Max Talent Player

Hyukjin was knocked off his feet.

“Husband!”

He heard Isabel’s voice, as well as others. Naphthan was shouting.

“Sword Pactee!”

His consciousness dimmed. He lost his balance and was sucked away. As his body whizzed forward, Hyukjin bit his lips hard enough for blood to flow.

‘I can’t lose consciousness.’

His instincts screamed danger. Eye of Perception was warning him that if he blacked out, he would die.

‘Isabel and Naphthan couldn’t do anything.’

If Isabel in her current state and Naphthan the whalekin couldn’t save him, this wasn’t an issue of power, but very likely an issue of ‘settings’.

‘Naphthan even promised to protect me.’

But he was unable to. He had only watched in a daze as Hyukjin was sucked away.

‘This is driven by a huge setting.’

He needed to stay alert. But he could feel his mental power being chipped away. It was a terrible sensation, like someone had a straw in his brain and was sucking away.

‘I need to hold on.’

Around and around, the world spun ‘round.

‘I will hold on.’

He pulled out a dagger and slashed the back of his hand. The pain kept him awake.

The world continued to spin.

“Ah…”

At some point, the spinning stopped.

‘This isn’t the Endless Sky.’

How to put it?

‘Is it… the inside of the mana hole?’

It seemed he was inside the mana hole that was said to suck in even the whalekin if they got too near.

He heard a voice.

“Looks like you stayed awake by stabbing the back of your hand.”

Hyukjin’s mind instantly snapped to attention. That voice, it was familiar to his ear, an unforgettable voice. The low, deep voice was imbued with mana so profound that the current Hyukjin could not even begin to imagine its power.

“Quite the smart choice.”

The inside of the mana hole was dark. Some distance ahead was a golden chair, and sitting on the chair was a certain person.

“Demon King.”

“Are you calling me Demon King?”

“That’s the only way I can describe you.”

Hyukjin flinched.

‘When?’

He hadn’t even felt it. In the blink of an eye, the Demon King was right in front of him. He couldn’t read the movement at all. The Demon King’s face was almost pressed to his, so close he could feel the man’s breath.

Hyukjin felt instantly suffocated, but he didn’t show it.

“I still can’t recognize your face.”

“Can’t be helped with your level of Cognitive Dissonance Dispel.”

“Why did you call me here?”

“Who knows? You tell me, why do you think I called you here?”

Hyukjin knew. This was a test.

Kang Sun-il was not an unconditional ally. It was true that he was here thanks to the Demon King’s assistance, but was that truly doing him a favor? The answer was no. He didn’t know what the Demon King’s intention was.

‘If I can’t provide the right answer…’

Then the Demon King might cut him down without hesitation. Kang Sun-il could find another pawn to use.

“Because there’s something you want from me.”

“Is there really something I would want from the likes of you?”

The Demon King’s aura crashed down on Hyukjin, squashing the breath out of him. It was truly hard to breathe. The Demon King was testing him a little more harshly than last time.

‘Test or no test, I’m gonna die of suffocation.’

He rapidly used an item. It was Courage, the item given to him by the Courageous Lion King. Hyukjin didn’t like the Guardian one bit, but he came in handy once in a while.

[Using the gift given by the ‘Courageous Lion King’, Courage.]

[A courageous aura billows forth.]

The Demon King smirked. He seemed to know this power came from the Courageous Lion King. With Courage, Hyukjin was able to resist the Demon King’s suppression a little, which allowed him to at least escape death by asphyxiation.

After regaining some mental clarity, Hyukjin calmly continued.

“Why would you keep me alive and do such a troublesome thing if there wasn’t anything you wanted from me?”

Kang Sun-il smirked. Hyukjin couldn’t distinguish his face, but he could feel that the man was smiling. There was an image in his head of the bright red lips above the Demon King’s head widening in a grin.

“Very well. I like your attitude.” Kang Sun-il nodded. “Then tell me, what is the thing I want from you?”

“There’s a high chance there’s something you can’t obtain yourself because of a System setting. If not that, then simple curiosity towards me.”

But the latter was unlikely.

“However, you’ve arranged far too many things for it to be simple curiosity.”

So in the end, the answer was the former.

“Ultimately, I obtained the treasure of the whalekin.”

He had the ‘?’ item with a description he could not read, the treasure that apparently didn’t belong to the whalekin at all, but was perceived as theirs.

“Isn’t this what you wanted?”

Hyukjin opened his Inventory.

‘It’s gone!’

The ‘Treasure of the Whalekin’ he had left in his Inventory had disappeared without a trace. Hyukjin had no idea when it was taken. This must be how others felt when they were robbed by Darongi.

Kang Sun-il grinned again.

“You’re slow.” Kang Sun-il tossed the small box that was the ‘treasure’ up and down in his hand. “Thanks to you, I was able to get my hands on this. Well done.”

“...”

Hyukjin didn’t know what this treasure was, but there was no doubt it was what the Demon King wanted, and that there was some kind of reason the Demon King was unable to acquire it himself.

“Why’re you staring at me like that? You mad?”

“Not at all.”

It would be a lie to say he wasn’t a little displeased, but the treasure was already gone. He didn’t show his feelings. Instead, he said, “This happened to me because I lack the skill, after all.”

“At least you acknowledge that.”

“If I don’t acknowledge my faults, there is no path for growth.”

“A fine saying.” Kang Sun-il chortled. “You’ve accumulated quite a few stigmata in the meantime.”

The Demon King looked Hyukjin up and down as if evaluating a sculpture. Hyukjin stood there frozen, feeling like he had been stripped bare before Kang Sun-il’s prying gaze. It was a terrible, terrible feeling. It felt like every part of him was being scoured, down to the depths of his heart.

