Recovery [5]

Alnair sighed, dropping the head of one of the stone knights onto the floor. All around him were the destroyed bodies of the nearby stone statues, not even one left moving after Alnair's monstrous rampage.

Although he couldn't see it, a notification appeared beside him.

[You have completed all the necessary requirements of the Secret Quest, "The Light within Darkness."]

As if he was unbothered by the blood and sweat clinging to his body, Alnair stretched and yawned.

"Well, that was easy. How long have I been in here for? Three days now?" Alnair walked over the broken bodies of his enemies towards the hole he left in the wall. "I guess I should get some sleep pretty soon, eh? But first… there are more important matters to attend to."

Alnair walked all the way back to the entrance, the white door he walked through. He busted through it with his bare hands. He approached the angel statue that was holding the stone tablet.

He began stretching before he stood up straight and tall, pointing at the statue.

"You, stop wasting my time. Any Hunter worth their money could tell you're the biggest threat here," Alnair grinned, cracking his neck.

The angel statue crushed the stone tablet within its grasp.

-----

Jin-Woo clicked away at the floating blue screen in front of him. It was called his status page, and it showed basic information in the form inspired by turn-based RPG games.

All his stats were one, as was his level. Because all his stats were level one, he was pretty sure that the stats wouldn't reflect his intelligence as much as his grasp on his abilities in reference to those things. The only things that differed from being a plain level one were his HP and MP, but he expected that, so he didn't give it any mind.

However, he didn't expect his class to be―

[Class: Necromancer]

―so unusual.

He did remember saying "Arise" to Igris's corpse, but because he went unconscious almost immediately after he couldn't remember what had happened after.

He heard the door to the hospital room slowly opening, so he looked up to see his younger sister peaking her head inside. He swiped away the screens as his younger sister slowly crept inside, closing the door behind her with a small huff.

He had this feeling she'd lecture him, but he only felt relief upon seeing his sister's relaxed demeanor. Dual Awakening or not, he gave his sister his full attention.

"Jin-Woo! Why are you in the hospital AGAIN?!" His younger sister, Sung Jino, asked him. Her hands fell to her hips, and he suddenly was reminded of a certain A-Rank Healer.

He tried to ignore the silent stinging in his chest and gave his sister a small smile.

"Well… I am a Hunter, it's to be expected," Jin-Woo shrugged, hoping to shrug off the entire situation. Unfortunately for him, his sister was not on the same page.

"You know how much I hate when you talk like that! Okay, it's official, I'm dropping out of school and getting a job! At this point this is just plain ridiculous!" Jino huffed, causing Jin-Woo to let out a soft laugh.

He rose from his bed with a small wobble before pulling his sister into his chest, hugging her silently. For a moment, the two siblings stood together.

For someone like himself, actions would always speak much louder than words.

"I was really scared when I heard you were here, in the same hospital as Mom. I…." Her voice quivered a little bit, but she stopped talking before it could get any worse.

'I almost left her to fend for herself. I… can't let that happen again, ever,' Jin-Woo silently promised himself, running a calming hand over Jino's back.

About ten seconds passed before Jino pushed away from Jin-Woo's chest, spinning around on her heel and waving as she opened the door. She didn't look back.

"Have fun in class," Jin-Woo dismissed his sister, receiving a nod and an almost inconsequentially small sniffle from her. Before the door closed behind her, Jin-Woo looked above her head, and as it had been with both Igris and Kim Byung-Ho, her name was hovering above her head.

[Jino Sung]

He looked at the closed door for a moment before nodding to himself and silently calling forth his skill list.

[Skills]

Passive Skills:

Player's Body [Lv. Max]

Active Skills:

None

Class Skills:

Soul Revival [Lv. 1]

Soul Storage [Lv. 1]

He only had three skills so far, with two of them being associated with his class as a Necromancer. He clicked all three and briefly looked over them.

[Player's Body (Passive) | Lv. Max]

Live as the sole Player of the System, receiving an increased regeneration speed. All damage is now converted into a drop in HP, and minor damage will be physically healed instantly. All major damage will stay inflicted on the body for a minimum of 48 hours after being inflicted. Varying levels of damage will create varying levels of time for a full heal.

Player's Body was somewhat confusing to him, but it did seem like a truly powerful and invaluable ability to have as an E-Rank, even if he couldn't tell what the difference between minor and major damage would be.

