Why Did I Have to Enroll

Alex de Cantone and Ryu Cheol-myeong.

The two men, sharing the elitist mindset typical of those from higher dimensions, had maintained a fairly good relationship so far. However, an unexpected incident caused a slight rift between them.

“Professor Ryu Cheol-myeong, I trusted you… but what are we supposed to do if you just keep boosting those guys’ positions?”

“So, are you blaming me now?”

Ryu Cheol-myeong’s response to Cantone was endlessly irritable. How could Ryu Cheol-myeong have known that Ban Yu-won would master Aura? Those from lower dimensions are inferior, and even if they seem somewhat capable, their true nature as worms will eventually be revealed, leading to their inevitable downfall. He had lived with this belief for hundreds of years, only to face a backlash while trying to prove it.

‘Sooner or later, that guy will eventually fall. Those born lowly have a clear limit to their ascension. But until then, they might deceive people a bit. Unfortunately, I got caught up in that… damn it!’

Moreover, due to this incident, word spread within the Academy about what he had been doing to students, and not only Yumina but other professors were also looking at him unfavorably.

Ironically, because Ban Yu-won had achieved results, Ryu Cheol-myeong wasn’t immediately reprimanded, but he would have to be cautious even during lectures from now on.

“Blame? No… let’s just say the conversations between us never happened.”

“Are you trying to cut ties? Worried this might cause trouble?”

“That’s not it. I’m saying forget our conversations, and you don’t need to concern yourself with that guy anymore.”

A sly smile crept onto Cantone’s lips.

“The mistake was trying to be too roundabout. Sometimes, worms that crawl up without knowing their place need to be crushed without hesitation.”

“Crushed? How? By making students duel? Professor Yumina won’t just stand by.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. Just forget it. From this moment on, our conversations never happened.”

Ryu Cheol-myeong sensed something ominous in Cantone’s voice. Realizing instinctively that he shouldn’t delve deeper, he took a step back.

“If you say forget, I’ll forget. …But don’t forget that the Chancellor is not someone to be underestimated.”

“Of course, I keep that in mind. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be having this conversation outside the Academy with a barrier in place.”

The barrier created by Cantone’s telekinesis was solid enough that even Ryu Cheol-myeong’s Aura couldn’t easily break it, and it was renowned for blocking all concepts Cantone wished to block. Conversely, he could let through whatever he wanted, making it extremely useful for distinguishing between friend and foe… In this case, the Chancellor was considered a foe.

“Ah… I see.”

As Ryu Cheol-myeong, who had been distancing himself to avoid being associated with Cantone, suddenly stopped and spoke.

“I don’t know what you’re planning, but I hope those two women don’t die.”

“Hmm?”

“If it’s difficult, at least the white-haired one. It would be ideal if you could package her up nicely for me to take. I’m prepared to pay.”

“Haha.”

Realizing what Ryu Cheol-myeong meant, Cantone burst into laughter. Ryu Cheol-myeong waited quietly for his answer, not particularly angry. The answer, of course, was affirmative.

“Alright, let’s do that. I’m very curious about what kind of payment Professor Ryu Cheol-myeong will prepare.”

“Good. Let’s also forget this conversation ever happened. Then, I look forward to seeing you again with a pleasant face someday.”

“As do I.”

Despite having shown each other their ugly sides and exchanged base conversations, the two parted ways with a noble-like farewell, pretending to be dignified. To them, honor and dignity were things to be discarded when inconvenient and picked up when needed.

*

On the 8th week’s Friday, the Rebellion Party shifted to Room 31 and broke through several rooms without much difficulty. Given the serious events they had encountered every time they entered the Tower, it was easy to forget that they were exploring the lower floors. The quest rooms from the 23rd floor had been unusually strange; it was natural for ordinary rooms without even simple tricks to appear.

“The difficulty still seems unusual, though.”

“At this point, it’s surprising if an elite doesn’t appear in the room.”

Room 31, Room 32, Room 33. Each creature that attacked them possessed strength unbefitting the lower floors, but the Rebellion Party, each member possessing top-tier combat power, overcame them without difficulty.

[Absorbing Life 0.1, Body 0.1, Magic Beast 0.08, Carapace 0.05. Magic Beast and Carapace are concepts humans cannot possess.]

The depth of concepts Ban Yu-won gained was not high, proving the difficulty wasn’t that great. Despite defeating three rooms over four hours, Ban Yu-won’s Life only increased from 582 to 584, just 2 points more than before entering the Tower.

“Ah, this is like that. It’s like running a low-level dungeon and suddenly entering an event dungeon that drops tons of experience and items, then returning to the original hunting ground and finding the experience efficiency ruined.”

“I don’t know about that, just focus on fighting.”

At this rate, could he even surpass 600 Life in this exploration? For Ban Yu-won, 600 Life held special significance. It was the Life value that the dimensional mercenary Aneri Dedota had ‘shown’ him when they met at Gelas. Of course, he now knew that wasn’t her full power. She had concealed her presence and true abilities through some means, and Ban Yu-won’s authority, which should have seen through it, only managed to glimpse her facade due to their brief encounter.

‘Let’s assume 600 Life is the starting line.’

Ban Yu-won considered 600 Life the minimum standard to be an unashamedly capable individual. In fact, all Rebellion members were either close to 600 Life at the time of admission (Luciel, Light) or far exceeded it (Dokgo Yeon).

