Part 7
Upon exiting the door of Stage 1, Jonghyeon suddenly felt drowsiness wash over him.
'My fatigue and injuries were washed away, but I suppose they can't do anything about sleep.'
Of course, taking away his sleep as well wouldn't make sense.
And the same went for hunger.
*Gurgle—*
Jonghyeon's stomach churned.
'Setting aside food for now, what do I do about sleep?'
Sleeping at home was something he was quite reluctant to do. After all, he never knew when the trackers chasing him might burst in.
Jonghyeon sat down for a moment in the dungeon waiting room, lost in thought.
Where else could he sleep, if not at home?
Just then, Jonghyeon's gaze returned to the dungeon waiting room.
A safe space. A place where he could get plenty of sleep. A place no one could find.
"Huh?"
Come to think of it, couldn't he just sleep here?
A thought struck Jonghyeon's mind like lightning!
It was truly the optimal location.
From the beginning, who else could enter or exit this dungeon if not Jonghyeon?
Having thought that far, Jonghyeon went so far as to fetch his bedding from home.
'I could just leave the bedding here and use it as lodging later, couldn't I?'
It was a passing thought, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense.
Opening and closing the portal wouldn't make the items inside disappear.
Thinking he had discovered an unexpectedly useful function of the watch, Jonghyeon felt inexplicably pleased and smiled his characteristic sly smile.
"Heh, heh, heh..."
And then, thinking he should test one more thing before sleeping, Jonghyeon lay down on his bedding and pressed the first button on the watch.
"Tch. The same penalty message pops up."
In any case, he had already gone out to fetch his bedding and come back.
It must be showing this message because it was processed as a re-entry.
In other words, if he left like this without clearing Stage 2, he would unavoidably receive the same 3-day penalty.
Of course, Jonghyeon had no intention of going back out now.
He planned to sleep here and challenge Stage 2 immediately upon waking.
'So to summarize, this dungeon basically applies a 3-day penalty just for entering through the front.'
But Jonghyeon had no reason to complain about that.
'No, rather, that's even better?'
It was certainly not the watch's original function, but if he gave up on the 3-day training, it could be used quite versatilely.
As long as he had plenty of food, it wouldn't matter if he stayed for days or months.
What an efficient hideout it was.
'It has many uses.'
Jonghyeon slowly fell asleep.
★ ★ ★
*Ting!*
'I regret coming here with a light heart.'
He could definitely feel that the Stage 2 dungeon was far more difficult than Stage 1.
'This time, from that side!'
*Ting!*
This repetitive yet unpredictable act had already been going on for four hours.
Stage 2 was a small room. And there were no enemies whatsoever.
Instead,
*Ding!*
—Stage 2 mission initiated.
—Survive here for 10 hours.
"What, 10 hou—"
*Swoosh—*
Before Jonghyeon could even be surprised.
The moment the announcement ended, something came flying toward Jonghyeon at tremendous speed.
"What!"
*Ting!*
Reflexively, Jonghyeon pulled out his Sotaedo with animalistic instincts and deflected the object flying before his eyes.
But Jonghyeon immediately sensed something flying at him from behind again.
And so, things suddenly began flying at him!
Judging by the sound of the deflections, they were clearly made of the same material as the weapons used by the stone statue monster from before.
And as Jonghyeon struck down the objects flying from all directions, he soon realized what they were.
Their appearance was like Japanese shuriken.
They were palm-sized but looked sharp at a glance.
No, setting aside their sharpness,
'At this speed, even a rock would kill me instantly if it hit!'
Wasn't this an unexpectedly dangerous concealed weapon, where even a single hit would send him straight across the road to the underworld!
'Is there not a single easy thing in this damn dungeon?'
And so, Jonghyeon began repeating the act of deflecting shuriken.
Repetitive practice, said to be the most important thing in all studies!
For the first 30 minutes or so, merely deflecting them was taxing.
No matter how capable Jonghyeon was, continuously deflecting the relentless onslaught was inevitably difficult.
Eventually, his deflections began to slow little by little, and Jonghyeon gradually became stained with blood.
Even a slight graze cut deeply because of the speed.
'Blurry.'
But the more that happened, the more Jonghyeon began to focus.
It was something like stubbornness. Though one might call it pigheadedness, Jonghyeon had his own thoughts.
The flying shuriken gradually began to look a little slower.
Though Jonghyeon's body had slowed, his eyes were beginning to get used to the speed.
'Still, if things keep flowing like this, there won't be a problem. But why do I feel so uneasy?'
No matter how much Jonghyeon thought about it, this dungeon had never left him alone.
Thinking there was no way he could clear it this easily, Jonghyeon continued his somewhat stabilized training while repeatedly doubting and doubting again.
Had about two hours passed?
"Tch. How does this damn dungeon never stray from expectations?"
In a bad way, of course!
The moment Jonghyeon finished speaking, all the lights in the room began to go out.
Of course, Jonghyeon had a skill that allowed him to see clearly in the darkness, but,
*Swish— Ting!*
'At this point, it's not something I can see and dodge. Even with eyes that can see in the dark, if the color is similar to the walls, I can't distinguish them!'
Jonghyeon was already quite annoyed.
But this damn dungeon didn't have even a speck of consideration.
Adding frost to snow!
As if misfortunes never come singly, the speed of the shuriken began to gradually increase!
Jonghyeon now recognized the direction by the sound of their flight and reflexively deflected them with only his senses.
Jonghyeon, with blood soaking most of his clothes.
The area around where Jonghyeon stood was full of red droplets.
'My vision is getting blurry too.'
But by now, vision was no longer any problem.
Something had to be visible for it to be a problem. He couldn't track the shuriken with his eyes anyway, so it didn't matter.
