Leveling Up Alone

“…”

A week has passed since Han-Yeol miraculously cured his father’s illness.

Han-Yeol had to endure a lot of things in life due to his personal problems, and he now felt empty since his lifelong goal of curing his father's illness had finally been fulfilled. There was nothing wrong with him physically, but he was feeling lethargic. Nothing was exciting anymore, because of his current mental state.

Suek…

‘Ah… this could end up badly and become depression…’ Han-Yeol covered his forehead with his hand and thought.He had seen a few times on television that people who did not have a goal in life were more prone to getting depressed exactly because of the lethargy and emptiness that he felt right now.

Han-Yeol had an astronomical sum in his bank account right now, and it could sustain him for the rest of his life as long as he lived within his means. That was why money no longer served as a source of motivation for him.

Was it because Han-Yeol grew up poor for almost his entire life that he did not know what to do with a large sum of money? Apparently, only people who have spent a large sum of money before actually knew how to spend money, and the astronomical sum that Han-Yeol currently possessed did not really excite him or anything.

It was at that moment that Han-Yeol was knee-deep in his lethargy and emptiness that news was being aired on the TV.

[In other news, the sudden increases in dimensional holes have caused multiple civilian casualties, and have sharply increased the fatality rate among the Hunters. Six Hunters have already died due to the dimensional holes since the start of this year as per the statistics announced by the Hunters’ Association, and the number of Hunters who have gone missing at the hunting grounds numbered ten Hunters so far. The experts are currently advising all Hunters to go in a party of eight to ten members instead of the current conventional three to five members from now on when entering the hunting grounds. The government is trying to minimize civilian casualties by setting up numerous plans, but this is proving to be not an easy task for them as the dimensional holes occurred at random.]

‘That’s right. The dangers from the monsters have not disappeared yet!’ Han-Yeol snapped back to his senses and exclaimed inwardly when he heard the news.

It was not the end for Han-Yeol now that he had cured his father’s illness. He had forgotten it for a moment, but the threat of the monsters was still present. This was a threat that he was all too familiar with, but he had momentarily forgotten it as he got complacent. He immediately realized that he did not have the luxury of sitting around the sofa all day and just leisurely watch TV.

[The experts are currently criticizing that the Hunters’ Association is not the only one that should be making preparations for the expiry of the treaty set forth by the aliens in two years and that the government should also be making equal efforts to ensure the safety of the people.]

‘That’s right. I have to make thorough preparations. I’m not losing out on anything even if nothing happens anyway, and it is much better than getting pummeled one-sidedly just because I did not make any preparations for what was to come in the future,’ Han-Yeol thought.

It was already enough for Han-Yeol to feel that he almost could have lost his father once, and it was not something he wished to go through ever again. His lethargy and emptiness suddenly disappeared as he got into action, and his usual hardworking attitude sprung back to life.

‘What if a dimensional hole suddenly opened near this place while I’m away…?’ Han-Yeol nervously thought. He could no longer reel his thoughts in after the sudden wave of anxiety that he felt when the initial thoughts kicked in.

‘Who is going to block the monsters from the dimensional holes then?’ Han-Yeol thought.

The time that he spent out on the field was going to increase from now on if he wanted to get even stronger, and he needed a special measure in place to protect his father from any monster attacks that could occur while he was away.

‘I need a bodyguard for father… However, there’s no way that I can use a Hunter as a bodyguard…’ Han-Yeol thought.

He had experienced quite a lot of things while working as a Porter, and he knew very well that hiring a Hunter as a bodyguard was definitely not going to be a walk in the park. He also thought, ‘I can’t trust them too…’

There was no way that those selfish bastards would put their lives on the line to protect someone else. In fact, he would have to be content and thankful if they did not use his father as bait in case of any emergencies.

‘I need someone trustworthy to protect him…’ Han-Yeol pondered long and hard.

Han-Yeol suddenly recalled a summoned creature that guarded its master exceptionally well in one of the raid parties organized by a guild that he had joined when he had been working as a Porter.

Every Summoner class Hunter had the ability to summon one summoned creature, and Han-Yeol heard that there was a variety of summoned creatures, from spirits all the way to mythical beasts. He immediately went to his room and booted on his computer. Then, he went to the Hunters’ Association website and typed in the search bar.

