[You have reinforced your rib bones. You have absorbed all the memories and experiences that you can from the Elite Rural Rat.]

[Squeak! - Elite Rural Rat]

"..."

"Squeak..."

Lee Shin-Woo wordlessly checked the message and shifted his gaze away. There he saw the face of the dying Rural Rat Queen. It seems that there was a limit to the amount of offspring she could deliver, and she was unable to produce any more Elite Rural Rats no matter how hard she tried.

"Great timing."

He couldn't be sure how long it had been since he didn't have a watch, but he had killed wave after wave of the Elite Rural Rats the queen gave birth to and reinforced himself with their bones. He had a feeling that he had stayed here long enough. He had now mastered what the rat bones could grant him! It was a task that reminded him of his time playing an RPG; he used to leave his character in a suitable hunting ground and used macros to farm.

"Squeak, squeak..."

"Yeah, you've done well. I hope you're reborn as a rat that Cinderella takes care of."

Lee Shin-Woo spoke tenderly as he swung his sword, decapitating the queen with one clean cut. At that moment, Lee Shin-Woo heard the sound of a trumpet ringing in his ear, and his vision was filled with messages.

[Level 1 dungeon Rural Rat Nest has been cleared. Magic has increased by 1.]

[You have gruesomely slaughtered all life within the dungeon. You have gained 1 Slaughterer's token.]

[You have gained the reward for clearing the dungeon.]

The queen only dropped a large bone and some Perium before withering away and disappearing. When Lee Shin-Woo went up to pick them up, though, he found a wooden box where the queen had disappeared. It was small and frail, like it would rot away any moment. It was definitely the reward for clearing the dungeon.

"Hoo, let's take a look."

Lee Shin-Woo opened the box. There was a book and a money pouch containing Perium inside. Lastly, there was also a dagger. It didn’t transform when Lee Shin-Woo touched it. He inspected it closer and realized that, fortunately, the weapon was made of bone to begin with!

[You have acquired the Lv2 Bleeding Tooth.]

[Bleeding Tooth Lv2]

[Durability: 450/450]

[Attack Power: 18 - 36]

[Options: When you attack, there is a fixed chance that it will inflict the 'Diseased' status on your target.]

"Strictly speaking, this isn't a bone... Well, whatever. Skeletons have teeth as well. This isn’t that different."

Whether teeth were bones was a question for someone pursuing medicine. What mattered to Lee Shin-Woo was the fact that the weapon hadn’t been transformed at contact and suffered a drop in level. There were probably authors who would insist that teeth weren’t bones and should therefore be transformed as well if this had been their stories, but Lee Shin-Woo would happily assassinate them all.

[You have acquired 1,500 Perium.]

[You have acquired the Beginner Stealth skill book.]

"Stealth!?"

Lee Shin-Woo was of course no stranger to the concept of skill books, and he had expected to get one as a reward. In fact, he had been quietly excited about the prospect of improving his overall fighting ability with a new skill… But it turned out to be a skill book for Stealth, which he had trained to death in the dungeon!

Teeth clattering in frustration, Lee Shin-Woo put the skill book away. There was no point in further familiarizing himself with the skill since he was already familiar with it. Oh, well. I guess I’ll just sell it at the Goddess’s Secret Shop.

"At the end of the day, the reward isn’t anything special. It's probably because it's a level 1 dungeon... Tch."

He wouldn't be able to appease himself without complaining. Lee Shin-Woo sighed and checked the items remaining in his hands—the bones of the Ratman and the Rat Queen.

"Now that it's come to this, you're my only hope... Bone Reinforcement."

[You have sacrificed the Ratman's finger bone to strengthen your own bones. Agility and Magic have increased by 1. Absorbing a portion of the Ratman's experiences and memories.]

[Squeeak! Squeak, squeeeak! (The pain of losing a part of my body is nothing compared to the pain of losing the Queen!) - Ratman]

You asshole, your last words are way too cool! Moreover, he was able to roughly guess what skill he had gained from this bone based on the Ratman’s last words. Lee Shin-Woo grimaced and checked his hand. Hmm, as expected, there aren’t any nails. If teeth are considered bones, why aren't nails...?

"This is gonna be a skill in name only..."

