Leveling Up Alone

[You are absorbing a jewel from the demon world.]

[A penalty has occurred during the absorption process as the Demon’s Eye contains mana from the demon world.]

[Mana Absorption (C) has reduced the penalty from absorbing the demonic mana.]

A red glow surrounded Han-Yeol, unlike the blue glow that usually occurred when he absorbed mana. His hair and clothes were fluttering even though there was no breeze blowing.

***

Wooooong!

The red glow surrounded Han-Yeol, sending a strange sensation throughout his entire body.

[The first human to obtain a demon’s power is being born,] Kajikar said as he observed the birth of a new species.

“Hap!” Han-Yeol groaned in pain. He suddenly could not breathe and his body started to twist and squirm on its own, and then his eyes slowly started to glow red.

[You have absorbed a jewel from the demon world.]

[You have absorbed the Demon’s Eyes through Mana Absorption.]

[The power of demons is not something that a human can dare to have.]

[However, you are able to obtain their power through your skill.]

[A new skill has been created – Demon Eyes.]

Ding!

[The skill Demon Eyes and Mana Eyes have started to conflict with each other.]

[Demon Eyes has absorbed Mana Eyes!]

[The rank of ‘Demon Eyes’ has risen from (F) to (E).]

[The rank of ‘Demon Eyes’ has risen from (E) to (D).]

Fwaaaa…

Steam started to rise from Han-Yeol. Then, he sighed. “Phew…”

It was not that difficult for Han-Yeol to absorb the Demon’s Eyes, but he felt exhausted after experiencing this strange sensation that he had never felt before.

‘Demon Eyes…’ Han-Yeol thought as he checked his new skill’s description.

[Demon Eyes (D)]

Type: Active

Description: A skill created by absorbing the Demon’s Eyes, which is a jewel from the demon world, through an absorption skill. The user may select three modes when activating this skill. A Mode allows the user to scan for mana within a 10km radius, B Mode allows the user to quantify the target’s mana and see it in figures, and C Mode allows the user to see the profile of whatever they are looking at.

Gulp…

Han-Yeol was speechless. He could not help but swallow his saliva after reading the new skill’s description, and that was because this new skill was simply an amazing one.

‘Is this really a skill that I now possess…?’ Han-Yeol wondered. He could not believe what was happening as the skill that he just obtained was truly an astonishing one. He pinched his cheek, then slapped himself to make sure it wasn’t a dream.

Slap!

[Have you gone insane by any chance?] Kajikar asked. He suspected that Han-Yeol had lost his sanity as a side effect of absorbing the jewels.

“I-I am alright…” Han-Yeol muttered in response.

He went on to perform all sorts of stunts by himself before he was finally able to calm down. Then, he went over to Yoo-Bi, who had just finished handling a Lizardman corpse.

“Oppa, what was that red glow a while ago? I could not really pay attention because I was busy dismembering this Lizardman,” Yoo-Bi said.

“It’s nothing important. It’s your first time seeing red mana, right?” Han-Yeol asked.

“Yes, I met quite a lot of Hunters while training to become a Porter, but I remember all of them had blue mana…” Yoo-Bi replied.

She was correct.

Most of the Hunters’ mana was blue in color, and Han-Yeol’s mana color momentarily changed after he absorbed the Demon’s Eyes. In fact, all of his skills exuded the same blue mana whenever he used it.

“Do you remember that I summon demons?” Han-Yeol asked.

“Yes,” Yoo-Bi replied.

“I’m just borrowing their power for a bit, that’s all,” Han-Yeol said.

“You are borrowing the demons’ power…?” Yoo-Bi asked with a hint of surprise and nervousness in her voice.

“Just for a moment. I was shaking off their mana just now, that’s why my mana was red a while ago,” Han-Yeol said.

“Ah… I see,” Yoo-Bi muttered in response while nodding.

However, she thought to herself, ‘Liar.’

Yoo-Bi did not really have a grasp of what was going on, but she could clearly tell that Han-Yeol was lying right now. She had told him that she did not manage to get a clear view of what was going on since she was distracted with her work, but she had, in fact, managed to look at what happened with Han-Yeol.

She could confidently tell that Han-Yeol’s squirming motion had not been to simply shake the mana off. In fact, she thought that it was more appropriate to describe it as him accepting the mana instead.

‘I’m certain that oppa has a secret that should not be revealed to others… I’m certain of it,’ she thought. She was very curious as to what Han-Yeol’s secret was, but she also sensed that it was not something that he was easily going to tell her.

[Human, you don’t have the luxury to laze around right now,] Kajikar said.

