n

n

nChapter 38 – Smash, Charge

nOriginally, I planned to use the level 18 dungeon until somewhere around level 150 to 170.

nHowever, I had already hit level 148.

nThe dungeons following are immune to magic.

nSince I only had ‘Piercing Sword’ for physical attacks, I needed a plan.

n‘Devil Avatar’ had a physical based basic attack, but without the magic effect, it was pretty weak.

nI had two choices.

nFirst, learn physical attack based skills to go into level 19 to 21 dungeons.

nSecondly, skip them and go to the level 22 dungeon.

nMy classmate Taesung had said that the highest ranking dungeon that was solo cleared was level 28.

nIt was done by Korean ranker ‘Cheu Hyo-sun’, and no one has topped it in the world so far.

nEntering the dungeon is different from an online game.

nFailing to clear the dungeon in a game would just result in relogging.

nBut in reality, if you can’t hold out for 60 minutes, your cold corpse would disappear with the dungeon.

nIn 10 minutes, I was able to obtain 2,000,000 experience.

nOne type of monster gave 200,000 experience, and about 10 to 15 of them appeared, so technically I am actually obtaining more.

nEven with the massive amount of experience required to level up from 148, I should be able to level twice a day by focusing only on hunting.

nMy decision was to stay at the level 18 dungeon until an M

/A ranking weapon dropped.

nI’m not forsaking growth for a weapon.

nAnd I’m not looking only at the experience and forsaking the weapon.

nThe boss that appears in the dungeon is a ‘hidden boss’.

nWhat this means is that there is a higher chance for Awakened Essences to drop compared to a normal dungeon.

nAlso there is the guaranteed drop of a skill book.

nThere was no place safe like this while giving me this many benefits.

nI met the magician ranker Yoon Jong-sun from the time I’ve hunted with Jong Ho once more.

nThis wasn’t the first time.

nAfter the first time we met, we met in front of the level 18 dungeon 3 times.

nEscorting Ilseong’s granddaughter, our eyes met only once.

nThe first words he spoke were…

n“You, what kind of an ability do you possess?”

nEven if you were an Awakened, you could not stop the ravages of time.

nThe portals began spawning 40 years ago.

nWithin a year, Awakened began to appear.

nThose with the highest chance of Awakening were at the ages between 15 to 19.

nThose that became Awakened then now are rankers in the ages of 50s to 60s.

nThe Awakened age just like normal people.

nOf course, only their looks fade.

nTheir bodies however are still affected by the stats they’ve obtained.

nBut they are still people.

nEach person had a determined lifespan.

nDepending on how well you take care of yourself, there are some differences.

nNo matter how much ability you had, you could not avoid aging and death. Destiny is inescapable.

nI had the appearance of a child, no matter how you looked at it.

nAnd Jong Ho was in his late 20s. He did not appear old.

nBut with two Awakened entering a level 18 dungeon and coming out within 30 minutes with all the loot.

nYoon Jong-sun probably guessed that one of us had an incredible ability.

nEspecially with a kid wearing Titan Boots, which not even a total of 5 people own.

nIt was to be expected that he would become incredibly curious.

nAfter seeing us, he came to the dungeon every day.

nNot finding Jong Ho, but seeing me enter it solo, he had come up to speak with me.

n“Dunno. Is there a reason for me to tell you?”

n“No… Ah. Sorry for the late introductions. My name is Yoon Jong-sun.”

nExpecting other’s to know his name, he must’ve had a lot of confidence.

n“Yes. I’m aware you’re famous. I’m Kim Min-Cheol.”

n“I don’t know what ability you have, but seems we’ll meet again.”

n“Since people are unpredictable, suppose that could happen.”

n“If that day comes, I hope we are on the same side.”

n“…..”

n“Do take care.”

nWith a gruff voice that matched his looks, he turned and walked away.

nI could only stare at his figure aghast.

nI felt like I was shaken by something huge.

nFrom what I heard from Jong Ho, he was the person who had stopped the second wave of destruction after the central plant center exploded.

nHe who had a righteous attitude like that to tell me such had brought many thoughts to my mind.

nLate afternoon. Noblesse’ guild building.

nThe elevator from the underground 15th floor that Park Hyun rode was slowly rising to her office floor.

n“Jhin. How goes the work I asked for?”

nShe spoke as if knowing that he was there.

nThen.

nFrom her shadows, a dark figure rose.

nJhin. An incredibly skilled assassin who used one of the highest S ranking skill called ‘Shadow Step’.

nAssassins. Called a murderer more often than not, they excelled in something other than hunting.

nThey could deal massive damage to a single target.

nMasking their presence, they could stab into their weaknesses.

nWith a fake smile, Jhin spoke to Park Hyun.

n“Those two? Looks like they’re dogs that cannot follow the master’s orders.”

n“I already know that from the reports. No reason for him to meet Jae Hyuk and he’s drifted away from Sangmin…”

n“That’s why I did something myself. Instead of those two, I spied on the kid Kim Min-cheol.”

n“As expected of you.”

n“You should probably go ahead with your plan a lot earlier than you think you should.”

n“What do you mean?”

