Trait Hoarder

Castle of the Inexplicable – Part 1

The Arctic.

The air was frozen solid.

As I passed through the clouds, condensed ice chunks mercilessly pelted against me.

[Deploying climate barrier.]

[Activating magic defense shield.]

[Implementing environmental adaptation magic array.]

Yet, my personal aircraft, the Sky Harpy, didn’t so much as tremble.

Even when pushing to Mach 4 using all available traits, it remained steady.

[Regardless of which traits you use, it’s always best to choose Drive and Pilot.]

Drive enhances the performance of a vehicle.

Pilot allows it to move with precision, as if it were an extension of one’s own body.

Both are essential for maximizing a vehicle’s potential.

The magic spirit was right.

Even after hours at Mach 4, the Sky Harpy showed no signs of strain, not even on a single component.

[Deploying magic runway.]

Breaking through the clouds, the ground below came into view.

A raging blizzard swept across the land.

For any ordinary aircraft, landing would have been impossible.

But with magic vision and detection systems, I could perfectly assess the situation below.

The magic runway unfolded.

The plane decelerated smoothly on the long, gently extending strip.

At the right moment, the landing gear deployed, reducing speed further.

In the end, the aircraft touched down on the frozen ice after covering barely 50 meters.

That meant I could take off and land in an area no larger than an elementary school playground.

[Master, is this your intended destination?]

Just 50 kilometers from the North Pole.

A vast, desolate expanse.

Not even the flags left behind by explorers were visible.

“This is the place.”

The Sky Harpy was equipped with highly advanced detection systems.

But even those couldn’t pick up the barrier here.

A local power in the Arctic.

Ancient bloodlines that were believed to have vanished from this world.

Descendants of inhuman ancestry, inheriting traits that made them distinct and rare.

Their appearances and supernatural abilities were too different, so they lived secluded in their own city.

The Castle of the Inexplicable stood here.

‘Kind of like the Monster Village…’

But the situation was much worse.

Mutants were at least numerous.

Those with inhuman bloodlines were strong as individuals, but far too few in number.

When mages decided to hunt them down, they were powerless to resist.

For all I knew, several of them were probably locked up in the Sun Mage Tower’s underground facilities.

Step, step.

I set the Sky Harpy to maintenance mode and moved toward the visible landmark.

A point where the blizzard Berserkd more fiercely than anywhere else.

Beneath the endless midnight sun, a patch of darkness stood out unnaturally.

Without Clairvoyant Eyes, Sixth Sense, Prophet’s Ring, and Keen Eye, I might have walked right past it.

Whoosh!

The moment I made contact with the barrier—

A gust of wind swept over me.

And with it, a sudden dizziness.

‘Ah, right. I forgot something.’

A strong urge to go home struck me.

That familiar feeling of leaving the house and wondering if I forgot to turn off the gas.

I had to check the Sky Ship inventory, repair the Red Cougar, and monitor the redevelopment projects in Guro-dong and Daerim-dong.

What was I doing here?

As the thought formed, I smirked inwardly.

‘This is strong.’

Even knowing what was happening, it still had this much of an effect?

[Vajra Body] [Resolve] [Discipline]

[Cold Rationality] [Intellect] [Focus]

I equipped only traits that strengthened mental defenses and stepped forward.

A faint itch crawled up my nape before disappearing.

A barrier set by a Level 8 Transcendent was nothing but a sandcastle before my [Trait Swap].

The blizzard ceased.

Like entering the eye of a storm, silence welcomed me.

A castle of gemstones stood beneath the piercing blue sky.

Its walls shimmered with iridescent hues, constructed from something beyond comprehension.

The Castle of the Inexplicable.

Each brick was imbued with defensive and preservation magic, or so they claimed.

I approached it slowly.

The Arctic cold was relentless, but it didn’t matter.

I was wearing the Black Tiger Cloak given to me by the Legion Commander.

