I Got Into School For Nothing - Chapter 26
I Got Into School For Nothing (26)
Lesson 7. It’s Not Because I Like You, Absolutely Not - 1
‘What was that just now? Internal energy... it didn’t seem like he used much mana.’
Dokgo Yeon watched Ban Yuwon counter the spider’s leg slam, utterly crushing it, and was so dumbfounded that she gaped.
“Krrruk, Kang!”
“Thanks, you beast.”
After bouncing her ‘grateful friend’ (Rucell), who had pointed out her unseemly state, back to the far wall, she returned her gaze to Ban Yuwon.
Indeed, there was no sign of him consuming mana.
From the start, that man didn't yet know how to properly wield mana.
‘But how, just now? That was....’
Dokgo Yeon recognized that the move had embodied the essence of Ban (Counter).
But if she were asked if she could do it herself... well, that would make her tilt her head in doubt.
The martial arts she wielded were thoroughly overbearing and destructive, simply pushing forward with strong, overwhelming force.
In contrast, what Ban Yuwon had just displayed was a technique that could only be achieved by splitting time again and again, grasping and moving within a fleeting moment, equivalent to one hundred-thousandth of a second.
Regardless of whether she could do it or not, it was a technique that simply didn't suit her martial arts.
‘I heard there are martial arts sects in Jungwon that primarily focus on counter-techniques (反擊技)... Perhaps they teach that in such places.’
However, that technique was more a domain of talent than skill, which naturally forced sects to selectively accept disciples. This, in turn, made proper transmission difficult, preventing the sect from growing.
That was the reason why sects dealing with such techniques couldn't become mainstream.
Dokgo Yeon had originally considered deflecting an opponent's attack or using their force against them to inflict injury as mere tricks (雜技) and never even looked at them, but after witnessing Ban Yuwon's strike just now, her thoughts had changed a little.
‘When I return home, maybe I’ll try to find it. Though I might not be able to wield it myself...’
It piqued her interest.
After all, the moment the seemingly weak Ban Yuwon broke the power of that monstrously strong creature, it looked so cool that she involuntarily clenched her fists.
It wasn't that she had fallen for him; it was simply that his exquisite movements and profound technique were impressive.
“That’s enough, Ban Yuwon.”
“Hm?”
“Your progress is sufficient... Hm?”
—Kiiigiigiiigiiigiiik!
However, just as Dokgo Yeon, satisfied by seeing something beyond her expectations, was about to declare the task accomplished.
The giant spider, which had lost a leg from Ban Yuwon's counterattack and was writhing in pain, suddenly began to swell its body and howl grotesquely.
“Oh no, an irregular...!”
“Krrruuuaahhh!”
“This beast, being troublesome at precisely this moment!”
Dokgo Yeon, sensing the abnormality of the situation, tried to rush to assist immediately, but was blocked by Rucell, who, sensing the ominous atmosphere, also began to rampage violently.
It wasn't like she could actually kill her just because she was annoying, so Dokgo Yeon, annoyedly parrying Rucell while glancing at As Light, ended up sighing.
“What have you been doing, still unable to catch that one thing?!”
“This thing’s threads, spewing everywhere, make it subtly annoying to deal with...! My sword keeps getting caught in them!”
“You incompetent fool!”
* * *
The moment the spider began to swell, Ban Yuwon also instinctively felt that an irregular phenomenon was causing a rather unwelcome change in the creature.
‘I have to cut it down now.’
Sensing the crisis instinctively, he immediately charged towards it.
‘The Ryu (Flow) and Ban (Counter) I just grasped would be meaningless now. I must stab it to death or cut it to death. But stabbing that giant spider to death with this sword in one go is absurd.’
Therefore, he had to cut it.
Though with his current abilities, he couldn't cut it down.
Nevertheless, he absolutely had to cut it down immediately!
Following the instinctively raised blade, blood-red madness flowed.
Thanks to a little time having passed, he was able to wield the blood poison again.
But Ban Yuwon himself knew well that it alone was insufficient.
‘What else do I need to add here? What?’
Pulling out a magic bomb now would be suicide, and there were limits to the attacks he could wield with Eve.
If he rode Lilyth to add speed, the distance was already too close, and if he increased the distance, everything would be too late at that very moment.
In less than a mere one-thousandth of a second, countless thoughts flashed through his mind.
‘...This could work!’
The only realistic possibility he salvaged from that torrent of thoughts was the concept ‘Pa (Wave)’ he had acquired earlier in Room 3.
‘Because it was said humans could possess this, I had absorbed it into my body for now. That means I can somehow wield this concept.’
The moment he became conscious of that concept, he suddenly felt his sword vibrating powerfully.
From within the Executioner’s Longsword, among the golden string of characters floating there, ‘Severance (斬截)’ was emitting a fierce light.
