Leveling Up Alone

Han-Yeol leaned back in his chair with both of his hands behind his head.

‘Let’s see… Let’s think about this again, but slowly this time. An AoE skill is basically a skill designed to attack multiple monsters at once in a large area. A large area… That’s too broad. A large area basically means it spreads out widely…’ he thought.

Wooong…

Han-Yeol began controlling his mana according to the idea he had in his mind and heart. He slowly collected his mana above his head and began to spread it in all directions. As he focused, he thought, ‘The goal isn’t to target a single enemy, but to target the whole area.’

Pak!

Han-Yeol spread his arms forward, and his mana flew forward before hitting the wall and spreading throughout the room. The mana dissipated as soon as it spread, because he did not have any intention of attacking anything and was just testing his theory out.

‘I should try creating a skill this way. Hmm… The easiest thing to do would be to cast an explosion…’ he pondered.

AoE skills came in all sorts of forms and attributes, such as water, wind, fire, earth, electricity, and so on. However, Han-Yeol felt that the most efficient attribute, and the easiest attribute he could work with at present, was fire—in other words, causing an explosion. In truth, the main reason he had picked fire to work with was the fact that he had no clue where to even start with the other elements, but an explosion was something that could be made artificially.

‘The source of an explosion is fire! It’s always fire!’ he thought proudly.

Han-Yeol hurriedly made preparations to test out his new theory, preparing a few items before heading out. He went to the mountain behind the moon village, which had practically become his personal training ground.

Drrrrreuk… Drrrrreuk…

He dragged over a metal barrel of the sort that would be used by the homeless in winter, which he had filled up with books and magazines he had at home but no longer needed. He even gathered any dried twigs scattered across the ground and added them to the barrel. Then, he took out a matchbox he had found somewhere in his house and lit a match, throwing it into the barrel.

The reason why he was doing all this in the rear mountains was that he could end up burning down the whole apartment complex if he messed up substantially, and that was a responsibility he was not willing to take.

Fwaaaaah!

The fire consumed the dried twigs and paper, starting to blaze brightly.

‘I hope this works…’ Han-Yeol thought before sticking his hand into the barrel. Anyone who saw what he was doing would jump in surprise and think he had gone mad, but his hand was unscathed, as he had enveloped it in mana prior to sticking it into the fire.

‘I’ll control this fire…! I’ll make this fire mine!’ he thought, steeling his resolve. Controlling an element and making it his own was an extremely difficult thing to do, and the fire resisted his attempts to tame it.

‘Focus, Han-Yeol! Focus on controlling the fire!’ he urged himself once again. He did not give up, and kept attempting to tame the fire by pouring all of his focus into his Mana Mastery skill. Over time, the fire slowly started to become one with his mana and listen to his will.

Crackle… Crackle…

‘Alright!’ Han-Yeol rejoiced.

The fire that had previously resisted his attempts to place it under his control now sat obediently in the palm of his hand. The flame above his palm no longer needed any fuel such as paper or wood, as it had begun feeding off his mana to sustain itself.

He raised his hand and looked at the blazing red flame atop his palm. ‘Fire turns redder the lower its temperature is, and turns blue as the temperature rises,’ he thought, digging through his shallow knowledge—knowledge he had gained while watching the news.

‘Is there a way to increase its temperature…?’ he wondered, worrying about whether the red fire would be enough. The things he had to face were not humans, but rather monsters that threatened the existence of the human race.

‘Hmm… Maybe… Just maybe…?’ he pondered.

Woooong…

He infused more of his mana into his fingertips, just in case it would work.

Step… Step… Step… Step…

He even walked around to recover some of his lost mana, just in case he ran out of it.

Fwaaah!

The red fire slowly turned orange as he infused more of his mana into it.

‘Oh! It worked!’ He rejoiced inwardly. However, his joy lasted only for a moment, as the color no longer changed no matter how much mana he infused into it.

‘Tsk… I guess this is the highest standard my mana can reach at the moment.’ He clicked his tongue in regret, as he had to end the experiment right on the cusp of creating a new skill just because his mana was lacking.

