Why Did I Have to Enroll

[Life 17, Demon 22, Physical 28, Sword 21, Staff 14, Swordsmanship 2, Staff Arts 1.7...]

Tuesday morning.

Ban Yu-won narrowed his eyes as he checked the language concepts that Eve and Lilith had collected all day yesterday.

It might look like a lot at first glance, but these were just concepts extracted from mere goblins.

Even if he absorbed these, there wouldn't be the slightest change in the concepts within Ban Yu-won's body.

Besides, he hadn't had them gather concepts for him to absorb in the first place.

"So how was it? This wasn't all of it, right? Eve probably didn't see much benefit anyway."

"Shhhh."

Compared to the physical concepts they gathered, the life and demon concepts, especially life, were suspiciously low.

This meant one of them had absorbed some concepts, and Ban Yu-won himself had instructed them to absorb whatever concepts they could.

But since Eve already had life concepts reaching 150, she was well past the stage where she could grow from goblins...

―Vroom

"Yes, yes, Lilith. Well done."

As expected, Lilith confirmed Ban Yu-won's suspicion with a small honk.

He gently patted the part containing Lilith's mana core and checked her concepts.

Lilith

[Floating Vehicle 50, Life 50, Evil Magic 35, Spirit Core 37, Soul 15, Swift 40, Magic Resistance 25, Hardening 20, Sharp 30, Resonance 12]

According to Eve, Spica had possessed resonance with a depth of about 25, which Eve and Lilith split 10 each, with the remainder given to Tike.

Thanks to this, Eve and Lilith were able to explore different dungeons and collect concepts...

Particularly Lilith, taking the form of a bike, had high mobility and combat power, clearing dungeons even faster than Eve.

It seemed this might have been the greatest gain from Ortima.

"You've really grown a lot. At this rate, your Life will break 100 soon."

―Vrooom!

"But didn't you say Lilith's resonance was 10? It's increased by 2 in such a short time. What about you, Eve?"

"Shhhshh."

Checking Eve, he found it was 13.

Perhaps because she had been with Ban Yu-won longer than Lilith, did her concepts grow faster too? Ban Yu-won tilted his head but smiled with satisfaction.

"We could grow these concepts and share them with others at this rate."

"Shhhh... Sisisit!"

Eve seemed a bit deflated at the bold declaration of splitting what was a symbol of her bond with Ban Yu-won, but soon responded bravely.

If there was a way to properly utilize Ban Yu-won's unique ability to verbalize concepts, how could they not use it?

As Eve was born from his ability, she could only be grateful to be able to become his strength like this.

"We'll look for other ways to acquire the resonance concept... but until then, I'll need you both to work hard. Please."

"Shhh."

―Vrooooom

Eve and Lilith each saluted Ban Yu-won in their own way before departing to tackle more dungeons through the spatial movement function of his student ID.

As often mentioned, there was a limit to the depth of concepts obtainable from circulating low-level dungeons where only goblins and at best hobgoblins appear, and if they continued just a bit longer, not only Lilith but even the concepts within non-combat Tike would soon reach their limit.

While this was Ban Yu-won's primary aim, it was really just the preparation phase.

'It's good to increase my own combat ability, but I need to utilize my ability more diversely.'

Yumina would also be expecting him to develop his ability.

Having achieved some success in magic, he was now thinking of venturing into artifact creation.

―What are you talking about, your magic achievements are still trash! Don't tell me you're going to brag about your level being high just because you can use unique magic? That's just your ability being amazing, not your achievement!―

"Be quiet, staff."

―I'm not a staff, I'm human!

Did she realize that she would also benefit if Ban Yu-won's artifact creation ability improved?

He tapped Celon's core once as she hung on his back chattering away, then sighed and prepared to enter the lecture.

Today's morning lecture was Comprehensive Practical Combat.

Since Ortima hadn't returned to the academy yet, Class 1's atmosphere was quite unsettled, but it was Ayre who suppressed the tension that seemed ready to explode at any moment.

"Ban Yu-won, let's have a magic duel."

"Me? With you?"

"Please."

She suddenly challenged Ban Yu-won to a duel, suppressing Class 1's explosive atmosphere.

Of course, the duel didn't unfold as Class 1 had hoped.

