Chapter 279 – Part 2 – Temporary Dungeon

8:59 AM on a weekday.

While others were busy commuting to work, Seong-min went to find the dungeon.

It was the temporary dungeon where God had said he would prepare items.

‘I’ll get scolded for skipping work without permission, but…’

Entering the dungeon quickly was more important than that.

‘It would be troublesome if someone else discovered it and entered first.’

In just one minute, upheaval would come to the world.

The seal on the dungeons would be lifted.

Seong-min planned to enter faster than anyone else as soon as the dungeon opened.

‘No one else would expect it. The change that will happen in one minute.’

Only Seong-min, who had God backing him, knew about it.

Sure enough.

As soon as 9 o’clock arrived, a portal appeared before his eyes.

The seals on dungeons existing throughout the world had been lifted.

[Derkius’s Temporary Dungeon (Hidden)]

– Difficulty: F

– Party Limit: 1 person

– Entry Requirement: F-rank or higher

– Conquest Objective: Exterminate 4 monsters

– Failure Penalty: None

– Time Limit: 3 hours

– Dungeon Break Possibility: None

– Remaining Entry Count: 1 time

– Time Until Disappearance: 23 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds

He was supposed to receive the weapon and trait he had chosen in advance from this place that God had temporarily prepared.

“Shall I enter right away?”

Seong-min, equipped with gear, threw his body into the portal.

* * *

The system of this world, called the old version, had differences from the system he knew before.

First, there were no levels.

Therefore, ranks were determined solely by combat power.

‘According to what I heard from God, 3,000 or more is E-rank, 10,000 or more is D-rank, and over 30,000 becomes C-rank.’

Rankings were also assigned based on combat power order.

There were no domestic rankings, only world rankings.

However, unlike before when they were updated in real-time, they were only updated on the 1st of each month.

‘This point is advantageous for me as I try to assassinate hunters.’

Previously, you could immediately tell if a target was dead or alive just by looking at the ranking system, but now you had to wait a month to know.

‘Other differences are that you don’t get experience points for catching monsters, and there are no achievements.’

There were many things missing, but instead there was something called the rune system.

It was a system that increased stats or additional effects, and the only things you could get from monsters were items and runes.

‘But I heard runes aren’t items.’

According to what he heard from God, runes don’t stack in inventory like items.

The moment they drop, they’re automatically acquired according to contribution.

‘I heard they can’t be traded either.’

If they could be traded, you could reach the position of continental strongest through money alone, regardless of skill.

‘That’s about all I know.’

Everything else was the same as the existing system.

Monster types and dungeon types were the same too.

That’s why Seong-min was confident he could handle whatever monster appeared.

He knew the strategy for all monsters.

Or so he thought…

‘What the hell is that?’

Not long after entering the dungeon, Seong-min was flustered.

There was a strange monster he’d never seen before in front of his eyes.

‘A monster shaped like a box?’

A blue box about the size of a refrigerator was moving stealthily as if it had wheels attached.

‘If it didn’t have one eye on the front, I wouldn’t have even thought it was a monster.’

The large single eye made him guess that the opponent was a monster.

‘Anyway, since the conquest objective is to catch 4 monsters, I should try catching it.’

He was flustered by the unfamiliar monster, but he had no choice but to confront it.

Tssss-

A bow appeared in Seong-min’s hand.

Since he didn’t know what kind of monster it was, he decided to test its reaction first.

Ping- Thunk!

The box that was hit by an arrow from a distance closed its eye tightly then opened it.

Ping- Thunk!

Ping- Thunk!

He shot several more times, but the box’s reaction was the same.

‘It’s just standing there taking hits?’

Moreover, the box’s health seemed surprisingly sturdy.

Even though it was a bow with high attack power among F-ranks, seeing it endure the attacks.

‘Should I approach directly?’

Seong-min changed his weapon to an emerald-colored dagger.

Thanks to the Dagger Mastery trait, fighting with a dagger had twice the attack power.

He stealthily approached from behind and stabbed the box’s rear.

Thunk- Thunk-

It felt like stabbing tough leather, but it did penetrate.

He repeated stabbing and slashing several times like that, but there was no counterattack or even movement.

Then suddenly the box moved.

A bit faster than usual.

‘Is it running away?’

Seong-min chased after it while attacking.

Then finally, a welcome message appeared.

[You have defeated a Docile Blue Mimic!]

[You have stolen the trait ‘Assassin.’]

‘Seeing it turn to smoke and disappear, it really was a monster after all.’

Moreover, the promised trait came in.

It seemed God couldn’t just give items directly, so he had embedded them in monsters.

And in monsters that couldn’t even attack and only had high health at that.

[Trait – Assassin]

– Rank: S

– Description: Strength and Health increase by half of Agility.

Additionally, when looking at a target with killing intent, an assassin’s mark that only the caster can see appears above their head.

Targets marked are tracked in location and take 2x damage on the first attack.

The mark can only be placed on one target at a time.

‘This is the trait I chose.’

Seong-min had chosen traits before possession, and as you can see, he selected Assassin.

‘Among S-rank traits, there’s nothing better than this.’

Just increasing Agility also raised Strength and Health by half, plus it had a tracking function.

‘You can also deal 2x damage on the first hit, making assassination easier.’

Previously he was a Magic Swordsman, but this time he planned to develop as an Assassin.

There was no profession more specialized in killing someone than an assassin.

‘Moreover, when killing strong opponents, assassination is the only answer.’

Seong-min opened his status window to check his stats.

– Strength: 14, Health: 14

– Agility: 23, Magic Power: 3

His Strength and Health, which had been 3, had risen to 14.

