After Regressing, I Gained the Power of the Demonic Dragon - Chapter 5

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 5
Before Sang Hyuk could even examine the three rewards, South Korea’s national Achievement status refreshed.
[Projected Shortage Points decreased from 150,000 to 30,000.]
[You are now outside the Major Rift occurrence threshold.]
Sang Hyuk’s gaze caught on the second notification.
Twenty thousand points from destroying the Diamond Scarecrow.
One hundred thousand points from defeating the Guardian of Desolation.
Together, that made 120,000 points.
At the end of a Quarterly Settlement, if Shortage Points exceed 100,000, a Major Rift can manifest.
Korea, just after his return, had fallen far short of that threshold at 150,000 points.
That number had now dwindled to 30,000.
The minor and intermediate Rifts scheduled to open this quarter weren’t entirely erased.
But the possibility of a Major Rift—one that could endanger an entire city—had been wiped clean away.
His first day back.
He’d completed only a single Tutorial.
“Phew.”
Sang Hyuk exhaled slowly.
The smile tugging at his lips refused to fade.
The future was different now.
This wasn’t idle hope.
The numbers displayed in the system had actually changed.
If he could fill the remaining 30,000 points this way, this quarter might be the first time Korea remained untouched by Rifts.
He would repeat the same effort in the next quarter.
Those accumulated differences would save Korea’s Players and its cities.
Sang Hyuk closed the notification that had appeared.
Plink.
Light that had scattered through the air gathered upon his palm.
A palm-sized black stone tablet and a worn rust-red key materialized.
Sang Hyuk picked up the stone tablet first.
Its surface bore an engraved pattern that resembled a shuttered eye.
[Item Information]
[Name] Demon Eye Recording Stone
[Grade] Heroic
[Binding] Sang Hyuk
[Description]
– You may record structural information observed through the Demon Dragon’s Eye.
– Recorded information cannot be accessed without the user’s permission.
“Heroic grade?”
Sang Hyuk’s eyes gleamed.
Within the Infinite Tower, items are divided into six Standard Grades.
Common. Elite. Rare. Heroic. Legendary. Mythic.
Separate from these, there existed two special classifications outside the Standard Grade table.
Throne and Taboo.
A Throne is when the power of a Throne takes physical form.
A Taboo is something the Tower itself seals and monitors.
Neither fell into simple categories of strength alone.
In any case, eight out of every ten items that emerged from the Tower were Common.
Even obtaining an Elite item made it a fine main weapon for early-stage Players.
From Rare grade onward, guilds and corporations began bidding in auctions.
A single piece of Heroic-grade equipment could alter a guild’s standing.
Even among top rankers, many had never obtained a Heroic-grade item.
And he’d acquired such an object from a Tutorial.
Sang Hyuk poured mana into the Recording Stone and called to mind the Guardian of Desolation from moments before.
Shhwick.
The shuttered eye pattern opened.
The Guardian of Desolation manifested across the black slate.
‘How much is it showing me?’
Sang Hyuk activated his newly unlocked power.
‘Demon Dragon’s Eye: Structural Analysis.’
As he wielded the ability, both his eyes grew hot.
At the same moment, the left ankle and forehead of the guardian in the stone tablet glowed red.
These were the two weak points he had discovered with Demon Dragon’s Eye during the earlier battle.
Next, the role of each weak point displayed itself in a short description.
[Left ankle: Balance Maintenance]
[Forehead: Outer Layer Regeneration and Full-body Control]
During combat, they had appeared only as red points of weakness.
Now he could understand the function of each one.
‘So this is Structural Analysis.’
Sang Hyuk sent his intent, and the desired area magnified.
Within the observed range, he could even rewind the target’s changes to any moment he wished.
Even after withdrawing the power, the record did not disappear.
Once he opened viewing permissions, others could examine the same record as many times as they wanted.
‘I can take what I’ve seen with me.’
Before regression, Ilsung had possessed money and factories.
