Chapter 11

The moment he spoke the words to accept the reward, a subtle blue glow covered his body .

‘Oh… this feeling is?’

Juhee’s face immediately appeared in his mind . It was a similar sensation he felt when he received healing magic; the feeling was comparable to breathing in crisp, fresh air after being stuck in a muggy, stuffy room .

shooooo-

He felt the glow subside but had hoped it would last a little longer .

Standing up from his spot, Jinwoo stretched and moved his body around .

“Whoa!”

The heart that felt like it was about to explode had calmed down, and the shortness of his breath had also disappeared . There was not a trace of exhaustion remaining . His body that was on the brink of collapse now felt like it had woken up from a good rest . The effects were unbelievable .

‘This is amazing . ’

His eyes were open wide in wonder . He wasn’t sure if it was magic or something else, but the powerful effect it had left a great impression on Jinwoo .

‘Then the “stat points” must be…’

Turning his head toward his bed, he saw a small box and a status screen before his eyes .

‘That must be the random box it was talking about, and…’

His attention was focused on the status screen . The information box that hung in the air contained various data regarding his status .

Name: Sung Jinwoo

Level: 1

Class: None

Title: None

HP: 100

MP: 10

Fatigue: 0

Stats

Strength: 10

Constitution: 10

Agility: 10

Intelligence: 10

Sense: 10

(Available stat points: 3)

Skills

Passive Skills

-(Unknown) (Lv . Max)

-Unyielding Spirit[1] (Lv . 1)

Active Skills

-Sprint[2] (Lv . 1)

He recalled the online RPGs he had played in the past; his stats were reminiscent of a freshly created character .

‘So these are my stats?’

Current level 1 . All stats at a basic level .

Faced again with the reality of being the weakest E-rank Hunter, his stat numbers did not surprise him . Rather, his eyes were focused on his skills . The passive skills ‘Unyielding Spirit’ and active skill ‘Sprint’ . They were strangely familiar to him .

‘Now that I think about it… Yesterday…’

Yesterday . More accurately, the dawn of today . He recalled the messages he received while being chased around by the centipedes in the Penalty Zone . It was around the 3rd hour of running from the clutches of death .

You’ve learned “Sprint” (Lv . 1)

You’ve learned “Unyielding Spirit” (Lv . 1)

He did not pay attention at the time, his entire mind focused on running, but now he was able to take a closer look .

Sprint (Lv . 1)

Active Skill

Mana Cost: 5 (+1/Minute)

Activate to increase your movement speed by 30% .

Costs 1 mana per minute to maintain .

“Your running has strengthened your legs . ”

Unyielding Spirit (Lv . 1)

Passive Skill

Mana Cost: 0

When below 30% HP, all damage received is reduced by 50% .

“You have an unyielding spirit . ”

‘So because I ran like a dog, I learned these two skills?’

The logic was sound . This meant that repetitive actions that met certain criteria unlocked skills .

“Amazing!”

The merits of this were incalculable . Normally, the repertoire of skills that Hunters used were received and fixed at the moment of their Awakening . Only the rare Runestones[3] that sometimes dropped from A-rank or higher magic beasts could be used by a Hunter to learn a new skill . This is why the price of Runestones ranged from hundreds of million to tens of billion won . He recalled a recent event of a Runestone being sold at an auction for the price of 70 billion won . It was a Runestone that taught a powerful healing magic that could completely restore an injured person, purchased by an anonymous foreign S-rank Healer-class Hunter who emptied his wallet for it .

Jinwoo’s heartbeat sped up .

A skill to increase his movement speed and a skill to reduce damage taken .

Not quite skills that would cost tens of billions of won, but they were still useful skills . And he had earned such skills for free . Although it probably was difficult to make full use of “Sprint” with his low magic power, the fact that he had these skills now was amazing .