Having a body that'd be fully healed after 48 hours was far beyond anything he'd ever dreamed of.

[Soul Revival (Active) | Lv. 1]

Revive the soul of a recently killed being. The chance of failure increases the higher the target's stats are.

Souls able to be revived: 1/1

[Soul Storage (Active) | Lv. 1]

Store the soul of a revived being. Stored souls can be summoned and stored at the user's will.

Souls able to be stored: 1/1

Soul Revival and Soul Storage were a combo-deal of sorts, with the ability to summon souls and save them for later usage. The ability to do such a thing made Jin-Woo's head spin.

He always saw himself as a little E-Rank, but with the combination of the System and his class of a Necromancer, he wasn't sure for how much longer that'd be for.

He felt like he was cheating. A Summon for a traditional Hunter―normally a Mage, but oddities tended to arise―would cost an insane amount of mana to summon, and an even higher amount to maintain, but those major problems suddenly seemed to disappear in the face of these new skills.

Even if he only had one Summon for the rest of his life, that still meant he'd basically account for two people in every raid he participated in. The thought of that sent a shiver of glee up Jin-Woo's spine.

There was a tab next to the number of souls able to be stored, so Jin-Woo clicked on it, causing a new notification to appear.

[Blood-Red Igris]

[Lv. 1]

The information was basic and straightforward, with a name and a level being displayed, but Jin-Woo's eyes lingered on the latter information much more.

"A… level? Wouldn't that be insinuating that… the summoned souls could become… stronger?" Jin-Woo fell back onto his bed, looking up to the ceiling with a small laugh.

Being given the ability to grow from an E-Rank to anything better was already a miracle, but to have Summons with the same ability to grow was something far beyond a miracle. This could only be intentional.

Jin-Woo was positive the Dual Dungeon, the Kartenon Temple, had something to do with his Dual Awakening, but he couldn't figure out how much of a difference it made.

The System said his Dual Awakening was "completed," rather than "created" or "achieved," so he was positive that he'd experienced portions of his Dual Awakening at earlier times in his life, like when he was helping Julie, or when Alnair betrayed him.

Because of his past experiences with glimpses of the System, Jin-Woo came to a sensible conclusion.

"It's like I had the embers of a fire within me, but whatever happened in that odd dungeon turned the embers into a full-fledged inferno that's burning inside me," Jin-Woo nodded to himself. "For now, I'll just have to accept that the Dual Dungeon allowed me to properly access my abilities."

With that somewhat figured out, Jin-Woo sat up in his bed, extending a somewhat nervous hand.

"Igris…?" Jin-Woo called out, wishing to see the enemy he'd faced only a few days prior. However, after a few moments of silence, a notification appeared.

[Name: "Igris" has been detected. Would you like to change the name of "Blood-Red Igris" to "Igris"?]

[Yes/No]

Jin-Woo looked at the message for a few moments, pursing his lips. His finger slowly moved to click yes.

"I couldn't imagine saying such an edgy name all the time, Igris is much more effective," Jin-Woo nodded to himself before slowly taking a deep breath in and standing up. He stood up tall, even though his heart pounded in his chest.

"Igris," He called out.

From the bed's shadow, a small part of the shadow flew out, stopping just a few feet from Jin-Woo. A red gauntleted hand climbed from the shadow, rising from the ground. Out came Igris, the red knight's impending presence seeming much weaker than it was originally.

Jin-Woo noted that it was probably because of Soul Revival. At least in the games he'd experienced, getting a dead creature back at full strength would completely break the pacing of development, so he accepted the momentary weakness quickly. If Igris could grow stronger, his current strength would soon be irrelevant.

The red knight looked just as he did when he was alive, with the only difference being his striking golden eyes, as if they were replicated after Jin-Woo's. Although, eyes wasn't quite the right word, seeing as the orb-like shapes had no defining features beyond being golden.

Jin-Woo gave the Summon a few simple commands, like raising his right hand or jumping, and the Summon followed through without hesitation. The only order the Summon didn't follow through with was speaking, and Jin-Woo was quick to deduce that the Summon couldn't speak, being a monster.