But they had lacked precise research materials on the monsters and mechanisms inside the Tower.
Relying only on players’ memories and combat footage had its limits, and those gaps accumulated, causing them to fall behind in equipment manufacturing.
Yet now, with recording stones, he could fill in the resources they had lacked, one by one.
Ilsung had found a path to compete once more in the equipment industry.
Of course, a single record alone would not immediately become equipment blueprints.
Still, Kim Seo Yoon and her research team could now begin their work with far more precise data than before.
‘I bring the materials, and she finds the answers.’
The first record was of the Unbreakable Guardian.
For now it was closer to a strategy guide, but he had confirmed enough of what the recording stone could do.
As he climbed the Tower and encountered new equipment, materials, and mechanisms, the records would continue to accumulate.
To that extent, Ilsung’s research could now proceed from an entirely different foundation than before.
Sang Hyuk sent his intent and confirmed the first record.
[Observation record of the Unbreakable Guardian has been saved.]
Sang Hyuk added even the newly discovered sequence of mana movement to the recording stone.
The red lines glowed once more before sinking into the stone tablet.
Next came the crimson key.
The moment he grasped it, a cold metallic sensation transmitted through his palm.
Sang Hyuk opened the key’s information.
[Item Information]
[Name] Seal Key to the Demon Dragon’s Treasury
[Grade] Judgment Pending
[Status] Sealed
[Binding] Sang Hyuk Kim
[Conditions of use have not been met.]
Sang Hyuk turned the key between his fingers once.
Grade: judgment pending.
It meant that with his current qualifications, he could not determine this object’s grade.
‘A demon dragon’s treasury.’
Treasury.
A storehouse where treasures were accumulated.
And the name attached before it was demon dragon.
The characteristic Sang Hyuk possessed was Heart of the Apocalypse Demon Dragon.
This was not a combination that could be dismissed as mere coincidence.
For now, he did not even know where the door was located.
The conditions to use the key were also blocked.
Yet now that it had come into his hands, someday he would be able to confirm it.
“A treasure vault.”
Sang Hyuk laughed quietly.
What he had gained from the Tutorial was not merely the first power.
He had reduced South Korea’s Shortage Points and acquired research assets for Ilsung to accumulate.
And at the end of it all awaited the demon dragon’s treasury, whose very nature remained unknown.
Sang Hyuk stored the recording stone and key in his Inventory.
And at that very moment.
Both Eastern and Western Player Networks stopped, as if by agreement.
[All-Channel Notice: East and West]
[Impossible Achievement Unlocked]
[A player from South Korea has defeated a target that was not designated for defeat.]
[The Guardian of Unbreakable has vanished.]
[South Korea Achievement Points +100,000]
Nothing else appeared below the announcement.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds.
It was an American player who broke the silence first.
[USA/Lv.52] Raven: Wait. Vanished?
[Germany/Lv.61] Aizen: The Guardian of Unbreakable is supposed to be an entity that can’t be defeated…right?
[UK/Lv.58] Grey: It literally says in the announcement that it wasn’t a defeat target. What is this? Did the system glitch?
[Japan/Lv.64] Tsubaki: I’ve never heard of the system malfunctioning even once in all this time. More importantly—is this the same player who destroyed the Diamond Scarecrow in Korea?
[China/Lv.63] Yun Ryu: Judging by the affiliated nation and the time of occurrence, it’s highly likely they’re the same person.
[USA/Lv.56] Johnny: Wait—someone destroyed the Diamond Scarecrow in the Tutorial and then defeated the Guardian of Unbreakable?
That was when the channel erupted.
New messages flooded in, pushing the old ones away in an instant.
Dozens of languages covered the screen.
The Guardian of Unbreakable.
It was a being that even the current Sixteen Thrones had avoided fighting during the Tutorial.
The objective then had been survival for ten minutes, not defeat.
Such a creature had been defeated for the first time.