Seeing the separate concepts resonating, Ban Yuwon intuitively grasped the ‘combination method’ of the two.
‘Ugh?!’
The moment Ban Yuwon reached a conclusion.
The concept of Pa (Wave), which had been carelessly tossed aside within his body, activated and began to devour his mana.
That was right. It was sucking dry his mana, which he had just blindly accumulated until now, and whose utilization had ended at the level of merely activating his body!
—Woooong
The concept of Pa (Wave), swollen with mana, began to vibrate just like its name.
As if asserting its existence to Ban Yuwon.
‘...I see.’
Babylonia Code.
The power to understand concepts as language, and thereby manipulate the true essence (眞意) of concepts.
Ban Yuwon now realized what he could do with this concept.
—Kiiigiigiiigiiik!
“Ha...!”
Trusting his intuition, Ban Yuwon took a strong step forward.
Just as he had realized and learned from Dokgo Yeon.
He imbued his sword with the concept of Pa (Wave), which had absorbed a large amount of mana.
And brought it down forcefully in a vertical strike!
—Kwaaaah!
It was like witnessing the rage of a sea god storming through a sea of blood.
The power of Severance, enhanced by absorbing red blood, was greatly amplified by a wave and stretched forth.
—Kiiheeheeheeheek!
Not only did it split the giant spider, which was about to cause an anomaly, in half, but it also spread vibrations throughout its body, shattering it into pieces!
“Ha, hahaha....”
Watching the giant spider vanish without a trace, leaving behind only a single magic core, Ban Yuwon simply laughed.
The exhilarating feeling of having done something spectacular, the sense of emptiness as all his energy drained from his body.
And, above all, it was a laugh tinged with surprise at himself for having created destructive power that completely transcended the realm of ordinary people.
Of course, as a price for instantly drawing upon his blood and mana, he had to collapse on the spot, but that sense of powerlessness didn't last long.
[You have realized a method to create more powerful concepts by temporarily synthesizing internal and external concepts. The depths of All-Seeing Eye, All-Hearing Ear, and All-Speaking Lip each increase by 5.]
[The depth of Life is now 195, the depth of Body is 160, the depth of Mana is 170, and the depth of Soul is 420.]
[The depth of Swordsmanship is now 55, and the depth of Severance is 20.]
[The depth of Pa (Wave) is now 15.]
A drastic change occurred in his internal codes.
While the enlightenment in martial arts like Ryu (Flow) and Ban (Counter) was important, he naturally realized that the enlightenment regarding his inherent abilities was even more crucial.
But there was still one more important thing left: the massive golden string of characters flowing out from the giant spider he had just defeated.
[From the Compound-Eyed Tower Spider, you plunder Life 15, Body 13, Demonic 16, Carapace 12, Resistance 2, and Division 10.]
“Hm?”
For a moment, he felt the depths of his core internal codes instantly deepen, and his body recovering and strengthening in real-time.
Unlike other elite monsters, Ban Yuwon narrowed his eyes upon seeing the concept of Resistance, recorded as 2, and the Division (分裂) concept that appeared afterward.
‘Was what that thing just tried to do ‘division’? So it gave up on other things and tried to increase its resistance to buy time for division... That makes sense.’
But it could not win against Ban Yuwon's concept combination, Severance Wave, which he had created by putting absolutely everything on the line.
If it had merely ended with splitting it in half, division might have occurred, but because the power of Severance rode the wave to dissect and burst its body into pieces, it was utterly finished.
That he would create such a finishing move from the concept of 'trap' he had absorbed without much thought, at Eve's urging, was truly an unpredictable outcome.
‘That’s right, since I imbued it with mana to activate it, let’s call this an active skill... no, an active concept.’
Unlike concepts such as Martial Arts, Riding, and Resistance, which always exerted their power without needing to be touched by mana, Pa (Wave) only displayed its true power after absorbing a large amount of mana.
Honestly, he had forgotten about things like status windows and skills for a while, but only after utilizing this concept of Pa (Wave) did Ban Yuwon suddenly think, ‘Huh, isn’t this like a skill?’
Ban Yuwon classified the codes according to the idea that had just occurred to him. And then.
[Core]
Life (生) 210
Body (肉體) 173
Mana (魔力) 175
Soul (靈魂) 422
[Passive]
Martial Arts (武道) 130 [Swordsmanship (劍術) 55, Thrust (貫) 26, Severance (斬) 20, Ryu (流) 5, Ban (反) 10]
Leadership (統率) 7
Riding (騎乘) 17
Resistance (抵抗) 5
All-Seeing Eye (萬讀眼) 130
All-Hearing Ear (萬聽耳) 115
All-Speaking Lip (萬言脣) 117
[Active]
Pa (Wave) 15 — Power of Flow and Vibration.
