Jeju Island (1)
Seon Yul’s daily routine, on days when nothing special happened, was almost always the same.
He would wake up around 7 a.m., do a variety of light morning shooting drills, and then, though he didn’t particularly feel like it, practice using ‘Spear of Death’ with wire manipulation, figuring he needed to get used to it anyway.
After hunting the Mountain Turtle, Seon Yul realized that the Spear of Death was a far more powerful weapon than he had originally thought.
So he practiced whenever he had time… and every time he did, he could feel with his whole body just how absurdly cheap it had been for a legendary-grade item.
In truth, users were like game characters. Compared to training, leveling up, and farming better items to equip had a far higher expected growth return.
But that didn’t mean training was meaningless.
While users resembled game characters, the human inside that character was not a simple programmed existence like a computer algorithm. Experience and proficiency offered growth in an entirely different domain.
Especially for Seon Yul, who lost certain abilities whenever he left Absolute Space, continuing this kind of hard training inside allowed him to improve his fundamental physical abilities, even if just slightly.
By the time he finished shooting practice, wire drills, and spear training, about an hour had passed.
That meant it was roughly 8 a.m.
At that time, Seon Yul cooked breakfast himself.
Inside Absolute Space, his hyper-regeneration ability was active, meaning his metabolic rate differed from that of an ordinary person… naturally, he had to eat more.
“For breakfast today… let’s keep it light with tenderloin steak.”
It didn’t look light at all, a thick-cut tenderloin steak, perfectly seared and devoured with satisfaction.
Only after eating not one but two steaks did Seon Yul feel his hunger subside. It reminded him of fitness YouTubers he’d watched in the past, constantly chanting ‘protein, protein.’ Now he understood why.
“My body really… has improved a lot.”
Seon Yul’s body was completely different from before.
He had originally been around 180 cm tall, but now he measured closer to 184 cm. His entire physique had turned muscular.
Not in the bulky, exaggerated way of professional bodybuilders, but within a balanced weight range, his muscles were finely defined and subtly striated.
The daily hard training continuously caused muscle damage and recovery, leading to this transformation.
Especially with his hyper regeneration ability, the recovery speed after damage was so rapid that instead of growing excessively large, his muscle fibers developed into dense and resilient forms.
Of course, as a mana user, no matter how much he increased his strength through training, it was hard to compare to the increase in ‘absolute strength stat’ gained through leveling up and equipping items.
But just as small savings accumulate into a large sum, consistent training produced definite results. And for Seon Yul, who possessed even a limited ultra-regeneration ability, the effects were different from those of ordinary people.
The strength he had built purely through hard training so far was roughly equivalent to about one level’s worth of stat growth. That alone showed how effective the training had been.
After morning training and a hearty breakfast, Seon Yul took a refreshing shower in the combined bathroom and restroom.
“Man… I’d love to buy a big bathroom with a whirlpool tub… but that’d be too wasteful, right?”
The Decoration Shop did indeed offer a large bathroom complete with a whirlpool.
The price, however… was 20 kg of intermediate-grade magic stones.
He wanted to buy it immediately, but intermediate-grade magic stones were an extremely important resource. He couldn’t spend them carelessly.
“Later… when my surplus exceeds 200 kg, I’ll buy it.”
There were, truthfully, many things he wanted.
All the fun and convenient items in the Decoration Shop… and he also wanted to expand Absolute Space to its maximum capacity right away.
But if he spent intermediate-grade magic stones recklessly, it could threaten his present safety. So he endured and restrained himself.
***
Goblinfire… Yun Ho was now more used to being called by his community ID, Goblinfire, than by his real name.
He was a member of the guild called ‘Uranos’.
Uranos ranked 4th among guilds in South Korea… a large-scale guild led by one of the Twelve Heavens, holding the position of the Tenth Heaven, known as ‘Thunder’.
It had already been three years since Thunder scouted him into Uranos. By now, Goblinfire held an important role within the guild.
“Found one!”
Goblinfire had been roaming near Hallasan in search of drakes.
Since the Drake Queen had begun constructing her lair, drakes would likely be scarce for two to three days… but that didn’t mean he could just sit idle. So he had been searching just in case.
And luck was on his side. He found a single drake.
Fwoosh.
The moment he spotted it, flames formed in his hand.
His awakened ability shared the same name as his ID: ‘Goblinfire.’
It allowed him to create powerful flame masses called goblinfire and utilize them in various ways. The simplest method was to throw them as offensive projectiles.
Beep, beep, beep.
Before throwing it, he pressed his pager three times.
The pager was a simple device powered by magic stones, but it was enough to alert the guild members waiting at camp that he would be luring a drake back.
