My Skill Book My Way
Episode 2
[Kyaaak!]
Thud, thud, thud, thud!
The Mantis let out a monstrous shriek and charged at me.
I desperately ran in the opposite direction, but my luggage was too heavy to run properly.
"H-Hey! A monster appeared here! Where did you all go!"
I screamed, but no answer came from anywhere.
"Damn it!"
I threw off my luggage. I could recover the materials later; right now, I had to survive.
Watching the Mantis trample the bag, I fled with all my might.
"Huff, huff."
After turning corner after corner and barely shaking off the Mantis, I collapsed into a crouch.
I tried to hold my breath, but it was impossible. My head spun, and my whole body trembled so violently I couldn't stand.
'Why did a monster have to show up now, of all times...'
The moment I muttered that inwardly, a foreboding feeling washed over me.
Why now, of all times?
Two of them had disappeared saying they had business, and the remaining one had vanished too, saying he would go find them.
When I tried to follow, they told me there were no monsters besides the boss and to stay put.
But that Mantis had appeared from the direction we'd come.
'No way...'
"What. You're still alive?"
Startled, I turned my head to find the three who had disappeared standing there.
They had bags filled with materials strapped to their backs.
"Y-You guys, what the hell!"
"Gim Haesu, what happened? Are you sure the Taming skill is properly applied?"
The goatee asked the tall man.
Unless my ears were mistaken, he had definitely said 'Taming' just now.
"Of course. Watch."
The tall man clapped, and the ground began to thud.
[Kyaaaak!]
The Mantis that had chased me earlier stood behind them. Even though there were people right in front of it, the Mantis glared only at me.
"We tried to disguise it as an accident, but that thing's faster than I thought."
"Y-You guys, what are you scheming!"
"Scheme?"
The tall man smirked, and the other two snickered.
"Did you suddenly get stingy over the advance and reward!"
"As if. You think we'd try to kill someone over a few pennies?"
The man called Haesu said.
"We don't want money. You're food for this Mantis."
The moment I heard the scarred man's words, I felt like I'd been struck in the head.
"W-What do you mean... why would a Hunter be food for a monster......"
"What good is knowing, when you're a dead man anyway."
The tall man said.
"True. Ah, come to think of it, you had a sister, right?"
My body flinched at the goatee's words.
"She's quite the looker. And since we got this too, your sister won't be on her guard. Talk about killing two birds with one stone, huh?"
What the goatee held out was my bag, torn and trampled under the Mantis's leg.
I felt as if my blood were surging backward.
"You bastards!"
I shot up from where I sat. The fatigue in my body had been wholly forgotten in my rage.
That bastard Haesu looked upward.
"Devour him."
[Kyaaaaah!]
The Mantis leaped over them and lunged at me. The Mantis raised its forelegs.
"Kuhk!"
I rolled aside.
Crunch!
The Mantis pulled its foreleg from where it had embedded in the ground and glared at me.
I had no choice but to flee once more.
"Then die well."
"We'll take good care of your sister."
"It's already throbbing down there; I can't wait. Heh heh heh."
I ground my teeth at the voices coming from behind.
"If you lay even a finger on my sister, I'll make sure you bastards don't die easy!"
"Oh, how scary."
"Worry about yourself before worrying about your sister."
[Kyaaak!]
Their laughter-laced voices pierced my ears, mixed with the Mantis's screeches.
Damn it all, they weren't wrong.
I had to worry about myself first.
[Kyaaak!]
The Mantis approached, raising both arms lined with serrated, glacial blades.
The strength left my legs.
Nowhere to run, no strength to run. The title of Hunter felt utterly hollow.
I had no choice but to greet death like this. All I could do now was leave a dying message with my Record skill.
The moment I resigned myself to death, illusions flashed before my eyes.
The faces of my father and mother when they were still alive, Jinhee running around the yard in delight.
The sky of the city where monsters first appeared, the feeling in my hands after I killed my first monster as a Hunter.
The joy of saving up money and moving into a slightly cleaner house.
Is this what they call my life flashing before my eyes?
Jinhee's smiling face, sitting on the bed and waving her hand, flickered before my eyes.
And, finally, the faces of those bastards smirking as I fled sprang to mind.
"No!"
Clenching my teeth, I strained to roll my body.
Crunch!
"Aaaack!"
Pain burst from my leg. The agony was so intense it felt like a heated branding iron stirring through my nerves.
"Ugh..."
I dragged myself across the ground, rubbing my arms against the floor.
"I can't die......"
Even though I was the only one there who could understand human language, I screamed at the top of my lungs.
"I can't die like this! I can't die until I kill those bastards...!"
Crunch!
The moment I saw the Mantis's fangs, the world turned to darkness.
***
What is this?
Darkness? A vacuum?
I couldn't see anything, and no sound reached my ears.
Yet this place was so deep, dark, and silent that it couldn't be expressed in words.
Nothingness?
Yes.
This was nothingness.
[Open it.]
A sound suddenly rang out in that place that had been silent until then.
The voice didn't enter through my ears; it seemed to resonate directly in my head.
-What?
I asked. No, since I had no mouth, it was closer to thinking.
[Go back and open it.]
-What are you talking about.
[Your will has reached me.]
-Who are you?
[I am ■■■]
I definitely heard it, but it didn't transmit.
[Open it. Analyze it. Record it. Reconstruct it. And create.]
[You are born anew.]
With those words, I lost consciousness once more.
***
"Huff."
I took a deep breath and raised my body.
The voice I'd heard until just now still seemed to echo in my head.