‘Just putting points in Agility raises the other stats too… Good.’

Knowing this would happen, he had matched all his equipment with Agility options to raise it to 23.

‘I got the trait…’

Now it was time to get the weapon.

Walking through the dungeon, Seong-min was able to find another box.

This time it was a red box.

‘Now that I know the box doesn’t attack…’

He just had to run over and kill it.

With that thought, as he glared at the box, a red mark appeared above its head.

‘Is that it? The assassin’s mark?’

The box’s location automatically came to mind.

‘Even with my eyes closed, I can tell where the box is.’

He immediately ran over and stabbed with his dagger.

Thunk-!

Whether the first hit dealt 2x damage, it penetrated much deeper.

Thunk- Thunk- Thunk-

As expected, the box didn’t counterattack.

Seong-min freely stabbed the dagger in.

[You have defeated a Docile Red Mimic!]

[You have obtained Assassin’s Blood Dagger (Growth Type).]

This time a weapon appeared.

It was the weapon he had chosen along with the trait before possession.

[Assassin’s Blood Dagger (Growth Type)]

– Category: Weapon

– Rank: F (Owner’s Rank)

– Attack Power: 60~66

– Effect: Agility +5, Additional Attack Power +30 for 10 seconds when ambushing

– Durability: Infinite

– Usage Restriction: F-rank or higher (Bound)

– Description: A dagger that grows according to the owner’s rank. Attack power and options strengthen as rank increases.

It had higher attack power than his existing weapon and 1 more Agility.

‘This is better than an S-rank weapon.’

Rather than choosing an S-rank weapon and waiting until then, it seemed much better to choose this kind of growth-type weapon.

‘The options are also top-tier among ranks, and attack power increases on successful ambush, so it’s not bad.’

It was a weapon advantageous for assassins, so he had no regrets about his choice.

‘Now I’ve received everything promised.’

What he was supposed to receive from God was only a trait and weapon.

But…

– Conquest Progress: Monsters 2/4

– Remaining Time: 2 hours 40 minutes 24 seconds

‘Looking at the conquest objective, there are 4 monsters, right?’

Looking at the conquest window, there were still 2 monsters left to catch.

‘That means there are more rewards?’

Seong-min took steps forward with an expectant heart.

After walking for a while, sure enough, another box was visible.

This time it was a green box.

‘What? Could it be giving another item?’

Since he hadn’t heard about this from God, he wondered while switching to his newly obtained weapon.

It was a dagger with a subtly glowing red light that looked impressive.

‘If I succeed in ambushing, I get +30 attack power for 10 seconds.’

Seong-min carefully moved behind the box.

Then he stabbed the dagger directly for an ambush.

Thunk- Thunk- Thunk-

He could definitely feel the increased attack power.

The penetration depth was different from the dagger he used before.

‘As expected, it’s an assassin weapon.’

He eliminated the box much faster than before.

Then an unexpected message appeared.

[You have defeated a Docile Green Mimic!]

[You have obtained a Rune of Agility.]

[You have obtained a Rune of Agility.]

[You have obtained a Rune of Agility.]

…

…

…

[You have obtained a Rune of Agility.]

An endless parade of messages continued.

So many runes came out that he couldn’t even count them.

‘Status window.’

– Name: Choi Seong-min (20 years old)

– Rank: F

– Combat Power: 1,446 (Not Updated)

– World Ranking: 909,689th

– Strength: 65, Health: 65

– Agility: 124, Magic Power: 3

– Traits: Interpretation (F), Hunter Slayer (EX), Stealth Detection (C), Dagger Mastery (B), Assassin (S)

– Skills: None

His Agility and other stats had risen absurdly.

‘My Agility before eating runes was 24. After eating them it became 124.’

He heard that each rune increases stats by 1.

‘That means I ate 100 runes.’

To have Agility increase by 100 at once.

‘In the old days, that would be stats equivalent to level 250, wouldn’t it?’

It was tremendous growth that would be impossible to achieve now.

‘To prepare such a gift for me without saying anything.’

Seong-min burst into hearty laughter at God’s surprise gift.

‘He said he couldn’t give things freely due to system constraints, but I guess he could somehow give 100 runes.’

It was a good thing for Seong-min.

He wanted to grow quickly and escape from commoner status.

‘If I do well, I might even reach 3,000 combat power.’

Due to freely beating up the boxes earlier, his combat power had risen to over 1,400.

His ranking had also gone from 1 million to 900,000.

Though it wasn’t reflected in the rankings yet.

‘Until it’s updated, my combat power will appear as 0.’

There was a week left until the 1st of next month.

For at least a week, he would appear as a weak F-rank.

‘What will the last one give me?’

Seong-min moved his steps to find the remaining box.

Since an unexpected reward of 100 Agility runes had come out, there was a high possibility the remaining box would also give rewards.

‘There it is.’

He spotted a black box in the distance.

But it looked about twice as big as the other boxes.

‘Even so, it’s just bigger in size.’

He immediately ran over to test his strengthened power.

Thunk- Thunk- Thunk-!

Whether because his Agility had increased, he attacked the box with noticeably faster movements.

But perhaps because this box had higher health than the previous ones, it didn’t fall easily.

“Just die already.”

After attacking for a long time as if facing a final boss, he was able to defeat it.

However.

[You have defeated a Docile Black Mimic!]

Contrary to expectations, no items came in.

Not even runes.

However, perhaps because he had attacked long enough for combat power to be reflected.

[You have been promoted to E-rank!]

[One skill slot has been added.]

A message appeared.

A welcome message that he had been promoted to E-rank.