A/N: (Bows) Please forgive me for not updating for so long, I've been extremely busy with school and work and I haven't had much time to work on this story. I won't go into detail since it's not something that I want to share. So, the chapter everyone has been waiting for where Jee-Han will choose his path from now on is here!
As an apology, I'll be updating the next three chapters over the weekend to make up for lost time. Afterwards, I'll be continuing the regular schedule where I'll space it out every week or so.
Williams1996: Thanks alot! I really appreciate the praise.
xArtehx: Haha, a vote would be a fun idea but it'd get out of hand really quickly. It seems everyone really wants him to be a Hybrid.
EmbraceEveryDream: Thanks! I'm glad someone else is following my train of thought regarding the Gamer's Mind passive.
Onward!
Disclaimer: TheBlackDuelist does not claim any ownership of "The Gamer" Manwha written by Sung San-Young and Sang-Ah. I am not using this fan fiction to make profit off of this story.
The Gamer – Restart
Chapter 9
"You're going to be my support"
A feeling of bewilderment came over Jee-Han as he stared at his childhood friend.
"Huh?"
Sun-Il frowned at his response.
"Clean the gunk out of your ears, your going to back me up against that walking pile of bravado"
"B-But what does that mean? How am I supposed to back you up?"
Sun-Il gave a hardened stare "Surely you must have a long distance range spell, right?"
Jee-Han thought about it before recalling the first spell he had created that fit Sun-Il's description.
"W-Well yea I've got a skill like that. Its called『Energy Bolt』, but it's too weak to use against big foot over there"
Jee-Han was able to make that assumption based on his previous encounters with the zombies. While the skill had enough firepower to knock them over, the damage done was a completely different story.
Jee-Han felt a sudden pressure over his shoulder and winced when he saw Sun-Il tighten his grip. Observing his face, he noticed his friend put on an even more serious expression than before. Just what the hell was he thinking about?
"Jee-Han, are you not a gamer? You have stats and points to distribute so use those points and put them into the stat that will increase your magic power"
"But I don't know what that stat is!"
Truthfully, Sun-Il's idea made sense to him. If there was one stat to increase his physical power, surely there had to be another that had to increase his magical aptitude?
A smile formed on Sun-Il's lips as his grip on Jee-Han's shoulder loosened.
"That's the amazing thing about your power Jee-Han, you're potential has no limits. Gaia has gifted you with such an remarkable gift and while I may not understand how it works, I know that your addiction to gaming will pay off in spades. Besides, we can't stay hidden in here "
At that, Sun-Il and Jee-Han poked their heads out of the corner they were hiding behind and sure enough, the legion zombie was desperately looking everywhere for them. It checked behind every nearby house, street, and vehicle; desperately searching for its prey.
"Make a decision!" Sun-Il shouted, clearly not in the mood to waste anymore time.
"But I can fight with you Sun-Il! I made one mistake, I'll do better!" Jee-Han pleaded. He didn't know what he was saying; he was terrified at having to fight the beast at close range. However, he had already chosen to fight with Sun-Il on the front lines, there was no going back.
Sun-Il sighed as he rubbed the back of his head and then looked passed a deep gaze towards Jee-Han.
"Alright, let me break this down for you since someone needs to spell it out. There are two types of martial artists in this world. There are those that are born as fighters and those that become fighters. People in my family belong to the former while people like you belong to the latter. I've loved martial arts ever since I was a kid, even during the hellish training. Fighting runs in my blood and its become apart of me. I could say the same thing about gramps or Sae-Young, we're like monsters. That doesn't apply to you Jee-Han; you've only recently become a martial artist and what you're feeling is not the natural instinct of a warrior. I could tell during your earlier bout with the zombies. I'm not saying you have zero aptitude to be a fighter but if I'm going to be completely honest with you, you simply lack the talent and killer instinct to be on the same level as us"
Jee-Han didn't say a word as he listened to Sun-Il, taking in his in-depth analysis as if they were being edged into his mind. What he was saying wasn't wrong, in fact he hit the nail right on the head. As much as Jee-Han enjoyed slicing up zombies, it wasn't the same as being born to love the thrill of battle. It was just a brief sense of superiority, like when a child obtains a new toy and shows it off to the other kids. There was no sincerity behind it, it was empty arrogance. The fact that Sun-Il was able to point this out with just a few observations just showed how well he knew him.
Smirking, Jee-Han chuckled as he rose to his feet.
Sun-Il was understandably puzzled and raised an eye brow.
"What's up?"
"Sorry, its nothing. I understand now what you mean. Although I won't give up on learning martial arts to protect myself, I don't think it's what I should focus on. Alright, I'll raise my magic!" He shouted.
Sun-Il produced a small smile. At least he understood what he was saying. Sun-Il never wanted him to completely give up learning martial arts, that was far from what he had suggested. He just wanted Jee-Han to understand that there were better ways to support him for the time being without having to throw himself at his enemy with what little he knew of close combat quarters.
"Status!" Jee-Han summoned the window and eyed the several stats that displayed numerical values. His attention turned towards INT in which he clicked on the icon, figuring out that INT influenced his magical attack and total magic pool.
