REAPER SCANS

The Martial God Who Regressed to Level 2

[Translator – SCM]

[Proofreader –  ilafy]

Chapter 519

JiHan looked around. With Heaven Net gone, the world was completely engulfed in darkness. Chaotic energies swirling wildly, enough to annihilate anyone who wasn't at least at the level of an administrator.

'Heaven Net was installed near Washington, right?'

JiHan moved through the dark space.  Although he couldn't move with all his strength since he was maintaining the Blue and Red Sword, his speed befitted a transcendent being.

Flash—!

Suddenly, light poured into the darkness-filled space.

Light and darkness… JiHan, who belonged to the realm of darkness within the completely divided zone, narrowed his eyes at the buildings bathed in light.

'I see English on the buildings.' He saw large and small buildings that were poorly maintained, but the words were unmistakably English, the language used in the United States.

 'I arrived earlier than I thought.'

Step. Step—

JiHan approached the boundary between light and darkness. Just as he was about to cross it…

[Battle Net has detected an 'Irregular'.]

Ziinng—!

A message window blocked his path.

'I knew it. Things were going too smoothly.' He wondered if he really could just walk back. As expected, nothing in the world was that easy.

JiHan stopped and looked at the message.

[The player’s information partially matches the exiled 'Blue Administrator'.]

[Entry to Battle Net is denied.]

'What?' Why was he exiled?

JiHan made a dumbfounded expression. He'd given his all to stop Heaven Net, Battle Net's competitor, yet the existing system was treating him like a criminal.

[Initiating a detailed inspection.]

[Level… detected as 2. It doesn't match the Blue Administrator.]

[A huge amount of 'Blue' has been detected… 99% match with the Blue Administrator.]

[The title 'Wandering Martial God' has been detected… 100% match with the Blue Administrator.]

It displayed information comparing JiHan to the Blue Administrator; everything except for the level matched.

Beep. Beep—

An alarm sounded from the message window, which had been comparing the data.

[Based on the inspection, the player is a 98% match with the Blue Administrator.]

'So it isn't 100%. Was being level two this significant?' Level carried some weight in the inspection. JiHan waited to see what the system would say next.

Ziinng—

A message window with a pure white background appeared.

[You cannot enter.]

[If the player wishes to enter Battle Net, you must lower the percentage you match with the Blue Administrator.]

[It's recommended you reset the 'Blue' stat.]

[It's recommended you reset the 'Red' stat.]

'Reset stats?' JiHan scoffed. There was no way he would do that. Having fallen to level two could be seen as an opportunity to grow again and earn stat points, but having his stat reset was out of the question.

"There's a better way than resetting." JiHan gripped the Blue and Red sword floating behind his back. Although he made it to seal Heaven Net, its power as a sword was also formidable.

'It might even be stronger than the Yin-Yang Demon Sword.'

Thud—!

He raised the Blue and Red sword and pierced the white message window. The tip of the sword not only pierced the message window but also tore through the boundary between light and darkness.

Crack—!

The shattered message window turned into light, and the world cracked.

'One more thrust, and I'll be able to enter.' He pulled back the Blue and Red sword and prepared to thrust again.

Tap, tap—!

From the other side of the cracked world, there was the sound of something being ruptured, and then some of the world was dyed purple.

A hat pierced through.

'That's…' Wasn't it the arena master's hat? JiHan's eyes widened in surprise.

Void energy spread from the hat.

"I… I found you…!! Uncle!!" Sae-ah appeared with teary eyes and tightly hugged him.

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Translator - SCM

Proofreader - ilafy

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"Why did it take you so long…?!"

JiHan patted Sae-ah's back as she cried in his arms. "Seeing you like this, it's been quite some time."

Sae-ah lifted her head and pouted. "Some time? It's been five years since you disappeared, Uncle!"

"It's been five years…?" JiHan's eyes widened in surprise. More time had passed than he thought. He'd spent a lot of time lowering his level and reducing Heaven Net's domain, but he never imagined it would have been five years.

"How have things been?"

"How have they been…?" Sae-ah's expression darkened. When she appeared from the hat, she already looked haggard, but then her complexion changed even more.

