I’M A Max-Level Regressor [EN]: Chapter 3

3.

One hour later.

“It tastes so good; it’s been a while since I’ve had fast food.”

Munch, munch. Smack, smack.

I came to Sindorim Station, the meeting place for tomorrow, in advance, and I was having a late dinner of hamburgers in the downtown area.

In my past life, I thought it was trashy and wouldn’t even touch junk food after I turned forty.

But after chewing it carefully again, the stimulating taste was excellent.

[Korea Bank: Depositor Kang Shin-hwa]

[Current Balance: 4,305,252 won]

Excluding the 300,000 won I received as a daily wage, there was an additional 4 million won in my bank account.

I deposited the money I took from Park Do-won’s wallet after knocking him out with one punch. Anyway, it’s all rightfully mine.

I don’t know why he carries so much cash in his wallet! The wallet wouldn’t even close properly.

I also took some accessories that would be worth millions of won in total, but I haven’t sold them yet.

Anyway, I barely kept Park Do-won alive. Of course, he’ll be in the hospital for a while.

Violence in the Red Zone [a designated area with higher crime rates and monster activity] is usually overlooked, but murder is treated as a serious crime that the ‘Awakened Association’ [the governing body for Awakened individuals] will immediately investigate.

That’s why I held back.

In any case, the money and accessories I took from him were less than 10% of what I had lost so far.

It was still an amount that left me feeling disappointed.

‘Well, I’ll get it back little by little,’ I thought comfortably.

I wasn’t afraid of revenge, either.

A guy like him who relies only on brute strength is one of the easiest targets for me to handle.

I’m confident.

‘Let’s see.’

I fell into thought again.

In my past life, my biggest goal was to live a life of leisure.

The reason I worked hard to build up my strength and prepare for the Great Cataclysm [a world-altering event that triggered the emergence of Awakened and monsters] wasn’t for some grand purpose of saving humanity.

I was stuck with Nicholas, so I prepared for the Great Cataclysm with him, finished it well, and then lived the rest of my life doing nothing!

I even achieved my goal and had a retirement celebration party… and then I had this damn regression.

‘Anyway, I can pursue a life of leisure again from scratch! It’s much better to retire in my 20s than in my mid-50s, right?’

My life has been reset, but it’s definitely a pleasant reset.

Even if I take a generous five years from now, I’ll only be twenty-nine years old.

Isn’t that the prime of my life?

It’s the perfect age to enjoy youth and happiness at the same time.

‘However, to prepare a nest egg, my rank must be high. That way, I can attack higher-level dungeons and sell the spoils to make a lot of money.’

As an F-rank Awakened, it’s hard to escape the hellish life of wandering around the Red Zone, let alone a life of leisure.

Strength comes first.

Currently, Awakened are ranked in stages: F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, and EX.

However, there is no level concept. It’s not a structure where everyone grows from level 1 like in a game.

Awakened are naturally ranked according to their talents at the time of awakening.

‘God’s choice.’

This is what many Awakened say about the ranking that comes with awakening.

This is because extreme inequality occurs from the beginning of awakening.

Some Awakened start from the bottom at F-rank like me, while others start at A-rank.

A typical example is Nicholas Hagen.

Regression aside, his starting point in rank was also a golden spoon [born into privilege].

‘I wonder what he’s doing now?’

In any case, in order to grow from each rank to the next, it was necessary to faithfully attack dungeons.

This was because monsters provided invisible experience points for growth.

But there was one problem.

The deviation in the number of monsters needed to raise a rank varies greatly from Awakened to Awakened.

For example, an Awakened with innate talent can raise their rank by catching only 10,000 goblins.

But what if you have no talent at all?

Even if you catch 1 million, or even more, you won’t be able to leave your spot.

Awakened complained about this injustice, saying, ‘Those who are meant to be will be, and those who are not will not be.’

But since there is no one to listen to their opinions in the first place, it was just an empty cry.

‘However, what is certain is that when the magic power, the source of the power that manifests talent, increases, the rank also naturally rises.’

There was one proven major premise.

That is, the more the total amount of magic power, the source of power used by all Awakened, increases, the higher the rank rises.

