Lee Jin-Wook had started keeping his distance after he realized he couldn’t beat Choi Yu-Seong in close combat. But suddenly, he lunged forward.

‘Something’s coming.’

At that moment, Yu-Seong intuitively realized that it was something dangerous that would surely prove lethal. His back was soaked with cold sweat and he felt the chills down his spine. Nervous, Yu-Seong was Jin-Wook holding an orange-colored, diamond-shaped mana bomb he had fished from his pocket.

Yu-Seong’s mind started racing as he looked at Jin-Wook.

‘God, an orange-colored mana bomb!’

A mana bomb was literally a bomb made from manastones. Not only were mana bombs above red-color convenient to carry and powerful like the grenades used by the military, but they were also pure mana condensed and were difficult to identify with x-rays if Players carried them. As a result, international law banned players from creating them. Korea was a safe country that it was difficult to get one's hands on even a gray mana bomb, the lowest in terms of power. But somehow, Jin-Wook—no, Min-Seok had been able to secure an orange mana bomb to kill Yu-Seong.

Jin-Wook pulled out the safety pin of the mana bomb in front of Yu-Seong and used Stepping Wind to get himself out of the way while using Wind Pressure to stop Yu-Seong from following him.

Yu-Seong didn’t resist Jin-Wook’s Wind Pressure and was pushed backward, but as he was, he used Stepping Wind one last time. However, despite his best attempts, he couldn’t avoid the explosion completely.

Nevertheless, he was also prepared for this. Yu-Seong’s Spark instantly spread out like spiderwebs as it covered his surroundings, including himself and his spear. Then, his spear started to spin like a windmill, flicking out sparks.

‘It’s unbelievable how he has so much mana left! Thank god I didn’t waste more time.’ 

Jin-Wook couldn’t believe the sparks bursting out from Yu-Seong. Even as he was amazed, he noticed the Iron Wall Cheol-Ho running toward Yu-Seong as if he had sensed something was wrong.

Cheol-Ho’s moves were extraordinary, as befitting of an S-rank player. In a blink, he instantly arrived behind Yu-Seong and stretched out his hand. Although he had sensed something strange was about to happen and acted swiftly, Jin-Wook didn’t worry much.

‘It’s too late.’

That moment, an orange explosion erupted, the shockwave filling the arena and swallowing the sparring ground. As light surged, followed by a loud boom, gusts of wind also lashed out, and sand and rocks flew everywhere. But after Jin-Wook barely avoided the explosion and looked down from midair, his jaw dropped at the unbelievable situation.

‘What the…?!’

At the epicenter of the explosion, what remained of the explosion was twisting upwards and slowly dying down, as Yu-Seong’s still-spinning spear coated with sparks was splitting the outburst into two. As if he was Moses standing in the Red Sea, the orange-colored explosion was split in two and scattered away with him in the middle.

‘That’s an E-rank player?’ Jin-Wook couldn’t believe his eyes.

He wanted to ask Choi Min-Seok, who was standing with his face glued to the Colosseum window, glaring at Yu-Seong like a ferocious beast.[1]

‘Didn’t you say your brother was cowardly and incompetent?’

He had realized after the duel started that Min-Seok was wrong, but what was happening right now was way beyond being simply wrong. However, Min-Seok and Jin-Wook weren’t the only ones who were shocked by what they were seeing.

* * *

“Shit…!” Park Jin-Hwan’s jaw dropped as he cursed at the shocking events happening in the arena below.

Was this because the Irregular and potential criminal Jin-Wook had activated an orange-colored mana bomb? That was surprising in and of itself, but that wasn’t it. He couldn’t help but curse because of Yu-Seong’s performance.

‘An E-rank player is stopping an orange-colored mana bomb?’

Of course, this wasn’t completely impossible based on his calculations.

‘Even though Choi Yu-Seong is an E-rank player, this could make sense if he has trained persistently until now. After all, he’s also an Irregular and has extraordinary skills.’

However, it would’ve been impossible if Yu-Seong didn’t have instantaneous reflexes and Cheol-Ho didn’t help out. So this was a combination of an unlikely event, a slim chance, a miracle, and luck. In any case, Jin-Hwan had to ask himself again,

‘How many times would I have the chance to get something like this on film?’ 

It was highly unlikely that he would see anything like this ever again. Naturally, his hand clicked the shutters more rapidly.

‘I can’t afford to miss a single thing.’ 

He was looking at a miracle right now.

“What the hell is his ability…”

Not only Jin-Hwan, but also everyone in the auditorium was in awe.

Those with cameras were busy taking photos or videos. The sudden fall of the new Korean Irregular rookie was already an established fact. Then, how should Jin-Hwan think of Yu-Seong who stopped the lethal attack of the Irregular Jin-Wook?

