Rustle…

A sound suddenly emerged from behind the bushes while Han-Yeol was still rejoicing from his victory.

“Hmm?” Han-Yeol muttered as he turned around.

“Grrrr…”

There were four Volaxes prowling a short distance from him, their jaws wide open. It was impossible to tell when they had gotten so close.

‘Damn it!’ Han-Yeol cursed, instantly recognizing the gravity of the situation. He had barely managed to deal with one Volax; there was no way he would be able to deal with all four at the same time. Thus, he wasted no time running away from the Volaxes.

Graah! Grrraah!

The Volaxes roared and chased after Han-Yeol.

‘They’re going to catch up to me no matter what at this rate,’ Han-Yeol thought. The Volaxes were much faster than him when it came to running.

While he ran, Han-Yeol looked around at his surroundings. He spotted a rock and used it as a stepping-stone to jump up onto a tree, which he used as another stepping-stone to jump to an even higher tree.

Ding!

[Your quick thinking and nimble movement have created a skill.]

[A new skill has been created—Jump.]

He gained a new skill, but he did not have the luxury to go over its details.

Kwachik!

The Volaxes failed to jump onto the tree the way Han-Yeol had; however, they instead chose to chew through the tree trunk with their strong split jaws. They were chopping through the trunk faster than a professional lumberjack would, but Han-Yeol retained his composure, thinking, ‘I bought the slingshot exactly for this reason!’

Han-Yeol tucked his chain and knuckle knife into his waist before taking out the slingshot and some steel shot.

Shiiiiiik…!

Han-Yeol loaded the slingshot, aimed at the Volaxes, and drew the band back. Then, he imbued the steel shot with mana and activated his skill, Power Strike.

‘Power Strike!’ Han-Yeol exclaimed inwardly, as he found it embarrassing to shout the skill name aloud, before letting go of the band and firing the slingshot.

Taaak!

Whoooosh…! Pukeok!

The steel shot imbued with mana flew at an incredible speed before penetrating through a Volax’s body and embedding itself into the ground.

‘H-Holy…!’ Han-Yeol could not hide his surprise. The shot had not killed the Volax, but it had been powerful enough to make the monster crawl limply along the ground in agony.

‘One more time!’ Han-Yeol tried to reload his slingshot, but…

Crack…!

The three remaining Volaxes managed to chew through the tree trunk, and the tree started to lean sideways, beginning to fall.

‘Daaaaamnnn it!’ Han-Yeol screamed inwardly, but thankfully, he was in a forest. He successfully jumped onto another tree right before the one he was on completely toppled over. He would have fallen to the ground and become the Volaxes’ food if he had reacted a split second later.

‘Hoo… I’m alive…! You bastards are dead!’ Han-Yeol glared at the remaining Volaxes as he finally realized what their weakness was.

The Volaxes were enraged that their prey had managed to escape, as they ran toward the other tree Han-Yeol had landed on and started to chew through it as well.

‘Don’t get so cocky, you monsters!’ Han-Yeol exclaimed inwardly as he fired another shot from his slingshot.

Tak! Shiiiiik…! Pukeok!

“Kekeng…!” One of the Volaxes winced in pain.

Han-Yeol had aimed meticulously this time before firing his shot, and the steel shot had flown accurately into the Volax’s mouth and penetrated through its body before embedding itself into the ground behind the monster.

Han-Yeol had managed to incapacitate two of the monsters. He loaded his slingshot once again and aimed it at one of the two remaining Volaxes.

Pukeok!

“Kekeng…!”

There was now only one remaining Volax.

‘I still have one shot left…!’ Han-Yeol muttered as he took aim and fired.

Tak…! Pukeok!

“Kekeng!” The fourth Volax winced in pain and collapsed on the ground.

The four monsters were not dead yet, but they were incapacitated and in extreme pain. Han-Yeol observed the Volaxes for a moment before climbing down from the tree holding his knuckle knife. He infused his mana into the knuckle knife and slashed the monsters’ necks to dispatch all of them.

Ding!

[Your level has risen.]

‘Yes!’ Han-Yeol cheered inwardly. Perhaps it was because he was still low level, but he was leveling up at a fast pace. He let out a sigh of relief, thinking, ‘Hoo… I have to be a bit more careful from now on.’

The unpredictable movements of the Volaxes were always a hazard. They were classified as low-tier monsters, but they were still formidable foes for Han-Yeol, who was still low level and heavily dependent on his skills alone. He was only able to hunt these monsters alone because of his highly efficient skill combinations and the sheer variety of skills he possessed.