n“From the two days I’ve been observing him, he’s been heading to the level 18 dungeon. By himself.”

n“What? No matter how fast his mana regenerates, he shouldn’t be growing any further than being able to clear the succubi dungeon for now.”

n“I say only what I saw. The rest is up to you.”

n“……”

n“How goes the underground project?”

n“I was actually on my way from checking the progress of it.”

n“Oho…. The result?”

n“Failure… But there seems to be some progress. Hard to match the conditions.”

n“The brass is waiting for good news. Then….”

nThe red glow from his sword reflected his eyes behind the mask.

nAfter finishing his words, he hid himself in the shadows once more.

n“The project is enough of a headache, but him too…..”

nGwidon was hit on the head with Meteor Call.

nIt’s been some time since it used the barrel in its left hand.

nSwinging the iron mace with its last strength, it perished from the meteor.

n500,000 exp obtained.

n“Hm?”

nSomething big rose above its corpse.

nI wanted to run towards it and check it immediately, but Louver came charging.

n“Come forth. Come!”

nThe level 18 dungeon’s hidden boss and the Louver were easy as a level 1 dungeon clear.

nNot even paying attention to its corpse, I turned around and headed towards Gwidon’s corpse.

nThe item dropped from it finally came into view.

nAnd I yelled loudly with my eyes wide open.

nI pretty much lived at this dungeon.

nEverything was to obtain this item.

n“It finally dropped!”

nM

/A ranking ‘Banwol Jincheon’ had dropped.

nHalf-moon of Jincheon.

nIt was one of the biggest one hand swords out there.

nLiving up to its name, it had a crescent shape of the moon and glowed as if moonlight reflected off of it.

nThe handle had a small hole at the bottom of it without any decorations or patterns.

nEven with the size of 1.5m, it was incredibly light.

nPerhaps it was due having nearly 600 strength.

nBut I had about the same strength when I was using ‘Black Sword’. Something felt different about this sword.

nI held the sword tightly in my hand.

nStrength: 585 20 400 100 = 1105

nI felt the change reflected on the status window.

nBanwol Jincheon raised my strength by 400.

nOn top of that, it raised total strength by 10%.

nI swung it through the empty air.

nThe large sword’s thin and sharp slashing sound filled the dungeon.

nNow I had achieved half of what I wanted.

nYou could equip up to two of single handed weapons like Banwol Jincheon.

nEven at Awakened markets, it was hard to see any warriors with this sword.

nIt was proof that monsters had a terribly low drop rate for weapons.

nBut compared to others, I could clear faster and much more than them.

nAnd even if the sword dropped, they’d have to share the earnings between the standard 6 people in the party.

nIf you weren’t important in the party, you couldn’t even get the sword even if it dropped in front of you.

nGwidon dropped another skill book, and dropped a jewel with the same color as the one from Kelvacore.

nIt must be a jewel that raised your strength by 30.

nWeapons from monsters can be embedded with a jewel as well.

nHowever, unlike the swords made from blacksmiths, there was no spot for the jewel to be put in.

nI would have to get the jewel processed and put it in the small hole at the end of the handle.

nThe number of jewel I could have processed into the weapon was only one.

nIt wasn’t like the smith’s weapon that could have two embedded, but I couldn’t do anything about it.

nThe processed jewels couldn’t even be recovered.

nBut this weapon was going to be with me for a while.

nUntil I get an M

/S ranking weapon that is.

nI took all the drops from Gwidon.

nWithout a thought, I headed towards the center of the dungeon.

nBut then I felt something was wrong.

nFelt like I forgot something important.

nThere was plenty of time until the dungeon despawned.

n“Louver….. Did I check its drops?”

nWith a doubt in mind, I went back.

nSince I was so hyped over Banwol Jincheon, I hadn’t even glanced at Louver.

nWith the massive movespeed gained from the Titan Boots, it didn’t take long for me to arrive.

nI was shocked as soon as I arrived.

nThere was a single ring above Louver’s corpse.

n“What in the world…”

nWith one clear, I was able to obtain both Banwol Jincheon and Louver’s ring.

nI had ran this dungeon hundreds of times, but it felt like I ran it thousands of times.

nAll the items dropped had been basic stuff.

nOf course, there was the mimic.

nBut now that these dropped, I felt like all the hard work wasn’t a waste.

nNow I had two pieces from the Louver set.

nI was glad that the ring that had incredible synergy with the bracelet had dropped first.

nLouver’s ring absorbs mana and feeds it to the bracelets.

nThere were no monsters in the dungeon currently that used magic attacks.

nHowever, the dungeons after and possible attacks from other Awakened could use magic attacks. I could absorb their attacks and use an empowered skill in return.

nI put on the ring on my finger.

nNo stat gains.

nHowever, the ring and the bracelet reacted to one another with a blue glow.

nIf I was able to obtain the necklace as well, I should have no need to cast shields within the dungeon.

nA sword. And Louver’s necklace.

nIf I was able to obtain these, I should be able to rise to greater heights.

nI felt strength come to my legs as I headed over to the dungeon once more.

n“Let’s get to work.”

n