I Became a Disaster-Class Newbie by Stealing Abilities - Chapter 1

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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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Prologue
[Blood spilled from one hundred sacrifices seeps into the earth.]
[The hidden Labyrinth “Covenant” has opened!]
A deep, resonant hum filled the air.
A massive gate constructed from blood materialized before them.
A horrifying sight—as though the very mouth of hell had yawned open.
“We’ve finally made it.”
“It’s been quite the ordeal. But losing all those subordinates like this—I’m not sure what we’ll do going forward.”
“Tsk. Don’t concern yourself with it. They’re merely consumables. We can replenish our numbers whenever we wish, can’t we?”
Before the gate stood one of the Empire’s most notorious mercenary companies.
A knight known as the Limb Severer.
A tank dubbed the Frozen Barrier.
A Black Mage who carried the epithet Death’s Archive.
And many other capable warriors who had proven themselves by crossing countless lines of fire.
Their credentials were, in fact, sufficient.
Or rather, they should have been.
Had their growth been normal, that is.
“If only I hadn’t clicked on that strange status window back then….”
Gunther, the main tank, muttered to himself, dwelling on the past.
[This is the Imperial Bank. The full amount deposited in your account, Gunther, has been withdrawn. If this was not done by you, please visit https:holymoly.com to verify.]
A message of a type he’d never seen before.
He didn’t know what https or any of that meant, but Gunther found his hand drifting toward those words before he could stop himself.
That moment, the nightmare began.
The defensive power he’d built up painstakingly through natural talent and grueling effort as a tank—it vanished in a single click, wholesale.
As though someone had stolen it away.
“I too have carelessly lost the creature the Master granted me.”
A short-haired tamer released a long, weary sigh.
[101 Ways to Tame Ancient Beasts. No matter how savage or ferocious your summoned creature, we’ll turn it into a perfectly obedient pet! #There’s No Such Thing as a Bad Ancient Beast! Author: Kang Hyung-wook.]
A legendary tamer said to have come from a world called Earth—Kang Hyung-wook.
It had seemed fortunate to acquire his book by chance.
But from the moment she hatched the egg following the book’s instructions, everything went wrong.
The hopelessly warped Ancient Beast had abandoned her and run away from home.
There’s no such thing as a bad Ancient Beast, they said.
There was. One that didn’t even recognize its own master.
“Someone stole every single one of my grimoires from Death’s Archive! I should’ve known something was amiss when you started spouting nonsense about misfortune written all over your face and needing to pray to our ancestors.”
The Black Mage added his own complaint.
[Library Loan Receipt]
[Return Date: 9999 years, 99 months, 99 days.]
[Borrower: The Wailing Transparent Dragon]
Before him lay a piece of paper, creased and folded haphazardly.
“Everyone, be quiet. At least you didn’t lose your core trait like I did. Damn it all.”
Another victim emerged from the group.
A loss that carved away at the flesh itself.
It might be an ability. It might be stats. It might be a summoned creature.
“I can’t even remember my mother anymore.”
It might even be a memory.
Was it divine punishment from the God of Light?
Or perhaps some prank orchestrated by a high-ranking paladin or cardinal?
Various theories were proposed in succession, yet no answer to that question could be found.
What did any of it matter now, anyway?
This contract bore a reward substantial enough to shift the existing balance of power.
Even if they couldn’t deploy their full strength as before, they could not afford to surrender.
Thump.
The mercenary company entered the Labyrinth.
Contrary to their apprehensions, their progress was relatively smooth.
Deceiving one hundred subordinates and offering them as sacrifices had proven more troublesome than this.
As several hours elapsed and they reached the innermost sanctum….
….an anomaly manifested.
Whoosh!
Alongside a torrent of searing black flames, an enormous monster revealed itself.
A ram’s skull, its entire body engulfed in black flame.
Bound in crimson chains, it wielded a sickle darker than midnight—a striking image.
[The Labyrinth’s boss monster, Shargas, turns its gaze upon the raid party.]
“Kee-hee-hee. Very… very appetizing morsels, I see.”
The skull’s jaws split wide, top and bottom.
“T-the limit of Magic Power… I can’t sense the end of it.”
“So all those warnings in the literature—they were about this thing alone.”
It was a death and despair unlike anything they’d faced before.
* * *
Three hours of battle ended in the mercenary band’s defeat.
They unleashed brilliant, formidable abilities and executed their strategies with precision—yet they could not pierce the black flame.
“Pathetic creatures.”
Shargas let out a contemptuous laugh.
Clang!
The sickle, dripping with blood, swayed left and right.
All that remained was to sever the breath from these humans clinging to life by a thread.
Since the entire group had lost consciousness, it would take only a moment more to finish them.
But then.