My new tracksuit kept me perfectly warm.

“Hmm?”

“A human?”

The figures standing atop the castle walls flinched.

One was a troll.

The other, an asura.

Both reached for the whistles around their necks and exchanged hushed words.

I activated Sixth Sense and Keen Ears, combining them with Understanding, Composure, and Focus.

Their murmurs became clear.

“What do we do? Should we call the boss?”

“It’s nighttime. If we call her for nothing, she’ll get pissed…”

“But it’s a human. A human hasn’t come to our city in ten years.”

“Last time, it was hunters invading.”

“Wait… Couldn’t he be a hunter too?”

“If he were, he would’ve brought a whole group.”

“He might be a scout.”

“If he were a scout, he would’ve run the moment he saw us.”

“So… what do we do?”

They were speaking English.

The accent was strange, archaic even, but it was definitely English.

I opened my golf bag and rummaged through it.

Pulling out a long piece of cloth, I grabbed some red paint and scrawled out a message.

[Selling Special Immunosuppressants for Inhuman Bloodlines.]

Immunosuppressants.

The simplest way to raise one’s reputation in the Castle of the Inexplicable.

What was the biggest problem for those with inhuman ancestry?

Autoimmune diseases.

If their bodies were fully inhuman, they’d be fine.

But for those caught between human and inhuman, their own immune systems became their greatest enemies.

Human immune cells attacked inhuman cells.

Inhuman immune cells attacked human cells.

Many children born with inhuman bloodlines died in infancy because of this.

Transcendents could overcome it with time.

But newborns?

Infants?

Even with their highly advanced medical technology, the Castle of the Inexplicable had never fully conquered this disease.

‘This was something the Sun Mage Tower developed, wasn’t it?’

I wasn’t just suspecting the Sun Mage Tower’s underground facilities for no reason.

Ice Age.

The moment the Castle of the Inexplicable faction appeared, why do you think the game introduced this medicine right away?

In the game, they claimed it was just a way to sink excess gold, but in reality, that wasn’t the case.

I pulled an Alchemy Cauldron out of my golf bag.

Alongside it, I stacked up the ingredients the Grand Patriarch had procured for me.

I had made sure to stock up on everything necessary during my flight here.

Finally, I took out the dragon’s blood that had been lying dormant in one corner of my golf bag.

Dragon’s blood.

I couldn’t use it as is—I had to dilute it to 1/100th its potency.

If I got the ratio wrong, instead of an immunosuppressant, I’d end up creating a Bloodline Frenzy Agent that could drive inhuman bloodlines into a rampage and kill them.

I poured the diluted dragon’s blood into the magic cauldron.

Then, I processed five medicinal ingredients before adding them in.

[Artisan]

[Alchemy]

The two traits shone brightly.

Equipping the right traits for the job, I began the brewing process.

Stirring the mixture with a magic ladle, I sprinkled in ground Level 0 Mana Cores like seasoning.

The potion ignited into a brilliant flame.

A strange scent began to rise.

“Sniff, sniff! What the hell is that smell?”

“That human is up to something weir—huh?”

“What is it?”

“My nose is clear!”

“Huh?”

“My sinusitis—it’s cured!”

“What nonsense? You’ve been taking medicine for that.”

“Don’t even mention that scam artist! That stuff was just overpriced magic junk that didn’t do anything!”

I waited patiently.

Sooner or later, the guards would have to come to me.

And they’d become my walking advertisements.

Whether things ended peacefully with words or escalated into a fight, either way, it would work out.

I continued stirring the potion, the guards stealing glances at me as I worked.

Time flew by.

With the perpetual daylight, it was difficult to tell whether it was day or night.

Just as the sky brightened slightly, the guard captain finally emerged, swaggering toward me.

“What the hell is that guy doing?”

“He’s been at it since last night.”

“Then you should have woken me up!”

“Well… he doesn’t seem to be a hunter. He hasn’t shown any hostility or even tried to move any closer.”

