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‘Did I really need to start the broadcast to trigger the detection?’
Seong Jihan furrowed his brows at the message that had suddenly appeared.
Even the seemingly flawless BattleNet had such a flaw.
Swish…
Meanwhile, the elf, whose severed arm had regenerated in an instant, was looking at Seong Jihan with astonishment.
“How… how…”
“You don’t need to know.”
Thud!
Eclipse conjured by Seong Jihan’s left hand brushed past the elf’s body.
It was absolutely ruthless.
In no time, intricate bloodlines formed like spider silk, and she transformed into a horrifying figure.
-He doesn’t spare the elf either, damn.
-Seriously, is this guy a monster? No hesitation at all.
-No, you shouldn’t have any mercy towards your enemies, right?
-But the opponent is way too divine, though.
After reducing an elf with the beauty of Ito Shizuru, widely regarded as the most beautiful woman in the world, to dust with a single stroke, some viewers speculated that Seong Jihan might be a monster.
Squirm… squirm…
As the elf’s fragments, like crawling bugs, quickly gathered and began regenerating on the ground, the viewers couldn’t help but be astonished.
-??????? Wait, is it regenerating? In that state?
– Ugh, May I turn off the screen, Please? It’s so gross;;;
-I was eating, damn it.
-Why doesn’t BattleNet have a mosaic function? Urgh, it’s gross.
[Ah, should I mess with that roach some more?]
After seeing the regenerating elf, Ariel was about to say something, but Seong Jihan thought, ‘No, wait… I should show this to the viewers.’
Swish…
“You…”
From the first part of her flesh that regenerated, the elf, with an emotionless face, spoke.
“Are even above the superior class of test subjects.”
Squirm… squirm…
As those words came to an end, blood droplets and flesh scattered on the ground flew menacingly towards Seong Jihan.
[Be careful! An elf’s physical form is a weapon in itself.]
“I know,” Seong Jihan knew Ariel’s warning better than anyone else. He swung his sword downward.
Nameless Divine Arts, Triad of Martial Mastery: Mount Tai Suppression
Shaaaaa!
As Eclipse moved with force from top to bottom, the elf’s fragments burst and vanished, leaving no trace, truly a ‘disintegration.’ Furthermore, the elf’s face, which had been gradually regenerating on the ground, was also divided in half, with only the slender ears remaining.
Squirm… squirm…
However, from that small fragment, the flesh began to swell rapidly. Soon, in less than ten seconds, a new face emerged.
“How do you, a gold player, keep doing that?” The elf asked with an emotionless face.
-Crazy, lol!
-Is this really regeneration??? OMG!
-They’re coming back from just a tiny piece??
-Even cockroaches might be jealous.
-I immediately removed the elf poster; I’m scared it’ll come to life in my dreams.
-Huh? When were posters even sold?
-I made it myself, guys.
Was it due to their regeneration abilities that defied common sense or the grotesqueness displayed during the regeneration process? Even men who had fallen for the elf’s beauty while watching the broadcast began to see her as a monstrous entity.
“Are you a constellation’s candidate for this planet? What’s your name?” The elf with only her face regenerated maintained her unresponsive tone.
It felt quite different from when she had brought Seong Jihan earlier, full of joy. She seemed colder and more mechanical.
“Tell me your name.”
“Number 5 demands it. Scan.”
When she looked at the wind spirit, a light emanated from its lens.
[Scanning ID…]
[Scanning in progr…]
At that moment, both wind spirits exploded simultaneously, and the lenses vanished into thin air.
Bang! Bang!
And it wasn’t just the spirits disappearing; the entire space was exploding and being deleted from all directions.
“The system has detected us.”
The elf gazed with an emotionless face at the side where her gaze had fallen upon a massive test tube.
“Number 5 commands you. Self-destruct.”
Bang!
At her command, the test tubes exploded all at once.
At that moment, from the test tubes that exploded simultaneously, gigantic life forms began to emerge one by one. A mishmash of various life forms created a mosaic-like appearance.
It was a horrifying sight, even more dreadful than the flash golems seen before.
-Oh, I was having dinner! Please stop!
-Wow, how many eyeballs do they have? 17? Gross.
