Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 298

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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 298

Seo Jun left the Underground and emerged into the Plaza, leaving Geomsin behind. He headed straight for where Cresit was waiting.
Two Quest windows hovered beside him.
One was Cresit’s favor Quest, refreshed to ask him to come today.
The other was the newly updated Quest from the Hidden Mastermind: Desire for Power.
‘How long am I supposed to keep that one going?’
The Quest was still in a question mark state. It had appeared, but hadn’t been refreshed.
‘I’ll think about that after I’m done here.’
As Seo Jun headed to the Smithy, almost all the participants followed him.
‘The ones who didn’t follow must have stayed with Geomsin.’
Even if he wanted to attempt a different Quest, it wouldn’t be too late to check on the Smithy first.
The Historical Record’s schedule wasn’t so packed that a quick detour would matter.
So he could only assume they’d stayed behind with Geomsin.
‘That’s dangerous.’
Being suspected once and never being suspected before are worlds apart in terms of risk.
A seed had been planted.
A seed that could germinate at any moment.
‘Even meaningless actions will look suspicious now, and suspicious actions will look even more suspicious.’
What should he do in this situation?
The answer was simple: don’t think about it.
The moment Seo Jun became self-conscious, the odds of getting caught only increased.
“We’ve arrived.”
While considering and examining the Quests, Seo Jun reached the Smithy.
But mercenaries who’d been guarding the entrance to the Otherworld stood watch at the Smithy’s entrance.
They let Seo Jun pass, but when other participants tried to enter, they blocked them.
“Only Kael can go inside.”
“So we can’t even look?”
“Well, that works out.”
“But seriously, how can the Hidden Mastermind pull off a Quest like this? Ha ha!”
“I mean, the Hidden Mastermind—wait, Kael! I believe in you!”
It was Gert.
He’d been acting overly friendly from the start, but Seo Jun didn’t mind. In fact, he welcomed it.
He hadn’t even planned to use Gert, yet the man was already volunteering himself to be used.
“Then I’ll head in. Thank you for your work.”
Leaving the pros behind, who’d found nothing to investigate, Seo Jun entered the Smithy.
“This is Cresit’s Smithy. Yes, the interior design hasn’t changed.”
He wasn’t a pro—just a Streamer. He had to remember his real role.
So he decided to proceed in Streamer mode.

* * *

[Let’s see. The Points I have total 620. Wow, that’s actually a lot.]

It really was a lot.
Even from Bang Ju’s perspective, there was absolutely no other participant who’d accumulated this much by this point in the round.
Half of that?
Even half would put someone in the top three.
Must be because he’d used Copy three times.

[Let me give a thanks to Gert for giving 100 Points and continuing to boost goodwill. I’m sure you’ll see it when we wrap up, right?]

-Hahaha
-The Patriarch acknowledged us! Gert’s a success!
-Germany’s goodwill is number one in the world!
-Gert’s doing some real heavy lifting right now
-100 Points is solid
-What if Gert was actually the first to realize he’s the Hidden Mastermind and has been pledging loyalty to the Patriarch this whole time?
-Loyalty loyalty!

“I’ve entered the Smithy! And now I’m meeting Cresit. What will he possibly give to Kael, who made the greatest contribution? The secret of the Train is finally revealed!”
It was probably a new item, as expected.
But if it turned out to be consumable, all those Points wouldn’t mean much.
“But something unexpected might appear! The Game Company never reveals everything!”

[Come along, Kael.]
[Of course.]
[Ah, I have a gift for you before we look around.]
[What is it?]
[An Interdimensional Pouch.]

An Interdimensional Pouch.
In participant terminology, it was simply an item slot.
“Oh! He’s giving you item slots! Is he being considerate so you can buy more things? But the AI wouldn’t do something like this, would they? Shouldn’t they be checking you? Can’t they change what they’re offering?”

[Wow. It went from 6 slots to 20 slots.]

