Why Did I Have to Enroll

Lesson 9. Learning martial arts – 3

Ban Yu-won constantly circulated the Black Energy while washing up and changing his clothes. Every time he circulated it, his body heated up, and the Black Energy evaporated little by little. Still, the amount he recovered naturally was about that much anyway, so as long as he was conscious, it was possible to circulate infinitely.

‘It seems that I can increase the amount of circulating Black Energy, but if I do that, I will run out of mana when I really need it, so let’s stop.’

However, in circulating the Black Energy like this, there were several additional effects other than training his body by consuming Magic Power. The most representative of them, it had the advantage of strengthening his physique to a much greater extent than simply activating Magic Power. Long live the teacher Dok Go-yeon!

‘And…I think my senses have become keener.’

He always felt his senses grow clearer when his Magic Power was activated, but the Black Energy was special. No…rather than permanently training his body or temporarily strengthening it, he wondered if this was its main ability. In particular, the amplification effect on Complete Sight and Complete Hearing was great. He could hear things he couldn’t before and see in greater detail.

‘Did she even expect this…?’

If that was the case, then Ban Yu-won was truly indebted to Dok Go-yeon for a considerable gift. He looked at her suspiciously, but all he got in return was a skeptical smile. Meanwhile, Light and Ruchel, standing on the sidelines watching Ban Yu-won’s training, tried to calmly greet him.

“Are you going to upload this video?”

“Are you crazy?”

“I think there will be a lot of views….”

Ruchel didn’t even fight, so why was her hair darker? Ban Yu-won had a lot of things he wanted to ask her, he spoke with a red-tinted face, but Dok Go-yeon beat him to the punch.

“It’s not something you can tell by looking at it, but we should try to hide the fact he’s been taught martial arts….why are you looking at me like that, beast?”

“It’s nothing.”

“It’ll be good if you get stronger, Ban.”

As he could see from Ruchel’s reaction, the martial arts Ban Yu-won had been taught were not ordinary, and Light summed it up by saying, ‘It’s probably a technique good for one’s health.’ At their contrasting attitudes, Dok Go-yeon laughed.

“Then we should start looking for a way to move to Room 6. We decided to take on this expedition with a relaxed mind, but I don’t want to stay in Room 5 all day.”

“Now that I think about it, I think it’s time for lunch.”

“Don’t even dream about that until we get to Room 6.”

“This isn’t the military.”

Ban Yu-won, urged by the party, set out in earnest to find the end of this maze.

He was already able to test out his improved eyes. Now that he could see more things at once and distinguish them in finer detail, he naturally became faster at discovering and analyzing concepts…

“Hmm…?”

Unsurprisingly, Ban Yu-won, who quickly found the Way to Room 6, paused as he led the party. While the concept of the Way leading from this room into Room 6 was clearly visible, he noticed a different concept faintly buried in the opposite wall. Whether it was by chance or inevitability, he would not have been able to find it if it hadn’t been for the enhanced eyesight caused by the Black Energy.

“Fast Way…?”

That must mean a shortcut. When Ban Yu-won approached the wall and checked it, he found a small crack. Inside, illusions were densely embedded and disguised to make it appear like an intact wall. Without his existence, no one could have found this out.

“Let me.”

He absorbed the illusions.

[You absorbed 50 Illusion.]

“50?! This is crazy!”

Of course, it was extracted from a huge wall, but still, to think it was possible to obtain a depth of 50 all at once… meant that the existence of this Fast Way was that hidden. Ban Yu-won shrugged and went to put it away in the core, but Eve’s tightened around his forearm.

“You want this too?”

“Shh.”

“All right, eat a lot and grow taller.”

He tried to give it the entirety of the concepts, but Eve could only absorb about 20 of them. Apparently, its level was still insufficient, so it was slowly reaching the limit of what it could absorb.

‘Indeed, it’s too much. The concept I got from the Elite Monster I killed last time…’

Eve, realizing it hadn’t been able to eat all of the Illusion due to its lack of ability, let out a hiss. Ban Yu-won smiled sadly, sensing that Eve would be more active than himself in the next room when Ruchel pulled at his other arm.

“Ban, this…!”

What appeared after the Illusion had collapsed was a set of stairs going up. As for the Tower, the distinction between the rooms wasn’t clear, and it was difficult to find a structure that explicitly suggested an ascent like this, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any. It was also written in the textbook that multiple rooms could be skipped if certain conditions were met.

“It seems like a shortcut. Is it because this room was that difficult?”

“I thought about it last week, but I think our expedition is very different from the usual one.”

“That’s why our videos are popular with the other students.”

To be honest, if it were a recording of an ordinary exploration, the people outside would still find it enjoyable, but who else in the academy would want to watch it?

The response was good because it was a video of a group of freshmen fighting against monsters, traps, and Elites of an unbelievable level. More than half of them must be thinking, ‘Oh, they’re good at editing videos!’

“So, what are we going to do?”

Ban Yu-won, who turned to the party after revealing the stairs, asked the obvious question. The answer that came back was equally as obvious.

“Of course, we have to go up.”

“It won’t be surprising if the difficulty level jumps.”

“Let’s go.”

It was a unanimous decision. The party bravely climbed the stairs with Eve transformed into a shield ahead of them. There was a small attack while they climbed, but it was just a group of bats clinging to the ceiling.

“Ahh!”

“Light, you’ll fall like that.”

“That’s pathetic. You can’t respond even to this?”

