4. Level up and Transcender
Kim Yeongyu was a very resourceful broker. He found dungeon cleaning orders as he promised in no time at all.
Five dungeons have been cleaned within a week but the commission reward was frustratingly measly. Usually when the loss outweighed the profits, he refused the jobs.
But, Suhyuk decided to take the cleaning jobs without a word of complaint.
Money was not the most important matter to Suhyuk at the moment. He wasn’t rich, but he had enough to get by comfortably so although there would be a loss he decided to continue cleaning without rest.
As soon as Suhyuk received the used dimensional neutralizer he dashed to the first dungeon.
Rank 1, dimensional dungeon (closed)
unlocking, 18 hours 22 minutes 16 seconds remaining until dungeon break
Suhyuk can now understand a dungeon’s basic information by just looking.
‘Ok, let’s get started.’
Suhyuk didn’t hesitate and stepped into the dungeon gates. But… an unexpected messaged flashed as soon as he stepped in.
Faint dimensional force is in the air.
The concentration is weak so the efficiency is subpar, you are able to absorb the dimensional force.
Di-ring, would you like to absorb the dimensional force?
Upon the message, Suhyuk nodded mindlessly. Soon, the dimensional force began flocking toward Suhyuk like when a neutralizer is turned on.
‘No way!’
Suhyuk quickly prepared his dimensional rifle with matans (monster bullets) as fast as he could.
Schklikt, klikt
Suhyuk reacted on reflex to this very familiar feeling.
Susususu!
As Suhyuk predicted, they started moving.
‘Crap, absorbing dimensional force created the same effect of neutralizing a dungeon? I nodded too readily without thinking.’
Even so, he didn’t have any thought to stop the absorption process.
The process changed a little bit but Suhyuk was thinking of hunting them in this way anyway.
‘I need to kill these guys one way or another.’
Suhyuk analyzed his surroundings and began hunting the monsters. Suhyuk was already talented, but adding the Rank D precision shooting skill core made hunting monsters a piece of cake.
Suhyuk gradually increased his dimensional force through absorption and hunting monsters.
* * *
Suhyuk hunted 12 lesser monsters in the first dungeon. He earned 79 dimensional force hunting the lesser monsters.
He also earned 101 dimensional force through his dimensional absorption skills.
Originally there was 1010 dimensional force in the dungeon, but the concentration was so faint he could only absorb 10% of it.
Suhyuk earned 180 dimensional force with one cleaning. This level of hunting is not bad at all.
Suhyuk estimated the amount of radiation he’s been collecting in his body these past 10 years to be around only 4 thousand, this was certainly a decent income.
Before, a minimum of 12 hours was needed to clean one dungeon. Now, it only took 2 hours.
When Suhyuk finished cleaning out the dungeon, he checked his status window.
Dimensional Power: 2352/4596
Dimension force had increased. The denominator marked amount of dimensional force gathered thus far and the numerator marked the amount of dimensional force left after using various skills.
‘I need to increase the denominator to increase my dimensional level. I need a total of five thousand dimensional force to level up. I might be able to level up by today.’
Suhyuk quietly nodded and reconfirmed the location of the second dungeon that needed cleaning.
Collect dimensional force to increase his level.
Suhyuk could only think of this goal. So, he couldn’t wait to clean out the 5 orders YeonGyu got for him.
The total amount of dimensional force Suhyuk earned in the remaining 4 dungeons was 124, 137, 164, and lastly 177.
A total of 602.
Suhyuk succeeded increasing his dimensional force level.
The total dimensional force has passed 5000.
Congratulations. Your dimensional level has become 20.
Di-ring, Your security rating has gone up from 99 to 98.
Diiiiiii! You have transcended, system is opening.
2000 dimensional force has been consumed for opening transcender system. Time is required for the full transcension of the user’s soul.
Watching the level go up was nice but seeing 2 thousand dimensional force fly out the window in a flash was heart wrenching.
Nevertheless, it was nice that the level and security rating increased. It was confusing what transcension meant, but according to what he’s experienced so far, nothing but helpful things will occur.
‘Phew, it’s a first time I’ve cleaned up 5 dimensional dungeons within a day. I’m so tired.’
After working 14 straight hours without sleep, Suhyuk was able to clean up 5 dimensional dungeons squeaky clean.
‘Let’s get some sleep.’
Suhyuk’s overall strength increased thanks to the passive level up system but hunting for 14 hours straight without rest was not easy at all.
On Suhyuk’s way home, he called YeonGyu and reported the dimensional dungeon has been cleaned.
Although he finished all 5 cleaning jobs, he wasn’t naive enough to report the whole truth.
Yeongyu was not stupid, if he reported all 5 jobs so quickly it would only raise suspicion so Suhyuk reported back to him in a moderate pace.
‘But where do I clean tomorrow? I can’t ask YeonGyu about more jobs…. sigh, I don’t know. I’m too tired right now, I’ll go to sleep and think about this tomorrow.
Suhyuk shook his head and hopped onto his bike.
What Suhyuk needed the most at the moment was rest.
* * *
-Master…
-Master……….
A faint dream like voice.
-Master wake……
-Master wake up.
Suhyuk finally had time to catch up on well needed rest when a voice woke him up.
“What the? Who is this?!”
Suhyuk awoke aggravated and angry. He looked around trying to find the source of the voice.
But no matter where he looked, nobody was to be found. Actually, the voice was resonating inside of his head.
– Master, let’s skip the morning greetings. The current situation urgently needs your attention.
“Wh-Who are you?”
– My introduction will come later. Six rank 1 lesser monsters and three rank 2 lesser monsters are surrounding your house and are rapidly approaching. It will become dangerous if you don’t quickly arm yourself.
“Gasp!”
Suhyuk immediately shot up from bed and swiftly pulled out his dimensional rifle and inserted some bullets.
Schklikt, klikt.
It was the same voice from the transcendental system so he decided it was better to trust it.
– The traps have activated.
PA PA PA PA PANG!
