Master Swordsman’s Stream - Chapter 299

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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 299

Seo Jun reviewed the Quest window he’d seen while exiting the Blacksmith, then checked it again.
He’d naturally anticipated something like this, but the conditions turned out to be more troublesome than expected.
‘So they’re placing restrictions on how I reduce the Participants going forward.’
Because he had suddenly grown far stronger.
Before, staying hidden had been paramount; now, leaving concealment aside, he could choose to kill and reduce targets as they appeared, pushing himself to the limit.
‘If I’d truly wanted to solve the game that way, I’d have done it long ago.’
The reason he hadn’t was simple.
Making the game too easy, too smoothly—that wasn’t particularly appealing either.
Anyway, the AI’s intention was this: grab three of them.
‘They’ve already scattered.’
Only one person was waiting for Seo Jun as he stepped outside the Building.
Yon.
The rest had moved quickly the moment Seo Jun entered. Even if they asked him for information, the odds of him answering were low; besides, any information worth sharing would eventually be obtainable elsewhere anyway.
And Seo Jun hadn’t given any particular hints to begin with.
So the question was: why had Yon, waiting for Seo Jun at the foot of those Stairs, stayed behind?
“Sir! Congratulations! Wow! Sir! I knew it—you didn’t earn first place in material collection for nothing! You came out after grasping the shop so quickly!”
It was for this.
Yon approached Seo Jun with a grin, laughing all the while.
Of course, he understood as well.
The chances of something falling his way were slim.
His reason for funneling materials to Seo Jun was primarily that cooperation made sense—cooperating with the most capable Seo Jun was most advantageous when viewed holistically.
Not to share in the first-place reward together.
The two had explicitly clarified this before entering their cooperation.
And yet!
“Sir, did you get anything good? With first place in a large-scale cooperative Quest like this, you must have gotten something nice, right? Hehe.”
Couldn’t he gain something, anything at all?
Yon approached with that thought in mind.
Seo Jun’s take on all this was:
‘I feel a bit guilty, actually.’
If Yon had approached wringing his hands, it would have felt incredibly servile, and guilt would have magnified substantially.
Though of course, that wouldn’t have changed anything anyway.
“There was something.”
“What is it, sir?”
“An item. Worth 300 Points.”
“Ooh! Wa—”
Yon had responded enthusiastically, tensioning up for a moment, but at the mention of a 300-Point item, his energy deflated as if suddenly drained of vigor.
“Nothing else…?”
“That was all. Four items worth 300 Points each.”
“I see… So we’ll be able to access that shop tomorrow too?”
“Cresit’s shop seems to have opened only for me, and proper Consumables will probably become available tomorrow.”
“Is that so? Sir, you didn’t see anything else besides that?”
“No.”
“Let’s at least check the item options. You’re not going to refuse to show me, are you?”
“Here.”
Seo Jun pulled out the item and handed it to Yon.
Yon kept repeating how envious he was, then returned the item to Seo Jun. He was a decent sort.
“Wow, if I attack you now, I’m done for, seriously. One shot would end me, wouldn’t it? An OP item.”
“Yeah.”
Since Seo Jun hadn’t said anything further, Yon assumed he’d only bought the one item and left it at that.
After receiving the item back, Seo Jun spoke.
“Yon, what are you going to do now?”
“Hmm… I should go earn some Points, I think. I need Points more than other Quests or ruins or whatever. Could you spare me some Points, by chance?”
“If you need anything at the shop tomorrow, I’ll buy it for you.”
“Kyaa, you’re amazing, sir. Your loyalty is unmatched.”
“I can hear you cursing under your breath. Yon.”
His eyes were impure.
“Ahem. Anyway, I think I should still go earn some Points.”
“Fine then. Let’s wrap up here. I’ll see you back here tomorrow.”
“Understood. What will you be doing, sir?”
“Points for me too.”
“Oh, will you be going together?”
The spots for earning Points were fixed, and Yon asked with a smile if Seo Jun would come along.
If Seo Jun came, things would become easier regardless. He even had decent weapons to buy now.
“No.”
“Why? Don’t want to carry me?”
“That’s not it.”
“Could it be…”
“What.”
“Hunting, right? Not regular hunting?”
Both Seo Jun and Yon understood well that a word was missing from the kind of hunting Yon had just mentioned.
Human Hunting.
It wasn’t forbidden, and no Participant who wanted to generate antifans would resort to such measures.
So far, it hadn’t happened even once—unless the perpetrator was the Black Mask—this method of earning Points.
“How’d you guess? Seemed like there were some shady types around.”
“Ha… Sir… Okay, do as you wish.”
Seo Jun tensed up slightly at that.
Worried Yon might even slightly suspect he was the Black Mask.
But Yon was only worried about something else entirely.
The kind of worry that came from the Participant count decreasing.
Seo Jun spoke with a smile.
“Don’t worry. I can control the Black Mask, they say.”
Yon!
Gert!
It felt incredibly reassuring.

