Why Did I Have to Enroll - Chapter 26

Lesson 7. It's Definitely Not Because I Like You - 1

'What was that just now? It doesn't seem like I used much internal energy... or magic power.'

Dokgo Yeon was left with her mouth agape, dumbfounded at the sight of Ban Yu-won completely shattering the spider's leg strike with his counter.

"Grrrr, yap!"

"Thanks, beast."

After flinging her thoughtful friend (Luciel) who pointed out her unsightly appearance back to the distant wall, she turned her gaze back to Ban Yu-won.

Indeed, there's no sign of magic power consumption.

To begin with, that man doesn't know how to properly handle magic power yet.

He's still at the level of merely activating his body.

'But how, just now? That was...'

Even Dokgo Yeon recognized that it was a movement that utilized the principle of counterforce.

But if asked whether she could do it herself... well, that would make her tilt her head a bit.

The martial arts she handles are thoroughly tyrannical and destructive, simply overwhelming with strong and dominating force.

In contrast, what Ban Yu-won just showed was a technique that required splitting time again and again, grasping and moving in a fraction of a 1/100,000th of a moment.

Regardless of whether she could do it or not, it's a technique that doesn't suit her martial arts.

'I've heard there are sects in the Central Plains that focus on counter-attack techniques... They might teach something like that there.'

But that technique is more about talent than practice, and naturally, the sect would have to be selective in accepting disciples, making it difficult to properly pass down the skills, preventing the sect from growing.

That's the reason why sects handling such techniques can't become mainstream.

Originally, Dokgo Yeon had disregarded techniques like deflecting the opponent's attack or using their strength against them as mere tricks, but after seeing Ban Yu-won's strike just now, her thoughts changed a bit.

'When I return home, maybe I'll look into it. Though I probably won't be able to use it myself...'

It's intriguing.

After all, the moment the seemingly weak Ban Yu-won broke the strength of that monstrous giant, it looked so cool that she unconsciously clenched her fist.

It's not that she's fallen for him, just that his graceful movements and profound technique looked impressive.

"That's enough, Ban Yu-won."

"Huh?"

"Your progress is sufficiently... Hmm?"

— Kigigigigigi!

But just as Dokgo Yeon, satisfied with seeing more than expected, was about to declare the task complete.

The giant spider, which had been writhing in pain after losing its legs to Ban Yu-won's counter, suddenly began to swell up and screech bizarrely.

"Oh no, an irregular...!"

"Grrrroooaaar!"

"This beast, being troublesome at a time like this!"

Dokgo Yeon, sensing the abnormality of the situation, immediately tried to rush to help, but was blocked by Luciel, who sensed the unsettling atmosphere and started thrashing about wildly.

She couldn't just kill it out of annoyance, and while irritably dealing with her, Dokgo Yeon glanced at Light and let out a sigh.

"What have you been doing all this time, not catching that one thing!"

"This thing's threads that it spews everywhere make it surprisingly annoying to deal with...! The sword gets caught in the threads!"

"You incompetent!"

*

The moment the spider began to swell, Ban Yu-won also instinctively sensed that an unfavorable change was occurring in the spider due to the irregular phenomenon.

'I need to cut it down now.'

Sensing the crisis instinctively, he immediately charged towards it.

'The flow and counter I just realized probably won't mean much now. I need to either stab it to death or cut it to death. But killing this huge spider with one stab of this sword is nonsense.'

Therefore, he must cut it.

Even though with his current abilities, he can't cut it down.

Nevertheless, he must cut that thing down right now, no matter what!

A blood-red madness flows along the blade he instinctively raised.

Thanks to the short time that had passed, he was able to use blood poison again.

But even Ban Yu-won himself knew well that this alone wasn't enough.

'What else should I add to this? What?'

Taking out a magic bomb now would be suicide, and there are limits to the attacks he can perform with Eve.

If he tries to add speed with Release, the distance is already too close, but if he increases the distance, everything will be too late at that moment.

Countless thoughts raced through his mind in less than a thousandth of a second.

'...This might work!'

The only realistically possible option he fished out from those thoughts was the concept of 'wave (波)' that he had acquired earlier in Room 3.

'This was something I absorbed into my body because it was said humans could possess it. If so, it means I should be able to use this concept in some way.'

The moment he became conscious of that concept, he suddenly felt the sword vibrating strongly.

