Why Did I Have to Enroll - Chapter 2

Lesson 1. This is Your Status Window - 2

When a person experiences a series of incredibly surprising events, they often become oddly calm.

This wasn't some theory proposed by someone; it was what Ban Yu-won was actually experiencing right now.

[External stimuli trigger the opening of the Babylonia Code ability. The system will display using the ideographic writing system most familiar to the ability holder.]

'The ideographic writing system I'm most familiar with... Chinese characters?'

That was correct.

Not a phonetic writing system that represents sounds as characters, but a language that embeds meaning within the characters themselves.

The Babylonia Code was organized in the form of these Chinese characters and appeared before his eyes.

[Extracting common concepts from two goblins: Demon (魔鬼), Life (生), and Body (肉體). Other concepts are too insignificant or complex for the current holder's level to absorb.]

[Absorbing 0.2 Demon. Demon is inherently a concept humans cannot possess. The power of the Babylonia Code allows temporary storage within your body, but you won't be able to wield this power. It is recommended to separate it or bestow it upon another object or living being.]

[Absorbing 0.4 Life, increasing the holder's Life to 10.4. This enhances your fundamental abilities and potential as a being.]

[Absorbing 0.2 Body, increasing the holder's Body to 10.2. Your physical body becomes stronger.]

Messages written in a language that felt powerful in its very characters, clearly different from the academy's notifications, appeared one after another, filling Ban Yu-won's vision.

Amidst the chaos, Ban Yu-won could see it.

Three strands of text burst out from each of the two goblin bodies... then found their matches, combined, and were sucked into his body in order.

'Ah...'

Miraculously, he could even perceive how the text strands that entered his body moved. Two strands of text... probably Life and Body, were completely absorbed into Ban Yu-won's body and naturally merged with the text strands that originally existed within him.

On the other hand, the remaining text strand, Demon, tried to rampage violently as soon as it entered his body, but was quickly suppressed by a mysterious force and isolated in a corner of his body.

As soon as all the absorption was complete, the goblins' corpses instantly dried up and crumbled into dust.

'...My body has changed.'

He sensed it.

He had never used such an expression in his life, but at this moment, he was certain.

He had become stronger.

He could vividly feel his grip strength, leg strength, and even his slightly weak skin becoming a bit tougher.

He had been surprised by his own language abilities many times before... but without a doubt, this moment was the most surprising of all.

No, this isn't even just about language ability!

[Revealing all internal concepts that the current holder can perceive.

Life 10.4 — A concept possessed by all living beings. Related to the quality of existence.

Body 10.2 — The concept of the physical body.

Soul 300 — The concept of the mind.

All-Reading Eyes 100 — Eyes that read everything. A concept unique to the holder.

All-Hearing Ears 100 — Ears that hear everything. A concept unique to the holder.

All-Speaking Lips 100 — Lips that speak everything. A concept unique to the holder.

Demon 0.2 — A concept possessed by all corrupted beings originating from evil. Humans cannot possess this, but it is being held by the power of the ability.]

Even as Ban Yu-won was touching his changed body, messages continued to appear.

In fact, although he was very surprised, it wasn't too difficult to accept this message window.

Perhaps because this Babylonia Code appeared in place of the status window, its structure seemed very similar to it.

To the point where he could understand, 'So this is what took my status window away.'

Taking the language concepts from the dead goblins was like gaining experience points, and this code appearing now was like displaying the status window!

'Life, this is clearly like the level in games. If this grows, it means my level has increased. Things like Body and Soul are stats. Why is Soul so high? I don't know, so I'll skip that for now. Things like All-Reading Eyes and All-Hearing Ears must be related to my language ability... So these are skills. Ah, maybe these are related to the unusually high Soul stat.'

At this point, it could just be called a status window that's a bit different from others.

Let's just accept it as such and move on!

'If I start questioning why I have this ability, things might get too complicated. I don't know! It's not like knowing this will allow me to do anything right away anyway...'

No, that might not be entirely true.

Ban Yu-won's gaze lingered on the concept that appeared in the last line, Demon.

It clearly said that humans can't possess it, so he should get rid of it quickly.

There was also a guide saying he could separate it or bestow it upon another object or living being.

Seeing this, Ban Yu-won finally grasped what his ability was.

'So, not only can I understand all languages, but I can also perceive and manipulate the components that make up living beings as language concepts.'

He could either absorb them directly to strengthen himself.

Or bestow them upon other objects to enhance or change them.

Or perhaps even release the language independently and utilize it.

Never before had the saying "words are power" been understood so literally.

'Magic Thousand Characters... Ahem!'

Perhaps he had understood it correctly.

Was it because he was the owner of the ability? Ban Yu-won was understanding and accepting the ability without resistance, to a degree that surprised even himself.

And he came to think that this might be the reason why Union Academy had accepted him into the school through the lower dimension special admission process.

That must be it.

'In other words, with this ability, there's a chance I can survive in this crazy monster den...!'

