Rapid Growth
The development on the SYSTEM was progressing faster than Vulcan had expected.
Still, it was no surprise considering that, from the start, Vulcan’s understanding of skills was the best among all Players.
He just needed an opportunity and a cause, and the battle against Uruo satisfied these conditions.
It had been three days since Vulcan focused only on utilizing magic through the SYSTEM. Vulcan finally succeeded in activating magic through the SYSTEM without saying the command codes.
It was just a basic Fireball, but it was a monumental leap in comparison to needing to utter the command codes.
Since then, Vulcan started to rapidly figure out how to perform the voiceless activation of other magic through the SYSTEM. By the tenth day, he figured out all of them.
“Hm…”
Vulcan sat in meditation pose and watched the h.e.l.lfires floating around him.
He did not like something about them.
After disengaging the spells, Vulcan got right up.
‘What’s the point of making it voiceless. It is useless like this.’
The satisfaction of achieving voiceless activation, a feat that even Uruo have not accomplished, was short-lived.
Vulcan realized there is a serious error in the process of voiceless activation.
“It is taking too long to cast spells…”
It was fine for simple magic such as the Fireball and Lightning. It only took Vulcan a few tries to learn how to use them with ease, eventually to the point where it was as easy, quick and simple as breathing. However, as for mid-level and higher magic, it was a different story.
Even for the Infinite Flame Orb, it felt like there was a delay in the activation. As for magic of Super Heated Inferno’s levels, the delay was taking one to two seconds of preparation time.
Also, this was after Vulcan got better at it from repeated training.
Of course, this was still significantly better than having to utter the command codes carefully, but Vulcan could not help but to feel disappointed.
‘I think I might be able to if I practice just a little bit more…’
Vulcan was not certain about it. It was just a feeling.
He also felt that it would be a waste of time to keep on training based on that gut feeling alone. He could have been spending that time on leveling up.
“Ah, I don’t know anymore. I’ll just think about it as I hunt.”
Vulcan took grumpy steps toward the marble stone door, and he forcibly opened the door. He could see a pathway that was wide enough for ten people to go through all together.
Also, he could see shadowy figures of humanoids.
Vulcan decided to catch two birds with one stone.
“As I gain experiences and face challenges from real combat, I will eventually be able to do what I cannot right now.”
‘You are the type that gets better with tougher training!’
Vulcan could almost hear Bereneru yelling those words.
Vulcan peeked a smile.
With a blade on his hand, Vulcan dashed toward the shadowy figures.
From the ceiling to the floor, from the floor to the sidewalls, the monsters were moving around freely with speed and agility.
They were moving as if they were not affected by the gravity. However, standing in middle of the monsters, Vulcan was keeping calm.
He was standing still with no intent for pre-emptive strike.
Watching Vulcan standing like that, a humanoid monster targeted him from his behind.
BOOM!
However, it ended in failure. Before the monster’s sharp claw could reach Vulcan’s back, a ball of flame appeared in midair, collided with the monster and caused an explosion. The only consolation for the monster from the failed attempt was causing a light cut on Vulcan’s cape. In the end, there was no effective damage on Vulcan.
KAAAOOO.
Despite seeing one of their allies faltering from the injuries, the rest of them were still not showing any sign of hesitation in their movements.
Instead, they were roaring even more violently and bouncing around all over the places.
Like predator targeting a prey, they looked vicious and dangerous.
However, Vulcan was still standing there as before. Despite watching the injured monster rejoining the ranks of others and a.s.suming a formation, Vulcan was still not showing any signs of intent for making a move.
Vulcan looked at the monsters that were busy moving around to surround him.
[Cheetahman]
[350Lv]
*Resident of the Abandoned Dungeon. Has the head of a cheetah on a human’s body. Swift attacks utilizing its superior physical abilities of feline predator is the monster’s specialty.
[Superior Cheetaman]
[360Lv]
*A type slightly superior to an ordinary Cheetaman.
‘These guys are perfect for my training.’
Vulcan was utilizing Cheetahman’s swift movements to train his voiceless magic through the SYSTEM.
