Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 193

‘Also, Seong Kwang has already started to make offerings to the God. This is several times faster than previous timelines.’

Seong Kwang was a priest of a powerful God. Right now, he was just a normal priest, but he would later become the Pope and the Apostle of the God and wield mighty divine power. He would even obtain the Sacred Law called ‘Resurrection’ that only a few people in the world could use, and become the hope of mankind.

‘Just as I thought, anything related to Um Ji-Cheok will continue to change the future.’

Finally, Ji-Han looked at Ji-Cheok and his younger brother Mu-CHeok. Mu-Cheok almost always died before Ji-Cheok became a Hunter. In timelines where he didn’t, Mu-Cheok followed the footsteps of his brother and became an excellent Hunter. However, Ji-Han had never seen Mu-Cheok make an alliance with Jung Bi-Ga in any of the previous timelines.

‘Maybe this is it…’

Ji-Han thought about it.

“So~ Mr. Umji is the Irregular, right? Am I right~?”

While the team was celebrating from far away, a being who, like Ji-Han, hadn’t participated in the battle approached him.

‘Reable… This is the first time that this God has become our ally…’

Ji-Han still didn’t know the true identity of the being called Reable. All he knew was that he was a God and that he had descended into this world in a human form by renouncing his true identity. There had been several timelines where these two were in conflict, and there had been some timelines where Ji-Han actually expelled Reable from the Earth.

Even after all these timelines, it was still challenging to predict Reable’s endgame.

“Hm… Can I eat this grass? I dunno~ What about this bug?”

Reable started to eat weird things off the ground.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it. But don’t forget about our agreement,” Ji-Han said.

“Of course! I’ll get really bored if you die, so I’m going to have to take good care of you.”

“I’m not a toy… Ha… Whatever. What do I expect from an evil God…”

Ji-Han went back to his team members. This dungeon was just the beginning.

* * *

“Wait… Is this true?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Wow, Ji-Cheok is amazing…”

Most of the dungeons below two stars only took a day or two to clear. However, starting from three stars, the difficulty of dungeons increased exponentially. Of course, there were still many three-star dungeons that could be cleared in one day, but there were some that required a significantly longer stay. The place they had come to was a dungeon with the highest level of difficulty among four-star dungeons, so it was only natural for them to have to camp there. It was something they could understand just by looking at the quest.

[Forest of the Twisted God]

[Difficulty: Four-star dungeon — Supreme

The place where a crumbled Fragment of a God took shelter. The existence of the deformed Fragment of a God resulted in the birth of this mutated forest.

Please defeat the monsters created by the Fragment of a God.

Reward: Two Legendary Skill Exchange Vouchers.]

‘Why is that quest window polite in some areas, and rude in others?’

The System window was translated into many languages around the world, and because of that, sometimes there were mistakes.

The quest itself was pretty simple, but that just showed how dangerous the place was. During the briefing, Ji-Han had explained that they had to hunt for at least twenty days here. There was a reason why Ji-Han had brought up Ji-Cheok’s Shadow Pouch. A Hunter like Ji-Cheok was essential for surviving [Wide-Area Dungeons] that appeared starting at three stars.

Guilds would actively recruit Hunters with abilities like [Subspace] or Ji-Cheok’s [Shadow Pouch], even if their combat ability was somewhat lower than other Hunters’. As long as they were strong enough not to get one-shot by random mobs, that was good enough.

‘But nobody has to worry about me!’

Ji-Cheok had previously upgraded the [Shadow] skill rank, which was the primary skill necessary to use the [Shadow Pouch], and not long before the trip, he had even raised its rank to S by using his Likes.

‘I never even dreamed that I could bring a skill like that up to the S rank…’

It felt refreshing. Unlike the [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art], which was his main skill, [Shadow] was just a skill he had bought so that he could unlock the [Shadow Pouch]. It was not a very powerful one, and the S rank was as high as it could get. However, as a result, the [Shadow] skill was very cheap compared to the [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art], and it had only cost Ji-Cheok five million Likes to raise it to S-rank.

In addition, as [Shadow] became S-rank, the capacity of [Shadow Pouch] also increased. This was because the [Shadow Pouch]’s volume multiplied in proportion to the rank of the [Shadow].

Ji-Cheok also raised the [Shadow Pouch]’s rank to S, for one million Likes. To sum up, Ji-Cheok had spent on shadow-related skills six million Likes of the ten million that he had before entering this dungeon. As for the remaining four million Likes, they were spent on skills that increased his mana.

Ji-Cheok had obtained [Mana Blood], [Mana Physique], [Dragon Kidney], [Stomach of Mana Digestion], [Vessel of the Great], and [Source of Abundance]. All of them were skills that increased the amount of mana!

As one’s Mana rank increased, both the amount and the power of mana increased correspondingly. In addition, just as there were items and skills that increased the power of mana-based skills, there were also skills and items that increased the amount of mana itself.

To add to that, the effect of the [True Human] skill also increased the amount of his mana. Therefore, just by purchasing those skills, the amount of mana he had increased by 2.5 times. And since Ji-Cheok upgraded his skills fairly evenly, his current mana had increased to 4 times the original amount.

‘That’s why it was possible for me to bring all these items with me. Ahem!’

He had brought comfortable beds, a warm electric stove and blankets, a high-capacity battery, a large refrigerator, an induction cooktop, a large water tank, and more! He had brought all kinds of household items. It was to the point where no one could tell if they were inside a dungeon or at a luxurious camping site!

