Chapter 322 – Part 2 – B-rank

While hunting, a welcome message appeared.

[You have been promoted to B-rank!]

[One skill slot has been added.]

However, there was no significant change in Choi Seong-min’s expression.

He had expected to be promoted soon anyway.

‘As expected, soloing allows me to raise 10,000 combat power quickly.’

Although Choi Seong-min had currently achieved 100,000 combat power, only 20,000 was showing in the rankings.

This was because it hadn’t been updated yet.

‘It hasn’t even been a month since I became D-rank, and I’m already rising to B-rank.’

Even by his own standards, it was incredibly fast growth.

‘The Fierce Attack trait definitely helped a lot in raising combat power.’

Since it was a trait that increased attack speed by three times, his combat power had no choice but to rise rapidly.

‘I’m looking forward to the upcoming combat power update day.’

How surprised would people be to see Choi Seong-min go from D-rank to B-rank in just one month?

‘Well, Song Chi-hyeon was already surprised by my voice.’

Choi Seong-min remembered Song Chi-hyeon’s reaction when he said he could make B-rank if he just had one day of soloing.

‘It’s natural that it’s hard to believe. He’s probably seeing a hunter who raises combat power this quickly for the first time.’

[Assassin’s Blood Dagger (Growth Type)]

-Category: Weapon

-Grade: B (Owner’s Grade)

-Attack Power: 1,520~1,680

-Effect: Agility +105, Additional Attack Power +800 for 10 seconds when ambushing, Additional Attack Power +1,600 when ambushing after stealth

-Durability: Infinite

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

As usual, while examining the changes to his dagger, Choi Seong-min’s eyes lit up with interest.

‘An option for ambushing after stealth has been added!’

Upon reaching B-rank, an option that increased attack power by 1,600 when ambushing after stealth appeared.

‘It’s 800 for regular ambushes and 1,600 for ambushes after stealth.’

If he ambushed more perfectly with stealth, the weapon’s attack power would double.

‘Here, with Dagger Mastery doubling the weapon’s attack power again… the maximum attack power would be 6,400? This is insane.’

It made him think he should definitely use stealth whenever ambushing from now on.

That’s how much there were no other alternatives.

‘However, stealth has a cooldown, so it’ll be hard to use frequently.’

It would be good to use stealth followed by ambush during important assassinations.

‘For instance, when killing Song Chi-hyeon.’

The time had come.

The time to betray Song Chi-hyeon.

* * *

As soon as Choi Seong-min exited the dungeon, he called Song Chi-hyeon.

There had been instructions to contact him immediately upon reaching B-rank.

-Why are you calling? Don’t tell me…

“Yes, I just achieved B-rank a moment ago.”

-Hehe, this quickly?

Song Chi-hyeon, who let out a laugh as if amazed, gave instructions.

-For now, wait at the dormitory. I’ll send a car, so take that and come.

“Understood.”

He didn’t ask for the reason.

He had some idea of what it might be.

Following the instructions, he waited at the dormitory and a limousine arrived.

“Are you Mr. Choi Seong-min?”

The driver got out and bowed respectfully, then opened the rear door.

“Please get in. The Great Hero is waiting.”

Choi Seong-min nodded and sat in the back seat, and the driver started the car.

While feeling the comfortable ride and looking out the window, they were heading down an unfamiliar road.

‘Seeing that he’s waiting for me, he probably called me to his mansion.’

His prediction was exactly right.

When he got out of the car, Song Chi-hyeon’s luxurious mansion was welcoming him.

‘It looks exactly the same as Song Chi-hyeon’s mansion I looked down at before possession.’

Since he had come down after collecting all information about the Great Heroes, he had already known about Song Chi-hyeon’s residence.

“Hello, Mr. Choi Seong-min. Welcome to the Great Hero’s mansion. I am Butler Hwang Seok-gyu.”

A butler with slicked-back hair greeted him respectfully.

“Before meeting the Great Hero, there were instructions to visit the armory first. I’ll guide you, so please follow me.”

