Skill Book My Way – Chapter 14
After confirming that my Edit Level had risen on my Status, I flipped through the pages of the book.
A new category called "Authority" had been added to the Word List. However, there was only the category; no Words were present.
"It also said I could use Action Words more freely now, but what does that mean?"
Just then, the book shone and turned its pages on its own. And text began to rise from the book.
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-Q&A-
About Edit Lv.2
1. Utilizing Words in the [Action] category
- You become able to use Words more freely.
- At the current level, 'Causative' can be used.
ex) Eat → Feed, Sleep → Cause to sleep, Walk → Make walk
2. [Authority] category added
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"Causative?"
I didn't quite understand what it meant, but judging by the examples, it seemed like I could make others do something.
"I've gathered over 3,000 experience points, so shall I test it out?"
I opened an empty page and began writing down Words.
The first thing I tried making was a skill using the base form of an Action Word.
[A total of 100 Exp will be used.]
[A skill has been created.]
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Created Skill: [Slumber] (Normal)
Tool: Unarmed
Mana Consumption: 2pt
Description: Can fall into a deep sleep within 3 seconds anytime, anywhere. You will not wake midway. If this skill is used to sleep for at least 3 hours, both HP and MP are fully recovered.
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It was an extremely humble skill—or to speak badly of it, a useless one.
Hunters could recover most of their HP and MP after a night's sleep anyway.
"Next……"
I wrote one of the words from the examples, "Cause to sleep," into the empty page.
[A total of 100 Exp will be used.]
[A skill has been created.]
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Created Skill: [Hypnosis] (Normal)
Tool: Unarmed
Mana Consumption: 6pt
Description: Emits a mana wave that causes those exposed to it for 10 seconds to fall asleep. Does not work on targets with Mental Strength of 5 or higher.
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"Ah, so this is how it works."
After creating the skills, I concluded that this was quite a useful upgrade.
This greatly increased the ways I could use Action Words I had classified as "Daily Life" because they didn't seem very helpful in combat.
"Now what remains is the category called [Authority]……"
Honestly, I couldn't grasp what kind of category it was.
So I quickly decided to ask the book.
--------------------
-Q&A-
About the [Authority] category
This category registers Words related to powers that ordinary humans cannot possess.
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"That's an awfully sparse explanation."
I was reminded of when I had asked how to acquire Words in the past.
Since it wouldn't give me an answer even if I asked in more detail, I made the book disappear from my hands.
"Powers that ordinary humans cannot possess?"
Something tried to come to mind but vanished.
***
After defeating Jang Soyu, things proceeded simply—almost disappointingly so.
After Hyeongcheol and his companions hung Jang Soyu's corpse outside the mansion, that woman's subordinates disappeared from Dongdaemun.
Hyeongcheol speculated that without Jang Soyu—the focal point who commanded through charisma and fear—they had crumbled on their own.
"In the first place, after the B-rank Hunters failed to catch you, they were so scared of dying by that woman's hand that they ran away. Unlike Jang Soyu, who didn't kill you if you obeyed, they might've thought they'd really die if caught by you. Since you beat Jang Soyu, after all."
"The end of a fear-based politics without loyalty."
At my words, Hyeongcheol laughed and said that was right.
There were gold bars in Soyu's mansion basement.
It seemed she had converted all the money extorted from merchants and her personal assets into gold and stored it there.
Jang Soyu's talk about an account to spare her life had been a lie.
Hyeongcheol laughed until his mouth threatened to split, saying he couldn't even calculate how many multiples of the investment it was worth.
"She didn't trust currency, it seems?"
I thought that perhaps that woman hadn't trusted not just currency, but humans themselves.
Since she had demon beasts rather than subordinates guarding her side.
It seemed part of the money earned from selling the gold bars would be used as activity funds for the market's autonomous organization so that the merchants could benefit.
I decided to take Soyu's mansion. It worked out well since my house floor was broken and unusable anyway.
"Ha. There's a disgusting amount of rooms."
Jang Soyu's mansion was spacious, but it also had an enormous number of rooms.
It was so different from the apartment that had a combined living room and kitchen, one room, and one bathroom.
"Oppa. Can I use this one?"
I turned my head to see Jinhee standing in front of a door with a face full of anticipation.
Seeing that, I choked up again.
It was the effect of [Healing Spear].
Wondering if it would work on Jinhee's leg, I used the skill, and like a lie, she was able to get up and walk.
After the battle with Soyu, I had gently stabbed Jinhee's leg with [Healing Spear].
I hadn't forgotten to carefully check her progress, thinking that if I overdid it, she might end up like Fenrir.
It was when I had stabbed Jinhee's leg with [Healing Spear] about four times.
Jinhee moved her toes with her own strength.