‘Let’s increase the magic power by any means possible. Then the rank will naturally rise on its own.’

The first plan was established.

My talent is the ability to strengthen, control, and change my body as I please.

In my past life, I didn’t know how to handle my talent at all for 6 years after awakening, that is, until I met Nicholas.

Even though I had a good change-type talent called ‘Modification’.

I was just a porter who strengthened his body without knowing anything.

But through Nicholas, I accurately grasped my talent.

The new world that he opened up changed everything about me, and that knowledge is all in my head now.

However, right now, I have to focus only on increasing my magic power in order to do more in the future.

‘First, let’s modify the lungs and liver, which can be modified immediately.’

I sat in the chair and immediately went into mental concentration.

Since there were no major changes that would be noticeable to others, I could try it in this place.

“…….”

Body modification, first target, liver.

I guided the magic power to the liver.

In my past life, I spent nearly 30 years searching for ways to change my body.

Liver, lungs?

Modifying these organs as I please is nothing.

I can even induce changes in a small fluff on the back of my hand as I please. If I’m prepared enough.

‘It’s clean, it’s clean. It’s a fresh liver that hasn’t been stained by magic power at all.’

The state of the liver was the same as the beginning.

‘I’ll create a mana storage that is far superior to the heart, and incomparable to the past.’

I slowly adjusted the flow of magic power rotating along the outer edge of the liver to flow inward.

Then.

‘Start body modification. Adjust the affinity to absorb the maximum amount of magic power from nature.’

Throb. Throb!

“Ugh.”

As soon as I tried to modify it, the liver began to repeat intense contractions and relaxations. Then, the aftermath affected the surrounding internal organs and gave me pain.

It’s a growth pain for change.

In my past life, it took a full 5 years just to change a normal liver into a magic liver.

I was afraid that the liver would burst entirely while trying to modify it, and above all, I didn’t have confidence in myself.

But now it’s different!

Until the day I stop the Great Cataclysm.

I was an Awakened who perfectly controlled my body from head to toe.

Making changes to the liver ‘or something’ is as ordinary as shaving in the morning, nothing special.

Except for the pain.

I can’t see it directly.

But I felt like the reddish liver was rapidly changing into a blue liver that symbolizes magic power.

As expected.

‘It’s coming in!’

The magic power that had been absorbed in small amounts only in the heart began to rush in explosively.

As if I had opened the floodgates that had been tightly closed, the magic power poured into the liver without hesitation!

‘Yes, that’s it. Good!’

Even with simple sensation, I can feel that the magic power is increasing more than four times than before.

A satisfied smile was naturally drawn.

‘One magic liver is worth an A-rank magic artifact! An A-rank Awakened has to go through hundreds of dungeons to barely get an A-rank artifact, right?’

I clenched my fist.

There is no separate cost for the modification work itself. You just need the know-how.

With that know-how alone, I immediately achieved a dramatic change.

I achieved a tremendous increase in magic power that some Awakened could not obtain even if they invested their entire lives.

It is the maximum change that only I can create. At the same time, it is also an overwhelming time reduction.

I can make changes so easily, so why did it take me years in my past life?

I was sorry, but on the other hand, I was so happy with the present, where I can definitely reap the rewards thanks to that experience.

‘Okay, let’s go for the lungs with this momentum!’

Although the fatigue in my body increased greatly in an instant, I could still handle it.

You have to strike while the iron is hot.

Body modification, second target, lungs.

The lungs are a large storage that can accept much more magic power than the heart and liver.

Since it is a respiratory organ that exists as two, not one, the amount of magic power that can be accepted is considerable.

In addition, the modified lungs have the advantage of being able to quickly recover the magic power of nature just by breathing.

‘By 2020, the 10 years of chaos after the Great Change will be a little calmer, and research on the talents of the Awakened will begin in earnest.’

I’m not the only Awakened with the ability to modify my body right now, but I’m the only one who knows the perfect answer sheet.

I have to get stronger as quickly as possible.

That way, I can attack dungeons that others can’t even imagine and monopolize artifacts that I haven’t obtained.

