Chapter 96

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Translator: Ryuma

Chapter: 96

Chapter Title: Lesson 20. Familiars Can Be Copied? - 6

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Evening had arrived.

But since this world still lacked the existence of night, Ban Yu-won could only track the passage of time by the clock.

"Oh, up by 1 again."

Even as they spoke, the golem—the World Giant (he couldn't exactly call it Imir)—kept attacking Ban Yu-won with air pressure, and at some point, the intensity of that pressure had started to increase bit by bit.

Starting from 10, it had reached 16, which meant their standoff had dragged on considerably.

As for this air pressure.

Fundamentally, it was a volatile concept, much like the magic Ban Yu-won wielded.

It revealed its power the moment it reached its target, then vanished completely after expending all its contained force.

But when it accumulated and compressed—when its purity increased—it gained persistence.

The various concepts Ban Yu-won had collected from Babel Tower had gained permanence in just that way.

"Think it's time to absorb it?"

—I doubt you can take it all. Aren't you already at your limit with the ice attribute?

"Yeah."

How many hours had they been fighting by now? Roughly five?

Thanks to the ice magic power absorbed from the frost giants, the depth of his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠elemental magic had grown to 150.

A massive 50% surge, but growth had slowed after surpassing 140, and now no matter how much he absorbed, there was no sign of further progress. Repeated absorption of the same concept clearly had its limits.

'I already confirmed that with goblins—you can't absorb beyond a certain amount from the same type of monster...'

The same went for Life.

When he'd first absorbed a frost giant's concept, it had jumped by a whopping 2 to 462. But after beating down well over two hundred giants since then, it was now at 499.7.

Efficiency had plummeted after 480, and past 490, gains dropped below 0.1.

The limit for Life from frost giants was probably 500.

Still, it was impressive enough.

Growth in Life had been getting harder and harder, but these giants had shot it up by 40 in one go. He ought to be kowtowing in gratitude.

"But now the real work begins."

In truth, grinding these frost giants hadn't been just for Ban Yu-won's growth from the start.

He had an absurd number of familiars that needed leveling!

"First up: Eve, Lilith, and Tike. Let's hit Life 300 for you all today."

"Sisssit!"

—Paaaang!

—Whiiiing, clank clank

Eve and Lilith had reached Life depths of 250 and 220 respectively during their last tower dive.

Tike had only recently become a proper familiar, so she was still at 120, but with the pure concepts from these frost giants, she'd hit 300 in no time.

Soul would probably follow suit.

"...Those guys are improving too."

—That bastard ate another rock!

—Father, the bug is eating rocks!

—It can't keep eating forever! Take my sharp spear, forged from Father's body!

—Throw it! Keep throwing!

Every so often, air pressure would crash down from above his head, and their projectiles had evolved from mere [Stone 1] to convincingly spear- or spike-like rocks.

Of course, from Ban Yu-won's perspective, they were just gift-wrapping more concepts for him!

"Alright, let's get back to it."

Ban Yu-won grinned and unleashed 'seven' rain threads.

Five deflected the frost giants' attacks and restricted their movements, while the remaining two pierced their vital spots.

After hours focused solely on controlling the Downpour Sword, he could now manipulate each one naturally without conscious effort.

He swiftly slew two more giants, securing their concepts, then nodded and pulled an eighth rain thread from his inventory.

Nothing beat training against tough foes for material and skill grinding!

The fact that the sky's color never changed as time passed was surprisingly eerie, Ban Yu-won thought idly, glancing upward as if it were someone else's problem.

The same sky as when he'd arrived, but now it was 11 p.m.

Ah, incoming attack again.

'If I compressed all the accumulated air pressure into one blast, even the World Giant would drop in a single hit.'

Of course, he had no intention of wasting it like that.

The grind had stretched past ten hours, and needless noise was creeping into Ban Yu-won's mind.

Game grinding was just finger taps, but here he had to counter incoming concepts from all directions while mentally steering the Downpour Sword. Stress was piling up.

"Sissit!"

"Hm? Hit Life 300?"

"Shiiit!"

Then Eve delivered glad tidings.

Not just Life—every concept they could strengthen from the giants, including Soul, had hit their limits.

"Good. Let's push harder!"

Soon after, Lilith followed, and an hour later, Tike too—all reaching Life 300 and Soul 200.

Their combat concepts lagged behind these rushed core stats, but real combat would close the gap quickly.

—Watching you is exhausting me. Are you insane? Gonna keep this madness up?

"Ceron, humans have no limits. Even as a regular guy with average body and mind, I've fought for 37 hours straight."

With my fingers.

—What? Is Earth that brutal?!

"I'm nothing on Earth. Basics there are three days straight; pros go a week without sleep in desperate brawls."

With fingers.

—Ugh... even if I go back to Earth, leave me at the Academy...

"You're coming with. You'll love it there."

—A den of those maniacs?

Ceron's periodic chatter was easing the mental strain considerably.

Ban Yu-won murmured as he targeted frost giants spilling from the World Giant's armpit with rain threads.

"Tike's done, so now time to properly level the Downpour Sword."

—My mind's breaking! It's breaking!

"Think you're suffering more than them just spectating?"

Ban Yu-won gestured at the frost giants still howling from the ground as he recovered the Downpour Sword and concepts.

Realizing mere spears wouldn't cut it, they were mixing rocks with their innate chill to hurl convincingly weapon-like projectiles.

