Level Up Machine

Chapter 25 Unexpected Jackpot (2)

-Slash!

“Kieeeeeek!”

The body of the giant Lizardman, standing at a massive 3 meters tall, was split in half.

The young man who had cleaved its body in two panted heavily, using the sword in his hand to support himself.

-Clap, clap, clap.

“Well done. Using that expensive item paid off.”

Kang Ha-rin, who had been quietly observing Cheon Tae-hwang, the young man who had single-handedly faced the enormous Lizardman, clapped and praised him.

A torn scroll lay on the ground near her.

It was a Monster Search Scroll.

These scrolls were typically used to find monster groups that, though fewer in number, offered better rewards.

Generally, Monster Search Scrolls could only locate regular monsters.

However, the one she used was a high-grade scroll that could even find boss monsters below level 30.

In fact, this item was rarely used, and the reason was simple.

It was prohibitively expensive.

A Monster Search Scroll that could locate boss monsters cost nearly 50 gold coins each.

Its search radius was only about 3 kilometers, so there was a chance of never finding a boss monster if one was unlucky.

Even if one did find a boss monster below level 30, it was impossible to earn more than 50 gold coins, no matter how lucky one got.

Finding a boss monster in one go would still result in a loss.

Kang Ha-rin had used three such Monster Search Scrolls.

The sole reason was to make Cheon Tae-hwang grow faster by hunting boss monsters.

This was not something easily achievable without the financial power of one of the top three guilds.

“What level are you now?”

“Level 17.”

Cheon Tae-hwang replied calmly to her question.

Kang Ha-rin smiled broadly and nodded.

“Good. It’s time to move on to the next hunting ground.”

“Is there a boss monster there as well?”

Cheon Tae-hwang asked, recalling the thrill he felt when he fought Ludrek.

His eyes burned with a longing for combat against strong opponents.

“You’re really something else.”

Kang Ha-rin smiled wryly and shook her head.

His desire for battle was almost peculiar.

‘But that’s what makes him more attractive.’

She licked her lips seductively, looking at Cheon Tae-hwang as if he were a delicious treat.

She shrugged her shoulders and continued speaking.

“Recently, there haven’t been many boss monsters appearing, so I can’t be certain. But we have a good dungeon managed by our guild. If we go there, you’ll be able to fight quite strong monsters.”

“Hmm… Understood.”

Cheon Tae-hwang nodded, his eyes showing a hint of disappointment.

Kang Ha-rin, seeing this, smirked.

“Heh. Once you reach level 60, I’ll send you to the Northern Frontier. You’ll have an entirely new experience there.”

“How long will it take to reach level 60?”

Cheon Tae-hwang asked, his eyes sparkling.

The Northern Frontier.

A place where powerful monsters descended from the northern part of the continent, creating a battleground so dangerous that even rankers could lose their lives if they weren’t careful.

Thinking about it made his heart race with excitement.

Kang Ha-rin looked at him, exasperated, and let out a deep sigh.

“For you, it won’t take long. At most, two months? If you focus on hunting elite monsters in the dungeon, you’ll level up pretty quickly.”

Two months to reach level 60.

If other summoners heard this, they would have laughed incredulously.

Most regular summoners hunted weaker monsters to maximize their experience gain safely.

While this was the safe route, the main reason was that hunting same-level or higher-level monsters was too costly and risky.

However, Cheon Tae-hwang was a member of Leviathan, one of the top three guilds known as the Eastern Dominator.

Moreover, he was a summoner with the talent to become a ranker, with a level cap surpassing 100.

There was no way he wouldn’t receive full support.

“Hmm…?”

At that moment, Kang Ha-rin heard footsteps approaching them.

She turned cautiously, realizing the footsteps belonged to a person, not a monster.

“Oh, we meet again.”

She smirked as she saw Yeong-sik and his party approaching.

She waved at them with one hand, greeting them.

“If you’re here to hunt the boss monster, we already got it. Sorry.”

She said it in a tone that was far from apologetic.

Yeong-sik and his party showed a flash of disappointment on their faces.

-Ding.

[Quest Failed.]

A blue message window appeared in front of Yeong-sik’s eyes, notifying him of the quest failure.

‘Tsk…’

Yeong-sik sighed as he looked at the message window.

The gold he planned to earn from this quest to level up his crafting and structural analysis skills had gone up in smoke.

‘How did they find the boss monster before us?’

Yeong-sik looked at Cheon Tae-hwang and Kang Ha-rin with a puzzled expression.

Bae Han-seong, noticing his confusion, sighed deeply and explained.

“They used a scroll containing the Monster Search magic.”

He briefly explained the Monster Search to Yeong-sik and his party.

Upon hearing his explanation, Yeong-sik’s expression turned to one of helplessness.

One scroll cost at least 50 gold coins.

It was much more than the gold they could have earned from defeating Ludrek.

“Hmm? At least we found it within three tries this time. It would have been problematic if we hadn’t found it even after using ten scrolls.”

Kang Ha-rin stretched as she spoke.

Her words left Yeong-sik’s party even more dumbfounded.

Ten scrolls meant 500 gold coins.

Five hundred million won in Korean currency.

Seeing her talk so casually about such a vast amount of money left them feeling utterly defeated.

“Let’s go, Tae-hwang. I’ll buy you something delicious for dinner tonight.”

With that, Kang Ha-rin turned away, showing no interest in Yeong-sik’s party.

