Chapter 44

The System immediately executed Siyoon’s command.

Along with a message, the skill window popped up and unfolded before his eyes.

[ Displaying skill window. ]

+

「Enhancement」

Rank: Unique

Level: 5

Category: Special

▶ Enhances a designated target.

▶ Increases Enhancement success rate.

▶ Further increases Enhancement efficiency.

▶ Increases Enhancement effects.

+

+

「Close Combat Technique」

Rank: Rare

Level: 4

Category: Combat

▶ Allows proficient use of close combat techniques.

▶ Increases the attack power of close combat techniques.

▶ Increases agility during combat.

+

The most notable change was, without a doubt, Enhancement.

Its level had increased by two more stages, adding a new line of effects and boosting its efficiency.

This meant he could now use Enhancement with less mental power.

‘Moreover, reaching Level 5 has brought about some changes to Enhancement.’

Upon hitting Level 5, Enhancement had gained several groundbreaking effects.

One of them was the increased success rate.

The reason he had previously only enhanced items up to +5 was due to low efficiency.

Anything beyond that had a high probability of failing and exploding.

But now, enhancements up to +4 were a guaranteed 100% success.

‘Even if it fails at +6, it won’t explode.’

Additionally, the success rate for +7 was a whopping 70%.

But that was not the end.

If he failed a certain number of times, he was guaranteed a successful enhancement.

It required a staggering 400 failures for one guaranteed success.

Even so, it was clear that this would be a massive help when pushing his enhancements to the limit.

It didn’t stop there.

Some of the restrictions on Enhancement conditions had also been lifted.

Originally, he could only enhance things that he physically touched.

Now, he could enhance anything within his field of vision.

Of course, the range wasn’t that large.

‘When I tested it multiple times, it was exactly about 3 meters.’

Being able to enhance objects without touching them.

This fact provided Siyoon with a tremendous advantage.

Various tactics already came to mind.

After firing a gun, he could enhance the bullet at its tip to detonate it.

Or he could scatter multiple stones and trigger simultaneous explosions.

‘It would be ideal if I could blow up the equipment my enemies are wearing, but…’

It was impossible to enhance items that an opponent had directly equipped.

Min Seolah served as a prime example of this.

The vehicle she was in and its components could be enhanced.

Because she was riding in the car, not wearing it.

However, her Magic Tools could not be enhanced.

Because they were explicitly worn on her body.

‘The increase in Enhancement effects is also quite overpowered.’

The increase in Enhancement effects added with this level up.

Looking at the description alone, it simply seemed like the effects had increased.

But the reality was a bit different.

[ You have enhanced ‘Stone’ using ‘Skill: Enhancement’. ]

[ You have acquired ‘Hard Stone +1’. ]

When performing a standard enhancement, the inherent quality of the object itself increased.

For instance, a stone would become slightly harder, as it did now.

In the case of a dagger, it would become sharper and keener.

This wasn’t just a simple effect; it manifested physically as well.

Just like how the surface of the stone Siyoon had just enhanced became smooth.

‘Is it enhancing the inherent characteristics of the object itself?’

Not only had the effects increased, but the overall versatility had expanded significantly.

Furthermore, items with distinct ranks, like potions, could even be promoted by one tier.

In a way, this could be considered the core effect of Enhancement.

‘I need to research this a bit more.’

If he could also increase the efficacy of medicinal herbs or other ingredients, it would be a massive jackpot.

This was an area he needed to experiment with further using Enhancement.

Regardless, following the Enhancement skill, Close Combat Technique reaching Level 4 was also a considerable achievement.

He could now execute close combat techniques more proficiently and agilely.

The increase in attack power was also a very welcome bonus.

In conclusion, Siyoon had grown significantly through this entire ordeal.

Ttiring.

At that moment, a message arrived on Siyoon’s phone.

【Thanks to you, I made a killing at the auction. I’ll buy you a meal next time we meet. – Baek Euntae】

It was Baek Euntae.

Reading the somewhat frivolous message, Siyoon closed his phone.

“Looks like his wounds healed well.”

If he was joking around like this, he must have recovered from his injuries.

‘Well, he did chug a potion on the spot, so it’s obvious.’

Still, considering his stomach had been pierced by Seo Jinhwan, he was lucky.

If he had been even a bit careless, his body would have been cleaved in two.

Siyoon leaned back in his chair, reminiscing about that moment.

He had gained a lot from this battle.

He had pushed hard against Haind and blown up their Smart Farm.

In the process, Siyoon had achieved various forms of growth.

Not only had his overall physical senses sharpened,

But his body had also developed through stat increases, and his skills had grown stronger.

However, he couldn’t just be optimistic.

‘It’s still not enough.’

Nevertheless, Siyoon felt his own inadequacy.

If he had been a bit stronger, he would have shaken off the pursuit team without Baek Euntae’s help.

He would have destroyed the Smart Farm alone, quickly killed Kwon Chan, and slipped out.

Above all, there was Seo Jinhwan, whom he had encountered at the very end.

He wouldn’t have been so completely helpless against him.

‘I need to find more ways and means to get stronger.’

Siyoon had honed himself and worked hard up until now.

But that wasn’t enough.

He had to become even stronger.

Siyoon’s eyes sank with a heavy resolve.

* * *

After realizing his own shortcomings.

Siyoon pondered on how to become stronger.

‘Is it only possible by running dungeons?’

Until now, he had run dungeons to get stronger.

There was no better way to build combat instincts than through real combat.