Among the golden strings of text floating in the Executioner's Greatsword, 'Slash' was emitting an intense light.

Seeing the separate concepts resonating, Ban Yu-won intuitively realized the 'method of combination' between the two.

'Ugh?!'

The moment Ban Yu-won reached a conclusion.

The concept of wave that had been carelessly tossed inside his body began to activate, starting to devour his magic power.

That's right. It was sucking in his magic power, which until now he had only been recklessly accumulating, with its use limited to merely activating his body!

— Wooooong

The concept of wave, now swollen with magic power, begins to vibrate true to its name.

As if asserting its existence to Ban Yu-won.

'...I see.'

Babylonia Code.

The power to understand concepts as language, and thereby manipulate the true meaning of concepts.

Ban Yu-won now realized what he could do with this concept.

— Kigigigigigi!

"Ha...!"

Ban Yu-won trusted his instincts and stepped forward strongly.

Just as he had realized and been taught by Dokgo Yeon.

He imbued his sword with the concept of wave that had absorbed a lot of magic power.

And swung it down vertically with all his might!

— Kwaaaaa!

It was like witnessing the wrath of a sea god crashing upon a sea of blood.

The power of Slash, enhanced by the red blood, was greatly amplified by the wave and spread out.

— Kiheeeeeeeek!

Not only did it split the giant spider that was about to cause an anomaly in half, but it also sent vibrations through its body, causing it to burst into pieces!

"Ha, hahaha..."

Watching the giant spider drop a single magic core and vanish without a trace, Ban Yu-won could only laugh.

It was a laugh that melded the exhilaration of pulling off something spectacular, the sense of emptiness from depleting all his energy, and above all, the astonishment at himself for creating a destructive power that completely transcended the realm of ordinary humans.

Of course, as a price for instantly draining his blood and magic power, he had to collapse on the spot, but that feeling of powerlessness didn't last long.

[You have realized a method to temporarily synthesize internal and external concepts to create more powerful concepts. The depth of All-Reading Eyes, All-Hearing Ears, and All-Speaking Lips each deepens by 5.]

[The depth of Life has become 195, the depth of Body has become 160, the depth of Magic power has become 170, and the depth of Soul has become 420.]

[The depth of Swordsmanship has become 55, and the depth of Slash has become 20.]

[The depth of Wave has become 15.]

A drastic change occurred in his internal code.

He naturally came to realize that while insights into martial arts like Flow and Counter were important, understanding the inherent abilities was even more crucial.

However, there was still one more important thing left: the large amount of golden text strings that flowed out from the giant spider he had just defeated.

[You absorb Life 15, Body 13, Demon 16, Carapace 12, Resistance 2, and Division 10 from the Multi-eyed Tower Spider.]

"Hmm?"

For a moment, he felt his body recovering and strengthening in real-time as the depth of his core internal codes suddenly deepened.

Ban Yu-won narrowed his eyes at the Resistance concept, which unlike other elite monsters recorded only 2, and the Division that appeared after it.

'Was division what that thing was trying to do? So it gave up everything else to increase its resistance and buy time for division... That makes sense.'

However, it was no match for Ban Yu-won's concept combination, the Slash Wave, which he had created by putting everything on the line.

If he had merely cut it in half, the division might have succeeded, but the power of Slash, riding on the wave, had dissected and burst the creature's body into pieces, ending it right there.

Who would have thought that the trap concept he had carelessly absorbed at Eve's urging would lead to the creation of such a finishing move? It was truly unpredictable.

'That's right, since I activated it by infusing magic power, let's call this an active skill... no, an active concept.'

Unlike concepts such as martial arts, horsemanship, and resistance that constantly exert their effects without needing to be touched by magic power, wave only demonstrated its power after absorbing a large amount of magic power.

To be honest, he had forgotten about status windows and skills for a while, but after utilizing this wave concept, Ban Yu-won thought, 'Oh, isn't this like a skill?'

Ban Yu-won classified the codes according to the idea that had just occurred to him. Then,

[Core]

Life 210

Body 173

Magic power 175

Soul 422

[Passive]

Martial Arts 130 [Swordsmanship 55, Pierce 26, Cut 20, Flow 5, Counter 10]

Leadership 7

Riding 17

Resistance 5

All-Reading Eyes 130

All-Hearing Ears 115

All-Speaking Lips 117

[Active]

Wave 15 — The power of flow and vibration.

