Leveling Up Alone

[I see. Yes, I understand. I really hope things will work out in the end, and there will be some improvement soon. Moving on to the next news report, the Hunters’ Association recently announced a full mobilization of Hunters. Most registered raid parties have been called on to join the operation to raid the dimensional hole.]

[Quite a while has passed since then, and we will now find out more about what is going on from reporter Kim Eun-Hyo, who is out at the Hunters’ Association right now. Reporter Kim?]

Han-Yeol listened intently to the news. As he had become a Hunter, the current story fully drew his attention. He had diligently followed the news even when he was a Porter, but he was even more interested in what was going on in the industry now.

‘It seems they successfully recaptured Incheon Nam-gu… but where can I get information about the dimensional holes…?’?he thought.

Han-Yeol searched for more details about the dimensional hole on the Hunters’ Association website. He did not have to get up, as he could use the TV’s innate web browser function to search online.

[Dimensional holes: Are they different from dimensional gates?]

[Dimensional holes and their strange mechanisms.]

[Dimensional holes: What are they, really?]

[The war between Hunters and the dimensional hole: What is the truth behind it?]

‘What the? There’s nothing useful online?’?Han-Yeol grumbled inwardly. He scoured various sites to find more information regarding the dimensional hole, but all of them were just clickbait tabloids that did not back up a single bit of information with facts.

‘Is the Hunters’ Association keeping it confidential…? Or do they really have no clue about it?’?he wondered.

Most of the geniuses in Korea had gathered in the Hunters’ Association. That was because the Hunters’ Association had a huge R&D budget when it came to researching anything related to Hunters, mana stones, or monsters; thus, there was money to be made out of it for such geniuses. But to think that even those brainiacs had no idea what was going on… Was it really a mystery even for them?

‘Let’s not think about it… I’m still only at the level of roaming around the lower tier gates anyway,’?Han-Yeol thought. Most of the things that were happening at the moment were issues that were supposed to be solved by the people sitting on top anyway.

‘What I need to do right now is to focus on getting stronger and curing my father’s illness. Until I reach that goal, I just have to keep tabs on what’s going on in the world,’?he thought as he prepared to go to the gym.

The door was locked when he reached the gym, but it did not matter. He entered the passcode into the gym’s digital lock and entered. He stretched lightly and warmed up before starting to work out.

“Hup! Hup! Hup! Huuuup!”?

Han-Yeol worked out intensely, sweating profusely. Anyone who saw him working out at that moment would question whether it was necessary for him to do all that, as he had become an Awakened and could use mana to strengthen his body.

He was pushing his body to the limit with an intense training routine that would be difficult for a normal human to even attempt, but it was still bearable for someone like him who had Awakened and gained supernatural strength.

However, Han-Yeol, who was Level 30 at this point, pushed his body so much further past his limits as an Awakened that even he was starting to feel exhausted by it. Of course, he would have to start looking for other ways to grow stronger once he reached a certain level in the future.

He started running in place as quickly as he could.

Ding!

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

[STR has risen by 2.]

[VIT has risen by 1.]

[AGI has risen by 2.]

‘Hoo… Status,’?he thought, calling up his status window.

Name: Lee Han-Yeol

Level: 30

Points: 35

STR: 61

VIT: 58

AGI: 52

MAG: 60

LCK: 10

Skills: Dismember (D), Sword Mastery (C), Walking (C), Mana Control (D), Mana Mastery (E), Power Strike (C), Mana Shield (D), Sixth Sense (D), Restrain (C), Body Strengthening (D), Mana Eyes (E), Heal (A), Jumping (D), Stab (D), Dagger Mastery (F), Chain Mastery (B), Infinite Library (M), Shield Bash (D), Fire Attribute (E), Mana Explosion (D), Chain Smite (C), Marksmanship (E).

Han-Yeol’s stats were looking much stronger than when he had first started.

‘Ah… Where do I invest the thirty-five bonus stat points…’?he wondered. He had actually completely forgotten about his bonus stat points. He pondered for a while before deciding to invest all of them into his MAG stat.

Name: Lee Han-Yeol

Level: 30

Points: 35

STR: 61

VIT: 58

AGI: 52

MAG: 95

LCK: 10

Skills: Dismember (D), Sword Mastery (C), Walking (C), Mana Control (D), Mana Mastery (E), Power Strike (C), Mana Shield (D), Sixth Sense (D), Restrain (C), Body Strengthening (D), Mana Eyes (E), Heal (A), Jumping (D), Stab (D), Dagger Mastery (F), Chain Mastery (B), Infinite Library (M), Shield Bash (D), Fire Attribute (E), Mana Explosion (D), Chain Smite (C), Marksmanship (E).

Then…

Wooooong…

Han-Yeol’s heart released a burst of pure, refreshing mana that spread all throughout his body.

