Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: Silver Dragon
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: Transcendence Tournament Grounds
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[Dimension - Transcendence Tournament Grounds]
The light faded, and Oheon opened his eyes.
Familiar air. But a completely different landscape.
It was an endlessly vast field.
The sky churned with ashen clouds, and the ground gleamed like pristine white marble.
Filling this space were countless massive cubic arenas—hundreds, maybe thousands, impossible to count.
Each arena was spaced irregularly, forming a gigantic maze in their own right.
'So this is the Transcendence Tournament Grounds. It's enormous.'
As I scanned my surroundings, pillars of light erupted from all directions, spewing out countless people.
Chaotic murmurs filled the air—exclamations and curses in every language imaginable.
Over ten thousand people flooded the vast space in an instant.
Soon, as they became aware of each other, most shot wary glances around.
Just as everyone was busy taking stock of the situation...
Sufficient damage. Forfeits allowed.
The system had at least provided minimal safeguards.
Though that "sufficient damage" threshold remained vague.
If an opponent landed a one-shot instant kill, the system might not have time to intervene.
People stirred once more at the sudden information, a cacophony of varied reactions filling the vast space.
In the meantime, I fully memorized the system message that had just appeared.
And realized another fact.
'No prohibition on fighting outside the arenas.'
Then the most crucial thing to check first.
Whether I could kill people here.
But I didn't act rashly. There could be unforeseen penalties.
And it seemed a few others had noticed the same thing.
Some scanned their surroundings warily, others already drew their weapons.
In a crowd of over ten thousand, someone was bound to cross the line first.
I simply waited quietly.
In the midst of that, a question arose, so I gave it a try.
As expected. Skills are banned?
Which means here, I'd have to kill with pure physical ability alone...
Shoving aside the failed experiment, I checked the mask covering my face.
Invisible, transparent—but I felt a barrier-like sensation.
This transparency mask had auto-equipped the moment I arrived at the tournament grounds.
As I pondered the mask, a shout erupted from afar.
"How dare a face-hider like you."
"Don't lie. What level am I? No way you'd see my face."
"What?! You bastard? Words won't cut it."
As expected, trouble brewed.
All eyes turned to them, but no one intervened.
In the tense atmosphere.
Finally, one man couldn't hold back and swung his fist.
But the result was anticlimactic.
Thud.
The man's fist struck the opponent's face squarely.
But the struck man didn't even stagger—instead, he burst into incredulous laughter.
Soon, fists flew at faces from both sides, but neither budged.
The punches inflicted zero damage. As if blocked by an invisible shield.
After a few exchanges, they spat at each other and backed off.
"Tch. Too bad I can't kill you."
"Speak for yourself."
I murmured softly at the sight.
'A shame.'
This place was a perfect safe zone.
At least until the round began.
I turned away without regret.
Having grasped all the rules here,
I began seriously observing the people.
This tournament grounds marked the first time survivors from all dimensions gathered in one place.
Truly diverse faces filled my view.
My level dwarfed theirs overwhelmingly, rendering others' transparency masks meaningless to me.
I could see every face clearly.
Even their expressions.
And thanks to my high agility, though not precisely,
I could roughly gauge the strength of the weak ones.
Most passing by were pathetically weak by my standards.
But in such a massive crowd,
A few stood out.
One in ornate helm, another with a massive black greatsword on his back, a mage with an ancient staff, a female warrior wielding aura-infused twin blades.
Probably rankers or equivalents.
But my gaze didn't linger.
Surface appearances meant nothing to me.
Hidden stats and skills were this world's core.
I took in their forms one by one, gauging the overall level across dimensions.
Most hadn't awakened, or barely once.
Those past two awakenings were rare.
'Lower levels than expected.'
Standing idle like this, Round 1 might start before I spotted any top rankers.
Recalling the 30-minute limit, I began wandering the massive tournament grounds.
Unlike me, most couldn't see faces.
They kept distance from those with standout gear, avoiding needless conflict.
But unseen faces didn't mean certain weakness—opponents could be weaker too.
Many bustled about seeking familiar faces from their dimension.
Basic weapons and shop gear were limited, so outfits were similar.
Still, dimension-mates recognized each other by build or gait. I occasionally saw greetings.
In this bizarre mix of chaos, wariness, and reunions, time slipped by.
I passed through it all, seeking only the aura of the strong.
As he walked the crowd,
Ordinary folk brushed past oblivious.
But occasional powerhouses glanced warily.
They sensed an instinctive threat from him.
'Agility includes intuition, confirmed.'
Feeling those subtle reactions reaffirmed my intel.
High agility granted detection of unseen threats.
Further along, beyond wanderers,
Many fiddled solo with system windows. Newbies without allies, or community types.
I dipped into the community briefly to check the vibe.
The boards exploded with tournament talk.
Title: Holy shit. This crowd is insane.
Author: Yeonggwanrisa [2819]
Seeing rankers in the flesh ㄷㄷ Where's Sword King?!
Title: Who's #1 anyway?
Author: Rinding [982]
#1's probably mixed in here by now, right? Anyone spot someone suspicious?
Title: How many-man battles you all picking?
Author: Girin [2149]
Going safe with 2-man. 16-man feels like instant out.
The community buzzed with excitement over the gathering, debates on participant choices, speculation about the veiled #1, posts flying up rapidly.
I skimmed indifferently and closed the window.
The 30 minutes were nearly up.
I leaned against the wall of the nearest arena.
And thought.
No one recognizes me now.
But...
That's ending today.
Meanwhile, a massive muscular man bulldozed through the crowd.
His community nick was Hende.
His real name too.
One of the rare few using his real name online.
Ranking 15th, he wielded absolute power in his dimension—but here, he roamed with only ranker confidence.
Surveying surroundings smugly, gauging other strong-looking folks.
Then.
Hende's steps halted abruptly.
Cold sweat poured down his back.
He glanced urgently at the ring on his left middle finger.
Common-grade item, [Crisis Detection Ring].
Its super-intuition had saved him countless times.
And now, for some reason,
The one who'd brushed past emanated mortal peril—like death incarnate.
Hende turned slowly, ever so slowly.
And saw.
A man leaning against the arena wall, seemingly staring at him.
In that instant, Hende's confidence shattered.
Instinctual terror dominated him.
'Th-that guy's... a monster.'
The man just leaned there, doing nothing.
Silent and still.
But to Hende, he appeared a devouring abyss.
'...What the hell is he?'
His intuition screamed still: not an opponent he could face.
Flee. Get far away.
Hende felt an insurmountable power gap, like a natural disaster.
Unconsciously backing away, he recalled that man's face fleetingly.
Masked, but the gaze wasn't human. Like a predator eyeing an insect below.
Only primal survival fear remained.
He spun and fled the way he'd come.
Stumbling in panicked retreat, he became a laughingstock.
Oheon watched his pathetic back emotionlessly.
'That guy's knocking on the 30-stat wall.'
But soon,
as if utterly disinterested, faced forward again.
And finally, the 30-minute wait ended, system messages appearing before all.
Now I understood the true meaning of participation formats.
Not just fighter count. It determined how many rounds a single win skipped.
High-risk, high-reward gamble.
Win 4-man: skip two 2-man wins.
Win 16-man: equivalent to four 2-man victories.
'Straight to Round 5 in one go.'
I pondered carefully for a moment.
And chose.