As Jin-Hwan was trying to come up with a headline for his news page, reporter Hwang from his rival media company asked him. “Reporter Park, Choi Yu-Seong’s that incompetent rascal from the Comet Group, right?”

“Yes,” Jin-Hwan replied indifferently.

“Then perhaps I’m confusing the meaning of ‘incompetent’ and ‘rascal’?”

“No way. It’s either that Yu-Seong’s been fooling us until now or the hunter exam is just a real variety show,” Jin-Hwan answered and smiled at Hwang’s question.

“Bullshit.”

“Don’t preach to me when you can’t come up with anything better. What happened was weird enough to talk nonsense like this.” After Jin-Hwan responded, an idea flashed across both of their minds.

‘The rascal who fooled the world.’

It wasn’t bad. But just as Jin-Hwan thought it wasn’t catchy enough, he noticed a handsome man leaning against the wall.

‘Kim Do-Jin.’

Although Do-Jin could’ve used a private space, he had entered the same auditorium as the press corps. Looking at the scene, he pursed his lips.

“Not bad, Yu-Seong.” With this short comment, Do-Jin snorted and turned back.

Looking at Do-Jin, who was acting like he saw everything he needed to see, Jin-Hwan smiled brightly.

‘The rascal who fooled the world fires up the super rookie Kim Do-Jin!’

After coming up with his final headline, Jin-Hwan felt great.

* * *

As the audience was making a fuss, Yu-Seong shivered. He felt his mana draining out after dealing with the colored explosion.

‘That was close.’

Because on the conversation he had with Do-Jin before the duel, Yu-Seong expected there to be some kind of trap. He had also thought about the safest way to overcome that trap. First, he had to raise his combat readiness to the maximum. After all, if he couldn’t use his power when he needed it, it would be useless. Therefore, he activated Stylish.

However, he still didn’t use everything he had. Since his opponent had a trump card up his sleeve, Yu-Seong also couldn’t use his mana to its limit. They were both looking for the right timing, with their own trump cards ready.

Nevertheless, Yu-Seong was bewildered when an orange-color bomb, a rank higher than a red-color bomb, exploded. However, he didn’t forget what he had to do.

First, he used up all of the mana he had in reserve as he brought Stylish to its maximum level by brandishing his spear in large sweeping, eye-catching maneuvers. Second, he remembered Cheol-Ho’s position, which he had been checking on during the battle, and flew toward him using Jin-Wook's Wind Pressure attack.

As such, the moment the mana bomb exploded in front of him, Yu-Seong felt a touch on his back and mana being transferred to his body.

‘I’m saved.’ His safety was now confirmed.

After that, he was filled with joy upon seeing the golden letters that shone inside the orange-colored explosion.

『General Skill, Stylish F -> E

Cannot be used with Fusion.

Additional effects are applied once the user demonstrates acrobatic and cool actions.

Various additional effects are being applied.

Mana increase, concentration increase, patience increase, stamina increase, restoration increase, eyesight increase, intuition increase, poison resistance increase, mind control resistance increase, fire resistance increase, cold resistance increase, defense increase.

Once the effects of Stylish have ceased, one of the additional effects is permanently applied to the Player as a result of the skill rank-up.』

Although Yu-Seong could feel the astonishing additional effects and enormous mana consumption of Stylish, he didn’t worry. His otherwise large mana capacity wouldn’t have lasted three seconds if he was alone, but now, Cheol-Ho had placed his palm on Yu-Seong’s back and was providing him with silver-glowing mana.

‘This is the mana of an S-rank.’ Yu-Seong was amazed.

Since Cheol-Ho was a physical-type player and not a psychic support-type one, his mana transfer wasn’t that smooth. The flow was somewhat stiff, and the mana received from Cheol-Ho was a mere fraction of what Yu-Seong was using up. Nevertheless, the mana of an S-rank had a completely different density. Even this small amount was nearly equal to Yu-Seong’s total mana.

‘This makes me want to rank up faster.’ 

While Yu-Seong was admiring an S-rank player’s pure mana and enjoying his own ranked-up skill, ten seconds passed.

As the explosion didn’t have a specific target, it roughly swept the ground and died after crashing into the mana-coated walls. Of course, Yu-Seong wasn’t in great shape after the explosion. Rough gusts of wind and splintered rocks blasted away by the explosion ripped his shirt and made it into a rag, while open wounds dripped blood through the rips. Blood ran down from the wounds on the cheeks of his handsome face and reddened his lips. However, that was it. No fatal injuries, only minor scratches.

“Phew…Yu-Seong, are you okay?” Pulling back the silver energy from his hand, Cheol-Ho sighed and asked.

“Just a little dizzy. Nice support.”

“...”

After nodding at Yu-Seong’s words, Cheol-Ho's facial expression changed strangely.

‘Did this E-rank player just say what I think he said?’

