On the outskirts of the city, there was an old and dilapidated apartment block. Jin-Woo's house was located on the 9th floor of this building.
He was released from the hospital yesterday afternoon after undergoing some final minor tests to make sure everything was OK.
His level was currently eighteen.
After Jin-Woo returned from the dungeon two days ago, and he had no way to gain additional levels.
Hearing how quietly his sister was moving around in the hallway, Jin-Woo finished his morning training and opened the door to his room.
His sister usually left very quietly, so he often didn't hear her.
Their apartment had three bedrooms, but it was relatively small, making it easy to hear everything even from the other end of the apartment.
And now, with his senses' statistics increased almost threefold, it was even easier for him to pick up on what was happening in the house.
- Are you going to School? - Jin-Woo asked, seeing his sister tying her shoes.
Not expecting to see her brother Jin-Ah at such an early hour, she was taken aback.
She finished tying her shoes, stood up, and looked surprised at her older brother.
- You're already up? - the surprised girl asked, observing him.
- A little while ago. Be careful on the road; I heard that a young student was hit by a car not far from here two days ago. - her brother cautioned.
Jin-Ah looked at her brother in surprise, who was wearing a sweatshirt and looked like he was... ready to go.
- Are you going somewhere at this time? - the surprised girl inquired.
- Oh? I'm going for a run.
- To run? Seriously?
- What's so strange about that?
- Oppa, you've never run before.
Jin-Woo shrugged, trying to come up with an excuse.
- Well, there wasn't much to do in the hospital. You know... I started killing time by exercising, and I somehow started to like it.
Jin-Ah looked at her brother strangely.
Not only did he get up so early, but he was also ready to leave the house.
It wasn't that Jin-Woo was lazy, but Jin-Ah was a diligent student who often woke up at the crack of dawn for school, wanting to have plenty of time to get ready without rushing and to have a peaceful journey to school, so she rarely encountered her brother at this time.
And he wanted to exercise.
He never wanted to exercise before.
Looking at her brother carefully, Jin-Ah had a strange feeling as if he had become a little taller and wider in the shoulders.
Wasn't... he was only three or four centimeters taller than her before?
Now she had to lift her head a little to look at his face.
But it was impossible.
She must have been imagining things or something.
People's bodies weren't made of rubber; they didn't stretch in a matter of days.
Finding it all quite strange, Jin-Ah slung her backpack over her shoulder.
- Take an umbrella as well. - Jin-Woo advised her, seeing that his sister was turning around and wanted to go towards the door.
- It's heavy and it doesn't look like it's going to rain today.
Jin-Woo rolled his eyes, gently grabbed his sister by the backpack, immobilizing her, and opened it to place the umbrella in a side pocket.
- Don't be dramatic; it's light. It's better to have it than not.
Groaning in pain, Jin-Ah adjusted her backpack and grabbed the door handle.
Jin-Woo followed her.
He had to meet his daily exercise quota.
He had no intention of dealing with those nasty sandworms again.
***
When he returned home and took a shower, he sat on the couch in the living room and opened the status window.
[ STATUS ]
[ NAME: SUNG JIN-WOO ]
[ LEVEL: 18 ]
[ JOB: NONE ]
[ TITLE: THE WOLF SLAYER ]
[ HP: 2220 ]
[ MP: 350 ]
[ FATIGUE: 2 ]
[ STRENGTH: 48 ]
[ DEXTERITY: 27 ]
[ SENSES: 27 ]
[ VITALITY: 27 ]
[ INTELLIGENCE: 27 ]
[ AVAILABLE STAT POINTS: 12 ]
He noticed that Jin-Ah had been looking at him strangely before going to school.
In fact, he had noticed changes in his body as well.
His muscles had definitely grown.
In a matter of a few days.
Such an effect would be possible, of course.
But with maintaining the right diet and weeks, if not months of exercise.
His increase in muscle mass was probably due to allocating so many stat points to strength.
On the other hand... would it be a good idea to allocate all further points to strength?
High damage output alone wasn't everything.
He needed balance.
No extreme was good.
If the opponent was incredibly fast or had very keen senses, his strength might not be enough.
He wasn't sure what to do.
Strength would combine well with dexterity. Strength for damage and Dexterity for speed and evasion.
It would also be good to have good health. So he wouldn't regret spending points on vitality either.
The senses were more useful even at first he thought. Thanks to them, he was able to estimate how strong the opponent was and how to approach him.
