Chapter 49
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 49
Chapter Title: Lesson 11. Apprentice Mage Ban Yu-won - 4
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"Everyone, a new student from Class 11, Ban Yu-won, is joining our class! Let's give him a round of welcoming applause!"
The words Yumina blurted out at the start of class made Ban Yu-won squeeze his eyes shut.
What drove him truly mad was how enthusiastically the students were clapping.
"I want to kill her."
"Did you see her laughing and chatting with Professor Yumina earlier?"
"I really want to kill him."
"I've never even exchanged a single word with the professor in private..."
"Should we kill him, Misty?"
"Hold back."
And they were saying it with curses like that!
Every single student taking her lectures on magical combat studies was a fervent devotee of Yumina without exception, and they looked upon Ban Yu-won—who belonged to Class 11, the one she directly oversaw—with anything but kind eyes now that he was joining their magic class too.
Yet Yumina beamed from ear to ear, clapping along as if completely oblivious to the atmosphere.
'I figured it'd be something like this, but this really is enemy territory.'
Still, since they were all her devotees, they probably wouldn't attack him outright.
But that was a naive thought.
"Professor!"
"Do you have a question, Missy?"
Missy? That was the one who'd stopped her friend from trying to kill Ban Yu-won earlier.
Ban Yu-won turned his head and saw a pretty girl with golden bobbed hair standing from her seat.
Wait, that face looked familiar—she was from Class 1!
And the friend who'd wanted to kill him was from Class 1 too.
There were exactly nine students in this classroom including Ban Yu-won, and three of them were from Class 1.
'But... she's not sitting with that Irecto guy. Figures.'
You'd think someone from the same class would sit nearby at least.
Far from it—Aire sat aloof, like an invisible wall separated her from the others.
Watching her, Ban Yu-won suddenly recalled his earlier conversation with Dokgo Yeon.
When he'd said Ortima was the top prospect among the first-years, Dokgo Yeon had clearly replied:
'There's at least one other person in his class more useful than that guy.'
He'd forgotten amid everything else, not having time to worry about other classes, but she seemed like the one.
"If that student can use magic, then why hasn't he been attending this class until now?"
"Well, you see, Ban Yu-won awakened his talent as a mage after acquiring an artifact during this tower exploration and becoming its owner!"
While Ban Yu-won pondered Aire, Missy boldly questioned his qualifications, and Yumina tossed out a bombshell without hesitation.
"An artifact?!"
"Oh, you didn't subscribe to the Rebellion Channel? The exploration footage from last week is up—check it out. There's even a video with me in it!"
"I am subscribed, Professor!"
"Yesterday's video was amazing, Professor!"
"You're so beautiful!"
Missy gaped at Yumina's words.
...And the other students seized the chance to shower Yumina with flattery!
Thanks to that, the shock rippled through the classroom a bit more slowly.
"Wait, he became the owner of an artifact? You mean one that chooses its master?"
"There's artifacts that awaken mage talent?"
Artifacts were incredibly rare, of course, but even among the elite talents from higher dimensions selected for Union Academy, most families had one or two.
But even they had never heard of an artifact that could awaken mage talent.
It was only natural—those born with magical talent were exceedingly rare to begin with, and acquired talent was virtually unheard of.
"Hee hee, of course it's not possible for just anyone. The artifact chose Ban Yu-won as its master precisely because he had latent magical talent."
Yumina calmly lied to soothe the students.
Their gazes shifted once more—this time from jealousy to outright hatred.
He already had such immense innate talent that he'd been specially selected from a lower dimension, and now he had magical talent on top of that? It was too much.
Missy narrowed her eyes and glared at Ban Yu-won before speaking again.
"Then, Professor, could we ask Ban Yu-won to show us some magic? Without the artifact, of course..."
"Hmm, well..."
"Sure, why not."
Ban Yu-won had obtained his artifact just last week.
Yumina started to intervene, assuming he couldn't wield magic properly yet, but he nodded and stepped forward confidently.
"Just keep in mind I only started learning magic recently, so I can't pull off proper spells yet."
"Ah! Then I'll put up a barrier first. Show us what you've got, Ban Yu-won!"
Yumina's face lit up at his confidence as she quickly conjured a mana shield.
Ban Yu-won had two types of magic he could use.
One was elemental magic absorbed from the staff.
The other was casting spells by combining magic languages he'd personally comprehended into his own unique method.
'I'd rather show off language magic that plays to my strengths over elemental magic.'
But he hadn't solidified the concepts or practiced properly yet, and it wasn't something to show here anyway.
So he opted for elemental magic.
Elemental magic was the classic kind based on the four elements—water, fire, air, earth—combined into countless attributes and manifested in various forms.
It was the first thing that came to mind when he thought "magic," and apparently the most common type too.
There were various elemental systems, but he could only use the pure kind that generated and shaped raw elemental power.
'Vortex.'
Element: air. Form: spiral.
Location: his palm.
In an instant, he fixed the three intents and infused his internalized concept of elemental magic with spiritual energy. A small vortex formed above his palm.
"Ah!"
"That's crazy fast!"
"No incantation either... Isn't that closer to a superpower than magic?"
"But it's definitely magic. Intent-based magic that skips incantations!"
As Ban Yu-won focused his spiritual energy to expand it, the vortex ballooned in size instantly.
He launched it at Yumina's barrier, where it vanished with a boom.
Yumina dismissed the barrier with a satisfied smile.
"No incantation is impressive enough, but the power too... I can't believe he's just starting out. You all think so too, right?"
"Y-Yeah, Professor."
