Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 583

“So, when manipulating mana for elemental conversion, you must understand the characteristics of the corresponding attribute…”

[Boo.]

“It’s important to develop the habit of correctly visualizing the characteristics of the attribute.”

[Boouuu~]

“Generally, the method of imprinting association, which involves recalling specific objects or memories, is widely recommended…”

[Boouuuu…!!]

“…”

With each pause in his speech, the incessant crying echoed, and Lenox quietly put down the chalk he was holding.

Behind Lenox, faint laughter could be heard intermittently.

“Professor’s spirit. It wasn’t originally like that, was it?”

“Can’t you even remember Davi’s face? Look closely. It’s right above his head.”

[Boouuu~]

“It seems you’ve succeeded in combining two spirits in the meantime.”

“It took over half a year for my cats to get along… As expected of the professor…!!”

“I don’t think that’s the part to be impressed by.”

Regardless of the feelings of the undergraduates or Lenox, the Dean’s spirit, clinging to Lenox’s head, was crying out diligently.

Not to be outdone by the fur ball, Davi also popped out from his arms and was fiercely fighting for the spot on Lenox’s crown.

Regardless of Lenox’s lecture, the two spirits were constantly squirming above his head.

With this appearance, there was no way the undergraduates could concentrate on the lecture.

Lenox eventually put down the chalk and shook his head at the undergraduates who were looking at him, trying to suppress their laughter.

“Let’s take a short break and resume. See you in 10 minutes.”

Without waiting for a response, Lenox left the lecture hall, and Cassia followed him out immediately.

She, too, had been laughing at Lenox for a while, and with a faint smile still on her face, she patted Lenox’s shoulder.

“Evan, don’t worry too much. I think the undergraduates would be happy even if you just stood there without lecturing?”

“As someone who has taken over the lecture on behalf of Director Vayla, I can’t do that.”

Lenox said, brushing off his collar.

The two spirits clinging to his head swayed along with the gesture.

Seeing Cassia’s expression, as if she was holding back laughter, Lenox also smiled wryly.

“Still, I have to do my job properly.”

The reason Lenox, who had not lectured since Aris went on sabbatical, was standing in front of the podium was simple.

It was because Director Vayla of the Elemental Department, who had been temporarily filling Aris’s position, had returned to the Carlisle Research Institute due to an urgent matter.

As a result, Lenox, who was officially working as an assistant professor, had to take over and teach the lectures that Vayla had been in charge of.

Today’s lecture was for the second-year students’ last semester, a kind of supplementary class held after the final exams.

The content was also a basic part of the practical application of elemental magic, which would be taught in earnest from the third year, so it wasn’t too burdensome.

However, the schedule was slightly disrupted because the Dean’s spirit had been clinging to Lenox’s pants just before the lecture.

“Hey, what’s the problem?”

[Boo!]

When Cassia lifted the Dean’s spirit, which was flattened on Lenox’s head, with both hands, the fur ball began to struggle and cry frantically.

It was desperately trying to return to Lenox and stick close to him.

In the meantime, Davi, who had quickly taken over Lenox’s head, mocked the Dean’s spirit with a strange laugh.

[Buhuhu, huhuhu!!]

[Boouuu~!]

“…”

Lenox eventually sighed, accepted the Dean’s spirit, placed him on his shoulder, and turned back towards the lecture hall.

“It’s not interfering with the lecture itself. Let’s just finish the class quickly and find a solution.”

“Shall I contact the Dean?”

Cassia asked, spinning her phone in one hand.

“I went out for a moment and checked, but he’s not in the Elemental Department’s lecture building. It might be inconvenient, but since it’s his spirit, it’s better to contact him…”

“That would be good. I’ll leave it to you.”

Lenox said that and entered the lecture hall again with the spirits dangling from him.

After giving the undergraduates a good laugh with the spirits’ antics and answering a few questions about elemental magic and anti-gravity technology, Lenox was able to finish the class safely.

Some students packed their bags and left the lecture building to attend the next class, while others remained in the lecture hall, watching Lenox and the spirits with great interest.

Either way, their numbers were not small.

Priscilla, who was helping Lenox organize the experimental tools used in this lecture, spoke with a smile.

“It’s been so long since we’ve seen the assistant professor, everyone is very happy.”

“Wasn’t it Davi they were looking for, not me?”

“Oh, have you already been found out?”

Priscilla smiled and picked up the experimental tools, then briskly left the lecture hall.

Cassia, who approached Lenox in her place, shook her head.

“He’s not answering.”

“Are you talking about the Dean?”

“The signal is going through, but he’s not answering at all. Usually, when he has a schedule, he turns off his phone completely.”

“…”

Lenox was lost in thought, watching the dark navy hair swaying gently.

‘There’s no reason for the Dean’s spirit to be clinging to me at this time…’

Unlike Davi, the Dean’s spirit cannot convey its intentions in human language.

Only the mage who directly contracted with the spirit can properly communicate with it.

In that sense, it’s not appropriate to say that the Dean sent the spirit to Lenox because he had something to tell him.

‘What was the last conversation I had with the Dean?’

He remembered meeting the Dean at school, but he couldn’t remember what he had heard at that time.

Fortunately, the intuition and intelligence of a high-ranking mage made it possible to retrieve even a fleeting image from the depths of the subconscious.

Lenox concentrated and quickly recalled his memories as if playing a video, and soon remembered what they had talked about.

“…It was about the integrated master’s and doctoral program.”

As soon as he finished the incident in the closed area, he had briefly visited the school to study Kaise’s clock.

At that time, the Dean, who had visited his lab, had seen Lenox’s tired appearance and told him to rest well, saying that he would postpone the integrated master’s and doctoral program schedule.

However, the submission deadline for the integrated master’s and doctoral program review papers was not set in the first place, and it was up to Lenox whether he would apply or not.

He had skimmed through the university’s internal regulations when he submitted his second paper, so it must be the case unless the regulations had changed in the meantime.

“Is it just that the Dean was mistaken and gave me wrong information? I’ll have to visit him soon and talk about this…”

Lenox muttered absentmindedly, then stopped speaking as he understood what he had said.

Lenox’s eyes, which had been staring blankly at the ceiling of the lecture hall, turned cold.

Cassia asked, looking flustered at the sudden change in his expression.

“Evan…?”

“…That’s right. I wasn’t mistaken. Did he deliberately give me the wrong information?”

He wasn’t mistaken about the integrated master’s and doctoral program schedule. Rather, it was the Dean himself who decided the schedule.

The Dean had deliberately given Lenox the wrong information and was waiting for Lenox to come to him to inquire about it.

To naturally make an appointment to meet alone, through an error that only Lenox and the Dean himself could understand.

Considering that fact and the Dean’s spirit, which was desperately clinging to Lenox now, one conclusion could be reached.

The Dean’s spirit wasn’t crying without thinking while looking at Lenox.

Rather, it was a message of rescue to the Dean, who was absent and unreachable now-

Clank!!

“A-Assistant Professor…”

Priscilla’s voice, coming from beside him, was trembling.

“This, this is a joke… right?”

Priscilla, who had left the lecture hall to organize the experimental tools in place of Lenox, slowly backed into the lecture hall with a box full of them in her arms.

Following Priscilla, a long, metallic object slowly entered from beyond the lecture hall door.

The muzzle of a heavy shotgun was nudging Priscilla’s forehead as it entered the lecture hall.

[You should listen to what the adults say, student.]

The one who appeared with the shotgun was a large man with tanned skin wearing a leopard mask.

The leather was tattered, as if he had torn off the neck of a living leopard to make a mask, and the leopard’s eyes were bloodshot and rotten.

The shotgun held by the large man with the buzzing fly-covered animal mask was splattered with blood of unknown origin.

An appearance so savage and disorderly that it was hard to believe he was in this lecture hall.

The terrified students screamed.

“Y-You crazy… Who are you!!”

“Kyaaaaak!!”

“Assistant Professor!!”

[Shut up.]

Bang!!

The shotgun, which had been aimed at Priscilla’s forehead, turned and fired.

It shot the leg of a male student standing next to her, scattering blood.

[Shut your mouth. Don’t scream.]

“…!!”

The male student, clutching his blood-soaked thigh, gritted his teeth.

The lecture hall quickly fell silent at the sound of the gunshot.

The large man looked at the students and shook the shotgun he was holding.

[All the staff of the undergraduate administration office have been subdued, and we have also taken control of the internal facilities’ mana computer room.]

“…”

[The cell phone network has also been cut off, so you have no means of asking for help from the outside.]

The large man smiled faintly as he looked at the lecture hall, which had become as quiet as a mouse.

[It would be best to obediently follow the instructions of the Evil God Temple. Do you understand?]

“Evil God Temple…?”

Bang!!

He found the student who muttered the words like a ghost and fired the shotgun again.

Even with the strange animal mask on, his senses were incredibly sharp. A power that was impossible to think of outside the realm of a superhuman.

Lenox frowned unconsciously as he watched.

‘The situation is not good. Of all times…’

The doctrine of the Evil God Temple.

