I Alone Level-Up

Was it because of the restrictions?

The drop rate was good. He had only taken down three knights, but two of them dropped an item. It was a drop rate of 66.6%. He had not seen a rate like this anywhere else before. On top of that, most of the items dropped in Instant Dungeons were trash that were sold to the shop. This was not the case here.

You"ve found a "High-level Knight"s Breastplate" [1]

Would you like to acquire it?

"Of course I would."

The breastplate of the first knight Jinwoo took out slowly disappeared then reappeared in front of his feet.

thud

The equipment"s information popped up.

High-level Knight"s Breastplate

Rarity: B

Type: Armor

Physical Damage Reduction +7%

(If your strength is below 80, your movements will be slowed.)

7% physical damage reduction! Combined with his natural buff, he could increase his damage reduction to a total of 27%.

"If I reach a 100%, do I just become immune to physical damage?"

He dismissed the thought after realizing that a B-rank equipment only gave 7%. If the pattern stuck, an rank equipment would probably not give 30% or 40% reduction, so reaching 100% would be impossible.

"Still, every little bit counts."

Gathering the boosts bit by bit would have a great impact down the line. He remembered the effectiveness of good equipment the first time he saw Yoo Jinho.

"So I just do this, right?"

He held up the breastplate. As expected, the System asked him with a message,

Would you like to equip the "High-level Knight"s Breastplate"?

Just looking at the armor, it was not something he wanted to be seen walking around in. If it wasn"t for his experiences with "Gatekeeper"s Necklace", he would"ve been a lot more hesitant...

"Yes."

ring~

The "High-level Knight"s Breastplate" has been equipped.

The breastplate was invisible to the eye. Jinwoo opened up his status screen to confirm the benefits.

Physical Damage Reduction: 27%

"The reduction increased."

He felt his chest; he did not feel anything there. He twisted and stretched his body but did not feel the armor hinder him. It was almost as if it wasn"t there. It was the same as the time he equipped the Gatekeeper"s Necklace.

"Good."

Jinwoo turned his gaze to the other knight, crumpled up in a corner. Its crushed form sparked with the light of a drop.

You"ve found a "Leather Pouch"

Would you like to acquire it?

Although it was his handiwork, he felt a little bad at its mangled body. It seemed that he could not control his strength when using his bare hands in a fight.

"..."

With a solemn expression, he stretched a hand to the light,

"Acquire."

You"ve opened the leather pouch.

There was 30,000 gold inside.

You"ve acquired 30,000 gold.

"Huh?"

Without even appearing in his hands, the leather pouch was just opened. It appeared that this was a little different than the other items. He opened his inventory and confirmed that he had received the 30,000 gold.

Current Gold: 863,400

"Thirty thousand in one go, eh?"

Was it because knights normally carried that much? He remembered that in video games, humanoid monsters often dropped more items than others. Well, it made sense that humans carried more things than beasts or bugs. Not that it was certain the System was copying all of that. Still, this was good news. There were still many things he wanted to buy with gold, and it would be good if gold kept dropping this way.

"Anything else I could take?"

They say there was no end to man"s greed. Jinwoo looked around with greedy eyes. The knights" armors were all crushed by his hands and did not look usable… His gaze fell upon their swords.

"That looks usable."

A clean longsword that looked new. Since it was not a dagger, he didn"t plan on using it, but he could probably sell in the shop or to other Hunters. Jinwoo picked up the sword. However, the moment he raised the weapon, it rapidly rusted then turned to dust in his hands.

"s.h.i.+t…"

It happened in a blink of an eye.

"It won"t let me obtain anything if it"s not a drop?"

Regrettable, but there was nothing he could do. He clapped his hands and picked up the torch he had dropped earlier.

Turning around the corner to where the knights had come from, he saw yet another deep, dark tunnel.

"..."

It seemed that there was still a long way to go...

-

It was funny, but it almost seemed like he had to study the encounters like a test. After 2 hours of wandering the Dungeon, he had come across 4 types of monsters:

Knights, Mages, a.s.sa.s.sins and Archers.

"Is it "Stealth" this time?"

The a.s.sa.s.sin had disappeared before his eyes. Without panicking, Jinwoo immediately focused his senses and detected the enemy approaching from his back.

clang!

Jinwoo parried the a.s.sa.s.sin"s dagger with Casaka"s Poisoned Fang, then quickly counterattacked after it fell off his balance. His dagger found its way straight into the enemy"s chest.

stab!

You"ve defeated the a.s.sa.s.sin.

You"ve leveled up!

After receiving a fatal blow, the a.s.sa.s.sin turned into black smoke without so much as a scream.

thud

All that was left in its place was the leather armor it was wearing.

"I wonder why they"re all humanoid."

Jinwoo thought this every time he defeated one of them. Thankfully, he did not get to see their faces when they fought. The knights had their helmets, the a.s.sa.s.sins and archers their leather hoods, and the mages covered their heads with the hood of their robes.

Jinwoo turned to continue on his path.

Suddenly, a flash blinded his vision. A mage that hid its presence had completed casting its light-element spell.

Bang!

It was an explosion that pierced the ears!

