Chapter 10: The Magi Project (2)

"We're looking for a healer! We only accept people whose attribute is D-rank or higher!"

"Tanker! Is there any tanker here?"

"I'm... a rogue..."

"Oh, sorry. But we don't accept rogues."

Many players were looking for a party in front of an E-rank gate located on the outskirts of Seoul.

'I wonder what's wrong with rogues.'

KangWoo remembered that he'd heard something similar before.

Usually, gate hunting was done in parties, so it seemed like there was a certain formation that players liked.

'Well, either way, I don't really care.'

Since he was planning to hunt alone, none of those things mattered to him.

KangWoo presented the ID he had just received.

"Okay, confirmed."

'Are all soldiers like this?'

Once again, the soldier controlling the gate barely looked at his ID.

KangWoo thought that, even without using the Authority of Blind, he would be able to enter just by showing his middle finger.

Whir-

'I still don't like how this feels.'

What he felt while crossing the gate reminded him of the day he'd fallen into the Hell of Nine Skies.

After crossing the gate, KangWoo was about to enter the forest to hunt.

"Hey, mister, are you alone?"

At that moment, he heard someone with a hoarse voice calling him.

KangWoo turned his head around in the direction of that voice.

There he saw a man with a giant shield who was with two other people.

'Is he a bear?'

He was definitely a person, but he looked like a bear.

"Yes, I'm alone."

"Are you planning to hunt alone?"

KangWoo nodded.

The man swallowed a short sigh and kept talking.

"Have you done the 2nd awakening?"

"No."

"Oof. It seems like you haven't received the basic education. Are you perhaps an F-rank? If so, don't hunt alone. Although goblins are small and look weak, they are still monsters."

He said in a worried tone of voice.

"If you're planning to hunt alone because you can't get a party, join us for a little bit and at least check out how they look and then go."

"Mr. TaeSoo, why did you decide that on your own?"

"That's right. If he's an F-rank, he probably won't be of help. So just leave him alone."

"Jeez! Don't you know what situation this mister is in?!"

He shouted while distorting his face. The party members who were intimidated by his energy shuddered.

"We're saving the life of a person. If you really don't want to, I'll give up on my mana stones. So let's make him join our party."

"Sigh."

"Well, as long as he doesn't bother us..."

After hearing that he wouldn't take his cut, the rest clicked their tongues and nodded.

TaeSoo looked at them pitifully and then turned around to KangWoo.

"My name is Kang TaeSoo. Mister, what's your name?"

"My name is Oh KangWoo."

"Haha, you can talk to me comfortably. I may not look like it, but I'm 24 years old.

'Don't lie.'

At first glance, TaeSoo looked like someone who was over 30, so KangWoo naturally thought he was lying.

"Hmm? You don't believe me? Check this out! I was born in the year 2000! I, Kang TaeSoo, was born at the beginning of the new millennium!"

It seemed like he'd gone through the same situation many times, so he shouted while showing him his player ID.

'Woah... He's 24 with that face?'

KangWoo couldn't believe that Kang TaeSoo really was 24 years old.

'Was he cursed?'

KangWoo grinned and then shook his head.

"Then I'll speak comfortably to you."

"Haha, you're fast, mister. How about that? Join our party as an experience, don't feel burdened by it."

"Thank you, but I'm okay. It's not like I was planning to wander around mindlessly."

KangWoo said it with a very calm voice.

TaeSoo swallowed a deep breath.

"Well, if you say so, I guess there's nothing to do. But be careful. If you happen to see a big green goblin, run. That's a monster called the Hobgoblin, which is the boss of this area."

"Thanks for the information."

"Then stay safe!"

After turning around, TaeSoo went to the forest with the other two party members.

KangWoo smiled after looking at his back.

'He's a good guy.'

Although he was a bit quirky, he wanted to help him by even giving up on his loot.

If he really were a newbie F-rank player, TaeSoo would have been of great help.

"I should get going."

KangWoo turned around with a lighter step.

Walking through the forest, KangWoo saw a group of goblins.

"Kiiieeekkk!!"

'There seems to be around five of them.'

Slash-

KangWoo focused the demonic energy on his left hand, and a black sword appeared.

Stomp-!

While moving as fast as a predator, KangWoo leaped toward the goblins.

Although they were an object of fear for most people, in KangWoo's eyes, they were nothing but food that increased his demonic energy.

"Kiiieeekkk!!"

Crack-! Slash-!

* * *

The sword made of demonic energy crushed the goblins' necks.

KangWoo had killed more than 10 goblins in the blink of an eye. Killing five wasn't even good enough to warm up.

"Kiieekk!! Kureuk!"

"Kurrr..."