[Summoned Creature]

Then, Han-Yeol pressed enter.

[There are only a few Summoner class Hunters out there, but there are quite a number of different types of summoned creatures. The most common type of summoned creatures are the spirits, and there are also the summoned creatures that possess high intelligence and powerful stats but are hard to control, like the mythical beasts. There are also the golems, which lack intelligence but faithfully follow every single one of their master’s orders, and there are also the ones that resurrect the dead and turn them into the undead. Lastly, there are unconfirmed reports of Summoner Hunters that can summon demons as well.]

[There are not many facts known about the Summoner Hunters, since not a lot of research has been carried out on them, and becoming a Summoner Hunter itself gave a huge boost to a Hunter’s rank as they are quite few and rare.]

‘Hmm…’ Han-Yeol pondered. He continued reading to better understand the Summoner Hunters’ different abilities.

After spending quite a while on research, he eventually decided that the best-summoned creature to watch over his father would be a demon-type summoned.

‘I need to have an affinity with the spirits if I want to summon a spirit-type, and affinity with the spirits is something that someone is innately born with. Also, a spirit-type summon has to stay within a certain distance of their summoner at all times, so… I’ll have to pass on it.

‘A golem will prove to be a strong bodyguard once I manage to create it, but its low intelligence is a cause for concern, since it might misjudge the situation at times. Also, the time and money it will take to create a golem are just too much, and I need something that can start guarding father right now. So I’ll have to pass on that as well…

‘The undead… I’ll have to pass on it just because of how it looks…

‘It’s simple to summon. Also, it’s a contractual relationship and not that of a summoner and a summoned, which is good since there’s no concern of the summoned creature being unsummoned, and a demon is willing to do anything as long as the contract is being fulfilled,’ Han-Yeol thought before he called on his Ego system, ‘Karvis!’

[Summoning magic is difficult but simple at the same time, because of the fact that Han-Yeol-nim can create skills through your actions.]

[I think that it would be possible for you to create a skill that could summon a demon as long as you put your mind to it.]

‘Put my mind into summoning a demon…’ Han-Yeol thought as he furrowed his brows. Unfortunately, the occult was not his forte, and neither was it something that was of interest to him.

‘Ha… I went through hell reading those medical textbooks, but who would have thought that I would end up reading books about the occult?’ Han-Yeol sighed inwardly.

Han-Yeol might have grumbled inwardly, but it was a luxury for him to grumble about his current situation. His ability to create skills put him in a much more advantageous position when compared to the other Hunters who had to live their entire lives with only three skills.

The other Hunters would never dream of obtaining any skills, even if they read books on the same topic every day for a hundred years. As for Han-Yeol, he had the advantage of being rewarded as much as the effort he put in.

‘I guess I’ll have to live at the library from now on—again…’ Han-Yeol thought as he went to the public library once again.

However, his expectations turned into disappointment in less than thirty minutes since entering the library. He exclaimed inwardly, ‘There are no books about demon summoning in the library!’

It was just as he thought. The library had no books that were related to demon summoning or the occult.

Han-Yeol decided to ask the librarian, just in case, and the response he got was that those kinds of books were not suitable for all ages and the library was a place where people from all ages came. Thus, the library purposely did not display any dark books of that nature.

‘Why is that considered a dark book?! Also, don’t you have a kid’s section over there?!’ Han-Yeol cried out inwardly in frustration.

Han-Yeol left the library and went to the K-Bookstore.

“Welcome!”

“Welcome!”

Han-Yeol had become quite a celebrity at K-Bookstore after spending one million four hundred and thirty thousand won on books. He had also given an astounding sum of one million won for the staffers to have dinner the last time he had visited.

The K-Bookstore staffers were much more polite than they were required to be toward Han-Yeol. They were hoping for him to generously open his wallet once again this time. The manager quickly asked, “How may I assist you, customer-nim?”

“Do you have any books related to the occult here?” Han-Yeol asked in response.

“Huh?” the manager was momentarily perplexed at Han-Yeol’s words.

“Do you have any books related to demon summoning or books about demons?” Han-Yeol asked.

