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Chapter 006: The All-Master Who Returned to Bronze
“Seems the situation is a bit different from the start, huh?”
“…You!”
Joo-ho, who had been dragged and dumped in front of Shin-hyuk, gritted his teeth and revealed his anger towards him. But Shin-hyuk, indifferent to that reaction, swung his sword.
Swish!
A clean strike. B-rank Swordsmanship cleanly severed Joo-ho’s neck. Joo-ho’s corpse, processed as dead, turned into particles of light and disappeared.
[Choi Shin-hyuk -> Lee Joo-ho]
“1 billion!”
“But we have to split it among ourselves, so it’ll only be about 100 million each.”
“100 million is nothing to scoff at.”
“That’s true.”
Seeing Shin-hyuk’s kill log appear, the players who had betrayed Ju-ho cheered. But their joy didn’t last long.
“What are you so happy about? Now you fight each other.”
“…Ah.”
“Or do you want to fight me again?”
Shin-hyuk, who had been casually sitting on some debris, stood up holding a blade and staff.
At Shin-hyuk’s words, the players who had been embracing and sharing joy with their comrades moments ago slowly began to distance themselves from each other. Watching them, Shin-hyuk smiled.
“Now, start killing each other.”
“Wow!”
“Die!”
Shin-hyuk was demonstrating the textbook example of ‘getting others to do your dirty work.’
“W-what rank am I?”
“You? Probably around 4th. There are others who are just hiding.”
“Ugh… Still, I can be satisfied with that—”
“Then, off you go.”
Crunch!
[Skill: Staff Mastery[E] acquired.]
After the players fought among themselves, Shin-hyuk, who had smashed the last survivor’s head with a staff, checked the remaining survivor count.
[Remaining Survivors: 3]
“Two left, huh.”
The joint attack by Joo-ho and the players. Their betrayal. The civil war among the betrayers. Two players who hadn’t revealed themselves until this commotion ended. But Shin-hyuk wasn’t too worried.
“I guess I killed so many that I have three location trackers. Should I use these to catch them?”
Location trackers. He had as many as three location trackers—items he had fallen victim to several times early on.
“Use Location Tracker, Hwang Seon-woong.”
It was the moment the hunter and the prey swapped places.
Swish!
[Skill: Blade Mastery[E] acquired.]
[Skill: Tracking[E] acquired.]
“Phew, is this the end?”
Because the last remaining player chose to flee rather than fight, Shin-hyuk had to spend quite a bit of time. But that player too was eventually captured by Shin-hyuk’s excellent tracking skill and lost his head. With the player’s corpse turning into light particles behind him, a message appeared before Shin-hyuk’s eyes.
[The placement exam has concluded.]
[Achievement: #1 Survivor attained.]
[Achievement: Most Kills attained.]
[Achievement: Perfect Play attained.]
“Perfect.”
The message window announcing the end of the placement exam. Along with it, it showed just how incredible a result Shin-hyuk had achieved. He had attained three achievements, each of which alone would guarantee a Silver tier placement. But the surprises were just beginning.
[You have self-acquired 5 or more weapon skills during the placement exam.]
[You may choose the Class: Weapon Master.]
“Weapon Master? You can get this class like this too?”
The Dimension Arena had Classes. Ordinary people would get mundane classes like Warrior, Mage, Archer, etc. But the lucky ones were different. Among them, Weapon Master was a player so renowned that even Shin-hyuk from his past life knew of him.
“Weapon Master, Roderick. He was a Grand Master from the European region. They said there was no weapon he couldn’t handle…”
Grand Master. A title referring to the Diamond tier, evaluated to be on the cusp of Challenger. He was the only Grand Master on the European continent, making him even more memorable. The thought that he could obtain the class of such an existence made Shin-hyuk’s heart race.
‘My class in my past life was Supreme Swordsman. Essentially an ordinary class honed to its extreme. If I get a hidden class on top of that…!’
Shin-hyuk, who had an ordinary class despite being Challenger tier, felt his expectations double.
“I will accept—”
Just as Shin-hyuk was about to accept,
[You have self-acquired 10 or more skills during the placement exam.]
[You may choose the Class: All-Master.]
“…All… Master?”
The suddenly appearing message window blocked Shin-hyuk’s choice.
All-Master.
A class he had never heard of in his life.
But the moment he saw the name, Shin-hyuk instinctively reached his hand toward the message window.
[You have acquired the Class: All-Master.]
[All-Master]
-
Classification: Class [Unique]
└ Additional correction value applied when learning all skills.
└ Additional correction value applied when using all skills.
└ Can handle opposing energies.
“…I never imagined I’d get All-Master as a class, not just a nickname.”
In his past life, Shin-hyuk was called the All-Master, performing tasks alone that dozens of Challenger players could do. And now, he had been granted the actual class of All-Master. What that meant was simple.
“It seems it won’t take too long to teach those New Human Empire bastards a lesson.”
The New Human Empire that killed him. And the Challenger players from other dimensions who joined hands with them. The time to plunge the blade of vengeance into them wouldn’t be too far off.