This was the result of the organization.
‘Good, I’m satisfied.’
Tremendous growth achieved in just one day since entering the Tower.
Of course, even with that, he still couldn't reach Irekto, but having mastered Ryu (Flow) and Ban (Counter), and above all, by witnessing the wave of Severance he had just unleashed, he gained confidence.
This much was worth a try.
‘If I struggle in the Tower on Saturday and Sunday too, that confidence would deepen even further.’
It seemed he would have to give up on entering the Tower more this week.
Ban Yuwon picked up the magic core the spider left behind, gave a wry smile, and looked back to see As Light, who had just defeated a spider and was panting heavily.
“Ba, Ban....”
Covered in spider webs all over his body, unable to move from the spot, Light pitifully called his name.
‘Why was he acting like that, really, someone with incredibly strong abilities?’ Ban Yuwon sighed.
A disaster that had occurred in the exact opposite direction of what he had initially worried about.
“What the heck, you’re strong and good at swordsmanship.”
“The spider web! Once I got caught in that spider web, it became difficult to properly draw mana from my sword...!”
Ban Yuwon had also somewhat noticed that special debuff abilities were imbued in the spider webs spewed by the elite monsters.
However, he himself had brushed them off one after another before getting hit by them, and thus had merely passed them by without being able to conceptualize them.
But it seemed Light had properly been affected by it.
“Alright, alright, so don’t try to move unnecessarily and fall; just stay still.”
Ban Yuwon stretched out his hand, and while extracting the concepts of the giant spider Light had just defeated, he also extracted all the concepts of the spider webs scattered around, as well as from Light himself.
In an instant, everything around them became clean, and Light finally became free.
“Then, shouldn’t we gradually decide what to do with this beast now?”
“Ah.”
“Krrruuuurrr...!”
Dokgo Yeon, who had been dealing with Rucell until now, said in a tired voice.
In truth, she had been anxious because she couldn't help Ban Yuwon, and upon seeing him cut down the spider by himself, part of it was also due to her own energy being drained.
“Doesn’t she ever get tired?”
“And I can’t just knock her out....”
“Shhhrk.”
Ban Yuwon had indeed gained enlightenment regarding concepts that dealt with emotions, active concepts, but interfering with another's concepts was a different story entirely.
But just as he was feeling troubled, Eve tapped Ban Yuwon's back again, conveying her intentions.
“You want the spider webs?”
“Shhweeeek.”
Since it was a concept Ban Yuwon couldn't handle anyway, he magnanimously handed over all the concepts of Jibang (spider web) to Eve.
But he didn't just give it away; as per her request, he separated and gave her the spider (蜘) and the web (網).
[The depth of Demonic Beast (妖獸) possessed by Eve is now 25. It absorbs Mang (網) 16.]
Perhaps because the spider wasn't an ordinary one, the depth of Demonic Beast also rose considerably, but the core was the web (網).
After finishing the concept absorption, it transformed into a bundle of chains in mid-air and abruptly threw itself at Rucell.
“Krrk?!”
Rucell, who had just been thrown by Dokgo Yeon and was rolling on the ground, noticed its approach and swung her hand, but Eve, as if waiting for that, unwound herself and wrapped around Rucell's body.
And then, astonishingly, it split into dozens of strands, becoming an iron net, tightly wrapping around Rucell's entire body!
“Kuk, Krrruuuurrr...!”
“It would have been good if we’d done that earlier.”
A net is originally something that wraps more tightly around the body, the more one struggles to escape.
In the process of Rucell struggling and twisting her body, Eve squeezed her body even tighter, and Ban Yuwon, watching that... watching that....
“...Light? Why are you covering my eyes?”
“D-don’t look.”
“You? What about you?!”
“I’m fine!”
Well, isn’t he not even trying to hide his identity?!
“Phew, anyway, it’s over. The shift to Room 5... doesn’t seem to be happening after all.”
“Kkeung, krrruk....”
“Ah, mana seems to be flowing normally through my student ID... Should I try activating it?”
“Stop covering my eyes.”
“That’s right. Then right now—.”
—Let’s go outside and question the Principal or whoever.
Just as Dokgo Yeon was about to say that, a voice cut her off and echoed through the space.
—Children who have overcome the trial.
“...Hm?”
“Huh?”
“Th-this is.”
“Hmph?”
From Dokgo Yeon, who was confident she was the best in the world, to Rucell, who had lost her reason, everyone collectively stopped moving.
—I shall bestow rewards upon you.
The owner of an absolute presence, which made even their actions—even their breathing—hesitate.
—I, the Observer of All Things, will give you the chance to become a contractor.
Spoke to them again from the empty air where no one was.
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