‘Are they really that excited?’ Professor Kirmin couldn’t help but wonder as he watched I-han and Ratford eagerly dismantling the chests. 

While it was encouraging to see students so engaged in his lesson, he couldn’t deny that it felt odd to see them getting so enthusiastic about something so tedious.

“Professor, do you have any harder chests?” I-han asked.

“Wardanaz, you’re not planning to take up thievery, are you?” Kirmin joked.

I-han’s eyes flickered slightly.

“What? N-no, of course not. It’s purely academic curiosity about illusion magic.”

“Right… purely academic, of course,” Ratford echoed.

Kirmin chuckled, waving it off. “Just kidding. Relax.”

* * *

Unlike some professors who preferred a strict approach, Professor Kirmin was known for his softer style, using both carrot and stick. After students wrestled with the tedious chests, it was time to show them something more engaging.

“You all worked hard on those boring chests,” he said, glancing around.

“No, it was actually fun,” I-han replied earnestly.

Behind him, several students sent him death glares, unable to voice their frustration directly in front of the professor. This was why he was the top of the class...

“Alright, let’s continue with the magic technique we started last time. I trust you all remember?”

“Yes, Professor!” The students’ faces brightened.

Finally, something practical and close to combat!

Kirmin called a student up to demonstrate. “Alright, go ahead.”

“Uh… Refract!” The student chanted, casting *Projectile Refraction*. He then summoned a magic missile, causing the blue sphere to appear as if it was approaching from a different angle.

“Whoa!” 

Seeing the magic missile seem like it would hit Kirmin’s face, the student let out a startled noise.

I-han watched with anticipation.

Naturally, Professor Kirmin didn’t let himself get hit. Just as the spell exploded, his form disappeared like a crumbling mirage.

“!”

The students shivered. 

The professor they had been speaking with had been a mere illusion all along. None of them had even noticed the switch.

“Well done, but you’re too straightforward. You need to learn a few tricks,” Kirmin said, smiling.

Skilled illusion mages were masters of deception. If one were to assault a fortress, an enchanter would charge forward like a knight, deflecting attacks and overpowering foes. But an illusionist would slip in unnoticed, eliminate the commander, and impersonate him before anyone noticed.

Instead of head-on confrontations, illusions required misdirection and stealth.

“Alright, let’s split into pairs. One will be the attacker, the other the defender. The attacker’s goal is to outsmart and subdue their opponent. Got it? Wardanaz, where are you going? You’re partnering with me again, like last time.”

“Yes, sir…” I-han replied, looking less than thrilled as he returned to Professor Kirmin’s side.

The other students shot Kirmin grateful looks. Kirmin gave a knowing nod, acknowledging their relief.

“To be honest, Wardanaz, I feel bad putting you up against your classmates.”

“I don’t mind.”

Professor Kirmin pretended not to hear. One acquired such selective hearing after years as a professor at Enroguard.

“Students taught by Professor Bagreg are no match for you, after all.”

“I didn’t learn much from him.”

“Then what about last time, when you pretended to collapse from a heart attack to surprise me?”

Kirmin gave I-han a pointed look, recalling the absurd incident when I-han had feigned a heart attack, only to ambush him with magic once he approached. It had felt like a trick only a master like Professor Bagreg could have taught.

“Anyway, enough chitchat. Let’s begin.”

“Yes. Multiply!” I-han cast *Projectile Increase*.

Similar to *Projectile Refraction*, this illusion spell was slightly more advanced, creating the illusion of multiple projectiles on his staff.

“Water, come forth!”

I-han sent a chaotic volley of water orbs toward Professor Kirmin. Since this was a training session, he kept the power low.

Kirmin raised an eyebrow. “You’re really throwing actual projectiles with that illusion, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Oh, you’re not?”

Kirmin swung his staff, instantly scattering the water orbs into harmless droplets. Every single one of them had been real.

It was an impressive illusion, though only someone with mana reserves to spare could afford such trickery.

‘Must be a fake,’ I-han thought, focusing intently on Professor Kirmin’s form.

While others might not have noticed, I-han’s heightened sensitivity to mana detected a faint irregularity in Kirmin’s appearance. 

It wasn’t that his appearance seemed odd; rather, the slight differences that naturally arose from magic casting hinted at something amiss.

“Hm.”

I-han casually poked the White Tiger Tower student fighting with Ratford nearby.

“Ouch!”

“Oops, sorry. Thought you were the professor.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me…”

“Wardanaz, while it’s impressive that you realized, poking people is not the answer,” Kirmin scolded, tapping the ground with his staff.

If an illusionist hid in a village, you couldn’t simply attack everyone to find them.

I-han surveyed the area once more.