He did gain an extra point to both his agility and magic, which had become harder to increase after reaching level 2, so he shouldn't feel disappointed. Still, he couldn’t stop himself from feeling let down. Lee Shin-Woo tightly held onto the Rat Queen’s bone, hoping to acquire a better skill from it, but he ended up getting something ridiculous.

[You have sacrificed the Rural Rat Queen's pelvic bone to reinforce your pelvis. Endurance has increased by 1, and Magic by 2. Absorbing a portion of the Rural Rat Queen's memories and experiences.]

[Squeak, squeeeeak! (Ah, ah, my adorable children!) - Rural Rat Queen]

"..."

Why does it have to be the pelvic bone...? No, it's probably not. … It can’t be, right? Lee Shin-Woo could barely control his queasiness with the mental image it had conjured. He tried his best not to think about it further.

Fortunately, a message had popped up to distract him.

[The dungeon will soon collapse. Please escape before it's too late.]

"Huh, it’s disappearing after fulfilling its purpose. ...Awesome."

He took a deep breath and turned around. He could already feel the dungeon starting to vibrate slightly. Lee Shin-Woo wanted to check what the Slaughterer’s token was, too, but he would have to do that after getting out of the dungeon. Lee Shin-Woo took another deep breath and started running with Sprint. Small fragments of rock were falling behind him, and an ominous rumbling followed.

[Lee Shin-Woo]

[Skeleton Avenger Blessed by God]

[Lv - 2][Strength - 73 Agility - 78 Endurance - 82 Magic - 47]

[Passive skills - Invisible Heart Lv3, Acting Lv2, Beginner Avenger Lv1, Low Rank Bursting Thunder Lv1, Beginner Archery Lv2, Beginner Magic Affinity Lv2, Beginner Stealth Lv7]

[Active skills - Bone Reinforcement Lv3, Beginner Sprint Lv7, Beginner Shriek of the Dead Lv3]

"Nice."

The first thing he did once he got out of the dungeon was to check his status, and those stats made him incredibly pleased. His total stats had been lower than 200 before entering the dungeon, and now the figure had risen to 280 with his Invisible Heart activating only once. He didn't know how high his stats would have to be to get to level 3, but he was sure he'd be able to reach it soon.

Moreover, my low endurance has completely overtaken my strength and agility.

That was mostly thanks to the Rat Queen, which had appeared as the dungeon boss. Even though all the Elite Rural Rats she gave birth to had been level 1 monsters, she had produced a lot of them, which allowed Lee Shin-Woo to improve his endurance by a great margin. He was also able to raise his Stealth to level 7.

Now my bones shouldn't break even if they're hit fairly hard.

His increased endurance had definitely thickened his bones and made him sturdier in general. Lee Shin-Woo tapped his bones and let out a satisfied laugh. It was then the dungeon he had escaped from collapsed completely. And a message popped up.

[A quest has begun!]

[The callousness and the cruelty you showed in the dungeon has awakened the karma of a slaughterer. However, you are still too weak, and your enemies were even weaker; ultimately, you did not receive the complete karma of a slaughterer, but merely a token of it. If you are truly confident that you can bear its weight, then gather 10 Slaughterer's tokens and complete the karma. You should already be well aware of the method.]

[Quest reward - 1 permit to the Goddess’s Secret Shop and 1 exclusive equipment.]

"Now that I think about it..."

He had thought he would be given a quest to go deeper into the Empire and annihilate the undead now that he had cleared a dungeon, but instead, he got something completely beyond his expectations. It reminded him of the item he had temporarily forgotten about. The token was pointing him to a direction where he could grow. It was as if the goddess was telling him with the message, ‘You’re too weak for a proper mission, so grow as strong as possible first!’

I’d need10 tokens? I don't have to go through 10 dungeons, do I?

There's no way he'd have to go through that many, but it’d still be a long journey. Lee Shin-Woo got a little uneasy wondering whether or not he’d be able to gain a new quest while progressing through this one, but he had no choice but to get a move on for now.

[Slaughterer's Token]

[A fragment of a Slaughterer's karma. Once you gather 10 tokens, the karma will become whole. You must gather the tokens with your own strength for them to mean anything. Since you have gained your first fragment, it will be easier for you to gain the same token of karma in similar situations.]

