I got into school for nothing - 91
I got into school for nothing (91)
Lesson 20. Can Familiars Be Duplicated? - 1
[Command 30, Charisma 100, Honor 50, Domination 35]
Ban Yuwon wore an intrigued expression as he observed the growth of the four concepts.
To put it plainly, these were concepts he hadn't seen much growth in while in dungeons.
Yet, in the past few days, without checking his internal concepts, they had stealthily grown, with Charisma even reaching a whopping 100.
‘Is it all related to my familiars?’
No, Honor and Domination felt a little different.
Honor felt strongly like it grew proportionally with his fame, while Domination, rather than growing due to his contract with Mira, seemed to have developed in the process of directly crushing a Constellation’s schemes.
‘It’s a good thing. Because I’ll have to create a lot more in the future...’
—Whirr.
Tikke, sitting on the workbench, faced him with a camera's whirring sound.
He couldn't really tell where its eyes were, but Ban Yuwon roughly accepted that the lens served that purpose.
“Ready, Tikke?”
—Whirr.
“Are you two actually having a conversation?”
As he gravely faced Tikke, as if engraving the last image of his girlfriend's face into his memory before she entered the operating room for double-eyelid surgery, an observation that shattered the solemn mood flew in from beside him.
It was Mira, holding a wrench in one hand and something resembling an indescribable crowbar—no, an iron lever—in the other.
Setting aside how utterly unsuited these implements were for her, given her appearance suggested she couldn't lift anything heavier than a fork, Ban Yuwon questioned whether these two tools were truly necessary for the task at hand.
“Senior, I really don’t want to lecture someone who’s a specialist, but—”
“Mira.”
“Senior Mira, are those really going to help?”
“If you’d prefer to call me ‘Honey,’ then do that.”
“Sorry, Mira.”
“Good.”
Mira nodded and briefly explained the objects in her hands.
“These two tools are both artifacts created by Professor Campanella. They increase efficiency and success rates in work, and facilitate changes in an object’s form according to the user’s will.”
“Professor’s artifacts... did you receive them because you’re her top student?”
“Nonsense.”
Mira scoffed.
“I became Professor Campanella’s proxy simply because, among all the other nobodies, I was at least capable of understanding her work. The term ‘top student’ is undeserved.”
“...”
“Furthermore, I can erase minor mistakes that occur during the artifact creation process using Changeling.”
“What? That’s incredible.”
He thought that alone was talent enough to make her a top student, but having conversed with Mira these past few days, he realized she had a tendency to underestimate herself, so no matter what he said, she wouldn’t truly listen.
Muttering to himself that he could slowly resolve that particular issue through future conversations, Ban Yuwon refocused on the task before him.
“So, I just need to combine this gun barrel with the drone, right?”
“I hope the camera function still works.”
“I won’t touch that part, so it should be fine.”
—Whirr, whiiiiir.
Leaving Tikke, who was nervously adjusting its aperture repeatedly, Mira picked up today’s core material: the multi-barreled cannon.
“This... it looks like an intermediate-grade artifact already... How on earth did you manage to get something like this from Room 17?”
“I’m sorry I’m just so exceptional.”
“Have you ever been hit with a crowbar?”
“My apologies.”
An elf uttering slang like ‘crowbar’—the fifty million elf fans nationwide might well be disillusioned.
While Ban Yuwon was lost in such trivial thoughts, Mira began her work.
First, using the hooked part of the crowbar—no, the iron lever—she tapped the drone a few times, then made a motion as if pulling out a non-existent nail from a part that had none.
At that moment, Ban Yuwon saw superfluous—meaningless scraps of conceptual strings—extracting themselves from Tikke.
Concurrently, Tikke’s outward appearance began to change.
The parts that had been somewhat dull and cumbersome due to the combination of drone and camera were either falling away or reshaping themselves, becoming sleeker.
“What am I even watching right now?”
