Leveling Up Alone

Ptui!

“Lucky bastards.”

“I know right.”

The loan sharks grumbled while walking away. Then, one of them growled at a factory employee who was in his way, “Move!”

The situation was somehow defused in an instant.

“T-Thank you, Han-Yeol Hunter-nim,” Sung-Jin’s father said.

“I didn’t do anything. Anyway, please calculate the Orc corpses I brought today,” Han-Yeol replied.

“Yes, I understand. Director Han, get to it immediately,” Sung-Jin’s father instructed.

Director Han sprung into action as soon as Sung-Jin’s father gave the order, and he called the employees to start weighing the Orc corpses that Han-Yeol had brought.

“I am really sorry that you had to see such an unsightly scene,” Sung-Jin’s father said while bowing.

“Ahjussi,” Han-Yeol said softly.

“H-Huh?” Sung-Jin’s father muttered in surprise.

“Please speak to me casually. You are Sung-Jin’s father, after all,” Han-Yeol said.

“B-But still… How can I do that when our factory’s survival is thanks to you, Han-Yeol Hunter-nim?” Sung-Jin’s father said.

“Please don’t worry about that. I will continue dealing with your factory and I will increase the number of monster corpses I supply from now on, nothing will change. We should keep our personal lives and business separate, but I won’t be comfortable if you keep speaking to me with honorifics when you are Sung-Jin’s father. So please, just think of me as your son’s friend and speak casually,” Han-Yeol said.

The man was his precious friend’s father, so how could he just stand and continue to listen to the man speaking to him with honorifics? That was only something a sociopath would do unless that friend had done something to him when they were younger and he was exacting sweet revenge on him right now.

“…” Sung-Jin’s father was speechless.

“Ahjussi,” Han-Yeol said.

“A-Alright. Haha… S-So, you are friends with Sung-Jin. I guess Sung-Jin found himself a really good friend,” Sung-Jin’s father said as he struggled to drop the honorifics from his words. However, the fact that he was speaking to the friend of his one and only son made it easier for him to be comfortable around Han-Yeol.

“But ahjussi,” Han-Yeol said.

“What is it?” Sung-Jin’s father asked.

“The big corporations are aiming for your factory, right? Which exact corporation is it?” Han-Yeol asked.

“I’m not sure myself. I can only guess that it’s either one of the S Group, L Group, or H Group, but nothing is going to change just because I know who is behind all of this,” Sung-Jin’s father said.

Sung-Jin’s father was right. The factory he ran, Sung-Jin Factory, was quite small and new. They were able to recently develop their own technology, but a big corporation caught a whiff of it and immediately sprung into action to prevent them from making any money out of it. It was a scheme to prevent them from growing. The fact that they were able to stay afloat by making small transactions was, as repeatedly mentioned, all thanks to Han-Yeol.

“Are there any other Hunters that you are dealing with aside from me?” Han-Yeol asked.

Sung-Jin’s father’s face suddenly darkened at that question. He then said, “We were dealing with six Hunters until a few days ago, but all of them served us a notice saying that they’re going to stop dealing with us… I don’t know what to do anymore, to be honest.”

Han-Yeol might have continuously supplied the factory with monster corpses, but it was difficult to call it a huge amount. It was also difficult to create anything highly valuable because the monsters that Han-Yeol usually hunted were the lower leveled ones.

‘Hmm… Then should I give Sung-Jin a token of my apology?’ Han-Yeol thought. He did sin against his friend for suddenly disappearing without a word after all, and he had incurred various debts to him during his school days as well.

Han-Yeol had just been a poor high school boy back in the day, so he had no way of repaying his friend, but he was more than able to repay that debt now.

***

“Uhmm… Kajikar-nim?” Han-Yeol called while obviously perplexed.

[What is it?] Kajikar asked.

Gulp… Gulp… Gulp… Gulp… Slurp…!

The demon paid little attention to Han-Yeol’s perplexed call. He was busy gulping down the luxurious liquor Han-Yeol had brought.

“Are we going to train here?” Han-Yeol asked.

He was perplexed because of the place Kajikar had brought him to train in accordance with their contract. He expected the demon to bring him to a secluded area, deep in the mountains, or somewhere near the shore to train. However, the place that Kajikar had chosen was the hunting ground where the monster Crazy Cow, which strangely resembled the demon’s head, inhabited.

[Kekeke! Of course! Did you really think that we will sit down and meditate like fools and I will teach you movements one by one?] Kajikar asked while bursting out in laughter.

“Of course…” Han-Yeol muttered. He certainly thought that was how the training was going to be, since that was how basics were trained in the movies.

[Kekeke! Then you got the wrong person, no, I mean, demon. I am the famed demon drill sergeant, Kajikar. I’m not a martial arts master, but a drill sergeant! Welcome to hell, greenhorn.] Kajikar said with a sinister smile.

