I got into school for nothing - Chapter 22
I got into school for nothing (22)
Lesson 6. A Teacher's Grace is as Boundless as the Sky - 1
Fortunately or unfortunately, the situation where Elite Monsters appeared consecutively after Room 1 did not repeat itself.
Ban Yuwon withdrew his sword and stepped back when he sensed that no more monsters were appearing. As if reading his thoughts, Eve transformed into chains and bound all the remaining monsters together.
“Shall we rest, then?”
“Huh?”
“I feel like if we kill these, a shift will happen immediately. So, we'll rest while they’re bound, not dead.”
“That's an interesting idea.”
Ban Yuwon had merely observed the conditions for a shift when moving from Room 1 to Room 2.
Anyone who'd played a few games, especially a Korean, would naturally choose to bind the monsters in a near-death state and rest before the shift happened!
“Indeed, now that you mention it, it's an idea that upperclassmen familiar with the Tower would immediately think of. I'm just surprised a freshman like you came up with it.”
“As I said before, the world I came from had so many different forms of entertainment... it felt like people’s quick wits also developed to easily enjoy them.”
Ban Yuwon took a sports drink from his inventory and drank it.
It was one of his successful creations after experimenting with various things since the success of the Elixir Jam. Taking a sip of it restored his condition at an incredibly fast pace.
Moreover, just like the Elixir Jam, it was simply concentrated pure energy, so there was no worry about side effects whatsoever.
“......”
“Hm...?”
But as he took a sip and was about to put the drink bottle back into his inventory, he sensed gazes fixed on the bottle.
He turned his head to see Rucell staring intently, As Light glancing furtively, and Dokgo Yeon pretending not to look, all fixated on his drink bottle.
He, flustered, made excuses to them all.
“Uh... this isn’t an elixir.”
“But it smells so fragrant.”
“They sell similar stuff outside.”
“You can go outside, but we can't, Ban.”
He realized then that they were right.
Moreover, he had inadvertently publicized the fact about his "permission to leave" which everyone had probably guessed but hadn't openly mentioned!
Ban Yuwon lamented his own foolishness but resolutely shook his head.
“This is for when you're exhausted, so not now.”
“When you’re exhausted... then I’ll take the lead in Room 3.”
Dokgo Yeon, openly showing her love for sweets, rolled up her sleeves and stepped forward.
She seemed to have completely forgotten what she had said earlier to make Ban Yuwon hunt alone.
“Calm down, it’s not even Friday afternoon yet. I’ll have to see, but if it seems like I can handle Room 3 alone, I’d like to hunt by myself.”
“Just to monopolize that sweetness!”
“That drink was originally brought by Ban, Dokgo Yeon.”
“Hmph!”
“What, why me?!”
While Dokgo Yeon, annoyed but unable to openly show it, vented her frustration on As Light, Ban Yuwon, having completely finished his rest, accessed his internal code.
[Life 129
Physique 72.8
Soul 350
Mana 101
Martial Arts 62 [Swordsmanship 36, Penetration 26]
Leadership 7
Riding 15
Resistance 2
All-Encompassing Eye of Reading 115
All-Encompassing Ear of Listening 105
All-Encompassing Lips of Speaking 107]
It was a veritable feast of codes, enough to make him wonder if he'd already made a profit for the day even if he were to faint then and there.
‘Am I crazy? At this rate, I think I’ve already reached the academy’s average level.’
In truth, that was a slight exaggeration. From what Ban Yuwon had discreetly learned by interacting with students at the academy over the past week, the average Life of students was 140-150, Physique 70-80, and Mana 90-100.
Perhaps because they hailed from higher-ranked dimensions rich in Mana, most tended to have higher Mana than Physique. In Ban Yuwon's case, as a result of his collection in Room 1 and Room 2, he had somehow managed to reach the academy's baseline for Physique and Mana.
...Of course, if other students were to find out how much his abilities had grown over the past five days, it would cause an absolute uproar.
‘But more than that...’
Aside from the basic stats that naturally increased from hunting monsters, Ban Yuwon felt a deeper attachment to the Martial Arts he had developed with his own efforts.
To be more precise, it had shot up rapidly just by him occasionally holding a stance and continuously swinging his sword.
At this rate, even excluding the Penetration he learned from Dokgo Yeon, hadn't he already purely surpassed his sister's kendo skills?
He had a feeling that the outcome of the duel next Tuesday would ultimately be decided by these martial arts.
‘Irekto’s Physique was a whopping 300. Frankly speaking, no matter what he did, he couldn't possibly reverse that difference within the weekend.’
On the other hand, his Mana was only around 120.
Compared to the academy's average, it was certainly high, but it felt somewhat lacking compared to his Life of 250 and his Physique, which reached an astonishing 300.
To defeat him, he would have to exploit that disparity.
The means to do so were martial arts and the sword.