"This is......"
I looked around and was at a loss for words.
There was a large crater in the floor. Bright red blood stained my clothes and the surrounding ground.
"Aren't I inside the dungeon?"
There was no one around but me.
"!"
I touched my neck. The memory of having my throat bitten by the Mantis just before death came flooding back.
But my neck only felt as rough as usual. There was no wound.
Even my leg, which had been mangled by the Mantis, was perfectly fine.
[You are born anew.]
The voice that had echoed in my head came to mind.
I couldn't understand the reason or the meaning.
"Jinhee......"
But what I had to do was clear, so I moved my legs.
I had to get out of the dungeon.
My phone screen was broken, its numbers and letters garbled.
The inside of a dungeon was another world, so you couldn't make contact with a phone, and the time axis was distorted, so it couldn't even serve as a clock.
Only by going outside would normal time be displayed and signals reach it.
I prayed I wouldn't encounter monsters and moved around silencing my footsteps.
Since I didn't know the exact path, I had to find the marks I'd left on the walls.
Tracing my memories, I fortunately found a mark quickly. Unlike the 1st and 2nd floors whose paths I knew, this was my first time here today; without the marks left on the walls, I wouldn't have been able to return.
I followed the mark up to the 3rd underground floor, then once again silenced my footsteps and advanced.
The problem was monsters.
'Damn it.'
Leaning against the corner, I peeked my head out slightly.
Dogs that were nothing but bones wandered about. 'Skeleton Dogs'. They were relatively weak monsters that appeared even on the 2nd floor.
The Skeleton Dogs' attack method was simple.
They ran in a straight line and bit. That was all.
I could win if I fought one-on-one. If I smashed their bones with a club, they couldn't move.
The problem was that they always moved in packs.
The number of Skeleton Dogs gathered right now was six. If they attacked all at once, I would be at a disadvantage.
'I could try running past them, but if I ran into other monsters, it'd be a nightmare.'
The memory of what happened with the Mantis came to mind, and I rubbed my leg.
It was then.
[Synchronization complete.]
[Listener registration complete.]
'Ugh!?'
I nearly screamed at the voice that suddenly rang in my head.
[New Word acquired.]
[300 Exp acquired.]
[Number of acquired Words is excessive.]
[Please check the Book.]
'Book?'
The moment I muttered inwardly, a shining book appeared before my eyes.
'It's actually a book?'
Impulsively, I grabbed the book floating in the air. Then the light faded from the book.
No title was written on the cover.
[Open it. Analyze it. Record it. Reconstruct it. And create.]
The voice I'd heard in that empty place came back to me.
I opened the book.
--------------------
-Status-
I Hwajin
HP: 100/100 MP: 30/30
Vitality: 5 Strength: 3 Magic: 3
Mentality: 4 Sense: 3
Unique Skill: [Edit Lv. 1]
Exp: 300
--------------------
'This is a Status screen? Huh? Wha—!?'
I was shocked at the first page of the book. My Unique Skill had changed to 'Edit'.
'What happened to Record...'
I quickly tried to bring up the Status window. This action, like manipulating a game, was something any Hunter could do.
'The stat window isn't coming out...'
But no matter how much I tried to call up the stat window, there was no response.
'Don't tell me my stat window changed into this book?'
The voice that told me I was born anew resurfaced in my mind.
Captured by doubt, anxiety, and curiosity, I turned to the next page of the book.
--------------------
-Word List-
[Attribute] (0)
-
[Tool] (2)
[Action] (65)
[Modifier] (2)
--------------------
'What is this?'
Looking at the array of sparkling words divided into four categories, I felt myself sinking deeper into a puzzle.
The [Action] category, in particular, filled two pages all by itself.
I flipped further through the book.
--------------------
-Objective Setting-
[Main] Eliminate the Enemy
- Escape the dungeon alive.
- Eliminate the enemies who trapped you here and are targeting your younger sister.
--------------------
'Status screens didn't have things like this...'
After that, blank pages continued.
[Would you like to edit a skill?]
A voice echoed in my head. The word 'edit' reminded me of the Status I'd seen earlier.
'Record definitely disappeared, and Edit was there.'
When I muttered internally that I would, a quill pen appeared above the book. The pen emitted the same subtle glow the book had when it first appeared.
The moment I grasped the pen, the voice continued.
[You can edit skills using Experience Points.]
[You can select a multiple of 3 Words per skill (3, 6, or 9). In any other case, the skill will not be created.]
[At least one Word from the Tool and Action categories must be included.]
[Modifiers allow duplication of identical words.]
'Am I supposed to make a sentence? Why so many rules?'
It was a rather tricky rule. With a half-doubting mind, I selected words and wrote them onto the empty page.
'Since only multiples of three are possible, I should pick three words for now, right?'
The next moment, the written words emitted light and began to swirl together like cream stirred into coffee.
[100 Exp will be consumed.]
[Skill created.]
--------------------
Created Skill: [Crush] (Normal)
Tool Used: Blunt Weapon
Mana Consumption: 2pt
Description: A technique that strikes down on the opponent with all one's might. Simple, but excellent destructive power.
--------------------
'A Created Skill?!'
To test the skill, I pulled out the club I'd kept at my waist.
'Crush!'
I raised the club and strongly focused my will inwardly. I could feel a small amount of mana leaving my body.
Boom!
Debris flew in all directions, and a small crater formed in the floor.
"I-It's a skill......"
The moment I muttered without realizing,
Clack, clack!
A sound like bones clashing came from behind.