Why Did I Have to Enroll

That night.

―I've been thinking.

"Huh?"

Ban Yu-won didn't even look up when he heard Celon's voice as he was dipping his brush in paint made from various ground materials.

He couldn't take his eyes off his work which was in full swing.

In front of him was a rectangular piece of paper the size of his palm.

He was boldly drawing characters on that paper with his brush, creating magic language.

―Your ability defies all logic no matter how I look at it.

"What's new about that? I wouldn't have been admitted through special selection if it wasn't this extraordinary."

―Don't be ridiculous. I've looked through the records of every special selection student at this academy, and even all of them combined don't match up to you.

"When did you check that?"

―This much is basic. If I had an ability like yours, I could even manipulate the academy's barriers at will.

"Super hacker Celon..."

―Hey, that doesn't sound nice.

Though he seemed like nothing more than an exceptional staff member, at times like this, it really hit home that he was indeed a constellation.

―Anyway, your ability has too much potential to be given to just one person. Plus, its applications are incredibly diverse. Look at you now, creating talismans that only ancient shamans would have made.

"What do you mean? This form came about through consulting with you."

―Honestly, I didn't think it would actually work.

"I feel sorry for the contractor who made a pact with such an irresponsible constellation."

―Hey, you shouldn't say things like that, you jerk!

After consulting with Celon about what measures to take for Class 11 members to successfully overcome their midterms, Ban Yu-won came up with the idea of creating a kind of buff that would enhance study efficiency.

He had been thinking about buffs for a while.

If he could successfully interfere with others using his language ability, the Babylonia Code, wouldn't that essentially be a buff or debuff?

'The problem is that I can't directly interfere with others' internal concepts using my ability.'

The one time he succeeded in the past, it resulted in Luciel going berserk with disastrous consequences.

So he hadn't made any other attempts since then... but this is where Celon advised him.

Since it's human instinct to reject interference with one's mana, why not insert a medium to avoid going against that instinct?

That medium would be an artifact.

If Ban Yu-won imbued an artifact with abilities, the target would activate those abilities through direct contact.

During this process, the target's mana would naturally mix in, meaning his ability could be applied to the target without any rejection response - or so was Celon's thinking.

It was a very plausible idea, but artifacts aren't exactly easy to make.

While Ban Yu-won was certainly capable of collecting, bestowing, and synthesizing concepts of all things, even magic language couldn't create something from nothing.

To be precise, while it's possible to temporarily create concepts using magic language, they disappear as soon as the Mysterious Qi within them dissipates.

―That's what makes it amazing! If everyone could store magic in paper like you do, magic scrolls wouldn't sell for such high prices!

"Oh, these sell for a lot?"

―Of course!

So what ultimately came into being wasn't an artifact but a consumable item.

'A talisman.'

Until now, when casting magic language, he would usually draw magic language with Mysterious Qi on the spot without any medium, but this time he prepared special ink (concentrated with the concept of preservation, which was expensive) and drew magic language on parchment specifically made for magic scrolls (which was very expensive) to make the effects last as long as possible.

"Making money is so easy. Just draw some magic language and put in some Mysterious Qi."

―Wouldn't students who don't want to get kicked out of the academy right away pay an astronomical price for that talisman?

"I'm not selling it though."

After all the effort to raise the members' grades, it would defeat the purpose if other students' grades improved because of the talismans too.

Modern society is ruthlessly competitive.

The inadequate cannot survive.

Lost in such thoughts while frantically working his brush, he finally completed the first talisman.

"Now that I've made it, it's funny how it actually looks like a proper talisman."

―Proper or not, this is the most simple yet effective magic scroll I've ever seen. Mages would call this talisman a work of art.

The buffs, or rather concepts, that Ban Yu-won wanted to imbue in the talisman were three:

Concentration (集中), Understanding (理解), and Memorization (暗記).

These were the three essential elements for studying written subjects.

