Genius Regressor Makes Mythic Items

Chapter 26. Special Arena (1)

TL: xLordFifth
ED/PR: The reader

“Kekeke!”

A humming filled with an uplifted spirit echoed.

Kim Shimun didn’t stop until he got back to his room from Park Jinwook’s office.

A tickling tinnitus rang from deep within his chest.

– Oppa, are you that happy?

“Of course. I had some unexpected gains.”

It was just supposed to be a visit to find Park Jinwook for the quest [Search for a Disciple] given by the Heavenly Demon.

Not only did I speed up Park Jinwook’s recovery, giving strength to that annoying brother of mine, but also,

‘Who knew I’d get supplies for free!’

And that wasn’t all.

With the magic petrification disease cure as an excuse, I could take all the materials that the night hunter Park Jinwook had gathered.

‘I won’t have to worry about elixir ingredients for a while!’

Taking elixirs was the fastest way to increase stats, but the only downside was the requirement of such rare ingredients.

Now that this problem was solved, how could I not be joyful?

– As always, my oppa may seem naive, but he has his moments of cunning, right?

“I’ll take it as a compliment.”

-It is. That’s why I’dm worried. Unlike you, our handsome young master seems truly naive. What if he gets scammed somewhere?

Ever since encountering the actual Kim Shihyuk, the Philosopher’s Stone started calling him. ‘young master.’

Kim Shimun, instead of pointing out this behavior, picked apart another aspect.

“Naive, my foot. You know how sly that guy is.”

However.

-Oh my? Oppa, are you jealous now? Don’t worry, you’re all I have. Despite how it seems, I do have loyalty.

“Enough. Let’s not talk about this.”

Overwhelmed by the Philosopher’s Stone’s counterattack, Kim Shimun decided to drop the conversation.

Well, fundamentally, it wasn’t bad to think highly of my brother.

‘Putting elixirs aside for now…’

Kim Shimun’s gaze turned towards one corner of his room.

There, albeit somewhat shabby but neatly arranged alchemical tools were laid out.

‘The cure for magic petrification disease, if played well, could bring in big money.’

Just like the night hunter Park Jinwook,

Arena diseases didn’t discriminate by rank, and many suffered from them.

Especially those players who were of high rank like Park Jinwook.

Their longing for a cure for arena diseases was immense.

‘I don’t plan to profit off the sick…’

But the fact that the cure could make money was undeniable.

And considering from the laboratory for alchemy to future activities, the funding required,

‘A consistent source of income is essential.’

Of course, like all successful players,

Through broadcasting alone, countless sponsorships and advertisements from various guilds and corporations would flood in.

‘But that’s not my goal.’

The main culprits who killed my brother and led to the Earth’s destruction.

Zhang Liqiu and his Continental, and that unidentified eyeball were my targets.

‘Especially, Shihyuk must live.’

Kim Shimun recalled the message sent by the system before regressing.

[Verification of the death of the holder of the Seat of Constellation.]

[No further reason to continue the Arena on NO. 274 Earth.]

[The Arena on NO. 274 Earth will be completely terminated.]

[With the termination of the Galaxy Arena, the protection rights for NO. 274 Earth will be revoked.]

‘It must be related to Shihyuk’s special trait.’

And how that trait was connected to the ending of the Arena, I had a rough guess.

‘But it’s still a hypothesis.’

Of course, it was too early to make a definite judgment.

Hence, the most immediate task was clear.

Preparation spec-up for the special Arena.

“Philosopher’s Stone? Let’s begin the alloying.”

-Hehe! I’ve been waiting for you to say just that!

With a bright voice, alloying power burst forth like a torrent from the center of my chest.

It flowed through Kim Shimun’s right arm, gathering at the tips of his fingers.

[Insufficient alloying power for the required alloying.]

[The Philosopher’s Stone requests 10,000 achievement points for the shortfall in the equivalent exchange.]

[Would you like to proceed? (Yes / No)]

He summoned the familiar system window in front of him.

Kim Shimun checked the status window to verify his achievement points.

‘I currently have 10,450 points.’

After the last broadcast, completing the mission from the Demon Lord, and receiving donations had pushed his points over the ten-thousand mark.

‘I originally planned to save about 1,000 points just in case…’

But the growth rate of the Obsidian Tablet from this refining was tremendous.

A whole 20%.

Even now, at a 20% completeness, it was highly efficient.

What would happen if it reached 40%?

This was not the time to worry about leftover points.

‘Let’s see. Using ten thousand points will leave me with 450 points.’

Although it was 50 points short for refining Astrape.

‘I suppose I’ll manage to gather those 50 points somehow during the process.’

Besides, wouldn’t the human refinement ability double due to the Obsidian Tablet?

‘Even if I can’t get the 50 points, it won’t matter much. My human refining ability will increase by about twice from its current state.’

