I got into school for nothing-366
I got into school for nothing (366)
Lesson 72. Tower of Babel Isolation Operation - 1
Instead of Team Rebellion's Tower exploration video, the Ortima siblings' Nuclear Fire Noodle mukbang was uploaded, drawing immense attention and becoming UniTube's top video of the month.
"No!"
Lusein Ortima, his lips swollen, cried out in rage.
"Codeword is my Authority! To forbid me from using it, what kind of tyranny is that! Just [erasing spicy flavor]――."
"Tsk."
Ban Yuwon, subtly twisting Lusein's mana to deactivate his Authority just as he was about to unleash his Codeword, clicked his tongue and said.
"This guy still doesn't understand broadcasting. How entertaining would it be to see someone with such an outstanding Authority struggle with a mere spicy dish, huh? [It's not even that spicy]."
Since the previous video was an unparalleled hit, today was the second spicy mukbang.
There were many comments wanting to see Ban Yuwon's mukbang too, so he also joined. However, the spicy food placed before them—Hell-flavored Tteokbokki—was spicier than expected. He tried to subtly remove the spiciness but Lusein caught him, initiating a mysterious contest where both suppressed each other's Authority to prevent spiciness neutralization. The winner, of course, was Ban Yuwon.
"This is quite good too. I've been feeling quite stressed lately, and this feels like a great release."
And on one side, Luisha Ortima was calmly eating Tteokbokki with an unperturbed expression.
Come to think of it, in the last video too, unlike her struggling cousin, she ate it without a problem. It seemed she was naturally resistant to spicy food.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Aren't you going to eat?"
The two stared blankly at Luisha before eventually starting to eat their Tteokbokki in silence as well.
Today's video was also a massive hit.
They couldn't keep this up indefinitely, though.
"Is it going well?"
To Lusein's sharp question after the shoot, Ban Yuwon replied, boldly scraping raclette cheese, melted by heat on its surface, and letting it cascade like a waterfall onto the Tteokbokki.
"It seems hard to drag this out much longer. I hear there have been a lot of irregularities recently?"
"I sometimes wonder if a major accident might happen at some point if this continues. ......What on earth is the Chancellor thinking?"
"You still don't know?"
Ban Yuwon snorted, plunging a piece of Tteokbokki from the hell-flavored sauce and swirling it around with cheese.
"The Chancellor, you see, lacks the ability to control the Tower."
Just as he was about to put it into his mouth, Luisha had quietly emerged beside him, her mouth slightly agape.
She had cooperated with the video shoot, and she'd been sulking because he'd left her out when he went to Earth last time, so he probably needed to appease her a little bit....
After a brief moment of deliberation, he eventually offered her the cheese-coated Tteokbokki, which she happily ate, smiling shyly.
"It's delicious."
"......"
Lusein's expression became something akin to inexpressible horror.
Luisha, now perhaps even enjoying his reaction, took a piece of Tteokbokki herself and offered it to Ban Yuwon, saying.
"I'd like to arrange a meeting between the Chairman and the Family Head at some point, but it seems the Family Head truly has no time."
"The Ortima Family Head? Well..."
Ban Yuwon, having no choice but to accept the Tteokbokki she offered, chewed and swallowed it, then shrugged.
"I understand his feelings. The Ortima Family has always been the most self-important among the Ten Great Families, haven't they? Since you, the successor, have shown such strong resolve to form an alliance with me, it's only natural he wouldn't be pleased.... Has there been no talk of replacing the successor?"
"If he were to go that route, that would truly be the end of the Ortima as we know it, split in half. While both the direct and collateral lines of the Ortima certainly possess excellent talent, you could say there are no other individuals in this generation comparable in ability to my brother Lusein and I."
Come to think of it, ever since his first year enrollment, Lusein Ortima boasted a strength level of over 1,000 in 'Life', Level 100, and more than 4 Irekto in Irekto.
While it might seem trivial now, considering that even Irekto himself was around the average for the Special Class—a group of only the strongest first-years—it shows just how absurdly powerful Lusein was at the time.
