Tag: I Never Run Out of Mana

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95. 100+500 Event

At the level 30 portal in Changwon, Choi So-Hyeon, who was standing in Jong Ho’s way, fired many single cast magics.

She was considered second to none in terms of the amount of experience she had with dungeons.

That was why she knew there wouldn’t be that many monsters coming out of the level 30 portal.

However, the monsters weren’t coming out all at once.

Instead, they came out one at a time in intervals.

She could consider recklessly entering the portal, but it was too dangerous to do so.

That was why instead of using AoE skills that put a heavy toll on her mana pool, she was using single target spells that costs less mana in comparison to buy time until enough of them gathered where she could use a powerful AoE to finish them off.

Jong Ho knew well about the skill she was using, for thousands of that spell of stored in the Balrock ring he was wearing.

Roughly 10 monsters were currently outside the portal, and each of them were hit once by Explosion that she had casted.

The intense flames from this single target spell would not extinguish until the target was completely destroyed, allowing a constant damage over time.

On top of that, So-Hyeon used teleport to get in the center of the mob before casting Frozen Spear in an attempt to stop their movement.

Frozen projectiles flew out in the radius of the spell.

The intense flames burned at their chest while frozen spears pierced their bodies, forcing them to slow down as they chased at her.

‘Guess rankers are called rankers for a reason.’

Jong Ho blankly stared at the fight, amazed at how she was doing the most amount of damage possible while keeping the mana costs low like a true professional.

That didn’t last long though.

In an annoyed voice, Choi So-Hyeon, who was kiting all the monsters shouted out at him.

“How long are you just going to stand idly by?”

“Ah…. Ah! Sorry!”

“At least pull the aggro of the additional mobs coming in!”

That was right.

It was true that she had cleared the level 28 dungeon by herself, but the current portal they faced were a level 30 one.

It would be difficult for her to face this portal alone.

Jong Ho replied in a bashful tone with an accent that of a country bumpkin.

“That’s…. So you’re saying you want my help?”

“Are you seriously asking me that? I can’t believe it!”

Her pretty face were filled with scorn as she continued to complain.

Despite having a small frame, she spoke with great pride.

Jong Ho couldn’t help but find this display to be cute.

The charisma she carried when she was blasting spells into the monsters were nowhere to be found.

“Hurry!”

Muttering to himself quietly enough that she couldn’t hear about how she told him to go away before, Jong Ho ran forward while replying loudly.

“I’m. Going!”

-WHOOSH!

Jong Ho grabbed So-Hyeon’s arm and tossed her afar.

Using his high strength stat, he had tossed her.

It was to make sure that she wouldn’t be in the radius of his spells, as it wasn’t a targeted spell.

Her eyes, which was already wide open due to how Jong Ho acted before, only opened wider.

She landed on a boulder safely.

She had flown roughly 20m.

With a shocked expression, she spoke.

“Kya! What are you doing!”

“Just wait a bit.”

So-Hyeon could not continue speaking after what she witnessed next.

Jong Ho, who she had thought to be a warrior class was casting Fire Shock in front of her very eyes.

She could also tell at a glance that the spell was far stronger than her own Fire Shock.

The size and amount of falling flames were greater, and even the patterns of the fire were unpredictable.

It was completely different from what she had been using so far.

The monsters gathered up by her were covered in Fire Shock that Jong Ho casted.

The massive damage made the monsters howl in agony without ever being given the chance to attack.

The skills in the ring stored by Min-Cheol also had a cooldown time.

It followed the growth of the one who stored the skills in the ring after all.

Fire Shock had a 3 minutes cooldown, and the monsters weren’t completely defeated yet.

Thinking about what skills to follow up with, Jong Ho unconsciously spoke to himself what he had in mind.

“With Meteor, they should die in a single hit. I think the radius is too large to use right now though? Isn’t there something else more appropriate?”

Hearing his monologue from afar, she could only cough in shock.

While Fire Shock was still active, Jong Ho decided upon Iceberg.

The monsters already endured massive amounts of damage.

If he landed Iceberg at monsters in pairs of two to three, they should die instantly.

Of course, there wasn’t an issue to cast Iceberg for each and every monster separately though.

-CRACK!

“Im… Impossible….”

“Huh? What did you say? It’s too loud for me to hear you.”

“Fire Shock. Iceberg. The size and damage of your spells are unlike anything I’ve seen before….”

“Huh?”

The monsters trapped within the iceberg were shattered to the point where it would be difficult to identify their form, and the pieces were spread all over the floor to boot.

When the sounds of destruction finally stopped filling the air and the air settled, Jong Ho used Teleport to get to So-Hyeon instantly.

“What did you say?”

“…..”

“Did you not say anything? Did I hear wrong…..”

“I… Iceberg….”

“Yes. Iceberg. What about Iceberg?”

“D… Did you A… Awaken it?”

“I think so?”

“…….”

She had already learned Meteor Call and Iceberg.

However, to think that these spells could be leveled and Awakened to the point where they both did not have cooldowns or cast times was something that she didn’t even dream of.

On top of that, these skills consumed massive amounts of mana.

But this man was spamming Iceberg as if it was nothing.

So-Hyeon could only stare blankly at Jong Ho’s face.

It was then.

Something started to float above the corpses of the shattered monsters.

It was not loot that the monsters dropped.

It was something without a solid form with a blueish soul like fire.

One could compare it with oni fire.

Ten oni fire floated up, matching the number of monsters slain.

These flames were absorbed quickly into Choi So-Hyeon’s body.

Seeing this, Jong Ho asked.

“What is that?’

“….Huh?”

“What did you absorb.”

“M… Mana…”

“Huh? You absorb mana after taking down monsters? Wow… You had such a cheat-like ability like that. That’s amazing.”

“I don’t think it should be surprising to someone who can spam Awakened Icebergs like nothing though?”

“Ah…..”

****

It didn’t take long for the level 30 portal to dissipate and change into a dungeon.

The two of them had stopped the portal on their own.

It would have been possible for Jong Ho to do this alone, but thanks to So-Hyeon’s understanding of skills and combat experience, it could be said that the defense was carried out perfectly.

Looking at him, she spoke.

“I think it’s over now.”

“Yes. Thank you for your hard work.”

“This is something I was curious from the start. I’ve never seen anyone spam cast Awakened skills before or even heard of them. What kind of ability do you have?”

“This… This isn’t mine. I’ve borrowed it all. As you know, I’m a warrior.”

With a cheesy smile, Jong Ho avoided the topic.

She did not pursue it further, but instead asked another question.

“I’m not sure if I follow. Whatever. Where are you going to next?”

“Hm…. I think I need to contact my hyung-nim and dongsaeng ¹ first. Are you going to go defend against another portal?”

“Well, I guess I’ll have to go to the ones where magic works against the monsters there, right?”

“Then please wait a moment. I’ll go confirm.”

Jong Ho called Ho Jin.

It was to find out the next location to go, as Ho Jin was with the commander who would know plenty about the current situation of the explosions.

-ring ring

-ring

“Hm…. Are they in the middle of a heated battle?”

Right as he was about to hang up, he could hear Ho Jin’s voice over the phone.

“You’re safe, right?”

The moment the call connected, Ho Jin was already showing his concern for Jong Ho’s well-being.

At his question, Jong Ho answered.

“Of course. Is hyung-nim okay as well?”

“Yeah. Just dissipated a portal.”

“Thank you for your hard work. It’s the same here.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Was there no contact from Mr. Min-Cheol?”

“Yes. Haven’t had any contact with him.”

“Right. Since there are two portals there, he must be very busy.”

“That can’t be helped. Could you tell me the next location that magic works on by the way?”

“Oh…. Just a minute.”

For a short while, he could hear Ho Jin speaking with someone.

It didn’t take long for Ho Jin to continue speaking.

“From what I’ve found out, magic works on the level 34 portal in Yangpyeong. However, since it is a high level portal, I think it would be better if you waited until the situation with Mr. Min-Cheol is resolved before going. The association is unable to spare manpower for that location as well, so the area has been sealed off for now. I’m guessing it’s not urgent to go there as of yet.”

“Hm… Understood, hyung-nim. I’ll go contact Min-Cheol.”

“Yeah. Please take care of yourself. Contact me right away if anything happens.”

“Yes! Take care as well, hyung-nim!”

-click

Ending the call and turning around, he found that Choi So-Hyeon was in a call with someone as well.

Probably gathering intel from Awakened that she knows of regarding the current situation.

Jong Ho then called Min-Cheol.

-ring

-ring

“Yes, hyung-nim!”

“Huh? Is it already over?”

“No. I’m still in the middle of it.”

“Hey. It’s already dangerous enough as it is. Call me after you’re done.”

“It’s okay.”

-huff huff

He could hear Min-Cheol’s labored breathing.

But stranger still was that the sound of horrifying screaming could be heard above that.

It definitely sounded like the cries of human beings.

“AHHHHH!”

“…S…. Sa.. Save me!”

“KU…. KUHH!”

“Hey! Min-Cheol, what’s that sound in the background! It sounds like a critical situation to me?”

“Ah. It’s nothing much. Some monsters acting like humans.”

“Is… Is that so? That’s really strange. Well, until everything is taken care of, don’t let your guard down. Be careful!”

“Don’t worry about it. Is Changwon taken care of?”

“KUAAAH!”

“KU… KU-UCK.”

“Those monsters are quite loud to be honest. Yep, I’m about to head to the level 34 portal in Yangpyeong for now.”

“Ah. Understood. Since it’s dangerous, please don’t approach it recklessly. I’ll finish up here quickly and head there.”

“Alrighty.”

-click

Ending the call, he spoke to her.

“Looks like the level 34 portal in Yangpyeong can be affected by magic. Will you come with?”

“Are you using Warp?”

“No. I used it to get here, so there is a lot of time until I can use it again.”

“Same here….. Let’s go there for now.”

“Ok.”

****

“Busy, so busy!”

The monsters that landed on the beachfront were charging in.

On top of that, the underlings of the radical faction were coming as well.

Without a moment’s rest, I was casting magic nonstop.

The Rag was a type of monster that caused a massive explosion.

The destructive force was enough to annihilate anything within 3m radius without a trace.

The areas where they exploded formed ditches, almost as if bombs were dropped there.

Due to them exploding, the underlings of Dark Lady were dying as well.

Looking at this scene, I couldn’t hold my anger back.

“Nooo! You pigs! Those are my stats…. Stop greedily looking at them and get out of my sight!”

-BOOOOM!

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94. Start of a Catastrophe (2)

When I arrived, Wolmi-do was desolated.

The place would normally be filled to the brim with tourists and salesmen.

However, due to the news of the portal explosion, it seemed that they abandoned this place with great haste, akin to that of an receding tide.

If the GPS information was correct, the two portals that exploded should be within 10m of each other.

The two points on the map were pretty much on the same place.

The portals had exploded under the sea.

I didn’t know the which portal had what level, but from the tremors reaching the surface, I could tell that it wouldn’t be long until the portals would explode.

It wasn’t the most ideal situation.

Due to the portals exploding down in the depths, it would be difficult to approach them.

But that meant I could only wait for the monsters to come pouring out.

The only positive was that since the monsters would be coming through the beachfront, I could indiscriminately cast magic without concern for collateral damage.

This would only apply if the monsters were affected by magic.

The location of the dungeon being in the depths wasn’t the only reason why it would be difficult to approach a dungeon located down below.

The monsters’ appearance and power wasn’t that different, but the interior of the dungeon wouldn’t be the same.

Almost as if adapting to where it appeared from, the dungeon’s interior would be equivalent to that of the environment.

Since the human body required oxygen to breathe, it would be impossible to clear a portal formed in the depths.

The only thing I could do was watch the portals explode and then wipe out whatever came out of them.

“An artificial explosion. Does that mean the monsters are 1.5 times the normal size like before?”

When the level 29 portal exploded on Jebu Island before, the monsters were 1.5 times bigger and stronger due to the portal explosion being artificial.

This fact was covered up by the association and was not reported to the public.

However, I had obtained this information from the commander.

During the 4 portal explosions in Yangpyeong, I could not tell if they were bigger due to not having been inside the dungeons beforehand.

As usual, I hid my form with Mass Stealth Jutsu.

No matter how much I searched with the Eye of Insight, I could not find any drones.

Normally, the association would be scouting out areas around the portal explosion via drones before the Awakened association members would arrive.

Was it due to the explosions occurring all over the nation?

