CHAPTER 36

'Stay calm. There's no way he's figured out my intentions yet.'

Ihan took a deep breath and settled his nerves.

There was no way the vampire professor could actually read his mind.

—I'll suck all the benefits out of this lecture that no one else is attending!

'Hmm. If he finds out, it won't be dangerous... just really embarrassing.'

"I asked if you had any questions."

Professor Voladi stared slowly at Ihan as he repeated himself.

"Any kind of question?"

"No. It has to be related to the lecture."

'Well, that's obvious.'

It's not like Ihan was going to ask how to sneak out of school or something…

Still, thanks to that little exchange, he felt like he understood the professor's personality now.

A strict, principled type—harsh on both others and himself.

Ihan had dealt with plenty of people like that before, so they were actually easy to handle.

'The tough ones are the insane ones, like the lich headmaster.'

As long as you follow instructions, there's no trouble. What's so hard about that?

"No questions?"

"Hmm…"

Ihan hesitated.

What should he ask?

Professors always said, 'Feel free to ask anything,' but if you actually did, they'd respond with, 'You don't even know that?'

Asking questions required strategy.

'Let's start with something basic.'

"What is the purpose of this training with the spiritual stone orb?"

Ihan asked with genuine curiosity.

He had to ask something about the lecture anyway, and he was actually curious.

What was the point of just spinning this orb around?

Professor Voladi tilted his head slightly at the question, a look of sincere confusion on his face.

"Didn't you read the name of the course?"

"..."

Ihan didn't panic.

Professors were always like this!

—We taught you 1+1=2, now go solve this complex multivariable equation. What? You can't? Why not?

"Yes, I know the name of the course is 'Repetitive Study of Basic Magical Combat.' But what I want to know is… what does spinning this spiritual stone orb have to do with basic magical combat?"

"Hm."

Upon hearing Ihan's question, Professor Voladi froze.

He just stood there motionless like a statue.

Ihan started to get nervous. It was like someone had switched off his power.

"...Professor?"

"Wait a moment."

With an expression that didn't even blink, Professor Voladi replied calmly.

Well, what could Ihan do?

He waited.

How much time passed? Just when Ihan was starting to regret ever asking, Professor Voladi finally spoke.

"I can answer now."

"Excuse me?"

"It took me a while to think about how to explain something so obvious."

Ihan was dumbfounded.

Wait… that's what he's been thinking about this whole time?

'No, don't be shaken. He's a professor—it's not that strange…'

"Look. I could kill you with just this quill right here."

"..."

Okay, that was definitely strange. Ihan immediately reached for his staff.

Professor Voladi watched Ihan's swift reaction and well-balanced stance, then muttered again.

"I take that back. A quill probably wouldn't cut it."

Not exactly reassuring.

While Ihan was debating whether he should run or call for help, the professor continued.

"As you can see from what I just said, in magical combat, the most important thing isn't high-circle grand magic. Any spell that can end your opponent is enough."

After saying this, Professor Voladi looked slightly regretful, as if he'd gone into too much detail.

"That should be enough to understand."

"...No. Could you explain a bit more?"

"!?"

Professor Voladi froze again, shocked.

Ihan winced a little, but it was too late to take it back.

'At this point, I will get my answer, no matter what.'

After a short silence—

"The current training—rotating the spiritual stone orb—is a practice to control projectile-type spells. You may have guessed this already, but even the same Magic Missile spell can vary massively depending on the mage who casts it."

'I definitely did not guess that…'

"Mages unfamiliar with combat can't cast properly when a real battle breaks out. They get overwhelmed by the noise, heat, and killing intent. But a mage who's drilled magic control into their body through repetition—"

Without an incantation, without even a staff, Professor Voladi cast a spell.

Magic Missile.

Despite the impressive name, it was just a 1st-circle spell.

The theory was simple: gather mana into a sphere and launch it.

A fist-sized chunk of mana would fly out.

And since it was only a 1st-circle spell, the power wasn't that impressive. Mercenaries often debated whether a Magic Missile was stronger than a rock thrown really hard.

…But Professor Voladi's Magic Missile shattered that assumption in an instant.

The wide lecture hall turned into a starry sky.

Dozens—no, hundreds of mana orbs filled the space.

Professor Voladi waved his hand. All the mana spheres instantly shot off in the same direction.

Some flew straight, others curved.

Some moved in perfect patterns, others in chaotic spirals.

Some moved fast, others slow.

But all of them converged on a single objective:

The enemy's vital points.

Boom!

With a deafening noise, the mana orbs collided and vanished.

Ihan felt like he had just witnessed a person—who didn't even exist—collapse from being struck in all their pressure points. That's how precise Professor Voladi's magic was.

At that moment, Ihan realized: when precision reaches its peak, it can become something truly beautiful.

"The goal of this training is to gain complete control over projectile spells, like what you just saw. Do you understand now?"

"Yes. Thank you."

Seeing Ihan nod in understanding, Professor Voladi gave a slight, relieved nod in return.