And even more astonishing was Luisha, who stood before them.
If Lusein hadn't made such foolish mistakes, she never would have become the successor. But if you look at the outcome, Luisha was stronger than Lusein at the time.
She was already strong, but her progress had been extraordinary especially since entering Union Academy. Needless to say, it was all thanks to Ban Yuwon's thorough personal guidance that her talents shone.
‘If there were any more guys comparable to these two, then the Ortima Family would simply be the universe's undisputed number one....’
The Ortima Family Head, huh.
It bothered him slightly that he hadn't met him until now, but since the plan was on the verge of completion, it probably wouldn't be a significant variable.
Besides, for now, he was an ally.
"Anyway, good work. Your popularity is so immense that discussions about the Tower are barely coming up."
"Don't lie. There's no way we can endure with such temporary measures."
"What does the channel matter now?"
"Wh-?!"
"It's possible UniTube itself might disappear."
As he chuckled and replied to a worried Luisha, Lusein, whose lips were still slightly swollen, was about to yell, but he immediately shut his mouth at Ban Yuwon's grinning additional remark.
"No matter what happens, I will cooperate with you, Senior, but if possible, I hope UniTube remains."
Luisha smiled as she checked the fresh, newly uploaded video through her mirror-like device.
She thought it might be a bit much to screenshot every single shot where Ban Yuwon and she appeared together, but still.
"It's an inappropriate sentiment for an Ortima successor to harbor, but I do enjoy filming videos together. As for you, Senior, couldn't you achieve your goals while still maintaining UniTube... the Union Net and the System?"
"――Yes, for now, I do intend to try in that direction."
If the Tower collapses like this.
If everything connected to the Tower disappears.
A catastrophe comparable to the annihilation of entire dimensions would surely engulf all of them.
Even at this very moment, as the "Union Isolation" operation was being diligently implemented, Ban Yuwon was contemplating that method.
Since he had destroyed the ziggurat in Iraq, making solo exploration entry to the Tower completely impossible—it wouldn't be an easy task to change the system connected to the Tower.
"So, let's just film up to episode three. Got it, Lusein?"
"What?!"
* * *
"Alright, this one's done too."
In the F-138 dimension, Ur-Aha, a barrier completely severing it from something specific... yes, from the Union Net, had been fully constructed.
This dimension was where Papitar, a nation that had experienced an Orc Wave by Orcs wielding Relics in the past, was located, and it was also where Team Rebellion had first conducted their special activities.
As it was a place with many memories in various ways, Ban Yuwon had come himself to 'work' on it....
"How are things on the ground, Tikke?"
—Whirrrr
"Right, no major disturbances, you say."
The connection with the Union Net was severed, and the connection with the System was severed.
On Earth, even at this very moment, everyone was in an uproar, claiming their 'status windows' had disappeared, so why was there no disturbance here?
That's because, to begin with, F-rank dimensions are places that don't properly receive the benefits of the Union Net.
A structure where only a select few with outstanding abilities, high recognition, or noble status could access the Union Net; the 'status window', supposedly the exclusive possession of higher-ranking dimensions, was naturally something they couldn't even glimpse.
Most of humanity wasn't even aware they were connected to the Union Net, the System, or the Tower of Babel, so how could there be an uproar?
"When you think about it that way, it's terrifying, isn't it? When you consider why, even in these lower-rank dimensions, only the 'distinguished' few were connected to the Union Net..."
[Indeed. At the time, I just thought it was a privilege based on rank. But, looking at it coldly, there's no way the System would care about such things.]
Right.
Being connected to the Union Net.
In other words, being noticed by the Tower of Babel also meant that their abilities were powerful or special enough to be deemed worthy of the Tower of Babel's 'integration target'.
In essence, those in lower-rank dimensions who could access the Union Net were being treated as materials that could be integrated into the Tower at any time.
[The word 'value' has never felt so terrifying. Even more so when you remember that they were proud of being able to access the Union Net....]
