Why Did I Have to Enroll - Chapter 18

Lesson 5. The Tower is a One-Way Street - 1

[You absorb Demon 0.1, Life 0.05, Body 0.03, and Archery (弓術) 0.2 from the Goblin Archer.]

Thursday after school, external dungeon.

Ban Yu-won's face hardened as he observed the amount of concepts being absorbed from the goblin he had just killed.

'I wasn't mistaken after all. It has decreased.'

From the moment Ban Yu-won's concept of life exceeded 50, the efficiency of absorbing life from goblins was halved again.

Nevertheless, goblins with 'something attached' to their names, like Goblin Warriors and Archers, still contained a decent amount and quality of concepts. So on Tuesday and Wednesday, he had been grinding hard, conquering two or three dungeons a day.

But today.

Strangely, at some point, he found that concepts weren't accumulating well even when killing regular goblins, let alone Warriors or Archers.

'Could this be... because I've obtained too many concepts from goblins?'

He had thought there were no limits to the Babylonia Code, but that was a misconception.

It was a natural change that the depth of concepts he gained gradually decreased, given that he had already killed an enormous number of goblins and collected concepts from them.

To use a gaming analogy, it's like 'the experience gained decreases when you kill the same monster too many times.'

"At this rate, it might reach zero at some point."

Ban Yu-won sighed as he finished cleaning up the scene and accessed his internal code.

[Life 99.74

Body 66.21

Soul 334.8

Magic Power 75.36

Martial Arts 49 [Swordsmanship 27, Pierce 22]

Leadership 6

Riding 15 — The ability to control mounts including horses and cars.

All-Reading Eyes 110

All-Hearing Ears 100

All-Speaking Lips 102]

This internal code clearly showed the results of diligently clearing external dungeons after classes ended for three days straight, from Monday through Wednesday.

While Life had developed the most, Ban Yu-won was more proud of the growth in Magic Power and Martial Arts.

This was because these two codes had grown more from self-development than from absorption from goblins.

'Especially Martial Arts. Every time I thrust, both Pierce and Swordsmanship grow together.'

To put it bluntly, the combat skills of goblins were at a miserable level.

If anything, the blind Goblin Warrior, or rather Zatoichi, that he had encountered in the first practical evaluation dungeon was the most decent. In other dungeons, even the bosses were mostly Hobgoblins leading a mass assault of goblins.

Fortunately, thanks to the unique code of Evil possessed by Hobgoblins, one of Eve's core concepts, Evil Beast, had grown to 18.

"We might need to challenge dungeons other than goblin ones soon. Will that be okay, Eve?"

"Shhh, shhhh."

Despite Ban Yu-won's concern, Eve reassured him that higher-level dungeons might have more monsters with the concept of Evil.

Truly, what an admirable pet.

"...Alright, tomorrow's the day we enter the tower, so let's just clear this one dungeon. From the start, the goal was to surpass 100 in Life."

"Shhhh."

"You want to go for a drive? Okay. We'll have time left, and it wouldn't hurt to improve my Riding skills."

What drive is he talking about? Of course, it's riding the hoverbike 'Onyx' purchased on Monday.

The license test? He passed that very easily.

Thanks to absorbing the concept of Riding that was preserved in a very old saddle among the artifacts his grandfather had prepared for him!

After absorbing this concept that allows one to control any kind of vehicle, and with a depth of 12 no less, Ban Yu-won was able to handle Onyx like his own body after reading the manual just once.

Naturally, he was able to obtain the license very easily, and after riding the hoverbike diligently outside for nearly three days, the depth even increased by 3.

"And we'll do that today too. I promised, didn't I? When your Spirit Weapon reaches 30, we'll make some siblings for you."

"Shhhh."

"Good. Then let's go."

After experiencing it for a few days, he realized that the depth of concepts shows significant effects at intervals of 10, so he decided to grow Eve's core concept to 30 for now.

And Eve's Spirit Weapon was at 29.5. No matter how much the depth of goblins' concepts had decreased, it shouldn't be impossible to gather this much.

*

"Human, I will curse you...!"

"Yeah, I know you don't even have the concept of curse."

Ban Yu-won's sword pierced through the hobgoblin's neck.

Looking back, there were already over a hundred goblin corpses sprawled on the ground.

The cause of death for all of them was sword wounds.

Ban Yu-won, who could now handle goblins without much difficulty, had cleared the boss room completely excluding Eve in order to gain more practical experience.

"Still, it doesn't feel right. I guess it's time to graduate from this level."

For someone who used to struggle even against blind goblins, he had grown quite a bit.

Filled with emotion, he reached out and absorbed the codes from all the corpses at once.

[You can no longer absorb the concept of Life from the goblin species.]

As expected, just as his Life was about to surpass 100, he felt his body tighten and such a message appeared.

