Chapter 246
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 246
Chapter Title: Lesson 48. Teacher Ban Yu-won - 1
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The moment Woo Hyul-rin died, every thread of the contract binding him and Ban Yu-won vanished completely. Naturally, the Exodus fleet that had been holding on until now was entirely set free.
Compared to the start, it had dwindled to about thirty percent, but even so, more than ten ships still remained.
"Lilith, you know what to do, right?"
[Of course. With my current power, I could even transform this spaceship into a ram and charge.]
"Nah, pass. I want to rest. You handle the acceleration and breakthrough on your own."
[Master's getting better at slacking off!]
Ban Yu-won deployed Abel, formed by merging the robots around Lilith, and sent it out to join the three who had already gone into space ahead of him, tasking them with dealing with the pirate fleet.
As for himself, he calmly reviewed the concepts that had flowed in from all directions and the changes wrought by his own authority.
Acquired Covenant 100. By imposing self-restraints under specific conditions, you can trigger phenomena that surpass personal limits.
Gained profound insight into Curse. Curse depth has reached 300.
The most surprising part was this.
Acquiring Woo Hyul-rin's authority—his very power itself—was something he hadn't anticipated at all.
Perhaps because the foundation of the authority was curse, Ban Yu-won, who had already mastered curses, could naturally pick it up.
Still, since its depth would inevitably be shallower than what Woo Hyul-rin wielded, he'd need to explore and use it cautiously.
Through insights gained in wielding Concept Conversion, unlocked new possibilities for causality tuning via Origin Sword. Can now activate the Reversal concept. Origin Sword depth: 1,200. Yu-won Art depth: 320.
New insights into concept manipulation greatly enhance Life, Origin Spirit, Origin Energy, and Soul.
All-Reading Eyes, All-Hearing Ears, and All-Speaking Lips depths each increase by 30.
The next most astonishing thing was that, following his reversal of Asha's mind last time, he'd now succeeded in another dramatic concept conversion, finally glimpsing the changeling domain forbidden to humans!
He'd only just begun to grasp its mechanism while wielding concept conversion moments ago, but if he diligently trained Yu-won Art and Origin Sword to make full use of the remaining 60 concept conversions, he could master not just simple reversal, but perfect changeling!
'I'd been stuck in a rut lately. But after the masked ball and now facing Woo Hyul-rin, it feels like the blockages have finally broken through. ...With this, maybe?'
Ban Yu-won's face lit up with undisguisable joy as he checked his status for the first time in ages.
When stuck, it felt like it'd never break through in his lifetime... but finally, Life and Soul had reached 1,000!
In level terms, that was 100—finally approaching Dokgo Yeon's strength from enrollment!
...A slightly hollow thought for himself, but the clear truth was he'd definitively crossed a boundary insurmountable by ordinary means, entering the realm where he could be called a true master.
'No matter how many monsters I slaughtered each time I entered the tower, I never thought it'd go up... Yeah, I got too complacent after completing Origin Sword. Time to reflect.'
Fortunately, the insights gained today still had some spare potential left.
Endless pursuit would further evolve his current realm.
As he turned with a faint smile, Eve slithered up the spaceship's wall and coiled around his arm, hissing shirruk.
"Yeah, if it wasn't there, no big deal. Good work, Eve."
"Shishit."
"Master?"
"Oh, nothing."
As Lucelle tilted her head, Ban Yu-won gave a brief explanation.
"I had her infiltrate the Exodus ships while extracting their info, to look for traces of collusion with others."
"When did you...?"
"Right after crossing the dimensional wall."
Eve, wielding the core concepts of Infinite Change and Demon Power—plus Monster Shadow Art shared from Ban Yu-won—was nothing short of an assassin in the dark.
Moreover, as the fastest among his familiars to share thoughts with him, she excelled at turning his will directly into action and results.
"Like collaborators inside the Academy, for instance..."
Ban Yu-won's eyes narrowed briefly as someone came to mind, then returned to normal.
"But looks like there weren't any. Guy's quick on his feet in every way."
"...You."
Katro, who had watched Woo Hyul-rin's death and was utterly drained, lifted his head again.
"You even know about him?"
"No hard evidence, so it's as good as not knowing. Enough about that. So, senior, what's your plan? You're still with Exodus. Wanna give it a shot?"
"..."
If "wanna give it a shot" sounded like "wanna die too," was that just Katro's imagination?
By nature, Katro held a thread of authority connecting him to anyone he'd ever empowered even once.
Through that thread, he could exert influence—and though via talismans, he'd bestowed abilities on Ban Yu-won dozens or hundreds of times, so he could've issued fairly coercive commands.
He could've, but the thought never even crossed his mind.
He didn't even want to try.
Because he had nothing left to him.
"Tch, thought I'd gained a subordinate for a sec."
Sensing Katro's total surrender, Ban Yu-won smacked his lips and muttered.
As Katro himself had told Woo Hyul-rin earlier, Ban Yu-won had long seen through the structure of his authority.
In fact, the one he'd tried to reverse causality on via concept conversion was Katro's power more than Woo Hyul-rin's contract.