Several traps installed around his house exploded. The traps Suhyuk installed were primitive bombing traps but it was effective against rank 1 and 2 lesser monsters.
– Three of six rank 1 lesser monsters have died. Two more have been gravely damaged. However, one rank 1 and three rank 2 lesser monsters still remain.
Suhyuk listened to the friendly(?) explanation and aimed his dimensional rifle toward the sides he expected the monsters to enter. He had upgraded the dimensional rifle with a new control lever just recently.
– Rank 1 and Rank 2 lesser monsters will intrude into your home.
KWA KWA KWA KWANG!
The information provided was accurate to the level of being creepy and 4 lesser monsters broke into the house the exact second.
Suhyuk pulled the trigger without hesitation.
dudududududu!
The dimensional rifle flared out bursts of fire with every shot. Since Suhyuk was currently on Earth and not a dimensional dungeon it would have been fine to use normal bullets but the situation was too urgent he used matans to get rid of the monsters.
It was the first time a large number of monsters rushed into his house he had little time to properly react, but thanks to the mysterious voice he had enough time of preparation to wipe out all the monsters without stress.
Suhyuk calmly wiped out the 4 monsters inside his house and jumped outside to finish off the two remaining rank 1 lesser monsters rolling around.
Thus, the 9 lesser monsters who attacked Suhyuk was destroyed.
In the process, Suhyuk gained a bit of dimensional force, but he had no luxury to feel happy because the absurd chain of events had stunned him stupid.
– All enemies have been destroyed. You have worked hard.
“……. Who the hell are you?”
-Please let me introduce myself.
– I am Kang Suhyuk’s transcendental system assistant transcender ‘X0001.’
“Transcendental system assistant?”
– Yes, in simple words I’m an artificial intelligence system of the transcendental system to help Master Suhyuk take advantage of the system to 100% I’m an transcender to be exact…. but the words to translate to the current times can only be explained as an artificial intelligence system.
“An AI…. so I’m your owner and you’re my helper”
– That’s right. Please feel free to drop all formalities with me. You may access my help in the same way you use the transcendence system. With just a thought, all of master’s orders will be transferred to me.
“Then if I ask you a question, can you answer them for me?”
Suhyuk easily dropped formalities since the conversation was happening all in his head.
– As long as I have access to the information, I will be able to answer you. However, my security rating is the same as master’s so information exceeding my security rating is not available.
“Is that so? There’s one thing I’ve been wondering all this time, what the hell is the transcendental system?”
– I also do not know the correct definition of the transcendental system. This is only a guess, but our security rating must rise much more to figure this out. But one thing’s for sure, the transcendental system will become a great strength and power to help master.
“I already know this……”
Suhyuk became slightly disappointed because he couldn’t get the answer he wanted. Like the transcender was saying, if he wanted to have access to more information he will need to level up his security level.
– Did you have any other questions?
“What do I call you? Do I call you X0001?”
– Master can call me as you wish.
“Is that so? Then how about ‘Yan?’
Yan was Suhyuk’s puppy who died together with his family.
– Access to the system has been configured to ‘Yan.’
“Okay, Yan. I’ve gotten the general understanding.
He didn’t understand everything but Suhyuk figured out the general existence of the transcendental system.
– By the way, master. There is one important fact master must know.
“Huh? What is it?”
– The raid by the monsters did not happen by chance.
“It was not a coincidence? Then what is it? Why would monsters come attack me?”
Suhyuk was shocked from Yan’s explanation.
– The dimensional radiation from yesterday’s dimensional dungeon has been absorbed. However, the radiation has not fully dissolved into your body and is pooling in various parts of your body. The transcendental system is in the process of neutralizing the radiation, but the problem is it takes time. Therefore, all the monsters within 5km of you will sense the dimensional force from you and track you down.
“Ah…..”
Suhyuk understood why monsters suddenly attacked him in his home all of a sudden.
“Then how much longer will the dimensional force remain pooled in my body until it’s neutralized?”
– With my calculations it will take 1 hour 16 minutes and 44 seconds to neutralize everything.
“Then are there any monsters who will attack me again within that time frame?”
– Without consume further dimensional force, my navigation system can only scan up to 1km. And so, there are no monsters present within the 1 km radius. However you cannot rule out the possibility of monsters outside that radius from tracking you down.
Suhyuk could feel a bit assured with Yan’s words.
‘I shouldn’t blindly absorb dimensional radiation in the future.”
It would have been possible for a greater monster to attack Suhyuk just now.
Suhyuk could take care of lesser monsters, but greater monsters were an impossible opponent.
– That’s right. I agree with master, you should think carefully before absorbing dimensional radiation from now on.
Suhyuk was slightly shocked when Yan read his mind and followed it up with a response, but the system worked with mental strength so he nodded in understanding.
“Then I should prepare for any surprise attacks that could happen within the next hour.”
The morning was chaotic but the time wasn’t spent wastefully.
Transcender Yan, it seems it will become a huge source of strength for Suhyuk in the future.
* * *
In case of another raid, Suhyuk only dismembered the dead monster’s useful parts like its useful bones, teeth, and toes.
The rest was trash so he collected them for burning. After clearing his house Suhyuk pondered what to do next.
Suhyuk informed Yeongyu he finished clearing out the second and third dungeons, but he has yet to tell him the fourth and fifth dungeon has also been cleared so requesting for more jobs was impossible.
But sitting around idly seemed wasteful.
After obtaining the transcendental system, he was filled with vigor to do something. In the past, no amount of effort would change anything in Suhyuk’s life. But everything was different now.
Now, there was many things he could obtain with effort.
One of the first wishes amongst Suhyuk’s to do list was hunting greater monsters.
He could become stronger with effort now. Therefore, Suhyuk could not bear to waste even 1 second of 1 minute of his life anymore.
‘It’s been awhile since I entered a colony.’
Suhyuk who was trapped in his thoughts decided to enter a colony. Suhyuk will be hunting much more monsters than usual so he needed to purchase more monster bullets. He also needed to dispose the monster drops that has been collecting in his storage.
