Chapter 50

: (5). First Death -3
 
The Ants near the entrance of the dungeon were as strong as Goblins from the Goblins’ Campsite or
weaker, so they were perfect for Ian, who had improved a lot, to practice his new skill.

You killed a Giant Ant. You gained 315 EP.

He received little EP compared to when he hunted at the North Continent.
The monsters had the same or a slightly lower level compared to Ian’s, so they gave little EP. Plus,
Ian couldn’t benefit from the ‘Master of Hunting’ title.
However, he slaughtered so many that he still received quite a decent amount of EP.

Haha, this is fun!

Ian was finding out how to use the Lightning Spheres skill properly.
He had used it as a close-range skill at first, but afterward, he realized that he could anticipate the
monster’s route and hit it with the spheres.
Of course, to anticipate and then attacking was very hard.
However, if he wanted to use the skill against stronger enemies, he needed to learn how to make a
long range attack.
Ian was going to train until he got used to the skill.
‘In this state, I would be able to get 99% EP after two days here.’
Additionally, he could hit even more monsters by anticipating the direction of the multiplied spheres.
It was like playing billiards!
With luck, a sphere could bounce off many times and hit about six monsters.
Ian got to understand the skill very quickly, as he was a ‘gaming expert’.
An hour later…
He perfectly got used to the skill and by making use of Ly’s speed, he controlled an entire section of
Ants.

Big Guy, Ice Wave!!

After Big Guy used Ice Wave, Ian used the Lightning Spheres, and the Ants started to slow down like
snails because of the double slowdown effects of both skills.
Zip- Zip-!
Moreover, with the Linking effect from Ian’s weapon, Ice Wave was doubled so the Ants couldn’t move
at all!
Ian gained EP from the Ants by using wide-range skills like this while Ly went around to kill the
weakened Ants one by one.
Ian used the Lightning Spheres until his Spirit Magic was drained and, by the time it was recharged to
the Max, he finished hunting the pack.

Haaaa!!

Ian was so thrilled that he smiled like a madman,
Hunting packs is the best!

Gaining levels by killing monsters that were stronger than himself, one by one, up at the North
Continent was fun. However, massacring weak monsters through wide-range hunting was better in
getting rid of your stress.
‘When I reach Lv. 60, I won’t be able to benefit from the Master of Hunting title.’
Ian had gained so many benefits from the title that gave him more EP when killing monsters that had
higher levels than himself.
However, as his level got higher, it would be impossible to hunt monsters that had levels much higher
than his own, so it was time to change his fighting style.

It would be great if I had a powerful wide-range skill…

Ian was hunting fast enough, but he thought it wasn’t enough.
The Lightning Spheres skill wasn’t that powerful.
Skills like Flame Field, that were used by Lv. 50 Sorcerers, inflicted 2000~3000 damaged.
However, the damage from the Lightning Spheres skill inflicted was only half of that.
It was a skill used more to slow down the monsters, similar to Big Guy’s Ice Wave.
‘If I use some wide-range magic while the monsters are crawling because of the double slowdown
effects…’
However, he wasn’t going to hunt with a Sorcerer.
‘I am not doing something that is good for others.’
Then, he needed to Tame a monster that had destructive wide-range skill.
‘What should I Tame? It would be great if I could get something like a Phoenix in the Highlands of
Fire.’
However, that was only a wish.
A Phoenix had an average level of 165. It was a monster he couldn’t get now.
‘I will capture one, someday.’
While Ian was thinking about his future, he kept hunting. Now, there wasn’t even an Ant left on the
first floor.

Ly, let’s go to the second floor.

Growl- Growl-
Ian stroked Ly’s mane and went to the stairs that led down to the second underground floor.
‘The second floor should be more dangerous, there will be Striped Ants…’
Striped Ants were smaller and weaker than ordinary Giant Ants.
However, they could spew poison in wide- range, so they were trickier to hunt.
Nevertheless, Ian wasn’t worried much.
He had hunted them many times before he reset his character.
…
After hunting for the whole day, Ian could fill 99% EP of his Lv. 50.
He had killed the Queen Ant, the boss monster in the Ant Tunnels, on the first day. In total, he had
hunted for two days.

Hu, the EP is now 99.9%. I have worked so hard.

