LIGHTNOVELWORLD 12.
12.
“Shit…”
Was it really necessary to go this far? Cursing in a trembling voice, Jian used the skill he needed right now.
Duration: 00:29:59
Cooldown time: 00:59:59>
A blue light swept over Jian from head to toe.
Jian remained standing, but the Clams that had been eyeing him fiercely just moments ago looked around and then closed their mouths again, moving aimlessly like leaves floating in a stream.
“Ah.”
Just in case, Jian tried making a sound. The Clams exposed to the noise opened their mouths again, their red eyes glowing as they whipped their heads around.
‘So they can recognize sound.’
To experiment further, Jian crouched down. With a trembling arm, he reached out and lightly touched the nearest Clam.
Hiss—!
The Clam opened its mouth wide. Hidden gear-like teeth were revealed.
The sharp edges looked like they could slice off a finger with just a graze. Jian quickly withdrew his hand in fear.
‘Touching is not good either.’
Since it was his first time using the skill, he needed to check the extent of its abilities.
Fortunately, the Clams’ intelligence wasn’t high. If they had human-level intelligence, they would have immediately attacked Jian’s location.
Watching the Clams pass right by him, Jian could only sigh deeply. His skills were more focused on defense than offense. It was like an awkward mix of healer and tank.
He needed to use the one attack skill he had, but he was afraid of how much life force it would drain.
Jian called up his status window to check his life force. Of the 100,000 that had been reduced by using the skill, 1,000 had recovered. It seemed that resting for about a minute restored around 1,000 life force.
Although the recovery speed wasn’t satisfyingly fast, just confirming that the depleted life force could recover significantly reduced his worry.
‘The attack skill is the problem…’
Among hunters, many fought by moving their bodies while simultaneously using skills. This was common for hunters who had obtained skills that amplified strength and agility.
When awakening as a hunter, one’s strength and speed generally increased compared to ordinary people, but the power of skills was more absolute.
Jian looked at his only attack skill with a gloomy face. No matter how he thought about it, the body he had possessed seemed to be an S-rank hunter in name only.
Otherwise, how could he have only four types of skills, all of them so ambiguous? He didn’t even have a passive skill. It was enough to raise reasonable suspicion about why he had been in hiding.
With no other choice, Jian used his only attack skill.
The scene before his eyes changed like a game screen. The background turned gray, and the living Clams were marked in light green.
When he raised his hand and pressed on one Clam, its color changed to red. He dragged his finger as if following the first Clam he had pressed. All the selected Clams turned red.
He stopped when it reached about twenty. Although he was scared of how much life force would be deducted, the Clams were F-rank monsters. Surely it wouldn’t cost more than 100,000 life force per Clam.
The hesitation didn’t last long. As soon as he used the skill, a brilliant blue light engulfed the Clams.
Screech—! Screech—!
The attacked Clams opened their mouths and started screeching. Jian covered his ears with both hands at the eerie sound, like nails scratching a chalkboard.
After using the skill, he instinctively felt how to adjust its intensity. Since the goal was to kill the Clams, he used life force until they turned to ash and disappeared.
“…Amazing.”
When all the attacked Clams died, Jian marveled at the skill’s power, which was stronger than he had expected. What he had simply thought was a tickling skill turned out to be a real attack skill.
The Clams died one by one even before the skill’s 3-minute duration ended, making him wonder if he had underestimated it because of its name.
The dead Clams lay motionless with their mouths wide open. After a while, where the Clam corpses had turned to ash and disappeared, items obtainable from Clams dropped.
There were pearls about the size of a thumbnail and shells, which were the Clams’ outer coverings. Jian quickly opened his status window to check the consumed life force.
It wasn’t easy to calculate as some life force had recovered in the meantime, but it seemed about 10 life force was used per Clam.
The magnificence of having ten million life force seemed impressive anew. Jian then proceeded to deal with the Clams in bulk with a much more relaxed attitude.
By the time the stealth skill’s duration ended, there was a mountain of items spewed out by dying Clams within a 50-meter radius.
“What? Dungeon raiding is no big deal.”
For someone who had massacred F-rank monsters in an F-rank dungeon as an S-rank hunter, the boastful tone in his voice was excessive.
Figuring no one was watching, Jian crouched down and started putting items into his inventory while humming.
Watching the empty inventory fill up felt like compensation for the time he had spent trembling in fear.
It took much longer to collect the items than it had to deal with the Clams.
Jian stretched his back after carefully putting even the last pearl into his inventory, being careful not to stimulate the remaining live Clams.
Then, while pounding his stiff back with his fist, he headed towards the safe zone. There wasn’t much left of the three hours he had reserved.
Although he couldn’t feel the weight of the items in his inventory, his steps were light as if he was carrying a lot of money in both hands.
Jian, who had put on the scarf and sunglasses that had been left in the safe zone, stood in front of the gate.
He hesitated for a moment, remembering the nausea he had felt when passing through the gate, but took a deep breath and walked through.
Along with the sensation that seemed like it would never become familiar, the surrounding air changed. Jian checked the time on his phone while taking a deep breath that made his chest swell.
‘I hope Sehun is sleeping well?’
It was already past 4 AM. Although he had left after confirming that Sehun was deeply asleep, he felt slightly uneasy.
Unlike entering, which required scanning a QR code, leaving was free. This was because he had left the dungeon within the reserved time.
If he was even a minute late, he would have had to pay extra, so Jian had checked the remaining time frequently while picking up items. Thanks to that, he was able to leave right on time.
As he walked home in the chilly cold wind, the corners of his mouth kept twitching. Although it was hidden by the scarf, Jian forced himself to control his lips, feeling embarrassed about grinning to himself.
He would need to check the exact market prices, but it seemed like selling all the items he had obtained today would bring in at least 3 million won.
After subtracting the usage fee, he had earned 2 million won in three hours. The hourly rate was astronomical.
He regretted holding back all this time, as the earnings were quite substantial.
Jian’s face, which had been smiling as if filled with hot air, changed drastically when he arrived near the cafe building. He quickly lowered his sunglasses, wondering if he had seen wrong. The pitch-black world became a bit brighter.
“Sehun…?”
The child who should have been sound asleep in bed was wandering barefoot in front of the cafe.
“Hyung…”
Tears welled up in Sehun’s large eyes as he spotted Jian. Surprised, Jian quickly approached Sehun. When he touched the child’s cheek, it was ice-cold, making him wonder how long he had been outside.
Sehun rubbed his cheek against Jian’s palm, dropping pearl-like tears. Jian furrowed his brows and picked Sehun up.
The weight pressing on his arms was still too light for a ten-year-old child.
Jian made eye contact with Sehun and wiped away his tears with his hand. Even as he moved his hand until his palm became wet, there was no sign of the tears stopping.
“Why are you out here? Did you wake up?”
Nod, nod.
Seeing the child crying silently without even a sob, Jian’s heart ached. With Sehun’s face looking like an abandoned puppy, Jian quickly climbed the stairs.
“I just went out for a bit on an errand. Let’s go inside first. You might catch a cold like this.”
Although it wasn’t midwinter, it was still weather where one could die of hypothermia if sleeping outside. Wearing only thin pajamas and being barefoot, he was bound to get seriously ill.