Only then did Uregeoleum recall the story he had heard from Professor Garcia last time.
"That student, Ihan, has an extraordinary amount of magical power," Garcia had said.
"To what extent?" Uregeoleum had asked.
"Try drawing a large circle with both arms," Garcia replied.
"Wow, that's quite impressive," Uregeoleum had remarked.
"And how much did you take away from him?" Garcia had paused before answering, "I've heard he has an insane amount of magical power, but I didn't expect it to be this much."
If even after drinking a mana potion, one couldn't feel any recovery, there was no need to say more.
"I'm sorry, Professor," Ihan said. "... It's fine. You did well. I'll give you praise. Here! We have a student who has perfectly brewed a potion."
"Wodanaz...!" "As expected of the Wodanaz family," the other students murmured.
Rather than being surprised by Ihan's performance, they reacted with comments like, "If it's Wodanaz, it makes sense," or "For a genius like that, it's not surprising."
Ihan was slightly taken aback by their reactions. 'What's going on? Why is there so much hype?' Ihan was evaluating himself coldly.
He didn't consider himself a genius.
He had just spent a long time rolling around in the lab, so he was more familiar with student life than others.
But being treated as a genius made him feel a bit awkward.
When did this happen?
"As expected of Wodanaz. Truly genius," Asan exclaimed, pouring a slightly hazy blue potion into a flask.
Asan's potion was decent, but compared to Ihan's, it seemed lacking.
"The potion made by Siana from the Phoenix Tower was also excellent, but it's not as good as yours. Look over there," someone pointed out.
Ihan turned his gaze.
A snake beastman student in priestly robes was holding a vividly blue potion. 'The Flameng Sect?' Ihan quickly recognized it, as Yonell had explained it to him before.
The Flameng Sect, which worshipped alchemy.
Naturally, the sect's priests were all outstanding alchemists.
So it was no surprise that a student named Siana had brewed an excellent potion.
Siana walked over to Ihan and Asan, extending her hand.
"You're from the Wodanaz family, right? Nice to meet you. I'm Siana."
"Nice to meet you too. Feel free to speak casually. I'm Ihan," Ihan replied, shaking her hand.
Her hand was cold and cool, perhaps because she was a snake beastman.
"I didn't expect to meet such an outstanding alchemist. Did you learn from the Wodanaz family?" Siana asked.
"Hey, that's enough chatter," Professor Uregeoleum interrupted, having returned to the front of the classroom.
"Today, you all tried brewing a <Low-Grade Mana Recovery Potion>. Some of you did well even though it was your first time, while others struggled. But don't get too caught up in the results. This is just the beginning of alchemy. Ahead of you lies a complex and mysterious world of alchemy." 'Professors really are skilled at killing students' motivation,' Ihan thought.
"Next week, I'll assign you a task. Brew a <Low-Grade Spirit Affinity Potion>. You'll test it yourself, so take it seriously," Uregeoleum said.
The students diligently took notes with their quills.
Fortunately, Uregeoleum provided the recipe for the <Low-Grade Spirit Affinity Potion>.
He didn't tell the freshmen to figure it out on their own.
"Professor, there's no Spiritvine here... Where is it? Is it upstairs?" some students asked, unable to find the ingredient in the shelves and drawers.
Uregeoleum looked equally puzzled.
"What are you talking about? You have to find it yourselves."
"Oh, is that so? We'll look for it then," the students replied, getting up to search.
"No, no. Not here." "??" "Over there," Uregeoleum pointed out the window.
The dense mountain range behind the main building greeted the students. "......" "......"
"Go and find it. I trust you all remember what I said during the first lecture."
The students' faces twisted in despair and anger.
Uregeoleum wasn't the only professor showing his true colors.
The magic school's professors seemed to be in a competition to see who could assign the most homework, each piling on an insane amount of tasks for their respective classes.
- Take these books and read them.
Find at least five logical flaws in them.
- Professor, there aren't enough books.
We need more if we're to share them.
- What are you talking about? That's for one person.
Lift all the books.
New ones will appear underneath.
- ......
The students were horrified by the sheer volume of books, easily over a dozen.
- Professor, carrying these...
- Don't worry.
I've cast a weight-reducing spell for you.
Hurry up and take them.
Some students from the White Tiger Tower were on the verge of tears in the <Basic Imperial Language and Logic> class.
- This is a magic circle design proposal I submitted to the empire in my youth.
Calculate the total cost based on this.
You don't need to get the exact answer, but the students with the farthest answers will be punished.
Even Asan, from a prestigious imperial family, was driven to despair by the <Basic Imperial Geometry and Arithmetic> class.
- Love and harmony among you all.
What? You don't want to? Your opinions don't matter.
You must love and harmonize.
With that in mind, I'll assign you a task.
Each tower's students must retrieve the flag hung in the freshman lounge of the tower I designate by the next class.
It's a flag with a specific emblem.
At this point, one had to wonder if the <Basic Magical Ethics> class was about teaching ethics or inciting conflict.
With each class, the students' faces grew paler.
"How are we supposed to get the White Tiger Tower's flag?"
"Why does it have to be the White Tiger Tower? Those guys won't listen to reason."
To make matters worse, the Blue Dragon Tower's students were tasked with targeting the White Tiger Tower.
If it had been the Black Tortoise Tower or the Phoenix Tower, they might have been able to negotiate and borrow the flag.
