Not A Regressor - Chapter 225

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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 225
Interlude – The Seven Stars Council (1)
“Haaaaaah.”
A languid yawn drifted from the space beside me.
“O-jin…”
Ha-eun’s drowsy voice accompanied her as she wrapped her arms around me.
With neither of us clothed, the soft warmth of her skin pressed against mine with vivid clarity.
“Ehehe. I love you so much, my O-jin.”
Still wandering through the sweetness of dreams, Ha-eun nuzzled against my cheek like a contented cat.
“….”
I remained still, careful not to wake her, and gazed up at the ceiling of the room.
The day after I had wept so shamefully atop the Hospital rooftop.
After the doctor gave me permission to be discharged, I told them I had matters to attend to, left Isabella behind in Italy, and returned home with Ha-eun.
With just the two of us for the first time in ages, Ha-eun had pounced on me like a ravenous beast the moment we crossed the threshold.
‘I never thought there’d be a day I’d lose my virginity twice.’
A deep sigh escaped my lips.
I had been utterly shocked by how casually she had stripped off her clothes at first, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
For me, who had lost all memory of being her lover, these past few days had been an unending cascade of new sensations.
“Mm.”
“You’re awake?”
Ha-eun rubbed her eyes and nodded.
“Ugh. I’m absolutely exhausted.”
Ha-eun clutched her waist and winced.
With tired eyes, she poked my cheek with her finger.
“You don’t know the meaning of restraint, do you?”
She pouted her lips adorably, as if sulking.
“Why were you so wild, like you’d never done it before?”
“….”
I swallowed the words ‘because I hadn’t’ back down.
“Hehe. But it was really great, honestly.”
Ha-eun smiled brightly and kissed my cheek.
“Want to grab breakfast?”
“No, you eat. I’m too exhausted because of someone, so I’m going back to sleep.”
Ha-eun pulled the blanket over herself and waved her hand dismissively like shooing away a fly.
I chuckled and got out of bed to dress.
‘Then I’ll keep breakfast simple.’
After quickly blending chicken breast and various vegetables into a juice and drinking it, I headed straight to the Training Facility.
I’d rested for several days now—it was time to think about what lay ahead.
“Huh. Phew.”
Seated in seiza on the floor of the spacious training room, I closed my eyes and circulated the mana within my body.
I had absorbed the magical power of the Mother Beast and Cheon Sang-gil.
But compared to before, the amount of magical power I could actually handle hadn’t changed much.
‘I still haven’t perfectly assimilated both powers.’
Demian’s magical power, which I had obtained earlier, was still stubbornly refusing to move, cowering between Heukcheon’s dark clouds like a petulant child.
“First, I need to assimilate this, but it’s frustrating.”
Kwon O-jin frowned in exasperation.
‘Can I only properly digest it if I raise Heukcheon’s level?’
Since there was no established method to raise Heukcheon’s level, I had no idea where to even start.
“Thinking back to when Heukcheon’s level has risen so far….”
While there was no set method.
Based on my experience, the key to raising Heukcheon’s level was ultimately ‘consuming’ something.
‘But now the question is, what do I feed it?’
Heukcheon, which had become completely satiated, no longer reacted properly to ordinary prey.
“The only recent reactions I’ve gotten were when I absorbed the dragon vein and the Mother Beast.”
Both were prey that couldn’t be easily obtained.
Dragon veins appeared so rarely worldwide that they could be counted on one hand, and even when they did exist, most were hidden in strict secrecy.
The Mother Beast was even more problematic.
‘Because it was a Constellation Beast.’
Where would I find another Beast that contained a fragment of a Constellation’s soul?
“This is driving me crazy.”
It was even more frustrating because I couldn’t just obtain it whenever I wanted.
‘Well, let me set that aside for now.’
If I only considered what could help me right now.
‘Come to think of it, after absorbing the Mother Beast, a new trait appeared in Heukcheon.’
I opened my status window for the first time in a while to check Heukcheon’s traits.
The name of the newly acquired trait was ‘Gasification’.
A short, hollow laugh escaped my lips as I read the description that followed.
“It really is an ability that matches its name.”
The ability of ‘Gasification’ was to temporarily transform part of my body into Heukcheon’s dark clouds.
It was an extremely intuitive and simple ability.
‘Isn’t this a completely broken trait?’
Physical attacks don’t work at all against Heukcheon’s dark clouds.
Of course, since I’d only used Heukcheon three times, there might be attacks somewhere in the world that work against its dark clouds.
But fundamentally, no physical force—including the magical power of stigmas—simply passes right through.
In other words.
Being able to transform part of my body into Heukcheon’s dark clouds, even for a brief moment, meant.
‘I’ve essentially gained a temporary invincibility skill.’
Even better, the opponent’s attacks pass straight through my body, but my attacks land normally—it was a truly broken skill with this unreasonable advantage.
A satisfied smile spread across my face as I finished reading the trait description.
“The activation duration, the range I can transform, and the number of uses—those will be the limiting factors.”
There were still many tests to conduct to properly verify the skill’s performance.
Kwon O-jin’s eyes sparkled like a child receiving a new toy as he activated Vapor Form.
Kurrrrrgh.
