I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-167

Ch-167

—

I had already used the Wish Orb.

Even so, since they could lay up to 400 eggs a day, it didn’t seem like anything that would seriously hinder the strategy against Issera.

That was when it happened.

—Kyakya!

Something tore through space out of nowhere and appeared.

“Where did you go?”

I asked in bewilderment, and Hel rummaged through the front of her clothes.

Then she slowly held out two potions to me.

Seeing them, I could only blink in disbelief for a moment.

Naturally so.

“…Stored Experience Potions?”

What Hel held out were **Union’s Stored Experience Potions**.

I stared back and forth between Hel and the potions for quite a while.

How had she brought these?

And not just any ordinary stored XP, either.

They were potions filled with an *absurd* amount—like a treasure vault of experience.

*

*

After confirming the potions—

A smile naturally formed.

In any case, the operation of showing Hel to the Union had been a success.

A huge success.

My suspicion that the Golden Ratio Mage had deep ties to the Empire had been correct.

Because now we even knew Issera’s location and objective.

And somehow—though I had no idea how—Hel had even brought back potions filled with Union’s stored experience.

Hel was truly a **Trojan Horse** incarnate.

“…Dragon God Hunting, huh.”

Issera. I wondered why he’d been so quiet; of course he’d been hiding another scheme.

‘I’ll have to find it first.’

And now that I knew his goal, there was no way I could let him reach the Dragon God before me.

Conveniently, I also had a pretty good idea on how to search for the Dragon God.

‘It’s time to push the Main Quest again.’

Upon reaching Main Quest 10, I would meet **Ainhasar the Light Dragon**.

Ainhasar would serve as the gateway leading to the Dragon God.

But before that, it was time to enjoy a feast.

Gulp.

Gulp.

I tilted back the Union’s Stored Experience Potion and slowly drank it.

《You have gained an overwhelming amount of experience.》

《Experience increases by 10%.》

…Wait. Ten percent?

I was shocked a second time right after swallowing it.

A whole **10%** from just one?

…Just how many levels’ worth of experience was inside this thing?

And this wasn’t the only one.

Hel had brought **two**.

And the Union must have far more stored than this.

—

—

 

Ever since the second invasion began,

‘Player Talk’ had been more active than ever.

—Is anywhere under attack right now?

—It’s way too quiet.

—Not a cloud in the sky.

—They attacked only at the beginning and nothing else is happening.

Messages popped up in real-time as players exchanged intel.

But everyone’s opinion aligned: **it was strangely quiet.**

Aside from a small stir right when the invasion began, there had been no significant movement since.

—So who’s invading this time?

—Isn’t the order of Hell in the Demon Realm fixed?

—The first invasion was Ahram, remember?

—Anyone who joined the Grand Expedition knows.

—Most people ran for their lives during the first invasion…

Ahram and the undead he commanded.

And the first Hell, the ‘Swamp of the Dead,’ had caused many to flee in fear.

Only a limited number of people knew how many layers Hell had or who the lords of those Hells were.

—It’s probably Scorching Hell next. I bet it’s Issera.

—Issera?

—The Immortal One. If you don’t uncover his hidden weakness, he can’t ever be killed.

—I think it took like three days to find his weakness?

—I’m getting PTSD. I never want to relive that again…

At least many people had experienced the second Hell, Scorching Hell.

The problem was the horrific difficulty, which caused even more casualties and dropouts.

It had taken **four whole days** just to find Issera’s weakness.

If the knights led by Wilhelm hadn’t held the frontline, and if the priests hadn’t supported from the rear, it wouldn’t have been surprising if everyone had died before discovering it.

—Then it’ll be the same this time, right?

—No. There’s no Wilhelm to tank at the front.

—Yeah, if not for Wilhelm they’d never have found Issera’s weakness.

—What was his weakness, anyway?

—Buff duration.

—Buff duration…?

—You could only damage him when **every** buff on you had less than 5 seconds remaining.

—What kind of nonsense is that?

That was why it took days.

The priests’ blessings meant buffs never stopped.

With layers upon layers of buffs, the idea of “attack only when every buff drops below 5 seconds” was practically impossible.

Finding that weakness took a grueling slog, leaving those who experienced it completely disgusted.

—Will it be the same this time?

—No. Issera can set his own weakness.

—Wow, then how do you find it?

—Phantom controlled Wilhelm, so maybe Phantom can find it?

—Randolph? He’s been growing insanely fast, but he’s still miles away from Wilhelm’s level.

—Yeah, Wilhelm was the only reason they held the frontline.

—But why is it so quiet right now?

—You can never relax with Issera. He’s unpredictable.

Even if the world seemed calm, the invasion had already begun.

Every player was on high alert.

Especially those who already knew Issera.

—The Eight Heroes just declared they’re going to raid Issera.

—Suddenly? Do they even have the ability?

—They said they’ll rally the entire world. Anyone joining?

—No, look at the video on their official account. It’s insane.

—…What the hell.

—Is what I saw real?

—Darkstar is a 3-star Transcendent??

On the Eight Heroes’ official social feed, **Darkstar** appeared.

He announced the Heroes’ official stance and simultaneously released proof that he had become a **3-Star Transcendent**.

A sparring video with **Gracia**.

…A video where Darkstar was trading equal blows with Gracia.

—Darkstar is on the same level as Gracia??

—Is the video edited?

—Wasn’t he running away in terror from the Four Pillars not long ago??

—They say not only Darkstar—other Heroes transcended as well.

—Did they all eat stars or something? Master Stars??

