Nicknamed âDivine Discerner,â Appraiser Jinmyung was an SS rank disciple. He was the man who had claimed to be Lee Gunâs student at the Integrated Exchange. Lee Gun had given him the task of finding information about a dagger, the dagger that had dropped him into the trap twenty years ago.
Jinmyung carefully handed over a box to Lee Gun. It contained the short sword Lee Gun had given to him after beating up Sophie.
[Short Sword Infused with Death Energy]
Rank: ???
- Cannot bring up info.
Hugo was surprised to see it, his reaction understandable. âDidnât you show this to Heiji a couple of days ago??â
He was sure that Lee Gun had shown this blade to Heiji and asked about the culprit. In response, Lee Gun grinned and took out something from his bosom.
Hugo exclaimed. âThatâs the one!â It was the same short sword.
âThe one I have is a replica,â Lee Gun explained.
âWhat? Replica? I never saw you make that thing.â
Lee Gun snorted as he tossed the blade between his hands. âI can make this small blade during a bathroom break.â
ââŠ!â Hugo was shocked. As a Saint, he had been forcefully granted the Eye for Beauty(S) skill. Yet, he hadnât noticed at all that this item was a replica.
Moreover, every item Lee Gun made was always two points better than everything else. This made the copy much more valuable. So, Hugo wondered if the copy held any extra abilities.
âThis looks like the original!â Hugoâs admiration of Lee Gunâs abilities lasted only a moment. âThatâs fine! However, I canât believe you entrusted that item to a Virgo disciple! If Iâm being blunt, he couldâve sold you out to the Virgo Saint!â
âWhat?!â The one to get surprised was Jinmyung.
Hugo continued, âYou should be a bit more suspicious of others, Gun!â
âWhat did you just say, you foppish Saint! Youâre nothing without your face, you gangly bastard!â
ââŠ?!â
Jinmyung was ruthless even toward a Saint. Hugo had never been treated this way in his life. However, it seemed Jinmyung was furious. âWhy would I sell out my teacher of twenty years? You will be in last place as a Saint forever!â
ââŠ!â This unexpected blow took Hugo by surprise. It made him wonder if this was the appraiserâs normal personality. âHe has been your teacher for twenty years? When the hell did you meet Gun?â
âAh! Thatâs right. You two are brothers.â Lee Gun chimed in.
â?!â
When Lee Gun double tapped his kill, Hugo took damage for the second time. It meant Lee Gun had raised a student in secret from him. However, the damage didnât end there.
Lee Gun continued, âIf we are strictly going by order, the appraiser is your older brother.â
â?!!â
Hugo took damage for the third time.
âMoreover, heâs a thousand times more useful when it comes to investigating. Thatâs why I left it with him.â
The fourth timeâŠ
âAnyway, you guys should be friendly with each other. You do know he is a friend of Sungjae, right, Taeksoo?â
Hugo, who felt like dying, angrily replied, âI donât know! My son doesnât have a friend like him!â
Jinmyung looked at Hugo with pity. âNow that Iâve met you, I can see what your son was talking about. He has a good reason to not like you. Youâre stubborn and inflexible, a boomer.â
âKuh-huhk!!â Hugo crumpled to the ground. This was a kill shot.
Lee Gun didnât care what he did. When it came to a task he issued, Jinmyung had used any means possible to complete the task. Why?
[Short Sword Infused with Death Energy]
Rank: ???
- Cannot bring up info.
[An evil power has destroyed the information within the sword]
[There is no info left within the sword]
[Gaze of a God is too low in level to check the ingredient information]
[No tracking skill can track the remaining owner of the sword]
Hugo, a tracking specialist, couldnât glean any clues from the sword. However, Jinmyung could do it. Why?
Jinmyung (SS rank) Virgo
Awakened Name(Baptized Name): [One Who Determines Authenticity of All Items]
- One who can tell the history of antiquities
Effect: Can extract memories from all items.
- Possess a skill that determines the authenticity of items.
[Read Memory! SS rank (Virgo)]
[Memory Transfer! S rank (Virgo)]
[Lee Gun-nimâs Student (Personal)! B rank (Virgo)]
[Memory Transplant! S rank (Virgo)]
âŠ
Personal Attributes
[Unknown Confidence] Luck Buff: 30%
[Artisanâs Sharp Eyes] Observation Buff
[Diligence] Stamina Increase: 20%
[Obsession] Works with items above A rank
[Fanatic] Brainwashing & Hypnosis type skill. Incapacitation! A skill he wants to hide.
[Sensitive Mind] Stamina Discharge: 50%
[Voice] Takes the energy of the opponent
Jinmyungâs main skill was the skill. Whether it was humans, objects, rooms, or monsters, he could extract the objectâs memories.
He was also born with sharp eyes, but he had become an SS-rank appraiser for a reason. Jinmyung could sift through the memories to check if an item was real or fake. That was full proof.
