Chapter 39

Three days had passed within the Dungeon.

Following yesterday’s Dungeon hunt, I hunted like crazy until 1 AM today.

Exhausted, I collapsed onto the bed and immediately fell asleep.

At 7 AM, Muhyuk woke up to the alarm, washed his face to clear his head, ate an apple, and headed to the gym.

After a thorough workout and shower, he felt refreshed.

On his way home, he felt a vibration in his pocket.

Sungminwoo?

He pressed the call button.

“Yo, long time no see.”

(Yeah, what are you up to?)

“Heading home from the gym.”

(Hard worker. Still doing well in World of Illusion?)

“Of course.”

It was Sungminwoo.

(What level are you?)

“I’m 38 now.”

(Whoa. 38?)

“Yeah.”

(Dude, you were 31 just a while ago, and now you’re already 38? That’s insane. How are you leveling up so fast?)

“Getting some early advantages helped a lot.”

(Ah, I was thinking of hunting together.)

“Really? What level are you?”

He was 32 when we last met.

(I’m 36 now.)

Still, he leveled up 4 times.

“Oh? Pretty fast, huh?”

(I’ve been grinding like crazy. But still, I can’t catch up to you.)

“I just got lucky. Anyway, not right now. Let’s hunt together in about a week.”

(Sounds good. I’ll definitely be 38 by then!)

Seeing his burning motivation made me feel good.

Well, I can’t let him catch up, can I?

It’ll be fun to push each other like that.

“Alright, see you then.”

(Okay!)

Muhyuk hung up and logged into World of Illusion with a refreshed feeling.

-Welcome to the World of Illusion.

As soon as he logged in, he checked his Diamonds.

He had killed hundreds of Red Bears, but Diamonds rarely dropped.

As a result, he only had 150 Diamonds. Since each drop gives 10, it meant they dropped 15 times.

What’s the drop rate, seriously?

He only realized it was extremely low.

What annoyed him even more was that the Peddler wasn’t showing up.

He even went back the way he came to find him, but the Peddler was nowhere to be seen, even at the entrance.

In the end, he had no choice but to move forward.

I hope I see him today…

He had already gathered the target number of Diamonds.

Anyway, Muhyuk moved forward.

Thud.

Moul Kings and Red Bears appeared.

Hunting was still a bit difficult. Muhyuk’s stats remained the same.

After a fierce battle, no different from yesterday, he hunted dozens of Red Bears.

Perhaps because of that.

[You have leveled up.]

He leveled up to 39.

He had acquired 20 Diamonds in the meantime.

He had a total of 170 Diamonds, but the Peddler hadn’t appeared, so he could only hoard them.

He’ll show up eventually.

He reassured himself and continued hunting Red Bears.

Kwareeeee!

It was still challenging.

“Hoo…”

After hunting, he sat down to rest and crafted a sword. He created a sword with decent stats.

He put it in his inventory and leaned against the wall for a moment.

Hmm…?

He felt the ground vibrating.

He listened carefully.

The sound of the vibration began to become clearer.

Thud.

It was definitely footsteps.

He raised his head and stared straight ahead.

He’s here…!

The Peddler had finally appeared.

“It’s been a while.”

“Yes, I’d like to buy some items.”

“Of course. Shall I show you the goods?”

Muhyuk shook his head.

“I’ll upgrade.”

“Again?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm, I understand. Let me show you the current status.”

A hologram appeared.

[Dungeon Upgrade 1Lv]

[All damage increases by 0.5 percent.]

-2Lv (11 Diamonds): All damage increases by 1 percent.

Muhyuk took out all his Diamonds.

“Upgrade as much as you can with 170 Diamonds.”

“Whoa, are you serious?”

“Of course.”

“Alright.”

The level quickly increased.

[Dungeon Upgrade has increased to 2Lv.]

[All damage dealt by the user or any summons related to the user increases by 1 percent.]

[Dungeon Upgrade has increased to 3Lv.]

[All damage dealt by the user or any summons related to the user increases by 1.5 percent.]

…

Muhyuk ignored the intermediate messages.

Just one thing.

He only checked level 10.

[Dungeon Upgrade has increased to 10Lv.]

[All damage dealt by the user or any summons related to the user increases by 5 percent.]

[The first seal has been released.]

[All attacks by the user or any summons are now granted a ‘Penetration Effect’.]

This was it.

The Dungeon Peddler’s sealing system that Muhyuk had been waiting for!

“The upgrade is complete! The current Dungeon Upgrade level is 11. I offer my deepest congratulations on breaking the first seal! The total Diamonds consumed were 165, and I’ll return 5 to you!”

The Peddler stared intently at Muhyuk, who received the 5 Diamonds.

“Hmm, this is really amazing.”

“What is?”

“It’s as if you knew this secret from the beginning. You’re not surprised at all.”

Muhyuk didn’t really have anything to say.

He had no choice but to make an excuse.

“No, I’m plenty surprised. I’m just not good at expressing it.”

“Is that so? Anyway, I understand. I hope you clear this Dungeon.”

After finishing his conversation with the Peddler, Muhyuk set off again.

Penetration Effect.

How much will it help with hunting?

He waited for monsters with anticipation.

Thud.

It was about 3 minutes after he started moving.

Chichichik!

He heard the unique sound of a Moul King.

Bow Bone, prepare to attack.

Through his previous hunts, he had accurately grasped the first Pattern.

The monster always jumps out of the ground right in front of Muhyuk.

Until now, even knowing that it would jump out, he could only inflict a little damage.