‘And the “Unyielding Spirit” doesn’t even take any mana…’

It seemed like “mana” was referring to “magic power” . This meant that even his body that lacked magic power could take advantage of the “Unyielding Spirit” . This alone was a great boon to Jinwoo .

‘However… What is this skill…’

(Unknown) (Lv . Max)

Passive Skill

“Unknown” that took up a line under his passive skills . As a passive skill, it should be something that activated automatically, but its information screen did not reveal any details .

‘I have no clue what this is . ’

There was nothing he could find or figure out about this unknown skill . Realizing his worries would get him nowhere, Jinwoo turned his attention to the other section of his status screen .

‘Stat points…’

The stat points he received as the reward for the Daily Quest remained undistributed .

Stats

Strength: 10

Constitution: 10

Agility: 10

Intelligence: 10

Sense: 10

(Available stat points: 3)

‘So I can raise 3 points worth of stats?’

Five different attributes were under the stats section . Being level 1, his points across the board were rather low . But remembering all that he had experienced up until now, he could not carelessly distribute his points . If the assignment of points truly enhanced his abilities, how could he make the decision lightly?

His expression hardened .

‘The meaning behind “Strength” is pretty clear…’

Strength, constitution, agility . He grasped the meaning behind these attributes quite easily . After all, they were some of the more straightforward ‘stats’ in video games . The problems were the “Intelligence” and “Sense” stats . The curt and distant System revealed no additional details to Jinwoo .

Would he become smarter if he increased “Intelligence”?

Or more keen and sharper if he increased “Sense”?

Regardless, those two attributes did not seem particularly useful to him . He was a Fighter-class Hunter . What he needed the most was strength, mobility and durability .

‘If I had to choose one, it’d be strength . ’

Increased strength would rather make a lot of things easier . He was curious on what kind of change his body would undergo when he increased his stats . As such, he selected the stat that would probably result in the most physical change in his body .

“3 points into strength . ”

ring~

Stats

Strength: 13

Constitution: 10

Agility: 10

Intelligence: 10

Sense: 10

(Available stat points: 0)

‘Is… is that it?’

That was it .

All that changed was the number in front of “Strength” going from 10 to 13 .

In his mind, he had expected the recreation of the scene in movies or cartoons where the hero pulled forth an unknown power from within .

“Well, did anything change?”

Jinwoo decided to test out his strength . He stood next to his bed and lifted it . He felt a slight resistance from the bed’s weight but was able to easily lift it off the ground . Still, he was unable to tell whether this was due to the lightness of the bed or his increased strength .

‘Should’ve made a comparison before and after I used up the points . ’

As his points were already distributed, it was hard for him to distinguish the before and after of his changes .

‘If I just had few more points…’

Rolling his tongue in his mouth, Jinwoo suddenly remembered something:

“The reward from the Penalty Quest!”

He had remembered that it wasn’t just the Daily Quest he completed today . Although he had almost died from it, he did complete the Penalty Quest and even remembered the reward message from it as well . He quickly opened his message box .

The reward for completing the Penalty Quest has arrived .

Would you like to verify? (Y/N)

“It’s there!”

He clenched his fists .

Of course, the answer is “Yes!”

You’ve received the below rewards:

Reward 1 . Stat points +3

Reward 2 . Random Box x 1

Accept all?

Compared to the Daily Quest, there was no reward of status recovery, but what he needed now the most were stat points . Initially worried that a Penalty Quest might give reduced rewards, Jinwoo was relieved to see that it still gave him 3 stat points .

He distributed the points in delight,

“Add 3 more points into strength!”

ring~

Stats

Strength: 16

Constitution: 10

Agility: 10

Intelligence: 10

Sense: 10

(Available stat points: 0)

His strength had increased from 13 to 16 . He went before his bed once more and used his arms . Compared to before, the bed felt much lighter in his hands . He was able to fully comprehend the difference this time .

“It’s true…!”