It also could be that the commander who had received contact from Ho Jin had something to do with this.

Whatever the case may be, it saved me the effort of clearing the drones out.

“Damn, it’s shaking so much! When are they coming out!”

Due to the portals exploding in 11 different locations, there was no time to waste.

If you count out the ones that  Jong Ho and I were covering, that would leave 8.

Still, even that 8 would be nearly impossible to stop.

That was why I didn’t use Warp to get here, but just ran instead.

The roads were clogged like the toilets in public restrooms.

Rather than using a vehicle, it was a lot faster to run using my strength stat.

I planned on using Warp to get to another area where the portal exploded after clearing these portals and rendezvousing with the commander.

It was then.

I felt a tremor that was unlike anything I’ve felt so far.

Was that the monsters trying to break through the portal?

I concentrated as I scanned the beachfront.

However, the waves were calm and not a single monster was in sight.

I could not tell when the portal was going to explode.

“It’s not like I could evaporate the entire ocean….. So frustrating!”

My moment of complaint didn’t last long.

“Wait…. This feels different?”

The vibrations were coming from land, not the seas.

As the realization came to me, the earth shook intensely and the sounds of metal grinding rang out.

It seemed as though a massive combative force was arriving here.

‘Were they deployed from the association? I was sure that Mr. Ho Jin contacted the commander…..’

I could see a massive group arriving in force.

They were definitely not your average person.

The power of their feet striking the ground and speed at which they moved proved without a doubt that they were Awakened.

I looked towards the group.

Their forms came into focus, almost similar to a camera adjusting itself after zooming.

Hundreds of personnel came into view, each of them armed perfectly.

In the front was a female holding a giant shield and a shortsword.

Were they part of the radical faction?

However, when I fought against Ghost’s underlings before, they hid their identities perfectly with black hoods and cloaks.

This group was different.

Their appearance was similar to what one would find at any hunting grounds.

I could not confirm who they were at this moment.

Keeping my stealth on, I used Silent on top of it.

It was to completely hide myself.

Not a single sound would escape.

While I moved closer to them to inspect, it happened all of a sudden.

“KWEHHHHHH!”

“KURU. KURURU!”

Almost as if planned, monsters began to pour out onto the beachfront.

However, the moment this group confirmed the monsters appearing, they stealthed instead of confronting them.

Due to the AoE stealth being low level, I could still see them with my Eyes of Insight though.

‘Those who have gathered to take down the monsters are hiding the moment they see the monsters?’

If they were from hired by the association, they wouldn’t act this way.

Since it was possible that they were biding their time to strike at the perfect chance, I decided to wait longer.

At the command of the lady in the front, exactly 30 Awakened jumped into the sea.

They began to swim towards where the monsters were, probably to check out where the exact location of the portals were.

‘What’s the point of confirming the location of the portal after the portal has exploded? No matter how I look at it, they seem to be…’

My thoughts were cut short as the monsters began to charge inland.

Monsters the size of hot air balloons were rolling forward above the water, appearing as though they would explode at any moment due to how bloated they were.

Eye of Insight revealed to me their weaknesses and information.

Their names were simply called Rag.

Monsters that appeared in the level 38 portals.

Parts of its flesh were rotten and its appearance was gruesome.

The Eye of Insight let me know that its entire body was its weakness.

I’ve never faced them before.

While they weren’t much of a danger to me right now, it was better to be safe than sorry.

On top of that, roughly 100 monsters were flapping their wings as they approached.

Flying Hydra was the name they carried.

Just like its name, a single body had 9 snake heads with wings the size of a house.

The distorted body had a unknown limb protruding from it.

A green glowing orb was hanging from it as well.

Their great speed caused the thick orb to cut across the surface of the water.

Despite two portals exploding, thankfully it seemed that not many monsters were present.

I wasn’t able to continue find out its weakness, as a different group of Awakened were running towards here.

Were they part of the same bunch?

The chance of that seemed low.

They were probably sent by the guild in Incheon.

The Awakened have finally arrived.

Almost as if eager to prove they weren’t on the same tea, a small portion of the hundreds gathered began to move.

Commanded by the lady in the front, they were stealthed as they approach the guild members with weapons in hand.

Without any hesitation, they began to assail them with deadly attacks.

-CLANG!

I stopped their attack with one swing.

I had merely blocked their swords by swinging mine.

However, their swords were cut and flew away like paper before the massive amount of strength I carried.

With my attack, the stealth came undone and my form was revealed.

Looking at the pieces of their weapons on the floor, they spoke.

“W……Who are you!”

“The weapon, in one hit…..”

The radical faction members and I had appeared out of nowhere to them.

On top of that, we were trading blows with our weapons.

The 10 guild members were backing up as they tried to assess the situation.

I blocked the way of the radical faction, then turned around and spoke to the guild members.

“It looks like lots of monsters with the guise of humans are here. Why don’t you go elsewhere?”

“….”

“….”

Understanding what I meant between the lines and feeling the killing intent of the radical faction members, they began to flee.

They must’ve realized that if they stayed here, forget defending against monsters, they would be pathetically cut apart instead.

As they disappeared from view, I looked towards the underlings that were still in shock of their weapons being destroyed before absolute power.

I raised my Butcher’s Sword.

“Doesn’t look like you came to suppress the portal. Who are you guys?”

“…..”

“…..”

“Oi. Old lady. I can see everything, so let’s talk.”

My sword pointed towards the leader of the group.

Smiling as if looking down on me, she stopped hiding her form.

“Were you the one who blew up the portal?”

“Huh?”

She was blabbering complete nonsense that I couldn’t comprehend.

I had a sudden doubt that the ones that ran away were the radical faction and they were the ones sent to defend against the portal.

However, with the words that followed from her, I became sure.

“I’m not sure what your objective is, but in front of master Zekill…..”

“What are you saying? Stop talking nonsense. Who? Zekill?”

“……”

“I was planning to watch until I was sure of things, but it happened this way. Are you perhaps Dark Lady?”

“Wha… What? Who are you!”

“I heard that your base was in Incheon, but are you here to sightsee with your underlings in Wolmi-do or something?”

“Are you perhaps… You’re…”

“Also, did you ask me if I blew up the portal?”

“……”

“This is making my head hurt, you know? You’re saying that these portals weren’t blow up by you guys?”

“Shut up!”

“It could have blown up naturally. Also could’ve been done by another faction too. This is becoming complicated.”

“Are you the one that Joker spoke of…..”

“You don’t have to be curious. You will be following Joker and Ghost soon enough.”

“S…. Shut up!”

“It’s a nice weather to go hunting.”

Dark Lady probably knew already that my combat capabilities were far exceeding that of her’s.

After all, I had gotten rid of two of the three radical faction leaders without a trace.

Unconsciously, she was raising her giant shield to protect herself.

I was standing between the sea and Dark Lady.

Far behind me in the shallows were the monsters.

On land by the wave breakers were 500 monsters with the mask of humans.

“Whew…. How many stat points are these…. Oraaaaa!”

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93. Start of a Catastrophe

The overboss of the radical faction, Zekil, had commanded Dark Lady to detonate the dungeon portals.

At his command, Dark Lady detonated 8 portals spread throughout the nation by condensing the leftover mana in the portals.

However, almost as if the heavens above were helping them, 3 additional portals also blew up at the same time.

They were Awakened as well. All they needed were texts from the association to confirm it.

On top of that, they had confirmed with the president of the association as well.

Zekill called in both Dark Lady and Piero.

The radical faction had already lost two leaders.

There was a need for Zekill to see through this carefully.

Any additional losses in his forces or interruptions to the plan would seriously hinder them through the long run.

The leaders gathered, and Zekill opened his mouth.

“Dark Lady. I heard that you prepared 8 locations for the project.”

“Yes. That’s correct, sir Zekill.”

“However, you already know that 11 portals exploded. What happened?”

“Yes. The two nearby Incheon Wolmi-do and the one near Gapyeong Calbongsan weren’t prepared by me.”

“Is that so? Hm……”

At her answer, Zekill looked at Piero while speaking.

As Joker’s underling, he had risen as the new leader.

There was a chance that he was behind this.

“Piero. Did you do this?”

“No, sir Zekill.”

“…….”

“I gave all my efforts to assist Dark Lady with the 8 portals.”

“Then why did 3 additional portals….”

“Sir Zekill. At this current situation, we can only hope that the heavens above are helping us.”

Dark Lady declared it so.

However, Zekill was quite doubtful of the current situation.

That was to be expected, since Korea was about to become a massive warzone due to the portals.

Once Korea was expelled from the international organization, it would become the headquarters of the radical faction.

But for some unknown reason, portals beyond level 32 were exploding here.

If it was a natural portal explosion, there wasn’t much need for concern.

With his strength, he could stop 2 to 3 portals without much concern.

What he was worried about was that it was done by other factions.

Since it was timed perfectly with their movements, he theorized that there were spies within his faction.

However, he did not worry for long.

He tried to think of it as the heavens above assisting them.

Joker and Ghost.

He already had lost a massive amount of his fighting forces.

Due to them, the plan had met a huge obstacle.

He could no longer stand still.

Organizing his thoughts, Zekill opened his mouth once more.

“Blowing up at the same time, almost as if promised…. Dark Lady.”

“Yes, sir Zekill.”

“Follow this trail to Wolmi-do.”

“What do you mean…”

“You would already know that if it was an artificial explosion, evidences of that would be left around the portal.”

“…..”

“The dice has already been cast. Soon, this nation will receive a hit that it cannot recover from. What I worry is that others not of our faction has detonated the portals, and wish for a world different from our goal.”

“Understood, sir Zekill. I shall head to Wolmi-do to check on the situation.”

“Good. Piero, you shall….”

“I shall head to Gapyeong, sir Zekill.”

“Good. If you find something, report to me immediately.”

“Yes, sir Zekill.”

“Yes, understood.”

“One more thing!”

Zekill paused for moment.

At this, Dark Lady and Piero swallowed their saliva in anticipation.

It didn’t take long for him to speak again.

“Those who are heading to Incheon and Gapyeong to defend against the portal explosions, such as the Awakened of the association….”

“…..”

“…..”

“Annihilate them all.”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

With the explosion of the portals, Zekill planned to announce themselves to the world.

The strength of the faction that hid for so long would be shown to the world, and the nation that would become powerless in their wake would be dominated under them.

The future of the nation would become uncertain with portal explosions of such scale.

And if Zekill and his leaders could get in the way of the defense, the nation would end in ruins.

Finishing his commands, he headed to Busan using Warp.

After his departure, Dark Lady summoned all of her lackeys.

Piero was to head to Seoul and prepare his troop to depart.

In front of 500 members or so, Dark Lady spoke.

“The day has come.”

With just a single phrase from her, a cheer enough to shake the ground poured out.

“Yeah!”

“Woo!”

When Dark Lady raised her hand, everyone became quiet at once, focusing on her words.

“We shall follow his orders and head to Wolmi-do.”

“…..”

“And we shall annihilate all the dogs of the association and government as they try to defend against us!”

The sounds of a warcry rang once more.

Letting the vice leader take command of her troops, she headed for Wolmi-do.

However, she did not know at the time, Min-Cheol was also heading towards the exploded portal in Incheon.

****

Jong Ho prepared to head to Changwon as Min-Cheol had asked him to.

It was one of the 11 portals that had detonated.

Thankfully, it was a level 30 portal.

Jong Ho checked the GPS information the association sent.

Warp would not work unless the caster had previously visited the target location.

That’s why it wasn’t possible to directly Warp to the exact location of the portal’s explosion.

“I guess this is the closest I can get to?”

When he worked as a manager for the Awakened, he had traveled all around the nation.

Trying to remember the past, he was trying to use Warp to the closest location of the explosion.

Thankfully, he remembered that he had once visited Changwon Daesan before.

The location wasn’t far from the explosion.

It was a while ago since Min-Cheol had left for Incheon.

Next to Jong Ho was Ho Jin, who was in the middle of a call with commander Yoon Jong-sun.

“Commander. It’s Ho Jin.”

“Yes. What is the occasion?”

“There’s a few things I needed to inform you, so I called.”

“As you are already aware, the situation is chaotic due to the portal explosions……”

“I was with Mr. Min-Cheol until a moment ago.”

Due to the call coming in at a hectic moment, it was true that he wanted to end the call quickly.

However, the commander had heard the name Min-Cheol from him.

Understanding that this was a crucial matter, he urged Ho Jin to continue.

