Chapter 507
The crow mixed-blood mage he was meeting for the first time hugged the straw doll with both arms and put it down.
"It may look roughly made, but it's a sturdy object with some magical treatment."
The dark element had powerful and unique properties, but it was not an element that easily dwelled in any object.
Even for the relatively easy water element, there were waterproof objects, but for the dark element, it was faster to just find an object it could dwell in.
The powerful and unique properties that were opposite to vitality actually hindered this process.
So even this shoddy-looking straw doll had to be made through some magical treatment.
"Of course, even considering that, it takes quite a long time. It has to be soaked in the dark element dozens of times."
To people who didn't know magic, magic was flashy, but in fact, magic had a larger proportion of tedious repetition and groundwork.
Even making a simple cursed straw doll took much longer than one might think.
"Now. Try it."
"Yes."
Yi-Han swung his staff and summoned the dark element.
It was actually easier than usual since there was a straw doll in front of him.
He just had to summon the dark element towards the straw doll and have it absorbed without needing to control the power.
However, despite the straw doll absorbing the dark element like that, the dark element was so intensely materialized behind Yi-Han that it was visible to the eye and exuding energy.
Direth shook her head and opened the window to call in the wind.
Although Direth had a strong resistance to the dark element since she specialized in it, she couldn't let her guard down in front of this junior.
A momentary mistake could lead to the closure of Professor Mortum's Darkness Chamber.
"Reduce your mana. It's enough now."
"Oh. Is that so?"
"Look behind... No. Focus."
She wanted to tell him to look behind, but Direth just increased the ventilation more.
If his concentration was broken, an accident could happen.
Kwaaah-
The straw doll that absorbed the dark element rapidly shrank in size.
Yi-Han was amazed to see the straw doll shrink to almost the size of his palm.
"Is this structure to compress the dark element and not expose it to the outside?"
"No. It's shrunk because it's completed."
"..."
"..."
The cursed straw doll, which should have taken several weeks to make, was completed right away, but Direth calmly responded.
"Professor! I'll go into the dungeon next door for a moment!"
"Why?"
"The straw doll is complete!"
"What? Ahem, why is that... Ah. I see. Go and come back."
Professor Mortum also calmly accepted it after a few coughs.
All the dark mages except Yi-Han were calmly accepting it.
"Is it normally okay to be completed this quickly? The problem is..."
"There's none. It just got done quickly because you injected too much dark element. Since the structure is simple, there's nothing to worry about, so don't worry."
Direth, who was speaking, hesitated.
"No. There could be a problem. Put in an appropriate amount of mana. It would be troublesome if the straw doll explodes."
"You said it was a sturdy object with magical treatment..."
Direth pretended not to hear the junior's question.
"Ah, ahem. Direth!"
Professor Mortum opened the door again and called Direth.
"Before going into the dungeon..."
"You're talking about the defensive artifact, right? I'll prepare it."
Since she was taking a 1st-year student into the underground dungeon, equipment like defensive artifacts was essential.
"Ahem. No. Bring Atalap's bones from the 2nd-floor warehouse. Take care of the defensive artifacts yourself... Honestly, there's not much need for them."
"..."
No matter what, isn't that too much for the junior going in?
Direth looked at Yi-Han and said.
"Don't worry too much."
"The professor just called your name..."
"Why are you, a 1st-year who's about to enter the dungeon, worrying about that first?"
—
The large and small dungeons hidden throughout Einroguard were so numerous that even the skull principal couldn't grasp them all.
Since the mana was so strong, there were bound to be many naturally occurring dungeons.
Some school students artificially secured or managed dungeons due to the nature of the magic they studied, and one of them was the dark magic school.
Due to the nature of dark magic, dungeons were necessary.
"...You understand? I'm telling you not to misunderstand because other schools also manage dungeons. I'm not lying, so make sure to ask. If they say there aren't any, that's really deceiving. I can prove it too."
Unlike when explaining magic, Direth made very long-winded excuses.
Somehow, she felt conscious when it was said to be the dungeon of the dark magic school, even if it was the same dungeon management.
"As a mage, it's natural to manage dungeons. It would be hard to find them outside."
Dungeons varied greatly depending on the location and environment, but they also had basic commonalities.
It was the point that mana had to accumulate to an excessive degree.
Mana had to accumulate for unusual phenomena to occur, and those phenomena had to occur for mages to be able to use them, so dungeons were unexpectedly not easy to find.
"...Right?"
Direth's voice rose slightly as if she was relieved.
Yi-Han continued to speak to cheer on his senior.
"Yes. The professor I know even took me into the Colossal Hungry Ghost dungeon."
"...That's not it."
'Huh?'
Yi-Han was slightly flustered by Direth's serious denial.
He was trying to comfort her by saying it was okay...
Direth tried to say something more but gave up and sighed.
What's the point of saying it?
The professors wouldn't change anyway.
"In this dungeon, there are no Colossal Hungry Ghosts, but there are blood-sucking weasels. The structure is simple. It's a straight line and not very deep."
The dungeon next to the Darkness Chamber that Direth brought was quite ordinary except for using the entrance near the grave pit.
Compared to the dungeons Professor Bagrak took him to with the determination to kill, there were no hidden terrains or places good for ambush, and it truly had the feeling of a naturally formed underground.
"Do you know about blood-sucking weasels?"
"Yes."
They were not very strong monsters, but they had a very excellent talent for sensing the energy of living beings.