He absorbed the remaining Life from the hobgoblin, which was still effective for him, neatly completing 101, and then checked himself.

"Hmm, hmmmm...!"

He couldn't pinpoint exactly what had changed.

But a strange sense of elation, which he hadn't felt even when his body evolved or his magic power increased, was coursing through his entire body.

How should he describe this sensation, confidence? Or perhaps presence?

That's right, it was a sensation that made him feel certain that his significance in the world had grown.

"Grow myself, lower the enemy. So that's how it is."

Visible growth is a joyous thing.

He could understand why people were so obsessed with status windows.

Ban Yu-won smiled crookedly, experiencing a pleasure he had never felt while on Earth.

"Shhhh."

"I'll give you the remaining Life, so wait. No, I should save some for your sibling..."

Eve too had become capable of growth by obtaining Life.

Although she could grow Life on her own, it was naturally not as effective as when Ban Yu-won directly bestowed Life upon her.

However, it couldn't exceed the depth of the core concept that formed Eve, the Spirit Weapon. In other words, if the Spirit Weapon was 30, Life couldn't go beyond 30 either.

Anyway, as the efficiency of Ban Yu-won directly absorbing Life decreased, he had been giving Life to Eve more often, and now that he couldn't absorb Life from goblins at all, it was better to give it all to Eve... or to 'someone else'.

"Alright, is that all now?"

He had devoured not only the hobgoblin but also all the goblins and their equipment.

Destroying the dungeon core and dividing the Magic and Core was also his usual pattern.

Only after exiting the dungeon did Ban Yu-won finally put today's plan into action.

"Onyx."

The streamlined black bike showed no reaction to Ban Yu-won's words.

Of course, that's natural since it's just an ordinary hoverbike.

But from now on, that would change.

Hadn't Ban Yu-won already experienced breathing life into objects?

"Though Eve was originally a club, so the compatibility was better... Okay, let's take out some insurance."

Ban Yu-won pulled out various concepts from the Code Core.

Just injecting Spirit into any object doesn't make it an artifact.

Just as a club-shaped object became a goblin club when imbued with the concept of Spirit Weapon, one must carefully consider the compatibility between the object and the concept, and the combination of concepts.

Still, after contemplating on the bestowal and synthesis of concepts for several days, he had figured out how to successfully transform this bike into an 'artifact'.

Today's core concept was Evil.

"Sorry I can't give you everything, Eve."

"Shiit, shiirit."

Eve wrapped around his arm, telling him not to worry.

Ban Yu-won gently stroked her head, then examined the concepts contained in the hoverbike.

[Floating Vehicle (浮遊車) 30, Magic Core 30, Swift (快速) 30, Magic Resistance (魔力抵抗) 20, Hardening (硬化) 10]

Floating Vehicle literally means a flying car, and Magic Core is the mana core that drives this bike, just like the dungeon core.

Swift is the movement ability granted by the bike's design, Magic Resistance is probably related to its ability to resist the magic wavelengths of dungeons... and lastly, Hardening must be the function of the bike's front fender.

"Let's leave Floating Vehicle alone. Swift and Hardening are fine for now too. The important thing is... phew."

It's the Magic Core.

Even Ban Yu-won couldn't help but feel tense at the thought that if he messed this up, the 3.2 million Ronia hoverbike would be gone.

But if he backed down here, Ban Yu-won would miss the opportunity to grow as the master of the Babylonia Code.

Sometimes you have to move forward at the risk of failure.

And that time is now!

"Separate Magic and Core, then synthesize Evil 2 and Spirit 5 with each of them respectively."

With one hand on the bike, he split the Magic Core in half, and with his other hand, he injected Spirit and Demon, combining Spirit with Magic and Demon with Core.

The moment the concept of Magic Core split, the bike vibrated terribly as if it was about to explode.

But in the next moment, the synthesis began immediately, and Ban Yu-won observed the transformation process with wide eyes.

"Please work, work...!"

It was at that moment that a strange, barely recognizable pattern was engraved on the bike's mana core, which had been glowing red and spewing smoke.

Ban Yu-won realized that it was the character for Spirit.

[Hoverbike Onyx's Core 15 is synthesized with Spirit 5. These concepts cannot be synthesized.]

[Hoverbike Onyx's Magic 15 is synthesized with Evil 2. Due to perfect compatibility, a transcendent synthesis ignoring depth has occurred, completing Evil Magic 20!]

[Due to the existence of Evil Magic, the synthesis of Core 15 and Spirit 5 is successfully completed. Spirit Core 20 has been completed! Evil Magic resides in the Spirit Core and supplies power. You have succeeded in creating a high-grade artifact!]

Success!

He had realized the concept of creating a core inhabited by a spirit and inserting a fictional being called Evil Magic into it to drive the bike!

