Why Did I Have to Enroll

Only after the conversation had roughly ended and the situation had settled did Ban Yu-won finally have time to check the 'gift' he had received earlier from Dokgo Yeon.

[Life 50, Body 30, Magic Power 60, Dominion (支配) 10, Charm 15, Divine Speech (神言) 17]

These were the concepts that Ban Yu-won had successfully extracted from Lucien Ortima's right arm.

There were probably many other concepts in his arm, but... due to Ban Yu-won's low comprehension, the rest would have been lost.

What was unexpected though was that he didn't have the Star Trace that could be obtained from Erecto.

This meant he hadn't contracted with a constellation.

'Well, they did say they were a family that ruled over higher dimensions, so at that level, they could probably pick and choose which constellations to contract with. All the constellation contractors I've met so far were just being manipulated by their constellations' will anyway.'

Though the Star Trace at 0.9 in his body weighs on his mind... there will be opportunities to gain more in the future.

He shook off his lingering attachments and absorbed the concepts.

Since Lucien Ortima was not just an academy freshman but a talent nurtured by one of the most prominent forces across all dimensions, the purity of the language concepts he possessed was extremely high.

Should one say that each concept had an unwavering persuasiveness that couldn't be compared to those of other beings? It was probably a presence that only Ban Yu-won himself, who wielded the authority of language, could sense.

[Life depth has become 425, Body depth has become 285, Mysterious Qi depth has become 240.]

The conclusion was that while he could now only retrieve 10 out of 100 Life extracted from monsters of similar levels, Ortima's concepts boasted an impressive conversion rate of 50%.

Of course, since Mysterious Qi had to go through the process of converting Magic Power, it was only about one-third, but even that was very satisfactory.

[Absorbed Dominion 10, became aware of the language concept within the body. Dominion depth has become 16.7.]

[Dominion ― The will to control all things according to one's wishes]

Dominion, a concept Ban Yu-won didn't have, could be fully absorbed like Charm, and surprisingly, a depth of 6.7 had already accumulated without him even being aware of it.

At first, he thought it might have been a change that occurred when Luciel became subordinate to him, but upon examining the concept of dominion closely, he felt it wasn't such a simple concept.

'If it were a concept that accumulated just from controlling others, there should have been many monsters among those I've hunted that could have yielded this concept. Besides, there's already the concept of command.'

If you think about why Ortima expelled this concept, the answer comes easily.

Didn't Ortima possess the power to twist and control providence by his own will?

In other words, dominion might represent the forceful influence exerted on everything... all things outside oneself - a somewhat arrogant conclusion.

Such thoughts became certain when he moved past Charm (which was completely absorbed) to absorb the final concept, Divine Speech.

[The superior concept All-Speaking Lips responds to Divine Speech. Having perfectly understood and absorbed the concept of Divine Speech, All-Speaking Lips' depth has become 180. You can now imbue your voice with strong will and compelling force. Due to growth in inherent ability and enlightenment, the depths of All-Reading Eyes and All-Hearing Ears have also grown to 180.]

[Soul depth has become 580.]

'Holy...'

This was the biggest jackpot!

Among the three concepts, All-Speaking Lips was the slowest to grow.

But not only did it suddenly jump up by 15, but All-Reading Eyes and All-Hearing Ears also grew to match All-Speaking Lips!

Of course, while the concept of Divine Speech was completely broken down, it's not like Ban Yu-won would gain Ortima's unique ability just by having Divine Speech at 17, and since it brought positive changes to his own unique ability and achieved growth, there was nothing to complain about.

'No, perhaps if I didn't have All-Speaking Lips, I might not have been able to understand and absorb the concept of Divine Speech at all. Either way, this is huge.'

As the depths of the three concepts central to his ability all became 180, his soul depth also explosively increased to 580.

This also proved the hypothesis that his unique ability affects his soul.

"So, how was my gift?"

Dokgo Yeon spoke up as Ban Yu-won finished organizing and absorbing all the concepts, feeling notably stronger.

"Yeah. Seriously, thank you. I'm honestly touched."

"Don't just say it with words, I'd like to see some sincerity."

"Just tell me what you want, anytime."

While smirking and responding, he realized there was still one more gift left from her.

'Earlier I was in such a hurry to hide it that I only briefly checked before putting it straight into my inventory... but that was amazing too.'

The metal sphere containing an unusual energy.

It seemed to be a weapon Ortima had used, as traces of his magic power remained thick on it...

He wanted to take it out and examine it thoroughly right away, but the problem was Ayre's presence still remaining in the room.

"......"

After being firmly rejected by Yumina and receiving a kind explanation about why she couldn't transfer to Class 11, she sat in a corner of the room like a soulless corpse.

"Light, is she still not leaving?"

"Why are you asking me that?"

"Weren't you close with her?"

Light, who knew she had rushed to the dungeon to apologize to Ban Yu-won, looked at Ban Yu-won with an expression of disbelief.

Then, for some reason, he tilted his head and went "Hmm?"

"Ban, don't you look a bit more handsome than before?"

"Don't go around saying things like that to just anyone, they might get the wrong idea."

"But it's true!"

Luciel chimed in from the side.

"I just felt Yu-won's appearance change ever so slightly."

"Ah."

Only then did he understand why they were acting this way.

It must be because of the charm.

Among the concepts absorbed from Ortima's right arm, charm was at 15, and absorbing it had brought his charm exactly to 50.