‘Hoo… This feeling is the best…’?he thought. He felt a strange, pleasurable high like never before after investing all of his bonus stat points into MAG.

‘This feeling really is strangely addictive,’?he thought. However, he decided against gathering his bonus stat points and investing them in one go just to feel the high again, as much as he was tempted to.

Grip…!

Han-Yeol gripped the dumbbell in his hand tightly, deep in thought. ‘I heard that there was a gym exclusively for Hunters somewhere… Should I go check it out…?’

Of course, it was not that the gym he was currently using was bad or anything, and the Hunter’s gym was also quite expensive. However, it had equipment specially made by crafting-class Hunters, and it even had several pieces of state-of-the-art equipment researched and developed by the Hunters’ Association. No matter how much Han-Yeol wanted to continue using this gym, it was still a place meant for normal humans and not for Awakened like him.

‘Let’s try and find some information about it,’?he thought.

Bam!

Han-Yeol smashed his fist into a sandbag.

***

Han-Yeol finished working out and went to find more information about the gym exclusively for Hunters. He found that the fee was a jaw-dropping three hundred thousand won a day. However, he did not hesitate to invest in his own growth, and bought a seven-day entry pass. The expensive fee covered a personal trainer he could hire for an hour a day, and he took full advantage of that to completely immerse himself in the process of growing stronger.

A week soon passed after he began going to the Hunter’s gym.

Ding!

[The rank of ‘Body Strengthening’ has risen from (D) to (C).]

[STR has risen by 1.]

[VIT has risen by 1.]

[AGI has risen by 1.]

“Hoooo…”

This place had a very special piece of equipment. That was none other than a gravitational device that could make gravity several times stronger. Even the Hunters, who had far greater physical capabilities than normal humans, could sweat and strain themselves due to that special device; they were able to train until they collapsed, which would be impossible at a normal gym.

‘Status.’ Han-Yeol called up his status window.

Name: Lee Han-Yeol

Level: 30

Points: 0

STR: 83

VIT: 78

AGI: 72

MAG: 95

LCK: 10

Skills: Dismember (D), Sword Mastery (C), Walking (C), Mana Control (D), Mana Mastery (E), Power Strike (C), Mana Shield (D), Sixth Sense (D), Restrain (C), Body Strengthening (D), Mana Eyes (E), Heal (A), Jumping (D), Stab (D), Dagger Mastery (F), Chain Mastery (B), Infinite Library (M), Shield Bash (D), Fire Attribute (E), Mana Explosion (D), Chain Smite (C), Marksmanship (E).

Han-Yeol had been able to let his other stats catch up to his MAG stat, where he had invested all of his bonus stat points, by doing nothing else apart from working out for the whole week.

‘But what the hell is this LCK for, and how do I raise it…?’?he wondered.

He had no plans to invest any of his bonus stat points into LCK, but he could not help but be curious as it was a stat that had already been there, even though he had not gained or lost anything because of it.

‘Well, I guess I’ll find out later on,’?he thought.

He exited the gravitational device and lightly stretched his body. His shirtless body had visibly buffed up and could be said to be close to perfection, due to the week of intense training.

Due to that… Women flocked toward him.

“Wow! I’ve never seen someone work out as hard as you do since this gym opened!” a woman remarked as she passed him a towel and sneakily pressed her body against him, clearly trying to seduce him.

‘What the hell is this ahjumma thinking?’ Han-Yeol grumbled inwardly.

He did not really mind that women flocked toward him, but what annoyed him was the fact that most of the women in this gym were rich ahjummas, and they were all basically asking Han-Yeol to commit adultery with them.

‘Are they crazy? Why would I be a homewrecker when I can date any woman I want in my age range…?’?Those words were halfway out of his throat, but he decided against saying them, as he had to keep coming here anyway. Thus, he just smiled and politely refused her approach.

The ahjumma did not give up, continuing her one-sided attempts to try and seduce Han-Yeol. However, she had to fake a cough in embarrassment and give up eventually when she saw that he was not reacting at all to her seduction.

Only after the ahjumma left did the trainer in charge of Han-Yeol come over with a towel and an energy drink, saying, “I’m sorry. The other members are a bit too forward, aren’t they?”

“No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it,” Han-Yeol replied. He downed the energy drink his trainer gave him while looking at her, thinking, ‘I wouldn’t mind if it were her, though…’

Han-Yeol’s personal trainer was a beauty who could go toe to toe against most other beauties in Korea, both in terms of her face and her body. Han-Yeol had gotten quite close to her after they worked out together for a week, and asked how she had ended up working in this gym.

She had told him that she majored in Physical Education, and that she had worked in another gym as a trainer before she was scouted for this gym with the offer of a huge salary. It only made sense that she would be paid a lot; after all, she now had to deal with Hunters, who paid very well compared to other clients.

