Hunter Han Sungyeun (1)

「 You have purchased a Return Stone (F). 」

The red stone that I expected suddenly appeared in front of me.

「 Return Stone 」 

「 Grade: F- 」 

「 An item that can only be bought by challengers who've reached the 5th floor. 」 

「 It is indestructible and returns the user to their original location when they emit mana into it. 」

「 The user returns to the floor they were originally on in the Tower of Trials. 」 

3 days can be short or long depending on how you look at it, but the important part was 'return.'

'It doesn't matter if I can get back to Earth.'

There wasn't anyone who'd worry about me, but I still wanted to go back.

Who wouldn't? 

The tower controlled everything from what you could wear to what you could eat.

'I can't even take a proper shower and all my clothes are tattered now.'

I hid it to the best of my ability with my cloak… but I would pass for a homeless man in this state.

Also—

'There's a couple of things I have to take care of there…'

You could call it preparation.

I'd just take care of all the things that could bite me in the ass later.

I mean, there was no real reason to not go back.

Especially if it only cost 500 points to go back.

But I didn't use the item immediately.

'I have to check my rewards.'

I couldn't miss out on things like that.

Ignoring the messages about the points, I looked at the skill I had received as a bonus reward.

「 Skill – Instant Acceleration (D) 」 

「 Proficiency – 0% 」 

「 Effect – Upon declaring the skill name, one can use mana to temporarily accelerate their body. 」 

"It's my first active skill, not bad."

Besides the items, I'd never used an active skill before.

Regeneration, resistances, weapon skills, knowledge…

I'd acquired a lot of skills recently but they were all passive.

'But active skills can only be activated at the user's will.'

Kind of like the binding skill that the crossbow challenger Lee Sieon used.

And 'declaring the skill name' doesn't just apply to saying it.

From what I heard, you could use the skill just by thinking about it once you were used to it.

Same case for active innate abilities.

'Of course, innate abilities could have wildly different activation requirements.'

Instant Acceleration… it had a decent effect with a pretty high base rank.

'I'll make sure to incorporate it while I'm training.'

It'd also probably work well with my agility stat.

「 Han Sungyeun 」 

「 Strength – 47 」         「 Stamina – 44 」

「 Agility – 48(+5) 」      「 Mana – 32 」 

「 Tenacity – 28 」 

「 Innate ability – 'Necromancy (E) 」 

「 Skill – See details 」

The stat window quantified exactly how much stronger I had gotten.

'The skills aren't even listed out anymore.'

It was probably because I had too many of them, but it was still cool to see.

I couldn't keep my smirk down at the thought of having too many skills to list out.

Most monsters didn't increase my stats by much anymore, but I made it work with the sheer quantity.

'The only thing that needed improvement is the tenacity stat.'

It did increase relatively quickly because of the low base number, but it was still too low compared to my other stats.

It couldn't even surpass my mana, the lowest stat.

I was decently satisfied as I activated necromancy.

「 Select a soul to absorb from the souls in captivity. 」 

「 Number of souls in possession – 4/15 」

「 Player 'Lee Sieon' 」 

「 Player 'Lee Jinhoo' 」 

「 Player 'Im Sangyoon' 」 

「 Goblin King 」 

'I was putting it off, but I have no reason to not absorb the human souls I collected.'

These souls were a part of the rewards that I fought for fair and square.

If I didn't use them because of my morals?

'That only debilitates me.'

The only reason I was able to compete with any of these hunters was because of my 'necromancy.'

To be frank, I was essentially closer to a normal civilian without it.

My impressive stats, and all of those skills… 

They were all from my necromancy.

'I can't afford to be picky here.'

I proceeded to absorb the souls without hesitation.

'Maybe I'll get a skill from one of them if I get lucky.'

It was a possibility, like how I got physical resistance from the doppelganger.

The highly-anticipated message appeared after a couple of seconds.

「 Acquiring one of the skills held by player 'Lee Jinhoo'. 」 

Despite the low odds, another skill absorption message popped up.

I wanted to howl with joy, but the changes in my body came first.

「 Permanently increasing your stats using the souls. 」 

「 Strength increased by 5. 」

「 Agility increased by 3. 」

「 Stamina increased by 4. 」

「 Mana increased by 6. 」

「 Tenacity increased by 8. 」 

Far more effective than absorbing the goblins.

"Status."

「 Han Sungyeun 」 

「 Strength – 52 」         「 Stamina – 48 」

「 Agility – 51 」             「 Mana – 38 」 

「 Tenacity – 36 」 

「 Innate ability – 'Necromancy (E) 」 

「 Skill – See details 」

'The rewards weren't bad but it was a little lacking.'

