Max Talent Player

<suicide. Readers, please be advised.>>

Very quietly, Kim Hyukjin recited an incantation.

He rattled off the words, having prepared them in his heart in advance. It was the same incantation as when he first created the ‘Temporary Blackfire Bow’. The final incantation Ahn Seohye had uttered while crying tears of blood.

[You who has killing intent.]

[I command thee. Return to thy eternal slumber.]

The same notice as back then was triggered.

[You have partially succeeded in uttering the Will Incantation.]

Hyukjin’s body began to shimmer with red mana. He was sure of it.

‘It’s the same as before.’

He had created a Blackfire Bow with the Ink Bow as a base. This time, Hyukjin possessed the Divine Sword Physique, and he used Isabel as a base to draw forth a new ability.

[Confirming the presence of a physique imprinted with the ‘Tome of the Divine Sword Physique’.]

[Perceiving powerful flame energy imprinted within the Divine Sword Physique.]

And one more.

[Confirming the presence of a ‘Sword’s Pact’.]

When he made the Blackfire Bow, the related factor was the mana wavelength of the Blackfire Bow engraved in his body. This time, it was the Sword’s Pact that came into effect. Hyukjin instinctively realized that the Sword’s Pact was far higher in grade than the Blackfire Bow’s mana wavelength.

[Overlaying the Divine Sword Physique’s mana on Isabel.]

[Generating a temporary Heavenly Sword.]

‘This is a more advanced ability.’

[The Heavenly Sword’s base item is Isabel.]

Blazing with black flames, Isabel plunged into the casper’s back. Hyukjin felt all the energy instantly being siphoned from his body.

‘Ngh.’

He nearly blacked out. Hyukjin used Endless Sky Physique, his new trait, to desperately absorb surrounding mana. Three of the Yellow Mana Crystals in his Inventory instantly disappeared, and as a result, Hyukjin was able to maintain consciousness.

His eyes could see nothing, like the world had been swallowed in darkness. And when he opened his eyes, the casper was gone.

[The Intermediate Administrator ‘Casper’ has been completely obliterated.]

The next instant, the world turned gray. A Pause had taken effect. Hyukjin looked around.

“Senia?”

He couldn’t see her.

‘It wasn’t triggered by Senia.’

And it wasn’t a Guardian, either. That could only mean it was the System. The System itself had triggered a Pause, but since Senia was nowhere to be found, and no explanation was given…

‘She’s been urgently summoned to who knows where to explain the situation.’

In cases like this, you simply had to wait. After pacing for a while, Hyukjin sat down, immersing himself in thought.

‘I killed… the casper.’

Normally, the System would use the term ‘hunt’, but perhaps because a being on the scale of an Intermediate Administrator had been killed, the wording was ‘completely obliterated’.

‘One threat to Sunhwa has disappeared.’

He was relieved. He had been intending on building up his strength over many, many years to eradicate the casper, but to his surprise, that day was today. He was lucky.

‘If not for Noona’s charm…’

Just thinking about it made him shudder. Either Sunhwa or Ahyoung might have been gravely injured or even killed. There was no knowing what the casper would have done to extract himself from Sunhwa’s body.

‘What a relief.’

It was really, truly, a relief. Hyukjin’s eyes moved to Ban Kimyung, who had been greatly injured by Hyukjin’s arrows. He placed a 10-piece Healing Potion set next to the man.

‘The Enforcer of Commandments, Ban Kimyung.’

He fell into thought. Ban Kimyung. One of the 8 Heroes of his previous life.

‘Hm?’

Something was weird. If he wasn’t just imagining it… Ban Kimyung’s body had just moved, ever so minutely.

‘Even though the System’s Pause is in effect.’

He was resisting that Pause authority ever so slightly. The Enforcer of Commandments Ban Kimyung. A level 1 Player. Of course, he couldn’t really move, but the fact that he was resisting it even a little was astonishing.

‘It can’t just be Ban Kimyung, but the power of a System setting.’

With every setting was another setting that opposed and balanced it. This battle between settings was something he had already experienced many times. It seemed Ban Kimyung had some kind of setting within him.

* * *

* * *

At long last, Senia appeared.

“Player Kim Hyukjin.”

“Were you urgently summoned somewhere?”

“I must inform you that my channel is currently closed.”

“That so?”

He didn’t think there was much reason to close it, but he accepted it. Recording the footage and having Shobidobi edit it wasn’t too bad an idea, either.

“Player Kim Hyukjin has killed an Intermediate Administrator. Do you acknowledge that?”

“Yeah.”

“But what you did wasn’t a normal killing, but complete annihilation.”

“Are they different?”

“They are.”

Senia’s expression was as serious as ever.

“How do they differ?”

“A normal Player cannot obliterate an Intermediate Administrator.”

“But I did.”

“That is why I was summoned.” Senia’s wings fluttered. “It has been decided that Player Kim Hyukjin is not a normal Player.”

“If I’m not a normal Player, then what am I?”

“An Irregular.”

“Irregular?”

Didn’t Irregular refer to people like CEO Song, who awakened his special powers long after his talent plates closed?

“Yes. I believe there is an upper-grade setting that I cannot confirm with my jurisdiction at play.”

“What’s an upper-grade setting?”

“A setting that does not exist within the current System. For example, something like regression.”

