"Huh?" It seemed that it wasn’t just Gainan who had been captured.
Yi Han turned his head at the sound coming from nearby.
In the courtyard not far away, students from the White Tiger Tower were in a state of chaos, scrambling around in disarray.
"Was the White Tiger Tower captured too? Did those guys deliberately throw Gainan to them?" Yi Han asked, just in case.
He wondered if the White Tiger Tower students, enraged by Dergu’s capture, had swarmed in and grabbed Gainan to throw him away.
"No. Gainan just tripped over his own feet and fell."
"... I see."
While Yi Han and Yonell were being held by the two professors and listening to their lecture on how "real mages don’t become bureaucrats but go to graduate school," the students who had just finished their Basic Imperial Geometry and Arithmetic class hurriedly rushed out of the lecture hall.
The lecture had been so suffocating that once it ended, everyone ran outside to breathe in the fresh air.
- Pull yourself together! Don’t collapse! There’s another lecture next!
- I...
I’ll just stay here...
I need to sleep...
Students on the verge of collapse weren’t just from the Blue Dragon Tower.
No matter which tower they were from, the lecture had been tedious and torturous.
- But are Wodanaz and Meikin really okay? What if the professor notices?
- The professor wouldn’t notice even if we replaced ourselves with monsters and sat there.
- True...
- I’m not joking, this is serious.
If I have to sit through this lecture a few more times, I’ll fall into eternal sleep.
- If the assignments are this bad, what about the midterms? Can I just turn in a blank sheet? If I get dragged to the punishment room...
- Honestly, I was thinking about setting the place on fire during the lecture.
- Me too.
I was hoping some summoned creatures would show up.
Boom!
Whether the students’ words were heard or it was just because of the noise, a summoned creature actually appeared from the bushes.
Some students screamed in shock when they saw the vine monster they had encountered before.
- Everyone, run!
- Run into the building!
- Someone call the professor!
- No! The professor won’t help! Just run while you can!
Some students ran quickly, but others, like Gainan, tripped over their own feet and fell.
The vine monster didn’t bother chasing the fleeing students.
It leisurely tied up a few fallen students with its vines, lifted them up, and then happily left.
"... Wait. Did Dergu fall too? He doesn’t seem like the type to trip."
"That White Tiger Tower orc friend got caught trying to save Gainan."
"......"
Yi Han felt sorry for Dergu.
He got captured just because he tried to help Gainan, his friend...
A White Tiger Tower student ran out of the main building, panting heavily.
"What happened?! Where’s the professor?!"
"He said... he’ll handle it..."
"......"
"......"
The absurd answer the student brought back left not only the White Tiger Tower students but also students from other towers speechless.
This is really too much, isn’t it??
But Yi Han remained calm.
‘We should’ve chosen the professor more carefully.
We acted too hastily.’
You can’t just grab any professor and say, ‘Please help us.’ You need to ask someone relatively friendly and... well, someone with a conscience...
‘Wait.
There’s no professor with a conscience.’
...
Someone relatively friendly and a bit gullible.
That’s who we should’ve asked.
That White Tiger Tower student probably panicked and asked the first professor they saw.
"What should we do, Wodanaz? What should we do?"
The Blue Dragon Tower students all looked at Yi Han desperately, as if he were their only hope.
Should we chase now?
Or find another way?
It was a difficult choice for them to make.
"Let’s chase. We don’t know where the professors are, and if we lose the trail, it’ll be hard to find them later."
The trail left by the summoned creature was still fresh, and the distance wasn’t too far, but if they waited longer, it would become harder to follow.
And Yi Han had one more thing he trusted.
‘Percunta!’
When Yi Han called the name, the fragment of Percunta inside him resonated.
Now, the contracted summoner was calling forth the spirit with his rightful authority.
"Sing of thunder, O spirit! Of lightning and thunderbolts! The bell tower of the fallen kingdom and the lookout of the wandering ship on the vast sea fear your name. I, your contracted one, summon you with rightful authority!"
The princess was startled when she saw Yi Han chanting the spell.
As the fastest mage to summon a spirit here, she could guess what kind of spirit Yi Han was summoning.
The spell used to summon a spirit revealed its majesty and rank.
Such a long and complex spell surely meant...
Crackle!
A flower of lightning bloomed where Yi Han planted his staff, and the spirit began to take form.
‘The spirit of lightning!’
The knight beside the princess, Rowena, was even more shocked than the princess.
She could accept that Yi Han had contracted a powerful spirit.
After all, Wodanaz was a monstrously talented mage.
But the spirit of lightning was among the most violent and fierce of spirits.
Moreover, summoning it with such a long spell meant it couldn’t possibly be weak.
‘How? How did he contract it?!’
"Appear!"
At Yi Han’s request, Percunta’s avatar manifested.
A fist-sized sphere of lightning crackled and took shape.
The students were bewildered by its appearance.
Huh?
"???"
"... Ah! That’s right! A spirit’s strength isn’t related to its size!"
They had heard that the rabbit-shaped spirit shown by the Thunderstep was incredibly strong.
