Chapter 10

Chapter 10
## Chapter 10: Launching with 13 Hidden Traits

A trio consisting of two men and one woman met at a coffee shop in the vicinity of Gangnam Station. The men were muscular twins, identical in every feature, while the woman possessed a striking, refined beauty. Tucked away at a corner table, they spoke in hushed tones that cut through the ambient city noise.

“It’s undeniable. Even if we look past the results of Main Quest 1, surpassing Gracia in the class evaluations is physically impossible without an exhaustive grasp of the game’s mechanics,” the woman noted firmly.

As she highlighted, securing a top-tier class wasn’t just about talent. It demanded a level of fortune that could only be triggered by knowledge deep enough to manipulate luck itself. There was only one explanation for such a performance: Phantom.

“The legendary ghost player who spent five years in the shadows has finally stepped onto the stage. This is going to flip the community upside down.”

“Should we try to get to him first?” the twins asked, their expressions turning solemn.

The woman offered a helpless shrug.

“How? We spent years tracking him and turned up nothing.”

“That was back when Phantom wasn’t playing as a verified user. Now that he’s an active participant, there’s bound to be a trail.”

“What if we try ‘phishing’? The underground auction house should be functional by now, shouldn’t it?”

“Phishing, huh…”

“To dominate Main Quest 3, he’s going to require high-end equipment. He’ll naturally gravitate toward the auction house.”

In player slang, phishing described a trap where a high-value item was listed at a suspiciously low price. The seller would attach the ‘Twin’ property of a specialized talisman to the item, allowing them to monitor the buyer’s exact coordinates. Because the ‘Twin Talisman’ functioned regardless of the gap between players, it was a deadly tracking tool. Naive players would jump at the bargain, only to find themselves hunted down and stripped of their belongings in the game—and sometimes even targeted in the real world.

“Isn’t that the kind of bottom-feeding garbage ‘Massacre’ and his lot pull?”

“Besides, if we’re talking about Phantom, he probably knows talisman mechanics better than the developers. He’d never bite.”

The twins both shook their heads in disapproval. Phishing was a repulsive strategy used by predators who preyed on newcomers. It was highly unlikely a veteran like Phantom would be deceived by such a transparent ruse. Only a first-year Pangeniar novice who couldn’t tell one talisman from another would fall for it.

The woman, however, just clicked her tongue at their narrow-mindedness.

“You still don’t understand the man, do you? This is the guy who marched off to slay the Demon King. Did you forget the sheer intensity of his execution during the Great Expedition, even if he didn’t make it?”

Many observers had long suspected that the character Wilhelm was actually Phantom. Wilhelm’s actions were nothing short of reckless. He had pushed forward with a massive campaign despite endless political interference and internal sabotage. Even though he had eventually fallen while wielding eight unique artifacts, his journey remained the most celebrated epic in the annals of Pangeniar. He was a living myth.

“If he sees a phishing item in the secret auction house, he’ll buy it just because it’s a steal. And if you try to ambush him for it, his reaction would be, ‘Go ahead and try; I’ll slaughter anyone who gets in my way.’ That is the Phantom I recognize.”

Her eyes sparkled with intensity.

*Total Phantom fanatic,* the two men thought simultaneously, scratching their heads.

“Say we do manage to find him. Then what?”

“We recruit him into our guild, obviously.”

“Do you really think someone like Phantom would join a small-time operation like ours?”

“We have to try. He’s likely someone influential in the real world too… but at the very least, we aren’t as unhinged as the rest of the top players.”

It was a fair point. Most high-level Pangeniar players had lost their grip on reality, treating murder as a casual hobby. While the recent ‘Collapse’—where monsters crossed over into reality—had allowed some to rebrand themselves as heroes, their dark origins remained.

“I wonder who he is out here. A CEO? Or maybe the heir to a major corporation?”

The woman’s imagination began to run wild, leaving the twins to watch her with weary expressions.

—

The notifications flooded in the moment he and Dramat finished their sweep of the sanctuary. The rewards for reaching 100% exploration were significant enough to make him catch his breath. Between the Teleport Book and the unique title, he had hit the jackpot.

He lifted the heavy, azure-bound volume to inspect the details.

『Teleport Book (Epic Grade)
A magical artifact that allows instant travel to any location you have explored to 100%.
Casting time: 30 seconds. Limit: Once per day.
Registered Waypoints: Desert Sanctuary』

This was a game-changer. Standard regional warps in Pangeniar were notoriously unreliable, expensive, and often dropped you miles from your intended destination. An epic item that bypassed those restrictions was invaluable.

*This would sell for 1 million gold easily.*

A million gold was a fortune, enough to purchase a palatial estate within the game world. He briefly considered the demand it would generate at the secret auction house—the anonymous trading platform that opened up after reaching the higher tiers of Main Quest 2. While he had no intention of parting with it, he knew it was one of fewer than twenty such items in existence.

Then there was the achievement. In Pangeniar, achievements weren’t just badges; they were proof of overcoming extreme hardship. They provided a massive boost to fame, which in turn made powerful NPCs more willing to interact or offer exclusive quests.

But the most important update was his progression.

*Level 3.*

He had finally moved up. In this world, leveling was a slow, grueling process, especially since the experience requirements were tied to a player’s inherent talents.

