The Skill Maker

<Secrets #1>

Edited By: Sebas Tian

He leveled up and even felt that he became stronger.

There was no reason for him to dislike it.

“I’ll calculate today’s work and send it to you. Oh, and the payment for the blue portal, did you get it?”

“Yes.”

He didn’t get as much as he expected.

He thought they would offer three times more since there were three monsters, but that wasn’t the case.

On top of that, foreign hunters receive more.

‘Maybe that’s why. Anyways, I was pretty disappointed.’

Honestly, it was a good amount, but since there were a lot of things he had to spend it on, he couldn’t help but be disappointed.

“For the monster that you killed today, since you leveled up, I’ll give you all of it. Or, do you prefer taking the Energy Stone instead?”

“No, please deposit it to my account.”

Right now, money was more important to him.

‘Will it be possible if I add the money I received from the blue portal?’

On top of that, he hunted several of them.

‘The more there are, the better.’

When he thought about all the money that was going to come in, his tiredness went away.

“Hyun-Soo, have you thought about the offer?”

Kim Yoo-Na asked in the car while driving.

“…I did, but I haven’t made a decision yet.”

It’s only been a couple of days and she was already asking for an answer.

‘Well, making a decision as soon as possible is better. If I do end up following Kim Yoo-Na, there’s no point in buying my parents a store.’

But, he hasn’t decided at all.

He couldn’t just sit there and contemplate about it all day.

He decided to do what he could for now and decide later on.

‘It won’t be too late to decide then anyways.’

His head would start hurting every time he thought about it. It’s because there were a lot of things he had to consider.

Hyun-Soo turned on the computer when he got home.

‘Should I at least look up the market price?’

Since he couldn’t make a decision yet, he decided to at least research the cost.

‘It’s probably better to purchase the building.’

The place his mother is working at right now was under attack because of the landlord.

Because of that, Hyun-Soo wanted to purchase a building so that they wouldn’t experience something like that again.

But, the cost was more than he expected.

“Wow.”

‘How many zeroes are there?’

He looked at a random real estate website and was shocked by the price.

‘The money that Kim Yoo-Na is going to send won’t really help.’

That’s when Hyun-Soo understood why most people dreamed of being a landlord and wanted to live off of the rent that the tenants pay.

He didn’t have any interest in this before, so he just thought about buying a building…

Whenever Kim Yoo-Na suggested on hunting more than one portal, he had to welcome it.

‘I need to…hunt a lot more portals from now on.’

***

“Kim Yoo-Na? Why…no, why is that person here?”

They were going to hunt a green portal today.

He had seen this woman with ginger-colored hair once.

They waved happily as if they were waiting for Kim Yoo-Na and Hyun-Soo.

They of course turned their head as soon as they saw Hyun-Soo.

“Katrina tends to act on her own.”

Whew……

Kim Yoo-Na let out a deep sigh.

Hyun-Soo was able to see her tired face.

“There’s someone that takes care of me and Katrina knows them too. It seems like she found out and followed me.”

Kim Yoo-Na explained that she was receiving a lot of help in Korea since she spent a lot of time overseas.

“I’ll try talking to her.”

When Kim Yoo-Na approached her, Katrina attached herself to her.

“********.”

“******? ****!”

‘I don’t know what they’re saying, but it seems like she’s telling Katrina to stop and Katrina is denying her request.’

That’s what it seemed like.

They talked for a while.

It wasn’t really a conversation since Kim Yoo-Na was trying to convince her and Katrina denied her every request.

Hyun-Soo stepped in.

“As long as she doesn’t touch the monster or participate in the hunt, let’s all go in.”

They were wasting precious time.

‘Just once should be fine.’

What’s fun about going into a portal you can’t participate in?

‘I don’t understand, but…maybe she just wants to stay with Kim Yoo-Na. She did fly here to see her.’

He was able to understand if it was just one time.

It would be a lie if he said he wasn’t uncomfortable.

Since Kim Yoo-Na helped him out a lot, it was better to resolve it in a friendly manner.

Kim Yoo-Na translated what Hyun-Soo said and Katrina nodded her head.

“Okay. *******!”

“Okay. I understood that. Okay.”

Katrina jumped into the portal first.

“Whew, I’m sorry Hyun-Soo. Katrina acts however she wants to…”

He already knew that.

They felt slightly exhausted as they both entered the portal.

As promised, Katrina stood next to Kim Yoo-Na and just watched.

‘I was worried that she might intercept, but it looks like she’s keeping her promise.’

He was uncomfortable by the fact that there was another person watching, but she wasn’t yelling or screaming, so that was good.

‘Anyways, a Blood Red Mole…’

As soon as he focused on the monster, his thoughts about Katrina disappeared.

As the name states, the monster digs into the ground and attacks.

Since they tend to move underground, it was difficult to sense their direction and location.

