The Regression of a Challenger-Level Player - Chapter 15

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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 15. Not the spring that has passed, but the spring yet to come
“Hnngh…!”
A groan tore from between Shin Jaeha’s clenched teeth.
His lungs felt ready to burst, sweat pouring down his forehead in mad streams.
A crushing pressure blanketed his entire body, as though he might be pulped at any moment.
“Huuuh!”
Somehow, he forced himself upright.
▶Sit-ups (3,871/10,000)
His abdominal muscles screamed on the verge of tearing.
His straining thighs felt as if they might snap.
This training was far more than mere physical conditioning.
‘I must keep my focus—the Gravity Field cannot waver!’
My Gravity Field is a skill that creates a distorted field, amplifying the gravitational force within it.
Ordinarily, the gravity wouldn’t be nearly this intense, but by contracting the field’s radius, I’ve raised its intensity exponentially.
Modifying the form of a skill once it’s been fixed requires tremendous power and dedication.
When such technique becomes second nature through experience and repetition, it’s classified as an entirely new skill—a derived skill.
The mage in the dungeon prison had used derived skills as well.
She’d taken Fire Bomb, a mundane D-Rank skill, and maximized its destructive potential to create Fire Bomb: Explosion, a D+-Rank variant.
‘In other words, narrowing the Gravity Field’s radius and maximizing its intensity demands immense mental fortitude and precise control of my mana.’
It was an extreme act of exhaustion—pushing the body to its limit while executing microscopic adjustments to mana flow.
And yet, a smile kept creeping across his face.
“Hnngh—three thousand, eight hundred seventy…!”
Even though his body screamed as though he might lose consciousness at any second.
Even as his stamina continuously reset its limits in real time.
Even as heat pooled in his head, leaving his mind dizzy and burning.
“Hehe…! Hehehehe!”
He was happy. Inexplicably, intensely happy.
Happy enough that tears threatened to spill.
If anyone had been watching, they would have fled in horror without question.
For his entire life, he’d been buried in regret.
Regret over the body that could no longer use mana, over his helplessness to do anything but watch as humanity faced extinction.
He’d been unworthy even to share the burden his species carried.
▶Sit-ups (6,411/10,000)
Until the Regression.
Only after casting away everything had he received a chance.
A chance not to repeat the same foolish choices.
A chance to grasp a better future.
“And I got that…so what’s a little suffering?”
He bit his lip so hard he tasted copper.
Pain lanced through him as muscle fibers shredded and tore.
“Haaah!”
Twisting his body, somehow he forced out ten thousand sit-ups.
▶Sit-ups (10,000/10,000) [Clear]
Next, he flipped himself over and pushed up on his palms, supporting his weight with both arms.
Crunch-crunch-crunch!
The cascading gravity felt ready to shatter the joints in his arms.
Each time, a weak voice rose from within—’Should I reduce the intensity just a little?’
“…Not a chance.”
He shook it off quickly and bent his elbows.
Sweat from his entire body drenched the training floor.
-Crackle!
The sound rang in his ears.
A sound he’d lived with every day before the Regression.
The sharp crack of a Mana Capsule shattering between his teeth.
-Crunch!
Again and again.
He chewed through Mana Capsule after Mana Capsule.
Because without them, he could no longer exist as a Player.
-Crack!
Continuous exposure to external mana—mana not one’s own—causes the body’s physical capabilities and senses to gradually deteriorate.
Only I knew about these side effects.
After all, Mana Capsules were created in the first place so that Mages could replenish their depleted mana when preparing large-scale spells.
—Crunch!
My body pickled in the capsule, my physical stats dwindled, stabbing headaches sometimes seized me, and I suffered from the side effects.
Yet I kept using Mana Capsules.
But not anymore.
“Graaaaaagh!”
This gravity pressing down on me now—it’s gravity born from my own mana.
I’ve reclaimed a body that no longer needs to depend on such things.
How could I not rejoice at that?
“One more round!”
At being able to push further forward.
At being able to set foot again at a starting point that, for others, comes only once.
