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nThe Ants near the entrance of the dungeon were as strong as Goblins from the Goblins’ Campsite or

nweaker, so they were perfect for Ian, who had improved a lot, to practice his new skill.

nHe received little EP compared to when he hunted at the North Continent.

nThe monsters had the same or a slightly lower level compared to Ian’s, so they gave little EP. Plus,

nIan couldn’t benefit from the ‘Master of Hunting’ title.

nHowever, he slaughtered so many that he still received quite a decent amount of EP.

n“Haha, this is fun!”

nIan was finding out how to use the Lightning Spheres skill properly.

nHe had used it as a close-range skill at first, but afterward, he realized that he could anticipate the

nmonster’s route and hit it with the spheres.

nOf course, to anticipate and then attacking was very hard.

nHowever, if he wanted to use the skill against stronger enemies, he needed to learn how to make a

nlong range attack.

nIan was going to train until he got used to the skill.

n‘In this state, I would be able to get 99% EP after two days here.’

nAdditionally, he could hit even more monsters by anticipating the direction of the multiplied spheres.

nIt was like playing billiards!

nWith luck, a sphere could bounce off many times and hit about six monsters.

nIan got to understand the skill very quickly, as he was a ‘gaming expert’.

nAn hour later…

nHe perfectly got used to the skill and by making use of Ly’s speed, he controlled an entire section of

nAnts.

n“Big Guy, Ice Wave!!”

nAfter Big Guy used Ice Wave, Ian used the Lightning Spheres, and the Ants started to slow down like

nsnails because of the double slowdown effects of both skills.

nZip- Zip-!

nMoreover, with the Linking effect from Ian’s weapon, Ice Wave was doubled so the Ants couldn’t move

nat all!

nIan gained EP from the Ants by using wide-range skills like this while Ly went around to kill the

nweakened Ants one by one.

nIan used the Lightning Spheres until his Spirit Magic was drained and, by the time it was recharged to

nthe Max, he finished hunting the pack.

n“Haaaa!!”

nIan was so thrilled that he smiled like a madman, “Hunting packs is the best!”

nGaining levels by killing monsters that were stronger than himself, one by one, up at the North

nContinent was fun. However, massacring weak monsters through wide-range hunting was better in

ngetting rid of your stress.

n‘When I reach Lv. 60, I won’t be able to benefit from the Master of Hunting title.’

nIan had gained so many benefits from the title that gave him more EP when killing monsters that had

nhigher levels than himself.

nHowever, as his level got higher, it would be impossible to hunt monsters that had levels much higher

nthan his own, so it was time to change his fighting style.

n“It would be great if I had a powerful wide-range skill…”

nIan was hunting fast enough, but he thought it wasn’t enough.

nThe Lightning Spheres skill wasn’t that powerful.

nSkills like Flame Field, that were used by Lv. 50 Sorcerers, inflicted 2000~3000 damaged.

nHowever, the damage from the Lightning Spheres skill inflicted was only half of that.

nIt was a skill used more to slow down the monsters, similar to Big Guy’s Ice Wave.

n‘If I use some wide-range magic while the monsters are crawling because of the double slowdown

neffects…’

nHowever, he wasn’t going to hunt with a Sorcerer.

n‘I am not doing something that is good for others.’

nThen, he needed to Tame a monster that had destructive wide-range skill.

n‘What should I Tame? It would be great if I could get something like a Phoenix in the Highlands of

nFire.’

nHowever, that was only a wish.

nA Phoenix had an average level of 165. It was a monster he couldn’t get now.

n‘I will capture one, someday.’

nWhile Ian was thinking about his future, he kept hunting. Now, there wasn’t even an Ant left on the

nfirst floor.

n“Ly, let’s go to the second floor.”

nGrowl- Growl-

nIan stroked Ly’s mane and went to the stairs that led down to the second underground floor.

n‘The second floor should be more dangerous, there will be Striped Ants…’

nStriped Ants were smaller and weaker than ordinary Giant Ants.

nHowever, they could spew poison in wide- range, so they were trickier to hunt.

nNevertheless, Ian wasn’t worried much.

nHe had hunted them many times before he reset his character.

n…

nAfter hunting for the whole day, Ian could fill 99% EP of his Lv. 50.