But given their history with the White Tiger Tower, asking for it would only earn them a sneer.
"The White Tiger Tower guys are targeting our flag too. Should we try to exchange?"
"How can we trust them? We've seen the dirty tricks they pull. They're savages with no sense of honor."
"I asked earlier, and they said they'd never agree."
"Let's just give up. It's a waste of time."
The Blue Dragon Tower students sighed and murmured among themselves.
If the assignments were manageable, they could stay motivated, but with no way out, they just wanted to give up.
Why did it have to be the White Tiger Tower?
'This isn't good,' Ihan thought, alarmed by his friends' mood.
A student who easily gave up on a class's credit would never achieve greatness.
Especially in this magic school, which was like a battlefield where you never knew what insane class or credit might come your way.
Giving up so soon was not an option.
Even if it didn't affect his own score, Ihan was tied to the group, and his score would suffer too.
"Wait! Don't give up yet."
"!"
"Wodanaz!"
"Do you have a plan?"
"I knew it. I knew you'd have a plan."
The students' reactions shifted from surprise to curiosity to confidence to belief in about three seconds.
Ihan was amused by how easily swayed they were.
"What plan do you have in mind, Wodanaz?"
"Wait. I think I know," Asan said confidently.
"What is it, Dalkard?"
"You're thinking of sneaking into the White Tiger Tower, right? 95% chance that's it."
"Ooh...!"
"Indeed! I'll join you!"
"Me too! Let's teach those White Tiger Tower guys a lesson!"
"What's going on?"
"Instead of begging the White Tiger Tower, Wodanaz is planning to sneak in and take their flag."
"I like that idea!"
In no time, the Blue Dragon Tower students had a plan.
They called out to Ihan.
"Wodanaz! Lead us."
"You're the only one who can lead us through this plan from start to finish!"
"......"
Ihan was about to say something but gave up.
It was already too much trouble.
'Well, I guess we have to sneak into the White Tiger Tower.'
Even if Ihan were a White Tiger Tower student, they probably wouldn't give up their flag.
After all, they had just been punished as a group because of him...
The only way was through force.
"Alright."
"Wodanaz! Wodanaz!"
"White Tiger Tower guys, wait for us! We're coming!"
'Is this really helping with ethical education?' Ihan wondered if the headmaster's lectures were truly fostering the right kind of character.
It seemed like the more they did, the deeper the emotional rifts between them grew.
Finally, evening arrived.
Ihan called Tiziling and, using the same sly trick as before, got her to eat dinner.
As Tiziling sipped her soup, she noticed Ihan's satisfied gaze and felt puzzled.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Haha, it's nothing."
Tiziling wondered if the boy in front of her was so pleased because he had cleverly tricked her into eating dinner. 'It must be my imagination,' she thought.
He was from the honorable Wodanaz family.
Coming here to feed her dinner was likely out of a sense of duty as a priest and a noble.
Such a person wouldn't smile like a villain over something so trivial.
"Nice to see you here, Wodanaz. I was actually looking for you."
"!"
Siana, whom Ihan had met in the alchemy class, greeted him.
She wasn't alone; students from other towers had gathered as well.
"What's going on?"
"As you know, because of the assignment from the alchemy class, we all need to brew a <Low-Grade Spirit Affinity Potion>. There's a limit to what one person can do alone. I thought we could work together to gather the materials."
"That's a great idea."
Ihan was delighted.
He had thought of a similar approach before... but the other tower students were too afraid of him to agree. 'Damn it.
Is it because of the priestly robes? I have one too.'
"Then could you gather the Blue Dragon Tower students and join us? Let's collect the materials together."
"Sure. Let's do that."
After finishing the conversation, Ihan saw Siana off.
The students beside her whispered things like, "We survived," "Did you see his gaze? My heart almost stopped," and "He was surprisingly kind."
Ihan felt a bit wronged, even though he knew why they acted that way.
When he returned to his seat, Tiziling tilted her head in confusion.
"What's wrong?"
"Well... about Priest Siana from the Flameng Sect."
"Yes. We're in the same alchemy class."
"... It's nothing."
Tiziling hesitated, then firmly closed her mouth.
There were two ways to make someone curious: one was to start talking and then stop... 'Textbook-level curiosity-inducing,' Ihan thought.
Of course, he knew how meticulous priests could be.
She probably didn't want to gossip in front of others, fearing it might come off as slander.
But Ihan didn't care about that. 'What does it matter? I'm curious.'
Instead of confronting her directly, Ihan decided to take a roundabout approach.
He took out a prayer cross from the Freesinga Sect and placed it on a rock in front of him.
"?"
Tiziling was confused.
"It's bad to speak ill of someone who isn't here, but when you're praying alone before the gods, it's acceptable to confess."
"... Are you trying to play dumb now...?"
"I think I heard something, but I can't hear it. I'm in the middle of praying."
"......"
"Last time, the White Tiger Tower students ambushed us, and I almost died. If Priest Siana is planning something sinister this time when we go into the mountains, I might really die. But the gods will watch over me, right?"
"......"
Tiziling sighed and stood up.
She knelt beside Ihan, bowing her head as if in prayer.
"Freesinga, this is not meant to harm or accuse anyone."
"Thank you."
"I think I heard something, but I can't hear it. I'm in the middle of praying."
"......"
Tiziling also had a bit of a sharp tongue.