“The crowbar is magic.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Although the process was different, the act of modifying the concepts that formed an artifact didn’t seem so different from how Ban Yuwon typically handled concepts to create artifacts.
Deciding not to interfere further and to simply observe the process, Ban Yuwon soon understood why Mira had uttered the word ‘magic.’
With the crowbar (he simply gave up and decided to call it a crowbar) in hand, genuine magic manifested with each of Mira’s movements, transforming mere craftsmanship into magical engineering.
‘Hmm, my guess is Professor Campanella directly used that crowbar for all sorts of tasks, then codified all those processes into magic and stored it in the crowbar, so that in the future, when performing those same operations, it happens instantly without any complex work. In short, it’s a master tool.’
Presumably, that wrench served a similar purpose.
It would be no exaggeration to say that both tools contained all of Professor Campanella’s artifact creation know-how.
Through his All-Seeing Eye, he could vividly discern the immense years that both tools had accumulated.
They weren’t merely objects of incredible power, but items imbued with her life’s journey.
And after receiving such things? She talks nonsense about being a nobody.
“Mira, this is an order.”
“Oh? Did you suddenly feel like kissing me?”
“Apologize to Professor Campanella.”
“...”
As if caught off guard by his words, she paused her movements for a moment, then frowned slightly, but—
“If it’s an order, then I suppose I have no choice.”
Ultimately, she responded with a faint nod, then re-immersed herself in the work.
Then, she suddenly turned back to him and spoke.
“Seriously, should we kiss?”
“No.”
“Alright.”
Nodding, Mira turned back and finally began the task of combining the multi-barreled cannon with the drone.
Working without looking back, she suddenly blurted out another comment.
“You’re a bit creepy.”
“Is that something a girl who just randomly suggested kissing me should be saying?”
“But fairly speaking, if you give me three orders, shouldn’t I also be granted the right to give you one order?”
“You’re trying to overturn the contract from its very foundation. Is that what Changeling is?”
“It’s done.”
“What—ah.”
Before he knew it, Tikke stood on the workbench, magnificently combined with the multi-barreled cannon as if it had been originally crafted that way.
Its previous form as a sleek aircraft-shaped drone was preserved, while the slightly cumbersome camera part had cleanly vanished, replaced by a single lens neatly layered on top of the barrel.
At first glance, it almost looked as if a double-barreled shotgun's muzzle had simply been severed and affixed to the drone.
“Are you truly satisfied with this? As I’ve said repeatedly, I don’t have the ability to create artifacts from mass-produced goods.”
“It’s enough. It’s excellent.”
Ban Yuwon praised Mira unreservedly as he gazed at Tikke, reborn into an aesthetically perfect form.
Mira, who could tell he was sincere, blushed faintly and handed Tikke to him.
“I’m yours, so my failures are yours too. Don’t blame me if you regret it later.”
“Then my successes are mine too. You can keep those.”
“No, everything is yours.”
Then there’s nothing I can do.
Ban Yuwon took Tikke.
The little machine whirred and clicked, fawning over Ban Yuwon.
“It’s not over yet. Just a little more patience.”
Above his hand, extended toward Tikke, a golden string of characters undulated like a long skein of thread.
These were the concepts he had extracted and prepared beforehand from the Code Core.
Concepts of a staggering 100 Depth in Shooting (extorted from bow-wielding goblins), likewise 100 Depth in Gun (since ‘gun’ and ‘cannon’ are inherently ambiguous concepts, they were naturally interchangeable), and finally, 100 Depth in Magic (魔).
As it was an artifact that already possessed its own ego, this much would suffice without needing to meticulously consider combinations.
“What is this? It’s beautiful...”
Though she lacked the All-Seeing Eye and couldn’t read the string of characters, Mira was still capable of seeing the golden mana.
As Mira watched with somewhat hazy eyes, all of it was drawn into Tikke’s interior, adhering sequentially to the concepts that had been floating within, not yet properly mixed, forming new rules—and eventually merging into a single, unbroken flow.