-That’s suspicious, real suspicious lol
-For real though, shouldn’t they not spoil the Patriarch? He’s got lots of money?
-Way too generous
-600 Points doesn’t make sense

[Come this way then. I’ll show you this round’s invention.]
[Oh. There’s an elevator here.]

They board the elevator and move to the top.
They reach an upper level that wasn’t visible from below.
“That Building is famous. Cresit’s Shop.”
Once before, there was a participant who’d cleared a long chain Quest in the Train.
The final reward of that chain Quest was this very space.
Cresit’s Shop, as it was known.
The items that had been on display then were two tiers higher in quality than even decent-spec Artifacts.
Cresit and Seo Jun stepped out of the elevator.

[Look around freely.]
[Good. But I’m curious about something.]
[What?]
[How are you planning to reveal this place to the other Champions tomorrow? This space?]
[Reveal this space? I won’t.]
[Then?]
[There are many inventions below as well. I’ve put only the best ones up here. By the way, you’ll be able to go down there tomorrow too.]
[Ah. Everyone, that’s really generous. It seems like the privilege is bigger than expected.]

-That’s huge, right?
-To come back up from below, you’d need to clear another Quest. Annoying
-Is it even worth it? Even if it is, would other participants know about it? That’s a dilemma
-The Patriarch just came straight in though

[Let me look at the items. So four total. 300 Points each? If I’d done this normally, I’d have had a hard time buying them right away. But who am I?]

-The Patriarch recognizing his own abnormality lol
-That crazy bastard who copied three times lol
-Broken items!
-How do you know they’re broken?
-They obviously look too good

Seo Jun began to examine the items carefully.

[Each one has incredibly powerful effects. The Destroyer’s Weapon gives a flat 30% damage increase. The Destroyer’s Gauntlet converts 20% of dealt damage into health recovery. The Destroyer’s Armor grants Invulnerability for 15 seconds when activated. All the base Stats are high. And a Bracelet that boosts Stats insanely. But why “Destroyer”?]

“Oh! So items like that will be coming into the game too?! Well, probably not. Either way, which one would be best for the Patriarch right now!”
Seo Jun examined the items and began to think, while the Viewers launched into debate.

-Definitely Invulnerability
-Why?
-15 seconds of Invulnerability means Judgment Sword just gets copied
-Starting from Mother Leia, you’d be able to do what normally requires support for 5-person raids. If you buy that, the cooldown is short too
-You can do 5-person raids with that? lol You should buy something that boosts other Stats instead
-Why boost Stats? Base Stats are already insanely high from the Hidden Mastermind Quest. The higher they go, the lower the value per point becomes. You don’t know that?
-A flat 30% damage boost is tempting though. All the others probably have similar value, but 30% increase is just instant death
-For real lol
-What about the lifesteal?

“The lifesteal has a downside, everyone.”
Bang Ju said this.

-What?
-What is it?
-Huh?

“It recovers 20% of the damage dealt. Seo Jun’s health is constantly increasing, so if it’s based on damage dealt, the recovery amount won’t be much compared to his total health pool.”
This was a matter of efficiency.
“The conversion rates of the other items are probably calibrated to roughly match 30% damage. But that’s when everyone only has base Stats. Some Champions might have high HP+Defense, others might have high Attack.”
You had to fill in the lacking Stats for that situation to achieve maximum efficiency.
And when that situation was applied to Seo Jun, health recovery might be nice to have, but in terms of conversion rate, it could be inefficient.
“Of course, if needed, it could be good! Most importantly!”

[Hmm, it doesn’t seem to block duplicate purchases? Hey, Cresit.]
[What is it, Judge.]
[Can I buy two of these?]
[Ha. You have the qualification, so if you can pay for it, there’s no reason not to sell.]
[You know my Points.]
[I don’t follow what you’re saying.]

Seo Jun breaks into a grin.
Bang Ju was smiling along with him.
“Ah! So you can buy two of those broken items! Isn’t that a total catastrophe? A real catastrophe?”