“Ah, you are right,” Han-Yeol replied. He turned around to Yoo-Bi and said, “Alright Yoo-Bi, keep up the good work!”

“Alright, oppa,” Yoo-Bi replied.

That was how the demon drill sergeant’s words signaled the start of the next round of hunting.

***

A month had passed since Han-Yeol had absorbed the Demon’s Eyes, and winter was now here.

Ding!

[Your level has risen.]

‘Finally…’ Han-Yeol muttered as he looked up at the sky, taking in the ecstatic feeling. He thought triumphantly, ‘I have finally reached Level 100…!’

[So it’s finally over,] Kajikar said.

Nothing much had changed when Han-Yeol had reached Level 100. There were no congratulatory messages that popped up, but he was still incredibly proud of the fact that he was at Level 100.

Anyone who played a game in their life would know the exhilarating feeling of reaching Level 100.

[This is as far as our contract goes,] Kajikar said.

They had not decided on a particular time when their contract was going to end, but wherever there was a beginning, there was bound to be an end. Therefore, they had agreed somewhere along the way to set the limit at Level 100 for the duration of the contract, and today was that day.

“Thank you very much for your hard work, and thank you very much for your teachings,” Han-Yeol said respectfully.

[Hehe, don’t mention it. It was quite fun for me as well, this is the first time that I taught a human,] Kajikar replied.

“You also managed to stock up on alcohol,” Han-Yeol added.

[Kuhahaha! That is a given!] Kajikar replied with a hearty laugh.

The alcohol that Kajikar had demanded in return for his teachings was more than enough to buy a house in Gangnam[1], and the kind of house that could be purchased with that sum was not an ordinary one either, but the kind that the rich Hunters preferred to buy.

Of course, Han-Yeol had earned quite a hefty sum while being trained by the demon drill sergeant, but it was also true that he had spent quite a fortune in keeping his end of the bargain—keeping Kajikar happy.

[Well, I doubt we will be seeing each other again, since I’m a very busy demon, but make sure that you don’t go around getting beaten up and bullied. It’s going to be very embarrassing if someone who has learned from me ends up a punching bag,] Kajikar said.

“Yes, I understand, Kajikar-nim,” Han-Yeol replied.

[Then, I bid you farewell! Kuhahaha!] Kajikar said. He let out his trademark laugh before diving back into his sigil and returning to his hometown, the demon world.

“Phew…” Han-Yeol let out a sigh of relief.

He could not help but feel a bit empty after his companion, whom he had spent quite a bit of time together with, had suddenly disappeared for good, but the emptiness did not last long.

Han-Yeol had been a loner when he had worked as a Porter, since he did not have time to socialize with people, but it was different now, as he had Sung-Jin, whom he had reconnected with recently. He also had Yoo-Bi with him.

Also, his father, who was the most important person to him, was now healthy and doing well. Thinking about his father’s recovery, Han-Yeol felt grateful, and he thought, ‘That is the most important thing to me.’

This was the one thing that brought him joy and the one thing that he would never trade for anything.

Han-Yeol stretched as he renewed his resolve, thinking, ‘I finally became stronger after going through all sorts of hardships… I should at least aim to be the best hunter in South Korea—no, the entire world, right?’

This was Han-Yeol’s new goal in life after accomplishing his first one, which had been to treat his father’s illness, and he was ready to put everything on the line to achieve his newfound goal.

***

“Lalala~ Lalala~” Han-Yeol hummed a tune.

It had been quite a while since he had last managed to take a break, and he was finally enjoying his well-deserved break after reaching Level 100.

He was wearing a luxurious silk bathrobe and drinking an expensive beer that was flown in from Germany. At the same time, he was searching some stuff online on his new 42-inch UHD TV, which acted as a computer and could be controlled with his hand motions.

Swipe…! Swipe…!

This product was not released in South Korea yet, but Han-Yeol had managed to purchase it from overseas. Then, he had sent it to a technician whom he had gotten to know during his Porter days and asked him to change the language pack to Korean.

A few windows appeared and disappeared at Han-Yeol’s hand motions.

Slurp…!

He did not forget to sip on his expensive beer once in a while too.

Han-Yeol lived a pretty modest life compared to his earnings, but that all changed when he stumbled upon a talk show program on TV that showcased the lives of the rich people around the world. He then thought, ‘A person has to spend as much as he earns to contribute to the economy.’

Han-Yeol had the ability to rake in an astronomical amount of money as long as he did not lose his ability or die, and that was why he decided to stop living with his poor self’s habits. He justified his new philosophy by thinking that money should not be hoarded, but instead used so that it could circulate back to the economy.