"I've found it, INT is the stat we're looking for. I'll put all my points into it!" Just as he was about to do so, he was stopped by a hand that grabbed his own. He looked at Sun-Il who didn't look too pleased by the decision.
"What's wrong? I'm doing what you said!"
"You idiot! Don't put all of your stat points into INT. Use your head first, in games you never dump all your points into one category. You test it out by putting a certain number and then try to balance it by choosing another". He let go of Jee-Han's hand and sighed, wondering how a person who played games all day didn't even know that much.
"He's right..." Jee-Han reflected, looking at the other stat that had piqued his interest.
Wisdom.
"Should I invest some remaining points into Wisdom?" He stated more than asked and clicked on the icon, revealing that the stat influenced his mana regeneration along with mana resistance.
"Yes, if we use human logic then increasing both your INT and WIS is a favorable move. Think about it, if Intelligence reflects knowledge then WIS must reflect application, right?"
The explanation was a bit hard to understand but Jee-Han liked the sound of the results and nodded his head.
"Alright, let's do it!"
Of the remaining 37 points he had, he placed 31 of them into INT that increased it to 50, ignoring the passives. As for WIS, the remaining 6 points were added to it and increased it to 13.
Suddenly...
DING!
The skill 『Mana Affinity』has been created through INT rising above 50
『Mana Affinity - Passive』
A technique that allows the user to become more sensitive to mana and handle it better.
《15 % increase in Offensive Mana Based Skills》
《10 % increase in Defensive Mana Based Skills》
《10 % increase in Proficiency towards all Magic Related Skills》
《Total MP Increased by 500》
"Holy crap!"
Jee-Han was at a complete loss of words at the downright broken passive skill he just recieved. In his head, Jee-Han felt as if many things that he couldn't understand before had become surprisingly simple now with his higher intelligence. In regards to magic, he could instantly tell that his aptitude for sensing and handling mana had become much sharper. He mentally kicked himself for not thinking of increasing his INT or WIS much sooner.
"Well? Did it work?" Sun-Il asked, unable to view the notifications.
Jee-Han sported a wide grin as he clenched his right fist.
"Hell yea it did. Increasing my INT to 50 provided me with a skill called mana affinity, which lets me handle mana better".
Sun-Il looked dimly impressed as he scanned him from top to bottom.
"You should be able to create stronger long distance spells now, right?"
"I'm...not sure. I'll have to give it a shot against Frankenstein over there"
Sun-Il nodded in accordance and grabbed his friend by the waist.
"Now that's what I like to hear! Let's get em!" Sun-Il squatted down a bit before he leaped through the air, causing Jee-Han to scream for his life as he was carried through the air like a rag-doll. As Sun-Il landed on the rooftop of a nearby house and dropped the lifeless Jee-Han next to him, he observed the gigantic zombie still looking for the two of them.
"You damn bastard... at least warn me next time you'll do something like that..." Jee-Han had recovered and clutched his rapidly beating heart that he felt would someday explode from the craziness in his life.
"Quit whining, it spotted us" Sun-Il casually mentioned as he pointed his finger towards the zombie who had finally found what it was looking for. A rather disturbing smile formed on its face as it slowly approached the duo.
"Oh Shit! What's the plan, Sun-Il?" Jee-Han asked.
"Simple, I'll distract it while you concentrate on supporting from here. If I keep running around while distracting it, you shouldn't have a problem getting a clean hit. Once we wear it down, crushing it like an ant should be a simple matter"
A well thought of plan that Jee-Han approved off, though he was a bit put off by the way Sun-Il had phrased that last part. Only he could think of something that enormous as nothing more than some sort of bug.
Jee-Han stood to his feet and calmed his breathing, glaring the zombie down as it made its approach.
"Ready..." Sun-Il began as he squatted down and positioned himself in a marathon runner's stance.
"Go!" He sprinted off the ground, moving so fast that he became a blur. Before the zombie could even react, he slammed his left knee into the beasts's right eye.
"Grahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
The legion zombie roared in pain, tumbling back and clutching its now swollen eye as purple liquid now dripped from the wound. Jee-Han watched the spectacle with his mouth hanging wide open as he tried to make sense of what just happened. Sun-Il movements had been so swift that he completely lost track of him until the moment of impact.
Sun-Il landed on the ground and smirked, satisfied with the damage he had done.
"What's wrong? I didn't hurt you too bad, did I?" His voice was noticeably colder and carried a mocking feeling towards them.
The zombie ignored Jee-Han and turned around to glare at Sun-Il. It howled as it raised its left hand into the air to squash him. Sun-Il dodged at the last second as he flipped through the air with remarkable grace and landed on a fence, adopting the same arrogant position.
"Come on, is that all you got?" Sun-Il's taunts didn't go unanswered as the zombie charged at him again.
"Don't let me down, Jee-Han" were Sun-Il's last thoughts before he faced the titan before him.
