I got into school for nothing - Chapter 35
I got into school for nothing (35)
Lesson 8. This Skill is Mine - 5
It was on Thursday night, as the members gathered in the training room for their final sparring session before tomorrow's Tower exploration, that Ban Yuwon gained two new passive concepts.
Presumably, the video they had uploaded to an external channel after their first club activity on Wednesday evening had gained considerable traction within a single day, amplifying its viewership. It was during this surge that Ban Yuwon must have unwittingly fulfilled a specific, unknown condition.
[[Charm 10 — The ability to captivate and influence the hearts of other beings.]]
[[Honor 10 — A status established through the recognition of many beings.]]
Charm and Honor, it could be said, were linguistic concepts particularly prized on modern Earth.
But perhaps it was precisely because Ban Yuwon had emulated Earth's representative methods in presenting himself and his companions that he, too, had come to realize these concepts.
The problem, however, was whether such concepts held any real significance in climbing the Tower.
In fact, even dissecting the definition of language only left him thinking, ‘So what?’
Especially Honor, wasn’t it literally just a matter of recognition?
While that 'status' aspect was bothersome, its immediate impact on his other abilities was entirely negligible.
And Charm? It wasn’t a bad thing to possess, but...
“Rucell, has my face changed at all?”
“Y-yes? Yes?”
When he posed the question to Rucell, who stood opposite him as a sparring partner, she blinked in surprise, then involuntarily nodded.
“B-Ban is incredibly, incredibly handsome.”
“No, not how I look, but how I’ve *changed*.”
“Ah, ah. Well...!”
Flustered, Rucell struggled to string words together, attempting to form an answer.
Light, who had finished his sparring session with Dokgo Yeon and lay sprawled on the floor, slowly opened his eyes and interjected.
“Ban, that’s sexual harassment.”
“Oh? Then Light, have *you* perhaps noticed any changes in my face... *Guhk*.”
“Stop it. Don’t get distracted during sparring.”
Dokgo Yeon, worried Ban Yuwon might push his face close to hers if he continued, intervened at just the right moment and personally squashed his face.
Thanks to that, for at least a few hours, he was unable to ask about his face.
“Just spar, you two. Or should I make both of you roll around again?”
“You’re a Marine drill sergeant, aren’t you? Seriously, just tell me...”
“Hmph. I merely do everything properly and thoroughly.”
That’s *exactly* what the administrative supply officer says when they’re the officer of the day on a weekend, making soldiers work without a moment’s rest...!
However, Ban Yuwon, keenly aware that further grumbling would indeed lead to him relentlessly rolling on the floor against Dokgo Yeon, deliberately avoided her and once again faced Rucell.
“Alright, Rucell. Let’s have just one more sparring match, for the last time.”
“Yes...! If—if I go berserk again, please tie me up well.”
Having been bound by chains every time she went berserk for nearly a week, it seemed Rucell had developed a somewhat dangerous habit.
Still, he couldn't help but wonder if that was a request she should be making directly to Eve, rather than to him.
Just as Ban Yuwon was agonizing over how to respond to Rucell without it crossing into sexual harassment.
“Haaaaap!”
To his surprise, Rucell charged, seizing that very opening!
Before he knew it, sharp claws, extended long from her hand, swung with menacing might, aiming to rake across Ban Yuwon's face.
“Ha...!”
Ban Yuwon obliquely raised his longsword, deflecting the descending claws, then swiftly stepped forward, kicking her in the abdomen.
He kicked with all his might, but she, maintaining her balance with animalistic senses, was merely pushed back a short distance.
Ban Yuwon, aware of this, used the interval to reorient himself and launch another attack.
—*K-kaang!*
As has been said time and again, Rucell was a monster against whom Ban Yuwon stood no chance in a direct confrontation, no matter how much he grew.