[Skills: Archery[C], Swordsmanship[B], Axe Mastery[D], Spear Mastery[D], Staff Mastery[E], Blade Mastery[E] have been combined into Composite Weapon Mastery[D].]
“This isn’t bad either.”
Shin-hyuk was satisfied seeing the various miscellaneous weapon skills merge into one as a consequence of obtaining the All-Master class. Although the grade dropped significantly as a result, it wasn’t a problem for Shin-hyuk with his Jack-of-All-Trades and Late Bloomer traits.
Having obtained a new class and a new skill, the moment for Shin-hyuk’s true reward arrived.
[You have attained 3 achievements in the placement exam!]
[This record is unique across dimensions and will be recorded in the Dimension Arena’s Akashic Records.]
[Rewards: Random Box (Maximum Legendary), Random Trait]
“…Fantastic.”
A Random Box that could yield up to Legendary-grade items. But what Shin-hyuk was truly focused on was the latter reward.
“A Random Trait? That’s no different from me gaining another heart.”
Shin-hyuk already had two ‘hearts’ with Jack-of-All-Trades and Late Bloomer. Now, receiving a Random Trait on top of that meant he had received the best possible reward.
“I’ll open the Random Box later when I get back… I’ll receive the Random Trait.”
Trying to calm his racing heart with deep breaths, Shin-hyuk received the Random Trait.
[Trait: Predation acquired.]
“Predation? What kind of trait is this?”
A trait Shin-hyuk had never heard of before appeared. Predation. Unable to understand what kind of trait it was, Shin-hyuk was deep in thought when—
[The Apex of All Evil has sensed your trace and has come to find you.]
[The Apex of All Evil gazes at you with interest for having obtained its trait.]
“A Constellation…!”
A Constellation had come for Shin-hyuk.
‘A Constellation, which doesn’t even glance at most achievements, is already showing interest in me?’
Constellations were beings that wouldn’t spare a glance no matter how hard others placement or pleaded. For such a being to take an interest in a player who just finished their placement exam was an astounding event.
“Could you possibly enlighten me, in my inadequacy, about this trait?”
Thus, Shin-hyuk sought to understand the Predation trait he knew nothing about.
[The Apex of All Evil strokes its chin in contemplation.]
[The Apex of All Evil accepts your request.]
“…! Thank you!”
Fortunately, the Apex of All Evil granted Shin-hyuk’s request. But his joy was short-lived.
[Warning! Pain may occur!]
“Pain? What does that— Ugh…!”
A sensation like being jabbed with needles in his brain began to dominate Shin-hyuk. It was pain even Shin-hyuk, accustomed to suffering, couldn’t endure, causing him to tremble and struggle briefly.
“Phew… So that’s what this trait is…”
As the pain vanished in an instant, Shin-hyuk recalled the information about Predation now settled in his mind and smiled with a sigh.
“The power to absorb a part of the abilities of enemies I’ve ‘devoured’? That’s absurd.”
The power to absorb the abilities of foes he defeats. Unfortunately, since it wasn’t the ‘real’ Dimension Arena, he couldn’t absorb players’ abilities, but it didn’t matter.
“The monsters in the Dimension Arena are enough for steep growth. All-Master plus Predation. Wings keep growing even while I’m standing still.”
For now, even just defeating the monsters that appear in the Dimension Arena would allow significant growth through predation.
As Shin-hyuk smiled at his ever-increasing abilities,
[The Apex of All Evil says it looks forward to your future exploits.]
“I will strive to meet your expectations.”
The Apex of All Evil, having explained Precdation to Shin-hyuk, left only that one message before vanishing. Only then, certain the gaze upon him was gone, did Shin-hyuk let out a sigh.
“Phew, receiving the gaze of a Constellation is indeed taxing.”
Constellations were god-like beings. Even if they communicated via messages and watched from a vast distance, it was an extremely burdensome experience for a mere human like Shin-hyuk.
Finally exhausted, as Shin-hyuk sprawled out,
[The placement exam has ended.]
[Your placement tier is currently being determined. Please wait a moment.]
“Ah, right. It was still the placement exam.”
Only then realizing he was still in the midst of the placement exam, Shin-hyuk let out a hollow laugh and waited for his tier assignment.
How much time passed?
Another message window appeared.
[Player Choi Shin-hyuk, your tier has been determined.]
[The assignment of this tier used as data the achievements you attained and your play style, among other factors.]
“This should be worth looking forward to.”
The feats and play style Shin-hyuk demonstrated in this placement exam were by no means ordinary. He didn’t know what the Dimension Arena’s Akashic Records were, but they wouldn’t be mundane. The fact that his record was stored there alone suggested as much. Furthermore, if his play style was also reflected, Shin-hyuk’s tier assignment would skyrocket.
And the ensuing message window turned Shin-hyuk’s thoughts into certainty.
[Player Choi Shin-hyuk, your tier is……]
“…Does this even make sense?”
Even seeing it with his own eyes, the result was unbelievable.
