I got into school for nothing - 2
I got into school for nothing (2)
Lesson 1. This is Your Status Window - 2
When an overwhelming series of astonishing events occurs, one ironically finds themselves growing calm.
This wasn't some theory espoused by a scholar; it was Ban Yuwon's lived experience in that very moment.
[Receiving external stimulus, the Authority, Babylonia Code, is activated. Ideograms from the language most familiar to the Authority's wielder will be displayed.]
‘Ideograms familiar to me... Hanja?’
It was the correct answer.
A language that conveyed meaning through the characters themselves, rather than merely representing sounds phonetically.
The Babylonia Code, structured in the form of Hanja, appeared before his eyes.
[Absorbing Demonic Spirit (魔鬼) 0.2. Demonic Spirit is a concept that humans cannot inherently possess. By the power of the Babylonia Code, it can be temporarily stored within your body, but you will be unable to wield this power. It is recommended to separate it or bestow it upon another object or living being.]
[Absorbing Life (生) 0.4. The wielder's Life (生) has become 10.4. The overall capabilities and potential of your existence are enhanced.]
[Absorbing Physique (肉體) 0.2. The wielder's Physique (肉體) has become 10.2. Your body becomes more robust.]
Unlike the Academy's instructional messages, a series of notifications, written in a language that exuded power from its very characters, appeared one after another, filling Ban Yuwon's vision.
Amidst this chaos, Ban Yuwon could see.
From within the bodies of the two goblins, three strands of characters each shot out... then found their counterparts, merged, and were sequentially drawn into his body.
‘Ah...’
Indeed, mystically, he could even discern how the strands of characters moved once inside him. Two of the strands—likely Life (生) and Physique (肉體)—were completely absorbed into Ban Yuwon's body, naturally merging with the existing character strands within him.
In contrast, the remaining strand of characters, Demonic Spirit (魔鬼), tried to rage violently the moment it entered his body but was soon suppressed by a mysterious power and isolated in a corner of his internal being.
As soon as all absorption was complete, the goblins' corpses rapidly withered, turning into dust that scattered away.
‘...My body has changed.’
He intuited it.
He had never once used such a phrase in his life, but at this very moment, he was certain.
He had grown stronger.
He could vividly feel his grip strength, his leg strength, and even his somewhat delicate skin becoming marginally tougher.
He had often been surprised by his own linguistic abilities throughout his life... but he could confidently say that this was the most astonishing moment yet.
No, this isn't even a linguistic ability!
[Displaying all internal concepts the wielder can currently perceive.
Life (生) 10.4 — A concept possessed by all living beings. Related to the tier of existence.
Physique (肉體) 10.2 — The concept of the body.
Soul (靈魂) 300 — The concept of the spirit/mind.
Omniscient Eye (萬讀眼) 100 — An eye that reads all things. A unique concept belonging solely to the wielder.
Omni-Hearing Ear (萬聽耳) 100 — An ear that hears all things. A unique concept belonging solely to the wielder.
Omni-Speaking Lips (萬言脣) 100 — Lips that speak all things. A unique concept belonging solely to the wielder.
Demonic Spirit (魔鬼) 0.2 — A concept possessed by all impure beings originating from malevolence. Humans cannot possess it, but it is held within by the power of the Authority.]
Even as Ban Yuwon touched his altered body, the messages continued to appear.
Though he was greatly surprised, accepting this message window itself wasn't particularly difficult.
Perhaps because this Babylonia Code had appeared in place of a status window, its structure was strikingly similar to one.
It made him understand why his status window had been taken away.
Extracting linguistic concepts from the dead goblins was like gaining experience points, and these codes appearing one after another, wasn't that just displaying a status window?
‘Life (生), this clearly looks like a game level. If this grows, then my level has risen. Physique and Soul are stats. Why is only Soul so high? I don’t know, so I’ll just move on for now. Omniscient Eye and Omni-Hearing Ear must be related to my linguistic abilities... So these are skills. Ah, perhaps these are related to the unusually high Soul value.’
At this point, it could simply be considered a slightly different type of status window compared to others.
Let's just assume that and move on!
‘If I dig into why I have this ability, it’ll probably get too complicated. I don’t know! And knowing it won’t help me do anything right now either...’
No, is that entirely true?
Ban Yuwon’s gaze lingered on the concept displayed on the last line, Demonic Spirit (魔鬼).
It clearly stated that humans cannot possess it, so it advised getting rid of it quickly.
The instruction also mentioned that it could be separated or bestowed upon another object or living being.
Seeing that, Ban Yuwon could finally grasp the general nature of his ability.
‘So, it’s not merely understanding all languages, but also being able to perceive, categorize, and manipulate even the constituent elements of living beings as linguistic concepts.’
He could absorb them directly to strengthen himself.
Or he could bestow them upon other objects to strengthen or alter them.
Or, perhaps, there was even a way to release and utilize the concepts as standalone languages.
Never before had the saying ‘words are power’ been understood so directly.
‘Magic Thousand... *Ahem*!’
He was probably right in his understanding.
Perhaps because he was the master of this ability, Ban Yuwon was understanding and accepting it with a surprising lack of resistance, even to himself.
And he began to suspect that this was precisely why Union Academy had accepted him through the Special Admissions for Lower-Rank Dimensions.
That must be it.
‘Which means, with this ability, there’s a chance I can survive and escape this mad monster den...!’
He had just awakened his Authority and gained a slight boost in growth by consuming the linguistic concepts held by two goblins.
