“H-he disappeared?” Byung Chul said.

Byung Chul and Joo Yeon overlooked the battlefield from a safe location. Byung Chul paled and both Joo Yoon and Byung Chul lost sight of Sung Joon.

Sung Joon reappeared behind Velonin. His sword was clad in a gleaming aura.

“Boy!”

Velonin quickly raised its sword in order to protect its core. Unfortunately, Sung Joon hadn’t actually been aiming for a vital point. It was a feint.

Sung Joon’s actual aim was Velonin’s right sword arm.

“D-Damn it!”

Velonin belatedly mounted a defense, but it was too late. Sung Joon had already slashed through its right arm.

Sung Joon moved at a truly astonishing speed, and Byung Chul and Joo Yeon could only see the shimmering of an afterimage.

Velonin’s right arm dropped to the floor, as did its sword. Velonin had instantly lost both its method of attack and defense.

“He showcased a special swordsmanship in the midst of such a fearful battle,” Byung Chul said anxiously. He was taken aback. He had gotten goosebumps watching Sung Joon’s swordsmanship. It was as though Sung Joon had spent dozens of years killing people on the battlefield.

“This is the end for you,” Sung Joon declared.

Sung Joon watched Velonin as he declared its death. Sung Joon’s aura-clad blade pierced through Velonin’s core without hesitation. Velonin had no means of resistance without its right arm and its sword, and the platemail armor collapsed loudly.

“Absorb.”

Sung Joon didn’t forget to absorb the mana from Velonin’s remains. He recovered his stamina and mana, recovering a larger amount than usual since Velonin had been an Elite Boss.

Despite that, his body was afflicted with tremendous pain.

“U-Ugh!” grunted Sung Joon.

He hadn’t strengthened his body enough to fully utilize the Sword Saint’s strength. He was only able to momentarily use a small part of the Sword Saint’s strength.

Sung Joon used Heal but the pain didn’t subside easily, persisting for around five minutes.

Joo Yeon checked on Byung Chul, who had lost an arm, so she didn’t notice Sung Joon’s condition.

He used a series of Heals and the pain eventually subsided. Like always, the pain didn’t completely disappear, leaving him with an ache across his entire body.

‘It looks like it’ll last quite a while this time,’ Sung Joon thought.

Fortunately, he could endure it.

-Verifying assault, measurement complete. B-rank dungeon, cleared.

-Verifying the existence of a new item.

The measuring tool reacted in his pocket.

“A new item?”

Velonin’s corpse dissipated leaving nothing left. Sung Joon held his measuring tool and checked his surroundings, but the machine didn’t react.

He thought it might be reacting to Roel, so he moved his measuring tool towards Roel. It responded with a beep and Sung Joon activated its appraisal feature.

[Sealed Roel]

E-rank

Verifying Lightweight effect.

Verifying Dormant Potential effect.

Verifying Past Life Awakening effect.

Additional effects unknown.

The F-ranked Roel had evolved to E-rank and had gained an additional ability called Lightweight. It didn’t seem like much for an E-rank, but it was an extremely useful ability in the dungeon.

He quickly ran to Byung Chul after he had finished appraising Roel.

“Are you all right?” Sung Joon asked.

“Yes, I survived because of you,” Byung Chul said weakly with a sorrowful expression.

Sung Joon stopped the bleeding and closed up the wound but he wasn’t able to regenerate the arm with his current abilities.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Byung Chul’s life as a B-rank Hunter was over, since he had lost an arm. Although they had gone through life and death together, he didn’t pity Byung Chul since he had only met him for the first time that day.

“Byung Chul..”

“I’m fine.”

Joo Yeon comforted her fellow guild member.

“I’ll collect the magic stones. In the meantime, please get ready to leave the dungeon with Mr. Ji Byung Chul, Ms. Soo Yeon.”

“I understand.”

Sung Joon tried to be considerate to Byung Chul.

The party left the dungeon after Sung Joon had finished gathering the magic stones. Byung Chul immediately went to the hospital for follow-up treatment and Sung Joon and Joo Yeon went to the Dungeon Bureau to sell the magic stones.

Joo Yeon had the authoritative rights as the Party Leader, so she proceeded with the selling of the magic stones while Sung Joon stood by her side to monitor the process.

“The sale of the magic stones comes out to $300,000. How shall I proceed?”

“Please deposit $150,000 to Mr. Kang Sung Joon.”

Just like she promised, she gave him half their total earnings. The dungeon run had taken more than nine hours, but he had amassed a fortune of $150,000 so he felt great.

“I appreciate all your hard work,” Sung Joon said.

“Excuse me, one moment please,” Joo Yeon said as Sung Joon said his farewells and left.

Sung Joon paused. “Do you have something you’d like to say to me?” Sung Joon asked.

