REAPER SCANS

The Martial God Who Regressed to Level 2

[Translator – SCM]

[Proofreader –  ilafy]

Chapter 292

"Understood, Branch Manager." The elf who'd approached JiHan looked surprised.

'So, is he the branch manager?' How strong was the branch manager of a loan counter compared to the ancient elf he’d faced who was as strong as a constellation? 'It's hard to know for sure, but he doesn't seem weaker than the ancient elf.'

The branch manager was making a pleasant smile. However, seeing how he was wearing a mask that had immense void power, he probably wasn't someone who could be taken lightly. Well, it was a place where loan services to powerful players were handled, so someone who was in charge of such a place couldn't possibly be weak.

"Customer, come this way, please." As the branch manager gestured, a green portal appeared.

Zzzziingg—

"Is that portal… the VIP room?" a player asked.

"That's a place you have to be a constellation to enter."

"Why's a species like that…"

"It's my first time seeing the branch manager personally do a consultation."

The surrounding players looked at JiHan as he followed the branch manager.

"I don't understand."

"He seems weaker than me…"

"He isn't a constellation, right?"

"He has a Space League Premium Membership. I'm sure he isn't an ordinary player."

Not only had JiHan concealed his energy, but thanks to the Space League Premium Membership, he couldn't be seen in detail by other players, which was why others struggled to measure his power.

'The VIP room… I concealed my energy, so I'm curious about what this guy knows about me.' Should he follow him for the moment? JiHan nodded and walked into the portal. As he did so, he saw a huge place with brown walls on every side.

"The customer I consulted before this belonged to a tree giant species, so the space wasn't properly prepared for you. Please, wait a moment," the branch manager said before clapping his hands together.

Clap, clap—

[The VIP's room's environment is being adjusted according to the species.]

Ziinngg—

The interior space then transformed into a modern and luxurious reception room.

"Before we proceed with the loan consultation, please submit the basic information required for the loan evaluation." The branch manager extended his hand with a smile on his face, and a message window appeared before JiHan.

[The 'World Tree Alliance - Loan Counter' operated by the Green Administrator requires basic personal information from the player for loan evaluation.]

[Would you like to submit your basic personal information?]

Submitting his personal information to the World Tree Alliance? That was like entrusting a fish to a cat. JiHan immediately pressed ‘no’ and replied, "I'd rather not."

"Ah, don't worry. Although you are indeed one of our targets, the loan counter won't leak information."

"I'm a target?" JiHan asked.

"Yes, you're quite famous."

Tap, tap—

The branch manager tapped on his mask. "My superior died, so I inherited the ‘Disposer of the Void’."

"Your superior…?"

"That dumb senior who used to brag a lot but ended up getting blown away by you in Planet Pioneer."

Was he talking about the ancient elf who'd exploded with the Thunder God? So the elf had invited him despite knowing that. ‘As expected,’ JiHan thought, ‘there’s a reason why the branch manager personally stepped forward. 

The branch manager called the mask the ‘Disposer of the Void’, and the thing emitted quite a lot of void power after the ancient elf died.

"Is that mask called the ‘Disposer of the Void’?” JiHan asked. “But it broke."

"This is essentially just a trash can. It's something that can be easily made again," the branch manager explained.

"Hmm…"

"Anyway, I'm in charge of loans, so your personal information won't be leaked. You don't have to worry."

No leaks? How could he trust an elf from the World Tree Alliance? Sung JiHan chuckled and waved his hands in dismissal. "I didn't come here to take out a loan. I was tricked by one of your advertisements, so that's fine. Just give me my free gift."

"Ah… Is that so? Normally, you would need to write your personal information down to receive a gift. The manager clapped twice, causing a beautifully-wrapped fruit basket to appear on the desk.

Clap, clap—

"In honor of having met our target,” the branch manager said, “I'll use my authority as manager to give it to you anyway."

"You're being nice to someone who’s supposed to be a target. Are you not even thinking about catching me?"

"Fufu, what's the point of catching an avatar? On top of that, you're, in a sense, my benefactor who allowed me to take over ownership of this mask."

"Isn’t it a trash can?" JiHan asked.

"Yes. However, the person in charge of this trash can holds quite a significant position in our World Tree Alliance." All that time, the manager kept a smile on his face.

JiHan still didn't believe him. There was a chance that there was something hidden in the fruits, just like the one the Administrator had given him before.

'Let's see…' JiHan unwrapped the fruit basket and sensed an intense Life Energy coming from the fruits.

"Would you like to eat them here?” the branch manager asked. “Then, why don't we have some light tea time together?"

"You want me to have tea with you? I have nothing to talk about."

"Fufu. Don't be like that. Listen, I've been researching a bit about your world…"

"Is that so?"

Swoosh—

Two teacups appeared on the desk, and steam soon rose from them.

The branch manager nodded and said, "That's right. You might not believe most of what I say, but you can filter things out later on, right? Also, you probably don't want to eat those fruits on your planet."

"Why's that?" JiHan asked.

"Fruits ultimately exist to spread their seeds. If you consume them on your planet, our seeds could spread there."

JiHan had already experienced something similar after eating the fruit that was given to him by the Green Administrator. 'To think he would mention it first… How strange.' Maybe he already knew that, once JiHan ate the fruits, they wouldn't spread, so he’d mentioned it to buy his trust. 

He decided he should still, at least, listen to him. JiHan grabbed a fruit and nodded. "Okay, I'll listen to you."

