J: Chapter 9 of 10.

I inspected the Effort skill while travelling on the unpaved road.

Effort Upon Effort (1) : Able to raise stats using Reward Points.

Additional Technique : Overwork , Raises another stat for 24 hours by using up the Endurance stat.

Penetration , Able to damage the inside of an enemy by penetrating their defense. Can be used for 10 minutes. Cooldown time is 1 day.

Proficiency : 0

Stats : Strength 750 , Endurance 1,550 , Reflex 1,450 Concentration 2,000 , Defense 1,000 , Psychokinesis 2,000 , Armor Penetration 1,000

The proficiency got reset as it rose to level 1.

The stats were the same and so were the additional techniques.

I checked if it was possible to raise the stats beyond 2,000. It was still impossible to do so.

It could be said that nothing changed.

However, there is another thing I received after filling proficiency.

That was none other than Master Bonus.

I couldn’t check it until now because I was busy but I thought that it wouldn’t be a small matter since it was the reward for completing the Effort skill.

I opened the manual and opened the Bonus tab that was flickering.

“No way.....”

There was an ability that was hard to believe at that place.

– Summon Level 11 Dungeon : Able to open a level 11 dungeon by using the Mystic Dungeon.

Level 11 dungeon.

A level that I thought wouldn’t exist had appeared.

“What happened?”

Soo-ah shoved her face closer. As I didn’t answer, she brought her lips closer.

I got surprised and tilted my face. I almost got into a kiss scene in the middle of the day.

“What are you doing?”

“Tut. It was a chance.”

I shoved Soo-ah away and fell into deep thought.

A level 11 dungeon.

Of course, there was much meaning to a level 11. The maximum level of the Alpha system was level 10 and of course, the limit to items and skills were all level 10.

In other words, the fact that level 11 dungeons existed meant that level 11 skills and items existed as well.

If I were to be able to farm in this place, I might be able to face Lee Hui-seung no matter how high up he is.

Of course, it wouldn’t be easy to hunt in that place.

Red Holes had a considerably higher difficulty compared to the original dungeons. It was already difficult and the monsters would be level 11. It wasn’t certain if I would even be able to kill one on my own even if I rampaged.

On top of that, there was no way a single one would wander on its own.

It meant that it would be impossible to wipe out dozens of them instantly like before.

However, I had 200 level 10 monsters.

If I released them to hunt then hunting would definitely be possible even if there was some loss.

If it was the skills and items from that place, it would be possible to face Lee Hui-seung.

Baek Gyeong was defeated by Lee Hui-seung.

100 Baek Gyeongs had been destroyed by a single person.

Of course, Lee Hui-seung wasn’t let off cleanly either. He went into seclusion due to the aftermath of the battle.

I couldn’t see the battle with my own eyes but the video record was spreading on the internet.

That couldn’t be called a human battle anymore.

Thousands of lightning fell and the ground split. The atmosphere froze and the ground melted.

The video that seemed to recreate a battle between gods from legends ended with Lee Hui-seung creating thousands of clones to slaughter the Baek Gyeongs.

Of course, Lee Hui-seung wasn’t completely safe either. It might be because he overdid it or he received an injury that I didn’t know of but half of his body had disappeared. It was to the point that it was surprising that he was even still alive.

Either way, he returned alive and the Baek Gyeongs were annihilated.

China that had predicted absolute victory fell into panic. However, the chaos didn’t end there.

– Red Holes all over China.

The short line became the headline news all over the world.

Baek Gyeongs had been destroyed by Lee Hui-seung already.

But a major incident had occurred before the internal chaos from that could be calmed.

All the hunters that had entered the Yellow Sea left like a tide. They headed towards the dungeons of each region that numbered 20,000.

It was a situation where the public security’s control didn’t work at all.

From the point of view of the hunters that had been left drying, they couldn’t just stand by sightseeing the Red Holes that could disappear at any time.

Hunters entered dungeons in a disorderly manner and dozens of hunters went into a dungeon.

There was a personnel limit of 30 people but there didn’t seem to be a time limit.

For now, the hunters that went in once would clear it or never try to leave before they die. It was a situation where even the government hunters were in the dungeons as well so there was no one that could keep order.

As a result, the conclusion appeared before even a week passed.

[The Korean government has thus succeeded in conquering the entire Yellow Sea.

The voice of the news anchor was slightly excited.

They had completely swallowed the Yellow Sea whole while the Chinese hunters had entirely retreated.

China instantly raised opposition and requested us to get out of the Yellow Sea but they didn’t have the power to turn that into reality.

They had currently lost 100 Baek Gyeongs. I didn’t know how many they had left but it would be better for them to use them to calm China’s inner chaos.

They wouldn’t be able to turn their eyes to outside business for at least half a year.

With this, I blocked China’s ambition. Lee Hui-seung had temporarily entered seclusion due to the aftermath of his battle with the Baek Gyeongs.

“Seonbae oppa, what are you looking at so seriously?”

Soo-ah appeared while rubbing her eyes after noon.

“What were you doing all night to get up now?”

