"Phew."
Cheol-woo exhaled shortly and lightly rolled his wrist.
With a metallic sound cutting through the air, the greatsword fell vertically toward the floor.
"This will not do. If I miss once, it will take ages to recover my stance."
"Come on, but its power is guaranteed. I am telling you, it can break through thick mana stones in one strike."
"I think a monster would break my head before I break a mana stone."
Firmly rejecting the clerk’s recommendation, Cheol-woo set the sword down by the weapon rack.
If a sword was heavy, its destructive power was certainly reliable, but with his physical abilities as an E-rank, it would be difficult to handle his collapsed center of gravity after consecutive evasions.
"Then how about this one? It is an ultra-lightweight product, very agile."
The clerk quickly held out a thin, silver-tinged sword.
Cheol-woo gripped the hilt and tried a few short thrusts.
It was light, but there was no reassuring weight transmitted to his fingertips at all.
"This one is too light. I would get pushed back without even being able to deflect a club swung by a goblin."
"You are surprisingly picky, sir."
"My life depends on it."
Cheol-woo slowly looked over the swords displayed on the wall of the demonstration range.
He did not spare even a glance for expensive, flashy luxury equipment.
What he was looking for was only a practical combat weapon best suited to his stamina and fighting style.
After examining them for a while, Cheol-woo’s gaze stopped on an ordinary sword placed in the corner.
It was a medium-length sword, neither light nor heavy.
He picked it up without hesitation and drew an X in the air.
It did not strain his arm muscles, and the sensation of cutting through the air was quite distinct.
Even when mixing thrusts and short slashes, the burden on his wrist was low.
"I will take this one. And please show me some protective gear too. Lightweight type for E-rank."
"The protective gear is this way. What will you do with the one you were originally using? It is old, but if you sell it secondhand, we can still give you a little for it."
"Just throw it away."
Cheol-woo took off the old leather protective gear he had been wearing and tossed it aside.
It was a ragged thing that had been covered like a badge of honor in monster claws and acidic fluids over six years of porter work.
In its place, new lightweight protective gear made of flexible, tough material wrapped around his body.
It had an excellent fit, covering his side and major joints properly while not interfering with his movements.
"This is good. My body definitely feels lighter."
When Cheol-woo nodded in satisfaction, the clerk immediately began tapping on the calculator.
"Then, for the weapon and protective gear together..."
"Ah, I am not done yet. Give me plenty of mana recovery potions and hemostatic agents. Also, include two barrier generators that can reduce one impact."
The clerk’s eyes widened.
"Barrier generators? Those are rather expensive for consumables."
"It does not matter. Give me ones that work for certain."
In the past, he would have saved and saved his porter’s pay just to barely replace one weapon, but now he did not have to worry about his budget.
Being stingy with money when it increased his odds of survival was foolish.
Cheol-woo placed cash on the counter and slung the now heavier bag over his shoulder.
There was no expensive high-end equipment, but a customized equipment set optimized for his current physical condition had been completed.
Cheol-woo entered Goblin’s Abandoned Mine immediately while wearing his new equipment.
The revived boss was holed up in the innermost area, and in the common goblin zone, regenerated individuals were roaming around sparsely after several days.
"Let us see whether you are worth the money."
Cheol-woo picked up a small stone from the floor and flicked it forward.
The moment the sharp sound struck the cave wall, one pair of red eyes flashed in the darkness.
"SKREE!"
A green-skinned goblin raised a rusted dagger and rushed at him.
Cheol-woo did not dodge hastily. He stood his ground.
The moment the goblin leaped and brought its dagger down, Cheol-woo struck upward with his newly bought sword.
CLANG!
With a metallic sound, the goblin’s body was knocked far backward.
The sword had enough weight that he was not pushed back, and his wrist, which had absorbed the recoil, did not suffer much strain.
However, when Cheol-woo took a step forward and thrust the sword toward the goblin’s neck, the blade missed slightly through the air.
‘Half a beat late.’
It was an error caused by the difference in balance from the cheap sword he had used until now.
Because the sword was a little longer, there was a subtle difference even in the distance he usually used to strike and withdraw.
As the goblin staggered and tried to regain its stance, Cheol-woo stopped attacking and stepped back.
"One more time."
He deliberately drew out the goblin’s attack instead of ending the monster’s life at once.
The goblin let out an irritated shriek and swung its dagger wildly.
Cheol-woo followed the trajectory with his eyes and tested the performance of his new protective gear.
Each time he twisted his body to let an attack slide past, the protective gear around his joints stretched smoothly.
The feeling of his movements stalling because of stiff leather, as had happened in the past, had completely disappeared.