Suhyuk wanted to secure all the required equipments even if it meant spending all his wealth.
“It will be good to catch up on how the world is doing… maybe there are knight units searching for dungeon cleaners?”
Suhyuk didn’t think it would be so bad to become an official dungeon cleaner for specific knight companies.
If he were to become a part of a proper knight company he might get a chance to clean Rank 3 dungeons. Then it would certainly help his growth exponentially.
But it was extremely hard to become a part of a knight company so he didn’t have any huge expectations.
There were two ways a ghost like Suhyuk could enter a colony. An official and unofficial method.
The official way was to get a temporary entry permit. Ideally it was easy, but in reality the procedures to be issued one was complex with many rules.
Much money and time had to be spent, furthermore just the word ‘dungeon cleaner’ was enough to be outright rejected.
Therefore, Suhyuk did not like the official method much.
Suhyuk regularly snuck in through unofficial methods.
Unofficially, it is very simple.
It was to secretly bribe one of the gatekeepers of the colony borders to gain entry.
As long as you had a counterfeit entry permit and didn’t cause trouble within the colony it was almost impossible to be found out.
Suhyuk would not stay long and he needed to bring in many items into the colony so using the official method was impossible. He snuck into Suwon colony through unofficial ways like always.
He needed to bribe the gatekeeper with a higher price than normal since he had a ton of items but in the end he would gain more through this transactions in the colony.
Creeeak. BOOM!
Once Suhyuk confirmed the gate close behind him, he continued into the inner colony.
Suwon Colony had a ‘Grade A’ barrier, 20m high and 7m thick. Suwon was one of the top 5 biggest colonies of South Korea so a “Grade A’ barrier was common sense.
That’s not all, the barrier was reinforced with an upgraded barrier systems every 2 years and always received an ‘A+’ rating from officials.
Suwon colony always had blue titans on stand by in tip top condition to defend against monsters which helped its citizens feel very secured.
These blue dragon titans belonged to the Blue Dragon Knight Company. The titan showed off an impressive blue dragon which spanned across from the titan’s left shoulder all the way to the right.
The Blue Dragon Company used 2 blue dragons. One for use inside dungeons and the remaining for colony defense. The blue dragon outside in plain view was probably for the latter reason.
Its height was a staggering 8.1m and width of 4.4m. It was a similar size to normal titans but its gloves had many layers of external coating and gave off an intimidating look.
The blue dragon’s horns looked like giant axes that could easily tear a monster in two with one breath. The blue dragon’s model was a 3rd generation titan, one of the newest models.
There were rumors of a 4th generation titan but that was still in the development phase.
‘It looks so cool no matter how many times I see it.’
Whenever Suhyuk visited Suwon colony, he would take some time to admire the blue dragon from afar. Suhyuk already operated the blue dragon thousands of times in his imagination. In reality, it was impossible to even admire the titan close up.
Suwon colony was traditionally the home to many strong knights. There were several talented private knight companies inside Suwon Colony, but the Blue Dragon Knight Company had the most popularity so the presence for the rest of the companies were practically nonexistant.
The world inside the colony was very different than the outside.
On the outside, the colony gave off a murky and end of the world feeling. But inside, it was not that way at all.
Rather, with the development from monster engineers human life became much more prosperous. Humans can now liver longer healthier lives and the basic living facilities cannot be compared to 20 years ago.
Lesser or greater monsters would appear time to time, but that would be dealt with swiftly and so survival against monsters were not much of a problem for people inside colonies.
Rather, there were more people who would die trying to hunt monsters inside dimensional dungeons than deaths inside colonies.
‘Monster engineers estimated the average lifespan of citizens to be 90 years…. while ghosts had an average life span of about 50 years.’
Suhyuk had a bitter expression thinking of the lifespan of citizens versus ghosts.
Following zero impact, society built colonies and the world population segragated into ranks.
Amongst the ranks of human society, knights were at the top. Knights were free from dimensional radiation and had an average lifespan of about 140 years.
Crucially, their strength exceeded normal human powers.
Knights had ranks of their own, but even mere soldier knights were highly respected by the rest of society.
If one had to explain, knights were like the nobility of the middle ages. Below knights, many others existed.
Other than knights, people of similar ranks were rich businessmen or talented monster engineers.
Amongst citizens, the lowest ranking were work ants who were promised security in exchange for manual labor. However, their quality of life was not too different from ghosts.
Work ants labored in large scale farms outside of colonies or in factories while living inside the colonies.
If you calculated accurately, ghosts had a little more room to live comfortably because work ants had to labor while paying hefty taxes to live inside colonies.
Suhyun headed to the black market while thinking of various things.
The black market existed in the slums located in the H section of Suwon colony. The Suwon Colony management was aware of the black market, but they didn’t care to rid of its existence because the black market was a necessary evil so they tacitly recognized them.
kkkeee.
Suhyuk opened the door to the store he visited regularly. You would think the black market would be dark and filled with cigarette smoke, but in reality it was not so.
On the outside, it seemed to be a café who sold coffee and various other soft drinks.
“Oh! Who do we have here? Kiddo! It’s been a while. ”
The store owner smiled brightly while standing up from his seat. This was the big boss of Suwon Colony’s black market Seo WonTaek.
He was also Suhyuk’s life savior.
“Hello.”
Suhyuk did not care for others, but for Seo Wontaek, he felt nothing but great respect. When Suhyuk lost everything and had to dig through trash for food, Seo Wontaek taught him skills to survive as a proper human. He taught Suhyuk how to survive in this hellish world. He lent all the necessary basic equipment when Suhyuk annouced he would jump into the dungeon cleaning business.
However, Seo Wontaek is not such a generous business man to handout free charity. He made himself clear to Suhyuk, he was making an investment. Suhyuk would need to repay the debts with additional interest later on.
In fact later, he made exact calculations for the interest and collected all the debt. Still, it didn’t change the fact that Seo Wontaek was Suhyuk’s life savior.