“Yes. What did he say? Did he decide to stand with us?”

“Yes. Min-Cheol has left for Incheon, where two portals have exploded. Also, a powerful Awakened is heading for Changwon.”

“Does that mean….”

“Yes. It means that you do not have to use up manpower on those two locations.”

“I understand. Where will you head to then?”

“For now, I shall head to where you are at.”

“Alright.”

“Where are you heading towards right now?”

Assuming that the call would become lengthy, Jong Ho tapped Ho Jin’s shoulders and spoke.

“Hyung-nim, I’ll be going first.”

Instead of answering, Ho Jin held Jong Ho’s hand tightly and nodded.

Even with that small gesture, Jong Ho was moved.

He nodded his head as well and used Warp.

Daesan, the place where he arrived at, was in chaos.

-SCREEECH!

-BOOM!

“AHHHH!”

“You’re all crazy! Beat it!”

“Stop it! You piece of shit!”

“……”

With the information that the portals have exploded came disorder.

People poured out in droves to escape the monster threat.

Part of the city were in flames.

Citizens had attacked the stores to raid food due to the fact that no one knew how long this would last.

On the roads, cars were bunched together like crumpled paper, people screaming and blasting their horns at one another.

Blankly looking at this view unfold before him, Jong Ho sighed.

“Ha……”

The selfishness of people were evident as they only cared for their own lives.

To be fair, it would be strange if that wasn’t the case.

Leaving the scene behind, he quickly moved towards where the GPS was pointing at.

****

The portal was shaking fiercely.

It was almost as if the portal was ready to explode at any given time.

No one from the association had arrived yet.

However, there was one female standing in front of the portal.

She had short hair that barely peeked from her helmet.

Her body was petite to the point that the staff she was carrying seemed like a burden.

Furthermore, she was quite short.

Approaching her, Jong Ho confirmed her identity and couldn’t help but be surprised.

“Woah! You, you are….”

She had a childish face of someone who was in her early 20s.

Without much concern of how Jong Ho reacted, she looked at him from top to bottom and opened her mouth.

“It doesn’t seem like you’re from the association. Are you a local Awakened?”

To her question, he quickly cleared his dazed expression and answered.

It was a reaction akin to meeting a celebrity that one respected.

“Cough! Yes! That’s right. But perhaps are you…”

“I think you’ve reported to the the wrong location. This is a level 30 portal. Only magic attacks work here.”

“You’re Choi… Choi So-Hyeon, right?”

“I don’t think that’s very important in this situation?”

“It’s an honor to meet you in person.”

“Whew….”

Looking at the man who didn’t seem to understand what she was saying, she shook her head.

She even let out a long sigh.

The one guarding this place was Choi So-Hyeon.

The first person in the world to clear a level 28 dungeon.

She was not part of the association, so she had no reason to respond to this portal explosion.

She wasn’t even part of a guild, acting only on her benefit as she took down monsters.

However, here she was, defending against the portal.

Jong Ho looked at her with respect in his eyes and understood that the future of the nation really did hang on the outcome of this crisis.

The ring that Jong Ho was wearing, Balrock’s Treasure Storage, had many of Min-Cheol’s magic stored within.

In simple words, it meant that he would not lose in terms of combat power against the ranker Choi So-Hyeon.

No. Without a doubt, he possessed power easily far beyond her.

Jong Ho spoke.

“I am aware that physical attacks don’t work.”

“So you knew that and you still headed here? Do you plan to die a dog’s death?”

“Pfft. No.”

Choi So-Hyeon couldn’t understand why he laughed.

It was hard to tell if he really was sane.

Jong Ho, who had come here, was equipped with swords in each hand and armor that she couldn’t name. With his appearance, she was sure that he was a warrior class Awakened.

Scratching her chin, she asked.

“A tanker? Are you here to at least receive the attacks of the monsters? If that’s the case, turn around immediately. I’m not sure why you’ve come here, but it’s a level 30 portal. This is an opponent that even I will struggle against.”

It was then. The portal shook even more.

Since it was a level 30 portal, there weren’t that many monsters.

Previously, Min-Cheol skipped the dungeon due to the experience and the amount of monsters being few.

Jong Ho and So-Hyeon both looked towards the portal at the same time.

Almost as if waiting for their gaze, the portal began to spew out monsters one by one.

“Grrrrrr!”

“Woof! Grrrr!”

Almost as if protecting Jong Ho, Choi So-Hyeon put him behind her.

Condensing a skill with her staff and one free hand, she spoke.

“Stand back!”

-CRASH!

---

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92. Further Growth Is Unnecessary (2)

“I’ll get straight to the point with this question….”

The moment Yoon Jong-sun opened his mouth, it seemed as though time stopped.

I was fearful of what he would say next.

The only relation we had was that we had met one another while hunting 5 months ago with Jong Ho, but here he was suddenly.

Perhaps he was going to ask if I was the cause behind the explosion of the portals.

With a serious look in his eyes, he spoke.

“Did you stop them?”

“… What did I stop?”

“Hm…. The portals.”

“Why do you think it’s me?”

“Well…. I don’t know why, but I can feel that you’re strong. It was the same when we first met, and even now so. Can you answer my question?”

Before, I could sense a strong aura just by looking at him.

He was saying that he felt the same aura from me.

He asked again.

I answered.

“As you can tell from the data or the files on me, I am no longer active as an Awakened.”

“……”

“Due to personal reasons, I’m not going to school either.”

“Is that so.. But despite not going to a dungeon for over a month, your sword and armor are well maintenanced to the point where it looks like you could equip them right away to take down monsters.”

“….”

“On top of that, in my near 40 years of Awakened work, I’ve never seen equipment such as those……”

Both of us looked towards the artifacts resting in the corner of the room.

I had enhanced and maintenanced them just a few hours ago.

He was able to tell with ease.

However, maintenance could be done on equipment even if you didn’t hunt.

“Even though I do not hunt, I maintenanced them since I’ll never know when I’ll need them.”

“Yes. That’s true…..”

I knew that Jong-sun was a man of justice.

However, if he found out my true identity, it was obvious that annoyances would crop up.

That was the reason for hiding the truth.

Looking into my eyes, he spoke.

“Thank you for your time.”

“……”

There wasn’t any solid proof, but he seemed convinced that I was the one who defended against the portal.

I didn’t know what his basis was for thinking that.

I also looked directly into his eyes and spoke.

“Do you remember what you said before?”

“Hm….”

“You said that if we meet again, you hoped that I was on the same path as you.”

“Of course. I remember.”

“The answer I can give is that I am on the same side as you, and that conviction won’t change.”

“…….”

“The side I am on is the same, but I don’t think I can stand by your side. I hope this is good enough of an answer.”

“Thank you. I understand what you mean.”

“Thank you very much.”

“If those that cannot be stopped even with the combined might of the association….”

“If something like that does happen, I’ll need to mobilize as well for those around me.”

“I am sorry. I shamelessly plead for your help.”

“No worries. Also…”

“Ah. You do not have to worry about your identity being revealed. I swear it on my honor.”

“Thank you. One more thing.”

“What is it?”

“Commander, I’m sure that you’re also aware of the radical faction.”

“….. Scum that’s difficult to get rid of with the current corrupt and rotten government and the association.”

“Could I get some information on them?”

“……”

“I shall also put everything on the table. Out of the 3 leaders of the radical faction, I have already taken down 2 of them.”

“Huh! What are you saying!”

“Joker. Ghost. I’m sure you’ve heard these names before. The faction has lost them, so this is the ideal time to pull the radical faction out by the roots.”

“I won’t ask for details. I shall give you all the information I can get from my position.”

Only now did Yoon Jong-sun smile.

However, his phone started to ring.

My first thought was that it was a call from the association.

Receiving the call, his face became serious again, and he hurried prepared to leave.

“Did another portal explode?”

“Thankfully in this time of dire crisis, it was just a level 12 portal. I know this is rude, but it seems I must leave at once. Please give my apology to your mother for not being able to give my proper farewells.”

“Yes, will do.”

Finishing what he had to say, he went through Warp that he casted.

I wasn’t friends with him.

However, I felt that I didn’t need to hide my identity from Yoon Jong-sun.

Also, I had no information regarding where the rest of the leaders and overboss were.

I wasn’t able to obtain information from Ghost or Joker, after all.

A new route of information where I could find that out was formed now.

Until now, I waited until they moved.

It came down to letting them have the first move and then dealing with it.

However, it would different now.

Now, I was the one who decided whether they lived or not.

The one to attack would be me, and they wouldn’t be able to stop me.

****

One week later, a call came from Yoon Jong-sun.

It was information regarding the radical faction.

On top of that, it was an Awakened in the association.

He said that it was rather difficult to obtain the information due to how rotten the higher ups were.

According to his information, the last leader by the name of Dark Lady had her base located in Incheon.

She was the sole female leader, who had both the tanker and assassin classes.

They were probably out for me as well.

I planned to annihilate them once I obtained more detailed information on the location of her base.

Until then, I needed to continue preparing for battle.

There wasn’t any point increasing my levels any further.

12,000 strength and 25,000 stamina points.

On top of that, very powerful artifacts were in my posession.

What I needed now were skills and using the Essence of Transcendence on useful skills.

The first thing I obtained was the highest ranking skill of healers, Status Denial.

It was the skill Park Hyun used previously, and the same skill that was used on my finger that was chopped off after the battle with Joker.

The one downside was that it had a 24 hours cooldown.

However, I would have effectively 2 lives by using this skill.

I also obtained the healing skill, Mega Cure.

Being a S ranking healing skill, the amount recovered couldn’t be compared with the skill called Heal.

I obtained it since it was difficult to heal my massive health pool with a C ranking healing spell.

With my fight with Joker and Ghost, the one thing that had bothered me was the healing skill I possessed.

Just like that, I spent time covering up my weaknesses one by one.

****

Early before dawn, I met with Jong Ho and Ho Jin.

Even though it was the weekend, they were both working hard by hunting.

From that day onward, they had been hunting for over 12 hours a day without missing a single day.

Due to the Balrock ring that was filled with powerful magic and the equipment they received from me, they were able to grow at an amazing rate.

With the Blood’s Craving, the stats they had obtained were above what I had predicted.

They had nearly obtained 500 stats.

That was nearly worth 100 level ups.

Originally, there were no stats attached to it, yet now they carried the stats they had chosen.

Their levels weren’t 300 yet, but they had the power of those beyond level 400.

With this much, while they cannot go against the radical faction leaders, they should be able to stand against their members.

On top of that, they could use the copied abilities of both physical and magic attacks I possessed with the ring.

Our conversation continued as I charged the ring with skills.

“I heard that the commander visited you.”

“Yes.”

“How did you handle it?”

“I spoke vaguely, but it seemed that he already knew everything I’ve done.”

“Is that so….”

“I also asked for the information regarding the radical faction. I wasn’t able to get the exact location, but I was able to obtain the general location of Dark Lady’s base.”

“If it’s the commander, you can definitely trust and rely on him.”

“I only told him everything precisely because of that reason.”

“Min-Cheol. Since we’re hungry, let’s talk over food.”

Just like that, I was sharing the information I’ve received recently.

We were heading towards a restaurant.

It was then.

-ring

-ring

-click

While we were walking, all of our phones buzzed at the same time.

A bad premonition came over us.

We were sure that it was a text from the association regarding defending against a portal explosion.

It was the same situation with the 4 portals exploding in Yangpyeong at the same time.

However, the information on the text was far more grave than before.

-Current time 08:00.

1. Gamman-dong Busan area level ?? portal explosion.
2. Incheon Wolmi-do area level ??, ?? portal explosions.
3. Jeonnam Gurye-eup area level 31 portal explosion.

.

.

.

.

.

.

11. Gyeonggi Province area level ?? portal explosion.

*Civilians nearby are to immediately evacuate to the nearest Awakened association building.

*Awakened are to gather to designated locations nearby.

Looking at the text, Jong Ho had a look of disbelief.

“It’s a mistake, right?”

“Those crazies really started, didn’t they?”

“To think that 11 portals exploded in different places at the same time. It’s definitely artificial. I’m sure it’s their work!”

“When the 4 portals exploded in Yangpyeong, at least they were close to one another… But now, these portals are exploding all across the country. At this rate, the damage will be insane.”

“Mister, what’s the levels with the question marks next to them?”

