Not A Regressor - Chapter 17

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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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I Am Not a Regressor Chapter 17
The Sacred Relic of the Black Star (4)
A soft sensation enveloped my lips.
I swallowed.
Sweet liquid traced across my tongue and slid down my throat.
“Mmm….”
Feeling the warm comfort against the back of my head, I slowly opened my eyes.
[Are you awake?]
“…Vega?”
The moment my eyes opened, I saw a beautiful goddess with lustrous silver hair and golden eyes.
Not the diminished thirty-centimeter form, but the adult woman I had first encountered.
‘What is this.’
I widened my eyes and turned my head about, trying to make sense of the situation.
I was lying with my head resting on Vega’s thigh.
She was gently stroking my hair as if tending to an exhausted child.
‘This is insane!’
I hurriedly tried to sit up.
[Rest a while longer.]
“Huh? But….”
[Now, did I not tell you to lie down?]
Vega spoke in a deliberately stern voice.
Following the gentle pressure of her hand on my forehead, I placed my head back on her thigh.
Rustle.
The sensation of her dress against the nape of my neck tickled.
“…What happened?”
[You expended far too much strength. You collapsed the moment the battle ended.]
So Vega had been personally caring for me while I was unconscious.
‘Resting my head on a Constellation’s thigh.’
I doubted any other awakener had experienced something this absurd.
[You are….]
Vega continued speaking as she gently placed her hand above my forehead.
[Quite reckless for your appearance, are you not?]
Her tone carried a note of reproach.
[Take better care of yourself. Even a regressor is still human, after all.]
“….”
The greatest reason I had acted so recklessly was because of her, but I could not voice that truth.
It was best to acquiesce quietly here.
“Yes, I will remember that.”
[Hmm.]
Vega gazed down at me with an expression suggesting something displeased her.
“Is something the matter?”
[…No.]
She shook her head, then pressed her lips together with an expression of deep uncertainty.
‘What’s going on?’
Did she suspect something because I’d spoken with such absolute confidence about not worrying, only to barely scrape through with a blessing and nearly burst apart?
‘Damn it. What am I supposed to do then?’
In that situation, there was no other way to face the gelatinous giant besides using a blessing.
[Ahem.]
Vega, who had been lost in thought for a moment, let out a small cough and quickly averted her gaze.
[That… what was it. Earlier, didn’t you address me without honorifics?]
“Oh.”
I’d been struck hard by the giant and was disoriented, and with some inexplicable heat spreading through my body, the casual speech had just slipped out.
“I apologize. I was too confused to think clearly.”
She didn’t seem to mind that I’d nearly burst apart from the gelatinous giant.
[I’m not trying to reproach you. In truth, haven’t there been several occasions when you’ve addressed me without honorifics?]
Just as she said, there had been times I’d used casual speech to maintain the pretense of having some hidden reason.
[…It is permitted.]
“Pardon?”
[If you wish, you may address me freely.]
What was she talking about now?
“Even so, that would be a bit….”
[Is there some problem with that?]
“No, it’s not that, but….”
[After all, in your past life, weren’t you and I… close, intimate even?]
No.
We weren’t like that.
[Or perhaps….]
Vega lowered the hand that had been gently stroking my head and pinched my cheek instead.
She was putting quite a bit of force into it.
[Is it that you could speak casually to me then, but cannot do so to me now?]
There was a hint of displeasure in her voice.
‘Why is she suddenly acting like this?’
I felt somewhat bewildered, but I couldn’t refuse when she was being so insistent.
“Fine. I’ll speak comfortably then.”
[Hehe. Do so.]
She laughed with an elated, satisfied tone.
—Crack!
[Ugh…!]
Suddenly, sparks erupted, and Vega’s brow furrowed.
[It seems… the restrictions are beginning in earnest now.]
Not content with merely bestowing a blessing, she had manifested in her complete form—naturally, the cost would be steep.
“Are you alright?”
[Hmm… This time, I shall require considerably longer to recover.]
“How much longer?”
[At the fastest, two weeks. At the slowest, perhaps a month.]
Twice as long as when she had bestowed the blessing before.
It meant she had pushed her power beyond reasonable limits this time.
