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Translator: Meg

Editor: Sotheno

[You’ve overpowered a harmful monster. Your membership tier has upgraded! You’ve earned an additional 5,000 HP! You’ve earned a VIP bonus! With an additional HP equivalent to 50% of the reward, you’ve received a total of 7,500 HP!]

[You’ve learned something important about spirit power. Your understanding of spirit power has deepened, and the total capacity of your spirit power has been greatly increased. Your spirit power has been upgraded to D Rank in an instant!]

[Your understanding of the fundamentals of martial arts has deepened. The Fanged Wyvern Dance (S-) has leveled up to B- Rank!]

[Your body has realized its limitations during your battle with a B+ Rank monster. The energy of the Alchemist’s special boost potion has responded, and your body will begin to change. All physical statuses will upgrade to the next level.]

When the enemy died and Kang Shin-hyuk’s victory was confirmed, a list of messages he had never seen before, filled his retina.

Kang Shin-hyuk somewhat expected that if he defeated a monster, he would get additional HP that can be used in Hero Universe, but the more important part was the upgrade in his abilities.

‘All I did was drink the potion and defeat the enemy, those were enough to cause an upgrade?’

Moreover, did the growth buffs stored in his body play a significant role? The Fanged Wyvern Dance and his physical statuses have grown by one level, with his spiritual power growing by as many as two levels......”

He thought that having your abilities enhanced mid-battle and becoming stronger after a glorious victory was something only to be seen in a shonen manga, but to think that he would experience it himself......

It was funny to say it himself, but it was worth risking his life.

Thrilled by the upgrades, Kang Shin-hyuk instinctively clenched his fists.

[You are seriously injured! Failure to tend your wounds quickly may result in permanent damages!]

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”

Suddenly, overwhelmed by a surge of delayed pain, Kang Shin-hyuk rolled on the floor.

He felt his entire body’s muscles twisting, bones breaking, and skins splitting all at the same time.

Of course, it was an obvious outcome considering that he had challenged a being that was way beyond his current ability. The fact that his body held on during the battle was already respectable enough.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.”

[Enter the Hero Universe’s trade board and buy emergency pills! It will prevent permanent damages to the body, and it will mitigate every fatal wound to a moderate degree so as not to raise too much suspicion from the people who find you here.]

“Thanks for the proper advice, but can I afford those?”

[Available for 5,000HP!]

It was a hefty price considering the number of bonus HP he had just received, but Kang Shin-hyuk had no choice. Following the Administrator’s advice, he quickly purchased an emergency pill from the trade board and swallowed it.

He was lucky to have an effective orally administered medicine in a situation where he could not properly rub medicine all over his body manually.

[Your body’s condition is improving. However, if you do not receive proper treatment within a few days, your condition may worsen again.]

His pain subsided immediately after taking the medicine, and he was met with such a message. Kang Shin-hyuk breathed a sigh of relief at the thought of being out of danger for the time being.

There was a limit to how many things could go wrong in a single day; if he had to suffer irreversible damage right after defeating an undefeatable monster, fate would have a very unfair way of treating him.

[There is something else you need to do.]

“I think I know what that is. You’re talking about that axe that’s giving off some sort of...... Dark energy, right? It’d wouldn’t be a good idea to have it spotted by someone.”

[A heartful bonus of 100HP to our dear member!]

As the pain toned down and he was able to move his body again, Kang Shin-hyuk stood up by balancing himself with the Godslayer sword acting as a cane.

What Kang Shin-hyuk saw in front of him was the dead body of the War Troll whose head and arm have been chopped off, and the black axe held in its fallen arm.

For a moment, Kang Shin-hyuk thought of peeking into the axe’s inner structure by infusing his spirit power as he did with the Godslayer sword, but he had no time to spare leisurely meditating in a decimated hotel room. There was no guarantee that another enemy would not appear.

“All right, then...... Do you think you can devour this thing?”

The Godslayer sword slightly buzzed as if to respond “yes.” Before Kang Shin-hyuk’s victory, the axe had been protected by the War Troll’s energy, but having lost its owner, it was instantly devoured in whole by the Godslayer sword.

“Anyway, to think that an axe imbued with spirit power existed...... No, it can’t be. Anvil can’t be the only person who can make weapons infused with spirit power. But why was I pursued by this monster in particular......? No–don’t think too deeply. Let’s think about it later.”

There was no time to waste. As if to blow away any remaining bits of hesitation, Kang Shin-hyuk fiercely struck down onto the axe.

In an instant, rays of light emitted from the Godslayer sword encased the axe entirely, absorbing it as it melted like ice cream left on an asphalt road. It was quite a spectacle to witness, Kang Shin-hyuk thought.