He really had become stronger . By simple math, going from 10 to 16 points meant that his strength had increased by 60% . The result was blatantly clear to him now . Unable to control his excitement, Jinwoo loudly went from corner to corner of his room, lifting every furniture that he could get his hands on . He had to stop when a passing nurse peeked in and glared at him .

“…Sorry . ”

After she left, he sighed a breath of relief .

“Phew-“

But his excitement could not be abated . His heart was beating vigorously .

ba dum ba dum

A Daily Quest and stat point rewards!

As long as this strange occurrence continued, his life would turn around completely going forward . It was an incredible opportunity for him . On top of that, the “level” he saw under his status screen,

‘It should be possible for me to raise my level as well, right?’

He tilted his head .

‘Eh… probably not . ’

It was but a dream; he did not expect himself to go that far . Just the daily rewards were good enough .

Using stat points to increase his attributes .

Yesterday then today, today then tomorrow, he would become stronger every day .

‘To think that I, an E-rank Hunter, the “Weakest Soldier”, could become strong?’

Forget the A-rankers and S-rankers, even his C-ranked and D-ranked comrades would laugh at him .

Sung Jinwoo becoming strong?

That weakling Sung Jinwoo?

But he did not care that he would be laughed at . No, he was already used to it after all . He was just happy that this opportunity had arrived in his hands .

Then a question appeared in his mind,

‘Perhaps this is the process of a Second Awakening?’

It was a rare event, but there were cases where a Hunter at the bottom of the barrel shot up to first class through Reawakening . Maybe all those Reawakened Hunters had gone through the same phenomenon that he was experiencing right now?

‘Let’s find out . ’

The now curious Jinwoo sat in front of a computer in the corner of his room . As he was designated a special patient by the Association, the VIP room that he was placed in even had such luxuries for his use .

clack clack clack clack

His fingers moved quickly across the keyboard .

Search after search after search .

He went through dozens of websites, including sites only accessible by those with Hunter licenses . Going as far as purchasing paid information, he gathered and went through as many documents he could find on Reawakening .

But nothing he found matched what he was experiencing now .

‘It’s different…’

His newfound powers were completely different from a Reawakening .

The Hunters that went through Reawakening underwent the same process as their first Awakening[4] . No one mentioned hearing any voices on the verge of death or a video game like System that gave them stat points that increased their abilities .

Translator’s Notes:

[1]: “Unyielding Spirit” (근성; geun-sung): The word on its own just means someone’s disposition or natural spirit . Contextual clues imply the “spirit” in this situation is one that would not give up even at 30% HP, so I chose to add the “unyielding” in front of it . The skill description also goes as far as to say “You have an unyielding/untiring spirit . ”

[2]: “Sprint” (질주; jil-joo): Lit . “speeding” or “sprinting” . Shortened to just “sprint” based on contextual clues .

[3]: “Runestones” (룬석; rune-suk): “Rune” in english + “stone” suk . Pretty straightforward .

[4]: I just want to clarify this with information gathered from context throughout the story (not a spoiler) . All Hunters go through their first Awakening, receiving some form of power . This power includes a combination of increases in physical ability, magic power and a list of skills . What they get at their first Awakening does not change (except for new skills learned through Runestones) . A second Awakening (Reawakening) is exactly the same: An Awakened Being would receive power again which includes a combination of increased physical ability, magic power and new skills . After Reawakening, same as before, a Hunter’s power does not change .

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I Alone Level-up: Chapter 11.

.

The moment he spoke the words to accept the reward, a subtle blue glow covered his body . .

.

‘Oh… this feeling is?’.

.

Juhee’s face immediately appeared in his mind . It was a similar sensation he felt when he received healing magic; the feeling was comparable to breathing in crisp, fresh air after being stuck in a muggy, stuffy room . .

.

shooooo-.

.

He felt the glow subside but had hoped it would last a little longer . .

.

Standing up from his spot, Jinwoo stretched and moved his body around . .

.