-I already puked once. But today is a bit much…
-Seriously, our elf goddess is doing this?
-They still call her a goddess. Just rewind and look at her regenerating her face, Can you really say that?
However, this horrifying spectacle wasn’t the end of it.
Pew, pew, pew!
As the self-destruct command was issued, the massive life forms swelled and exploded one after another. Fragments of various races were propelled in all directions.
Indescribable things burst out simultaneously, and even eyeballs rolled to Seong Jihan’s feet.
Thump!
They were all expelled before they could reach Seong Jihan’s body.
“They really mixed everything up.”
[Heh… master is remarkably calm.]
“Well, what’s the point of getting surprised?”
He had already witnessed the extinction of humanity. Mixing in a few life forms couldn’t surprise Seong Jihan.
Especially since he already knew the true identity of the elf race. He simply thought, ‘What crazy stuff have these people done again?’
Pew, pew!
The gigantic life forms from the test tubes were exploding from all directions. By the time this space was about to completely collapse…
[The BattleTube broadcast is ending.]
[The game has been temporarily paused.]
The game came to a halt.
******
[Collecting evidence…]
Shuuuu-
The pristine space where the laboratory had been disappeared in an instant. Even the beings that had exploded and stopped on their own were being sucked into someplace.
And once the lab vanished, all that was visible was…
“…Space?”
In the dimly lit space with stars in view, Seong Jihan stood alone.
[Detecting the ‘Research Vessel’ of the ‘World Tree Alliance’ and disassembling it.]
[Collecting evidence completely…]
A research vessel? Could it be that the elf’s spaceship from earlier had turned into that? It didn’t seem like there was a lack of gravity.
As Seong Jihan silently watched what would happen next…
[Beginning the protest with the ‘Green Administrator’…]
*****
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[The ‘Green Administrator’ has partially acknowledged the illegal actions.]
System messages started to flow.
‘Green Administrator’?’
Was this related to the World Tree Alliance? He couldn’t immediately grasp the meaning of these messages, but…
‘All information related to the World Tree Alliance, I should remember it.’
Seong Jihan decided to remember everything related to the World Tree Alliance as he waited to see what kind of penalty would be imposed on them.
[Revoking one entry right to the Space League of the ‘World Tree Alliance’.]
“Hmm.” Seong Jihan recalled his previous life.
The World Tree Alliance’s elf planets had occupied ranks 1 to 5 in the Space League. Considering that time, losing one entry right was a significant penalty.
Despite that, Seong Jihan couldn’t help but feel disappointed and spoke up.
“Revoking one entry right? Is that a significant punishment? Shouldn’t you revoke more?”
[The sin is too light to revoke more entry rights.]
At the same time, another penalty was added.
[The ‘Experiment Zone’ in the Survival Map will be permanently closed.]
[‘Green Administrator’ will lose the qualification to generate game maps for the next 100 years.]
The administrator had the authority to generate maps as well, it seemed. Seong Jihan furrowed his brow.
While it was good that a penalty was imposed on the ‘Green Administrator,’ the sudden appearance of this entity was causing him a headache.
The World Tree Alliance alone felt like an insurmountable wall from his previous life. Were they somehow connected to the administrator, a figure who seemed to be related to the system?
‘I need to get stronger.’
While he had proven his strength to some extent on Earth, in the broader scope of the universe, he was still far from sufficient.
Thinking about the wandering martial god, at his current level, he couldn’t even beat his subordinate, DongBangSak. In the Space League, he might’ve taken down one of the World Tree Alliance’s planets, but they still had four remaining.
‘I need to further develop the other humans.’
Just as Seong Jihan was resolving to do so, another system message appeared.
[The ‘Green Administrator’ has sent a reward as an apology. Will you accept it?]
[Warning: The reward may contain traps, so please be cautious.]
Even though this message came with special caution, Seong Jihan decided to accept the reward, if only to gain more insight into his adversary.
[Seed of Life]
Grade: SSS
-A seed imbued with the essence of life.
-Upon consumption, residual ability points will increase by +10.
-There may be side effects.
“Insane performance,” he mumbled. To receive an SSS-grade rating, it must be something extraordinary.
