Chapter 35
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: Lesson 8. This Technique is Mine - 5
-----------------------------------------------------------------
It was Thursday night when two new passive concepts appeared for Ban Yu-won. The team had gathered in the training room for one last sparring session ahead of tomorrow's tower climb.
Presumably, it happened as the video from their first club activity on Wednesday evening gained massive traction after just one day on external channels, meeting some specific condition Ban Yu-won couldn't quite pinpoint.
Charm 10 ― The ability to captivate and influence other beings' hearts.
Honor 10 ― A presence established through recognition by many beings.
Charm and Honor were linguistic concepts especially prized on modern Earth.
Perhaps because Ban Yu-won had mimicked Earth's premier method of packaging himself and his team, he had awakened to these concepts as well.
The issue was whether they held any real meaning for climbing the tower.
'If I think of it in game terms, these are stats you don't really need—just numbers, right?'
Even dissecting the linguistic definitions left him thinking, "So what?"
Honor, in particular, was basically just fame.
That bit about "presence" nagged at him a little, but for now, it had zero impact on his other abilities.
And Charm? It wasn't a bad thing to have, but...
"Lucelle, has my face changed at all?"
"Y-Yes?"
Asking Lucelle, who was facing him as his sparring partner, she blinked in surprise and nodded hesitantly.
"B-Ban looks... really handsome."
"No, not what I look like—how it's changed."
"Oh, uh... that..."
Lucelle fumbled for words in her fluster.
Light, who had just finished sparring with Dokgo Yeon and was sprawled on the floor, cracked his eyes open and pointed it out.
"Ban, that's sexual harassment."
"Is it? Then Light, any changes in my face that you—gurk."
"Cut it out. You're distracting during sparring."
Worried Ban Yu-won might shove his face in hers next, Dokgo Yeon timed her intervention perfectly, smashing his face with her own hand.
Thanks to that, he wouldn't be asking about his face for a few hours at least.
"Spar or get out. Or should I roll you both again?"
"You're ex-Marine drill sergeant, right? Be honest..."
"Hmph. I just do everything straight and proper."
That's exactly what the supply officer says on weekend duty, working the troops nonstop without rest...!
But Ban Yu-won knew whining more would mean nonstop floor-rolling against Dokgo Yeon, so he dodged her and faced Lucelle again.
"Alright, Lucelle. One more round to finish."
"Yes...! If I go berserk again, tie me tight, okay?"
After getting chained every berserk episode for a week, Lucelle seemed to have picked up a dangerous habit.
Though maybe she should ask Eve directly about that.
As Ban Yu-won pondered a non-harassing response...
"Haaap!"
Seizing the opening, Lucelle charged!
Her claws extended long and sharp from her hands, slashing viciously at his face with murderous intent!
"Ha...!"
Ban Yu-won angled his longsword to deflect the nails pressing down on him, stepped forward swiftly, and kicked her gut.
He put his full force into it, but her animalistic senses kept her balanced—she only staggered back a bit.
Ban Yu-won knew that and used the gap to reposition and counterattack.
—Clang!
As repeated before, Lucelle was a monster Ban Yu-won couldn't beat head-on, no matter his growth.
Sparring with her centered on Flow to deflect her assaults, using Counter and Wave to chip away damage bit by bit.
—Crunch.
"Gotcha!"
"Ngh?! Where?!"
But Lucelle's prowess wasn't just physical—her animal instincts were sharp too.
Just as Ban Yu-won read and deflected her attacks or countered, she instinctively read his moves and adapted.
—Clang!
—Kreeee!
Naturally, Ban Yu-won had to mix Flow and Counter variations to avoid being read.
Their spars were lightning-fast offense-defense shifts paired with fierce mind games, making their videos hugely popular.
"Grr... Haaat!"
"Hup!"
Of course, Lucelle's "excessively outstanding" figure boosted those views too.
So Ban Yu-won meticulously edited out overly provocative shots to keep things tasteful.
Thus, this stunning view was for his eyes only...!
—Boom!
That's when it happened.
His diagonal Counter with the Executioner's Longsword landed perfectly, snapping half her extended claws and hurling her into the wall.
Despite the massive impact, Lucelle sprang up with a beastly growl.
"Grrrrr...!"
"Oh no!"
Over half her hair had turned black by now.
That marked when her powers amplified greatly—and instinct overrode reason more.
Already outmatched, her boost made it hopeless.
Her reactions sped up so much that Counter's split-second precision was impossible; best he could do was Flow to deflect and buy time against her rampage.
'Tower tomorrow—I need a breakthrough now!'
Hardly breathing, he tilted his blade to deflect her slashing nails and claws nonstop, eyes wide.
He hadn't just blindly clashed these past days.
He'd tried guiding her emotions, researched prolonging her sanity, bonded to collect her emotional shards.
'Her rampage burns from raging negative emotions in her heart-road. Extracting them is impossible. So infuse her original positive emotions to neutralize...!'
The heart-road blazed with negative intensity, soothed by positive calm.
Any emotion fueled it, but positive dominance never led to rampage—proof.
But combat amplified negatives over positives, making berserk inevitable.
So just supplement the lacking positives...!
"Brace yourself, Lucelle!"
