Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: The All Master Who Regressed to Bronze 63
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Crunch! Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
The half-destroyed Colosseum.
The predation sounds echoing within showed no signs of stopping.
Of the dozens of message windows, a third had long since vanished into Predation's maw, another third were in the process of being devoured, and the final third were putting up fierce resistance.
But the situation was in Shin-hyeok's favor.
He had already devoured a third of the message windows named "gaze" and "interest," getting a solid feel for it.
And with each one he consumed, the massive surge of energy and stamina made it crystal clear to Shin-hyeok what infinite power truly meant.
Just like that, eating and eating and eating without pause, he devoured every last message window.
Crunch!
"Huuuuh..."
Shin-hyeok had finally devoured the very last message window.
Of course, he wasn't unscathed himself.
"I'm so stuffed I could burst."
It felt like his stomach, stuffed to the limit, had been crammed with Yoajung, Vera, coffee, and cake.
They had definitely tasted good.
Each bite brought an intensely thrilling high and insane recovery, but in the end, it was just too much.
So when Shin-hyeok spent a good while catching his breath and digesting it all...
"...Thank you."
The Apex of All Evil, extremely pleased with Shin-hyeok's display, bestowed a gift.
Impressively, it was Achievement Points and a rare-grade body.
In particular, the body gifted by the Apex of All Evil synergized perfectly with the Absorption Demonic Body created by the Heavenly Demon, immediately fusing into a unique-grade body.
For a fleeting moment, he wondered if the Apex had even planned for that.
Shin-hyeok offered sincere thanks.
Of course, perhaps due to what he'd done, the Apex of All Evil couldn't properly receive the greeting because of the system's warning, but it was no big deal.
And the rewards didn't end there.
"So this was the real title. As expected of a place made by a constellation, even if it's a racial one—the effects are impressive."
The Colosseum Champion title had been impressive enough, but Colosseum Lord was on another level.
For starters, the raw stat boost jumped from 30% to 50%, enemy's debuff increased by 10%, and allies now got a 30% stat boost as well.
It was great now, but it would shine even more once his stats' absolute values grew higher in the future.
And furthermore—
'Skill: Colosseum. This could serve as the foundation for crafting my own domain.'
Shin-hyeok was savoring the satisfaction of sensing that the title-embedded Skill: Colosseum could form the basis of a domain he'd use going forward, when...
"A stat? It's giving me a new stat? This is the real jackpot?"
The main course had arrived.
A new stat.
Having never heard of it before in his life, Shin-hyeok's surprise was immense.
'Brute strength, agility, magic power, internal energy. This is a special stat one step above them.'
Shin-hyeok knew quite a few special stats.
Most of them he'd possessed in his previous life.
But Spirit Power was a special stat he'd never seen or heard of before, so he couldn't hide his pounding excitement.
Having gathered all the rewards, Shin-hyeok now gazed at the Colosseum, which had been completely devoured by Predation and reduced to nothingness.
More precisely, he looked at Tarkhan, who was staring blankly at the Colosseum's void space.
"Tarkhan."
"...You devoured the constellations...?"
"Yeah."
"Unbelievable. How did you..."
"A bunch of things lined up. They got complacent, they didn't use their full power, my backing was solid, and my strength exceeded their expectations. If even one of those had gone wrong, I wouldn't be standing here right now."
"Hm..."
Tarkhan, who had witnessed it all with his own eyes from up close, let out a short groan.
Unlike when they'd first met, Shin-hyeok, now speaking casually to Tarkhan, made a proposal.
"Why don't you come with me?"
"...With you?"
"Like I said earlier, you and I have a lot in common. And our revenge targets are pretty similar too. So if you come with me, you can get your revenge. I guarantee it."
"...I'm a pale orc. Innately inferior to true green orcs—"
"Judging by skin color is so outdated. It's the same on Earth, the same in the higher dimensions—such stupid discrimination. And so what if you're a pale orc? I'm something that doesn't exist in lower or higher dimensions."
"I see. True, we're quite alike in that regard."
Tarkhan calmly mulled over Shin-hyeok's proposal before nodding.
"I'll join you. But how do you plan to take me? Your dimension hasn't opened the integrated league yet, so a player from another dimension like me can't go there."
"Become my retainer, and you'll be free of those restrictions."
"I barely escaped one contract, and now another."
"Five-day workweek, guaranteed 9-to-6 hours. Top industry pay. Plus, I'll cover housing and meals."
"...I don't understand a word of that, but I get that you're saying you'll take care of me. But keep this in mind. Raising one warrior takes a village, but maintaining one takes a tribe."
Having accepted Shin-hyeok's proposal, Tarkhan warned him in a sharp tone, implying he'd require vast resources.
Shin-hyeok chuckled at the intimidation and shot back.
"I've got money to spare."
"...I'll be watching."
"Go ahead. Just don't complain when there's too much."
Shin-hyeok nodded confidently at Tarkhan, who eyed him suspiciously with half-lidded eyes.
He could already see who would cry uncle first.
And so Tarkhan became Shin-hyeok's first retainer.
"Call me on the battlefield then."
"Will do."
Shwoooosh!
Confirming Tarkhan, contract complete, being pulled into his mental world, Shin-hyeok left the now-empty void space with nothing more to see.
"Oh, right. The broadcast."
Only after returning to his room from the void space did Shin-hyeok remember the broadcast he'd forgotten and check it.
"...Yeah, of course the broadcast shut off."
The broadcast had already ended.
Checking roughly when it had cut out, Shin-hyeok figured it out.
"When the racial constellations intervened, huh. They force-terminated the Dimension Arena broadcast from then on. Sensitive stuff that shouldn't leak gets cut immediately."
It had been exactly when the racial constellations intervened.
Of course, he'd muted the broadcast after the fight with Tarkhan anyway, so no real info leaked, but the Dimension Arena was ruthless.
It seemed wary of dimensions not yet in the integrated league learning too much, too deeply about others.
Maybe even for protective reasons.
"...Turning the broadcast back on now would be weird anyway. And even if I did, there's nothing I could really say."
Sudden muting.
Then sudden termination.
For loyal viewers, it'd be confusing.
But with everything over now...
He couldn't just restart and explain the whole situation.
In the end, Shin-hyeok made his decision.
"Guess I'll just rest."
Take a break, plain and simple.
Honestly, his current condition wasn't good by any stretch.
He'd recovered briefly thanks to Hye-rin's special potion.
But getting swept up in the racial constellations' intense attention had wrecked both body and soul.
He'd healed the injuries with Predation after, but now mental fatigue held him back.
No matter if his essence was the Infinite Emperor, All Master, Earth's sole integrated league Challenger—his current body was just that of a fresh 20-year-old.
Body and mind are one.
In the end, even a tough, resilient spirit had to yield to an immature body.
"Eh, what could go wrong."
Above all, it was just one broadcast among many going dark—no big deal.
With that thought, Shin-hyeok surrendered to the crashing wave of drowsiness and flopped onto his soft bed.
But there was one thing Shin-hyeok hadn't anticipated—
Shin-hyeok's broadcast was no longer just any ordinary stream.
For reference, the legend of his chat staying in that state for about three hours became a bittersweet tale passed down through communities for a good while.