Level Up Monster
Chapter 2
'He followed well,' Kim Sae-Jin thought as he glanced at the overly cautious Hunter behind him.
It's a little futile to leave the dead Brown Wolf's carcass, but Sae-Jin assumes that the little man won't be worth the material seeing how weak and hungry he is. At most, the Korean government reimbursement fee will be worth less than $ 440 US. He had to get the satisfaction of knowing that he was able to help these two Hunters today instead.
After walking for an unknown time, the exit from the border of the mountainous area could be seen in the distance. The signboard nearby read, "From now on, the number of Monster encounters will increase."
Confirming their location, Sae-Jin lowers the unconscious Hunter, who has a weak pulse, to the ground and glances back.
"Heup !!"
The hunter following Sae-Jin let out a funny voice as he hurriedly held his breath in fear. Feeling rather mischievous after seeing that nervous appearance, Sae-Jin decides to prank the frightened man.
Krrrrng . – Krrrrng.
"Eeeeeeeeeek !!"
Sae-Jin finds the Hunter's frantic reaction falling on his butt completely priceless.
“May your life not be so dangerous, Mister. '
The funny reaction causes Sae-Jin's lips to spin upwards. He then lightly patted the holy Hunter on the shoulder and sweated with his front legs, and stepping past, he casually headed back into the forest.
Left alone, Kim Tae-Jo stays there completely confused for a long time. The giant Brown Wolf had long since disappeared into the bushes, but he failed to understand what had just happened.
Somehow recovering from his shock, he recounted the event a moment ago. That big Brown Wolf …. The monster …. That saved him.
Not sure if she is dreaming or not, Tae-Jo slaps her face sharply.
"Oh."
That hurts . Therefore, it was definitely not a dream. Still in a daze, Tae-Jo's gaze is fixed on where the mystery of the Brown Wolf went.
Cough, cough . " "… Cough, cough. "
"Ah, Sang-Yun !! Can you hear me ?!"
The wounded comrade, Sang-Yun, coughed weakly, destroying Tae-Jo's confused state. He quickly shouldered his fellow Hunters and stood up.
"Heeeeey, over here !!"
Tae-Jo screams out loud and before long, he can see some sort of shaking near the guard post across the exit.
"Please help!!"
After determining the location of that desperate voice, the army hurriedly ran towards him. A smile of relief appears on Tae-Jo's face when he realizes that he will be able to live for another day, while it is momentarily forgotten about the dream-like wolf event that saved him.
*
"Spirit Beast?"
"That's right. That's the only proper explanation for what happened. That big size, which displays human-like intelligence …."
Once again, Tae-Jo's expression becomes deeply moved after remembering the event while sipping warm tea.
"But, can a Monster evolve into a Spirit Beast?"
A soldier standing guard at the border guard post tilted his head in confusion and asked, unconvinced.
The Spirit Beast was a creature that seemed to be blessed by the heavenly Spirit. They were unfathomable mysterious beings; their physical abilities and mental prowess were greatly enhanced when they received the aura of Nature. They were basically different from ferocious beasts with rampaging Mana, and hence, were treated differently as well.
"If it is a Wolf, then there is a good possibility. Right now, Wolves are treated like monsters because of their evil nature but, in the beginning, they were beasts."
"… If it's true, then, wow. .. that's some mystery."
The soldier can't fully believe Tae-Jo's words. That was because, Spirit Beasts were not common existences. For example, a legendary creature, the Nine-Tailed Fox, belongs to the category of Spirit Beasts.
Facing the soldier's skepticism, Tae-Jo frowned while opening his mouth.
ifs . It's the honest truth . I really did encounter.. Ah, that's right!!" "There is no if . That's the honest truth. I actually met ... Ah, that's right !!"
Suddenly remembering something very important, Tae-Jo yells and surges from his chair.
"Recording Lens !! I was wearing the Recording Lens at the time !!"
The Recording Lens does what is implied its name – the recorded lens is reflected on the retina. Poor hunters like Tae-Jo, who can only survive everyday by means of defending it with great difficulty, wear these lenses at all times while going monster hunting. Because it just so happened to see a rare monster that could be worth something. That, or if there was a very detailed hunting tape, he could sell it for extra money, calling it "educational material."
"… Uh?"
"Wait a minute! I'll show you !!"
The soldier was worried to see blood spew for a moment when Tae-Jo hurriedly started digging his eyeballs, fishing out a single lens.
"Here, here, watch carefully !!"
****
"Achoo !!"
Around the same time, in a nearby cave Kim Sae-Jin in her Goblin Form suddenly sneezes out amid the demolition of the Monster corpse.
sniff* "...* sniffing * "
He wiped his itchy nose with a bloodied hand and finished arranging the extracted Monster materials before storing them, then sat down on the stone chair.
Keuheng . " " Keuheng. "
One of the Goblin's traits is "can't be quiet." It was practically impossible to remain silent in the Goblin Form as a result. Blowing her nose, rubbing her hands for no reason, making those strange sounds – was an instinctive habit and eventually Sae-Jin did it by accident.
Sae-Jin hates this side of the Goblin Form so much that he soon transforms back into the Brown Wolf Shape. Lying right on the flat stone bed, he wanted the Status Window to appear before him.
►Trait ⸢Monster⸥
⸢Rank: Rare⸥
RaitLevel of Strait: 3⸥
– Species changed from Human to Monster. Once per 24 hours, the host can maintain the Human Form for 70 Minutes, calculated from the numerical value of the [Energy Manipulation] stat.
– Stats of the Monster Shape will be reduced during Human Form.
– The desire to sleep has gone.
– Currently maintain Form Brown Wolf *.