If Ihan hadn't understood even after that demonstration, Voladi wouldn't have had the faintest idea how to explain it next.

'So that's how it is. He wasn't just trying to get paid for doing nothing.'

Ihan felt a little guilty for misunderstanding him.

He'd assumed it was just a random class set up so the professor could collect a paycheck.

But on closer inspection, the training actually made a lot of sense.

Magic wasn't just about knowing how to cast spells.

Just like swinging a sword didn't make you a master swordsman, mastering even a single spell wasn't something simple.

Can you cast it faster? Can you cast it precisely even in urgent, chaotic situations?

Professor Voladi was someone who emphasized that kind of mastery.

And for Ihan, this projectile magic control training was important too.

Because he had a very specific issue at hand.

"Professor, may I ask just one more thing?"

"Go ahead."

"I recently learned the spell Lesser Control."

"Continue."

Professor Voladi didn't ask where he'd learned it. That wasn't his concern.

"But with this spell… I can cast it, but after casting, I can't hold the object in place."

Voladi's eyebrows went up.

It wasn't that Ihan couldn't control it—it was that he couldn't stabilize it.

A very unusual case.

Most novice mages who struggled with Lesser Control either couldn't move objects at all or could barely keep them moving, but stabilizing them wasn't the common issue.

Unless… the person had an unusually large amount of mana.

"Wait. You must have more mana than I thought."

"Ah. Yes, I've been told that before."

Ihan perked up when the professor immediately figured it out.

If he understood that quickly, there was a good chance he had a proper solution too.

What kind of method would he suggest?

"Mana Drain!"

"?!"

Without hesitation, Professor Voladi grabbed Ihan's arm and cast a high-circle spell.

A powerful and sinister spell that literally drains the target's mana.

"Wait—!"

Of course Ihan noticed his mana being sucked away at an alarming rate.

'At least give a warning first, you crazy professor!'

But it was too late to stop it. The professor was already absorbing his mana.

"…?"

Ihan looked up at Voladi's face in confusion.

As a vampire, his complexion wasn't exactly rosy to begin with, but now… he looked seriously unwell.

"Professor?"

"..."

"Professor?? Are you alright?!"

Thud!

Voladi slowly released Ihan's arm—and then collapsed sideways. Ihan was horrified.

He'd taken down a professor.

Sure, he'd imagined it a lot… but never actually expected to succeed.

Fortunately, Professor Voladi came to shortly after.

As soon as he woke up, he summarized the situation with surprising calm:

"You have more mana than expected."

"…Is that so?"

Despite being the one who'd had his mana drained, Ihan looked far better off than the professor.

In fact, Ihan didn't even feel tired. Despite the massive drain.

"Yes."

Voladi nodded.

If it had been any other professor, they might've explained how utterly absurd this situation was.

Usually, when someone untrained held more mana than their body could handle, they would collapse from the strain. But someone like Voladi—an elite mage—was a different story.

For a mage of his level to lose control and collapse… just how much mana had he absorbed?

But Voladi didn't dwell on that. He didn't consider it important.

What was important was something else.

"I tried reducing your mana with a Mana Drain spell to make fine control easier… but it didn't work."

"A shame."

Ihan understood what the professor meant.

Because he had so much mana, it was hard to precisely control his projectiles. So the idea was: why not drastically lower the mana to make it easier?

…Of course, it failed.

"There's another method."

"What is it?"

"When you cast Lesser Control, have your projectiles ever flown toward you when they went wild?"

At the professor's question, Ihan thought for a moment.

"They haven't."

"Exactly. That's instinct. Even when it looks like control is lost, as long as the spell has been cast and the mage's will is connected to the projectile, control is still in effect."

The reasoning made sense. Ihan nodded slowly.

It was true—if the spell had truly been broken, the projectile should've just dropped to the ground like a pebble.

That meant the connection had still been intact.

'Wait a minute… then when I launched that pebble at those other guys' heads, was that instinct too?'

Even he couldn't tell if it had been a coincidence or instinct.

Ihan decided not to dwell on it. Some truths were better left buried.

"Instinct is powerful. If you can harness that instinct, you might be able to take your projectile control to the next level."

"I see…"

"Are you ready?"

"...Excuse me?"

"Here it comes. I'm aiming for your chin—defend your chin no matter what."

For a moment, Ihan didn't understand what he was talking about.

The floating spirit stones in the air answered that question for him.

Quivering in place as if trembling with anticipation, they began shooting toward Ihan's chin one after another like bullets.

In that moment, Ihan felt his instincts scream with piercing clarity.

His body moved before his mind could process.

"MOVE!!!!"

At least there was some good news.

Ihan had finally gotten the hang of the spell.

The bad news?

Professor Voladi was way more insane than Ihan had originally thought.

'I was a fool to trust a professor at this school.'

Never again!

READ MORE CHAPTERS HERE- https://ko-fi.com/s/0497678ba5