Deciding to not let Sun-Il's efforts go to waste, Jee-Han calmed his breathing and stood on the roof top with his hand making an upwards open palm and placed his other arm around the adjacent arm, supporting it. The way he looked right now would make people think Jee-Han was trying to catch something that was going to fall into his hand.
He concentrated, allowing the natural floating ki in the air flow into his palm. Thanks to raising his INT and receiving the skill『Mana Affinity』, utilizing his mana had become much easier and felt quite natural to him. He had already activated the『Chunbu Spirit Technique』which allowed him to purify raw ki, making the process even easier. Jee-Han felt a bit guilty that he learned to control ki so easily when it probably took normal practitioners of magic years of dedicated training to do the same.
Focusing back onto the ki he was manipulating in his palm, he concentrated and tried to expand it so that he could shape it into something.
"Expand it...Expand it...Expand it..." Like a chant, he kept repeating those words in his head until they became the only things inhabiting his ego.
Suddenly, a sphere of pure white mana was formed and floated within the palm of his hand, causing the anxious Jee-Han to grin at his accomplishment. It was different from『Energy Bolt』that was just the raw state of mana that had no shape or form.
A sudden realization snapped inside Jee-Han's head as he absently wondered about trying to mold the sphere. He didn't know why but he felt as if his mana should be used more creatively, not just blindly forcing attacks.
"Alright... shape it... shape it..."
He concentrated once more, pouring all of his effort into trying to shape the white sphere. The sphere reacted accordingly and began to change shape, morphing into what seemed to be an arrow as it floated in Jee-Han's hand.
DING!
A skill has been created through a special action!
Continuous manipulation of mana has created a skill with piercing power,『Mana Arrow』
『Mana Arrow (Active) Level 1 EXP 0.00 % / MP: 5』
A technique only possible for those talented in manipulating mana.
"I-I did it!" Jee-Han's excitement was well deserved. No doubt thanks to『Mana Affinity』, the ability to manipulate his mana to such a degree had become much easier than it was without the skill.
"Graaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
Jee-Han's attention was redirected towards the colossal zombie playing tag with his best friend who was effortlessly avoiding the zombie's grasp. It looked like an overweight high school bully trying to chase down a small and agile kid around a playground.
"Does he even need my help..." Jee-Han wondered as he watched Sun-Il jump around with enjoyment. He shook his head at the thought, focusing back on using his newly created skill.
"Let's test this bad boy out!"
Steadying himself, Jee-Han aimed the floating mana arrow in his hand at the zombie who's back was now facing Jee-Han. He chucked the arrow and it soared through the air with impressive velocity, embedding itself into the zombie's lower back. The zombie had stopped chasing Sun-Il and growled in anguish at the unexpected source of discomfort.
Jee-Han thought his attack had done considerable damage and checked the zombie's HP but frowned when he saw it was very minimal, not even cutting down the mosnter's HP by 1/10 of its total amount.
After the zombie stopped howling, it turned around to find the source of whatever was stupid enough to attack it. It found its target and growled at Jee-Han who swallowed his spit at the threatening gaze.
The zombie ignored Sun-Il and made a dash straight for Jee-Han who looked close to panicking. However, it didn't get a chance to take more than ten steps as it felt a heavy impact on one of its legs.
"Hou... you've got some nerve ignoring me..." Sun-Il had a sadistic smile on his face, having his right leg outstretched.
The zombie was having trouble deciding on what to do, go after Jee-Han who blind shot him or Sun-Il who had hit him from below. It didn't care which one died first, but it had trouble deciding which one to kill first.
"Sun-Il! I did it!" Jee-Han shouted in the distance, his voice echoing over towards Sun-Il who smiled.
"Yea I noticed! Great work! Try creating a stronger attack now! I'll buy you some more time!" He shouted back.
Jee-Han nodded and went back to holding his left arm face up with an open palm position. Now that he had created an attack that could be used more effectively than『Energy Bolt』, it was time for a finishing move.
Several anime raced through his mind and he tried to base his finishing move off those that he enjoyed, such as Naruto's Rasengan or Goku's Kamehameha. However, he didn't want to copyright them so he tried something more original.
Concentrating, he let the flow of ki enter his body again and condensed his power into another sphere that appeared. This time, the sphere was much brighter and larger, indicating that he was using much more MP than before. Thanks to raising his INT, he had more MP to spare and poured in every last ounce of it into this new killer move. This finishing move would drain him completely so he had to make sure that whatever came out was something that could obliterate the zombie.
"Think! I need something that can pierce through the zombie's defense just like the arrow... arrow... pierce... I've got it! I've got the perfect shape!" he mentally shouted and began shaping his new move.
Sun-Il dodged another stomp from the zombie who looked more pissed than ever. He couldn't it blame it though, from the way he was trolling the poor thing it had every right to be. He looked over towards Jee-Han who was occupied with creating something and smiled in satisfaction. He had only recently become accustom to using ki and now he was handling it with such efficiency. The world truly was unfair.
His attention snapped back to the zombie as it tried to kick him but missed as Sun-Il nimbly ducked his head. He then ran in and jumped up, placing a palm over top the zombie's scalp and flipped over it. Using his momentum, he delivered a swift kick the nape of its neck, causing the beast to howl in anguish as it fell to the ground on one knee and held its neck.