“Ah. I was training a bit.”

“Training?”

“We rested for a while after level 9 dungeons disappeared no? I felt a bit stiff not moving around for so long. I worked out with the guys.”

“By guys you mean team 2 right?”

“Yes. It might be possible to restart hunting in the Yellow Sea so I had to train them ahead of time.”

It was forbidden to hunt in the middle of war.

Because of that, team 2 had no choice but to forcefully rest for a week but it seems Soo-ah had volunteered to train team 2 in that time.

It was praiseworthy how she did something without being told to.

“But what are we going to do from now on?”

“What?”

“Level 9 dungeons disappeared now.”

“We can just go to Red Holes.”

“Ah. Is seonbae oppa coming with us then?”

“No. I’m planning on going to a harder area.”

“A harder area?”

“I’m thinking about going to level 11 dungeons.”

“Level 11???”

Question marks appeared on Soo-ah’s face.

It was too much for team 1 to go to level 11 dungeons for now.

I was planning on going in on my own. I will take Edward as a bonus.

He was outside our total power so it didn’t matter where he went.

***

The next day. I moved to Pyeongyang with team 1. Thankfully, the border wasn’t blocked and my identification was still valid. There was no contact from Peongyang’s mayor Kim Sung-hyeon too.

He might feel some regret soon so I was planning on sending some money his way. Even if he was amicable money made parents and brothers not recognize each other after all.

“I hope you won’t look down on it just because it’s level 8. Red Holes have several times the difficulty compared to normal dungeons after all.”

“Please don’t worry. We have prepared to the utmost for our safety after all.”

Han Joon-suk answered while nodding his head.

“There are some that ambush as well so.....”

“It’s fine since we have Kelby.”

Yeon-gyeong said. She had recently returned after family business. I have heard that the problem had been solved appropriately.

It made sense as they would retreat first against a level 10 hunter as their opponent as long as they weren’t on the level of a large scale company. Even if they were a large scale company, there were methods as long as I interfered.

Also, if the problem got that big then I would know before she tells me.

“Kelby?”

“It sensed the movement of even level 10 monsters ahead of time.”

Was this guy’s sense of smell that good.

I opened Kelby’s profile.

Hell’s Gatekeeper Cerberus

Proficiency : 87

Special Ability : Grows through eating items. Grows more the higher the level of the item. Does not die. Gains additional abilities through growth.

Additional Ability : Able to eat monsters. Able to sense the location of monsters.

Its proficiency was at 87.

On top of that, it had the ability to sense monsters. Its basic physical stats were at least level 9. At this point, it was fine to use him at level 8 dungeons.

I calmly looked back at Edward.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“No. I was just thinking that your growth was too slow.”

“This is slow....?”

He asked back as if it was absurd. His current level was level 5, Vampire Viscount. He had gotten to level 5 from level 1 in just a few months so it was certainly very fast.

But it was true that he was preposterously weaker compared to my other teammates and Kelby.

In the first place, I didn’t have much thought about raising this guy.

I was just carrying him around as a scout because of his high survivability.

However, he now lost to Kelby even in that. He was truly a guy of no use.

“Can you not look at me like such a useless trash?”

“Ah. Sorry. Did it look like that?”

“Why don’t you write it on your face instead?”

Edward grumbled.

***

I separated from team 1 and headed towards the level 11 dungeon.

I checked my profile once more on the way.

I used the remaining Reward Points appropriately after the Effort skill rose to level 1.

I would have used the Reward Points when the time came if it was like before but I changed my mind after clashing with Lee Hui-seung.

All the dungeons were closed already. There was no need to worry about it anymore and I might get done in if I spared some strength. I thought that I could win against anyone before but that thought has now changed.

As powerful as Lee Hui-seung was, there should be humans similar to him somewhere in the world. If I didn’t do my best to raise my abilities, I might die an unnatural death sometime somewhere.

That was the lesson Lee Hui-seung gave me.

Stat Increase : Strength 1,450 , Endurance 1,950 , Reflex 1,950 Concentration 2,000 , Defense 1,000 , Psychokinesis 2,000 , Armor Penetration 1,000

Additional Technique : Uncontrollable Strength , Additional damage proportional to base attack is added.

Another passive skill appeared once Strength passed 1,000. Strength did affect damage in the first place but it seemed there was something more to it.

I approached a nearby boulder. A boulder about 2 meters in diameter. Creating a handprint would have been the limit for the past me.

I took a deep breath and stretched a fist towards the boulder.

I didn’t expect too much, instead, I was worried that my hand might hurt.

With the sound of thunder, the boulder got split.

Edward who caught up to me opened his mouth.

I thought he would talk about the broken boulder but it seems he was looking at something else.

“The dungeon you made is on the other side of that hill right?”

“Yeah.”

“It seems someone’s there though?”

“There’s a person?”

Edward was better than me at sensing presences.

I carefully went towards the dungeon. There were hundreds of hunters camping around the dungeon that had a red aura swaying.

What in the world.....

“Who goes there?”

I met eyes with a hunter that was standing guard with a spear in a timely manner.