As Jonghyeon grew increasingly dizzy and his vision blurred, he awakened his body's senses and began to focus his mind.
If he lost focus, his life would end immediately.
How much time had passed?
Jonghyeon felt something change.
At some point, the sound of the flying shuriken began to slow down little by little.
'Am I imagining things?'
But Jonghyeon was holding his mental strength at maximum.
His concept of time hadn't changed.
His body had simply 'adapted'!
At the same time, a very slight margin was created for Jonghyeon.
'Though by margin, I mean I'm just slightly less out of breath.'
Jonghyeon had lost a lot of blood and was already in a state of severe stamina depletion.
He possessed animal-like agility by circulating his ki, but that didn't mean his ki was infinite.
He had to distribute it better now.
Jonghyeon clenched his teeth.
He slowly regulated his breath, which had risen to his chin, and closed his eyes entirely.
And he began to slowly but carefully deflect the flying shuriken.
When he closed his eyes completely, a slight fear washed over him, but rather, closing his eyes helped him focus even better.
'I just need to deflect them before they touch my body. And if I'm going to do this, I need to minimize my movements even more. But how?'
Though he focused on sound as much as he had closed his eyes, he was still taking excessive movements.
Jonghyeon tried to become more sensitive to minute timing.
But even if he became sensitive to minute timing, it was impossible to completely reduce the size of his movements.
Suddenly, Jonghyeon thought of the wooden dummy's swordsmanship.
'Hadn't the wooden dummy deflected attacks?'
As a last resort, Jonghyeon began to relax his body's strength.
At first, it was quite dangerous, and he nearly dropped his Sotaedo.
But Jonghyeon gradually grew accustomed to deflecting, and eventually began to deflect the shuriken while barely moving from his spot.
Jonghyeon finally began to understand the true meaning of this training. Of course, merely understanding didn't allow him to adapt to this training so quickly.
But Jonghyeon had always had considerable agility, and because he knew how to circulate his ki, he could achieve maximum optimization.
'Distributing power minimally but appropriately to where it's needed. That was the key point.'
Because he wasn't overexerting himself, Jonghyeon's movements became more concise and accurate, and at the same time, sharper.
Suddenly, Jonghyeon felt a sense of relief that this training too could end safely.
Adapting to the situation was important, but it was the point where how well he himself recognized it was even more important.
Now that Jonghyeon could fully trust his own body, he could engage in the training with a slightly more comfortable mind.
"Why on earth won't you tell me the remaining time!"
Of course, while wishing time would pass a little faster.
★ ★ ★
What he obtained upon clearing Stage 2 was recovery from the fatigue and injuries gained in Stage 2, and one potion with the same ability.
A potion.
If it was an enormous profit, it was enormous beyond imagination. This was clear if one thought only of the prices of potions circulating on the market.
Wasn't a potion a medicine with a price that an ordinary person couldn't possibly imagine?
Potions were manufactured by mages using B-grade or higher magic stones, along with herbs from treasure chests that only appeared in B-grade or higher dungeons.
'Actually, if I sold just this, I could take half a year off work.'
Of course, he had to briefly set aside any thoughts of rest.
Though potions were a product that was unavailable in the market, no matter how important money was, was it worth his life?
'It would be better to have at least one.'
While thinking that, Jonghyeon couldn't hide his considerably surprised expression.
To think such a reward came from merely Stage 2.
Was this what it felt like to pick up a stone on the road and find out it was a diamond?
It was clear that from Stage 3 onwards, though the difficulty would increase, tremendous rewards awaited.
'Let's go. Stage 3 too.'
Strike while the iron was hot.
Having endured the humiliation of Stage 2, Jonghyeon had gained quite a bit of confidence.
But when Jonghyeon opened the door to Stage 3, he could only despair soon after.
"Shit."
To the point where even swearing he didn't usually use came out.
The scenery in Stage 3 was very similar to where the wooden puppet had been before.
Of course, only the scenery was similar.
'This thing is twice as big as the elephant from before!'
A stone statue monster waiting with six hands, each holding a different weapon.
It radiated a terrifying force that was hard to describe.
A physique that wouldn't budge even if hit by several cannons!
Still, having come this far, he couldn't just walk back out the door.
Jonghyeon first charged at the statue as an experiment.
After all, there was the same button as before at the entrance.
Thinking he could just press the button if it got dangerous, Jonghyeon could charge without burden.
Of course, the result was a crushing defeat.
The sense of pressure was one thing, but the stone statue monster could wield six weapons simultaneously.
It was no exaggeration to say the six hands moved as if each possessed its own intelligence.
Moreover, its strength was such that simply from the monster swinging its weapons, Jonghyeon's head shook as if caught in a typhoon.
This wasn't a matter of speed or fighting style.
'The weight class is different...'
Since the problem was clear, Jonghyeon came out without hesitation.
This time, it wasn't in a state where he could do something through sparring like with the wooden puppet.
From the start, at this weight class, Jonghyeon's Sotaedo wasn't even the size of a fruit knife.
'Would it even leave a scratch if I stabbed it? I'll have to establish some countermeasures before coming back.'
Of course, Jonghyeon had no choice but to abandon his thought of clearing up to Stage 7 in just 3 weeks.
At least clearing Stage 3 within 3 weeks. No, if he could even see the inside of Stage 4, that would be enough.
As the stages progressed, the level difference was beyond imagination.
The moment Jonghyeon came out, he began searching for information on raids.
There was quite a lot of information on the internet, and actually quite a lot of usable strategies as well.
But Jonghyeon soon had no choice but to face one problem.
---------= Author's Note ---------=
He'll suffer even after repeatedly suffering.
After all, isn't that the taste of raising a protagonist?