LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 15 - The Start of Real Growth
Chapter 15 The Start of Real Growth
There were a total of four types of dungeons in 「Battle of Summoners」:
1. General Dungeon.
2. Day of the Week Dungeon.
3. Tower of Trials.
4. Chaos Demon Dragon (Raid).
Let’s briefly go over them.
First, the Day of the Week Dungeon.
It’s a place where players go to gather materials that change depending on the day of the week, just like the Tuesday Dungeon from before. Each day opens a different dungeon.
There are four difficulty levels:
Lower-tier, Mid-tier, Upper-tier, and Top-tier.
The higher the difficulty, the greater the rewards.
Next is the Tower of Trials!
This place has 100 floors and tests the limits of a player.
The difficulty is incomparable to general dungeons, and the rewards are incredible.
However, one must be careful.
In reality, a single failure could mean death.
Currently, the highest record is held by Rachel from the UK, who has reached the 29th floor.
The 30th-floor boss is tricky, so she’s currently powering up her specs.
Next is the Chaos Demon Dragon!
This was a raid that was updated in the fifth year of 「Battle of Summoners」, where several players band together to defeat a boss.
Since this hasn’t appeared in reality yet, we’ll explain it in more detail later.
All dungeons aside from those three are General Dungeons.
In 「Battle of Summoners」, these were called stage dungeons, but in reality, they appeared randomly across various regions.
Summons mainly level up in these general dungeons.
General dungeons also have difficulty levels ranging from F-rank to S-rank.
Unlike the Day of the Week Dungeons, general dungeons can be played in a party.
And.
The place Baek Jin-woo headed to right after waking up in the morning was one of these general dungeons.
* * *
Seonbawi Station, Gwacheon City, Gyeonggi Province.
A place where you could see the scenic view of Gwanaksan Mountain.
Screeech.
Baek Jin-woo stepped out of the taxi that had come to a stop.
“Hah.”
How do you find a dungeon?
It’s simple.
There’s an app called [Player Web], or “Plweb” for short, that logs dungeons reported to headquarters.
All you need to do is create a party and apply for a dungeon!
Baek Jin-woo created a solo party.
The dungeon’s rank was D-rank.
Even though this was his first proper general dungeon, it was a piece of cake for Baek Jin-woo.
There was no need to team up with other players.
Especially since he had some ridiculously overpowered summons.
– Jin-woo… I’m so tiiiired.
“Here, the cream bun I bought earlier.”
– Hehehe, thanks. You’re the best, Jin-woo!
The life returned to Lamba’s eyes as she eagerly devoured the cream bun like someone starving.
It made sense.
She had spent the whole night swinging a frying pan into the air, so she had to be exhausted.
“Take it slow. You guys get one each too.”
– ……Thank you, my lord.
– Thank you, Jin-woo.
Baek Jin-woo had woken up briefly in the early morning and noticed that his summons had been training all night.
‘It was amazing.’
It was the same during 「Battle of Summoners」.
Back then, however, he would just get a simple message like:
[‘Training Instructor’ (E-rank) directed your summons in training.]
Whenever he logged in, that’s all he saw, so he never knew exactly how intense the training was.
But to think it had been this rigorous…
‘No wonder they grew so fast.’
It was all thanks to Hun-gyo, who worked tirelessly behind the scenes.
Baek Jin-woo had no intention of stopping him.
On the contrary.
“Hun-gyo, you’ve been working hard as always.”
He praised his achievements.
Hun-gyo’s goals aligned perfectly with Baek Jin-woo’s own.
– Thank you, my lord. I will strive even harder.
“Alright, let’s go.”
Step, step.
With the app’s map open, Baek Jin-woo walked toward the dungeon.
After following the directions to a deserted hiking trail entrance, he arrived.
Woooong!
A glowing blue oval appeared, shimmering in front of him.
‘That’s the general dungeon.’
According to the energy detected by headquarters, it was a D-rank dungeon.
He had heard that these should be cleared quickly because, if too much time passes, a “Dungeon Break” would occur, causing the monsters inside to spill out into reality.
Around the dungeon entrance were “No Entry” signs and yellow caution tape, marking the restricted zone.
