Level.
It was common knowledge that raising your Level made you stronger. That was true in games and novels, so how much more so for hunters in the real world?
A hunter’s Level represented their fundamental capabilities.
At the same time, it determined their Rank.
A hunter who started at Level 1, F-rank, would become D-rank upon reaching Level 20. There was no E-rank, by the way.
Then, once a Level 20 D-rank hunter reached Level 40, they became C-rank.
The higher the Rank, the more overwhelming the difference in power became.
Of course, the System was nowhere close to fair.
A hunter blessed with both luck and talent could awaken at over Level 100 from the very beginning.
And a gap like that was never easy to close.
The stronger you are, the stronger the monsters you can kill, which means you sweep up correspondingly massive amounts of Experience.
That revealed the most important fact of all.
Ultimately, what you needed to raise your Level was Experience.
Where did strength come from?
The answer was obvious.
It began with Experience.
And I received 100,000x Experience.
Crack. Crack.
I interlaced my fingers and stretched my arms forward.
I loosened up my stiff body after spending so long hunched over dissecting monsters.
Shing.
I drew the sword from my back and settled into a stance.
“This looks dangerous. Maybe we should call the other guild members…”
The kid spoke anxiously when I stepped forward.
Understandable.
The enemy in front of us wasn’t just an ordinary goblin.
It was a goblin commander.
“Krrk.”
It held a crude blade wrapped in cloth.
As an added bonus, it made an unpleasant rasping noise as if it might charge at any moment.
I spoke as though there was nothing I could do about it.
“They’re already fighting up front. Doesn’t look like they have time to worry about us.”
I tilted my head slightly toward the others, and the kid followed my gaze.
Just as I had said, the guild members were too busy dealing with a swarm of goblins that had suddenly appeared.
Goblins might be easy opponents individually, but once their numbers increased, you couldn’t afford to get careless.
“I’ll try handling it first. If it looks dangerous, help me.”
“B-But…”
When I spoke firmly, the kid looked visibly flustered.
“Isn’t this going to be too much?”
He wasn’t saying it for no reason.
He had probably heard about my reputation.
The insulting nicknames people used to call me in the past came back to mind.
A useless bastard who couldn’t even kill one goblin.
A liability beyond merely being a fill-in.
A trash hunter…
I’ll say it again.
Back then, I really was that bad.
I couldn’t even swing a sword properly.
Things most people could do naturally were difficult for me.
Of course, that wasn’t true anymore.
That goblin commander looks like a walking bundle of Experience.
Compared to the named monster Kuhullen, it had practically no presence at all.
Rather than feeling nervous, my mouth was practically watering.
Even so, I didn’t move as I faced it.
A goblin commander wouldn’t be wandering around alone.
It had the grand title of commander, but really, it was closer to a neighborhood bully.
They were always showing off their strength with three or four goblins trailing behind them.
“Krrk!”
“Krik!”
There it is.
Just as I expected, about five goblins slowly emerged from the darkness.
It seemed they had circled around behind us through some tunnel we didn’t know about.
Pretty clever for goblins.
“E-Eek… Hunter Lee Jihan. What do we do now? I’ve never fought five goblins at once either…”
The kid looked ready to cry after seeing them.
He was a hunter, yet he was making quite a fuss.
Still, if he belonged to a guild, he couldn’t be completely incompetent.
Let’s try this first.
I looked at the goblins and activated Intimidation.
『 Skill ‘Intimidation Lv.3’ activated. 』
『 You have successfully intimidated the targets. All attributes of the targets are reduced by 9%. 』
The effect was obvious.
“Krik?!”
The five goblins behind the commander faltered and began backing away.
Seeing its subordinates retreat, the goblin commander let out a sharp cry.
“Krrk!”
“Krik…”
At the commander’s bark, its subordinates reluctantly approached again.
Maybe because the Skill was only Lv.3, its effect on the commander itself seemed minor.
『 Skill [ Intimidation Lv.3 ] acquired. 』
『 Skill [ Intimidation Lv.4 ] acquired. 』
『 Skill [ Intimidation Lv.5 ] acquired. 』
Well, that didn’t matter.
Simply using a Skill accumulated Experience multiplied by 100,000.
In an instant, Intimidation rose to Lv.5.
I took one step forward and activated Intimidation again.
『 Skill [ Intimidation Lv.6 ] acquired. 』
『 Skill [ Intimidation Lv.7 ] acquired. 』
The goblins that had been too afraid of their commander to run away began collapsing one after another.