Kim Shimun, who had managed to defeat a hobgoblin through body refining despite being nerfed, would not require insurance at this level if his capabilities doubled.

Without hesitation, Kim Shimun selected. ‘Yes’ on the message in front of him.

*Pazt!*

Achievement points were spent, and sparks characteristic of refining sprung forth.

*Swoosh!*

The familiar dark purple monolith.

The Obsidian Tablet, emitting plumes of black smoke, settled upon Kim Shimun’s hand.

[The Constellation Black Goat sends a gaze filled with pride and cheers.]

[Constellation Zeus and the Heavenly Demon are salivating.]

[The Constellation Black Goat donates 500 achievement points.]

=See? Perverts. He’s mine. Haha!

It was a welcome donation.

Despite calculating for 50 points, Kim Shimun quickly earned 500 points, rendering the calculation moot.

Yet, he found the message more intriguing than the achievement points themselves.

‘Constellations can write donation messages too?’

Kim Shimun chuckled at his first encounter with a donation message from a constellation.

* * *

[Welcome to the Galaxy Arena.]

[You will enter into the ‘Fervent Nightmare Mine’ through a special arena via the entrance item.]

[The entrance item, [Doria Mountain Mithril Ore], will be consumed upon entry.]

[A limitless waiting time is provided due to the special arena’s rules.]

In an empty black space.

It was dark enough to potentially cause panic attacks in ordinary people.

However,

“Huh. The special arena gives unlimited waiting time, huh?”

The attendee of this place, a young man with distinct features.

Kim Shimun simply looked around with sparkling eyes.

Then,

“Well, doesn’t seem like there’s much.”

Kim Shimun lost interest almost instantly.

At that,

-Of course. This place is just a temporary subspace, after all. But, are you really entering the special arena now? There’s no rush.

A clear voice resonated from within.

It was the Philosopher’s Stone.

“Yeah. I planned to enter once I adjusted the Obsidian Tablet’s completeness to 40%.”

-Considering your human alchemy ability has doubled, that should be sufficient.

“And my achievement points have almost doubled, too.”

From 450 points, his achievement points jumped to 950 because of the Black Goat’s donation.

Taking into account the Philosopher’s Stone’s payback, it was enough points to make two Astrape blades.

‘With this much, I should be more than prepared for a special arena in the Silver Rank.’

It was actually an abundance.

Kim Shimun smirked and extended his hand into the void, activating one feature.

Arenia, that is, broadcasting.

‘Hmm. Should I come up with a catchy title this time?’

Merely combining the keywords. ‘Silver’ or. ‘Deep Sea’ and. ‘Special Arena’ should attract attention.

But,

‘No. Let’s just stick to what we do.’

Kim Shimun didn’t set a special title.

The reason was simple. “Previously, the allure of the Constellation had been too great.”

Of course, it wasn’t about people cosplaying as Constellations, but the real Constellations themselves.

Regardless of the truth, the incident had ended up as just another abyss broadcast debacle.

If they attracted that kind of broadcast controversy again, it was likely to cause unnecessary trouble.

Especially considering the broadcaster was still an unaffiliated low-ranker.

“Well… I did manage to secure a certain level of viewership.”

There had been times during the last broadcast when the viewer count had reached around 5,000.

Even if only a quarter of that number showed up, it meant securing over a thousand viewers.

Just as Shimun had predicted.

-Oh! The broadcast has started!

-Shimun-chan. I’ve been waiting!

-Just finished the arena. Perfect timing for some chicken and beer lol.

Instantly, viewers flooded in.

Was it the impact of the previous Constellation cosplay incident?

-Is this the person who did the Constellation cosplay?

-They already cleared that up. Someone’s obviously new here lol.

-Did you hear? They totally showed up a bus driver? For real?

-Don’t know about that. Just do the Constellation cosplay again. I missed it!

The number of viewers, including those who seemed new, increased rapidly.

Shimun’s eyes widened slightly as he saw the live viewer count.

“1,500 people? I didn’t expect this many.”

And the numbers kept climbing until the increase noticeably slowed down after reaching around 2,000 viewers.

“Phew. It’s a good thing I didn’t draw in any bad attention with the broadcast title.”

Shimun felt relieved at his wise management.

-Come on, start it already!

-Bang bang!

-Hurry up! It’s too dark here.

-Can’t hear anything lol. Turn on the mic!

-Open the door. SOS! SOS!

Thinking it was time to quickly set up the broadcast standby screen and BGM, he started the broadcast.

“Hello, everyone. Glad to see you all!”

His voice was evenly pleasant, as Shimun’s figure emerged onto the black screen.

-Oho! Here we go!

-This guy? The ultimate trickster, huh?

-Aww! Yes!

The chat was flooded with messages from viewers who seemed to have been waiting eagerly.

