Yoon-seok found himself in the waiting room. His physical condition immediately returned to its original state. His body, which had suffered extreme hunger, thirst, fatigue, and injuries, felt instantly recovered. He couldn’t help but feel strange. His mind was only beginning to accept that the condition he was previously in was now gone.
Yoon-seok briefly went over what happened in the arena. Each moment was unbelievable, and the ending of the duel was unexpected.
“Did I win?”
Yoon-seok shuddered. He was still half insane after what he had gone through. His final blow, the counterattack, was powerful, but it wasn’t something that the Heavenly Devil couldn’t avoid.
“Did she lose on purpose? Oh, perhaps because of her promise?”
Their deal was that if he could survive her attacks three times, it would be considered his victory. That may be why the Heavenly Devil welcomed his blade with open arms and a smile.
‘Then…I’m very grateful.’
Coins were invaluable because they were worth a life. However, in this battle, he had received so much more than a coin’s worth. Had she not kept her promise and finished him off, he would’ve died with no resentment.
‘Wow, she got herself killed because of a promise. Moorim people are really strange.’
Yoon-seok wouldn’t have made such a promise himself.
‘Anyway, it’s all good.’
He learned a lot, and he didn’t lose the match. If he lost, he would have lost one skill as a penalty for {Predation}. The b Blood Pact} was a cheat skill. More than losing a coin, he would have suffered more if he lost that.
He laid down on the floor of the stone chamber as he thought about the match. The lessons he learned from the Heavenly Devil weren’t yet organized. He learned them with his body but not with his mind. He realized he needed time to fully digest all the realizations and learnings he acquired.
“…”
Yoon-seok closed his eyes.
* * *
‘What, how did this happen?’
When Yoon-seok opened his eyes, he was shocked by the notification that appeared.
「Time until the next duel 02:17:04.」
He thought he had been asleep for about two hours.
‘I need to hurry. Let’s check the Unique Skill first.’
Yoon-seok looked at the {Heavenly Body} skill he acquired from the white-haired woman.
{Heavenly Body}
Rank F – The vitality of Mother Nature resides in your body at all times.
“What? What does this mean?”
Based on the description, it sounded like it was something great, but he couldn’t figure it out.
‘The vitality of Mother Nature?’
Yoon-seok frowned as he thought about the Heavenly Devil. During this week’s duel, he was already half-dead due to hunger and exhaustion, but she was perfectly fine until the end.
‘Was it because of this? Regardless, I don’t have time to figure it out now.’
He then turned to the shop; he now had 17,200 AP. There were many things he could spend it on, but he had a feeling that it wasn’t enough. His opponents also had that much and were as strong as him. As he pondered over the in the store, he decided to develop his Unique Skills this time.
*Elixir of Unique Skill (Rank F) – When taken, the rank of one Unique Skill below Rank F increases by one rank.
Selling price: 5,000 AP
‘It’s too expensive.’
Even if b Predation} was developed, it was highly likely that it wouldn’t be useful in battle right away. However….
‘Now is the time to upgrade it.’
The b Blood Pact} he obtained was a truly powerful ability that didn’t cost him any AP. Then, under the Heavenly Devil’s tutelage, he achieved tremendous growth in his sword-related skills. In terms of Unique Skills, b Predation} was the only thing left to work on.
‘But the description of the elixir is a bit strange.’
Yoon-seok quickly poured the elixir into his throat.
*Please select a unique skill to rank up.
*The unique skill b Predation} will grow to E rank.
Yoon-seok opened the information window and checked his improved ability.
{Predation}
Rank E — Upon winning a duel, randomly loot one piece of your enemy’s equipment.
‘I can take not only skills but also equipment. Not as bad as I thought.’
If he were lucky, he could take away his opponent’s weapon and use it in his next battle.
‘But am I disarming my opponents after I defeat them?’
He didn’t know, but he wasn’t worried about them. After all, this was a place where the weak died, and the strong ruled. With such a resolution, Yoon-seok turned to the next item in his schedule. He purchased b Sword Mastery}, which he gave up last time due to a lack of AP.
「You have acquired a new skill.」
The effect was to passively increase the attack speed of swords by 1.5 times.
Whik-!
Whik-!
Yoon-seok, as he was swinging his sword to test his new technique, abruptly stopped. He stared at the shield in his left hand.