Sun-Il had already jumped off and landed on the ground, slightly panting as the continuous usage of Ki towards his feet and legs were taxing. It was nothing he couldn't get over but he was a bit annoyed at how durable the zombie was. Most enemies he had faced never lasted this long against him.
"Perhaps I should finish this with a more advanced technique" He wondered. If he used that technique, then this fight would be over in no time. However, that wasn't the point of this. He had purposely been dodging the zombie's attack to give Jee-Han more time. This was crucial battle experience that Jee-Han needed in order to advance further. All the grinding and training in the world was pointless if you didn't have the experience to utilize them properly.
Sun-Il looked back at Jee-Han and was quite surprised at what he was seeing. Floating in the center of Jee-Han's palm was the shape of a long spear as it span endlessly in his arm, producing an abundant pressure of wind near as Jee-Han's clothes were blowing rapidly. Sun-Il could recognize that Jee-Han had decided to go for a piercing type of attack to compensate for the zombie's hard defense. The Javelin radiated with so much energy that it felt as if it could pierce through the zombie several times over and still keep on going.
"You like my new move!?" Jee-Han abruptly shouted.
Sun-Il chuckled a bit.
"Definitely, just look at that thing!. I feel sorry for this guy who's going to have to take it all!" Jee-Han clicked his tongue at Sun-Il less than subtle sexual innuendo while Sun-Il snickered a bit.
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
The zombie's voice had risen and he howled in frustration, finally deciding on its target while making a move towards the stationary Sun-Il. Reading the situation, Sun-Il decided to help Jee-Han's aim by running towards him with the zombie right on its tail, who didn't even notice that he had given Jee-Han a perfect shot for his new move.
"You better aim well!" Sun-Il stated as he drew closer, with the zombie only a few steps behind.
Jee-Han nodded as he focused his aim towards the zombie's head, hoping for a head shot. He had played a few first person shooter games and there was nothing more satisfying than getting a perfectly aimed head shot. Absolutely nothing.
"Alright, go time!"
Sun-Il nodded and in a flash, he had moved out of the way and jumped to the side. The zombie's head turned towards his direction and when it snapped back to Jee-Han's, it was already too late.
"Spiral Javelin!"
Putting all his strength into throwing the compressed spear, the lance that Jee-Han had created flew at an unbelievable speed towards the zombie's head. Unfortunately, his trajectory was slightly off and instead of getting a perfect head shot, the Javelin pierced through the zombie's neck like a bullet and crashed through several buildings behind the zombie.
"Oraaaaga!"
The cries of agony and dread spread across the Illusion Barrier as the zombie fell onto its knees, gasping for air. It's one good eye that was still visible was now devoid of any pupils, indicating that the beast was unconscious as it fell to the ground with a loud thump.
Poof, it evaporated in a sea of black smoke along with the huge gaping hole in its neck.
Jee-Han wiped the drips of sweat evident on his face and made his way down from the roof top. It was a tough battle but they had did it; they had defeated a Legion Zombie.
"High five dude!" Jee-Han shouted towards Sun-Il who was standing next to the remains of the zombie. Sun-Il raised his palm into the air and it collided with Jee-Han's as they celebrated.
"That was one hell of a finisher, quite impressive. How'd you pull that off?" Sun-Il actually seemed excited.
Jee-Han laughed a bit.
"I don't know man, it just came to me. Since I already had an arrow move, I based my finishing move off it. I needed something that could pierce, you know?"
As he said this, a new notification appeared before him.
DING!
You've thought of a new skill!
Would you like to name it?
Confirm (Y) / Decline (N)
Well... this was new.
The game had never asked Jee-Han to name a skill before so it was slightly surprising. More than that however, Jee-Han couldn't hide the rising excitement that was evident on his face as he quickly pressed yes to name his new skill.
"Heh, I wonder what I should call it?" Jee-Han mumbled to himself, not noticing the peculiar stare coming from Sun-Il.
Would you like to name it "Heh, I wonder what I should call it"?
"Obviously not!" Jee-Han mentally shouted. Gaia was screwing with him again. He quickly rectified the problem by naming the skill "Spiral Javelin" and pressed confirm, creating a new notification screen that gave him the details of his new skill.
『Spiral Javelin (Active) Level 1 EXP 0.00 % / MP: 600』
A technique used to gather and spin an immense amount of mana in the form of a javelin. The spiral spin greatly increases its piercing power, and the increased amount of mana also greatly increases its strength.
35 % increase in defense penetration
650 % increase in piercing damage
Cast time: 5 seconds
Cooldown: 3 minutes
Depending on the user, it is possible to increase the cast time of the Spiral Javelin. There is an additional damage increase the longer the duration.
Sun-Il almost had to catch the falling Jee-Han as the man in question almost fainted after observing his new skill. No, it wasn't fair to call it a skill anymore. Gaia had granted Jee-Han with a downright weapon of mass destruction!