Only authorized players could enter.
“Are you Player Baek Jin-woo?”
A staff member from headquarters, who had been sent to supervise, stood in front of the entrance.
“Yes, that’s me.”
“May I see your license?”
“Of course.”
After a quick identity verification.
“You’re entering alone for a D-rank. Are you sure that’s okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“Please take care, then.”
Leaving the staff member who bowed behind him, Baek Jin-woo immediately entered the dungeon.
* * *
Rumble!
“Waaah!”
“Uwooooh!”
As soon as he entered the dungeon, the deafening roar of a battlefield assaulted his ears.
‘This place.’
Baek Jin-woo opened his eyes and looked around.
The setting was a low stone wall.
Below him, a swarm of orcs wielding axes was rushing toward the walls.
‘Ah, it’s a subjugation dungeon.’
Baek Jin-woo was a seasoned veteran.
So experienced that he had become stagnant water.
He knew it all at a glance—what type of dungeon it was, the difficulty level, and how to clear it.
[Squeak! Squeak!]
[An orc horde has invaded the village.]
[Assist the NPCs in subjugating the orcs.]
“Throw the stones!”
“Gyaaaah!”
“They’re climbing up the legs! Pour the boiling water!”
The village soldiers on the walls were struggling in their defense.
‘This is fascinating.’
In 「Battle of Summoners」, they had been just generic NPCs, but now, everything felt vivid and alive.
The level of detail was incredible.
Even the soldiers’ faces were all different, just like in reality.
“Guh, gyaaaah!”
“Healer! We need a healer here!”
The sight of a soldier screaming with his abdomen pierced by an orc’s axe was…
‘This is too real.’
It felt like reality itself.
‘Let’s focus.’
Baek Jin-woo took a deep breath and tried to stay calm.
No matter how experienced you were, you couldn’t ignore the shock of the difference between reality and a game.
How often does an ordinary person step onto a battlefield?
And this wasn’t even a normal war—it was a war against monsters.
“Ugh.”
Though his head was spinning, he acted on instinct.
“Guys.”
Baek Jin-woo summoned the five summons he had pre-assigned as Team 1.
For the record, players can bring up to five summons into a dungeon.
[Summoning ‘Wind Fairy’ (EX-rank).]
[Summoning ‘Training Instructor’ (EX-rank).]
[Summoning ‘Explosive Dragon Sage’ (EX-rank).]
[Summoning ‘Mini Kong’ (D-rank).]
[Summoning ‘Golden Fairy’ (D-rank).]
Lamba, Hun-gyo, Explosive Dragon.
Along with those three, he summoned Mini Kong and the Golden Fairy.
Mini Kong was the most cost-effective D-rank tank, and the Golden Fairy was the best cost-effective D-rank healer.
‘As for Furry Gorilla…’
Sorry, but Mini Kong was summoned as his replacement.
He had grown attached, but keeping him any longer would’ve been a waste.
Well, he’d go back and find a better master.
Surely that’s what would happen…
Wooong!
[A protective shield has been created for the player.]
With his summons out, a protective shield naturally formed around Baek Jin-woo.
He felt much more at ease.
‘It’s no big deal, really.’
He had done this countless times in the game.
“Lamba.”
– Yes!
“Buff Hun-gyo.”
– Okay!
“Explosive Dragon.”
– Yes, Jin-woo.
“Prepare your spells and support Hun-gyo from behind.”
– Got it.
“And Mini Kong.”
– Uwoooo!
Boom, boom, boom, boom!
The small gorilla pounded his chest with gusto.
This guy was a stronger version of Furry Gorilla.
He’d leveled him up quite a bit at the Synthesis Station, so he could tank the orc’s axes.
Especially with the Golden Fairy’s healing.
“Jump off the wall. We’re going straight for the orc leader.”
The subjugation pattern was simple.
The mission was to take out the giant orc at the rear of the horde.
– Squeak, squeak!
– Squeak, squeaaak!
The orcs swung their axes down at Mini Kong, who had leaped from the wall.
But Mini Kong’s tough, leathery skin deflected the blows.
In fact.
Wham!
Mini Kong’s fist smashed through an orc’s skull.