“…I’m sorry.”
[What nonsense. This is hardly your burden to apologize for.]
Vega continued with a gentle smile.
[The monster you faced was at least a five-star beast, and something distinctly abnormal compared to ordinary creatures.]
Certainly.
Compared to typical monsters, it had felt fundamentally alien.
[Though I provided assistance, without your own strength as the foundation, victory would have been impossible.]
“I appreciate you saying that.”
I had worried that if I brazenly acted as though I understood everything while having been thoroughly exposed, she might harbor suspicion—but fortunately, her reaction suggested not suspicion, but deepened trust.
“Well then, shall we get up… huh?”
Thud.
As I rose from her lap, empty glass bottles scattered across the floor caught my eye.
Three intermediate potions I had brought as emergency supplies.
[I used them myself to help you regain consciousness more quickly.]
Vega puffed out her chest and crossed her arms proudly.
Hmph!
The forceful snort she released suggested she was fishing for praise.
“Th-that’s… I see.”
Oh Jin clenched his fists tightly, forcing a smile.
Tremor, tremor, tremor.
His clenched fists quivered.
‘No.’
Three bottles.
Three bottles?!!
‘If she used all three at once, what am I supposed to do?!’
Roiling, roiling.
Fury bubbled up from within.
He looked ready to tear out his own hair and have a complete breakdown.
‘How much… how much does all that cost, dammit….’
Thinking of potion prices that ran in the millions per bottle, tears involuntarily welled at the corners of his eyes.
[Hehehehe. So moved you’re shedding tears!]
Please, just stop.
“…Ha, haha. Y-yes. Th-thank you.”
I forced my lips upward with superhuman restraint.
Part of me wanted to grab her by the collar and shake her while demanding answers, but I couldn’t commit such madness against the Constellation I served.
‘Speaking of which.’
My gaze shifted toward the empty potion bottle.
A sudden question bloomed in my mind.
“How did you even get me to drink that?”
[…!]
Vega’s eyes widened dramatically, and her body trembled with a start.
She whipped her head to the side, her voice creeping and evasive.
[D-don’t worry about it.]
“Huh? Don’t worry about what?”
[This goddess shall take her leave now!!!]
“Wait.”
Vega spun around as if fleeing.
Her form transformed into brilliant silver radiance and was absorbed into the necklace.
“…What was that?”
I stared down at the necklace with a bewildered expression, but no answer came.
━An awkward silence.
A desolate atmosphere settled over the empty Cavern Chamber.
“Ugh.”
I scratched my head and turned away.
Right now, there was something far more important than how Vega had made me drink that potion.
“Heh, hehehehe!”
Laughter flowed naturally from my lips.
The moment I laid eyes on the black chalice embedded in the statue’s brow, my mouth watered with anticipation.
“Well then, shall we examine the spoils?”
With a light jump, I reached the statue’s head and grasped the black chalice with a grin spreading across my face.
Crack.
With a dull sound, the black chalice came free from the statue’s brow.
‘What ability does it possess?’
My eyes gleamed as I touched the black chalice.
From the chalice emanated a faint black light that carried something viscous and ominous.
The unsettling aura filled me with unease.
‘I’ll take it with me for now.’
I couldn’t simply discard a sacred relic I’d fought so hard to obtain.
While I had no way to determine its abilities right now, a professional appraiser could easily identify both its power and grade.
“I hope this hard-won relic is at least 3-star grade or higher.”
Even 3-star would fetch 100 to 200 million won.
4-star could command 500 million or more.
‘Wow.’
Just imagining it sends a thrill down my spine.
—Glug, glug.
“…Huh?”
That’s when a strange sensation spread throughout my entire body.
━The same inexplicable euphoria I’d felt moments ago.
A burning sensation, as if I’d swallowed high-proof liquor, scorched through me.
‘What the…’
A thirst that felt like my throat was being consumed by flames.
Instinctively, I grasped the black chalice with both hands.
And then.
[Heukcheon is absorbing the power of the Black Star dwelling within the sacred relic!]
A message materialized before my eyes.
“The power of the Black Star…?”
What in the world was that supposed to mean?
—Glug, glug, glug!!