"O-Oi! What's wrong with you?" Sun-Il was flabbergasted at his friend's strange behavior.
Coming back to reality, Jee-Han had finally calmed down and explained what had occurred to Sun-Il, who could only gasp in surprise at the sudden revelation. If what Jee-Han had said was true, then that new skill of his was something that no one would ever want to get hit by. Just as Sun-Il was thinking that, his attention was taken at a new notification that appeared.
«Gained 12,720 Experience!»
«Your level has increased by 1!»
Sun-Il blinked several times before narrowing his eyes to confirm what had just appeared. He could gain levels!? Jee-Han's power may have defied all logic but this was just too much.
"Sweet, looks like I leveled up twice and I gained a new title! As ugly as that thing was, it had some good exp to share... what's wrong with you?" Jee-Han was in the middle of soaking up the rewards before he noticed Sun-Il's dumbfounded expression.
"I-I just gained a level…" Sun-Il was still recovering so his voice was barely audible towards Jee-Han.
Jee-Han looked a bit surprised before he wore an arrogant smile.
"That's because of my power! My gamer ability not only grants me godlike powers but it can also give commoners like you-"
Whack!
A gruesome bump appeared on Jee-Han's head as he rubbed the poor wound, noting to himself to never call Sun-Il a commoner again. After blowing on his knuckles, Sun-Il returned to observing the unexpected phenomenon of Jee-Han's gamer powers and how they even affected him.
"Anyway, this is amazing. I never guessed that your ability would allow me gain levels too, do I get to distribute the points as well?" Sun-Il couldn't hide his endless curiosity as he looked over to Jee-Han who wore a more humble smirk.
"Yup, just say status and you'll get too"
Sun-Il shrugged.
"Status"
A brown notification box opened up in front of Sun-Il who's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
"I'm assuming it worked?" Jee-Han had asked but knew the answer already from his friend's facial expression.
Name: Shin Sun-Il
Class: Chunbumoon's Heir
Title:《The One Who Perseveres》
Level: 30
HP: 2650/2650
MP: 540/540
SP: 1500/1500
STR: 42
VIT: 87
DEX: 52
INT: 21
WIS: 14
LUK: 25
EXP Level: 1.71 %
Hold up.
"W-What the hell is all this?" Sun-Il said aloud, altering Jee-Han's attention.
"What? Aren't you looking at the status screen? Those are your stats and current information, pretty useful stuff right?" Jee-Han playfully gloated.
"I'm obviously aware of that… but what's with SP? HP and MP I can understand but what would SP be classified under?"
It was now Jee-Han's turn to be confused. He had never seen SP under his own stats. He had to get to the bottom of this.
"Observe"
Jee-Han used his trusty skill to take a look at Sun-Il's stats. He saw all of the standard information but did not see SP listed anywhere.
"Strange... I don't see it…"
Sun-Il brought a hand to his chin as he contemplated the situation. He faintly remembered playing a martial arts RPG where the human body was classified under three categories: the Body, the Mind, and the Spirit. HP represented the physical body, MP represented the human mind, and finally SP represented the spirit of a person. Could Jee-Han's power run on the same principle?
He explained what he was thinking to Jee-Han who also remembered the game and they both came to the understanding that Sun-Il's SP bar was supposed to showcase his ability to use ki, which was fundamentally different from MP or mana.
"But wait, why don't I have SP bar listed as a stat?" Jee-Han asked.
That was a good question Sun-Il thought as he searched his head for an answer.
"Possibly because you use mana as the foundation of your technique while I use chi. Remember we both may use the Chunbumoon skills to absorb ki but what we do with them is still different. In your case, you absorb ki and then condense and shape it with your mana, requiring you to use your MP. On the other hand, I absorb ki and the go through a different process that I've mastered called『Spirit Channel』that lets me utilize that raw ki in its purest form. I suppose because of your gamer powers, you can just convert ki into mana for convenience since normally, it would be impossible to use ki the way my family does without knowing the Spirit Channel"
Normally, Jee-Han was sure he wouldn't understand a word of what Sun-Il was saying but now, he was able to take in most of it. Raising his INT and WIS sure did pay off in spades.
"Wow, I guess that explains why you have an SP bar and I don't... but I don't don't get why I can't see it. Maybe If I learned that spirit thing thing too, ya think?"
Sun-Il shrugged as he closed his window.
"Maybe. I'll teach it to you later. In any case, I won't be spending these any time soon, not until we understand more about your powers. You should save your points from now on as well, don't spend them recklessly"
Jee-Han nodded as he closed his party, equipping his new《Zombie Slayer》title and was just about to escape the Illusion Barrier until he noticed a dim light coming from the remains of the zombie.
"Hey, what's what?" He pointed, altering Sun-Il towards a group of items that were lying on the floor. They both made their way over there and almost fainted at what they had saw lying on the ground.
【10:00 PM, Han Family Residence】
On his bed, Jee-Han was sitting down cross legged as he stared the items before him with a skeptical gaze. Three vials of red liquid, a stack of cash, and a green spell book were seated upon his pillow.