Upon activating Vapor Form, part of my body transformed into black clouds of mist.
‘The range I can convert is about thirty centimeters.’
It wasn’t enough to transform an entire arm, but since most attacks concentrated on a single point, it was more than sufficient for practical combat applications.
‘The casting time is nearly instantaneous.’
All I needed was the intention to use it, and I could activate it without any preparation.
It was the optimal technique for instantaneous feints or evasion.
If there was a drawback.
“…it consumes far too much mana.”
Even after using it just once, I felt my mana vanish in chunks.
If someone with unparalleled pure mana reserves like myself experienced this drain, other Awakened Users would likely be unable to use it at all.
‘In terms of mana capacity, I could probably use it three or four times in actual combat.’
If I focused solely on evasion, I could manage six or seven times, but one couldn’t win a battle by merely dodging.
Considering that I needed to evade attacks using Vapor Form and then counterattack, three to four uses in actual combat seemed like the realistic assessment.
‘Once I absorb both Cheon Sang-gil’s and Demian’s mana, that number will increase.’
Simply obtaining an evasion technique bordering on invincibility was harvest enough.
‘It’s not just useful for evasion—I can definitely apply it to offense as well.’
Another drawback was that the body part transformed into black mist was far too conspicuous.
“I can just layer Mirage over it.”
When I applied Mirage to the Vapor Form portion, it seamlessly returned to its original appearance, as if CG had been rendered over a green screen.
From the perspective of an opponent facing me, attacks would pass straight through my body like I were a ghost.
“I really like this.”
Kwon O-jin’s lips curved upward in satisfaction.
‘Now then.’
I closed my eyes and concentrated my focus.
I already understood how absurdly overpowered Vapor Form’s properties were, so it was time for a practical field test.
“Who should my opponent be today?”
As I pondered, I smiled and activated the Libra constellation mark.
The gathering light emanating from the mark coalesced into a handsome young man with sharp, piercing eyes.
His cold gaze gleamed as he raised a sword coated in pristine frost toward me.
“Enemy of Deneb! In the name of the Starlight Warrior, I shall not forgive you!”
“Hmm.”
That wasn’t his character at all.
“…Do not approach Deneb.”
“Yes, that’s better.”
I gazed at the phantom of Allen Oskal and nodded with satisfaction.
Since I’d rarely witnessed his combat, I couldn’t fully materialize an accurate phantom.
‘I’m tired of constantly fighting phantoms of Cheon Do-yoon anyway.’
Perhaps even this kind of mental refreshment was necessary from time to time.
“Well then.”
With a sharp metallic sound, the folding knife pulled from my waist transformed into the shape of a spear.
“Shall we begin?”
Boom!
A thunderous crash echoed through the spacious Training Facility as my phantasm collided with Allen Oskal’s.
* * *
“Damn, it feels like I’m dying from not moving my body in so long.”
I left the Training Facility, massaging my aching body.
Lost in the battle with my phantasm, I hadn’t noticed the sun setting outside until now.
‘Come to think of it, I haven’t even eaten lunch.’
I returned home, clutching my rumbling stomach.
When I opened the door, I saw Ha-eun sitting on the sofa in dolphin shorts and a loose box tee.
“Done with training?”
Ha-eun, who had been munching on snacks, rushed over to me and held out a piece of candy.
I accepted the snack she offered and asked her a question.
“Did you rest well too?”
“Yeah, I rested really well.”
Ha-eun giggled and nodded.
“So then….”
I gazed at Ha-eun’s slender legs, which were fully exposed, and gently pulled her into my embrace.
I had already showered in the Training Facility, so there was no reason to hesitate.
Ha-eun smirked mischievously and smacked my buttocks.
“You want to do it again right after coming home?”
“Ahem.”
“Hehe. You really love this noona that much, huh?”
“Well….”
I trailed off, watching Ha-eun giggle.
How could I tell her that I wanted to create far more memories than the ones I had lost?
“You should finish what you’re saying, you brat.”
“Shut up.”
“Look at you getting shy. Honestly, our O-jin is so cute when you’re like this.”
Ha-eun stretched my cheek with her fingers and smiled brightly.
I grabbed her hand and pulled her into a deep kiss.
The atmosphere between us was heating up considerably.
“Ah, wait. There’s something I need to tell you before we continue.”
“What is it?”
“I got a call from the Association earlier.”
The Association?
‘Now that I think about it, I haven’t spoken with the Association in quite some time.’
I had barely been in contact with the Association while either staying in Italy with Isabella or holed up in Vega’s Temple.
“What’s the matter?”
“I’m not entirely sure about the details. They asked if you could come by the Association tomorrow.”
“Hmm.”
Well, that wasn’t an unreasonable request.
“You’re coming too, right?”
“I don’t have anything else to do anyway, so I might as well go with you.”
“Then I should probably wake up early tomorrow.”
I gently released my arms from around Ha-eun and pulled away.
If I had plans tomorrow, I should avoid anything that would drain my energy today.
“Where are you trying to run off to?”
“If I can’t wake up again tomorrow, what then?”
“Then don’t overdo it. Let’s just do it ten times.”
“Three times.”
“Let’s meet in the middle at nine times.”
“…”
Does this sister not know how to do basic arithmetic?

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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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