Why Did I Have to Enroll

The Wings of Justice, now in tatters, rolled in the muddy ground while cursing Ban Yu-won and his party.

―Killing this puppet is useless. If you continue down this path, a second and third version of me will appear to surely break your wings…!

“The wings that are broken right now are yours.”

―Ack!

Moreover, the mention of a second and third version likely meant that the Wings of Justice would reappear literally. It was truly bothersome.

Ban Yu-won sighed and thrust the executioner’s longsword into the neck of the writhing constellation.

[You have absorbed Life 5, Light Magic Power(光魔力) 15, Star Body(星體) 3, Charm 7, Light Wings(光翼) 3, Judgement 20, and Star Trace 5. Light Wings is a concept that humans cannot possess.]

[By analyzing and absorbing the Star Body, your understanding of the higher concept of the Body deepens. The acceleration of concept conversion for the Body increases.]

[During the absorption of Light Magic Power, you gained significant insight into Elemental Magic. The depth of Elemental Magic has reached 180. You feel a strong potential for the manifestation of a new magic system.]

“Until just now, you looked annoyed, but your face brightened up suddenly. Was the gain that significant?”

“Yeah, it was truly the best…”

Even though it was just a constellation descending into an NPC’s body, he had gained 5 Star Traces. The amount of Star Traces he had painstakingly gathered until now was 10, and it had suddenly increased by half!

He also acquired more Judgement than he had gathered so far, reaching 36. With this, he might not be able to turn innocent people into criminals like the Wings of Justice, but he could certainly hold an advantage over those deemed evil.

Lastly, by absorbing Light Magic Power, which seemed a level higher than the Ice Magic Power of the Frost Giant, the depth of Elemental Magic had deepened instantly!

‘Light isn’t even an element…’

Light was composed of photons, not elements. And Light Magic Power allowed one to manipulate the power of such photons. But why did the depth of Elemental Magic deepen? Ban Yu-won speculated that it was because, in the process of analyzing and understanding the existence of magic power that couldn’t be handled with existing concepts, his fundamental understanding of elements had increased.

If he continued to research the clues he obtained this time, he could manifest a new magic system—namely, Light Magic.

―You’re already aiming for Light Magic. How arrogant.

‘Seeing that loser handle it, it didn’t seem like much.’

―…Do you think all constellations are losers?

‘Ah, no. I thought the werewolf side had quite a presence.’

The werewolf (Claw of the Dark Forest) had just become a corpse with its throat torn by Luciel’s claws, rolling on the ground.

Oh, and the reason why Light didn’t finish off the Wings of Justice himself was…

“Is Light okay?”

“I’m not sure. It seems like he lost consciousness… He possesses an astonishingly beautiful appearance, this fool.”

Was it because he had let his body be consumed by anger and exerted too much power? Just before delivering the final blow to the Wings of Justice, he groaned and collapsed on the spot, forcing Ban Yu-won to urgently take over, while Dokgo Yeon tended to the fallen one.

Seeing the necklace he wore emitting an unusual light, it was clear that making him wield a spear instead of a holy sword was only a temporary measure…

“Did your face change again?”

“I’m not showing you. Men who forcibly pry into a woman’s secrets aren’t popular.”

“Fine, I’ll just ask you to show me later… after solving the holy sword issue.”

“…”

At Dokgo Yeon’s words, Ban Yu-won, who had snorted and replied, searched the spot where the Wings of Justice had died to see if anything was left (there was nothing), and then headed towards Luciel, who was sitting on the corpse of the werewolf.

“You did well, Luciel. Are you hurt?”

“There were a few, but it’s okay. The wounds heal quickly in my half-beast state.”

Luciel, who had already returned to her human form, lifted her school uniform to show her torn abdomen and smiled brightly. The wound, which had originally been deep enough to tear muscles, had now healed to the point where only a mark remained on the skin, and even that was regenerating in real-time, healing completely as Ban Yu-won watched.

