The Regressed EX-Class Martial God Decided to Become a Thousand-Star Hunter - Chapter 19

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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 19
Episode 19.
A question surfaced in Ju Do-gyeom’s mind.
‘……What?’
The message that followed.
『Prove your qualifications.』
And with it.
Whoosh—!
Flames erupted from empty air all around the apple tree.
The fire took shape in an instant.
They were swords.
Massive blades of pure white flame, burning with terrible light.
Not just one.
Dozens of them.
Flaming swords in varied forms began to orbit the tree, each tracing its own path.
Some moved slowly, others with blazing speed, and some in reverse rotation.
At the same moment, System messages cascaded forth.
『Ordeal: The Revolving Flaming Swords are now active.』
『Avoid the rotating blades and reach the base of the tree.』
『If you reach it without touching even once, you will receive an additional reward.』
Ju Do-gyeom’s eyes narrowed.
‘What is this?’
A mechanic he had never seen before, never encountered.
He hadn’t even heard of it from his comrades or anyone else.
Yet it unfolded unmistakably before his eyes.
A new mechanic—one he had not known about in the future.
The reason came to him easily enough.
The System message had just told him.
‘The first who faced the Ordeal……. Was this what the Hunter who first entered the Garden of Eden encountered?’
He didn’t know who it was.
It had never been revealed, not even at the very end.
In truth, it was easier to think he had died before reaching this point.
In a situation he had never anticipated.
Ju Do-gyeom swiftly recovered his composure.
What reason was there to doubt a situation that had already unfolded?
More than that—this was how things were meant to be.
Dungeons and the System were mysteries beyond all understanding.
To think that a Regression would allow him to know and clear everything was nothing but arrogance.
If anything, he felt oddly at home.
In his past life before the Regression, most of the threats he’d faced in Dungeons had been like this.
Sudden, without reason, arriving on a whim.
There was no reason he couldn’t adapt.
More so, considering the 8 Commandments of the Dungeon—the eighth of them.
‘The Dungeon always grants rewards proportional to the Player’s performance.’
One more Ordeal meant.
One more reward to claim.
For someone like Ju Do-gyeom, eager to accelerate his growth even slightly, this was a welcome turn.
Which left only one question.
‘How do I get through?’
Dozens of blades in various forms were rotating in a pattern so dense it was hard to find a gap.
He would need to pass through without even brushing against them.
Aside from the additional reward, one mistake could lead to grievous injury—or death.
His deliberation was brief.
The method was simple.
Read all their orbits with the Bright Eye Technique, then pierce through by combining the Shadowless Divine Step with the Flash Transmission Technique.
A smile played at the corner of his mouth.
He didn’t know why.
Perhaps because danger had arrived, and with it came that vivid feeling of stepping back onto an old battlefield?
Or was this too just another face of his madness?
The thought vanished.
Ju Do-gyeom, who had been about to crouch and dash away, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
He froze.
‘……Wait.’
Just a moment.
A thought struck him like lightning, blazing sudden and bright in his mind.
‘That sword of flame…….’
Did he really have to dodge and break through?
The System message had indeed instructed him to evade.
And the System message always spoke only the correct answer.
But if there were no answers beyond the correct one, that wouldn’t be true.
The System’s rules could be broken.
Hadn’t his own path thus far proven exactly that?
The battle with the flesh-eating demon that he was supposed to clear by evading.
The fight with the corpse giant he was told not to touch.
All of them were impossible according to the System’s rules.
So why would this be a trap?
It wasn’t.
Crimson light seeped into Ju Do-gyeom’s eyes.
The Killing Eyes.
Eyes that could slay anything in existence now gazed directly upon the dancing swords of flame.
And then he saw it.
Upon each burning blade.
Scarlet points emerged with perfect clarity.
Not life, not substance.
Even upon flame wrought by divine power, the mark of death appeared without fail.
A new chill ran through him.
‘So this is it…….’
The Celestial Killing Star—a power that could slay all things.
‘Simple enough.’
Ju Do-gyeom tightened his grip on the Great Axe.
Then he walked straight forward.
He did not dodge.
Instead, he swung his axe to meet the first sword of flame that came at him.
Clang—!
Not the ring of metal, not an explosion.