‘If only Dokgo Yeon would teach me one more move... No, no.’
Discovering himself leaning on Dokgo Yeon, he came to his senses and shook his head.
Of course, she was an overwhelmingly powerful individual, but it would be problematic to unconditionally rely on her.
He must always maintain an equal relationship with her.
If the scales were to tip towards her, even by mistake, nothing good would ever happen to Ban Yuwon.
“So, are you satisfied with your growth?”
“As I said before, it’s not enough.”
Dokgo Yeon spoke to him with uncanny timing, as if she had read his thoughts.
Ban Yuwon replied resolutely and stood up.
“Let’s move to Room 3 now.”
“We’re ready.”
After confirming that even Rucell nodded, Ban Yuwon signaled Eve, who instantly tightened its chains and finished off all the monsters.
The shift began at that instant.
First, the ceiling and floor flipped upside down.
“Eve!”
In any case, everyone except Ban Yuwon wasn't greatly affected by the ceiling flipping.
Before Ban Yuwon even needed to call Eve, Eve, already wrapped around his body, embraced him and rose into the air, protecting him from harm.
But while Dokgo Yeon stood rooted to the floor without budging (effectively hanging upside down from the ceiling, and he couldn't for the life of him understand why her hair wasn't falling upside down) and As Light spread magnificent wings of light and ascended into the air, Rucell alone was being helplessly tossed about.
The moment Ban Yuwon observed it, Eve, having read his thoughts, shot out a single chain and latched onto Rucell.
“Eek! Th-thank you...”
“Seriously, you really...”
She had dealt with the Elite Monster in Room 1 without even Dokgo Yeon having a chance to act, yet she was so easily overwhelmed in a situation like this.
He wanted to say something, but seeing Rucell's innocent expression right in front of him, the words wouldn't come out.
“You’ll die if you stay there.”
Just as the two were caught in a strange atmosphere, Dokgo Yeon, who was hanging from the ceiling, said nonchalantly.
At that moment, Ban Yuwon felt a sensation of the right and left walls swapping places, simultaneously seeing golden strings of characters falling above his head.
[Decapitation]
“Hah...!”
Eve couldn't match the speed.
Eve quickly loosened its chains, tossing them into the air, and Ban Yuwon, with no other choice, took out his secret weapon.
—Vroooom!
“Metal... flying in the sky?”
“What is that! What is that thing!”
Lilyth launched with a refreshing exhaust note.
Immediately after, the chilling sensation of a blade brushing past his head.
Rucell clutched his waist tightly, clinging to his back, and her mouth gaped open.
“Alright, Room 3 seems to be a trap zone. Let’s all calmly deal with it as Professor Yumina taught us.”
“That’s not what’s important! That thing! I'm curious about what you're riding right now!”
“Never seen a hoverbike before?”
“I’ve never even heard of what that is!”
The group continued their conversation while moving to avoid the rampant traps from all directions.
No, usually traps mostly just waited for people to approach, but in this Room 3, where front, back, left, and right were twisted, spear tips, poisoned arrows, massive blades, and poisonous gas poured out from everywhere, as if someone were deliberately activating the traps.
They were absurd traps, possessing physical force despite seeming to have no real substance.
“Ban, it’s poison!”
“I’m fine!”
He couldn't absorb the blade that had fallen earlier.
But the poisonous gas sprayed into the air seemed different; the moment he focused on it, it instantly transformed into golden strings of characters and was sucked into his hand.
“Ha!”
“You’re impossible to predict.”
In fact, Ban Yuwon, riding on Lilyth, was practically unrivaled in this trap zone.
With his ability, he could observe the language concepts before the traps manifested, and Lilyth could read his thoughts and move quickly.
If there were even traps he could absorb, then the game was over.
“By the way, how does this end?”
“According to the textbook, we seem to have to endure for a certain period. So, how is that chunk of metal actually floating?”
Good heavens, was she asking him to explain how a hoverbike flew right now?
He probably could give an answer if he were to abandon all food and drink from now on and devote himself solely to analyzing concepts, but it was too bothersome, so he decided to brush it off with the word ‘magic.’
“Magic, you say.”
“Oh, wow...”
Meanwhile, Rucell seemed to have taken a liking to the hoverbike and had now settled herself properly, leaning against Ban Yuwon's back.
As Light, who watched Rucell with an incredulous expression (fluttering his wings of light, avoiding the traps with such ease it was as if he were taking a leisurely stroll), suddenly frowned and asked Ban Yuwon.
“Ban, was there any mention of a trap zone appearing this early?”
“The Tower’s environment changes every time; what’s the point of dwelling on that?”
“Even so, they said the absolute difficulty based on the room’s depth doesn’t change much.”
“That’s true.”
Ban Yuwon agreed with As Light's words and nodded.
Even if the form and abilities of the monsters that appeared differed, the absolute degree of strength remained similar; that was a rule of this Tower.