After he and Sun-Il had royally schooled the Legion Zombie, they noticed that the beast had dropped a few items and were shocked to say the least. Jee-Han however somewhat expected this; since he had already obtained drops from zombies beforehand, surely a bigger one would produce better results?
"But still... recovery potions, money, and a spell book?"
It really was hard to believe.
Jee-Han had observed the red vial before hand and it was classified as a 『Lowest Grade - Recovery Potion』that restored 200 HP. Obtaining these god sent items solved his recovery problem since he had to admit, carrying bread and milk for future battles would be a tad embarrassing.
Sun-Il was more surprised than he originally expected. According to him, only professionals known as "Alchemists" had the ability to create instant recovery potions. They were ridiculously expensive as well, where a single one would be worth 10,000,000 won each (around 11,000 $ USD). Jee-Han immediately gave Sun-Il a couple to take with him, as thanks for not only advising him to distribute his points into INT and WIS but also because he couldn't have defeated the Legion Zombie without him. The sentiment touched Sun-Il as he snuggled the potions with tears in his eyes; it must have meant alot to him.
Jee-Han picked up the wad of cash and tried to store it in his inventory. Instantly, his funds sky rocketed from 3000 won to 503,000 won. If you were to convert that, it would turn out to be five hundred dollars in USD. Not particularly a high amount for most but for someone like Jee-Han who was just a mere high school student; it was quite the sum. Especially when you consider he obtained it just from killing a monster.
"5-5-500,000 won just from that?" Jee-Han thought he was done being surprised today but it looked like Gaia wasn't done playing with him. This was a serious matter in his mind. Monsters dropping loot was common but still, his gamer ability was just too much. If someone were able to suddenly obtain money this quickly, there was no reason not to doubt if it was real.
Finally, Jee-Han turned his attention to the skill book that had made him scream up to the heavens when he had picked it up. It was a skill known as『Life Drain』that allowed the user to not only drain an enemies HP to restore their own but would also allow the wielder to transfer their own HP to another. Quite the broken ability indeed. The skill required 35 INT to learn and Jee-Han already had that amount so he wasted no time in confirming the book, allowing the sea of knowledge to flow into his head.
With that done, Jee-Han fell back onto his bed and sighed, still going over what had happened. His original plan was just to ride Sun-Il's bus to level up and while he did accomplish that, a whole bunch of new developments just popped up.
"I thought learning how to break Illusion Barriers would help but clearly, there are some that are inescapable. Would leveling up ID Escape help?"
Jee-Han made a mental note to grind that skill later as he opened his skill window. He had gained two new skills today,『Mana Arrow』and『Spiral Javelin』. Like earlier, he felt as if he needed to delete the old skills he would no longer need and eyed『Power Strike』.
"As helpful as you've been, it doesn't seem I'll need you any longer"
With that, he said the command "delete skill" and pressed confirm, saying his goodbyes to one of his former favorite skills. With the path he had now chosen, he wouldn't need it.
He then took a notepad and began jotting down the skills he would be using as his main arsenal. For offense, he currently had『Mana Arrow』and『Spiral Javelin』, for support he could use his passives such as the『Chunbu Outer Ki Technique』and『Chunbu Breathing Technique』to increase his stats. The thought of using the『Chunbu Foot Technique』crossed his mind as he recalled how swiftly Sun-Il moved when he dodged the legion zombie. Learning how to perform high speed movement was definitely something he was going to work on so he jotted it down. He wasn't going to be one of those squishy mages who could only stand in the back and watch the battle. To be more effective in combat, he was going to be a master of both close combat and long distance, a hybrid if you will.
"I just realized I don't have any defensive skills... what about a shield? That's it, I need one!"
Jee-Han traced his mind back to a fantasy RPG he played not too long ago and one of the most basic skills magicians learned was the mana shield. It protected them from all outside attacks and was perfect for buying some time to use more power offensive attacks.
Jee-Han stood up from his seat and jumped to the ground from his bed. After making sure his mother wasn't around, he closed his eyes and used the『Chunbu Breathing Technique』to gather mana. The mana was beginning to build inside the pit of his stomach and began to condense as he tried to project that energy around himself.
"A shield... A shield... A shield..." Jee-Han's thoughts became louder and louder in his mind. His body was then surrounded by an intense glow as he continued chanting.
The aura around his body then expanded and took the form of a transparent sphere that covered everything around Jee-Han, a complete 360 degree shield.
DING!
A skill has been obtained through a special action!
Through continuous condensing and expanding of mana, a skill to block attacks,『Mana Shield』has been created.
『Mana Shield (Active) - Level 1 EXP 0.00 % / MP:30』
One of the most basic defense skills that is used to block outside attacks.
50 Additional MP used per minute.
Jee-Han grinned widely at the success of his experiment. From the moment he learned the 『Chunbu Breathing Technique』along with『Mana Affinity』, he could now freely shape his mana into whatever object he desired if he concentrated hard enough. This was definitely a skill that he should have picked up a long time ago.
"Excellent, now my defenses should be covered. Though, I'll need to test how effective this shield is. Adding more layers would cost more mana, right?" Jee-Han theorized as he concentrated and sure enough, two more layers were added on top.