[USA/Lv.52] Raven: Hold on. This has to be a 10th-tier Characteristic, doesn’t it?
[China/Lv.63] Yun Ryu: It’s certainly a record that’s hard to explain within the existing tier system.
[USA/Lv.56] Johnny: So South Korea produced a 10th-tier player???
[Germany/Lv.61] Aizen: It’s premature to conclude just yet. But given that the Guardian of Unbreakable has vanished, we can’t rule out the possibility.
Then a message from a Korean player appeared.
[South Korea/Lv.48] Baek Ho: National status updated. Projected Shortage Points: 30,000. We’ve been removed from the Major Rift occurrence zone.
The rapid flood of messages slowed once more.
10th-tier Characteristic.
Impossible Achievement.
A record that even the Sixteen Thrones never established.
For Korean players, the number 30,000 registered before all of that.
[South Korea/Lv.41] Cheol Geom: Wait… did that new player single-handedly fill 120,000 points? Am I reading this right?
[South Korea/Lv.48] Baek Ho: Yes! Thanks to them, this quarter’s Major Rift danger has disappeared!
[South Korea/Lv.41] Cheol Geom: Aaaaahhh! One Tutorial cleared a Major Rift for our country? I don’t know who you are, but thank you so much! ㅠㅠ
Starting with Cheol Geom’s final message, posts marked [South Korea] poured in all at once.
Some rechecked the number 30,000 over and over, and others thanked a player whose name they didn’t even know.
What mattered most to Korean players was a single fact: one Major Rift threatening their cities had vanished this quarter.
In the wake of the cheers and gratitude came new questions.
Which guild do they belong to?
Is this a player being secretly cultivated by the Korean Player Association?
Will they continue to earn national Achievement Points?
None of them had answers.
Only two pieces of information were made public.
Affiliated nation.
South Korea.
Public name.
Undisclosed.
[USA/Lv.52] Raven: But wait, aren’t we forgetting about someone? Didn’t some people make bets that it couldn’t be defeated?
[USA/Lv.56] Johnny: Oh, Pae Geom?
[USA/Lv.52] Raven: Yeah. He bet his entire fortune.
[China/Lv.69] Pae Geom: Shut your mouth.
[USA/Lv.56] Johnny: And Haru said she’d bet one of two precious things.
[Japan/Lv.51] Haru: That wasn’t me.
[UK/Lv.58] Grey: The records are still there.
[Japan/Lv.51] Haru: My account was hacked.
[USA/Lv.56] Johnny: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Messages ridiculing Pae Geom and Haru continued for a while.
But no one ever discovered who the anonymous Korean player was.
* * *
At the same moment.
As the global notification across all channels concluded, a separate alert appeared before the Sixteen Thrones.
[10th-tier Characteristic resonance detected outside the Throne pathway.]
[Not a registered Sixteen Thrones candidate.]
[Classification: Non-throne Candidate / Irregular]
[Escalating results to higher judgment system.]
The white-haired man sitting in the high-backed chair opened his eyes.
The metal ornament resting on his head cast a dim golden gleam.
His finger paused before the third notification.
Non-throne Candidate.
Only a select few could obtain the power of the 10th tier.
The Sixteen Thrones had long kept watch over one another to claim those rare opportunities.
The addition of even a single official candidate shifted each member’s plans.
This newcomer did not appear on any candidate list.
The Tower had classified the unknown player as a Non-throne Candidate and an Irregular.
The white-haired man read the achievement record that followed below the alert.
[Achievement: One Who Achieved the Impossible]
[Achiever: Undisclosed]
[Affiliated Nation: South Korea]
“Defeated the Guardian of the Unbreakable?”
His gaze lingered on the final two lines.
Undisclosed.
South Korea.
An attendant waiting behind the chair stepped forward.
The white-haired man pointed to the line reading South Korea.
“Find out who this player is.”
* * *
[All reward confirmations have been completed.]
[Tutorial has ended.]