This spirit, despite its ordinary appearance, must surely hide extraordinary power.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense for Wodanaz to have gone through so much trouble to summon it.
Wodanaz wouldn’t make such a mistake!
The students nodded in understanding, but Yi Han didn’t.
This was too different from the Percunta he had first met.
Even if it was just an avatar...
- What’s this? Isn’t this just a tiny part of you?
- Have you forgotten that I’m currently trapped here because of your command...?!
Percunta shouted telepathically at Yi Han, sounding frustrated.
Of course, Percunta had told Yi Han, ‘When you go out, don’t forget to summon me! My power isn’t just this!’
But that was supposed to be a few days later.
Right now, Percunta was still trapped because Yi Han had ordered it to ‘stay here for a while’ to escape the punishment room.
That hadn’t ended yet, so it shouldn’t have been possible to summon it so easily.
Only because Percunta was a powerful spirit could even a tiny part of it be summoned like this.
Normally, it shouldn’t have been possible to summon it at all until the command was lifted.
Even after explaining the situation, Yi Han’s gaze remained cold.
- You don’t believe me now...?!
- It’s not that I don’t believe you... but if every time I need help, something like this happens, what am I supposed to rely on?
Percunta missed the old mages.
Arrogant, hot-tempered, and illogical, they would throw tantrums and make unreasonable demands.
Percunta could handle them, even burn them to death if needed.
But this young mage spoke politely while saying such annoying things.
What was even more frustrating was that it was hard to argue back.
- Don’t worry.
I don’t know why you summoned me, but with this much power, I can handle it.
Just wait and see!
‘Really?’
- I can feel your emotions, you know!
- No. Can’t you respect some privacy?
Yi Han quickly followed the trail with the Blue Dragon Tower students.
Ahead, the White Tiger Tower students seemed to have decided to chase as well and were running.
"Hey, you guys! Don’t follow us!"
"That’s our line! You guys stay back!"
"You can’t even use magic properly... pant pant."
The outcome of this race was already decided.
The White Tiger Tower students, who took swordsmanship and physical training classes, were far ahead of the Blue Dragon Tower students, who were physically struggling to keep up.
Yi Han looked at the students with pity.
"You should’ve exercised more."
"Those... those guys are just ridiculously strong... pant pant."
"I’ll go ahead. Follow as much as you can."
"No! Wodanaz! cough... If you go alone, the White Tiger Tower guys will..."
‘That’s not likely.’
‘That’s not likely...’ Friends like Rowena and Asan, who knew Yi Han relatively well, thought to themselves.
For other students, being left alone with the White Tiger Tower students would be dangerous, but Yi Han was different.
If left alone, wouldn’t the White Tiger Tower students be the ones in danger?
"It’s fine. Follow when you’ve recovered."
- Why are you so physically strong?
Percunta wondered as it watched Yi Han run effortlessly.
He didn’t seem to come from a knight’s family, so why...?
But before Percunta could get an answer, it urgently shouted.
- Enemy! An enemy is hiding!
"I hide in the night!"
Yi Han instinctively chanted a spell, but no attack came.
- Where is it hiding? There’s nowhere to hide nearby...
There were no large bushes or anything to hide in around this path.
To find a hiding spot, they’d have to run further toward the mountains.
- Below!
"!"
Yi Han immediately leaped into the air.
If the enemy was hiding underground, even if Yi Han used invisibility, they might have noticed through sound or vibrations.
But the vine monster wasn’t targeting Yi Han.
It burst out of the ground and grabbed another White Tiger Tower student.
"Angro!! No!"
A goat beastman was immediately wrapped in vines and lifted up.
- How was it hiding?
- The mages must’ve given it some unnecessary abilities.
This monster shouldn’t have the ability to seep into the ground and camouflage itself!
‘This school isn’t just full of crazy professors, but crazy seniors too.’
Yi Han gripped his staff and focused on the vine monster.
The captured White Tiger Tower student seemed to have lost strength and hung limply.
- It absorbs mana.
Be careful not to lose your mana... though you might be fine even if you lose some, but still, be careful! If you get caught, it’ll be troublesome!
- I wasn’t planning on getting caught in the first place.
Yi Han wasn’t stupid enough to get caught by a vine monster just because he had a lot of mana.
He swung his staff, trying to summon flames.
"Burn..."
- No!!!! Absolutely not!!!!!
Percunta, who had trauma from Yi Han’s flames, desperately stopped him.
Until it was sure, it couldn’t allow Yi Han to use fire magic.
- Why not?
- It’s dangerous! You could burn the other students to death!
- It’s not for attacking, just to keep it from approaching...
- It’s still dangerous!! No!!
‘Is it really that bad?’
Yi Han was puzzled.
It seemed fine to just float some fireballs nearby to block its approach...
- Normally, I could subdue it in one go, but right now, I don’t have enough power.
Yi Han looked at Percunta with a betrayed expression.
You said this much power would be enough earlier!
Percunta hurriedly continued.
- But I’ll teach you a spell! You can use it in my place.
- Can’t you just use it yourself? I’m worried about using it right after learning it...