Chapter 312
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 312
Chapter Title: Five Sins Consumed
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Stats had skyrocketed from consuming all the liquids.
Then the third.
The fourth.
Up to the fifth.
With all the sins gathered, his realm had risen a staggering five stages.
And that wasn't all.
Detailed Stats
-Strength: 2,411(241) - 2,652
-Agility: 2,403(240) - 2,643
-Vitality: 2,373(238) - 2,611
-Defense: 2,326(232) - 2,558
-Wisdom: 2,317(231) - 2,548
-Mana: 2,732(273) - 3,005
-Holy Power: 2,637(263) - 2,900
-Mental Strength: 2,178(220) - 2,398
Going over 1,000 in any stat was already insane, but now every single one had blown past 2,000.
Mana had even crossed 3,000.
"With buffs on top... does that mean it'll exceed 10,000?"
It was truly terrifying power.
'Whoa... Master, you've completely surpassed me from my player days?'
'Even at my peak, I wouldn't stand a chance.'
Breaking 2,000 was all thanks to swallowing those five items whole.
Each one boosted him by 200, totaling a whopping 1,000 across the board.
"At this level, Baal should be no problem."
If it were just stats, maybe notbut with his realm jumping five stages, he could handle Baal with ease.
The issue was that he was still far short of matching Escannon, the designer.
'The last two are probably with that bastard.'
So far, he'd collected Wrath, Sloth, Gluttony, Greed, Envy, and Pride.
If Jeong Hoon's hunch was right, Escannon had the remaining two.
If not, they might be in some other demon realm.
Either way, with all five items secured, he'd won this bet too.
Time to collect his reward from Baal.
'The Sin Box aside, I need to figure out what this Dark Energy is.'
Acquiring the five items had filled the Dark Energy to 25, bringing it to 31.
6 had seemed negligible, but nearing a third made it impossible to ignore.
'Not that I can give up the path to getting stronger.'
Fearing the Dark Energy and abandoning a chance to boost all stats and his realm by a full stage would be foolish.
No regrets about swallowing the items, whatever they brought.
Now that the bet had revealed what the Dark Energy was, he could just be cautious going forward.
Jeong Hoon told the others to hold tight and headed for Baal's castle.
Upon arriving at the castle, Jeong Hoon went straight to Baal.
Creak
Pushing open the door, he saw Baal hadn't budged an inch from his throne, just as per the bet.
"You're here..."
Baal's voice sounded drained.
"You watched, right? I found all five you mentioned."
"...Yeah. I saw."
Baal nodded.
"So, time for my reward?"
"Very well."
A bet was a bet.
Baal handed over the Sin Box without fuss.
Acquired 'Box of the Seven Deadly Sins.'
Box of the Seven Deadly Sins.
With this, he could gather four of the seven.
"Still more to go? Care to explain the Dark Energy too?"
"Hoh, impressiveit's built up more than I expected."
Baal scanned Jeong Hoon's body and let out a short whistle.
He clearly hadn't anticipated the Dark Energy nearing a third so soon.
"No time for chit-chat."
"Simply put, it's the path to the Abyss."
"The Abyss?"
"Yeah. In plain terms, it means corruption."
Jeong Hoon frowned.
He'd suspected as much, but it was heading that way after all.
"Turning into a demon?"
"Kukuku, close enough. Know what a fiend is?"
Fiend.
Put simply, a human mutated through demonization.
'Fiends showed up before the regression too.'
The avatars contracted with Transcendents.
Those avatars weren't just disrupting the game.
Repeating avatar quests built power, but eventually eroded their sense of self.
Demonization crept in bit by bit, twisting them into fiendsneither fully human nor demon.
And this Dark Energy turned humans into fiends?
More serious than he'd thought.
"Neither human nor demon...?"
"No, that's for the incomplete ones."
"Incomplete?"
"Kukuku, humans with contracts get a sliver of demonic power per completed quest. It builds up, advancing demonization."
"...And?"
"Tch, that tiny bit can't perfect demonization. That's why I call them incomplete."
"Hm, so the Dark Energy I'm accumulating makes a perfect fiend?"
"Exactly. The fun part? No symptoms until it hits 100."
Truth be told, Baal had never seen Dark Energy so stable.
Normally, it would seep in and gnaw away gradually, but this power huddled in one spot, unmoving.