When Lee Gun had peeped at the ability, he had known Jinmyung was the only one up for this task. âWell, the only troublesome part was that he couldnât read my memory.â The reason for this was simple too.
[A human cannot dare invade the body of the Serpent Bearer.]
Therefore, Lee Gun wanted Jinmyung to read the memory of the short sword. âHe did say it would take a long time since it wasnât a normal item.â
Lee Gun asked, âSo who's the culprit?â
Jinmyung quickly studied his surroundings. âPlease excuse me, Lee Gun-nim.â His sword-shaped badge thrummed.
Ting!
A curtain of light surrounded the trio.
[A rental skill from the Pisces has been activated.]
[For the next 30 minutes, will remain activated.]
[Rental fee of $500k has been deducted.]
[Thank you for using it.]
[The waterâs energy prevents sound from leaking outside.]
When the curtain of light seeped into their bodies, Jinmyung became tense. âYou said a sword similar to this was auctioned five years ago?â
âYes. I heard an SS rank appraiser appraised it.â This was another reason Lee Gun had sought out Jinmyung. He wanted to see who had sold the sword.
Jinmyung gulped. âIn truth, the person who appraised that sword was my senior.â
â!â
âI came in after him. His ability was different, but he was also one of Ten Stars, one under the Virgo Saint.â
âOh! Your senior must know more about the culprit. Can you contact him?â Lee Gun asked.
âHe passed away.â
â!â
âHe met a premature death. One week after he appraised the sword, he was assassinated.â
The expressions on Lee Gun's and Hugoâs faces changed.
âAlso, I extracted the memories from the sword. Some of them have been deleted. Basically, someone covered their tracks perfectly. This shouldnât have been possible unless some being with enormous power meddled in it.â
ââŠ!â
In other words, Lee Gunâs opponent wasnât someone normal.
Hugo accepted the reasoning. Even if Lee Gun was tired from killing Red Eye, there was no way a stab in the back by a mere sword would send him into a trap. The Archer Saint was soon proven right.
âThere is a powerful curse skill placed on it. The curse is powerful enough to kill a god.â
ââŠ!â
Curse skills were the domain of the Cancer, but even the Crab Saint wasnât skilled enough to kill a god.
This implied that a single Zodiac Saint couldnât pull this off. In fact, Lee Gun already knew the power used on him didnât fit with any of the twelve Zodiac Saints.
âI believe the culprit received power from someone and stabbed Lee Gun-nim.â
Lee Gun smirked. âAs expected, is the unknown civilization involved?â
After a moment of hesitation, Jinmyung continued, âAnyway, I was able to scrape together snippets of memoriesâŠâ
âWhat did you see?â
Jinmyung shut his eyes. His next words were shocking. âIt was the Virgo Saint. He stabbed Lee Gun-nim!â
ââŠ!â
Jinmyungâs hands shook from the betrayal. The swordâs memories were scrubbed, so the memory he had recovered was fuzzy and fragmented. However, he was sure of it. The memory that came out from the short sword was from his Saint.
âI wanted to make sure, so I secretly searched the Virgo Saintâs weapon storage. I found identical itemsâŠ.â Jinmyung opened the bag.
Lee Gun laughed when he saw the contents of the bag, while Hugo almost fainted. Weapons identical to the sword that had stabbed Lee Gun were inside it.
Jinmyung was an SS-rank disciple, yet his faith toward the Virgo Saint had been dropping. This was the reason. However, he was fine with this development. Suddenly, he thought about the commission from the European Alliance. Hugoâs son had brought it. It was a commission from the Virgo Saint.
âDoes that mean the Virgo Saint called you here toâ Huhk!â
Hugo was cut off.
Lee Gun, who had taken the sword back, suddenly unsheathed it.
Ssguhng!
Twenty yearsâ No, he had been trapped inside the tower for several hundred years. Despite the passage of all those years, he looked undamaged.
Lee Gunâs gaze was fixed on the blade. The blade was so beyond being odd that it gave one goosebump.
âGun?â
âI want to know about the curse skill within this blade.â
âWhat?â Jinmyung asked.
âYou said the skill could kill even a god. Can you reactivate the skill?â
ââŠ!â
Hugo and Jinmyung were both scared out of their minds.
âNo way you are thinking about doing that!â
Lee Gunâs snake eyes flashed in a scary manner. âIt can kill a god. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.â
Jinmyung shivered when he saw the killing intent from Lee Gun. It was something he hadnât witnessed before. However, he still replied, âI know a Regenerator who can bring back the power of a spent skill. I will contact him.â
Lee Gun laughed. Then, he held something out to Jinmyung. It was a necklace.
âThis is a protection-type holy item I made. You should keep it just in case.â
âLee Gun-nim!â
Of course, the necklace was imbued with surveillance and tracking abilities too. It was unknown whether Jinmyung was aware of this or not, but he felt just touched by the fact that Lee Gun-nim had given him an item.