As Ban Yu-won, momentarily entranced by her smooth, toned abs, realized what he was seeing, he hurriedly turned his head.

“Please rub my belly.”

Luciel suddenly grabbed his hand and made such a request.

“Suddenly?!”

“It’s because it still hurts inside. So please, quickly… quickly…”

“Uh… okay.”

When Luciel asked in a voice mixed with aegyo, there was no man who could refuse. Ban Yu-won, like a man, reached out and rubbed her belly up and down.

“Huuu…”

“Don’t make weird noises.”

“It’s because the pain is going away. Just because…”

“Then, it’s okay…”

Smooth, soft, and at the same time, elastic and strangely cool. Every time he touched it, Luciel let out a cat-like whimper. Ban Yu-won, as if sealed in infinitely repeating time, didn’t know when to stop and just continued to rub Luciel’s belly.

“Beast, stop before I really tear your abdomen apart.”

“Heh!”

“Yes.”

Fortunately, Dokgo Yeon intervened at the right time to stop them. When Ban Yu-won came to his senses and stepped back, Luciel, looking satisfied, tidied her clothes. Dokgo Yeon, who had placed the recovering Light in a suitable spot, was looking at them with an exasperated gaze.

“I’m not saying not to show affection. I’m saying to distinguish between time and place.”

“Sorry, after an intense battle, I get excited…”

Why did that sound a bit dangerous? Ban Yu-won, feeling a bit scared, subtly distanced himself from Luciel and retrieved the concept from the Claw of the Dark Forest. And there, an unexpected jackpot occurred.

[You have absorbed Life 3, Dark Magic Power(暗魔力) 11, Star Body 2, Dark Claw(暗爪) 5, Judgement 8, Wildness 25, and Star Trace 5. Dark Claw and Wildness are concepts that humans cannot possess.]

[During the absorption of Dark Magic Power, you gained significant insight into Elemental Magic. The depth of Elemental Magic has reached 200.]

[You have realized that darkness is merely the absence of light. You understand that Dark Magic Power is a special form of magic power that manipulates photons to induce a state of light absence, and that it is fundamentally the same in structure and principle as Light Magic Power. You have learned a new internal concept, Photon Magic(光子魔法)! The depth of Photon Magic has reached 10.]

‘Hey, I just learned something called Photon Magic.’

―Honestly, guys like you who instantly grasp the essence, understand it, and even learn it with absurd authority should burn in hell.

Ah, Celon was really angry. Even to Ban Yu-won’s eyes, Photon Magic seemed like a magic system that was a step above Light Magic, which was already a step above Elemental Magic, and in some sense, the ultimate form of magic. To manipulate both light and darkness—how cool was that!

Thanks to the fact that the two constellations they encountered in Room 23 each handled Light Magic Power and Dark Magic Power, he succeeded in contemplating their fundamental commonality, inadvertently hitting the jackpot.

―Just a heads-up, don’t get too immersed. You can handle Photon Magic as much as you know, but that should be enough for now.

‘Yeah, I’m satisfied with shooting Photon Rays and Dark Photon Rays.’

How can darkness have power when it’s merely the absence of light? The answer is simple. What appears as darkness is essentially magic power with the property of eliminating light, and that is precisely the special power contained in what is collectively referred to as Dark Magic Power. Therefore, it’s not that darkness itself has power, but rather that the ‘magic power that creates darkness’ has power.

―How do you understand so quickly? It’s incomprehensible…

‘It seems the scientific knowledge of Earth isn’t inferior to higher dimensions.’

If Ban Yu-won had been a science major instead of a humanities major, and if he had known about quantum electrodynamics, he might have been able to apply it in more diverse and destructive ways… or perhaps it would have been impossible due to a lack of magic power.

“Yu-won, what’s up?”

“Oh, I just got something good. A gift for Luciel too.”

