Why Did I Have to Enroll

To talk about the volcano, we need to go back in time a bit.

The day before yesterday, Thursday, after Ban Yu-won declared the Rebellion Assembly.

Everyone gathered in one place to establish general guidelines for action, and as they were about to return to their dormitories with their distributed supplies to get some sleep, Yumina grabbed Ban Yu-won and said this.

"Student Ban Yu-won, you'll be having a special lesson with me from now."

"Special lesson...?"

The ears of the others who were about to leave perked up.

"N-no way. Are they already..."

"Grrrr!"

Light and Luciel's reactions in particular were quite intense.

While Ban Yu-won was glaring at them, having realized what they were thinking, Yumina continued speaking.

"I don't think today's lesson was enough help for student Ban Yu-won. I thought I'd teach you various spells that you can use in special activities."

"Ah, magic."

"I'm looking forward to it."

"Kyaang, this is suspicious..."

Light and Dokgo Yeon quickly retreated after realizing it wasn't what they had imagined, while Luciel maintained a suspicious expression until the end but was eventually chased away by Yumina.

Once the two were left alone in the doorless classroom, Yumina opened her mouth with a "Well then."

"Magic can be broadly divided into two types. What do you think they are?"

"Let's see... innate magic and general magic?"

"Not a bad answer."

Which meant it wasn't the correct answer.

As Ban Yu-won pondered, Yumina spread out both her hands.

Above her left hand floated a magic circle composed of countless magic characters, and above her right hand rose a small flame.

"The correct answer is this. Reason and emotion."

"Huh."

It was an answer he hadn't expected at all.

After erasing the flame that had appeared above her right hand, she lifted the magic circle from her left hand into the air and began her explanation, saying "First, let's start with reason."

"There are those who claim magic is a study of reason. The magic system that has developed complexly across various dimensions over thousands and tens of thousands of years... They say that only by steadily learning and researching it, and ultimately establishing one's own theory, can one create formulas that cannot be interpreted by others and unleash powerful and profound magic."

The floating magic circle divided and increasingly complex magic language was inscribed within it.

Ban Yu-won narrowed his eyes as he watched the magic circle transform into a sphere in the blink of an eye - and the magic text strings perfectly intertwined inside it.

Though the amount of information was so overwhelming it felt like his head might split open, the sense of wonder prevailed.

[You have completely interpreted and absorbed the magic language composing the advanced magic formula. Your Soul Depth has become 525.]

[Your All-Reading Eye Depth has become 170.]

The moment he finally interpreted what that magic was.

Both his soul and All-Reading Eye depths deepened by 5 each.

Given that such changes were triggered just by seeing it once, he could imagine just how magnificent the magic that Yumina had casually displayed must be.

Seeing his eyes sparkle, Yumina asked in surprise.

"Don't tell me you interpreted this formula?"

"Isn't it a flame explosion magic?"

"That's right.... This makes my earlier comment about formulas that can't be interpreted by others sound rather silly."

Looking dumbfounded, Yumina had a blank expression before nodding as if in understanding and muttering.

"Well, I suppose you'd need to be at least that capable to arbitrarily modify the spatial coordinates of a student ID."

"Oh, I couldn't interpret it right away. Usually I can grasp things instantly, but the structure was just so complex."

Yumina giggled at Ban Yu-won's obvious attempt to defend himself.

"It's fine, as a teacher I'm happy when my student shows exceptional ability. Ahem, anyway, I should show you the completed magic in action, right?"

Snap― Yumina clicked her fingers briskly.

The next moment, they were in a vast prairie rather than the doorless classroom.

"What's this all of a sudden?"

"I spatial-shifted us outside the academy to show you the magic in action. This is what's called a field-type dungeon."

This is a dungeon? As Ban Yu-won heard those words and looked around, he could indeed sense monsters in all directions.

Having only experienced cave-type dungeons until now, Ban Yu-won was surprised to learn that there were various types of dungeons outside the tower.

"Now then, watch carefully."

Yumina suddenly released the magic circle.

The magic circle that had been surrounding the sphere like a membrane expanded greatly, sprinkling golden text strings and casting some kind of veil over the entire dungeon.

Like peeling layers of an onion, the magic circle melted away layer by layer, creating new rules that interfered with this space one after another.

―Groooowl

Ban Yu-won could now see the monsters rushing... no, being drawn towards where they were.

"I can see right away why reason governs magic."

"Right?"

The activation of the magic circle continued to accelerate.

A formula determining the area of magic activation.

A formula designating and guiding the targets of the magic.

A formula enhancing the power of the magic.

A formula further strengthening the power of fire.

And countless other laws were released throughout the dungeon, changing the very quality of magic energy in the air.

Ban Yu-won felt his body grow heavy as if submerged in water as he struggled to speak.

