Chapter 2 – Summoning (2)

[10 minutes remain until the contamination source evolves to the next level. Once the contamination source’s level increases, the possibility of destruction at your current level becomes extremely low. We recommend moving quickly.]

The people who heard the voice looked at each other.

“Although it’s still hard to believe, it seems we should follow the instructions. The dead beast was hostile toward us.”

Everyone nodded at Knight Daniel’s words. All the others except Sun-woo seemed to have confirmed the black gorilla as an enemy.

The group moved immediately. They escaped outside through the broken wall.

Sun-woo eventually decided to follow them. He couldn’t tell where beasts might attack from. It seemed safer to stay near the group.

Outside the shrine, a dense bamboo forest stretched endlessly. Since there was a shrine, there must be a path on the opposite side, but the direction the group had rushed toward showed nothing but bamboo everywhere.

Crash!

It seemed a fight had already begun up ahead. Collision sounds were coming from beyond the bamboo forest. Sun-woo also rushed into the forest, not wanting to be late.

After running about 50 meters, a large clearing appeared. In the clearing that gave off a gloomy feeling throughout, a battle was in full swing.

Nan-seol and Daniel were each facing one gorilla with black fur, while Michael was shooting single shots from behind to prevent the last gorilla from approaching.

Besides their blackened fur, the gorillas also had both eyes dyed red. The red eyes, along with the black fur, made the gorillas look extremely grotesque.

Fortunately, three gorillas were lying on the ground. They seemed to have been defeated before Sun-woo arrived. Three gorillas remained. It looked like it would be over once each person defeated their assigned gorilla.

“Huh? It was going to end quickly? Making a fuss and scaring us for nothing.”

From one side of the clearing, the boy was watching the battle with a look of disdain. However, Sun-woo made a serious expression after checking the fallen gorillas and the remaining ones.

They had definitely said there was a separate contamination source. But the beasts here looked exactly the same as the gorilla that had attacked the shrine. It seemed these guys were called “contaminated creatures,” not the “contamination source.”

Sun-woo quickly looked around in all directions. Only gloomily stained bamboo was visible around them. There seemed to be no other abnormalities in front, back, left, right, or on the ground.

“Then what about above?”

Sun-woo looked up and shouted toward Nan-seol with a surprised voice.

“Miss Nan-seol, dodge!”

A gorilla twice as large as the other gorillas was falling downward. The gorilla with thick horns on its forehead was falling down but made no sound at all.

Fortunately, Sun-woo’s shout wasn’t too late. The boy quickly raised his hand and was able to bind the horned gorilla in mid-air.

In the brief moment the horned gorilla stopped, Nan-seol threw her body backward.

Shortly after, when the paralysis wore off, the horned gorilla crashed to the ground, crushing the gorilla that Nan-seol had been fighting. It clearly couldn’t land properly due to the paralysis, but the horned gorilla got up looking perfectly fine.

“Damn, did I overdo it?”

Hayden grimaced while wiping away a nosebleed. He had already used his ability beyond his limit.

When the new enemy appeared, the knight abandoned defense and struck the gorilla’s neck, while the mercenary switched his gun to automatic and sprayed bullets at the gorilla in front of him. They had first eliminated their own opponents.

Although they succeeded in eliminating all the existing gorillas with quick judgment, the knight also seemed to have taken damage as he sat down coughing up blood, and the mercenary had run out of bullets.

Fortunately, Nan-seol was handling the horned gorilla well. Despite the gorilla’s attacks sweeping in all directions, Nan-seol dodged like flowing water and wounded the gorilla’s body.

“She’s damn pretty.”

The mercenary muttered while attaching a bayonet to his empty gun. Sun-woo also nodded at his words. Her movements were like a flower blooming.

But it looked difficult to win this way. Nan-seol’s attacks couldn’t penetrate the horned gorilla’s skin. The beast continued pouring attacks at her without caring about its wounds.

That wasn’t the only problem. The gorilla’s horn was gradually getting brighter. Along with that, a voice was heard by the entire group.

[In 30 seconds, the contamination source’s level will be enhanced.]

People’s expressions changed.

“Can’t you stop it again? I can’t use strong martial arts like this!”

Nan-seol shouted while dodging the beast’s attacks. But the boy shook his head.

“It’s impossible. I’ve already exceeded my limit. My telekinesis will be sealed for quite a while. Damn. If there was a healer, I could recover somewhat.”

“Healing?”

At the boy’s words, Sun-woo immediately opened his phone’s inventory window and clicked on the healing potion icon.

Pop!

An elegant glass bottle popped out above the phone. Inside the glass bottle, red and blue liquids were strangely mixed and moving.

It was a potion that simultaneously restored health and mana in games. Seeing that the water was fine, this item would probably be usable too, but he didn’t know if it would have an effect on the boy.

Sun-woo immediately handed the bottle to Hayden.

“This is a top-grade recovery medicine. It should restore a considerable amount.”

Since he was giving it anyway, it was better to seem trustworthy. It was a beginner recovery potion and he didn’t know if it would actually have an effect, but perhaps a placebo effect might work.

The boy looked back and forth between Sun-woo and the bottle with surprised eyes. Sun-woo made the most truthful expression possible, and after thinking for a moment, the boy opened the bottle and drank the liquid.

Though he acted prickly, he was still a young boy. He quickly believed a stranger’s words, carried away by the atmosphere.

Fortunately, the potion was effective. Color began to return to the boy’s pale face, and his expression, which had been twisted in pain, became comfortable.

“Test successful, I guess.”

Sun-woo breathed a sigh of relief internally. With this, he had gained another lifeline.

Hayden shouted toward Nan-seol with a bright face.

“I’ll hold it now!”