That was why the first thing Han-Yeol had done was purchase the high-end appliances that he had always wanted to buy and fully renovate his bathroom. He had initially felt awkward seeing expensive things in his house, but he had soon gotten used to them and thought that spending money was not a bad feeling at all.

‘There’s a reason why expensive things are expensive,’ he thought.

Han-Yeol finally had a taste of what spending money felt like through this experience.

‘Hmm…’ Han-Yeol was watching a video of a raid party hunting in a hunting ground that housed intermediate-rank monsters considered to be much stronger than the Lizardmen. He thought, ‘It’s time for me to increase the difficulty now.’

It was better for Han-Yeol to start creating his own team instead of solo-hunting if he were to increase the difficulty. However, most of the parties that hunted intermediate-rank monsters were not ragtag groups, but proper raid parties that had been together for a long time.

This was unavoidable, since the difficulty of an intermediate hunting ground went up substantially if the monsters inhabiting it were at the middle rank of the intermediate level, and the reason for the sudden increase in difficulty was that the monsters inhabiting these kinds of hunting grounds, unlike the lower-rank ones, had their own skills.

It was definitely going to send a chill down anyone’s spine if they were to imagine a few or even a few dozen intermediate-rank monsters firing their skills toward them at the same time.

Han-Yeol did feel proud at the fact that he was now Level 100, but he was not brave or stupid enough to simply rush into an intermediate-rank hunting ground all on his own, and the video that he was currently watching confirmed that his gut feeling was correct.

Baaam! Baaam! Baaam!

Perhaps it was because the TV was worth eight hundred million won, but the sound effects were very realistic. Han-Yeol actually thought that the explosion was occurring right in front of him.

[Hey, Dealers! What the hell are you guys doing?]

One of the Hunters in the video had almost been swept away by the explosion. He shouted, [Shut up! We can’t use our skills properly because you guys are doing a poor job at the front!]

The Dealers did not back down, and they retorted at the Hunter.

‘Tsk tsk… I know I purchased a cheap video, but isn’t this too much…?’ Han-Yeol thought.

Han-Yeol was currently watching a live video broadcast by the Forum Guild. There were quite a bit of other videos being broadcast live, but Han-Yeol had decided to go for the cheapest one since he was not looking for anything in particular.

Viewers had to pay a flat fee to connect to the guild’s broadcast, and they needed to pay extra if they wanted to watch the live broadcast as well. It was not cheap at all and it could even be considered to be extortion, but the live hunting broadcasts were quite popular on the guild’s website.

‘There are more normal people tuned in than Hunters,’ Han-Yeol thought as he browsed through the viewers who tuned in.

The population of those who awakened was less than 0.1% of the whole, so the rest of the 99.9% were normal civilians. However, there were quite a lot of civilians out there who enjoyed watching the Hunters’ videos, and they treated the Hunters like celebrities in this day and age. That was why it was normal for a large guild to have its own broadcasting channels.

Han-Yeol continued watching the broadcast for five more minutes before he clicked his tongue and grumbled inwardly, ‘Tsk… I just wasted my money.’

The entire raid was a mess. They had no teamwork even though they had made quite a name for themselves.

Han-Yeol was about to switch off the broadcast when the live comments section suddenly caught his eye. Reading the live comments section, he muttered inwardly, ‘Hmm?’

[Hahaha! This is way too funny!]

[As expected of the Forum Guild, they are showing why they are famous, or rather… infamous.]

[This is the reason why I can’t stop watching this guild’s broadcasts!]

[Boooo!]

‘So this was it…’ Han-Yeol thought as he finally understood what was going on after reading the live comments.

The Forum Guild was not a guild famous for its good qualities, but rather infamous for its lack of teamwork and its messed up hunts.

‘This is crazy…’ Han-Yeol thought as he shook his head, ‘To think that they will toy around with their lives like this…’

It was basically game over the moment they died, so why were they messing around with their lives just to try and make a video out of it? Han-Yeol thought that perhaps these kinds of boneheads were the reason why there had been a rise in Hunter deaths recently.

‘This is frustrating… It really is frustrating…’ Han-Yeol thought as he judged the Hunters’ incompetency.

He felt that the world looked different after he had absorbed the Demon’s Eyes, but that was only his delusion and arrogance speaking, since he hadn’t gotten the chance to use it properly yet.

Han-Yeol pondered for the next ten minutes before suddenly coming up with a brilliant idea. He thought, ‘Hmm… should I start my own channel too…?’

1. Gangnam is one of the most prime real estate areas in all of South Korea. ☜