With a basic understanding of his skills, Jin-Woo stored Igris, causing the summon to fall into the ground and turn into a shadow before joining the shadow of the room's chair. With Igris stored, Jin-Woo reopened his first quest, sighing at the truly daunting list of objectives.

The E-Rank dropped to the floor, doing the first push-up he'd done in years.

-----

Jin-Woo stumbled forward, panting, and gasping for air as the cool breeze kindly soothed his agony. His hands fell to his knees as his heart pounded in his ears. He ignored the concerned gazes of the nearby employees and patients as he looked up, noticing that he was on the very cusp of his kilometer requirement.

He stumbled towards a bench, and as soon as he sat down, he received the notification of completing his first quest.

[You have completed the Starting Quest: Becoming Stronger.]

[Completion rewards have been sent.]

[Would you like to view your rewards?]

[Yes/No]

Jin-Woo panted heavily for a few moments before running the back of his hand across his head. He was sweating and quite hot, but the cool winter air sent a chill up his spine.

He lazily raised his hand up and softly tapped the "Yes" option. A soft ding filled his ears before a new round of notifications flittered into his vision.

[The following rewards are currently available.]

Reward 1. Instant Activation of Player's Body

Reward 2. Key to Instant Dungeon

Reward 3. Skill: Basic Observation

[Say "Accept Reward #" to accept a reward.]

"Jeez, for such a basic quest doesn't three rewards seem a bit like overkill? Not that I mind, but still," Jin-Woo lowly hummed, nodding to himself.

He looked over the three rewards, noting that they all were extremely intriguing in their own ways.

The first was an instant activation of Player's Body, which Jin-Woo assumed meant that he'd skip the 48-hour process of his injuries fully healing. Such a skill could probably be used now, but it seemed too good to use just to cure some fatigue. He wasn't even sure if he'd get another chance to have such a valuable ability. He decided to swipe the first reward away, noting it in his mind for any future mishaps.

The second reward seemed casual for a game, but Jin-Woo wasn't confident in how an "Instant Dungeon" would translate to the real world. Still, he didn't see much point in just thinking about it, so he did what seemed obvious.

"Accept reward two," The sweating E-Rank said, and there was a small flash of light as the second reward's notification screen disappeared. A blue key floated in the air, held up by the System. Jin-Woo reached up and grabbed the key, looking at it for any distinguishable information.

Upon getting nothing, Jin-Woo sighed and stored the key in his Inventory.

His Inventory was straightforward when he thought about it like video games. It was a personalized space that held just about anything that he could hold in his hands. The only thing he had in there was the black dagger that Julie gifted him, although now it was joined by the blue Instant Dungeon key.

The third and last reward was a skill, which seemed odd to Jin-Woo. Skills were things that Hunters either obtained through intense amounts of training or through Runestones, which dropped from A-Ranked or higher monsters. To be casually given another skill atop of the three skills he already had from the second he gained his abilities made him feel weird.

He was worried that so many blessings would certainly drain his luck down to nothing. But because there was nothing to do about it, he resigned himself to his fate and accepted the third reward, an admittedly giddy smile on his face.

[New skill: Basic Observation has been integrated into the System.]

Jin-Woo opened his skills, but couldn't find his newest one, even under the Passive Skills section. He sat and thought for a moment.

"Games have little descriptions for everything that's inside the Inventory, don't they? Would that be what this new skill does…?" Jin-Woo couldn't quite remember since it'd been a while since he sat down and played video games, but he gave his vague thought a try, pulling out his recently received blue key.

Just as he thought, a small description of the key appeared as he looked at it.

[Instant Dungeon Key]

[Rank: E]

A key that creates a Gate that only the Player can enter. Can be used at any location.

The description was simplistic, but it told Jin-Woo all the information he needed.

"An E-Rank dungeon…. Even with stats that are all measly ones, wouldn't it be a good starting point?" Jin-Woo thought to himself before storing the key into his Inventory and taking his dagger out. Just like before, a description appeared upon doing some light inspections of the dagger.

[Legacy (Julie's Gifted Dagger)]

[Rank: ???]

A dagger Julie bought from a mysterious seller. Has several abilities that have been locked away from the user.

Ability 1: Can absorb the abilities of other weapons. Chances of failure 90%.

Ability 2: Locked.

Ability 3: Locked.

