Ding-

[Your level has increased!!!]

“Hahh… hahh…”

Ha Gangwoo exhaled sharply and lifted his head.

Bloodwater streaming down the cliffs, gore blanketing the floor.

The space around him was the kind of place that made your skin crawl just by looking at it.

His head throbbed from the relentless stench of iron when—

‘Last one.’

Ha Gangwoo sensed the next fight would be the final.

“Hoooh…”

Ha Gangwoo steadied his breath and checked the Status Window.

Ding-

[Ru]

Grade: D

Type: Ruin Construct

Level: 95

HP: 2290/2290

MP: 121/121

Strength: 250 (+128)

Agility: 80 (+41)

Vitality: 164 (+65)

Mana: 40 (+81)

Sense: 70

Luck: 70

Unallocated: 14

The body he was piloting now: the Ruin Construct: Ru.

Level had shot all the way to 95, and his gear wasn’t half bad either.

[Equipment Window]

Weapon: Barzel’s Appetite +10

Weapon: Samyun’s Wrath

Helm:

Chest:

Legs:

Belt:

Boots:

Necklace: Asrul’s Lust +10

Ring:

Ring: Lucifel’s Ring +10

Ring: Warp Ring

Bracelet:

Bracelet:

He’d already transferred every piece of that ???-grade gear—the kind that would make even Ha Gangwoo’s full power jealous.

Still, the one sting came from the Inventory.

Ding—

[Inventory] (1/10)

[Blood Shard x8]

[-]

[-]

[-]

[-]

[-]

[-]

‘Should’ve grabbed at least a potion.’

His HP and MP were full now from leveling up, but it hadn’t been that way a moment ago.

Ding—

[You have taken 50 damage from the contaminated blood.]

The space he stood in kept ticking away damage—a DoT not even Asrul’s Lust could block.

But that trial, too, was nearly over.

Ha Gangwoo paced forward slowly.

Squelch— squelch—

With every step, the viscous blood gripped his feet.

Straight ahead stood a single stone statue.

A monster with eight arms, its palms spread wide—as if reaching for something.

A massive horn jutting from its forehead betrayed the statue’s purpose.

Ding—

[Blood Lord]

Grade: A

Description: Gather the Blood Shards. Awaken the Sura, the origin of the Blood Devil, then slay it.

Reward: Job: Blood Devil

‘So this is the Sura.’

Ha Gangwoo opened his palm.

Ding—

[Summoning x8 Blood Shards from the Inventory.]

The eight items he’d collected over this Job Change Quest sucked into his grasp with a soft chk.

The quest’s instruction: awaken the Sura.

Ha Gangwoo placed the crimson gem into the statue’s palm—and in that instant:

Crack-crunch—

The statue’s fingers clenched hard around the Blood Shard.

Ding—

[The sealed Blood Devil: Sura has been resurrected.]

Flash!

The statue’s tightly shut eyes snapped open.

With battle imminent, Ha Gangwoo hoisted Samyun’s Wrath over his shoulder and dropped into a low stance.

In that moment, the Sura filled the air with a brilliant flourish of its eight arms.

Shwa-shwa-shwa-shwa—

The blood pooled thick across the floor surged high into the sky.

Boom!!!

A tremendous detonation signaled the start: the Ruin Construct: Ru’s Job Change, the final battle.

***

Mimic blinked groggily, pushing herself upright.

Stillness hung over My Room. All the lights were off—only the faint glow of a night lamp brushed the bedroom.

She rubbed her eyes.

“Huh?!”

She tilted her head, then pricked up her ears.

In a flash, she was on her feet.

Through the Link, she felt it—where her Master was.

Without a second thought, she headed for the practice room and swung the door open. The white room flooded her vision.

“?”

And there she found them.

Before her Master stood seven little figures, stock-still, and two blue Rifts.

“Who are they?”

Mimic cocked her small head and toddled over to the little ones.

Up close, she could make out their features.

They were a head shorter than her.

The one on the far right wore a red scarf.

Mimic craned her neck toward that Ruin Construct.

“Who are you?”

No answer came. Mimic felt something off about that little one.

“That’s weird…”

She pursed her lips, furrowing her brow—when—

Crack!!!!

A strange phenomenon erupted from the Gate behind her back.

As if she’d known.

Thud—

A boy appeared. It was Ru, the new companion her Master had brought along.

“Huh?! Hey!”

Seeing Ru move with such energy, Mimic greeted him cheerfully.

Ru’s pretty lips curved into a grin.

“Perfect timing.”

Ru smiled wide, as if something delighted him.

“Let’s spar.”

The moment she heard that, the drowsy haze in Mimic’s eyes lit up.

Thump—thump—

Her heart suddenly pounded faster, and she called out in a steady voice.

“Okay!”

And so, with Mimic’s acceptance, their second spar—proving how much they’d grown—began.