A dazzling light burst forth.
[You have succeeded in reincarnating an unremarkable material into a high-grade artifact by combining it with the touch of an excellent artisan and wonderfully harmonizing concepts. This artifact, capable of independent thought and action, will always observe and protect its master from the closest proximity. The Depth of Life has reached 460, the Depth of Hyungi has reached 295, and the Depth of Soul has reached 655.]
[Mutant Authority has manifested, adding the ability to detect weaknesses in targets captured by its lens, to somewhat slow their movements, and to make them easier to target. The Depth of Mutation has reached 20.]
Tikke [Sevenfold Magic Cannon 120, Life 120, Projective Shot 80, Soul 80, Resonance 25]
“Oh, ooh.”
—The Constellation [Clock of the Toy Army] claps like a seal at the birth of an Authority that never before existed in the world. However, it still thinks something is strange.
Mutation is the best! I have no intention of repaying you, but thank you, Constellation!
The Projective Shot (a technique for shooting what has been filmed) was born from the unification of the concepts Tikke originally possessed, the concepts Ban Yuwon newly added, and the concepts augmented by the mutation.
If he were to believe the Constellation’s words, this wasn’t just a concept but an ability that could even be called an Authority!
‘Well, complex concepts, those whose roots are hard to find, are far stronger than concepts I can easily find and combine nearby, so it’s not strange even if it’s an Authority.’
Perhaps realizing it had evolved beyond a simple camera operator to obtain a powerful weapon, Tikke whirred and clacked with joy.
“Good, now if anyone calls you a poorly paid cameraman, just shoot them. Got it, Tikke?”
—Whirrrrr!
Reborn as a perfect high-grade artifact, Tikke’s appearance transformed once more.
Not only had its overall size increased slightly, but its silver body, which it had been since he first purchased it as a drone, was now dyed a metallic black.
Both the Sevenfold Magic Cannon and the camera had grown longer and sturdier, transforming into something more menacing.
No one would be able to deny that Tikke was an excellent artifact and a formidable weapon.
“What... what did you just do?”
Mira, who had witnessed the concepts being absorbed and Tikke’s rank clearly rising by more than one level, asked in a stunned voice.
Ban Yuwon shrugged in response.
“We made an artifact together, didn’t we?”
“Don’t push your success onto me.”
“Why are you acting like this after we made it together, Mira?”
For a while longer, Mira was too excited to utter proper words, but eventually, she had to admit that she had lent a hand in the artifact’s creation.
“He’s different from Ketra, so different... That guy was absolutely nothing...”
“Mira, you just said something an elf should absolutely never say. And stop comparing me to Senior Ketra. It feels like I’m a current boyfriend constantly being compared to an ex.”
Mira flinched at his words, then retorted in a slightly timid voice.
“It’s fine since you’re better in every way.”
“And don’t subtly try to package your past as if you’ve had boyfriends either.”
“...Do you still want to get hit with the crowbar?”
“You can put the tools down now.”
Ban Yuwon chuckled, lightly pushing Mira away (though cold sweat trickled down his forehead), and approached the workbench.
He opened his inventory, pouring out twenty-five longswords, and separately drew forth the Executioner's Longsword, placing it beside them.
“Swords... how do you intend to process already completed mass-produced goods?”
“I’ve seen your and the Professor’s methods, so now...”
Ban Yuwon spread his hands.
Life (生) 3,000, Magic (魔) 2,250, Sword (劍) 2,000, Swordsmanship (劍術) 225....
Though the purity was desperately low, these were the concepts Eve and Lilyth had desperately gathered over two weeks.
Added to that were the 55 Resonance (共鳴) concepts shared from them, and 25 fragments of soul, each with a Depth of 1, created using Soul Flame.
“I’ll show you my method.”
In an instant, an immense string of characters surged forth, undulating like a golden wave.
Without a word, Mira pulled Tikke closer and began filming the scene.
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