As she walked away, she waved at Bae Han-seong.

“Don’t blame us for taking the monster. We didn’t steal it from you. And we don’t need the black cube, so take it if you want.”

With those words, Cheon Tae-hwang and Kang Ha-rin walked off toward the swamp.

A heavy silence fell over Yeong-sik’s party.

“Haha… The power of money is indeed formidable,” said Gil-soo, his voice tinged with helplessness.

Internally, he had been quite tense about the prospect of fighting the boss monster, and now he felt a sense of futility.

“That’s right…”

Yeong-sik nodded in agreement.

The power of money.

This moment made him feel its impact profoundly.

The saying “the rich get richer” wasn’t for nothing.

Even in this world, those with capital invested it to reap greater rewards.

‘But to handle the boss monster alone?’

Yeong-sik recalled the image of Cheon Tae-hwang panting heavily after single-handedly defeating Ludrek.

The term “monster” didn’t even do him justice.

He possessed extraordinary talent and the best environment to nurture that talent to its fullest.

It was a situation incomparable to Yeong-sik’s own.

‘Let’s stop thinking about it.’

Yeong-sik shook his head, trying to clear away the complex thoughts swirling in his mind.

Just because someone had talent and an environment far superior to his own, it didn’t mean he had to feel anxious or defeated.

“Sigh. It’s unfortunate. We even received a quest for this.”

Bae Han-seong sighed as well, walking over to Ludrek’s bisected corpse.

Watching him, Yeong-sik seemed to remember something and asked,

“By the way, what is a Black Cube?”

“Hmm. It’s a small black cube about the size of a palm, found only in the corpses of boss monsters. To be honest… it’s a useless item.”

As he spoke, Bae Han-seong rummaged through Ludrek’s bisected body.

Just as he said, a blood-soaked black cube appeared.

“At first, many summoners thought it was something valuable like a magic stone… but it turned out to be useless. It doesn’t even have any magical power.”

“Is something like that found in every boss monster?”

Yeong-sik asked with a curious expression.

Bae Han-seong nodded in response.

“Yes. Nowadays, it’s considered just a token to show that a boss monster was defeated. But since all the Black Cubes from different boss monsters look identical, even that token has lost its meaning.”

The identical appearance of the Black Cubes meant they couldn’t be used to boast about defeating a particularly powerful boss monster.

Whether one defeated a low-level boss or a high-level boss, there was no way to distinguish between them.

“Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait for another chance to hunt a boss monster.”

Bae Han-seong said, tossing the Black Cube in his hand to the ground.

Some summoners collected Black Cubes, hoping they might have some use in the future, but most just discarded them.

The Black Cubes were just junk items with no function or use.

Yeong-sik looked down at the Black Cube lying on the ground.

It was plain, and he felt no special energy from it.

However, Yeong-sik thought he had seen it somewhere before.

As if entranced, he approached the Black Cube. He reached out and picked it up.

Seeing this, Bae Han-seong spoke up.

“You can keep it as a memento if you want. It’s a useless item, though.”

He smiled faintly, seeing Yeong-sik’s interest in the Black Cube.

It reminded him of his own past.

In nature, it was impossible for a perfect hexagonal cube to form.

Because of this, many summoners believed there was a hidden secret in the Black Cube.

Bae Han-seong had once been one of those summoners.

When he first defeated a boss monster and obtained a Black Cube, he had scoured every book in the library of the Kingdom of Elnort, trying to uncover its secrets.

However, no matter how much he searched, there was no record of the Black Cube.

He tried roasting it, boiling it, but nothing happened.

When he smashed it with a hammer, it shattered into obsidian-like fragments, breaking apart with a hollow feeling.

‘Well, experiencing this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.’

Bae Han-seong knew from experience that once curiosity was piqued, it wouldn’t be satisfied until he had explored it thoroughly.

He turned his gaze away from Yeong-sik, who was staring blankly at the Black Cube.

Thinking about Yeong-sik spending the next few days trying all sorts of things with the Black Cube made him feel a bit nostalgic.

“The sun has set, so let’s head back to the guild.”

Bae Han-seong said as he began walking forward.

Gil-soo and Ara followed him, their footsteps echoing softly.

“…Yeong-sik?”

Ara called out to Yeong-sik, who was standing still, staring at the Black Cube in his hand.

Yeong-sik snapped out of his trance and responded with a light smile.

“Sorry. I’ll catch up soon, go ahead.”

“Hmm. Don’t take too long. We never know when the Lizardmen might attack.”

“Got it.”

Yeong-sik waved his hand dismissively, assuring her not to worry.

Ara turned away and followed Bae Han-seong.

Yeong-sik slowly walked behind them, gazing down at the Black Cube in his hand.

‘I definitely remember seeing this somewhere…’

He looked at the Black Cube with a puzzled expression.

However, having encountered a boss monster for the first time in this world, there was no way he could have seen such a uniquely shaped cube before.

Yeong-sik stared deeply at the cube.

Instinctively, he used a skill.

“Structural Analysis.”

The skill, unique to engineers, activated.

A blue light emanated from his hand, flowing into the Black Cube.

-Ding.

[Successfully analyzed the structure of E-rank Memory Cube.]

[Structural Analysis skill proficiency has significantly increased.]

[Structural Analysis skill has leveled up to 2.]

With the sound of a clear bell, an image appeared in his mind.