Following the butler, Choi Seong-min smiled.

He had already known that there was an armory in the mansion.

‘I guess he’s planning to let me choose items to commemorate reaching B-rank.’

While wondering how many he would give, they arrived in front of the armory.

Click- Grrrrrr-

A shutter made of special composite material rose, revealing an armory spanning 100 pyeong.

“The Great Hero said to give you items to commemorate reaching B-rank, so please choose as many as you need from here.”

“As many as I need?”

“He literally said you could take anything you need.”

Choi Seong-min was quite surprised internally.

‘I thought he’d tell me to choose just one or two pieces of equipment, but he’s telling me to choose freely?’

This meant Song Chi-hyeon had high expectations for Choi Seong-min.

“Then I’ll wait at the door, so please choose comfortably and come out.”

When the butler left the armory, only Choi Seong-min remained.

‘There’s everything from A-rank to B-rank here.’

From all kinds of equipment to skill books, it was truly like a department store.

‘To think he was keeping such expensive and diverse items in his personal armory.’

He had known by looking down before possession, but seeing it directly made his jaw drop.

‘These are all items you can’t get on the market, aren’t they?’

Usually, hunter stores only sell C-rank and below items, while B-rank and above are almost impossible to find.

From B-rank onwards, powerful people monopolized them like this.

‘From B-rank, you’re recognized as military status rather than merchant.’

Military was the level above merchant and the highest status Choi Seong-min could achieve.

It was also a status that proved you were the Association’s dog.

‘It’s natural that they monopolize items for the Association’s military rather than releasing them to the market.’

However, military status wasn’t something anyone could achieve just by reaching B-rank.

‘You can only receive this status when you pledge loyalty to do anything as the Association’s limb, make great contributions to the Association, or serve as a Great Hero’s direct subordinate.’

Most importantly, military rank is distinguished by wearing a sword-shaped badge on the chest.

That’s why Team Leader Heo Yoon-ji, whom he saw yesterday, was B-rank but couldn’t be considered military status.

She didn’t have any badge on her chest.

‘Military status is a sure thing for me.’

Of course, Song Chi-hyeon had to personally award the badge and elevate his status, but he had met all the conditions.

‘Shall I start shopping?’

Items worth tens of millions of won each were organized clearly by body part.

‘Take everything I need?’

He wanted to sweep everything up, but he couldn’t.

There were CCTVs inside.

‘If I took things I didn’t need, they’d question me later after watching the CCTV.’

Since they were essentially monitoring, stealing was impossible.

‘I should only take what I really need.’

Choi Seong-min first gathered skill books.

[Skill – Stealth]

-Grade: B

-Effect: Makes the body and objects touching the body transparent for a certain time.

-Duration: 10% of Agility (seconds)

-Cooldown: 1 hour

-Usage Restriction: B-rank or higher

-Description: With this skill, you can become invisible. However, don’t use it to satisfy personal desires. Canceled when attacking or using skills. May be detected if the opponent’s combat power is higher than yours.

It was stealth, an essential skill for assassins.

‘Stealth is absolutely necessary to get the maximum ambush bonus from the weapon.’

However, it was useless against opponents with high combat power and had a long cooldown.

‘Considering various applications, it’s really a useful skill.’

The difference between having and not having stealth was quite significant.

‘Learn.’

With bright light, the skill book disappeared.

He had proudly learned stealth, but there was still one more skill slot remaining.

It was a slot created by the Transcendence trait.

‘Originally, I planned to learn stealth and poison skills.’

He could learn poison skills right here if he wanted, but he passed by the skill book corner as if uninterested.

‘I can’t learn poison skills right now.’

Choosing two skill books would be strange, and since it was a skill to be used for assassination, there was a need to keep it hidden.

‘Just in case, when the assassination succeeds, I might be suspected.’

He decided to obtain poison skills privately from the market and looked at other equipment.

Helmets, armor, gloves, shoes, rings, etc.

He chose only the options with the highest agility among B-rank equipment.

