Chapter 266: Balancing things out

[System: You’ve killed a person without being detected you’ve triggered your unique perk

Silent killer (Assassin perk): Whenever you slay an adversary/player a random stat from Hp, Atk, Mp, Chi, Spd, Def.

Bounty: Any of those aforementioned stats will be increased by 30% and become stackable over time… but disappear when getting hit

Status: Your Spd stat has been enhanced

Current buffs: Atk 90%, Def 30%, Mp 60%, Spd 120%, Hp 30%

Class perk: Perks are powerful active abilities that can only be attained when choosing a class. The abilities you can equip are only the ones that are available for your profession. You can only equip one perk at a time and can only change your class perk once per day]

[Where are you going?]

As soon as she triggered Null, Shin began her onslaught which she found rather manageable. Although she was an inch away from the doors that would bring her to the borders she stopped. This feeling she knew it all so well and even though she tried to change her route it was inevitable as the two eventually reunited

“… this aura? So it seems you’ve been corrupted by Croft in our bout before. Shin, I’ll rescue you from the evil plaguing your body!” The smooth road she thought was up ahead false to ruins after meeting the worst possible scenario to appear

[Oh no! Why does it have to be him? Of all the people, we could have come across we just had to meet him! Are you kidding me?]

“You’re out of options… we have you surrounded Shin. Please don’t make this any harder than it is,” In her back, she saw Yoona, Charlotte, and Gale, and at her corners roamed assassins hidden in the shadows

[See I told you! We have to hurry! Your friends have been brainwashed… don’t you see why I was inclined to do everything? Your mind, it’s too resilient. After getting a good feel for this place first hand I can feel something slowly corrupting one’s mind]

“Hehehehehe. The last hope of that devil is in the palm of my hands. Don’t resist your efforts will be in vain. Accept your fate. This is where you’ll die!!!” The glowing silhouette took a swing of its blade and she felt her head tilting and her view veers to the ceiling

’Fuck…’

Her vision slowly darkened and before anything else, she and others heard clanking from who knows where. Suddenly the area where they stood was surrounded by a symbol of a clock where its arms span in reverse. To her surprise, everything became a blur people that were there, and even her killer disappeared, even herself

[Can *cough* you *cough* hear me?]

She awakens herself to be in a realm filled with nothing but darkness where a beckoning call greets her ear. The voice belonged to a sickly if not I’ll woman begging for her voice to be heard with no concern over her health. Shin quickly was reminded of her death and before anything else, she answered in post-haste

“Yes… I can hear you. Who are you?”

[I can’t tell you much… the only thing I could say is that im not from around here. The point is you must listen to what I have to say… the fate of this world is currently in your hands, and because of that I saved your life, but you need to act quickly!]

“Y-You’re the one who turned back time?” Shin replies upon realizing what she saw was the reality of her life

[I need your help but im not the one in need of saving… Christoper Morris needs to live, but for that to happen you need to escape. You might think he’s not all that important but I’ve seen countless times the world crumble without his presence. You could reject this as nothing but a dream but remember even if you survive the world will crumble–]

[Relapse: You’ve died! Due to the desire of the caster, you’ll be commencing the first regression]

“Ahhhh!!!” Her vision returns to her and she relapses to a time when she unknowingly received Sage’s skill

[Oi aren’t you overreacting? You just recovered from the mental pressure what is it now? Or maybe I overdid it a little bit–]

“Is there no other way out!!?” She screams whilst grasping her neck and her eyes blankly stare at the abyss

[What’s wrong? Is it a mental attack? I could’ve sworn I had my guard up–]

“I died…”

[Can you add more context to the matter?]

“The route you carefully planned out was rigged… they knew I was coming. The number of guards was too much even with your the Familiar’s help. I died without a chance to react, I was hopeless, and what awaited me was death, until she came…”

[Hold on ’She’ The last I heard the god who governs time is Male. If that’s the case then it was his avatar… never thought I’d meet another primordial god. So it seems my prophet of an avatar is quite impactful for the world’s fate. Toying with time in this place takes a toll and even puts the avatar at great risk of dying an early death]

“Maybe the solution is to take a different way than before–” Everything darkens along with her vision and she sees herself back to before she even dies

[Relapse: You’ve died! Due to the desire of the caster, you’ll be commencing the second regression]

[You died again?]

“How did you–”

[Hush act natural! Act like you’re confused… so it seems that placing a memory link was the best option. What you’re experiencing right now is a Temporal waypoint. Each waypoint holds a recorded time and if you die in its vicinity you’ll regress to a certain point meaning you’re unkillable]

“I’m immortal?”

