Chapter 103

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Translator: Ryuma

Chapter: 103

Chapter Title: God of Death Achievement

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After achieving 100 kills.

A message popped up saying the God of Death had descended, but there wasn't any major change in the game itself.

However, the appearance of a kill message he'd never seen before confirmed that Shin-hyeok's hunch about a hidden achievement was spot on.

With that, he didn't hesitate any longer and smashed the enemy's sanctum to pieces.

Making sure not to miss the killing blow on the final sanctum and keeping his teammates' kill hunger fully sated the entire game, Shin-hyeok bowed his head to them.

"I'm sorry. You all must've been pretty uncomfortable the whole game because of me."

"Ha, haha... Yeah, well. Can't deny that."

"Just think of it as hopping on the bus."

"Still, that deal support looked solid. I'm gonna try it next time I get Rift."

"Hang that bastard!!!"

"Ugh! Ack! Ow!"

Still, since Shin-hyeok had utterly demolished the game itself, his teammates didn't mind too much.

The match was over anyway, and they'd pocketed sweet victory rewards on his carry.

Of course, the other players did beat the tactless allied mid laner to a pulp after his outburst.

The brief commotion was entertaining while it lasted.

"Oh."

Confirming the achievement notification, Shin-hyeok smiled in satisfaction.

A whopping 500,000-point achievement.

Considering it was something no one across all dimensions had ever pulled off, the points felt just right.

Plus the extra stat boost to Spiritual Power.

This alone was a solid reward, but it soon became clear that it was merely the appetizer.

"This is good."

He'd gained a new stat, for starters.

Death Aura.

Literally the energy of death—a power pre-regression Shin-hyeok had possessed as well.

True to its name, it granted high affinity with the dead, undead, spirits, and the like, while providing bonuses to Necromancy skills.

Additionally, infusing it into weapons imbued them with death energy, disrupting healing on damage dealt.

Especially with his Trait: Unity, any new stat was always a welcome addition.

And on top of that, a legendary spirit medicine tied to Death Aura.

Its value was somewhat diminished thanks to Hyorin, but legendary spirit medicines were rare to begin with.

Ones linked to specific energies were even harder to come by, making this a thoroughly satisfying reward.

But the real main course was something else.

"...Hidden stage!"

It was an entry ticket to a hidden stage.

Just like the Colosseum Champion Challenge Ticket, so Shin-hyeok perked up and clutched the key.

"Hmm, this is gonna be rough."

Shin-hyeok frowned at the key's description.

The lack of details was par for the course since the Colosseum ticket, but that note rubbed him the wrong way.

Usable only below Diamond.

Given that the Colosseum Champion with Tarkhan had been Gold or below, this meant at least two tiers harder.

'At this level, lower dimensions. Maybe even upper-dimension players.'

Lower and upper dimensions.

Out of countless dimensions, only twenty could claim a spot there.

Considering even Tarkhan's tribe couldn't squeeze into a lower dimension, the difficulty promised to be brutal.

Of course, players from lower or upper dimensions weren't invincible.

Frogs start as tadpoles; they all had their weak phases.

They just had exceptional potential and growth rates.

No true heavyweights—Challenger-tier from integrated dimensions—would show up here.

'Still, better hit Diamond first.'

No point risking it when he could play it safe, so he tabled the key's use until after Diamond promotion.

'Was planning to reach Diamond before the national league anyway.'

And since he'd aimed for Diamond pre-national league, it wasn't much of a delay.

About three months until the national league.

With the integrated Platinum league in mind, he could promo early next month.

Then grind more Dimension Arena for Diamond-caliber stats before tackling the hidden stage. Perfect.

With his future plans roughly set, the game rewards rolled in.

"Insane."

It was a reward haul so massive it bordered on ridiculous.

Platinum's stat cap was 5,000.

This single game netted him from a fifth to nearly two-fifths of that cap.

Mana was already sky-high, so it hit the cap without budging, and Death Aura—as a fresh stat—saw the biggest jump.

But the rewards didn't stop there.

"Triple promotion...!"

Shin-hyeok's performance had been so dominant that the Dimension Arena system had rocketed him straight to Platinum 2.

He'd been Platinum 5 since his initial promo, with no games in between.

Now, a triple promotion vaulted him to Platinum 2.

At Platinum, scraping together promo points got grindy and time-consuming, so leaping three tiers was a massive win.

Especially with achievement points more precious than cash.

The viewers, treated to an unprecedented triple promotion live, were once again floored.

But they nodded along as if it all made sense.

Choi Shin-hyeok being Choi Shin-hyeok—what was there to question?

A being who could stand toe-to-toe with the outer heavens being stuck in Platinum? That was weirder.

Brushing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠off the viewer reactions, Shin-hyeok checked his status window for the first time in ages.

"Holy crap."

It had been a while since he'd last checked his status window, but seeing it packed to the brim drew an involuntary gasp of awe.

Three bodies, seven traits, thirteen skills.

Especially since every body and trait was at least Unique-grade, it was a status window worth billions.

Even current outer heaven elites would drool in envy.

Maybe only the Demon Emperor and Martial Emperor under the Emperor Hwang could compete at this level.

But even they paled next to Shin-hyeok's now.

They'd vacuumed global resources and basked in constellation favor to grow—yet still fell short. Others didn't even rate.

Of course—

'Not enough. Miles from my prime.'

Shin-hyeok was still starving.

Compared to his peak as All Master, Infinite Emperor, it was feeble.

Still, he wasn't fretting because his growth was incomparably faster than before.

Someday—no, soon—he'd reclaim and surpass his past power.

Knowing that, he crushed the impatience down hard.

'Gotta hustle harder.'

That said, tamping down impatience didn't mean slacking off.

If anything, he'd accelerate even more.

Regathering old ties, diving into the national league showdown, avenging a chunk of his past—these had slowed his grind a bit.

Time to kick it into gear.

"Starting tomorrow, one Dimension Arena per day."

Viewers clapped like seals praising their northern leader at Shin-hyeok's declaration of daily Dimension Arena.

Sure, Platinum players would get steamrolled by his broken 8-ton truck of a handle, but viewers didn't care.

Because it wasn't their problem.

Especially Silvers and Golds who'd already been crushed by Shin-hyeok once—they were outright bloodthirsty.

They hadn't forgotten how these Plats had mocked them during their beatdowns.

The long months (barely three) of torment and scorn they'd endured were finally getting their revenge, so they went all-out trolling the Plats.

The gates of hell had opened before the eyes of Platinum players.