***

Thump—thump—

Mimic clenched her small fists tight and stood before Ru.

Until now, she’d always seen sparring as a fun game.

And why not? Sparring had only ever ended in joy.

With just a little effort came her Master’s attention, her favorite food, even Gold.

Mimic was always happy about the rewards waiting after a spar.

That’s why she’d taken an interest in it—she thought it was play.

But after that day, her mind changed.

‘I want to win.’

She’d learned that the real thrill of sparring came from victory.

The day she first lost to the boy in front of her, sparring wasn’t fun anymore.

Only one feeling lingered from that day: anger. She was furious.

And that’s why Mimic’s expression now was dead serious.

The shame of that first defeat had finally come due for repayment. This was her chance to reclaim it.

But there was one small problem.

In that last fight with Ru, she’d lost her only weapon — the dagger.

*Whoosh—*

So all she had left to fight with was the flame blazing in her hand right now.

‘I can do this.’

But for this sparring match alone, Mimic was confident.

“Let’s go!”

Mimic’s tiny leg stepped forward, and her eyes flashed.

*Ding-*

[Ruler of the Battlefield has been activated.]

*Fwoosh—*

Starting from Mimic’s small leg, sand began to *hiss* out from the white earth.

A blazing sun. Her surroundings transformed perfectly into desert.

[Ruler of the Battlefield]

Grade: H

Type: Active

MP Cost: 10 per second

Range: 100 x 100

Effect: Unleashes the battlefield. The caster gains the Ruler of the Battlefield effect.

She was using the most powerful job skill she had.

But by itself, it wasn’t enough to beat that boy.

So Mimic opened her small palm.

Mimic was connected to Ha Gangwoo through Link.

Just as Ha Gangwoo had broken past level 100 and learned the job skill Controller, Mimic too had learned her own job skill.

And so she murmured softly.

“Armaments.”

*Ding-*

[Ashrunte’s Armaments has been activated.]

[Ashrunte’s Armaments]

Grade: H

Type: Active

MP Cost: 10~ (The grade of the weapon is determined by the MP spent.)

Effect

– Summons an armament once used by Ashrunte.

[110 MP has been consumed.]

In an instant, a massive clump of mana drained from Mimic’s body.

*Fwoosh—*

Intense light converged into Mimic’s small grip.

*Ding-*

[Ashrunte’s Dagger]

Grade: H

Durability: 500/500

Attack Power: 1,000

Strength: +300

Agility: +300

Vitality: +300

Mana: +300

Description: A dagger Ashrunte favored. Grant death to your targets with its incredible cutting power.

Effects

– Enables Blink to any desired location within the battlefield.

– Ashrunte’s Armaments consumes 1 Durability per second.

A ferocity beyond compare to the F-grade dagger she’d used before surged up through her fingertips.

*Shink—*

And then, in the moment Mimic’s body vanished from the earth.

*CLANG!!!!*

A violent clang of metal filled the battlefield.

***

*Splatter—*

Black blood soaked the desolate sand floor.

*THUNK!!!!*

Along with the sound of an antique dagger piercing deep into the sand.

“Whoa~! I won!!!!”

Mimic’s laughter echoed across the desert.

“Huff… huff…”

Ha Gangwoo gasped for breath inside Ru’s body.

“That was insane…”

He was stunned by what had just happened.

Hadn’t he won their last one-on-one sparring match while using Ru’s body?

Sure, he’d had to generate a thousand Orbs of Ruin and trigger Rampage, but a win was a win.

So this time, the spar was supposed to be nothing more or less than a check on his job skills.

But the result was shocking.

‘…’

Throughout the entire fight, Gangwoo had been barely able to track Mimic’s movements.

‘Did she learn a new job skill?’

It was all because of the mobility skill Mimic had picked up.

She already possessed a high Sense stat. So when she used Blink, it was beyond imagination.

She moved as if she dominated the space itself—unpredictable, always striking from his blind spots.

In the end, Gangwoo was helpless. He hadn’t even had time to use the Blood Devil job skills he’d just learned.

“Still, I wonder if I can at least hunt…”

Gangwoo lay flat on his back on the ground, staring up at the ceiling.

The loss stung, but there was still something he needed to check.

Whether Ru, now that she’d completed her Job Change, could actually handle the Forest of Lament.

Ding-

[Login has been released.]

Gangwoo returned to his original body, swinging his arms to loosen up.

‘That feels good.’

As always, his body felt as light as air after using Login.

Zziiing-

At that moment, a notification rang from the phone in his pocket.

[Association]

-Hello. This is the Association Academy team. We are pleased to inform you that ‘Mik’ has been accepted into the academy. The entrance date is tomorrow at 10 AM….

‘She got in.’

Gangwoo scratched his cheek at the notice, which had come faster than expected.

‘Is there no way around this?’

He was conflicted. No matter how he looked at it, sending Mimic to school didn’t sit right with him.