Because Katro had hesitated until the end and backed off ambiguously, it ended in a one-on-one showdown between Ban Yu-won and Woo Hyul-rin.
"Subordinate? Funny idea, but impossible. Now that my Exodus ties are exposed, I can't stay in the Academy."
"Who?"
Ban Yu-won widened his eyes in mock surprise.
His feigned innocence twisted Katro's expression.
"You're kidding? Ban Yu-won, I'm a joke, but I won't dishonor my dead comrades."
"So you wanna die with them?"
"I have no choice but to die!"
This club showdown special tournament was being live-broadcast across Union Net.
The moment they crossed the dimensional wall, everything that happened inside the ship—and the Exodus fleet waiting in the abandoned dimension being exposed on Union Net—had blocked all escape routes.
At least, that's what Katro thought.
But Ban Yu-won was grinning shamelessly.
"Who do you think provided the filming support for this tournament?"
"You...?"
Before the tournament, Ban Yu-won had, with the Chancellor's help, distributed camera-type magic tools temporarily empowered by his authority to each participating club.
And of course, Union Irregulars Club's filming was handled by Tike.
Unsurprisingly, Tike was the world's best director, capable of receiving Ban Yu-won's intent in real-time and, astonishingly, editing the live broadcast.
Katro would understand once he watched the broadcast later.
The edited version would show the only visible Exodus members as Woo Hyul-rin and the students who followed him to their deaths.
"You trapped me in that barrier from the start with this in mind?!"
"Oh, you caught on? Obviously. All to save you, senior. Too iffy to kill outright."
"You...!"
Suddenly reinvigorated, Katro shot to his feet and body-slammed the barrier.
But even with his outstanding authority, his direct combat power was pebble-level compared to Ban Yu-won; physical force wouldn't shatter it.
"I didn't do this bullshit just to save my own skin!"
Ban Yu-won snorted in response.
"Good thing you know it's bullshit. Still, since you're alive, survive."
"Ban Yu-won, you! You!"
"Think I only gave you a chance? I've been obvious about it all along. Why didn't you take me out sooner?"
A cold smile curled Ban Yu-won's lips.
This wasn't his first kill, but the death of someone he'd known wasn't trivial.
His obsession with concepts gained from battles was also an escape from the burden of holding others' lives in his hands and wielding them.
"You're the only one who backed off, even if ambiguously. All for naught, but I get where you're coming from. So live."
"Are you an idiot?! You let Woo Hyul-rin and dozens of ships get wrecked... I'm a traitor now! Exodus never forgives traitors!"
"What a coincidence. There's someone here Exodus would never forgive too."
Katro was speechless at the seamless retort.
Suddenly, Ban Yu-won seemed enormously imposing.
The man who had recruited him into Exodus overlapped with Ban Yu-won—only his shadow remained.
"So that stuff doesn't matter much. Only one thing does. Do you want to live, or not?"
"..."
"No more armchair philosophy. Dimensional walls, Babel Tower—too big for us to debate now. For starters, let's protect the people we can. Suits your abilities, senior."
Ban Yu-won released the barrier.
The hand he extended was laced with tangled concepts—anyone not a fool would recognize it as a contract's mark.
"Wanna live?"
"..."
Katro clamped his mouth shut and looked around at the others.
The remaining club members, including Kshana, wore stiff expressions.
Not knowing the full story, they'd naturally sided with Ban Yu-won, but how could they stay calm after their long-time comrades—bound by shared Lower Dimension Special Admission status—had died en masse?
He closed his eyes.
Loyalty to comrades was the easy choice.
Just offer up the life he couldn't years ago.
In the white ashes of what had burned away, no hope seemed left.
But...
"Stone senior..."
He opened his eyes at the voice.
They had been hostages.
Even understanding Ban Yu-won's ruthless intent, once his eyes were open, he couldn't pretend ignorance.
Katro El Phasis let out a deep sigh—and took Ban Yu-won's hand.
"Save me first, junior. The others after."
"Okay."
The contract completed, and Katro reverted to his stone-like self.
But then, someone appeared beside the triumphant Ban Yu-won.
"How long you gonna goof off inside? Created one martial art and now you're lazy. Hurry up and follow."
"Huh? Yeon, wait, this is super important right now—!"
Ban Yu-won's figure vanished from there.
As they stared blankly at the spot, Lucelle—the sole remaining Rebellion member—sighed and clapped her hands.
"Alright, let's move. Exodus seems cleaned up, so time to sort the monsters in this dimension. If the tournament ends like this, everyone except Rebellion gets negative scores."
"R-Right, yeah!"
"Gotta prepare!"
At her sharp reminder, the stunned group snapped to and started moving.
After issuing orders, Lucelle idly checked a hand mirror, fixed her hair, cleared her throat with a ahem, turned to Katro, and smiled brightly.
"Stone senior, rest inside. Fits your vibe perfectly."
"...Not a single easy one among you."
Too drained to retort, he plopped back down right there.
That her smile had slightly charmed him was his little secret.