Jee-Han looked at his MP bar and noticed a heavy decrease. Looks like the more layers added, the more MP was used up. He increased his MP bar quite a bit because of all the points he invested into INT but all that MP would be quickly gone with just a few attacks. At the moment, prolonged on battles like the one with the Legion Zombie would be no good.
Suddenly, he remembered the technique that would be able to solve his problems effortlessly. The『Chunbu Breathing Technique』was a skill that not only passively increased his stats but also allowed him to permanently increase his MP by Inner Ki training.
"Why haven't I thought of raising this before!?" Jee-Han lamented in his mind. It could have been due to his low WIS and INT.
From what Jee-Han recalled, in order to strengthen his Inner Ki he needed to deplete his current mana. Once the mana was depleted, accessing and utilizing inner ki should become easier.
Jee-Han was going to give it a try. As he did so, the events that had transpired earlier today and what direction his life was headed filled his mind. His gamer ability not only allowed him to produce incredible powers but was also now assisting him financially. At the rate that his power's were manifesting, there wouldn't even really be a need to go to school anymore.
"Now wouldn't that be nice..." Jee-Han wondered before concentrating back on his training. In any case, it wasn't like he was going to actively put himself in the Abyss. He was only getting strong enough to support Sun-Il if anything like what happened with Sung-Gong happened again. Once Sung-Gon was done making Illusion Barriers, the threat would stop and his peaceful life would return again.
At least, this is what he desperately hoped would happen.
Of course, Jee-Han had no way of knowing that his life was never going to be "peaceful" again.
【12:00 PM, Nearby City Block】
A chilling wind blew past Sung-Gong who was standing on the roof of a building. This was his usual spot for gathering the souls of zombies and he'd come here often just to gaze at the moon.
Sung-Gong's gaze was directed towards illuminating sight above him.
"Such a beautiful moon tonight..."
He had just finished his gathering for the night and planned to head home before his senses picked up an odd feeling. No, calling it an odd feeling would be wrong as it felt that whatever he was sensing was not good in the slightest. Sung-Gong looked in every direction within his Illusion Barrier, frantically searching for the root of the problem.
"Goooooo..."
The eerie sound of a spirit echoed throughout his ears as he looked below and saw what had been plaguing his mind. Spirits, the souls of human beings were being gathered. However, these were not the kind of spirits that would indicate they were human, more like they were the spirits of the dead, the spirits of the undead more specifically.
Sung-Gong observed all the undead spirits gathering to a single spot in the center of a street. He already knew that when numerous undead were being threatened, they would come together to form a titan like zombie. He had seen it several times already and was easily able to deal with it; it wasn't even worth mentioning in his mind.
However, this time was different. Sung-Gong could sense that whatever abomination the spirits were trying to create by coming together would be vastly superior to that creature.
"I should eliminate it before it forms..." He decided as he reached his right hand out to make an open palm. A tunnel of black energy sprouted in front of it and formed a large dark sphere that floated in the air.『Shadow Bullet』was the name of the ball he was currently holding. It was a low cost spell that didn't have much power but for undead of that caliber, it was more than enough to exterminate them without a trace.
"Begone"
The command initiated the attack as the sphere was shot from his palm and soared through the air right towards the gathering of spirits. Sung-Gong was confident his low level spell should be sufficient enough to deal with the problem
The sphere reached the spirits but was blocked abruptly by a wall of undead zombies that appeared out of nowhere. Sung-Gon looked visibly annoyed as he never recalled the zombies generated in his Illusion Barrier being able to do that.
"They repelled it!? How..." He wondered as he looked at the fresh pile of corpses. He noticed all of the other zombies in the area slowly approaching the gathering. It was as if the zombies were protecting the spirits, waiting for it to produce a new monster.
"This is quite the problem..." Sung-Gong noted, looking at the chain around his finger. He clicked his teeth in annoyance and continued to stare back at the spirits. Removing the chain was something he couldn't afford to do and had to deal with the situation with what he had. He reached into one of his pockets and rumbled around in there. He found what he was looking for and brought out the statue of a gargoyle made out of silver.
"『Awaken』"
Sung-Gong crushed the statue and a smoke of black energy surrounded his body. The fog looked as if it were swallowing him in its depths before it evaporated and Sung-Gong looked unharmed. What was a surprise however was the ten feet beast standing next to him that had the same form as the wax statue he had before.
This was the mid tier summon,『Gargoyle』that was one of Sung-Gong's favorites. By allowing the statue to feed on his own energy and use it as its epicenter, he could transform it into a living creature that followed his will. There were other methods which could have been used to summon a familiar but the situation needed a more advanced type of summon, one with more kick as Sung-Gong would say.
"Burn them to ashes"
His order resounded in the Gargoyle's mind as its previously devoid eyes now vibrantly glowed deep crimson.
"Zaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
The Gargoyle screeched and flapped its jet black wings, flying straight towards its masters enemies. It opened its mouth wide and a column of fire erupted onto the city streets, scorching everything in its path. The decaying zombies were incinerated in a flash and while they felt no pain, they clearly did not enjoy being turned into a roasted barbecue. The sight was disturbing to say the least.