For Ban Yuwon, sparring with Rucell fundamentally revolved around deflecting her attacks using the ‘Flow’ (流) concept, while steadily accumulating damage on her by employing ‘Counter’ (反) and ‘Wave’ (波).
—*Thwack!*
“I’ve got you!”
“Khk?! Where?!”
But Rucell was an exceptionally skilled individual, whose animalistic senses were just as prominent as her formidable physical abilities.
Just as Ban Yuwon could read, deflect, or counter her attacks, she too was growing, instinctively reading his movements and adapting to them.
—*K-kaang!*
—*K-kiiigiik!*
Naturally, Ban Yuwon also had to devise and execute various combinations of ‘Flow’ (流) and ‘Counter’ (反) to prevent her from reading his movements.
Consequently, their sparring sessions featured dizzyingly fast shifts between offense and defense, accompanied by an intense battle of wits, and as such, they boasted immense popularity among the videos uploaded to the channel.
“Krr... Haaaat!”
“Hup!”
Of course, Rucell’s ‘exceptionally outstanding’ physique undoubtedly contributed to the video’s popularity as well.
Therefore, when filming sparring videos with Rucell, Ban Yuwon always meticulously reviewed the footage, subtly editing out any parts he deemed overly provocative to maintain a semblance of decorum.
Therefore, this magnificent spectacle (絶景) was allowed only to Ban Yuwon...!
—*CRASH!*
It was then.
His ‘Counter’ (反), unleashed by diagonally extending the Executioner’s Longsword, struck true, half-breaking Rucell’s sharp claws and sending her flying into the wall.
Despite taking a heavy impact, Rucell sprang back to her feet, a beastly groan escaping her lips.
“Krr-r-r-r...!”
“Oh, no!”
Before he knew it, more than half of Rucell’s hair had turned black.
That was both the point where her abilities began to amplify significantly, and where instinct started to claim a greater share than reason.
His abilities were already inferior to hers; if they amplified further, there truly would be no answer.
With her reaction speed increasing so dramatically, he absolutely couldn't employ ‘Counter’ (反), which aimed for one hundred-thousandth of an instant (刹那). His best option was to somehow deflect with ‘Flow’ (流) and devise a means to halt her berserk state.
‘Tomorrow we enter the Tower, so I *must* find a clue right now!’
He continuously deflected her relentlessly extending claw and talon attacks by tilting the blade of his longsword, his eyes wide open.
He hadn't simply clashed with her foolishly for the past few days.
He had attempted to induce her emotions, researched methods to sustain her reason for longer, and by staying close to her, he had gathered as many fragments of the emotions she emanated as possible.
‘Emotions burning and running wild within the Heart Furnace. Extracting them is impossible. In that case, what about injecting emotions that were originally hers to neutralize them...!’
The Heart Furnace flares up intensely with negative and violent emotions, yet calms down with positive and gentle ones.
While any emotion could fuel the Heart Furnace, the evidence showed that it never went berserk when positive emotions predominated.
However, once in a combat state, negative and violent emotions amplified more readily than positive ones, making a berserk state unavoidable.
If so, wouldn’t it simply be a matter of adding enough positive emotion to compensate for the lack...!
“Brace yourself, Rucell!”
“Kuaaaah!”
But just as he was about to inject the golden string of characters extracted from the Code Core, Rucell suddenly slammed directly into Ban Yuwon.
Ban Yuwon was flustered by this unprecedented pattern in their sparring sessions, yet he tried to react quickly. But by then, Rucell had already pinned him down, taking a dominant mount.
When he came to his senses, two colossal mountains were obstructing his vision.
Moreover, they were drawing closer and closer.
Dangerous!
“?!”
“Krr-r-r-r...!”
“Shhh-ryk!”
Eve, waiting for Ban Yuwon’s command, immediately coiled around Rucell’s body, binding her tightly.
Ban Yuwon was about to inject the concept of emotion into her, but he soon realized it was no longer necessary.
