn’t that still make it incomplete?

“And your bone-element magic was fourth-circle.”

<Skeleton Warrior Summoning> normally wasn’t all the way up at fourth-circle.

If you made a contract with Skeleton Warriors from the undead realm and summoned them that way, the difficulty dropped drastically.

But under pressure from several evil dark mages, Lee Han had ended up learning an ancient style of necromancy that people barely used anymore, and the result was the fourth-circle difficulty version of <Skeleton Warrior Summoning>.

It wasn’t a spell that called in a being from another dimension. It was the kind where the mage personally assembled the bones one by one, so of course the difficulty was high.

Still, thanks to that, Lee Han’s mastery over bone-element magic had become fairly high. That was all thanks to wrestling constantly with <Skeleton Warrior Summoning>.

“…That’s true. But aren’t there probably still fundamentals I haven’t learned yet?”

Diret was a kind senior.

Even when the junior got stubborn, Diret didn’t get angry and simply quietly let Lee Han have it his way.

After instantly succeeding with every basic spell Diret brought out, Lee Han said with a downcast face,

“Let’s start with the difficult spells.”

“You made a good decision, Junior.”

*****

“You know why blood isn’t commonly used as an element, right?”

“Yes.”

The reason Imperial dark mages handled bone, poison, and even dark elements directly, but not blood elements, was simple inefficiency.

“But in truth, it’s not like blood is never used as elemental magic. Some mage criminals really do use it.”

“The Skull Principal?”

“…Junior. When I say mage criminals, I mean actual mage criminals. Not as a metaphor.”

Compared to bone elements, blood elements not only lacked offensive power, but were also difficult to obtain and preserve.

On top of that, some mage criminals often extorted large amounts of fresh blood from innocent victims for use in spells, so it was only natural that blood-element magic became even less popular.

But the school of dark magic that ran down from Gonadaltes to Professor Mortum to Diret was built on the idea that it’s idiotic to dismiss something completely just because it isn’t popular.

At the very least, if you ran into someone who used it, shouldn’t you know it well enough to strike at the weakness?

Tap-

Diret took out a small glass bottle and opened the cork stopper. A red liquid sloshed out with a thick sound.

It smelled like blood, but carried a different magical presence.

“This is artificial blood made through alchemy. This is what people usually use when casting blood-element spells. It has good versatility.”

Just as bone fragments containing mana were used as magical reagents, many blood-element spells also required help from reagents like this.

Lee Han caught the other implication in Diret’s words and asked,

“So when it’s being used as a reagent for magic other than blood-element spells, people don’t use this?”

“That’s right.”

The dark magic upperclassman answered with a flick of the wings, looking satisfied at the clever reply.

When casting blood-element magic itself, the required quantity was so large that there was no helping it, but real blood was naturally more effective than artificial blood made through alchemy.

Diret took out a bone fragment stained with bloody energy.

“This is a bone fragment I’ve been feeding my own blood to regularly. I could’ve used artificial blood, but using my own blood has advantages. Better magical control, and if something comes up, blood-element magic becomes easier too.”

“I understand.”

Lee Han had his own experience of tempering bone with dark elements and reinforcing reagents that way, so he immediately understood what Diret meant.

Strengthening bone fragments by using blood ultimately connected to strengthening bone-element magic as well.

So even without forcing myself to use blood-element magic directly, the power still goes up just by applying it like this.

“Of course, dark elements or poison elements are generally more preferred. Blood elements don’t really have any special effects, and the methods of using them are a bit limited… But like I said.”

“If you learn it, there will always come a time to use it, won’t there?”

Diret nodded with a broad smile.

“Let’s start with this.”

“Yes. But how difficult is this spell?”

Diret just kept smiling and, without answering, urged Lee Han on with a gesture.

Lee Han found that strange, but started by sprinkling small amounts of ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) his own blood over the bone fragment.

“Blood, gather here…”

The bone fragment turned crimson and connected to Lee Han far more strongly than before.

Lee Han could understand the advantage Diret had mentioned earlier, of feeding it your own blood.

If he summoned a Skeleton Warrior using this bone fragment, it felt like much more delicate control would become possible.

“You succeeded.”

“Yes.”

“I figured you would, so I didn’t bother telling you how difficult it was. What would be the point of saying it?”

“…You could still have told me…”

*****

After that, Diret explained a variety of spells that linked bone and blood, blood and poison, poison and bone.

Spells that amplified toxicity through blood, spells that used poison to blow apart bone and scatter it through the surrounding area, and so on.

There were a lot of them, and many were varied and difficult enough that even Lee Han didn’t let his concentration slip.

“By the way, Senior. Something suddenly made me curious.”

“What is it?”

“What year is this lecture for?”

“Third year. Why?”

“…Doesn’t it seem a little strange that I’m taking it?”

“Huh? Not really?”

“……”

Diret took out a pocket watch, checked the time, and then spoke.

“There’s still some time left. We can go and come back.”

“If there’s time left, how about resting? It looks like you need rest too, Senior.”

“Where we’re going now is rest, Junior.”

“?”

Diret gave Lee Han a meaningful grin and gestured for him to come outside the lecture hall.

That smile made Lee Han uneasy for no reason.

