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I got into school for nothing - Chapter 48

I got into school for nothing (48)

Lesson 11. Trainee Mage Ban Yuwon - 3

—I... I was human. I was human!

Hearing the artifact's scream, Ban Yuwon found himself moved, inappropriately for the mood.

“Honestly, I think I’ve seen that line a hundred times in novels or comics.”

—They, those very people! The ones I trusted betrayed me, and shoved me into a staff like this! They implanted false memories in me, trying to reduce me to an insignificant existence!

The staff’s Ego shouted.

Meanwhile, Ban Yuwon, who had calmly organized the knowledge and skills bestowed upon him in a short time, was able to deal with her with a mind as clear and calm as still water.

—This isn’t some novel or comic, I was truly a living human!

—Because I only just remembered it...! The core magical formulas that constituted the staff were acting as locks, sealing my soul. If the structure had been messed with, my ego would have been torn to shreds, but you skillfully removed only the formulas that sealed me, and that’s why I...!

It was a difficult story to easily understand, truthfully, but Ban Yuwon intuitively grasped it.

“You became a complete being?”

—No, I’m not complete yet. I’ve been sealed for too long... Even if the door has opened, I can’t immediately recall everything.

That makes sense. After all, if all lost memories were recovered at once, there would be no emotional impact or plot twist, wouldn’t there?

Just realizing that she had been betrayed by someone and trapped inside a staff was astonishing enough.

‘No, let’s get a grip. No matter how absurd the events unfolding, this is reality. ...Indeed, I felt uneasy ever since its soul value was 200.’

Compared to other beings, Rucell’s soul, which was said to be incomparably higher-ranked from birth, barely reached a level of 200, didn’t it?

Considering that, for a staff that only appeared in the 10th room to possess a soul value of 200 was clearly no ordinary matter.

—Revenge, I will have my revenge. I will recover all my power... and find all of them!

“Alright, alright, calm down... huh?”

Ban Yuwon sighed, and as he examined the staff once more, he was suddenly surprised.

‘It’s changing...?’

It seemed there truly was some kind of mechanism within the staff.

After Ban Yuwon neatly extracted the concepts ‘Magic Language’ and ‘Elemental Magic,’ which had been ‘forcibly injected’ into the staff, the staff finally began to recover its original functions and appearance, transforming.

First, the staff’s length extended sharply to 1.5 meters, making it impossible to call it a magic wand any longer.

Moreover, the staff’s pink color was now dyed a complete crimson, unmistakably resembling blood.

—I’ll kill them all! I’ll tear them apart and burn them to death!

“...It feels like it suddenly changed from a children’s toy to a teenager’s.”

And with a design that edgy middle schoolers would likely adore.

Was it perhaps reflecting the soul’s current sentiments?

The staff, which had completely changed to a cold, metallic, and sharp appearance, had a spear-like blade protruding from its tail end, making it perfectly usable for stabbing or slashing enemies.

A crimson jewel was embedded in its head, and the concept of Soul swirled within it, forming an immense string of characters.

Until the concepts were extracted, he hadn’t even known there was a jewel embedded in the staff, so it was possible it had genuinely been hidden inside.

But what was truly astonishing was this:

[Cellon's Tears: Soul 350, Mana 300]

The artifact had grown significantly, and suddenly gained a name.

Originally, its Soul depth was 200, and its Mana was 150.

The amount by which the depths of ‘Magic Language’ and ‘Elemental Magic’ had been removed had been added directly to these stats!

Presumably, as the soul grew, its Mana was naturally pulled up as well.

—Ugh, I can’t recall anything more... Not even their names come to mind. Only faint faces... I suppose this is my limit for now.

“You’re saying there’s still more room for growth? At this point, it no longer seems like a beginner’s item.”

—Beginner? Beginner! Don’t talk nonsense, do you think this great self is so insignificant as to only teach Magic Language or basic Elemental Magic?!

“So, what are you then?”

—That... that! I cannot say!

Ban Yuwon would bet his entire fortune that she herself clearly didn’t know yet.

Her memories were likely jumbled and chaotic, and in a situation where she still didn’t know what to do, explaining herself to others would be excessively difficult.

Truthfully, Ban Yuwon merely wanted to use the artifact; he had no desire to get entangled in some grand narrative quest related to it.

...Although, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was already one step in the moment he acquired the artifact.

“Uh... then, Cellon? Since the artifact’s name appears as Cellon’s Tears, I’ll call you Cellon for now.”

—Cellon... yes. Somehow, hearing that name makes me feel at peace. You can call me Cellon.

Judging by this reaction, Cellon isn’t this fellow’s true name after all.

Ban Yuwon was convinced of this with his deductive skills, honed through countless language acquisitions, but he didn’t bother to say it aloud.