"Huh, what the."

At some point, curses mixed into their hurled spears.

Dwarves, giants—Norse myth folks loved curses, but ice and curses?

More collection items at this stage? What next!

—...Hey, can't I have that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠one?

"Didn't you just say your mind was breaking?"

—Give me that, and it'll fix right up.

"Fine. From now on, curses are on your curriculum too."

This incident had entangled him deeply with curses and curse-lifting; time to master the field.

Fortunately, Ceron seemed versed in curses, so this Ice Curse would be the perfect entry point.

—So how long you planning to keep this up?

"Ceron, grinding has no end—just brief breaks."

—Don't spout proverbs like that, idiot.

Ban Yu-won unleashed 'ten' rain threads with a grin.

It felt like tempering his spirit.

It was Saturday, 11 p.m.

All frost giants were dead.

The World Giant had frozen in place.

"..."

—...

—...

He'd sensed something off about an hour ago.

As frost giant numbers dwindled, the World Giant's spawn rate had mysteriously slowed.

Uneasy, but no countermeasure, so he'd kept smashing away.

Who knew the World Giant had production limits!

"This should've been enough to clear..."

Ban Yu-won smacked his lips at the Downpour Sword's options, still short of his targets.

Over 30 hours wielding nothing but the Downpour Sword had massively boosted Swordsmanship and Resonance, plus big gains in Magic Sword, Life, and Soul across all twenty-five threads—but he felt it could grow more.

"Did we beat it?"

—Out of nowhere, what?

—...

He tried chanting the forbidden spell just in case, but the World Giant didn't budge.

Only then did Ban Yu-won accept the grind was over.

'At least the Downpour Sword's autonomous movement is decent now.'

Initially, real combat control felt direct; now simple intent set broad patterns.

Less precise than his Executioner's Longsword direct control, but like AlphaGo mastering go through countless games, hours of combat data had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠diversified its moves!

Still, he could only handle twelve at once.

Limit of his Soul? Resonance? He'd push the number higher with effort.

—Guwaaaah...

As Ban Yu-won reviewed his gains, acrobating the twelve rain threads—

The hitherto-still World Giant groaned and stirred.

—Kwaaaaaang!

Or so he thought—it slammed its own head into the ground and collapsed dead.

"..."

—...

As Ban Yu-won and Ceron gaped, the dead World Giant's mouth opened, blood gushing to form rivers and seas; its eyes popped free, floating skyward—one a bright star, one dark—dividing day and night.

Flesh rotted instantly into earth, bones and teeth into ores and gems... Norse creation myth recreated before their eyes.

A true spectacle.

"Man, uploading this to Rebellion Channel would blow up."

—Yeah, edit out the giant suicide part tight.

With that, Ban Yu-won and Ceron fell silent again.

Of course, he didn't forget to recover the dead World Giant's concepts—the purest aggregate here!

No need to rub it in!

First time getting Death as a concept. Fittingly, it came from foe suicide.

'Creepy as hell, this.'

Pondering what to do with this dubious, perilous concept—Dokgo Yeon could only wield it temporarily via her martial arts—he stashed it in the Code Core for now.

Definitely not something to casually grant others.

Another key one: Myriad Changes.

'Eve's concept. Could just give it to her as-is, but...'

He'd once tried splitting off part of Eve's Myriad Changes.

Utter failure.

It had fused inseparably as a core concept with her familiar nature.

So, wise to dump the fresh Myriad Changes straight into Eve?

It'd just bump her to 2 and done?

—Pang!

Lilith piped up then, asserting herself.

Ban Yu-won had been mulling if she or Tike could absorb it.

—"Me?"

"Ceron, you're the junior here, man. These go by seniority."

—Conquering Babel Tower with that outdated hierarchy thinking! Society's meritocracy—skill rules all!

"Yep, Lilith's outshining you right now~."

—Aaaargh!

In the end, he granted Myriad Changes to Lilith.

Unlike Eve, he'd half-expected rejection, but her active Mutation trait pulled through again.

"Ah."

In an instant, Lilith crumpled, morphing into a massive metallic egg.

Ban Yu-won, riding her, was flung into the air; he urgently stowed her in inventory and conjured an air platform with elemental magic to halt his fall.

—Should've let you splat.

"Not bathing in suicide giant blood, thanks."

But who'd have thought Mutation would evolve Lilith too.

Good thing he'd severed constellation links before entering solo.

Otherwise, chaos.

—Woooong

"Hm?"

Sword cry at last?

Nope.

The world was vibrating.

"Shift?"

—Brace yourself.

As Ceron's words tensed him like a seatbelt warning, Ban Yu-won braced—

A colossal pressure crushed him from all sides.

Next instant, he was spat out at the tower entrance.

"...Retired?"

—Nah, tower just kicked you out? No damage taken.

Indeed, his Student ID showed solo exploration reached layer 10, not 0.

Deemed cleared through rooms 1-9 to reach 10.

—My take: next room ain't ready yet. Maybe it's changing now?

"Oh, could be. You're smart."

—Sorry, just spitballing. First time for me too.

"Phony smarty..."

Ban Yu-won glared at the unchanged tower, tried re-entering, but failed—confirming Ceron's guess.

Wrapping his first solo dive on an incompletely burned note, he trudged back unsatisfied, sprawling on bed till Lucelle date time.

He'd overlooked the minor shift in his bodily concepts amid the haze.