Thud.
Thud.
The goblin commander looked left and right in confusion.
Every one of its subordinates had fainted.
I was just as surprised.
This is incredible.
I can see plenty of ways to use this in actual combat. If it works like this, I won’t even have to bother with weak enemies.
Of course, my attributes were currently enhanced by all sorts of Skills.
I was so much stronger than a goblin that comparing us almost felt unfair.
Still, I couldn’t help being happy.
Only a few days ago, I had been reluctant to fight even one goblin.
Now they were passing out without me even touching them.
The corners of my mouth rose on their own.
“K-Krik…”
Beads of sweat formed on the head of the goblin commander that had been putting on such a brave front.
Every time I stepped closer, it unconsciously shuffled backward.
“Then I guess it’s time to do what I came here for.”
The moment I said that—
Thud.
“Hm?”
The kid standing behind me collapsed unconscious.
Come to think of it, he had gone quiet.
I awkwardly scratched the back of my head.
“…I didn’t realize he was this weak.”
Well, he was already down.
Nothing I could do about that.
I could deal with the goblin commander and wake him afterward.
I immediately charged toward it.
『 Skill ‘Footwork Lv.10’ has taken effect. 』
『 Skill ‘Agility Lv.10’ has taken effect. 』
Swoosh!
The distance between us vanished in an instant.
“Krik?!”
Before the goblin commander could even raise its blade, I was already standing in front of it.
Its eyes went wide as saucers.
Bam!
I kicked it in the stomach and sent it flying backward.
It rolled across the ground several times but quickly regained its footing.
“Krrk!”
Enraged, it immediately charged at me.
It swung the blade in its hand wildly.
An indiscriminate attack without any pattern whatsoever.
At first glance, it looked threatening.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
『 Skill ‘Swordsmanship Lv.10’ has taken effect. 』
But to my eyes, the attacks were crude.
I casually blocked every strike with my sword.
Against Kuhullen, Swordsmanship had made me feel as though I were facing an insurmountable wall.
Against a goblin like this, though, I was the one producing an overwhelming display.
“Krik… Krik…”
After frantically swinging its blade, the goblin commander began panting.
The result was completely one-sided.
But I wasn’t satisfied.
Do I need some kind of special trigger to advance into higher-level Skills after all?
The Skills I had acquired—Swordsmanship, Strength, Perception, Agility, and the others—were categorized as fundamental Skills.
They didn’t have separate grades.
By contrast, advanced Skills such as Advanced Swordsmanship, Strength of the Giant, and Flow of the Wind were on an entirely different level in terms of their effects.
I had hoped that continuing to fight would naturally lead me to acquire higher-level Skills.
Apparently, ordinary combat wasn’t enough.
Damn it.
Is talent still the problem after all?
I clicked my tongue.
100,000x Experience.
But I lacked the talent needed to create the starting point for everything.
It was simple.
Even if two people repeated the exact same action a hundred thousand times, the result would differ wildly depending on the person.
A talented person could gain insight through that repetition.
For someone without talent, those hundred thousand repetitions might amount to nothing more than meaningless labor.
Right.
The world was never fair to begin with.
It became even clearer when you heard stories about powerful hunters.
They didn’t struggle to obtain Skills.
They simply acquired them.
I had decided not to envy them.
I would just accept it.
That didn’t mean I intended to give up.
My Experience was multiplied by 100,000.
No matter how talentless I was…
If I was still human, then if I swung a sword like a madman long enough, surely I’d realize something eventually.
“Krik?!”
The goblin commander shrank back after sensing my killing intent.
Too bad.
I had no intention of going easy on it.
I poured every ounce of concentration into my sword.
『 Skill ‘Perception Lv.10’ has taken effect. 』
Time seemed to slow, if only slightly.
I drew an imaginary line that divided the goblin commander perfectly in half.
Then I swung my sword with all my strength along that line.
Slash!
I wasn’t done.
I quickly brought my sword around for the next motion.
This time, I drew a horizontal line and slashed again.
Thud. Thud.
When I withdrew my sword, the goblin commander fell to the floor in several separate pieces.
Two slashes performed with absolute concentration.
If I keep repeating this, something should happen eventually.
There were still five goblins lying unconscious from Intimidation.
Maybe cutting those down would give me something.
Just as I took a step toward them—
『 You have gained Experience. 』
I had been so focused on Skills that I had forgotten.