"Easy, as expected."

It felt like fighting against a scarecrow.

While feeling bored, KangWoo killed the last remaining goblin.

After making a chilling sound, the goblin's head rolled on the ground.

Ting-.

[You've successfully killed a Goblin, an E-rank monster.]

[You've gained experience.]

[Your level has increased to 4.]

[Your Demonic Energy has increased by 1.]

'Level up.'

KangWoo's eyes shone.

He was too distracted the first time he'd leveled up, so he hadn't paid attention to the changes.

KangWoo opened his status window and checked his current stats.

[Status Window]

Player: Oh KangWoo

Level: 4 [1st Awakening]

1st Awakening Attribute: Authority of Predation (Rank: ???) * Most of the characteristics of the Authority are sealed.

Strength: 9

Agility: 10

Vitality: 8

Magic Power: 0

Demonic Energy (Unique Stat): 14

Intelligence: 8

Wisdom: 7

'Interesting.'

The status window, which reminded him of a game, surprised him no matter how many times he looked at it.

The thing that interested him the most was the stat increase.

'My demonic energy really went up.'

It wasn't like he had used his Authority of Predation or the seal on the Ten Thousand Demon Core had gotten weaker.

As if something had been created out of nothing, with the increase of his stats, the amount of demonic energy he had increased as well.

"This means I can also obtain demonic energy by leveling up."

There was one more reason to hunt monsters.

KangWoo approached the corpses of the monsters.

'I've already checked that they don't have demonic energy in the mana stones.'

He had to check out where they conserved demonic energy inside their bodies.

"Predation."

KangWoo used Predation to devour the goblin's corpse.

Black energy came out from his body and covered the goblin's corpse.

Squish-!

There was a cold sound of skin being torn and bone being chewed.

KangWoo didn't eat the mana stone on purpose and began eating the other parts one by one.

Once again, he could feel a little bit of demonic energy entering his body.

He closed his eyes and tried to sense where the demonic energy was coming from.

After trying to find out for a while where the demonic energy was coming from, he realized something.

'It's coming from all over the body.'

To be more precise, it was coming from the monster's soul that was inside the body.

There was a soul inside the body of a monster that had just died.

And the demonic energy was coming from the soul inside the body.

"Then..."

That meant if he used Authority of Predation on a monster he'd just killed, he could obtain more demonic energy.

"Nice."

From what he'd heard, he could also obtain money by selling some parts of the monster's body, but the main source of income was the mana stone.

He was willing to give up on selling the monster's bodies to gather more demonic energy.

After clearing out the goblin's corpses using Predation, he picked up an E-rank magic stone the size of a finger and put it in his bag.

'It feels like I've finished up a fried chicken and only bones were left.'

—That was how he felt after obtaining a mana stone after devouring the monster's corpse.

'Talking about chicken, I want to eat chicken.'

He drooled at the sudden thought that came into his mind.

Kimchi stew was good, but now that he thought about fried chicken, he really wanted to eat it.

'A freshly fried chicken with a cold beer...'

Just thinking about it gave him chills.

'Should I go now?'

He was tempted to go out after thinking of the chicken, but he shook his head.

"I should keep hunting."

The demonic energy stacking project had just begun.

He really wanted to eat chicken, but he couldn't go back after killing just five goblins.

'I should take Ms. Seol-ah later on and go to eat chicken.'

While thinking about food, KangWoo began walking through the forest again.

'That?'

After getting deep inside the forest, he saw a badly built house.

KangWoo's eyes shone and approached the place where houses were gathered around.

"Kiieekk."

"Krrrr."

In the place where there were the badly built houses, there were tens of goblins.

A Monster Hideout...

It was the number one place newbie players should avoid.

Inside a monster hideout, there were lots of different monsters. Not only that, but there was a chance that a boss monster would appear.

Basically, if you weren't careful, even if you were with a party, you could end up dying.

But...

"Jackpot!"

KangWoo shouted after looking at the tens of monsters.

The place that was the object of fear for most players looked like a golden land full of riches to him.

'Good.'

Many goblins gathered around meant he could obtain many mana stones and tons of demonic energy at once.

Clearing the corpses would give him demonic energy, and he could sell the remaining mana stone for a profit.

The important thing was that he could sell the mana stones for a profit.

'Very nice.'

It was obvious, but once he had money, he'd be able to buy what he was craving.

There was only one thing he wanted at that moment:

"Fried chicken, I'm coming for yoouuuu!!!"

While drooling, KangWoo leaped toward the monster hideout.

"Half-fried and half-seasoned! Also, please give me a lot of radish!!"

He shouted as if he'd already entered a chicken restaurant while smashing the head of a goblin with his black sword.