“Ah….. The association’s portal explosion detectors can only detect up to level 32. On top of that, it’s a guess at best, since they used the vibration data from the level 28 portal explosion to make the devices, since portals beyond level 28 haven’t exploded before.”

“Hyungnim. Does that mean that the portals are beyond level 33….”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

“It really is the worst case scenario.”

They really started to move in earnest.

The radical faction had lost 2 of their leaders.

However, it was a mistake to think that they would falter.

Almost as if mocking that idea, they had blown up 11 portals at the same time, all in different locations.

On top of that, all of them were above level 30.

“We have no choice but to move. I’ll go to Incheon where two portals exploded.”

“How about us? What should we do?”

“First, Jong Ho hyungnim should put the Balrock ring on. You are slightly stronger than Ho Jin hyungnim, after all.”

“Let’s do that.”

Ho Jin immediately passed the ring to Jong Ho.

I continued to speak.

“Jong Ho hyungnim, please go to the level 30 portal explosion in Changwon. Since magic attacks work there, you should be able to easily stop it by yourself.”

“R…Right.”

“And mister, I want you to contact the commander and help them. If it’s the commander, he should able to direct you to a suitable location.”

“Understood. I’ll also let them know that they do not need to send anyone to Changwon and Wolmi-do, since you two will be heading there.”

“Yes, please do that. You two already know, but your safety comes first. Don’t go hastily into the portal right away. Even if it takes a while to suppress, it’s safer to stop the portal near it if you can avoid damage to the surrounding areas.”

“Alright. You take care as well.”

“Yes. Once I take care of the Incheon area, I’ll call you. I’ll discuss the next locations for defense with the commander after.”

“Yes.”

“Then let us be off.”

---

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91. Further Growth Is Unnecessary

-SMASH!

“What! Even Ghost as well!”

Receiving the news about Ghost’s forces, Zekil was enraged.

In a single swing, the conference table became dust.

Joker had gone missing already.

Now, Ghost and his forces numbering in the 500s were annihilated.

The only leaders left were Dark Lady and a replacement for Joker, Piero.

It didn’t even take one month for the radical faction to lose its two leaders.

The situation filled him with both rage and shock.

Think about it.

The day of battle they were preparing for was fast approaching.

Success of Dark Lady on the portal explosions only further sped up the approach.

On top of that, Dark Lady was nearly done preparing the explosion of a portal beyond level 30.

But suddenly, things were going awry.

After a brief pause, Zekil spoke up.

“Dark Lady… What is happening! How much do you know!”

“…..”

“Answer me!”

“Th… That’s..”

Zekil took off his helm and tossed it aside.

His eyes were dyed in pitch black.

They sucked in the light around, void like a black hole.

His face was horribly scarred, as if burned all over.

It wasn’t horrible to the point where it was hard to recognize his features, but it wasn’t a pretty sight.

No one, not even Dark Lady had seen Zekil’s face.

After all, Zekil always hid his face behind a mask.

His dark outline was the only way to identify him.

Dark Lady, who was staring at the floor, looked up to him as she spoke.

“Master Ze.. Zekil.”

“…..”

“Joker is…. dead.”

“What?”

“Before Ghost was done in, he came to me and said so. That Joker was dead….”

“Why did you not inform me of this until now, Dark Lady.”

“I apologize.”

“Who are they? Who has killed Ghost?”

Zekil repressed his boiling anger as he stared down Dark Lady.

He did not carry any weapons, but his fists were clenched tightly into a fist, shaking violently.

His fists were covered in intense flames, similar to how the executioner class uses the skill Body Strengthen.

The newly appointed leader Piero nearly pissed himself out of fear after seeing him, even though he was deemed fit to be a leader.

However, Dark Lady wasn’t much different from Piero.

She did her best to not upset him further.

When Joker went missing, Zekil was slightly upset at the report that Joker had headed for the Unknown Dungeon.

Right now, Zekil looked very different from the usual.

There was a reason why Dark Lady was so fearful of Zekil.

Dark Lady knew.

She knew of the look in his eyes and the killing intent that was pouring out.

She had seen this look before.

When Dark Lady had first entered the radical faction, there were 5 leaders.

One of those leaders was Zekil, who was the current overboss.

Just like with most factions, there were lots of clashing opinions between the leaders.

The 5 leaders decided to pick an overboss.

The method of selection followed the philosophy of the strong preying on the weak.

In front of all the members, the leaders fought.

Zekil had instantly made the other 4 unable to fight.

It didn’t even take a single minute.

Understanding Zekil’s combat prowess, the other four had banded to take him down, yet it didn’t do much in the face of his strength.

Dark Lady could not forget the look in his eyes from back then.

“I asked who they were.”

“I do not have clear information on him.”

“You’re telling me that they were taken down by a single unknown assailant?”

“That’s correct. Do you remember the little boy that may be useful, who was reported by Joker?”

“Yes… I heard that Joker had taken care of him.”

“But, that….”

“It’s him?”

“…..”

“Are you telling me that two of the three leaders of this faction were taken down by a kid!”

-CRASH!

Zekil’s left hand swung through the air.

He had only raised his hand and swung it down.

However, the office floor was blown through cleanly, enough to see the whole floor below.

The entire building was built with nanomaterials, yet such absurd destruction was displayed before them.

On top of that, he wasn’t even equipping any weapons or artifacts.

“Ahhh! Apologizes, master Zekil!”

“Fools, all of you!”

“We’ll immediately find his location.”

“Don’t bother. If we go through with the plan, he’ll show his overconfident face. After he put the world under our feet, he’ll be taken care of by me… personally.”

“…..”

“Once the last level 35 portal in Busan is ready to explode, immediately report to me.”

“Yes, as you say, master Zekil.”

“Dark Lady… I will not forgive you a second time.”

“Yes…”

With that, Zekil hid his form once more.

The portal that Dark Lady was preparing was to be finished in about a week.

Ten portals beyond level 30 were already prepared nearby.

If all these exploded at once, there was no way that Korea’s Awakened could stop them.

Additional portals would continue to explode as well.

If these weren’t taken care of, it was obvious that Korea would be expelled from the union.

That would be the signal of an age that the radical faction wished for.

“Whew… Piero.”

“Yes, mistress Dark Lady.”

“One week. It’s one week. Use everything at your disposal to assist me in this project.”

“Of course. I’ll be off then….”

The successor of Joker, Piero, left the room.

Due to the relief from tension and of her legs going limp, she fell to the floor on the spot.

****

“Oi, Geon. Can you still not find any information on A?”

“Can’t even find even a single clue.”

“Is that so….. Sang-Ho, Hye-won. How about you two?”

“Old man. He might a lot more than what I thought initially. I can’t get a feel for him at all.”

“Commander, I wasn’t able to find any information on him as well.”

“Hm… It’s a level 29 portal. A level 29. Even for Choi So-Hyeon, who had cleared the level 28 dungeon solo for the first time in history, it would be difficult for him to clear both portals in that short of a time period.”

“Old man, are you sure that you don’t have any suspects?”

“Suspects….”

“This isn’t even like searching for a needle in a haystack, because how can we even begin an investigation without any targets?”

“Right…. For now, continue with your best efforts. I’ll also take off my shoes and help.” ¹

These are the four magician rankers that are part of the association.

They were giving all their efforts to find the person who had suppressed the level 29 portal explosion.

Finishing their brief meeting, the commander left the association building immediately.

A face that popped up to his head.

He was thinking of going to meet up with Kim Min-Cheol.

“Commander. Good day.”

“Nice weather we have today, commander.”

“Yes. You’re all working quite hard.”

Even as he left the building, countless Awakened and employees saluted him to show respect.

It was proof that the position he held was respected not only by the association, but by the nation itself.

To be fair, he was the first to go and resolved any crises regarding monsters in the nation.

Obtaining the address of Min-Cheol, the commander began to head towards it.

This was illegal, but he wanted at least a clue to hold onto at this point.

“Commander, we’ve arrived.”

“I see. Please wait here for a moment.”

“Yes. Please take care.”

-click

Since it was not known when a portal would explode, the commander always had his armor and weapons equipped unless for maintenance.

He could not stand that the time used to put on equipment could have been used to save people’s lives.

So when he appeared at the location, the area around became very noisy.

Those who recognized him was giving a fanfare worthy of a hero of the nation.

Replying with a warm smile, he headed for Min-Cheol’s house.

-ding dong

“Who is it?”

At that time, Min-Cheol was asleep after having run ragged for two days.

The one who greeted the commander was Min-Cheol’s mother, Park Se-Ran.

“Hello. Um… I am the commander of the association, Yoon Jong-sun.”

“Huh?”

Surprised at hearing those words, she quickly checked the interphone.

The commander that she only saw in the news really was standing in front of the door.

On one side, she was worried as to why he was here.

Her head was filled with many thoughts as she wondered if Min-Cheol had caused an accident of some kind.

She continued to talk through the interphone.

“What’s the occasion?”

“Business with your son. If it’s okay, could you open the….”

“Oh my, I’m sorry.”

-click

She immediately opened the door.

There stood a commander who had aged well.

He bowed and then looked at her.

“Oh, right. Please come in.”

“Yes, thank you. I’ll be in your care.”

“Did Min-Cheol cause an incident?”

“Ho ho ho! No, that’s not it at all.”

“Then what would be the occasion…”

“If you could think of it as a part of my job where I visit Awakened that do not enter dungeons for long periods of time and have little activity, that would be appreciated.”

“Ah…..”

“I was wondering why your son looked so handsome. I guess he got it from you, ho ho.”

“My, my….”

“Ah, but your son is…?’

“He’s probably asleep right now. He was out having fun and staying up all night for two days, just falling asleep right now.”

“Is that so. Then could I wait for a bit?”

“I’ll go wake him up. It might be awhile since I’m not sure when he’ll actually wake up.”

“No, that’s alright. An old man like me has only time.”

“Would like some tea?”

“Thank you.”

****

After checking the spoils, I fell asleep on the spot as if losing my consciousness.

I must’ve been quite tired after that big battle and not sleeping a wink after it.

I forcefully raised my tired body.

I couldn’t waste my weekend like this.

However, I heard a conversation outside my room.

I could sense age in the voices.

‘Did mother’s friends come over?’

Cleaning up to become presentable, I headed for the living room.

But who was this.

The person in the living room was Yoon Jong-sun.

Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I hurriedly attempted to understand the situation.

It was then.

Sensing my presence, he looked towards me.

And then I heard my mother’s call.

“Did you finally wake up?”

“Yeah, but…”

“Ah. He said that he had business with you and has been waiting here for awhile. You know who he is, right?”

“Yeah…”

“It’s been awhile. Have you been well?”

“Yes… It has been awhile.”

“Missus, I’ll be talking with Min-Cheol for a bit in his room…”

“Of course. Take your time.”

“Then…”

Just like that, the commander moved towards my room.

I couldn’t tell anything from the expression on his face…

Entering my room, he closed the door and spoke.

“Boy…”

---

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90. The Luckiest Man

[Drain Monarch has been successfully enhanced.}

[Magic power increased by 10%.]

[Does not apply if the equipment is unequipped.]

“Good…”

There were only 100 Gems of Magic Power.

Looking at the success rate of the other gems, even a single success would be difficult.

It said 10% chance, but in reality, it would be surprising to have a 0.01% chance instead.

But as I just witnessed, the Drain Monarch ring had been enhanced on the first try.

“I knew I was a lucky guy!”

20 minutes ago, I was the very definition of unluckiness, but that was no longer the case.

If thousands of these lesser gems were the appetizer, the Gems of Magic Power and Gems of Blessings were the main dish.

Thanks to the Gem of Blessings, the Titan Boots already received such an amazing bonus effect.

I didn’t feel any exhaustion at all despite staying up for two days, but instead felt awake as though I had taken anti hypnotics.

I was the proof that there was no end to humankind’s greed.

I had obtained 3 Drain Monarch rings in the Unknown Dungeon.

Since 3 duplicates dropped, one could think of it as misfortune.

However, this ring had the bonus effect that I needed desperately.

If I used the Gem of Magic Power, the item could be destroyed.

You could think if this one as a spare.

The ability on it was as follows.

-Drain Monarch-

*Recovers 1% of the damage dealt to enemies as stamina.

*If a single attack deals 70% or more damage of the target’s max health, Monarch’s Authority skill activates.

*Monarch’s Authority: Summons servants of Marice, Monarch of Blood.

*Magic power increased by 10%.

Just from the name, one could infer that the ring had the ability to steal the health of the enemy.