“It’s been so long I thought you retired from the cleaning business.”
“like I’ll ever retire. The jobs drastically decreased these days so I don’t need as much equipment now.”
“True, the job market isn’t the same anymore. The knight companies are trying to take control of the cleaning jobs now…. they used to say it was too troublesome and throw away the monster parts.
“The job market for knights are just as tough these days. I heard there are soldier ranked knights who work as helpers these days, is that true?”
“It’s not just a handful, they call all soldier ranked knights helpers these days. The amount of knights have increased a ton so it’s difficult to get into a knight company with a mere soldier rank.
“It’s that bad?”
“That’s why the knights take care of the dead monster parts now when before it was just a troublesome peasant job”
“Oh, I see.”
Suhyuk finally understood why the jobs available drastically decreased recently from Seo WonTaek’s words.
“Additionally, the demand for monster bones and teeth drastically increased. Lesser monsters can’t compare to greater monsters, but lesser monsters have claws and teeth as strong as steel. More people have been creating affordable versions of weapons with lesser monsters bones instead of solely relying on greater monsters for raw material since they don’t turn to stone in dungeons like normal metals.
“I guess the supply for greater monster bones is lacking compared to the demand.”
“The amount of greater monsters being caught has not changed, but the demand for its supplies exponentially increased so this result can’t be helped.”
Monster engineers call the raw materials extracted from greater monster bones as ‘adamantium.’ Adamantium is a legendary fictional element that does not exist in reality, but monster engineers attached this name because a greater monster’s bones are metal in nature.
“The market price must have risen as well, right?”
“Greater monster bones are expensive, but lesser monsters only rose by a little bit.”
“Then has the price for matans gone up?”
Matans are the main weapon to gauge the average market price for weapons. When the price of matans rise, every other material will rise along with it.
“No, matan’s market price has gone down. More people are producing matans from lesser monsters so the price drastically fell.
“Is that so? Quality is not a problem? ”
“Not at all! The skills of closet smiths have drastically increased so you’ll find bullets produced from lesser monsters to be better quality than previous versions made from greater monsters.”
Seo Wontaek refered black market weapon smiths as closet smiths.
“Incredible.”
“the world is changing in a horrifying fast pace. Did you know that? The titans produced in the earlier days are used for construction in the colony now.”
“Ah! The antique robots anyone could control and not the ones especially made for a knight’s private use, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. People weren’t allowed to use the antique for every day tasks like construction, but now people are using it without a second thought like nothing. The world became such a convenient place.”
“They’re probably only using the antique titans because they are made from steel.”
The raw materials used to produce newer generation Titans are 100 percent adamantium (greater monster’s bones). This was the only way Titans can be useful inside dungeons.
However, Titans made from steel exist as well. Steel titans are useless inside dungeons since they turn into nothing but dead weight, but they are quite useful outside of dungeons.
Colonies therefore keep steel titans for purely defense purposes.
“Now, what do you want? Matans? Neutralizer? ”
“I want to dispose these items first. Then, I want 4 boxes of matans as well as 1 box of neutralizers. Please give me 2 boxes of normal matans, 1 box of burning matans, and 1 box of explosive matans.
Suhyuk dropped his large backpack and listed the items he needed to purchase.
“Why did you need so much burning and explosive matans? You said it was too expensive and didn’t bother looking at them before.”
“I did, but my situation is getting dangerous these days so I thought i would purchase some.”
Burning and explosive matans are about a hundred times more powerful than normal matans.
“I’ve heard much have changed for the worst outside the colonies these days. Then why don’t you try ice matans too? This also has good performance.”
“Whatever you call it, it’s only a simple monster bullet. No matter how many special tricks you shove into a matan, it has its limits. I only need burning and explosive bullets.
“It’s as you say, a matan is just a matan. Then shall I provide your usual mithril crafts?”
Seo WonTaek said while nodding along to Suhyuk’s statement. There are many useful monster weapons invented by monster engineers these days but monster weapons have their limits.
“Yes, I’ll take that one.”
Mithril crafters were one of Korea’s top three Matop.
Matop were locations monster craftsmen craft, but to be considered a ‘Matop’ the location needs to be moderately large in scale.
Once Seo WonTaek received the orders, he pushed the showcase to one side. On the other side, a new room was revealed.
Countless items were piled up inside. Most were dungeon weapons black listed for personal transactions.
Seo WonTaek quickly organized the needed items and returned the showcases to its original position.
“Four boxes of matan. I’ll subtract the necessary amount of money from the monster bones you’ve brought me.
“If you don’t have enough, please call. I’ll deposit it right away.”
“From the sheer amount, it should be more than enough.”
“Thank you.”
Suhyuk bowed respectfully once more.
“I’ve said this to you before but, I’ve reaped the profits by collecting all the debts plus interest already. There’s no need for you to behave so respectfully since you don’t owe me anything anymore.
“Even so, it doesn’t change the fact that boss is my life’s savior.”
He lost everyone he ever cherished and now the only person he was close to was Seo WonTaek. And so, it couldn’t be helped Suhyuk felt so much respect for Seo WonTaek.
“I should really give you credit for that stubborn nature of yours.”
Seo WonTaek had a hopeless face and shook his head.
“I’ll take my leave then.”
After Suhyuk pulled out all the monster’s bones, he packed 4 boxes of matan and neutralizers.
Now that he purchased all his needed items, it was time to go around the colony for some information.
“Yes, goodby… Oh, wait a minute. Are you interested in cleaning Rank 3 dungeons?”
“Rank 3? Of course I will do it if available.”
“Is that so? That’s great then. There was someone looking for dungeon cleaners who are good at keeping secrets, are you interested?”
“Yes, of course I’m interested.”
The dungeon wasn’t a rank 1 or 2, but a rank 3.
That meant it was possible to collect much more dimensional force. Suhyuk, who’ve been starved of dimensional force, couldn’t help but show interested.