Some hunters in certain regions even used these monsters instead of hunting dogs...
"The attack is not fatal, but it hurts quite a bit if you get bitten. Wear this artifact. It will form a physical barrier and defend you."
Yi-Han received the artifact from Direth.
However, instead of working, the artifact malfunctioned with a strange light and noise.
"Why is this happening? There's nothing nearby that would interfere with the magic?"
Direth tilted her head.
Yi-Han carefully said.
"It might be because I carry quite a few artifacts."
"How many do you have? 2?"
"...Add another 0 behind that..."
Direth was surprised again even though she had vowed not to be surprised about this junior anymore. She was so surprised that the wings on her back stood up in reverse.
"Why are you wearing so many artifacts?!"
It was not for nothing that stories like 'a mage who wore dozens of rings and exploded' appeared in Imperial fairy tales.
Artifacts were not good because you wore many of them.
Basically, since they were not made with the calculation of wearing them together, the more you wore, the more conflicts there were bound to be.
It was easy to understand if you thought about dozens of magics being concentrated on one person without a buffer. Even if exploding was a bit extreme, frequent malfunctions had to be expected.
"But most of these are mana absorption types, so there's no big problem."
Yi-Han quickly explained because Direth seemed too worried.
Mana absorption bracelets and belts.
Flame absorption rings, bracelets, and necklaces.
Mana emission suppression bracelets.
These artifacts, although numerous, had simple magic principles and were all similar types, so there was no problem.
Moreover, Yi-Han took some of them off depending on the situation, didn't he?
"I see... Wait. There are still remaining artifacts?"
Direth pointed out the remaining artifacts as if she wasn't a senior.
"This one?"
"It's a necklace with invisibility magic."
"This isn't ordinary invisibility...? Where did you get this? No, that's not what's important right now. Anyway, this one is fine."
Direth strangely thought of the skull principal from the invisibility magic necklace but decided to let it go for now.
Judging from the neat magic, it wasn't an object that would affect the outside.
"This is a ring of underwater breathing."
"This one is also fine. Magic like underwater breathing doesn't usually cause conflicts."
"This is a silver spoon for poison detection."
"Why this... You haven't been attempted to be poisoned, have you?"
"What a joke. This is a copper ring for signaling."
"This one also won't cause conflicts with artifacts. Wait, who gave you this?"
"The principal?"
"..."
"This is a bracelet of ten thousand demons."
"Yes. ...Wait, what??"
Direth was shocked by the artifact that looked like the culprit no matter how you looked at it.
What crazy bastard made a 1st-year wear that?
—
After hearing the full explanation, Direth said firmly.
"The principal has really lost his mind."
"Senior. The walls have ears and..."
"Yes. I know. The principal has really lost his mind."
'Cool.'
Yi-Han was slightly moved by the spirit shown by the senior.
Isn't this what a senior is?
'When I become a senior, will I be able to confidently curse the professors?'
"Giving this to a 1st-year... Sigh. Forget it. Anyway, you can't use this artifact together then."
"I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault... And honestly, for someone like you, it's easy to block blood-sucking weasels."
Direth said that and turned around.
"?"
Yi-Han wanted to ask what that meant, but the crow mixed-blood mage he was meeting for the first time started walking, so he missed the timing.
'No...'
"The reason for raising blood-sucking weasels in this dungeon is that there are no monsters as good as blood-sucking weasels for checking dark elements. Stop there for a moment."
Direth put Yi-Han behind and walked forward.
After walking a few steps, something flashed in the darkness and 'thud' bumped into Direth.
"See? They rush right in?"
"Yes."
"Now let's experiment with this."
Direth threw the cursed doll she had prepared in front.
Then the blood-sucking weasels hesitated and couldn't get close to the cursed doll as if there was an invisible wall.
"They sensitively detect vitality, so they feel the ominousness caused by the dark element that much. Basically, if those guys can't approach, it can be considered successfully completed to some extent."
After finishing her words, Direth returned to her spot and gestured to Yi-Han. It meant it was the junior's turn.
"..."
"..."
Quiet silence.
When Yi-Han stood in front, the blood-sucking weasels became quiet even before he threw the cursed doll.
As if there were no monsters in the dungeon.
Instead of saying anything, Direth had Yi-Han come back.
"I'll test your doll."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me for this..."
Direth checked the junior's cursed doll.
Seeing the blood-sucking weasels back away even further than before, the effect was very clear.
"You did well. I was a bit worried because the time was short, but there was no need for that. Expanding this basic process is the beginning of applying the dark element."
Controlling the cursed doll imbued with the dark element to specialize the curse, or imbuing it in other places.
Direth threw a blackened bone fragment into the air and summoned skeleton warriors.
Yi-Han admired the skeleton warriors exuding the dark element, unlike their original appearance.
This was an undead enhancement magic that combined other elemental magics.
Not only reinforcing the bones or making them sturdy, but also enhancing them with various attributes.
The magic was so sophisticated that it seemed like this much was necessary to be called a necromancer.
"Excellent! What a combination!"
"...Is this that great? You're really a bit unique..."
Direth was flustered by the junior's intense reaction to the undead summons.
It didn't feel bad, but usually, people didn't admire undead summons like this.
Especially if they were from a noble family!
"Then I'll try it."
Yi-Han took out a bone fragment from his reagent pouch.
"?"
Direth was puzzled by that sight.
She hadn't particularly shown it for him to do it today...?
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