Why Did I Have to Enroll - Chapter 129

Lesson 26. Pushing Away When Getting Closer - 4

Dokgo Yeon tamed the [Living Mount] as the tower named it, a mountain of rocks.

It wasn’t her intention. The mountain, which had once served as a natural barrier protecting a human city, had been utterly defeated by a being far weaker than itself. It recalled those memories and pledged loyalty to Dokgo Yeon, who helped it regain its benevolent self.

Even after hearing this, no one quite understood what it meant, and Ban Yu-won was no exception.

“How on earth?”

“Well, I was pondering where to strike such a massive thing when a notification about an ‘Achievement’ from the tower appeared. Then my level increased, and the mountain started following me.”

Achievement.

So, if an achievement pops up, you can tame a mountain.

The group nodded dumbly, realizing anew that Dokgo Yeon was a different kind of monster from them.

If it had been Ban Yu-won, he would have thought of planting dynamite inside before even considering killing the mountain.

“So, what are we going to do with this?”

“Does it have a shrinking feature or something?”

“Ban, a mountain isn’t a dragon. It can’t polymorph into a human shape.”

“If a stationary mountain can move, can’t it at least polymorph?”

It couldn’t.

But leaving it here… Ban Yu-won looked up at the massive mountain, which required him to tilt his head back over 90 degrees to see the top, with a troubled expression.

Mass times acceleration equals force. If this mountain were to fall forward, it could crush anything that wasn’t a monster like Dokgo Yeon. Abandoning such a massive weapon that moved and followed their will was a waste.

“Oh, come to think of it, I found something in a book from the library.”

At that moment, Light, who knew more about the tower’s useless trivia than anyone else there, clapped his hands and spoke.

“When you complete a quest in the tower, you can make a monster friendly to you. Such monsters might appear in other rooms later and help you.”

“When did you research that?”

“I wanted to know more about the people… NPCs in the tower. So, I visited the library when the charm that aids in studying was still effective and skimmed through related books.”

Light was very serious about the tower’s NPCs, even though he would mercilessly kill them if they were hostile!

Ban Yu-won nodded, understanding Light’s words.

“The rooms we’ve cleared in the past affect the rooms that appear in the future… I expected that much, but friendly monsters too.”

“Hmm, so are you saying we shouldn’t kill it and leave it?”

Dokgo Yeon looked at the mountain with a somewhat regretful expression.

Ban Yu-won spoke.

“No, let’s take it with us.”

Dokgo Yeon looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“Ban Yu-won? Are you thinking of putting this in your inventory?”

“No, the inventory isn’t all-powerful.”

While his followers could somehow fit in, this Living Mount wasn’t his follower, and more importantly, it was too big!

So…

“Take this. It’s not Teacher’s Day, but it’s a gift.”

Ban Yu-won handed Dokgo Yeon a bracelet with a subspace, which the Constellation’s Unmoving Manipulator had personally said, “If it’s that mountain, it can fit.”

Initially, the bracelet, adorned with a cluster of dazzling jewels, didn’t look very pretty, but after being processed with the power of the Constellation, it was compressed into a thinner, more elegant size suitable for a woman’s wrist.

“Uh?!”

“Oh, oh…?”

“Ban, you.”

However, seeing it, Dokgo Yeon looked flustered as if she misunderstood something, Luciel was agape with astonishment, and Light was trembling.

Ban Yu-won, amazed by their predictable reactions, spoke.

“Check the information, Dokgo Yeon.”

“…Ahem. I’ll accept it gratefully.”

Dokgo Yeon, guessing that Ban Yu-won had some intention, accepted the bracelet and checked it.

Then she tilted her head and looked back at Ban Yu-won, her actions clearly indicating her thoughts.

“There’s nothing dangerous right now. I’ll have Professor Yumina check the subspace when we get out.”

“If that’s the case… I’ll give it a try, though I’m not sure if it’ll work.”

Dokgo Yeon didn’t wear the pair of bracelets on each hand but stacked them on her left arm.

And when she extended her bracelet-wearing hand toward the Living Mount… astonishingly, the mountain disappeared!

“Oh.”

“It really works.”

Ban Yu-won, who had given her the bracelet, murmured in surprise.

Naturally, Luciel and Light were even more amazed, and Dokgo Yeon, who tried reaching out to Light as a test, nodded solemnly and withdrew her hand.

“If I don’t have ownership, it doesn’t go into the subspace. I was hoping it could block all incoming attacks from a distance like you, Ban Yu-won… but I guess that’s too much.”

“Dokgo Yeon, did you just try to put me into the subspace without saying anything?!”

“Yes. Just a light joke.”

“You…!”

An angry Light and Dokgo Yeon teasing him.

Luciel looked at Dokgo Yeon with envy but soon calmed herself, taking deep breaths while massaging her hands.

