hotmtlnovel Chapter 403: Hostile Trade (3)
Chapter 403: Hostile Trade (3)
Level 407.
Even after crossing into the 400+ bracket, he kept leveling up while gaining experience explosively.
Normally, by this point, leveling became a rare event.
Because getting enough experience was that difficult.
But since it was apparently the first time this middle boss monster had ever been cleared, it seemed they’d received a matching “first-clear bonus.”
“Kang-hoo! Did you get a skillbook?”
“Yeah, just now.”
“This looks bound.”
“Looks like it. Nice—no need to rack our brains over distribution. What skillbook is it?”
“A passive skillbook that raises armor penetration by 13%! Feels like it’s tailored by class?”“Armor penetration? That’s a huge win. Congrats.”
“Is it really okay for me to just... casually scoop up a skillbook like this?”
“Who said you scooped it up easily? You’re just enjoying the reward that matches the work you put in. Good for you.”
The smile on Kang-hoo’s face was genuine.
It wasn’t about who contributed more or less.
Their teamwork—Kang-hoo and Ayane—had been perfect.
Without her, and without him, neither could have taken Fredo down alone.
Because he knew they were a pair that meshed organically, like gums and teeth, Kang-hoo had no complaints about her reward.
Besides, he’d gotten a skillbook reward as well. No reason to envy someone else’s rice cake.
“Oh.”
The corners of Kang-hoo’s mouth lifted as he checked the contents of his skillbook. No need to think—he learned it on the spot.
A useful skill came out.
【Magic Blade Barrage】
【Skill Proficiency: Lv. Max】
【You condense mana to create mana daggers.】
【Due to the maximum proficiency effect, after releasing the mana daggers, you can intuitively see their expected trajectory.
Additionally, the mana daggers gain a ‘slight’ homing effect.】
‘It’s similar to how Master uses mana daggers. In a pinch, I can substitute even without a physical dagger.’
It wouldn’t be as sharp as a real dagger like the one forged from the Claw of Hatred, but it fit perfectly with thrown-dagger techniques.
And just because it wasn’t honed like a polished blade didn’t mean it couldn’t function as a dagger.
If he could create mana daggers infinitely, then its paired skill, Lightning-Flash Throwing Daggers, could also be used infinitely.
His offensive options had expanded dramatically. A skill that scratched the exact itch at the perfect time.
Next, Kang-hoo skimmed the list of stealable skills that had activated from Fredo’s corpse.
Most of the skills required linkage with devices—like magi-tech machinery.
A prime example was the bombardment support earlier, the mana shells fired from the hilltop.
The skill name was “Support Bombardment,” but it required a device to actually launch mana shells.
‘No need for this. It’s not like I’m going to haul machinery around every moment.’
After crossing out the ones that had to be machine-linked, only one worthwhile skill remained.
He hadn’t expected much—since it was what was left after discarding so many options— but it was surprisingly good.
【Hostile Trade】
【Skill Proficiency: Lv. Max】
【Upon activation, for 20 seconds, your physical attacks and skill damage dealt to the enemy increase by 3x.
If the enemy dies within 20 seconds, ‘Trade Concluded’ activates.
You suffer no physical backlash and your wounds recover rapidly.】
【However, if the enemy does not die within 20 seconds,
all damage you received during that time is applied at 3x all at once when the skill ends.】
‘This is high risk, high return taken to the extreme. A bet on whether I can kill within 20 seconds.’
A skill that would take real thinking to use well.
Twenty seconds.
Short if it’s short, long if it’s long. If someone wanted to stall deliberately, it could vanish in an instant.
If he miscalculated and let it cross 20 seconds, he’d eat triple the damage he’d taken during that window.
A skill that could easily flip into “die while trying to kill.” It was dangerous—seriously dangerous.
But if used properly, it could unleash explosive, unpredictable damage in a single burst.
A double-edged blade.
He’d gained two interesting skills.
Lately it felt like he’d been collecting skills that forced him to think harder, but he didn’t mind.
Having more cards to play meant more variables for the opponent to calculate.
As long as he didn’t fall into “picky eating” by only using the same few skills, his strategic variety would only grow richer.
“Kang-hoo! Want to rest a bit?”
Ayane’s request for a break came right on cue. It was time to catch their breath.Around that time, Kim Shin-ryeong had been sweating beads as she focused on crafting inside the special workshop, and had just stretched after finally taking a moment to pause.
“Seriously.”
When she looked around, another hollow laugh escaped.
“Lavish” didn’t even cover the lineup.
Renowned master craftsmen from every continent had gathered here.
People you’d struggle to meet even once in a lifetime as a named hunter were all in one place.
There was a reason for that.
Regardless of success or failure, each person had already been paid an advance of 100 billion won.
All expenses and materials for the crafting process were supplied without limit.
Even if someone made a mistake and ruined materials, there was no need to watch anyone’s mood.
If anything, it was treated as meaningful data—valuable failure.
Crafting a 0-grade breastplate.
It was the first time anyone here had ever attempted such a thing.
0-grade items were difficult enough just to obtain, and even harder to handle.
