Chapter 15
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Lesson 4. Rebellion - 3
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The rumors spread throughout the academy in an instant.
Dokgo Yeon and Ortima's duel had been broadcast live on the intranet, so by lunchtime, there wasn't a single person inside the academy who didn't know Dokgo Yeon's name.
"I heard that guy Ortima was the top prospect among the first-years. And she went toe-to-toe with him, so her reputation's bound to skyrocket."
"No, more than that, there was at least one other decent one in that class."
Dokgo Yeon, who had taken As Light's seat beside him, contradicted Ban Yu-won as he summed up the chatter from the free board.
"I figured you'd spot him."
"I was too busy watching your duel."
"Then there's nothing to be done."
The distance between Dokgo Yeon and Ban Yu-won had shrunk even more compared to that morning.
Ban Yu-won wanted to keep a proper distance, but the accurate way to put it was that Dokgo Yeon was completely ignoring that and closing in anyway.
Thanks to that, the fragile rapport he'd just started building with Lucelle was drifting further apart.
Lucelle was now openly terrified of Dokgo Yeon.
He couldn't even imagine how the two of them shared a room.
"More than that... there's a lot of talk about you too."
"Yeah, since they can't trash you, they're trashing me instead."
One had desperately fled during the duel, and the other had cornered the top first-year prospect.
With both of them from the Lower Dimension Special Admission track, how could people not gossip?
"Indeed, there are so many fools here who don't realize how foolish it is to judge without seeing it themselves..."
"I'm grateful you're rating me highly, but I'm still a scrub. Just watch me in a week."
Ban Yu-won brushed it off nonchalantly as he spread his homemade jam on a piece of crispy baked bread.
Dokgo Yeon's eyes changed when she saw the jam.
"It smells incredibly sweet."
"Want some?"
Instead of answering, Dokgo Yeon subtly pushed forward the bread on her plate.
Ban Yu-won chuckled and spread a spoonful of jam on it. Dokgo Yeon carefully brought it to her mouth and cautiously bit into it.
"...!"
The moment she tasted the jam-spread bread.
The cross in her eyes spun wildly.
It had been scary at first, but after seeing it a few times, he'd gotten used to it.
Dokgo Yeon chewed it thoroughly, swallowed, and then offered the remaining bread with a request.
"Can I have more?"
"It's not that expensive."
In truth, it was condensed from the essence of tens of thousands of fruits, costing far beyond imagination, but if it won Dokgo Yeon's favor, it was a bargain.
Besides, it was so sweet that even a teaspoon's worth was enough to revel in that ecstatic sweetness.
"This is truly... I've tasted every sweet in the Central Plains, but this is on another level entirely. Is it your ability?"
"Yep."
"Fascinating... Very fascinating."
No, couldn't she just say thank you nicely?
He couldn't figure out why she always ended up eyeing him like a lion stalking prey!
But even funnier was As Light and Lucelle on the opposite side, slyly offering their bread toward him.
"Here, stop staring so desperately."
"Sorry, it just smells too sweet."
"Thank you...!"
As he spread jam on theirs, As Light and Lucelle bit in and simultaneously slumped their shoulders in bliss, as if ascending to paradise.
"How can it taste like this..."
"It's fruit... pure fruit. The essence of incredibly delicious fruit...!"
Ban Yu-won flinched at Lucelle's unexpectedly insightful comment amid it all.
Of course, the jam he'd just pulled out and shared with his classmates was the elixir he'd made at home previously.
There was also the calculation that it wouldn't hurt for these people, who would eventually grow alongside him, to get stronger.
"It feels like we got something way too precious."
"We're a team. Good things are for sharing. Consider it payback for the favor you showed this morning."
"Hmm, still feels excessive..."
Since things had come to this, Ban Yu-won thought he should share jam with his classmates every day.
Even if it was just a beginner-level elixir, an elixir was an elixir—it would help if taken steadily.
Besides, now that he could go out regularly, he could make more elixirs here too.
'I could enhance the effects by adding other concepts.'
Should he check out the market today and hunt for ingredients with good concepts?
As he thought that and closed the jam to store it in his Inventory, Dokgo Yeon clapped her hands.
"Good. Let me teach you a move in return."
"Huh?"
"As thanks for the elixir I just ate, I'll teach you a martial technique."
"Elixir?!"
"Kek."
As Light jumped at the word "elixir," while Lucelle choked.
So she had figured it out. Even as he was surprised, Ban Yu-won refuted her.
"It's not that precious. The effects are minimal anyway."
"Of course they're minimal. But an elixir that boosts potential itself with zero side effects is exceedingly rare. Of course... I'm not teaching it for free. Can I have a little more from now on?"
"That was the plan anyway."
"As expected. Then, since we've decided, shall we start right away? ...That place should work."
Dokgo Yeon, having finished her tray, stood up, gripped her Student ID, and vanished from there.
She'd left without waiting for a reply, so he couldn't just ditch her.
Ban Yu-won popped the remaining ham into his mouth and hurriedly followed her to that place—Yumina's classroom.
As Light and Lucelle, suddenly left alone, stared blankly at the abandoned trays for a moment, but recalling Dokgo Yeon's mention of "elixir," they sighed and cleared them together.
"No one's here. And it's spacious enough to move around in."
Dokgo Yeon, arriving first, tapped the air contentedly, then turned to Ban Yu-won and said,
"I know you're growing fast. Maybe even through real combat. I won't pry where you fought... But changing your stance in just one day—is that your ability, or talent?"
"Ability, mostly. Talent, maybe. Whether it's talent to you or not, I don't know."