‘Oh right! The mana stones!’ Han-Yeol suddenly remembered to collect the mana stones, which he had momentarily forgotten due to the Volaxes’ ambush. Hunting solo was a very risky thing to do, but there was one critical advantage to risking it—he would get to monopolize all the mana stones.

‘Other hunters would usually use a Porter to extract these mana stones…’ Han-Yeol thought while infusing his mana into the other knife he had bought along with the knuckle knife.

Woooong…

A bluish hue enveloped the knife.

Peok! Shhhk… Shhkk… Shkkk…

Han-Yeol was easily able to cut through and dismember the Volaxes without the help of the special saws produced by crafting-class Hunters. Of course, that was only possible because the Volax was a low-tier monster, and Han-Yeol possessed a lot of experience in dismembering monsters in addition to his Dismember skill. This was not a job an average Porter could ever dream of doing.

Thud…

Something suddenly fell to the ground while Han-Yeol was dismembering the monster’s corpse. It was a translucent stone that exuded a purple glow. The crystalline stone was what people called a mana stone.

‘This guy right here is my mana stone,’ Han-Yeol thought. Extracting a mana stone for himself felt very different from extracting a mana stone for someone else.

The mana stone was a small one, only the size of one knuckle on Han-Yeol’s finger. Mana stones were graded higher the larger their size was, but Volaxes were among the lowest-tier monsters, so the mana stones they dropped were considered the lowest of the lowest quality. According to rumors, however, this tiny little stone would be able to project a barrier if worn on the body.

‘They say this tiny mana stone can fetch almost a million won…’ Han-Yeol thought.

The prices of mana stones varied greatly depending on their size and density, but low-ranked mana stones usually averaged around a million won.

‘Tsk… They’ll probably undercut me if I sell this at the black market, though…’ Han-Yeol clicked his tongue.

Thinking about selling his mana stones on the black market already left a bitter taste in his mouth, but since he was not on a legal hunt, he had no choice but to bear the cost, as he had no other way to dispose of the mana stones. He decided, ‘I’ll just have to increase the quantity.’

Grip.

Han-Yeol gripped the knife tightly and steeled his resolve.

***

Grrrwah! Grrwaaah!

“Hap!”

Han-Yeol went around the vicinity, focusing on hunting down the Volaxes.

Shwiiiik!

Han-Yeol threw his chain and bound a Volax, before yanking the chain and slamming the monster against a tree behind him.

Peok! Kekeng!

Another Volax took the opportunity to lunge at Han-Yeol, trying to chew his head off with its hideous-looking jaws.

‘You dare!’ Han-Yeol cursed inwardly.

Pukeok!

“Kekeng!” 

The Volax winced in pain as Han-Yeol spun nimbly and avoided its jaw before stabbing his knife deep into its neck. The monster squirmed in agony when Han-Yeol attacked the weak spot on its neck.

Wooong…

Then, Han-Yeol infused more mana into his knife.

Shhhhk!

The Volax collapsed lifelessly onto the ground after being stabbed by the mana-infused knife.

Grrwah! Grrwah!

It was then that the Volax Han-Yeol had previously flung into a tree finally came back to its senses after being stunned, and it charged at him once more.

‘Restrain!’ Han-Yeol used his skill.

Shwiiiik!

He threw the chain in his left hand once again and bound the monster. Then, he pulled the stunned monster through the air toward him, using the monster’s momentum to slash it all the way from its mouth down to its midsection with his mana-infused knife.

“Kekeng!” The monster winced loudly. It did not die from the attack, but it was left barely alive, trembling on the ground in agony like a gutted fish out of the water.

Pukeok!

“Hoo…” Han-Yeol finally relaxed after he dispatched the final Volax by stabbing its weak spot. He muttered, “Every single hunt is a fight for survival…”

Plop! Gulp… Gulp…

Han-Yeol sat down on the ground and took out a water canteen from his bag, then gulped half of it down in one go. Then, he poured the remaining half over his head to cool off his body. He had hunted so intensely that steam rose from his body.

However, he did not have the luxury to loiter around and rest like this. He had to quickly dismember the corpses and extract the mana stones, as there were bound to be Volaxes nearby that would smell the blood and come running toward him. As such, he took out his knife and stabbed a Volax’s corpse.

Peuk!

Ding!

[Your repeated action has created a skill.]

[A new skill has been created—Stab.]

‘Stab?’ Han-Yeol tilted his head and checked the skill details.

[Stab (F)]

Type: Passive

Description: You may infuse additional mana into your weapon when performing a stabbing motion regardless of the weapon type used. The damage dealt by your stabbing attacks will increase.

Ding!

[Your repeated use of a dagger-type weapon has created a skill.]

[A new skill has been created—Dagger Mastery.]

‘Dagger Mastery on top of that?!’ Han-Yeol exclaimed inwardly in surprise.

