Why Did I Have to Enroll - Chapter 18

Lesson 5. The Tower is one-way – 1

[You stole 0.1 Devil, 0.05 Life, 0.03 Physique, and 0.2 Archery from the Goblin Archer.]

Thursday after school, outside the dungeon, Ban Yu-won examined the amount of concept absorbed from the Goblin he had just killed.

‘As expected, I wasn’t mistaken. It decreased.’

When Ban Yu-won’s concept of Life exceeded 50, the efficiency of absorbing the Goblin’s Life was halved again. Nevertheless, the Goblins still had concepts of decent quantity and quality, so he worked hard on Tuesday and Wednesday to the extent that he conquered two or three dungeons a day. But today, not only general Goblins but also the Warriors and Archers gave less.

‘Maybe this is…is it because I got too many concepts from the Goblins?’

He thought the Babylonian Code had no limits, but he was mistaken. Having already killed many Goblins and collected concepts, it was a natural change for them to gradually decrease. If he compared it to a game, it could be said, ‘If you kill a lot of the same monsters, the experience points you get will decrease.’

“I think it will become zero at some point.”

Ban Yu-won cleaned up the scene, sighed, and read his body’s code.

[Life: 99.74

Physique: 66.21

Soul: 334.8 

Magic Power: 75.36

Martial Arts 49 [Swordsmanship 27, Sewing 22]

Lead: 6

Riding: 15 ― The ability to control horses, cars, and other vehicles.

Complete Sight: 110

Complete Hearing:100

Complete Speaking: 102]

After three days of classes, his code showed the results of his diligent efforts. Of course, Life was the one that developed the most, but Ban Yu-won was prouder of his Magic Power and Martial Arts. This was because these two codes had grown by themselves more than he had absorbed them from the Goblins.

‘Especially Martial Arts. Every time I stab, Swordsmanship grows along with Sewing.’

To put it bluntly, the Goblins’ combat skills were poor. Zatoichi, no, the Blind Goblin Warrior he met in the first practical evaluation dungeon, was at the most respectable level. In the other dungeons, most bosses were just these Hobgoblins with regular Goblins. Fortunately, one of Eve’s core concepts, the Wicked Beast, grew to 18 thanks to the Hobgoblin’s unique code.

“I may have to try another dungeon soon. Is it okay, Eve?”

“Shhhhhhhhh.”

Eve reassured him that, despite Ban Yu-won’s concerns, there might be many monsters with the concept of Wicked if he went to a higher dungeon.

“…Yes, tomorrow is the day we enter the Tower, so let’s go through one more dungeon. From the beginning, the goal is to gain more than 100 Life.”

“Shhhh.”

“Do you want to go on a drive? Okay. We have some time left, and it wouldn’t be bad to improve my riding skills.”

The vehicle Eve was talking about was, of course, the hoverbike Onyx he had bought on Monday. The qualification exam? He passed easily. It was thanks to absorbing the concept of Riding from a very old saddle among the relics that his grandfather brought him! As a result, Ban Yu-won could handle the bike like it was part of his own body and even grew the concept by three.

“And I’m going to do that too. I’ve promised you, right? I would make younger siblings for you if your Spirit Weapon reached 30.”

“Shhhhhh.”

“Great. Then let’s go.”

As a result of experimenting for a few days, Ban Yu-won realized that the effect of a concept increased greatly with each increment of 10, so he decided to grow Eve’s core concept to 30. Currently, it is 29.5. No matter how little the Goblins offered now, there was no way that he couldn’t collect this much.

* * *

“Human, I will curse you…!”

“Yeah, sure you are. I know you don’t have the concept of Curse.”

Ban Yu-won’s sword pierced the Hobgoblin’s neck. When he turned around, the hundreds of Goblin corpses were already dissolving, and each one was slain by a sword. Ban Yu-won, who could now deal with the Goblins without difficulty, decided to get hands-on experience clearing the boss room.

“I still don’t feel it. I guess it would be right to stop now.”