But now he had been granted the Penetration Effect.

Something might be different.

With that expectation, he gave the order.

Bow Bone, rapid fire!

At the same time, the Moul King jumped out of the ground.

Thwack.

A Bone Arrow pierced through the monster’s side. The force sent the Moul King flying and crashing into the cave wall.

He had dealt damage like that when he first encountered a Moul King. After that, Muhyuk approached to attack, but he couldn’t withstand the damage from the monster’s claws and had to retreat.

But now?

It was clearly different from the first time. The Bone Arrow, imbued with the Penetration Effect, pierced through all of the Moul King’s flesh and stuck into the cave wall.

As a result, the Moul King was impaled like a skewer. It struggled to break free.

“Whoa.”

Muhyuk took a step forward with a sigh.

When he arrived in front of it, the monster wildly swung its claws. But it was too far away and couldn’t reach him.

On the other hand, Muhyuk’s staff was long enough to attack from there.

Whoosh.

The staff struck the Moul King’s body, cutting through the air.

[Penetration Effect has been applied.]

[Damage has been increased by an additional 10 percent.]

Tssut, tsutsutsut!

The monster howled.

This time, he pressed the Skeleton’s head to make the blade pop out and stabbed it in the chest.

[Penetration Effect has been applied.]

[Pierces the flesh, causing continuous damage.]

This was the effect of Penetration.

The additional 10 percent damage wasn’t that significant.

Piercing.

The important thing was that he could now do things he couldn’t do before due to lack of power.

He could actually pierce the flesh and skewer it to the wall, and also inflict continuous damage.

It was an essential ability for catching Moul Kings.

A smile naturally spread across Muhyuk’s face.

It’s become so easy.

Thanks to this, he could now hunt not only Red Bears but also Moul Kings in the same amount of time.

He could also level up twice as fast and acquire Diamonds more easily.

I need to break the second seal quickly.

Even as he thought that, Muhyuk’s attacks continued. As a result, the Moul King’s entire body was already dyed silver. It was clear at a glance that it had little HP left.

Kwareeeee!

The Red Bears, who had finally arrived, were left to the Skeletons in automatic mode.

Goodbye.

Thwack.

The blades pierced in succession, and the Moul King’s body slumped.

[You have gained experience.]

He performed corpse decomposition, collected the 10 Diamonds it dropped, and turned around. He saw the Red Bears fighting the Skeletons.

Eight Skeleton Warriors pressuring from the front with swords and shields.

Four Archers firing arrows to restrain and steadily deal damage.

If you looked at them one by one, these summons would normally be trampled by the Red Bears.

But even thin twigs, when stacked countless times, are not easy to break at once.

Kilik, kiririk!

Even though Muhyuk couldn’t focus on dealing with the Moul King and switched to automatic mode, the Sword Bones and Bow Bones were doing their part.

Thanks to their increased intelligence, they had absorbed a certain amount of combat experience into their bodies and minds.

Hmm.

The battle was going well.

Four Sword Bones surrounded the Red Bear, extending their shields and focusing on defense, while the remaining Sword Bones were positioned behind the shield-bearing Sword Bones, swinging or thrusting their swords.

The Bone Arrows that flew in from time to time restricted the Red Bear’s movements, and the various enhancements applied to their weapons made these actions a little easier.

Kwareeeee!

The Red Bear roared, frustrated.

But that didn’t change anything.

Five Sword Bones were reverse-summoned, but the Red Bear had already lost its combat ability and was staggering.

Thud.

Muhyuk finally approached the monster to finish it off.

“Corpse decomposition.”

He obtained bones again this time.

Unfortunately, there were no Diamonds.

He stood up and scanned the Skeletons.

They now felt more like comrades than summons.

Anyway, that’s what had happened.

“Good work.”

So he left a word and reverse-summoned them all.

Should I rest for a bit now?

While waiting for his Mana to fully recover, Muhyuk fell into the path of grinding again today.

Clang! Clang!

He made swords and put them up for auction.

Chee-ik.

He filled his stomach with the food he made himself.

The hunt was smooth.

He took down both Moul Kings and Red Bears so easily that the word “melt” came to mind.

This was all thanks to the power of Penetration.

Thanks to this, before the day was over.

That is, around the time just before midnight in real time.

“Whoa.”

He finally reached the end of the first floor Dungeon.

Stairs.

As expected, it was a Dungeon with two or more floors.

What kind of monsters will appear on the second basement floor?

It would be nice if he could deal with them with just the Penetration Effect, but that was probably unlikely.

He would need to reach level 25 to make it easier.

He knew that the second seal would be released at that time.

Was the next one 50?

It was past information, so it might not be accurate, but Muhyuk guessed that it would be roughly similar.

Before going down to the second floor, he checked his inventory. He currently had about 100 Diamonds. That was only enough to raise the Dungeon level by four.

Level 15 is the limit.

Anyway, he had dealt with all the monsters on the first floor.

They don’t even regenerate.

In order to reach level 25, he had no choice but to hunt the monsters on the second basement floor.

Alright, let’s go down.

He headed down the stairs.

Thud.

The darkness grew deeper as he went down.

The gloominess was also palpable.

However, it wasn’t completely dark, so he could still distinguish objects.

Fortunately, he reached the end of the stairs and opened the closed door, and a surprisingly bright light gathered from all directions.

This was thanks to the shining stones embedded in the walls.

As his eyes adjusted to the light, the interior came into view properly.

“Umm…”

A groan escaped involuntarily.

This was because the environment was completely different from the first floor.