Why Did I Have to Enroll

Why Did I Have to Enroll - Chapter 181

Lesson 36. How Are You Feeling Now? - 1

The Princess of the Unquenchable Crimson Flame scoffed as she received a report from her subordinate.

“So, you were easily deceived by that insignificant man, exposing our plans, and even let that elf woman escape. To top it off, the ship containing classified information was seized by a ‘mercenary’?”

“Y-yes, that’s… Aaargh!”

Ruby-like flames erupted, incinerating the subordinate’s body.

“How dare you come to report to me with such a face? At the very least, you should have captured that elf woman to justify yourself. Tsk.”

Left alone in the spacious room, she conjured flames again to erase even the ashes of her subordinate, as if even those were too unsightly to bear. Yet, her anger still simmered.

‘I knew I shouldn’t have trusted those lowly beings… Because of that foolish man, our plan is delayed by over a year!’

“Why does my evaluation have to drop for something that’s not even my fault!”

Unable to contain her anger, she kicked and toppled the furniture in the room. Had she not moved, the rising flames might have engulfed and burned the entire building.

A polite knock was heard at that moment.

“Prominence, are you already up?”

“…Yes.”

She quickly composed herself and responded in a calm voice. Beyond the door were her colleagues with whom she shared ‘Academy life.’ Unlike the vermin she could crush or burn at will, they were precious resources.

“I just woke up. Could you all wait for me in the dining hall?”

“Yes! …Thanks to you, Prominence, it seems this special activity will be resolved without any trouble. Thank you so much!”

“Hehe, it’s my role as the leader of the Phoenix team to guide you all.”

“Prominence…!”

After sending off her team with appropriate words, she finished the brief report to her father. She then conjured flames to cleanse her body of any filth and dressed herself. Her thoughts were always plagued by the annoying presence of the elf Mira, and the recent first-year brat she had taken as a lover.

‘This mess was indeed caused by that man, Ketra. But that brat is bothering me. We had a clash in the first semester, which twisted the surveillance operation on that elf woman… The rushed kidnapping plan was all because of him.’

She was well aware of how much recognition Ban Yu-won had gained recently. Although she had never watched any of his videos on Unitube, not wanting to pay attention to such a lowly being…

She knew from reports that he was a strong figure beyond the first-year level and had started forming a considerable faction within the school by gathering similar vermin.

‘The place Crimson Spear targeted was also where Ban Yu-won conducted his special activities. If Ketra decided to betray us after meeting Ban Yu-won, perhaps the whole incident was orchestrated by him…’

Ban Yu-won, a special admission student miraculously selected from a dimension without even magic power. The Crimson Flame Princess finally felt the need to keep an eye on him. She sighed, checked the time, and opened the mirror to access Unitube. She planned to watch some videos before breakfast.

[You have gained Life 16, Original Body 12, Original Qi 15, Charm 32, Leadership 40, Judgement 10, Death 3, Dark Magic 70, Leaf Shadow Step 150, Concept Conversion 100. Death and Concept Conversion are concepts humans cannot possess.]

[The depth of Yu-won Gong increases by 15, and the depth of Origin Blade increases by 11.]

[The concept of Dark Magic is absorbed into Photon Magic. The depth of Photon Magic has reached 100.]

[The concept of Leaf Shadow Step is absorbed into Ghost Shadow Art. The depth of Ghost Shadow Art has reached 300.]

[The depth of Judgement exceeds 200, allowing for a more aggressive application of the concept. It becomes easier to combine with other concepts, and additional damage can be inflicted even if the target is not subject to Judgement.]

“Thank you for the meal…!”

Ban Yu-won clasped his hands in gratitude for the excellent meal.

Wow, except for Swordsmanship, this is even more rewarding than Ryu Cheol-myeong’s! Although the Origin Blade hasn’t increased much, the fact that Ketra’s unique martial art, Leaf Shadow Step, was absorbed into Ghost Shadow Art and dramatically enhanced it makes it seem even better!

‘And even Death.’

While Concept Conversion, being a Changeling itself, was expected, he never imagined he would gain a full-fledged concept of Death by three units. Perhaps it was because Ketra, whose death was already certain, performed an unbelievable miracle of extending his life with the candy Ban Yu-won gave him.

As Ban Yu-won analyzed the concepts he gained from Ketra, Dokgo Yeon spoke in disbelief beside him.

“You are truly remarkable. How could you handle his corpse so decisively…?”

“Well, what else was I supposed to do? Bury the senior here and leave? Or take his body back to the Academy?”

“…”

Dokgo Yeon fell silent at Ban Yu-won’s unexpected rebuttal. She realized that just by being here, Ketra had already incurred guilt. Therefore, Ban Yu-won had erased his traces cleanly to ensure his path was as peaceful and comfortable as possible.

Dokgo Yeon squinted her eyes and glared at him.

“You’ve come up with quite a good excuse, Ban Yu-won.”

“The senior is dead. He’s gone! But he lives on as one with my back, in this heart!”

“In the literal sense, that’s truly the worst…”

Of course, there might be ways to secretly retrieve and hold a funeral, but honestly, he didn’t feel inclined to go that far. Instead, with the power Ketra left behind, he would protect Mira from now on, and Ketra would surely be pleased with that.