[By devouring the axe, your sword will regain some of its strength. However, it will take some time to purify and absorb all the external spirit power. You can shorten the process by supplementing with your own spirit power.]

“Will this be enough?”

[It would be nice if you could dispose of the body of the War Troll variant, but since that’s impossible, it’d be best to ask for her help to clean up the mess.]

The Administrator gave a vague response to Kang Shin-hyuk’s question. He didn’t have to think long to figure out who “her” was referring to. And that’s when the alchemist Claire Boyle flew into the broken window.

Putting aside the issue of everyone around him seemingly coming up to the top floor of a hotel as if they’re jumping over a fence of a typical residence, Claire had shown herself at a ridiculous timing.

“Shin-hyuk, are you okay!?”

“Claire.......! Ah, I’m not okay. I almost died.”

Kang Shin-hyuk collapsed onto the floor as soon as he saw Claire.

Exhausted after having miraculously defeated the War Troll, a reliable ally had appeared in front of him, who was constantly on guard for a possible appearance of a new enemy. It would indeed be strange not to feel relaxed.

“What do you mean you almost died...... This is a War Troll. You beat this all by yourself?”

Claire, having confirmed Kang Shin-hyuk’s safety first, was shocked to find the dead body of a War Troll.

War Trolls was one of the most difficult B Rank monsters to deal with. Even a fairly skillful superhuman would refuse to fight a War Troll if given the choice.

But it was clear that he had beaten the War Troll by looking at the monster’s neatly cut head and arms, the marks of sword cuts left its groin, and finally the pitch-black sword in Kang Shin-hyuk’s hand.

“If you really did, then you’ve deceived me. You didn’t seem to be that skilled.”

“It was only thanks to your potion that I managed to win.”

“It’s a rare potion for sure, but that couldn’t have changed anything. There’s no way a superhuman academy student can beat a War Troll just by drinking some potion. It may enable you to sustain the fight longer, but winning would be...... Wait a minute.”

Claire, who was baffled by the situation and has been spurting out words like a rapid-firing gun, finally took notice of Kang Shin-hyuk’s condition.

His clothes were soaked in blood from head to toe, and she could still see blood leaking out from various parts of his body. Frightened, she slowly approached him.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were injured? I’ve been interrogating a wounded man!”

“No, it’s not that serious......”

“Come here right now.”

She pulled Kang Shin-hyuk to herself and quickly undressed him. Before he knew it, Kang Shin-hyuk was only in his boxers. Claire spoke while looking at his injured body, shivering.

“Woaahh, this is really bad...... But I can see how you won. Your skill is much stronger compared to your physical strengths, right? And you used it without thinking about the strain it’d leave on your body, because you were prioritizing survival more than anything else.”

“Precisely.”

Kang Shin-hyuk was telling the truth–the Fanged Wyvern Dance’s skill level was indeed higher than any of his physical statuses’.

Claire let out a bittersweet smile and looked at his body again. She quietly whistled after noticing his sturdy build that couldn’t be hidden even with the countless injuries, but thinking that this wasn’t the right time, she coughed aloud and took out a potion from her bag.

“Let’s first treat the external injuries. Stay still.”

She poured the potion on her hand and applied it to his wound. He felt the potion permeating his wounds and quickly restoring his skin, muscles, and bones.

The emergency pill from earlier added to its effects to speed up the recovery.

“Wow, your natural recovery rate must be incredible. I guess that’s because your body is so well–bu....... Oh, by the way, this was a purely medical practice, so you can’t call the cops on me, okay?”

“Of course I won’t. Thank you.”

“With this, your external injuries should be fine. The problem is with the internal ones...... Right, I have just the right one.”

Claire pulled a silver-glazed scalpel out of her bag. Kang Shin-hyuk instinctively grabbed his Godslayer sword upon seeing a knife, but Claire’s target was the War Troll rather than himself.

“It’s quite unfortunate that its arms are cut off, but you did a good job neatly cutting off the neck. With the corpse in this condition, the heart inside it should still have plenty of medical potential.”

“I’m sorry?”

“A War Troll heart has the potential to become the best medicine if you remove the poison. On top of that, if the heart is extracted from a recently slain War Troll...... You might even expect to receive a status upgrade.”

Claire gave Kang Shin-hyuk a pleasant smile and...... Poo! She thrust the scalpel into the War Troll’s chest.

After she deftly had peeled off the skin and dug through the flesh, she reached her hands inside pulling the heart right out of the carcass.

Kang Shin-hyuk had goosebumps all over his body while watching her go through the process. He swore to himself to never offend her in any circumstance in the future.

“You just sit and wait; I’ll make you the best drink you’ve ever had.”