[You could say that… something like using this power to you means you know her. There’s a chance that you’ve made contact with her but when and where? As much as I’d like to extract the piece of information we have to accomplish our endgame]

“How–” This time she felt the presence but it was all too late for her to act and her chest was left with a gaping hole

[Relapse: You’ve died! Due to the desire of the caster, you’ll be commencing the third regression]

[Eureka! I’ve found it thanks to you! So it seems it is not just mental manipulation magic… you see there’s also detection and well the thing that killed you before. Don’t get so down it wasn’t a person but something different magic for assassination purposes, what I call execution]

“Please give me an explanation…” She sighed after she grasped the thought of death and her experience turned from frightened to blank

[It requires a formless medium and for this instance, it’s the shadows. An advanced manipulation spell that uses the environment to annihilate its target. In simple terms, it can turn the elements into killers once the requirements have been properly made]

“So I died because of–” This time her head flew bounds away from her body and she died and later to be reborn once more

[Relapse: You’ve died! Due to the desire of the caster, you’ll be commencing the fourth regression]

[First things first you need to move… the requirements must have triggered since you’d been remaining on a single point. In hindsight, we can deduct that after the duration of time ended an attack will be sent to kill you]

“That would’ve been great but why didn’t I die in the first time?”

[Didnt you know? You already had ’Null’ active by that time. It makes your overall value zero so even this trap won’t detect you. But this is rather troublesome. Thanks were active by the time you were at the exit how come they’ve found you?]

“This is just a guest… but what if they found me through the onslaught we’ve done? The route we took was clearly complex even they’d have a hard time. This leaves us to a single thing their auras are being monitored and if one disappears it’s because they’ve been killed,”

[My oh my! You’re quite clever… that’s it I give up. Looks like my cheeky avatar was right. You’re the right person we need]

[System: The deity known as ’The Forgotten Sage’ is using his authority to bypass the ongoing trial’s restriction

Status: You’ve become the target of the deity known as ’The Forgotten Sage’

Outcome: The deity is granting you a gift. Due to the trial restriction, the player will face a backlash. We advised you to prepare for a world of hurt]

“Are you kidding me– Aarrrrghhh!!!” The shocking stimulation she felt was too much for her body to handle and she quickly died as a result

[System: The target died due to the disappearance of the target processing will be terminated– Error!

Status: The soul has yet to depart, and the body is destroyed, however, time seems to be on the target’s side!

Outcome: The relapse effect will now occur remaining backlash will be sent to the fifth regression]

“Ahhhh!!!” She died

[Relapse: You’ve died the relapse effect will now occur remaining backlash will be sent to the sixth regression]

“Kieeeek!!!” She died whereas she bit her tongue in frustration

[Relapse: You’ve died the relapse effect will now occur remaining backlash will be sent to the seventh regression]

“Ughhh…” This time her head exploded

[Relapse: You’ve died the relapse effect will now occur remaining backlash will be sent to the eighth regression]

“Bluargh!!!” She pukes every bit of blood posses by her vessel

[Relapse: You’ve died the relapse effect will now occur remaining backlash will be sent to the ninth regression]

“It’s bearable please I don’t want another–” Although she was able to survive her eyes exploded and she ended herself with a knife which she used to pierce her throat

[Relapse: You’ve died the relapse effect will now occur remaining backlash will be sent to the tenth regression]

[System: You managed to survive! The abilities, knowledge, and items will now be in your possession!

Skills acquired: Mana breathing, Mana circulation, Elemental bullets, Mana edge, Sharpening, Split personality

Knowledge: Spell combination, Spell compression, Spell amplification, Spell augmentation, Attribute combination

Items: Arcane ring, Necklace of perseverance, Cloak of fortitude, Orb of greed, Spellmancer gloves]

__________________________

After Shin finishes writing her contract

[Tell me Morris is the reason behind your rejection of claiming those items in the missions I gave you for her?]

“Huh?”

[You’re seriously going to reject a copy of Mana breathing which can increase the rank of the one you possess?]

“Hmmm…” Morris hummed and remained silent all the while Sage tried to uncover his reasoning behind such

[By any chance are you in love? Is that it? Are you the type of pervert who likes to get verbally abused?]

“Is it that hard to believe that she’s capable? You know I don’t personally scout people… if they don’t pique my interest I’d just make anyone in the group recruit them,”

[I hardly believe that of you, an avatar of mine that can even best a clown, you’re too much of a comedian]

“Wanna make a bet?”

[Are serious right now?]

“Why yes I am…”

[Go on]

“If I win you double the amount you’ll give her, which means you need to refine those items, with your own money!”

[What if I win?]

“You get to torture me to your heart’s content I’ll gladly take any commission that can spell out my immediate death,”

[Deal!!! How bout we sign a contract? You’re the type to ditch the moment you lose]

“Oh Sage, don’t you know I never once gamble when im the one losing,”

__________________________

[Hahahahaha! You truly are a fine specimen. Now shall we move onward–]

[System: The player’s mind blew up after being overwhelmed by the flood of newly acquired information

Status: Some information that’s yet to be applicable to the player has been momentarily sealed

Relapse: The relapse effect will now occur the player’s soul will now be sent to the eleventh regression]

[Okay will start after your eleventh regression]

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