So that’s what the tokens do.

All the complex mechanisms were giving Lee Shin-Woo anxiety, so he decided not to think about it too hard. He briefly considered if he should ask his seniors about the token in the chatroom, but they may end up paying more attention to him if it was indeed a rare occurrence. In fact, Lee Shin-Woo was pretty sure that the Slaughterer’s karma wasn’t something commonplace.

Shall we get going?

First, I’m going to acquire 10 Slaughterer's tokens before reaching level 3. Lee Shin-Woo set a goal for himself and quickened his steps while holding tightly onto his level 3 weapon, the Bone of Thunder Lasting.

[Lv2 Treasure Eater]

[Lv2 Treasure Eater]

Yap. His precious weapon had drawn the attention of a familiar monster. Two, to be exact!

[Guooooooooooooooh!]

[Kuaoooooooooh!]

"Wait, is their habitat nearby?"

In truth, the Treasure Eaters had ganged up on the hero Lee Shin-Woo encountered earlier for the level 4 Thunder Lasting the hero had brought with him to the Empire. Since the Treasure Eaters were monsters that would be relatively difficult for regular heroes to face, the original wielder of the sword had ended up injured and exhausted from fighting the group of monsters, and he fled into the dungeon before meeting an untimely demise. However, Lee Shin-Woo didn’t know about the story yet.

What concerned him right now was the fact that the hero had attracted the Treasure Eaters, and they were all pissed about losing a level 4 item!

[Gguaaaaaaaaah!]

[The Treasure Eater used Shriek of the Dead, but it was nullified by Invisible Heart.] 

It must've really wanted his treasure, as one of the Treasure Eaters used Shriek of the Dead as soon as it saw him. The shriek rang out far and wide and resulted in something Lee Shin-Woo hadn't expected; a gathering of the undead, which was good news for him right now.

[Patrolling... Discovered monsters... Skeleton... engaging...]

[A newbie...?]

Skeletons who were always enthusiastic about newbies gathered a couple at a time. Some he was familiar with, such as the Skeleton Soldiers and the Skeleton Archers, but to his surprise, there was also a skeleton equipped with a large bone sword amongst them.

[Lv2 Skeleton Warrior]

It was the first level 2 skeleton Lee Shin-Woo had encountered since arriving at the Empire! If he fought it one on one, Lee Shin-Woo would always come out on top, but he wasn't sure he could take on a group of them since he wasn't sure about their level of strength yet.

"Paul, it's good to see you! Hurry and help me!"

[It's also... good to see you...]

However, he was just glad that the skeleton was on his side right now! Especially since it was just as brainless as a Skeleton Soldier!

[Helping... the newbie...!]

[Requesting... reinforcements. There are a lot... of monsters...!]

Weak Pauls and strong Pauls emerged from various places. As the battle grew hectic, however, more and more Treasure Eaters appeared like they had gotten a whiff of the treasure. Things fell into utter chaos in no time. Lee Shin-Woo froze when he identified one of the newly arriving Treasure Eaters.

[Lv3 Treasure Eater]

"That’s crazy, a level 3 monster...? And it's a Treasure Eater at that, so it's much stronger than normal enemies!"

He was certain that the Treasure Eaters were among the strongest elite monsters given how much more powerful level 2 Treasure Eaters were compared to the level 2 Ratman, which had appeared as a dungeon boss.

[Kuwoooooooooooh!]

[The Treasure Eater used Shriek of the Dead, but it was nullified by Invisible Heart.]

Who would have thought the first level 3 monster Lee Shin-Woo ran into would be a Treasure Eater? He seemed to be fated to cross paths with their kind. If another hero had heard Lee Shin-Woo’s thoughts, they would see him as a walking lottery ticket. Treasure Eaters were elite monsters in their truest sense, and it was harder to encounter one than to defeat one.

I might have to use Avenger for the first time...

While racking his brain to come up with a way to capitalize on the situation to the fullest, Lee Shin-Woo raised his sword with one hand and bravely called out, "We're going with the siege destruction formation; use the siege destruction formation! Move faster, Pauls!"

A fierce battle broke out between the skeletons, led by a swindling skeleton, and the Treasure Eaters. It was a battle that made the clash in the external passageway seem like child’s play!