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Taken from Light Novel Bastion. All credits goes to the original translator and editor.
4. Getting a Goal (2)
It’s been a week since my Awakening.
In that time I’ve filed the report stating that I’m an Awakened, and got an ‘Awakened Certificate’.
Originally I was planning to report right before the time limit, but I learned that without an ‘Awakened Certificate’ you can’t enter dungeons.
It’s like buying a Benz without having a driver’s license.
I sat through 6 hours of boring basic education and 2 days of combat training.
But the Certificate I received after was enough to get me all excited again.
Well, it’s only a card that has a photo, name, class and the issuing date though.
Since I got it after the holidays, the school wasn’t informed.
My mother wouldn’t know either, right?
Entering a dungeon was easier than I thought.
At the entrance of a legally sanctioned dungeon there’s a certification card terminal and a fingerprint scanner. You insert your ‘Awakened Certificate’, after it gets processed you use the fingerprint scanner.
The time limit is 1 hour! But there is no limit to how many times you can go in.
There’s no limit to the number of people that can go in, but as there is a limit to the amount of loot you can get per run, you get more profit the less people you have right?
The diamond of this era which you can get by killing monsters and bosses inside the dungeon, the ‘Blood Stone’!
Because it floated on top of a dead monster’s body, it is also called the ‘Rising Sun’.
It’s an important resource to humanity who evolved with the monsters’ arrival.
It’s an energy resource whose efficiency goes beyond that of oil, electricity, fire, wind, or nuclear-powered generators.
Of course, the ways of producing energy listed above can only be found in museums or history books now.
The theory exam is over, now the practical exam is just ahead.
According to Tae-Seong and Jin-Ho, to clear a Level 1 dungeon, Level 1~5 Awakened form a party of about 5 people to clear it.
The reason for this is safety.
With the brand new start of a new life of an Awakened, the Awakened can’t meet the end of it at the same time right?
But today, I go in alone!
Tti-Dik
-Please scan your card.
Tti-Dik
-Please scan your fingerprint.
-The dungeon will now be activated.
I read forum posts until I was worn out just for today!
“I can smell it… The smell of money, it’s slowly coming!”
The first thing I feel on entering the dungeon is a muddy floor.
It’s like mud or a mire, but it also has a sticky kind of feeling that makes you feel bad.
The second thing is the stench!
It’s definitely the smell of mold in a basement, but it also has a familiar fishy scent.
The interior of the dungeon is quite simple.
It’s similar to a cave without any split paths. Even though there are no lights anywhere, there’s a brightness which is similar to a gentle light being turned on.
Then.
Kkirik! Kkirik! Kkirik!
A sound comes from the inside of the dungeon.
As I step forward, the sound becomes more and more clear.
I get goosebumps as I hear for the first time the cry of a monster.
If the association’s information is correct, the source of this sound should be the ‘Black Goat’.
It’s literally a black goat.
If there are points that differ it from a normal goat, it would be its erect gait and the halberd that’s gripped in its hands which replace its hooves.
“Hey, if it’s like this isn’t its name just Black Goat?”
I feel that the association’s naming sense is actually really unoriginal.
It didn’t take a while for the ‘Black Goat’ to appear in front of me.
A bigger body than I thought, and stupidly large muscles.
‘Is it ok for Level 1 dungeons to be like this~’
It gave off pressure enough to make me think this.
“What’s motivating me right now is money!”
“What can I do if I shrink away from this low-level dungeon!”
I berate myself as if to try and hide my nervousness.
I summon ‘Frost Orb’ on both of my hands and prepare for battle.
Kkriyiiiiik!!!
‘Black Goat’ swings his halberd with a cry to the surroundings.
Although I’m someone who doesn’t have any combat experience, I could see its weakness in a single glance.
Its legs!
Its thin hind legs compared to its strong upper body! It looks as if it can’t support it.
“You’re only a goat and you dare to walk on 2 legs?”
I cast the two ‘Frost Orbs’ at its legs.
-Keueueueu Kkiik!!!
‘Black Goat’ starts to shout and sounds like what you would hear in a slaughterhouse.
Its legs are frozen to the muddy ground.
I again cast ‘Frost Orb’ at his frozen legs.
Chigeureong! Tuduk!
A beautiful sound created by the giant halberd crashing onto the floor is heard.
Its legs get cut off while being stuck in the floor, and its muscular body falls down onto the ground.
It keeps crying out strangely while in pain.
“Hoo…… This is easier than I thought.”
To me who has infinite mana it isn’t a very hard first hunt.
Even if I didn’t see its weakness I could just spam ‘Frost Orb’ and win.
But looking at its eyes I feel a bit sad.