“Alright, Cellon, let’s put your past and personal circumstances aside for now and move on to practical matters. What can you do, and how can you help me?”

—What? Did I ever say I’d cooperate with you? I have enough on my plate just dealing with my own affairs!

Ban Yuwon felt a twinge of regret.

It seemed that as some of her memories returned, her manners had, on the contrary, vanished.

“Actually, your will doesn’t matter. Because I’ll make you.”

—Hmph, you’ll have trouble if you underestimate this honorable and noble self, Archmage Cellon. Unless I wish it, you won’t be able to budge this staff, will you? Unless you promise to fully grant my wishes from now on....

“Oh really? Then should I just put the concepts back? Or maybe it’d be fun to just shove other things into you.”

While ‘Magic Language’ had already perfectly melted into his body, making it impossible to simply re-impart it, Ban Yuwon possessed all sorts of other concepts to pressure this soul.

—...Sniff, hoo-hoo-hoo.

The staff fell silent for a moment, then soon whimpered and cried, surrendering.

—This cruel human, he’s utterly self-centered from start to finish. What sin did I commit, for not only being trapped in such a cramped and stuffy place, but also having to endure being toyed with by such a rogue, sniff.

“You fool, you’ve got the order wrong.”

Ban Yuwon clicked his tongue disapprovingly.

“No matter what my motivations were, you recovered your memories thanks to me. Shouldn’t ‘thank you’ be the first thing you say? But instead, you were busy making demands of me. In that situation, could I possibly treat you gently? Think about it.”

—Hoo-hoo-hoo....

As if pricked by his words, Cellon fell silent.

Regardless of whether she was truly an Archmage as she claimed, it was clear that this Ego’s mentality was not very mature.

“That’s not how a transaction works. When you can offer a benefit to the other party, you prove it, and then you also take a benefit from them. That’s the correct form of a transaction.”

—Ugh....

“But right now, you’ve unilaterally gained an advantage from me. In that case, instead of making additional demands, it’s only logical to present the benefits you can offer me first, before moving on to the next transaction. Do you understand?”

—Sniff, yes.

It seemed she understood.

Truthfully, from Ban Yuwon’s perspective, he had no intention of giving her any benefits whatsoever, so it couldn’t even be called a transaction. And while he had made dramatic growth by recovering concepts from the staff, aggressively pushing Cellon by claiming she was the only one who gained an advantage felt a bit strange.

Words, after all, are just a matter of how you package them.

Moreover, circumstantially, he wasn’t entirely wrong.

An artifact, daring to make demands of its master?

—So... if I help you well, you’ll grant my request?

“Remember, you’re currently in a negative state. You’ll have to work diligently from now on. But if I truly gain a great advantage from your support, then I might consider your request.”

—...Understood. Sniff, then I’ll work hard.

This fellow is an idiot.

And so, Ban Yuwon was able to freely exploit the Ego of a self-proclaimed Archmage—who had a hidden past and was foolish, but whose soul’s rank was undoubtedly high—to his heart’s content.

* * *

The long-awaited Thursday afternoon arrived.

The remaining three members of Rebellion finished all their classes and headed to the Class 11 training room to raise their physical condition in preparation for tomorrow’s special activity.

“Yuwon, can’t I really come along? Just to be by your side, even if only....”

“No, you can’t. Dokgo Yeon, take her.”

“I haven’t liked her these past few days anyway. Beast, come along quietly.”

“Yuwonnnnnn!”

Rucell, crying piteously as if calling out her husband’s name being dragged off to war, was dragged away by Dokgo Yeon.

Ban Yuwon gave a wry smile and waved his hand dismissively at Light, who followed the other two, then began to walk down the corridor alone.

‘No one should be watching by now.’

Because of the strong personalities of his members, whenever the four of them were together, they drew attention everywhere within the academy. But when Ban Yuwon was alone, he wasn’t particularly noticeable.

Objectively speaking, he was the most ordinary-looking among the four. And his aura was the weakest among them, so it was only natural.

‘Hmm, let’s see. The teleportation structure of the student ID card....’

As he touched his student ID card, the dense string of characters packed within it began to flow and be read.

Among them, Ban Yuwon found the concepts related to spatial movement.

More precisely, the variable element: coordinates.

Once he understood the method by which the Principal and Yumina had each set up their coordinates, it wasn’t particularly difficult for him to weave in new coordinates of his own.

‘Especially since Hyungi has great compatibility with all kinds of concepts.’

This would probably be the first magic-like feat he performed.

The Hyungi that Ban Yuwon extended formed a character-based Magic Language and input the coordinates he had memorized beforehand.

Simultaneously, he set the spatial movement trigger, and activated it.

The next moment, Ban Yuwon stood outside the classroom door where the Magical Combat lecture was held.