To think it was only a few days ago he was struggling to survive. He reached out his hand and absorbed the codes from the corpses.

[You can no longer absorb the concept of Life from the Goblin species.]

As expected, when his Life passed 100, that message appeared along with a feeling of tightness in his body. He absorbed the Life of the Hobgoblin that was still valid, reached 101, and inspected himself.

“Um, hmmm…!”

He couldn’t pinpoint exactly what had changed. However, a strange sense of upliftment swirled around him. What should he say about this feeling? Confidence? Or presence? Yes, it was a feeling that convinced him that he had a bigger role in the world.

“Raise yourself, lower your enemies. So that’s what it is.”

Visible growth was fun. He could see why people were so obsessed with the status window. Ban Yu-won smiled at this new sense of pleasure.

“Shhhh.”

“I’ll give you the rest of the Life, so wait. No, I’ll leave your sibling’s share….”

Eve, too, was able to grow by gaining Life. Although since it was able to grow Life on its own, of course, Ban Yu-won wasn’t able to give Life over directly, and it couldn’t go higher than the depth of the Devil, which was its first core concept.

“Okay, are you done with this?”

It ate up not only the Hobgoblin but also the other Goblins and their weapons. Only after coming out of the dungeon did Ban Yu-won start today’s plan.

“Onyx.”

The streamlined black motorcycle didn’t respond to Ban Yu-won’s call since it was a normal hoverbike. But that would soon change.

Didn’t Ban Yu-won already have experience in bringing things to life?

“However, it has better compatibility since you were a club…all right, let’s get insurance.”

Ban Yu-won drew several concepts from his Code Core.

Implanting Spirit into any object didn’t make it an artifact. Just as the Goblin Club inhabited a club-shaped object, it was necessary to carefully examine the compatibility between objects and concepts and their combinations. Still, he had been thinking about synthesizing concepts for a few days, so he organized how to successfully turn this bike into an artifact.

Today’s core concept was Wicked.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t give you everything, Eve.”

“Shhh, shhhh.”

Eve wrapped up his arm, telling him not to worry. Ban Yu-won gently stroked the snake’s head, then looked at the hoverbike.

[Floating Car 30, Magic Core 30, Speed 30, Magic Resistance 20, Hardening 10]

Floating Car literally meant a flying car, and the Magic Core was the Mana core that drove this motorcycle, just like a dungeon core. Speed was the movement ability given by the motorcycle’s design, and Magic Resistance was probably related to the ability to resist the magic waves of the dungeon…and lastly, Hardening was probably a function of the motorcycle’s reinforced front fender.

“Leave Floating Car as it is. Speed and Hardening are good for now. The important thing is…haah.”

It was the Magic Core.

The thought that a 3.2 million Ronia worth hoverbike would be wasted if he made a mistake made even Ban Yu-won nervous. But if he took a step back, he would miss the opportunity to grow as the master of the Babylonian Code.

There were times when you had to push ahead and risk failure. That was right now!

“Separate Magic and Core, and synthesize 2 Wicked and 5 Spirit with them, respectively.”

With one hand, he touched the motorcycle and split the Magic Core in half, and with his other hand, he injected Wicked and Spirit to combine Wicked with Magic and Spirit inside the Core. The moment the concept of the Magic Core was split, the motorcycle vibrated terribly as if it might explode.

But the next moment, the synthesis started, and Ban Yu-won stepped back to watch.

“Please, please work…!”

At that moment, an unusual pattern engraved itself on the motorcycle’s Mana core, burning red and emitting smoke.

[Hoverbike Onyx Core 15 was combined with Spirit 5. It is a concept that cannot be synthesized.]

[Hoverbike Onyx’s Magic 15 was combined with Wicked 2. Due to the perfect compatibility, transcendental synthesis was completed, and Wicked Magic 20 was completed!]

[Due to the presence of Wicked Magic, the synthesis of Core 15 and Spirit 5 was successful. Spirit Core 20 was completed! Wicked Magic resides in the Spirit Core and provides power. You have succeeded in creating a higher-level artifact!]

He did it!

