Chapter 20: CH 20

‘That guy is well built. Also, his internal force is similar to my level. I’m not sure if my Penetration Power will be effective.’

Utilizing Aura Vision, Yongno peered into the shrimp’s body and saw its qi swirling around. It seemed the shrimp possessed its own cultivation technique. More specifically, it looked like the cultivation technique centered around defense, making it unlikely that Yongno’s Penetration Power would effectively pierce the inner parts of the shrimp’s body.

‘Also, there’s that damn clam.’

Between the two, the clam possessed greater power, 60 points, to be exact. In the martial arts world, 60 points would equate to a practitioner who has trained for 30 years. Furthermore, the giant clam’s internal energy was double that of the giant shrimp, so Yongno had to be careful. However, the threat that the giant shrimp posed did not stem from its internal energy but rather from the natural waves caused by its Ultrasonic Punch skill. So, essentially, Yongno had to be wary of both opponents.

‘If I fight them head-on, I’ll surely die. I need to run away somehow.’

Fortunately, unlike the situation with the blade fish, Yongno felt that he could get away from these two opponents. If he had been out in the open instead of a cave, Yongno would have fled long ago.

Bam!

As if resolving to end things here and now, the giant clam rushed towards Yongno. He was able to easily avoid the giant clam’s charge, but Yongno felt a sense of crisis when he saw the giant shrimp pulling back its tail to strike him from above. Though the shrimp’s tail wouldn’t hit him directly, the aftershock from the swift coiling attack would wreak havoc wherever it passed. 

Boom!

As the shockwave passed, Yongno started coughing out blood. That attack would’ve killed him if he hadn’t used Body Strengthening. Moreover, when he saw the giant shrimp begin to attack, Yongno had quickly tipped the great clam so that it stood between the incoming attack and him, somewhat lessening the blow.

‘Damn it. I’ll really die if things go on like this. What am I supposed to… huh?’

At that moment, Yongno saw a hole in the ground. It hadn’t been there earlier, and based on how it looked man-made, it couldn’t have been dug recently.

‘Ah. The giant clam was in that area before, so it must have been placing itself over that hole.’

Yongno’s assumption was correct. Currently, Yongno had traveled to the deepest part of the cave, so he initially thought there was nowhere else to go. Yet, a hole that led further down had just been revealed.

Whoosh!

Without wasting another second, Yongno flung himself into the hole. If the giant shrimp launched another one of its attacks, Yongno knew that he’d be dead for sure. He had already been scraping the bottom of the barrel to gather enough internal energy to apply Body Strengthening. Now, Yongno was only left with about a year of internal energy. However, Yongno wouldn’t be able to use that one year of internal energy.

Similar to how a person couldn’t completely drain their stamina to zero, it was nearly impossible to use up all of one’s internal energy. Yongno was only able to expend his internal energy until just a year was left because of the stability given by the Golden Pill Immortal Technique. Any other typical martial artist would have only been able to expend their internal energy up to the three-year mark. If they went any further, they would reach the limits of their lower dantian and permanently damage their ability to gather internal energy. 

In the situation where an athlete expended their energy to the point that they couldn't even move their fingers, if they continued to push themselves, they could cause breathing issues or muscle damage. Likewise, if a person continued to use their internal energy beyond their limit, they would inevitably cause damage to their dantian. Although the physical pain was limited by the system, Yongno couldn’t escape fatigue.

‘This place is….’

While he tiredly looked ahead, Yongno saw a shining blue light. No longer able to utilize night vision due to his lack of internal energy, Yongno had been blindly navigating through the darkness, and he was ecstatic to find such a light source.

‘…Ice?’

Yongno was left dumbfounded when he saw an entire wall covered in ice. The ice was opaque, so he had no idea what was on the other side, but he knew that the light was coming from behind the ice.

Boom!

In that instant, the giant shrimp went through the hole. Fortunately, since the size of the hole wasn’t too large, the giant clam wasn’t able to fit through it. However, the giant shrimp presented a significant danger for Yongno, who could no longer effectively muster a defense.

‘Switch! Where’s the switch!’

In a panic, Yongno tried to find a switch or some sort of mechanism to open the ice wall, but he was unable to find any such thing. Oblivious to whatever Yongno was trying to do, the giant shrimp slowly made its way toward Yongno. Yongno kept backtracking until his back hit the ice wall. There was nowhere else for him to go.

‘Hmm?’

Rather than a cool sensation, Yongno felt a sense of comfort from the ice. It wasn’t as if the ice was warm; Yongno had an affinity for anything that was naturally cool or cold. It was only then that Yongno realized that he possessed a water affinity trait.

‘That’s right, I have an affinity for water and can utilize the properties of water. I have an attribute power related to water, and I have the power to control water.’

