Chapter 11 (2/2)

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Yesterday . More accurately, the dawn of today . He recalled the messages he received while being chased around by the centipedes in the Penalty Zone . It was around the 3rd hour of running from the clutches of death . .

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You’ve learned “Sprint” (Lv . 1).

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You’ve learned “Unyielding Spirit” (Lv . 1).

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He did not pay attention at the time, his entire mind focused on running, but now he was able to take a closer look . .

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Sprint (Lv . 1).

Active Skill.

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Mana Cost: 5 (+1/Minute).

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Activate to increase your movement speed by 30% . .

Costs 1 mana per minute to maintain . .

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“Your running has strengthened your legs . ”.

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Unyielding Spirit (Lv . 1).

Passive Skill.

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Mana Cost: 0.

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When below 30% HP, all damage received is reduced by 50% . .

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“You have an unyielding spirit . ”.

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‘So because I ran like a dog, I learned these two skills?’.

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The logic was sound . This meant that repetitive actions that met certain criteria unlocked skills . .

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“Amazing!”.

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The merits of this were incalculable . Normally, the repertoire of skills that Hunters used were received and fixed at the moment of their Awakening . Only the rare Runestones[3] that sometimes dropped from A-rank or higher magic beasts could be used by a Hunter to learn a new skill . This is why the price of Runestones ranged from hundreds of million to tens of billion won . He recalled a recent event of a Runestone being sold at an auction for the price of 70 billion won . It was a Runestone that taught a powerful healing magic that could completely restore an injured person, purchased by an anonymous foreign S-rank Healer-class Hunter who emptied his wallet for it . .

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Jinwoo’s heartbeat sped up . .

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A skill to increase his movement speed and a skill to reduce damage taken . .

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Not quite skills that would cost tens of billions of won, but they were still useful skills . And he had earned such skills for free . Although it probably was difficult to make full use of “Sprint” with his low magic power, the fact that he had these skills now was amazing . .

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‘And the “Unyielding Spirit” doesn’t even take any mana…’.

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It seemed like “mana” was referring to “magic power” . This meant that even his body that lacked magic power could take advantage of the “Unyielding Spirit” . This alone was a great boon to Jinwoo . .

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‘However… What is this skill…’.

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(Unknown) (Lv . Max).

Passive Skill.

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“Unknown” that took up a line under his passive skills . As a passive skill, it should be something that activated automatically, but its information screen did not reveal any details . .

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‘I have no clue what this is . ’.

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There was nothing he could find or figure out about this unknown skill . Realizing his worries would get him nowhere, Jinwoo turned his attention to the other section of his status screen . .

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‘Stat points…’.

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The stat points he received as the reward for the Daily Quest remained undistributed . .

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Stats.

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Strength: 10.

Constitution: 10.

Agility: 10.

Intelligence: 10.

Sense: 10.

(Available stat points: 3).

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‘So I can raise 3 points worth of stats?’.

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Five different attributes were under the stats section . Being level 1, his points across the board were rather low . But remembering all that he had experienced up until now, he could not carelessly distribute his points . If the assignment of points truly enhanced his abilities, how could he make the decision lightly?.

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His expression hardened . .

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‘The meaning behind “Strength” is pretty clear…’.

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Strength, constitution, agility . He grasped the meaning behind these attributes quite easily . After all, they were some of the more straightforward ‘stats’ in video games . The problems were the “Intelligence” and “Sense” stats . The curt and distant System revealed no additional details to Jinwoo . .

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Would he become smarter if he increased “Intelligence”?.

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Or more keen and sharper if he increased “Sense”?.

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Regardless, those two attributes did not seem particularly useful to him . He was a Fighter-class Hunter . What he needed the most was strength, mobility and durability . .

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‘If I had to choose one, it’d be strength . ’.

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Increased strength would rather make a lot of things easier . He was curious on what kind of change his body would undergo when he increased his stats . As such, he selected the stat that would probably result in the most physical change in his body . .

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“3 points into strength . ”.

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ring~.

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Stats.

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Strength: 13.

Constitution: 10.

Agility: 10.

Intelligence: 10.

Sense: 10.

(Available stat points: 0).

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‘Is… is that it?’.

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That was it . .

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All that changed was the number in front of “Strength” going from 10 to 13 . .

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In his mind, he had expected the recreation of the scene in movies or cartoons where the hero pulled forth an unknown power from within . .

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“Well, did anything change?”.

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Jinwoo decided to test out his strength . He stood next to his bed and lifted it . He felt a slight resistance from the bed’s weight but was able to easily lift it off the ground . Still, he was unable to tell whether this was due to the lightness of the bed or his increased strength . .

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‘Should’ve made a comparison before and after I used up the points . ’.

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As his points were already distributed, it was hard for him to distinguish the before and after of his changes . .

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‘If I just had few more points…’.