[Due to the excellent expression of abilities, the depth of Complete Sight, Complete Hearing, and Complete Speaking increased by 5 each!

[The depth of Life has been increased to 110.]

[The depth of Magic Power has been increased to 82.]

[The depth of Soul has been increased to 340.]

“Whoa.”

Due to the completion of the artifact, his abilities had also grown significantly. It was different from when he created the Goblin Club accidentally. This was possible because he thought deeply about the concept of language.

“You are Lilith.”

-Vrooom

The first was Eve, so the second was Lilith. It was a weird name to give a motorcycle, but the engine rumbled with delight.

But it wasn’t over yet. Ban Yu-won also gave it 1 Life, 1 Soul, and, as a bonus, a collection of Sharpness drawn from many knives. It could even attack with the front fender, so there was no harm in making it sharper. And what was born as a result was…

[Floating Car 30, Magic Resistance 20, Spirit Core 20, Life 1, Soul 1, Speed 30, Magic Resistance 20, Hardening 10, Sharpness 20]

Instead of analyzing the flow of the completed code, Ban Yu-won patted Lilith’s handle and asked.

“Hmm…you don’t need Magic Resistance anymore, do you?”

-Vroooom

It rang the engine in affirmation.

Why was Magic Resistance necessary? Why did machines, or magical tools, break down in places like dungeons? That was because the refined magic inside the magic tool was shaken by the magic wave of the dungeon and ran wild until the internal structure was destroyed.

This was prevented by giving magic tools the ability to resist magic or making those that moved and controlled their own magic, like Eve and Lilith. In other words, Artifacts were unaffected by the dungeon.

‘So, this guy will be able to enter the dungeons from now on, and of course the Tower….’

Ban Yu-won suddenly thought about his student ID card. This was a magic tool, but why had it been fine in the dungeons so far? He didn’t know the internal structure of the student ID because the analysis hadn’t been completed yet. But once it was, he knew his abilities would grow once more.

‘For now, let’s take out Magic Resistance. Can it be divided into Magic and Resistance? I don’t think so.’

However, it was possible to extract only the Resistance from the Magic Resistance, but the conversion rate was atrocious.

Ban Yu-won became confused when he saw that the 20 Magic Resistance turned into only 1.

“For now…should I keep it with me?”

He put it into his body.

[You have gained 1 Resistance. You gained resistance to all negativity.]

But, surprisingly, it made a huge difference. Not only did his body and mental strength become stronger, but he also felt the power gathering somewhere in his body.

“Is it because it is a concept that can be applied regardless of body and mind? This was a huge benefit.”

It was enough that Ban Yu-won considered selling the rest of the gold ingots and buying a dozen more motorcycles to take their Resistance, but he shook his head. If he searched, he would surely find more objects with the concept of Resistance.

“Then let’s go on a drive, Eve asked.”

“Shhhhhh.”

He got on Lilith with Eve wrapped around his arm and acting cute. Although there was no change in appearance, it felt strangely comfortable, like Lilith softly embraced him.

‘I can’t just go around talking about it. I’ll be treated like a madman.’

“But it’s not enough if only the ride quality is good. Then…shall we fly?”

-Vroooooom!

At that moment, Lilith accelerated even though Ban Yu-won didn’t start the engine, at a markedly different rate from yesterday, even faster than the top speed he’d experienced before!

Ban Yu-won grabbed the steering wheel before he fell off.

‘This is so cool…!’

His flying over the past three days was just a joke compared to this. Now, Ban Yu-won was truly galloping through the sky! However, at that moment, he flew so high that he could see a part of the floating island where the academy was located.

He noticed a black shimmer near the huge tower that strictly controlled students’ entry into the Tower of Babel.

Maybe he had seen it wrong. It would be easier if he thought about it that way, but Ban Yu-won couldn’t help but grumble.

“Something is sure to happen tomorrow….”

He decided to consult with Yoo Mina first. He was a man who never overlooked trivial events, after all.

And the next day, the day to enter the Tower of Babel finally arrived.