▶Push-ups (10,000/10,000) [Clear]
Seeing the Clear mark next to both items, I rose to my feet.
“…Ugh!”
My muscles convulsed for a moment and I nearly collapsed, but I quickly steadied myself.
Now there was only one item left.
▶Hammer Swing (0/10,000)
This one.
Without hesitation, I picked up the hammer lying beside me.
“Haah…!”
An enormous weight coursed through both my arms.
Magnified several times over by the Gravity Field, the hammer felt less like a hammer and more like I was hefting some boulder the size of a house.
“Hnng…! Gasp!”
My breath came in gasps.
With each swing, the recoil from the hammer’s weight rippled through my entire body.
My shoulders creaked, my legs screamed, my bones and muscles twisted.
Crack-crack-crack!
The fissures etched into the floor spread wider and wider.
Whenever my mind began to blur.
Grit!
I bit my cheek and forced myself to stay conscious.
Then swung the hammer again.
“Four thousand… one hundred eighty…!”
I can’t go any further than this.
It’s inhuman.
At this rate, I really might die.
“Five thousand…!”
I could rest a little and no one would say a word.
This murderous training would only hinder growth anyway.
Giving up on what you can’t do is a valid strategy.
“Six… thou-ouuuusand…!”
So I gave up.
Then gave up again, and fled.
And regretted what I’d abandoned.
“Crooooaaaagh!”
Like a winter bird endlessly chewing over rotten fruit.
Living a whole lifetime in regret over past choices.
“Seven thousand!”
I was done with that.
Whoosh!
The heavy hammer carved through the air.
My body had long since reached its limit.
I sagged like a puppet with every string cut loose, my joints grinding like rusty gears with each movement.
My form with the hammer was naturally a complete disaster.
Swoosh!
But still, I was swinging.
Somehow, I still gripped the hammer.
Blood dripped steadily from my torn palms, and all sensation had fled my fingers.
“Swoooosh!”
The hammer swung through the air.
I am no longer a bird clutching its hollow belly, thinking only of fallen fruit just out of reach.
Now I am a chrysalis.
My stats and Rank may fall short of what they were before the Regression,
but a far more brilliant future awaits me.
A chrysalis gazing not at the spring that has passed, but at the spring yet to come.
When the snow melts and the warmth of spring settles upon the world,
then at last I will shed this cocoon and unfold my wings.
“From now on… so much will be different…!”
At least it’ll be more interesting than before the Regression.
All that remains is to cultivate the skill needed to stand at the forefront of that new world.
Fortunately, I don’t think I need to worry about that.
The hammer—whether before the Regression or now—
▶Swing (9,999/10,000)
I have no doubt I can wield it better than anyone.
“Huuuuuh—!”
I let out a triumphant cry and unleashed the final swing.
Crash!
The moment the hammer struck the ground, the floor fractured and the entire training space shook.
The reinforced concrete of the Player Training Facility shattered under such tremendous force.
▶Swing (10,000/10,000) [Clear]
“I… did… it….”
Thud!
The instant I cleared all conditions, I collapsed to the floor.
I wanted nothing more than to lose consciousness and sleep right then,
[‘Trial of Gravity’ has ended.]
but the message that appeared ignited my fading awareness.
[You have successfully completed all training at ‘maximum difficulty’ without ‘a single rest’ or using any ‘recovery items’.]
[The Trial admires you!]
[Your Constitution is beginning to awaken.]
With that message, a mysterious sensation rippled across my entire body.
It felt as though my skin was writhing and my bones and muscles were being reassembled from within.
Whoosh!
Purple energy surged, and a pleasant vitality flooded through my body.
“It was worth pushing through without a single break.”
I had undergone the Trial of Gravity before the Regression too, but then I was forced to pause midway and continue in stages.
Each time my Mana ran low, I had to chew through Mana Capsules.
But now there was no need for that—I gritted my teeth and completed the entire trial in one go.
The result was a Constitution Awakening far more intense than what I’d experienced before the Regression.
The density of my muscles increased, becoming firm and solidly anchored in my body.