But Jinwoo had already moved behind the mage.

"...!"

The mage detected a presence behind it and quickly began to cast a spell, but Jinwoo had already brought down his dagger down upon it. The mage disappeared with a black smoke.

thud

Jinwoo stared at the robe that lost its owner and put away his dagger.

"I was. .h.i.t by an attack like that before, you see."

In fact, he was already preparing to move when he felt the collection of mana from a distance. Jo Gyuhwan"s light-element magic. Jinwoo was not as naive as to be struck by an attack he was. .h.i.t with before. This was the meaning of studying the encounters.

"Not only that."

Each of the monsters needed a specific stat to deal with.

Knights with strength, a.s.sa.s.sins with sense, archers with agility and mages with const.i.tution.

If the appropriate stat was not above a certain level, dealing with the corresponding enemy would"ve been very difficult. With a low strength, he wouldn"t have been able to damage the armor of the knight; with a low sense, he wouldn"t have been able to detect the a.s.sa.s.sin.

"Looks like distributing my stats evenly was helpful for situations like this"

Well, his intelligence was a bit low, but that could be dealt with by managing his mana carefully.

You"ve opened the leather pouch.

There was 20,000 gold and a "canteen with warm water" inside.

You"ve acquired 20,000 gold and a "canteen with warm water".

Jinwoo opened his inventory and took out the canteen and drank from it.

"Whew-"

Fatigue was piling up.

"How much longer do I have to go?"

No, was there even an end?

Jinwoo dropped the empty canteen and stood with his hands on his hip. It"s been 3 hours since he had started the quest. Both his body and mind were becoming tired.

"...Should I rest for a bit?"

He sat down with his back against the cave wall.

"Status screen."

ring~

Fatigue: 66

His fatigue had almost reached a dangerous point. Above 70, it would have a noticeable debuff on his body and mind. Even for a moment, he had to rest his eyes and recover his stamina. Jinwoo rested his head against the wall and quickly began to doze off. Even in this environment, he was so tired that he would fall asleep in a moment. Unfortunately…

thwip-!

A sharp sound flew across the air! With his agility stat slowing down the world, Jinwoo was able to grab the arrow that was flying towards him.

grab!

The Hunter"s eyes shot open. At a distance, the archer was preparing its next shot.

"Won"t let me even sleep, huh."

Jinwoo summoned Casaka"s Poisoned Fang as he got up.

-

crack!

The breastplate caved in at Jinwoo"s punch, and the knight struck the wall. Its body slid down the wall, sprawled out on the ground and stopped moving.

ring~

You"ve defeated the Knight.

You"ve leveled up!

It was unfortunate that it was not accompanied by a status recovery, but Jinwoo was still steadily leveling up through the battles. It was a small consolation amidst the piling up fatigue. The man stared at his slightly scratched knuckles and clicked his tongue. It would be nice if he could just rest for a little bit, but the monsters did not give him any room to breathe. Thankfully, they did drop a lot of items.

Equipment [2]

Gatekeeper"s Necklace (A)

High-level Knight"s Breastplate (B)

Mid-level a.s.sa.s.sin"s Shoes (B)

Low-level Archer"s Gloves (C)

High-level Mage"s Ring (B)

Other than what he had equipped, there were several items that he put away in his inventory as well.

"Wish they dropped a usable weapon."

Unfortunately, the daggers dropped by the a.s.sa.s.sins, while having a similar attack power as Casaka"s Poisoned Fang, did not have any special effects so could not be considered an upgrade.

"Alright, what"ve you got?"

Jinwoo stretched a hand toward the light from the fallen knight.

ring~

High-level Knight"s Gauntlet

Rarity: B

Type: Armor

Physical Damage Reduction +3%

Additional effect: Protects the hands from injury

(If your strength is below 80, your movement will be slowed.)

"Oooh."

Jinwoo obtained the gauntlets with a happy expression and equipped them. Just like the other equipment, the gauntlets did not show their form and did not impede his fingers.

"Good."

After moving his fingers around, Jinwoo raised his head.

Ahead of the tunnel, the torches that lined the wall finally ended. At their end was a giant door. Jinwoo remembered the entrance of the underground temple from back then. His party was not prepared and met a tragic fate through the doors.

It would be different this time.

Jinwoo looked back on the path that he had walked so far.

"It"s been six hours since I came in here…"

His level had reached 45, and he had picked up a lot of new equipment.

He was prepared.

He wanted to rest for a bit and recover his stamina, but he knew that it would just summon more monsters that would interrupt his sleep. He could not afford to increase his fatigue any more through such encounters.

HP: 4,511 / 8,330

MP: 660 / 790

Fatigue: 43

"I have to win with just this."

After performing a final check on his status, Jinwoo grabbed the handles of the door.

guoooooooo-!

As if moved by some unknown mechanism, the doors opened apart easily.

Translator"s Notes:

[1]: "High-level Knight"s Breastplate" (상급 기사의 흉갑): "advanced/high level" 상급 + "knight" 기사 + "breastplate" 흉갑

[2]: All pretty literal and straight forward. The equipment are divided into 3 tiers, high-level, mid-level and low-level (상급, 중급, 하급).