Why Did I Have to Enroll

Chapter 145:

Why Did I Have to Enroll - Chapter 145

Lesson 29. The Truth Will Be Revealed Someday - 5

That day after school, Ban Yu-won was in a private reading room at the Academy library with Ayre, working on a joint research paper. With exams approaching, securing a private reading room was no easy feat, even for a Special Class student. However, as a member of the student council, backed by the student council president and the head of public relations, Ban Yu-won had no trouble at all.

“So, I’ve finally managed to resume the solo exploration. Do you think this makes any sense?”

He candidly shared the circumstances surrounding his solo exploration with her. Ayre tilted her head in surprise.

“Why are you telling me this?”

Ban Yu-won shrugged.

“I figured you might have guessed.”

“Confirming it is another matter, but yes, I had my suspicions.”

Ayre nodded slowly. She set aside the magic paper they were working on and continued.

“Your presence brings change to the tower. Everyone who saw the Rebellion’s footage suspects it. That’s why the headmaster favors you…”

“In the long run, it might have been better to hide it, but at the time, I couldn’t afford to.”

“The headmaster would have figured it out anyway. It’s better to solidify your position now.”

She comforted Ban Yu-won with her calm words, tapping the table with her pen. The sound was surprisingly heavy for a pen tap, but thanks to the soundproofing measures Ban Yu-won had taken, it echoed only within the small space.

“Fast and powerful… it seems.”

“Hmm?”

“Your solo exploration.”

Ayre, who had been murmuring something unintelligible, returned to the topic.

“It seems you’re climbing the back of the tower, while we’re climbing the front.”

“Hmm…?”

Intrigued by her words, Ban Yu-won focused on her. He had started the conversation to hear her thoughts.

“It’s a path only you are allowed. But if that’s true, it can’t be the path to divinity. Do you understand?”

“Because you can’t favor just one person in challenging the divine?”

“Exactly. If the tower is favoring only you, then your solo exploration is more like…”

Management?

Even as she muttered it, Ayre seemed unsure, but Ban Yu-won found a part of it made sense. The tower was the legacy of the Ban family, so it was only natural for Ban Yu-won, who inherited it, to manage it!

“Management, huh.”

“It’s just a guess. But once you go in and come out, the direction will become clearer.”

“No, that’s a satisfying answer. But now I’m worried about exploring with my team.”

“It’s special, not unique, so it should be fine.”

She said this without complete confidence, but Ban Yu-won agreed.

“In that case, let’s wrap up early today. We only have the finishing touches left, right?”

“Yes. I’ll handle the rest.”

The paper itself was completed in the 11th week.

But they were now supplementing the theoretical basis and refining the conclusion.

Their paper's topic was the study of shortening magic incantations.

It was a major research topic covering most magic fields, but its accessibility made the deepening process difficult.

Even just adding the writer's thoughts to existing theories was enough for a substitute assignment.

But they wouldn't have started if they were satisfied with that.

“A deep interpretation of magical language, adding simple auxiliary incantations to shorten incantations… a completely new theory. Everyone will be surprised. Your perspective as a magician is special.”

“Well, it’s my specialty.”

“…You’re not a dragon, are you?”

Ayre’s sudden comment made Ban Yu-won burst into laughter.

“A pure human.”

“Not entirely pure.”

“Fine, let’s say I’m half-rotten.”

Ayre probably didn’t mean it that way, but Ban Yu-won shrugged and stood up, recalling a conversation with Misty.

“Oh, right. Misty asked if she could join our next research.”

“Misty…? Misty Aiole?”

Despite spending more time together with the club, Ayre reacted as if hearing it for the first time. Ban Yu-won wanted to give Misty, who always followed Ayre and supported the club, a chance to get closer to her.

“How?”

“You didn’t ask why, but how…”

Ayre’s firm stance, as if Misty lacked even the minimum qualifications to join their paper, made Ban Yu-won shake his head.

“And we’re done with papers for now. We’re busy enough with this one for the entire second semester.”

“Is that so… then see you in Thursday’s lecture.”

“Yes.”

Even as Ban Yu-won left the reading room, she continued to gaze at him with a transparent look. Thinking how hard it was to understand her, he teleported to the front of the Babel Tower, and Celon, who had been silent, finally reacted.

?A dragon… she just said dragon, right?

‘She did, but why? Are you going to start with the nonsense about me being a dragon too…?’

?No, isn’t she the dragon?

Ban Yu-won paused.

‘So dragons really exist? Then Ayre is polymorphed, is she?’

?Why are you so obsessed with polymorphing? There’s no way a true dragon would survive to this era. I meant a dragonkin, someone with dragon blood.

‘What, they’re gone? That’s disappointing.’

Dragon Slayer, Dragon Bone, Dragon Sword, even Dragon Heroine. There are so many elements derived from dragons, and now he couldn’t expect any of them. Ban Yu-won lamented the loss of one of his fantasies.

?Anyway, listen. Your language magic is amazing, but associating it with dragons isn’t something anyone would do.

‘And?’

?But dragonkin can handle a unique magic system called Dragon Speech. So it’s plausible that your exceptional language magic made her suspect a similarity with Dragon Speech.

Yet Ayre, who couldn’t confirm Ban Yu-won as a kin even up close, let such words slip.

‘It’s just baseless speculation.’

?I’m sure she’s a dragonkin. She sent you a signal to reveal your identity while revealing hers. It was suspicious how she carried so much pure elemental magic…

‘Stop with the baseless talk… And if she’s a dragonkin.’

Spending time with Ayre and learning from her, Light might also be a dragonkin!

“If Light gets any more unnecessary settings, what am I supposed to do…!”

?Huh? Why bring him up?

