Level -99 Archmage - Chapter 9

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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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Episode 9. Points Can Be Copied
Lee Hyuk-su studied the man standing before him.
He’d encountered all manner of people in his life, but never one quite like this.
‘What is this guy?’
At first, he’d thought he wasn’t human at all.
The armor and helmet he wore looked like something a demon might don.
Beyond that, Lee Hyuk-su hadn’t felt any presence from him until he chose to reveal himself.
Only when Andriel spoke did he realize they were of the same kind.
When Andriel selected him, though, all Lee Hyuk-su felt was a cascade of questions: ‘Why?’
Lee Hyuk-su preferred solitude.
Forming a party with someone else and tackling trials together didn’t suit his nature.
—Freak!
—You’re not human!
From childhood, Lee Hyuk-su had been different.
His emotions were dull, and he struggled to understand others’ suffering.
By nature, he rarely grew excited, yet he never shied from a fight that came his way.
People who failed to understand Lee Hyuk-su’s difference had always tried to cast him out.
But Lee Hyuk-su had never lost a single fight in his life.
Even bleeding, even with wounds splitting open and bones breaking, he never retreated.
Among his peers, Lee Hyuk-su was known as nothing short of a demon or a psychopath.
So solitude suited him fine.
“Listen.”
“…….”
“What’s your name?”
“……Lee Hyuk-su.”
“Lee Hyuk-su. Can you drive a bus?”
“……A bus?”
Lee Hyuk-su echoed the question Park Chan-woo had posed.
Driving a bus, out of nowhere—
There wasn’t a single bus to drive anywhere in this vicinity.
And even if there were a proper bus somewhere,
“Right, you wouldn’t have a driver’s license.”
“How did you…?”
Lee Hyuk-su had no license, that much was true.
But how could Park Chan-woo possibly know that?
Park Chan-woo let out a soft laugh.
That blunt temperament of his hadn’t changed, then or now.
“The scar on your forehead. You got it in a car accident when you were young, didn’t you?”
“…….”
Lee Hyuk-su’s hand instinctively moved to cover his forehead with his hair.
He’d let his hair grow out deliberately to hide the scar.
Yet despite his best effort to conceal it, Park Chan-woo had seen through it at a glance.
Of course, if someone had seen it, they could infer it came from a serious accident.
The problem was that Park Chan-woo had inferred far more than that.
“Three surgeries, and more brushes with death than that. Your personality changed after, and you developed an instinctive fear of cars. Getting a license was out of the question entirely.”
“……!!!”
For the first time since entering the Abyss, Lee Hyuk-su felt shaken.
Not even when people died around him had he wavered like this.
Every word Park Chan-woo spoke was precise fact.
The dullness of his emotions, his insensitivity to pain—all of it had begun after the surgeries.
‘How?’
But how could Park Chan-woo possibly know any of this?
—You bastard. You’re really going to tell me about yourself in a situation like this?
He must have heard it from Lee Hyuk-su himself, obviously.
In an alley leading toward the Dragon God Temple.
When the Final Order, which had begun with a hundred thousand soldiers, was down to roughly a hundred.
At the moment everyone understood: there would be no victory, no returning alive.
Park Chan-woo had asked them a question.
If they could go back to the past, what would they do?
Or what regrets did they have?
The Sword King, Lee Hyuk-su, was one of them.
-I was… alone. Different from everyone else, you see.
Lee Hyuk-su was taciturn by nature.
He never spoke of himself to anyone.
But as death drew near—
Only then did Lee Hyuk-su begin to tell his story.
Park Chan-woo carved every word of it into his mind without missing a single syllable.
Through that story, he came to truly know Lee Hyuk-su.
The only person in this world to do so.
He knew what Lee Hyuk-su desperately wanted, what he yearned for most.
“There’s someone you want to save, isn’t there?”
“… Did you investigate me?”
“I’m a Prophecy user. I know the past, and I see roughly what will happen in the future.”
Lee Hyuk-su still looked at Park Chan-woo with unconvinced eyes.
But Park Chan-woo paid it no mind.
He gestured beyond the curtain, extending his hand.
“Three thousand Booking Points.”
“…?”
“Gather three thousand points and buy an Elixir. Then your mother, who is in a Coma state, will wake up.”
“…”
“But you’ll do only what I tell you to do. Understood?”
-I want to save my mother. If I could go back, that alone would be enough. But I lost that chance in the first Night Abyss. Three thousand points was a number I could never possibly accumulate.
Park Chan-woo had heard it.
The deepest wish of the Sword King, Lee Hyuk-su.
The one singular hope he would sacrifice everything to achieve.
“If you miss this chance, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. This is the only opportunity you’ll ever have.”
Tomorrow evening, Lee Hyuk-su’s mother will finally breathe her last.
Once today passes, she cannot be saved.
“Take my hand, Lee Hyuk-su.”
“What do you want from me…?”
“For you to become stronger.”
“Me… become stronger? You’re doing all this just for something so trivial?”
An expression of complete bewilderment.
Park Chan-woo nodded.
Yes. That’s all that matters.