“Whoa!”.

.

The heart that felt like it was about to explode had calmed down, and the shortness of his breath had also disappeared . There was not a trace of exhaustion remaining . His body that was on the brink of collapse now felt like it had woken up from a good rest . The effects were unbelievable . .

.

‘This is amazing . ’.

.

His eyes were open wide in wonder . He wasn’t sure if it was magic or something else, but the powerful effect it had left a great impression on Jinwoo . .

.

‘Then the “stat points” must be…’.

.

Turning his head toward his bed, he saw a small box and a status screen before his eyes . .

.

‘That must be the random box it was talking about, and…’.

.

His attention was focused on the status screen . The information box that hung in the air contained various data regarding his status . .

.

.

.

Name: Sung Jinwoo.

Level: 1.

Class: None.

Title: None.

HP: 100.

MP: 10.

Fatigue: 0.

Stats.

.

Strength: 10.

Constitution: 10.

Agility: 10.

Intelligence: 10.

Sense: 10.

(Available stat points: 3).

Skills.

.

Passive Skills.

-(Unknown) (Lv . Max).

-Unyielding Spirit[1] (Lv . 1).

.

Active Skills.

-Sprint[2] (Lv . 1).

.

He recalled the online RPGs he had played in the past; his stats were reminiscent of a freshly created character . .

.

‘So these are my stats?’.

.

Current level 1 . All stats at a basic level . .

.

Faced again with the reality of being the weakest E-rank Hunter, his stat numbers did not surprise him . Rather, his eyes were focused on his skills . The passive skills ‘Unyielding Spirit’ and active skill ‘Sprint’ . They were strangely familiar to him . .

.

‘Now that I think about it… Yesterday…’.

.

Yesterday . More accurately, the dawn of today . He recalled the messages he received while being chased around by the centipedes in the Penalty Zone . It was around the 3rd hour of running from the clutches of death . .

.

You’ve learned “Sprint” (Lv . 1).

.

You’ve learned “Unyielding Spirit” (Lv . 1).

.

He did not pay attention at the time, his entire mind focused on running, but now he was able to take a closer look . .

.

Sprint (Lv . 1).

Active Skill.

.

Mana Cost: 5 (+1/Minute).

.

Activate to increase your movement speed by 30% . .

Costs 1 mana per minute to maintain . .

.

“Your running has strengthened your legs . ”.

.

Unyielding Spirit (Lv . 1).

Passive Skill.

.

Mana Cost: 0.

.

When below 30% HP, all damage received is reduced by 50% . .

.

“You have an unyielding spirit . ”.

.

‘So because I ran like a dog, I learned these two skills?’.

.

The logic was sound . This meant that repetitive actions that met certain criteria unlocked skills . .

.

“Amazing!”.

.

The merits of this were incalculable . Normally, the repertoire of skills that Hunters used were received and fixed at the moment of their Awakening . Only the rare Runestones[3] that sometimes dropped from A-rank or higher magic beasts could be used by a Hunter to learn a new skill . This is why the price of Runestones ranged from hundreds of million to tens of billion won . He recalled a recent event of a Runestone being sold at an auction for the price of 70 billion won . It was a Runestone that taught a powerful healing magic that could completely restore an injured person, purchased by an anonymous foreign S-rank Healer-class Hunter who emptied his wallet for it . .

.

Jinwoo’s heartbeat sped up . .

.

A skill to increase his movement speed and a skill to reduce damage taken . .

.

Not quite skills that would cost tens of billions of won, but they were still useful skills . And he had earned such skills for free . Although it probably was difficult to make full use of “Sprint” with his low magic power, the fact that he had these skills now was amazing . .

.

‘And the “Unyielding Spirit” doesn’t even take any mana…’.

.

It seemed like “mana” was referring to “magic power” . This meant that even his body that lacked magic power could take advantage of the “Unyielding Spirit” . This alone was a great boon to Jinwoo . .

