Chapter 38 – Smash, Charge

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

However, I had already hit level 148.

The dungeons following are immune to magic.

Since I only had 'Piercing Sword' for physical attacks, I needed a plan.

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

I had two choices.

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

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

My cla.s.smate Taesung had said that the highest ranking dungeon that was solo cleared was level 28.

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

Entering the dungeon is different from an online game.

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

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

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

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

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

My decision was to stay at the level 18 dungeon until an M/A ranking weapon dropped.

I'm not forsaking growth for a weapon.

And I'm not looking only at the experience and forsaking the weapon.

The boss that appears in the dungeon is a 'hidden boss'.

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

Also there is the guaranteed drop of a skill book.

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

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

This wasn't the first time.

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

Escorting Ilseong's granddaughter, our eyes met only once.

The first words he spoke were…

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

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

The portals began sp.a.w.ning 40 years ago.

Within a year, Awakened began to appear.

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

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

The Awakened age just like normal people.

Of course, only their looks fade.

Their bodies however are still affected by the stats they've obtained.

But they are still people.

Each person had a determined lifespan.

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

No matter how much ability you had, you could not avoid aging and death. Destiny is inescapable.

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

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

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

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

Especially with a kid wearing t.i.tan Boots, which not even a total of 5 people own.

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

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

Not finding Jong Ho, but seeing me enter it solo, he had come up to speak with me.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Do take care.”

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

I could only stare at his figure aghast.

I felt like I was shaken by something huge.

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

He who had a righteous att.i.tude like that to tell me such had brought many thoughts to my mind.

Late afternoon. n.o.blesse' guild building.

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

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

She spoke as if knowing that he was there.

Then.

From her shadows, a dark figure rose.

Jhin. An incredibly skilled a.s.sa.s.sin who used one of the highest S ranking skill called 'Shadow Step'.

a.s.sa.s.sins. Called a murderer more often than not, they excelled in something other than hunting.

They could deal ma.s.sive damage to a single target.

Masking their presence, they could stab into their weaknesses.

With a fake smile, Jhin spoke to Park Hyun.

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

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

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

“As expected of you.”

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

“What do you mean?”

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

“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.”

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

“How goes the underground project?”

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

“Oho…. The result?”

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

“The bra.s.s is waiting for good news. Then….”

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

After finis.h.i.+ng his words, he hid himself in the shadows once more.

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

Gwidon was. .h.i.t on the head with Meteor Call.

It's been some time since it used the barrel in its left hand.

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

[500,000 exp obtained.]

“Hm?”

Something big rose above its corpse.

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

“Come forth. Come!”

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

Not even paying attention to its corpse, I turned around and headed towards Gwidon's corpse.

The item dropped from it finally came into view.

And I yelled loudly with my eyes wide open.

I pretty much lived at this dungeon.

Everything was to obtain this item.

“It finally dropped!”

M/A ranking 'Banwol Jincheon' had dropped.

Half-moon of Jincheon.

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

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

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

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

Perhaps it was due having nearly 600 strength.

But I had about the same strength when I was using 'Black Sword'. Something felt different about this sword.

I held the sword tightly in my hand.

Strength: [585+20+400+100] = 1105

I felt the change reflected on the status window.

Banwol Jincheon raised my strength by 400.

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

I swung it through the empty air.

The large sword's thin and sharp slas.h.i.+ng sound filled the dungeon.

Now I had achieved half of what I wanted.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The processed jewels couldn't even be recovered.

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

Until I get an M/S ranking weapon that is.

I took all the drops from Gwidon.

Without a thought, I headed towards the center of the dungeon.

But then I felt something was wrong.

Felt like I forgot something important.

There was plenty of time until the dungeon desp.a.w.ned.

“Louver….. Did I check its drops?”

With a doubt in mind, I went back.

Since I was so hyped over Banwol Jincheon, I hadn't even glanced at Louver.

With the ma.s.sive movespeed gained from the t.i.tan Boots, it didn't take long for me to arrive.

I was shocked as soon as I arrived.

There was a single ring above Louver's corpse.

“What in the world…”

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

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

All the items dropped had been basic stuff.

Of course, there was the mimic.

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

Now I had two pieces from the Louver set.

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

Louver's ring absorbs mana and feeds it to the bracelets.

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

However, 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.

I put on the ring on my finger.

No stat gains.

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

If I was able to obtain the necklace as well, I should have no need to cast s.h.i.+elds within the dungeon.

A sword. And Louver's necklace.

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

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

“Let's get to work.”