Ian felt good.
During the hunt, Big Guy even gained a level while Ly was Lv. 51 now.
He felt even better because he had filled the 99.9% of the EP exactly as he had calculated during the
last battle.

Guys, let’s go back now.

Ian was ready to leave.
He took the items from the dead bodies of the Giant Ants and organized his inventory.
He put down Bukbuk. Chirpy, whose Summoning time had ended, was dismissed.
Jinsung had reached his goal. Therefore, he started to move.
However, then.
Buk- Buk-
Bukbuk started to crawl somewhere quietly.
It had spotted something that looked delicious.
It was heading toward a pile of Giant Ant’s eggs.
A moment later, Ian started to get some weird system messages.

You destroyed Giant Ant’s egg. You gained 36 EP.
You destroyed Giant Ant’s egg. You gained 32 EP.


What, what the?

Ian was surprised.
The EP was now at 99.9%.

Oh! No!

He shouldn’t gain a level now.

I’m-I’m not leveling-up, right? It can’t be… it can’t be…

However, despite Ian’s eager muttering, system messages kept coming up.

Where… where? Why am I getting EP?

Ian looked around and soon found Bukbuk eating the Ant’s eggs.

Oh… no! Bukbuk, come back!
Ian screamed.
Ian tried to stop it,
Bukbuk, dismiss!

However…
Crush-!
Bukbuk swallowed the last egg while it was glowing white.

You destroyed a Giant Ant’s egg. You gained 45 EP.

And…
A bright light spread out from Ian.

Your level has gone up. You are now Lv. 51.


…

Ian plopped down on the spot while Ly stared at him.
A moment later, Ian realized what had happened and started wailing,
Ahhhh! It can’t be!

Ian kept crying to himself.
‘Oh… I was too greedy… I should have stopped at 98%.’
But what was done was done.
‘Ah… Bukbuk…’
He wanted to summon Bukbuk again and spank it, but he had to wait 30 minutes to summon Bukbuk
again.

Uh… uh…

Moreover, it wasn’t really Bukbuk’s fault.
It was his own fault. He should have been more careful.
Now he had only one choice.

Ly.

Growl-?
Ly tilted its head and looked at Ian’s sad eyes.
Even if it could understand Ian’s commands well, it couldn’t understand Ian’s feelings now.

Just take a break…

Ian dismissed all his pets.

Hu.

Then he took off all the items, except for the Feather Accessory that belonged to his account, and put
them in his inventory.
The was only one thing he could do in order to lose a level.
Suicide.
…
Jinsung took a shower and came out of the bathroom.

Hu, so I am going out… it is dangerous to stay outside the capsule…

It wasn’t time to pay the bills yet, and he had plenty of food left.
Still, he was going out, so he felt very sad.

Ha… my first death after resetting was by suicide…

He hadn’t seen that coming.
He wanted to blame Bukbuk, but he couldn’t.
Bukbuk just wanted to eat some delicious Giant Ant’s eggs!
Jinsung had never told it that it shouldn’t do that…

Anyway, I am going to meet a woman. Should I apply something to my hair?

Jinsung rummaged his drawers and found a can of wax.
He had bought and used it once for a university interview and just threw it into his drawer after that.
It had been a long time since he had his hair cut, so he needed to take care of his hair.
It was the minimum he could do when meeting a woman for the first time…
Jinsung thought so partly because he was fond of Harin.
‘I should leave a good impression to keep getting food from Harin.’
Although it was a little off point…
Ian finished dressing.
He wasn’t that ugly so, after shaving and dressing up properly, he didn’t really look like a game nerd.

Shall I go now?

Jinsung picked up his phone.
There was a message from Harin.

Harin: Ian, I am leaving now. See you in front of the convenience store right next to the back gate!

It was 1:30 p.m. now.

Will time pass faster if I eat lunch with Harin and talk at a café?’
It hadn’t even been three hours since he killed himself.

Hu…

He sighed.
He needed to wait more than 21 hours to log in again.
Waves of grief came to him.

I must endure this.
Jinsung muttered seriously and sent Harin a message as he left his home.

Jinsung: Okay, I am going out now. I will be there in 10 minutes.

Jinsung thought about what he should talk about with Harin as he walked.