Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant-Chapter 448

‘Yeah, this is exactly it.’

In his past life, thanks to the “Seven Deadly Sins Players,” who were among the worst villains, Su-ho knew the Great Demons of the Seven Deadly Sins very well.

He also knew that trait grades existed, all thanks to those guys.

‘Guest, Precious Guest, Partner, and after that Apostle, and the last stage was Avatar, right?’

He had struggled quite a bit to take down the one who had risen to Avatar grade.

But in the end, because he had the Great Demon attribute, he successfully subdued the guy easily through a collaboration with Isabella.

‘Should I try asking him to raise it to Apostle while I’m at it?’

But he soon gave up on the idea.

For the reward he had squeezed out by acting sensitive, this much was more than enough.

Of course, the trait grades granted by a Great Demon themselves didn’t hold much meaning.

Naturally so — up to Partner grade, it was merely a scale of how much the Great Demon trusted the Player.

‘To obtain related stats or skills, you have to formally become an Apostle.’

But Su-ho had no intention of becoming the guy’s Apostle.

Apostle, by definition, meant being bound to a single being, and well...?

He wasn’t even a Demon King — being subordinated to a mere Great Demon? That was a ridiculous deal.

Of course, if it were a conditional, modifiable contract, he was willing to consider it.

So he would stop here.

For having acted sensitive, the best trust grade of a Great Demon + 20 bonus stat points was plenty of compensation.

Su-ho nodded as he spoke.

“This is fine. After this comes Apostle grade, and after that the last one is Avatar grade, right?”

- ......

Grid stayed silent.

At his reaction, Su-ho tilted his head.

“It’s not?”

- It is.

“Then why are you reacting like that?”

- Be honest with me. You’re not from here, are you?

“What are you talking about?”

- No, seriously, you’re not from the Demon Realm, so how do you know all this? And tell the truth. You weren’t actually offended earlier, right? I can feel it now — you purposely pulled that stunt just to extract my trait grade, didn’t you?

“Oh? You're talking weird again? Why do you keep provoking me?”

- N-no! That’s not what I meant...!

“I’m joking. And you’re right. I fooled around a bit to try raising the grade and bonus stats. You think I seriously thought you would offer an actual trade proposal over a bit of conversation?”

- U-urk...!

Grid’s face turned beet red.

Ha, cute bastard.

Watching him react emotionally to each of Su-ho’s words like he was being toyed with on the Buddha’s palm — it was nothing but adorable.

‘This is supposed to be a Great Demon?’

Su-ho smiled as he spoke.

“Okay, jokes end here. Let’s go back to the main topic. But don’t be so resentful — the order just got pushed forward a bit. From your standpoint, it was a grade you could raise or not raise, didn’t matter either way.”

- That’s true, but... forget it. Let’s drop this topic. Just get to the point!

Grid was annoyed.

But even that looked cute to Su-ho.

“I’ll repeat it. Start by explaining the Silver stat. Now I know Silver comes after Purple, so what’s next? And what’s the final color of the stat level?”

- Normally I wouldn’t be able to tell you, but since your grade has become Middle Player, I can now tell you without worrying about the system watching. After Silver comes Gold. After Gold comes White. And from what I know, the final stat color is Black.

“Silver, Gold, White, Black... there’s still a lot left, huh.”

- Yeah. A whole lot left. But, well... judging from your stat-raising speed, I doubt it’ll take you long to get to Black grade.

“Thanks for the compliment. Then now explain the Player grades. Low grade, Middle grade, all that — it’s all new to me.”

- Player grade is...

Grid hesitated for a moment.

Then he continued speaking.

- By becoming a Middle Player, your information access authority increased, but even so I still can’t tell you everything. But what is certain is that after Middle comes High grade, and once you become High, you can access almost all information.

“...What is that supposed to mean? Then what does the Player grade actually represent?”

- Su-ho, the world of the system is larger than you think. The world the system governs is not just this place.

“What do you—”

At that moment, an item Su-ho had half forgotten surfaced in his mind.

The Lizard Dragon’s Rune.

Su-ho hurriedly took it out and checked its information.

[ Lizard Dragon’s Rune ]

Grade: S+

# The rune of the Lizard Dragon, known as the Guardian Deity of Lizard World.

# The Lizard Dragon’s Rune is the Lizard Dragon’s Will, Spirit, Essence, and Soul.

# The one who possesses the Lizard Dragon’s Rune can communicate with all Lizardmen and holds absolute majesty.

At the time he acquired this, Su-ho couldn’t find any answer.

Just item information filled with text.

From experience, items like this were usually significant.

Text-heavy items were almost always some kind of qualification item.

‘Even when I got this, I couldn’t figure out its meaning.’

What he remembered was the Lizard Dragon’s memories that had entered his mind just before obtaining it.

Those memories contained the sorrow and grief of Lizard World, made entirely of Lizardmen, being destroyed by the invasion of some alien existence.

In those memories, the Lizard Dragon was the Guardian Deity of Lizard World, and after the world was destroyed, the Lizardmen were enslaved by the invaders and sent to other worlds.

The Lizard Dragon, after being deprived of its power, was preserved as a picture.

‘The Lizardman King was the Avatar of the Lizard Dragon.’