.

‘However… What is this skill…’.

.

(Unknown) (Lv . Max).

Passive Skill.

.

.

“Unknown” that took up a line under his passive skills . As a passive skill, it should be something that activated automatically, but its information screen did not reveal any details . .

.

‘I have no clue what this is . ’.

.

There was nothing he could find or figure out about this unknown skill . Realizing his worries would get him nowhere, Jinwoo turned his attention to the other section of his status screen . .

.

‘Stat points…’.

.

The stat points he received as the reward for the Daily Quest remained undistributed . .

.

Stats.

.

Strength: 10.

Constitution: 10.

Agility: 10.

Intelligence: 10.

Sense: 10.

(Available stat points: 3).

.

‘So I can raise 3 points worth of stats?’.

.

Five different attributes were under the stats section . Being level 1, his points across the board were rather low . But remembering all that he had experienced up until now, he could not carelessly distribute his points . If the assignment of points truly enhanced his abilities, how could he make the decision lightly?.

.

His expression hardened . .

.

‘The meaning behind “Strength” is pretty clear…’.

.

Strength, constitution, agility . He grasped the meaning behind these attributes quite easily . After all, they were some of the more straightforward ‘stats’ in video games . The problems were the “Intelligence” and “Sense” stats . The curt and distant System revealed no additional details to Jinwoo . .

.

Would he become smarter if he increased “Intelligence”?.

.

Or more keen and sharper if he increased “Sense”?.

.

Regardless, those two attributes did not seem particularly useful to him . He was a Fighter-class Hunter . What he needed the most was strength, mobility and durability . .

.

‘If I had to choose one, it’d be strength . ’.

.

Increased strength would rather make a lot of things easier . He was curious on what kind of change his body would undergo when he increased his stats . As such, he selected the stat that would probably result in the most physical change in his body . .

.

“3 points into strength . ”.

.

ring~.

.

Stats.

.

Strength: 13.

Constitution: 10.

Agility: 10.

Intelligence: 10.

Sense: 10.

(Available stat points: 0).

.

‘Is… is that it?’.

.

That was it . .

.

All that changed was the number in front of “Strength” going from 10 to 13 . .

.

In his mind, he had expected the recreation of the scene in movies or cartoons where the hero pulled forth an unknown power from within . .

.

“Well, did anything change?”.

.

Jinwoo decided to test out his strength . He stood next to his bed and lifted it . He felt a slight resistance from the bed’s weight but was able to easily lift it off the ground . Still, he was unable to tell whether this was due to the lightness of the bed or his increased strength . .

.

‘Should’ve made a comparison before and after I used up the points . ’.

.

As his points were already distributed, it was hard for him to distinguish the before and after of his changes . .

.

‘If I just had few more points…’.

.

Rolling his tongue in his mouth, Jinwoo suddenly remembered something:.

.

“The reward from the Penalty Quest!”.

.

He had remembered that it wasn’t just the Daily Quest he completed today . Although he had almost died from it, he did complete the Penalty Quest and even remembered the reward message from it as well . He quickly opened his message box . .

.

The reward for completing the Penalty Quest has arrived . .

Would you like to verify? (Y/N).

.

“It’s there!”.

.

He clenched his fists . .

.

Of course, the answer is “Yes!”.

.

You’ve received the below rewards:.

Reward 1 . Stat points +3.

Reward 2 . Random Box x 1.

Accept all?.

.

Compared to the Daily Quest, there was no reward of status recovery, but what he needed now the most were stat points . Initially worried that a Penalty Quest might give reduced rewards, Jinwoo was relieved to see that it still gave him 3 stat points . .

.

He distributed the points in delight,.

.

“Add 3 more points into strength!”.

.

ring~.

.

Stats.

.

Strength: 16.

Constitution: 10.

Agility: 10.

Intelligence: 10.

Sense: 10.

(Available stat points: 0).

