Chapter 13
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: The Regressor Makes Everything
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Barrier Composition Professor Robert Perry.
During his days as an active hero, he had primarily operated in Japan and forged deep ties with the Inoue family, one of the three great houses.
Not only had he received all sorts of support from the current family head, but his wife was also from a branch line of the Inoue house.
Bound by both personal connections and blood ties. For that reason, he always paid extra attention to anyone associated with the Inoue family.
"The young lady has shown interest in Borsippa's department top student?"
He wore a surprised expression at the news his disciple had brought him.
"Yes. Take a look."
The fierce-looking young man who had picked a fight with Lee Se-hun at the bus stop—Seitz showed him the photo he had brought.
Lee Se-hun facing Erika. Nothing particularly special about it, but Robert's face soured with a headache.
"So that's why she suddenly signed up for the class... I see."
Barrier Composition was a moderately well-known class in the Technical Department, but it hadn't been at a level where the test could filter people out effectively.
But this year, the number of applicants had tripled compared to last year, mostly because word had gotten around that Erika had signed up for it.
'The young master's request was there too, so I should clean house once.'
Robert, pondering how to filter them, quickly came up with a suitable method.
"We'll use the Illusory Soul Labyrinth for tomorrow's test."
Seitz looked at him in shock at Robert's words.
Illusory Soul Labyrinth. A basic barrier that twisted the senses and made one wander lost, but its power was not to be underestimated.
Because the incantation formula was so covert, unless one was well-versed in barriers or innately talented, it was hard even to notice it.
"Isn't that too much?"
"With so many applicants, even if I filter a bit harshly, no one will complain. If they can't pass this, there's no point in them taking the class anyway."
"Understood."
Hearing Seitz's reply, Robert glanced at Lee Se-hun in the photo.
'Not sure if this guy can make it through.'
As department top student, he surely had basic talent, but whether he had talent related to barriers was unknown. After pondering briefly, Robert reached a conclusion.
'That wouldn't be so bad either.'
Whether they canceled their enrollment together or lost interest in Lee Se-hun entirely, it would shake off the riffraff. Not a bad outcome.
Having no expectations for Lee Se-hun whatsoever, Robert brushed it off without much thought.
"T-Test... passed."
He showed a shocked expression at the unexpected result.
"Test?"
Lee Se-hun looked around with a puzzled expression.
His demeanor suggested he had no idea what he had passed. Robert's face hardened at the sight.
'Was there a problem with the Illusory Soul Labyrinth? No, that can't be.'
If there had been an issue with the barrier, he—the one who cast it—would have noticed. Realizing that was impossible, Robert turned his gaze to Erika, who had entered the clearing alongside Lee Se-hun.
'Did the young lady help him, then?'
With her innate genius for incantations, it would have been possible, but he had been watching and wouldn't have missed it.
Considering various possibilities, Robert soon realized there was only one explanation.
'Lee Se-hun broke through the Illusory Soul Labyrinth using only his own abilities.'
And not through the standard methods of countering with incantations or resisting with mana output.
He had pierced through the Illusory Soul Labyrinth's effects purely on instinct and walked all the way to this clearing.
'What in the world do I even call this...'
He might not have talent for incantations themselves, but that sensory instinct was talent worthy of the department top student title.
Gazing at him with a complicated expression, Robert composed himself and looked at the cadets who had broken through the Illusory Soul Labyrinth.
"Now, we'll divide you into classes with the second test. Come forward one by one."
At Robert's call, one cadet glanced at Erika before stepping forward confidently.
"I'll go first."
"...Fine. The second test is simple."
The moment Robert lightly swung his left hand toward the ground, red mana flowed along the ground following the trajectory of his fingertips, forming an incantation formula in the blink of an eye.
Whummm!
A red barrier appeared between Robert and the cadet.
It took the form of a spiderweb, and its ominous aura made the cadet tense up as Robert continued his explanation.
"Destroy the barrier ahead using only mana. Points will be awarded based on time, so be quick and precise. Begin."
At Robert's command, the cadet swiftly placed both hands on the barrier and poured in mana.
Find the core maintaining the barrier and destroy it. The process itself was simple, but the problem lay in the target.
"Ngh..."
The barrier Robert had deployed had an effect like its appearance—a spiderweb.
When mana invaded the incantation formula, the core would shift position like a spider fleeing from the vibrations on its web.
Thus, one had to slowly corner it across the entire formula, which was a massive mental and mana burden.
Pop!
"Hoo... Hoo..."
Unlike his bold start, it took considerable effort before the barrier shattered, and Robert gave a calm evaluation.
"2 minutes 23 seconds. You need to focus more on grasping the structure. Not bad."
"...Thank you."
The evaluation wasn't bad, but that was it. Seeing Erika pay him no attention, the cadet slumped his shoulders and stepped aside.
The tests that followed weren't much different, and some cadets failed to break the barrier entirely.
"You'll start from the basics class."
They had passed the Illusory Soul Labyrinth, so they wouldn't be dropped, but sending those lacking knowledge to basics was the natural course.
The cadets who had tried to show off stood aside like defeated soldiers, and under their gazes, Erika stepped forward.
"Whenever you're ready."
Thum-
At Robert's command, Erika's hand touched the center of the barrier and pulled away.
Silver mana rippled through the red barrier, spreading subtly. And the moment that shimmer reached the barrier's edge...
Crackle.
The barrier began crumbling from the outer edges.
Not finding and destroying the core, but dismantling and collapsing the entire incantation formula. The cadets gaped at the sight.