4. Level up and Transcender
Kim Yeongyu was a very resourceful broker. He found dungeon cleaning orders as he promised in no time at all.
Five dungeons have been cleaned within a week but the commission reward was frustratingly measly. Usually when the loss outweighed the profits, he refused the jobs.
But, Suhyuk decided to take the cleaning jobs without a word of complaint.
Money was not the most important matter to Suhyuk at the moment. He wasn’t rich, but he had enough to get by comfortably so although there would be a loss he decided to continue cleaning without rest.
As soon as Suhyuk received the used dimensional neutralizer he dashed to the first dungeon.
Rank 1, dimensional dungeon (closed)
unlocking, 18 hours 22 minutes 16 seconds remaining until dungeon break
Suhyuk can now understand a dungeon’s basic information by just looking.
‘Ok, let’s get started.’
Suhyuk didn’t hesitate and stepped into the dungeon gates. But… an unexpected messaged flashed as soon as he stepped in.
Faint dimensional force is in the air.
The concentration is weak so the efficiency is subpar, you are able to absorb the dimensional force.
Di-ring, would you like to absorb the dimensional force?
Upon the message, Suhyuk nodded mindlessly. Soon, the dimensional force began flocking toward Suhyuk like when a neutralizer is turned on.
‘No way!’
Suhyuk quickly prepared his dimensional rifle with matans (monster bullets) as fast as he could.
Schklikt, klikt
Suhyuk reacted on reflex to this very familiar feeling.
Susususu!
As Suhyuk predicted, they started moving.
‘Crap, absorbing dimensional force created the same effect of neutralizing a dungeon? I nodded too readily without thinking.’
Even so, he didn’t have any thought to stop the absorption process.
The process changed a little bit but Suhyuk was thinking of hunting them in this way anyway.
‘I need to kill these guys one way or another.’
Suhyuk analyzed his surroundings and began hunting the monsters. Suhyuk was already talented, but adding the Rank D precision shooting skill core made hunting monsters a piece of cake.
Suhyuk gradually increased his dimensional force through absorption and hunting monsters.
* * *
Suhyuk hunted 12 lesser monsters in the first dungeon. He earned 79 dimensional force hunting the lesser monsters.
He also earned 101 dimensional force through his dimensional absorption skills.
Originally there was 1010 dimensional force in the dungeon, but the concentration was so faint he could only absorb 10% of it.
Suhyuk earned 180 dimensional force with one cleaning. This level of hunting is not bad at all.
Suhyuk estimated the amount of radiation he’s been collecting in his body these past 10 years to be around only 4 thousand, this was certainly a decent income.
Before, a minimum of 12 hours was needed to clean one dungeon. Now, it only took 2 hours.
When Suhyuk finished cleaning out the dungeon, he checked his status window.
Dimensional Power: 2352/4596
Dimension force had increased. The denominator marked amount of dimensional force gathered thus far and the numerator marked the amount of dimensional force left after using various skills.
‘I need to increase the denominator to increase my dimensional level. I need a total of five thousand dimensional force to level up. I might be able to level up by today.’
Suhyuk quietly nodded and reconfirmed the location of the second dungeon that needed cleaning.
Collect dimensional force to increase his level.
Suhyuk could only think of this goal. So, he couldn’t wait to clean out the 5 orders YeonGyu got for him.
The total amount of dimensional force Suhyuk earned in the remaining 4 dungeons was 124, 137, 164, and lastly 177.
A total of 602.
Suhyuk succeeded increasing his dimensional force level.
The total dimensional force has passed 5000.
Congratulations. Your dimensional level has become 20.
Di-ring, Your security rating has gone up from 99 to 98.
Diiiiiii! You have transcended, system is opening.
2000 dimensional force has been consumed for opening transcender system. Time is required for the full transcension of the user’s soul.
Watching the level go up was nice but seeing 2 thousand dimensional force fly out the window in a flash was heart wrenching.
Nevertheless, it was nice that the level and security rating increased. It was confusing what transcension meant, but according to what he’s experienced so far, nothing but helpful things will occur.
‘Phew, it’s a first time I’ve cleaned up 5 dimensional dungeons within a day. I’m so tired.’
After working 14 straight hours without sleep, Suhyuk was able to clean up 5 dimensional dungeons squeaky clean.
‘Let’s get some sleep.’
Suhyuk’s overall strength increased thanks to the passive level up system but hunting for 14 hours straight without rest was not easy at all.
On Suhyuk’s way home, he called YeonGyu and reported the dimensional dungeon has been cleaned.
Although he finished all 5 cleaning jobs, he wasn’t naive enough to report the whole truth.
Yeongyu was not stupid, if he reported all 5 jobs so quickly it would only raise suspicion so Suhyuk reported back to him in a moderate pace.
‘But where do I clean tomorrow? I can’t ask YeonGyu about more jobs…. sigh, I don’t know. I’m too tired right now, I’ll go to sleep and think about this tomorrow.
Suhyuk shook his head and hopped onto his bike.
What Suhyuk needed the most at the moment was rest.
* * *
-Master…
-Master……….
A faint dream like voice.
-Master wake……
-Master wake up.
Suhyuk finally had time to catch up on well needed rest when a voice woke him up.
“What the? Who is this?!”
Suhyuk awoke aggravated and angry. He looked around trying to find the source of the voice.
But no matter where he looked, nobody was to be found. Actually, the voice was resonating inside of his head.
– Master, let’s skip the morning greetings. The current situation urgently needs your attention.
“Wh-Who are you?”
– My introduction will come later. Six rank 1 lesser monsters and three rank 2 lesser monsters are surrounding your house and are rapidly approaching. It will become dangerous if you don’t quickly arm yourself.
“Gasp!”
Suhyuk immediately shot up from bed and swiftly pulled out his dimensional rifle and inserted some bullets.
Schklikt, klikt.
It was the same voice from the transcendental system so he decided it was better to trust it.
– The traps have activated.
PA PA PA PA PANG!