“Well. These are supposed to be pretty skilled, or so I hear. Guess I drained them harder than I thought—didn’t expect them to wipe out this easily without holding anything back.”
Just as the final blow awaited, someone appeared.
A man with jet-black hair and pale skin.
His smooth, crooked smile caught Shargas’s attention.
“If you’d luckily survived, you should’ve played dead to save your own skin. Crawling out like a fool instead—that’s just asking for it.”
He looked nothing short of desperate for death.
Ku-ku-ku-ku!
Black flames gathered in the shape of towering cumulus clouds.
The air froze.
Phantom wisps bristled and surged.
Terror began to devour reason itself.
And the moment the Magic Power, expanded to its limit, breached the critical threshold—
[Shargas activates the skill Radiant Shockwave!]
A gale erupted, beginning to swallow everything in sight.
“So that’s the ability he’d been targeting the tank with.”
The man watched death bearing down upon him.
“Stun within 10 meters. And a slowdown effect up to 22.5 meters.”
Cooldown: one minute thirty seconds.
On top of that, it ignores physical defense entirely.
Certainly a hard counter against melee dealers and tanks alike.
But.
Everything in this world has its own way through—a breakthrough that fits its nature.
[The trait Steel Resolve activates!]
The main tank Gunther’s lost trait, and—
[The skill Wind’s Path activates!]
A skill stolen from the supporter Ian Patrick—both unfolded at once.
A single trait or skill alone would be powerless to block Shargas’s shockwave.
Yet if Wind’s Path were split into seven branches atop Steel Resolve, they would generate synergy far exceeding the sum of their parts.
Crack-crack-crack-crack-crack!
The shockwave passed clear of the place where the man stood.
“What…?”
Shargas tilted its head in confusion.
It had been certain the flesh would burst apart from the impact—yet instead, an invisible barrier had blocked its path.
Wind’s Path and Steel Resolve.
Those others had wielded the same combination, yet couldn’t hold out even a second.
Why was the outcome different this time?
The precise reason eluded it, but—
“Impressive. Now I might find some amusement in this.”
It had been so dreadfully dull.
At last, interest was beginning to kindle.
Shargas immediately retrieved another sacred relic from the void.
A Black Coffin inscribed with ancient sorcery.
Clang!
As the door swung open, a tide of monsters came pouring out.
“Kiieeee!”
“Groooah!”
Every last one of them an upper-tier beast.
They were the sort that would qualify as Named Monsters in any dungeon.
“I see this one’s pattern hasn’t changed a bit, then or now.”
The man chuckled softly and called out to something.
“Mangkki.”
At that summons.
Whoooosh!
A colossal form emerged from between walls of deep crimson flame.
A black wolf.
No—it was far too vast to be called a wolf.
The Ancient Beast, towering tens of meters high, tore through every enemy in sight with savage precision.
“Kyaaoooh!”
The roar rang out with shattering force.
Overwhelming. Utterly overwhelming.
Each time its crimson eyes blazed, the monsters froze in place—like prey before a predator, incapable of even a single blow of resistance.
The Black Coffin itself had become utterly useless.
“……!?”
Only then did Shargas’s aura shift a full one-eighty.
It sensed a wrongness of an entirely different dimension from any human it had faced before.
[Shargas summons its unique weapon, the Abyss Demon Spear!]
Crack!
Navy-blue sparks erupted as a burning spear materialized above Shargas’s head.
Its form was a fusion of the killing intent of several high-ranking demons.
Before such a thing, armor was as good as useless.
“Hmm. Catching that with my bare hands would sting a bit.”
The man smacked his lips as he eyed the blazing spear.
Then he drew a small dagger from his pocket.
It was something he’d picked up at the Neighborhood Market, part of a buy-one-get-one deal.
“Krahahaha! So you are different from the other insects after all. And yet you dare draw that pitiful thing as your weapon?”
“Just wait. It’s about to get fun.”
Besides, he’d already plundered plenty of weapons from various beings.
He figured he might as well put them to use.
[Durability rises to 500,000.]
[The Neighborhood Market Dagger evolves into the Unbreakable Legendary Sword.]
“Ho. Using an enhancement ability? It’s barely escaped being a toothpick.”
[Attack power rises to 999,999.]
[The Unbreakable Legendary Sword evolves into Excalibur.]
“So… you’ve finally reached a level where you could actually harm me. I commend you, human.”
[Physical penetration rises to 100%.]
[Critical strike probability rises to 99%.]
[Fire damage increases by +100,000.]
[Holy power….]
[Life drain rate….]
[…rises!]
[It has evolved into the Blood-Drinking Holy Sword.]
Its name changed.
Its shape transformed.
The tiny dagger had somehow become an ego sword complete with a single eye.
“Mummy!”
It could even babble.
“Hey… wait a moment.”
“What?”