nHe had killed the Queen Ant, the boss monster in the Ant Tunnels, on the first day. In total, he had

nhunted for two days.

n“Hu, the EP is now 99.9%. I have worked so hard.”

nIan felt good.

nDuring the hunt, Big Guy even gained a level while Ly was Lv. 51 now.

nHe felt even better because he had filled the 99.9% of the EP exactly as he had calculated during the

nlast battle.

n“Guys, let’s go back now.”

nIan was ready to leave.

nHe took the items from the dead bodies of the Giant Ants and organized his inventory.

nHe put down Bukbuk. Chirpy, whose Summoning time had ended, was dismissed.

nJinsung had reached his goal. Therefore, he started to move.

nHowever, then.

nBuk- Buk-

nBukbuk started to crawl somewhere quietly.

nIt had spotted something that looked delicious.

nIt was heading toward a pile of Giant Ant’s eggs.

nA moment later, Ian started to get some weird system messages.

n“What, what the?”

nIan was surprised.

nThe EP was now at 99.9%.

n“Oh! No!”

nHe shouldn’t gain a level now.

n“I’m-I’m not leveling-up, right? It can’t be… it can’t be…”

nHowever, despite Ian’s eager muttering, system messages kept coming up.

n“Where… where? Why am I getting EP?”

nIan looked around and soon found Bukbuk eating the Ant’s eggs.

n“Oh… no! Bukbuk, come back!” Ian screamed.

nIan tried to stop it, “Bukbuk, dismiss!”

nHowever…

nCrush-!

nBukbuk swallowed the last egg while it was glowing white.

nAnd…

nA bright light spread out from Ian.

n“…”

nIan plopped down on the spot while Ly stared at him.

nA moment later, Ian realized what had happened and started wailing, “Ahhhh! It can’t be!”

nIan kept crying to himself.

n‘Oh… I was too greedy… I should have stopped at 98%.’

nBut what was done was done.

n‘Ah… Bukbuk…’

nHe wanted to summon Bukbuk again and spank it, but he had to wait 30 minutes to summon Bukbuk

nagain.

n“Uh… uh…”

nMoreover, it wasn’t really Bukbuk’s fault.

nIt was his own fault. He should have been more careful.

nNow he had only one choice.

n“Ly.”

nGrowl-?

nLy tilted its head and looked at Ian’s sad eyes.

nEven if it could understand Ian’s commands well, it couldn’t understand Ian’s feelings now.

n“Just take a break…”

nIan dismissed all his pets.

n“Hu.”

nThen he took off all the items, except for the Feather Accessory that belonged to his account, and put

nthem in his inventory.

nThe was only one thing he could do in order to lose a level.

nSuicide.

n…

nJinsung took a shower and came out of the bathroom.

n“Hu, so I am going out… it is dangerous to stay outside the capsule…”

nIt wasn’t time to pay the bills yet, and he had plenty of food left.

nStill, he was going out, so he felt very sad.

n“Ha… my first death after resetting was by suicide…”

nHe hadn’t seen that coming.

nHe wanted to blame Bukbuk, but he couldn’t.

nBukbuk just wanted to eat some delicious Giant Ant’s eggs!

nJinsung had never told it that it shouldn’t do that…

n“Anyway, I am going to meet a woman. Should I apply something to my hair?”

nJinsung rummaged his drawers and found a can of wax.

nHe had bought and used it once for a university interview and just threw it into his drawer after that.

nIt had been a long time since he had his hair cut, so he needed to take care of his hair.

nIt was the minimum he could do when meeting a woman for the first time…

nJinsung thought so partly because he was fond of Harin.

n‘I should leave a good impression to keep getting food from Harin.’

nAlthough it was a little off point…

nIan finished dressing.

nHe wasn’t that ugly so, after shaving and dressing up properly, he didn’t really look like a game nerd.

n“Shall I go now?”

nJinsung picked up his phone.

nThere was a message from Harin.

nIt was 1:30 p.m. now.

n“Will time pass faster if I eat lunch with Harin and talk at a café?’

nIt hadn’t even been three hours since he killed himself.

n“Hu…”

nHe sighed.

nHe needed to wait more than 21 hours to log in again.

nWaves of grief came to him.

n“I must endure this.” Jinsung muttered seriously and sent Harin a message as he left his home.

nJinsung thought about what he should talk about with Harin as he walked.

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