A sound like shattering glass rang out across the Meadow.
The sword of flame, struck directly upon the scarlet point, scattered into sparks at that very spot.
It died.
The flame, the power, the Ordeal—all of it.
Before the Celestial Killing Star, such distinctions meant nothing.
Ju Do-gyeom did not slow his pace.
Clang—! Clang-clang—!
Moving forward, he cut down, shattered, and slashed every threat that stood in his way.
With each step, one sword of flame was erased from existence.
Through the very heart of an Ordeal designed to demand desperate flight with perfect timing.
He simply passed through, destroying.
Only destruction remained.
And so.
As the final sword of flame scattered into sparks like stars in the night sky.
『…….』
The System fell silent.
To his perception, it was quite a long silence.
And then.
『Ordeal destruction confirmed.』
『……This method of destruction was not accounted for.』
『Judgment re-evaluation requested.』
『Re-evaluation complete. Unprecedented. No calculation standard available.』
『Reward calculation exceeds limit. Higher authority approval requested.』
『……Requesting approval.』
‘……?’
Was the System always this chatty?
If he felt a flicker of bewilderment, was that an illusion?
Still, the messages kept pouring in.
『Additional condition achieved: “Arrival without a single point of contact” has been verified.』
He hadn’t evaded them—he’d obliterated them entirely.
But true enough.
He hadn’t touched a single thing.
『User Ju Do-gyeom. You have demonstrated exceptional play in the Dungeon, Garden of Eden.』
『Overwhelmingly so.』
『In addition to the scheduled Ordeal rewards, special rewards are being granted.』
『Clear reward Mana Stones are being substantially increased.』
『Two of your current Stats will be greatly increased at random.』
『Agility Grade increased E+ => D-』
『Vitality Grade increased D => D+』
『You have acquired the Title, “First Ordeal Seeker.”』
『You are granted a special skill from the Job Class, Universal Nourishing Cook.』
『You have learned the skill, Universal Nourishing Broth (Level 1).』
A torrent of cascading messages.
In the heart of that deluge, a smile spread slowly across Ju Do-gyeom’s lips.
Mana Stones, Stats, Job Class perks—
Not a single reward worth discarding. A veritable feast of gains.
All the more satisfying for being unexpected.
And among them all,
one thing in particular seized Ju Do-gyeom’s attention.
‘A Title?’
A Title already?
From what he remembered, Titles were one of the System’s hidden pieces—something not to be revealed for several years yet.
Most were difficult to acquire, but since they added abilities the System window didn’t originally possess, their effects were potent.
At this point,
‘it was worth tearing this place apart.’
Ju Do-gyeom opened his status window at once.
And confirmed it.
Below his name,
a new line appeared where none had existed before.
『Title: First Ordeal Seeker』
Simply by thinking of it, the detailed description unfolded before his eyes.
『Title, First Ordeal Seeker.
You gain the ability to sense “Ordeals” hidden throughout the world, and earn the right to challenge them.
Each time you complete an Ordeal, this Title rises in rank.』
“…….”
Ju Do-gyeom read that explanation twice.
After reading it, he reached a single conclusion.
‘……That’s considerable.’
It didn’t raise his Stats.
It didn’t grant him a skill.
There was no immediate boost to his strength—not a single one.
But it was very good indeed.
As he’d learned through experience, being a Regressor didn’t mean he possessed all future knowledge.
He was only one person, after all.
Yet the First Ordeal Seeker could fill certain gaps in that information.
As he’d just experienced firsthand:
‘Ordeals cause Hunters to grow.’
And the Title “First Ordeal Seeker” came with an additional note—that its rank would increase each time he cleared another Ordeal.
‘This pleases me greatly.’
As Ju Do-gyeom finished organizing these thoughts,
another message appeared.
『Higher authorization approval complete.』
『Credential verification finished.』
『The Path of the Tree of Life opens before you.』
His eyes widened.
What surprised him was that the settlement still wasn’t complete.
“……What?”
The word tumbled out of his mouth unbidden.
* * *
The Tree of Life.
A thing of legend.
At the center of the Garden of Eden, there were said to be two trees.
One was the Tree of Knowledge.
And the other—the Tree of Life, which granted eternal life to those who ate from it.
