Chapter 371 – Part 2 – EX-Grade Weapon

The blood-red color of the dagger deepened.

The blade extended by about 5 centimeters.

What changed wasn’t just the appearance.

[Assassin’s Blood Dagger (Complete Form)]

-Classification: Weapon

-Grade: EX

-Attack Power: 7,000~8,000

-Effect: Agility +3,000, Additional attack power +7,500 for 10 minutes when ambushing, Physical damage amplified by 50%.

-Durability: Infinite

-Usage Restriction: S-rank or higher (Bound)

-Description: A dagger that grows according to the owner’s grade. Currently awakened to its true power and evolved to its final form.

The dagger’s name changed from Growth Type to Complete Form.

Its growth ended at EX-grade, the final evolution form.

‘The attack power didn’t increase by much.’

However, the agility option that was 450 rose dramatically to 3,000.

‘This is insane, absolutely insane.’

The additional attack power when ambushing also increased and the duration extended to 10 minutes.

‘Plus physical damage is amplified by 50%?’

This meant overall damage increased by 1.5 times.

The corners of Choi Seong-min’s mouth curled up.

‘As expected of an EX-grade weapon. The options are ridiculously overpowered.’

But it was too early to be surprised yet.

The Doppelganger’s Replica Sword he was holding began to wriggle in response to the dagger’s transformation.

‘Is it copying the exact same thing? An EX-grade item…?’

Soon, a dagger with the exact same appearance was revealed.

The options were also applied exactly like the original.

Choi Seong-min’s eyes widened when he saw his stats.

‘My agility increased by 6,000.’

This was the result of holding two daggers.

‘This means physical damage will be amplified by 100%?’

Just by holding them, he could receive tremendous option benefits.

‘I did well to use the Core of Magic Power on a weapon.’

If he obtained another Core of Magic Power, he could use it on helmets and armor.

‘Come to think of it, I had an exchange ticket.’

Choi Seong-min immediately used the Legendary Weapon Exchange Ticket.

‘The item to exchange is legendary armor.’

After a moment, silver-gleaming armor came in place of the exchange ticket.

[Legendary Armor]

-Classification: Armor

-Grade: S

-Defense: 22,500

-Effect: All stats +100, Physical damage reduced by 30%

-Durability: Infinite

-Usage Restriction: S-rank or higher

-Description: One of the few legendary armaments in the world. Displays true power when combined with a Core of Magic Power.

‘For now, I’ll have to wear the legendary helmet and legendary armor.’

All stats +100 was a decent option, so there was no reason not to wear it.

‘Since the Doppelganger’s Mask doesn’t have infinite durability like the legendary helmet, I should only use it when necessary.’

He replaced most of his equipment with S-grade items.

Only gloves and boots weren’t S-grade items.

‘Should I try using the Transcendent Random Box?’

Since a guaranteed S-grade would come out, if he was lucky, he might get the equipment he wanted.

‘Nothing to lose anyway. Use.’

[You have used the Transcendent Random Box.]

[You have obtained Potion of Indomitability.]

[Congratulations!]

‘Potion of Indomitability?’

Choi Seong-min’s eyes widened at the unexpected item.

[Potion of Indomitability]

-Classification: Consumable

-Grade: S

-Effect: All damage received reduced by 95% for 1 hour, ignores pain.

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

-Description: A legendary potion that makes the user’s body nearly invincible. While under the potion’s effect, no pain can be felt. Has no effect if given to others.

What came out of the random box wasn’t gloves or boots.

‘An S-grade combination item came out.’

It was an item that was difficult to make, like the Potion of Life.

‘With just this, I could fight hundreds of S-rank hunters without problem.’

It wasn’t the item he wanted, but he had obtained quite a useful item.

‘Can’t be helped, but I’ll have to use the gloves and boots that Kogo was wearing.’

Though they were lower-tier items among S-grade, both increased agility by 200, so they weren’t bad to use temporarily.

‘Equipment window.’

[Weapon1 – Assassin’s Blood Dagger (Complete Form)]

[Weapon2 – Assassin’s Blood Dagger (Complete Form)]

[Helmet – Legendary Helmet]

[Armor – Legendary Armor]

[Gloves – Wind’s Blessing Gloves]

[Boots – Agile Slaughterer’s Boots]

[Necklace – Angel’s Protection]

[Ring1 – Aiolos’s Ring]

[Ring2 – Balzark’s Ring]

‘Now that I’ve matched all equipment to S-grade, shall I fill in the skills too?’

If he filled the two empty slots, all skills would become S-grade.

‘I’ve already thought about which skills to use.’

Not just thought about it? He had already obtained them and even pre-ordered them.

There was an auction site that traded S-grade items.

‘Noble Place. Here I can freely obtain any S-grade items I want.’

This auction site operated by Westland was similar to the Hunter Market from his previous life in that members could freely list items.

‘The difference is that only verified members can use it.’

Minimum military status or higher. In other words, it was a VIP-exclusive market that only elite hunters of B-rank or higher could use.

‘Fortunately, I have many identities I can use.’

Naturally, Song Chi-hyeon and Kogo’s phones had the Noble Place app installed.

‘Since it was a site frequently used when obtaining or selling S-grade equipment.’

Membership was already registered and accounts were linked, so he could purchase tens of billions worth of items with a single click.

‘Thanks to this, I could order S-grade skill books without spending a penny of my own money.’

On the day he killed Song Chi-hyeon, Choi Seong-min had ordered two skill books worth 1.5 billion won each using his phone.

‘Actually, I wanted to order more than just skill books, but…’

Song Chi-hyeon’s account only had enough money to buy skill books.