—No idea. And they said if you join the coalition and produce results, they’ll give you a ‘Star’ and even a city in Pangaenia.

—…How can you just duplicate stars? Are they handing them out now?

Everyone who watched the video was shocked.

Most believed Gracia was on a completely different level than the other Heroes.

Yet Darkstar, who had been considered far beneath him until recently, was fighting him evenly—

Even pushing Gracia back at times.

It made no sense.

It was impossible.

Yet the video was posted on an official account—there was no way it was faked.

—Maybe Gracia was overrated?

—Maybe he was always inflated beyond his real strength?

—Or Darkstar really did become a 3-star Transcendent?

—I’ve rewatched it several times and I still can’t believe it.

The video surpassed 100 million views in no time.

Darkstar, equal to Gracia!

This instantly solidified the Heroes’ standing once again.

If there were more fighters on Gracia’s level, people naturally placed greater trust in them.

—…People will join the coalition just out of curiosity.

—At that level, they might actually be able to raid Issera.

—Where’s Randolph? What’s he doing?

—Probably getting into weird trouble again.

—Still, it’s the second invasion. He’ll be protecting this place, right?

—True. Earth is more important than Pangaenia.

—So will Randolph also join the coalition?

—He’ll probably join without revealing himself. That seems most likely.

—I bet he secretly joins the coalition.
—Seconded.
—Third.

…

*

 

《Main Quest 9 – ‘Climb the Tower of the War God’ has begun.》

《Compete in the Tower of the War God and earn points!》

《Rewards will be distributed according to your points.》

The Tower of the War God—

A tower where you climb by testing your strength against powerful opponents.

It’s one of the first towers people think of when doing ‘Main Quest 3 – Climb the Tower,’ and the reason I came here now was simple:

To find the Dragon God, I needed to advance the Main Quest.

I’d only pushed through Main Quest 8, ‘Purify the Source of Contamination.’

‘For at least 14 days, Issera will not move.’

This was also the reason I could currently remain in Pangaenia.

I was sure Issera wouldn’t move even an inch until he completed his ‘Dragon God Hunt.’

He didn’t know me, but I knew him well.

Not because I’d stuck to him for four days to find his weakness.

Even before the Grand Expedition, I had researched the Lords of Hell thoroughly—it was essential before entering the Demon Realm.

‘Issera always moves according to plan.’

Therefore, I had to clear Main Quest 9 as quickly as possible—

Within 14 days.

“Please line up!”

“General admission tickets for today are sold out!”

“Scalped tickets here!”

The area around the Tower of the War God was packed with people.

The battles here were one of the most popular forms of entertainment in Pangaenia.

Crowds gathered from all over just to watch.

“…Must I go up as well?”

Elf Auril.

She looked around with a displeased expression before opening her mouth.

For an elf like her to be wedged among humans like this was a miracle in itself.

Let alone the idea of climbing the Tower of the War God and becoming a spectacle—just entering must have been difficult for her.

“You’re climbing too.”

Whether she liked it or not, I stated it without mercy.

If I ascended the tower alone, I would draw too much attention.

I needed Auril to help diffuse people’s gazes.

“…Wearing something like this?”

“Why? You don’t like how it looks?”

“A rabbit mask…”

Auril’s expression grew even more reluctant as she looked at the mask I had prepared beforehand to hide her face.

A mask shaped like a rabbit, with upright ears.

But in the ‘Tower of the War God,’ having a concept was also important.

This place didn’t score you solely on combat—*spectator popularity* was included as part of the evaluation.

To climb to higher floors quickly, a strong concept was essential.

“And… what animal is that supposed to be?”

Auril tilted her head as she looked at me.

To be precise, as she looked at the mask *I* was wearing.

“It’s a penguin.”

“…Pardon?”

“An emperor penguin. I suppose you wouldn’t know.”

Since Auril had lived only in warm forests, of course she wouldn’t know such an animal.

I put on the emperor penguin mask and went bare-chested like a barbarian.

The concept: a savage penguin warrior.

A costume I was confident would never overlap with anyone else here.

A way to quickly gain popularity and ascend the tower.

“Wear this too.”

“This is…”

The moment she looked at the clothes I handed her, Auril’s expression hardened infinitely.

Her body trembled as she desperately tried to deny reality.

It seemed she couldn’t even imagine herself wearing something like that.

But—if you can’t avoid it, enjoy it, as they say.

I calmly made her face the truth.

“It’s a bunny girl outfit.”

“………….”

*

*

Sansha, the manager of the tower, clicked her tongue as she looked through the stack of documents in her hand.

“Not a single proper rookie this time either.”

“But we still need to run the test, don’t we?”

When the man who handed her the papers asked cautiously, Sansha shook her head.

“It’s obvious. All of them are useless—just the sort who’ll make the spectators frown.”

“Then what should we do? Disqualify them all?”

Many people sought to climb the Tower of the War God.

It was a place where one could obtain treasure, wealth, and honor.

Dozens of applicants came every day.

But to climb the tower, Sansha’s approval was essential.

For over twenty years, she had managed the tower.

Just by reading the documents, she could tell whether someone was genuine or not.

‘There *are* a few funny ones, though.’

There were a few unusual ones, too unique to simply reject outright.

So Sansha changed her mind about disqualifying everyone.

“Hm. Let’s run this in an event format.”

“An event…?”

“All the rookies this time will fight an ogre.”

“…Wouldn’t they all die?”

“Of course we’ll warn them beforehand. That they *might* die.”

 

 

 

 

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