I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-228

**228. The Unborn One**

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*The Door of Truth, and Heaven(Celestial)?*

Those names were startling.

At first I thought I misheard, but there was no mistake.

“Why? Do you have the key or something?”

The Sunken Emperor narrowed his sharp eyes at me.

He kept watching me suspiciously, because I kept asking about things anyone from the Abyss should already know.

If he learned that I *did* have the key, the Sunken Emperor would do whatever it took to devour me.

Absolutely anything.

So I laughed lightly.

“Of course not.”

The Sunken Emperor also burst into a laugh.

“That’s true. Unless you’re Destruction himself, there’s no way you’d have all the stars *and* the key.”

…Unless you’re Destruction.

That phrasing caught my attention.

It implied **only Destruction could possess all 13 hidden traits.**

But I wasn’t Destruction.

I was human.

Far from a being that indiscriminately annihilates worlds.

All that happened was that the character Wilhelm—Knight King—had been deleted, his value converted into 1.6 million Soul Points (SP), and I maxed every talent.

As a result, 13 hidden traits were unlocked.

*So Soul Points and talents… do they relate to hidden traits?*

Some hidden traits could be unlocked by achieving certain talents.

For example, investing 3,000 points into each of the Five Elemental Talents unlocked the “Void” attribute.

Then investing another 5,000 points into “Nihility” unlocked the hidden trait *“Void.”*

A hidden piece born from talent itself.

But even knowing that didn’t mean people could just acquire them.

Because obtaining Soul Points was brutally difficult.

*You had to die while possessing a unique-grade weapon to get maybe 70,000 to 80,000 Soul Points at most.*

Deleting a unique-grade weapon would unlock maybe one or two hidden traits.

But *Void* was among the *easiest* hidden traits to obtain.

To unlock the rest required far more Soul Points.

*Still—1.6 million Soul Points was enough to max every talent. And you could gain Soul Points from quests and from climbing the Tower of Rift.*

Not a lot, but still.

Clearing the 1st floor of the Tower only gave about 70,000 Soul Points.

But if one somehow gathered 1.6 million Soul Points piece by piece, then theoretically one could unlock all 13 hidden traits.

*It’s not impossible. The odds are close to zero, but not zero.*

So even someone who wasn’t Destruction could, at least in theory, unlock all 13.

Not because they *are* Destruction.

But something did bother me.

*…Heaven(Celestial).*

Among the 13 hidden traits were ones even I didn’t understand initially:

**Glutton, Great Sage, and Heaven(Celestial).**

Glutton evolved into *Greed,*
Great Sage evolved into *Eye of Truth.*

Only one remained untouched—

**Heaven(Celestial).**

And if Heaven’s(Celestial) other name was *The Door of Truth*…

*Then… I’ve seen the Door of Truth before.*

When Queen of Blades Hana was giving birth to the Dragon God’s Karma.

Since I was connected to Hana, I too confronted the “Door of Truth.”

It had been within me—manifested as an enormous eye and mouth.

It was the one that changed Great Sage into the trait *“Eye of Truth”* as a “gift.”

It didn’t feel like there were multiple of such beings.

The sensation I felt then was on a completely different level—even compared to standing before divine beings.

So… that eye and mouth was *Heaven(Celestial)?*

*Then what exactly is a Player?*

Even more baffling was the Player system.

Players were summoned by the Goddess to protect Pangaenia.

They should have had nothing to do with the Abyss.

Yet Soul Points could unlock hidden traits—these *stars.*

Which made Players feel strangely similar to Abyssal beings.

“When you’ve been a recluse so long, you sure have a dense Abyssal aura. Like someone who rules multiple domains. Why leave your territory now?”

I cleared away my thoughts.

Now wasn’t the time to dwell on it.

Currently I appeared as the “One Who Emits Darkness,” a terrifying ill omen.

“I only recently left my domain.”

“And you came straight to ‘God’s Island’? Bold one. Be grateful you met me while I’m not in my true form.”

“Your true form is different?”

The Sunken Emperor nodded.

“Very different. This is merely a projection of who I was long ago.”

“You used to be human long ago?”

“Probably. I can barely remember.”

He frowned.

The memory was so ancient that even forcing himself to recall it brought nothing.

“But… one thing I do remember.”

“What is it?”

“I was the first emperor to unify the continent.”

The Sunken Emperor—

He had once unified the continent long ago.

…Just as the Primordial Dragon God hinted to me.

Meaning he, too, entered and emerged from the **Primordial Dragon God’s Treasury.**

He was undoubtedly a primordial being.

I summarized briefly:

“How sentimental.”

“Mm. Maybe it’s because I can’t move my true body. Some of the emotions I had as a human seem to be returning.”

He spoke as if it were fascinating.

The emotions lost when becoming a ruler of the Abyss.

Anyway, this was enough.

*Night.*

The sun was drooping toward the horizon.

Night approached in the distance.

Darkness.

No—*the Abyss.*

It was disappointing not to duel more participants, but if none appeared, it meant they were now wary.

“Let’s move.”

Drawing more attention was bad.

We had to find a safe place to spend the night.

