I picked up a stone from the ground, and it vanished from sight almost immediately.
'Would this work too?'
Hoping against hope, I reached out and placed my hand on a dead hobgoblin's shoulder, but nothing changed. It seemed the skill had limitations on what it could affect. At the very least, it definitely worked on clothes I was wearing and objects I could hold in my hands. That was when—
[All mana has been depleted. 'Skill: Stealth' has been deactivated.]
"Huh?"
Stealth had suddenly worn off.
'Seriously? It's been a few seconds and I'm already out of mana?'
Jin-Woo, who had been moving around to get used to the Stealth state, pulled up the status window with a flustered expression and checked his skill list.
[Skills] Passive Skills: (Unknown) Lv.MAX, Fortitude Lv.1 Active Skills: Sprint Lv.1, Killing Intent Lv.1, Stealth Lv.1
What he wanted was the information on Stealth. Text materialized before his eyes. Ding!
[Skill: Stealth Lv.1] Active skill. Required mana: 200. Upon activation, the caster's presence is concealed and all traces vanish temporarily. While 'Stealth' is maintained, 10 mana is consumed per second.
Required mana of 200, plus 10 mana per second?
"Ha..."
How was anyone's mana supposed to hold up under that?
[MP: 7/548]
A measly 7 points of mana remaining looked downright pathetic.
'I'm completely tapped out.'
His current max mana was around 550. Using Stealth once gave him roughly 35 seconds of maintenance. And when you factored in mana needed for other skills, he couldn't even fill those full 35 seconds.
Come to think of it, Kang Tae-Sik had deactivated his Stealth after just a few seconds too. He hadn't done that for nothing—he simply didn't have enough mana to maintain it for long. If even Kang Tae-Sik, an upper-level Hunter, could only manage that much, it meant lower-level Hunters who learned the skill would never even be able to use it.
"Mana is the problem."
So far he'd invested points into every stat except Intelligence, and his mana had never increased. In other words, the only way to increase mana was to raise Intelligence…
'Should I start putting some points into Intelligence soon?'
But he couldn't bring himself to spend ability points on a non-combat stat just to use one skill a little longer.
'Intelligence is way too inefficient compared to other stats.'
Strength, Vitality, Agility, Perception. He'd experienced the effects of every stat firsthand. The more his stats rose, the stronger he became—noticeably so. But with this 'Intelligence' stat, no matter how high the number climbed, he couldn't feel any difference.
'It's gone up nearly four times since Level 1, and still…'
If he had to point to something that changed, it would be that his mana pool had grown. That was it. But investing points based on that alone was still…
'Way too wasteful.'
If he invested those points into other stats, they'd translate directly into real, tangible power. So in the end, he arrived at the conclusion: keep leveling up until he no longer had a shortage of mana. He'd save his ability points for better stats.
'Ability points, huh…'
Come to think of it, he still had five bonus points from the emergency quest reward. Jin-Woo briefly considered putting them into Intelligence but ultimately spent 3 points on Strength and 2 on Vitality.
[Stats] Strength: 75 Vitality: 45 Agility: 82 Intelligence: 39 Perception: 69 (Available ability points: 0) Physical Damage Reduction: 20%
'Having the last digit land on 5 really does look cleaner.'
Just as Jin-Woo was wearing a satisfied smile—
Rrumble. The tremors inside the Dungeon grew violent enough to ignore no longer.
'Is the hour almost up already?'
There was no more time to hesitate. Jin-Woo closed the status window. He'd deliberately waited until just before the Gate closed, but if he delayed any longer, he might never make it out of the Dungeon. Right before leaving the boss room, Jin-Woo turned around and surveyed the interior.
'I've got the mana crystal…'
Nothing had been left behind. Having confirmed this, Jin-Woo disappeared quickly down the passage. Rrrrrumble. As if to warn that the Gate was about to close, the Dungeon shook more violently than before.
***
Just in time, the Investigation Team staff arrived at the Gate. They spotted Jin-Woo stepping casually out of the closing Gate and their eyes went wide.
"Hunter! Were there no survivors?" "No." "Ugh!"
The staff's expressions hardened. Nine people had gone in, and only three had made it out alive. This was a major incident. With significant incidents piling up one after another in the same area, the Hunter's Association staff were in an impossible position. They wanted to check for more survivors, but with the Gate sealed, there was no way to know. This was exactly why Jin-Woo had deliberately waited until the last possible moment to leave.
'Because I can't let anyone find out there was a survivor.'
Now the testimony of the three survivors was the only evidence. A staff member spoke in a heavy voice.
"The Monitoring Division just secured a confession call from the Geumgang Industries president."
Song Chi-Yeol stepped forward.
