Why Did I Have to Enroll - Chapter 20

Lesson 5. The Tower is a One-Way Street - 3

A corridor spacious enough to fit four people with room to spare on the sides.

Torches lined the walls at regular intervals, but even when approached, no warmth could be felt from them.

The tower was a space of tangible illusion.

Ban Yu-won keenly felt the truth of those words from the moment he entered the tower.

'Though the amusing part is that the concept of fire clearly exists within those torches.'

He thought about trying to extract it, but it was impossible.

Because Ban Yu-won didn't have ownership of these torches.

However, in the previous dungeon he entered, it was possible to extract concepts from traps that clearly weren't his, so what was the difference?

Perhaps realizing this would help him internalize his ability more deeply...

"Ban?"

"Ah, sorry. I was lost in thought for a moment."

Snapped out of his reverie by Light's call, he found himself face to face with Dokgo Yeon, who was glaring at him with cross-shaped eyes.

"This is enemy territory. I won't forgive even you if you show such a careless attitude."

"Come on, we were told that combat doesn't start until the shift occurs, that is, until we enter Room 1. Don't be too hard on Ban."

"Hmph."

Perhaps because they had entered the tower, Dokgo Yeon was also showing signs of being on edge.

Since it was Ban Yu-won's fault, he apologized to both of them, and the four decided to band together to begin exploring the tower in earnest.

But just as the atmosphere had settled and they started walking together, Dokgo Yeon suddenly turned to him and asked,

"So, what did you confirm about the torch?"

"You knew and still scolded me? You're really... It's a secret."

"Could it be that you tried to see if you could extract that flame?"

This woman is truly a mind reader, I swear.

Ban Yu-won nodded, feigning nonchalance.

"Something like that."

"But it didn't work, did it? If that had been possible, we could have freely utilized the tower's terrain and objects..."

"Don't think too far ahead with my ability more than I do. It's not like this is all I'm capable of, just wait and see."

"Ugh."

At that moment, Luciel let out a faint groan and tightly gripped Ban Yu-won's arm.

Simultaneously, Ban Yu-won witnessed the concept of the tower that had been filling the surroundings transform into something else.

"...Shift."

"Now it's Room 1."

Light checked the number 1 that clearly appeared on the student ID hanging around his neck, then bit his lip tightly as he drew his sword of light.

"Light, do you trust me?"

"I said I do."

"Well, let's see about that."

A sword made of golden light, drawn from who knows where every time.

It must be an artifact of a level far beyond what the current Ban Yu-won could even imagine.

Although the change in Light's behavior and personality from the moment he grasped that sword was concerning, when looking at the deep and fierce concepts overflowing from the sword, such worries seemed meaningless.

"Luciel, you too, don't just hide, come out."

"Ah, uh, but..."

"If worst comes to worst, I'll kill you myself."

Ban Yu-won couldn't understand even half of the conversation that passed between Dokgo Yeon and Luciel.

However, seeing Luciel's posture straighten a bit at those words, it seemed there was some understanding between the two that he wasn't aware of.

Well, since they were sharing a room, it wouldn't be strange if their relationship had progressed over the past week.

Then, similarly, as for whether Ban Yu-won and Light, who shared a room, understood each other, that... seemed more likely to be a one-way street on Ban Yu-won's part.

"Above."

At that moment, Luciel murmured softly.

Suddenly, from the ceiling where there had been nothing, a huge droplet fell like melting candle wax.

Just as Eve was hurriedly transforming into a shield to block it, Light lightly leaped and swung his sword like a flash of light.

The amorphous droplet disappeared with a 'poof' sound, evaporating into thin air.

"Cloth Eater. A monster infamous for eating all of an explorer's equipment, rendering them defenseless."

It was a monster he had seen in the textbook analyzing the various types of monsters that appear in the tower.

It eats not only metal but also leather and cloth, so if not dealt with before it makes contact, there's a high chance of losing equipment.

If unlucky, one might even end up completely stripped, they say.

If they hadn't noticed it and had been caught off guard, everyone would have been in trouble.

For that reason, Ban Yu-won wasn't disappointed at all.

Not disappointed... at all...!

"So Room 1 is Cloth Eater... Fortunately, it seems advantageous for us. We have people with sharp intuition gathered here."

"We can't guarantee that something else won't appear along with it. Everyone, stay alert."