The gym had scouted her not only for her talents but also for her looks, as most Hunters preferred to work out with beautiful women. As most of the Hunters coming to this gym were men, all of the trainers present were women.

“This will be your last day with us. Do you have any plans to extend your pass, by any chance?” the trainer asked.

“No, this will be it for now. I have to go out and hunt now,” Han-Yeol replied firmly.

It was true that his trainer was very pretty and that he was interested in her. However, he had no time to mingle with women, as his main priority at the moment was to grow stronger and cure his father’s illness. As such, he planned to keep women away as much as possible for the time being.

“I see…” his trainer replied very dejectedly, letting out a sigh.

Han-Yeol left the gym and placed a call.

Ring ring… Ring ring…

“Yes, Hunter-nim! I was waiting for your call!”?a man replied enthusiastically as he answered the phone.

“Mr. Sung-Beom, how have you been?” Han-Yeol said. The man on the other end of the line was none other than the personal Porter he had hired last time, Sung-Beom.

“I have been doing well! Although I have been wondering about and waiting for a call from you all this time… Hehehe,”?Sung-Beom replied, hinting slightly at the question of why it had taken Han-Yeol so long to give him a call.

Han-Yeol caught what he was trying to hint at, but he decided to let it go. He did feel kind of sorry for taking so long to call Sung-Beom, after all. He replied, “I’m sorry. That’s why I was thinking of making it up by hunting all out this time. I plan to hunt for fifteen days at the Orc Burrow the day after tomorrow.”

“F-Fifteen days…?”?Sung-Beom stuttered in shock.

“Yes,” Han-Yeol said calmly.

Han-Yeol felt as if the man he was talking to over the phone had been growing old at the mere mention of ‘fifteen days’. Sung-Beom could not help but remember the nightmare he had gone through when they hunted Giant Ants for fifteen straight days at the Anthill the previous time.

“Fifteen days, and at the Orc Burrow on top of that?” Sung-Beom replied with a hint of skepticism in his voice, hoping he had heard Han-Yeol wrongly.

“Yes,” Han-Yeol replied.

“…”

A moment of silence ensued. It was unclear whether Sung-Beom said nothing because he was shocked, or because he was mortified. 𝚋ｅｄ𝚗𝚘𝚟ｅ𝚕．𝚗ｅｔ

The Orc Burrow was a hunting ground on an entirely different level from the Anthill that the Giant Ants inhabited. Even though Orcs and Giant Ants were both low-tier monsters, it was still impossible to consider the hunting grounds comparable to each other.

“Mr. Sung-Beom?” Han-Yeol called out.

“Ah, yes… Yes, Hunter-nim. I will convey your plans to Ms. Ah-Ri,”?Sung-Beom finally replied.

“Yes. Please be mindful of the fact that we’re going to the Orc Burrow and not the Anthill this time around, so I hope you’ll prepare accordingly. Additionally, I’ll hire a collection service to pick up the monster corpses and mana stones this time,” Han-Yeol added.

“Yes, I understand,”?Sung-Beom replied.

“Goodbye, then,” Han-Yeol said.

“Thank you! Goodbye, Hunter-nim!”?Sung-Beom replied enthusiastically.

Beep.

The call ended after Sung-Beom gave his greetings to Han-Yeol, and Han-Yeol called another number. He chatted with the person on the other end of the line for quite a while.

It did cost some money to ask for a collection service, but Han-Yeol felt that hauling the monster corpses and mana stones back and forth would be a waste of time. That was why he had decided to call in a collection service this time, so he could sell the monster corpses and mana stones directly to them.

That way, he would no longer have to go to the Hunters’ Association to sell the mana stones, nor would he have to go to a factory to sell the monster corpses. The Onyx Party had used such a collection service when they hunted the Trolls back in Baekryeong-do; the factory had sent a boat to collect the monster corpses.

There had been no instances of a single Hunter ever calling in a collection service so far, but there was no law preventing Han-Yeol from being the first to do so.

“Yes. Then, our factory’s collection team will see you at the public area in front of the Orc Burrow the day after tomorrow, Hunter-nim,”?the man on the other end said.

“Yes, I will see you there. I will be in your care,” Han-Yeol replied.

“Haha! We are the ones who will be in your care, Hunter-nim! I am thankful that you called me. Our factory’s turnover rate was greatly reduced when we stopped receiving the corpses Hunter-nim used to send to us,”?the man said, letting out a hearty laugh.

It was quite embarrassing that a factory had faced a crisis just because of a single Hunter’s absence, but it could not be helped, as they were still a small factory and did not have any other choices at the moment.

1. Ahjumma basically means ‘Auntie’, and is a term usually used for married women.