Rather than firing lethal spells at each other, they competed in formula control like during Gelas's special activity.

While it was an incredibly thrilling match for the participants, it couldn't have been more boring for the spectators.

"Huh, how... I knew Ayre was exceptional, but I heard Ban Yu-won only recently started learning magic..."

However, since even Associate Professor Entel was watching their duel with sparkling eyes, no one could easily criticize.

As had been suspected for a while, he was a magic specialist.

"What a wonderful duel! All students walking the path of magic, watch carefully! Even students who haven't started magic should learn from watching how mages fight!"

"Uh, yes..."

"What are they doing, Misty?"

"It must be rigged. The princess is matching his level. That guy couldn't possibly handle such precise magic power control just a week ago."

In reality, the magic duel wasn't as spectacular as Entel's high praise suggested.

Ayre seemed to think Ban Yu-won was some kind of magical genius, but his magical abilities were far inferior to hers, so he could only rely on Celon's help... in other words, equipment carry.

"Hey hey, you're losing control. You can't handle this? Come on, if you know where your opponent is trying to break through, you should obviously be able to block it!"

'Great Archmage, please guide me.'

―I'll fully control your magic power for now, so watch and learn the flow. Got it? Looking at your pathetic state, you'll need at least a year of training...

'Yes, please go all out.'

The duel proceeded roughly along these lines.

Of course, if he were to completely leave the duel to Celon, there would be no point in Ban Yu-won dueling with Ayre at all.

Though Celon didn't seem to realize it yet, since awakening his ability, Ban Yu-won's learning capacity had reached an unrivaled level, and even at this moment, he was quickly improving his skills by memorizing how Celon manipulated the Mysterious Qi.

In other words, he was milking her for all she was worth.

―But your magic power is truly fascinating no matter how I look at it. Should I say it's dense, or pure... Even though that girl's magic power is absurdly fierce, yours doesn't fall behind at all.

'That's because it's Mysterious Qi.'

―Mysterious Qi... I see. Alright. This staff isn't my physical body anyway, and to be best utilized in your hands...

The moment Celon made what seemed like a big decision.

A powerful wave of magic power manifested from Ban Yu-won (or rather, manifested by Celon) cut through not only the magic he had been constructing but also Ayre's magic power that had been intricately intertwined with it, creating a sort of magic vacuum.

"...?"

A bold technique that not only completely nullified the magic but also paralyzed the interferer's magic power for a certain period.

However, in this case, Ban Yu-won, who had invested much more magic power in building up the magic, was at a disadvantage, but as Ayre highly overestimated Ban Yu-won, she watched him carefully trying to understand why he made such a choice... then her eyes widened in shock.

"The flames..."

Flames of magic power were burning around his staff.

The color of the jewel, the core embedded in the staff's head, had also changed from crimson to a darker shade.

Everyone could sense the flames burning fiercely within it.

"Magic power mutation... did he change the artifact's properties right on the spot...?"

Had he gained some sort of insight during their duel?

Ayre stared at Ban Yu-won with an expression that couldn't hide her shock.

At the same time, she could understand.

Ban Yu-won had used such a strong technique to nullify her magic power because he didn't want to be interrupted during an important realization!

...Though in reality, Ban Yu-won himself was the most shocked.

Celon's Tears [Soul 350, Magic Power 300]

The staff that was originally like this.

Celon's Tears [Soul 400, Mysterious Qi 300]

Had suddenly changed to this!

'I had thought about it before, but this.'

Knowing that Mysterious Qi was more suitable for handling language magic and elemental magic than simple magic power, he had briefly considered whether he could convert the staff's magic power itself into Mysterious Qi.

But since Mysterious Qi was created through the Mysterious Body Technique, and Ban Yu-won had learned that Mysterious Body Technique thanks to Dokgo Yeon planting the seed in him.

He had no idea where or how to start converting the staff's magic power, so he had left it alone.

'How did you...'

But... who would have thought Celon could convert her own magic power into Mysterious Qi at will?

What was even more surprising was that she had converted all the magic power into Mysterious Qi without any loss.

And in the process, the depth of her soul had subtly increased too!