Claire smiled brightly as she studied the Troll’s heart. Kang Shin-hyuk shivered as he noticed the dead War Troll’s blood splashed on her cheek.

“Huh? Could this War Troll be a variant? It’s a little different from the War Troll heart that I know. This one contains more energy.”

“Is that so?”

”...... Well, it should do the job anyway. I can worry about it later.”

With the ingredients in her hands, Claire began making her “cocktail.”

Kang Shih-hyuk watched as she infused her mana into the War Troll’s heart to compress its size, mix it with various ingredients and sticky liquids in her shaker and draw more blood from the War Troll’s dead body.

“Hm, hm hm hmm~~~ Hm hm hmmm~”

She then closed the strainer and the cap to fix it in place and began to shake the shaker while humming cheerfully.

To think that she’d really make a potion like she’d make a cocktail! In this kind of situation! Kang Shin-hyuk thought it ridiculous, but Claire seemed to be greatly enjoying herself.

During the process, Kang Shin-hyuk noticed a faint glow coming off of her body, which soon spread to the shaker enveloping it entirely.

If Kang Shin-hyuk was able to see it clearly, it could only be......

‘Is it spirit power?’

[That is correct. A 10HP bonus!]

But it looked like Claire herself was unaware of that fact. Watching her shake her shaker as if she had totally forgotten about the current situation, Kang Shin-hyuk felt her joy spread across to him.

Shake, shake, the shaker that mixed the ingredients with a pleasant sound, soon came to a stop.

“Oh, it looks like it was a success. Shin-hyuk, you’re really lucky.”

As if she could tell the outcome of her skill despite being unable to detect her own spirit power, Claire looked surprised as she removed the cap and poured the shaker’s content into a glass she had already prepared.

“Troll Heart Cocktail is finished. Non-alcoholic. Here, drink it while it’s cold.”

“You didn’t even put ice in it...... Was the glass kept cold? Or maybe the shaker?”

“Both. Come on, hurry.”

Claire’s face was filled with excitement. Kang Shin-hyuk held the glass containing the Troll Heart Cocktail with great determination. The drink containing a thoroughly melted heart of a Troll was exhibiting a blood-red color.

After he had given Claire a slight look, Kang Shin-hyuk took a sip and...... Was unexpectedly struck with the sweet taste that stuck to his tongue. What kind of magic could possibly turn a Troll’s heart mixed with blood, into something this delicious? 𝒇𝘳ℯℯ𝚠𝙚𝑏𝗻𝑜ѵ𝑒𝙡.co𝑚

Even more surprising than the taste, however, was the cocktail’s healing effects.

[Your recovery rate is blowing up! All your injuries will be instantly healed and for three days starting from today, the ‘Increased Blood Flow” buff will be in effect. With your metabolism speeding up, every type of growth will accelerate, which you will need to make up for by eating more food.]

[You will receive the full effectiveness of a War Troll variant potion specially produced with spirit power. Your physical strengths have been upgraded to C- Rank.]

The cocktail that slid down his throat not only amplified his blood circulation but also immediately affected his whole body, making his bones and body more robust. His body had become incomparably stronger as he entered the C Rank territory!

Kang Shin-hyuk was so thrilled that he felt like hugging Claire until she was out of breath. Putting aside the obvious healing and the buff, to think that a potion would upgrade his physical strength one level further to a C Rank......

“What do you think? It’s amazing, right?”

“It’s incredible! It’s the best!”

Kang Shin-hyuk let out his joy and excitement with no intention of hiding them. Claire gave a satisfied smile at his childlike reaction.

“Great, it was worth all the effort I put in. Then do you mind waiting here for a bit? The truth is, the whole situation is not fully resolved yet. I came here rushing after hearing the report that a B Rank monster had slipped through our blockade. My heart was pounding when I found out it was heading for this hotel.”

Those words had confirmed his theory. The monster was heading for him from the very beginning. The question was why, and how.......

Countless questions passed through his head, but they were not questions that could be answered immediately. Kang Shin-hyuk tried his best to smile to hide his complex feelings.

“I’ll patiently wait here.”

“Yup, this place should be safe now. I’ll be right back, then!”

“Ah, Claire!”

“Hm?”

Kang Shin-hyuk stopped Claire who was about to jump off the window after confirming his safety and said with great embarrassment.

“I, I’m really sorry, but because I lost so much blood I’m...... A bit hungry. I mean, if you’re busy, it’s okay, but......”

“Do you have a hole in your stomach as well?”

Claire was dumbfounded, but she promised to buy him more chickens after the job was finished.

Kang Shin-hyuk thought that she’s a really nice person.

Translator and Editor Notes: