Why Did I Have to Enroll - Chapter 36

Lesson 9. Learning Martial Arts - 1

As the group entered the tower, it was Room 0.

However, as they took a few more steps forward in tension, suddenly the surrounding environment distorted, and the number that appeared on the pendant rose one by one until it stopped at 5.

"Room 5."

Light whispered in a small voice.

Today, since he wasn't carrying that gleaming sword, it could be said that he was finally dressed appropriately for covert action.

"I was thinking we might have to start over from Room 1 since we've been caught up in so many strange things, but I'm glad we didn't."

"But this is..."

Ban Yu-won narrowed his eyes as he detected the corridor wide enough for only two people to walk side by side, the fork in the road visible beyond, and above all, the complete absence of any monster presence.

Last week, they just had to comfortably hunt monsters, but it seemed this time it was an exploration-type room.

And among those, the most common one.

"It's a maze."

"I think I've seen this in the textbook."

"This way."

As they reached the fork in the road, Luciel pointed to the left without hesitation.

Wondering if she had some basis for this, Ban Yu-won looked at her, and Luciel confidently nodded her head.

However, as they followed her words and walked, they soon came to a dead end.

Feeling the group's gaze focused on her, Luciel gave a clear answer.

"I smelled a monster."

"So you found a monster, not the path."

―Kigik, kigigik

At least at that point, even Ban Yu-won couldn't detect any traces of monsters, so Luciel's tracking ability could be said to be truly amazing in some sense, but...

No sooner had he thought this than something black and sticky began to fall from the shadows on the wall.

At first glance, it looked similar to the Cloister they had encountered in Room 1 earlier, but its body was more sticky, unpleasantly shiny, and above all, it was constantly emitting unpleasant sounds.

"Glitch."

Ban Yu-won reflexively uttered the monster's name.

"Why is such a thing here already..."

"It's not that surprising."

Like all the rooms they had experienced so far, this creature wasn't one that should appear in just Room 5.

The sound it emits distorts all human senses, and its irregularly flashing light causes mental abnormalities.

―Gik, gigik

You know how sometimes when you play a console game with a cartridge, the screen glitches and everything from graphics to sound goes haywire?

The phenomenon where everything that should be normal is reversed, giving an eerie sense of horror.

This creature was like that phenomenon brought to life.

"Keong!"

―Gigigik

And the best way to not fall victim to it is to crush it before it can do anything.

Just as Luciel had just demonstrated.

[You absorb Life 0.1, Demon 0.2, Flash (閃光) 0.1, Noise (騷音) 0.1, Malfunction (故障) 0.05, Reversal (反轉) 0.01. Flash, Noise, Malfunction, and Reversal are concepts that humans cannot possess.]

Perhaps because it was a type so different from the monsters they had faced so far, there were many new concepts to gain.

However, what Ban Yu-won focused on were the concepts of malfunction and reversal.

While malfunction can be somewhat associated with the idea of breaking down a person's body, what about the concept of reversal, which means turning things upside down?

It's not a concept that anyone would think of just by looking at a glitch.

In other words, this is also a concept that appeared additionally because Ban Yu-won knows about the phenomenon of glitches in the modern Earth.

'Although it's just a tiny bit like those concepts often are... if I gather more and more here, I wonder if I can fill up to 1?'

Based on Ban Yu-won's experience, a concept is established as a concept when at least a depth of 1 is gathered.

100 Glitches, at this rate, there might be a need to deliberately wander around Room 5...

"What are we going to do? We can't just charge ahead blindly since it's a maze."

"Well, I guess we'll have to move while remembering all the paths..."

"Ban, don't you have any clever ideas?"

As expected, the anticipated question came.

Ban Yu-won responded with an ambiguous smile.

"I'll try to figure something out from now on. Let's move for now."

"Alright."

Ban Yu-won deliberately ignored the numerous concepts of wall (壁) and path (路) visible to his eyes.

After all, the goal of this exploration isn't to speed through the tower, but to adapt to it!

Three hours passed like that.

"This is strange."

Dokgo Yeon, who had just crushed a Glitch at the end of a dead-end with one blow, said.

"I've been remembering all the paths up to here, but..."

"The shape of the path is different, but it feels like we've been here before."

Light added, and Dokgo Yeon nodded as if she had been waiting for this.

"That's exactly it. It's not just a simple maze, it's saying that the paths are changing in real-time."

"According to the textbook, that should clearly be at least 100 rooms..."

"That damn textbook! Forget about it for a bit!"

Since the group entered the tower, the only thing that matched that cursed textbook was the names of the appearing monsters!

"Move aside. If we destroy everything, something should come out."

The stress that had unknowingly built up over the past 3 hours made Dokgo Yeon step to the front.

The ominous fluttering of her sleeves suggested that she was about to launch a proper attack.

But there was no need for that.

"Dokgo Yeon, wait."

After scraping concepts from the shattered Glitch, Ban Yu-won confirmed that the concept of reversal had finally reached 1, nodded, and stepped forward.

"Actually, I just figured something out."

"Just now?"

"Yeah. So..."

Ban Yu-won passed by Dokgo Yeon and pressed a certain point on the wall.

Then, as his hand seemed to sink into the wall, the wall crumbled at that point, revealing a new path before their eyes.

[You absorb Illusion (虛像) 0.5. This is a concept that humans cannot possess.]

Where there should have been a wall, the concept of illusion was embedded instead of a wall.

When Ban Yu-won retrieved it, even the parts that were actually walls crumbled, revealing a path.

In other words, if one couldn't accurately catch the parts where illusions existed, it would be impossible to find the path.

The reason why Dokgo Yeon, sensitive to energy, couldn't find this was probably because both the illusion and the wall were made of the same mana.

I wonder if it's even possible for anyone other than Ban Yu-won to distinguish between these two in the first place.

"Ta-da."

"...You, did you really just figure that out?"

Dokgo Yeon's suspicious gaze pierced Ban Yu-won as he turned around with a smile.

If he confessed honestly, this week's exploration might end here, so Ban Yu-won just shrugged his shoulders, asking what she meant.

"I don't like wasting time either, you know? I just kept exploring and found a gap to poke at."

"Hmm."

"We found the path, so it's fine. Let's go now. I'm sick of this maze."

"We'll encounter it many times as we climb the tower."

"What are you talking about? Now that Ban has figured out the trick, he'll solve them all right away."

Light's gaze was filled with infinite trust.

It was understandable that he would look at him this way, given that he had not only eliminated most of the traps encountered in Room 3 earlier, but was now even breaking through the maze.

And that was the correct answer.

In fact, Ban Yu-won was starting to think that everything in this tower, except for the monsters, was as easy as eating cold porridge for him.

'Well, it's only natural since this is the tower I'm going to inherit.'

Ban Yu-won had such a brazen thought as he took the lead of the group.

Once they escaped the maze's trap and set out to find the correct path, Glitch attacks began to occur everywhere. However, while Glitches had exceptionally strong special abilities, their defense was as weak as paper gloves, so they couldn't even withstand a single blow from Ban Yu-won, the weakest member of the group.

"Excuse me."

―Kwajik

Moreover, they had Luciel here, who could sniff out monsters.

If they just attacked in the direction she pointed, they could take care of the Glitches before they even had a chance to flash once.

"Beast, are you alright?"

"Yes. Because Ban is here."

As she kept her ears perked up for the unpredictable movements of the Glitches and sniffed around, Luciel's hair was turning slightly black.

But it was also true that the speed of this change had slowed compared to before, and Luciel herself seemed stable, perhaps because she firmly believed in Ban Yu-won.

Dokgo Yeon nodded leisurely and said to Ban Yu-won,

"Ban Yu-won, remember what I said earlier."

"I told you, I don't know."

Ban Yu-won replied weakly to Dokgo Yeon's words as he erased another illusion.

At that moment.

"Kuk?!"

"Ban!"

"Oh no, in front...!"

Suddenly, everything around them collapsed, the corridor expanded greatly, and an absurdly huge Glitch appeared before the group.

It was mind-boggling that Ban Yu-won's group was encountering elite monsters that others couldn't even meet, at a rate of one every other room.

Moreover, since the path they had been standing on until just now was narrow and Ban Yu-won was at the front, he was the only one who could deal with the creature right now.

―Gigik

"Tch...!"

The moment the Giant Glitch started to emit noise and light up, Ban Yu-won, without deep thought, pulled out the entire concept of reversal he had gathered so far.

―Gigik

"Tch...!"

The moment the Giant Glitch started to emit noise and light up, Ban Yu-won, without deep thought, pulled out the entire concept of reversal he had gathered so far.

Since it wasn't a concept that humans could possess, it was impossible for him to directly wield the power of the concept.

Therefore, as he had thought before, he would release the concept itself!

Just like using the active concept of Wave, he poured all his magic power into the string of characters for Reversal and made it explode!

―Kigigigigik

The effect was dramatic.

The moment the golden string of characters shot straight towards the Giant Glitch and emitted a brilliant light, everything originating from the Glitch was reversed and engulfed it.

What would happen when an attack that causes massive anomalies in all senses and mind engulfs the body of a Glitch, which is almost like a mental entity?

Like a computer screen glitching, wave-like cracks ran across its entire body.

"Hup!"

Ban Yu-won took a step forward in that moment and swung his sword powerfully.

[Severance Wave]

The wave imbued with the power of severance split the cracking body of the elite monster in half with a single stroke!

[You have stolen Life 5, Demon 7, Flash 5, Noise 5, Malfunction 2, Reversal 1, Resistance 0.5.]

Ban Yu-won sheathed his sword and let out a light sigh.

In fact, directly releasing and using language concepts was something he had considered before, but was reluctant to use.

Because using it like this would cleanly deplete the concept.