► Status
[Physical Strength 16]
[Agility 19]
[Energy Manipulation 7]
[There Affinity 1]
[Magic Power 1]
[Luck 3]
[* Brown Wolf: Strength and Defense increased by 5, Agility increased by 8. During Human Form, the effect will be reduced ⅓. ]
\=\=\=
The result of his one-month effort was his Trait level increased by 2.
Krrrrng . – Krrrrng.
Sae-Jin growls. He was dissatisfied and angry at the slow pace of his progress.
It was almost a month ago when she decided to become a Lycanthrope. He packed all his meagre items and left for Gangwon Province. It was like doing Time Attack in the previous – home video game on the outskirts of Songpagu within 30 minutes of the Gangwon Mountains, an impossible thing if not for the emergence of Mana Train. (Songpagu is a suburb in the capital city of Seoul and its definition is much more than 30 minutes from Gangwon.)
Cutting it close enough, Sae-Jin carefully evades the eyes of the military and the Knight Order, and manages to sneak past the border of the mountain region undetected.
At first, he didn't know what to do. Suddenly barging into the land of the Monsters, Sae-Jin must repeatedly suffer through confusion and chaos. And when the Monsters challenge him, he fights them by turning into Orc Form or Wolf Form and defending.
It was a painful experience. The smell of raw meat tucked between his teeth made him nauseous, unpleasant sensations when hitting the lives of his victims with a blunt weapon – all these experiences are something that he cannot really get used to. He even cried himself to sleep every night thanks to the anxiety of losing his humanity that constantly gnawed at him.
But the feelings of disgust diminish as time passes, and although she cannot easily accept them, just like that, Sae-Jin is progressing step by step towards achieving her goals.
The first thing he did after entering the mountains was to find and secure a beautiful cave that the Hunters could not find. He turned it into his base of operations. Then naturally, he started living there for good.
Utilizing the Goblin Form's astounding deft hands, he remodeled the inside of the cave, and to withstand the cold weather, he lined up the feathers of several Monsters around the place.
There was a river nearby so the drinking water was taken care of; he also roasted the meat of wild animals he caught for food.
After that, all he did was hunt nonstop.
When he was at level 1, almost every monster he fought posed a serious threat to his life. It even included other ordinary Brown Wolves.
So he used his head a little. Sae-Jin only attacks the unfortunate wolves that are rejected from his own group or are too stupid, and by relying on the physical strength of the Orc Forms that are far greater than its victims, he destroys their skulls. After smashing 10 heads, his Trait had the first "level-up.
But the changes he made were a little different than expected. Naturally, the bodies of the Orc Form and Brown Wolf Form became much larger and the stats became even stronger, but strangely enough, the Goblin Form remained the same.
However, what he wanted was not this kind of "growth. All he came here was to "evolve."
Like being a high rank monster in the Wolf species after the Brown Wolf, Grey Wolf. For the Orc Form, it was an Orc Warrior. For Goblin Form ... uh, anything higher.
Instead of evolving, the form remains the same and only "statistics" are improved.
Sae-Jin is not discouraged, and just pours more effort. He thought that maybe he just needed to level up once more.
It was disappointing but at least the hunt became easier with his Trait Level being 2 now.
Even if he fought against the other Brown Wolves, he was over 1.5 times larger, and it was evident that the difference in strength was still greater. In other words, he became the top predator in this environment almost in an instant.
But leveling up is becoming more and more difficult. From Level 1 to Level 2, he only needed to spend 3 days and kill 10 prey. However, for Level 3, even nearly 30 days and 100 murders proved insufficient.
Frustrated, Sae-Jin thinks of going to a hunting ground with a high-level monster only to give up on the idea.
That was because, in the Monster world, the difference in strength between two levels was like heaven and earth. It's actually huge.
The easiest example is comparing the Brown Wolf to the Grey Wolf.
Brown Wolves ranked the lowest level, and Grey Wolves also ranked as low level, only one place above them. Therehewas.
But if the Brown Wolves wanted to hunt down one Grey Wolf, then it would need at least one package consisting of more than 12 individuals.
That was why, with no other choice, he had to repeatedly grind like a madman in this lowest level hunting ground for the past 31 days. Finally, he could level up once again.
But perhaps inevitably, what awaits him is his statistical growth and not his Form evolution. His overall size and strength might have grown to the point where he could rival the Grey Wolf, a creature that could easily compete with a full-size tiger, but in the end, it was, he still can't be one.
"What should I do?"
An unexpected funny voice came out from his nostrils as he sighed in Wolf Shape. None of the poor Hunters would have thought he was cute because they would be too busy running away like a cat doused in hot water after finding the huge Brown Wolf Form.
As he sank deeper into his worries, suddenly, strange texts appeared before his eyes.
⸢Complete Condition: Minimum Reputation. ⸥
– A minimum of 100 people have carved the existence of "Chocolate Wolf" into their minds. All statistics up 1.
– The Grey Wolf Form is available for hosts instead of Brown Wolf. All statistics related to the Wolf Form will be adjusted.
– "Sense of Smell The Grey Wolf" will be available during Human Form. (Active Skills)
► Status
[Physical Strength 22]
[Power Resistant 21]
[Agility 28]
[Energy Manipulation 8]
[Mana Affinity 2]
[Magic Power 2]
[Luck 4]
[*Grey Wolf: Strength and Defense increased by 10, Agility increased by 16. During Human Form, the effect will be reduced ⅓. ]
Fuuheng?? " "…. Fuuheng ?? "
This inexplicable change just like that, Sae-Jin is momentarily at a loss for words.
But after recovering quickly, using a pair of curious round eyes, he confirmed the condition of his new body.
Obviously, he has changed.
Its formerly doggy-brown fur has completely transformed into a new shiny gray coat.