"Ah… aaaah……"
Jinhee let out a trembling voice and slowly stood up.
At first, her legs shook and she couldn't walk properly, but soon she moved under her own power, albeit slowly.
"Oppa……"
Jinhee smiled and turned toward me. Tears were streaming down Jinhee's face.
"……"
Words wouldn't come out.
Thinking about how much I cried while hugging Jinhee then, it's embarrassing to recall now.
"Do as you like. There are more than enough rooms. You can use two, no, three."
I tried to speak in an unaffected voice.
"I don't need that many?"
Jinhee tittered.
"Hyung! What about me?"
Seono, who had come up beside me, tugged at my clothes.
"You pick one too. But you clean it yourself."
A shadow fell over Seono's face, which had been brimming with anticipation.
"I'll just use one……"
Jinhee and I giggled at Seono like that.
When I first brought Seono, I worried Jinhee might refuse, but it was an unnecessary concern.
Jinhee was happy, saying it felt like she had a younger brother, and Seono quickly got along with Jinhee too.
It seemed only natural since he was a kind child who thought of others.
"Oh! I found something amazing behind the mansion! There's actually a swimming pool!"
"Really?"
Jinhee opened her mouth in surprise. Seono said it was true and pulled Jinhee downstairs.
After carefully looking around the mansion, there were heaps of jewelry, accessories, clothes, furniture, and other things that looked incredibly expensive at a glance.
"So there was this much stuff worth money left besides the gold bars in the basement?"
I asked Hyeongcheol to introduce me to a merchant. Then, except for the furniture I needed immediately, I sold everything that could bring in money.
Sssssizzle.
"Wow……"
Seono drooled as he stared at the iron plate sizzling with meat.
In the garden filled with the smell of cooking meat were me, Jinhee, Seono, and Hyeongcheol.
The money obtained from selling Jang Soyu's goods was enormous, so I went to the market and bought lots of meat and food.
Of course, even after that, there was still enough money left to play and eat without worry for half a year.
From when the sky was still blue while grilling the meat until it turned crimson and the surroundings finally grew completely dark, we all ate and drank to our hearts' content.
"Ughhh."
Seono lay on the grass and put his hand on his bulging belly.
Jinhee was sleeping sprawled on the table. Empty beer cans could be seen beside her flushed cheek.
A smile hung on Jinhee's face, as if she were dreaming of something.
I looked at the two of them and brought the beer in my hand to my lips.
Seeing the two of them with happy expressions, I felt fairly proud, thinking I had done well.
"Jang Soyu is gone, and we've got money and a house… what are you going to do now?"
Hyeongcheol asked.
"……Who knows."
I took the beer can from my mouth and spoke.
"For now, I'm going to try clearing a 2-star dungeon."
"A 2-star dungeon? The nearby one?"
I nodded.
That dungeon was the place that had taught me daily just how weak a D-rank Hunter named I Hwajin was.
Every morning, I paid the expensive entrance fee to enter the dungeon, couldn't even go down to the 2nd floor, and came back out after only killing the monsters on the 1st floor.
And I used the money earned from selling materials at the market to re-enter the dungeon and repeat clearing the 1st floor.
Now that my worries about Jang Soyu and her gang were gone, I wanted to go to that dungeon once more.
To check how much stronger I had become.
I had defeated an S-rank Hunter and a demon beast called Fenrir, but perhaps because it was such a big deal, it didn't feel real.
The next day, I left Seono at home and headed to the nearby dungeon.
***
[You have entered Seoul Dongdaemun Dungeon No. 4.]
[This dungeon is a 2-Star Dungeon.]
[Overflow: 370/1000]
[Monsters have been generated.]
The nickname of Dongdaemun Dungeon No. 4 was "Skeleton Tomb." On the 1st floor, insects came out; from the 2nd floor onward, skeletons appeared.
The skeleton monsters continued moving even if their arms or legs were damaged. There were two ways to defeat them.
Shatter them to pieces, or sever the central spine.
Thud!
I looked down at the fallen "Skull Beast" and wiped the sweat flowing down my forehead.
A monster with a skull twice human height, huge wing bones, and horned beast's skull—it was a mid-boss level monster appearing on the 3rd floor of "Skeleton Tomb."
Besides the remains of the Skull Beast, bones were strewn all around.
"[Flame Spear] still works, huh."
I looked at the burning spear.
Until the 2nd floor, there had been no difficulty. Flame Spear cut through the skeleton monsters' bones like scissors cutting paper.
But from the 3rd floor, the skeleton monsters' bones became so hard that even Flame Spear couldn't cut them down in one blow.
Because of that, it took time to deal with the monsters, and in the meantime, other monsters approached and cornered me several times.
Moreover, because my mana was low, I couldn't use various skills recklessly even though I had them.
