[Han Yuhyun (S)
Duplicate record exists. Would you like to settle with the current achievent record or the past achievent record?]
Past achievent record. My heart dropped. I’d gone back in ti and basically beco soone else—so why were the records─
[Park Yerim (S)
Duplicate record exists. Would you like to settle with the current achievent record or the past achievent record?]
At that mont, Yerim and Noah also received ssages about duplicate achievents. Could this be because traces of eting my past and future selves in the Nightmare Dungeon were causing it? There had been no past-North Noah, but since the record said he had t Riet, maybe so record had carried over.
“What’s wrong, hyung?”
Yuhyun, seated next to on the sofa, asked. Yerim, who was rummaging through Yuhyun’s room, peeked her head in.
“Is sothing wrong? But apart from so old textbooks and a few books, I don’t think there’s anything. Just Han Yuhyun’s school uniform.”
“They must have been based on my mories. I probably didn’t rember every little thing.”
“As expected, uncle’s room─”
“I said no.”
I haven’t even checked my own room yet. There might not be anything strange, but there could be a household ledger or diary left behind. That would be embarrassing.
“No doodles in the textbooks either. Hey, Han Yuhyun. Did you keep a diary? You didn’t, right?”
“Yuhyun used to write a diary diligently when he was little. I think I was in first grade of elentary school? I haven’t seen one since then, so if there’s a diary here, it’ll be blank.”
He used to do his howork on his own. I don’t think he kept writing after middle school.
“Anyway, we have to choose which achievent record to settle.”
“Choose one?”
“Yes. The China Dungeon was before the regression. So those achievent records seem to have been applied. The achievents themselves are probably more nurous before the regression.”
There’s more than a four-year gap in ti... Noah’s achievents would likely be even fewer.
“But I can’t know if all pre-regression achievents will be reflected. They said it’s impossible to check in advance for security reasons. Maybe because it’s the sa person but, at the sa ti, a different person.”
It’s definitely the sa person, but we lived more than half a year very differently. If another five years were to pass, the gap would grow even wider.
“I choose now.”
Yerim raised her hand without hesitation.
“I am now, and that is soone else. Of course there are more things I did before regression, but those aren’t things I did. I want what I deserve now.”
“Aren’t you disappointed?”
“A little bit. But I’ve done well too.”
Yerim straightened her shoulders. Naturally. She had.
“I’ll choose the current record too. It might not differ much from my pre-regression record.”
“No way it’s that similar. Even if Noah changed from before, he must have done a lot. Before eting , Noah was already an outstanding Hunter. No one in France didn’t know him.”
Noah «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» smiled faintly instead of answering. It was good that he’d regained confidence standing on his own after leaving Riet, but he still seed to look down on his past self. I used to do that too. Who wouldn’t?
“Noah, you saw pre-regression . Back then I was really just F-rank. So honestly I looked down on pre-regression too. But now─”
I felt shy saying it myself.
“I think I’ve lived hard. And Noah must have too. The person who made today’s Noah is Noah himself. Even if I helped a bit, in the end it’s one’s own role that matters most.”
No matter how much you give or teach, if they don’t accept it, that’s it. Comforting and coaxing works when they’re young, but when they grow up, their own decisions matter most. Noah’s eyes lowered slightly.
“Yes. But still, I can’t help feeling it was pathetic.”
“I felt that too. If soone asked to choose, I’d never pick pre-regression . The gap is big—because it’s .”
I briefly thought of the Wish Stone but erased it. They said it couldn’t be obtained normally.
“Yuhyun, you’re not pathetic.”
Yuhyun moved closer to and said softly.
“I used to be weak, didn’t I?”
“Nah, uncle. If you were really weak you wouldn’t have been able to regress. You’d have quit being a Hunter long ago.”
That’s true. In any case, Noah also chose the current achievents.
“Yuhyun, you?”
“...?”
Yuhyun hesitated and avoided my gaze.
“I don’t know.”
“Han Yuhyun, it must be tough to choose. Uncle, right before regression you said Yuhyun was basically #1 among Hunters?”
“That’s right. Yuhyun was so strong he was eyed by many.”
A bitter taste rose in my mouth. Of the natural S-ranks I knew, Yuhyun was the only one who’d continued to protect the world. They said there were other natural S-ranks besides Seong Hyunjae and Riet, but no standout Hunter appeared. What happened to the rest? Maybe they were too young to have awakened.
“You conquered many S-rank dungeons too. After Director Song died and Seong Hyunjae left, Yuhyun was the most active top-tier Hunter in Korea. Hyunah went overseas after the guild disbanded.”
Many of those skills and titles ca from dungeon conquests. If they could all be transferred, it would be trendous.
“If you get all of them, you’d gain like ten more skills, right?”
“Probably?”