Lee Gun had a more urgent business he had to take care of right now. âFirst, I have to catch the monster that showed up here.â
â!â
âIâll take care of the Virgo Saint after I finish the Trial of Strength.â The trial was on a time limit. Lee Gun looked at Hugo. âYou sent your subordinates ahead as an advance party, right?â
âYes. They should beâŠâ
SuddenlyâŠ
âLee Gun-nim!â
â!â
Hugoâs subordinates, the ones in the advance party, appeared in the distance. When they reached Lee Gun, one of them brought out a cloth bag.
âLee Gun-nim! This is it! We found some fur from the monster you two mentioned!â
âWe were lucky! We ran across someone who had been attacked by the monsterâŠ!â
Hugo, who was pushed to the back, found their behavior ridiculous. âHey! Iâm the one who ordered you to find itâŠâ
However, his underlings didnât pay any attention to him.
âIf itâs Lee Gun-nim, this should be enough to know what kind of foe youâre going to fight, right?â
âUnlike our Saint-nim, your analytical ability is outstanding.â
Hugo felt a surge of anger, but no one cared about that.
âLee Gun-nim. Is this the monster youâre looking for?â
Lee Gun let out a sharp laugh. âBingo.â
[Fur of the Monster that eats gods(SS)]
[It is the target for your Trial of Strength.]
His intuition had been correct. The monster that had appeared in this place was considered unkillable. There was a chance that the Virgo Saint had called it forth to harm him.
âThis might be an unexpected gain.â Lee Gun had been able to find his opponent quickly thanks to all of this. âWhere was it last seen?â
âIt will be too much for you. You should give up on it.â
An unfamiliar voice replied to him. It was the voice of a robust young man. The young man looked to be in his late twenties. As expected of an Archer disciple, his appearance was top tier. However, he didnât even have an ounce of humor, and his manner was brusque. All in all, he looked like an old-fashioned man.
The young man had weight to throw around, and he was very tall, taller than both Hugo and Lee Gun.
[Caution! This manâs loyalty to the Sagittarius is very high.]
[His faith toward the Serpent Bearer is very low.]
The information caused Lee Gunâs eyes to widen. As for Hugo, he was shocked.
âBen!â
This man was someone Hugo knew very well.
[Benjamin Goat]
- Archer! SS rank
âItâs nice to meet you. My name is Goat. I serve the Archer Saint.â
Lee Gun jeered. âGood olâ Poverty Saint. So you do have other disciples. I thought you had only two.â
Hugo reacted in anger. âThe number isnât that small!â
It didnât really matter. âItâs my first time seeing an SS-rank.â Lee Gun wondered. Most of the Ten Stars hadnât shown up in the raid on Thousand Legs, thinking the monster was too low in rank.
The Ten Stars were a new breed of awakened beings. Numbered only ten, they were considered the strongest amongst humanity after Saints.
âHeâs one of the Ten Stars.â This man was like Yooha. Of course, Yooha was still an S-rank disciple, so the SS-ranks looked down on her.
In any case, SS-ranks were candidates to become the next Saints. They were like commanders-in-chief who kept the generals of the directly-managed temples in line.
As if to prove this, Goatâs faith toward the Sagittarius was sky-high. However, for some odd reason, he looked guarded toward Lee Gun.
âIt seems youâre here to kill the monster. Please go back before you get hurt.â
The other Archer disciples screamed when Goat made fun of Lee Gun.
âGoat! Do you realize who he is?â
âHe is the legendary Lee Gun!â
âHe had an archery match with our Saint-nim."
âOur Saint-nim got folded! He was lousyâŠâ
Goat roughly pressed down on their heads. âDid you forget you guys are disciples of the Archer Saint?â
âAhhhhhhk!â
âIâm sorry!â
âAnyway, Iâve heard a lot about Lee Gun-nim from Saint-nim. Still, Iâm sure our Saint-nim is better. From what Iâve heard, Lee Gun-nim succeeded in most fights thanks to our Sant-nimâs help.â
Lee Gun discreetly glanced at Hugo. The Archer Saint was shaking. Hugo did remember saying that to boost his standing amongst his subordinates.
Oblivious to this, Goat continued, âAnyway, Lee Gun-nim canât do anything without Hugo-nim. Please stay put when our Saint-nim isnât present. Youâll get in the way.â
âNo! Stop it!â Hugoâs expression was a sight to behold.
Lee Gun let out a big smile. âIs that so? Taeksoo said that? Iâll get in the way?â
Hugo turned pale as if he wanted to deny it. However, Goat was sincere. âYes. He said you were so bad that he couldnât send you alone into the battlefield.â
Hugo gripped his face as if he knew he was ruined. Goat didnât pay any attention to his reaction as he said, âThis isnât for you. You should head back.â
âWhat?â
âThe advanced party scouted the monster. It isnât something a human can kill. Lee Gun-nim will fall short.â Goat took out something. âOnly I can kill it with this weapon.â
For some reason, when Lee Gun saw the weapon, his eyes turned round. Then, he burst out laughing. âReally? Is that how it is?â
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