He wrote these three concepts into the talisman, breathed in a large amount of Mysterious Qi to seal (封印) them, and when someone wants to use the talisman, they inject magic power, naturally dissolving the sealing concept and activating the talisman's effects.

It took a full hour of agonizing trial and error, blood, sweat, and tears to stabilize this mechanism.

"But I don't like using so much Mysterious Qi just for sealing. This system will need improvement later. Come to think of it, speaking of sealing..."

―Think about that later and check the finished product first.

After setting aside the idea that had just flashed through his mind, he grabbed the completed talisman as Celon suggested, and messages from his ability appeared before his eyes one after another.

[Successfully created Ban Yu-won's Special Study Talisman (30). This talisman, made by gathering concepts that have a highly positive effect on brain activation, is firmly sealed, and from the moment the seal is broken, it provides strong effects of concentration, understanding, and memorization to the user for approximately 30 hours. Due to the influence of the mutation ability, some of the talisman maker's knowledge is naturally transferred to the user.]

[Successfully created a unique magic item through the harmony of ability and magic language. The depth of All-Reading Eyes, All-Hearing Ears, and All-Speaking Lips each increases by 10. Soul depth has become 650. Mutation depth has become 15.]

"Oh."

Without a doubt, the results exceeded expectations.

Especially the effects added by the mutation ability were at an absurd level!

Since Ban Yu-won already understood all subjects completely, if even a portion of his knowledge could be transferred to the members, wouldn't their chances of passing the exam increase dramatically?

―See, something ridiculous came out again! Just like someone who arbitrarily steals concepts, you've even added an impossible option like knowledge transfer....

―The Constellation [Clock of the Toy Army] tilts their head at the achievements of their sponsored one who handles abilities better than themselves.

While Celon had shown a reaction as if they had expected this to some extent, the Constellation who had recently been showing their presence through occasional messages couldn't believe the miraculous achievements that Ban Yu-won, who had only just received sponsorship, was showing one after another.

Well, that was to be expected. After all, the ability that Ban Yu-won was handling had fundamentally changed from what they had originally sponsored him with.

―But what are you going to do? The mutation ability isn't something you can control at will. What if subtle effects get attached to other talismans?

"Celon, you still don't understand me."

―What?

Ban Yu-won took out a second piece of paper, wrote down a phrase in one stroke, and injected exactly the same amount of Mysterious Qi as he had injected into the talisman he had made earlier.

It was Perfect Replication (完全複製).

―Huh?

"Like this."

And when he overlapped it with the first talisman, surprisingly, the perfect replication phrase disappeared and it changed to match the first talisman!

When he checked the talisman's information after the transformation was complete, it was exactly the same as the first one. Even the abilities added by the mutation power had been perfectly replicated.

"Done."

―To think such an approach was possible....

In front of the copy and paste technique that any modern Earth person would know and use... the old generation Constellation was astounded.

"Celon, lend me some Mysterious Qi."

―Is it because you're someone who handles fundamental concepts? When you show off your qualifications as a magician like this, it makes me want to teach you properly.

"Yeah, that's for another time. Right now, hand over the Mysterious Qi."

Ban Yu-won, even with Celon's help, had to replenish his Mysterious Qi several times through Mysterious Body Technique's breathing techniques while working, and only managed to create 20 talismans in the end.

"I should make these whenever I have leftover Mysterious Qi. Or maybe a rechargeable artifact that recharges when concepts are consumed would be good too."

―At this level, it could be genuinely helpful in the Tower, right?

"It would be good to make them with the concept of barriers too."

He had only intended to improve his party members' academic abilities, but somehow the potential applications of his ability had expanded dramatically.

Without any exaggeration, his combat power had nearly doubled.

―Wouldn't an Artifact Creation Department professor forget to breathe and come running if they saw this?

"Was it Professor Thalia Liliana Campanella? Come to think of it, I heard that if you report artifact-related matters to her, she'll process it as an achievement. Maybe I should give her one as a gift."

Anyway, these talismans were all sealed with his ability, so even if someone researched them, they couldn't figure out the principles, and even if they understood the principles, they couldn't replicate them.

Of course, somewhere in the world there might be beings who could imitate this, but such people would be able to make other amazing things without these talismans anyway, so it didn't matter.

―If you make multiple talismans with all sorts of functions, hmm... then couldn't you climb the Tower alone?

"Usually, those who awaken new abilities and become arrogant like that are the first ones to go down."

―Are you a sage?

After finishing the trivial conversation with Celon, Ban Yu-won stood up from his seat, stretched with an "nnng―" sound, and looked out the window.

Under the moonless night sky, rain was falling steadily, moistening the spaceship landing pad and forest.

He had been working alone in the doorless classroom because he didn't want to bother with the lights, and as the night deepened, the atmosphere became just perfect.

"It would make sense even if a ghost popped out."

―Ghosts aren't anything special. You're scarier than ghosts.

"...Huh?"

But Ban Yu-won could no longer play along with Celon's joke.

At the spaceship landing pad, somewhat distant from the academy facilities, he had spotted something whitish moving quickly behind a massive pillar.

"Holy..."

―Did you spot a spirit? A spirit moving freely inside the barrier that monster set up himself?

"What are you even surprised about? Are you close with the president?"

While sighing and responding, he unconsciously tracked the movement of the whitish thing, and at that moment.

Was it an illusion? For a moment, it seemed to stop and look up at Ban Yu-won.

Large, ominous glowing eyes, pointed ears...

But by the time Ban Yu-won drew in a sharp breath and widened his eyes, it had already vanished without a trace.

"...But in times like these, it's definitely not an illusion."

―You know, sometimes you have these foolish conversations with yourself. You look normal enough, but could this be a side effect of your ability?

"Isn't that a bit harsh?"

*

The next day, Tuesday.

During lunch break, Ban Yu-won gathered his companions in the doorless classroom and distributed five talismans to each of them.

"When you inject mana into the talisman, it activates from that moment. Once activated, the talisman automatically sticks to your body, takes effect for 30 hours, then burns up and disappears. Anyone not understand?"

"I don't understand any of it."

"Then isn't that good enough?"

"It's like a miniature formation system. My... family also had someone who specialized in researching these things."

While Lucell and Light quietly accepted the talismans since they couldn't even grasp their basic principles, Dokgo Yeon's eyes sparkled with interest.

"Ban Yu-won, then does this mean you can create 'talismans' with other effects too?"

"Correct. Look forward to the next exploration."

"...As expected, my worries were foolish."

She muttered something unintelligible, chuckled, and tucked the talisman into her chest.

"Though I probably won't need it, since I received it, I'll make good use of it. Thank you."

"Me, me too!"

"Honestly, I'm not sure about it, but if it works well, I'll thank you again then."

"Sure. Ah, don't carry it during the exam day or you might fail."

Earlier in the morning, they had already submitted one talisman to Professor Campanella through Yumina.

Though they hadn't met and talked with her directly, given the responses of 'dangerous,' 'cheating,' and 'expulsion if caught during exams,' it was clear the effect was incredible.

The bonus reward money received along with the achievement was at a somewhat dangerous level.

"Then let's go to the afternoon lecture now."

"It would be good to use them while attending lectures too!"

"Yeah. Professor Xenon will probably stare at us with that characteristic gaze of his, but..."

However, as the group was leaving the doorless classroom to attend Xenon's lecture.

"Oh, Junior Ban Yu-won, right? Perfect timing, I was looking for you."

A brown-haired young man with a heart-shaped earring on just one ear, reminiscent of dark elves from fiction, blocked their path.

"I'm Ketra, the student council vice president, nice to meet you."

"Student council?!"

"So, Junior Ban Yu-won."

The young man who introduced himself as Ketra stared directly at Ban Yu-won and asked.

"Do you have time after the lecture?"

Ban Yu-won thought as he looked at his pointed ears.

See, I knew it.

I told you it wasn't an illusion.

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