Even Lilyth, who rarely got nervous, was gradually realizing just how precarious the Tower of Babel's existence was—connecting all dimensions like a spiderweb—as the barrier-setting work progressed through various dimensions.
[Everyone will be grateful, Master.]
"I hope so."
But it probably wouldn't be that easy to get through.
At any rate, the barrier installations in the lower-rank dimensions with fewer disturbances were now all complete.
Ban Yuwon contacted those who were setting up barriers in other dimensions besides himself and confirmed that the barrier installations for all F, E, and D-rank dimensions were complete.
He smiled faintly, looking at the face of Grandfather Ban reflected in the video call displayed on his mirror-like device.
"It's really nice working with Grandpa, after all."
—Won-ah, Grandpa, Grandpa... this spatial movement is just too dizzying for me.
"Don't worry, the hectic busyness is over now. In terms of numbers, less than half of what we've done so far remains."
The problem is that by the time you reach C-rank dimensions, they won't simply stand by and watch someone arbitrarily enter their dimension and install a barrier that severs their connection to the Union Net.
Naturally, that means force will inevitably be involved, and their identities will inevitably be exposed....
"From now on, we'll move in groups of at least two. We'll try to conceal our identities for now, but most likely..."
Even if we manage to suppress the C-rank dimensions, B-rank dimensions and above will be impossible.
Even now, Ban Yuwon is virtually a celebrity across all dimensions, but from this point on, he can't be sure how things will unfold.
[Come to think of it, Master, this place was originally hit by an Orc Wave, wasn't it?]
"Yes, I just mentioned that."
Lilyth spoke to Ban Yuwon as he finished communicating after reorganizing the team members implementing the operation into pairs.
[Did you know that monster waves are prone to recurring in places where they've happened before?]
"Considering what an 'Infection Wave' is, I suppose so."
Ban Yuwon frowned, recalling the time he faced the Chimera Ball in space.
Ban Yuwon was now beginning to think that the Infection Wave might be something like a bug that occurred during the Tower of Babel's system development.
The Chancellor had called it an experiment, but he had never said that he was the one who spearheaded that experiment.
So who did it? The former Tower Lord, naturally.
"It's utterly brazen, isn't it? Making students who climb the Tower of Babel clean up the damage caused by such monster waves...."
[If the Union Net is completely cut off, it will also become difficult to resolve the damage from monster waves in a timely manner....]
It's not something one can easily say should just be endured.
A monster wave is, after all, a violent surge of concepts. If there were a way to detect it beforehand, a method to resolve it immediately without cumbersome procedures....
"No, wait."
A monster wave.
It's a phenomenon of 'production'—contaminating mana to create monsters, and sometimes combining them to create even greater monsters.
It can cause an amplification phenomenon with a relatively small amount of mana, making it as tricky as a natural disaster for those who have to deal with it.
"This... wouldn't this be perfect for the Tower?"
[Are you saying you want to infect the Tower of Babel?]
"No."
What if we detect the Infection Wave in advance and isolate it within the Tower of Babel?
[...Huh?]
"If I can control the Tower, such manipulations would be entirely possible. I'll need the Changeling ability from Fairytale's help. Excluding the Tower's purpose of integration, we'd place the Infection Wave—which is nothing more than a failed phenomenon from past experiments—in its stead. If we were to imprison the Infection Wave itself within the Tower instead of dimensions, then what?"
[Wouldn't the inside of the Tower become a complete mess?]
"It's fine, it's already a mess."
An Infection Wave is accompanied by a violent emission of concepts.
Its unpredictable mutability would be an added bonus.
......If it can just be properly managed with a control device like the Tower of Babel, wouldn't there be nothing better as a means to maintain the Union Net?
[I'm already afraid of the future when things go exactly as you plan, Master.]
"Alright. Since that's the case, I need to start devising a way to induce and draw in the Infection Wave. Let's go to Professor Campanella."
Gathering the 'devil's seeds' sown by his ancestors one by one in this manner, Ban Yuwon once again raced through the dimension walls.
That weekend, news spread widely across all dimensions that the Fides dimension had disappeared without a trace.
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