I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-227

**227. The One Who Possesses Every Hidden Trait**

—

Anyone who loses a Star Expedition duel is transferred to the *Prison of Stars* for one full day.

Even a primordial being like the Heavenly Demon had been forcibly relocated.

That meant whoever created and orchestrated this “game” was of similar—or even greater—magnitude.

*If you have no starlight, the result is an automatic loss.*

One thing was certain—this was no simple game.

You had to gather starlights to raise attack power and health.

Because if you lost, you would lose *the most precious thing you possess.*

Like the single dao left behind by the Heavenly Demon.

*The Heavenly Demon’s blade.*

Its rough, violent recoil pulsed through my palm.

It felt like riding an untamed beast.

Simply *gripping* it was enough to churn my stomach.

Even compared to **Winter (The Last Twilight)**—my supreme unique-grade sword—it didn’t feel inferior in the slightest.

*So this is the Heavenly Demon’s most precious treasure.*

But it was surprising.

Out of everything the Heavenly Demon possessed, why was *this* dao the most precious?

It couldn’t be simply because of its rank.

He was a being who lived through the Primordial Age.

Rank-wise, it wouldn’t be strange if he had multiple weapons on the same level.

—Ugh, disgusting! Rude! Can someone get this filthy thing off me?

A voice I hadn’t heard in a long while.

*Winter* finally spoke again.

The sword with a will of its own.

The moment I grabbed the Heavenly Demon’s blade, Winter suddenly began complaining.

Her prim, sharp voice remained unchanged—but the disgust she felt toward the dao was so strong I could feel it.

*Disgusting and rude? What did the Heavenly Demon’s sword ever do to you?*

It was strange.

All I did was hold it—how did that count as “rude”?

You only call someone rude when they’ve insulted you.

—You can’t hear it? That filthy mouth keeps chattering nonstop. *“Shedding, annihilating, and gazing upon Asura—only then can one perfect Heavenly Demon Divine Art. But to accumulate pure demonic energy, relying solely on human mental methods is impossible…”* What on earth is it babbling about?

I couldn’t hear anything.

But Winter could.

She could hear it—the *curse* engraved within the dao.

*It’s an insight.*

The words Winter relayed shocked me completely.

Winter didn’t understand its meaning, but it was *insight*—an enlightenment.

Someone had engraved the sword with the detailed understanding they had attained.

And not the kind of enlightenment I could reach yet in my current state—this was something far, *far* beyond.

Not just scattered philosophical musings.

It gave explicit *methods.*

This was…

*A jackpot.*

No—*beyond* a jackpot.

It was nothing short of a **miracle.**

I hit the motherlode.

If I had merely stolen the Heavenly Demon’s dao, I wouldn’t have realized anything.

But because Winter could interpret the engraved enlightenment, I now knew the value hidden inside.

A treasure only shines for the one who can truly recognize it.

*Now I understand why the Heavenly Demon valued this blade more than his own life.*

Right now he was surely pounding the ground in regret.

Regretting not collecting starlights properly.

After one day passed, he would risk his life to get this weapon back.

But one day was more than enough.

More than enough time for me to memorize and internalize the enlightenment.

Not only that—

Even after one day, the Heavenly Demon could never surpass me.

Because this “Star Expedition” on this “God’s Island” was a board designed for *me.*

*Eight treasures like this…*

My body trembled just imagining it.

It had been a long time since I felt excitement like this.

Not since the moment I obtained the Primordial Armor.

Inside my head, scenarios unfolded endlessly—

How to defeat the rulers of the Abyss.

How to rob the primordial beings of their *most precious treasures.*

“…Who are you?”

The old man.

The one who had been brutally beaten by the Heavenly Demon.

He finally managed to stand and looked at me.

He radiated hostility—but also wariness.

After all, I had just erased the Heavenly Demon in a single instant.

“I’m guessing you’re the ‘Sunken Emperor,’ yes?”

I asked.

During his fight with the Heavenly Demon, he had shouted that he would “sink” him.

Among the participants was someone known as the Sunken Emperor—so I took a guess.

“…! You know of me?”

“So I’m right.”

“Don’t tell me—you’re in league with *him*?”

“Him?”

“The ‘Unborn One’…!”

The old man trembled with fury.

Now that I thought about it—someone had begun the Star Expedition the moment the game started.

*The Unborn One.*

Could that expedition have something to do with the Sunken Emperor?

I organized my thoughts and spoke.

“I’m not working with him.”

“…You’re not?”

“No. But—did you duel the ‘Unborn One’?”

“The expedition, you mean?”

I nodded.

The Sunken Emperor bit his lip.

The hostility faded slightly, though distance remained.

But the tension lowered a bit since I wasn’t an ally of that entity.

“He forced the expedition on me. Damn bastard…!”

“You lost—yet you’re not in the Prison of Stars?”

“…This body is not my true body.”

Ah. I see.

No wonder he was beaten so miserably by the Heavenly Demon.

The punishment only applied to the original body.

That was *very* important information.

*I can extract more from him.*

He had been forced into an expedition duel before me.

And he likely knew more about the participants than I did.

He was someone who’d been waiting for the game to begin under the right conditions.