"He didn't use the artifact, did he? Nah, the professor's watching..."
"Tch, special admission. Is that the kind of talent special admissions have? Damn, he might even be better at magic than me..."
Ban Yu-won was a bit surprised by their reactions.
He hadn't used much spiritual energy, and the result was exactly as expected.
If anything, a tad stronger than anticipated.
He hadn't thought it was that impressive, so maybe they were overreacting.
Aire watched with evident boredom, while Missy and her Class 1 friend wore relaxed expressions like "that's all he's got." Special Class really was on another level.
'Yeah, no need to worry about regular students outside Special Class.'
Union Academy trained the best talents from across all dimensions.
So he'd thought even regulars were nothing to scoff at.
But he was Lower Dimension Special Admission.
Despite his lower dimension, his talents outshone other higher-dimensional geniuses, earning him special selection.
The same went for his peers, and his own level was worlds apart from regulars.
He needed to accept that objectively.
"Professor, I'm curious what happens with the artifact's support."
"Right, Professor! An artifact that awakens mage talent must be incredible—we want to see it too!"
The awkward silence and tension after his display.
Missy and her friend shattered it again.
"An artifact is personal property, and no one has the right to demand its use in class."
Yumina cut them off with a gentle smile.
But she added softly, "However," with a kind smile.
"You know about the special activity starting tomorrow for three days and two nights, right? Class 1 will be pairing with Class 11 students, so you might get a chance to see the artifact's power then."
"Ah..."
"Uh."
He hadn't known.
As Ban Yu-won widened his eyes to ask about it, Yumina clapped and declared:
"Alright then, let's dive into the lesson proper! Today's a special lecture on various magic languages! I'll hand out bonus points like candy to students who answer my questions well!"
Huh.
Ban Yu-won couldn't help but laugh at Yumina winking at him.
Looks like his first class was going to be unprecedentedly accommodating.
"Traps and mechanisms using magic languages pop up in the tower too, and depending on your magic system, they're super important—really, really important! Just learning magic languages can dramatically broaden your understanding of magic, so even if your system is different, pay close attention!"
"Yes!"
During that lecture, Ban Yu-won read five unknown magic languages and earned five bonus points.
At this rate, snagging the dorm championship cup with top scores by year's end wasn't impossible!
Not that such a thing existed!
"Hold on."
As the lecture ended and Ban Yu-won headed out, a voice stopped him.
He'd half-expected it, and sure enough, Aire stood there when he turned.
As he faced her, the students swarming Yumina with questions and flattery shot shocked glances their way.
Missy and her friend—who'd kept eyeing him during class—were among them.
Her isolation really was self-imposed, Ban Yu-won realized.
"You still haven't answered my question from earlier."
"I thought I did."
"You analyzed and interfered with every code the Chancellor inserted?"
"Is that such a big deal?"
"I'd buy it if you'd gained spatial transfer coordinate editing rights."
Honestly, Ban Yu-won couldn't quite grasp the difference between the two.
He just had a hunch Yumina had used the latter to set up his spatial transfer coordinates.
"Miss Aire?"
"Professor Yumina."
Yumina had approached them before he knew it.
Unlike her glare at Ban Yu-won, Aire bowed politely to Yumina.
"Do you need something from me?"
"Not you, Miss Aire—Ban Yu-won. I actually have a meeting scheduled with him."
"......"
Ah, she's a devotee too.
Ban Yu-won felt the stares prickling even more as he gave an awkward smile.
"Besides, Ban Yu-won never gained editing rights or anything. That's a privilege only full professors have."
"Th-Then he really did it with his own abilities...!"
"That answers your question, right? See you tomorrow during the special activity. Ban Yu-won, follow me."
Even as Yumina led him out, Aire's piercing gaze stabbed into his back relentlessly.
Why did all the pretty ones have to live up to their looks?
The thought of sharing classes with those types from now on already made his stomach ache.
"I heard you edited your student ID?"
Yumina asked as they walked the hallway after leaving the classroom.
Ban Yu-won nodded worriedly.
"I figured I could, so I did. Is that forbidden?"
"No. The student ID is just a fragment of the tower's authority refined by the principal for ease of use. As long as you don't break it, the principal won't care."
"Phew."
"It's impossible for a student to edit its functions anyway."
"Gah."
Ban Yu-won realized he'd messed up properly upon seeing Yumina's mischievous smile.
No wonder Aire had come at him so fiercely.
"Hee hee hee... I thought your abilities would mesh well with magic from the start. And sure enough, the moment it awakened, you pulled off something big?"
Her speech had switched to casual.
"Professor—no, Sis, you're not dragging me off for that, are you?"
"Of course not. The principal isn't so idle as to summon people for something like that."
"......The Chancellor? Not you, Sis—the Chancellor wants to meet?"
"Yep."
Yumina stopped walking.
Ban Yu-won halted too and realized the surroundings felt eerily familiar.
It was the hallway leading to that secret room where he'd met the Chancellor on his first day!
"Sis, wait—just tell me why he called me..."
"Go on ahead, Yu-won."
Sure enough.
Yumina grinned brightly and shoved him just like before.
Ban Yu-won trembled as he was sucked into the corridor.
I could have walked in on my own!
—You've built quite the rapport with Professor Yumina, it seems. Do be careful not to get found out by her followers.
"More importantly, shouldn't we hide the fact that I'm having meetings like this with the Chancellor—no, Master...?"
—Good. You remember well. Keep calling me Master from now on.
Week 3 of the first semester, first year.
His second meeting with the Chancellor.