If only he could launch a wide-area attack…

“Wardanaz, no wide-area spells either.”

I-han frowned at Kirmin’s illusion. 

“If you keep ruling everything out, what am I supposed to do?”

“This is an illusion magic class, not a combat training session with Professor Bagreg.”

Point taken.

I-han reconsidered, casting a light water orb spell at Kirmin, who deflected it easily.

‘Just need to find the sense of unease.’

He focused on the subtle discrepancies in the mana flow. Unlike natural mana flows, magical disturbances often gave away an illusionist’s presence.

The problem was that with spells flying around the room, the mana flow was anything but steady.

“Fog, spread!”

“!”

Kirmin watched as I-han cast *Ogonnin’s Dense Fog*, a level-three circle spell, with unexpected finesse.

No matter how many times he disrupted spell arrays or destroyed materials, Kirmin had to admit that Wardanaz was a rare talent.

‘First, I need to hide myself.’

As long as Kirmin could keep observing I-han, he would hold the upper hand. I-han needed to obscure his vision, even for a moment.

“Cloak me, mantle…”

‘Impressive.’

Kirmin observed as I-han’s form vanished within the mist, becoming entirely invisible. He wasn’t called *Voladi’s Only Student* for nothing.

He’d become remarkably adept at illusion magic after only a few sessions.

‘He understands the need for concealment during offense.’

Just then, the windows closed, and the curtains were drawn. Students stopped mid-casting to look around in confusion.

Sensing trouble, Kirmin called out instinctively.

“Hey, wait a minute—”

Crash!!

I-han shattered the magic lamp hanging from the ceiling.

With a loud crack, the artifact’s light extinguished, plunging the room into darkness.

Kirmin felt an odd mixture of pride and a desire to have a word with Professor Bagreg.

‘He really broke it!’

But the room wasn’t entirely dark. Light filtered through the curtains, along with the faint glow from students’ spells.

“Darkness, engulf!”

“…!”

As I-han summoned the rare dark element to shroud the room further, Kirmin chuckled in disbelief.

Wardanaz was truly embracing his role as the attacker.

“Nice move, Wardanaz, but won’t it be harder to find me in the dark?”

“I already found you.”

I-han stopped behind Imirgh, dispelled his invisibility, and tapped him lightly on the back with his staff.

Immediately, Imirgh’s form morphed into Professor Kirmin’s. As the room lightened, several students gasped in shock.

“How did you find me?” Kirmin asked, genuinely surprised.

Wardanaz had been making progress, but he wasn’t quite there yet. So how?

“I combined invisibility with *Ogonnin’s Sensory Insight*,” I-han explained.

“Ah, *Sensory Insight*? Very clever.”

“Uh… yes, Sensory Insight.”

I-han quickly added the honorific, realizing he needed to tread carefully around Kirmin.

The reason for using *Sensory Insight* was simple.

If Professor Kirmin were disguised as a student, he would likely exhibit calm emotions, unlike the rest.

Kirmin, clearly pleased, clapped his hands.

“Well done. I see you noticed the magic resistance drop around Imirgh. While Imirgh has decent resistance, it’s not enough to block perceptive spells like yours.”

“Actually, my spell worked even better than I thought.”

Kirmin looked taken aback.

While he didn’t use multiple defensive spells in the school, he did maintain basic protective wards. 

And I-han had somehow pierced right through them.

“Goodness… no wonder Professor Bagreg likes you so much.”

“What??”

I-han’s expression turned serious for the first time in a while.

* * *

Though Professor Verdus had nearly stopped summoning I-han for random tasks, I-han didn’t mind. He knew better than to visit and ask, “Professor, are you alright?”—a guaranteed way to get dragged into something.

All he could do now was enjoy the peace his senior, Kettle, had secured by ending Verdus’s requests.

‘

Thank you, Senior Kettle.’

But it wasn’t possible to avoid Professor Verdus forever.

Class time, for instance, left no room to dodge.

“Wardanaz, why do you look so happy about enchanting class?”

Angrago was puzzled.

Wasn’t Wardanaz supposed to fetch Professor Verdus?

Just thinking about it gave Angrago a stomachache…

“Oh, I’m just thrilled I only have to see him in class.”

“…”

Passing by, Giselle shot I-han a look that said she thought he was insane.

“Professor?”

Before class, I-han knocked on the door of Professor Verdus’s workshop.

Seeing I-han, Verdus waved him in from across the room.

“Oh, were you in the middle of something? I can come back later.”

“Nope, got to go. Said he’d kill me if I didn’t show up.”

I-han didn’t bother to ask “Who?” and simply smiled.

Verdus grumbled, wrapping up his work.

“This is absurd! Who keeps breaking the magic lamps in the classroom?”