‘I set him up with a Destruction Rune.’
Though it was a low-grade rune, he was equipped as a tank with good damage-dealing capability.
The other summons followed behind Mini Kong.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Lamba continuously buffed Hun-gyo’s attack speed.
Slash, slash!
Hun-gyo, with his eyes gleaming, swung his sword, slicing through the orcs’ necks.
After decapitating two orcs, he casually impaled another orc’s head behind him without even looking.
‘Wow, why is this so cool?’
It felt different somehow.
‘Is it because he’s EX-rank?’
This wasn’t the same early-stage Hun-gyo.
He remembered the training from his previous life, and his swordsmanship was no joke.
‘This is easier than I thought.’
Baek Jin-woo’s summons tore through the orc horde like parting the Red Sea.
– Squeak! Squeaaaak!
– Gyaaah! Gyaaaah!
The orcs, who had tried to block them, screamed as they died.
At the same time.
“Wooooooh!”
“Yaaah!”
The soldiers on the wall erupted into cheers.
“What, what is that?!”
“They’re on our side! And they’re incredibly strong!”
“Sniff, we might actually survive this!”
Looking at the soldiers sobbing beside him…
It was hard to tell whether they were NPCs or real people.
Anyway.
Even though they hadn’t fully leveled up yet, EX-ranks were still EX-ranks!
– Hihihihihit! Die, you orcs!
– How dare you pigs raise your axes toward our lord! You deserve to die.
– Here I go! Dragon Flame!
Whoosh!
Flames swallowed up the orc horde in an instant!
Clearing the D-rank dungeon was a breeze.
– Squeak, squeaaak!
The “Giant Orc” (D-rank), overwhelmed, didn’t even have a chance to resist.
Slice.
Hun-gyo slashed its throat.
[Dungeon Cleared!]
[‘Training Instructor’ (EX-rank) has leveled up to 5.]
[‘Training Instructor’ (EX-rank) has gained 1% Critical Hit Chance.]
…….
[‘Explosive Dragon Sage’ (EX-rank) has leveled up to 5.]
[‘Explosive Dragon Sage’ (EX-rank) has gained 2 Intelligence points.]
…….
Since Hun-gyo and Explosive Dragon hadn’t leveled up at the Synthesis Station, their levels shot up.
And.
[You’ve received a reward.]
[1 Mid-tier Summoning Book.]
‘Jackpot.’
A mid-tier summoning book was worth 500,000 won.
‘It didn’t even take 2 minutes, and I’ve made 500,000 won!’
Ah.
Baek Jin-woo was ecstatic.
He couldn’t even imagine how much money he’d make from now on.
‘Time to find the next dungeon.’
From now on, it would be an endless grind.
Raising his summons, making money.
His life was about to take off!
* * *
At that moment.
“Haaaahm.”
The headquarters staff member responsible for the Gwacheon dungeon stretched lazily.
“Baek Jin-woo, huh… Who is he? Never heard of him.”
If he was soloing a D-rank dungeon, he had to be somewhat of a veteran.
But he was an unfamiliar player.
“Well.”
It wasn’t too surprising.
Players who had experienced a few dungeons could handle D-rank dungeons solo.
Only rankers could solo C-rank and above.
“It’ll probably take about an hour or two, right?”
It usually took that long for most non-rankers.
Especially if the dungeon type was complicated, it could take even longer.
That meant.
He had to sit here and wait.
“Might as well grab some pork soup from that place down the street.”
Checking player entrances and exits from the dungeon.
That was part of the staff’s job.
They needed to track the dungeon’s progress to confirm if the player had cleared it or had gotten into trouble.
If a player didn’t emerge after a day, it was assumed they had died.
“Huuuu.”
Just as he was about to light a cigarette and head out for breakfast.
Wooong!
The blue oval began to crack.
“Wh-What?”
The staff member was startled.
This only happened when a dungeon had just been cleared!
“Already?”
His eyes widened in shock.
Was that even possible?
It had barely been 3 minutes, just enough time to smoke a cigarette.
Did he clear it all by himself?
With his jaw dropped, the staff member stared.
Flash!
A man with a calm expression emerged from the light.
It was Baek Jin-woo.