The +5 bonus from the assassin's cloak had disappeared.

My base agility finally went above 50.

But you win some, you lose some.

「 Acquiring the skill 'Sustain Battle (F)' 」 

Upon seeing that message, I navigated to the bottom of my stat window and pressed 'See details.'

From there, I clicked on the newly generated 'Sustain Battle' skill.

「 Skill – Sustain Battle (F) 」 

「 Proficiency – 0% 」 

「 Effect – If appraised to have taken a deathly attack, all restrictions to movement are weakened for 1 minute. 」 

'A well-known skill among hunters.'

If you asked any hunter how to obtain this skill, they'd tell you off the top of their head.

Since it activated right before death, so it left a strong impression in my mind.

'The requirement to obtain it is overcoming at least ten life-threatening battles.'

The number of battles depended on your knack for it, but that was the gist.

The effect was astonishing.

Whether it was from poison or bound by a skill, all 'restrictions to movement' were weakened.

Of course, it didn't completely counteract those effects…

But the higher the rank, the longer the skill lasts and the weaker the rebound becomes.

'A lot of people couldn't learn it because of the harsh requirement.'

Only those who threw themselves into dangerous battles ever saw a glimpse of this skill.

There were only two types of people who had the skill.

Veteran hunters who naturally accumulated experience, and battle-crazed maniacs who live for battle.

It may have not been intentional, but 'Lee Jinhoo' was probably part of the latter group.

'What kinds of trials did he face to have been so close to death?'

I hadn't been through 10 of those battles yet. 

That 'Lee Jinhoo' must have had something different.

Although, it's strange that he was so frightened with a skill like this.

'Well, it's not worth thinking harder about.'

Either way, I'd gained more than I'd lost from that interaction.

Now all that was left was to use the return stone and buy some equipment.

'Hm, can I take the equipment I bought here back to Earth?'

If I could, I'd never have to worry about money again.

Just selling an E-grade item would be immense.

But when I came to the tower, I lost everything besides my clothes.

I'd still hold on to some items in my hand while I went back, but I didn't know if it would work.

'Worrying about it won't solve anything. I might as well go back to Earth now.'

I at least wanted to clean myself up a bit.

Take a proper shower, eat a proper meal, and get some proper rest.

I also wanted to get my money back from the training gym.

Just because I got stronger didn't mean that anything changed about the outside world.

An incompetent player barely surviving off of part-time jobs.

Getting back the 7 years of fees would be important right now.

$35,000 wasn't a small sum.

'I have to save as much as possible right now.'

If I didn't have enough points, I'd have just stayed and forgot about the money.

But frankly, I had more than a comfortable amount of points to buy all the equipment I needed.

'Maybe it's because of the special objective, but it's a decent amount of points.'

Basically, I had more than enough to go back to Earth.

Also—

'It'll be more worth it if I take care of some other business at the same time.'

I pushed some mana into the stone I had been fidgeting with in my hands.

「 Challenger Han Sungyeun, confirming intention to return. 」 

「 Consuming the Return Stone to return to Earth. 」 

At that moment, my world turned black.

***

"…"

My heart sank as soon as I opened my eyes.

A familiar ceiling, and the same old studio as I turned my head.

Seven rules that all hunters must know and follow in dungeons.

S-class hunter's methods to become a better hunter.

How to pass the hunter's exam and the training that follows.

Post-its with all kinds of information stood out from the room.

I had copied them down by hand to pound the knowledge into my head.

For an instant, I thought I had just imagined the whole 'Tower of Trials' thing.

A fear that everything I had worked for was nothing but a figment of my imagination.

But—

「 Returned to challenger Han Sungyeun's residence. 」 

The negative thoughts were pushed aside by the intruding message.

And the next few messages prompted me to get moving.

「 Returning to the tower after 3 days. 」 

「 We wish the challenger a satisfactory time. 」 

I had to take care of all my business within their time limits.

'Stingy.'

As I lifted myself off the bed, something bumped into my hand.

Tak.

"…No, wait."

I stared blankly at what I just bumped into.

"…Why is this here?"

A jet-black knife and handle, clearly a masterpiece.

The obsidian dagger I received as a trial reward was laying on my desk.

And on the left side, the deadwood I was holding lay there.

'No way.'

I snagged at the bedsheets to find another kind of fabric on them.

The item I'd been using since the 2nd trial, assassin's cloak.

Contrary to my belief, I was able to carry all of my items back with me.

I was flustered for a second, but I decided that it was just a little gift from the tower.

"I guess that's one more thing on my to-do list."

There were several things that I needed to take care of.

I lifted the deadwood shield and let out a smile.

'I thought I might need a little more money.'

Time to make some big bucks.

____