Having quickly rationalized his actions, Ban Yu-won turned to Mira.

“Are you feeling better now, Mira?”

“No.”

Perhaps absorbing it right in front of Mira was a bit too much visually, he thought, but suddenly she pulled him into a tight embrace.

“I just remembered that Luciel cut in line. Let’s find a room where we can be alone. I won’t come out until I’ve caught up.”

“Indeed, you plan to perfectly fill the gap as the head of planning.”

Shati’s annoyingly accurate analysis of Mira’s thoughts made Ban Yu-won feel a bit irritated. He had been worried about her crying just a moment ago, but now it seemed Mira was fine.

Ban Yu-won gently stroked Mira’s head and then released her.

“Alright, but later. There’s still some unfinished business here.”

“Ugh…”

“Ha.”

Luciel’s victorious smile was a bit concerning. But the truth was, there wasn’t much time to spare. The matter Ban Yu-won had just concluded was only the resolution of one tribe led by a Beastman who had sacrificed himself to summon the Constellation’s avatar. Not all the Beastman tribes hostile to the Wolf Fang tribe had been dealt with.

Moreover, according to Shati, Yumina would soon arrive here, and he couldn’t flaunt a messy and complicated relationship in front of her.

“Let’s wrap this up and head back.”

“Wait, Yu-won! A kiss!”

“A picnic isn’t over until you get home. Please take care of us for the remaining time.”

“Ugh, that’s good too…”

The clearing they were in was a complete mess after the battle with the Constellation’s avatar and the thousands of Beastmen. They couldn’t leave it like this since it would soon need to be transformed back into a forest.

As they were tidying up the scene with the group, Slothia arrived at the plaza a bit late.

“Ah, Slothia.”

“There’s only one man here…”

“Yes, that’s what surprises you.”

Slothia’s speech was still fast. Knowing what it meant, Ban Yu-won’s gaze sharpened.

“Slothia, is the battle not over yet? The dimensional pirates should have retreated by now… Did the Beastmen attack from another direction through the forest?”

“No, the battle is over.”

Slothia’s firm response made Ban Yu-won tilt his head.

“Then why are you still fast?”

“It’s because of the mating season.”

Oh, right, that was a thing. As Ban Yu-won nodded absentmindedly, Luciel, Mira, and even Aneri quickly formed a wall between Slothia and Ban Yu-won.

Dokgo Yeon sighed as if she found it pathetic, and Shati chuckled at the trio’s quick movements. But Slothia, who had to duel Dokgo Yeon earlier for approaching Ban Yu-won, realized that her rivals weren’t just those three and sighed.

“Indeed, females tend to flock to attractive males…”

“Let’s use the terms male and female like humans do.”

“I’m not in the mood for mating right now, so don’t worry. Let’s plant the trees quickly, Ban Yu-won.”

Slothia called his name. Her lazily round brown eyes sparkled with endless seriousness.

“Our planet has a legend. In a place where so many lives have perished, a giant predator appears to claim the bodies and treasures… So we must quickly plant trees to cover it before it emerges.”

“You idiot, you just said a line that would come right after the main story ended and the ending credits rolled!”

Thud―.

Sure enough, as soon as Slothia spoke, the ground began to shake again. Realizing it was too late, Ban Yu-won resignedly called his group together and transformed Lilith into a large vehicle to carry them.

“This planet is just relentless with battles.”

“How can this be, a predator really appeared!”

“Slothia, wasn’t that story just made up to scare kids who destroy the forest trees?”

It was quite amusing to see Slothia, who hadn’t shown much surprise when other tribes attacked or when dimensional pirates started bombing, now in shock. But even Luciel looked pale, so it was hard not to be scared.

“The legend of a progenitor of the Forest Worms sleeping here has been passed down among the Slothians for generations…”

“Oh, come on, Lilith, take off!”

[Understood!]

As Lilith took off with everyone aboard, the ground they had painstakingly cleared collapsed, and a massive, truly massive Forest Worm emerged, raising its head to the surface!

In an instant, it closed the gap of over a kilometer, opening its enormous mouth to swallow Ban Yu-won’s group!

―Kwooooooo!

“Wow, this is…”

Although Lilith soared powerfully to avoid its jaws and widen the distance, the creature’s body was so large and stretched so far that looking down revealed nothing but a giant cave inside its mouth.

“What kind of first-year special activity is this? What kind of E-grade dimension is this!”

“Right, I didn’t come to the wrong dimension, did I?”

“This is something Professor Jung should handle…”

There was no way to attack unless there was a visible weak spot. Even Ban Yu-won, who had defeated the Constellation’s avatar, wasn’t confident against this creature. Its size was incomparably larger!

No, it should have appeared while they were fighting the avatar, not sneakily trying to land the final blow after the battle was over. Does it have no sense of honor?

“But if we can capture it, if we can channel its overwhelming magic power into our forest…”

“How are we supposed to capture it!”

As Ban Yu-won was about to despair and declare the final command for a full merge, a massive thorny vine from the sky pierced through the predator and embedded itself into the ground!

“I’m here to help!”

“Professor!”

The perilous special activity finally came to an end.