‘Even if there are side effects, I can’t pass up +10.’
Seong Jihan retrieved the Seed of Life from his inventory.
The Seed of Life, radiating iridescent brilliance, had a shape reminiscent of an apple.
‘It would be safer to receive ‘emotional’ support from Ha Yoori before consuming it….’ However, since side effects might affect those nearby, it’s probably better to eat it in this space.
He took a bite.
Crunch.
Seong Jihan took a bite of the Seed of Life, and as he consumed it, the part he hadn’t eaten yet disappeared as well.
[Absorbing the Seed of Life.]
[Residual ability points increased by +10.]
With that, the message ended. It seemed there were no side effects from a simple glance at the message, but…
‘Something has entered my body.’
Seong Jihan sensed a subtle energy infiltrating his body. It resembled the World Tree’s leaf that had been etched into his chest, and this energy was subtly moving towards his head and heart.
‘If I didn’t have the nameless divine arts, it wouldn’t have been so easy to detect.’
The movements were so subtle that even in his previous life when he had power and influence, he would have been unsure if something like this was inside him. But at his current level, he could easily control the energy from the Seed of Life.
Seong Jihan initially considered eliminating it, but he changed his mind.
‘I should research this energy.’
If his goal was research, there was no need to keep the power dormant. Seong Jihan decided to release over 90% of the energy that had infiltrated him.
Shuuuu-
As he expelled the energy from the Seed, a green mist emanated from his chest, and small seeds flew out. Each seed contained a dense life force, but since they were in the vacuum of space, they wouldn’t sprout. If he had scattered them on Earth, they might have grown even in mid-air.
‘Eating it here was a good choice. I shouldn’t release the remaining energy on Earth.’
Seong Jihan looked at the message box and said to himself.
‘Does that mean I’ve cleared the epic quest?’
[By clearing the Epic Quest beyond specifications, you have understood the essence of the map.]
‘Understanding the essence… I didn’t do anything like that tho?’
After being kidnapped by the Elf’s research ship, he turned on the broadcast, and the situation had already concluded. In reality, the only thing Seong Jihan did in the game today was to show the viewers the true face of the Elf. The rest was the BattleNet system automatically dismantling the research ship.
[The creator of the World Tree Alliance, the ‘Green Administrator,’ collected data from various races in real-time through the game map. During this data collection process, outstanding individuals among those who surpassed the limits of their races were abducted to the Alliance’s research facility via the research ship.]
Ziiiing-
Above the system message, an image appeared, depicting the giant lifeform composed of various races that Seong Jihan had seen earlier when the test tube shattered.
‘I would’ve ended up like that if I had been caught.’ Seong Jihan thought to himself.
“So, shouldn’t the punishment be more severe?”
[No, it should not. The mission given to the Green Administrator was ‘the study of life.’ Collecting data through the game map is not illegal. However, abducting players after trespassing in the tutorial map is a clear violation of the law and has resulted in punishment.]
“If this wasn’t a tutorial, would the Green Administrator not be punished for kidnapping players from the game?”
[That is correct. It is not a subject of punishment.]
Seong Jihan initially found the answer astonishing, but then he remembered his past life.
‘After the tutorial, there were quite a few players who went missing for various reasons…’
He calmed his mind while thinking about his past life.
BattleNet after the tutorial. That world was hell. Even in the game, without GP, you would be a permanent casualty, and various players went missing for different reasons. He couldn’t keep playing this devil’s game. He had to survive in the Space League somehow and escape from BattleNet.
[You have perfectly cleared the quest and understood the essence of the map. You will receive more achievement points and rewards.]
[Your level has increased by 5.]
[You’ve gained 300,000 achievement points.]
[You’ve obtained a leaf of the World Tree.]
‘One more?’ Seong Jihan checked his inventory. In addition to what he had acquired earlier, one more leaf occupied his inventory.
[Survival map is ending.]
[In order to change the map, there will be no survival mode in the Gold League worldwide for the next five days.]
Seong Jihan looked at the game-ending message.
‘I should use one of them right away.’
As soon as he returned, he made up his mind to use one of the two leaves.
*****
*****