Since this was the case…

‘Shouldn’t I be able to control ice?’

Immediately, once he came to this conclusion, like magic, Yongno’s body started ‘melting’ into the ice wall. Confused as to what was going on, the giant shrimp quickly sent an Ultrasonic Punch toward Yongno. Although the destructive quality of the attack caused damage to the surroundings, it was ineffective against Yongno, who had already become completely enveloped by the ice wall and sent out to the other side. 

“…This place is…?”

While speaking aloud, Yongno noticed that he was standing on firm ground. He was in a hallway that was neatly lined with bricks from the ceiling and walls to the floor. Then, Yongno looked behind him, and he could hear banging sounds from the ice wall that he had just passed through. It seemed like the giant shrimp was trying to break through the wall.

“That ice wall is incredible. Even after several Ultrasonic Punches from that giant shrimp, it’s not even showing any signs of cracking….”

Anyone could easily tell that the ice wall was created and imbued with magic. It didn’t make sense that an ice wall would naturally form to divide the space Yongno was currently in with the deep body of water he’d just passed through. In any case, this didn’t stop Yongno from marveling at the strength of the ice wall.

“What is this place?”

Yongno was currently 1,000 meters under the sea. There shouldn’t have been anything man-made in this kind of place. However, this place was obviously built by someone. The bricks were made from stones, and there were torches lighting up the hallway at set intervals. In addition, the floor was lined with the same type of stone bricks, albeit in tile form.

“I see.”

Yongno seemed to have noticed where he was. It was a hallway that would wind like a maze, have traps in different locations, and contain monsters. This place was a common addition to any online RPG.

It was a Dungeon.

Yongno had entered a dungeon.

***The Seadragon’s Temple***

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We welcome you to the eighth-level test. User Adol is making a fifth challenge attempt. You have already died once. Since you have failed multiple times, we recommend that you regroup and refocus to successfully complete the upcoming task.

Adol couldn’t help but sneer at the message that popped up in front of him. Initially, the notifications were respectful, but as he continued to fail the mission, the tone became somewhat condescending.

“Damn it. If I fail a couple more times, I feel like I’m going to get a message that says, ‘Just give up, loser.’”

As he grumbled, Adol looked at the various doors in front of him. There were a total of twenty tests that were divided into four chapters: [Fighting], [Production], [Living], and [Adventure]. Although there were a large variety of tests, he didn’t have to pass all of them. The twenty tests were provided so that every user could find something they could challenge, no matter what they specialized in. If a user could pass one test, that user would level up. 

“Ugh, to think I’ve already failed four times. I knew it would be more challenging as I gained levels, but I didn’t think it would be this difficult.”

Adol mumbled and walked up to a door. However, the door he walked up to wasn’t any of the twenty doors. Instead, he’d approached the twenty-first door, [Joint Warfare].

“Well, just in case….”

The Joint Warfare was a trial that existed outside of the twenty tests, and it allowed users to work together to defeat monsters that were several levels than their own. Of course, there were always bound to be users who didn’t pull their weight or who shouldn’t have been able to overcome such monsters. As such, choosing this option could be seen as taking the easy route, as one could depend on the strength of others to pass. However, defeating the monsters in the Joint Warfare area didn’t mean that a user passed the test. Since the Joint Warfare door was not part of the existing four chapters and its twenty tests, a user would not be able to pass the eighth-level test. This was why the Joint Warfare door was called the twenty-first door.

The Joint Warfare door existed to provide a space where users could learn to work together, utilizing their individual areas of expertise to fight a common enemy. Thus, if a group of users were successful in defeating a monster several levels above them, the experience they’d gain would be ten times greater than normal. In other words, this experience was more than enough to level up once. Furthermore…

“Even if I choose to give up midway, I won’t be kicked out of this testing area. Anyway, it’s not like I plan to fail again….”

Adol chuckled as he entered the door. Of course, Adol never thought that he’d fail in each of his previous four attempts. He wasn’t the type that liked to challenge something if he felt like there was a high likelihood of losing. Yet, this time around, he was full of confidence. Although it sounded like something out of a fantasy novel, Adol had grown to understand something right before this fifth attempt.

“Hahaha. I never expected to obtain the third rank of mastery.”

Like an epiphany, Adol had suddenly come to a realization. When he was surrounded by tens of monsters and trying to fight an uphill battle, he had experienced a completely different dimension, a new, distinct rank of mastery. A while back, he had stopped training to focus on hunting since he wanted to gain more experience and funds, and so this sudden realization was utterly unexpected.

“With this advancement, I’m probably in the top echelon amongst DIO users. How many could there be above me? Is there even a single person?”