“…” Han-Yeol felt that a tidal wave of hardships was soon going to crash down on him.

‘Damn it…’ Han-Yeol muttered inwardly…

While Kajikar let out a sinister evil laugh.

[Kuahahahahaha!]

***

The training with Kajikar was hell itself.

“Mooooooo!”

The monsters in this hunting ground, the Crazy Cows, were known as the strongest monsters among the low-ranking ones. The Orcs were the most difficult to hunt since they usually traveled around in groups, but the Crazy Cows were a step above the Orcs when only taking into account their individual strength.

They were larger than that of a buffalo while their horns were as large and sturdy as a buck’s, and their Toro instinct made them relentlessly rush toward their target with an absurd speed.

The main reason why these Crazy Cows were so difficult to deal with was that a bull had a hard time changing directions when a Matador dealt with them. However, these Crazy Cows ignored all laws of physics; they were able to turn not only at ninety degrees but even at seventy degrees, and they were able to smoothly make this turn without a loss in momentum at all.

On top of that, their reaction speed was so fast that it was practically impossible to avoid their horns at the last minute and attack them like how a Matador would do to a bull. Lastly, their horns were so large that they could scoop up their target with their horns and drag them along while running around in a frenzied state.

[It’s just the right opponent for you. They are near perfect since they do resemble me, but they are weak and simple-minded, so this is the perfect opponent for you to train with.] Kajikar said.

“Weak and simple-minded you say…” Han-Yeol muttered in disbelief.

Of course, Han-Yeol could take full advantage of the fact that they were monsters that walked on all fours and hunt them down with different tactics, but the problem was that he did not come here to hunt.

[What? Do you feel like giving up now?] Kajikar asked with a mocking smile.

“Ah, not at all. I have never thought of giving up on anything even once in my life,” Han-Yeol confidently replied.

[That’s a very admirable thing to say since I had no intentions of letting you give up in the first place.] Kajikar said with a sinister smile.

‘Keu…’ Han-Yeol was feeling even more nervous now after seeing the demon’s smile. With that, his hellish training had officially started.

***

Bam! Kwachik!

“Keuuuk!”

Han-Yeol blocked a Crazy Cow’s charge head on with his Mana Shield, but it was crazy of him to directly face a Crazy Cow which rushed toward him with all of its strength, speed, and skill combined. His Mana Shield shattered while his arm broke from the impact of the Crazy Cow’s charge.

“Kuheok!” Han-Yeol groaned in agony after being thrown back by the monster. He was able to stop the monster’s charge, but this only enraged the Crazy Cow even further. He muttered, “Keuk… R-Restore…”

Woooong…

Han-Yeol immediately used the little time he had to heal his broken arm.

An ordinary healing skill was effective when treating minor injuries, but it was not suitable to be used during combat since it required a long time to fully heal an injury. However, the Restore skill Han-Yeol had obtained possessed the ability to almost instantaneously heal an injury, and it only took ten seconds for it to mend a broken bone.

“That hurt,” Han-Yeol groaned. He mended his broken arm instantly, but the painful sensation from the impact still lingered in his joints.

Kajikar was observing the entire thing from atop a tree. He shouted. [Stupid fool! There’s no way you will be able to match that thing’s strength no matter how strong you think you are! Don’t face it head on, but try to flow away from it like water!]

‘I know, damn it!’ Han-Yeol grumbled inwardly. He heard the same thing over and over again from the demon until his ears could start bleeding from it, but the problem was that his body was not moving how he wanted it to move.

The monster’s movement slightly slowed down thanks to Sixth Sense, but the skill could not slow things down by a huge margin and neither could it reduce the impact. Thus, it was still difficult for Han-Yeol to accurately grasp the timing where he had to make things flow smoothly like water.

[Focus! You will be able to see it if you focus. Keep looking till the end. Take a deep breath and focus your senses on your surroundings. Your innate talent is almost on par with a high-ranking demon after all.] Kajikar said.

The demon was always rough with how he trained Han-Yeol, but he was actually holding his talents in high regard.

‘That’s an ability that I have never seen in my life, and even I can’t seem to see the depths of his ability. Let’s see how far up this kid can climb. Watching him is certainly going to be fun, hehe. As expected of Astaroth-nim, she really knows how to find interesting things,’ Kajikar thought.

The demon’s training style was to give a carrot for every hundred whippings.

[Focus more!] Kajikar shouted.

“Haaaap!”

Bam! Kwachik!

“Keuuuk!” Han-Yeol was blown back by the Crazy Cow because he missed the timing to parry its charge, and the impact crushed his arm and flung him backward like a ragdoll.

[Tsk tsk… You still have a long way to go.] Kajikar said while clicking his tongue.

