Chapter 138

“А hоlе?”

It wаs cleаrlу а mаn-mаde hole.

Nоrmаlly, such unnаtural holеs dоn’t ехist insidе dungеons.

If therе was somеthing unnаtural insidе а dungеоn, it wаs eithеr a trаp or аn оррortunity.

“Нmm, befоre cheсking it оut, I should use the Job-Ехclusive Skill Selectiоn Тicket first.”

Khan immediаtеly used thе Job-Ехсlusivе Skill Selection Тicket.

If this turnеd оut tо be a trар аnd a dangеrous situatiоn arose, it would bе bеtter to hаvе at lеast onе more skill.

[Used ‘Jоb-Eхсlusive Skill Selection Тickеt’.]

‘I hорe аt least оnе Rаnk 4 skill comеs out.’

Норing fоr а high-rank skill, Кhаn sсannеd thе skill list that appeared before his eyes.

[Choose one of three skills.]

1. Wind Thunder – 1★

2. Low Heal – 2★

3. Flame Curtain – 4★

Without much thought, Khan immediately selected the skill.

[Learned skill ‘Flame Curtain’.]

‘Flame Curtain’, a whopping Rank 4 skill.

‘Flame Curtain’ was, as the name implied, a skill that created a curtain of flames.

Its combination with ‘Dark Flame’, a Rank 5 skill Khan possessed, was incredibly good.

Moreover, it had far stronger defensive performance compared to other barriers or defensive magic.

‘It’s weak against water attribute attacks… but aside from that, it shows tremendous defensive power.’

Khan first checked the information of the ‘Flame Curtain’ skill.

[Skill: Flame Curtain]

• Skill Rank: Rank 4

• Skill Description: Consumes a large amount of Mana to create a curtain of hot flames. The curtain’s defense varies depending on the amount of Mana consumed.

• Cooldown: 1 hour

• Mana Consumption: 200~2000

‘Come to think of it, Flame Curtain’s size and defense change depending on how much Mana is used.’

‘Flame Curtain’, which could consume up to 2000 Mana, wasn’t exactly a Mana-efficient skill.

Even though Khan currently had a considerably larger amount of Mana than before, he was still very lacking in Mana.

‘Still, it’s fortunate that a usable skill came out.’

He wanted to try using ‘Flame Curtain’ right away for testing, but since Mana was precious, he planned to use it a bit later.

After checking the new skill’s information, Khan opened his Status Window.

◈ LV.87

◈ Khan (Lee Huseong)

◈ Mana: 10620/10620

◈ Talent: Magic

◈ Experience Points: 16.4%

◈ Skills: (10★)Sage’s Heart, (8★)Growth Acceleration, (1★)Arrow, (1★)Barrier, (2★)Fire Boom, (2★)Fireball, (2★)Mirror Defense, (2★)Mana Enhancement, (1★)Wind Cutter, (3★)Dragon’s Breath, (4★)Mana Circulation, (4★)Power Amplification, (4★)Space-Time Leap, (5★)Dark Flame, (1★)Wind Drill, (4★)Flame Curtain

The ‘Flame Curtain’ skill was newly added to the skill list.

“Now that I’ve confirmed the skill was properly acquired, I should properly examine this hole.”

By the way, the reason Khan checked his Status Window every time he gained a skill was because several bugs had occurred when he played <Geo Arc>.

There was a time when he used a Job-Exclusive Random Skill Selection Ticket and obtained an unbelievably good skill.

Khan was happier than anyone at that time, but that joy didn’t last long.

Later, when he checked his Status Window to use the skill, the newly acquired skill had vanished without a trace.

‘Thinking about it now, even that’s a memory.’

Eventually, the game operator performed a rollback and he used the skill selection ticket again, but ended up getting a trash skill.

Because of that incident, even after entering the game world, Khan developed a pathological habit of frequently checking his Status Window.

Khan, lost in thought for a moment, slowly lowered his head toward the hole at his feet to check inside.

‘Nothing particularly visible.’

Whoosh…!

He slightly drew out Mana to shine a blue light into the small hole, but nothing was particularly visible.

But then.

As if reacting to Khan’s Mana, Mana began to rise from the entire ground.

“What is this…?”

Even Khan was slightly flustered as this was his first time experiencing such a thing, but thanks to ‘Sage’s Heart’, he quickly regained his composure.