Out of the artifacts I’ve gathered from the Unknown Dungeon, there were only a few with bonus skills attached to them.

Well, the only thing from it that I really needed was the ability to absorb stamina.

Generously, the description explained the skill in great detail. 

“Is it like with Ghost, summoning those that one absorbed previously?”

My thoughts didn’t remain on the skill for long.

My attention shifted to the magic power bonus instead.

I had high expectations for what this newfound power could do.

I took out the M/F ranking sword that I got from Jong Ho before to test out the enhancement conditions of Butcher’s Sword.

Taking off my my enhanced ring, I casted Frost orb at it.

If it was the dungeon, I would have poured down Meteor, but this was my home sweet home.

Even if it was made with nanomaterials, it wouldn’t be durable enough to take my Meteor.

Despite being the lowest ranking F spell, it did quite a lot of damage due to being level 200.

It wasn’t enough to break the sword, but it completely froze the sword to the point of unusability.

Checking its power, I condensed an Explosion in my hand.

It was a fireball that wouldn’t go out until the target was reduced to ash.

If I threw this at the sword, it should melt instantly.

I moved the condensed Explosion near the sword.

To do a test, I needed the sword in its original condition so I could compare and find the differences.

I needed the frozen sword to thaw out so it would return to its original condition.

Thankfully, the sword was completely thawed out without breaking.

Confirming that, I immediately equipped the Drain Monarch Ring.

Soon, I would be able to find out what the magic power stat meant.

“Now, shall I see the force of 10% increased magic power?”

Preparing the Frost Orb at my fingertips, I fired.

-CLANG!

“Shit! What… What the?”

Was the durability lowered due to having been frozen and then thawed out?

Was it because I wasn’t able to return it back to its original condition before testing?

Almost as if throwing a stone at a glass vase, the sword shattered into pieces.

It didn’t turn completely into dust, but the pieces were scattered everywhere.

Gathering them up, I quickly dashed outside.

****

It didn’t long to arrive at my destination, which was the Awakened market.

This was the place that I first sold the bloodstones that I earned.

The middle aged owner happily greeted me.

“Welcome.”

“Hello?”

“It’s been awhile since you’ve come here. How…. Is the Awakened life treating you well?”

“Wow… It’s been a very long time, but you still remember me?”

“Of course. You’re the one bought Lightning Spray with the money from cashing in the stones.”

“Feels good to be remembered.”

“Hoho. Is there an item you’re looking for? Or are you here to cash in stones?”

“I’m here to buy a decent shield.”

“A shield? Weren’t you a magician? Well, um…. Would you be okay with a D or C ranking one?”

“No. I would like the A ranking ones.”

“Huh? A, A ranking ones?”

“Yes.”

I could see the surprise on the owner’s face.

It’s to be expected, since he knows that I’ve become an Awakened only 5 to 6 months ago.

At the time, I didn’t even know what Awakened credits were and how to use them.

But here I was, trying to purchase an A ranking shield.

If it was a regular Awakened, it was hard to tell if they really had the money to buy it or was joking.

With a flustered look, the owner continued.

“We do have A ranking shields. The price though….”

“With one Awakening Essence, how many could I get?”

“You can get at least 4. But why do you ask…?”

“Here it is.”

“No… No way!”

I put the essence on top of the register.

To others, this would be a jaw dropping item of extreme value, but that wasn’t the case for me.

I had an entire pouch filled with these index finger sized Awakened Essences.

Picking up the essence, the owner moved about rapidly to confirm the authenticity.

Looking at me, he finally spoke.

“Due to the item being used as a trade medium in extremely expensive trades, I needed to check the… If you felt offended, I can apologize.”

“No. It’s fine.”

I purchased 4 A ranking shields and left the market, then headed into a nearby dungeon.

“Now the starting conditions are all the same. If I can see a clear difference, it means that magic power increases the damage of the spells…..”

I put each shield on a different cardinal direction far from me.

“If it’s an A ranking shield, should I at least use Lightning Spray? I could also check the 30% increase in lightning attacks as well.”

-ZZZZZZZ

****

As expected, magic power increased the damage of magic spells.

However, 10% magic power did not equate to 10% increase in magic damage.

Without the ring equipped, the A rank shield was destroyed in 10 hits from the Lightning Spray.

While wearing the ring, it was shattered into pieces in 7 hits.

There were 50 Gems of Magic Power left.

I could enhance them safely by enhancing all the rings with the first stack before moving on to the second stack of enhancements.

Alternatively, I could risk it all and push on enhancing one as much as I could.

It was hard to decide, because I didn’t have that many gems left.

If the ring breaks, I could never get that 10% magic power increase on it forever.

“That’s why gambling is so scary. It makes you expect a ton from a very low chance.”

I used the rest of the gems on the rings that weren’t enhanced to second tier yet.

Due to my growth, I didn’t need the shield from the Louver set that much anymore.

If the ring successfully becomes enhanced again, I was planning to equip Drain Monarch even if it meant giving up the set bonus of Louver.

That’s why I was cautiously enhancing it, one gem at a time.

However, the failures continued.

[Enhancement failed.]

[Enhancement failed.]

[Enhancement failed.]

.

.

.

[Equipment has been destroyed.]

“……”

The ring popped just like that.

In an explosion of dust, it blew away into the wind.

I became the unlucky man once more as another ring was destroyed.

“I’m going crazy! Whew….. I think only 3 are left?”

Maybe due to being focused so much, I was sweating despite the chilly weather.

The enhancement failures and the destruction of the rings was driving me boiling mad.

Only 3 gems remained.

Seeing the effect of magic power enhancement firsthand, I couldn’t give up like this.

“Yeah. No matter which ring I equip, as long as I can raise the magic power stat, the gains are massive.”

I picked up one of the many accessories spread across the floor and put the gem next to it.

It didn’t matter what the original effect the equipment carried.

The 10% magic power increase was what was really important.

[Enhancement failed.]

[Enhancement failed.]

“One…….”

I couldn’t help but hold tightly onto the gem with enough force to the point where I wondered if it would be crushed.

The last Gem of Magic Power.

[Drain Monarch has been successfully enhanced.]

“What? Drain Monarch has been enhanced? What the fuck…. Holy shit!”

I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up as I got goosebumps.

The hand that was holding onto the gem also had the Drain Monarch equipped and had been activated to enhance.

If I was really unlucky, this ring could have been destroyed as well.

I was shaking for a while as beads of sweat covered me before I was able to think again.

“2… 20% It succeeded?”

Damn. Who knew I was the luckiest man in the world.

It was a mistake.

With enhancements, there was no acceptance or denial for activation unlike when you learn skills or Awaken skills.

This happened because the enhancement would be attempted via gem activation just by placing it on an equipment.

To think that it would be followed by such luck.

“Yeah! Woo!”

I couldn’t help but shout.

I was able to achieve something that could be considered a life changing comeback.

Stretching my arms up, I laid down just like that.

Then I began to think of what I’ve obtained with my battle with Ghost.

It was as if all the stress I got due to him evaporated all of a sudden.

‘Over 30,000 points worth of stats. Gems and Transcendence Essences. The bonus stats I gained from the gems. Out of all of them, the best is magic power.’

My moment of grinning ear to ear didn’t last long.

I urgently stood up.

“Staff!”

It was because of the Roa’s Staff that had easily absorbed the transcended Meteor. ¹

It was a weapon that absorbed all magic until the durability of the weapon ran out.

However, it was an artifact that couldn’t be used unless the user was the original owner.

I had just remembered that I brought it back with me, hoping that it could be absorbed by the Butcher’s Sword.

“A staff with no stats…. Would it be possible to use it to enhance Butcher’s Sword?”

I immediately headed into my room and brought back the staff.

After placing the sword next to the staff, sparks immediately began to fly from the sword.

Now I was sure that this was an artifact that absorbed weapons that had lost their owner.

-crackle crackle.

-crunch.

It didn’t make long for the staff to lose its form.

It was completely removed from existence, absorbed by the sword.

Before, the sword had absorbed Joker’s Asura’s Twin Blades, growing sharp jagged shark like teeth at the back end of the sword.

Now, a jade colored gem was embedded into the handle, glowing brightly.

I was sure that this was a sign that the weapon was absorbed completely.

“No way. Hey. That can’t happen. Perhaps. How can that make any sense?”

Inwardly, I had very high expectations.

However, I was trying to hide that feeling by being pessimistic.

Just like that, I looked over at the insane stats on the Butcher’s Sword.

-Butcher’s Sword.-

*Strength +2200+350

*Dexterity +150

*Total Strength increased by 15%.

*Two handed.

*Obtains 5% of stats from slain enemies.

“Absorbs all magic attacks. (88/250)

“Let the celebratory music play!”

---

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89. The Unluckiest Man?

[Enhancement failed.]

[Enhancement failed.]

[Enhancement failed.]

.

.

.

“Damn it! Do these things actually work?”

After separating the gems by their type, I began to use them to enhance my armor.

The first type I used was the green colored Gem of Recovery.

It was a gem that would give 10% increase in stamina recovery if the enhancement was successful.

The red one was called the Gem of Crit, giving a 1% chance to double your attack power twofold per enhancement.

The black one is called Gem of Defense.

It would increase your defense by 1%.

The stats raised weren’t that significant.

However, if I was in a battle with someone wearing the same artifacts?

Depending on the enhancements I have, the difference will clearly show.

Imagine that transcended Meteor becomes twice as strong, and on top of that, 3 of them fall.

Before the full destructive force can even be demonstrated, their form would be annihilated.

Green, red, black.

These three types made up over 90% of the gems, while there were a sparse few blue and golden colored gems that caught my eye.

It took a long while just to separate them by color though.

First, I took the Gems of Recovery.

Immediately, I attempted to enhance Black Dragon’s Scale that I’ve obtained from Joker.

Initially, it had a 10% chance of succeeding.

Each time the enhancement succeeds, the chance of success decreases by 1%.

In theory, I should succeed at least once out of ten tries initially.

However, despite using up 20 gems, the armor wasn’t enhanced once.

Swears came out of my mouth naturally.

Despite the gems being the size of small pendants and the avatars filling the bag full, if I keep failing like this, I will run out of gems in no time.

These gems were obtained from the Unknown Dungeon, which is painfully difficult to gain entrance to.

As these gems disappeared one by one, I grew anxious.

“It’s already annoying as hell to use them one by one, but if I don’t even succeed once, what’s the point of doing them!”

At first, I thought to enhance Titan Boots, Black Dragon’s Scale, and Butcher’s Sword.

However, at the rate I was going, it would be difficult to enhance just the armor.

With a pout, I continued to try.

Suddenly, a narration that excited me came through.

[Black Dragon’s Scale has been successfully enhanced.]

[Stamina recovery increased by 10%.]

[Does not apply if the item is unequipped.]

“Oh yes! It should have been like this from the start!”

I ended up yelling out in excitement without much thought.

It was almost as if I won the lottery.

Unable to hold back, I checked the armor.

The information that Eye of Insight revealed was as follows.

-Black Dragon’s Scale-

*All stats +300

*All damage taken reduced by 40%

*Stamina recovery increased by 10%

“Yes…. On top of the insane bonus effects, another one was added.”

Just looking at it made me smile.

Now, the success rate of enhancing the armor should be 9%.

Right as I was about to bring another gem to the armor, I stopped.

“Hm. There’s no reason to use all of them on the armor. Okay. I got an idea.”

Tossing the armor aside, I pulled in the sword and boots.

The reason was simple.

Since the bonus effect of increased stamina recovery would be same on any of the equipment, it didn’t matter what I enhanced.

It was similar to how a backpack’s weight wouldn’t change no matter where you wore it.

The enhancement success rate was already low enough, so why try it on the item with 1% less success rate.

If all 3 of the artifacts become successfully enhanced, I planned to enhance them all for the second time and so on.

“Please succeed! Succeed!”

****

Like that, I spent 3 hours on using the gems.

The gems were roughly the size of quarters, and they had filled up a duffle bag, so there was quite a lot to begin with.

However, the look on my face wasn’t that good after having expended all the green, red, and black gems.

No. The expression was akin to have eaten shit.

The reason why is as expected. The result wasn’t anything to be satisfied of.

My infinite mana ability wasn’t enough to console me at this moment.

Despite going through nearly a thousand gems, the results were enough to make me despair.

It was enough to question just how unlucky I was.

I was crying out in anguish while pulling out my hair.