This was because Rucell’s Heart Furnace, as she writhed on the floor bound by Eve, was rapidly stabilizing, and all sorts of negative emotions were dissipating.
“Hoo-wook, hoooooooh...!”
Tightly bound in the chain net, Rucell gasped for breath.
Ban Yuwon stood up, returned the concept of emotion to the Code Core, and then asked her.
“Rucell, haven’t you been recovering your sanity much faster after being tied up in chains?”
“I think so.”
Rucell responded, panting roughly from the recoil of her berserk state.
Ban Yuwon was simply dumbfounded.
But it wasn’t as if he could bind her with chains and leave her defenseless every time she went berserk during combat, was it?
“Thank you, Ban.”
“What are you thankful for? I couldn’t solve it this time, either.”
To have the entire plan conceived, with only the concept injection remaining, only to be caught by her ground technique and utterly defeated without being able to lift a finger—it was unbelievably humiliating.
But Rucell smiled brightly, as if understanding his humiliation, and comforted him.
“No, that’s... that, it couldn’t be helped.”
“Hmph. Anyway, I know the method now. Let’s try it again.”
“I’m sorry, my body is already close to its limit...”
“Ah.”
It was Eve who had released her restraint as soon as Rucell regained her sanity, but she was still panting and trembling.
Today alone, after dozens of sparring sessions, she had repeatedly gone berserk, been restrained, and forcibly regained composure.
So, even with an exceptionally robust physique, it was impossible for her not to be exhausted.
“Damn it.”
“Hmm...”
“Dokgo Yeon?”
Before he knew it, Dokgo Yeon had drawn near.
More precisely, she was staring intently at Rucell.
“Surely not...”
“What’s wrong?”
“No, it’s nothing. Still, it seems she’s gotten much better than before.”
That was certainly true.
Even in the recent sparring, had Ban Yuwon not inadvertently landed a critical hit on her, she would have lasted considerably longer.
It could certainly be considered an achievement that it now took her significantly longer to enter a berserk state.
“It’s okay. If Ban is here.”
Rucell said spiritedly.
Ban Yuwon gave a small nod, vowing to repay the trust she placed in him.
Dokgo Yeon looked alternately at Ban Yuwon and Rucell, letting out a thoughtful "hmmm" until the very end.
***
The second Friday morning since Ban Yuwon’s enrollment in Union Academy dawned.
Perhaps because their first exploration had concluded lukewarmly due to an irregular’s invasion, the students’ excitement was extraordinary.
Even during that brief walk to the student cafeteria, he could feel sharp, blossoming auras from all directions, causing his body to stiffen involuntarily.
“Everyone ready?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
Rucell’s demeanor had changed considerably since their last sparring session the previous night.
He still couldn’t quite fathom her true intentions, though.
At the very least, she wasn’t trembling as she had been when they first entered the Tower, so that alone could be considered a significant improvement.
Light, on the other hand, was overtly in poor condition.
“Dokgo Yeon, wouldn’t it still be better to at least wield the Holy Sword when entering the Tower? If it were just for me, perhaps, but the fate of all four of us is at stake.”
“We’ve all already agreed that it’s better to solidify our foundations rather than rush. Today is merely the second exploration of our first semester in freshman year.”
At Dokgo Yeon’s stern voice, Ban Yuwon also nodded in agreement.
“I don’t know what kind of restrictions your sword has. But I can tell that constantly being swayed by the sword isn’t good. And... no, let’s talk about this later.”
Ban Yuwon swallowed the words he had been about to say.
In his view, Light didn’t seem to grow stronger when wielding the Holy Sword; rather, it looked as though the Holy Sword was draining him of his core codes, such as talent and mana.
The concepts of Holy Spirit and Demonic Spirit residing in the necklace he wore were equally concerning, and now he couldn’t even be certain if that Holy Sword was truly holy.
‘And if that’s truly the case, then the measures Dokgo Yeon is taking with Light right now are the most appropriate. She makes chillingly accurate judgments, somehow...’