Even if only so remained, they might exceed current achievent rewards. But I couldn’t imdiately urge him to bring pre-regression records. To , it was like having two younger brothers. I didn’t want to impose on just one. It felt wrong to both of them.
Yuhyun clenched and unclenched his fist. His normally bright eyes seed darker today.
“I’m sure pre-regression is stronger than current .”
“That’s true, but you’ll soon surpass that.”
“Even if soon, ti isn’t abundant.”
Anxiety tinged my brother’s voice. Given the situation, it made sense he hesitated more. I stretched out my arm and patted his shoulder.
“Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, Yuhyun. You’re strong enough, and you don’t need to face Transcendents right now. Or would you like more ti? There’s no hard deadline.”
“...Okay.”
Yuhyun nodded heavily. He’d asked if sothing was up with , if I looked strange—but he looked strange too. Ever since my birthday, it felt a bit odd... With him waiting for , I felt awkward rushing him.
Maybe I should grab him and just lay it all out. What on earth is he worrying about?
“Then first, Hunter Park Yerim~”
I deliberately raised my voice cheerfully. Yerim jumped up with a “Yes!”
“I’ll check the settlent details~”
Outside the dungeon, the achievents scrolled up. First, the minor monsters eliminated in Japan and China were listed one by one. Yuhyun had taken down all the S-rank monsters in Japan, but Yerim had also killed many minor ones. They said monsters spawning from dungeon breaks didn’t count as conquests, but these had appeared because of Lu’s seal, so they counted.
China was similar. Oh, the ones tossed into the lake—the achievent rank is pretty high. The Demon King was lower, perhaps because it was a group battle. There were no pure Hunter-versus-Hunter fights, but the Chatterbox party fight counted as Transcendent-related, so it was treated as an achievent. Thanks to Yerim’s active role, the party’s combined achievent rank was SS—huh?
“This is......”
“What’s wrong? Sothing strange?”
Yerim pressed close to and asked. There was one achievent I hadn’t expected. The last one—the highest rank.
[Illusion of the rmaid Queen (SSS) – Conquest Success (L)]
“That ti in the Lake Dungeon when the rmaid Queen appeared. That achievent rank is L!”
“L rank? Wow!”
We hadn’t received any special conquest reward back then. I’d assud the reward had been Yerim gaining the rmaid Queen’s power.
“You essentially defeated her alone. Maybe that’s why the illusion is SSS but the achievent is L!”
“Woa woa woa! What do they give you? An L-rank skill? L-rank weapon?”
“Even in an S-rank dungeon, S-rank skills are rare and weapons barely drop. But L-rank gear is sothing. Actually, any SSS-rank is a first!”
“Uncle, you favor . So among S-rank Hunters, I’m the first!”
Yerim and I cheered at once. We should pop so champagne—but non-alcoholic, of course.
“Let’s settle the lower ranks first. Luckily, unlike year-end taxes, we don’t have to return anything─”
[Achievent reward excess deduction]
...Huh? Wait a minute. Excess deduction? What does this an? I asked, and a ssage arrived from Myungwoo.
[If you settle system achievents, rewards previously granted at the discretion of rookies or other Transcendents may be deducted.]
“What? Is this really like year-end taxes?”
[We’re almost done preparing here. Call the last person in within thirty minutes.]
The ssage cut off. He seed busy.
“...Yerim, you didn’t receive much over ti, right?”
“The biggest things were the Jewel of Water’s Master and the Spirit Egg.”
“The egg was bought with points, so that should be okay. They wouldn’t deduct the L-rank reward as a jewel, would they?”
No way they’d do that. But the achievents started being deducted one by one. Why deduct the toad-killing reward! It had been customized as rmaid Queen earrings. Usually customization is rare...but they even deducted so Spirit Eggs! That dungeon itself was created because they pressured for rewards. We’d torn out a lot. Gradually, they kept reducing until...
“Please please please, let the L-rank......”
[Excess deduction complete]
At last!
“I’m safe! Yerim, the L-rank remains!”
“We made it!”
One S-rank, one SS-rank, and the L-rank remained as achievents to claim. The rmaid Queen’s power wasn’t deducted—perhaps because we paid the price by allowing the water droplets to slumber. In any case, thank goodness! I was shaking at the thought of having to return it.
“S-rank, SS-rank, and L-rank—do you want to claim them together or separately?”
“Hmm, what should I do?”
“Yerim, since you have few skills types, claiming separately might be fine. Adding S to L won’t make a huge difference.”
“Then separately! With the Chatterbox vault, S and SS will definitely give skills, right?”
“Of course. But......”
[Achievent Reward (S)
Random reward according to the Awakened’s achievents and stats
※Can designate reward by dropping two ranks]
Upon settling, a random box popped out. Yerim frowned as she held the box.
“I’ve seen this in so many gas. Better to roll randomly than get a B. They say it’s related to my stats.”