* * *

Earlier, Seo Jun had said he could just go to Shin-geom’s group and kill them all, but in reality, the Quest couldn’t possibly be that easy.
First, he could be confident in winning any fight.
But he was bound by a limit: three kills maximum. If he exceeded three kills, he’d lose his power. The Quest would fail too.
‘If there are six or more, I should avoid them.’
Losing all the rewards carried too much risk. Seo Jun disliked uncertainty.
He was confident he could win going by the textbook approach, so why not?
‘And I also need to think about the people still on the Train.’
If he clashed with Shin-geom’s group on the Train, witnesses were likely to appear.
It might be convenient to pin it on Shin-geom, but it wasn’t a guarantee.
Someone could witness the fight anyway.
That’s why the conditions were so troublesome.
“First, to the Guild Branch.”
The biggest reason Seo Jun hadn’t bought two of the Destroyer’s items earlier was because of the Guild.
Peon’s Mask—an item Seo Jun had used expertly.
But there was another item in the Guild shop he could use just as effectively, which was:
“Give me three of Peon’s Gloves.”
“How many?”
“Three.”
“Three? Good grief. Why does the Arbiter need so many gloves?”
Noisy one.
Peon’s Gloves had the effect of dropping the enemy’s belongings upon a kill—including Achievement Points in those belongings.
The gloves were Consumable. Price: 30 Points each.
Hardly anyone bought them, but they were a decent item nonetheless.
Especially since he was the Black Mask—a Black Mask who could use Achievement Points.
Among all Black Masks so far, apart from Seo Jun, none had ever been able to spend Achievement Points.
‘In exchange, the rewards I get from Ability Stats will probably be lower. Maybe that mysterious attacker who was the real raider worked the Quest for two days, so that’s exactly what I’ll fall short by?’
That’s how the AI would adjust it.
Which meant Seo Jun had to maximize his use of these Achievement Points he could actually spend.
Even if he went hunting openly, it wouldn’t be a problem since he was the Black Mask.
Antifans?
Antifans are fans too.
“Preparations are complete. Now I begin.”
Seo Jun stepped out of the Guild Branch Building, put on the Mask, and loosened his neck side to side before clasping his hands behind his back.
He’d head to the Plaza.
They’d likely be there, but even if not, a full day of searching would let him find them by evening.
“Maybe they’re even hoping I come find them. Wouldn’t you say, everyone?”

* * *

Shin-geom surveyed his surroundings with satisfaction.
An entirely unexpected situation had unfolded where the majority didn’t believe his claim, yet Seo Jun was unmistakably Seo Jun.
Just three people who disliked Seo Jun and one person who showed interest in what he was saying had remained in the Basement.
Four people in total who took an interest.
Though everyone’s disbelief was genuinely baffling, after talking it through, he’d come to understand the situation.
‘Squeezing out Points like that, and even winning favor…’
Relentless.
So relentless that Shin-geom entertained for just a moment the weak thought of wishing he’d never entangled with that bastard from the start, wishing he’d never appeared in the History Book.
How could a person even conceive of such ideas?
But precisely because he was so evil, he had to be overthrown.
Above all, he was the Black Mask.
“That guy must have monopolized the top rewards by now, right?”
“It’s not too late even now. Let’s just take him down.”
“Four, five of us—we’d be more than enough to take him. Why didn’t we think to band together properly earlier?”
Of course, three of them seemed not to truly believe he was the Black Mask, but that didn’t matter.
As long as they took that bastard down, whatever their intentions.
The one person who’d shown interest said they’d join the assault later and left to scout the Train.
“So, brothers, when should we go take him?”
Shim-geom asked, having overheard the conversation.
Seo Jun probably hadn’t come out of the Blacksmith yet, but they needed to start preparing for an ambush soon anyway.
“Just invite him here openly? As a private Quest? Then when he comes, we take him down regardless of the Quest.”
“Five-minute clear.”
“Those people earlier doing the three-on-one were sloppy, but we’re not going easy.”
“But is there someone who handles the Guild shop? We should probably buy Peon items if we’re thinking about the rewards.”
“The person doing the kill has to buy it.”
While they chattered away like this.
Someone began descending into the Basement.
An hour ago, Shin-geom had rushed down making a commotion; now, the footsteps of whoever was coming down were extraordinarily leisurely.
“Who is it? Was that the guy who said he’d scout around earlier…?”
Shin-geom could tell.
“No, it’s that bastard. Everyone prepare for an assault.”
His five senses were screaming it. There was only one person who’d deliberately display such composure at a moment like this, imposing psychological pressure.
“What? Already?”
That person was coming now to fight.
“That’s right, Shin-geom. You got it right.”
Then from the Stairway passage, Seo Jun appeared with his hands clasped behind his back, smiling.
“So it was you after all.”
“No, not that. There’s a different answer.”
“What?”
“Let’s see. One, two, three, four. When I checked earlier, I thought there were roughly five of you, but where did the other one go? Only four again. How lucky.”
“What. You’re gonna kill us all? You can, right?”
“…”
Instead of answering, Seo Jun just smiled.
Seo Jun was currently blocking the Basement’s passage.
The other passages opened during evacuation; normally, only the one behind Seo Jun was used.
When Seo Jun remained still, Shin-geom grew anxious and spoke to one of his Dealer Participants.
“Try shooting him. Let’s check his health first.”
“But is he really the Black Mask?”
“Otherwise, why would he be acting like this!”
“Wait.”
Seo Jun spoke.
“What is it.”
“If I kill everyone who follows you, what then, Shin-geom? What becomes of them?”
“What? What are you talking about.”
“Where did you go after leaving the Train that you fell to such temptation? Did you really want revenge on me that badly? Badly enough to shake hands with the Black Mask? To sacrifice those beside you?”
His companions glanced at Shin-geom, confused by his words.
“Ugh, this crazy bastard. Here he goes again.”
But Shin-geom understood.
He’d snapped. Completely.
Seo Jun brought his hands together, knelt, and closed his eyes.
“Ahhh…”
“…”
“I have foreseen the future. I see you, Shin-geom, standing alone.”
At those words, Shin-geom desperately wished for the last person to return soon.
A sinister presence seemed to wrap itself around his body.

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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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