If there was another characteristic of the tower different from dungeons, it was that monsters could pop out randomly from walls or floors.

The group assigned areas to cover in all directions and proceeded through the room, diligently bursting Cloth Eaters.

They seemed to lack durability compared to their stealth and speed, so not much energy was needed to deal with them.

"Hah!"

"You're too loud. Are you planning to advertise so noisily every time you swing your sword?"

"Hot! Huff... Well, you're too quiet!"

"Hmph."

Light swung his sword to shoot out light, while Dokgo Yeon seemed to just flick her fingers, yet the droplets in the distance burst on their own.

"Hyaaaah!"

—Bang!

Meanwhile, surprisingly, Luciel was an infighter type that one couldn't imagine from her delicate frame, actually striking down enemies with her bare hands!

Every time a droplet sprang up in her assigned direction, she would dash out at an astonishing speed and strike it down, causing them to disappear without leaving a trace.

[Absorbing Life 0.8, Devil 1.3, Melt 1.1 from numerous Cloth Eater corpses.]

'No, they do leave traces.'

Ban Yu-won smiled slightly as he watched the chunks of code being absorbed at a noticeably rapid pace, something he hadn't seen in quite a while.

In fact, he had two concerns before entering the tower.

One was whether he could extract code from the tower's monsters just like the dungeon's monsters.

The other was whether he could extract code from monsters killed by his companions.

Looking at the results, both turned out to be true.

Moreover, thanks to the growth of his ability, the codes were automatically unraveling and being absorbed without him even needing to approach the corpses.

'Of course, there is a clear difference. Compared to when Eve or I kill them directly, the amount of Life absorbed is significantly less.'

However, he could absorb all other concepts, and besides, the thought that it didn't seem right for him to steal everything from the corpses killed by his companions made him not feel like complaining.

Although he couldn't tell them right now, considering that he would be able to strengthen his companions with his ability later, he figured it was okay to receive this much.

"Hmm...?"

At that moment, Dokgo Yeon, who had been solving everything by just flicking her fingers in one spot, suddenly turned to look at Ban Yu-won.

Startled, thinking his code absorption might have been noticed, he flinched, but she pointed at Eve instead of Ban Yu-won and said,

"Is that its combat form?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sort of."

Clank, clank, clang!

Eve had now transformed into a mass of iron chains floating in the air, shooting out chain ends to hunt down Cloth Eaters whenever they appeared.

Not only had he given it all 10 of the Sharpness that remained after allocating to Lilith yesterday, but the act of shooting out chains also fell under the category of Fierce Shot, making its momentum incredibly fierce. In fact, the Cloth Eaters were disintegrating after being pierced by the chains just once.

"It's quite impressive. Fast too..."

While saying this with her mouth, her eyes clearly showed suspicion, as if thinking 'It can't be just this much.'

Ban Yu-won shrugged his shoulders as he stabbed and killed a Cloth Eater that was sprouting from beneath his feet.

"There are stronger ones too, but they might be a bit noisy."

"As if they could be noisier than those?"

At his words, Dokgo Yeon snorted and pointed at Light and Luciel who were rampaging around.

"Hot! Hah! Die!"

"Hyaaaah!"

Unlike Ban Yu-won, who knew from his several dungeon experiences that it was better not to make noise during exploration, and Dokgo Yeon, whose body movements were inherently extremely quiet, Light and Luciel were running wild, strongly asserting 'I am here!' at every moment.

It's exactly like why sound effects of battle cries aren't output every time you input a basic attack command for a character in a game.

"Light seems to have a lot of combat experience, so why..."

"Not all combat experience directly translates to fighting in these special environments, I suppose."

Ban Yu-won let out a small sigh, resolving to speak to them directly after the battle was over.

However, while that might apply to Light, as for Luciel... he had a slight feeling that she was moving more on instinct rather than with battle cries, and probably wouldn't improve much in the future.

How long had they been advancing while fighting like that? At some point, the Cloth Eater attacks began to decrease.

"Is the room about to change?"

"No. I sense a concentration of strong energy. A different kind of monster is about to appear."

"That sounds like an elite monster is coming, but from Room 1..."

Elite monster.

An entity in the tower with exceptionally strong abilities, like a dungeon boss monster.