“That makes sense. It’s not A, so B isn’t the worst. And there’s no junk.”
“Yes, hope for sothing good!”
Yerim opened the box. And then—
“Phantasm of the Abyss! S-rank! Kyaaa!”
Cheering erupted. Phantasm of the Abyss? Seems like a skill.
“Is it a skill?”
“Yes! Uh... uh?”
“Why?”
“ntal type and summoning type? And... it can combine with the White Corpse.”
White Corpse is the skill to read a dead person’s mories. Useful, but not combat-related, and I’d hesitate to have Yerim use it.
“If combined, the skill effect will usually change.”
“White Corpse... well, I don’t really need it.”
“Then let’s combine.”
Yerim combined the skills. She said she now had White Abyssal Phantasm (S).
“The rank didn’t go up.”
“It’s probably an S-rank upper skill. Since it’s an S-rank reward, the base skill was likely lower S. With a bit of growth it’ll be SS.”
“It says it lowers the opponent’s willpower, shows illusions from their mories, and draws out abyssal power. I want to try it.”
Then she opened the SS-rank box. This ti it was an item, a bracelet. Its deep-blue waves shimred, and at their intersections was set a white gem.
“Waves of the Night Sea. Enhances all skill effects in darkness, increases movent skill speed, Night Owl’s Eyes—an A-rank vision support skill. It even applies to stealth.”
“That’s nice. With A-rank vision support, you’re S-rank, so my stealth skills won’t work on you.”
“And once a day, summons Night Waves. Summoning water sounds good, right? It’d be disadvantageous in dry terrain.”
Yerim liked it. Though skill boosts apply only in darkness, it’s still fitting of SS-rank with good stat options. Finally, she carefully held the last L-rank box. We both swallowed hard.
“Weapons are nice but skills... oh gods, Buddha, Confucius, Allah—please grant skills!”
Yerim prayed as she opened the box. Her closed eyes snapped open.
“...A title?”
“A title? What is it?”
A title! Titles are usually better than skills!
“It’s L-rank: Successor of the rmaid Queen.”
“Successor of the rmaid Queen? Because you defeated the illusion? Does the title include a skill?”
To be a Transcendent’s successor... Even the Dragon Slayer from slaying Lauchitas gave three L-ranks and one SS. The rmaid Queen should be even greater. But Yerim’s expression was strange.
“There’s no skill.”
“...What?”
“No, really. It just says ‘Successor recognized by the rmaid Queen’ and ends.”
“Really nothing? Not even one?”
“Really nothing.”
...What is this? It’s a scam! An L-rank title in na only! I ground my teeth, but Yerim blinked. A ssage arrived.
“The rmaid Queen invites .”
“...Is she going to give you sothing directly? It says to go imdiately?”
“No ti limit.”
“Then let’s ask Myungwoo or the rookies before going. Being a successor isn’t bad, but......”
Setting that unease aside, I settled Noah’s achievents. He was similar to Yerim, but had no rmaid Queen–class L-rank. Instead, almost nothing was deducted. I, Yuhyun, and Yerim had claid the most separately. Noah hadn’t been there for the toad kill either.
“Two S-ranks and one SS. How do you want them?”
“I’ll take them together. I got more than I thought.”
Noah smiled shyly. He underestimates himself. He held an SS-rank box combining two S and one SS. “Hope it’s good,” I thought.
“Since Myungwoo has the gear, you’d want a skill, right?”
“An offensive skill would be nice.”
Even support types need self-defense skills. Not poison or curses, but a direct attack. Noah used the box. His silvery-gray eyes blinked.
“Veil of the Radiant Dragonkin.”
A golden-aura-like veil flowed over Noah’s hand.
“Is it gear?”
“Yes. They say it’s the veil inherited by royalty of the Radiant Dragonkin. When wrapped around your body—”
The veil that had wrapped Noah faded. He emitted a faint light. It wasn’t dazzling, just a gentle glow.
“It seeps in, and whether partially or fully worn it’s fine. Myungwoo said he’s only good with tal gear and is poor with cloth, so it seems well-made.”
“How are its options?”
“It has various buffs—strengthens Radiant Dragonkin skills and halves their cooldown.”
Whoa, that’s insane. It would reduce Nest skill cooldown and strengthen it? That’s ridiculous.
“Wow, we should do a team battle soti.”
“With Noah’s skill added, we’d definitely win! Tell Song uncle he can throw down anyti!”
Yerim shouted enthusiastically.
“With you two, it won’t creak like when we fought Bella! Of course, we’ll keep practicing coordinated attacks.”
“You two don’t need to worry.”
Only Riet...I wonder if she’ll accept the teacher’s skill well. I summoned Riet. Soon she appeared in the middle of the living room.
“Hello, my brother! Sweeties!”
“Take off your shoes first.”
I wish we could adjust the teleport location.
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