This is how it was organized.

'Good, I'm satisfied.'

An incredible growth achieved in just one day after entering the tower.

Of course, he still couldn't reach Erecto, but... he had grasped Flow and Counter, and above all, he gained confidence from the wave of Slash he had just unleashed.

This level seemed promising enough to give it a try.

'If I spend Saturday and Sunday in the tower as well, that confidence might deepen even further.'

It seemed he would have to give up on entering the tower again this week.

As Ban Yu-won picked up the magic core left by the spider and turned around with a bitter smile, he saw Ars Light, who had just defeated a spider and was now panting heavily.

"B-Ban..."

Light called out his name pitifully, unable to move from his spot, covered in spider webs from head to toe.

Ban Yu-won sighed, wondering why someone so powerful was in such a state.

It was a disaster that had unfolded in the complete opposite direction of his initial worries.

"Come on, you're strong and skilled with a sword."

"The spider web! Once I got caught in that web, it became difficult to properly draw out magic power from my sword...!"

Ban Yu-won had vaguely noticed that the spider webs spewed out by the elite monsters had some special debuff ability.

However, he had swept them away before getting caught himself, so he hadn't quite conceptualized it and just passed it by.

But it seemed that Light had been properly caught by it.

"Alright, alright, just stay still and don't try to move or you might fall."

Ban Yu-won reached out and, while extracting the concept from the giant spider Light had just defeated, he also extracted all the concepts from the scattered spider webs around, including those on Light.

In an instant, the surroundings became clean, and Light finally regained his freedom.

"So, shall we decide what to do with this beast now?"

"Ah."

"Grrrrrr...!"

Dokgo Yeon, who had been dealing with Luciel until now, spoke in a tired voice.

In fact, he had been anxious about not being able to help Ban Yu-won, and seeing him cut down the spider on his own had further drained his energy.

"Doesn't this one ever get tired?"

"We can't just knock it out either..."

"Shwik."

Although Ban Yu-won had gained insight into the concept of handling emotions and active concepts, interfering with others' concepts was another story altogether.

Just as he was at a loss, Eve tapped Ban Yu-won's back again, conveying her intention.

"You want the spider web?"

"Shiiik."

Since it was a concept Ban Yu-won couldn't handle anyway, he generously passed all of the spider web concept to Eve.

But he didn't just give it away; as requested, he divided it into spider (蜘) and web (網).

[Eve's depth of Evil Beast has become 25. Absorbing Web 16.]

Perhaps because it wasn't an ordinary spider, the depth of the Evil Beast increased considerably, but the key was the web.

After absorbing the concept, the creature transformed into a bundle of iron chains in mid-air and threw itself towards Luciel.

"Keuruk?!"

Luciel, who had been rolling on the ground after being thrown by Dokgo Yeon, noticed its approach and swung her hand, but Eve, as if waiting for this, unraveled its body and wrapped around Luciel.

Then, amazingly, it split into dozens of strands, becoming an iron net that enveloped Luciel's entire body!

"Kuk, grrrr...!"

"We should have done this from the start."

A net is something that tightens more around the body the more one struggles to escape.

As Luciel struggled and thrashed about, Eve tightened even more around her body, and Ban Yu-won, seeing this... seeing this...

"...Light? Why are you covering my eyes?"

"Y-you shouldn't look."

"What about you? You!"

"I'm fine!"

Hey, it's not like you're trying to hide your identity!

"Phew, anyway, it's over. The shift to Room 5... doesn't seem to be happening after all."

"Nnng, grrrr..."

"Ah, it looks like mana is flowing normally through the student ID... Shall we try activating it?"

"Stop covering my eyes already."

"Right. Then right now—"

—Let's go outside and confront the principal or whoever.

Just as Dokgo Yeon was about to say that, a voice echoing through the space interrupted her words.

—Children who have overcome the trial.

"...Hm?"

"Huh?"

"Th-this."

"Sniff?"

From Dokgo Yeon, who was certain she was the best in the world, to Luciel, who had lost her reason, everyone simultaneously froze.

—I shall bestow a reward upon you.

The owner of the absolute presence that made them hesitate even to breathe.

—I will give you the opportunity to become a contractor of the Observer of Ten Thousand Eyes (萬眼).

From the empty air, it spoke again.