Although he had just recovered 1 Reversal intact from the elite he hunted...

'It was certainly effective, but maybe that's because I used it in a consumable way.'

He tried applying the newly acquired 1 Reversal to his sword as a test, and it worked properly.

Wielding this wouldn't produce the same dramatic effect as just now, but wouldn't it be better to keep using it rather than consuming it uselessly?

He swung his sword in the air a few times, nodded with satisfaction, and organized the remaining concepts.

The problem was the Demon, or more precisely, the 3.5 Magic (魔) extracted from it.

[Magic Power 199.999]

'It's not increasing.'

Despite having absorbed more than enough, his magic power wasn't rising above 200.

He had felt uneasy even before entering the tower, and now that uneasiness had come true.

In the case of Life, there was no such obstacle, and for Body... he might have missed it because he broke through 200 at once when absorbing Erecto's body concept.

"What's wrong? Is there another enemy left?"

Dokgo Yeon, who had been speechless at the small miracle Ban Yu-won had just shown, tilted her head and asked as she saw him hesitating.

"No, it's not that. My magic power isn't growing."

"Magic power? Growth... Ah, you've hit a wall."

Surely not talking about the walls of the maze, Ban Yu-won waited for Dokgo Yeon's next words.

"You've been increasing your energy so rapidly that it's as if you're forcibly sucking it in from your surroundings. It's like pouring water endlessly without giving the vessel time to expand, so of course you'll soon feel the limit..."

"Vessel... Then what should I do?"

"Blindly trying to increase your energy like you've been doing isn't a good method. There are several ways, but... Right, the best way is to release a lot of energy while allowing your body to adapt to it."

"Body, adapting to energy."

Hearing that, it was certainly hard to say that Ban Yu-won had been actively handling magic power yet.

Although he had been constantly activating his body since gaining magic power, that was just like warming your hands with the heat from boiling water.

He could say he had meaningfully consumed magic power only when using the concept of Wave or when he just now consumed Reversal entirely.

'It would be good to get more active concepts. Or maybe I should research how to actively use passive concepts.'

For the past week, he had paid more attention to Luciel than developing his own abilities, and now it was coming back to bite him.

As he was feeling perplexed, Dokgo Yeon smiled slightly and made a suggestion.

"I know a good method, shall I teach you?"

"No thanks."

"Are you thinking of me as some kind of vicious scammer? It's not that big a deal, so don't feel burdened. If you really want to thank me, I won't stop you from showing your gratitude in your own way."

Ban Yu-won didn't miss how Dokgo Yeon's gaze briefly turned towards Luciel before coming back as she said this.

If Ban Yu-won hadn't been the possessor of the All-Seeing Eyes, he wouldn't have noticed at all.

But this meant that she was really envious of Luciel receiving clothes as a gift from Ban Yu-won.

If that's the case.

"If you're willing to teach, I'll gratefully learn. Look forward to a gift too."

"Excellent."

It was a cheap price to pay, just a few pieces of clothing, in exchange for advice on how to handle energy from Dokgo Yeon, an unfathomable master.

As Ban Yu-won changed his attitude in an instant, Dokgo Yeon also smiled with satisfaction.

"Wait a minute, Ban. We've even taken down an elite monster, but there's no shift happening. Stop chatting with Dokgo Yeon and do something."

"This is rather fortunate. You've all been walking for a long time, right? Take a rest. I'll be teaching Ban Yu-won the basics of the Mysterious Body Technique (玄身功)."

A study to make a black body?

As Ban Yu-won unconsciously interpreted it literally and was imagining extremely prejudiced and racist images in his mind, Dokgo Yeon glared at him with white eyes as if she had read his thoughts.

"The 'Xuan (玄)' in Mysterious Body Technique is the same 'Xuan' as in 'Mysterious' (玄妙). Whatever you were thinking, it's not that."

"I'm sorry, teacher."

"It's fine if you understand. Despite its grand name, it's actually just a basic martial art, so it won't be too difficult."

"But still, it's a martial art... Do we need to do something like kowtowing to the teacher?"

He had received a lot of help from Dokgo Yeon in various ways, but this was the first time he was actually learning martial arts from her, so he asked such a question. Unexpectedly, Dokgo Yeon chuckled.

"Making such a fuss over a basic inner cultivation technique that even children learn. This isn't even a study to accumulate energy. It's just a simple technique to refine your body with your innate energy. Where on earth did you get your knowledge about the martial arts world?"

From martial arts novels.

It was clear that he would be right if he replied like that, so Ban Yu-won decided to quietly do as she instructed.

Ban Yu-won didn't know, but in fact, the Mysterious Body Technique was the first martial art Dokgo Yeon had learned when she was born.

If he had known this, he would have understood how big a decision Dokgo Yeon had made, but unfortunately, in times like these, he was as oblivious as Light, whom he often teased, so he just swallowed it whole.

Note:

玄身功 = Xuan Shen Gong