Usually, when Einroguard mages smiled with confidence, very little good came of it.

“It’s a place I go to pretty often whenever I’m worn out.”

Hmm. That makes me even more uneasy.

If it had been someone from the summoning-magic group, that would be one thing, but since this was the dark magic group, the uneasiness was only natural.

Wasn’t it entirely possible that “rest” meant going into some underground stone chamber beneath a swamp, or a communal graveyard?

Diret was a good person, but even good people could have somewhat twisted tastes.

Diret opened a side passage on the second underground floor and stepped inside, then lightly knocked on the wall of the long corridor stretching endlessly ahead.

At that, the staircase beneath their feet lurched and began rushing forward.

“!”

“It’s a place a little removed from the main building.”

Diret explained so Lee Han wouldn’t be startled.

Einroguard was so vast that upper-year students didn’t walk from place to place when moving around. If they did, it would take far too long.

One of the common methods was these side passages linked to the main building.

The main building of Einroguard had, over its long history, ended up connected to countless routes leading into Einroguard’s territory outside the building. If someone found one of those routes properly, it became a side passage that could carry them a great distance with a single motion.

THUD!

“We’re here. Let’s get out.”

Diret called up a staircase leading upward and climbed out first. Lee Han followed behind, worried that a graveyard or some deadly poisonous swamp might appear.

Fortunately, there was no graveyard and no smell of rotting corpses. The only thing he could hear around him was the sound of leaves brushing in the wind.

The underground side path connected to a spot in the middle of a forest.

“Where is this?”

“The Dark Forest. If you look around, you’ll understand why it’s called that.”

Lee Han looked toward the forest beyond the clearing.

Even though it was broad daylight, the woods were as dark as evening, filled with deep green trees.

Between those trees and thickets, he could feel dark elements circulating as though they were constantly rotating through the forest.

“It’s a place full of dark elements.”

“That’s right. It’s a good place for a dark mage who handles dark elements to recover mana.”

As if Diret had really come here often, Diret summoned chairs and a table.

Once Lee Han confirmed it was safe, he sat down and looked around.

It really would be a good place for dark mages.

Naturally, a place where dark elements were formed this strongly would suit students of the dark magic group extremely well.

Even for those who didn’t directly manipulate dark elements, the nature of that mana would make the effects exceptional.

In fact, Diret, who had used quite a lot of magic during today’s lecture, recovered mana quickly after taking just a few breaths of the forest air.

And beyond that, it was obvious Diret simply liked the forest itself. Diret’s face had visibly brightened.

“Oh, right. Junior. Don’t tell the other juniors about this place.”

“Not even the upperclassmen from the dark magic group?”

“Especially not them. I didn’t think there was any need to tell them this much. It’s not like they’re going to make it to fifth year anyway.”

“I understand.”

As Lee Han nodded, he suddenly felt that something was strange.

There had been something off in what Diret had just said.

Then does that mean Diret wants me to make it to fifth year…?

“Wait! Over there!”

“?”

“We need to catch that, Junior. A dark snail!”

Spotting a rare creature that lived in the Dark Forest, Diret hurried Lee Han along.

After bringing out a summon, Diret flew swiftly into the air and began chasing the dark snail.

“Hold on tight. We’re going!”

With the junior riding behind, Diret pursued the dark snail racing away in the distance like an arrow.

Seated behind, Lee Han checked the rapidly changing scenery around them, readying himself in case some other monster launched an attack.

Then the scene in front of his eyes changed.

“…?!”

At the sudden shift, Lee Han realized he was seeing an illusion.

He was in the middle of racing through the air after Diret. There was no reason for a sight like this to appear before him.

What is this? Ordinary illusion magic shouldn’t work on me.

Lee Han panicked, because he had already experienced that outside illusion spells and poisons aimed at attacking him generally didn’t work.

Inside the illusion, a mage dressed in antique formal clothing spoke. The style was so old and strange that even from the outfit alone, Lee Han couldn’t guess where it came from.

—Master. As you instructed, I have come like this. Now answer me. What must I, Antagondals, do?

“!”

Lee Han had heard the name Antagondals before, so his eyes widened in shock.

Why was that mage criminal inside Einroguard’s territory?

But the figure standing in front of Antagondals was even more shocking.

Unbelievably, it was the Skull Principal in human form.

“…!!!”

Even normally, the Skull Principal in human form was not exactly kind or gentle, but the Skull Principal in this illusion had an icy, arrogant demeanor.

It looked as though he were ignoring Antagondals completely, even with Antagondals standing right in front of him.

Despite Antagondals’s continued pleading and requests, the Skull Principal said nothing at all. Antagondals’s expression twisted with a flicker of anger, but Antagondals restrained it and spoke again.

—Then I will wait! Master! Until the day you teach me again!

With those words, the illusion ended.

Watching the dark snail draw closer and closer, Diret shouted in delight.

“Junior! Do you see it?!”

“Senior!!”

“Huh!? What?! Why!?”

When the junior suddenly grabbed Diret’s shoulders tightly and shouted, Diret nearly lost balance and wobbled.

But that was nothing compared to what the junior was about to say.

“This is bad! The Skull Principal has finally gone mad!!!”

“…I have no idea what you’re talking about, so explain it slowly!”