Against Cheetahmen viciously charging toward him, Vulcan was trying to keep them on check using only the voiceless magic through the SYSTEM. The idea was trying to defend himself this way in order to get accustomed to the SYSTEM and reduce the activation delay.
Vulcan was thinking that he might get used to the new magic activation method if he forced himself into dangerous and critical moments in middle of a battle. It was a rather single-minded and crude training method.
To make himself nervous, Vulcan disabled the ‘dodge’ function on the SYSTEM, the one thing that handles majority of his defensive measures. By this point, it was not wrong to say that his training regime was beyond crude but rather reckless.
However, the effectiveness of the training method was certainly worth the danger.
Vulcan was getting used to the new magic activation method at a much faster rate than he was when he trained by himself at the entrance.
KUWAAAK.
KHAAANG
Until now, Cheetahmen were only throwing light attacks as if they were just testing Vulcan or just getting warmed up. Now, their att.i.tude changed. Their eyes were full of murderous intent that conveyed their willingness to bite and tear apart the opponent in front of them.
Cheetahmen were restlessly moving around Vulcan to confuse him, and now they suddenly targeted both sides of Vulcan. In their crunched pose, a stance unique to carnivore predators, the femoral region of their legs swelled up as if they were about to burst.
BAM
KUAKANG
Cheetahmen leaped toward Vulcan with an immense force, enough to almost break apart the surface. They were just about to tear apart Vulcan’s body.
At that moment, b.a.l.l.s of flames emerged from both of Vulcan’s palms.
KIREREREK
KUAKANG
A Cheetahman charging at Vulcan’s left side got struck by three of fist-sized fireb.a.l.l.s and fell to the side. Because it was a counter attack, the Cheetahman incurred a substantial damage, and its head exploded, turning into experience points for Vulcan.
However, one Cheetahman still lived. With its superb reflex, the last Cheetahman jumped to the air before the magic attack could touch it.
It was just about when the Cheetahman was going to charge at Vulcan by stepping against the ceiling.
A lightning bolt from Vulcan’s blade made a direct impact to its head.
KWAAANG
KURURUNG
The Cheetahman lost its consciousness and collapsed to the floor. By the time it lifted its head back up, it was already buried under fireb.a.l.l.s surrounding it.
[Experience points went up.]
[Level Up!]
“Phew… Certainly, killing the higher-level one was a little more tedious.”
Vulcan’s forehead was littered with sweats from the battle. He wiped his forehead with his sleeve.
The Cheetahmen were relatively fragile, but their attacks were incredibly powerful, so every moment of the battle was constantly nerve wrecking for Vulcan.
However, thanks to that, Vulcan was now able to use voiceless activation for up to mid-level magic. It could be said that this was a huge success for his training.
A smile of satisfaction formed near Vulcan’s mouth.
“As expected, when it comes to training, I am most efficient during the real combat.”
Staring in to the opponent’s eyes, feeling the tension when the blade makes contact, with each strike and attack aimed to extinguish the life of each other, the real combat was deadly, violent and exhilarating for Vulcan. Also, being the last man standing after breaking through it all gave Vulcan a new excitement from battle that he had not felt when he was in Lubel Continent.
Now, he was at the point of enjoying these close-call combats. It was almost strange how Vulcan managed to sit quiet and train under Bereneru all that time instead of running off to fight monsters instead.
Vulcan was giving a blank stare into the s.p.a.ce, reminiscing about his old times like a college student thinking about his days in high school senior year. Upon realizing this, Vulcan lightly slapped himself on his face.
‘Looks like I am starting to go insane from being in this world for way too long.’
It was because he realized that the thoughts he was having were something only those completely addicted to the thrill of combat would say.
Vulcan got a grip on himself and went to where the Cheetahmen fell to collect the items. Then he headed toward deep into the dungeon.
“If I keep on practicing, I should be able to adapt to the voiceless magic through the SYSTEM for the high-level magic.”
Sound of Vulcan’s firm steps echoed through the dungeon.
It had been three months since Vulcan started hunting in the Abandoned Dungeon.
