Chapter 12: Promotion (1)

KangWoo looked at the message that'd popped up in front of him with great interest.

'2nd awakening, huh?'

KangWoo opened his status window and checked out his new attribute.

[2nd Awakening Attribute: Unfulfilled Hunger (Rank: C)]

Effect: Absorb even more Demonic Energy from a target.

'This.'

KangWoo's eyes shone after reading the effect.

The rank wasn't high, but that wasn't important.

The attribute he had unlocked had the power to increase his demonic energy faster, which was what he needed the most.

"Good."

KangWoo was satisfied with his new attribute.

The 1st awakening attribute was the same one he'd used to have in Hell, but from the 2nd one, it began to change.

The effects of 'Unfulfilled Hunger' was something he didn't have before.

'By using the power of a player, I'll be able to become stronger faster than before.'

KangWoo smiled after feeling the fun of growing for the first time in a while.

"Then... should I check how effective the new attribute is?"

Expectantly, KangWoo extended his hand toward the hobgoblin.

Black smoke came out from his hand and covered the hobgoblin's body.

'The smoke got thicker.'

Was that because of the attribute?

Crunch-!

The Authority of Predation began devouring the hobgoblin's corpse.

Just as expected, there was more demonic energy inside the hobgoblin compared to the normal goblins.

After he had almost finished devouring the hobgoblin's corpse, a blue message window popped in front of him.

[Activating the effect of 'Unfulfilled Hunger.']

[You've absorbed more Demonic Energy.]

"Oh."

As the message window appeared, the amount of demonic energy he absorbed increased.

The amount was between 10~20%.

One could think that it wasn't that much, but since it was free demonic energy, he didn't think it was a little amount.

'This means that the more demonic energy a body has, the more I'll be able to absorb.'

Because the amount was determined by percentage and not a fixed amount, the stronger the monster he hunted, the more useful this attribute would become.

Ting-

[Your Demonic Energy has increased by 3.]

He had obtained more demonic energy by killing one hobgoblin than by killing tens of goblins.

Of course, there was the effect of the attribute, but judging by the huge difference, it seemed like higher-ranking monsters had more demonic energy than lower-ranking ones.

'Killing higher-ranking monsters was the answer.'

If the amount of demonic energy were smaller, horde hunting might be more effective. But judging by what had just happened, killing one higher-ranking monster was more effective.

'They said that the higher the stat gets, the more difficult it becomes to increase. Right?'

Increasing stats were similar to leveling up.

Going from 1 to 2 was easy, but taking it from 10 to 11 required more effort.

Considering that, he'd been lucky that his demonic energy stat had increased by three points just by killing one hobgoblin.

KangWoo smiled satisfied while looking at his demonic energy stat, which had reached 19.

'Should I test it?'

Compared to before, his stat had increased by five points, so he wanted to check out how much his demonic energy stat had increased.

KangWoo closed his eyes and began feeling the demonic energy inside his body.

"Hmm...?"

He suddenly frowned while raising his demonic energy.

Because his stat went from 14 to 19, his demonic energy should have increased 1.3 times.

Even considering that the higher the stat became, the stronger the effect of the demonic energy became, the maximum amount of the increase should have been twice.

But...

'Three times? No... It's more than three times.'

The amount of demonic energy flowing inside his body couldn't be compared to before.

It was an amount that couldn't be explained by the five points of stat that had increased.

'What's happening?'

He couldn't be happy with the explosive increase of demonic energy.

A strength you didn't know the source of was like a ticking time bomb. An optimistic thought like, "it's good, so it doesn't matter", was dangerous.

KangWoo stood in place and focused his attention on his body.

A few moments later, he noticed why his demonic energy had suddenly increased so much.

'The seal of the Ten Thousand Demon Core has gotten weaker.'

The unknown force that was restraining his strength had gotten weaker, and thanks to that, all his demonic energy that had been locked out was starting to leak.

Of course, it was nothing compared to the total amount of demonic energy he had, but it was still a lot compared to before.

'Is it because of the awakening?'

You unlocked a new awakening every 10 levels.

KangWoo's level had surpassed 10 after defeating the hobgoblin, and thanks to that, he had unlocked the 2nd awakening.

Except for the change in the attribute, there hadn't been any big chances. That's why he thought that the reason why the seal of the Ten Thousand Demon Core had gotten weaker was because of the awakening.