It was true that Cheol-Ho had indeed backed Yu-Seong up since there was no time and he was somewhat close to him, but there was no E-rank player in the world that would compliment an S-rank player as if they were the superior. What dumbfounded Cheol-Ho even more was that Yu-Seong’s mannerisms felt so natural that he was almost convinced.

“I think we should save the talking for later and take care of this first.”

As if Yu-Seong felt Cheol-Ho’s gaze, he smiled and pointed his spear at Jin-Wook, who was still midair and bewildered by the situation.

Bzzzz-!

The Spark—no, more like lightning created by Yu-Seong and the remainder of the mana provided by Cheol-Ho coiled around Yu-Seong’s right arm and spear.

‘Jin-Wook is already considered fai…’ 

Although Cheol-Ho wanted to say that this was just a test, he couldn’t stop Yu-Seong.

‘After all, I can’t stop him from getting his revenge.’

Eyes gleaming with rage, Yu-Seong reared his arm and threw the spear. The spear released lightning as it soared through the air and tore through Jin-Wook’s shoulder, who was trying to run.

“Gaaah-!”

A scream echoed in the arena. However, Yu-Seong’s target wasn’t even Jin-Wook, it was Min-Seok, who wore an unpleasant expression on his face that was stuck to the glass. The spear, wrapped in lightning, flew toward his forehead

Boooom-!

The crash impacted the mana-coated glass wall so hard it almost shook. Frightened by the sound, Min-Seok squealed and bounced backward like a frog.

After he realized how much he was embarrassing himself, he pointed his finger and protested. Of course, Yu-Seong couldn’t hear a word, since he was on the other side of the glass wall. Instead, he smiled at Min-Seok and waved his hand.

“Sorry, hyung. My bad.”

Of course, what he was thinking was completely different.

‘You son of a bitch. You decided to play it like this, huh?’ 

Yu-Seong had no intention of just letting Min-Seok’s actions slide. Baring his teeth, he turned back as he thought of how to deal with Min-Seol.

Meanwhile, Cheol-Ho announced the result of the duel as he easily suppressed Jin-Wook who had fallen to the ground unable to tolerate the pain of the Spark in his shoulder.

“Choi Yu-Seong, pass.”

But this wasn’t the end. Messages clearly seen by every player appeared above Yu-Seong’s head.

- The Red Fang of the Dark Night is looking forward to player Choi Yu-Seong’s future endeavors. 15 Karma points have been sponsored.

- The Emperor of Great China is fond of player Choi Yu-Seong. 18 Karma points have been sponsored.

- The Silky Beard is clapping for player Choi Yu-Seong while sitting in her seat. 20 Karma points have been sponsored.

- The Oldest Hunter is giving player Choi Yu-Seong a thumbs up. 35 Karma points have been sponsored.

- [private] The Father of Magical Hymns is shining its one eye at you. He wishes to give you a skill. Y/N

- You have attracted the attention of many Gods in an instant. ‘Draw Attention’ is created in player Choi Yu-Seong’s history.

This was the attention from the Gods any player would wish for. Yu-Seong's performance shocked not only Cheol-Ho but everyone else as well. The audience jumped in amazement. They had been leisurely watching the show and had not expected to see such a spectacular ending.

But the one most surprised and excited about this situation was Yu-Seong himself. Of course, finishing his debut by earning the recognition of extremely renowned Gods was certainly meaningful. After all, Yu-Seong’s Star-Factor would increase.

However, among the attention of various Gods, Yu-Seong could only focus on the private message that only he could see.

‘The Father of Magical Hymns…’

Although it was hard to identify the figure who used this moniker, since it had many descriptions, Yu-Seong knew who it was as he had finished reading the first part of the original novel.

‘The Germanic Cardinal God, Odin!’

He was now stating that he would give a skill to Yu-Seong. Even though Yu-Seong only started standing out recently, he had never expected the appearance of the cardinal-class God who didn’t reveal his full strength and form until the end of the novel’s first part. To be exact, he wouldn’t presume to even think it would be a possibility.

But now, the name in front of him was certainly Odin’s, and he was willing to give Yu-Seong a skill and not just fund some Karma points. Since this skill was from Odin, a Cardinal-class God, it was guaranteed to be powerful.

However, although the reward was extremely tempting, Yu-Seong had to think rationally. Odin in Germanic mythology was not exactly a good-hearted god. To put it nicely, he was wise, but to put it realistically, he was sly. After all, one of his nicknames was the ‘masked one.’ Yu-Seong wanted to ponder on this more, but Odin’s consecutive messages pressed him.

- [private] The Father of Magical Hymns states that chances like this don’t come often. He urges you to make your decision. Y/N

‘This certainly an attractive chalice…’

But it might be a poisoned one.

Conflicted by excitement, bewilderment, and uncertainty, Yu-Seong bit his lower lip and replied to Odin’s repeated request.

1. The original description used was 흉신악살 (凶神惡殺) which means ‘like an evil spirit’ ☜