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Chapter 51 - Dragon’s Yeouiju (6)

For him, it was like an open-pit flowing with gold and silver. Wherever he went, treasures awaited.

-You have suppressed several beings that are harmful to the order of things. Bonus based on membership level! You received 150,000HP! As a VIP bonus, you will obtain additional HP equal to 50% of the reward, for a total of 225,000 HP!

-You have suppressed several beings that are harmful to the order of things. Bonus based on membership level! You received 110,000HP! As a VIP bonus, you will obtain additional HP equal to 50% of the reward, for a total of 165,000 HP!

-Your Regeneration ability has grown to the D+ rank!

-You have suppressed several beings that are harmful to the order of things. Bonus based on membership level! You received 140,000HP! As a VIP bonus, you will obtain additional HP equal to 50% of the reward, for a total of 210,000 HP!

-Your Health has grown to the B+ rank!

Thinking that the spiders could arrive at any moment, Kang Shin-hyuk immediately launched the wind blade from the forelimb, which he had just learned to activate with his power. The wind blades were just like those launched by the mantises, slicing through the eggs scattered throughout the cavern with ease.

-You have suppressed several beings that are harmful to the order of things. Bonus based on membership level! You received 172,000HP! As a VIP bonus, you will obtain additional HP equal to 50% of the reward, for a total of 258,000 HP!

-Your Spiritual Power has grown to the B rank!

In the process, both HP and experience were pouring in at a tremendous rate. Even his spiritual power had grown to the point he could feel it recovering and expanding, just as he was finishing up with the last clutch of eggs.

“Huh…huh…” Kang Shin-hyuk took a moment to catch his breath after confirming there were no enemies incoming. Rather than being tired from using too much energy, the constant changes he was undergoing were wearing him down. He decided to confirm his status as he busied himself, filling his lungs with oxygen.

[Kang Shin-hyuk: B+ rank]

[Characteristic]

Golden Eyed Dragon (S)

[Physical ability]

Force: B+

Agility: B+

Health: B+

[Special ability]

Spiritual Power: B

Regeneration: C-

[Skill]

Dragon’s Fan Dance (S+): B

Metallurgy: C

“Crazy…” Although his agility remained the same, his strength had grown by two stages, and his stamina and spiritual strength by one. Amazingly, his regeneration had grown by three whole stages. While the mantises were sturdy and strong, they weren’t very agile. Perhaps, being insect-type monsters, they had a regeneration-like ability that had helped in developing his own.

‘But the wall to A-rank is high.’ The – or + after the rank indicated a difference in power, of course, but it was incomparable to the letter changing. He had acquired several B+ rank abilities, but Kang Shin-hyuk knew very well of the wall that blocked his progress now. He believed he could become an A-rank superhuman, but there had been plenty in the past who had thrown themselves vainly against that barrier with such beliefs.

‘Even so, I’m easily in the top 15%…’ At B+, only 15% of the superhumans, or roughly 750,000 of the 5 million, had reached that far. That number was cut in half if you went to A-rank and cut in half once more by going to A+, but Shin-hyuk was confident he wouldn’t stop there.

-Don’t forget to be vigilant, member. You have just reached the B+ rank, but this gate is still the same level as you.

“I know, but thank you for the good timing with that advice.

-100HP bonus for unattended members!

He knew he couldn’t hope for outside help, so he had to work to clear the gate by himself. The added power he acquired here was nothing but laying down the groundwork.

“Well?” A raucous of mantis cries, and clicks filled the cavern. Rather, it had been there all along, but he was just noticing it now that his own battle had calmed down. He made sure his stealth was activated and peeked outside. The group of mantises was engaged in a battle against several spiders.

‘The glue is working properly.’ He expected the spiders to show up, but given it would mean decreasing his foes, he was glad to see it actually happened. The battle was fiercely unfolding before him. The mantises had been struck by surprise and were unable to move properly because of the glue, yet they had wind blade. The spiders were overwhelming them gradually, but the mantises were fighting back fiercely.

