"......"
"G-Gainan was taken!"
"Ahhhh!"
Of course, the students panicked.
In broad daylight, a monster had flown in and taken their friend.
It would have been strange if they weren’t shocked.
But Lee Han felt a strange calmness.
‘I’ve really been influenced by this school.’
Having seen so many insane situations, he wasn’t shaken by something as trivial as a monster flying in and kidnapping Gainan.
"Everyone, lower your stance!" Lee Han shouted.
The students from the Blue Dragon Tower next to him hurriedly crouched down at his command.
- Kraaaah!
"It’s coming back!"
"No!"
Another student, this time from the White Tiger Tower, was snatched up.
Seeing this, a thought flashed through Lee Han’s mind.
‘No way!’
There had to be a reason why the monster was targeting specific students among the crowd.
Gainan had bright golden hair.
And the student just taken had bright silver hair.
"Everyone, cover your heads with your cloaks! It’s targeting those with shiny hair!"
"W-what? It’s taking bald people?"
"I’m talking about hair color, you idiot!"
The Blue Dragon Tower students were flustered by the sudden command but didn’t doubt Lee Han’s words.
Thanks to that, they were able to react faster than the other towers.
Once they crouched low and covered their heads with their cloaks, the monster lost interest in the Blue Dragon Tower students.
‘It worked!’
Lee Han knew his judgment had been correct.
He had heard that some birds were attracted to shiny objects, but he hadn’t expected it to work on monsters too.
Without Gainan’s sacrifice, he wouldn’t have figured it out.
Tap tap—
"?"
Lee Han, still crouching, noticed an elf he had never seen before touching him.
From the uniform, it was clear she was a White Tiger Tower student.
Long black hair, pointed ears, and a well-trained body typical of a knight family.
She was definitely from an eastern elf knight family.
Before Lee Han could respond, a fierce reaction erupted from beside him.
"Who dares touch Wodanaz!"
"Honorable friends! This country bumpkin from the White Tiger Tower is..."
The Blue Dragon Tower students reacted quickly and fiercely, like a row of falling dominoes.
The White Tiger Tower girl, flustered, hurriedly explained.
"I have no connection to the Moradi family faction! Your Highness, please explain."
The princess, Adenart, stepped forward as if to block her.
Lee Han was puzzled.
"What’s this? Do you know each other?"
Adenart nodded with her usual expressionless face.
The elf quickly explained, buying time.
"I am Rowena, a knight serving Her Highness."
"A knight serving the princess? But this school doesn’t allow attendants or guards... Ah. I see."
Lee Han figured it out without needing further explanation.
Rowena looked at him with surprise.
Normally, the school didn’t allow attendants or guards.
But every rule has its loopholes.
If a fellow freshman voluntarily offered to serve, there was no way to stop it.
The princess had been famous in the empire since childhood, so it wasn’t strange for freshmen to offer their service even before enrollment.
‘Besides, it was like that during alchemy class too.’
Back then, Lee Han had wondered why so many students from different towers gathered around the princess.
If they had known her before enrollment, it made sense.
‘Suddenly, I feel sorry for Gainan...’
Lee Han felt pity for Gainan, who was probably flying through the sky right now.
While the princess had people flocking to pledge their loyalty, Gainan...
Even though they were both royalty, the difference was too stark.
"So, you’re a knight serving the princess. But why are you telling me this?"
"Even though we’ve hidden from its sight for now, we don’t know when it might change its mind. Please, Lord Wodanaz, give the order to stop it."
"...??"
Lee Han thought he misheard.
‘Am I supposed to command someone?’
For a moment, he wondered if there were undead soldiers under him that he didn’t know about.
But there really were subordinates he didn’t know about.
The Blue Dragon Tower students stepped forward, brushing their noses.
"Hmph. Wodanaz. We’re counting on you."
"Wodanaz, we trust you. Give us an honorable command."
"......"
Lee Han was dumbfounded.
Without realizing it, he had become the leader of the Blue Dragon Tower.
‘Traditionally, being a leader is never a good thing...’
Though flustered, he couldn’t just do nothing in this situation.
Lee Han nodded and began giving orders as they came to mind.
Rowena watched Lee Han’s movements with curiosity.
Among the freshmen, she wasn’t the only one serving Adenart.
There were others in different towers.
Their reason for serving Adenart wasn’t because she was one of over a hundred royals.
It wasn’t for the wealth or power of the imperial family either.
They had gathered purely because of the abilities Adenart had shown.
Because of that, Rowena had naturally assumed Adenart would lead the Blue Dragon Tower.
But surprisingly, the leader of the Blue Dragon Tower wasn’t Adenart.
It was a boy from the Wodanaz family.
- This is unbelievable!
- How could this happen?
Of course, Adenart wasn’t sociable.
She was quiet, reserved, and her cold face often intimidated others.
But her followers didn’t see that as a problem.
Especially in the face of Adenart’s overwhelming abilities.
They thought even the proud and arrogant Blue Dragon Tower students would have to acknowledge her genius in any field.
But the Wodanaz family wasn’t known for being sociable either.
Though they were one of the empire’s most renowned magical families, their reputation was filled with eccentric and terrifying rumors.