"People call knowing ten from one 'talent,' but for martial arts training, just remembering what you've seen is enough. Besides, with fixed forms and sequences, there's too much prior education needed to teach..."
Dokgo Yeon raised her index finger and thrust it toward Ban Yu-won.
Slowly, deliberately.
But the finger, laden with fierce power, sliced through the air toward his eyes, and Ban Yu-won couldn't move a muscle, merely staring at it.
Pierce
A motion centered solely on piercing through a single point.
He was certain that if it continued straight, it would pierce his eye and skull.
Ban Yu-won was utterly intoxicated by the depth of the 'human motion-derived' concept he felt for the first time in his life, unable to regain his senses.
"Liar."
The finger had already been withdrawn.
Dokgo Yeon smiled happily and said,
"You have the talent to instantly comprehend a martial principle shown just once, yet you downplay it?"
"...Yeah, I'll strut around from now on."
Thanks to her words, Ban Yu-won barely regained his composure and quipped back with a joke. Dokgo Yeon chuckled and elaborated.
"Thrusting. Doesn't matter if it's fist, kick, sword, or spear—what I just showed you is the most basic and ultimate 'intent' of thrusting. How many times, from where, mimicking what, with what energy—endless variations, but the 'extreme of the basics' is this. Don't forget."
"The extreme of the basics..."
Perhaps that was a concept itself?
The concepts Ban Yu-won handled all stemmed from a central meaning, but by mixing or adding others, he could create many more.
Yet ironically, Dokgo Yeon's motion, refined to the extreme of a single concept, felt far deeper than concepts born from mixing many.
'So I shouldn't focus only on mixing concepts too much.'
Of course, the key point not to misunderstand: what Dokgo Yeon showed wasn't the universal extreme of thrusting, but her extreme of thrusting.
There were many hanja for "thrust," so why did Ban Yu-won capture Pierce from her motion?
Because to her, thrusting was always a killing move that pierced its target.
'This suits me better. Stronger is best.'
Ban Yu-won drew his sword from his Inventory.
Dokgo Yeon nodded, stepped aside, and gestured for him to watch as she demonstrated Pierce once more.
Seeing an attack coming at him versus thrusting into empty air gave another layer of insight.
"You can do it now, right?"
"Not perfectly, but."
"If you could replicate it perfectly, all my years of training would be meaningless."
Dokgo Yeon smiled as if sharing an amusing joke.
When she smiled quietly like that, the cross in her pupils seemed utterly irrelevant—she looked breathtakingly beautiful.
"Hoo."
Beside her, Ban Yu-won raised his sword, took a deep breath, aimed at a point in the air, and thrust.
Once more, and again.
The first was pathetic, not even grasping a fragment of the true intent, but the second gained momentum in the thrust, and by the third, Pierce's concept was clear.
—Shrieeek!
On the fourth, the air tore with a screech.
But compared to Dokgo Yeon's, it was still child's play—or so Ban Yu-won thought as he mindlessly thrust again...!
"Stop. You can't control the power yet; you'll damage the room like this."
Before he could, Dokgo Yeon grabbed his arm.
The cross in her eyes bizarrely expanded and contracted repeatedly.
As Ban Yu-won panted and sheathed his sword, Dokgo Yeon urged him.
"Remember what I showed you? Practice the rest in a wider space later—or against enemies you can kill."
"Got it."
Ban Yu-won nodded vigorously.
Before his eyes, several Babylonia Code notifications appeared.
You successfully observed, understood, and internalized the concept of the motion. All-Reading Eyes depth has reached 110.
You have realized and internalized the concept of Martial Arts. Swordsmanship is absorbed as a sub-concept of Martial Arts.
You have realized and internalized the concept of Pierce. Pierce depth has reached 16.
'16?'
Swordsmanship, after dueling his sister and absorbing goblin concepts all yesterday, had been at 14.2.
Ban Yu-won hurriedly checked his internal code and confirmed 'Martial Arts 36 [Swordsmanship 20, Pierce 16]', letting out a low whistle.
Even executed with a sword, Pierce became a separate concept from Swordsmanship, and together they formed Martial Arts.
Swordsmanship growing by nearly 6 was surprising enough, but...
In hasty, simplistic terms, his combat skills had more than doubled right now.
But unlike Ban Yu-won, beaming with excitement, Dokgo Yeon's feelings seemed somewhat complicated.
"I never imagined you'd show the true intent itself from the start, unbound by the weapon's form."
"Ah, so that's why."
Ban Yu-won nodded in realization at her words, grasping why Swordsmanship and Pierce were separate concepts. Dokgo Yeon looked puzzled.
"Hm?"
"No, nothing. You showed motion unbound by weapons, so I could take it in as is."
"Not only fully understanding what I showed, but reproducing it too. You've stolen my soul in just two days since we met."
"It was great instruction. Leave the elixirs to me from now on."
"I took an unexpected loss."
Dokgo Yeon grumbled as she stepped back from him.
Then.
"So I'll make up for that loss from now on. Brace yourself."
"Huh."
She left those chilling words and vanished from the spot.
Only then did Ban Yu-won realize lunchtime was ending. He hurriedly used his Student ID to exit the classroom.
'We're going to the same classroom anyway, she could've waited... Hm, afternoon lectures seem note-heavy.'
Since they'd just sit and listen to the professor, there shouldn't be any provocations like "let's duel" from the morning.
Of course, Ban Yu-won knew well that trouble always struck exactly when he thought that, so he decided to prepare minimally just in case.