Like it belonged there.
That's why no symptoms showed, no matter how much filled up.
"What happens when you become a fiend?"
Corrupted into a fiend.
What changes came with that?
"No idea."
"No idea?"
"Yeah. No species has ever filled it to 100."
Baal was curious too.
Fiends were just botched demonizationsmutants.
But 100 of that stable energy? It'd birth a fiend utterly unlike the rest.
"I see. And someone who's filled it like this before?"
"Nope. Never seen it stack that way either."
"...Underwhelming."
Not a satisfying answer.
Jeong Hoon turned to leave.
Nothing more to squeeze out of Baal.
"Hey, one last thing."
"What?"
"No matter how hard you try, opposing my lord is impossible."
"Useless advice."
Jeong Hoon flipped Baal the bird and left the castle.
HoneyTube done now?
Fr, when's the next vid?
Pisses me off lololol
Ultimate Knight raid and nothing since? For real...?
Cancelling sub
Lmao sure, the cancelers will come scrambling when it drops
Fr lmao
Jang Dae-hwi sighed as he scrolled through the comments.
Real-time posts pouring in.
Even comments in unfamiliar languages dotted the feed, but they all boiled down to one thing: demands for new HoneyTube videos.
"I want to upload too..."
HoneyTube's subscribers had blasted past 130 million.
But with zero activity since the Ultimate Knight raid, backlash was inevitable.
At the same time, a question lingered.
"These guys couldn't even take down the Ultimate Knightwhy are they hounding me for videos?"
HoneyTube's goal was sharing killer tips.
Yet no one who'd crossed to Darvis via the level 1,100 Ultimate Knight raid had surfaced.
"Gotta be someone like James Marcus to make it?"
As the world's top player, he'd probably handle the Ultimate Knight no problem.
Bzzz
Right then, his smartphone vibrated with a familiar name.
"It's Hoon!"
Jang Dae-hwi snatched up the call.
"Hello?!"
Yeah, hyung. Busy?
"Pretty free, actually."
All he was doing was sorting through the endless email flood.
That filled his days, so yeah, fairly idle.
Perfect. Been a while, but thinking of firing up HoneyTube again.
Music to his ears.
"For real?! You found the honey pot in Darvis?"
Nah, not that.
"Not that? Then what?"
A massive new event's about to hit.
"Event?"
Jang Dae-hwi tilted his head.
You know how the game became reality, right?
"Y-Yeah?"
So obviously, events kick off too.
Made sense when he thought about it.
"...True, but how do you know?"
How did Jeong Hoon know an event was coming?
Got my ways. Anyway, planning a stream around it.
"Not starting in Darvis, right?"
If it was Darvis, Jang Dae-hwi couldn't join.
He'd be stuck home watching Jeong Hoon's stream and editing footage again.
What? No way we'd do an event here. Gotta be out there.
Out there meant Earth.
Jeong Hoon would be in Seoul, Korea, and Jang Dae-hwi could tag along filming.
"So when does this event start?"
Dunno. We'll talk details when it drops.
Jeong Hoon hung up.
'Finally!'
Jang Dae-hwi clutched his chest.
His heart raced faster than before.
Thrilled at the thought of filming again after so long.
Back safe on Earth from the demon realm, Jeong Hoon asked everyone to complete their 5th job changes and return.
They'd rushed off on 5th job quests without rest, leaving him home to review next steps.
He'd swept every opportunity Darvis offered.
Time to prep for the scheduled event.
'Event my ass. It's just a tool to accelerate Earth's doom.'
The first event since reality hit.
It'd pour fuel on Earth's stacking penalties.
Compared to now versus pre-regression, penalties were way lighterthanks to HoneyTube spreading tips worldwide to minimize them.
Using HoneyTube for this event was for the same reason.
Mass success via videos would delay doom.
Pre-regression, total failure made it a pipe dream.
Now? Different story.
'It can work.'
130 million subs.
Every video hitting 1 billion views.
That influence could rewrite history.
'I'll make it succeed and claim their reward.'
Jeong Hoon steeled himself, gazing out the window at the NPCs.
Earth Korea employees, normally.
Now, no different from mindless dolls.
'They'll handle this event too.'
Forced participation event.
Skip it, and personal penalties hiteveryone had to join at least once.
Controlling the masses? Their job.