Chapter 152 - Chapter 152 (1/2)

The first thing Jin-Woo did after he got home was to bring up his Status Window.

'Stat Window.'

What he wanted to check out was the newly updated info on his Skills. His gaze scrolled past his current level, his Class and Title, and eventually arrived at the Skill Window.

[Skills]

Passive Skills

- (Unknown) Lv. MAX

- Tenacity Lv. 1

- Master of Shortsword Lv. MAX

Active Skills

- Quicksilver Lv. MAX

- Intimidation Lv. 2

- Violent Slash Lv. MAX

- Dagger Rush Lv. MAX

- Stealth Lv. 2

- Ruler's Reach Lv. MAX

Almost all of his bountiful skills displayed in the Skill Window had reached their level limit and evolved into their ultimate forms, or were about to evolve into one.

The level cap for a skill was 3. And when a skill reached the level cap, the number would change to 'MAX' and stopped rising any further than that. However, if he continued to increase his proficiency with the skills, they would eventually evolve into their ultimate versions. The gap between the skill's effectiveness before and after its evolution was noticeably huge.

The skill 'Dash' had evolved into 'Quicksilver'.

The skill 'Vital Points Targetting' had evolved into 'Violent Slash'.

And 'Dagger Throw' had morphed into 'Dagger Rush'.

Even the passive skill that aided with handling daggers and shortswords, 'High-Grade Dagger Technique', had evolved into 'Master of Shortsword'.

The result of that last evolution was something like this. Jin-Woo summoned 'Demon King's Shortsword' out and began manipulating it this way and that on his hand.

He spun the weapon seamlessly around his index finger before letting it glide up to the palm of his hand. It then smoothly slithered around to the back of his hand.

The near-acrobatic silky movements continued on for a little while, before he lightly tossed the weapon over his head and snatched it back in his grip. Jin-Woo slowly smacked his lips afterwards.

'What a pity that there is no one here to appreciate this.'

The shortsword felt like an extension of his own limb, and that was all due to the passive skill, 'Master of Shortsword'.

Jin-Woo shifted his gaze over to the Skill Window while repeatedly tossing the shortsword up and down.

'So, 'Intimidation' and 'Stealth' are the only two with realistic chances of getting stronger, huh.'

Regretfully, there didn't seem to be much room for the 'Tenacity' skill to improve beyond level 1, where it had been stuck ever since he got the skill. But, that was inevitable, really.

[Skill: Tenacity Lv.1]

Passive Skill.

Mana required to activate: None.

You possess untiring tenacity. When your stamina drops below 30%, this skill will automatically activate and reduce all damage received by 50%.

….Because, 'Tenacity' was a skill that only activated when his stamina dropped below 30%. Obviously, he wouldn't endanger his own life just to level up one of his skills, now would he?

Also, Jin-Woo had experienced a fair number of close shaves after that passive skill became part of his arsenal. Even then, it hadn't changed from being level 1, so that could only mean he'd need to go through an extraordinary situation just for a chance to upgrade this skill.

Besides, Jin-Woo becoming far too strong also played a factor here. Just how many enemies out there could realistically drive him to a desperate corner now?

All things considered, he had no choice but to forget about upgrading 'Tenacity' altogether.

He then decided to increase his proficiency with both 'Stealth' and 'Intimidation', the latter of which he hadn't had a lot of chances to utilise until now and was stuck at level 2 as a result.

Unlike 'Intimidation', which was rather difficult to activate willy-nilly anywhere as he pleased, he could activate 'Stealth' even when he was going through his daily routines.

But, right now, Jin-Woo's gaze was fixed to a spot up above those skills.

'Just what could this guy be?'

He was looking at the skill simply labelled as 'Unknown' found within the passive skill list.

This skill had been with him ever since he became the 'Player'. But up until now, not even its basic information had been revealed to him.

'I thought it'd eventually disclose its secrets after a while, but....'

Did this skill also require him to meet some kind of a condition to be unlocked as well? Because it was labelled 'MAX' from the very beginning, he was really looking forward to finding out just what kind of skill it was, but this....

