Chapter 39: 38

I Alone Level-up: Chapter 38

 

Sprint (Lv. 2)

Active Skill   Mana Cost: 5 (+1/Minute)   Activate to increase your movement speed by 40%. Costs 1 mana per minute to maintain.   “Your running has strengthened your legs.”

 

‘The movement speed boost went up.’

 

The skill had gone from 30% to 40% boost in movement speed.  Even just a 10% improvement was huge. ‘Sprint’ was his most used skill, after all.

 

Advanced Dagger Proficiency (Lv. 1)

Passive Skill   Mana Cost: 0   Dagger-specific   +33% Damage with Daggers.   “Having used a dagger for a long time, you are able to wield them with greater proficiency.”

 

Increased damage when wielding a dagger! It seemed that since he had solely used a dagger up until now, he had received a dagger-specific skill.

 

‘Looks like it’ll be less effective to use other weapons now.’

 

On the other hand, it’ll now be more effective than ever to use a dagger.  More so, he had become used to wielding a dagger, and it did not seem like he would change weapons from Casaka’s Poisoned Fang for the time being.

 

‘Lastly.’

 

Jinwoo looked at the other new skill with interest.

 

Vital Stab (Lv. 1)

Active Skill   Mana Cost: 70   Dagger-specific   Stab the enemy’s vitals with fatal damage.   “You’ve learned to strike effectively.”

 

This was also a dagger-specific skill.

 

‘A way to strike effectively…’

 

Now that he thought about it, the final attack that he used on Kang Taeshik and the final attack on the last zombie just now both left a similar feeling in his hand.  It could somewhat be described as satisfying. The moment he stabbed with the dagger, the feeling in his hand told him that the fight was over.

 

‘So that was ‘Vital Stab’.’

 

To think that he would now be able to repeatedly use the skill he had discovered on accident!

 

Jinwoo’s heart raced.  Having mindlessly slashed and stabbed with the dagger until now, receiving an official offensive skill was like finding water in a desert.

 

‘Awesome!’

 

Level-up and new skills.

 

This was a good start.

 

 

 

 

Day 2.

 

You’ve leveled up!

 

You’ve leveled up!

 

With the new offensive skill, the hunting speed had become drastically faster.

 

You’ve leveled up!

 

One shot, one kill!

 

Everytime Jinwoo used ‘Vital Stab’, a magic beast would fall.  Yoo Jinho watched each kill with eyes wide open.

 

‘Where was he hiding such a skill?’

 

Just what was the limit of hyungnim’s abilities? Yoo Jinho could not help but be amazed.  At the same time, he became curious about Jinwoo’s true rank.

 

‘He easily defeated C-rank Hunters, so he’s at least B-rank…’

 

Unfortunately, the young man was too scared of asking Jinwoo directly, so he just settled for watching him with an open mouth.

 

In the meantime, Jinwoo discovered a flaw in hunting with his new skill.

 

Insufficient mana to use skill.

 

Insufficient mana to use skill.

 

Jinwoo scrunched his face in annoyance.

 

‘Again?’

 

Like he had done previously, Jinwoo took out a mana potion from his inventory to fill his mana.  It was purchased from the System’s shop.

 

“What’s that, hyungnim?”

 

Yoo Jinho asked curiously.  Whenever he spent time with Jinwoo, Yoo Jinho experienced many incredible and wondrous things.  Although he had held his tongue in both respect and fear up until now, his curiosity got the best of him when he kept seeing Jinwoo drink this mysterious blue liquid.

 

“This?”

 

Before answering, Jinwoo looked at the mana potion’s information.

 

Mana Potion

Rarity: E   Type: Consumable   Drink to recover 500 MP.   “It’s a potion to recover mana.”   You may keep this item in your inventory.   Cannot be traded. [1]

 

‘“Cannot be traded”… I wonder what happens if I try?’

 

Jinwoo also had his own share of curiosities.  He handed the mana potion to Yoo Jinho. The moment the young man grabbed it, the bottle disappeared into thin air.

 

“W-was that magic, hyungnim?”

 

‘So this is what they meant by ‘cannot be traded”’

 

Jinwoo had learned something new.  Items that cannot be traded would disappear when they were placed into someone else’s hands.  But what if it didn’t touch their hands? Jinwoo opened the shop and purchased another potion. This time, instead of the blue mana potion, he purchased a red healing potion.  After confirming the purchase, the potion appeared in Jinwoo’s hand.

 

“H-hyungnim! That was so cool! The liquid turned to red!”

 

Seeing the blue mana potion disappear from his own hands and seemingly reappear in Jinwoo’s hand as red, Yoo Jinho thought he was watching some magic trick.  However, Jinwoo had a reason for switching up the potions.

 

‘I want to know if it could be “used” on another person.’

 

Jinwoo lowered Yoo Jinho’s body.

 

“Open your mouth and tilt your head back.” [2]

 

“L-like this, hyungnim?”

 

“Yeah, stand still.”

 

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Jinwoo poured the healing potion into Yoo Jinho’s mouth.

 

pour

 

Yoo Jinho became surprised,

 

“Huh? What’s this, hyungnim? I’m suddenly feeling energized!”

 

Yoo Jinho’s face was filled with exhaustion from acting as the baggage boy.  Once the potion was administered to him, light and energy returned to the young man’s face.  Jinwoo was satisfied.

 

‘So I could use its effects like this.’

 

He had learned something else.  From now on, even if they didn’t have a Healer, Jinwoo would be able to heal an injured person with this method.  He imagined it would be helpful in the future.

 

“Let me know if you feel exhausted. There’s plenty more where that came from.”