Once the zombies were taken care of, the Gargoyle turned its attention to the spirits that were still gathering. The zombies had done their jobs and bought enough time for the spirits to finalize the new creature as a giant white substance was expanding out.
The Gargoyle noticed this and shrieked even louder, raising one of its vicious claws into the air to pierce the white energy. Just as its claw began to descend, it was stopped by the essence that was able to create a large black hand that looked like it belonged to an orc. The hand looked unclean and dirty with its broken finger nails and chipped skin.
The rest of the body emerged from the white veil that had been gathered and Sung-Gong's eye widened at the sight. It was a troll type of monster, that easily reached past twenty meters in height. It wore nothing but a dirty brown cloth below the waist and had a bloated stomach but muscular chest. The head of the troll zombie had one of its eyes missing and its mouth was filled with rotting dirt.
"What..." Sung-Gong could barely form words at the atrocity that was now holding onto his Gargoyle that was struggling to move. The zombie slowly moved its gaze towards the Gargoyle and a wicked smile formed on its disgusting face.
"Retreat!" Sung-Gong immediately called out but it was too late.
The troll zombie grabbed the Gargoyle's head and took a huge chunk of the summoned creature's torso. The Gargoyle couldn't even shriek in agony as its entire upper half was devoured by the troll zombie and the rest of it soon followed. The abomination chewed on the remains and a dark liquid oozed out from its mouth. It was a sight that Sung-Gong had wished he never had the pleasure of viewing.
"Damn..."
Sung-Gong cursed as he looked at the creature who had now turned its attention towards him.
One of his favorite summons and a creature who's abilities he had confidence in its was easily devoured in front of him. The abomination would have usually posed no threat on a regular day but this wasn't a regular day to say the least. For starters, the amount of spirits that had composed of the troll zombie must have numbered in the thousands. What's even more strange is how they could take a physical form when they were just a bunch of spirits. Sung-Gong had already made counter measures for every possible outcome but this was something he was not expecting.
Suddenly, the troll turned its gaze away from Sung-Gong and just stared distantly towards another direction. Sung-Gong looked that way as well and was confused at what exactly it was looking at.
Crack!
The troll zombie punched nothing but the air itself and somehow, a crack had formed in the sky.
Oh god no.
Sung-Gong's face began to pale and drips of sweat fell from his face at what the troll zombie was doing.
It was trying to destroy his Illusion Barrier.
This was bad, seriously bad.
Sung-Gong swiftly dashed forward towards the zombie who was now attempting to break out from its prison. Under normal circumstances, breaking out of an Illusion Barrier was impossible for creatures spawned within the Illusion Barrier. However, this monster was somehow attempting to do just that. Whether Gaia was having maintenance problems or just really bad luck, Sung-Gong didn't know or care. He just knew one thing.
If that troll zombie was allowed to roam free in the real world, some serious shit was about to go down.
A/N: Well damn, I bet most of us weren't expecting that to happen where we? This troll zombie is now attempting to bust out of the Illusion Barriers and if that's the case, what would happen if it managed to make it into the real world? Sung-Gong apparently knows and is trying to stop it.
So, the "Zombie Legion" arc is approaching its finale. The finale will be noticeably longer than the previous chapters but will be completely original and will be the ignition that starts off the divergence!
I hope you all will be anticipating that!
Look forward to the next one!
Name: Han Jee-Han
Class: The Gamer
Title:《Zombie Slayer》«NEW»
Level: 16 (↑2 UP)
HP: 890/890
MP: 1230/1230
STR: 26 (↑1 UP)
VIT: 26 (↑1 UP)
DEX: 21 (↑1 UP)
INT: 60 (↑42 UP)
WIS: 15 (↑8 UP)
LUK: 9
Points: 0
Money: ₩503,000
《Skills》
Offensive:
• Energy Bolt (Active) | Lv: 3
• Mana Arrow (Active) | Lv: 2 «NEW»
• Spiral Javelin (Active) | Lv: 2 «NEW»
• Life Drain (Active) | Lv: 1 «NEW»
Defensive:
• Mana Shield (Active): Level 1 «NEW»
Support:
• Observe (Active) | Lv: 5 «↑1 UP»
• Yunhon Soul Recovery (Active) | Lv: 2 «↑1 UP»
• Chunbu Spirit Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 4 «↑1 UP»
• Chunbu Martial Arts Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 2
• Chunbu Sword Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 3
• Chunbu Foot Technique (Passive & Active) | Lvl: 3 «↑1 UP»
• Chunbu Outer Ki Technique (Passive) | Lvl: 4 «↑1 UP»
Resistances and Masteries:
• Physical Endurance (Passive) | Lvl: 3
• Blunt Weapon Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 5
• Unarmed Combat Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 1
• Sword Mastery (Passive) | Lvl: 2 «↑1 UP»
Miscellaneous:
• ID Create (Active) | Lv: 2
• ID Escape (Active) | Lv: 1