[Dagger Mastery (F)]

Type: Passive

Description: Your proficiency with dagger-type weapons will increase. Your movements will receive an assistance buff.

‘Yes! Today’s my lucky day! Who knew I would get two new skills at once?!” Han-Yeol rejoiced.

He maintained the momentum from obtaining two new skills and immediately started to extract the mana stones from the Volaxes lying dead on the ground.

Click… Clack… Click…

The sound of mana stones bumping into each other in his bag was music to his ears, and he could not help but feel his adrenaline pumping whenever he heard it.

‘But…’ 

The mana stones were going to give him a hefty profit, but Han-Yeol could not help but feel his heart break into multiple pieces at the sight of the Volax corpses littered across the ground, which he would be leaving behind.

‘These could also be turned into money if I brought them to a factory…’ Han-Yeol grumbled inwardly.

Mana stones were so valuable that trading them on the black market would still prove to be a lucrative business, but monster corpses were less lucrative than mana stones, as one would need a huge factory just to process them into something of value.

Hunters usually signed an exclusive agreement with a factory to sell their trophies to, but that was only possible for officially licensed Hunters. The regulations surrounding the processing and sale of monster parts were highly restrictive due to the fact that some monster parts could be turned into dangerous weapons.

‘I’ll definitely have to become an official Hunter and turn these babies into cash next time,’ Han-Yeol resolved. He felt as if he might die from stress if the corpses went to waste every time he came to hunt.

He finished everything he had to do before entering his truck, and moved to hunt for more Volaxes one last time.

***

Ding!

[Your level has risen.]

[The skill ‘Restrain’ has leveled up.]

‘I’m finally Level 8,’ Han-Yeol thought with a satisfied look on his face. He had diligently hunted the Volaxes and ended up doubling his level in one trip, and had gained 20 bonus stat points to allocate.

‘What should I invest these into…?’ he pondered.

He thought long and hard about that question, before finally deciding to equally distribute five points into all his stats excluding LCK. He had thought about investing all of it into his MAG stat because he burned through his mana very quickly due to his frequent use of skills, but he could still recover mana through the skill ‘Walking’, and he needed to boost his physical abilities to be able to use his skills more efficiently.

Badump… Badump…

The moment he allocated the bonus stat points, his heart started to beat powerfully and he could feel his muscles start to change. The strange sensation reminded Han-Yeol that all of this was not a video game, and rather was actually happening in reality, as he would probably not feel a thing whenever he allocated bonus stat points if it were a game. His stats were basically a reflection of his physical capabilities, so it made perfect sense that he would feel any changes his stats made to his body.

‘Hooo…’ Han-Yeol breathed out after some time passed, and his beating heart slowly calmed down. Then, he commanded mentally, ‘Status.’

Name: Lee Han-Yeol

Level: 8

Points: 0

STR: 44

VIT: 41

AGI: 35

MAG: 25

LCK: 10

Skills: Dismember (E), Sword Mastery (F), Walking (F), Mana Control (F), Mana Mastery (F), Power Strike (E), Mana Shield (F), Sixth Sense (F), Restrain (E), Body Strengthening (F), Mana Eyes (F), Heal (F), Jump (F), Stab (F), Dagger Mastery (F).

“Ahhh… Let’s take a break…” Han-Yeol said after checking his status window.

Thud…

Han-Yeol entered the truck and sat in the driver’s seat, finally deciding to end the monster hunt after reaching Level 8. He was so exhausted that he wanted to lie down, but he decided against it, as he was still in the hunting grounds and had to remain alert to his surroundings.

‘Hmmm?’ He raised a brow as he saw a strange-looking fruit hanging from a tree, wondering, ‘What’s that…?’

Han-Yeol prided himself greatly on having gone to most hunting grounds in the country while working for years as a Porter, but he did not recall ever seeing a fruit that looked like the one hanging from the tree.

‘It looks interesting…?’ he thought as he stared at the red fruit, which was shaped like a heart and marked with yellow polka dots. As he observed the mysterious fruit that resembled a peach, he muttered inwardly, ‘It gives off the same feeling as a poisonous mushroom, though…’

Han-Yeol felt too lazy to go all the way to the tree, so he infused his mana into his chain and lightly threw it toward the fruit, thinking, ‘Restrain.’

He used his skill to pull the mysterious fruit toward him, feeling confident in his throwing control as he had thrown his chain countless times during the monster hunt. However, the chain was way off the mark, as this was the first time he had thrown it without any power behind it.

Thud…!

‘Ah... Damn it…’ Han-Yeol cursed inwardly as the chain failed to snag the fruit, only managing to tap it before sending it falling to the ground.