Something had definitely happened.

"What is it? Did something happen to mom?"

"Mom? Mom's fine. Uncle, it's you who's the problem."

"Me?" He'd been trapped for five years. What problem could he have caused? JiHan made a puzzled expression.

"Uh… This isn't the best place to talk about this. Should we go back home first?"

"Alright. Let's return."

"Okay." She took off her hat, and a black vortex swirled inside as a purple portal appeared.

'This… is quite a large amount of void.' Seeing the strength behind her movements, JiHan's eyes became colder. "You've gotten a lot stronger."

"I did my best to save you, Uncle."

"Did you already become the arena master?"

"Not yet, but I'm almost there."

"I can tell from the Void." As they conversed, JiHan stepped into the portal; then, the familiar scenery of the living room appeared. "It's been a while."

The house he hadn't returned to for five years… Although he hadn't realized it'd been so many years, the sight of the living room brought him joy.

Fwoosh—!

A red light flashed from within the Blue and Red sword, and intense heat spread.

'It seems I won't be able to carry this around.' The sword emitted a lot of energy due to Heaven Net's resistance and would be impossible to carry around in daily life.

JiHan pondered how to handle it. 

'I'll have to store it in my body for now.' He brought the sword to the back of his neck, where it seeped into the skin and left a sword-shaped tattoo. 'I'll leave it like this for now and take it out somewhere safer later.'

Sae-ah arrived belatedly. "Ugh, Uncle… What's that sword? The portal was cut off midway, so I had to open it again."

"It's just a sword that's a bit strong."

"It doesn't seem to be just a bit strong… Ah, a tattoo appeared on your neck. You sealed it there?"

"Yes. If I left it out, the house would have probably melted."

"Aah." Sae-ah nodded as she looked at the scorched house.

"So, what were you saying before?'

"Ah, about something happening to you?"

"Yes, what kind of problem could it be that I don’t know about it?"

"Where should I start…?" She pondered over how to explain it to JiHan. "Ah, Uncle. Why don't you look out the window? It just happens to be night." She pointed to the living room window.

"Why the window?"

"You'll feel the change right away. Meanwhile, I'll organize my thoughts a bit."

Why did she need to organize her thoughts? JiHan chuckled and approached the living room window. Above the window, which he had often used instead of the front door, he saw a large full moon. Had the cityscape changed or something? JiHan looked down.

'There doesn't be much difference.'

It was hard to feel any drastic changes in Seoul's nightscape—it was just a big city.

'I'm sure she isn't talking about the Sword Scar being left behind.'

Blue streaks of light stretched from the ground to the sky—the sword marks he had left when he defeated the Red Administrator, still glowing brilliantly after five years.

She probably wasn't talking about that. What did she want him to look at?

JiHan looked around to see if there was anything he'd missed. From the white full moon in the sky, a sudden light burst forth.

A green, tree-shaped figure appeared.

"What's that…?”

"Uncle, did you see it?"

"Yes. Why did a tree pop out of the full moon?"

"Well… Earth became one of the World Tree Alliance’s colonies."

"What…? A colony?"

* * *

During the five years JiHan had vanished, humanity, part of the Bronze League, had been on a winning streak.

"During the three-year regular season, we finished first in the Bronze League."

"Even against the World Tree Alliance?"

"Yes. Objectively, they were stronger than us, but for some reason, they gave us a lot of concessions. Even without you."

Thanks to the World Tree Alliance's concessions, humanity maintained its top rank. Even back then, humanity's confidence was at its peak.

After the regular season ended, during the playoffs…

"The World Tree Alliance didn't ban me, so we won every match 3-0."

"They didn't ban you at all?"

"Yes. It was as if they were encouraging us to win." Sae-ah, the one who was supposed to become the next arena master, was far beyond what someone from the Bronze League could handle in terms of power.

Naturally, opposing teams should have banned her, but the World Tree Alliance, despite being aware of her strength, had always let her through.

After humanity finished at the top of the regular season and swept through the playoffs, she was given a choice.

"We were asked if we were going to withdraw from Battle Net or move to the Silver League."

"Really? I thought you needed three wins in the Bronze League to be given that opportunity."