He had made many guesses from those memories, but he had never reached an answer.

So he had just shoved it deep into his inventory, but the moment he heard Grid’s words, it resurfaced.

Su-ho held up the Lizard Dragon’s Rune to Grid and said,

“You know what this is?”

- This is...

Grid narrowed his eyes as he examined the Lizard Dragon’s Rune.

Then, looking endlessly shocked, he said:

- This is... a Guardian’s Rune.

“A Guardian’s Rune?”

- To be exact, it’s called a Fallen Stigma. Ever heard of it?

“Neither of them. Explain.”

- A Guardian’s Rune is made based on the Guardians who protected a world. To put it simply, it’s an item. One with many options and wrapped in layers of secret veils.

“Then why is it called a Fallen Stigma?”

- Do you know the term ‘Holy Stigma’?

“Roughly?”

- Holy Stigma has many meanings, but on our side, it’s usually described as a trace of a god. The traces of extremely powerful gods, or sometimes the traces of stars. When such gods cooperate with the system and become transcendent beings, they leave behind a Holy Stigma. But if they don’t—

Grid lifted the Lizard Dragon’s Rune and said,

- They end up falling to the level of mere system toys like this — and that’s why it’s called a Fallen Stigma.

“So the Lizard Dragon’s Rune being a Fallen Stigma means...”

- It chose to disappear rather than cooperate with the system to the end. More precisely, it’s closer to being sealed.

“Ah...”

Only then could Su-ho fully understand Grid’s words and the Lizard Dragon’s Rune.

‘So Earth isn’t the only playground of the system...’

He had imagined that possibility before, but actually facing it as reality was overwhelmingly shocking.

‘Then the alien existence that destroyed Lizard World was also...’

Most likely the system.

No — based on the circumstances, he was now convinced.

‘And the fact it showed me those memories means...’

Su-ho pondered briefly.

Then reached a rough conclusion.

‘It must be one of three things. Either:

1. It’s a warning — “My world ended up like this, so be careful,” or

2. It wants me to feel sympathy and avenge it, or

3. Even the Lizard Dragon’s memories were nothing more than tools made by the system for some scheme.’

Whatever it was, none of it felt pleasant.

But the most convincing interpretation was the warning.

‘If I hadn’t wiped out the catastrophe-grade Gates in my past life, Earth would’ve ended up like Lizard World.’

With that thought, anger surged again toward Newclass.

‘Bastards.’

If not for the system choosing him and granting regression, what would have happened?

Shaking his head, Su-ho continued with the next question.

“Then what about the Demon Realm you belong to?”

- That... I cannot tell you because your qualification is insufficient.

“That so?”

- Anyway, what matters is that the system’s power is far stronger than you imagine, and the worlds the system controls are far broader and more diverse than you imagine. So stop thinking strange thoughts and focus on raising your power. That is the best advice I can give you — one that penetrates everything.

Su-ho nodded.

“I was planning to anyway. To think I came here just to clean up remnants of the past, only to learn completely unexpected things. Then let me ask you one last thing.”

- Seriously, you know this is a massive special-service giveaway, right? I’m only letting it slide because you raised my trait grade twice.

“There you go again saying unnecessary things. Fine, whatever. Tell me anything you know about the dragons of my world.”

- Dragons, huh?

“Truth is, it’s been a while since I acquired the power called Dragon Blood. And right now a Dragon Egg is hatching inside me.”

- ...What was your trait again?

“New Blood.”

- New Blood?

After Su-ho briefly explained the New Blood trait, Grid’s expression became more serious than Su-ho had ever seen.

“What’s wrong?”

- You might be... no, never mind.

“What is it? Why are you stopping mid-sentence?”

- Your qualification is insufficient. Raise your Player grade by one more level. Then you can know.

“Here we go again with the grade nonsense... So, dragons?”

- Dragons are just dragons. One of the countless powers the system handles... So don’t think of it as something overly special. Just think of it as one type of powerful force.

“That’s it?”

- What more do you expect me to explain to a Middle Player? I can’t talk about what you haven’t discovered yet.

“Seriously stingy and dirty, damn...”

- What can I do? Those are the system rules. But don’t worry. In any world, the dragon race is always among [N O V E L I G H T] the top-tier forces.

“Even our Bulgasari knows that much.”

- You complain even when I tell you.

“Whatever. This is enough. Time to wrap things up here.”

He had asked almost everything he was curious about.

No matter what further questions he asked, he doubted he would receive a proper answer anyway.

So Q&A time would end here, and he would return to his main task.

Just as Su-ho turned toward the black portal leading to the Boss Room, Grid spoke.

- Su-ho.

“What?”

- Now that you’re my official Partner grade, there is something I sincerely want to ask of you.

“What is it?”

- When you get out of here, could you gather the remaining Seven Deadly Sins runes for me? If you do, I’ll cooperate with your growth as much as possible and respond to your expectations.

Grid’s eyes were immeasurably serious.

Seeing that, Su-ho snorted a laugh.

“I’ll think about it.”

- What? Hey, seriously—!?

“I’m busy too, man. See ya.”

Leaving that farewell behind, Su-ho, having invested all remaining bonus stats into Senses, slipped straight into the black portal.