“Okay, then, you can collect the loot…”

-Myu!

“What…you’ve grown quite a bit.”

-Myu?

Kang Shin-hyuk narrowed his eyes at the appearance of Onyx approaching him. If previously he were the size of an apple, now he was more like a pear. It was a subtle difference, but one he recognized. The thorns on his back seemed sharper now too, more like blades than thorns.

“…What did you eat?”

-Myu myu myu… (I only ate half…)

‘You only ate half?’ After hearing Onyx’s honest confession, he looked back to find that one of the mantises’ forelimbs had disappeared. While Shin-hyuk had been destroying the egg clutches, Onyx was eagerly gnawing at the forelimb blades. ‘No, wait. He’s treating that like metal?!’

-Myu?

“…You have to eat plenty when you’re young. Good job, good job.”

-Myuuuu!

Onyx let out a cry of relief, afraid he would be scolded. Shin-hyuk cut off the other forelimb blade and stowed it in his inventory for later, noticing a glint of blue in the torn neck of the mantis. He grabbed it, thinking it was a mana stone, but it looked a little different.

“Is this…a skill stone?” The words of Shin Eunah came to him as he examined it. He doubted his luck, but he had been ridiculously lucky in falling into the irregular gate. In a bad way, anyway. But this was a skill stone from a B+ gate.

-Please take it right away.

“But it might fail…” He had no idea how compatible he would be with it, but it felt stupid to just store it away when it could be useful.

‘It feels somewhat cold against my spiritual power.’ It didn’t feel bad to him, though. He closed his eyes and held it tightly, the skill stone shattering in his hands. A cool rush of energy flowed through him.

-You learned the attribute skill [Wind Master (A-)].

As the message appeared before him, he desperately suppressed a scream of joy.

‘It’s a skill that deals with one of the four major attributes!’ With the rarity of A-rank, this was the jackpot of jackpots. The skill level was still F-rank, however, so he wouldn’t be able to use it effectively. However, he had a weapon that could assist with it. Creating wind by himself was beyond him right now, but reinforcing it wasn’t so long as he used the forelimb blade. With that, he could create a blade of wind even stronger than the mantises made.

-Myu!

“Huh? What, again…?” Perhaps as an apology for eating the forelimb, Onyx placed something in front of him. It appeared to be half of some broken marble, with faint energy leaking out from it. Shin-hyuk immediately identified it as spiritual power. But why?

-Member, put it in your inventory.

“Yeah.” At the administrator’s message, which contained urgency, he immediately stowed it away.

-The enemy is coming. Hide.

“It’s over already? Onyx, come here.” Holding Onyx in his arms, he immediately activated stealth and hid in a corner. Shortly after, he watched a spider climb inside the cavern. It began to wander around the ceiling with a clicking sound, but shortly stopped in confusion when it found nothing. It clicked a few more times before leaving.

‘…Can it sense movement?’ Kang Shin-hyuk sat there for a while, not moving until he couldn’t feel any signs of movement. Careful to stay hidden, he slowly left the cavern. A sight from a horror movie awaited him. Bits of monsters were scattered about, and the ground was dug up and melted in places. However, the corpses didn’t remain, consumed by the victors.

‘The spiders won and carried them off.’ The mantises might’ve won if it weren’t for the spiritual glue, but if that happened, it wouldn’t have been good for him. It was a bit disappointing he couldn’t recover the parts, but it couldn’t be helped.

‘Well… let’s get started with this gate.’ He confirmed the amount of HP he had acquired. 3.7 million HP. It was a good bit of money; now he had to think of how to use it in clearing the gate.

-Kwooooong

A dull and massive vibration rocked the space he was in as he was thinking. Anxiety filled him as the inner walls of the gate swayed.

-Be prepared!

Kang Shin-hyuk hugged onto Onyx and squatted down, bracing himself for the terrible shock that reverberated through the gate.

-The Mantis’ Tomb (B+) has transformed into the Queen’s Cobweb (A-) due to the change in the power structure. Be careful!

The world turned over again.