*If this isn’t his true body, he can’t duel again.*

Unlike with the Heavenly Demon, the starlights around him remained quiet.

Meaning either his true body wasn’t present here—or he had already lost and was barred from dueling for a day.

*This game is about uncovering hidden conditions and rules.*

Gathering starlights is only part of it.

You have to reason things out and learn constantly.

After organizing my thoughts, I spoke to the Sunken Emperor.

“I think you and I could become good friends.”

A proposal.

*

*

> 【“Lord of the Grave” and “Randolph” will engage in a Star Expedition Duel.】

> 【“Lord of the Grave” — ATK 0, HP 0.】

> 【“Lord of the Grave” has been defeated.】

> 【You have succeeded in the expedition!】

> 【“Randolph” seizes what is most precious to “Lord of the Grave.”】

> 【You have seized the “Child’s Grave.”】

Goooooooo…

The Lord of the Grave.

A primordial golem of earth wailed sorrowfully.

> 【The defeated will be imprisoned in the “Prison of Stars” for one day.】

And then he vanished.

Another participant removed—just like the Heavenly Demon.

What remained was a small bronze coin.

Cheap-looking, engraved with a grave.

*So this was the Lord of the Grave’s most precious treasure.*

There didn’t seem to be anything more to it.

Still—

I won two duels against two monsters right at the start.

There could be no better beginning.

“…The ‘Hybrid of God’s Skin’ has crafted quite the spectacle.”

The Sunken Emperor muttered.

We had explored the island together for several hours since then.

Only a few hours—but we were closer now than in the beginning.

Simply following me allowed him to learn a lot.

And talking to him allowed *me* to learn even more.

Mutual benefit.

“Is this ‘God’s Island’ created by the ‘Hybrid of God’s skin’?”

I asked.

The Sunken Emperor nodded.

This Abyss belonged to the Hybrid of God’s skin.

But among the participants, that being was nowhere to be seen.

If the island belonged to them and they were not among the players—

That meant they were **the host** and the board was **their design.**

“To be precise, he didn’t *create* it. This island is… one of the few places within the Abyss that has not been corrupted. You didn’t even know that?”

He seemed to mistake me for someone who lived in the Abyss.

Because I didn’t even know things I *should* know, he looked puzzled.

He could misunderstand all he liked.

There was no need to invite suspicion.

If anything, I should *use* that assumption.

I shrugged casually.

“I don’t leave my territory often.”

“Ah… a recluse. Well, there are many like that.”

The rulers of the Abyss.

Each lived within their own territory.

Even they didn’t fully know the nature of the Abyss.

If you never left your domain, you wouldn’t know anything outside it.

The Sunken Emperor accepted that explanation and continued.

“At first, I thought the Hybrid of God’s skin wanted to use the starlights to read my ‘Memory of the Stars.’ But judging by what’s happening now… it seems there’s another intention.”

“Memory of the Stars… Why do you all call them ‘stars’?”

Stars.

Every starlight was a hidden trait.

And when I arranged the thirteen in the exact order I had when I first arrived in Pangaenia—

A message said “Memory of the Stars has been completed,” and locked functions were unlocked.

So why did they call hidden traits *stars*?

The Sunken Emperor gave me a strange look.

“You really know nothing because you’re a recluse, huh? You’re an odd one.”

I truly knew nothing.

The Abyss was almost unknown territory.

Even Raiga only hunted inside the Abyss—he never learned any of this.

When I didn’t react, the Sunken Emperor continued.

“The twelve stars that first sank into the Abyss. Those stars lie ‘beyond the door.’ The Abyss was polluted by the power of those stars leaking through the cracks of that door. And the traits you possess are all influenced by those stars.”

…Wait.

My head spun for a moment.

Were the twelve stars he spoke of…

*the twelve hidden traits?*

And the rulers of the Abyss simply called hidden traits “stars”?

“Where is this ‘beyond the door’?”

“The original twelve stars belonged to those who perished. So no one knows. But new ‘door-makers’ have appeared—and I am one of them.”

He bragged without hesitation.

The twelve original hidden traits—

They came from *destroyed races.*

The later hidden traits were unique existences.

Like my “Randolph (Eternal)” and “God of Blood Demons.”

Which meant the Sunken Emperor also possessed a newer hidden trait.

But I had started with 13 hidden traits.

So why were there only 12 original stars?

“Is there anyone who possesses all twelve of the original stars?”

“Hah! Don’t be absurd. No such being exists.”

A flat denial.

Judging by his attitude, even the rulers of the Abyss didn’t have such a figure among them.

No one possessed *every* hidden trait.

But the Sunken Emperor did not know everything.

Just because he didn’t know didn’t mean such a being didn’t exist.

While I was thinking that, the Sunken Emperor clicked his tongue and added:

“However—‘Destruction’ is rumored to be the one who possesses them all. To hold all twelve stars along with the ‘key.’”

“The key?”

Mention of *Destruction.*

And now—*a key.*

I was dying to know more, so I asked.

“The key has many names. But the two most common ones are—”

I focused completely.

I had heard almost nothing about the nature of *Destruction.*

And this was directly tied to its essence.

The Sunken Emperor grinned and spoke:

“‘The Door of Truth,’ or—‘Heaven(Celestial).’”

—

 

 

---