Light, without the holy sword, was considered to be a level lower than Ban Yu-won. He could move just fine without it yesterday, but when they entered the Tower, he became more sluggish.

“I’m used to fighting with a sword, and it’s unavoidable to be a little nervous!”

“A little?”

“Oh, Room 6.”

While Dok Go-yeon was reacting to Light’s excuses, Ruchel suddenly muttered. It grew dark around them until there was nothing they could see except the stairs they were climbing.

“I don’t think there was a Shift.”

“Maybe this staircase is a Shift. What are you doing, Light? Walk faster!”

“I’m not scared!”

“I didn’t say anything about being scared.”

The stairs continued upward, so the party didn’t stop moving. Not even the bats appeared anymore.

“Room 7.”

This time, it was Light who called out. Even though they had wasted a lot of time in Room 5, they could skip two rooms simultaneously. But more importantly, the stairs were still not finished.

“More than three rooms…?”

“Maybe not three.”

As Light mumbled in shock, Dok Go-yeon looked up at the stairs. Ban Yu-won, realizing his gaze had caught on her long, slender neck, belatedly turned away.

“What kind of shortcut did you find, Ban Yu-won?”

“I didn’t know it would be this amazing.”

But in fact, when he noticed the depth of the Illusion hiding it was 50, he expected it to be unusual.

“Isn’t it in the textbook? Shortcuts are great luck, but the more rooms we skip, the higher the difficulty will be in the next room.”

“I’ve read that it’s easy to expect compensation for your good luck.”

“The difficulty of our exploration is hard already. But if the cost of skipping three rooms is added to it….”

“Then the reward will be even better.”

At Light’s indirect appeal to let him use the holy sword, Dok Go-yeon responded with a snort. Ban Yu-won smiled kindly.

“It’s okay, Light. As long as we don’t get caught up in an Irregular, dying is no problem.”

“Baaan….”

“Don’t beg, my friend.”

Light’s obsession with the Holy Sword was the same as that of Gollum coveting the One Ring. But this time, not only Ban Yu-won but also the other members of Class 11 felt that there was something wrong with the contract between him and the holy sword.

“Wouldn’t it be better if we broke it? It is clear that the basics haven’t rotted.”

“Don’t say such nonsense…!”

Light, terrified at the notion of destroying it, covered his chest. Ban Yu-won saw he was clutching the necklace.

‘After all, it seems that necklace is the key.’

Not yet, but someday soon, the day would come when he would discover all Light’s secrets. He turned his head, determined to deal with that later, and suddenly realized that the number in their pendants had risen again.

“Room 8.”

“As expected, it continues.”

“This is crazy, skipping four rooms?!”

Light was trembling. When he wasn’t holding the holy sword, his mental status as a whole also declined! Ban Yu-won was about to make fun of him for being cute, like a newborn fawn, when suddenly Ruchel grabbed his arm.

“Ruchel, you don’t have to use my arm as a means of communication….”

“Right next, enemy.”

Her voice was hard. Her hair, which had already turned half black, hinted at her condition. Most of all, given how she clung to him, Ban Yu-won thought heaven and hell were coming to him simultaneously!

“Ruchel, wait….”

“Enemy, Irregular…! It’s the same as back then!”

“Calm down, I get it!”

“Crrrr…!”

No matter how he tried to calm her with words, it was impossible. In the end, Ban Yu-won resorted to more coercive means and had Eve wrap around Ruchel.

“Crrrr…heh, haaa.”

After a while, Ruchel, losing her energy, leaned her cheek on Ban Yu-won’s shoulder and drooped. Ban Yu-won shook his head as he faced Light and Dok Go-yeon, who looked at him as if he were a criminal.

“No, I didn’t do anything wrong. She was the one who came at me.”

“You are mistaken, Ban Yu-won. I wasn’t staring at you; I was fed up with that beast trying to seduce you.”

“Me too…I know Ban is not the kind of guy to do something that rude.”

‘My comrades!’

“By the way, this is Room 9. I guess it’s natural.”

“Right.”

Light nodded in agreement with Dok Go-yeon.

“Because Room 10 is a rest area.”

“Right. It doesn’t look like we would go to the rest area immediately.”

There were some rules in the Tower. If they had to pick an absolute rule among them, it would be that there was a rest area every 10 rooms. There were also some patterns in those rest areas, with some bad and some great ones, but the important point was that monsters didn’t appear inside. So, the parties who challenged the Tower often used that as a marker for the unit of difficulty.

“And it said that Elites are more likely to appear in Room 9.”

“Given what we’ve been through, it’s almost certain.”

“No, no.”

Ruchel, breathing heavily as she leaned on Ban Yu-won, shook her head and said.

“Irregular. It’s an Irregular.”

“If it’s an Irregular like last time, a Constellation…?”

Again? But not surprisingly, he had already heard something similar in Professor Xenon’s class on Tuesday. He said once a person had been approached by one Constellation, the probability more would visit them increased.

“Even so, to be tormented by a Constellation every time we enter….”

“Haah.”

Dok Go-yeon let out a loud sigh.

“Shall we eat first?”

“Yeah, that would be better.”

When she realized that an urgent battle was awaiting them, she reacted like that. When Ban Yu-won opened the inventory with a bitter smile, he heard Dok Go-yeon turn to Light and address him.

“Light, pick up your sword when we enter that room.”

“Okay…! Leave it all to me!”

“It’s annoying to see you change your attitude so quickly.”

Ban Yu-won felt a similar sentiment to Dok Go-yeon, but since Light looked noticeably down, he decided not to give the finishing blow.