"...So this is real magic."

"More precisely, it's magic as a study of reason."

By now, all the monsters constituting the dungeon were bound to the ground, unable to move and rolling about.

And as the core of the magic circle that had remained until the very end oxidized with brilliant light, everything burst into flames.

Probably even the magic core constituting the dungeon.

Ban Yu-won let out a defeated laugh, wondering if one could really counter such large-scale, massive magic even if they interpreted it in advance.

"Did you watch carefully?"

"Yes..."

"Then let's move on to the next part."

Snap― As she clicked her fingers once more, they could tell they had moved to another dungeon similar to the previous one.

"Now it's time to learn about emotion-based magic."

A small flame had already appeared above her right hand, but all Ban Yu-won could read from it was just deep and hot flames.

"Is this the type of elemental magic I use?"

"Yes, you already knew without me saying. Now watch carefully? Here goes!"

Without the tedious work of layering magic formulas to interfere with the world, Yumina simply threw the flame into the air.

Then it swelled greatly and divided, filling the entire dungeon.

After burning large and brilliantly, nothing remained.

Ban Yu-won could only watch in awe.

―Snap!

Yumina clicked her fingers again.

They returned to the doorless classroom.

"What did you see?"

"Well, I saw something..."

Ban Yu-won said that and pondered for a moment.

He had managed to read concepts like fire (火), amplification (增幅), and guidance (誘導) within the greatly swelling flames.

But if asked whether he felt any sense of law or order in it, the answer was not at all.

Nevertheless, the magic manifested perfectly, and perhaps even more quickly, massively, and decisively eliminated the enemies than the magic circle-manifested magic.

"But... I can't explain it."

"That's exactly what emotion-governed magic is. It's not theoretical and is difficult to learn and master, but because of that, it's hard to read and its effects are powerful. In fact, the mana efficiency is a bit higher with this type."

Yumina added that this was the magic you've learned.

"But I can't create flames like that."

"As long as you have the magic power and imagination to back it up, anything is possible. The important thing is to envision a clear image."

"Image..."

"What you showed in today's lesson was truly amazing. You instantly constructed an image and completed perfect magic, didn't you? You just need to develop that a bit more."

Ban Yu-won thought about how he had used elemental magic in class.

Back then, he had certainly envisioned air and constructed the form of a vortex.

In other words, even while using magic, he had unconsciously manifested it centered on language, which was the foundation of his ability...!

Ban Yu-won felt as if his vision suddenly brightened.

'Language can also become an image.'

And the reverse could hold true just as well.

For Ban Yu-won, who understood and accepted all phenomena as language through his All-Reading Eye, there was already no need to distinguish between language and image.

Moreover, perhaps eventually, there might not even be a need to distinguish between reason and emotion.

'Come to think of it, I had something perfect for this.'

Ban Yu-won pulled out the quietly dormant Code Core from his inventory.

[Volcano 14]

The concept he had obtained through completely unexpected circumstances was radiating brilliant light within.

*

[Elemental Magic 90]

Ban Yu-won grinned as he looked at his understanding of elemental magic, which had somehow surpassed even his mastery of swordsmanship.

The insight he gained thanks to Yumina that day would have a huge impact not only on his magic but also on how he handles and develops his language abilities.

"Are you finally going to fight?"

'Yeah. Let's unleash something big.'

"Acting so confident when you've barely learned the basics."

'That's why you need to help me.'

The voice of Celon, the self-proclaimed grand magician ego residing in the staff, echoed in Ban Yu-won's mind.

Ban Yu-won moved to his assigned building, gripping the staff with both hands.

The guide Aneri Dedota followed behind him.

He had specifically chosen her over Light.

'Don't tell me she's planning to stab me in the back here?'

As Ban Yu-won narrowed his eyes and looked back warily, Aneri, who had drawn close enough that he could feel her breath, asked:

"Seeing that you're holding a staff, could it be you're planning to use magic? Have you always had magic abilities?"

"I just recently started learning magic."

"How amazing...!"

Aneri clapped with an exaggerated expression.

She was much too close.

Putting some distance between them as he worried she might be willing to sacrifice herself just to stab him in the back, Ban Yu-won said:

"Why are you following me?"

"Since it seems you'll be using magic, I want to protect you and make sure no monsters can get close to you, Lord Ban Yu-won!"

No, I don't want you near me because I think you might stab me.

Ban Yu-won landed on the building's rooftop, trying his best not to show his displeasure.

His assigned position was a four-story building, with soldiers wielding shields and spears holding the ground floor, while several soldiers with bows were positioned at the windows and on the roof, aiming at the front lines.

Though not quite the large-scale battlefield he had seen yesterday, they were still facing far more monsters than humans.

"Hut!"

"Sir!"

