The Regressor Plays the Game Too Well - Chapter 148

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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 148
Chapter 148
Ancient artifacts.
Doesn’t the very name sound impressive?
Well, it’s only natural, I suppose.
Why! Isn’t it a classic trope?
In fantasy settings, ancient kingdoms almost always possess magic far more overwhelming than what exists in the present day.
The Pantheon was no exception.
Though the story was somewhat different.
‘Ancient artifacts tend to carry tales connected to gods.’
More precisely, they’re often tied to mythology and legend.
Legends at least occasionally manifest as Legendary items.
But ancient artifacts frequently embody myths and legends in their purest form.
Like heroic epics—tales of heroes such as Heracles, for instance.
If I had to compare, it’s as though Legendary and Epic were blended together?
I couldn’t definitively say they were always above Legendary tier, but one thing was certain.
Some ancient artifacts boasted performance equal to or surpassing Legendary items.
Holy swords and demon blades—aren’t those also ancient artifacts in a sense?
Should I call them sacred relics?
Regardless.
I recalled such things.
‘An ancient emperor probably refers to an emperor of the old Empire, doesn’t it?’
Doesn’t that sound promising?
So among the rewards I’d obtained this time, I opened this one first.
Well, I always check titles first anyway.
But this one was special.
An Irregular title, like the Irregular itself.
This made it my second one, didn’t it?
More than anything.
I hadn’t expected another Irregular title to appear.
When I opened it, the title’s effect was simpler than I’d anticipated.
『Ancient Emperor』
→Irregular Title
→A title obtainable only by those who achieve overwhelming results at the Temple of Combat.
→You gain the ability to approach the secrets held by the Ancient Emperor.
→Item efficiency related to the Ancient Empire increases by 200%
→Quest rewards related to the Ancient Empire increase by 200%
‘Hmm.’
An effect that could be somewhat disappointing.
So what exactly are the Ancient Empire and its Emperor?
The sound escaped unbidden.
But looking purely at the effect itself, it was overwhelmingly excellent.
Well, if I have it, I should be able to use it.
Jin-woo thought of it as something he couldn’t yet fully understand.
What I obtained next was none other than a Mythic-grade item!
A Mythic-grade skill book, no less.
In other words, I could acquire a Mythic-grade skill.
The effect was simple enough that I didn’t even need to verify it.
But just to be safe, I checked, and it was certain.
‘Thank goodness it’s not drawing Legendary to Mythic-grade skills randomly.’
If it were really like that, I might have regretted it too much.
Above all else.
‘This is my first Mythic-grade besides Luna.’
I would only know if I’d obtained Mythic-grade before.
In fact, it’s practically an urban legend of a grade, isn’t it?
I never thought the day would come when I’d actually obtain one.
Of course, I have Luna, but Luna is a pet, after all.
It was natural that it didn’t feel quite real.
I understand it’s powerful.
But honestly, I still don’t know the utility of that grade very well.
In truth, it’s probably because there hasn’t been an urgent or critical situation where I needed Luna’s help until now.
Regardless.
This is my first chance to directly experience it!
But like most people, Jin-woo grinned and muttered to himself.
‘The delicious stuff should be saved for last.’
It’s a Mythic-grade skill, after all.
It’s only right to draw it last.
With that thought, Jin-woo looked toward the next reward.
Next was the ability to choose three of the God of War’s skills!
This is practically the main course!
But was I going to skip this too?
No!
The opposite!
‘This one I have to take.’
After all, I didn’t even know what God of War-related skills existed.
With only the names to go on, it was difficult to even guess.
I decided I should open it first and claimed the reward.
Then a list of skills appeared in a message.
But unfortunately….
“W-what is this?”
Just like when I entered Wirun’s Library in the past, I could only see the names—no descriptions were visible.
Honestly, I half expected this.
But I never thought it would actually happen.
It’s disappointing, but there’s nothing I can do about it.
I need to pick something from these options.
I exhaled softly, set aside my regret, and scanned through the list.
The list wasn’t as long as I’d anticipated.
Exactly five items, no more, no less.
Every single one had a formidable name.
【Dark Light Sword Strike】【Ten Thousand Heaven Sword Rain】【Blood Combat Spirit Sense】
【Combat】【God of War’s Footwork】
All of them were skills that openly revealed they belonged to the God of War.
I was torn over which one to choose.
To be honest, I wanted them all.
I could make rough guesses about their domains based on their names alone.
The first one, Dark Light Sword Strike, seemed to be an offensive skill related to swordplay.
Then there was Ten Thousand Heaven Sword Rain.
It’s just a guess, but isn’t there a technique called “Ten Thousand Heaven Flower Rain” in martial arts novels?
The supreme martial art revered by the Sichuan Tang Clan.
If I think of it as being based on that, wouldn’t it feel like ten thousand swords raining down from the heavens?
I absolutely have to take this one.
It reeks of a wide-area skill.
As for Blood Combat Spirit Sense, it’s a bit ambiguous.
Roughly speaking, it feels like a skill that boosts spirit sense?
Combat seems like a buff skill, and God of War’s Footwork appears to be a movement technique.
There’s no doubt that each of these skills would be a shame to leave behind.
The problem is I can only choose three from this selection.
‘Hmm.’
After deliberating, I finally made my decision.
I chose Ten Thousand Heaven Sword Rain, Blood Combat Spirit Sense, and God of War’s Footwork—these three.
My reasoning?
It’s simple.
Ten Thousand Heaven Sword Rain clearly appeared to be an area-of-effect skill.
So I picked it without hesitation.
The next choice might seem a bit unexpected.
I selected Blood Combat Spirit Sense because it seemed like a skill that enhances spirit sense.
I was also curious about how it would actually manifest.