The information was simple, yes, but Jin-Woo couldn't help but let his mouth silently hang open. This dagger, Legacy, could absorb the abilities of other weapons.

Wasn't that the same as basically saying the weapon could grow infinitely stronger as well?!

Jin-Woo knew that the chances of success were far lower than the chances of failure, but when Legacy's ability was combined with Igris and the System's presence, Jin-Woo just couldn't find a way to be mad.

Even with his current ecstasy, there were still two abilities that had yet to be unlocked! Jin-Woo wasn't even sure he'd need to level up with how much things seemed to be aligned with his interests.

Jin-Woo stored Legacy into his Inventory and looked up into the sky. It was about to be noon.

Jin-Woo stood up on his wobbly legs, silently wishing he took the opportunity to use his first reward before he stretched. Most of the strain had faded away anyways.

"I may not have gained stat points by exercising, but surely working out like this must have some sort of effect on my well-being, right? Might as well give things a try!"

-----

Jin-Woo spent the next week exercising, but despite his effort, all his stats stayed at a flush one. However, he didn't feel like the time spent exercising was wasted. He could certainly feel a difference in his abilities before and after training. It was like he was tapping into 30% of his level 1 Strength versus tapping into 5% of it.

It confirmed that there were certainly some hidden stats that didn't quite have the numerical values that he could see with some other stats. He decided that exercising on a normal basis would be a good beginning to becoming stronger.

Even now, Jin-Woo was getting done with his running. Jin-Woo sat down on a bench, wiping a layer of sweat off his forehead. Jin-Woo's eyes were locked onto his shoes. They were starting to come apart.

"I think it's about time I get going. I'm already late on my last payments and… I lost the mana crystals that would've helped. I've gotta get back into working as soon as possible," Jin-Woo slowly nodded, rising from his spot.

Getting himself checked out of the hospital wasn't a problem for Jin-Woo, seeing that he was completely stable and ready to leave. They were a bit nervous about letting him go after he just appeared in a flash of black energy, but he convinced them off his good condition.

However, he had a responsibility to attend to before leaving.

"I've got a family member here. She's named Park Kyung-Hye," Jin-Woo spoke to the woman at the front desk.

"You're Sung Jin-Woo, correct?" The woman asked, receiving a nod from Jin-Woo. She nodded to herself before quickly scrolling through the page she was looking at. "You're allowed to visit Miss Park, yes."

"Thank you," Jin-Woo nodded before heading to his mother's room. He didn't even need to ask what room it was; he already knew where to go.

Before he knew it, he was opening the door to his mother's room. Just like always, his mother lay in the bed, a calm expression resting on her face. She looked like she could wake up at any moment, but Jin-Woo knew she wouldn't. Her illness wouldn't fade.

Eternal Slumber doomed his mother to sleep forever, and he simply didn't have the heart to let her go.

Jin-Woo, pulled the room's chair next to his mother's side, sitting and softly grabbing her hand. For a while, he sat there and said nothing, as if he was preparing himself.

"Mom, you always knew that I preferred silence, but sometimes talking is the best option. Jino seems okay, she's just as goofy as she was the last time you saw her. School is surprisingly easy for her. She not in a relationship just yet, but she never really talks about people romantically, so I don't think it's really worth talking about," Jin-Woo smiled, nodding softly to himself.

"I'm uh… I'm okay. Being a Hunter is way harder than Dad made it out to be, but I guess that's to be expected, he was a pretty strong S-Rank, after all. I… this good friend, Julie, passed away recently. And if I was stronger, there could've been a chance for me to save her. So, I'm gonna become stronger. So, I… I probably won't be back for a while."

"Jino will probably check up on you, but I… want to be proud when I see you next. If…. When you wake up, I don't want you to see me in such a pitiful state. I'll… be back soon, and I'll definitely be an S-Rank when we next talk. So just… keep on hanging in there," Jin-Woo rose from his spot, putting the chair back where it originally was. He walked towards the door, his hand falling to the doorknob.

For a moment he sat there, the words he desperately wanted to say refusing to flow off his tongue.

"I… I…."

It should've been so easy to say, but the three simple words just didn't come out.

"Well, you get it. I'm not the type to say it anyways," Jin-Woo laughed to himself, walking out of the room, and closing it behind him.

As the door closed, his mother's unconscious face seemed to soften.