Although the words he had heard from Ivelin were slightly different, Lenox immediately understood who they were with that one word.

The sorcerer group, the Evil God Palace, that had bombed District 34, causing more than 2,000 casualties.

The executives of the Evil God Palace, who had been hiding without being caught, had really infiltrated Lavatenon University, just as Ivelin had said.

No, they hadn’t infiltrated.

Considering the Dean’s actions, they must have already infiltrated the university a long time ago and were waiting for an opportunity to completely seize control of the facilities.

A siege warfare in which the entire massive facility of Lavatenon Magic University was taken hostage.

From the beginning, this sorcerer group had assumed that and attacked District 34 to gain a route to the magic university.

* * *

[Everyone, submit your cell phones. Without exception.]

“Hic…!”

“Please…”

The undergraduates, with trembling hands, placed their cell phones and other belongings in front of the large man.

Even though the signal was not working properly, probably because they had already deployed a jamming device, they collected the cell phones. Was there something they meant by that?

The large man checked each of the undergraduates and then gestured roughly towards Lenox and Cassia.

[You two teachers standing there too. Quickly.]

“…”

Since the cell phones were locked, there was no possibility of information being leaked, but the message logs would be difficult to recover if the cell phones were broken.

Lenox thought that far and quietly handed his cell phone to them.

Cassia, seeing Lenox’s response, was about to say something, but then put down her cell phone.

If it were up to her, she would have liked to beat that large man to death and end the matter, but she had to be careful here.

Unless she knew how many executives of the Evil God Palace had entered the university, rash actions would only cause greater damage.

‘They said they could imitate the spirituality of others. Did they use that ability to sneak into the school?’

Lenox’s gaze turned to the two students who had fallen after being shot in the leg with the shotgun.

‘The power of the shotgun is not strong. They must have customized it in advance to reduce its power.’

If one were hit by a shotgun at such a close range, their limbs would be shattered into pieces, not just injured.

However, the two students who were hit were bleeding, but it was at a level that could be suppressed with hemostasis.

If they had to intentionally kill the power of a shotgun that normally dismembers a human body with one shot, there was only one reason.

‘They want to keep the undergraduates alive as much as possible. Are they planning to use them as hostages?’

The reason they brought a short-barreled sawed-off shotgun was because it was easy to hide the weapon.

It was evidence that they had to be conscious of the outside world while infiltrating the university facilities.

The sorcerers of the Evil God Palace were not so relaxed or confident that they could avoid conflict.

‘They have a goal they want to achieve inside the university, and they plan to take the students hostage for that purpose. That’s why they completely cut off outside contact and killed the administrative staff first.’

That was probably because the undergraduates with the talent of a mage were more valuable as hostages than the administrative staff.

Lenox’s mind was racing.

‘There are only three departments left with mandatory lecture hours after the final exams. Most of the professors and other undergraduate students are already on vacation. It’s too perfect to be a coincidence… There’s someone who leaked information from the inside.’

If they had committed such an act by perfectly matching the schedule of the few remaining departments at Lavatenon University, there must almost certainly be someone who had colluded with them from the inside.

The Dean’s existence naturally flashed through his mind. But Lenox thought that far and immediately denied the possibility.

The Dean had sensed something was wrong a few days ago and had tried to warn Lenox.

Considering the Dean’s spirit that had come to Lenox, it was evidence that his intention had not changed.

Rather, it was reasonable to assume that the Dean himself had indirectly given Lenox a hint to avoid being monitored or confused by information leaks.

‘Looking at the Dean’s attitude at that time, it didn’t feel urgent. Did things progress much more urgently than expected?’

A being who could hold back the Dean, a 7-level Saint-rank mage, while openly committing terrorism at Lavatenon University and taking students hostage.

Could the circumstances so far be easily explained without the power of the city government?

‘The rumor that there was a backer behind the Evil God Palace was true. Did the Central Council really plot such a thing…?’

He had heard that there were factions and divisions within the council, but he never thought that a faction with such an extreme stance would take action.

Moreover, that the target would be the undergraduate students of an educational institution directly under the city government.

[Let’s see… The memo that the monkey wrote was here…]

The large man wearing the leopard mask stuck his hand into the mask’s mouth and wriggled as if searching through a bag.

His hands and forearms were scratched by the animal’s teeth and blood was flowing, but the large man didn’t care and pulled out a piece of paper from his throat.

[Ah, I found it. That’s right. This was the name.]

The leopard, holding the shotgun, pointed it randomly at the undergraduates and asked.

[Evan Bailon. Is he in this lecture building? Come forward.]