Finally, God of War’s Footwork.
To be honest, I didn’t necessarily need to acquire God of War’s Footwork.
God of War’s Footwork would naturally appear to be a skill that enhances mobility.
What skills did Jin-woo currently possess?
In terms of mobility, didn’t he have an Epic-grade Transition skill that far exceeded normal standards?
But one might wonder why he chose this particular skill.
The reason was simpler than expected.
‘I can’t think of footwork as merely mobility.’
When swinging a sword or throwing a punch.
The most crucial element is footwork—in other words, your stance and steps.
The lower body enhances power while keeping the upper body’s movement fluid and untwisted.
Footwork had an extremely high probability of handling exactly that.
That’s why I chose it.
I thought it would synergize beautifully with the skills I currently possessed.
And as if to prove my instinct correct, a message materialized.
[You have acquired 3 God of War skills.]
[You have acquired Ten Thousand Heavens Sword Dance, Blood Battle Sense, and God of War’s Footwork.]
[Upon acquiring God of War’s Footwork, the efficiency and power of all God of War-related skills increase further.]
[Additionally, through God of War’s Footwork, you can create combos combining multiple God of War skills and non-God of War skills.]
[This is a different effect from Fusion Combat.]
Exactly as I thought!
Jin-woo smiled at the message.
Most importantly, this message.
Being able to use skills in combo form….
This was the greatest reason I wanted God of War’s Footwork.
‘Fusion Combat, which merges skills, is already a broken skill, but this is equally broken.’
If I fused skills, their power would undoubtedly double.
And combos could produce similar effects.
For instance, if I used Six Light Slash while activating Weapon Spear?
The sword energy from Six Light Slash would fire, and immediately after, Weapon Spear would strike.
I could already do this now.
But there exists something called delay.
Cast delay between skills, and cooldown delay after a skill activates.
But if that technique could be executed without delay?
‘It’s beyond words.’
That chain would be utterly unimaginable.
Even connections with simple basic skills would become far smoother.
Truly a broken skill.
With any skill whatsoever.
This included magic skills as well.
For instance, in my case without a Double Casting skill, I’d have to use Fireball and then activate another magic skill.
But now I could minimize that gap significantly.
In other words, I could become a turret mage.
Swordsmanship was no different.
Making it appear as my own unique sword technique wasn’t difficult at all.
‘I’m absolutely delighted.’
Choosing the God of War’s Blessing had been the right decision after all.
Of course, the other two skills were equally impressive.
‘Ten Thousand Swords Rain falls exactly as I anticipated.’
It consumes MP per sword and rains blades from the sky.
And its destructive power transcends imagination.
Next, Blood Combat Sense proved just as expected.
It’s a skill that allows me to sense incoming attacks beforehand.
Jin-woo couldn’t help but gape openly at this revelation.
‘This is insane.’
In other words, being able to sense attacks in advance meant I could discern which skills my opponent would use.
For instance, if they intended to activate Fire Wall among their magical skills.
Then I would see it coming.
Of course, it wasn’t a passive skill.
If it were, the game would break from overpowering in an instant.
Upon activation, it grants the ability to detect all skills for one minute.
And the cooldown is ten minutes.
The lengthy cooldown was disappointing, but this alone was absolutely broken.
‘Using it against bosses means I can read their patterns.’
Truly a ridiculously overpowered skill.
As expected, none of the God of War’s skills were anything short of absurdly broken.
Still, I regretted not being able to choose the other two skills.
But there was no helping it.
I couldn’t have them all.
Jin-woo moved on to the next reward with that thought.
It was better to quickly suppress such regrets.
Besides, there were still many rewards remaining.
Next was a Pet Growth Elixir.
The name alone suggested nothing particularly distinctive about the item.
If not for the grade affixed to it.
The effect?
It was identical to the Pet Growth Elixir I already knew.
Except its grade was overwhelmingly superior.
An elixir that releases the sealed power of a pet.
Normally, this elixir requires one matching the pet’s grade.
In other words, Luna could only consume Mythic-grade elixirs.
That’s why I had been half-resigned to giving up.
But to think it would appear like this.
‘I’ll feed it to Luna later when she’s around.’
What seal would be broken, and what abilities would I gain?
My anticipation was immense.
In any case, moving directly to the next reward, the message indicated that my combat power and mana had increased.
‘Just how high are my stats now?’
It had been a while since I last checked them.
Should I take a look?
With such a casual thought, I opened my status window.
The status window that materialized made me doubt my own eyes.
[Jin-woo]
*Level: 130
*Class: God of War
*Subclass: Creator
*Titles: 『Irregular』 and 68 others
*Combat Power—628 (340+288)
*Mana—968 (540+428)
*Creation—67 (10+57)
*Additional Stats—140
‘Are these stats even real?’
My combat power had surpassed 600, and my mana would likely break through 1,000 soon.
At merely level 130, I possessed such stats?
It was so absurd that I could only laugh.
I calmed my racing heart and shook my head.
No wonder I had crushed Kaiser’s Guild Alliance.
Though it had been challenging back then.
Now it might be truly simple.
‘I’m not a one-man army—I’m a one-man kingdom at this point.’
I shook my head, accepting this assessment without reservation.
I seemed to be becoming more and more of a monster.
I deliberately ignored that thought.
What did it matter anyway?
The remaining rewards were the Ancient Emperor’s Token and a Mythic-grade random skill book.
I actually hesitated for a moment here.
The token was just a token, after all.
There was nothing I could do with it immediately.
So, should I use the Mythic-grade skill book?
Of course, my deliberation was long, but my decision was swift.
“Strike while the iron is hot!”
I’d open it now.
I retrieved the Mythic-grade random skill book from my inventory.

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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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