So, the idea that a boy from such a family was leading the Blue Dragon Tower was hard for the followers to believe.
How could this be?
‘Maybe I’ll find out the secret this time.’
Rowena, while protecting Adenart, stared intently at Lee Han.
She had no choice but to ask him.
If she or Adenart had given the order, the arrogant Blue Dragon Tower students would never have obeyed.
Honestly, it was frustrating.
If she could figure out how Lee Han led the Blue Dragon Tower students, maybe Adenart could do it too.
‘I’ll find out and advise her!’
Rowena never imagined.
That Lee Han had won over those arrogant students with food.
‘When it comes down to it, there’s not much I can do.’
They didn’t have bows or crossbows, and there was no way to deal with a monster flying so high.
So, what could they do?
‘We’ll have to scare it off like a beast.’
Fortunately, Lee Han had a few methods.
"Everyone, line up and form a wall!"
At his command, the students lined up to create a temporary wall.
Lee Han crouched behind them, ready to maximize the element of surprise.
‘It’s coming!’
As the monster descended again, Lee Han immediately cast a spell.
"Light!"
It was the simplest 1st-circle magic, light creation, but its effectiveness varied greatly depending on how it was used.
A glowing orb, bright as the sun, floated into the air.
The charging monster screeched and veered away.
- Kraaaah!
Lee Han had hidden and suddenly cast the spell, catching the monster off guard.
"Whoa! Whoa! Turn!"
‘What’s that?’
Just as Lee Han thought the monster had fled in fear, a human voice came from above the monster.
He had a feeling he knew who it was.
‘Could it be a professor? No, it must be.
There’s no way this school has a normal professor!’
Though it was just a hunch, Lee Han realized the monster was being controlled by a professor.
This damn school...!
The frightened monster, perhaps calmed by the professor, turned back.
- Kraaaah!
It seemed embarrassed to have been scared by a harmless ball of light.
Angrily, it clacked its beak and charged directly at Lee Han, clearly aware of who was leading the students.
"No! Wodanaz, get out of the way!"
Rowena, watching, shouted urgently.
Lee Han’s plan had clearly been successful.
He had exploited the monster’s weakness and made it flee.
But now, he had to avoid it.
‘What’s she saying?’
‘Doesn’t she know who she’s talking to?’
The White Tiger Tower students looked at Rowena in disbelief.
Rowena, who hadn’t attended swordsmanship classes, was under a huge misconception.
The boy from the Wodanaz family had more than enough ability to take care of himself.
But Lee Han didn’t move.
His chiseled face hardened as he swung his staff.
"Move!"
Along with the spell, a rock rose into the air.
Though it was just a 1st-circle spell, to the students present, Lee Han looked like a grand archmage.
‘Please don’t hit our own people.
Please don’t hit our own people.’
With only a few spells at his disposal, Lee Han had planned to use a low-level control spell if the light creation failed.
The problem was...
The moment Lee Han levitated the rock, instead of maintaining control, he shot it like an arrow.
Aiming was impossible.
It was all up to luck.
If he could aim, he would have used this spell from the start.
"Wodanaz! Wodanaz! Wodanaz!"
"Wodanaz! Wodanaz! Wodanaz!"
Unaware of Lee Han’s inner turmoil, the Blue Dragon Tower students chanted his name enthusiastically.
Even students from other towers joined in.
Ping!
The levitated rock shot out sharply.
"!!"
Amazingly, the rock grazed right past the monster’s beak.
‘Did I mess up?’
Lee Han sighed inwardly.
Honestly, just getting it that far was something to be grateful for.
- Kraaaah!
But surprisingly, it worked.
The rock grazing its beak startled the monster, causing it to stop and turn away.
"Waaaah!"
"Wodanaz! Wodanaz!"
Some White Tiger Tower students looked at him with a mix of fear and anger.
They had to admit it.
The boy from the Wodanaz family was on a different level.
While they couldn’t even create a light orb, he had already mastered rock control magic and used it in battle...
Originally, even if you learned magic, using it in combat was several times harder.
In the chaos of battle, with blood flying and weapons clashing, even practiced spells could fail due to loss of focus.
But for him to succeed like that...
‘A monster!’
‘Huh? Did it work?’
While everyone was amazed, Lee Han was just bewildered.
Did it get scared because it missed?
‘Lucky.’
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Well done!"
The professor’s voice came from above the monster again, and it landed amidst a cloud of dust.
Thud!
Before landing, the professor tossed down the students who had been taken earlier.
Gainan was foaming at the mouth, unconscious.
Thud!
The professor landed gracefully.
Dressed in leather pants and a jacket, with pilot goggles on his head (an artifact radiating magical energy), he looked every bit the explorer.
But Lee Han felt something else.
Somehow, the dwarf looked familiar.
Could he be related to Thunderstep?
‘No way.
Just because all dwarves look alike to me doesn’t mean they’re related.
That’s prejudice.’
Thud—
The dwarf walked over and grabbed Lee Han’s collar.
Then, in a cheerful voice, he said,
"You’ve got talent!"
"......"
He’s definitely related to Thunderstep.