‘I’ll give it all I got for this monster.’

His hunting career was short and on top of that, he was able to kill a monster by himself that usually required a group of hunters. Because of that, he went through trial and error.

‘If there were others, I at least have back-up, but I’m by myself.’

But, he noticed that the more he fights, the more knowledge he gains about combat.

It was better than going into engineering and doing the same thing over and over again.

This method is probably the best though…

The problem was that he would get tired both physically and mentally.

Hyun-Soo decided to endure that tiredness.

Why?

If it helped them get stronger, no one would turn it down.

In the hunter world, strength was power.

And the stronger he gets, the faster he can reach the top.

‘Well, I still have a ways to go. Let’s start! Invisible Attack!’

Boom!

The heavy attack hit the ground.

He carefully calculated so that it dropped straight down from above.

Because of that, a hole appeared along with the loud boom.

‘I’m getting used to it the more I use it.’

It was small, but a crater appeared.

‘It’ll probably appear once I hit it a couple more times.’

He heard that moles tend to be cautious.

Because of that, it takes a long time and pulling the monster out is what needs to be done in the beginning.

‘They said it’ll take longer if it goes into hiding during the middle of the battle.’

The important thing was to pull it out once and continuously attack so that it can’t dig a hole for it to hide in.

Firepower combat.

Hyun-Soo briefly thought about today’s attack.

‘I hope it works out well.’

Boom!

Boom, boom!

Hyun-Soo’s skill hit the ground several more times.

A hole was made every time and the sounds of fragments falling filled the place.

Crack! Crack!

‘It’s finally out.’

Even if they were cautious, how many monsters would stand by and watch someone destroy their home?

The monsters in high-ranked portals were somewhat smart, but the portal that Hyun-Soo was currently in was a low-ranked green portal.

That’s probably why the mole didn’t notice his intentions and wasn’t bothering to dig deeper.

As suspected..

Rumble!

The sound of the ground shaking could be heard.

At the same time, the mole jumped out of the ground.

And then…….

Kyah! Kyahhhh!

The mole jumped out from the ground.

At the same time their claw targeted Hyun-Soo’s ankle.

Swoosh!

“Ah!”

Hyun-Soo was already looking towards the direction that the mole was coming from and after jumping off the ground, he landed behind the mole.

‘My body got lighter after I leveled up.’

There was quite a difference between now and before leveling up.

It was obvious that his body became lighter.

He only participated in several hunts after leveling up, but Hyun-Soo knew he got stronger.

Kyah! Kyahhh!

The mole started crying and hid under the ground.

The mole was being cautious by choosing to run away since they were at a disadvantage.

“No way!”

Hyun-Soo created a long, wide rectangular board and pierced the ground with it.

This was Invisible Attack’s special transformation attack.

He created several similar shaped boards and pierced them into the ground.

The sound of digging filled the room.

“You don’t have a place to run now. What are you going to do?”

Hyun-Soo created a circular prison by piercing the boards into the ground.

He intentionally placed them at an angle so that it created a tent.

It was blocked in all directions and prevented them from digging any deeper.

“Maybe it’s because I leveled up, but I’m able to maintain the skill a lot longer.’

He wasn’t able to maintain it several attacks before, but the number increased.

‘I shouldn’t relax though.’

It seemed like there were more portals he was going to hunt in today.

That’s why he had to save his strength.

‘Okay, should I try pulling it out?’

Rumble!

The mole was moving freely under the ground.

‘All I have to do is pull them out from the ground.’

He blocked their movement and before they run away, he had to get them with his firepower.

It was a simple, yet effective attack.

There was a reason why the mole was described as being cautious.

‘If things don’t work out, they’ll immediately hide due to fear, so that’s probably why it’s difficult to kill them. Even if the firepower is weak, it’ll flail and try to run away, so attacking it is difficult.’

Trying to kill the mole with a group of people may be more ineffective than Hyun-Soo trying to kill it by himself.

‘I’ve changed a lot. I don’t really want to join a party.’

Before, he did whatever he could so that he could get included.

Now, he was beyond satisfied with not participating in one and was actually tired of it.

‘Stop with the useless thoughts! I need to get that ugly-looking monster.’

Kyahhh! Kyah!

Their long nails.

It kind of looked like a sickle.

‘And they have four of them.’

The reason why hunters lose either ankle, leg or worse, their waist, in this type of portal is because of those sharp claws.

If long range hunters or healers don’t dodge in time, they’ll die because of their claws.

The mole seemed to be feeling uneasy about coming out because they started attacking with their claws uncontrollably.

Claank! Clank!

The sound of the weapons clashing against each was loud.

They were doing everything they could to try and escape.

‘I don’t think I can attack while maintaining the skill. But if I release it, it’ll just run away. In that case…’

Hyun-Soo threw the mole into the air.

And he cancelled his attack.