At the boy’s words, Nan-seol kicked the beast’s chest and created distance. As she moved away from the horned gorilla, the boy’s hands spread wide.

“Lock Down!”

His shout seemed to be a kind of battle cry. The moment the boy shouted, the beast stopped abruptly. At the same time, the boy’s face rapidly turned pale.

“Damn, I can’t hold it long! Its resistance has gotten stronger!”

But Nan-seol didn’t seem to hear his words. Having distanced herself from the horned gorilla and taken her stance, Nan-seol quietly closed her eyes. The grass around Nan-seol that had been still began to sway, and fallen leaves started to flow. It was as if invisible air currents were moving centered around her.

However, eventually, Hayden couldn’t endure and sat down on the ground.

Roaaaar!

When the force that had confined it disappeared, the beast screamed. The beast’s horn became bright as if burning.

At that moment, Nan-seol moved.

She advanced toward the beast as if running on grass, and the sword danced in her hands.

A sword with a subtle red glow embroidered beautiful patterns on the beast’s body.

It was a beautiful sight like a flower blooming in full, but the result was cruel.

The gorilla’s limbs shot up into the sky. Her sword had cut through all the monster’s muscles that it couldn’t penetrate before.

Nan-seol finally struck the monster’s neck and landed on the ground.

Seeing her appearance like a fully bloomed flower closing its bud, Sun-woo couldn’t help but mutter without realizing it.

“Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Method?”

It was Nan-seol’s strongest sword technique that he had seen on his phone.

Nan-seol, who was putting her sword into its sheath with a tired expression, looked surprised at Sun-woo’s words. Sun-woo thought, “Oh no.” It wasn’t martial arts he should have known.

Fortunately, before Nan-seol could ask a question, a voice was heard.

[Thank you all for your hard work. You have all safely completed the first mission. We will now calculate rewards.]

[Party member Min Sun-woo contributed significantly to eliminating the contamination source, so 50 points are awarded. Points can be exchanged for ability enhancement, equipment, or money. The rewards given can be used anywhere.]

“I don’t know, is 40 points a lot or a little?”

Michael grumbled from the side.

Unexpectedly, Sun-woo had more points than Michael. It seemed that eliminating the contamination source gave much higher scores than the contaminated creatures.

After the voice ended, a translucent window appeared before Sun-woo’s eyes. Sun-woo, who had already been surprised enough, was no longer surprised.

But the others seemed different. Especially Nan-seol seemed quite surprised. Her bewildered expression as she waved her hands in the air was strangely cute.

The list of what could be obtained with points unfolded before Sun-woo.

[Min Sun-woo: 1 Star. Achievement Rate 10%]

[Additional Inventory 500p]

[Additional Skill Slot 500p]

[Additional Basic Recovery Potion 100p]

[Additional Basic Water 1p]

[100,000 won per point]

[Types increase as character level rises.]

The potion Sun-woo had used cost 100 points. The points he received were 50 points. No matter how he thought about it, it was a loss. And except for water, other rewards were completely out of reach with the points he had.

“My goodness, magic swords and even armor made by craftsmen. Do they really give things like this?”

“There are pills that increase internal energy and divine swords too.”

Daniel and Nan-seol were examining the list with surprised eyes. But Michael laughed heartily and struck the air.

“Hahaha. 8,000 dollars in one go. What a generous customer.”

Hayden also seemed to be secretly pressing the money option.

Unlike them, Sun-woo opened his phone’s skill window. The same text as before appeared in the three empty skill slots.

Sun-woo checked people’s abilities with his phone camera.

Daniel had abilities called <Indomitable Will>, <Enhanced Body>, and <Kingdom Standard Swordsmanship>, and mercenary Michael possessed <Sixth Sense> and <Survival Ability>.

The boy displayed <Telekinesis>, the supernatural power he had used.

Sun-woo finally pointed his phone camera at Nan-seol. Her abilities were the same as before. Sun-woo tried pressing the screen.

Seven Star Steps 40 points,

Three Talents Sword Method 40 points,

Three Talents Mind Method 50 points.

Fortunately, the three martial arts he could choose were learnable with the points he currently had. But that wasn’t the only problem.

<Warning 1: Target’s consent is required when learning skills.>

<Warning 2: Skills are reset when learned.>

The first warning was the problem. It was useless if the other party didn’t agree.

After checking the text and raising his head, Sun-woo’s eyes met with Nan-seol’s, who had turned her head at the same time. As they stared at each other, Nan-seol spoke.

“Thank you. Thanks to you warning us of danger and giving the boy precious internal injury medicine, we were able to defeat the star beast.”

Nan-seol bowed her head toward Sun-woo.

Sun-woo quickly worked his brain. Other people’s abilities were mostly grayed out and difficult to learn.

With the points he currently had, he could only learn the knight’s <Kingdom Standard Swordsmanship> and the mercenary’s <Survival Ability>.

But he didn’t really want to learn the knight’s swordsmanship, and the mercenary obviously wouldn’t give permission.

In the end, now when Nan-seol was expressing gratitude was the opportunity.

“Then could you help me a little?”

At Sun-woo’s words, Nan-seol nodded with a puzzled expression.

Sun-woo firmly pressed the <Three Talents Mind Method> button. Other martial arts would definitely be impossible without the mind method anyway.

Nan-seol was surprised by the voice that suddenly came.

[Min Sun-woo has requested the secrets of the Three Talents Mind Method. If you permit, the Three Talents Mind Method insights you have gained so far will be transmitted to Min Sun-woo. Will you permit this?]

Nan-seol looked at Sun-woo with an amazed expression.

“Your mystical arts are impressive. The Three Talents Mind Method isn’t a unique martial art of the Mount Hua Sect anyway, so it’s fine.”

Nan-seol said she would permit it toward the air.

Information began pouring into Sun-woo’s mind.