My Mana channels grew tougher and continued to expand, allowing my Mana to flow more smoothly.
And above all—
[Your evolved body influences your spirit!]
Purple starlight embraced my body and soul.
[Your Constitution has awakened!]
[‘Strong Bone (B)’ has evolved into ‘Master of Gravity (S)’!]
[Your stats increase through Constitution Awakening.]
[Strength +5]
[Stamina +5]
[Agility +5]
[Mana +5]
“S-Rank?!”
The moment I saw the grade of my evolved Constitution, I couldn’t help but cry out in shock.
Before the Regression, the Constitution I gained from the trial was A-Rank.
▶Constitution: Gravity-Adapted Body (A)
-Resists enhanced gravity by 80%.
A body capable of evading 80% of the influence of strengthened gravity.
Even that alone had made me strong enough to overwhelm opponents utterly, and I’d climbed all the way to Grand Master,
“Gulp.”
I swallowed dryly and activated my status window.
▶Name: Shin Jaeha
▶Level: 10
▶Rank: Under
▶Constitution: Master of Gravity (S)
-I am completely immune to enhanced gravitational effects.
-Proficiency in gravity-related skills rises dramatically.
-As gravity intensifies, my attack power increases proportionally.
▶Class: None
▶Title: Peacemaker (D)
▶Position: Warrior
▶Strength: 16 (+2)
▶Vitality: 15 (+3)
▶Agility: 14 (+1)
▶Magic Power: 15 (+2)
▶Luck: 8 (+2)
[Stat Points Available: 10]
▶Acquired Skills
-[Gravity Field] (D)
-[Swing] (E)
▶Available Credit: 66,700
My heart pounded like it might explode as I confirmed my constitution.
It wasn’t just the grade that had risen.
“What is this broken constitution?!”
The name “Master of Gravity” fit perfectly—insane bonus abilities were stacked onto it one after another.
For reference, only about five S-Rank constitutions exist in the entire world.
All of them are elite Players who command respect in the leagues.
And now I had obtained a constitution of the same caliber as theirs.
I quickly pushed myself up and got to my feet.
I was still exhausted, but the stat increases from the Constitution Awakening made movement feel manageable now.
“…Phew.”
I steadied my breathing and spread my internal mana outward.
[Gravity Field] (D)
A violet force field deployed.
The air became oppressively heavy in an instant, crushing everything around me—but.
“Ha… hahaha!”
I remained weightless.
I had become the only entity capable of moving freely in this suffocating world of pressure.
Whoosh! Boom!
As a test, I grabbed the Hammer and took a swing.
A heavy crack split the air and struck the training facility’s wall.
‘My body and the Hammer were still made heavier by the gravity.’
But I felt nothing of it, and remained unaffected.
It was a mystery made possible by the Channel system—which transcended ordinary scientific logic.
Within this gravity, I could deal strikes far heavier and more destructive than anyone else.
Fwoom!
Training dummies materialized on cue.
I grinned and approached them.
Crack! Crunch!
The reinforced floor cracked with each step I took.
When I finally reached the training dummies, their bodies sagged under the intensified gravity.
“Now it’s actually going to feel good to swing.”
I gripped the Hammer in one hand.
Then I brought it down lightly against a dummy.
Boom! Crash-crack-snap!
A massive explosion erupted.
As the dust settled, the obliterated dummy vanished without a trace, and a section of the training facility lay in complete ruins.
“Yeah. This should be enough, right?”
Enough to win the bet with him about reaching Silver within a month.
What remained now was obtaining a Class, but.
‘Classes don’t open until after your Rank is determined.’
Now the real race begins.
The defining event of a Player’s lifetime.
“The Rank Placement Exam is beginning!”
It’s time to raise the curtain on the Rank Placement Exam.
Regression of a Challenger-class Player
Author
: Ki Sa-hon
Publication Date
: August 10, 2026
Publisher
: ACES MEDIA Co., Ltd.
Editor-in-Chief
: ACES MEDIA Editorial Team
Address
: 10F, Urban Bench Building, 325 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
Email
: [email protected]
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UCI
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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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