But the “client” who requested this special crafting said they wouldn’t care if the breastplate was destroyed during the process.
Maybe they thought a verbal promise wasn’t enough, because they even sent a notarized agreement signed in front of a public witness.
They only wanted the crafting done according to the direction they desired.
“Should we take a short break? Feels like we’ve been working ourselves too hard since morning.”
“Sure. At least a tea time. No one’s pushing us from behind—there’s no need to sprint while staring only ahead. Crafting quality and time don’t always scale together, anyway.”
At Kim Shin-ryeong’s suggestion, everyone nodded and stopped their work.
The 0-grade breastplate gleaming in the center of the workshop radiated sheer presence.
The craftsmen had been constantly marveling the entire time they worked.
It was enough to make her think:
if you wanted to show someone what a true treasure looked like, you could point at that breastplate without hesitation.
Thus began tea time.
As the small talk flowed, the conversation naturally drifted toward Kim Shin-ryeong—the biggest social hub in the room.
Her activity range was the widest, and her network was the deepest. People had a lot they wanted to ask.
A middle-aged man with pale eyes sitting beside her brought up a topic he’d long been curious about.
“They say a hunter in Korea got extremely famous recently. Not only did he save civilians in Japan, he also hunted down and killed a serial murderer. An assassin... was it?”
“Ah, Shin Kang-hoo?”
“Yes, that’s it! Shin. Kang. Hoo. I’ve been watching a lot of assassin-related videos lately, so he keeps showing up in my algorithm.”
“He’s an assassin I’m close with. We help each other. He’s also a very interesting hunter.”
“Really?”
When Kim Shin-ryeong’s mouth opened to speak about Kang-hoo, every craftsman’s gaze gathered.
These days, “usable” assassins had become nearly extinct, and the world-wide imbalance of job classes had become a rising issue.
There were plenty of newly awakened assassins—rookies overflowing by the thousands— but truly field-ready assassins were far too rare.
As both craftsmen and hunters, they couldn’t help being curious about Kang-hoo, who had appeared like a meteor in Korea.
Kang-hoo didn’t know it yet, but abroad, his name was already spreading by word of mouth.
And to craftsmen sensitive to information, any story about Kang-hoo was pure interest bait.After the break, Kang-hoo’s party resumed moving, and they had already pushed deep into the dungeon.
Since encountering Fredo, they were already in unknown territory with no prior intel— but back then, they could still predict the environment and the flow to some extent.
Now, it was pure blank white.
Everything they saw on their path was exposure to a completely new environment.
So whenever there was no combat, Kang-hoo and Ayane had to write down everything they observed.
If laptops or cameras worked in dungeons, it would be so convenient... but that damned “original author” had set the rules so no electronics worked at all.
So it was impossible.
A dungeon full of variables where everywhere you went was packed with unknowns.
And as the path they’d taken began to blur in her mind, Ayane’s expression stiffened.
“I’m a little uneasy.”
“Why?”
“I think I forgot the way we came. If we have to give up midway, it’ll be hard to get back, right?”
“It’s fine. It’s all in my head.”
“You remember the entire route? Even me—someone with a good memory—got lost because it was so complex.”
“Trust me.”
Kang-hoo smiled.
If he hadn’t been confident he could imprint the dungeon’s internal map into his head using the Trickster Constellation, he wouldn’t have agreed to come here in the first place.
In fact, in complex dungeons, it wasn’t uncommon for explorers to be unable to find their way out.
Usually, by the time a follow-up team entered much later, they’d find only corpses—starved to death.
Or someone would slip and fall in a dangerous region.
Or be ambushed and killed by monsters.
The methods varied, but the result was always the same.
Death.
“Hm.”
He reviewed the maps they’d drawn.
The content was rich.
It almost made him wonder if receiving only two dungeons as compensation was right—because the information was that high-grade.
Of course, the dungeons he’d leased long-term from Lars were highly rated dungeons. That alone was profit.
And the reward Ayane demanded was also something she would never obtain in ordinary circumstances.
It wasn’t that he’d only explored vaguely—this was close to completing a detailed map.
So there was a faint sense of regret, that was all.
A mercenary contract meant fulfilling what you agreed to.
This contract with the Shtark Guild was to complete a detailed map, so it was neither too much nor too little.
‘Level 410, too. If we just handle the main boss... a 0-grade item is basically guaranteed. We’re almost there.’
The 0-grade item reward.
That was the whole reason he’d come.
From the way the oppressive, damp aura was riding the wind, it didn’t seem far now. At most, within twelve hours.
The better the reward, the harder the main boss would be.
Every moment since entering this dungeon had been dangerous, but this time, he would truly need to be prepared to stake his life.
More than ever, coordination with Ayane mattered.
A one-man show? Impossible in a place like this.
They needed perfect synergy, fighting as if they were one body.
Right then—
“Kang-hoo.”
At Ayane suddenly calling him, Kang-hoo turned his head.
And she confessed a worry she’d been keeping to herself for a long time, unable to voice it before.
“Should I... go to Korea? What do you think? Korea feels like it’d be way more fun. Don’t you think so?”
It was a topic he hadn’t expected.