The first human to reach Level 99, the world’s ultimate warrior.
The true incarnation of the Nine Grand Lords, who merely plays at being a savior!
Lee Hyuk-su was perfect as a means to check that man.
Invincible, undefeated, the absolute Sword King.
To have him reach Level 99 faster than before, making Lee Hyuk-su into the savior.
‘I have no intention of playing the role of hero or savior.’
Park Chan-woo had no desire to become the savior himself.
It was hard enough just to escape his current situation, and mastering magic properly while pursuing truth was never going to be an easy path.
Above all else, there was no benefit in standing out.
This world was crawling with all manner of trolls alongside the Creator.
Park Chan-woo would put Lee Hyuk-su forward as the savior, and work behind the scenes to correct the errors.
That was the most ideal future Park Chan-woo envisioned.
“If you’re lying… I’ll kill you.”
Thump.
Lee Hyuk-su grasped Park Chan-woo’s outstretched hand with an expressionless gaze.
Then Park Chan-woo laughed.
“The contract is sealed. Now then… fight alone.”
“…Fight alone?”
“Exactly as I said. You fight alone on this battlefield. Afraid?”
“Not exactly… but why?”
“If I step in, it’ll end too easily. Then your Booking opponent’s Level would shoot up drastically.”
Park Chan-woo shrugged.
Of course, it was a lie.
The truth was the opposite.
It was to avoid wasting stamina by making unnecessary movements.
To deceive a demon executive like Andriel, he had to maintain the utmost dignity. He couldn’t afford to let his weakness show.
“A Skeletal Soldier has appeared.”
“Will you accept the Booking?”
“Or would you prefer to pass?”
“If you choose to pass, one of your party must be offered as a sacrifice.”
Before long, Park Chan-woo and Lee Hyuk-su found themselves standing in an arena much like a boxing ring.
Park Chan-woo then pointed to the opposite side and spoke.
“Go on. Bus driver.”
* * *
The Booking from hell had begun.
‘If he gives up all his Coins, he’ll want to live.’
Andriel stared intently at the arena where Park Chan-woo stood.
Whether other humans died or not was no concern of his.
His purpose was singular.
Coins.
He intended to steal every last Coin that Park Chan-woo possessed.
With these Coins alone, he could create his own Abyss.
He would become a Creator.
Yet taking them by force was impossible.
Nothing in this Abyss could be transferred by coercion.
And as a Game Master, he could not kill humans without legitimate cause.
‘At best, I’ll win once or twice. And even that will be terribly difficult.’
Just how strong would his opponent be?
Andriel found himself anticipating it.
The moment when Park Chan-woo would surrender and beg for his life, offering up his Coins.
Then he would pretend to show mercy and let him live.
There was nothing wrong with placing the avatar of one of the nine great Lords in his debt.
But when his Booking opponent appeared moments later, Andriel tilted his head in confusion.
‘…A Skeletal Soldier?’
Merely a Skeletal Soldier.
It had nothing special about it either.
Not even carrying a weapon—just a bare Skeletal Soldier.
A weakling monster designed to appear when a party’s average Level approached one.
This game had been prepared by the Night Abyss itself, by the Moon Master suspended in the sky.
It functioned as an absolute rule.
The Booking opponent was determined based on the strength of those who participated in the Booking.
Yet a mere Skeletal Soldier?
If that human were truly strong, shouldn’t a monster of at least Level 30 or higher appear?
Then something remarkable happened.
“What… is this. That absurd durability.”
One tap, and it crumbled to dust and fell.
It was outrageous.
What kind of shoddy Skeletal Soldier broke apart like that?
Although it was called a Level 1 Skeletal Soldier, even accounting for that, it was absurdly weak.
‘A bug?’
He suspected a malfunction had occurred.
But Andriel steadied himself.
The Booking would continue.
And each time one won, the next opponent would appear at exactly ‘1 Level higher’ than before.
The stronger you fought, the stronger the Booking opponent became.
The game had been designed so that one could never accumulate Booking Points beyond a certain threshold.
All those countless treasures were merely ‘pie in the sky’—bait to stimulate human desire.
And yet.
“Am I… seeing something wrong?”
Tap!
Crumble!
Tap!
Crumble!
Skeletal Soldiers kept appearing endlessly.
As Booking opponents, only Skeletal Soldiers had appeared.
What made it worse was that all of them were skeletal soldiers of the shoddiest construction.
Andriel rubbed his eyes.
Nothing about this felt real.
He couldn’t fathom what was happening, yet the impossible was unfolding before him.
At this rate, he might lose his position as Game Master.
And yet.
Crack!
Crumble!
“No, this can’t be…!”
* * *
《Your 36th Booking opponent has been decided.》
《Will you proceed?》
《You are on a 35-win streak. You have accumulated 2,080 Booking Points so far.》
Park Chan-woo clasped his hands behind his back at ease, leaving the astounded Andriel in his wake.
Throughout the thirty-five Bookings, Park Chan-woo had not moved a single step from where he stood.
‘The points are duplicating themselves,’ he mused.

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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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