Clang! Clang, clang!
The sound of weapons clashing echoed continuously through the cave.
Cheol-woo repeatedly widened and closed the distance, engraving into his body exactly how far the sword’s tip could reach.
The mistakes of the sword scraping against the wall or floor gradually decreased.
Matching the timing of the goblin’s incoming dagger, he smoothly twisted his body and cut precisely across the nape of its neck.
"SKREE...!"
With a death cry, the goblin collapsed to the floor.
Cheol-woo steadied his rough breathing and shook the blood from his sword.
‘Next is this.’
He took a coin-sized barrier generator from his pocket and fiddled with it.
He could not confirm its performance with his eyes alone. He had to know how it deployed in actual combat to use it in an emergency.
Cheol-woo went deeper into the inner area and lured out two goblins at once.
Then he deliberately pushed his back into a blocked corner of the cave.
"SKREE! SKREEK!"
After confirming that his retreat was blocked, the two goblins charged in excitedly from both sides.
One was holding a club, and the other was holding a pickaxe.
Cheol-woo pressed the button on the barrier generator hard, then threw it forward.
WHIRR!
In an instant, a translucent blue barrier swelled up and blocked the space in front of Cheol-woo.
THWACK! CLANG!
The goblins’ weapons struck the barrier with dull sounds.
The barrier rippled strongly once and immediately shattered, but the monsters’ attacks had already lost their force in midair.
Cheol-woo did not miss the opening. His sword pierced the solar plexus of the two goblins in sequence.
"Deployment time under one second. Range is about two meters in front. It blocks exactly one hit."
Cheol-woo entered the limits of the barrier precisely into his mind.
It would be impossible against magic or a massive attack, but it was more than enough to withstand a sudden strike.
He immediately took a mana recovery potion from his waist.
His stamina and mana were still nearly half full, but he opened the lid and drank it all in one go.
"Kh."
The cool liquid slid down his throat and rapidly restored his energy.
During his porter days, he had been reluctant to spend money on consumables and had only barely wet his lips when his mana was almost depleted and he was on the verge of collapsing.
But that poor habit became a fatal weakness in chaotic battle.
Spending money in advance before danger arrived and keeping his body in optimal condition. That was the new training method Cheol-woo was forcing on himself now.
The training continued for several days.
Cheol-woo faced regenerated goblins, corrected the direction of his evasions, and adjusted his rest cycles.
Thanks to his new equipment and abundant consumables, his combat grew more stable with each passing day.
Even when two or three goblins rushed at him at once, he did not get cornered and merely shifted his route slightly to secure the better position.
There was no unnecessary force in the hand holding the sword, and the motions of deflecting and cutting flowed together like water.
That did not mean Cheol-woo had surpassed the limits of E-rank.
He did not smash walls with a single punch against goblins, nor did he unleash some overwhelming technique.
He was merely proving how tenaciously even an E-rank hunter could survive when the condition of his equipment, reliable support from consumables, and accurate stamina management came together.
"Good. That is enough for today."
Cheol-woo wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel and opened his training notebook.
He carefully wrote down the consumable usage cycle and the timing for barrier deployment.
His adaptation to the equipment was almost complete. His preparations to face the abandoned mine boss waiting in the innermost area were steadily falling into place.
Buzz.
The smartphone he had thrown into one corner of his bag vibrated.
Cheol-woo set down his pen and checked the screen.
The name displayed was Park Jun-seok. He was an E-rank hunter who had worked with him a few times in trash-tier raid teams in the past and had occasionally helped him find porter jobs.
[Cheol-woo, how have you been? Do you know anywhere with few people where I can train comfortably? I need to push myself hard for a few days, but the waiting line at the Association training ground is so long it is driving me insane.]
After reading the message, Cheol-woo’s eyes narrowed.
He immediately opened the translucent management window in the air.
[Temporary Outsider Entry Pass: Unused]
It was the function that allowed him to bring an outsider into a dungeon he owned.
Since he had never used it before, he had needed to test how it worked and how far the person who entered would be restricted.
Park Jun-seok was someone who knew how to keep his mouth shut and respect boundaries.
He was not a bad candidate for a test subject.
Instead of typing a reply, Cheol-woo opened his contacts list and pressed Park Jun-seok’s name.
The ringtone did not even pass three rings before the call connected.
"Hey, Jun-seok hyung. I saw your message. You need a training ground?"
Cheol-woo asked calmly as he packed his things and walked toward the cave exit.
He intended to clearly hear Jun-seok’s situation and training conditions, and if he judged him to be a useful card, he would open the door of this abandoned mine to him.
A faint smile spread across Cheol-woo’s lips.