 

This was not an act of needless kindness.  If the baggage boy became slower because of fatigue, their hunting speed would fall.  Ultimately, Jinwoo decided this after weighing the cost of the healing potion against the rate of their hunting.  However, to Yoo Jinho, the gesture carried a great meaning.

 

“H-hyungnim…”

 

“Let’s go.”

 

With tears forming in the corner of his eyes, Yoo Jinho trailed after Jinwoo, in awe of the man’s great heart.

 

 

 

Day 3.

 

“Ah, before I forget. This is for you, hyungnim.”

 

Yoo Jinho looked through his bag then took out a bankbook.

 

“What’s this?”

 

“It’s the magic core income from the past two days, hyungnim.”

 

‘Why are you giving this to me in the middle of- gah, nevermind.’

 

The pair was deep in a Dungeon filled with magic beasts.

 

‘Six hundred million?’

 

Jinwoo’s eyes widened after looking inside the bankbook.

 

“You’re giving all the income from the magic cores so far to me?”

 

Yoo Jinho nodded.

 

“Of course, hyungnim. It’s not like I’m Raiding because I need the money. More than that, you’re the one who’s really killing all the magic beasts, right? What right do I have to even think about sharing such income?”

 

The young man’s eyes sparkled, hoping for some praise.

 

‘Oy… Look at this kid…’

 

In the past few days, Jinwoo had felt like Yoo Jinho’s attitude towards him was changing.  In the beginning, the young man had followed him with no choice out of fear. Now, it felt like he was a little dongsaeng that truly respected his sunbae. [3]

 

‘You know, he’s kind of adorable in that sense.’

 

Jinwoo smiled widely.

 

“I can really take all of this, right?”

 

“Have I, Yoo Jinho, ever seemed like someone who would say one thing and mean the other, hyungnim?”

 

Jinwoo chuckled and waved the bankbook.

 

“Alright, I’ll take this with gratitude, then.”

 

“Thank you, hyungnim!”

 

Yoo Jinho bowed his body in a 90-degree angle.  If someone was watching from a distance, they would not be able to tell exactly who was giving money to whom.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, outside of the Dungeon.  The pair’s “teammates” had found their own way of passing the time.  When Raid leader Yoo Jinho and assistant(?) Sung Jinwoo entered the Gate, the other Hunters began to grab a spot here and there and entertained themselves.  As expected, the most popular pastime for a group of them was “Go-Stop” [4]. Five of the Hunters sat in a circle, playing the game.

 

“Which Raid is this one?”

“Let’s see… we did three on the first day, two yesterday, and this is the second one today. That makes it the seventh?”

“Is it okay for those two to continue at this pace? Normally, raiding parties tend to take a week’s rest after a single Raid, right?”

“Eh, don’t worry about those guys. Everytime they come out of the Gate, they’re not even breaking a sweat. Besides, we’re just earning three million each time without doing anything. We’re not in a position to complain. Oy, it’s your turn.”

“Ah, okay.”

 

As they noted, even through their nonstop schedule, Jinwoo and Yoo Jinho did not appear to be tired at all.  They did not know, but this was due to the effect of the potions. Thanks to that, they were over a third of a way through the 19 Raids they needed.  Soon, the Gate started to ripple and the pair appeared before the waiting Hunters.

 

“Oy, there comes the leader.”

“Let’s get up”

 

The Hunters started cleaning up their spots.

 

“Don’t forget your stuff.”

“Wake up the sleeping ones. Make sure you didn’t miss anything.”

 

The Hunters moved with perfect coordination.  The sleeping Hunters also quickly got up and prepared to move.

 

“Let’s go!”

 

Everyone was becoming used to this bizarre Raiding method.

 

 

 

Baekho Guild’s office, nearby.

 

The head of Second Management Division, Ahn Sangmin, was about to blow a gasket early in the morning.  

 

“Deputy Hyun! The new recruit training training is tomorrow! What do you mean we don’t have a Gate reserved for it?!”

 

Deputy Hyun Gicheol lowered his head deeply.

 

“I-I apologize, chief. There’s been a team that’s been snatching up every C-rank Gate in the area before we could get our hands on it...”

 

“What? Then just spend more money to reserve it! Is our Guild missing money or manpower? What exactly is the problem?!”

 

“I tried but…”

 

“Hey! I didn’t ask for your “tried but”s!”

 

At Ahn Sangmin’s shouting, the entire Second Management Division fell into silence as if at a funeral.  It has been some time since Ahn Sangmin was this angry.

 

Just what did they think Baekho Guild was?

 

It was one of the top 5 Guild of South Korea.

 

Appropriately, its employees must be greatly skilled.  Deputy Hyun Gicheol was also a proud employee who had never made a mistake until now.  And to think such a man couldn’t even reserve a Gate for new recruit training! This was a major mistake.  Chief Ahn Sangmin was the head of the Second Management Division, which was the team in charge of recruiting new Hunters and training them.  (The First Management Division was in charge of managing the official member Hunters of the Guild.)

 

“J-just take a look at this, chief!”

 

Hyun Gicheol held out a laptop.

 

“You son of a-”

 

Ahn Sangmin was about to berate the man again, but then looked at the numbers on the laptop and gasped in surprise,

 

“T-two hundred and fifty million? There’s someone who used two hundred and fifty million to reserve a mere C-rank Gate?!”

 

Translator’s Notes:

[1]: “Cannot be traded” (타인에게 양도는 불가능합니다): Lit. “Cannot be transferred/given to others”

[2]: Erm…

[3]: Reminder, “dongsaeng” (동생) = “little sibling”, usable b/w unrelated parties.  “Sunbae” (선배): “senior”, i.e. someone who’s been in your profession longer than you.

[4]: “Go-Stop” (고스톱): Korean card game.

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