*

If there was one sad thing, it was that there was no Eden on the ‘back’ of the tower.

“Didn’t that sound kind of cool?”

?Not with that face.

“Dokgo Yeon would be more upset. She was probably hoping for some life energy here.”

He should have guessed when they kicked him out after the last exploration. Expecting Eden in the back of the tower, structured entirely differently from what he had experienced over the past few months, was unrealistic.

“At least it’s a better environment than when we fought the giants last time.”

He looked up at the starry night sky, bright with stars and the moon, and down at the ground with mountains, plains, a long flowing river, and rocky plateaus. Compared to the barren landscape of the last exploration, this place was a perfect representation of nature.

‘If it’s modeled after a creation myth, then the world would have been created because of it, so this scene makes sense.’

The problem was that there were no monsters to face here, and the student ID’s room indicator was erratically fluctuating between 11 and 100.

“Seriously, it’s not even 11 to 20, but all the way to 100…”

?It means the ‘front’ standard holds no meaning.

Of course, it does.

Ban Yu-won sighed and looked up, noticing a change in the space around him.

“What the heck is that?”

The sky opened. The night sky literally tore apart, and a pillar of brilliant light poured down to the ground through the gap. Ban Yu-won stared at it, muttering blankly.

“That’s like an orbital bombardment…”

?Don’t ruin the moment with such comments.

When the light stopped and the sky closed again, Ban Yu-won sensed presences he hadn’t noticed before emerging from all directions.

“Monsters… no, humans?”

Just as he was about to grab his staff, thinking a battle was about to start, he noticed they were heading not towards him but the place where the light had fallen.

?Let’s go.

For some reason, Celon was more proactive. Ban Yu-won nodded silently, concealing his presence with the Mysterious Body Technique, and moved stealthily towards the light’s landing spot. The number of humans gathering there was increasing, and it was clear. They were NPCs. They weren’t originally there but were popping up as if they had fallen from the sky.

?Hmm.

Celon suddenly groaned.

?Do you know what that pillar of light was?

‘I could tell it was filled with immense magic power.’

Ban Yu-won’s affirmative response was met with Celon’s quiet reply.

?Correct. It was a dense and pure mass of magic power. Perhaps this is the starting point…

‘Starting point?’

?Look.

The humans gathered in one place moved swiftly, building something. It looked like a fast-forwarded scene. Initially, he thought he couldn’t see their faces because they were moving too fast, but that wasn’t it. It was like they were pixelated, and even though he stared intently, he couldn’t make out their faces.

‘Are they really the targets to hunt?’

But as he moved a certain distance closer, an invisible wall blocked Ban Yu-won’s path. A trick appeared before his eyes at that moment.

[1. You cannot approach the tower.]

[2. You must protect them until the tower is completed.]

“Tower?”

?You noticed too?

Celon’s voice trembled slightly.

?The tower is showing you history. It’s revealing events from the divine era, which we weren’t even allowed to glimpse, when the tower was built…!

There was no need to ask why it was showing him. At this moment, Ban Yu-won was truly convinced that his ancestors built the Babel Tower. Otherwise, the tower wouldn’t show him such a scene.

?If you continue exploring with him, you might uncover all the secrets of the tower. If that happens, I, no, other Constellations too…!

Celon, overly excited by the past scenes the tower was showing, began to ramble incoherently. Ban Yu-won didn’t listen. He considered trying to find his ancestor among the busy humans building the tower, but they were all pixelated, so it was impossible to recognize anyone.

“Celon, it’s starting.”

?Why is the tower, which was so cold and harsh to us, revealing its secrets so easily to him?? huh?

It was as if an enticing scent was emanating from the spot where the pillar of light had fallen. He could sense the presence of monsters converging from all directions.

[3. Death here carries a heavier price.]

And with that, another trick was added. Even at times like this, the tower was the tower. No matter how much of a successor he was, it wasn’t going to reveal everything easily.

“????!”

“~~? ?!”

The humans building the tower began to stir as they noticed the approaching monsters. Ban Yu-won couldn’t approach them, but he was probably the only one restricted by the trick in this space. If he didn’t act, he would fail to meet the conditions of the trick room and face penalties. Ban Yu-won had to protect them.

“So it’s a defense game, huh? I can handle that.”

?You have plenty of cards to play, don’t you?

“Exactly.”

“Shh, shh, shh!”

Ban Yu-won emptied his inventory. Eve, his reliable companion, and Tyche, reborn as a formidable familiar with a menacing cannon, emerged. Twenty-five Rain Swords flew out, scattering in all directions under his control.

‘Even though I haven’t perfected the martial arts yet, thanks to establishing the system, I can control all the Rain Swords.’

Of course, they couldn’t exhibit the same power as when he controlled them individually, but now wasn’t the time to be picky.

“It’s a shame Lilith hasn’t awakened yet… Livi.”

?Squeak.

He called the name decided by Luciel’s will. The last to appear from the inventory was a full plate armor, perfectly assembled from head to toe. Moving as if a person were inside, the Living Armor, wielding the relic—Ryu Cheol-myeong’s greatsword—captured during the last special activity, made its entrance.

“I wanted to name it Alphonse…”

?You’re not even human.

“How do you even know that?”

A legion of nearly thirty formed by the Rain Swords. His artifacts and familiars, each with their own will, surrounded the tower construction site in a circle.

?Krrk.

?Kuhahaha…

Monsters that looked like blackened goblins, twisted grotesquely and thrown to the ground, filled the land, letting out eerie cries.

“At least I’ll gain a concept.”

Ban Yu-won muttered jokingly, gripping the Executioner’s Longsword and watching the front. His familiars prepared for battle, raising the tension.

“Come at me!”

?Kiiiiiiiiiiii!

And so, the defense game began in earnest.