“I… I’m the most unluckiest person in the entire world….”

“……”

“No! Is 8% that low of a success rate? Isn’t it 0.8%? This must be rigged. It’s nonsense.”

Out of all the results, the Gem of Recovery had the worst results.

Those gems only managed to enhance each equipment once.

The Gem of Crit and the Gem of Defense had succeeded twice per each artifact.

The total was 30% increased stamina regen, 6% crit chance, and 6% increase in defensive capabilities.

I had used nearly a thousand gems, but only succeeded 15 times.

I couldn’t help but fall into despair.

Since the situation turned out like this, exhaustion piled onto me.

Due to my expectations being high, disappointment equivalent to that came.

On top of that, I hadn’t slept in two days since the fight with Ghost.

No recovery skill could get rid of the basic human urge to sleep.

Despite looking at the gems and equipment laid over the floor, I didn’t much feel much excitement.

My interest towards them had dropped.

“I’m no longer interested. I’ll do the rest after I sleep… Huh?”

My Eye of Insight was still being used.

Only then did I see the ability of the blue gems.

It was enough to get my curiosity going.

-Gem of Magic Power-

*Enhances all artifacts.

*Successful enhancement grants 10% increase in magic power.

*Success chance: 10%

(Enhancement can stack up 5 times. Each successful enhancement lowers the chances of success by 1%.)

*Low chance that the artifact will be destroyed instead.

*Magic power?”

No stats the Awakened possess and none of the artifacts ever had the term of magic power mentioned in them.

The only thing that existed was mana stat that increased your total mana, which was required to cast skills.

However, this gem’s name and the description both mentioned magic power.

Since I wasn’t sure of the effect this bonus stat would give, I organized the thoughts in my head while muttering to myself.

“Magic power.. Is it literal, increasing the power of my magic? A stat that I’ve never heard of. But if it’s real….”

There were only 100 Gem of Magic Power.

Unlike all the gems I’ve used so far, there weren’t that many.

Next to that were 50 or so golden gems.

After checking the gems, I found that the name of the golden gem was called Gem of Blessings.

It would give 1 to 3 random stat bonuses.

Since it turned out this way, sleep would have to wait, even though I was insanely tired just a minute ago.

“Ha….. It’s enough to drive people insane.”

Bonus stats that weren’t just magic power, but random ones as well.

The name itself had the word blessing in it!

Thinking about the droprate and the name, I knew that it wasn’t just an ordinary item.

However, the last line of information on the Gem of Magic Power really got to me.

It was that the artifact could be destroyed.

Despite the chances being low, as a unlucky man, I couldn’t use them right away.

“If I use it without much thought, it could become quite a disaster. This is difficult, Difficult.”

I decided to use the Gems of Blessings first.

Even if the enhancement doesn’t succeed, at least the artifact wouldn’t be destroyed.

I used the first gem on the Titan Boots.

[Titan Boots has been successfully enhanced.]

“What? Already?”

It was a different result than the ones I had so far.

The enhancement had succeeded despite only using one.

1 to 3 bonus stats should be added.

I check the boots.

-Titan Boots-

*Immune to all status effects. (Obtains immunity to being frozen, slowed, poisoned, and all other status effects.)

*Movement speed increased. (Obtains the same speed as the Boots of Lightspeed.)

*Stamina recovery increased by 10%.

*Crit chance increased by 2%.

*Defensive capabilities increased by 2%.

*Evasion Teleport obtained. (When receiving damage beyond one’s maximum health, negates the damage and teleports 20m in a random direction. Cooldown is 24 hours.)

*Offensive capability of electric magic attacks increased by 30%.

*Stats do not apply if the equipment is unequipped.

“Wow….”

Checking the Titan Boots, the size of the explanation had grown by a lot.

The basic abilities of the Titan Boots were immunity to status effects and increased movement speed.

Excluding the 3 stats I’ve earned using the gems, 2 more were added.

Out of them all, I was focused on the Evasion Teleport.

Despite the cooldown being 24 hours long, it would negate the attack if I received an attack that I wasn’t able to handle.

Even though I had earned a ton of stats through the Butcher’s Sword, one could never know of the future ahead of them.

It was true that defensive capability should be prioritized over offensive capabilities for now.

After transcending my skills, my offensive capabilities were beyond what was enough.

Now, the time that I could hold out against the opponent’s attack was equivalent to the window of opportunity to attack.

Very strongly at that.

On top of the Evasion Teleport, the attack damage of my electric magic spells had increased.

The only electric spell I had was the Lightning Spray, but I knew that I would obtain more as time went on.

I had thought that the offensive capabilities of a skill could only increase with skill levels, but now I discovered that it could be increased like this.

It would have been better if it increased fire magic damage, but this was enough of a steal.

With my expectation increasing, I tried once more.

However, there was a term called beginner’s luck.

All the gems that were left had failed.

However, the results were enough to leave me without regret.

Matching with the anxious beating of my heart, my eyes settled on the Gems of Magic Power.

However, I did not have the desire to use them.

If I had other items that could replace my artifacts, I would have used all the gems without hesitation.

However, the current situation wasn’t like so.

No matter how strong the heart is, there wouldn’t be anyone who would go through with it.

It was then.

“Wait. It said all artifacts?”

I looked at the numerous equipment that I had obtained from the Unknown Dungeon.

No matter what I picked, it was obvious that it would surpass the skull ring I had on right now.

Even though there was a great variation in the loot, there were still multiple copies.

It meant that even if some things were destroyed, there were substitutes to use.

Separating the items into same shapes, I looked at their bonus stats.

I discovered something that was enough to match, no, deny comparison with the equipment I was wearing currently.

On top of that, 3 of them.

“With this, I think it’s pretty okay?”

---

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88. Spoils of the Unknown Dungeon

Jong Ho continued the call while looking at me, who had just exited the dungeon.

Seems that he was quite worried.

His face was red, tears streaming down his face.

Holding back the tears, Jong Ho spoke.

“Yes. We’ll be there in an hour or two, missus.”

-Hey. Min-Cheol would be disappointed.

“Haha. No, it was Min-Cheol who wants to return.”

-Is that so? That boy… It’s a rare occasion for him to go on a vacation, so why isn’t he having fun before coming back… If that’s the case, come over and eat breakfast before you go. Mr. Ho Jin is with you as well, right?

“Yes. We’ll all come back together, missus. We’ll see you then.”

-Please do. I’ll make lots of delicious food. Take care on the way home.

“Yes! Understood!”

Ho Jin’s face was filled with a smile.

Yelling aloud in a way unique to him, he spread his arms as he came towards me.

Normally, Ho Jin didn’t express his emotions much other than a hearty laughter.

This is probably best expression of happiness he could give.

Hugging me close, he patted my back.

“Thank you. Thanks.”

“…..”

“You’ve been through a lot.”

“No worries. But was that call with my mother?”

Jong Ho was speechless.

“……”

“But Mr. Min-Cheol, what happened? For 9 hours….”

“Ah. I’ll explain it all as we go. Sorry for worrying you all.”

“Seeing that you’re okay is enough. Thank goodness. All we can do is apologize for being unable to do anything but worry for you.”

Wiping away the tears, Jong Ho opened his mouth.

“You okay?”

“Of course! I’m fine. Did you worry that I might have died?”

“Not at all. I was just annoyed because I got hungry while waiting for you.”

“Today the marks the day I learned that hyung-nim cries when he’s hungry.”

“That’s because Ho Jin hyung-nim accidentally poked me in the eyes before…..”

“Sure, sure. Also, I have the be the one to bash on your fashion sense, so how could I go on dying?”

“Little runt… You’ve been through a lot.”

“Sorry. And thank you, hyung.”

“Ew. Gross… Let’s go quickly. Your mother is probably waiting.”

“Let’s do that, Mr. Min-Cheol. You’re probably tired, so please get in quick.”

“Then let’s talk as we go.”

We went aboard Jong Ho’s car.

It would be easier to travel via Warp, but the car that Jong Ho brought would be left behind.

The real reason was to talk about what happened inside the dungeon with these two though.

The one to start up that conversation again was Ho Jin.

“So how were you able to stay in the dungeon for 9 hours?”

“Before the dungeon evaporated, I finished the fight with Ghost within an hour.”

“Right. That’s obvious. So what happened during those other 8 hours?”

It was then.

Jong Ho, who was quietly driving responded in surprise.

“Hey! Min-Cheol, is it perhaps… perhaps that?”

“Yes, that’s right. The Unknown Dungeon opened.”

“Ho… The Unknown Dungeon? So it’s true that you have to sacrifice lives in order to have it open?”

“Yes, I think so. After taking down all of Ghost’s subordinates, a gate formed next to the exit.”

“By God….”

“So you’re telling me that you cleared the Unknown Dungeon and left it?”

“That’s right.”

“In only 8 hours?”

“I already told you so. This is the proof.”

I pointed at the duffle bag that was filled to the brim, as well as the loot that was filling up nearly half of the rear passenger seats.

Despite being in the middle of driving, Jong Ho quickly looked behind him to check.

Ho Jin, on the other hand, had turned his entire body around to stare.

That was right. The duffle bag had been filled by the avatars.

I thought they were just playing in the mud.

One of them who had ignored my command and left had returned with the duffle bag, filled to the brim.

Despite being shrunken to the size of a fist, its strength was still the same.

It was quite an endearing sight to see it carry the bag that was many times bigger in size than it.

On top of that, all the items in the bag were gems.

“Wow. You’re insane. Insane.”

“Aren’t you curious as to know what is in here?”

“What is it? Explain it to us.”

“Hey. That wouldn’t be fun then.”

“Hey! But I can’t pull over in the middle of the road.”

“That’s why you should hurry home. Move, move!”

“We probably wouldn’t die even if we did get into a crash, but if my favorite model, the White Fiancee, gets hurt….”

“That’s just way too much.”

“It’s my first vroom.”

“Garbage car.”

Teasing Jong Ho didn’t last long.

Ho Jin, who was staring at me, spoke up.

“But Mr. Min-Cheol.”

“Yes?”

“It feels as though you’ve changed in the last few hours.”

“What has?”

“Maybe your presence….. I feel as though you’ve grown or something.”

“Huh? Really? I don’t feel anything. Hyung, do you think so too?”

“I’m not too sure? But if there is one thing I’m sure of….”

“What is it? What has changed from before?”

“You’ve become a little bit more uglier than before.”

“…. Do you really have to make fun of me like that! Old man. Old man, leave the car. If you don’t want to die…..”

Almost as if the bloody fight hadn’t occurred, I was quoting the lines of a movie to joke about.

Perhaps he missed those jokes, because he was laughing more than usual.

“Pfft. Ahahahaha! Yeah. This is it. You absolutely cannot die before me, Min-Cheol.”

****

It didn’t take long to arrive at my house.

Parking the car, we exited.

Out of the three, Jong Ho and Ho Jin were out of it.

They seemed to have lost half their minds.

Even as they walked, they continued to say the same words.

“30,000….”

“30,000 stats….”

“Hyung-nim. He said 30,000 stats.”

“Yeah. 30,000 stats… Hoho. 30,000…..”

“Please wipe that drool on your face.”

“Hoho. Drooling… 30,000 stats.”

The reason was this.

When we almost arrived at the house, I told them about the stats that I had obtained through the Butcher’s Sword.

30,000 points of stats, which could be achieved through 6,000 level ups.

It was obvious why they were in a daze.

Only after entering the house and meeting my mother did they stop repeating themselves.

“We’re back.”

“Hello, Min-Cheol’s mother.”

“Hello missus. You’re beautiful as ever.”

“Ohoho. Please come in.”

“Oh. Smells good. What’s the menu?”

“Son!”

“Hm?”

“It’s rare for you to go on vacation, so why didn’t you play some more before coming back! You could’ve made some good memories. Mother wants you to start enjoying life.”

“Memories? Haha… That’s right… Memories… Let’s all go together next time to have fun.”

“Yes, alright. You’re all hungry, right?”

“Missus, I’m always a hungry kid inside.”

“Hoho…..”

“Please wash your hands first. The stew is almost done boiling.”

“Yep!”

****

The breakfast after all that suffering was delicious.

Finishing my meal with mother, she left the house due to to previous engagements she had to attend to.

I confirmed my mother leaving from the veranda and then headed towards Jong Ho’s car.

It was to bring in the duffle bag and all the loot.