If such a fundamental premise were to be broken, ascending the Tower of Babel would be no different than playing the lottery.
“But according to the textbook, traps were said to start appearing after at least Room 20.”
“What about a section comprised entirely of traps like this?”
Unless one possessed absurd combat prowess like Dokgo Yeon (even now, she was casually deflecting all sorts of bladed weapons flying at her from her spot), or had wings like As Light, or could ride a hoverbike even in a dungeon like Ban Yuwon, a regular freshman would never be able to endure a trap zone like this.
“It should at least be Room 50... Damn it! It won’t even let me speak!”
As Light seemed to have changed a lot in just a few days.
Ban Yuwon thought this as he steered Lilyth into the air, avoiding a wave that surged with the momentum to swallow him whole, and then....
“Shluuurp!”
“Ah, right, right. It was acid.”
He stretched out his hand towards the wave that had failed to secure its prey and was trying to seep back into the floor.
The black wave instantly vanished, and he gained over 10 units of Acid (酸), and, as a bonus, an equal amount of Wave (波).
‘Wave? Like a current...’
An unexpected gain.
He had expected it to be something like ‘Water’ (水), but he clearly realized that concepts could differ vastly depending on the state at the moment of absorption.
Perhaps this might be an important realization for him in creating and manipulating all sorts of language concepts in the future....
“Ban, above!”
At that moment, As Light exclaimed urgently.
Ban Yuwon raised his head; perhaps because he had soared quite high to avoid the wave, the ceiling was closer than he thought, and...
[Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash]
...golden strings of characters were densely surging forth from beyond it.
He saw them.
“Seriously, you really need to fix that habit of getting distracted!”
“Ban, I’ll destroy it, so just get back as fast as you can...!”
“Kyaaaah!”
The moment he instinctively sensed death, no sound registered in Ban Yuwon's ears.
Rationally, he knew he couldn't die now.
Dokgo Yeon had already promised to help him, and As Light's sword, too, would surely possess enough power to destroy the blades.
Above all, he was certain that Rucell, clinging tightly to his back, would unleash her abilities the moment things truly became dangerous.
‘What can I do? What... Ah!’
But when death appears right before one's eyes, it's impossible to calmly reflect on the situation.
Ban Yuwon focused solely on the flow of the character strings.
He realized anew that even if he couldn't absorb the character strings, he could still manipulate them.
[Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash]
The ceiling densely packed with 'Slash' character strings. He stretched out his hand and overlaid some of them with others.
One might wonder what he was doing against the throng of concepts about to attack him, but it was instinct and emotion, not reason, that guided him.
[Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash]
Each individual string grew larger, but their number decreased.
With that, fragments scattered.
Because they possessed physical force but didn't contain the concept of a physical object like a blade (刀) or a sword (劍), their forms collapsed simply by mixing the 'Slash' concepts together.
[Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash]
“What?!”
“Directly attacking the traps...”
“Kya, Kyaaaah...!”
Someone was loudly chattering around him, but he wasn't listening.
He merely focused on guiding and combining the concepts faster.
[Slash][Slash][Slash][Slash]
[Slash][Slash]
Weaving concepts, one after another.
Finally, when he combined the two concepts that had grown so massive they could sever this entire room once more...
[Overlapping concepts synthesize into the higher concept of Severance (斬截)!]
Ultimately, ‘all’ the blades scattered into fragments and disappeared, and only a single, synthesized concept remained.
The perfectly mutated concept no longer functioned as a trap, but merely floated there placidly.
Now confident that he could seize it.
Ban Yuwon stretched out his hand and secured it.
[By interfering with external concepts, you have created a newly synthesized language concept. The Depth of All-Encompassing Eye of Reading has become 120. The Depth of Soul has become 360. The Depth of Mana has become 105.]
[Severance (斬截) 20 is absorbed. This is a concept that cannot be possessed by humans.]
Every time he utilized his abilities to achieve something new, his Soul and Mana grew together.
This likely meant those two core concepts were influencing each other.
Ban Yuwon, having successfully absorbed the concept, let out a relieved sigh, "Hoo," and raised his head to see Dokgo Yeon, who was staring at him with an utterly flabbergasted expression.
One hand was stretched out towards him, or rather, towards the ceiling, which revealed that she had been on the verge of making a move.
“You should have done that earlier if it was possible. You unnecessarily made us tired.”
“That’s really harsh, to someone who just escaped death.”
“That was too close, Ban. You probably awakened a new ability, but...”
Dokgo Yeon and As Light were grumbling, but knowing that it stemmed from their concern for him, Ban Yuwon simply smiled faintly.
He also felt a sense of pride as the team leader, as this team seemed to be running quite smoothly now.
“It was a chance to get some of that sweetness.”
“The space is changing again. Our opportunities to shine will also increase in Room 4.”
...They were worried about him, right?
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