“Hmm.”

The guard captain shot me a piercing glare.

A sharp, keen gaze.

Was it because she was an elf?

Despite being a warrior, I could sense magical power from her as well.

‘An ice spirit, huh?’

Using Clairvoyant Eyes, I glanced at the elf’s belt and nodded to myself.

A magic belt, wrapped tightly with an ice spirit.

Elves weren’t known for using fire or ice spirits, but this world was different.

Because they weren’t real elves.

Just humans with atavistic bloodline traits surfacing.

Thunk!

The guard captain leaped down from the wall.

“Whoa!”

“Captain! Wait for us!”

“You useless fools! We can’t be sure he’s alone! Inform the defense unit and surveillance squad—who’s to say he doesn’t have backup?”

“Yes, sir! Requesting cooperation now!”

“Squad One, with me! Squad Two, stay on the walls! Squad Three, prepare intercept cannons and missiles!”

“Yes, sir!”

The guards, who had been slacking off for ten years of peace, moved swiftly.

Only the guard captain had remained vigilant.

I observed her with interest.

I recognized her.

She was in the game.

Not just as an NPC, but as a playable character.

An SSR-tier character.

[Winter Queen]

Descendant of the First Heavenly Demon and the Northern Ice Palace, with a unique backstory.

Unlike other characters, you had to complete her personal quest before recruiting her.

Even if you pulled her from a premium summon, she would remain locked until then.

“Who the hell are you?”

The Winter Queen—or rather, the guard captain before she became the Winter Queen—asked bluntly.

I gestured toward the cloth sign I had planted in the ground.

“Selling medicine.”

“Medicine?”

She scoffed after reading the sign.

“You expect me to believe that?”

“Gotta do something if I want to be let in, don’t I?”

“…Do you even know where you are?”

“Of course I do.”

I openly observed the guard captain.

A textbook elven appearance.

Then, I turned my gaze to the guards behind her.

A truly diverse gathering of species.

Not just the troll and asura from earlier, but giants, dwarves, orcs, goblins, tengu, naga, beastmen, satyrs, dhampirs, oni, yokai—the whole world’s inhuman races seemed to be gathered here.

A sight far more diverse than the Monster Village.

The guard captain snorted.

“So? You’re saying you came here fully aware?”

“That’s right.”

“Fine. Rules are rules, so I’ll start with a warning. Stop whatever you’re doing and get lost. I’ll just erase your memory and send you back.”

She’d mellowed out.

Or was she always this lenient?

In the game, she’d thrown a fit and immediately tried to kill me, triggering a battle.

Something must have happened in the meantime.

I ignored her threat and continued stirring the potion.

“No.”

“No?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I’ll hit you. You may look like a Level 7 Transcendent, but if I hit you, it’s gonna hurt. Don’t go crying home after.”

Something about the way she phrased that seemed off.

I couldn’t help but chuckle.

Now that I thought about it, the Winter Queen had the Spirit Vision trait.

She must have analyzed my currently equipped traits.

That’s why she was trying to settle this peacefully.

She must have assumed I wasn’t a combat-type Transcendent but a production-type one.

I stood up.

Stretching my shoulders, I rolled them back.

In real time, my body expanded.

My frame grew larger, and an overwhelming aura and mana waves surged forth.

[Giant’s Strength] [Vajra Body] [Undying]

[Mana Soul] [Mars Swordsmanship] [Master of the Blade]

I wondered what this sight looked like through Spirit Vision.

Magical circuits—supposedly unchangeable without a special trigger—were shifting in real time.

Six completely different magic circuits seamlessly replaced each other, weaving together into something far greater.

The guard captain’s face hardened.

“You… you—!”

I reached for the Black Tiger Sword at my waist.

Mjolnir and the Dasan Rifle were still inside my armory.

But just this one sword was enough to overwhelm the guard captain and the soldiers behind her.

