Chapter 6
“The situation seems a bit different from when we started, doesn’t it?”
“…You!”
Ju-ho, who had been dragged and thrown before Shin-hyuk, bared his teeth in rage at Shin-hyuk.
But Shin-hyuk paid no mind to such reactions and swung his sword.
Swish!
A clean strike.
B-rank Swordsmanship precisely cut through Ju-ho’s neck.
Ju-ho’s corpse, having died from having his neck severed, turned into particles of light and disappeared.
—
[Choi Shin-hyuk -> Lee Ju-ho]
—
“It’s 1 billion!”
“But we have to split it among ourselves, so it’s only about 100 million each.”
“100 million is still a lot.”
“That’s true.”
Seeing Shin-hyuk’s kill log appear, the players who had betrayed Ju-ho cheered.
But the joy didn’t last long.
“What are you happy about. Now you all fight each other.”
“…Ah.”
“Or would you rather fight me again?”
Because Shin-hyuk, who had been lounging on the debris, stood up gripping a staff and a saber.
At Shin-hyuk’s words, the players slowly distanced themselves from the comrades they had been embracing in joy just moments ago.
Seeing them, Shin-hyuk smiled.
“Now, kill each other.”
“Aaaah!”
“Die!”
It was Shin-hyuk demonstrating the epitome of making others do the work without lifting a finger.
—
* * *
“Wh-what place am I in?”
“You? Around 4th place. There are some who’ve been hiding out.”
“Keuk… Still, that’s satisfying enough—”
“Then goodbye.”
Crack!
—
[Skill: Staff Arts [E] acquired.]
—
After the players had fought among themselves.
Shin-hyuk, who had crushed the last survivor’s head with his staff, checked the remaining survivor count.
—
[Remaining Survivors: 3]
—
“Two left.”
The combined attack of Ju-ho and the players.
Their betrayal.
The infighting among the betrayers.
Two players had not revealed themselves throughout all this commotion.
But Shin-hyuk wasn’t particularly worried.
“I’ve killed so many that I have 3 location trackers. Shall I catch them with these?”
Location trackers.
He had a whopping three of the location trackers that had been used against him multiple times in the early stages.
“Use location tracker, Hwang Seon-woong.”
It was the moment when the positions of hunter and prey were reversed.
—
* * *
Swish!
—
[Skill: Saber Arts [E] acquired.]
[Skill: Tracking [E] acquired.]
—
“Phew, is this the end?”
Because the last remaining player chose to flee rather than fight, Shin-hyuk had to spend quite a bit of time.
But even that player was eventually caught by Shin-hyuk’s excellent tracking skills and had his neck cut.
As the player’s corpse turned into particles of light and disappeared, a message appeared before Shin-hyuk’s eyes.
—
[The placement exam has ended.]
[Achievement: 1st Place Survival achieved.]
[Achievement: Most Kills achieved.]
[Achievement: Perfect Play achieved.]
—
“Perfect.”
The message window announcing the end of the placement exam.
Along with it, it showed just how remarkable a result Shin-hyuk had produced.
He had achieved a whopping three achievements—any one of which would have practically guaranteed a Silver placement.
But the surprise was yet to come.
—
[You have self-acquired 5 or more weapon skills in the placement exam.]
[You may choose the class: Weapon Master.]
—
“Weapon Master? You can get this class this way too?”
There were classes in the Dimension Arena.
Ordinary people would just get common classes like Warrior, Mage, Archer, and so on.
But those with luck were different.
Among them, Weapon Master was a class so impressive that even the past Shin-hyuk knew of it.
“Weapon Master, Rodrick. He was a Grand Master from the European region. It was widely said that there was no weapon he couldn’t handle…”
Grand Master.
A title referring to Diamond tier players, considered to be on the verge of Challenger.
Since he was the only Grand Master on the European continent, he was even more memorable.
The thought that he might be able to obtain the class of such a being made Shin-hyuk’s heart begin to race.
‘Before regression, my class was Top-Tier Swordsman. I essentially honed a common class to its extreme. If I can get a hidden class on top of that…!’
Having been a Challenger-tier player with a common class, his anticipation was doubled.
“I will accept—”
That’s why, the moment Shin-hyuk was about to accept—
—
[You have self-acquired 10 or more skills in the placement exam.]
[You may choose the class: All Master.]
—
“All… Master?”
A newly appeared message window blocked Shin-hyuk’s choice.
All Master.
A class he was hearing for the first time in his life.
But the moment he saw the name, Shin-hyuk instinctively reached toward the message window.
—
[Class: All Master acquired.]
—
[All Master]
– Classification: Class [Unique]
└Additional correction applies when learning all skills.
└Additional correction applies when using all skills.
└Able to handle opposing energies.
“…I never imagined I’d obtain All Master as a class, not as a nickname.”
Before regression, Shin-hyuk had been called the All Master, doing the work of dozens of Challenger players alone.
Now, he had even been given the class of All Master.
The meaning was simple.
“It seems it won’t take too long to deal with the New Human Empire bastards.”
The New Human Empire that had killed him.
And the Challenger players of other dimensions who had joined hands with them.