‘Unlike me, who had just awakened my abilities, these guys entered with strength that overwhelmed even the elites of higher dimensions. Of course, they’ve become much stronger now, learning various skills and exploring the Tower…’

Still, catching up to the level of the Rebellion members at the time of admission held great significance for Ban Yu-won.

“Let’s get rid of these weaklings quickly…!”

Facing an elite monster, a bear-shaped creature with a stag beetle’s horn and carapace on its head, Ban Yu-won muttered as he kicked off the ground and charged at it.

“Hup.”

The carapace beast charged with its horn aimed at him. Ban Yu-won met its charge, using the essence of Flow to deflect the horn with one hand, then lightly leaped to land behind it.

―Krrk?!

Most monsters reveal significant openings when moving reflexively. For example, at this moment, the creature twisted its body with excessive force, tense from the presence of a hunter behind it. Ban Yu-won used its force against it, easily piercing it with a sword imbued with the essence of Counter.

The golden string [Pierce] appeared clearly above the sword he held.

―Kahak!

With a smooth motion, as if the sword was sheathed, the executioner’s longsword pierced through the carapace beast’s neck. Despite being an elite appearing in a room of unusual difficulty, it was taken down in a single blow! Its neck was a vital point leading to death when pierced, but also a part reinforced by carapace, making it incredibly tough. However, Ban Yu-won could easily finish it off without resistance by employing the essences of Counter and Pierce and simultaneously casting the language magic of Pierce on his sword.

[Absorbing Life 0.7, Body 0.5, Magic Beast 0.3, Carapace 1. Magic Beast and Carapace are concepts humans cannot possess.]

This was the first stage of language magic in close combat that he had completed after much contemplation: attack support.

―Your language magic is practically omnipotent, so just applying appropriate buffs to yourself and your weapons can elevate your power by more than a level… though it’s much weaker than magic!

Celon, who had been displeased with Ban Yu-won’s close combat since he wielded the staff for a Gandalf attack, spoke in a still somewhat sulky voice. He chuckled and countered Celon’s words.

‘But it has the advantage of low mana consumption, making it efficient. It’s also quick to apply.’

For example, simply creating and casting the language magic [Pierce] would depend purely on the amount of magic power contained within [Pierce] to determine if it could penetrate the target. However, when combined with a medium like a sword, especially one thrust with full force at the target, the required magic power drastically decreases.

―You’re still far from perfect. A magician can just shoot from afar, but if you’re going to engage in close combat, you need to be able to instantly cast language magic in the split-second timing of a second divided into ten, then divided again by ten.

‘Just say 1/100th of a second.’

Ban Yu-won knew well that his work of synchronizing his movements with the timing of language magic casting was not yet complete. Still, considering it took him over three seconds to create and cast a single word when he first learned language magic, he considered his current state a significant improvement.

‘Though the magic is based on language, there’s no need to project it externally. Complete it within and cast it directly on the target at the desired timing. For now, this is enough.’

As he became more accustomed, he would be able to apply language magic to every moment of movement, whether blocking or countering an attack, dodging and charging, or leaping and striking. Language magic, manifested through his entire body, weapons, and any artifacts he handled, would make him more complete and powerful!

“That was impressive, Yu-won!”

“Luciel, do you think it’s starting to take shape?”

Luciel, who had dealt with her share of elites and ran over, clapped her hands with sparkling eyes after witnessing Ban Yu-won’s strike.

“Your pure attack power is catching up to us…! Not just technique but strength as well!”

It seemed Luciel was thinking the same thoughts Ban Yu-won had earlier. Feeling proud at Luciel’s sincere delight, Ban Yu-won nodded, noticing Dokgo Yeon and Light, who had been handling the other elites, finishing their battle and walking over, chatting.

“What’s up?”

“Light’s movements were noticeably lighter today. I was just complimenting him.”

“You were accusing me of drawing a holy sword when you weren’t looking…”

Light, who had been deeply pondering his path recently, seemed to have improved significantly over the week. Incidentally, Light knew how to handle Aura from the time he entered the Academy. His Aura was a brute force type, similar to Ryu Cheol-myeong’s, created by compressing magic power to the limit, but he could certainly produce Aura with both sword and spear without issue. Naturally, he was also under Dokgo Yeon’s control and couldn’t use Aura for the time being.

“But since he picked up the spear, he moved as if he were controlling a body not his own, but today was different. Did you have some realization?”

“Ah, well… maybe.”

Responding somewhat awkwardly to Dokgo Yeon’s question, Light glanced at Ban Yu-won’s expression for some reason. Ban Yu-won tilted his head, but decided to leave it be, figuring Light would speak up if he wanted to. However, he was slightly concerned about a concept within Light that he couldn’t read.

‘I can now fully understand the concepts within Luciel… I need to get closer to Light, too.’

To solve the problem he harbored, he couldn’t remain in this state. He needed to fully understand Light to do something about that cursed necklace!

“So, what about the shift?”

“We’ve defeated everything, and it doesn’t seem like we need a break. Could there be a hidden element?”

As Dokgo Yeon spoke, Ban Yu-won felt a chill run down his spine.

“You know, I taught you about that spell you should never memorize.”

“I have no intention of remembering that nonsense.”

Her resolute demeanor was truly captivating. But separate from that, her accuracy in predicting spells was astonishing. The next room turned out to be another chain room.