Same with Kogo’s account.

‘Anyway, I can’t even use Kogo’s money. If they see the usage records later, it would look like he didn’t die.’

Nominally, Kogo and Song Chi-hyeon had to be portrayed as having died together.

From now on, he couldn’t leave any traces.

‘Since it’s international shipping, it’s taking quite a while to arrive.’

Even now, more than ten days later, it hadn’t arrived, but fortunately he had received a text saying it would come this evening.

‘I need to stop by Song Chi-hyeon’s mansion once. Before that, let me conquer an S-grade dungeon.’

Choi Seong-min accelerated his dungeon conquest.

This would be his graduation from A-grade dungeons.

When he came out of the dungeon alone, the manager’s eyes became as wide as lanterns.

“Why are you coming out alone? Don’t tell me…?”

“Yes… they’re all dead.”

With an expression that looked genuinely saddened, Choi Seong-min explained the situation.

After various explanations, the gist was that a boss had appeared and killed them.

‘Did a boss really appear? Can I believe this?’

The manager looked at him suspiciously, but that was only brief… Given that he explained the situation quite specifically and seeing Choi Seong-min’s expression mourning the deceased, it was hard to see it as a lie.

‘Above all, this person has lower combat power than the other three, right? It’s hard to think he committed murder.’

Confirming through his thoughts that the manager’s suspicion was cleared, Choi Seong-min turned around with a bright smile.

‘As expected, there’s no place like dungeons for disposing of trash.’

No corpses remain and there are no witnesses.

So with just a bit of acting and plausible excuses, they don’t question the crime like this.

‘Now shall I try an S-grade dungeon?’

Having ranked up and even obtained an EX-grade weapon, there was no reason not to challenge an S-grade dungeon.

‘I need to return by evening, so I should go somewhere I can conquer as quickly as possible.’

There was one such place.

Choi Seong-min headed to an S-grade dungeon called the Obsidian Castle.

There are 10 S-grade dungeons in Eastland.

Among them, the Obsidian Castle was a dangerous dungeon that even decent S-ranks had to be nervous about.

Perhaps that’s why no one came.

‘No teams are reserved today either.’

The dungeon manager monitored the entrance CCTV with a bored expression.

Teams looking for S-grade dungeons were extremely few.

Maybe once a week at most.

So it was natural to be this lethargic.

“Huh?”

Then the dungeon manager’s eyes caught sight of a person.

“Who came?”

He stuck his head out of the booth, but there was no one at the dungeon entrance.

Wondering if he had seen wrong, he blinked his eyes.

“Hup!”

Someone who appeared like a ghost covered the manager’s mouth with their hand.

“Excuse me for just 10 seconds.”

“Mmph! Mmph!”

The struggling manager soon stopped moving after 10 seconds passed.

He just stared into space in a dazed state as if his soul had left.

“With this, I’ve erased the memory…”

While the manager was spacing out, Choi Seong-min manipulated the computer.

He changed the dungeon status to in progress so other hunters couldn’t make reservations.

He also falsely recorded the team and names of hunters who had entered.

Though it wouldn’t be in the manager’s memory.

‘This way, no other teams will come looking while I’m conquering.’

The manager would be surprised when he came to his senses, but what could be done?

He wouldn’t remember, but someone had entered the dungeon and it was recorded.

‘He’ll probably blame his own memory given his age.’

Meanwhile, he would comfortably conquer the dungeon and come out using stealth.

‘That way, there won’t be any chance of being caught.’

He would be able to secretly conquer an S-grade dungeon.

Choi Seong-min smiled and used stealth.

He stepped into the dungeon without anyone knowing.

The manager came to his senses after that.

Usually, S-grade dungeons have similar conquest objectives.

Survival within a time limit.

Without a clear conquest objective, survival is the only purpose.

It looks easy at first glance but is difficult.

It meant you couldn’t escape the dungeon for at least two to three days.

That’s why Choi Seong-min, who had business in the evening, needed a dungeon he could conquer quickly.

The Obsidian Castle he had entered was like that.

Clank- Clank-

Sound is heard in the darkness.

An obsidian knight approaches while hiding its body.

An ordinary hunter would panic and look around, but Choi Seong-min was calm.

He just calmly threw his dagger in the direction where the creature was.

As accurately as if he could see it.

Crack-!

The knight’s helmet was split by the dagger and died in one hit.

[Conquest successful!]

[Dungeon break time has been reset to 480 hours!]

When the conquest ended, Choi Seong-min habitually opened the conquest window.

-Conquest Achievement: Obsidian Knights 3,000/3,000

-Remaining Time: 59 hours 58 minutes 29 seconds

The Obsidian Castle’s objective isn’t survival.

As you can see, the objective is to kill 3,000 monsters.

If you killed them quickly, you could exit the dungeon in one day.

‘It took 12 hours to kill 3,000?’

Fortunately, it didn’t take long.

Rather, he cleared it at an unbelievable speed.

‘I don’t think I ever conquered this fast even in my previous life.’

Even when he was a magic swordsman, conquest alone took a full 24 hours.

‘That was when I had 8 million combat power, I think?’

But now he finished the conquest in half the time.

Because the monsters all fell with one skill hit.

‘Just how strong have I become?’

Curious, Choi Seong-min opened his status window.

To check how much his combat power had increased.

At that moment, Choi Seong-min’s eyes widened.

“Huh?”

Surprised, he couldn’t help but speak out loud.

“Crazy… what is this?”

Choi Seong-min was genuinely shocked.

His combat power of 1 million had increased by as much as 5 times.