He had just awakened his power and grown a little by consuming the language concepts possessed by the two goblins.

But he knew well that this wasn't nearly enough to face a goblin head-on.

So what should he do now?

Ban Yu-won thought the answer might lie in the Demon.

'It said I could bestow it, right? Fortunately, I have something to bestow it upon.'

He brought the club he had just been wielding in front of him to examine it.

Despite being covered in goblin blood and brain matter, the club was still sturdy and had a solid presence.

He doubted whether he could handle goblins with a weapon he had never used in his life, but it was better than bare hands.

"Wait."

At that moment, Ban Yu-won inadvertently let out a sound as a realization struck him.

He looked around in panic immediately after, but the surroundings were still quiet.

It was probably because this was where the territories of the two goblins overlapped.

'If I can absorb language concepts from corpses, couldn't I also absorb them from objects?'

Ban Yu-won hurriedly scanned the ground.

Although Goblin 1 and Goblin 2 had disappeared along with the rags they were wearing, fortunately, both clubs remained.

He placed his hand on Goblin 1's club rolling on the ground and activated his power.

Despite having realized this power just minutes ago, once he understood it, he could handle it so naturally.

[As you have secured ownership of the object, it is possible to absorb the language concept of the object. Would you like to absorb Blunt Weapon (鈍器) 1?]

'Absorb it.'

Blunt weapon, it's just the club as is.

Ban Yu-won unconsciously smiled bitterly as he began the theft.

Then, the same scene as before unfolded.

The club crumbled without a trace, and from within it, a stream of golden characters flowed out and into Ban Yu-won's body.

However, this was a concept that Ban Yu-won couldn't directly possess, like the Demon, so he decided to try 'bestowing' it right away.

[Bestowing Blunt Weapon 1 on the object in hand. The object will now possess Blunt Weapon 2.]

It was simpler than he thought.

The string of characters flowed out of his body again and into the club, and that was it.

There was no visible change in the club's appearance.

Whether it was because Blunt Weapon 1 doesn't cause much change originally, or whether possessing a language concept doesn't show visible changes in appearance...

Anyway, since the bestowing went more smoothly than expected, Ban Yu-won tried the next idea that came to mind.

[As you have secured ownership of the object, it is possible to absorb the language concept of the object. Would you like to absorb Blunt Weapon 2?]

'Alright, it seems the amount doesn't decrease even if I absorb something I've bestowed once.'

This was a more important issue than he thought.

Doesn't currency exchange incur fees just by itself?

Though no one would be so foolish, if you repeatedly exchanged won to dollars and back to won, the principal would keep shrinking.

However, fortunately, his ability had no concept of fees, so he could freely bestow or absorb.

Of course, he'd have to be careful not to completely suck out all the concepts making up an object, as that would cause the object to collapse entirely.

'Then, let's cancel absorbing the blunt weapon... and bestow the demon.'

Just before executing it, Ban Yu-won hesitated a little.

This was because he clearly remembered the notice saying that language could not only be bestowed but also separated.

And if that were the case, couldn't he apply it directly to his own body?

'Ma (魔)... Could this possibly be magic power (魔力)?'

To be honest.

He was very interested.

The reason Ban Yu-won didn't do so, even though he could somewhat predict the result, was that he didn't think gaining 0.2 Magic (魔) would cause any dramatic change right now.

Also, he had confirmed that he could always reabsorb the concept from the club if needed.

'Yes, this is right. For now, it's better to have the demon dwell in the weapon rather than me handling magic power.'

The impulses from his chuunibyou days tried to burst out, but he desperately suppressed them.

And he extracted all the Demon 0.2 isolated in his body and bestowed it upon the blunt weapon.

Of course, there was no change when he bestowed Blunt Weapon 1, so he thought bestowing just 0.2 of the Demon concept wouldn't make much difference.

That's what he thought.

But the result was very different from what he expected.

[The object now possesses Demon 0.2, giving it a slight quality of an artifact. Its destructive power is slightly amplified, and its durability is noticeably increased. A chance for critical hits is additionally granted.]

"...What?"

As he stood frozen in surprise at the unexpected notice, this time a message from the Academy appeared.

[You have created a temporary artifact during the test. This is truly remarkable. A significant bonus will be added to your evaluation! We recommend pursuing the Artifact Creation Department!]

"Ha, haha."

He had done it.

But it was thrilling.

Hadn't they said a 'significant bonus' was added?

It was the moment when it was proven that this innate ability of his was by no means inferior even at that Union Academy.

'I can do this. Now you're all dead!'

...Of course, this didn't mean he could face a blind goblin one-on-one, so he still had to continue walking a tightrope afterwards.

For a long while, he defeated goblins and moved forward, using abilities that couldn't be confirmed by the Babylonia Code, such as fraud, deception, voice mimicry, backstabbing, and so on.

Before he knew it, he found himself in front of a large door that didn't fit with the cave at all.

—The club he was holding now possessed Blunt Weapon 15 and Demon 1.5.