Senia’s eyes narrowed. An alarm bell went off in Hyukjin’s mind.

‘A trap from the System.’

No matter what Senia said, she never showed a change in expression. You could say that was part of Senia’s identity. But right now, her eyes were narrowed. Senia was trying to hint at something.

‘I’m being interrogated through Senia.’

The System itself was observing him, Kim Hyukjin.

“Regression?” Hyukjin burst out in uproarious laughter. “Wait, are you talking about returning to the past from the future?”

“Yes. Is that funny to you?”

“Such a thing being real hasn’t even occurred to me. No matter how powerful the System is, can it turn back time?”

The System’s limit in regards to time was Pause, and that was it.

“It cannot.”

“So do you mean to say that I, a mere human, transcended time and space to return to the past and Play here when even the System cannot do such a thing?”

“There is no other acceptable explanation for Player Kim Hyukjin’s actions.”

“Just because you can’t accept it doesn’t make it evidence of regression.”

‘Playing like this is possible because Kim Hyukjin regressed.’That was a valid hypothesis. What wasn’t valid was ‘Kim Hyukjin must have regressed to Play like this’.

‘What I know for sure is that the System rejects regression.’

What would happen if he were to expose himself here and reveal that he was a regressor?

‘I would become a bug that needed to disappear.’

So he could not acknowledge the truth, not even slightly. Even though he was up against the System’s scrutiny, he had to put up a perfect act and sculpt the situation he wanted.

“By the same logic, if I were a regressor, I wouldn’t have gone up against the Fire Giants, nor would I have gone to the Endless Sky.”

That was natural—they were incidents that hadn’t happened in the past he knew, but secrets of the world triggered by Hyukjin’s actions.

“You saw how I almost died in the Endless Sky, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I certainly did.”

Hyukjin became even more sure. Senia was questioning him like this was an interrogation, but she was also defending him. With her agreement, she was taking Kim Hyukjin’s side. She was expressionless at the moment.

“Granted, I can see the future, to some extent.”

That was permissible by the System. In this world, precognitive dreams and seers were a thing.

“And I’ve based my Playing off of that knowledge.” He broke down the situation very rationally. “I recognized that Sunhwa and Ahyoung went out to have fun.”

“...”

“But the charm that Ahyoung had been replacing every day suddenly turned a chilling red color. I have an observation ability, and judged that the change in color was an ominous sign.”

“That is indeed a reasonable judgment to make.”

As he thought, Senia was on his side. Hyukjin went on.

“That’s why I checked Ahyoung’s search history and mobilized all the means available to me to fly here.”

“How did you notice that this place was off?”

“I sensed that this place was strangely twisted through my Endless Sky Physique trait. The mana here is different.”

“Everything up to this point is acceptable. But then, how did you know about Ban Kimyung? How did you know that the casper was targeting Ban Kimyung?”

“I saw someone intending to kill themselves on the second floor. Something like that catches the eye.”

“Yes, it does.”

“I determined that such a person is the perfect prey for a casper.” Hyukjin took a moment to breathe. “And I remembered how the whalekin couldn’t do anything to the Steel Wyverns when they were ascending to the Endless Sky.”

“Yes.”

“It’s the same as now. The casper’s the whalekin, and I’m the flock of Steel Wyverns. The casper was exhausted, and I wasn’t.”

“That is true.”

“By expending the mana crystals I happened to have on me, Isabel was able to manifest greater power than usual, and that’s how I was able to obliterate an Intermediate Administrator. It was sheer luck.”

“In other words, you were able to uncover the casper’s malicious scheme by your innate wit, but what completely obliterated the casper was Isabel’s ability. Is that what you are trying to say right now, Player Kim Hyukjin?”

Hyukjin smiled. After working hand in hand for so many months, he now felt that they made a great team. Senia was a truly full-fledged Intermediate Administrator now, one who actively protected her exclusively contracted Player.

“Exactly. I think it was probably Isabel.”

“In that case, I will write the report like that.”

A report. That was likely a formality. The System was sure to have already come to a conclusion regarding this situation. Senia’s trembling wings were proof of that.

“A new title will be granted to Player Kim Hyukjin.”

“What title?”

“To be precise, [Pioneer of Victory] will be promoted to [Pioneer of Obliteration].”

“Pioneer of Obliteration?”

“Yes. The base of Pioneer of Victory is First Pioneer. It is through this title that you gained Pioneer of Victory.”

“I know that, too.”

Hyukjin recalled the title effect of Pioneer of Victory.

[Pioneer of Victory]

A glorious title given to one who pioneered a new domain and seized the first victory in a new domain.

1. All party members +20% EXP

2. Stacks with other titles.

3. Stacks with other effects (buffs/debuffs).

4. Amplifies all title effects when in a field pioneered by the Pioneer of Victory.

“So the title was promoted because I was the first to kill an Intermediate Administrator?”

Senia nodded. “Yes. Not kill, but obliterate. They are undeniably different. Pioneer of Obliteration is at least two levels higher than Pioneer of Victory.”

“And why is it that you’re giving me such a detailed explanation of all this?”

He could have simply learned this through the System, but an Intermediate Administrator was telling him instead. He wanted to know why.

“Because it’s the first [Obliteration-grade] title given by the System.”