"Thank you. I'm sure you're busy, so I'll go straight to the main topic." The branch manager snapped his finger, and an image of Earth appeared in the air between them.

Tap—

* * *

Reaper Scans

Translator - SCM

Proofreader - ilafy

Join our discord for updates on releases!!

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"Planet Earth… Based on what I've investigated, we previously conducted experiments over there in the past," the branch manager said.

"I'm aware of that. That's why the ancient elf tried to come to Earth but couldn't."

"Yes. Cases like that are very rare. We usually keep a record of the places where we've conducted experiments. No matter how reckless my predecessor was, if it were in our system, he would have known."

The branch manager seemed to have a grudge against his ex-superior, the 'ancient elf.' While dissing him, he continued telling him the story. "After being embarrassed, my ex-superior made a huge deal of the fact that we didn't know Earth was a planet we conducted experiments on and that it wasn't registered."

"Well, he did make a huge deal of descending on Earth before being humiliated," JiHan said.

"Yes. He ordered me to investigate what happened. Seriously, he should have done that himself. I'm now a manager. Did he think I was still his junior or something?" It seemed that the branch manager could rant on forever about the deceased ancient elf if JiHan didn’t stop it.

"Let's forget about the dead,” JiHan said. “What did you find out?"

"Ah, I'm sorry. I suffered a lot because of that superior… Fufu, anyway, thanks to his order, I found out a few things. Earth… We previously conducted quite an interesting experiment over there."

"What kind of experiment?" JiHan asked while eating the fruit. He didn't seem very interested. After all, he didn't believe the elves at all, so from his point of view, they could be about to tell another lie.

"The director in charge of the experiment there fused himself with the World Tree. On top of that, some data of other powerful species was thrown into the mix as well."

"I don't quite understand what that means."

"Well, it makes sense. You don't know what goes on behind the scenes. We conduct numerous projects across the universe, but there are a few things that shouldn't be tampered with. One of those things is the World Tree, but for some reason, the director modified a few things and ended up merging with it."

"So?" JiHan asked.

"The communication with Earth was lost. Later on, the Alliance sent an investigation team… but they went missing after sending a message that said, 'critical error’."

"A critical error, huh…" JiHan mumbled. So some sort of error had occurred during the World Tree Alliance’s experiment on Earth? "Is there any information about that critical error?"

"No. That information was deleted from the reports that I found, which is quite unusual."

"Hmm…" JiHan looked at the smiling branch manager. For some reason, he didn't think that the information was deleted. Rather, he thought the elf was keeping it hidden on purpose.

Not paying attention to the way JiHan was looking at him, the manager said, "At the end of the report, it said, 'Error solved in collaboration with the void. Data recovery failed'."

"If it was resolved,” JiHan said, “then why did the data recovery fail?"

"The void must have deleted it."

"Hmm…" So the void had interfered? JiHan thought of Gilgamesh. If Gilgamesh had betrayed the void, then it probably meant he was part of that error message. Was he truly related to the incident? "When was that error fixed?"

"The exact time isn't detailed, but it's something that happened a long time ago," the branch manager explained. 

"Is that so?" If an elf said it was a long time ago, it must have happened in ancient times. JiHan thought over the information he'd just gotten: the World Tree elves had tried to conduct an experiment on Earth but encountered a 'critical error', and that error was eventually solved through the cooperative effort of the World Tree Alliance and the void.

'The World Tree Alliance and the void don't seem to be on good terms. If they collaborated, then it must have been something truly critical.' JiHan stared at the branch manager’s mask. The elf had called it a trash can, but it had an immense amount of void power within it. Such a species cooperating with the void must have meant it was a huge problem.

"Anyway,” the branch manager said, “since it was a problem related to a critical error, the higher-ups didn't register Earth in our system properly. That's why my ex-superior tried to descend to Earth and ended up getting shamed."

"I see." JiHan nodded while eating all the fruits in front of him, and Life Energy accumulated in his body. He didn’t stop there and also drank the tea at the table. When he did so, something peculiar that’d been hidden in the Life Energy wriggled inside of him, but then he expelled red lightning from the tip of his finger.

BZZT—

Of course, he used the old version of it instead of using his Red stat. "An energy that reacts when you eat the fruit and drink the tea together… How interesting," he said.

"No way…! Did someone do something to the tea?!" The branch manager made a fuss upon seeing green smoke rising from the tip of JiHan's finger.

JiHan smirked. The elf was quite a good actor. "Why did you share this information with me?"

"I was just following the trail of my ex-superior's death, and—"

"Right,” JiHan interrupted, “so there was no need to tell me this since I’m the one who killed him, right?"

The manager smiled but didn’t answer. "Do you want to take out a loan, Sir Target?"

"Thanks for the food, but no."

"Please, visit again. Next time, I'll prepare an even better gift."

"Are you planning on trying to put another bug inside of me?" JiHan asked as he stood up.

The smile on the manager's face deepened. "A bug? No way. That's just a means for Sir Target and I to become closer."

"I refuse."

Flash—!

JiHan logged out immediately.

"So he really cleaned it all out…" The branch manager admired the green energy that JiHan had expelled from his body. Even many constellations had fallen prey to the 'World Tree's Control', which was a result of combining the fruit and tea.

To think that someone who belonged to the lowest-ranked species would expel all that energy so cleanly… He was worthy of being called a ‘target’.

"Just like the higher-ups, your growth is worth looking forward to."

When the branch manager thought about how JiHan had expelled the foreign energy and avoided being dominated by the World Tree, his smile deepened even further.

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