This was the entire reason I had wanted to kill a goblin in the first place.
Experience.
What else could it be?
『 The effect of Trait ‘Talent Adjustment (EX)’ has taken effect. 』
『 Experience gained becomes 100,000x. 』
“!”
A faint light visible only to me wrapped around my body.
It was so intense that I had to close my eyes.
Shhhhhk!
『 Level up! You have reached Lv.4. 』
『 Level up! You have reached Lv.5. 』
『 Level up! You have reached Lv.6. 』
『 Level up! You have reached Lv.7. 』
…
..
.
『 Level up! You have reached Lv.20. 』
So many messages appeared that they completely blocked my vision.
A smile spread across my face as I read them.
Wow.
This is insane.
The speed of my Level growth was simply unbelievable.
Level 20.
Normally, it took about three months inside F-rank gates to reach that point.
I had heard that children of major guild families or third-generation heirs of conglomerates could sometimes shorten that period dramatically.
But it had taken me only a few minutes to reach Level 20.
And most of that time had been spent experimenting on a goblin.
If anyone had witnessed this growth rate, they would have gone beyond admiration and straight into disbelief.
No.
It’s not over yet.
I lifted my head and looked at the goblins lying unconscious on the ground.
Every single one of them was practically a massive bag of Experience.
I needed to deal with them before the guild members fighting up front stole them from me.
Slash.
Slash!
Killing unconscious goblins was effortless.
While appreciating just how convenient Intimidation was, I called up my Status window to check my Level.
But something was wrong.
Bzzzt…
Crackle…
The Status window flickered with unstable static.
It looked similar to what had happened immediately after my return.
Crackle! Crackle!
It even seemed to be giving off red sparks.
I tapped it with my finger and flinched.
A sharp electric sensation ran through my body.
Had I somehow broken it by leveling up too much at once?
That made no sense.
I guess all I can do for now is wait.
I shook out my tingling hand and walked over to the unconscious kid.
There was no point keeping the magic stones anyway.
They would show up on the detector when we left, so I would have to hand them all over.
Tap. Tap.
“Wake up. Time to dissect monsters.”
“Ugh… What?”
The kid slowly opened his eyes, still half asleep.
He pulled water from his inventory and gulped it down.
Then he looked around and froze.
“Huh?”
His gaze moved from me, to the goblins sprawled across the ground, and then to the guild members still fighting farther ahead.
His eyes widened.
Apparently, he remembered what had happened before he passed out.
“The goblin commander! What happened to the goblin commander? Don’t tell me that thing too…?”
His mouth refused to close.
The goblin commander was, admittedly, lying across the ground in pieces.
Explaining everything felt annoying, so I gave him a vague answer.
“The others up front killed them all. Let’s just handle the dissection.”
The kid remained frozen for a moment before sighing in relief.
“Whew. Thank goodness. I seriously thought we were in trouble. Hmm… But why did I pass out? That’s never happened to me before.”
“…Get yourself some restorative medicine once we’re out.”
Feeling unnecessarily guilty, I rummaged through one of the goblin corpses.
Even if I told him I had knocked out all the goblins myself, he probably wouldn’t believe me anyway.
“All right! From here on is the boss’s territory. The youngest and the fill-in stay back and extract the magic stones. Everyone else is going in.”
That was when the Seungwoo Guild reached the boss room.
Ding!
Hm?
The Status window that had been producing static finally returned to normal.
『 Status 』
Name: Lee Jihan
Age: 24
Level: 20 [ Locked ]
Rank: F
Trait: Talent Adjustment (EX)
Skills
But something was wrong with the Level field.
Next to the number 20 was the gray word Locked.
What the hell? My Level is locked?
I killed the other goblins too, so I should’ve gone past 20…
As though answering my question, a red message belatedly appeared.
『 You have reached ‘20,’ the maximum Level for F-rank. 』
『 A Special Effect has been added to Trait ‘Talent Adjustment.’ 』
Once again, the message window was red instead of its usual color.
But I already knew.
The color wasn’t what mattered.
What matters is that a Special Effect was added to my Trait.
What kind of nonsense was this, arbitrarily blocking my Level growth?
I felt like filing a complaint with the System.
Fine.
Let’s see what it has to say first.
I moved my finger and opened the information for Talent Adjustment.
With my brows furrowed, I slowly read through the Special Effect.
This is…
No joke.