*

*

 

> 【The “Evil Spirit of Night” has arrived on God’s Island.】

> 【The Evil Spirit of Night wanders the island seeking participants.】

> 【The Evil Spirit of Night has 500 ATK and 500 HP. Any “most precious thing” it seizes can **never** be recovered.】

> 【If you do not engage in a Star Expedition duel within 72 hours, the Evil Spirit of Night will appear with 100% certainty.】

> 【Expedition duels are impossible during nighttime.】

> 【If participants engage in combat during the night, the Evil Spirit of Night will appear.】

As the island fell into darkness, the new rules revealed themselves.

*Brutal.*

ATK 500 and HP 500.

If it found you, you lost—guaranteed.

Surprisingly, duel mode was disabled.

All battle was fundamentally blocked.

*“Use nighttime to build allies.”*

That’s what the rule implied.

Since combat risked summoning the spirit and losing everything, nighttime was for talking—forming alliances.

“Aren’t we supposed to find a place to stay? Wandering around now is practically begging to meet the Evil Spirit.”

I didn’t stay still.

I kept wandering.

Especially after seeing those system messages, I walked more aggressively.

“It won’t attack on the first night.”

“…And what exactly gives you that confidence?”

I didn’t answer. I only shrugged.

*This is like a horror game.*

In a typical horror game, the ghost doesn’t kill you on the first day.

If it appears, it only scares you—not kills.

Or it allows you to evade easily.

*There were starlights marked on the map earlier that didn’t actually exist…*

The newly revealed starlights.

When I visited those marked locations earlier, nothing was there.

Which meant another condition was needed.

And it was likely tied to the **night.**

Real starlight shows itself only in the dark.

*bingo.*

Exactly as expected.

A starlight embedded in the ground glimmered in crimson.

It hadn’t been visible in the morning.

Sssk. Sssssssk.

Then—

Something dragged across the ground behind me.

The sound started suddenly.

“Close your eyes—and **do not turn your back**.”

The Sunken Emperor warned.

What in the world had appeared behind us?

One thing was certain: it was something *horrifyingly dark.*

I had faced countless strong foes—but this type of creeping dread was new.

I closed my eyes.

Ssssk. Sskkk. Ssss…

After about thirty seconds, the sound faded.

“It’s gone.”

The Sunken Emperor let out a breath.

For someone like him to react that way meant…

“What was it?”

“…The ‘Unborn One.’”

So just now, the Unborn One had walked behind us.

But something didn’t add up.

“Combat is impossible right now anyway. Why did we need to close our eyes?”

“He doesn’t care. The Unborn One has no ‘most precious thing’ to lose.”

“…That’s cheating.”

“Yes. In this game, he may be the absolute favorite to win. He is a being that only devours, destroys, and marches toward victory.”

He spoke as someone who *already knew* the Unborn One.

He had lost to him in the first expedition—and he seemed to know much more.

The Sunken Emperor added:

“Just don’t cross paths with that monster.”

If you did, you died.

There was no surviving.

Better to lose a duel and be sent to the Prison of Stars than meet him.

That was what his words implied.

“Why did you help me?”

Even so, that had been a chance to eliminate a competitor.

I helped him earlier, but he was still a being of the Abyss.

He cooperated only when it benefitted him—not from gratitude.

The Sunken Emperor tilted his head.

“I don’t know. Maybe because I currently look human. But don’t expect such help when you meet my true body.”

“I’m deeply touched.”

“Anyway… what did you just pick up?”

“A starlight.”

And not just any starlight—something extraordinary.

And the Sunken Emperor couldn’t see it at all.

Perhaps because he hadn’t met the conditions.

I asked the question that had been burning in my mind.

“Sunken Emperor. Are the starlights here all named after the twelve stars that first fell into the Abyss?”

“Probably not. It seems the rule is based on each person’s own ‘Memory of Stars.’”

“Memory of Stars?”

“You only see starlights that match the names of the stars you possess.”

I possessed *every* hidden trait.

Meaning I was the only one capable of accessing *all* starlights.

But gathering all of them had produced no change.

Only when arranged in the *original order* did effects activate.

*So I need to collect them in the order I obtained and evolved them.*

What came next?

*It was on the way to Cramdel. I devoured the corpse crow’s core and Glutton evolved.*

But that wasn’t a true evolution—it was just using the Glutton trait.

*No, the first true evolution was when Iron-Blood Monarch’s Heart evolved into Eternal Monarch’s Heart.*

That happened when I killed Maxim.

Maxim had invaded the Marquess Weiser’s “Garden of Knights” to insult the Great Expedition and erase the knights who stood with me.

I felt pure rage.

That triggered the hidden trait quest: *Iron-Blood Monarch.*

After killing Maxim, it evolved into *Eternal Monarch’s Heart.*

*Which means I should be looking for the Eternal Monarch’s Starlight.*

But the starlight I was holding was not that.

Nor was it the name of any other evolved trait I possessed.

*This is…!*

I was barely suppressing the urge to frown.

> 【Starlight of the Sole Emperor ★★★★★】

> 【ATK 30, HP 30】

> 【Contains the “Memory of the Sole Emperor.” If “Sole Emperor” possesses this, all starlights gain +5 ATK and +5 HP.】

> 【Only one starlight of this grade can be possessed.】

…………Why **is this** appearing here?

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