[Player Sang Hyuk will be returned to real-world coordinates.]
White light surged beneath Sang Hyuk’s feet.
The gray space and system alerts vanished into the light.
Whirrrr. Whirrrr.
As the light faded, his phone’s vibration sounded.
Sang Hyuk stood in the same room as before entering the Tower.
His phone on the desk trembled slightly with each vibration.
Unread breaking news filled the screen.
[Breaking] Anonymous Player from South Korea Achieves Impossible Achievement
[Breaking] Guardian of the Unbreakable Defeated…… First in Tutorial History
[Breaking] South Korea’s Projected Shortage Points Reduced to 30,000
[Breaking] Korean Player Association Launches Search for Anonymous Player
Sang Hyuk scanned the articles quickly from top to bottom.
Speculation about the Impossible Achievement and 10th-tier Characteristics.
Statements from Association and government officials that they needed to locate the anonymous player.
Even analysis that South Korea had escaped the Major Rift occurrence quota for this quarter.
The results he’d confirmed inside the Tower moments ago were already spreading into reality.
Though the Association and government had begun searching for him, he had no intention of revealing his identity yet.
To protect his family and block the approach of powerful foreign nations, he needed to become stronger than he was now.
South Korea itself had to transform into a nation capable of protecting its own players.
The 120,000 Points he’d gained this time was only the beginning.
The remaining Shortage Points: 30,000.
There was still time before the Quarterly Settlement to fill the gap.
‘I just need to climb higher in the Tower.’
How many Points he could earn would be determined by direct experience.
Sang Hyuk’s finger moved to clear the breaking news alerts.
[Ilsung Group: Standard Mana Defense Equipment 1st Delivery Evaluation D-1]
[Related Article] Association Practical Compatibility Verification Approaching amid ‘Defect Allegations’
[Industry Insider: “Ilsung’s Return to Player Equipment Market a Critical Variable”]
Sang Hyuk’s finger stopped.
The article photo showed the Ilsung Group headquarters and a wrist-guard-shaped prototype together.
The Ilsung mark at the peak of the headquarters in the photograph still glowed brightly.
At the sight of that light, the darkened Testing Facility from before the return came to mind.
Prototypes lay scattered carelessly across the floor, each box marked with a red sealing sticker.
The final test results were displayed on the wall screen.
[Primary Field Compatibility Verification: Incompatible]
Before the return, Ilsung had failed this verification held the very next day.
Standard inspections had revealed no problems whatsoever.
But the moment a monster’s mana touched it, the defensive barrier shook violently, and the equipment grew hot before shutting down entirely.
That single failure cost them qualification for the secondary comparative performance evaluation.
Subsequent reviews and contract opportunities passed to their competitors.
From that point on, Ilsung’s equipment division began to crumble.
That flaw was no accident.
Someone had planted a trap inside the prototype.
It caused no problems under normal conditions, but the moment a monster’s mana entered, the device would shut down the defensive barrier.
The mastermind was the Taesung Group.
Before the return, rumors of Taesung’s involvement only circulated after Ilsung’s failure.
By then, both the verification and all subsequent opportunities were already over.
But now, one day remained before the verification.
This time, there was time to act.
Still, Sang Hyuk didn’t know exactly which part of the equipment concealed the trap, or precisely how it disabled the barrier.
Yet there was a way to find out.
Sang Hyuk retrieved the Demon Eye Recording Stone from his inventory.
A black slate etched with the symbol of a closed eye appeared in his palm.
He gazed down at the stone and organized his tasks.
First, locate the trap using Demon Dragon’s Eye.
Record the moment it activates on the stone and show it to Kim Seo Yoon.
With that recording, she would surely find a way to fix it.
Sang Hyuk placed the stone back in his inventory and pocketed his phone.
After grabbing his coat, he opened the door.
Sang Hyuk headed for the Underground Research Facility of the Ilsung Group to hunt for the trap Taesung had planted.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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