It’s none of my business after I retire, but until then, I can’t give up a single profit.

Because it’s my future asset!

‘With this much magic power, if I induce the modification of the lungs, it will be perfect without any discount.’

When I checked the amount of remaining magic power and the condition of my body at the same time, it was exactly the right amount to change both lungs.

“Hoo.”

I took a long, deep breath.

I immediately induced the change in the lungs.

After concentrating all my mind on controlling all the lungs that were heaving along the flow of oxygen coming in through my mouth.

‘Start body modification.’

I followed the same procedure as the liver.

“Ugh! Ugh!”

This time, because it was both parts and the range of change was large, a pain like stabbing my chest with an awl came incessantly. It felt like someone was holding the outside of my lungs tightly with their hands.

It’s a pain I’m very familiar with, but I couldn’t help but feel bad.

‘It’s like solving a problem I know the answer to again. It’s fun, but it’s so good because I don’t wander through the process.’

I smiled with satisfaction, enjoying even the pain happily.

I can feel the change in the lungs.

And the next moment.

I could clearly feel the flow of magic power hitting every part of my lungs coolly, as if a huge wave was coming.

I succeeded in creating a magic lung following the magic liver!

The time it took was only 10 minutes.

In that short amount of time, I increased the total amount of magic power that I could freely handle by nearly five times.

I have brought about a change that would have easily taken 10 years if I had been left to grow normally in an instant!

‘At this rate, it’s not a dream to become an EX-rank Awakened before I turn thirty. I’m going to surpass my past self by far! Regression, when I see it like this, it’s a huge blessing, isn’t it?’

“Huh……?”

At that time, when I was deeply immersed in joy.

I felt dizzy, and for a moment, I had a shock-like state, and my eyes slowly closed.

I was losing consciousness.

“Ah!”

I let out a short sigh.

That’s right.

The current me was not the body of a 50-year-old who had gone through all kinds of hardships for over 30 years but the body of a rookie Awakened.

It was not in a state of body and mind that could withstand this much overload properly.

“Keuk.”

I rolled my eyes and fainted.

* * *

“……!”

It was two hours later that Shin-hwa opened his eyes.

As soon as he regained consciousness, the first thing he habitually checked was the wallet in his inner pocket and his physical condition.

This is because when I lived in a one-room, I was always worried about that first.

Because it was such a lawless zone.

Stealing was child’s play, and it was common to illegally extract organs after secretly anesthetizing them.

Fortunately, murder was unlikely to occur because there was a risk of becoming a wanted criminal with a bounty from the Awakened Association.

Anyway, the Sindorim Station area in the White Zone [a safe, monitored area] was safe.

Even though he had been unconscious for quite a long time, no one touched Shin-hwa.

“Wow.”

At that time.

Shin-hwa exclaimed at the energy of magic power that was felt fully inside his body.

After recovering, the liver and lungs, which had entered a stable magic power securing state, had stored a lot of magic power.

Not only that.

[Judgment Grade: E]

According to the increased total amount of magic power, the rank judgment of the talent immediately rose one step from F to E.

‘Yes, that’s it. Overwhelming changes that are made in the body, lightly ignoring averages and statistics!’

Shin-hwa cheered.

A surprising change has occurred.

Unlike the statistics that it takes more than 5 years to grow from F rank to E rank even if you work hard.

‘It took me two hours.’

Explosive growth!

If it’s not this word, there is no word that can explain the change that has happened to Shin-hwa now.

That wasn’t the only surprising thing.

“Hoo, ha, hoooo, haaaa.”

Every time I breathed, I could feel the magic power forcefully filling the lungs that had finished modification along with the oxygen.

It was a 100% pure magic power breathing method that others could not even imitate properly.

At this rate, the recovery speed of magic power will be at least 5 times faster than that of ordinary Awakened.

‘If the Awakened Association or the higher-ranked Awakened knew my exact physical condition, they would be shocked.’

The pleasure of growth that regression made possible!

The sense of accomplishment that it brings is really too great.

The beaming smile on Shin-hwa’s mouth did not disappear from his lips for a long time.