-For real lol
-300 Points is expensive, but like lol
-Let’s go flat damage!
-But we’ll need to buy stuff from the shop tomorrow and Runes too, so buying 2 might be a bit much
-Runes are cheap. Don’t worry

[Can I buy whenever I want?]
[If you wish.]
[Then I’ll buy the Destroyer’s Weapon first.]

“Flat damage it is! The Patriarch’s first choice is flat damage!”

* * *

“Sigh…….”
“He’s clever. That’s the problem.”
“Who made it so that buying multiple items was allowed? And who locked it so the AI couldn’t touch it?”
“Stop blaming others!”
“That person was who I just mentioned.”
“Cough.”
In this Historical Record, nothing had gone as the team leaders predicted. Nothing at all.
Really, everything.
The important thing was that the cause of all these failed predictions was a single person.
Seo Jun.
A Streamer from Korea.
“Who would have thought the Hidden Mastermind could buy multiple copies of such good items.”
There were certain things the AI could never touch, no matter how much it adjusted.
Without a special scenario, anyway.
Guild systems, Runes, and so forth.
These couldn’t be arbitrarily locked down to prevent someone from buying them just because they’d grown too strong. And in a case like this, if someone gathered around 600 Points, it seemed right to let them buy what they wanted. So they’d locked it in.
“Everything’s going sideways. What are we even doing…….”
Their goal was the most perfect ending.
Whether the newly minted Hidden Mastermind from Korea won or some other participant emerged victorious, the fight shouldn’t be one-sided.
But it seemed like things were going to be lopsided. Increasingly so.
Of course, there was nothing they could do about it now.
All their arrangements had come to nothing, and their attempts to adjust the AI had backfired.
All they could do now was adjust the Dining Hall’s seating arrangements, watch to make sure nothing happened to anyone’s health, and manage the staff well.
Or, they could just cheer.
“Wow! There are 37 participants left, so is that 37 versus 1? Let’s go!”
Or hold a prayer ceremony.
“AI, please just make the Quests ridiculously difficult.”
Someone analyzed the situation coolly.
“If he’s going to be eliminated anyway, wouldn’t it be better if he got much stronger and won overwhelmingly…….”
“That’s also a problem, a problem. He already stole the Hidden Mastermind position in a strange way, and if he wins overwhelmingly with that? We’d lose all credibility…….”
“We’ve already lost all credibility though?”
“The Korea team leader should sit this one out. Honestly, you’re having fun right now.”
“Yes, this is entertaining.”
The team leaders had split into two factions: pro-Seo Jun and anti-Seo Jun.
Regrettably, the pro-Seo Jun faction consisted of only one person.
Perhaps that’s why a sudden cheer erupted.
Seo Jun’s Quest had updated.

[Desire for Power 3]
==
The Otherworldly being has begun whispering to you—don’t you want to become stronger? They offer greater power.
They say what you must do is simple. But now, with greater power comes a price.
Objective: Eliminate three participants in one session during this round (View Details)
Reward: Ability Stats increase
Failure: Ability Stats obtained as reward will reset
==

They found the content quite satisfying.
“Yes! With that level of skill, it should be that difficult!”
After clicking View Details, Seo Jun confirmed the conditions. “In one session” meant kills had to occur within 10 minutes of each other. The power-absorption motion would disappear, he was told.
Most importantly, the Quest explicitly told him to kill exactly three participants—no more, no less—in this round.
“Now that’s how you get proper balance! Three in one session means you have to ambush a group, and most groups have four or more people, so you’d have to leave witnesses!”
That was the difficulty of this Quest.
What if another witness emerged?
“It’s not good when someone goes on too much of a winning streak. To avoid a reset, you have to do it, so maybe we’ll see Kael panic and make reckless plays. The situation will get messier and messier. Characters tempted by power always do things like this, don’t they?”
And as they were delighting in this, Seo Jun spoke.

“Right…….”
“Why does it always feel like our AI keeps losing to that guy?”
“Check how many people are with Geomsin!”

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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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