“Impressive. Your current level is 39. Your leveling speed isn’t anything special, but you’re far stronger than regular Players. And I see you destroyed the Gray Ring.”

“...”

Kang Sun-il seemed to have an ability more advanced than Hyukjin’s Eye of Perception. He read everything with a simple up-and-down glance.

“How come you destroyed the Gray Ring?”

“Why do you ask the obvious? I destroyed the Gray Ring because it came with a ‘clue regarding the Sky of Freedom’.”

“Is that all?”

“...”

Hyukjin thought for a moment. Should he be honest here?

‘It’s not about choosing not to lie, but that I can’t lie.’

He couldn’t handle the consequences of lying to this man. He had to reveal what he could afford to reveal as honestly as possible, while still scraping up what benefits he could. That was the correct strategy.

“Because the Gray Ring can set the Players’ voluntary growth cap to 60.”

“What good is that to you?”

“Isn’t it better to be capped at level 60 than level 40?”

“I’m asking why you think that.”

“Does there need to be a reason?”

The Demon King shrugged. “You have no reason?”

“I think a world stuck at a level 60 cap would be better than a world stuck at level 40. Is that not reason enough?”

“It is.”

Kang Sun-il disappeared from sight, then reappeared sitting in the golden chair.

“You’re one amusing fellow.” The Demon King had his legs crossed. “You acquired the temporary traits Whale Physique and Endless Sky Physique. Without those two, you can’t last in the Endless Sky.”

“...”

“Don’t forget that sensation. Seeing as you’ve made your second heart, --- --- must have helped you.”

“Are you talking about Isabel?”

“Indeed. Isabel must be the name you can discern. Anyway, I guess I should first congratulate you for managing to get here alive.”

The Demon King’s appearance began to fade. Apparently, he had judged he had gotten everything there was to get.

“I haven’t forgotten what you said.”

I will become strong.

Strong enough to make you, the person reigning as the strong one right now, kneel.

Or strong enough to become a fierce blade you can trust.

“Try your best to become strong, then.”

The Demon King vanished, leaving only a bright red pair of lips that widened in midair. The lips uttered an evil sentence.

“If you can get out of here alive, that is.”

* * *

* * *

That moment, Hyukjin was crushed by an indescribable pressure.

“Gah—!”

He had forgotten. This was the ‘mana hole’, a phenomenon capable of sucking in even the whalekin with its incredible force. The black hole of the Endless Sky.

‘I’m getting sucked in again.’

He didn’t know where he was getting drawn towards; all he could faintly tell was that he was getting sucked towards the center of the mana hole.

‘My body…’

It was being crushed. He had already seen what had happened to the Steel Wyverns that had fallen into the Sea of Clouds.

‘If I get sucked deep inside… the same will happen to me.’

He didn’t know if he would become a mana crystal, but in any case, it spelled certain death.

Try your best to become strong, then.

If you can get out of here alive, that is.

Hyukjin clenched his teeth.

‘That son of a bitch.’

Hyukjin realized something. Even the Intermediate Administrator Senia wasn’t here right now. That meant this place was off-limits even to her.

‘It’s just the Demon King and me, the two of us.’

He thought back to the Demon King’s last words.

If you can get out of here alive, that is.

Interpreted another way, those words meant there was a path to survive this place, this mana hole that even consumed whalekin. How?

He might be an ass, but the Demon King wouldn’t have spouted meaningless nonsense.

You acquired the temporary traits Whale Physique and Endless Sky Physique. Without those two, you can’t last in the Endless Sky.

Don’t forget that sensation. Seeing as you’ve made your second heart, --- --- must have helped you.

He had brought up Whale Physique and Endless Sky Physique out of nowhere, for seemingly no reason.

‘Therein lies the path.’

He was sure of that. Thanks to the Whale Physique, he could breathe here, and thanks to the Endless Sky Physique, he could absorb the mana of the Endless Sky, which purified and cleansed his body while helping him stay alive.

‘Absorb mana.’

The Endless Sky Physique was a body that absorbed the Endless Sky’s mana.

‘A body that absorbs.’

Hyukjin let out an unconscious scream. It felt like his body was fragmenting. If he hadn’t increased his Willpower the other day, he would have passed out.

‘The sensation of absorbing mana. Second heart.’

They were clues. As his consciousness dimmed, he endured the pain of his entire body being destroyed as he continued his line of thought.

‘Second heart.’

It was only one moment, but Hyukjin forgot the pain, immersing himself in utmost concentration.

‘I won’t… resist.’

The force that was dragging him along was also mana. It was mana assigned a unique pulling force. He entrusted his body to this mana, letting go of any resistance.

‘Endless Sky Physique.’

All of a sudden, he felt an enlightenment bud within him.

‘In the mana hole, I didn’t absorb the surrounding mana and turn it mine.’

He had jumped straight to resisting its pull. Hyukjin breathed naturally. In, and out. In, and out once more. As he repeated that process, he naturally became one with the mana of the mana hole, assimilating with it.

‘This is it.’

He did not resist. He simply accepted it. The mana of this mana hole would not harm him. Not as long as he possessed a true Endless Sky Physique and could achieve harmony with the surrounding mana.

Hyukjin began to breathe in the mana hole’s mana.

‘Like Isabel taught me.’

He took it in, sent it to his second heart, and through his body once more.

‘It’s slowly… getting better.’

Hyukjin wasn’t aware, but a ‘red eye’ resembling the Red Eyes was gazing at Hyukjin from afar. When Hyukjin recovered his composure, it disappeared.

‘Naturally accepting the surrounding mana.’

That was the true strength of the Endless Sky Physique. It didn’t matter what kind of mana it was. As long as it could be taken in, it was mana, plain and simple.

When he realized that, a new incantation began to emerge from Hyukjin’s lips.