“First, I’d like to say that I’m extremely thankful. If it wasn’t for you, Mr. Kang Sung Joon, Byung Chul would’ve died from the bleeding,” Joo Yeon said, bowing slightly with a smile.

“I just did what a party member is obligated to do,” Sung Joon responded gently.

He could see that she was worried, likely due to Byung Chul’s missing arm.

She pulled out a business card from her chest pocket and handed it to Sung Joon.

“Phoenix won’t forget what you’ve done for us. Byung Chul and I were able to survive thanks to you, Mr. Kang Sung Joon. If we get the chance, we’ll make sure to return the favor.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Sung Joon responded, nodding.

The Phoenix Guild was a mid-ranked guild so there was nothing bad with having them owe him.

“You plan to rest today, right? If you don’t have any special plans, how about briefly visiting our Guild House?” suggested Joo Yeon.

“Are you talking about the Phoenix Guild House?” Sung Joon asked.

“Yes, the Guildmaster wanted to talk to you, Mr. Kang Sung Joon.”

It would probably be an invitation to join the guild. Unfortunately, Sung Joon had no intentions of joining a guild yet.

There were several benefits to joining a guild. However, a portion of a Hunter’s dungeon earnings would go to their guild.

Sung Joon disliked that.

“I’m thinking of setting up an appointment for a D-rank dungeon solo run,” he said calmly, even though he had uttered something ridiculous.

“Right now? You just cleared a B-rank dungeon, Mr. Kang Sung Joon. You should rest,” Joo Yeon said, astonished.

Dungeon runs consumed a lot of stamina. Heal couldn’t recover fatigue, so Hunters would rest completely and recharge before they entered the dungeon again.

“I have plenty of energy.” said Sung Joon.

He had recovered his mana and stamina in the Boss Room by absorbing Velonin’s mana. Although his mind hadn’t rested, he thought he could at least take on one D-rank dungeon.

“You don’t seem to get tired, do you, Mr. Kang Soon Joon. It was the same in the dungeon, too,” Joo Yeon said.

“It’s nothing much,” he replied.

“You’re too modest. Stamina is the deciding factor in a dungeon that determines life or death,” countered Joo Yeon.

Physical exhaustion inevitably increased the chances of a Hunter’s death in the dungeon. However, Sung Joon could circumvent that through his Mana Absorption ability; he didn’t get tired.

“Be more confident, Mr. Kang Sung Joon. I think that you’ll be at least within the top thirty Hunters in Korea within a short time,” Joo Yeon said.

Sung Joon smiled. He didn’t deny it.

He conversed with her a bit more and they parted ways. Sung Joon went to the clerk to schedule a solo run.

“You cleared a B-rank dungeon and came out just a moment ago. Are you sure you’ll be able to proceed immediately without any rest?” the clerk asked cautiously.

The clerk had looked through Sung Joon’s info in order to schedule an appointment and realized that he had just finished clearing a B-rank dungeon. She knew it hadn’t been very long since his last dungeon run, so she expressed her concern.

“It doesn’t matter. Please proceed normally,” Sung Joon said.

“I understand,” the clerk replied.

A clerk didn’t have the right to force a Hunter to change their decision.

“Thank you.” Sung Joon bowed slightly and said goodbye.

He came back three hours later.

“I came to schedule an appointment for a dungeon run,” he repeated.

After scheduling an appointment for a D-rank dungeon solo run, four hours had passed, unlike earlier when he had returned in three hours, before he came back.

“An appointment for a solo run, please,” Sung Joon requested.

He soloed dungeons late into the night and came to the Dungeon Bureau early the next day, repeating this for the next few days.

“Did you come to schedule an appointment for a solo run?”

“Yes.”

It came to the point that the Dungeon Bureau workers asked first.

Sung Joon didn’t tire. More specifically, he used Mana Absorption to recover his mana and stamina. He took a bare minimum of rest, and did repeated dungeon runs.

‘If I want Dad to get the new treatment, I need a lot of money,’ he thought.

A little while ago, Sung Joon spoke face-to-face with his father’s attending physician. He had heard that there was a new treatment being developed for his father’s hematologic malignancy, or blood cancer.

Although the price was inordinately high, it wasn’t impossible for Sung Joon to obtain the money. The problem lay in the application deadline, so Sung Joon attacked dungeons continuously for the next few days.

Five days had passed and Sung Joon reappeared at the Dungeon Bureau.

“Look, it’s him, Unlimited Power.”

“‘Unlimited Power?'”

“He goes through the dungeons without resting.”

“I thought you’d have to rest due to the fatigue if you went through the dungeon just once.”

“That’s why he’s amazing. They say that he barely sleeps or rests and he attacks the dungeons anyway.”

Sung Joon’s nickname had gone from the ‘Legend’ to ‘Unlimited Power’.