To describe it, should I say a feeling where a hunter who has just finished his first hunt, just before killing his prey with the last attack, their eyes match?
Only for a moment though.
-Huung! Huung!
It drools like it’s really excited, and swings its halberd at my legs.
The sadness didn’t take a long time to turn into anger.
I spammed ‘Frost Orb’ at its head, and it eventually turned to dust and died.
[10 experience gained.]
The voice I heard when I Awakened informs me that I got experience.
A ‘blood stone’ floats above the guy’s head.
The hand which holds the ‘blood stone’ shivers.
It’s an opaque white jewel but strangely emits a red light.
My first income in my life!
It’s the start! It’s the farewell point from poverty!
I put my first income carefully into a hip sack which I prepared beforehand.
Then I stop walking.
Because the noise that told me about the experience rising is caught up in my heart, I open the status.
Kim Min-Cheol
Level : 1
Exp : [10/100]
Class : Magician
Special Attribute: Mana doesn’t run out.
Strength : 10
Mana : ∞
Agility : 10
Vitality : 10
Unspent Points : 0
Current Skills
Frost Orb Level 1 [28/100]
Skill experience only rose when it hit the monster.
So if you used a great skill on a large number of monsters, the amount of experience that rose for the skill would be proportionate to the amount of monsters that were hit. Back when I cast the skill at the cans, it didn’t count towards the skill experience.
To get to the boss room you have to kill about 30 Black Goats.
The blood stones that I thought would keep coming out every time I killed a Black Goat didn’t appear for quite some time after killing that first one.
The amount of blood stones I get after killing about 30 is 2!
It seems like they have a drop rate of less than 10%.
Due to the constant non-appearance of blood stones, I have the thought ‘Is there something wrong?’ while advancing.
At the boss room, there’s a ‘Goat King’ who is 2 times as big as a ‘Black Goat’.
On the way here, I became level 3 and ‘Frost Orb’ became level 4.
When looking at the giant ‘Goat King’, I’m feeling thankful at the first ‘Black Goat’ who presented me with that pressure.
It taught me the ‘walkthrough’, if you could call it that, of attacking the lower half.
The boss was comparably stronger than the ‘Black Goat’.
When it sees me it gets excited and sticks its halberd into the ground, and which starts radiating light.
Even though it was struck on muddy ground it gave off a large shockwave.
But even it didn’t last long and eventually knelt down.
It is similar to a boxer’s feet being tied together and fighting.
-Keueueueu…..
[30 experience gained.]
The thing that is more exciting than the notification that my experience has risen is the blood stone which rises from the top of its head.
This blood stone was comparably different in size from the other ones.
If a blood stone obtained from an ordinary monster is the size of a thumb, then the blood stone obtained from the boss is the size of your index and middle finger put together.
This also probably has a drop rate of less than 10%. But as if congratulating me for the first dungeon clear, it came out like this. I can’t be any happier.
“Haak, big and beautiful!”
‘A day where I talk to myself a lot’ this kind of thought surfaced.
Today’s goal is to fill up the hip sack with blood stones from this level 1 dungeon!
At the end of the dungeon which had no monsters left is a exit which is similar to the entrance.
The time it takes to clear this dungeon is about 30 minutes.
Undoubtedly the speed would get faster.
Before the thrill of the first dungeon clear even wore out, I put the card in again.
Ttidik.
…for his mom’s life to become better, he needs to share that money, but with that, it will raise questions.
Hiding it from her, or making her life better, he’ll have to pick one soon.
Well of course he’d tell her mom. He did say he would surprise her. His intention was not really hiding his talent forever. For one, his school would eventually find out abot it in one of those appraisal tests that happens every three months. Another would be, yes, he’d have to tell his mother eventually when he shares his “income”. I think the reason he’s hiding it for now is because he does not want his mother to stop him before he could do anything worthwhile with his ability. He did say his mother would probably not allow him to go around fighting monsters. He’s keeping it silent for now so he could build up more experience and strength. By the time his mother would know about it, he would have already done a lot as an awakened to prove he’s strong enough to continue what he’s doing.
Also, it’s not really highlighted in the narrative so far, but his ability (infinite mana) is probably not something he should brag around. It could attract a lot of unwanted attention–mostly from people who can abuse him. Also, I don’t see any party out there who can support him. So for the moment that he’s still green and not strong enough to defend himself, I’d say his decision of keeping it secret is better.
“he’d tell her mom” what
True he’s gonna tell his mother soon, and clearly infinite mana is some cheat that is better of not talked about with random peeps….
All MC needs to do is find a shielding spell and keep it permanently on, preferably one that is invisible to the eye. Then he can focus on power spells
When does he start spamming skills in the dungeon to level them up