When he first became aware of charm, he thought there wasn't much change, but now that it reached 50, could it have positively affected his outward appearance?

'This is bad.'

If he had known there would be noticeable changes, he wouldn't have absorbed or organized the concepts while outsiders like Ayre were present.

"It's okay."

Just then, as if reading his mind, Ayre spoke up.

"I've known about your ability since your match with Erecto."

"Ah."

"Looking across all dimensions, there are others with similar abilities."

That's probably not it.

Based on what Ayre had observed, she could only estimate Ban Yu-won's ability as something like 'ability theft' or 'absorption' - she likely couldn't even begin to grasp what his true ability was.

"If you already know, then fine. I'll tell you."

Ban Yu-won explained how he had stolen part of Ortima's charm from his right arm, adjusting the explanation to match Ayre's level of understanding.

Luciel, who most intuitively understood the concept of theft since she regularly received wildness extracted from monsters from Ban Yu-won, tilted her head after hearing the explanation and said:

"That man's charm...? He wasn't charming at all. Compared to Yu-won..."

However, unlike Luciel who was blindly devoted to Ban Yu-won, Light spoke coldly:

"Sure, we may hate him, but just looking at his face, he wasn't any worse than Ban. Besides, charm isn't something that can be judged solely on appearance."

It was an accurate definition.

Charm is the power to move others' hearts.

In other words, it made sense that Ortima, who could exert strong influence on others just by his presence, would have high charm.

He probably possessed honor far beyond comparison with Ban Yu-won as well, but since honor apparently wasn't a concept that could be stolen from others, he couldn't obtain it this time.

"Light saying something this smart... did something happen in the dungeon?"

"Ban, do you hate me?"

"No, I like you."

Teasing him was just too much fun.

"What?!"

Even now, he jumped in surprise, unnecessarily clutching at his chest while watching Ban Yu-won's reaction - how transparent could his actions be!

"Yu-won...?"

"No, Luciel. I'm sorry."

But seeing Luciel glaring at him, he figured it was about time to tone down the teasing of Light.

That's when he realized Luciel wasn't the only one staring at him intently.

"...Ayre? What is it?"

"Nothing. It's nothing."

But Ban Yu-won didn't miss how her gaze momentarily turned toward Light.

...Hah, could it be that while clearing the dungeon together with Light, Ayre had fallen for him?

It was entirely possible.

Light was already such a pretty boy that he could pass for a girl, and he had bravely swung his spear to protect her while she was casting magic... and apparently, he even helped her by giving her the life candy that Ban Yu-won had given her at the last moment.

It wouldn't be strange for any girl with normal emotions to fall for him.

So that's why she couldn't stand seeing Ban Yu-won teasing Light!

"This can't be."

But that affection would only end in tragedy.

Because Light was hiding his true self...!

In that case, maybe it was better for her sake that she couldn't transfer to Class 11.

All he could do was pray that she would find new love quickly.

"Stay strong."

"?"

Though Ayre tilted her head at Ban Yu-won's heartfelt words... she finally rose from her seat.

"I'll keep everything I heard today a secret."

"Well, that's how it should be."

"As long as Light doesn't expose my secret first."

To think they became close enough to share secrets in just one day!

"I'll be going then. ...I won't give up."

"Wouldn't it be better for you to give up quickly?"

"I won't give up."

Glaring at Ban Yu-won, she left the room.

Light scolded Ban Yu-won.

"No matter how much you dislike it, you shouldn't rebuke her so openly."

"Hah, Light, if you knew why I said that, you'd... no, never mind."

Seeing Ban Yu-won shaking his head as if in pity, Light made a sour expression.

Meanwhile, Dokgo Yeon, who always judged situations most objectively, saw through Ban Yu-won's mental fiction-writing.

"That man seems to be harboring some worthless misunderstanding."

"Isn't it cute?"

At Luciel's gleeful response, Dokgo Yeon's eyes narrowed.

"Beast, you too are suffering because of that man's troublesome misunderstandings. Right now, that fool probably thinks you're only clinging to him to resolve your madness (heart's path)."

"I like all of that about him too."

"I really can't understand relationships between men and women."

"..."

Watching Dokgo Yeon brazenly say such things despite being the core cause of this incident involving relationships between men and women, Luciel thought she might be similar to Ban Yu-won.

...Perhaps that's why Dokgo Yeon paid even more attention to Ban Yu-won?

"Ortima didn't seem like he would give up."

"Then that day will be his funeral. Ban Yu-won was so happy with just his right arm, it would be quite a sight to give him everything else. ...Though it's a shame we couldn't cut off that crown on his head."

Luciel's jaw dropped.

To naturally think of taking care of Ban Yu-won first while talking about another man?

This woman really is the most dangerous.

Newly convinced of this, she resolved not to lose either.

"Hey, where did my metal sphere go... Eve, did you eat it?!"

"Shh, shhhhh."

"You're saying the concept was more needed by the familiars than the master, so you shared it with Lilith and Tyche too... well, I know you can use my powers. ...No, it's fine. As long as you enjoyed it."

"...Ban, are you crying?"

"No, these are tears of joy."

That's how the second day of special activities ended.

Thanks to the unexpected clash with Exodus, all remaining schedules for the second day were canceled― with group free activities pushed to the next day.

The third day became entirely a day off.

...Somehow it felt like a school trip until the very end.

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