Of course, that was all from ancient scripture.
At least in the future Ju Do-gyeom knew, the Garden of Eden Dungeon was an ordinary place with nothing but Adam’s Apple to show for itself.
There had never been even a single report of the Tree of Life being discovered.
And yet.
Rumble, rumble, rumble—!
With a low tremor, the empty space behind the apple tree was tearing open.
The shimmering air, undulating like heat haze, split left and right, revealing a narrow path within.
What the flaming swords had been guarding.
It wasn’t the apple tree at all.
‘So this was it.’
Ju Do-gyeom stared at the entrance for a moment, then stepped forward.
His hesitation was brief.
He’d already proven his right.
And the door had opened.
* * *
The path within was silent.
No wind, no insects.
A space where every sound of the world seemed left behind at the entrance.
And at its end stood a single tree.
Ju Do-gyeom stopped in his tracks without meaning to.
It was small.
Barely taller than a man.
Its branches were skeletal, and the few leaves hanging from them could be counted on one hand.
An ancient tree withering away—one might believe it at a glance.
And yet.
‘……Withered, you say?’
The presence emanating from this pitiful tree before him was anything but small.
It felt like witnessing a master whose mere appearance had aged, but whose essence remained undiminished.
What if this tree had been whole?
The Witch of Gluttony, perhaps? Or the Earth Dragon?
Or even the Demon King of Annihilation?
It would have felt like something far greater than any despair he’d ever known.
This wasn’t a matter of the five senses.
He simply knew.
The recognition of existence by existence itself.
The Tree of Life.
It was real.
That was when it happened.
『You have reached the Tree of Life.』
『Ordeal reward granted: Leaf of the Tree of Life (1)』
『Additional condition reward granted: Leaf of the Tree of Life (1)』
Whisper.
With the message, the skeletal branches trembled faintly.
Two of the sparse leaves released their stems and fell.
Ju Do-gyeom reached out as if entranced and caught them.
In his palm.
Two tender, pale-green leaves lay there, emanating a soft warmth.
At the same moment, knowledge flooded into his mind.
‘Leaf of the Tree of Life. Any wound, any threshold of death……’
But once, completely restored.
Even if the heart had burst.
Even if the brain had been crushed.
The moment the leaf touched him, his body returned to how it had been when alive.
A Divine Object of resurrection.
Confirming this knowledge, a natural combination surfaced in Ju Do-gyeom’s mind.
‘Death Deferral.’
The only skill that postponed death for ten minutes.
That which he’d once thought might prove useful someday—now kindled to life.
A Divine Object that could reverse everything within ten minutes.
‘……I’ve got two lives now.’
Or was it three, since there were two leaves?
At the idle thought, Ju Do-gyeom let slip a hollow laugh.
Before the Regression.
If he’d had this leaf on that hellish battlefield, how many more lives could he have saved?
A pointless hypothetical.
Ju Do-gyeom folded that thought away and tucked the leaf deep into his inventory alongside it.
Ah, but one thing had just occurred to him belatedly.
‘Wait. If I’d already drunk the Blessing of Abundance beforehand, would the leaf have been doubled too…….’
Surely not.
Ju Do-gyeom hurriedly checked the leaf’s information.
『Leaf of the Tree of Life – Grade: Immeasurable』
Not ungraded.
A Divine Object whose very classification was impossible to determine.
‘……That can’t be right.’
Ju Do-gyeom pressed a hand to his chest and turned to examine the tree further.
And found it.
At the end of a bare branch.
A tiny bud, tightly curled, hanging there.
A fruit.
Still unripe.
As if to confirm it, a System message appeared.
『The Fruit of the Tree of Life has not yet ripened.』
『Prove your worth.』
“…….”
The Fruit of the Tree of Life.
According to legend, its power was eternal life.
Ju Do-gyeom gazed at that small bud for a moment, then chuckled softly.
‘One step at a time.’
Greed invites ruin.
Two leaves were enough for now.
He turned his back.
Creak-creak-creak.
As if waiting for his cue, the space began to close once more.
Behind Ju Do-gyeom as he emerged from the narrow path, the rift in the void sealed itself.
As if it had never been.
All that remained was the peaceful Meadow and a single apple tree.

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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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