...!

He sensed a presence beside him and turned his head, to see a woman with sky-blue hair staring at him with wide eyes.

Her eyes were surprisingly a pure, near-silver color, difficult to distinguish from the whites, and from those pupils, completely opposite to Dokgo Yeon’s, which were entirely black without distinction between iris and pupil, he even sensed something sacred.

But who was it? He felt like he’d seen her somewhere before.

‘Ah, Special Class.’

Class 11 generally took all lectures together with other classes, and she was a female student from Class 1, the Special Class, who also attended the ‘Comprehensive Practical Combat’ on Tuesdays.

It was true for other lectures as well, but in that particular lecture, the Special Class’s exclusion of Class 11 was truly severe.

If it hadn’t been for the incident where Dokgo Yeon directly confronted that Ortima fellow, who was practically the representative of Class 1, and defeated him, unpleasant things would have happened several times during class.

‘In truth, since the class itself had a high proportion of sparring, it was still much the same now.’

This past Tuesday was particularly awful.

The adjunct professor, unlike Farrell, tried his best to conduct the class fairly, but since sparring was practically the core purpose of the class, he couldn’t exclude it. Thus, he couldn’t completely stop the Class 1 students from targeting Class 11.

Fortunately, Class 11’s level was clearly higher than Class 1’s.

Not to mention Dokgo Yeon, Rucell, as long as Ban Yuwon was by her side, maintained her reason and had grown enough to crush several Class 1 students by herself.

Even Ban Yuwon had cultivated solid skills, enough to directly finish off Irekto, one of Class 1’s prominent talents. So while it was troublesome and tiring, they didn’t easily lose in sparring.

The problem, rather, was Light.

If he drew his holy sword, he could face anyone, but he had a restriction that prevented him from drawing it unless his life was in danger. And it hadn’t been long since he started using a spear as his weapon....

This Tuesday, he was the only Rebellion member to record a defeat.

However, his opponent also knew that Light’s main weapon was a sword, and couldn’t completely overwhelm Light with a spear. So the opponent wore a very uncomfortable expression and felt humiliated.

‘Right, amidst all that, I distinctly remember her being left alone without sparring.’

She was indeed a very beautiful girl, but he didn’t remember her because of her looks.

It was because throughout the entire lecture, no one approached her or spoke to her.

It didn’t feel like she was being ostracized.

Rather, Ban Yuwon felt that the students of Class 1 held a sense of awe towards this woman.

It was a feeling similar to what they held for Ortima, yet qualitatively different.

‘But could it be... was she a mage?’

Seeing as he encountered her here, that must be the case.

He didn’t even attempt to examine the concepts within her body.

Judging by the aura of mana she exuded, it was clear she was of a higher rank than him, and the greater the difference in rank, the harder it was to read the concepts within a target’s body.

“Spatial movement?”

A delicate, clear voice.

Lost in various thoughts, Ban Yuwon realized that she had spoken to him only a moment too late.

“Yeah. It’s a student ID function, isn’t it?”

He replied nonchalantly, but there wasn’t even a slight change in her facial expression.

“You changed the coordinates, didn’t you?”

“...That’s right.”

“How?”

“With mana, of course....”

“You read and distinguished all the vast codes in the student ID card? You precisely changed only the coordinates necessary for spatial movement? You did? How? Did you interfere with the codes created by the Principal?”

Scary.

What do you mean, ‘completely opposite’? This woman was also of the Dokgo Yeon type!

Ban Yuwon flinched from her, as she thrust her perfectly doll-like beautiful face forward and showered him with questions. He took a step back, only to suddenly feel something soft against his back, stopping him.

At the same time, a comforting and sweet scent pierced his nose.

“You found your way well, Yuwon-ah... Student Ban Yuwon!”

“Professor Yumina!”

Realizing he had used Yumina’s chest as a cushion, Ban Yuwon startled and pulled away from her, but Yumina simply smiled warmly, as if telling him not to worry.

Truthfully, it made no sense that someone of her caliber wouldn’t know and fail to dodge, so she must have stepped forward on purpose.

“Oh, Aire is here too. Come on, let’s go inside together.”

“...Yes.”

The woman, called Aire, stared intently at Ban Yuwon, then, receiving Yumina’s urging gaze, entered the classroom with an unconvinced expression.

“Then shall we go in too?”

“Professor, your... way of speaking.”

“Oops.”

Yumina tapped her lips and chuckled cheerfully, then gently nudged Ban Yuwon into the classroom.

Only after entering the classroom did Ban Yuwon realize that the number of students taking this lecture was less than ten.

Learning that this was the total number of first-year students who dealt with magic, Ban Yuwon immediately wanted to escape from this place, but unfortunately, Yumina had already firmly blocked his exit!