"Raaargh!"
But as he drew golden strings from the Code Core to inject...
Lucelle suddenly tackled him!
A new pattern in their spars—stunned, he tried reacting fast, but too late. She pinned him, mounting.
When he refocused, twin mountains blocked his view.
And they drew closer.
Danger!
"?!"
"Grrr...!"
"Shruk!"
Eve, on standby at his command, instantly coiled around Lucelle, binding her tight.
Ban Yu-won moved to infuse emotions, but realized it wasn't needed.
Bound by Eve and rolling on the floor, Lucelle's heart-road stabilized rapidly, negatives vanishing.
"Huff, haaa...!"
Chained tight in the net, Lucelle panted.
Ban Yu-won stood, returned the concepts to the Code Core, and asked.
"Lucelle, aren't you regaining sanity way faster after getting chained now?"
"Seems... like it."
She gasped, berserk backlash heaving her breaths.
Ban Yu-won was floored.
But you couldn't just chain her mid-fight every time to leave her helpless.
"Thanks, Ban."
"For what? We still didn't solve it."
Plan complete, just infusion left—then her ground game neutered him. Mortifying.
But Lucelle smiled brightly, as if knowing his shame, soothing him.
"No, that's... unavoidable."
"Sigh. Anyway, I know the method now. One more time."
"Sorry, body's at limit already..."
"Ah."
Eve released her once sane, but Lucelle still trembled, panting.
Dozens of spars today—rampage, bind, forced calm, repeat.
Even her sturdy body had limits.
"Damn."
"Hm..."
"Dokgo Yeon?"
She'd approached, staring at Lucelle.
"No way..."
"What's up?"
"No, nothing. Just... much better than first time."
True enough.
That spar would've lasted longer without his accidental crit.
Definitely took longer to berserk—progress.
"It's fine. With Ban here."
Lucelle declared stoutly.
Ban Yu-won nodded faintly, vowing to repay her trust.
Dokgo Yeon eyed them alternately, ending with a drawn-out hum.
The second Friday morning since Ban Yu-won's enrollment at Union Academy dawned.
The irregular invasion had soured their first raid, so students buzzed with anticipation.
Even the short walk to the cafeteria bristled with sharp auras, tensing him up.
"Everyone ready?"
"Yes, I'm good."
Lucelle's attitude had shifted post-last spar.
Still inscrutable, but no pre-tower tremors—huge win.
Light, however, looked openly rough.
"Dokgo Yeon, maybe wield the holy sword just for tower entry? Not just for me—our whole party's fate."
"We all agreed to build basics solid over rushing. It's just second raid, first-year first-semester."
Ban Yu-won nodded along to her firm tone.
"No clue your sword's constraints. But getting swung by it ain't good—I can tell. And... nah, later."
He swallowed the rest.
To him, Light didn't grow stronger gripping the holy sword—he seemed drained of talent, magic, core codes.
The holy spirit and demon concepts in his necklace, and now doubting if that blade was truly holy...
'If so, Dokgo Yeon's approach is spot-on. Scary how precise she judges...'
Light fretted but squeezed eyes shut, nodding to their insistence.
"Don't blame me if we wipe 'cause of it."
"No blame. Just harsher training."
"No blame. But don't forget our millions of subscribers watching."
"That's blaming!"
Amid odd tension, chaos, resolve, breakfast ended.
They shared jam, steeling themselves.
Life and Body even grew by 1 each—nice.
Heading to the hilltop tower with the prepared party, Ban Yu-won checked his inner concepts like a ritual.
'Nice, looking solid.'
Ban Yu-won smiled at concepts deepened through training.
Magical Power shy of 200 bugged him a tad, but the tower would fix that quick.
"Eve, you ready too?"
"Shruk."
Eve, more chains than guns or clubs lately to wrangle berserk Lucelle, buzzed excitedly for real combat, acting extra cute.
"Ban."
Lucelle sidled close.
Unimaginable distance last week.
"Inside... take care. I'll follow your lead."
"Trust me. I'm strong in real fights."
"I will."
Her pink eyes sparkled mysteriously.
No guarantee he'd stop her rampage, but he couldn't shake her fresh resolve—strong reply it was.
Dokgo Yeon butted in beside them.
"Hope we last to Saturday evening at least. First to die gets hellish rolling."
"You love rolling people."
"Ban Yu-won."
Regal as ever, she whispered in his ear.
"These two? Still disappointing, honestly. First eval today. Remember the promise?"
"Of course."
He replied firmly, adding,
"Just one week in. They're changing already. No need for results—I know I win."
"Long road ahead. Oh, one beast tip... meant to say yesterday."
"What?"
"It's... tch."
"Kyak!"
Snapping fingers first, Lucelle—who'd been eavesdropping—clutched her ears, pained.
Dokgo Yeon had zapped just her ears with advanced technique.
Ban Yu-won eyed her worriedly—hope it's temporary?—as she said something absurd.
"That beast likes it rough."
"...Pardon?"
"Don't play dumb—you heard. No half-measures compromising with a mindless beast."
"Sorry, seriously lost."
"Sure? You'll see."
She smirked faintly and strode ahead.
The tower waited silently, as always, for their arrival.