However, he knew very well that this much wasn't nearly enough to face a goblin head-on.
So what should he do now?
Ban Yuwon thought the answer might lie in Demonic Spirit (魔鬼).
‘It said I could bestow it. Fortunately, I have a target to bestow it upon.’
He brought the club he had just wielded and checked it.
The club, stained with goblin blood and brains, was nevertheless still sturdy and possessed a definite presence.
He felt skeptical if holding a weapon, something Ban Yuwon had never been close to in his life, would allow him to fight a goblin, but it would certainly be better than bare hands.
“Wait.”
At that moment, a sudden realization struck him, and Ban Yuwon instinctively let out a sound.
Immediately afterward, he flinched and looked around, but his surroundings remained quiet.
It was probably because this was where the territories of the two goblins overlapped.
‘If I can extract linguistic concepts from corpses, can’t I do it from objects too?’
Ban Yuwon urgently scanned the floor.
Goblins 1 and 2 had vanished, even their tattered rags disintegrating, but fortunately, both clubs remained.
He placed his hand on Goblin 1’s club, which lay rolling on the floor, and activated his power.
Though it was a power he had awakened only minutes ago, once he understood it, he could wield it with remarkable natural ease.
[Ownership of the object has been secured, making it possible to extract its linguistic concept. Would you like to absorb Blunt Weapon (鈍器) 1?]
‘Absorb.’
A blunt weapon, indeed, just a club.
Ban Yuwon instinctively gave a wry smile and initiated the extraction.
Then, the same phenomenon as before unfolded.
The club crumbled without a trace, and from within it, a stream of golden characters flowed out and into Ban Yuwon's body.
However, like the Demonic Spirit, it was a concept Ban Yuwon could not directly possess. He decided to seize the opportunity and immediately test ‘bestowal’.
[Bestowing Blunt Weapon (鈍器) 1 upon the object in hand. The object will now possess Blunt Weapon (鈍器) 2.]
It was simpler than he thought.
The character string, flowing out from his body once more, entered the club, and that was that.
There was no visible change to the club's appearance.
Was it that Blunt Weapon 1 didn’t naturally cause much change, or was it that even possessing a linguistic concept didn’t inherently manifest as a visible alteration?
Regardless, since the bestowal was easier than expected, Ban Yuwon decided to try the next idea that came to mind.
[As ownership of the object is secured, it is possible to extract its linguistic concept. Would you like to absorb Blunt Weapon (鈍器) 2?]
‘Good, it seems the amount doesn’t decrease even if I absorb something I’ve already bestowed.’
This was a more important issue than he had initially thought.
Don’t you usually incur fees just by exchanging money?
Though no one would be so foolish, simply exchanging Korean Won for dollars and then back to Won repeatedly would continuously deplete the principal.
Fortunately, however, his ability had no concept of fees, allowing him to bestow or extract concepts as he pleased.
Of course, he would have to be careful not to completely absorb all concepts that made up an object, as that would cause it to entirely collapse.
‘Then I’ll cancel absorbing the blunt weapon... and bestow the Demonic Spirit.’
Just before executing it, Ban Yuwon hesitated slightly.
This was because he distinctly remembered the message stating that concepts could not only be bestowed but also separated.
And if that were the case, perhaps he could apply it directly to his own body.
‘Demon (魔)... Could this perhaps be magic (魔力)?’
To be honest.
He was extremely interested.
However, the reason Ban Yuwon didn’t proceed, even though he somewhat anticipated the outcome, was that he felt absolutely no dramatic change would occur if he only gained 0.2 of ‘Demon (魔)’ at this moment.
It was also because he had confirmed that in an emergency, he could always absorb the concept back from the club.
‘Yes, this is correct. For now, it’s better to have the Demonic Spirit imbue the weapon than for me to wield magic directly.’
Impulses from his chuunibyou-afflicted middle school days threatened to burst forth, but he desperately suppressed them.
Then, he extracted all 0.2 of the Demonic Spirit (魔鬼) isolated within his body and bestowed it upon the blunt weapon.
Of course, since there had been no change when he bestowed Blunt Weapon 1, merely bestowing 0.2 of the Demonic Spirit concept wouldn’t make a significant difference, he thought.
But he was wrong.
The result was vastly different from his expectations.
[The object now possesses Demonic Spirit (魔鬼) 0.2, taking on the faint properties of an artifact. Its destructive power is slightly amplified, its durability noticeably increased, and a critical hit chance is additionally granted.]
“...What?”
As he stood frozen in surprise at the unexpected notification, a message from the Academy appeared this time.
[You have created a temporary artifact during the exam. This is truly astonishing! Significant bonus points will be awarded to your evaluation! We recommend advancing to the Artifact Production Department!]
“Ha, haha.”
He had done it.
But it was exhilarating.
‘Significant bonus points’ had been awarded, hadn’t they?
It was a moment that proved his inherent, unique ability was by no means inferior, even within a place like Union Academy.
‘I can do it. Now everyone’s dead!’
...Of course, this didn’t mean he could now face a blind goblin one-on-one, so he still had to continue his perilous tightrope walk.
He spent a long time moving forward, defeating goblins by employing abilities that couldn’t be quantified by the Babylonia Code: deception, trickery, mimicry, backstabbing, and more.
Before he knew it, he stood before a massive door, utterly out of place within the cave.
—The club he held now possessed Blunt Weapon (鈍器) 15 and Demonic Spirit (魔鬼) 1.5.
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