'Every time I awaken, the seal gets weaker?'

KangWoo's eyes shone.

* * *

If that was true, that meant that he would be able to recover his old strength just by mindlessly leveling up.

"Hmm..."

To confirm his theory, he had to reach level 20 and unlock the 3rd awakening.

'I need to go to higher-ranking gates.'

The higher his level became, the harder it would become to level up, so he couldn't keep doing goblin hunting.

KangWoo picked up the mana stone on the floor and put it in his bag; then he walked toward the gate.

To access higher-ranking gates, he had to raise his rank, and to do that, he had to sell mana stones.

'I even killed a boss monster, so I'm sure it will go up.'

KangWoo looked at the C-rank mana stone he had received after killing the hobgoblin. It had a darker color compared to the E-rank mana stones.

He had killed a group of goblins and even a hobgoblin alone, so there was no way his rank wouldn't go up.

After picking up all the mana stones, KangWoo walked out of the gate.

Was it because his demonic energy had increased? He felt his steps were lighter compared to when he had entered the gate.

'With this amount of demonic energy, I'll be able to use a wider variety of Authorities.'

The fact that his options had increased made him feel good.

KangWoo used the Authority of Speed and walked toward the mana stone exchange center.

Rumble-

"Please exchange everything with money. Also, give me a sell certificate."

"..."

The person on the counter trembled after seeing all the mana stones.

"61 E-rank mana stones... And one C-rank mana stone."

"How much are each selling for?"

"Without the tax, E-rank mana stones sell for 36 USD, and C-rank mana stones for 2,570 USD."

"Interesting."

That meant that he'd earned almost $5,000 USD.

'Later on, in higher-ranking gates, I'll probably be able to earn tens of thousands of dollars easily.'

He now understood why people had been paying so much attention to players.

"Please give me your player ID."

"Here it is."

"Hmm."

The person at the counter frowned after looking at KangWoo's player ID.

"You need to give me the ID of the other party members too."

The person working at the counter spoke with a firm voice. He didn't believe that an E-rank player had obtained so many mana stones alone.

"There's none."

"Eh?"

"I hunted alone."

"You hunted all these alone?"

KangWoo nodded after seeing clerk's surprise.

The clerk took turns looking at the mana stones on the table and then at KangWoo.

An E-rank player getting that many mana stones while hunting solo wasn't possible.

'He even killed the boss monster.'

The fact that there was a C-rank mana stone among the E-rank ones meant that he had successfully hunted the boss monster of the gate.

'Did he receive help?'

From time to time, there were some people that skipped the basic education course and received help from a high-level player.

'He doesn't look like that.'

KangWoo's clothes didn't look expensive. Also, it wasn't like he had armor or weapons with a higher rank.

In those cases, people covered themselves with high-ranking equipment and weapons before beginning to hunt at the gate.

'Is he someone from a rich family who wishes to hide his identity?'

That was the only explanation he could come up with from the fact that an F-rank player had been able to solo an E-rank gate.

'Let's not get involved with him.'

The basic rule of the salaryman was not to get involved if possible.

"Okay. Will you receive the money from the magic stones in cash, or should I send it to your account? As long as it's less than 10 thousand dollars, you can receive it in cash."

"Give it to me in cash."

KangWoo knew that the clerk didn't believe he had hunted the gate alone, but he didn't do anything to correct him.

After a little while, the clerk came back with $4,766.

After receiving the money, KangWoo walked out of the mana stone exchange center.

'First, I should get a cellphone.'

In order to get used to life on Earth, having a smartphone was a must.

After entering a shop and buying a smartphone, KangWoo called someone.

Before going separate ways at the Player Management Office, he had received the phone number of Han Seol-ah.

[Hello?]

"Ah, Ms. Seol-ah, it's me. KangWoo."

[Oh, you bought a cellphone.]

"Yes."

[Fufu, I'll save it immediately. Where are you?]

"I'm at the mana stone exchange center."

[Are you going to return home right now?]

"No, there's a place I wanted to go, but I thought it would be good if we went together, so I called you."

[With me...?]

She asked back in surprise at the sudden invitation.

[Where did you want to go?]

"Ms. Seol-ah..."

[Yes...]

Han Seol-ah answered nervously after feeling the seriousness in KangWoo's voice.

She felt that he was about to say something very important.

KangWoo spoke to her with a very serious tone.

"Let's go eat fried chicken."

[...]