After all, while the Winter Queen was SSR-tier, the current guard captain was not.

“Damn it! Attack!”

“Kill him!”

“No—just beat him half to death!”

The guards charged in unison.

They were from different species, which only made their attack patterns more unpredictable.

Some used their small stature to dart in, others relied on their large frames to overpower.

Some struck with their six arms, others used intangible limbs that flickered in and out of existence.

Even that wasn’t the extent of it.

Attacks rained from above.

Blows came tearing up through the frozen ground beneath me.

Some of them fused their strikes with their comrades’ before splitting apart at the critical moment.

Any ordinary Transcendent would have been overwhelmed in an instant.

But I had Mars Swordsmanship.

The battle instincts of a god of war, the experience of a hundred victorious battles—this was a swordsmanship forged in the crucible of war.

And on top of that, I was a Swordmaster.

No matter how refined their coordination was, could it possibly match me?

Clang! Clang! Clang!

I swung my sword, carving my way forward.

A dazzling white sword aura flashed through the air.

The guard captain barely managed to block by imbuing her sword with her ice spirit.

“Aura Blade! Everyone, be careful!”

It was meaningless.

I tore through them like a storm.

At crucial moments, I switched to Nephilim Sword, its divine edge slicing through resistance.

And when I was certain of a decisive strike, I unleashed Kalaratri.

Boom! Crack!

Black-and-white sword energy erupted, lightning crashing down with each swing.

“Gah!”

“Urgh!”

Yet, none of them were fatally injured.

When the troll guard staggered back to his feet and tried to thrust his spear at me, I pressed my sword against his throat.

“If you’ve died once, you should stay down.”

The troll gulped audibly.

After glancing at my face, he dropped to the ground on his own.

“I—I’ll stay down!”

The guard captain exploded in frustration.

“You idiot! Why the hell are you listening to him?!”

“B-But he’s not even trying to kill us! What if he actually gets mad? What do I do then? I have a pregnant wife back home! It took us ten years to conceive!”

“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”

The castle was in an uproar.

The reinforcements they had called—the defense unit and the surveillance squad—were rapidly approaching.

The guard captain’s face lit up with relief.

“Teus! Dahee! You’re dead now, bastard.”

“Is that so?”

Even with two more Level 7, it made no difference.

Even if hundreds more showed up, the result would be the same.

The Black Tiger Sword danced through the air.

Sword energy erupted with relentless force.

One by one, the three captains fell to their knees.

The guard captain gasped for breath.

“Huff… huff… huff…”

The defense captain, a stone giant, looked dazed.

The surveillance captain, a nine-tailed fox, had outright fainted.

“W-What are you planning to do with us?”

The guard captain clenched her teeth as she spoke.

“I don’t know what your goal is, but just kill us cleanly. The Elders’ Council will avenge us.”

“Why would I kill you?”

I sheathed my Black Tiger Sword and returned to my original spot.

The Magic Cauldron was still warm.

The potion had aged nicely during the fight.

The once-red liquid now shimmered in a brilliant sapphire hue.

Carefully, I poured it drop by drop into small crystal vials.

Precision was key.

Too much or too little, and the formula wouldn’t work.

“C-Captain…”

The troll, the one I had told to stay down, scratched his head awkwardly.

“I don’t think that guy means us any harm. Why don’t you at least hear him out?”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Do you not understand humans? Have you forgotten what they did to us?”

“Of course, I haven’t. But… this guy seems different.”

Good.

You’ll do.

The troll who had been guarding the wall since dawn, the one whining about his sinuses earlier.

The same troll I had scolded just moments ago.

I casually tossed him a vial of the neatly packaged medicine.

He caught it clumsily, staring at me in confusion.

Tap! Tap!

I knocked on the cloth sign with a bit of magic.

“You seem to have pretty bad allergies. Why don’t you try it?”

It was a suggestion, wrapped in pressure.

His round, beady eyes trembled violently.

–TL Notes–

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