In unexpected situations like this where you don’t know what will happen, you must always be prepared to protect yourself.

From the ground, an increasingly larger amount of Mana began to rise.

A moment later, all that Mana gathered in one place.

The time it took for the Mana to gather was about one second.

It was a speed at which Khan couldn’t even properly react.

As an enormous amount of Mana moved rapidly all at once, Khan also found it difficult to grasp exactly what was happening.

The Mana finally all gathered in one place.

The place where all that Mana gathered was the small hole right beneath Khan’s feet.

“This… I must block it!”

As the ground cracked with a creak, vast Mana erupted from the hole as if a volcano were erupting.

Khan calmly used a skill.

[Used skill ‘Flame Curtain’.]

[Consumed 2000 Mana to use skill ‘Flame Curtain’.]

Since the amount of erupting Mana was so immense, he raised ‘Flame Curtain’ to its maximum.

On top of that, the passive skill ‘Dark Flame’ automatically activated.

[Skill ‘Dark Flame’ has been activated.]

[Consumed 1000 Mana to use skill ‘Dark Flame’.]

‘Dark Flame’ also allowed a choice of how much Mana to use, from 100 to 1000.

Khan also used the maximum amount of Mana for ‘Dark Flame’.

Soon after, a massive flame curtain ten meters in diameter was created beneath Khan’s feet.

It was not red flames, but pitch-black dark flames that seemed ready to incinerate everything in all directions.

Perhaps it was because he burned a whopping three thousand Mana on just one flame curtain.

The dark flame curtain Khan created seemed capable of blocking anything.

A blue Mana beam, like a laser, stretched out from the small hole, but it was completely blocked by Khan’s dark flame curtain.

To be precise, the moment the Mana beam touched the dark flame curtain, it burned and completely vanished.

“Incredible power. Why on earth did something like this suddenly erupt?”

He couldn’t know the reason why such Mana erupted, but he suspected it was probably a trap inside this Hidden Gate.

‘I must have touched a trap while wandering around for no reason….’

The Mana beam shooting from the hole was gradually decreasing.

But then.

Squelch! Squelch! Squelch! Squelch!

Green slimes were jumping out from that small hole.

“Was this like a bonus Experience Points giveaway?”

The creatures that erupted with tremendous force burned up in the dark flame curtain Khan had laid down without a chance to resist.

Thanks to that, Khan’s Experience Points were rising incessantly even while he stood still.

If there was one slightly disappointing point, it was that the rate of Experience Points gain had significantly decreased compared to before, perhaps because Khan’s Level had already risen by over 10 levels since he first entered this place.

‘It’s rising too little. The number of slimes seems much greater than before.’

The number of slimes jumping out from the hole seemed almost twice as many as the slimes Khan had defeated earlier.

[Level has increased.]

Nevertheless, Khan’s Level didn’t increase much.

Before he knew it, as the last slimes that emerged all died, the Level Up Message appeared once more.

[Level has increased.]

The Mana from the ground had also all disappeared, and it seemed no more slimes were coming out.

‘If this is the case… reaching Level 90 for real might be possible.’

Khan opened his Status Window to check his Level and Experience Points.

◈ LV.89

◈ Khan (Lee Huseong)

◈ Mana: 7640/10640

◈ Talent: Magic

◈ Experience Points: 1%

◈ Skills: (10★)Sage’s Heart, (8★)Growth Acceleration, (1★)Arrow, (1★)Barrier, (2★)Fire Boom, (2★)Fireball, (2★)Mirror Defense, (2★)Mana Enhancement, (1★)Wind Cutter, (3★)Dragon’s Breath, (4★)Mana Circulation, (4★)Power Amplification, (4★)Space-Time Leap, (5★)Dark Flame, (1★)Wind Drill, (4★)Flame Curtain

Only one step remained to Level 90.

However, since his current Experience Points were only 1%, it seemed difficult to easily raise his Level.

“Still, just finding the hidden mechanism inside this Hidden Gate is lucky enough.”

Thanks to that, his Level had also reached 89, so it seemed he had done well to wander around inside the Gate.

“The Cooldown for Space-Time Leap has also fully recovered, so I should return.”

Having no further business here, Khan immediately used the skill.

It was now time to return to Erindel.