[Due to the excellent manifestation of ability, the depths of All-Reading Eyes, All-Hearing Ears, and All-Speaking Lips each deepen by 5!]

[The depth of Life has become 110.]

[The depth of Magic Power has become 82.]

[The depth of Soul has become 340.]

"Phew."

The completion of the artifact had greatly enhanced his abilities as well.

Especially the growth of Life by nearly 10 was truly a remarkable achievement.

It was different from when he had accidentally created the Goblin Club by leaving it to chance.

By deeply considering the concept of language and proactively fulfilling the necessary conditions for the birth of concepts, he was able to achieve meaningful success and growth.

"You're Lilith."

―Vroom

Since the first one was Eve, the second one is Lilith.

It was a completely reversed order that went against tradition, and naming a bike that humans ride and drive "Lilith" was in terribly bad taste to begin with, but the clueless thing happily vibrated its engine.

But it's not over yet.

Ban Yu-won also bestowed Life 1 and Soul 1 on it, plus the Sharpness he had extracted and collected from many swords as a bonus.

After all, since it's something that can attack by hardening its front fender, there's no harm in making it sharper, right?

And so, what was ultimately created was this.

[Floating Vehicle 30, Evil Magic 20, Spirit Core 20, Life 1, Soul 1, Swift 30, Magic Resistance 20, Hardening 10, Sharpness 20]

Ban Yu-won paused in analyzing the flow of the completed code and stroked Lilith's handle as he asked it,

"Hmm... You don't need Magic Resistance anymore, right?"

―Vrooom

It revved its engine as if in agreement.

What was the reason for needing Magic Resistance in the first place?

Why do machines, or magic tools, break down near places like dungeons to begin with?

It's because the refined magic power inside the magic tool is shaken up by the magic waves of the dungeon, causing it to go haywire and damage the internal structure.

That's why they give magic tools the ability to resist magic power, but artifacts like Eve or Lilith that can move and control magic power on their own are not affected by the magic waves of dungeons at all.

'So this thing will be able to enter dungeons from now on, and of course, the tower too...'

As he was thinking this, Ban Yu-won suddenly thought of his student ID.

This is clearly a magic tool too, so why has it been fine in dungeons all this time?

He couldn't know yet because the internal structure of the student ID, which was made up of a different language system, had not been fully analyzed.

If he could figure that out, Ban Yu-won's abilities would be able to grow once again.

'Let's extract the Magic Resistance for now. Can I separate it into Magic and Resistance? Nope, not possible.'

However, it was possible to extract just the Resistance from Magic Resistance.

Extracting a higher concept that can withstand everything from a concept that can only withstand magic power—the conversion ratio was close to extreme.

Ban Yu-won felt conflicted as he watched the Magic Resistance of 20 become just 1 Resistance and wrap around his hand.

"For now... I'll keep it myself."

And he applied it to his own body.

[You have gained Resistance 1. You gain resistance to all negative things.]

But unexpectedly, it brought about quite a significant change.

Not only did his body become firmer and his mental strength more robust, but he also felt power gathering from somewhere within his body.

"Is it because it's a concept that applies to both body and mind indiscriminately? I've gained a lot in many ways."

For a moment, he had the crazy thought of selling off gold bars to buy dozens more Onyx bikes to extract Resistance, but he shook his head.

If he looks, there must be more things with the concept of resistance out there.

After all, resistance is ubiquitous in the world!

"Well then, let's go for a drive as Eve requested."

"Swish."

He mounted Lilith along with Eve, who was coiling around his arm affectionately.

Although the exterior hadn't changed, he felt a strange sense of comfort.

It was as if Lilith was embracing him warmly.

He wouldn't say this out loud anywhere else, lest he be treated like a madman.

"But good ride quality alone isn't enough. Well then... shall we fly?"

―Vroooooom!

At that moment, Lilith suddenly accelerated even though Ban Yu-won hadn't started the engine.

With an acceleration clearly different from yesterday's, it was even getting faster than the top speed he had experienced before!

Ban Yu-won widened his eyes and gripped the handlebars, trying to adapt to the situation where he wasn't sure if he was driving or being dragged along.

'This is insane...!'

The flights he had been doing for the past three days were mere child's play compared to this.

At this moment, Ban Yu-won was truly racing through the sky!

But then, having flown quite high, a part of the floating island where the academy was located came into his view.

Near the enormous tower that usually strictly controls student access, the Tower of Babel, which was also a secret garden of Ban Yu-won's family, he saw a black ripple.

It was probably just an optical illusion.

It would be easier to think that way and move on, but Ban Yu-won couldn't help but grumble in the end.

"Something's definitely going to happen tomorrow..."

He decided to consult with Yumina first.

He was a man who never overlooked even minor incidents.

And the next day, the day to enter the Tower of Babel finally arrived.