"As expected, clearing a dungeon alone was too much."
Still, since I had come this far, I thought I should at least see the boss's face before leaving, so I descended to the 4th floor.
"Ugh."
For a moment, I grimaced at the smell of moss in the damp air, and the stench of something rotting.
Countless dirty bones were strewn across the floor like gravel.
The further I went in, the more I remembered being deceived by Jang Soyu's subordinates in the past, putting me in a bad mood.
"Should I just go back?"
The moment I thought that.
A clattering sound came from ahead. It was the sound of bones rubbing against each other.
"Is that the boss?"
There was a skeleton draped in decrepit cloth scraps like a robe.
The skeleton held nothing but a single book, not even a weapon.
"What, it looks easier than I thought."
I used [Flame Spear] and was about to use [Charge] when I hesitated.
I felt a strange presence behind me.
"…Hey, what is this?"
Dozens of skeleton monsters were glaring this way.
Looking closely, the bones on the ground were assembling with each other and transforming into skeleton monsters.
Semi-transparent white threads were attached to the skeleton monsters' heads. They all led to the book-holding skeleton.
"I'm screwed."
Even if I wanted to retreat, the escape route was completely blocked by skeleton monsters.
"Charge!"
I raised my spear and rushed at the book-holding skeleton monster.
My calculation was that if I felled the boss, the others might return to being bones.
I swung [Flame Spear] with all my might toward its head.
Swish!
But only a dull thud rang out, and its skull didn't have a scratch.
Rather, the shock transmitted to my hand made my eyes sting with tears.
"Argh! Did they make its bones out of iron ingots?!"
Having no choice, I used [Invisibility], which I had saved as a last resort.
As my form disappeared, the approaching skeleton monsters stopped. On the other hand, the dungeon boss didn't take its eyes off me, as if it could see me.
"Delayed Sound Bomb."
I activated the skill from a slight distance.
Boom!
At the noise, all the skeleton monsters looked that way.
"Charge!"
Taking that opening, I broke through their ranks.
After that, I ran to the dungeon exit without looking back.
When I returned home, Seono asked with sparkling eyes.
"Oh, hyung? How was the dungeon? You definitely cleared it alone, right?"
"Ugh."
I felt like a knife was plunging into my chest.
***
After dinner, I was lost in thought in my personal room—the first one I'd had since becoming a Hunter.
While roaming the Skeleton Tomb dungeon today, I had felt something to the bone.
That I was still pathetically weak.
It was certainly a meteoric rise that a D-rank Hunter who had survived killing the lowest-class monsters on the 1st floor until recently had beaten an S-rank Hunter and descended to the 3rd floor of a dungeon alone.
But that was it.
"If another S-rank Hunter targets the people around me, there's no guarantee I can win again. I can't even clear a 2-star dungeon alone."
I wanted to become stronger.
I summoned the book and opened an empty page.
"Spear, Stab, Fast, Strong……"
I wrote Fast and Strong twice each, filling six Word slots.
[A total of 1000 Exp will be used.]
[A skill has been created.]
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Created Skill: [Single Flash] (Superior)
Tool: Spear
Mana Consumption: 30pt
Description: Performs an extremely powerful thrusting attack at the opponent. Ignores 50% of defense.
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It was the first 6-Word skill I had created.
"As expected, the mana consumption is high."
Mana consumption 30pt, and my MP was also 30.
In other words, one use and it was over.
I tried making a skill once more. This time, I filled it with
[A skill of the same type already exists.]
[You can spend 500 Exp to enhance the existing skill's effects. Would you like to do so?]
It was probably [Charge]. Because the words used to make that skill back then were also
I nodded.
[A total of 500 Exp will be used.]
[A skill has been created.]
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Created Skill: [Ground Shrink] (Rare)
Tool: Unarmed
Mana Consumption: 45pt (Unavailable for use)
Description: Runs so fast that it is as if the ground folds beneath your feet. No shockwave is produced.
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This time, the mana consumption exceeded my MP entirely.
"At this rate, no matter how much stronger a skill I make than now, it's useless."
To use skills properly, I had to raise my mana stat.
But to raise stats, I needed mana stones. Mana stones only came out of 4-star dungeons or higher.
There were two ways to obtain mana stones.
One was going to dungeons directly, and the other was purchasing mana stones that appeared on the market.
However, to enter a 4-star dungeon, you needed an A-rank Hunter license, and mana stones on the market had a minimum price of 30 million won. Moreover, mana stones that raised the mana stat were in high demand, so the price jumped significantly.
"For now, I'll start with what I can do."
After newly creating the [Charge] skill that had disappeared while making [Ground Shrink], I put the book away.
Two days later, I headed to City Hall, where the department that managed all of Seoul's Hunters was located.