The power she’d just shown—

—it was on a level that surpassed most max-level Players.

And yet she was supposed to waste time going to school?

“Maybe I should pull some strings.”

Gangwoo got to his feet.

He felt the need to have a talk with the Association today.

But persuasion required a bit of knowledge.

Why the Association ran an academy. Why the Tutorial had age restrictions. He needed to know the reasons to make his case.

Gangwoo opened the internet to search.

In that instant, his expression turned cold.

‘And what’s this now…’

He had found something.

-Field appears in the city center! The savior who rescued hundreds of citizens is a child!

-The child who saved hundreds of citizens has gone missing!!!!

A sensational headline.

As he read the words, the puzzle pieces in Gangwoo’s head slowly began to click into place.

“So that explained it.”

The Mimic’s state during the Hidden Quest. On top of the Advent effect from the Fortune Coin, she’d been under some unknown Buff as well.

Clear evidence she’d been fighting something.

Ha Gangwoo clicked on the article before he’d even thought about it, his gaze locking onto the screen that loaded.

[Video.]

“They got footage too?”

A uneasy feeling shot through him as he hit play—then he let out a deep sigh of relief.

“At least her face didn’t get out.”

Thankfully, the distance between the crowd and the Mimic had kept her features from being exposed.

Gangwoo kept his eyes fixed on the video.

Whoosh—

The Mimic wreathed in searing flames.

Grrrrr—

And the demon that stood revealed before her.

Gangwoo narrowed his eyes at that demon.

‘Looks similar…’

Two massive horns; a face that was a grotesque cross between a bat and a pig.

And a violet gleam coiled in the monster’s eyes.

It wasn’t enough to go on color alone, but it was eerily familiar.

The same shade as the Demonic energy laced through Samyun’s Wrath.

As Gangwoo watched the demon and the Mimic clash, he spotted a woman.

“Huh?!”

She was smaller than a pinky nail on the screen, but Gangwoo was certain.

A golden ring floating above her head.

Chae Seohyun had been at that scene.

“So that’s how it was.”

The Mimic had been wrapped in a strange golden Buff.

That Buff had to be from Seohyun. And that was why Gangwoo walked straight toward her.

“I won~! I won!!!”

The Mimic was still hopping with joy, drunk on victory.

When Gangwoo got close, she turned her gaze to him.

“Master! I won!”

A dazzling smile lit up his vision, but that wasn’t what mattered to Gangwoo.

He crouched down, grabbed her shoulders, and immediately showed her his phone.

“Do you know this person?”

“Oh?!”

The Mimic’s eyes sparkled as she watched the video of herself. Then, as if remembering something, her ears perked up.

“Ah! Right. That Unni said to give this to Master!”

[010-xxxx-xxxx]

‘A business card?’

No name, no title—just a phone number scribbled on it.

“Did Chae Seohyun give this?”

Gangwoo tilted his head at the mysterious card. There was only one way to find out.

Dooo— Dooo—

He dialed the number on the card.

‘Did she not see my message box at the Association? Is this really connected to the Resurrection skill?’

Thoughts churned through his mind. Then—Clack! Someone picked up.

Gangwoo spoke slowly.

“I’m calling because I got your message.”

A woman’s voice rang out from the other end of the line.

“—So the kid’s got a sharp head on her shoulders. Hello. ………….”

But it wasn’t the woman’s voice Ha Gangwoo had been hoping for.

He listened to her talk for a long while, then—click—ended the call.

In an instant, his eyes narrowed to razor-sharp slits.

“So this is how it plays out.”

Gangwoo turned his head and murmured to Mimic.

“We’re heading out. Get ready.”

“Ooh~! Yes!”

Still giddy from her victory, Mimic bounced and skipped toward My Room. Gangwoo’s gaze shifted to the Ruin Constructs.

—Ru. Get up.

Ding-

[You have issued an order to the Ruin Construct.]

With a soft rustle—

Gangwoo pulled Ru—who had collapsed pitifully on the floor—to her feet, then murmured.

—Hunt monsters as safely as you can.

Ding-

[You have issued an order to the Ruin Construct.]

He hadn’t confirmed it yet.

Whether Ru could handle the Forest of Lament alone, that is.

But Gangwoo was certain.

‘She’ll be fine.’

Ding-

[You have used Demonization.]

With the Demonization he hadn’t tapped into last time, plus the skill he’d learned from his Job Change, clearing the Forest of Lament shouldn’t be an issue at all.

—Pill, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. Trail Ru at maximum distance.

[You have issued an order to the Ruin Construct.]

No sooner had Gangwoo’s command fallen than the eight Ruin Constructs lined up and headed for the Gate. Gangwoo narrowed his eyes coldly as he stared at his phone.

“Since it’s come to this, I might as well use it.”

With that, he too turned his steps toward My Room to prepare for the departure.