Light was still uneasy, but he squeezed his eyes shut and nodded, acceding to Dokgo Yeon’s and Ban Yuwon’s strong assertions.
“Even if I collapse in the Tower because of me, don’t blame me.”
“I won’t blame you. I’ll merely make you work even harder.”
“I won’t blame you. Instead, always remember that our millions of subscribers are watching the video.”
“That *is* blaming me!”
Amidst a strange tension, confusion, and resolve, breakfast concluded.
He strengthened his resolve with his party members and they shared jam.
As if on cue, his Life and Body had each grown by 1.
As he walked with his prepared companions towards the Tower on the hill, Ban Yuwon checked his internal concepts as if performing a solemn ritual.
[[Core]]
Life 240
Body 220
Mana 199
Soul 427
[[Passive]]
Martial Arts 173 [Swordsmanship 65, Pierce 30, Slash 28, Flow 27, Counter 23]
Leadership 7
Riding 19
Resistance 6
Charm 10
Honor 10
Myriad Reading Eye 137
Myriad Hearing Ear 115
Myriad Speaking Lips 117
[[Active]]
Wave 25
Superhuman Strength 14
‘Good, this is quite impressive now.’
Ban Yuwon smiled contentedly, looking at the concepts he had deepened through training over the past few days.
However, the fact that his mana hadn’t yet reached 200 bothered him a little, but he was certain he could raise that as soon as they entered the Tower.
“Eve, you’re ready too, right?”
“Shhh-ryk.”
Eve, who had spent the past few days acting more as chains to restrain the rampaging Rucell than as weapons like guns or clubs, seemed excited at the prospect of a real battle after so long, acting especially cutesy.
“Ban.”
Rucell moved closer to him.
It was a closeness he couldn’t have imagined just last week.
“Inside, please take care of me. I’ll listen to everything you say, Ban.”
“Trust me. I’m naturally strong in real combat.”
“I’ll trust you.”
Rucell’s pink eyes, sparkling with an enigmatic light.
In truth, there was no guarantee he could stop her berserk state, but he couldn’t allow her to waver again after she had finally steeled her resolve, so Ban Yuwon replied in the strongest possible tone.
Next to them, Dokgo Yeon interjected, dampening the mood.
“I hope you can last until at least Saturday evening. Just know that whoever ‘dies’ first will be put through the most brutal training.”
“You seem to have developed a taste for putting people through the wringer.”
“Ban Yuwon.”
Dokgo Yeon, approaching with her usual dignified demeanor, whispered into his ear.
“These two, honestly, are still disappointing. Today is the first evaluation. You haven’t forgotten our promise, have you?”
“Of course not.”
Ban Yuwon replied firmly, then added.
“It’s only been a week. Both of them have already started to change. I’m confident I’ve won without even waiting for the results.”
“The road ahead seems long, though. Oh, one thing about *the beast*... something I was going to say yesterday but didn’t.”
“What is it?”
“That’s... *Ahem*.”
“K-kaeng!”
Before speaking, Dokgo Yeon flicked her fingers, and Rucell, who had been trying to eavesdrop on their conversation nearby, crumpled her face and covered her ears.
It seemed Dokgo Yeon had just employed a sophisticated technique to deliver a shock solely to Rucell’s ears.
To Ban Yuwon, who watched Rucell with worried eyes, thinking, ‘That won’t last long, right?’, Dokgo Yeon uttered something rather absurd.
“That beast seems to like it when you’re tough with her.”
“...Wait a minute, what did you just say?”
“Don’t pretend you didn’t understand. It means don’t compromise ambiguously when dealing with a beast that doesn’t understand human words.”
“Sorry, I genuinely don’t get it.”
“Really? You’ll find out soon enough.”
Dokgo Yeon smiled faintly, then walked ahead.
The Tower, as always, stood silently in its place, waiting for the party to arrive.
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