The reality was that there weren’t too many users who possessed the fifth rank of mastery. Of course, Adol knew that all the users in this closed beta were all experts with excellent skills and abilities. However, he’d never come across anyone with the third rank of mastery. Even though he heard that some existed, he was sure that their numbers were few.

Creak.

Once he opened the door, Adol saw a large waiting room. In the room, there was a muscular man who was waving his hand at Adol.

“Hey, Adol!”

“Hey, it’s been a long time, Hanma. What’s going on? Where did all these people come from?”

Despite Adol’s surprise at the number of users in the room, it was just two more people outside of himself and Hanma. Yet, this alone was surprising, as there weren’t many users who’d passed the seventh-level test. Actually, it would be more precise to say that there were very few.  

The users who could be seen walking around in the towns were mostly those who were in the third or fourth level. Starting from the fifth level, the number of users dramatically dropped in number. This was because there was a natural ‘barrier.’ DIO was a game that demanded high levels of skill and ability. One would have to either spend a lengthy amount of time training or have an innate ability to lean on. DIO wasn’t a game where one could increase their level just by investing some time.

Psh. Psh.

A torch was burning in one corner of the waiting room. In front of the torch was a female martial artist in her twenties. She wore an entirely black martial arts outfit and had gloves with flame motifs on them. Since her clothing was tight, Adol could easily make out that the woman currently absentmindedly staring at the torch was a physical martial artist. However, other than that, he couldn’t sense anything else. It was almost as if she were a common newbie, or at best, a second-level user.

‘But that can’t be the case.’

They were in the eighth-level testing area. This meant that she must be a seventh-level user. And so, there were two possibilities: her level of power was far greater than his or, like Hanma, her physical strength was hard to determine by sight alone.

“Oh, are you a member of the Zoroastrians?”

Adol tried to make small talk, but the woman continued to stare blankly at the torch without responding. With lifeless eyes, the woman continued to stare at the flickering fire. As Adol continued to look at the woman, he soon realized that she was a foreign, Western woman. She had blue eyes, pale skin, and blonde hair. She was also very tall. Adol could tell that she was a Slavic woman and a beauty at that. It was highly likely that she was Russian.

Whoosh!

The flame that she had been staring at abruptly flared up. The previous calm and quiet environment suddenly turned loud and chaotic as the fiery flame quickly consumed the wooden parts of the torch, converting it all into ash. Once the flame flashed its final light, a spark rose into the air and turned into a red ruby. 

“It would be nicer if it were polished….”

The woman mumbled to herself as she put the ruby away. Instantly, Adol understood what skillset the woman specialized in.

“I see; it’s fire chakra. In addition, you possess the advanced skill of changing the state and quality of an object.”

“Don’t talk as if it’s such a grand thing. I’ve only reached the third rank of mastery.”

There were all kinds of stats in DIO, but the one that was applicable in nearly every area, as well as being the most difficult to advance, was spiritual power. There were seven different types of spiritual power based on their respective qualities: internal energy, magic power, chakra, divine/sacred power, pure spiritual power, aura, and life force.

As defined and stated in many fantasy genres, internal energy arises from gathering nature’s powers within oneself and converting that energy into motion. Magic power originated from one’s connection with the world and its laws, as one would be able to slightly alter and utilize the existing principles of the world to create the desired effect. Aura was a type of innate ability that allowed a user to momentarily overcome and transcend one’s limits to achieve something. Divine power was power derived from a god. Pure spiritual power came from the spiritual power within oneself; practitioners of this area would constantly refine their spiritual power and increase their spiritual power capacity. These users would often form contracts with otherworldly beings or spirits and gain strength through that contractual relationship. Life force, as the name suggests, would focus on increasing one’s physical power and changing or evolving one’s existence. As for chakra…

“I think you’re not giving yourself enough credit. I haven’t seen another user who’s been able to reach the third rank of mastery in chakra.”

“That’s because chakra isn’t very popular in the first place.”

As with every other type of spiritual power, chakra seemed foreign and drastically different from the others. Notably, the most difficult aspect of chakra was that it could not be carried within or on one’s body. Chakra did not originate from within, like internal energy or magic power. Rather than communicate with something outside oneself and utilize exterior forces to create or do something, the users who specialized in chakra had no special powers. The only thing required of chakra users was mental power and the ‘knowledge’ of the ‘properties’ of an object.

“Ugh, so loud.”

At that moment, a man who had been meditating in the other corner of the waiting room opened his eyes and spoke. His black hair was slicked back, he had black eyes, and he wore a plum-colored robe. His appearance and clothing were immediately identifiable as Asian. Furthermore, unlike the difficult to read woman, this man’s power and level were like an open book for Adol.

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