Of course, mother wasn’t against me hunting. However, I did not wish her to see all these items that were soaked in blood.

Since the weapons and armors were fairly large in size, only three of them filled up my arms.

It just came to me now, but I wondered how I was able to bring all these items out with me.

I poured all the items down on the living room floor.

After that, I briefly entered my room to fetch something before coming back into the living room.

Jong Ho and Ho Jin were busily looking through the loot.

In front of them, I put down the Blood’s Craving.

Each their own weapon, that is.

I spoke to them, both of whom were staring at me.

“Presents.”

“Huh?”

“Testing us the moment you return, huh.”

“Just wear them for now.”

Looking at one another, they stood up and put on the armor.

“What the. There are no stats on this?”

“It’s the same with mine.”

“That’s normal.”

The Blood’s Craving armor did not have any stats at the start.

However, after taking down 100 monsters, it would allow the user to raise a single stat.

Jong Ho, who was tapping on the armor, spoke.

“Is this a toy?”

“You said that you were hunting ghouls as of late?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“Yep.”

“Roughly 500 or so come out, right?”

“Probably, I think?”

“From now on, put this on as you hunt.”

“… Mr. Min-Cheol, there are no stats on this armor.”

“You’re able to raise 1 stat point every 100 monsters. Any stat you want.”

“What?”

“What did you say?”

“I’m saying that if you clear the level 23 ghoul dungeon once, it’s like you leveled up once.”

“Wow… This must be very expensive.”

Listening to what I had to say, Jong Ho and Ho Jin immediately took off the armor and then put them down in front of me.

‘Of course. There’s no way these stubborn guys would just take them so easily.’

“Mister.”

“Yes?”

“You apologized that you weren’t of any help, right?”

“Yes…. That’s right.”

“Hyung-nim.”

“Yeah?”

“You probably thought of that too.”

“Well….:”

“Are you two going to be like that even as we go further?”

“…..”

“…..”

“Are you two going to only worry and regret. If not, take these and become stronger, so you can be of help to me. We’re on the same team. That’s why if you two become stronger, it is good for me too.”

“Yeah… During the confrontation with Ghost, I felt a lot. I felt despair in myself when I wasn’t of any use to you. While I waited for you to come back out alive… I wondered if time ever passed like this before. If something happens again, I’m not going to send you alone again.”

“Same with me.”

“Hu hu. It’s settled then. Now shall we open up the other presents?”

The next thing I was going to give them were swords.

These two have been sharing the Banwol Jincheon I gave them.

I had obtained two good one handed swords from the Unknown Dungeon.

If these were ownership bound weapons, they wouldn’t be able to use it. Thankfully though, they weren’t weapons that only the original owner could use.

However, their stats were a little bit less than what could’ve been if these were bound weapons.

Even if the stats are a bit less, these weapons are probably things that no other Awakened have.

Just like that, the loot distribution was complete, and they headed out to hunt.

Seeing them head out to hunt without any complaints despite having stayed up all night, I felt apologetic, but also happy.

The living room was empty once more.

I poured the gems inside the duffle bag.

These gems were in the shape of leaves.

Other than the green gem that I had obtained in the beginning, there were many colors.

All of them strengthened equipment, but depending on the color, the enhancement varied.

I put the Butcher’s Sword, Titan Boots, and the armor that I had obtained from Joker, Scales of the Black Dragon, on the ground.

The Butcher’s Sword had absorbed a ton of stats.

The Titan Boots ignored all status debuffs.

The Scales of the Black Dragon reduced damage taken by 40%.

These three artifacts boasted stats that were nearly impossible to beat.

There was no way I would waste these gems on items that I would use and toss quickly.

After all, these gems comes only from the Unknown Dungeon, which I wasn’t sure when I could enter again.

Checking the various stat upgrades that the gems showcased, I began to enhance my equipment.

“Shall I begin trying them out?”

---

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87. Unknown Dungeon (2)

“It looks rather strange.”

The Marble of the Supreme Ruler did not drop despite taking down the Alroses.

I was planning to move to the next location.

Many bloodstones were floating above the swamp.

The drop rate here was different from regular dungeons.

Roughly half the monsters had dropped stones.

Just like the stones, all the dropped loot float above the corpses of the monsters.

However, there was one that was hidden in the swamp.

It had not disintegrated despite being pounded by the transcended Meteors.

Intense flames just kept dancing on it.

I couldn’t even analyze what it was using the Eye of Insight.

Picking it up, I brushed off all the grime.

It made me wonder why it had such weight to it when it had caught my foot, despite its size only amounting to a fingernail.

Even looking at the shape of it didn’t give me any clues as to its use.

It was definitely an accessory, but it wasn’t a ring or a necklace.

It looked like a pendant of some kind.

The pendant was green and in the shape of three leaves.

I scanned it using the phone app.

-Gem of Recovery-

*Strengthens weapons and armor.

*Successful strengthening results in 10% increase in health recovery

*Success chance: 10%

(Can be stacked up to 5 times. Each stack decreases success rate by 1%.)

“Hm… Doesn’t it seem iffy?”

It was an item that strengthened weapons or armors.

However, the success rate was low.

Still, it did give a nice bonus effect.

“5 stacks….”

It meant that if all the strengthening is successful, my natural regeneration speed would be 1.5 times faster than normal.

It seemed that this item could only be obtained from here.

I felt the greed for the pendants, but there was the hassle of having to search through the muck of the swamp to find them.

The Unknown Dungeon does not close until it is fully completed.

However, I did not have the luxury to relax here.

If I stayed here for a couple more days, they could be holding a funeral outside for all I know.

“Hmm.. Perhaps this might be possible?”

One solution did come to mind.

However, I wasn’t convinced that it was going to work.

Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

‘Devil Avatar.’

“KUWUHHHH!”

The dungeon that was filled with ambience was now replaced by the roar of the avatars.

These guys had a cooldown period of 60 minutes.

However, more than enough time had passed for them to be ready again.

I looked at their faces in silence for awhile.

“I… I think it’s possible…?”

“Kuwuhhh!”

“Kururu!”

“Yeah…. You’re all going to do well. Probably….”

One blue and two reds.

I had decided to have these three partake in a little mudflat experience.

I stretched out my hand towards them with the gem.

Until now, these avatars obeyed all my commands without question in combat and moved as I willed without any issues.

They looked towards what I held in my hand.

I began to explain to the avatars.

“Yeah. Can you see this?”

Instead of answering, they were heavily breathing out flames and frost.

“You’re going to search for this.”

While looking at the avatars, I put my hand into the swamp, swirling it about.

-splash. splash.

“Whew. What am I doing.”

I couldn’t help but laugh in regret.

That’s when it happened.

I thought that I was expected too much of the avatars.

However, the avatars began to move.

Perhaps understanding what I was doing, they bent down their giant bodies.

Stabbing their weapons down on the ground, they began to search through the swamp.

Each time they moved their arms, I could hear their thick armor scraping each other.

They’re trying to harvest clams… I mean, gems, with those huge bodies.

It was quite the amusing sight.

There’s a saying that compliments can even make whales dance.

“Yes! That’s it! You’re doing really well!”

“Kwuh!”

“Kuwahah!”

“Whew. I’ll teach you about lowering your voices later.”

Not missing this moment, I raised the gem.

Giving the brightest smile in the world, I put the gem to my chest.

It was similar to the how the daycare employees would try teaching exercises to children.

The next thing I did was to toss the gem into the duffle bag.

My explanation was finished.

There was not a single word, but there probably wasn’t any better way to make them understand.

Now, all I had to do was to confirm it.

I wasn’t expecting much, but I was hoping that they would at least find the gems.

But then.

-splash. Splash.

-sploosh.

“What. Are you laughing right now?”

“Kukuuh.”

“Kukhkh.”

Their shoulders bounced up and down.

The fierce faces they had was in an expression of either happiness or annoyance that I had never seen before.

Looking at that, instead of being mad, I couldn’t help but laugh.

I spoke to the excited bunch.

“Whew. As I expected. Yeah go play. You guys have been very helpful to me all this time.”

“Kuhwuh!”

“Kururu.”

“However, you all stay put. Don’t come to where dad… I mean, where I am at.”

“Kuwu!”

It seemed that I was hoping for too much from them.

Well, they were plenty useful in combat and hunting already.

However, my last resort was a failure.

Now I really couldn’t waste time anymore.

Putting behind the avatars who were having fun playing in the mud, I launched off at full speed.

I had no idea what the scale of the dungeon was.

To make sure that I was clearing all the monsters properly, I ran along the wall.

I couldn’t afford to miss a single one after all.

It didn’t take long for me to see a group of monsters in similar force like the last one.

The hunting method didn’t change from last time.

“Hiya?”

-CRASH!

-BOOM!

****

Instead of a whole day, it only took 8 hours to take down all the monsters.

I came back full circle to the starting point where the entrance was.

I was also able to obtain a variety of loot as well.

10 Marbles of the Supreme Ruler.

Despite the horrible drop rate, I was able to obtain 10 of them due to the sheer number of monsters.

This meant that if I took all of them at once, I would obtain an invincible body for 10 minutes.

On top of that, my offensive capability would double.

The other spoils were as follows.

4 weapons.

1 armor.

1 gauntlet and 1 wristguard.

20 accessories that included rings and bracelets.

I was even able to obtain 5 Essences of Transcendence.

And for the first time, I was able to acquire a belt.

Taking into account that I had only hunted for 8 hours, there was a lot of loot that I obtained.

Unfortunately, the armor was the same one that I had obtained previously.

However, I was sure that other than the armor and Awakened Essences, these items could not be obtained anywhere else than the Unknown Dungeon.

It was a huge mistake to leave the duffle bag next to the avatars.

The accessories and essences could be stored in my pockets, but I had to carry the weapons and armors.

I had to resort to a primitive method of tossing the equipment forward and running towards it.

I looked around the entrance.

It was to check if I had left any equipment behind.

But then…

“Huh?”

Strange.

I was sure that this was where I entered from.

However, both the avatars and the duffle bag were nowhere to be seen.

The exit should form at either the center of the dungeon or the end of it.

To find both the avatars and the duffle bag, I raced to the center of the dungeon.

The exit was in my sights.

Sadly, it seemed that hidden bosses didn’t exist in the Unknown Dungeon, since the exit formed right away.

It wouldn’t make any sense, but I hoped at least a mimic would exist here.

It was then.

“Kullallalla.”

“Kuhaah!”

“Hm?”

I could hear the avatars’ Fear.

From the howling I heard, it seemed that they weren’t that far away.

But it seems like their Fear is changing into laughter… I must be imagining things, right?

I headed towards the sound.

“What’s so good about playing in mud that’s making you laugh this much?”

“Kuwu?”

It was quite a sight.

I said to play in the mud, but they must’ve swam in the swamp.

Noticing me, they came to me at once like dogs that have been waiting for their owner.

“Kuwuhuh!”

“Quiet! Let’s go. But it looks like you’ve discarded your weapons completely though?”

“Kuru!”

All I had to do now was to shrink them and exit the dungeon.

It happened as I was calling to them.

“Kwuh! Kwuhuh!”

“What. You want to play more? No! Way! We don’t have the time.”

With a stern tone as if training pets, I spoke to them.

However, one of them was running far away.

“There’s a saying that those that start late get into it more. Now it’s not even listening to me.”

Doing this much for them was enough of an accomodation for them.

It was a favor I did for them because we were allies that fought in the same battlefield.

Heading towards the exit, I shrank them.

The two that were the size of houses shrunk to the size of my fist.

Just like that, they sat on my shoulder like parrots.

Thinking that the other one would follow me on their own, I was about to continue on.

“Kua!”

“Huh? These guys….”

***

Jong Ho and Ho Jin guarded the entrance to the dungeon without as much as a sip of water.

Jong Ho was spewing out swears while trying to deny the reality of the situation.

“You idiot. Acting cool all by yourself…”

“…..”

Ho Jin who stood next to him was silent.

Ho Jin was definitely older than Jong Ho. 

However, since Ho Jin understood how Jong Ho exactly felt, this kind of informality didn’t bother him much.

Min-Cheol had entered the dungeon around 9 pm.

It was now nearing 6 am.

Ho Jin, who was staying silent, opened his mouth.

“It’s already 6 am.”

Almost as if waiting for his words, Jong Ho immediately blurted out something that had absolutely nothing to do with current conversation.

“Hyung-nim! He’ll come back alive for sure.”