*My EXP curve must be ten times steeper than a normal player’s.*

Typically, finishing Main Quest 2 would land a player at Level 4 or 5. Sitting at Level 3 was a testament to how many talents he was carrying; the system was making him work much harder for every point of growth.

*However, there’s no cap on my stat growth. I’m getting 12 points per stat instead of the standard 10. That has to be because of a hidden trait…*

The trade-off for the slow leveling was more than worth it. He opened his interface to confirm his suspicions.

[Status Window]
Name: Randolph
Class: Star Successor

Level: 3
Strength: 36(+5) / Vitality: 36(+5) / Agility: 36(+5) / Intelligence: 36(+5) / Divine Power: 36(+5)

Every time he leveled up, every single attribute increased by 12 points. To any other player, this would look like a game-breaking glitch. Standard growth was randomized based on talent, usually capping at 10 points per level for the most gifted individuals. To go beyond 10 usually required the ‘transcendence’ process.

*By the time I hit Level 10, my stats will rival someone who has already undergone 2-star transcendence.*

It was essentially a legal cheat. On top of that, his ‘Star Possession’ class effect added a flat +5 bonus to everything. Even after five years in this world, he had never witnessed such a broken build. It couldn’t just be luck.

*It’s those new traits.*

He thought back to the 13 hidden traits he possessed. Three of them—【Glutton】, 【Great Sage】, and 【Heavenly】—were completely foreign to him. One of them was clearly responsible for his abnormal stat growth, but he would have to experiment further to be sure.

Regardless, the trip to the sanctuary had been incredibly lucrative.

*Shadow Cloak, Fairy Queen’s Tear, and the Teleport Book.*

He couldn’t help but grin. Each of these was a top-tier drop from raid bosses with near-zero encounter rates. The Fairy Queen’s Tear, in particular, was a legendary talisman component that was essential for late-game gear customization.

“There’s a monster!”

“A massive sea creature has invaded the sanctuary!”

The local warriors were beginning to swarm the area, alerted by the presence of Dramat.

“We have to move before the Great Warrior and the Queen arrive,” Isabella said, her voice tight with anxiety.

The number of soldiers was growing rapidly. If they didn’t leave now, they would be trapped when the sanctuary went into lockdown.

“Dramat, cause a distraction.”

At his word, the massive creature surged forward. Though it seemed reluctant, it could not disobey its master’s command. As the chaos erupted, Randolph unfurled the Shadow Cloak.

“Get under here.”

“Pardon?”

“Search parties are going to be everywhere. We need to clear the desert before they set up a perimeter. We’re sneaking out.”

“Oh, I see.”

The plan was simple: use the commotion to vanish. If he or Isabella were spotted directly, it would turn into an international incident. Isabella stepped close to him, moving under the fabric of the cloak.

“Stay closer.”

“…Alright.”

Isabella’s eyes flickered with a mix of nerves and something else. Pressed tightly together under the enchanted veil, they slipped out of the sanctuary unnoticed.

—

They reached the regional warp point at the edge of the desert. It would take half a day for the gate to prime itself.

“Don’t worry. The restriction is gone,” he reassured her.

Previously, a curse had prevented Isabella from leaving the desert. But with the Star Blessing now active, she was free to travel through the warp gates.

“I… I believe you,” Isabella whispered, nodding.

They stood at the edge of the sands, looking out toward a literal abyss of blackness. In this world, regions were disconnected islands of reality; the only way to reach the next area was through the warp. Isabella looked on with a sense of longing and fear. There was no going back for her; the Queen would surely have realized she was gone by now.

“I need to commune with the stars until the gate is ready.”

“I will keep watch,” she replied.

She understood that he was ‘logging out.’ It was a dangerous time; leaving a body behind in Pangeniar meant risking attacks from predators or pursuers. By choosing the Fairy Queen’s Tear over a protective amulet, he had sacrificed his personal ‘safe zone’ for power. He was putting his life entirely in her hands.

He felt no regret. The talisman was the better long-term investment.

*A solid beginning.*

The path to the Royal Road was laid out before him. Given how the game was bleeding into his own world, his strength in Pangeniar was his only insurance policy. If more monsters were destined to appear on Earth…

*…The Demon King. He might eventually cross over.*

The thought of that entity—the one even Wilhelm couldn’t defeat—appearing in reality sent a chill down his spine. He took a deep breath, sat down, and closed his eyes.

—

The sound of rushing water filled his bathroom as he showered and shaved. He stepped out, drying his hair with a fresh towel.

“Man, that feels better.”

He realized it had been far too long since he’d bothered with basic grooming. He’d been living like a complete hermit since the world started changing. Looking around his apartment, he saw the mess he’d let accumulate over the last month. Aside from the brief, chaotic encounter with the Giant Mantis, he hadn’t left his home.

He had quit his job and retreated from society, but he couldn’t stay in this rut forever.

“Time to get my life together,” he muttered.

Just as he was about to start cleaning, his phone vibrated on the desk with a notification. He picked it up and read the message, his brow furrowing instantly.

—*Oppa, are you doing okay?*

It was from his ex-girlfriend—the woman who had walked away from him because she said he had no future.