“Damn it!” Han-Yeol cursed out loud before he cast Restore on his arm and stood up once again.

His eyes were still full of spirit despite having broken his arm twenty times now. In fact, it seemed that he was getting grittier the more he broke his arm. Steeling his resolve, he thought, ‘I will master the shield now that I’ve come this far.’

Han-Yeol did use a shield all this while, but he only knew how to use Shield Bash and a few motions he had seen from videos. The skill that he was learning from Kajikar right now was the most basic fundamental of the shield which was to block an opponent’s attack before parrying it, thereby reducing the amount of burden he would feel from the impact.

[Even textbooks were written through numerous experiences of trial and error. You will be able to master the basics as long as you remember what I taught you and apply it in combat!] Kajikar shouted.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Crazy Cow was madly rushing toward Han-Yeol once again.

“Kruuuwaaaaah!” Han-Yeol let out a roar as he prepared to face the monster with all of his senses focused on it.

Then, the Crazy Cow crashed into Han-Yeol’s Mana Shield once more.

Bam… Seuk…!

Just when the monster connected with his Mana Shield, Han-Yeol suddenly felt something, and he immediately twisted his Mana Shield before successfully parrying the monster’s charge in a fluid movement without receiving any impact.

It was a perfect parry that even a Crazy Cow, which had the ability to freely turn seventy degrees, could not react in time to.

‘I did it!’ Han-Yeol rejoiced inwardly.

[Hooo… Interesting.] Kajikar thought as he was slightly impressed by the human.

He was expecting Han-Yeol to take at least a month to learn this basic skill, since he lacked any form of basic training. The fact that he managed to learn how to do it in just two weeks, even though it was still a bit awkward, was enough to impress him.

[Is this kid’s talent even higher than that of a high-ranking demon?] Kajikar wondered.

Kajikar had trained numerous demons in the demon world, but even the high-ranking demons could not learn this shield skill in less than a month. This human had broken that record with sheer willpower and stubbornness.

[This is going to be interesting.] Kajikar thought.

Gulp… Gulp… Gulp… Gulp… Slurp…!

The demon drank the expensive liquor Han-Yeol had gotten him, and the liquor tasted even sweeter now that he was in a good mood.

Ding!

[The rank of ‘Mana Shield’ has risen from (B) to (A).]

[The rank of ‘Mana Shield’ has risen from (A) to (M).]

‘Huh? It went two levels at once?’ Han-Yeol thought in surprise.

That was not the end of it.

[‘Mana Shield’ has reached Master-Rank.]

[The skill has started to evolve.]

‘Oh, it’s evolving?’ he muttered inwardly.

[‘Mana Shield’ has evolved into ‘Force Shield’.]

[A new skill has been created – ‘Force Shield’.]

Name: Lee Han-Yeol

Level: 60

Points: 0

STR: 107

VIT: 103

AGI: 100

MAG: 150

LCK: 10

Invoke: 60

Skills: Dismember (D), Sword Mastery (A), Walking (B), Mana Control (B), Mana Mastery (C), Power Strike (A), Sixth Sense (C), Restrain (B), Body Strengthening (C), Mana Eyes (B), Jumping (A), Stab (C), Dagger Mastery (F), Chain Mastery (B), Infinite Library (M), Shield Bash (C), Fire Attribute (C), Mana Explosion (B), Chain Smite (B), Marksmanship (C), Martial Arts (D), Enchant (E), Sword Breath (D), Restore (E), Healing Bullet (E), Enhance Healing (E), Summon Demon (E), Telepathy (D), Power Meditation (E), Psychokinesis (E), Force Shield (F).

It was exactly as the message said. Mana Shield had disappeared from Han-Yeol’s skill list, and Force Shield (F) was added at the bottom of the list.

Han-Yeol moved his finger toward Force Shield on the list and tapped it.

[Force Shield (F)]

Type: Active

Description: The evolution of the skill Mana Shield. The user may summon a shield made out of the same mana as Mana Shield, and 5% of the damage dealt by the enemy to this shield will be reflected back to them; another 5% of the attack will be absorbed by the user, and replenish the user’s mana. The percentage will increase the higher this skill’s level is.

‘Wow… This is amazing…’ Han-Yeol muttered in amazement. His ordinary defensive skill ‘Mana Shield’ had been replaced with a new skill that could only be described as the best defensive skill ever.

The reason why Mana Shield’s rank was so low despite it being his main defensive skill was not only because of his lack of skill in handling a shield, but it was also because there were no huge merits in using it in the first place, aside from blocking the enemy’s attack. However, his new skill, Force Shield, was a different story altogether compared to Mana Shield.

‘Alright! Let’s keep this momentum going all the way!’ Han-Yeol exclaimed inwardly as a newfound vigor filled his spirit.