It was also a pretty good choice in that it allowed him to raise funds.

So he had accumulated practical experience by fighting magic beasts and selling their byproducts.

This method wasn’t wrong.

After all, Siyoon had grown stronger rapidly over the past few months.

Building instincts through repeated combat was a success.

But was it right to grow stronger at this pace in this kind of situation?

Doubts crept in.

‘I’m not in a safe situation right now. Seo Jinhwan, whom I saw that day, won’t just sit still.’

Siyoon was the primary reason Haind had collapsed.

From the assault on their transport routes to the leak of the new drug and the raid on the Smart Farm.

It was all Siyoon’s doing.

Moreover, Haind had even placed a bounty on him.

There were probably quite a few people holding a grudge against him.

“I need to think of more countermeasures.”

Siyoon picked up his phone as he leaned back in his chair.

He needed to get stronger, faster.

He intended to keep searching until a good idea came to mind.

Ttiring!

Right then, a message notification popped up.

It seemed someone had sent him a message while he was deliberating.

He tapped the subject line.

【I have a good commission. Are you interested in taking it on?】

The sender of the message was none other than the information broker.

“A commission?”

Siyoon’s eyebrows rose slightly.

A commission offer in a situation like this.

As he scrolled down a bit, more words followed.

The general gist of the message was this.

The commission involved taking a test, forming a team, and entering a dungeon.

Additionally, it was a commission extended to several other hunters, including Siyoon.

【The safety of the commission itself is guaranteed to some extent, but you need to be careful once you’re inside. You never know what might happen.】

“Hmm.”

Siyoon read the cautiously written words in the middle of the message.

It seemed the broker had debated whether or not to send the message for a long time.

‘It looks like he sent the message after reading the room.’

Well, Siyoon had received information from the broker while carrying out this operation.

That alone would be enough to roughly guess the inside story of the incident.

Taking that into consideration, this reaction was understandable.

He might have been worried about unnecessarily rubbing Siyoon the wrong way while he was still recovering.

It was definitely a different approach from Min Seolah.

It wasn’t bad.

From Siyoon’s perspective, someone who was cautious like this was much easier to deal with than someone trying to use him.

‘The commission itself is also quite good.’

Above all, the commission was on the better side.

The content itself was simple.

Clear a dungeon located in the sewers.

That was what it looked like on the surface.

But in reality, a mid-sized company was trying to monopolize a newly generated dungeon without reporting it.

This wasn’t actually a rare occurrence.

Because a well-claimed dungeon could be a pretty good source of funding.

Essentially, everything inside a dungeon was equivalent to currency on the outside.

Magic beast carcasses and Magic Stones.

Even ores and herbs gathered from inside.

Especially if you claimed a dungeon, you could continuously extract carcasses and Magic Stones.

All you had to do was send hunters in periodically to subjugate them.

Because of this, companies aware of this fact tried to claim dungeons whenever possible.

However, there was one problem.

‘A newly generated dungeon…’

The dungeon for this commission was literally a newly created one.

A dungeon with no clear records.

In other words, there was no telling what kind of magic beasts would appear or what the terrain would be like.

Since no one had ever entered it, there was no information.

The company had hired hunters for such a commission.

It was an obvious ulterior motive.

‘They’re saying they don’t want to send in their elite hunters.’

From the company’s perspective, they probably didn’t want to take the risk.

An unknown dungeon with no information.

If they sent their elite hunters to such a place and they ended up dying, it would be troublesome.

The death of an elite hunter would be entirely their loss.

So their scheme was to send in moderately skilled hunters instead.

‘In the end, I’ll have to take on some level of risk.’

If they cleared it, great, but if not, they would essentially become meat shields.

Still, Siyoon had a few reasons to judge this as a decent commission.

First, the commission reward was quite sweet.

The earlier a dungeon was attempted, the lower the probability of clearing it.

Since there was no proper strategy or information.

Because of this, the compensation was substantial.

They were trying to offset the risk with money.

Second, there was less chance of being silenced like Haind had attempted.

According to the broker’s brief explanation, this commission was simply to clear the dungeon.

Therefore, it was said that they had extended the offer to multiple hunters, causing the information to spread.

‘In that kind of situation, they wouldn’t be able to pull some crazy stunt that would backfire on them.’

If rumors spread that they killed the surviving hunters, it would put them in a difficult spot.

If they failed to clear the dungeon, they would have to post the commission again.

But who would take a commission with such rumors circulating?

Of course, he couldn’t completely let his guard down.

In a world where betrayal ran rampant, trusting something completely was suicidal.

He always had to leave room for error and prepare for the worst.

Nevertheless, the reward was certain, making the commission highly attractive.

‘Usually, commissions like this don’t come around often.’

Looking purely at the difficulty, it was quite a high-level commission.

It was also dangerous.

But from a slightly different perspective, it meant he had established a foothold for himself.

It meant he had built up enough of a reputation to receive this kind of commission.

‘I can’t call myself a strong hunter yet, but I’ve established my position.’

Even so, he truly felt that he had grown immensely compared to the early days.

Back then, he was happy making a few thousand, thinking he had earned a lot.

But now, his baseline was in the hundreds of millions to tens of billions of won.

“Hmm.”

After some deliberation, Siyoon sent a message.

【I’ll take the commission.】

His body had recovered anyway.

With good compensation, it wasn’t bad to accept the commission.

‘I also need to find a way to get stronger quickly.’

Sitting in his room worrying would likely yield little progress.

If so, he had no choice but to think while moving first.