Several traps installed around his house exploded. The traps Suhyuk installed were primitive bombing traps but it was effective against rank 1 and 2 lesser monsters.
– Three of six rank 1 lesser monsters have died. Two more have been gravely damaged. However, one rank 1 and three rank 2 lesser monsters still remain.
Suhyuk listened to the friendly(?) explanation and aimed his dimensional rifle toward the sides he expected the monsters to enter. He had upgraded the dimensional rifle with a new control lever just recently.
– Rank 1 and Rank 2 lesser monsters will intrude into your home.
KWA KWA KWA KWANG!
The information provided was accurate to the level of being creepy and 4 lesser monsters broke into the house the exact second.
Suhyuk pulled the trigger without hesitation.
dudududududu!
The dimensional rifle flared out bursts of fire with every shot. Since Suhyuk was currently on Earth and not a dimensional dungeon it would have been fine to use normal bullets but the situation was too urgent he used matans to get rid of the monsters.
It was the first time a large number of monsters rushed into his house he had little time to properly react, but thanks to the mysterious voice he had enough time of preparation to wipe out all the monsters without stress.
Suhyuk calmly wiped out the 4 monsters inside his house and jumped outside to finish off the two remaining rank 1 lesser monsters rolling around.
Thus, the 9 lesser monsters who attacked Suhyuk was destroyed.
In the process, Suhyuk gained a bit of dimensional force, but he had no luxury to feel happy because the absurd chain of events had stunned him stupid.
– All enemies have been destroyed. You have worked hard.
“……. Who the hell are you?”
-Please let me introduce myself.
– I am Kang Suhyuk’s transcendental system assistant transcender ‘X0001.’
“Transcendental system assistant?”
– Yes, in simple words I’m an artificial intelligence system of the transcendental system to help Master Suhyuk take advantage of the system to 100% I’m an transcender to be exact…. but the words to translate to the current times can only be explained as an artificial intelligence system.
“An AI…. so I’m your owner and you’re my helper”
– That’s right. Please feel free to drop all formalities with me. You may access my help in the same way you use the transcendence system. With just a thought, all of master’s orders will be transferred to me.
“Then if I ask you a question, can you answer them for me?”
Suhyuk easily dropped formalities since the conversation was happening all in his head.
– As long as I have access to the information, I will be able to answer you. However, my security rating is the same as master’s so information exceeding my security rating is not available.
“Is that so? There’s one thing I’ve been wondering all this time, what the hell is the transcendental system?”
– I also do not know the correct definition of the transcendental system. This is only a guess, but our security rating must rise much more to figure this out. But one thing’s for sure, the transcendental system will become a great strength and power to help master.
“I already know this……”
Suhyuk became slightly disappointed because he couldn’t get the answer he wanted. Like the transcender was saying, if he wanted to have access to more information he will need to level up his security level.
– Did you have any other questions?
“What do I call you? Do I call you X0001?”
– Master can call me as you wish.
“Is that so? Then how about ‘Yan?’
Yan was Suhyuk’s puppy who died together with his family.
– Access to the system has been configured to ‘Yan.’
“Okay, Yan. I’ve gotten the general understanding.
He didn’t understand everything but Suhyuk figured out the general existence of the transcendental system.
– By the way, master. There is one important fact master must know.
“Huh? What is it?”
– The raid by the monsters did not happen by chance.
“It was not a coincidence? Then what is it? Why would monsters come attack me?”
Suhyuk was shocked from Yan’s explanation.
– The dimensional radiation from yesterday’s dimensional dungeon has been absorbed. However, the radiation has not fully dissolved into your body and is pooling in various parts of your body. The transcendental system is in the process of neutralizing the radiation, but the problem is it takes time. Therefore, all the monsters within 5km of you will sense the dimensional force from you and track you down.
“Ah…..”
Suhyuk understood why monsters suddenly attacked him in his home all of a sudden.
“Then how much longer will the dimensional force remain pooled in my body until it’s neutralized?”
– With my calculations it will take 1 hour 16 minutes and 44 seconds to neutralize everything.
“Then are there any monsters who will attack me again within that time frame?”
– Without consume further dimensional force, my navigation system can only scan up to 1km. And so, there are no monsters present within the 1 km radius. However you cannot rule out the possibility of monsters outside that radius from tracking you down.
Suhyuk could feel a bit assured with Yan’s words.
‘I shouldn’t blindly absorb dimensional radiation in the future.”
It would have been possible for a greater monster to attack Suhyuk just now.
Suhyuk could take care of lesser monsters, but greater monsters were an impossible opponent.
– That’s right. I agree with master, you should think carefully before absorbing dimensional radiation from now on.
Suhyuk was slightly shocked when Yan read his mind and followed it up with a response, but the system worked with mental strength so he nodded in understanding.
“Then I should prepare for any surprise attacks that could happen within the next hour.”
The morning was chaotic but the time wasn’t spent wastefully.
Transcender Yan, it seems it will become a huge source of strength for Suhyuk in the future.
* * *
In case of another raid, Suhyuk only dismembered the dead monster’s useful parts like its useful bones, teeth, and toes.
The rest was trash so he collected them for burning. After clearing his house Suhyuk pondered what to do next.
Suhyuk informed Yeongyu he finished clearing out the second and third dungeons, but he has yet to tell him the fourth and fifth dungeon has also been cleared so requesting for more jobs was impossible.
But sitting around idly seemed wasteful.
After obtaining the transcendental system, he was filled with vigor to do something. In the past, no amount of effort would change anything in Suhyuk’s life. But everything was different now.
Now, there was many things he could obtain with effort.
One of the first wishes amongst Suhyuk’s to do list was hunting greater monsters.
He could become stronger with effort now. Therefore, Suhyuk could not bear to waste even 1 second of 1 minute of his life anymore.
‘It’s been awhile since I entered a colony.’
Suhyuk who was trapped in his thoughts decided to enter a colony. Suhyuk will be hunting much more monsters than usual so he needed to purchase more monster bullets. He also needed to dispose the monster drops that has been collecting in his storage.