Ban Yu-won could roughly guess what she was thinking and decided to leave her be.

“Grand Mage!”

“The mercenaries who defeated the Monster Wave are over there!”

“Grand Mage! Grand Mage!”

With the living mountain gone, the soldiers guarding the walls were finally convinced that the Monster Wave had ended and rushed over, calling out Ban Yu-won’s group’s names.

Of course, the overwhelming majority of voices were calling for the “Grand Mage.”

Ban Yu-won waved at them with a wry smile, and the cheers grew louder.

Along with that, a notification he hadn’t noticed before appeared before his eyes.

[The achievement of the Grand Mage has been reflected, increasing the depth of Honor to 200 and the depth of Soul to 800.]

“…”

He could understand Honor increasing by 50 in one go.

But the Soul depth increasing by 30 was astonishing.

The deeper the concept, the slower it grows.

So, 150 Honor becoming 200 and 770 Soul becoming 800 are completely different matters.

It meant the achievement he just accomplished was that significant.

‘Not only that… I’m not sure if it’s because the Soul grew or because the Honor grew.’

He vaguely felt that his magic power had become stronger than before.

Ban Yu-won created a light sphere in his palm as a test.

He realized that the time it took from imagining to creating the light sphere, as well as the mana and mental power consumed, had clearly decreased compared to before.

“Celon, did you know?”

―That’s what achievements are. Why do you think the descendants of families with long-standing reputations are strong? It’s all the power given by the achievements accumulated over generations.

“You tell me now.”

Ban Yu-won strongly realized why Honor was important.

This meant that the importance of the Rebellion Channel, which helped increase his Honor little by little every day, had grown even more!

Wait, then what was the achievement that greatly increased his Honor last time related to?

Since his magic was strengthened by obtaining the Grand Mage’s achievement, something must have been strengthened by the previous achievement as well.

―Could it be related to giants? The way you broke the monster with the bracelet earlier felt unusually smooth.

“Is that so? We’ll find out eventually.”

Ban Yu-won sighed softly.

In this room, he had used magic because he thought it would be more useful, and he ended up achieving such an accomplishment.

Should he try to resolve situations with a sword from now on? Or should he completely switch his major to magic?

“Grand Mage!”

A middle-aged soldier ran toward Ban Yu-won, who was reconsidering his career path, which he thought was already settled.

It turned out to be the very soldier who had greeted them when they first entered Room 39.

With a deeply moved expression from the overwhelming victory they couldn’t have imagined when they had initially prepared for a defensive battle, he spoke as if he might kneel before Ban Yu-won at any moment.

“We have prepared the payment! We also plan to hold a festival to celebrate the victory, so please join us…!”

“Oh! …Are we leaving immediately again, Ban?”

“Of course not.”

Ban Yu-won shook his head at Light’s question.

Last time, he had fled without looking back, even if they showed him the king’s face, because he had something to hide, but this time was different.

“We need to take a break anyway, and instead of sleeping in Room 40, Eden, let’s just relax and spend the night here.”

“Ban…!”

Light’s eyes sparkled with gratitude.

Ban Yu-won smiled back at him and looked up, directing his gaze at Tike, who was still filming the ground.

A video capturing the festival in the city after successfully stopping the Monster Wave…

This will sell!

After a night of festivities, the Rebellion Party followed the soldier’s guidance to the mansion where the lord resided.

However, they couldn’t find the lord, and the soldier, after ensuring no one was around, led them to a hidden secret room within the mansion.

“This is… unbelievable…”

“Wow…”

Inside, there was a massive pile of gold.

“The fact that there was gold in our city is a secret. In fact, the lord embezzled gold from a mine involved in a territorial dispute with a neighboring city…”

“And yet, he was planning to seek support from the neighboring city.”

It was easy to imagine how the story might have unfolded from Room 35.

Wouldn’t it have included a mystery novel-like plot about the whereabouts of the missing gold?

However, thanks to the Rebellion Party boldly giving up support and charging into Room 39, the gold remained in its secret location, and the neighboring city was ruined in the process.

“So, what happened to the lord who embezzled this gold?”

“He died suddenly. Even if this gold remains in our territory, it will only lead to disputes, so we hope the mercenaries will take it all.”

“That’s great for us.”

It was probably the soldier’s unilateral decision to offer the gold.

Ban Yu-won decided not to ask about the circumstances of the lord’s sudden death out of politeness, and he quietly collected the gold.

It amounted to a whopping 200 kilograms.

This was an enormous amount of wealth, about seven times the gold Ban Yu-won had used when he made a show of turning a copper box into a gold one!

“Now I understand why people are so obsessed with the Tower of Babel. Such wealth appears so casually…”

“I’ll collect the gold for now. Let me know if you need it later.”