"You mean the Geumgang Industries president?" "He's the victim's father who hired Hunter Kang Tae-Sik to carry out the murder." "Ah…"
Upon hearing that Kang Tae-Sik had succeeded in killing the perpetrator, the Geumgang Industries president had willingly confessed everything.
'Even though it was me, not Kang Tae-Sik…'
The police went that way, and the Hunter's Association came here. Jin-Woo, who had been silent until now, spoke up.
"Then there's no problem, right?"
The staff member looked troubled by Jin-Woo's question.
"Yes. That's correct."
There was solid evidence of Kang Tae-Sik's crimes, and the three had fought back against him to survive. As Jin-Woo had asked, there was nothing to worry about. However, there was one thing. The staff member raised the point that had been nagging at him.
"Who killed Hunter Kang Tae-Sik, who was a B-rank Hunter?"
They hadn't been on-site long enough to have received a detailed briefing yet.
'Fair point—it's quite a distance from here to the Association building. They must have rushed over before the Gate even fully closed.'
They'd come running the moment they received the call. Every one of them looked visibly exhausted. Before telling the truth, Jin-Woo briefly thought of Yoo Jin-Ho's face.
'Sorry, but I won't be able to help with raids anymore.'
If he used "Re-awakening" as his excuse and underwent a re-evaluation, he'd no longer fit into Yoo Jin-Ho's plans. What Yoo Jin-Ho needed was a highly skilled Hunter with a low rank. If his rank went up, the whole thing would fall apart. But why was it that—when he imagined Yoo Jin-Ho's dejected face, the thought that came first wasn't guilt, but amusement. He'd lose the building he'd been promised as payment, though.
'Well, it can't be helped.'
The moment Jin-Woo, having made up his mind, opened his mouth to speak—
"It was me, actually."
His head turned naturally toward the voice. There stood Ju-Hee, staring at Song Chi-Yeol in surprise.
"Mister…?"
Before Jin-Woo could even ask what was going on, Song Chi-Yeol stepped forward toward the staff member first.
"The one who killed Kang Tae-Sik was me."
The staff member still looked skeptical.
"You're saying Hunter Song Chi-Yeol took down Hunter Kang Tae-Sik?"
And with good reason—Song Chi-Yeol was a C-rank Hunter who had also lost his left arm. Meanwhile, Kang Tae-Sik was what most people would call an upper-level Hunter—a B-rank. The power of upper-level Hunters was beyond imagination. Common knowledge held that the gap between a B-rank Hunter and a C-rank Hunter was incomparable to the gap between a C-rank and a D-rank. At that, Song Chi-Yeol chuckled and replied.
"Does everyone not realize who was standing behind me?" "Ah!"
As everyone's gaze suddenly fell on her, Ju-Hee blushed and lowered her head. Ju-Hee was a B-rank Hunter. She simply hadn't been mentioned because she wasn't a combat-type Hunter, but in terms of rank alone, she was also an upper-level Hunter, just like Kang Tae-Sik. With a B-rank healer providing support, there was no reason a C-rank Hunter couldn't defeat a B-rank Hunter. The staff finally showed expressions of understanding. Taking advantage of the brief moment of confusion, Jin-Woo moved close to Song Chi-Yeol's side and asked quietly.
"Why did you lie?"
Song Chi-Yeol lowered his voice as well.
"I figured if Mr. Sung was trying to hide his abilities, he must have had his reasons. Did I do something unnecessary?"
Of course he hadn't. Thanks to him, Jin-Woo had been able to avoid a whole lot of trouble. Unnecessary? Not at all. This was why you couldn't discount experience.
"No, not at all." "I've only received help from you all this time, Mr. Sung. If I could be of even a little help, I'm glad."
An Investigation Team staff member approached.
"Mr. Song Chi-Yeol, could you come with us? We just need your help with a brief statement." "Sure."
Song Chi-Yeol left with the Investigation Team staff for the Association, and before long, only Jin-Woo and Ju-Hee remained at the scene. The sun had already been down for a while. Ju-Hee seemed awkward around Jin-Woo, who now carried a completely different air than before. After hesitating, she cautiously approached.
"Want to walk together for a bit?"
'The dinner promise, huh.'
Between all the movement, he'd actually worked up an appetite, so the timing was perfect. Jin-Woo agreed readily.
"Sure."
The two walked side by side beneath the lamplight in silence, neither one taking the lead, as if they'd made an unspoken agreement to do so.
"…"
Ju-Hee kept her eyes fixed on her own feet. Whenever she looked up, her gaze drifted sideways. She tried not to notice, but it was no use. Before, he'd given off a more approachable vibe, but the Jin-Woo of now brimmed with strength. That made it hard to find the words to speak to him.
'What happened to him…?'
The way he'd subdued a B-rank Hunter without breaking a sweat. He was a completely different person. He'd asked her to keep it a secret, so she didn't plan on asking, but she couldn't stop thinking about the enormous changes she'd seen.