It wasn't just about hearing or sight. It wasn't that simple.
The last one was intelligence.
It was a problem.
He wasn't sure what exactly was hidden behind that statistic.
It certainly wasn't about intellect.
After gaining several levels, he didn't feel any smarter, nor did he notice an improvement in his memory.
He believed it could be related to magic.
He wasn't certain, but he noticed that his mana points increased with each level. Always by the same value, just like his health did, and vitality was responsible for that.
There had to be a way to increase mana points, and the only remaining stat was intelligence.
If he was correct, it left the question of whether he really needed mana points. He wasn't a mage, so he didn't require a large mana pool.
So, for now, he could scratch it off the list. At each level, his intelligence would increase by 1.
That would be enough for now.
He had to decide between four statistics.
After a moment of contemplation, he decided to put two points into strength to keep the number of points from bothering him. A strength of 50 should be more than enough for now.
He liked the idea of investing some points in dexterity the most. So he added a total of eight points to it, increasing his agility to 35 points.
He decided to allocate the last two points to senses so he could assess his situation as clearly as possible during battles.
Vitality would have to wait for now.
[ STATUS ]
[ NAME: SUNG JIN-WOO ]
[ LEVEL: 18 ]
[ JOB: NONE ]
[ TITLE: THE WOLF SLAYER ]
[ HP: 2220 ]
[ MP: 350 ]
[ FATIGUE: 0 ]
[ STRENGTH: 50 ]
[ DEXTERITY: 35 ]
[ SENSES: 29 ]
[ VITALITY: 27 ]
[ INTELLIGENCE: 27 ]
[ AVAILABLE STAT POINTS: 0 ]
When he finished and looked at his status window, he was satisfied with his choices.
Although he regretted a bit that he was one point short of raising his senses to a round number.
His thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the telephone lying on the table next to the sofa.
Could it be a call from the Association?
In the past, when he heard the phone ringing, he prayed that they weren't calling him.
He knew he had to make a living, but he hated going on raids and wanted to delay it as much as possible.
But now, he wanted to fight. He wanted to test himself and gain more experience.
- Hunter Sung Jin-Woo at the phone.
- You finally picked up! Why was there no contact with you?
- I'm very sorry! I had an accident and was in hospital.
- Ah. That explains it. Well, lad... I'm calling about the rent for your apartment...
- Ah right...
- If you can't pay now, I can extend the due date to next month.
- No need, I'll make the transfer soon.
- I see. I'm not pressuring you, I know you work hard taking care of your mom and sister. Try to take care of yourself, okay?
- I'll try, I promise.
When the owner of the apartment hung up, Jin-Woo looked thoughtfully at the turned-off phone.
If he really had a second awakening... or some unknown variant of it...
Anyway, whatever it was...
Now being stronger, he should be able to make money easily.
If he continues to develop at the same pace as now, and if his development does not slow down drastically, maybe in some time he will be among the best hunters in the country.
And then the money...
He will no longer have to worry about their lack.
It was clear that hunters made money by killing monsters.
The stronger and more experienced the hunter, the higher the rank, the stronger the monsters he fights.
As a result, it earns more money thanks to the very good cores it obtains.
To fight strong monsters, you need to cross the gate of a higher category.
Normally there is a lot of competition in the lower ranks. There are plenty of E and D-rank hunters.
While A-rank hunters could earn millions of dollars a year, E-rank hunters would not earn a million dollars even in ten years of work.
He himself had an E rank and had never fought anything above the D-Rank. It would be challenging to find something worthwhile.
He wanted to progress. He wanted this very much. But E-rank monsters won't give him much. Especially with so much competition. Maybe many more D-rank monsters would be good for him. But competition was still a problem.
There were usually about 15 to 20 hunters entering a D-rank dungeon. Back then, everyone had at most three or four monsters per head, if you were lucky enough and fast.
That's why hunters with E and D ranks had to take on numerous contracts every month just to make a living in this profession.
Fortunately, there were the most E and D-rank gates, and they appeared in large numbers every day.
Additionally, people choose based on opinions. And he was known as the weakest hunter in the world.
Should he ask for a re-evaluation of his rank?
It would cause... a sensation all over the world.
Hunters are easy fodder for the media and people love hearing about them.
On the one hand, the more publicity, the more money.
On the other hand, each step is observed and commented on.
If he wanted to reveal that he was becoming stronger with every monster he killed...
He would be the loudest hunter among them all.
Even among the top five.