“Haha! Sorry, but that’s impossible. Welcome, everyone.”

With a light laugh, Shimun smoothly responded and moved on to the main topic.

“Well then, everyone. Today, we’ll be doing a special arena, not the usual one.”

-Eh?

-What? Did I hear that wrong?

-For real? A special arena?

-Aren’t you a silver rank?

-Could it be that thing I saw wriggling around in the black zone of the last arena?

A myriad of questions poured in.

It was to be expected.

Everyone, players and others alike, knew about the entry items.

And most knew that those typically appeared only for high-rankers.

Shimun didn’t elaborate on the entry item.

Why, you might ask?

“I’ll be focusing on the arena, so I won’t be able to see the chat. Please understand.”

After all, if you don’t have an entry item for the special arena, you can’t even join.

Therefore,

“It’s time to start the arena.”

Simply showing himself entering was enough.

[The location is ‘Fervent Nightmare Mine’.]

[Survive the nightmare of the mine.]

Like a stone thrown into a calm lake.

The dark waiting space flickered, quickly taking on the form of a mine.

In the blink of an eye, Shimun found himself somewhere within the mine, breathing in the unique underground air that burrowed into his lungs.

[The arena begins.]

He quickly adapted to the encroaching sense of reality.

-Whoa! No matching needed, straight to the start?
-It seems it’s a single entry item.

-So, is this guy screwed? It’s insane for Silver to clear a special arena on his own.

-The guy’s from DonKing, right? Definitely not just Silver level.

Seeing is truly believing, as they say.

The atmosphere in the chat rapidly changed from suspicion and curiosity to something else altogether. Leaving the buzzing chat behind, Shimun cautiously moved forward.

‘Survive the nightmare of the mines, huh? Seems a bit ambiguous for a survival category… must be a special arena after all.’

One of the characteristics of these special arenas, also known as story-type arenas, is their lack of clear objectives. They offer only abstract hints, never outright stating whether to annihilate enemies or protect something for a clear victory. Yet, this wasn’t entirely a drawback.

‘It doesn’t really matter if we don’t know, since figuring out the condition often enlarges the rewards.’

Naturally, as befits the difficulty level.

The better one understands the arena and devises a suitable strategy, the bigger the rewards from clearing it become. Hence, everyone’s keen interest in the entry item.

Shimun gently brushed the meticulously carved mine walls as he walked out.

His magic-sensitive senses, characteristic of the magical world, scanned the interior as his touch glided over the wall.

‘For now, I don’t feel any magic in the walls or the air.’

This meant. ‘The Nightmare of the Mines’ was unlikely to refer to the illusions or tricks often associated with nightmare keywords in arenas.

‘Maybe something nightmarish happened here, something like… the mine collapsing?’

A plausible hypothesis, yet considering it,

“The mines seem too sturdy though?”

From the floor to the ceiling to the walls, the construction was so refined it felt disrespectful to even call it a mine. It was built to withstand any regular explosion or quake with ease.

‘So, could there be some entity causing the nightmare?’

As Shimun rounded a corner with these thoughts, a non-human, non-beastly groan hit him alongside a foul stench.

Without hesitation and without even identifying the source, Shimun flicked his fingers and pushed off the ground.

It was a wise decision.

Boom!

A heavy thud where he had been just a moment ago confirmed it. Reaching the ceiling with the [Black Panther’s Physique], Shimun, like a bat, calmly checked the attacker’s form from above.

‘So the nightmare did mean a specific entity after all.’

A monstrous figure over three meters tall, with an grotesquely large upper body contrasted by what could almost be called a scanty lower half.

‘A drakan.’

If it’s a drakan, the lowest tier of the dragon lineage seen occasionally in the Gold ranks,it truly could be considered a nightmare in this Silver-tiered place.

-Insane! For real? A drakan? Even for a special arena, this is crossing the line.

-Didn’t you say this guy was Silver? But why is there a dragonkin here?

-Damn! LOL. Looks like Galaxy Arena has finally lost it.

-Is this for real, Galaxy? Seriously?

While the chat heated up upon realizing the identity of the attacker, Shimun was distracted by something else.

[The Constellation Heavenly Demon frowns.]

[The Constellation Zeus expresses displeasure.]

[The Constellation Black Goat grinds her teeth in irritation.]

The Constellations, which had taken an interest in Shimun, all showed a negative reaction. Not just one but three of them.

‘I don’t know why, but…’

Shimun knew exactly what he had to do.

“Kuruk, human!”

Whoosh.

As the drakan’s thick tail, compensating for its frail lower body, lunged at him, Shimun, embracing the gravity pulling him, forcefully kicked off the ceiling.

Channeling the raw strength of an ogre into his arm muscles in an instant, he struck down.

Crack!

The tail, as thick as his own torso, was forcefully brought down.