It meant the time to drive the blade of revenge into them wasn’t far off.
—
[Skills: Archery [C], Swordsmanship [B], Axemanship [D], Spearmanship [D], Staff Arts [E], Saber Arts [E] have been merged into Comprehensive Weapon Arts [D].]
—
“This isn’t bad either.”
Seeing the various weapon skills that had been scattered and disorganized merge into one as a reward for obtaining the All Master class, Shin-hyuk was satisfied.
Though the rank had dropped considerably as a result, for Shin-hyuk—who had the Versatile and Late Bloomer traits—it wasn’t much of an issue.
After obtaining a new class and new skills, the moment of true rewards approached Shin-hyuk.
—
[You have achieved 3 achievements in the placement exam!]
[This record is unique to your dimension and will be recorded in the Dimension Arena’s Akashic Record.]
[Rewards: Random Box (Max Legendary), Random Trait]
—
“…Fantastic.”
A random box that could yield up to a legendary-grade item.
But what Shin-hyuk was truly focused on was the reward after that.
“A random trait. That’s no different from gaining another heart.”
Shin-hyuk already had two hearts with Versatile and Late Bloomer.
Now that he was getting a random trait as well, the rewards were as good as could be.
“I’ll open the random box later… I’ll claim the random trait.”
So, calming his racing heart with a deep breath, Shin-hyuk claimed the random trait.
—
[Trait: Devour acquired.]
—
“Devour? What kind of trait is this?”
A trait Shin-hyuk had never heard of before appeared.
Devour.
Unable to tell what kind of trait it was, as Shin-hyuk was deep in thought—
—
[The Apex of All Evil has sensed its mark and sought you out.]
[The Apex of All Evil observes with interest the one who has obtained its trait.]
—
“Constellation…!”
A constellation had sought Shin-hyuk out.
‘A constellation that wouldn’t even give a glance for most achievements is already showing interest in me?’
A constellation was a being that wouldn’t spare a single glance no matter how desperately others tried and struggled.
For such a constellation to show interest in a player who had just finished their placement exam was astonishing.
“Would you be willing to tell this humble one about the trait?”
That’s why Shin-hyuk sought to learn about the trait called Devour, which he didn’t know.
—
[The Apex of All Evil strokes its chin in thought.]
[The Apex of All Evil accepts your request.]
—
“…! Thank you!”
Fortunately, the Apex of All Evil accepted Shin-hyuk’s request.
But the joy was short-lived.
—
[Caution! There may be pain!]
—
“Pain? What do you mean by that— Keuk…!”
A sensation like needles poking into his brain began to overwhelm Shin-hyuk.
It was a pain that even Shin-hyuk, who was accustomed to pain, couldn’t endure—his limbs trembled as he struggled—
“Phew… So this was the trait…”
With the pain that vanished in an instant, Shin-hyuk recalled the information about Devour that had settled in his mind and smiled with a sigh.
“A power that absorbs a portion of the abilities of enemies I’ve consumed. That’s ridiculous, isn’t it?”
A power that absorbed the abilities of enemies he had killed.
Unfortunately, since this wasn’t the ‘real’ Dimension Arena, he couldn’t absorb from players, but that didn’t matter.
“Even just with the monsters appearing in the Dimension Arena, I can grow steeply enough. All Master and Devour on top of that. I’m gaining wings just by staying still.”
As things stood, even just killing the monsters that appeared in the Dimension Arena would allow him to grow through Devour without any major issues.
Just as Shin-hyuk was smiling at his ever-growing abilities—
—
[The Apex of All Evil says it looks forward to your future exploits.]
—
“I’ll live up to your expectations.”
The Apex of All Evil, which had taught Shin-hyuk about Devour, left only a single message and vanished.
Only then, convinced that the gaze upon him had disappeared, Shin-hyuk let out a sigh.
“Phew, receiving the attention of a constellation is as hard as they say.”
Constellations were god-like beings.
Even if they communicated through messages and watched from afar, for Shin-hyuk, who was merely a human, it was incredibly taxing.
Just as Shin-hyuk, exhausted, sprawled out—
—
[The placement exam has ended.]
[Your placement tier is currently being determined. Please wait a moment.]
—
“Ah, right. It was still the placement exam.”
Realizing that he was still in the middle of the placement exam, Shin-hyuk let out a hollow laugh and waited for his tier assignment.
How much time had passed?
The message window appeared again.
—
[Player, Choi Shin-hyuk’s tier has been determined.]
[The achievements and playstyle demonstrated by Choi Shin-hyuk were used as data for the tier assignment.]
—
“This should be worth looking forward to.”
The achievements and performances Shin-hyuk had shown in this placement exam were far from ordinary.
He didn’t know what the Dimension Arena’s Akashic Record was, but it certainly wasn’t something ordinary.
Just the fact that it would be stored there said as much.
Furthermore, if his playstyle was also reflected, Shin-hyuk’s tier assignment would skyrocket.
And the following message window turned Shin-hyuk’s thoughts into certainty.
—
[Player, Choi Shin-hyuk’s tier is…]
—
“…Does this make sense?”
It was a result he couldn’t believe even with his own eyes.
