Synchronization rate: 5%.

The only thing he could definitely say was that the number wasn’t high. Despite that, Sung Joon could easily go through a C-rank dungeon.

If he was this strong at 5%, how strong would he be at 100%?

Sung Joon couldn’t even imagine how strong he would become. He returned his attention to Rishubalt.

“Can I do a lot more with a higher synchronization rate?” Sung Joon asked.

“Your memories aren’t complete. However, if you increase your synchronization rate, it’ll help you in various ways, my lord. I can open the gate to the Awakening Dungeon.”

“Awakening Dungeon?” asked Sung Joon.

“You can enter it if you exceed a certain level of synchronization. If you endure the test you are given, you’ll become stronger,” Rishubalt explained.

Sung Joon replied, “Ok, so that’s fine and all, but what are you going to do outside? Other people can’t see you, can they?”

“Please do not worry. You are the only one who can see me, my lord,” Rishubalt replied.

Sung Joon nodded. That solved one problem. People wouldn’t pay attention to Rishubalt since they couldn’t see him. How disastrous would it be if they could see a ghost following him around all the time?

Of course, other people would be able to see Sung Joon converse with Rishubalt, though all they’d see would be Sung Joon talking to ‘himself’. That in itself was a problem.

‘Wait a second, will he follow me around?’ he suddenly thought.

“Are you going to keep following me around?” he asked Rishubalt.

Rishubalt replied, “Of course. I won’t leave your side, my lord.”

“Around the clock? For twenty-four hours?”

“Of course. For twenty-four hours.”

Sung Joon furrowed his eyebrows.

“Please be at ease, I won’t get in your way,” placated Rishubalt.

‘I have no idea what he means by “I won’t get in your way”’. Sung Joon thought he might as well ask Rishubalt a few more things.

“What was I like in my previous life?” Sung Joon asked.

Although he had regained some memories when he had awakened, there was still so much he didn’t know. Thus, he wanted to learn more.

‘I want to learn more about the ‘me’ in the past,’ thought Sung Joon.

“Most of my memories have disappeared but there’s one thing that’s clear. As a member of the Thirteen Knights, you were respected by all as the one who had reached the peak of swordsmanship, the Sword Saint,” said Rishubalt.

“If that’s the case, I want to ask you something. Amongst the knights that respected me, who were the ones that betrayed me, the once Sword Saint?” Sung Joon questioned.

Rishubalt replied, “The other twelve knights.”

‘I asked just in case, but it seems that I was right,’ Sung Joon thought.

Rishubalt’s distorted, angry expression spoke louder than any words could.

“You don’t know any specifics?” asked Sung Joon.

“Your synchronization rate is far too lacking to unlock my memories.” Rishubalt replied.

Sung Joon had expected him to say that. Grasping his sword, Sung Joon ceased dithering.

“Let me ask you one final question. What do I get for clearing the ‘Awakening Dungeon’?” Sung Joon asked.

Rishubalt replied, “Your synchronization rate will rise, your body will strengthen further, and you will gain new memories.”

“What are the conditions?” queried Sung Joon.

“Your synchronization rate must be at a certain level and you must complete a C-rank or higher dungeon run up to the Boss Room. Also, with your current synchronization rate, you can go through the first gate, my lord.”

Sung Joon was in the Boss Room of a C-rank dungeon he had cleared. He felt that perhaps.. He looked at Rishubalt and spoke.

“Can I go in now?” he asked.

“Yes, your synchronization rate satisfies the requirements for the first gate. If you’d like, you can enter immediately.”

“Let’s go.”

“I’ll open the gate.”

The mana on Rishubalt’s fingers spread across the wide chamber and attacked the walls, stripping away the surface. The walls, along with the darkness, melted away before being restructured.

When Sung Joon belatedly got ahold of his senses, his surroundings had completely changed.

If he had been in a labyrinth underground just a little while ago, now he was in the hall of an aristocrat’s mansion.

“This isn’t an A-rank dungeon, right?” he asked.

A-rank dungeons or higher had various different landscapes. Sung Joon saw the extreme change and assumed that he was in an A-rank dungeon.

“This is the special feature of the Awakening Dungeon. If we were to give this world a rank, it would be about B-rank,” Rishubalt said.

“It looks like it’ll take some time,” Sung Joon said.

This was the first time he had soloed a B-rank dungeon. However, failure wasn’t even on his mind; he overflowed with confidence.

He just thought that clearing the dungeon would take some time.

“Time is frozen everywhere else except for the Awakening Dungeon. As long as you have enough food, you can take your time since not even a second will pass on the outside,” Rishubalt explained.

Sung Joon nodded his head. At the end of the hall, Sung Joon sensed something.

“They’re coming.”

Sung Joon drew his sword.

“Can you participate in the battle?” Sung Joon asked, just in case.

“Since I am just a soul, I cannot use my power. I’m sorry,” Rishubalt replied.

Sung Joon shook his head. Rishubalt was a lot more useless than he had thought.

“A person?” wondered Sung Joon.

At the end of the long hall, something had emerged from the darkness. Sung Joon couldn’t help but tilt his head when he saw them.

They wore thin breastplates and military uniforms. They weren’t monsters; they were definitely ‘people’.

“!@#%!”

“!@$%!”

They used a language that he didn’t understand. They pointed their spears and knives at Sung Joon and slowly closed the distance between them.

“That’s not important. They’re the same as monsters since they appeared in the dungeon,” Rishubalt said.

Sung Joon smirked. He had thought the same thing as Rishubalt.

“You’re right. It isn’t important,” he said.

Sung Joon advanced towards his enemies and swung his sword. The lead spear-wielding soldier’s head flew off.

“Pointing your blades at me was a mistake.”

His swordsmanship had been refined by dozens of years of battle experience.. Although he couldn’t remember everything, even using a portion of it was disastrous for his opponents.

“Argh!”

“Ugh!”

It sounded like they were speaking a different language, but at the very least, he could understand their agonized screams. Chaos ensued as the first line of soldiers collapsed.

Sung Joon swung his sword without ceasing.

With a herculean strength behind his sword, Sung Joon easily severed the soldiers’ arms and legs.

“AH!”

The eleven soldiers became corpses in a little over a minute.

“Are they a little stronger than Orcs? They weren’t bad for monsters protecting the entrance of the dungeon.”

Sung Joon already saw the human looking ‘people’ as monsters. If someone else had seen that, they’d have had goosebumps at his cold-heartedness, but Rishubalt seemed accustomed to it and simply nodded his head.

“But Rishubalt, why don’t these guys leave behind magic stones?”

“It looks like it’s because we’re in the Awakening Dungeon.”

“Really? Ok.”

Sung Joon swept off the blood on his sword in one stroke and walked deeper into the dungeon.

‘Knights are kind of tough,’ he thought.

At the beginning, only weak soldiers had appeared but as he progressed, armored knights started to appear and mix in with the enemies.

Compared to normal soldiers, the knights had superb skill but they still couldn’t compare to Sung Joon.

“@$ . . . !@%^!”

The last remaining soldier, struck by fear, dropped his spear and started to run away. Sung Joon threw his dagger, piercing the back of the soldier’s neck, and the soldier collapsed weakly on the floor.

“Return.”

He commanded his dagger to return. Also..

“Absorb.”

Sung Joon absorbed the mana from the corpses. This time too, the corpses didn’t drop any magic stones or disappear.