“Yeah, I think so too. First, we should at least call Min-Cheol’s mother. I think she would be worried a lot by now.”

“Ah….”

Hearing Ho Jin’s words, Jong Ho couldn’t help but grimace.

It was to be expected. I mean, how could they explain this current situation to Min-Cheol’s mother.

That it’s been 9 hours since he clashed against the radical faction and we do not know if he’s alive or not?

It seems that your son has died?

“Ha… This is driving me insane.”

“We’ll have to break the news to her as carefully as possible. It’s the best we can do right now.”

“…..”

Jong Ho fiddled around with his smartphone for a bit.

His hand stopped when the screen showed the contact info for Min-Cheol’s mother, Mrs. Park Se-Ran.

He stood there for awhile, looking up at the sky.

His deep sigh betrayed a number of mixed emotions.

A resolute expression was made as he made the call.

-ring. ring.

-Hello?

“Mrs. Park. Hello? It’s me, Jong Ho.”

-Mr. Jong Ho. To call me in this early hour, what’s the occasion?

“Well… It’s that we suddenly went on a vacation.”

-Vacation?

“Yes. We weren’t able to tell you earlier because it was a decision in the moment.”

-Hey, I understand. At that age, it’s normal to be like that. What about Min-Cheol? Did Min-Cheol go as well?

“Yes, that’s right. I guess he was really tired, because he went to bed after showering. That’s why I’m calling you instead.”

-As I thought, Mr. Jong Ho is very mature. Don’t worry about me and go have fun out there. Please tell Min-Cheol too.

“I’ll do just that.”

-Whew, I wasn’t even able to send him on a graduation trip…. Thank you Mr. Jong Ho. Please treat him to many delicious foods and wonderful sights.

“Yes…. Don’t… Don’t worry about a thing.”

Jong Ho was barely able to hold in a sudden burst of tears.

It was almost as if a heavy stone was pressing against his chest.

Through the phone, the voice continued.

-Then when are you all coming back?

“Two nights, three days is what was planned, but we could be staying here a bit longer. We’ll make sure to call you in between….”

It was then.

The entrance to the dungeon shook, and Min-Cheol walked out.

Seeing that, Jong Ho couldn’t help but let out his tears.

He responded to Min-Cheol’s mother.

“We’re… We’re coming back now.”

-Hm? Now? Why so suddenly? Come back after playing some more.

“No, we’ll come back now. Right now.”

“Hyung-nim, Mister. I’m back.”

---

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86. Unknown Dungeon

A huge mob of monsters stood before me.

Unlike normal dungeons, it seemed that there was a variety of monsters mixed in.

Each type would have different offensive capabilities as well as varied attack patterns.

Out of them all, there was a type of monster with an exotic color and appearance that caught my eye.

Using my Eye of Insight, I discovered the name of the monsters was Alrose.

“Oho. So that’s Alrose.”

Previously, I had mentioned Marble of the Supreme Ruler that Joker possessed.

That was the monster that was mentioned in the description.

A marble that would restore all your health and mana.

On top of that, your body would become immune to harm for 1 minute while increasing your offensive capability twofold.

If I take down an Alrose, I should be able to obtain the marble from it.

“I don’t think this is a number to take lightly though?”

There were just too many monsters around Alrose to only selectively target them.

Would I have to grab its aggro from afar using a single target attack spell from afar?

Or should I eat away at their ranks bit by bit starting from the corner?

However, these thoughts only lasted a moment.

“Wait. Why am I worrying about this?”

It was pointless thinking about this.

Even if their numbers were in the hundreds of thousands, or whatever fierce attacks come my way, it wouldn’t matter.

With just my Mana Shield and Meteor, these guys were nothing but a Mimic with attack capabilities.

And if they do have magic resistances, I still have my Formless Sword Aura and Piercing Sword.

A strategy that would be enough to cause fear in these monsters without sentience came to me.

First, I hid myself using Mass Stealth Jutsu.

Using the stats I received from Ghost and his goons, I ran with my newly increased speed.

I was planning to reach the center of the crowd of monsters.

“The strategy is to group them up and kill them all. Incinerate them to death. Beating them to death is the best.”

It was a simple run, but with each step I took, a portion of the swamp was crushed underfoot.

Sensing the noise and vibration, they looked towards where I was.

“Kaaaa!”

“Kururu.”

However, they shouldn’t be able to see me.

Probably just on guard due to the presence they sense from my run.

Just like that, I arrived at the central mass of all the monsters.

While passing by, I noticed that their size was quite different from what I noticed from afar.

Some were even large as the Devil Avatars I used.

Monsters the size of 4m were commonly spread amongst the rabble of monsters.

No matter where I looked, there were only monsters.

Perhaps other would feel different, but for me, this felt like heaven.

Now, I was going to begin my attack right here.

Those near me or come near me will die first.

Then the other monsters will come towards me, trampling over the dead bodies of their comrades.

This would allow a faster hunt rather than starting from a corner.

I conjured Meteor.

At the same time I attempted to attack, my stealth came undone and all their attention was focused on me.

“Kararack!”

“Kuwooo!”

“Hello?”

-CRASH! BOOM!

[Experience 5,800,000]

[Experience 8,200,000]

[Experience 6,600,000]

…

I heard the notification sound of my experience continuously rising up.

To be honest, it was a huge amount of experience.

Taking into account that a level 34 dungeon monster gave 2,000,000 experience, this was amazing.

However, this wasn’t that important.

Ignoring that, I focused on the battle.

Looking outside the Mana Shield, I couldn’t see anything.

As if a grenade went off in calm waters, the shield continued to shake.

Of course, the reason why my shield shook wasn’t due to the monsters, but due to the destructive force of the transcended Meteors I was pouring out.

Despite not being able to see in front of me, I was able to locate their general position due to the Eye of Insight, allowing me to continue attacking.

It didn’t take long since I started the mass murder for them to thin out by half.

I had unleashed just a fierce attack that it was enough to make me worry if I destroyed any of the unique items or artifacts they may have dropped.

Monsters that were 4m in size were nothing more than giant firewood to me.

It was then.

-WHOOOSH!

I saw monsters breathing blue flames right next to me.

They were the Alrose.

If I had to describe their appearance, the best fit would be axolotls.

They looked similar to a certain salamander mascot for an automobile insurance company.

Contrary to their cute appearance, they breathed out flames in far greater volumes than their bodies.

“Goodness… They’re nearly cute enough to make me feel bad for killing then…”

The first move of spamming Meteors like crazy was to single out monsters from the rest.

It was aimed at those with physical attack resistances.

I expected this due to variance in the monster group, but it still surprised me to see that a single dungeon had monsters with both physical and magical resistances.

This meant that all monsters left, including the Alrose, have resistances to magic attacks.

Despite being cut down by half, there were still a lot of monsters surrounding me.

I immediately readied Piercing Sword.

Countless Butcher’s Sword poured out.

The teeth on the back of the blade glinted, almost as if waiting for my orders.

“I don’t think I can look.”

-SLASH! SLICE!

I couldn’t look at the Alrose being gruesomely butchered.

Despite being a monster, it was super cute.

The skill hadn’t transcended nor was it of the highest rank, yet they became torn chunks of meat before the A ranking Piercing Sword.

It must be due to the insane strength stat I had.

Unearthly howls and a huge number of monsters had filled the surrounding before, but they were all taken down in less than 10 minutes since my entry.

The floor was painted in blood red, while an awkward silence filled the air.

But why would that be of any importance to me.

The only thing I cared about was the loot.

Using the Eye of Insight, I began to search for any rare drops.

However, my priority was finding more of the Marble of the Supreme Ruler.

A surplus of bloodstones were present, similar to sand at a beach.

However, they only amounted to a lantern lighting up the dungeon to me.

There was no reason to carry stones when gold and diamond were in front of me.

“There’s no room for you in my duffle bag.”

Kicking away the stones with my feet, I was searching for the items.

Suddenly, I was curious of the staff I had and my status window.

This was a staff that had blocked Meteor as if it was blocking Ice Orb.

I looked at the staff in my left hand.

-Roa’s Staff-

*Absorbs all magic attacks until the durability of the staff expires.

*(Sealed) Cannot be used by anyone but the original obtainer.

“Is… Is that it?”

I thought to myself that I should beat this Roa fellow half to death if I ever come across him or her.

I mean, who makes a weapon with such little concern like this!

The ability of the staff was amazing, but there were no stats attached to it.

This was also sealed as well.

It could not be used unless it was the original owner.

Previously, however, Butcher’s Sword had absorbed Twin Blades of Asura to become stronger.

By doing so, it stolen half the stats that the twin blades had.

However, there weren’t any stats attached to this weapon.

Did that mean that it was impossible to use it strengthen my weapon?

Despite the concern, I planned to take it with me.

While inside a dungeon, I did not have the luxury to check if it is possible.

It could be similar to how Banwol Jincheon did not absorb the twin blades when taking down Joker.

With a doubtful hope, I held tightly onto the staff.

Glancing at the loot, I changed my view towards something else.

It was to check at my status window.

400 lackies of Ghost must’ve had quite the levels, as well as the 30 guardians.

On top of that, Ghost himself was taken down, so the stat gain should be insane.

[Level: 381]

“Already level 381? Well, I can’t exactly ignore the sheer amount of experience I gained from just this dungeon.”

Worried and anxious, I took a peak.

[Class: Magician]

[Ability: Does not run out of mana.]

“Yes, this ability. I thank it tens of times each day.”

Now it was the time for the stats to be revealed.

It was true that I was excited due to my expectations.

Finally, I checked the status window.

The first thing that caught my eye was strength.

Looking at it, I couldn’t help but stammer.

Strength: [610+20+300+2200+350+7150+1594] 12,224

“T…. Twelve…. Twelve thousand….”

My body had frozen, but my mind was still going, trying to figure out where all these crazy strength stats have come from.

One at a time, I calmly figured them out.

The 610 was from the points I invested while leveling up.

The 20 was from the Skull Ring, while the 300 was from the armor that Joker left.

2200. That was the base stat the Butcher’s Sword had.

350 was from my sword absorbing the Twin Sword of Asura.

But….. the stat that was over 7 thousand….

I had my doubts, but it was the truth.

I thought that I had obtained a massive amount of stats, but after looking at it directly, no words came out.

On top of that, the bonus that Butcher’s Sword carried gave 15% additional strength from total strength, granting me near 1600 points.

“….Ha….”

It was a situation where I should be screaming and dancing in joy.

However, I felt rather calm and collected instead.

I didn’t know why, but perhaps this is what it means to be at peace.

The peaceful feeling that I will no longer be under threat by anyone else.

After that, I check my mana.

Mana: ∞

Just as expected, the infinity symbol stayed, and there was no change.

The next thing I checked was my dexterity.

Dexterity: [310+150+3211] 3671

“Ridiculous….”

The dexterity stat had risen quite a lot as well.

The 310 was from my investment via leveling, while the 150 was from the upgraded Butcher’s Sword.

The 3,200 came from those I’ve slain.

Since dexterity was a stat that was usually invested last, I didn’t get as much as how much strength I was able to obtain.

The last thing that was left was stamina.

Stamina: [1010+300+24,322] 25,632

“Ah… Maybe I shouldn’t have entered the Unknown Dungeon?”

As expected, I had obtained the most on the stamina stat.

Unless it was a specialized class like the blacksmith, no classes existed that would avoid raising the stamina stat.

The amount of stat gained was beyond sensible.

It almost made me wonder if there was any point in obtaining any artifacts here.

And then I bursted out in laughter.

“Pfft! This is insane!”

The reason why I laughed was due to the final fight I had with Ghost.

I had fought against him without checking the stats I had obtained.

That’s why I put so much effort in avoiding his attacks.

It was a fierce attack pattern that left nearly no room to strike back, after all.

The amount of shields I had and the duration of them were limited as I received the skills beyond ranking.

However, if I look at my current stats, there really wasn’t a reason to have that resolve for the final confrontation after all.

Forget the shields, I could’ve just stuck on him and swung my Formless Sword Aura at him.

It was probably beyond my imagination the fear Ghost felt when he received my attacks as I lost reason from the Wild Beast state.

Imagine a flurry of attacks from someone with stats like these….

Clearing my mind of such thoughts, I quickly moved.

It was for the people who would be worried about me, even now.

“Loot and fast clear. Let’s go!”

While moving my body towards the massive horde of monsters in the distance, my foot caught on something heavy.

“Wait. What is this?”

---

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