‘As expected. I have to increase my level first,’ he thought.

It was a problem that could be solved just by leveling up and investing his bonus stat points into his MAG stat, at least. In the end, everything he wanted to do eventually circled back to his low level.

‘At least I managed to clear the first stage of it… I guess?’ he consoled himself.

His main objective at the moment was to obtain an AoE skill, and he had to focus on that task. Han-Yeol infused his mana into his left hand as well, and took some of the fire that sat atop his right hand.

Fwaaah…!

The single flame split into two, but it did not decrease in size. That meant the way it worked was not so different from natural fire.

‘Alright, this means I’m now able to perfectly control the fire,’ he thought, before throwing both of the flames in his hands forward.

Fssswooooh…! Psssshhh…

He flung both flames into a puddle of water just in case things would become dangerous. However, he soon felt extremely embarrassed for even worrying, as both flames flew in an arc before landing in the water and being immediately extinguished—by a puddle of water on the ground.

‘I can’t use it like this, eh? Hmm… Then what if I add Power Strike to it…?’ he pondered.

He linked Power Strike to the fire and threw it again, but he had no luck this time either. The Power Strike skill could not resonate with the fire, as it was technically an immaterial object.

Thud.

‘Ahhhh! I can’t seem to get a grasp of it!’ he lamented as he sat on the ground and scratched his head in frustration.

‘Perhaps… Would it help if I had a medium that could aid in casting the skill…?’ he wondered.

At the moment, all of Han-Yeol’s offensive skills required him to infuse his mana into an object or a medium that aided him in casting a skill to attack a target.

***

Han-Yeol went home and further contemplated how to use an AoE skill after obtaining some clues from his recent experiment.

‘What should I use as a medium for this one…?’ he wondered.

He took the backpack lying in a corner of his room and opened it.

Ziiip…!

“Eh?” he exclaimed. The knuckle knife and hunting knife he had placed in the backpack were broken.

‘Euk… It must be because I bought cheap ones off the streets…’ he thought while letting out a sigh. The things he had to take care of on top of the AoE skill issue had just increased by one.

‘I guess it’s now time for me to buy a real weapon,’ he thought.

The knives he had been using until now were cheap weapons he had bought from a street peddler. They had withstood being infused with his mana, but they were bound to break one day, as their durability would eventually plummet after being abused by mana.

‘Yeah, I should properly arm up now that I’m an official Hunter,’ he thought. Until now, he had been hunting with the knives and slingshots he had bought off the street, which were very shabby when compared to the high-quality items most Hunters used.

‘But still… I’m not that financially well-off yet, so maybe I should just purchase one sword to start with,’ he thought.

Of course, Han-Yeol wanted to fully arm himself with those very same high-quality items used by Hunters, but he did not have the funds to purchase them yet. That was why he decided to only purchase a sword, which had suddenly become his highest priority, and slowly purchase other items once he had more financial leeway.

Tap tap tap tap tap tap…

He booted up his computer once again and navigated to an online store that dealt exclusively with Hunter equipment, then searched for swords on the website. Swords were mainstream weapons that were second only to spears; as such, he was presented with a plethora of choices at reasonable prices.

‘Wow, every single one of them is tempting…!’ he exclaimed inwardly.

The swords that were on the screen came in all sorts of designs and specifications, but the ones Han-Yeol wanted were on the higher end of the price range. In the end, he decided to settle for a sword that was reasonably priced at five million won.

‘I should take this with me when I test out the AoE skill at the hunting grounds,’ he thought.

He decided to register the sword personally, since he had to go and get a permit from the Hunter’s Association prior to going out on a hunt anyway, and the Hunter’s Association building was where most Hunters and Porters decided to meet up. Additionally, the physical branch of the online store he had purchased the sword from was located on the way to the Hunter’s Association, so he thought it would be convenient to collect the weapon on the way.

***

“Thank you very much; we hope to see you again,” a staffer working at the physical store said while bowing toward Han-Yeol.