Initially, Jake complained to Vulcan because there weren’t many high-level items, but nowadays, Jake spent the days in contentment and he could not stop himself from smiling.
From the day Vulcan started his training, items were pouring in to Jake, and thanks to that, his business was booming everyday. The residents of the Beloong City were breaking equipments all the time from battles, so the items always sold out before they could pile up. In return, they filled up Jake’s pockets.
Vulcan, the one that essentially handed Jake bags full of money, also achieved substantial growth.
First of all, his level increased a lot.
Level 265, a Second-Rate Magic Swordsman.
It was an amazing growth. Now, he could say with confidence that he is a mid-cla.s.s in the Beloong City. However, from Vulcan’s perspective, there was a bigger achievement that was more important than the levels.
FWOOSHHH
Three h.e.l.lfires, that were formed at an instant, flew toward a Cheetahman in a straight line. Cheetahman, which was surrounded by the Firewall and not able to escape, stood around without knowing what to do until the death came for it.
Watching Cheetahman’s corpse burning with crackling noise, Vulcan made a satisfied smile.
‘Now it is possible to use even the high-level magic without delay!’
Although Vulcan still had delay with top-level magic such as the Super Heated Inferno or the Thunder G.o.d’s Might, what he accomplished so far was still significant.
As long as there was mana left, with the voiceless activation of skills, he was able to pour out unlimited number of h.e.l.lfire without straining his mental focus.
If other mages heard this, they would have screamed foul on Vulcan’s increase in specs.
“You are hunting at such a rate. It is no wonder there are so many items pouring in.”
Jake said as he smoked cigarette.
“It is dangerous. Why did you follow me?”
“Because I was curious just how you are hunting them. By the way, you, you can cast magic without utterance? It is just like mages from the Powel.”
“I have a few talents.”
“Huh, you became quite arrogant. When I saw you for the first time, your appearance just screamed newbie. Now, no matter who looks at you, you certainly look like a resident of Asgard. By the way, is it okay to show me your voiceless magic casting techniques?”
After checking the items obtained from the hunt just now, Vulcan responded nonchalantly.
“If I was going to hide it, I wouldn’t have let you tag along in the first place. Anyway, because Uruo lived, anyone that would be interested in it probably would know by now.”
“Oh, but I didn’t know about it.”
“You are so busy with your business that perhaps your eyes for information went dark for the moment.”
“Haha. Even now, I still think investing in you was a great idea.”
Jake opened his shoulders wide with an invigorating laughter. He added casually,
“After seeing your abilities, I am not that worried, but still, be careful.”
“… Did something happen?”
“It is not that something happened, but something could happen.”
“What could happen?”
“It is nothing specific, but people like you, who get stronger rapidly, are on receiving end of pestering that never seem to cease.”
“Is that all? You are just saying you have a bad feeling, right?”
“Actually, I have seen a few cases of people that had steep and rapid growths but then became roadkills. I am saying this as a senior resident of Asgard, so please hear me out.”
Jake smoked the cigarette frugally, all the way to the end, where it was almost burning his hand. He then waved his hand toward Vulcan and disappeared using the portal scroll. After watching Jake heading back to the town through the portal, Vulcan turned back without any after thought.
Vulcan didn’t take Jake’s advice seriously, but he didn’t take it lightly either.
It would be foolish to ignore an advice from a man who managed to establish himself in Baloong City through his merchant business alone. However, it was not Vulcan’s style to obsess and worry over the weight of such a person’s advice either.
‘I just need to do what I can do.’
Becoming stronger through the training and leveling up was his current objective. By becoming stronger, handling dangers would become that much easier. Also, doing so increased his chance of returning home safely.
‘Is there anything else that I should mind?’
None.
Vulcan thought that he only had to keep on doing what he had been. He only had to move forward diligently and continue giving it his absolute best.
Vulcan did a light stretch and ran forward without any hesitation. Five Cheetahmen revealed their sharp teeth toward Vulcan.
‘Within 3 months… Level 300!’
Is that going to be a little too much?
It didn’t matter to Vulcan.
He never did anything half-a.s.sedly.