A lot of time had passed since those days, but his curiosity only managed to grow larger and larger in the meantime.

'….....'

Jin-Woo continued to stare at the 'Unknown' skill until he almost bore a hole right through it, but in the end, he shook his head in defeat. Besides, what he really wanted to confirm couldn't be found within the regular Skill Window, anyway.

No, they were right below it.

Indeed, he wanted to check his Class-specific skills that had all gone up a level earlier in the day.

[Class-specific Skills]

Active Skill

- Shadow Extraction Lv. 2

- Shadow Storage Lv. 2

- Sovereign's Territory Lv. 2

- Shadow Exchange Lv. 2

'So, what changed, and by how much?'

Jin-Woo took a closer look at the information on the skills, excluding 'Shadow Exchange', which he had already taken a gander before.

[Skill: Shadow Extraction]

Class-specific skill.

Required Mana to activate: None

Creates a shadow soldier by extracting Mana from the recently deceased lifeform.

The odds of extraction failure will rise higher depending on the target's original Stat values, as well as the length of time since its death.

Number of shadows that can be extracted: 590/1,300

Level 2 effect 'Boost': Increases the odds of enhancing the Stats of the extracted shadow.

Perhaps as a reward for such a tough levelling up process, the number of shadows he could extract had shot up to a shocking degree.

'The maximum number of shadows is now 1,300?!'

As long as his surroundings were filled with targets for Shadow Extraction, he'd be able to increase the number of his allies by well over double the current size. Not only that, there was the special added effect to consider as well, which raised the odds of the extracted shadows starting off at higher levels.

'So, that's what it was....'

The reason for the boss-level Naga 'Jima' to start from level 13 was most likely due to this 'Boost' effect. It wasn't a coincidence at all.

'What would've happened if I possessed this Boost effect before I made Beru into a Shadow Soldier?'

Without a doubt, he might have gotten his hands on an even more terrifying monster.

'Heh, and the wise old 'they' say that a man's greed knows no bounds, didn't they?'

Jin-Woo smirked softly to himself and confirmed the details of his other Class-specific skills one by one. The other two skills had also received a lot of enhancements, and a new, never-before-seen effect was added to each of them, as well.

A wide grin settled on Jin-Woo's lips as he read the explanations of his upgraded skills, 'Shadow Storage' and 'Sovereign's Territory'.

'This is great.'

He closed the Skill Windows with a satisfied grin on his face.

There was no doubt that his growth had slowed down recently. Even then, he still managed to keep moving forward, and when he thought about the fact that there was still more room for him to grow, his heart began pounding even harder.

He wanted to climb even higher and higher.

'I don't know where the summit is, but....'

Every time he managed to reach and exceed his goals, his heart was filled with this indescribable happiness, a powerful bliss.

Ba-thump, ba-thump!!

Jin-Woo returned the shortsword back to Inventory and placed his hand quietly on his chest.

Ba-thump, ba-thump.

His heart issued pleasant noises as it continued to beat steadily.

It was then, he abruptly remembered something else that happened earlier in the day.

'…..She said it was a scary power, didn't she?'

He recalled the tale he heard from Cha Hae-In a few hours ago.

Min Byung-Gu left a warning for him. He said that Jin-Woo was in possession of a scary power, and he needed to be circumspect about it.

'Was he talking about the System?'

Jin-Woo also was scared of the things happening to him initially as well. He felt fearful towards the System capable of creating all these unexplainable phenomena around him.

However, his fears didn't last for long.

He adapted to the ways of the System in no time at all. And the System quickly became the single greatest tool he possessed.

Sure, there were still far too many mysteries left unanswered, but that was about it, really.

'…..'

Jin-Woo's gaze drifted towards the empty air in front of him.

"Just what are you?"

Of course, he didn't get an answer in return.

"I mean, isn't it okay to tell me what's going on already?"

He quietly stared into the empty air as if he was expecting an answer to arrive, but rather obviously, nothing came.

'Inventory.'

Jin-Woo opened his storage to extract the black key.

[Item: Key to the Karutenon temple]