Before I could process the question, black miasma flowed from my fingertips, engulfing the sacred relic.
“Ugh!”
Mana pouring through the black miasma.
A mana that felt viscous and repulsive—distinctly different from ordinary mana—seeped into my body.
[Successfully absorbed the power of the Black Star!]
[Heukcheon’s trait is evolving!]
[‘Black Veil’ trait now conceals all traces, not merely Heukcheon’s aura. This effect can be adjusted at the user’s discretion.]
[Some of the conditions for Heukcheon’s third awakening have been fulfilled.]
Glug.
The black miasma that had enveloped the sacred relic churned contentedly before being reabsorbed into my body.
“Hah.”
I stared down at the black chalice in my hand with a dumbfounded expression.
‘What is this?’
Did Heukcheon possess the ability to absorb the power contained within sacred relics?
‘No, wait—is this actually a sacred relic?’
I’d never heard of a sacred relic harboring something called the power of the Black Star.
“…Could that be the unsettling aura Vega mentioned earlier?”
It was mere speculation at this point, but something felt distinctly different about this sacred relic compared to ordinary ones.
“Wait, hold on.”
Whether this sacred relic was different from ordinary ones or not.
The fact remained that Heukcheon had completely devoured the power contained within it.
“Could it be… completely drained?”
I frantically turned the black chalice over in my hands, but the ominous, viscous aura I’d felt when I first touched it had vanished without a trace.
“No.”
What was this?
“My, my Sacred Relic. Where did my Sacred Relic go?!”
Fury boiling to the surface.
“No, no! This can’t be happening!!”
A Sacred Relic whose abilities remained unknown, whose rank he hadn’t even begun to discern.
Like a lottery ticket never scratched, torn to shreds—the futility of it sent him into convulsions.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it all!!!”
A piercing wail echoed throughout the Cavern Chamber.
Oh Jin wept bitterly, his fist crammed into his mouth.
“Ugh… ugh. Damn it… damn it… how did I even obtain this Sacred Relic… this bullshit….”
If I thought about it rationally.
I couldn’t say I’d suffered a loss at all.
Though something felt off, I’d absorbed the magical power dwelling within the Sacred Relic, and I’d even achieved part of the Black Heaven’s third awakening condition.
Above all, hadn’t the ‘Black Veil’ trait I’d been using so effectively evolved?
In truth, I’d obtained a reward incomparably more precious than any ordinary Sacred Relic.
‘I know.’
I know that too.
‘But how am I supposed to deal with this damn sense of injustice?’
This was a matter of emotion rather than reason.
Perhaps it was like a child discovering thick cash instead of a three-part transforming robot in a Christmas gift box from their parents.
Even if the cash were enough to buy the robot and have plenty left over, there was no escaping a vague sense of disappointment.
“Damn it.”
Oh Jin turned the now-empty black chalice over in his hands with a hollow expression.
-Tap, tap.
“Hm?”
Footsteps echoing through the vast Cavern Chamber.
Oh Jin turned his head toward the sound.
“Oh? We have a guest who arrived before us?”
Emerging between the densely clustered stalactites were figures clad entirely in black robes.
‘What the hell are these bastards?’
Five of them in total.
From those with hoods pulled low emanated something viscous and ominous.
As if.
The same aura he’d felt from the black chalice.
“Mm… I never expected someone to enter the Gate before us.”
A soothing, gentle voice.
The figure in the center stepped forward and pulled back his hood.
A Brown-haired Youth with slender eyes gazed at the black chalice gripped in Oh Jin’s hand and sighed with what seemed like regret.
“Were you perhaps searching for this?”
Oh Jin lifted the black chalice in his hand as he asked.
“Haha. Yes. But it seems we’ve arrived too late.”
The Brown-haired Youth scratched his head with an innocent expression.
“It’s something we desperately need… What should we do about this?”
A bright smile spread across his face.
The youth grinned widely, his eyes narrowing to slits.
Between those narrow slits, his pupils gleamed with an unsettling light.
“Is that so?”
Oh Jin twirled the wine glass in his hand.
He strode toward them and extended the black glass smoothly.
“Then would you sell this to me?”
A bright smile played at his lips.
He asked while wearing the same radiant smile as the youth.

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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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