“Ahem. That… seems like enough now. Perhaps even a touch excessive.”
“No. Not yet. This much is still just ‘human rubbish’ tier. Even I think it’s a pathetic draft. Ugh.”
The man waved his hand dismissively and infused the sword with a new power.
[Injecting the Primordial Force plundered from the Cthulhu Mythos!]
A sword drenched in violet flame.
This ill-omened weapon was no longer something that could be called a blade.
The man slowly took his stance.
“This… this cannot be. How can a mortal wield power that transcends the domain of the divine?”
Shargas staggered backward.
The will to fight had long since abandoned him.
“Think of it simply as having met the wrong opponent. There’s no one in this world who understands it better than I do.”
Three and a half years had passed since he was summoned into this game world.
The path ahead was still long before the end.
So then.
“Disappear.”
The man thrust forward the arm he had drawn back.
[Jung Ju-sang activates the Sacred Skill ‘Abyss Blade’!]
Crack-crack-crack… Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!
The violet sword strike tore through space itself.
“Ahhhhh!”
With that final, agonized cry.
Crash-whoooosh!!!
Shargas’s skull split clean in two.
Episode 1. Game Service Termination
The virtual reality game “The Emperor”.
Created with a setting over 90% identical to the modern world, built around the concept: what if an “Emperor” ruled the world?
A difficulty that was not merely absurd but genuinely hellish.
The gaming company offered a bounty of ten billion won to the first player to clear it.
These two factors were more than enough to ignite the competitive spirit of countless gamers worldwide.
—Overthrow the Empire’s Emperor and become a new Emperor that no one dares to challenge.
On the surface, the condition was simple enough.
But all those who had actually played the game knew the truth.
Just how impossible it truly was.
Early-game progression that was both unfriendly and brutally demanding.
Named Monsters that razed entire cities without warning.
Merely surviving day to day felt overwhelming, let alone becoming Emperor.
And when players finally pushed past the initial stretch and dared to feel a spark of confidence, they encountered the true monsters.
Regular knights belonging to the Knight Order and imperial wizards belonging to the Mage Corps.
The two pillars that upheld the Empire.
These were beings that no player could hope to match one-on-one.
To enter the Imperial Capital, crawling with such superhumans, and overthrow the Emperor?
Impossible.
No matter how thoroughly one prepared or how many powerful allies one gathered.
No matter how one emptied the entire reservoir of fortune in a lifetime.
There was no path to victory.
That was it.
That was the conclusion everyone reached.
Once players realized the success rate was zero percent, the game’s popularity withered rapidly.
The flood of next-generation games released in quick succession only hastened the shift of public interest.
All that remained were a handful of gamblers chasing the dream of sudden wealth.
And as the game faded from memory altogether.
[Server maintenance period has expired.]
[Shortly, the service for ‘The Emperor’ will be terminated.]
A message appeared on smartphones without warning.
The game that had merely been limping along finally reached its end.
A full twelve years after its launch.
-iop: So this garbage game is really shutting down after all.
-Sun God: I heard the average concurrent players dropped below 100 recently, so it’s only natural.
-Tale Full of Sound and Fury: Broken balance, endless bugs, devs ghosting… honestly the people running it are a joke. And the average Playtime was what, 29 hours?
-Natural Loader: Become Emperor? Yeah right. Has anyone even laid eyes on the Emperor? lol
-Eats Anything: Never. Even those hardcore Korean grinders quit ages ago, like a hundred million years back.
-Mother Believes in Her Son: Only the rice-farming no-lifers chasing that ten billion are left, bleeding their parents dry.
The news instantly became a hot topic.
Though The Emperor had long been written off as an obsolete relic, it was still true that the game had left its mark on the history of virtual reality gaming.
YouTubers and gaming influencers alike rushed in to extract the last drops of value from the game.
But such reactions were short-lived.
[We will now begin the selection of Heroes!]
People understood.
[Selected Heroes will be immediately transported to the world of The Emperor.]
That something had gone terribly, irreversibly wrong.
[Selection will continue for ??? rounds, and should none clear within that span, the Human Extinction Program will activate.]
Status windows stained crimson heralded the dawn of a new age.
Every rule and convention they had known lay shattered.
And.
In a semi-basement in Seoul.
“Uh….”
A young man’s mouth hung open, slack with disbelief.
[We salute you, great Challenger, who came nearest to the ending.]
[Playtime: 52,259 hours]
[We pray that one worthy as you will finally, at last, witness the true ending….]
[Upon success, we shall grant you the Wish Voucher—a prize with which all things become possible.]
[Special rewards for this great Challenger shall be progressively unlocked.]
On the auxiliary screen of the VR machine, a message appeared—reserved for one person alone.
Jung Ju-sang.
Twenty-seven years old.
It was summer.

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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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