After pressing it, Goblinfire hurled the flame without hesitation.
Fwoosh! Boom!
The drake, resting atop a rock in the mountains, reacted to the sudden attack by spreading its wings wide.
Kraaaah!
Judging by its size and reaction, it appeared to be a lowest-tier drake… an ordinary drake. But that didn’t matter.
“Right now, even one drake is precious.”
Having successfully drawn its aggro, Goblinfire immediately began to flee.
Fwoosh, fwoosh.
He generated goblinfire around both his legs as he ran.
Goblinfire was strongest when used offensively, but when applied to himself, it enhanced the physical capabilities of the area it enveloped.
He could even use it, albeit faintly, to heal himself or others.
Papapapat!
Goblinfire ran at remarkable speed. With his body reinforced by goblinfire, his physical abilities rivaled those of typical enhancement-type ability users.
However, goblinfire had a limited duration, and he couldn’t manifest more than two at once. Since both legs were enhanced, he couldn’t create another goblinfire.
But it didn’t matter.
His purpose was simply to lure the drake back to camp. This was sufficient.
After running for roughly ten minutes…
The drake continued low-altitude flight, relentlessly pursuing him.
The distance between them, once wide, had nearly closed. now only about 20 meters behind him.
Just as it seemed the drake might close in enough to bite his head clean off…
Goblinfire suddenly rolled across the ground.
The drake, startled by its target abruptly tumbling, hesitated for a split second.
And in that very instant, something invisible struck the drake’s body with tremendous force.
Whoooosh… BAAAAM!
With a violent impact, the drake slammed into the ground and tumbled.
The attack was so sudden that it couldn’t regain its senses.
But that wasn’t the end.
That same invisible force seized both of the drake’s wings from either side and slowly lifted it into the air.
Kiiieeeeee!!!
The drake struggled desperately to escape, but its wings felt as if gripped by something immovable… it couldn’t move them at all.
As it thrashed helplessly in midair, a group of people slowly approached.
“Good work.”
At the very front stood ‘Thunder’, Guild Master of Uranos.
“I didn’t expect you to come out personally.”
An ordinary drake wasn’t even worth Thunder’s involvement, so Goblinfire had expected other guild members to receive him. Seeing Thunder surprised him slightly.
“Well, until the lair’s fully completed, there’s not much to do… figured I’d stretch a bit.”
Thunder spoke casually.
Even as he spoke, the drake continued flailing in midair.
For Thunder… a Noblesse-class user nearing level 100, personally finishing an ordinary drake would actually be inefficient.
He gained almost no experience, and loot would be reduced due to penalties.
So he had no intention of landing the finishing blow.
“Anyone can finish it.”
He held the drake suspended midair and gave the order.
Though Thunder had founded Uranos more than five years ago, even guild members didn’t know his exact awakened ability.
They merely speculated it might be some form of telekinesis… but in truth, it had nothing to do with that.
Like most high-ranking users, he concealed his true ability.
Thunder’s SS-grade awakened ability, ‘Two Invisible Hands,’ was deliberately disguised as telekinesis. Most high-ranking users were extremely cautious about revealing their abilities.
Of course, some users couldn’t hide their powers even if they wanted to, but that couldn’t be helped.
***
A monster’s intelligence was somewhat correlated with its rank.
High-ranking monsters tended to possess higher intelligence.
Conversely, lower-ranked monsters tended to be less intelligent.
In that sense, the Drake Queen’s rank was S++.
It was only natural that she possessed significant intelligence.
Perhaps because of that…
While diligently constructing her lair, she suddenly had a thought.
“Aren’t the humans waiting for me to produce as many offspring as possible? In that case… is there any need for me to give birth to lower-ranked offspring?”
The fleeting thought continued to expand in her mind, even as she built the lair.
Eventually, she concluded.
“Low-ranked offspring are unnecessary. I must give birth to the highest-ranked… children. And among them… a single child who can ascend to the very highest position.”
Once she reached that conclusion, everything changed.
Originally, the lair’s purpose had been to produce as many offspring as possible… to form a massive legion.
Now, instead of sheer numbers, the purpose shifted to producing a small number of elite offspring… and most critically, a single offspring that would transcend the species’ limitations, forming an entirely new legion.
With a different purpose, the lair itself had to change.
As a result, what should have taken two to three days dragged on for over ten days.
A sudden change.
The ones most flustered by this were the countless users…
or rather, miners.
who had been waiting for the lair’s completion.
But they merely considered it an unusual case and did not perceive it as a serious problem.
All that mattered to them was more drakes.
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