Unlike ordinary monsters that disappear without leaving anything behind when they die (which is why Ban Yu-won could absorb their code without hesitation), these creatures often leave something behind. Thus, elite monsters are one of the few means by which students can earn income in the tower.

The problem is that in most situations, an encounter with an elite monster means immediate expulsion from the tower.

"......!"

The moment Ban Yu-won looked around after hearing Dokgo Yeon's words, he saw it too.

On one side of the wall, a flow of golden characters gathering and shining exceptionally bright!

It was closest to Luciel than anyone else.

"Luciel!"

"!"

Luciel, with her sharp senses, seemed to have noticed it as well.

She swung her hand to sweep away the surrounding Cloth Eaters, then charged straight towards something that was just 'sprouting' from the wall.

"Kyaaaaa!"

Was that the monster's cry?

Ban Yu-won, who had been tilting his head in confusion, soon realized that wasn't the case.

It was Luciel's voice.

Kwang!

—Graaaaaaah

Luciel's hand, sharply curved like that of a beast, pounded the wall surface violently.

Something huge and amorphous that was surging from within was shattered and vanished before it could fully emerge from the wall.

A small, black crystal fell between them, probably a magic core.

Ban Yu-won hurriedly recovered the code from the scattering monster's corpse while observing Luciel.

"Huff, huff, huff... Phew."

Even after defeating the monster in one breath, Luciel remained in that posture, catching her breath. Only after her breathing calmed down did she manage to pick up the magic core and return to the group.

While Light looked at her with surprised eyes and Dokgo Yeon with eyes of perfect understanding, Ban Yu-won focused on her body, or more precisely, on her bangs.

'I thought she had put in a bridge, but I guess not.'

Originally, her hair was overall pink with only a part of her bangs dyed black, but now the black-dyed portion had grown a bit larger.

Moreover, a part of her internal code that he hadn't been able to confirm until now was clearly visible.

[Heart Furnace (心爐)]

Not the 'heart furnace' that means emotional suffering, but a combination of 'heart' and 'furnace'.

If we interpret it, it could mean gaining strength by burning emotions like fuel.

'What, just an ordinary berserker.'

As Ban Yu-won was smiling contentedly after reaching this conclusion, he suddenly felt someone tugging at his sleeve.

It was Luciel.

"Was, was it very scary?"

"What was?"

"That, just now..."

It seemed she had misunderstood Ban Yu-won's intense stare.

Ban Yu-won shook his head vigorously, denying her concern.

"Not at all. If anything, it was reassuring."

"But, if I... get worse."

"I told you it's fine."

Perhaps disliking how Luciel was hesitating and stretching Ban Yu-won's sleeve, Dokgo Yeon spoke in a cold tone and swatted her hand away.

"If you ever completely lose your mind, I'll be happy to kill you anytime."

"That won't do, Dokgo Yeon. If even one person dies, we'll have to start our exploration from Room 1 again."

"If it keeps happening, we'll have no choice but to ascend with just three people. No, ascending with just Ban Yu-won and me wouldn't be bad either."

"Ugh, ughh."

As expected, Dokgo Yeon was being Dokgo Yeon.

What empathy? She was thinking of nothing but mercilessly cutting others off!

Ban Yu-won gave a bitter smile as he watched Luciel trembling even more at Dokgo Yeon's cold attitude, and gently took her hand that was flailing in the air.

"I'll think about it."

"Huh...?"

"I understand why you're being overly timid. I'll just have to find a solution."

"Ah! Th-thank you...!"

Luciel was truly moved, tightly grasping his hand and trembling all over.

Seeing her like this really made him think of a puppy.

However, Dokgo Yeon, who was watching this scene, still had a sullen face.

"So you were just an ordinary man after all. Swooning over mere appearances."

"Such a misunderstanding. Don't you see how composed I am in front of you?"

"Hmph, changing your tune won't help."

Although Dokgo Yeon coldly brushed off his blatant flattery, Ban Yu-won, with his all-seeing eyes, could once again confirm the truth that no woman dislikes compliments (at least within the limits of his experience) from her subtle change in expression.

However, Ban Yu-won wasn't particularly trying to humor Luciel because he was captivated by her beauty.

Holding Luciel's hand wasn't because he wanted physical contact with a pretty woman either.

[Heart Furnace 5 — Anger (怒) 2, Madness 광(狂) 3]

He was simply analyzing her code and pondering how to eliminate the side effects of that ability and put it to use.