“Oh, all of mine is yours, Yu-won.”

“I plan to take it home during the break. Wouldn’t this help our king… I mean, our family?”

Ban Yu-won decided to ignore Luciel and Light’s comments for now.

Dokgo Yeon also seemed bewildered by the sudden presentation of gold.

“This is surprising. I expected there to be direct growth rewards from the tower for skipping five rooms, but I didn’t expect it to come in the form of physical goods.”

Dokgo Yeon was dumbfounded, but Ban Yu-won found it somewhat understandable.

“We gained enough experience and achievements by clearing the room, so maybe this balances things out?”

“That’s a very results-oriented statement… Well, I did level up, so it’s fine.”

“Me too!”

“Me too… Ah, Ban.”

“Don’t look at me like that, Light, as if you’re wondering, ‘What should we do since you can’t level up?’ I’ve gotten much stronger too.”

Incidentally, the mass of concepts Tike had gathered from all directions was, unfortunately, of low purity for Ban Yu-won, who had absorbed a large amount of depth from the Constellation and grown significantly.

So Ban Yu-won neatly adjusted his Life to 650 and his Current to 400, distributed the rest to his followers, and stored the remaining Life, Magic Power, Carapace, and other concepts in his core.

“Dokgo Yeon, look. Every raindrop of the Storm Sword now contains concepts of Life 200 and Magic Sword 200. Isn’t that impressive?”

“I have no idea how impressive that is.”

Ban Yu-won lamented the reality that he had no one to boast to about the greatness of the followers he had painstakingly nurtured, and he left the city with his party.

He had been somewhat worried and hopeful that the people of the city might try to stop them, but since everyone was passed out drunk, they were able to leave quietly.

“Ah――― look at that, Ban!”

Room 40’s Eden had everything that had been in Room 30 when they last visited.

What Ban Yu-won’s party encountered there was a reality they didn’t want to acknowledge.

Light exclaimed in despair.

“The border of the copper box is silver!”

“No, Light. This isn’t just silver…”

Dokgo Yeon calmly examined the surface of the box and declared.

“It’s platinum.”

Platinum, also known as white gold.

In fact, by today’s Earth standards, platinum is a cheaper precious metal than gold, but Ban Yu-won was more accustomed to using game rankings as a measure of strength rather than the actual market value of precious metals.

“It’s a rare metal. More importantly, it’s a concept that wasn’t part of the tower’s reward system we learned about.”

Ban Yu-won nodded in agreement with Dokgo Yeon’s meaningful gaze.

This treasure box, made of copper with platinum borders, was of a higher grade than the reward from Room 30!

“Tike, are you filming this properly? Good. This is going to be another big deal.”

“Ban, can I open it? This time, I can open it, right?”

Ban Yu-won saw the illusion of a tail wagging from Light’s behind, even though he wasn’t a beastman.

If he had mastered Changeling, he might have tried it, but this time, he didn’t have the confidence to bypass the tower’s security, so he readily allowed Light to open the treasure box.

“Ah… this.”

But Light, who had been so excited, looked clearly disappointed when he saw the contents of the box.

“Why?”

“It’s armor. Full plate armor, to be exact.”

Ban Yu-won couldn’t understand why armor would be disappointing.

After all, Light was the only member of the Rebellion Party who wore armor every time they entered the tower.

Not full plate, but armor that securely protected key areas with metal.

Light explained the history of the armor he was wearing to Ban Yu-won, who was tilting his head in confusion.

“This is the armor of our king… I mean, our family’s treasure.”

Everyone knows, so just call it a kingdom.

“So I have no intention of wearing any armor other than mine. So the armor from the box… Ban, you should wear it.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve been worried for a while. You three always wear school uniforms when you enter the tower! Dokgo Yeon won’t get hurt anyway, and Luciel grows bigger every time she fights, so armor would only get in the way, but Ban, you’re different, right? It looks like a good item, so you should wear it.”

“Light…”

Ban Yu-won felt grateful to Light, who readily offered him the armor, especially since he had been secretly interested in the armor.

When he looked at his companions to see if it was okay for him to accept it, Luciel lightly sparked, emphasizing that she had already claimed the reward from Room 30, and Dokgo Yeon, with a bored expression, flicked her left hand.

She was adorably showing off the Unmoving Bracelet on her wrist.

“Thank you, Light. I’ll make sure to get you the next reward.”

“Just try it on already.”

“Oh, no.”

Ban Yu-won shook his head in denial.

Light tilted his head, not understanding what Ban Yu-won meant by “no.”

Ban Yu-won checked the state of the armor he received and grinned.

“No one is going to wear this.”

He had something he wanted to make, now that he had obtained the concept of Evil.

It was the perfect timing for a good item to appear.