Tssssss-

When he equipped everything, his agility increased by over 300 compared to before.

‘Equipment bonuses are indeed good.’

He didn’t replace the D-rank Wind Necklace.

For now, the benefits from the set effect were greater than changing the necklace.

‘Since I changed the rings, the agility from the set effect also increased. Attack speed and movement speed are also set to a basic 40%.’

Adding the 50 agility he had recently raised through hunting:

-Strength: 771, Health: 767

-Agility: 1,406, Magic Power: 2

His agility exceeded 1,400.

Of course, this was when only receiving the basic effect of Pack Instinct.

‘If there were 4 hunters nearby, 1,600 would have been easy.’

It would have been even better if he could wear A-rank accessories with the Maintaining Dignity trait, but he had to postpone it.

‘If I, as a B-rank, took A-rank equipment, they’d definitely think it was strange. For now, I have to be satisfied with this.’

Since he had matched his equipment, it was time to match his skills.

‘I saw skill grade enhancement stones when I passed by earlier.’

Thinking that they had collected everything from equipment to skill books, he picked up five enhancement stones.

‘Enhance.’

[Slash damage increased from 300% to 400% of Agility!]

[Dagger Throw damage increased from 250% to 300% of Agility!]

[Sprint duration increased from 20 seconds to 25 seconds!]

[Throat Slash damage increased from 300% to 400% of Agility!]

[Shadow Step cooldown reduced from 120 seconds to 90 seconds!]

He enhanced all his C-rank skills to B-rank.

‘This should have increased my combat power a bit more.’

The measured figure was 100,000, but he estimated it might actually exceed 200,000.

‘Can I assassinate Song Chi-hyeon with about 200,000 combat power?’

Compared to Song Chi-hyeon’s 600,000 combat power, it was insufficient, but considering the advantage of ambush, it wouldn’t be impossible.

‘It would be easier if he was in an unguarded state without equipment.’

He had originally planned to assassinate when he reached B-rank, but now that it was right in front of him, he was honestly having second thoughts.

‘If I fail, everything will be over.’

If he returned having failed the mission, not only would he become useless, but even his family held as collateral by God would perish.

‘I need to be a bit more careful.’

Since he hadn’t made poison yet, it would be better to postpone the assassination a bit more.

“Have you finished choosing?”

As soon as he came out of the armory, the butler asked, and Choi Seong-min nodded satisfactorily.

“Then let’s go. The Great Hero is waiting.”

While following the butler, Choi Seong-min came face to face with a large man.

“Hello, Hunter.”

“Oh, yeah.”

When the butler greeted him, the man glanced at Choi Seong-min and frowned.

“Fuck.”

“…?”

Before he could confront him wondering if it was a curse directed at him, the man strode away.

‘What’s with that guy?’

The puzzlement was brief, as Choi Seong-min arrived at Song Chi-hyeon’s office and entered.

Of course, he didn’t forget to control his mind before entering.

“Choi Seong-min has come?”

“I greet the Great Hero.”

“Let’s sit and talk first.”

When they sat facing each other on the sofa, the butler asked as if he had been waiting.

“Shall I bring something to drink?”

“No. You can leave now.”

“Understood.”

When the butler left, Song Chi-hyeon looked at Choi Seong-min and smiled.

“This is your first time coming to my mansion, right?”

“That’s correct. It’s really splendid and nice.”

“How was it? Did you gather what you needed from the armory?”

“I gathered so much that I wondered if it was okay to take this many.”

“You didn’t sweep everything clean, did you?”

“Haha, of course not.”

“I’ll check with CCTV later. To see if there’s anything you secretly took without my knowledge.”

“I swear there’s nothing, so don’t worry.”

Song Chi-hyeon, who read that even his inner thoughts were truthful, smiled satisfactorily.

“Right. Someone with loyalty higher than anyone else like you wouldn’t lie.”

“Thank you for trusting me.”

“So… I need you to do a job for me.”

“A job?”

Song Chi-hyeon suddenly spoke with serious eyes.

“It’s nothing much, just killing someone.”