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Rolling his tongue in his mouth, Jinwoo suddenly remembered something:.

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“The reward from the Penalty Quest!”.

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He had remembered that it wasn’t just the Daily Quest he completed today . Although he had almost died from it, he did complete the Penalty Quest and even remembered the reward message from it as well . He quickly opened his message box . .

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The reward for completing the Penalty Quest has arrived . .

Would you like to verify? (Y/N).

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“It’s there!”.

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He clenched his fists . .

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Of course, the answer is “Yes!”.

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You’ve received the below rewards:.

Reward 1 . Stat points +3.

Reward 2 . Random Box x 1.

Accept all?.

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Compared to the Daily Quest, there was no reward of status recovery, but what he needed now the most were stat points . Initially worried that a Penalty Quest might give reduced rewards, Jinwoo was relieved to see that it still gave him 3 stat points . .

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He distributed the points in delight,.

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“Add 3 more points into strength!”.

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ring~.

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Stats.

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Strength: 16.

Constitution: 10.

Agility: 10.

Intelligence: 10.

Sense: 10.

(Available stat points: 0).

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His strength had increased from 13 to 16 . He went before his bed once more and used his arms . Compared to before, the bed felt much lighter in his hands . He was able to fully comprehend the difference this time . .

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“It’s true…!”.

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He really had become stronger . By simple math, going from 10 to 16 points meant that his strength had increased by 60% . The result was blatantly clear to him now . Unable to control his excitement, Jinwoo loudly went from corner to corner of his room, lifting every furniture that he could get his hands on . He had to stop when a passing nurse peeked in and glared at him . .

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“…Sorry . ”.

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After she left, he sighed a breath of relief . .

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“Phew-“.

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But his excitement could not be abated . His heart was beating vigorously . .

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ba dum ba dum.

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A Daily Quest and stat point rewards!.

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As long as this strange occurrence continued, his life would turn around completely going forward . It was an incredible opportunity for him . On top of that, the “level” he saw under his status screen,.

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‘It should be possible for me to raise my level as well, right?’.

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He tilted his head . .

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‘Eh… probably not . ’.

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It was but a dream; he did not expect himself to go that far . Just the daily rewards were good enough . .

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Using stat points to increase his attributes . .

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Yesterday then today, today then tomorrow, he would become stronger every day . .

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‘To think that I, an E-rank Hunter, the “Weakest Soldier”, could become strong?’.

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Forget the A-rankers and S-rankers, even his C-ranked and D-ranked comrades would laugh at him . .

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Sung Jinwoo becoming strong?.

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That weakling Sung Jinwoo?.

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But he did not care that he would be laughed at . No, he was already used to it after all . He was just happy that this opportunity had arrived in his hands . .

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Then a question appeared in his mind,.

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‘Perhaps this is the process of a Second Awakening?’.

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It was a rare event, but there were cases where a Hunter at the bottom of the barrel shot up to first class through Reawakening . Maybe all those Reawakened Hunters had gone through the same phenomenon that he was experiencing right now?.

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‘Let’s find out . ’.

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The now curious Jinwoo sat in front of a computer in the corner of his room . As he was designated a special patient by the Association, the VIP room that he was placed in even had such luxuries for his use . .

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clack clack clack clack.

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His fingers moved quickly across the keyboard . .

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Search after search after search . .

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He went through dozens of websites, including sites only accessible by those with Hunter licenses . Going as far as purchasing paid information, he gathered and went through as many documents he could find on Reawakening . .

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But nothing he found matched what he was experiencing now . .

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‘It’s different…’.

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His newfound powers were completely different from a Reawakening . .

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The Hunters that went through Reawakening underwent the same process as their first Awakening[4] . No one mentioned hearing any voices on the verge of death or a video game like System that gave them stat points that increased their abilities . .

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Translator’s Notes:.

[1]: “Unyielding Spirit” (근성; geun-sung): The word on its own just means someone’s disposition or natural spirit . Contextual clues imply the “spirit” in this situation is one that would not give up even at 30% HP, so I chose to add the “unyielding” in front of it . The skill description also goes as far as to say “You have an unyielding/untiring spirit . ”.

[2]: “Sprint” (질주; jil-joo): Lit . “speeding” or “sprinting” . Shortened to just “sprint” based on contextual clues . .

[3]: “Runestones” (룬석; rune-suk): “Rune” in english + “stone” suk . Pretty straightforward . .

[4]: I just want to clarify this with information gathered from context throughout the story (not a spoiler) . All Hunters go through their first Awakening, receiving some form of power . This power includes a combination of increases in physical ability, magic power and a list of skills . What they get at their first Awakening does not change (except for new skills learned through Runestones) . A second Awakening (Reawakening) is exactly the same: An Awakened Being would receive power again which includes a combination of increased physical ability, magic power and new skills . After Reawakening, same as before, a Hunter’s power does not change . .