Suhyuk wanted to secure all the required equipments even if it meant spending all his wealth.
“It will be good to catch up on how the world is doing… maybe there are knight units searching for dungeon cleaners?”
Suhyuk didn’t think it would be so bad to become an official dungeon cleaner for specific knight companies.
If he were to become a part of a proper knight company he might get a chance to clean Rank 3 dungeons. Then it would certainly help his growth exponentially.
But it was extremely hard to become a part of a knight company so he didn’t have any huge expectations.
There were two ways a ghost like Suhyuk could enter a colony. An official and unofficial method.
The official way was to get a temporary entry permit. Ideally it was easy, but in reality the procedures to be issued one was complex with many rules.
Much money and time had to be spent, furthermore just the word ‘dungeon cleaner’ was enough to be outright rejected.
Therefore, Suhyuk did not like the official method much.
Suhyuk regularly snuck in through unofficial methods.
Unofficially, it is very simple.
It was to secretly bribe one of the gatekeepers of the colony borders to gain entry.
As long as you had a counterfeit entry permit and didn’t cause trouble within the colony it was almost impossible to be found out.
Suhyuk would not stay long and he needed to bring in many items into the colony so using the official method was impossible. He snuck into Suwon colony through unofficial ways like always.
He needed to bribe the gatekeeper with a higher price than normal since he had a ton of items but in the end he would gain more through this transactions in the colony.
Creeeak. BOOM!
Once Suhyuk confirmed the gate close behind him, he continued into the inner colony.
Suwon Colony had a ‘Grade A’ barrier, 20m high and 7m thick. Suwon was one of the top 5 biggest colonies of South Korea so a “Grade A’ barrier was common sense.
That’s not all, the barrier was reinforced with an upgraded barrier systems every 2 years and always received an ‘A+’ rating from officials.
Suwon colony always had blue titans on stand by in tip top condition to defend against monsters which helped its citizens feel very secured.
These blue dragon titans belonged to the Blue Dragon Knight Company. The titan showed off an impressive blue dragon which spanned across from the titan’s left shoulder all the way to the right.
The Blue Dragon Company used 2 blue dragons. One for use inside dungeons and the remaining for colony defense. The blue dragon outside in plain view was probably for the latter reason.
Its height was a staggering 8.1m and width of 4.4m. It was a similar size to normal titans but its gloves had many layers of external coating and gave off an intimidating look.
The blue dragon’s horns looked like giant axes that could easily tear a monster in two with one breath. The blue dragon’s model was a 3rd generation titan, one of the newest models.
There were rumors of a 4th generation titan but that was still in the development phase.
‘It looks so cool no matter how many times I see it.’
Whenever Suhyuk visited Suwon colony, he would take some time to admire the blue dragon from afar. Suhyuk already operated the blue dragon thousands of times in his imagination. In reality, it was impossible to even admire the titan close up.
Suwon colony was traditionally the home to many strong knights. There were several talented private knight companies inside Suwon Colony, but the Blue Dragon Knight Company had the most popularity so the presence for the rest of the companies were practically nonexistant.
The world inside the colony was very different than the outside.
On the outside, the colony gave off a murky and end of the world feeling. But inside, it was not that way at all.
Rather, with the development from monster engineers human life became much more prosperous. Humans can now liver longer healthier lives and the basic living facilities cannot be compared to 20 years ago.
Lesser or greater monsters would appear time to time, but that would be dealt with swiftly and so survival against monsters were not much of a problem for people inside colonies.
Rather, there were more people who would die trying to hunt monsters inside dimensional dungeons than deaths inside colonies.
‘Monster engineers estimated the average lifespan of citizens to be 90 years…. while ghosts had an average life span of about 50 years.’
Suhyuk had a bitter expression thinking of the lifespan of citizens versus ghosts.
Following zero impact, society built colonies and the world population segragated into ranks.
Amongst the ranks of human society, knights were at the top. Knights were free from dimensional radiation and had an average lifespan of about 140 years.
Crucially, their strength exceeded normal human powers.
Knights had ranks of their own, but even mere soldier knights were highly respected by the rest of society.
If one had to explain, knights were like the nobility of the middle ages. Below knights, many others existed.
Other than knights, people of similar ranks were rich businessmen or talented monster engineers.
Amongst citizens, the lowest ranking were work ants who were promised security in exchange for manual labor. However, their quality of life was not too different from ghosts.
Work ants labored in large scale farms outside of colonies or in factories while living inside the colonies.
If you calculated accurately, ghosts had a little more room to live comfortably because work ants had to labor while paying hefty taxes to live inside colonies.
Suhyun headed to the black market while thinking of various things.
The black market existed in the slums located in the H section of Suwon colony. The Suwon Colony management was aware of the black market, but they didn’t care to rid of its existence because the black market was a necessary evil so they tacitly recognized them.
kkkeee.
Suhyuk opened the door to the store he visited regularly. You would think the black market would be dark and filled with cigarette smoke, but in reality it was not so.
On the outside, it seemed to be a café who sold coffee and various other soft drinks.
“Oh! Who do we have here? Kiddo! It’s been a while. ”
The store owner smiled brightly while standing up from his seat. This was the big boss of Suwon Colony’s black market Seo WonTaek.
He was also Suhyuk’s life savior.
“Hello.”
Suhyuk did not care for others, but for Seo Wontaek, he felt nothing but great respect. When Suhyuk lost everything and had to dig through trash for food, Seo Wontaek taught him skills to survive as a proper human. He taught Suhyuk how to survive in this hellish world. He lent all the necessary basic equipment when Suhyuk annouced he would jump into the dungeon cleaning business.
However, Seo Wontaek is not such a generous business man to handout free charity. He made himself clear to Suhyuk, he was making an investment. Suhyuk would need to repay the debts with additional interest later on.
In fact later, he made exact calculations for the interest and collected all the debt. Still, it didn’t change the fact that Seo Wontaek was Suhyuk’s life savior.