―Why are you surprised? I'm a great archmage. I've even been directly controlling your magic power, so something like guiding and transforming the staff's mana core is simple. ...By the way, your magic power is truly remarkable. Even more of my sealed memories have been unlocked.

Maybe it was just his imagination, but Celon's voice and way of speaking seemed to have matured ever so slightly.

Ban Yu-won was imagining Celon speaking in an old lady's voice once her seal was completely removed when he suddenly snapped back to attention.

Remembering he was still in the middle of a duel, he looked up to see Ayre pouting as she retrieved her orb.

...Surely he must have seen wrong about the pouting.

"That's enough for today."

Ayre said shortly with an expressionless face before leaving the dueling ground.

"Uh... right."

"Heheh, looks like she's feeling defeated by my, the great Celon's, mana control abilities."

Ban Yu-won came down thinking that definitely wasn't the case.

As Associate Professor Entel approached, excitedly asking how he had changed the artifact, Ban Yu-won half-ignored him while looking around and suddenly made eye contact with Dokgo Yeon.

She was nodding with a very satisfied expression.

Right, she too clearly didn't understand what had just happened.

*

Professor Xenon's Tuesday afternoon lecture - who, along with Yumina, had undoubtedly made the strongest impression during this special activity.

"It's about time we start preparing for the midterms."

With those words, Xenon casually dropped a bombshell.

Ban Yu-won blinked his eyes for a moment, wondering if he had heard wrong, but unfortunately, he hadn't.

The fourth and fifth-year seniors were all nodding with serious expressions!

'What, midterms already?'

But thinking about it, this was exactly the time in Korean universities too - around week 4 when students were overwhelmed with team projects, midterm assignments, and exam preparations!

If there was any consolation, it was that given Union Academy's educational objectives, written assessments didn't carry too much weight...

"I know many of you are looking forward to it, but the Mock Constellation Battle will count toward your final evaluation. In other words, you'll be using these orbs after midterm season."

"Then Professor, the midterms are..."

"Written exams. I assume you're all aware of Union Academy's graduation requirements - remember, those with a grade below B cannot qualify for the graduation exam and will leave the academy with just a completion certificate instead of a proper graduation. Study hard."

Xenon declared mercilessly, just like when he had single-handedly cleared out the monster wave that had invaded Gelas.

Ban Yu-won mentally slapped his past self who had thought written assessments wouldn't carry much weight, and focused on the lecture.

Of course, since he excelled at anything language-based, the probability of getting a bad score on written exams was practically zero... or so he thought...

Tug.

Tug tug.

Ban Yu-won felt someone pulling on his sleeve and turned his head.

"...What do you want?"

"Yu-won..."

Luciel, sitting next to him and clutching his sleeve, had tears in her eyes.

Strangely, he could understand what she wanted to say without her speaking.

Then, this pressure from the other side must be...

"Light."

"Ban, I'll be honest with you. I'm an idiot."

This fool had finally admitted it to himself.

"Written exams? I came here thinking I just had to climb the tower. I don't know anything about this stuff."

"Hey, didn't you complain to the professor before about not being able to hear the lecture because other students were too noisy?"

"That was obviously just a lie to shut those guys up."

Must be nice to be so shameless.

Ban Yu-won sighed and nodded.

"I'll help you, so let go and pay attention to the lecture right now. You need to focus from now on if you want to get better scores."

When he glanced at Dokgo Yeon just in case, she snorted and shook her head as if to say she wasn't a fool.

As expected, Dokgo Yeon was the only reliable one.

That's when Professor Xenon, standing at the podium, let out a mechanical "ha ha" laugh and said,

"There's no need to worry from now on. Everything will come from what you've learned. So everyone, keep your ears open."

Ban Yu-won was certain that Xenon had said this while looking at their group.

"Now, today we'll learn about Constellation sponsorship. Most Constellations form contracts with beings they favor, but when a human refuses a contract and the Constellation doesn't want to let them go, they offer either conditional or unconditional sponsorship. Among these, while unconditional sponsorship might seem like you're just receiving benefits without any cost, you should never take it lightly because..."

Lectures, magic training, physical conditioning, dueling, and concept farming with Eve and Lilith.

Ban Yu-won spent an incredibly productive week.

Before he knew it, it was Friday, time to enter the tower again.

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