“P-Please wait a moment, I will immediately go and check,” the manager replied while slightly flustered at the strange request.

“Alright,” Han-Yeol replied.

The manager went to the other staffers and asked about Han-Yeol’s request. He called out, “Hwee-Na.”

“Yes, manager-nim?” the staffer responded.

“Does our store have any books about the occult?” the manager asked.

“Please wait a moment… I don’t recall seeing any though…” the staffer replied.

The part-time staffer called Hwee-Na searched the keyword ‘occult’ on their computer, and there were quite a lot of different books that showed up on their database. However, all of the books had a message on them that showed that they were not in stock at their store. Noticing that, the part-timer Hwee-Na said, “There are a different variety of occult books, but we do not have any of them in our store.”

“Well… That can’t be helped. We can’t tell him that we have a book that we don’t have. Alright, thanks,” the manager said.

“Yes, manager-nim,” Hwee-Na replied. She blushed when the tall and handsome manager thanked her with a warm smile.

‘Kyaaah! Manager-nim smiled at me!’ Hwee-Na thought as she exclaimed inwardly. She felt that this tiring and difficult part-time job had finally paid off, and she felt as if she got paid a bonus for her hard work.

The manager approached Han-Yeol with an apologetic look on his face. He said, “I am sorry, customer-nim. We do not have any of the books that you are looking for at our branch. Shall I at least place an order for the books that you are looking for?”

“Ah, no no. You don’t have to,” Han-Yeol replied.

“I apologize once again. Then, I wish you a pleasant day,” the manager said once again with a bow.

“Thank you, have a nice day!” Han-Yeol said before he left the bookstore.

The staffers at K-Bookstore looked at Han-Yeol leaving the bookstore with a hint of disappointment on their faces.

“Ahh… We would have received a lot of tips to spend on dinner if we delivered the books to his place like last time…”

“Tsk… I know right… I still can’t forget the taste of the Hanwoo[1] rib-eye we had that day!”

“Ah… I want to eat it again…”

“Me too…”

The staffers who were born and lived as ordinary citizens had the chance to eat such luxurious meat for the first time in their lives, thanks to the tip that Han-Yeol had given them that day, and it was a taste that they could not forget and wanted to taste one more time.

Most of the staffers who worked here were mostly working to make ends meet or save up for their tuition fees, so they did not have the luxury to purchase Hanwoo with their own money.

“Well… We just have to hope for the next time.”

“Sigh…” The staffers sighed in unison.

Han-Yeol eventually made his way home after failing to find the book he wanted at the library and the bookstore, and he searched up ‘demon summoning’ on G-Platform on his computer. Then, he saw five posts with the words ‘demon summoning’ in them, and he clicked on the link that was written ‘demon summoning methods of different countries’.

It seemed that someone had half-jokingly posted a question regarding demon summoning, but there was an actual reply under it that suggested a few books.

‘Shall I try ordering these suggested titles?’ Han-Yeol thought. He set aside the books suggested for a moment, scrolling further down to read the other replies. Then, he thought, ‘Hmm? This looks quite good.’

Han-Yeol did not really expect much from the online search, but he had unexpectedly found a reply that was quite sincerely written under the post.

[I am currently a Priest. I will have to post a reply while maintaining my anonymity due to my class, but I, myself, am quite interested in demon summoning. I have some experience summoning demons, and I also managed to successfully request things from them as well. Unfortunately, a demon is not something anyone can just summon. You will need to have innate spiritual or psychic powers to summon one, and you will just keep failing no matter how much you try if you don't have these. However, I will tell you a few things about demon summoning to satisfy your curiosity as well as to alleviate my boredom.]

‘Good, keep going,’ Han-Yeol thought. He did not expect even 1% on the reply, but he never imagined that he was going to unexpectedly profit from clicking a random link on the internet.

Han-Yeol properly sat down and scrolled further down.

[Warning: Please treat a demon with utmost respect and honesty at all times. Do not ever try to order it around or take advantage of them in any way.]

‘Hmm…’ Han-Yeol thought as he nodded.

1. Hanwoo is Korean Beef which is a brand like Wagyu. Han 한 means Korean and 우 Woo means cow. ☜