"That's what we thought too… but after achieving the 'Undefeated Playoff Win', we were allowed to choose early."

JiHan's eyes darkened.

'Is that why the World Tree's Alliance allowed humanity to win?'

"And humanity chose to advance?"

"Yes… When the Red Administrator descended, people experienced it, right? They felt what it was like to return to being a lowest-ranked species."

If they had struggled in Battle Net, it would have been one thing, but humanity had achieved overwhelming success in the Bronze League, so people were brimming with confidence.

They believed they would be able to navigate through Battle Net and enjoy its benefits, and that confidence was their downfall.

"As soon as we moved to the Silver League, humanity was completely crushed."

"Really?"

"Yes. I was always banned, and the skill of other players wasn't up to the Silver League average."

The place was far more brutal than what humanity had anticipated.

"We barely achieved one win across an entire year…"

"Then you finished last."

"Yes, we were the worst in the League by an overwhelming margin. If things continued like that, we would have faced annihilation…"

If you became the worst species in the Silver League, instead of dropping back to the Bronze League, you faced complete species annihilation in the Battle Net system.

Humanity prepared to pay dearly for having advanced too early.

"So the Green Administrator saved you? In return, this place became a colony?"

"Yes."

"From what you're saying, the World Tree Alliance planned everything for that goal."

"Yes. That's also what I suspect."

Yggdrasil… After he became the Blue Administrator, she'd acted quite cooperatively, but he didn't expect her to turn Earth into a colony while he was away.

"Is that why you said I was the problem? Because humanity became a colony?"

"No… the problem is what the World Tree's Alliance demanded. They said humanity had to abandon its faith to be incorporated as a colony."

"What faith?"

"Faith in the Blue Administrator, 'JiHan'."

"What? A religion?" JiHan was baffled at the mention.

"It was a religion until not long ago," Sae-ah answered seriously. "Anyway… Humanity accepted it in order to survive, and ‘Blue Administrator JiHan’ was subjected to 'record erasure’." 

"Record erasure?"

"Check it for yourself." She extended her hand; her phone flew to her.

Swoosh—

After unlocking it, she searched 'JiHan'. Only records of people with the same name appeared, and no information related to JiHan came out.

"There's nothing."

"Yes. It isn't just the online records. Even among the people… you've been completely forgotten."

"Really…?"

"Yes… to survive, humanity abandoned you, Uncle." Sae-ah's eyes darkened. "Even that blue sword scar is now considered a simple, unexplainable natural phenomenon. The credit for humanity evolving to this point was taken by the Green Administrator…"

The record erasure the Green Administrator had demanded wasn't just about the records being erased—it made people forget JiHan entirely.

"Sae-ah, you remembered me?"

"Mom and I were so angry that we changed our affiliation to the void. We aren't part of humanity anymore."

"My sister too? Then there's no problem."

"Uncle, how could this not be a problem…?! Everyone forgot about you! All to save themselves!" Sae-ah was more upset than he was.

"It's fine as long as my family remembers." JiHan chuckled at her reaction. "In fact, it will be easier to visit restaurants now. I couldn't go anywhere because I was too famous."

"What restaurants…? You don't even eat."

"I was just saying my name was that valuable." He recalled the messages earlier.

[Battle Net has detected an 'Irregular'.]

[The player’s information partially matches the exiled 'Blue Administrator'.]

Apart from humanity's downfall, many things had happened.

'First, I need to understand how things have changed.'

JiHan waved at Sae-ah. "I'll be going out for a moment."

"Huh…? Where are you going?"

"To explore the world." He jumped from the window and landed in the heart of Gangnam. For a moment, people's gazes turned to him.

"Wh-what's up with that person…?"

"Did he just jump from that building…? Can someone survive a fall from such a height?"

"He’s probably a player."

Unlike before, when everyone would have been fascinated by JiHan's landing, only a few reacted with curiosity—no one recognized he was 'JiHan'.

"So no one really recognizes me…" It felt a bit bittersweet. JiHan smiled faintly.

Then, he blended into the crowd. 

After returning to Earth from a five-years exile, he'd become nameless.

(The Martial God Who Regressed to Level 2, Part One complete)

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