‘Is this still necessary?’
The shield he bought out of fear had been worth it so far. But as he gradually gained swordsmanship proficiency, there was no reason to insist on a shield. What he could do with a shield, he could now do with a sword.
‘Also, I would have to learn shield skills and purchase stats for it if I keep using one.’
He already had {Weapon Enhancement}, {Multiply} and now b Sword Mastery}. As he went higher and higher, he would have to keep upgrading these sword skills. So, Yoon-seok made a decision. He would discard his shield and use another sword. After going through the shop, he found something he liked.
*The Conqueror’s Left Sword (Rank E+) – The sword of a famous conqueror who lost one arm during the war. Strength +2 when used in the left hand.
Selling price: 7,700AP
Strength +2.
His remaining AP was enough to buy a stat elixir.
「Strength (F-) rank increases.」
「Strength (F) rank increases.」
Combined with the strength boost of The Conqueror’s Left Sword, Yoon-seok felt he could smash a rock with his bare fists after taking in the elixir. After calming his excitement, he checked the time once more.
‘I guess I don’t have enough time to train.’
Less than two hours remained before his next duel. It wasn’t enough time to adapt to his new body and his new sword. With regret, he thought that he should have done this first before falling asleep. He raised both swords and admired them.
Dual Swordsmanship. It was a new way of fighting he had never experienced before.
* * *
「START! 」
‘Is that a beast?’
Yoon-seok’s opponent was the first creature of its kind he had ever seen. He had heard from the chat rooms that these beings existed. However, he had only heard about the catgirls, beauties with cute cat ears and tails. The opponent standing before him was quite unpleasant to look at. It did have a cat’s ears and tails, but it was a hairy, muscular man with a huge double-edged ax.
‘Anyway, they said that beast warriors are cruel and crazy when it comes to battle.’
As if to prove the rumors, the Beast Warrior charged aggressively forward as soon as the timer ended. Heavy footsteps rocked the ground, and suddenly that heavy ax was dropping with terrifying momentum. However, Yoon-seok was calm.
‘Why is he so slow?’
It wasn’t just his speed that he found lacking. The way his opponent wielded his ax seemed ignorant and rough. It was nothing compared to the Heavenly Devil’s movements. The heavy ax was descending in a lousy way.
Kang-!
With one swing, Yoon-seok’s left-hand sword cut the iron rod of the ax. The massive blade fell to the floor with a crash.
“Hey, what is this?!”
The Beast-Warrior panicked at the loss of his precious weapon. In his panic, he unleashed a skill aimlessly.
“War Stomp!”
Thud-!
As the Beast Warrior stomped, vibrations rocked the arena. A message appeared before Yoon-seok’s eyes.
「Under the influence of the War Stomp. You will be incapacitated for 2 seconds. 」
‘Incapacitated?’
Yoon-seok was bewildered by this new description. However, it didn’t matter.
「Magic Resistance applied. Immobilization time cut in half. 」
The Beast-Warrior was already without a weapon, and the skill it had could only stop Yoon-seok for one second. As the Beast Warrior swung its fist, Yoon-seok’s immobilization ended, and he dodged the blow easily.
‘At this level, he can’t even be a practice partner….’
The skill gap was obvious. It didn’t appear likely to Yoon-seok that he would learn more by continuing to fight him.
‘I think it will be more helpful to go back to the waiting room and practice alone.’
Just as he was about to counterattack and finish the Beast off, a thought came to him.
‘Do I need to go back to the waiting room to practice?’
Time worked differently in the arena. Some people spent ten minutes while others spent hours here. However, when the match was over, they went back to the waiting room at the same time. After twenty-four hours in the waiting room, a new match began.
“Then, get some sleep!”
Instead of cutting off the Beast Warrior’s head, Yoon-seok dealt a blow to its nape, making it fall unconscious. The Beast-Warrior couldn’t block or avoid his attack at all.
Thud-!
Yoon-seok dragged his unconscious opponent to a corner and began swinging his swords. It was his way to make up for the time he lost in the waiting room. Occasionally, the Beast Warrior woke up and distracted him.
“Just kill me! Kill me!”
Thud-!
Yoon-seok was willing to endure this slight annoyance. Now, he had discovered a training method that was more efficient than being in the waiting room.
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