Han-Yeol walked out of the store while grumbling, “Aishh! They should have written that the scabbard was sold separately!” He had ended up having to spend an additional amount after walking leisurely into the store, only to find out from the staffer that the scabbard cost extra.

“You can’t trust these merchants at all, I tell you,” he grumbled.

Merchants did not discriminate between civilians and Hunters when it came to conning them out of their money. Han-Yeol was very annoyed after getting done in by the shop, but he soon composed and prepared himself before arriving at the Hunter’s Association.

“Welcome,” an association staffer greeted him when he entered the building.

The Hunter’s Association received the largest amount of tax money in Korea, and it was also the place that collected the largest amount of tax revenue for the government. Its building, which had received an astronomical amount of funding ,was the embodiment of the word ‘luxury’. In fact, it could be considered even more luxurious than the Blue House[1] itself. Of course, the employees working in it were not only quite capable, but also quite good-looking as well.

Han-Yeol approached a counter and said, “I booked an appointment for today, to receive a permit to hunt under the name Lee Han-Yeol.” He then passed his Hunter license to the staffer behind the counter.

“Ah, yes, yes. Please wait for a moment,” the staffer replied.

The staffer was flustered for a moment, because such tasks were usually handled by the manager associated with a party rather than the Hunters themselves; however, she was quickly able to snap out of it due to the intense training she had undergone to serve customers according to the association’s standards.

Beep.

“Ah, Lee Han-Yeol-nim. I have checked your appointment. S-Solo? Y-You are going to hunt solo, is that correct?” she stuttered and asked.

“Yes, is there a problem?” Han-Yeol responded.

He might have sounded nonchalant, but he was actually bothered deep inside, as he had wanted to keep the fact that he was hunting solo a secret. He was concerned that he might be treated strangely or attract too much unwanted attention. Unfortunately, he had no choice but to register as a solo Hunter, since he would be lying if he registered himself as a team.

“Ah, no, there is nothing wrong with it. I see that you have requested an RV truck as well?” the staffer asked.

“Yes,” Han-Yeol responded.

“Please wait a moment,” the staffer said before typing busily away at the computer. A printout emerged soon after, and she said, “Please submit this document to the staffer managing the equipment storage to rent your RV truck.”

“Thank you,” Han-Yeol replied with a bow. He then checked the information board to find out where the equipment storage was, before heading to it.

“Omo omo! That Hunter was so polite. How is that even possible?” the staffers gossiped among themselves. It was still not the association’s peak hours, so they had the luxury to huddle around and gossip about things.

“I know, right? A Hunter came and personally collected his equipment without a manager, and even spoke politely to us. Did you see what he did before he left? He actually bowed before leaving!”

“Kyaaah! He’s so cool!”

The employees of the Hunter’s Association all received high salaries on top of various kinds of benefits; these ladies were considered to be among the elites of society. They garnered the envy of other women and the praises of men outside their workplace due to their social status as the association’s employees.

Unfortunately, it was a job that had a high resignation rate, and only a few actually made it until retirement despite the high salary and benefits provided. That was because of the constant sexual harassment and verbal abuse they had to receive from Hunters.

Han-Yeol was a breath of fresh air for these ladies who had only ever known rude and ill-tempered Hunters, and they fell head-over-heels for his first impression. They all had dreams of marrying a rich and handsome Hunter one day, regardless of the hatred they harbored against most Hunters. After all, the most eligible marriage candidates in the world at the moment were no doubt Hunters.

“Snap out of it, you wenches. I went over his details; he’s just at the level of hunting Giant Ants, and alone at that. How much do you think he can make in a month with that? He’s just a greenhorn,” one of the staffers said, instantly bringing down the mood.

“Why do you always have to kill the mood? Besides, so what if it’s just Giant Ants? He must be keeping all of the profits if he’s hunting solo, right? It’s guaranteed that he’s earning way more than what we make.”

“That’s right!”

“Tsk tsk… This is why you girls still have a long way to go.”

Clack Clack…

The staffer had killed the mood, said what she had to say, and walked away.

1. The Blue House is the presidential palace of South Korea. They call it that because it has a blue roof. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_House ☜