“It’s been so long I thought you retired from the cleaning business.”
“like I’ll ever retire. The jobs drastically decreased these days so I don’t need as much equipment now.”
“True, the job market isn’t the same anymore. The knight companies are trying to take control of the cleaning jobs now…. they used to say it was too troublesome and throw away the monster parts.
“The job market for knights are just as tough these days. I heard there are soldier ranked knights who work as helpers these days, is that true?”
“It’s not just a handful, they call all soldier ranked knights helpers these days. The amount of knights have increased a ton so it’s difficult to get into a knight company with a mere soldier rank.
“It’s that bad?”
“That’s why the knights take care of the dead monster parts now when before it was just a troublesome peasant job”
“Oh, I see.”
Suhyuk finally understood why the jobs available drastically decreased recently from Seo WonTaek’s words.
“Additionally, the demand for monster bones and teeth drastically increased. Lesser monsters can’t compare to greater monsters, but lesser monsters have claws and teeth as strong as steel. More people have been creating affordable versions of weapons with lesser monsters bones instead of solely relying on greater monsters for raw material since they don’t turn to stone in dungeons like normal metals.
“I guess the supply for greater monster bones is lacking compared to the demand.”
“The amount of greater monsters being caught has not changed, but the demand for its supplies exponentially increased so this result can’t be helped.”
Monster engineers call the raw materials extracted from greater monster bones as ‘adamantium.’ Adamantium is a legendary fictional element that does not exist in reality, but monster engineers attached this name because a greater monster’s bones are metal in nature.
“The market price must have risen as well, right?”
“Greater monster bones are expensive, but lesser monsters only rose by a little bit.”
“Then has the price for matans gone up?”
Matans are the main weapon to gauge the average market price for weapons. When the price of matans rise, every other material will rise along with it.
“No, matan’s market price has gone down. More people are producing matans from lesser monsters so the price drastically fell.
“Is that so? Quality is not a problem? ”
“Not at all! The skills of closet smiths have drastically increased so you’ll find bullets produced from lesser monsters to be better quality than previous versions made from greater monsters.”
Seo Wontaek refered black market weapon smiths as closet smiths.
“Incredible.”
“the world is changing in a horrifying fast pace. Did you know that? The titans produced in the earlier days are used for construction in the colony now.”
“Ah! The antique robots anyone could control and not the ones especially made for a knight’s private use, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. People weren’t allowed to use the antique for every day tasks like construction, but now people are using it without a second thought like nothing. The world became such a convenient place.”
“They’re probably only using the antique titans because they are made from steel.”
The raw materials used to produce newer generation Titans are 100 percent adamantium (greater monster’s bones). This was the only way Titans can be useful inside dungeons.
However, Titans made from steel exist as well. Steel titans are useless inside dungeons since they turn into nothing but dead weight, but they are quite useful outside of dungeons.
Colonies therefore keep steel titans for purely defense purposes.
“Now, what do you want? Matans? Neutralizer? ”
“I want to dispose these items first. Then, I want 4 boxes of matans as well as 1 box of neutralizers. Please give me 2 boxes of normal matans, 1 box of burning matans, and 1 box of explosive matans.
Suhyuk dropped his large backpack and listed the items he needed to purchase.
“Why did you need so much burning and explosive matans? You said it was too expensive and didn’t bother looking at them before.”
“I did, but my situation is getting dangerous these days so I thought i would purchase some.”
Burning and explosive matans are about a hundred times more powerful than normal matans.
“I’ve heard much have changed for the worst outside the colonies these days. Then why don’t you try ice matans too? This also has good performance.”
“Whatever you call it, it’s only a simple monster bullet. No matter how many special tricks you shove into a matan, it has its limits. I only need burning and explosive bullets.
“It’s as you say, a matan is just a matan. Then shall I provide your usual mithril crafts?”
Seo WonTaek said while nodding along to Suhyuk’s statement. There are many useful monster weapons invented by monster engineers these days but monster weapons have their limits.
“Yes, I’ll take that one.”
Mithril crafters were one of Korea’s top three Matop.
Matop were locations monster craftsmen craft, but to be considered a ‘Matop’ the location needs to be moderately large in scale.
Once Seo WonTaek received the orders, he pushed the showcase to one side. On the other side, a new room was revealed.
Countless items were piled up inside. Most were dungeon weapons black listed for personal transactions.
Seo WonTaek quickly organized the needed items and returned the showcases to its original position.
“Four boxes of matan. I’ll subtract the necessary amount of money from the monster bones you’ve brought me.
“If you don’t have enough, please call. I’ll deposit it right away.”
“From the sheer amount, it should be more than enough.”
“Thank you.”
Suhyuk bowed respectfully once more.
“I’ve said this to you before but, I’ve reaped the profits by collecting all the debts plus interest already. There’s no need for you to behave so respectfully since you don’t owe me anything anymore.
“Even so, it doesn’t change the fact that boss is my life’s savior.”
He lost everyone he ever cherished and now the only person he was close to was Seo WonTaek. And so, it couldn’t be helped Suhyuk felt so much respect for Seo WonTaek.
“I should really give you credit for that stubborn nature of yours.”
Seo WonTaek had a hopeless face and shook his head.
“I’ll take my leave then.”
After Suhyuk pulled out all the monster’s bones, he packed 4 boxes of matan and neutralizers.
Now that he purchased all his needed items, it was time to go around the colony for some information.
“Yes, goodby… Oh, wait a minute. Are you interested in cleaning Rank 3 dungeons?”
“Rank 3? Of course I will do it if available.”
“Is that so? That’s great then. There was someone looking for dungeon cleaners who are good at keeping secrets, are you interested?”
“Yes, of course I’m interested.”
The dungeon wasn’t a rank 1 or 2, but a rank 3.
That meant it was possible to collect much more dimensional force. Suhyuk, who’ve been starved of dimensional force, couldn’t help but show interested.