That method was usually a cumbersome, inefficient one used only when needing to shatter a barrier quickly or brute-forcing without foundational knowledge.
"No way... What..."
"How is it so fast?"
But Erika had done it with a single gesture and minimal mana.
In other words, for her, this level of barrier made no real difference whether she hunted the core or dismantled the whole formula—it was equally simple.
"22 seconds. Good, but the standard method would have been about 2 seconds faster. Choose your approach more carefully."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Robert and Erika conversed without much surprise.
Only then did the visiting cadets realize who the person they had been trying to impress truly was.
'So that's the department top student.'
'Can't even measure up in skill.'
As everyone grew awkward, Erika stepped aside, and the next in line, Lee Se-hun, trudged forward.
"Please go easy on me."
No trace of tension in his demeanor.
The cadets, who had inwardly looked down on him as Forging Department, now watched with slight tension.
With the other department top student Erika showing such prowess, they expected Lee Se-hun to do something impressive too.
And Robert, facing him, shared that anticipation for Lee Se-hun.
'Doesn't look like anything special...'
A young man with fierce eyes and a rough demeanor. The only unusual trait was a maturity beyond his years in his gaze, but that alone wasn't special.
'Guess I'll have to see now.'
Putting judgment of Lee Se-hun on hold, Robert swung his hand toward the ground, creating a barrier.
"Hmm..."
Unlike the tense cadets preparing to break it, Lee Se-hun stared intently at the barrier's formation process.
He especially fixated on the traces etched into the ground as it formed, leaving Robert puzzled.
"Is there a problem?"
"...No. Nothing at all."
Even as he answered, Lee Se-hun couldn't tear his eyes from the ground.
His slightly arrogant attitude made Robert narrow his eyes, but he continued calmly.
"I see. Then begin."
Beep!
Seitz, acting as assistant, pressed the timer, and only then did Lee Se-hun slowly raise his head to face the barrier.
"..."
But he merely stared.
No contact with the barrier, no mana infusion—nothing to suggest he was trying to break it. Those watching grew perplexed.
"What the hell is he doing?"
"Doesn't he know it's started?"
As everyone panicked at the unexpected situation, Lee Se-hun sank into his own world, gazing at the barrier before him.
'A barrier modeled after a spider and its web. Versatile for deployment in any environment, with regenerative durability as long as the core isn't destroyed.'
No uniqueness, but stable for defense. And as expected from a professor's technique, the execution was flawless—especially the incantation formula's structure that caught Lee Se-hun's eye.
'Poured that much mana in, yet no traces left.'
No matter how well-controlled, repeatedly deploying barriers from the same spot would leave marks from the aftermath.
But Robert's barrier was cast so delicately that not even a single blade of grass was crushed.
'A structure specialized for blending with the surroundings...'
Watching its effect, a certain material naturally surfaced in Lee Se-hun's mind.
The forge flames and hammering. And the inky ore that devoured even the injected mana whole. Refining Ink-Heavy Darkness was tricky due to its overwhelming presence.
'That's why you apply two stimuli simultaneously to prevent absorption.'
Heat the flames without letting the heat fade with hammering; hammer without letting the impact dissipate by heating.
And not just any way—maintaining one stimulus at about 51% and the other at 49%, a razor-thin difference.
Otherwise, the accumulated stimulus gets partially absorbed, collapsing the balance.
"What the heck is he doing?"
The precise sense allowing no more than 1% error, and the stamina to endure a process several times longer than standard refining.
Those two were essential for refining Ink-Heavy Darkness, but suddenly a question arose in Lee Se-hun's mind.
What if he could hold the accumulated stimuli on Ink-Heavy Darkness without letting them fade?
"Are you even listening to..."
"Leave him be."
"Mm..."
The moment that possibility hit him, a bracelet's blueprint flashed into Lee Se-hun's mind.
Form, structure, and even the internal mana circuits. Design complete—all that remained was verification to prove it worked.
Finally snapping out of his world, Lee Se-hun looked at the barrier again.
'The structure... I think I've got it.'
The vast knowledge piled up haphazardly before regression, unnamed and unstructured. And the glimpse of Erika's barrier incantation formula yesterday.
Having forged a path in his mind, Lee Se-hun gathered mana in his right hand.
Fwoosh.
Crimson Flame wrapped around his right hand. Lee Se-hun lightly tapped the barrier's center with it.
Roar!
The flames spread across the entire barrier.
The blaze engulfed it in no time, crumbling the whole thing, and everyone watched in stunned silence.
Such awkward silence filled the clearing.
"...Got it."
Lee Se-hun clenched his fist, his eyes gleaming.
"This is it!!!"
He bellowed triumphantly, like a chronic ache finally relieved, then spun around and bolted out of the clearing.
Before anyone could stop him, he was gone. Everyone stared blankly at his retreating figure until Seitz belatedly came to and stopped the timer.
Beep!
"7 minutes 45 seconds..."
The longest time among those who broke the barrier. But everyone knew that time meant little.
What Lee Se-hun had just done wasn't breaking the barrier—he had devised an entirely new 'disruption formula' to dismantle it effectively.
'Crafting a disruption formula for an incantation formula he saw for the first time today... in just 7 minutes 45 seconds.'
This time it took 7 minutes 45 seconds, but face the same barrier again, and Lee Se-hun would shatter it in under 10 seconds.
"..."
Robert sank into thought with a hardened expression.
"..."
Erika stared piercingly at Lee Se-hun's back with a similarly rigid look.