"Ah, please don't mind me."

Ban Yu-won waved off the soldiers who had noticed his landing and were approaching.

The areas assigned to the Rebellion members weren't particularly important anyway. In other words, these were zones unlikely to be breached.

It was at a level where they just needed to keep watch, without unnecessarily interfering with the soldiers.

"Though that's not why I came here."

"What are you going to show us...!"

"I need to concentrate now, so could you step back a bit?"

"Yes sir!"

Ban Yu-won took out Tyche, the camera imbued with ego, from his inventory.

He planned to take lots of footage of himself and his members in action, edit the highlights later, and upload them after returning to the academy when the special activity was over.

'From an angle that makes the magic look as impressive as possible...'

While he was setting up the recording with that in mind, Aneri Dedota, who had somehow drawn close again, said with sparkling eyes:

"Are you filming? Normal machines would break down right away...!"

"This one's specially made."

"It must be unique technology that no one else at Union Academy can replicate? How incredible!"

Ban Yu-won secretly scoffed at her exaggerated admiration.

Was she trying to extract the camera's manufacturing technique through such clumsy seduction?

Even if he honestly told her, Ortima wouldn't be able to create artifacts anyway.

Moreover, this woman had just casually dropped hints about knowing the academy's internal affairs.

Was she stupid or just looking down on Ban Yu-won?

But it didn't matter. He'd be able to deal with someone like her soon enough.

He brushed off the clingy Aneri again and raised his staff.

'Let's begin.'

─You're late! How long are you going to make me wait?

'I was just preparing to capture our performance as impressively as possible.'

─...Well, if that's the case, I guess it can't be helped. Alright, whatever magic you use, just manifest it properly. I'll support you perfectly!

This really is easy.

He smirked and focused his mana on the staff's head, the core.

Thanks to Yumina, he firmly understood the basics of magic manifested through emotion.

The elements he would handle were fire and earth.

The form would be an erupting volcano.

The starting point would naturally be the earth, beyond the cityscape where the shadow weasels were gathering.

The scale would be the maximum that Ban Yu-won and Celon's magic power would allow!

'The image is clear. I've completely grasped the concept of volcanoes through elemental magic.'

A smile hung on Ban Yu-won's lips.

As he chanted his magic, Celon was also weaving and amplifying the magic power stored in the core into his spell, and true to his self-proclaimed title of grand magician, the degree of amplification was truly tremendous.

"Woooong"

"W-what?"

"Magic... he's using magic!"

"Ban...!"

Perhaps they had noticed the tremendous magic power gathering in the area.

Not just the soldiers, but the Rebellion members on nearby buildings, Yumina watching from behind them, and even the Class 1 students in the distance were all turning to look at Ban Yu-won.

Of course they would. Thanks to the artifact, the amount of magic power he was handling now was far beyond what any first-year academy student should be capable of!

But then.

"Hm? There's interference coming in?"

'Interference?'

"From over there. Someone's weaving a counter-spell that's interfering with our magic structure. Ice-system magic?"

When he turned to look, the person he saw was none other than Class 1's Untouchable Princess, Ayre.

She was holding a round magic orb to her chest and chanting spells while staring directly at Ban Yu-won.

Anyone watching might think she was trying to kill him.

The magic power response emanating from her was cunningly, but definitely, mixing into the magic power Ban Yu-won was generating.

'Does she really think this isn't obvious?'

"She's trying to dissolve our magic and steal that power to strengthen her own spell. If she succeeds, she could justify it."

'Hmm....'

"So we're going to do the opposite."

Celon declared.

"We'll steal her magic power too and complete our spell. You just keep focusing on the magic as you are. I'll handle the magic interference."

'Oh, now you're really sounding like a grand magician.'

"I told you I am one!"

Ban Yu-won trusted Celon and continued chanting his magic.

Though calling it chanting was really just focusing his mana while visualizing the volcano, but since the magic clearly became more solid and powerful as the image became more concrete, the expression wasn't wrong.

"Success... you can manifest it now!"

"Volcano!"

The moment Celon's words fell, Ban Yu-won released the magic power gathered in his staff.

Though Ayre's magic power tried to cunningly entangle and break down his magic, it was impossible to interfere with Ban Yu-won's firm image.

Thanks to Celon's manipulation, her magic structure collapsed and was even absorbed into Ban Yu-won's spell instead.

The pleasure of that moment was indescribable.

"I reversed the interference spell she used. Trying to defeat me with delicate manipulation of magic power? She's centuries too early!"

'I don't know what that means, but.'

At that moment when the enormous, truly enormous magic power brilliantly struck its target.

"KWAAANG!"

The ground where thousands upon thousands of monsters had gathered was completely overturned as a magma explosion erupted!

"Now that's some incredible magic!"

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