.

His strength had increased from 13 to 16 . He went before his bed once more and used his arms . Compared to before, the bed felt much lighter in his hands . He was able to fully comprehend the difference this time . .

.

“It’s true…!”.

.

He really had become stronger . By simple math, going from 10 to 16 points meant that his strength had increased by 60% . The result was blatantly clear to him now . Unable to control his excitement, Jinwoo loudly went from corner to corner of his room, lifting every furniture that he could get his hands on . He had to stop when a passing nurse peeked in and glared at him . .

.

“…Sorry . ”.

.

After she left, he sighed a breath of relief . .

.

“Phew-“.

.

But his excitement could not be abated . His heart was beating vigorously . .

.

ba dum ba dum.

.

A Daily Quest and stat point rewards!.

.

As long as this strange occurrence continued, his life would turn around completely going forward . It was an incredible opportunity for him . On top of that, the “level” he saw under his status screen,.

.

‘It should be possible for me to raise my level as well, right?’.

.

He tilted his head . .

.

‘Eh… probably not . ’.

.

It was but a dream; he did not expect himself to go that far . Just the daily rewards were good enough . .

.

Using stat points to increase his attributes . .

.

Yesterday then today, today then tomorrow, he would become stronger every day . .

.

‘To think that I, an E-rank Hunter, the “Weakest Soldier”, could become strong?’.

.

Forget the A-rankers and S-rankers, even his C-ranked and D-ranked comrades would laugh at him . .

.

Sung Jinwoo becoming strong?.

.

That weakling Sung Jinwoo?.

.

But he did not care that he would be laughed at . No, he was already used to it after all . He was just happy that this opportunity had arrived in his hands . .

.

Then a question appeared in his mind,.

.

‘Perhaps this is the process of a Second Awakening?’.

.

It was a rare event, but there were cases where a Hunter at the bottom of the barrel shot up to first class through Reawakening . Maybe all those Reawakened Hunters had gone through the same phenomenon that he was experiencing right now?.

.

‘Let’s find out . ’.

.

The now curious Jinwoo sat in front of a computer in the corner of his room . As he was designated a special patient by the Association, the VIP room that he was placed in even had such luxuries for his use . .

.

clack clack clack clack.

.

His fingers moved quickly across the keyboard . .

.

Search after search after search . .

.

He went through dozens of websites, including sites only accessible by those with Hunter licenses . Going as far as purchasing paid information, he gathered and went through as many documents he could find on Reawakening . .

.

But nothing he found matched what he was experiencing now . .

.

‘It’s different…’.

.

His newfound powers were completely different from a Reawakening . .

.

The Hunters that went through Reawakening underwent the same process as their first Awakening[4] . No one mentioned hearing any voices on the verge of death or a video game like System that gave them stat points that increased their abilities . .

.

.

. .

Translator’s Notes:.

[1]: “Unyielding Spirit” (근성; geun-sung): The word on its own just means someone’s disposition or natural spirit . Contextual clues imply the “spirit” in this situation is one that would not give up even at 30% HP, so I chose to add the “unyielding” in front of it . The skill description also goes as far as to say “You have an unyielding/untiring spirit . ”.

[2]: “Sprint” (질주; jil-joo): Lit . “speeding” or “sprinting” . Shortened to just “sprint” based on contextual clues . .

[3]: “Runestones” (룬석; rune-suk): “Rune” in english + “stone” suk . Pretty straightforward . .

[4]: I just want to clarify this with information gathered from context throughout the story (not a spoiler) . All Hunters go through their first Awakening, receiving some form of power . This power includes a combination of increases in physical ability, magic power and a list of skills . What they get at their first Awakening does not change (except for new skills learned through Runestones) . A second Awakening (Reawakening) is exactly the same: An Awakened Being would receive power again which includes a combination of increased physical ability, magic power and new skills . After Reawakening, same as before, a Hunter’s power does not change . .