“Wildness!”

When Ban Yu-won bestowed the 25 Wildness he extracted from the Claw of the Dark Forest to Luciel, she accepted it with sparkling eyes.

“Thank you so much, Yu-won!”

“You hunted it, after all.”

Of course, without Ban Yu-won, they wouldn’t have been able to extract Wildness from it.

At that moment, Light, who had fully regained consciousness, stood up.

“Ugh, ugh… Is that guy dead?”

“You killed it mostly, and I just finished it off. Are you okay?”

“Probably, it’s a process of overcoming. Ugh.”

Except for the feeling that his facial lines had become slightly more slender, Light was the same as usual. For now, had the rampage of the necklace stopped, or had the necklace succeeded in suppressing Light? Ban Yu-won, resolving to settle it someday soon, looked up, only to see a massive thread of concepts descending from the sky.

“What is this, Room 23 is a complete reward bonanza?”

“Oh, my level increased.”

“Mine too!”

“Is that so?”

Well, it wasn’t just any trick room they had solved, and with two constellations descending into NPCs at the end, it would be stranger if there were no rewards from the tower dimension. Everyone except Ban Yu-won leveled up, and he, too, reached out with his hand containing Mysterious Qi to pull down part of the thread.

[Life 50, Body 20, Magic Power 15, Wave 25]

“…Is it a fixed value?”

Except for the 1 Mutation changing to 25 Wave, everything else was the same. He didn’t know why Wave appeared at this timing, but it was certain that the compatibility between Photon Magic and the concept of Wave would be good. Ban Yu-won absorbed all the concepts and checked his internal code.

[Core]

Life 550

Body 200 (Currently converting concept ― above 300)

Mysterious Qi 350

Soul 700

[Passive]

Martial Arts 592 [Swordsmanship 108, Mysterious Body Technique 111, Ghost Shadow Art 100, Pierce 53, Cut 60, Flow 75, Counter 63]

Leadership 30, Riding 22, Resistance 15, Charm 107, Honor100, Dominion 35, Sturdiness 15, Star Trace 20, Judgement 44, All-Reading Eyes 210, All-Hearing Ears 203, All-Speaking Lips 210

[Active]

Wave 50, Super Strength 100, Elemental Magic 200, Photon Magic 10, Curse 100

[Authority]

Acceleration 5, Space Control 100, Soul Flame 25, Mutation 25

‘Now even the concepts obtained as rewards from the tower are halved.’

Since Life was 528 before absorbing the thread, it had only increased by 22. No, considering that he had only gained 8 Life from defeating and absorbing two constellations, he should be grateful for growing this much. He had known from the start that it would become harder to grow as the depth of concepts increased. Ban Yu-won clenched his fist, gauging his strength, and quietly nodded.

“What about the people?”

“They’re all hiding. I would hide too.”

“Oh, it seems night is coming soon.”

Light murmured, looking up at the sky. Since they had removed the constellation that forcibly drove away the darkness, it was natural for night to come to the city. Of course, the city’s residents no longer needed to fear the night. Ban Yu-won, following Light’s gaze, looked up at the sky where a purple sunset was setting and sighed.

“I tried to finish quickly, but it ended up taking longer.”

“In terms of video value, this side is much higher. We can proceed quickly with the remaining rooms.”

Perhaps feeling good due to the unexpected level-up, Dokgo Yeon’s tone had softened considerably. However, Ban Yu-won only gave a bitter smile at her words. The reason became clear with the shift that occurred shortly after.

“Shift… it happened, right?”

“Huh? It doesn’t seem like the surroundings have changed much, a road covered in snow… Oh, Yu-won, over there.”

Fortunately, they had completely left the forest. But now, they found themselves standing on a road leading to a large city. Snow was piled up here and there, and the guards at the city walls were strict.

―You must not attack the innocent.

―You cannot attack first unless attacked.

The rules of the trick room had even increased.