“Wow! It doesn’t feel like we’re in a dungeon. It feels more like we’re on a vacation or something!” Seong Kwang said, chuckling.

“I guess this is all possible because Um Ji-Cheok has no restrictions on skill purchase. Otherwise, there’s no way we could afford this kinda luxury!”

They were inside a man-made cave.

Ha-Na had found a large mountain with her scouting skill, and they had immediately moved to that area. When they had gotten there, Ji-Byeok had used her skill to create a cave. Inside, they had made a campsite for the night.

Ji-Cheok took all the stuff out from his [Shadow Pouch]. Everything he took out was amazing, but the most amazing thing was something that he placed in the middle of the cave. It was a small tree planted in a pot that looked much too big for it.

[Weak and Young World Tree]

[Class:?

Type: Tree

This is a weak and young World Tree. A young World Tree that has just sprouted. It purifies the surroundings and generates high-purity mana.

Function: It designates the 100 meters surrounding it as a ‘Sacred Site’.

Function: In the Sacred Site, the mana recovery rate is increased by 150%.

Function: In the Sacred Site, it cancels lower-intermediate level curses.

Function: In the Sacred Site, the appearance of dungeons is prohibited.]

Ji-Cheok had broken off a branch of the World Tree that was growing well, fed it the appropriate nutrients again, and made it into a smaller World Tree! In order to grow it even further, Ji-Cheok needed the Heart of a Lowest-level Demon and the Tears of a Fairy. He couldn’t get those, but this much was enough for the time being.

Even inside the dungeon, he could recover his mana while resting! And it was not just him—this applied to his entire team! In addition, the leaves of the World Tree were a useful alchemy ingredient, and Ji-Cheok could make a lot of money by selling this small World Tree later.

All his team members were admiring this young World Tree.

“My mana is really recovering…” Ha-Na said.

“In such a vast dungeon, camping overnight is essential. Since we have to rest anyway, might as well make the whole thing safer and get some mana recovery while we’re at it,” Ji-Cheok said.

“Well, that’s easier said than done! I knew you had the World Tree, but I didn’t know you could carry it around like this!”

“Actually… The one planted in Paju is the main World Tree. I just cut a branch off of that and grew it a little, just for this occasion. It’s pretty useful, right?”

“Pretty useful? It’s amazing! And that Sacred Site effect is amazing. The monsters seem to be reluctant to approach us.”

“Sister Ha-Na is right. I also know a Sacred Law involving the Sacred Site, and actually many other priests have this… But the recovery effect and range that this tree has are in a whole different league compared to any of the Sacred Laws that I know of,” Seong Kwang said.

Most Hunters with Priest jobs had skills involving a Sacred Site. They were essential skills to have when taking a break in a dungeon. However, just like Seong Kwang said, none of them had the same recovery effects as Ji-Cheok’s Sacred Site.

‘Well, that’s a shame…’

“Um Ji-Cheok, please be on the same team with us until you die.”

Ji-Byeok put her hands together and spoke politely. Seong Kwang did the same.

“Brother Ji-CHeok. You are our only hope. After this luxurious camping, I don’t think I can go back to raiding dungeons like a normal scrub.”

“Do… Do you want me to cook for you?” Ha-Na asked.

“No, no, no. I’ll cook with Mu-Cheok. You can wash the dishes.”

All of the team members seemed to be touched.

[You have received 10 Likes!]

‘I had no idea that eating and sleeping well in a dungeon could impress people like this.’

“But I’m still worried. We are still close to the entrance of the dungeon, so it’s not a big deal, but ‘they’ will definitely appear soon. I’m just worried whether our skills would work on them…”

Ji-Byeok muttered to herself while perched on the bed. Her concerns were valid. Various monsters appeared in this dungeon… But the most threatening of them were the creatures that Hunters referred to as ‘them’.

Yes, ‘they’ were the humans in the dungeon.

It was said that the bodies of those who died in this [Forest of the Twisted God] were preserved in this place and turned into monsters. They were beings that possessed the memory of when they were alive and were as rational as when they were alive. They were kind of like half monster and half human.

The swarm of monsters that Ha-Na had blasted apart with her carpet bombing were the lowest-level monsters of the dungeon, and they were called [Twisted Mutants].

According to the information in the briefing, these monsters had venomous teeth and nails and were able to use mana. They also loved to engage in hand-to-hand combat. In addition, while they were individually strong, they actually preferred attacking in large groups, which was a nightmare to normal Hunters.

Of course, this was nothing to Ji-Cheok and his teammates. If Ji-Byeok could put up a couple of barriers while Ha-Na, Mu-Cheok, and Ji-Cheok stood on top and rained death upon them, it was obvious that they could wipe these monsters out easily.

However, it was a different story for these humans that had become monsters. According to the briefing, these monsters were named [Twisted and Mutated Entity]. They were like Zombies in a way, but they were far too strong to be classified as mere Zombies.

‘Do taunt skills even work on them? If they don’t, that alone increases the risk…’

Ji-Byeok took a sip of the hot cocoa Ji-Cheok had made.

“That’s not all. Since they are no longer human, they cannot be regarded as having the same weaknesses as humans. They might not die from having their head separated from their body.”

“Well, according to the briefing, all of these monsters are a combination of plants and animals, so we might have to burn them or chop them into pieces.”

Everyone nodded earnestly at Mu-Cheok’s words.

‘I know I shouldn’t praise my own brother, but he’s really smart.’

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