The Awakened special handling force had finished their meeting .
Vice CEO Kim Ho Jin had left .
After confirming he left, one man asked everyone a question .
"Hey . Who's going to take the Kim Min-Cheol case?"
"If he's someone that goes through level 23 dungeons as if nothing, wouldn't I be risking my life if I were to take on this case? I have 3 kids . Ahem!"
"Oh . Of course senior shouldn't be doing work like this," the junior said as he massaged his shoulders .
He continued while glaring at everyone else at the table .
"If you want this case, raise your hand up quickly!"
They were too busy giving glances at one another .
But that only lasted for a moment .
One man raised his hand .
"I . . I will…"
"Oh! Se-Jin . You looked like a smart kid from the start . Confident? When you start off, you should start with the tough ones to get used to things quickly . "
"Yes…"
"And this is something the vice CEO specifically requested of us, so make sure the report looks good, okay?"
"Yes . I understand!"
"What did I say . All work?"
"In moderation!"
"Good . Do your best . "
"Yes!"
A tree cannot grow well if the roots are rotten .
The association worked just enough to keep up appearances .
* * * *
"Who are you?"
The man who was keeping me under surveillance was rummaging through his wallet for something .
With his trembling hand, he pulled out something and preceded to hand it over to me .
"Awakened Association Special Maintenance Force Se-Jin Kim . "
"From the Awakened Association?"
"Yes . That's correct . Here is my ID . "
The man gave out his association ID with fear in his eyes .
The association was made up of the elites, keeping a tight control over the Awakened .
This man must be either someone with very low ranking or a new blood .
After checking his ID, I asked him a question .
"So, what's the occasion?"
"That's�� Are you Kim Min-Cheol?"
"That's correct . "
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"What's your age? How long have you been an Awakened for?"
"Are you here to do an interview?"
"Ah . This is part of protocol…"
"18 years old and about 4 months since I've Awakened . "
"Hm… Haven't reached the age to get a license… If you have a school ID, could you show it to me?"
"Instead of only asking me questions, how about answering mine? What is this about . "
"You've been put under suspicion of using a stolen or forged Awakened ID and an investigation has been launched for you . "
"Illegal ID?"
"Yes . It's only been 4 months since you've become Awakened, but we've been receiving data that you've been solo clearing the level 23 dungeon . "
Murmuring the words, he seemed to be trembling like a leaf .
'Did I say I was going to devour him or something?'
Now I was able to grasp the situation .
I knew this would happen eventually .
Even on the first day I met Jong Ho .
When I received the reward for defending against the succubi portal explosion, I was put under suspicion as well .
Thankfully for the idiotic association member who only tried to get his work over with, I was able to avoid the annoying complications .
All he wanted to do was to confirm the ID that I was using .
Wouldn't I just have to let him confirm and be done with it?
"Here it is . My school ID . "
"Sorry… I mean . Thank you . "
After receiving my school ID, he looked back and forth between the ID and my face to check .
"Wew… . "
After checking my ID, he sighed in relief .
"All done?"
"Um… I'm sorry but can you also do a fingerprint testing . . "
"…Wew . "
I felt bad for Se-Jin Kim, shaking in fear and working late into the night .
To get it over with as quickly as possible, I did as he wanted .
Beep .
My information came up .
"Thank you . It really is you . Sorry for all the trouble . "
"No worries . We're done right?"
"Yes . The confirmation process is complete . "
"I'll be going then . "
"It's amazing . To be able to do a level 23 dungeon in 4 months…"
"See you…"
I didn't want to waste any more time .
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I left him behind and headed towards the bench .
'I got away easy this time, but seems like things are going to get bothersome . '
One day, my identity would be revealed, but at least I wanted to live quietly until I defeated Jin and his group .
I called Se-Jin .
"Hey there . "
"Yes! Mr . Min-Cheol . "
"Let's go eat to out sometime . "
"R . . Really? Wow! Thank you . Thank you very much . "
Se-Jin nodded eagerly with joy .
Now for the actual reason of calling Se-Jin back .
"By the way, does this identity confirmation automatically get uploaded to the servers?"
"No . This stuff isn't on the network . Why do you ask?"
"Please delay the report as long as possible then . "
"Huh? I've already confirmed that you aren't an illegal Awakened yet . There's no reason keep others suspicious of you . "
"Come on . Even if that's the case, there's no Awakened who accomplished what I did in 4 months . "
"That's true . "
"The news on TV and newspapers will have me featured . If that happened, do you think other countries will leave me alone? They'll be asking me to transfer over . That would be a loss for this country . "
"Aha! That makes sense . "
'What the… I was able to convince Se-Jin that easily? What a naive person . '
"Ah… Yes… I'll be counting on you . "
"Don't you worry! That cannot happen!"
"Thank you . Then I'll be on my way . "
"Yes . Fighting!"
Perhaps Se-Jin is an airhead like Tae-Seong from my class .
There were many Awakened with fame equivalent to idols .
I didn't know if Se-Jin was acting, but I could tell that Se-Jin's eyes shone with honesty .
* * * *
Se-Jin left, and now it was time to check my spoils .
Arriving at the bench, I dumped the contents of the backpack .
With one day's worth of hunting, I had gathered this many bloodstones .
Between the pile of stones, I saw the skill books .
Something like the thrill of lotto?
Since I couldn't tell the identity of the skill book until I scanned them, it was exciting .
I stacked the four skill books next to the bench, placing the skill book I got from the rank 1 Lich King at the very bottom .
"All right… let's see!"
The first skill I confirmed was 'Charging' .
Used by tanks or clerics, one uses a shield to push away an enemy .
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Useless .
At least it wasn't a Fire Ball or Cross Cut . An F ranking attack skill book would've been bad .
Because this skill book had quite the price on it .
Without delay, I checked the next skill book .
'Charging Shot' for the ranger class .
I could use skills from all classes, but I had to give up on this one .
It was only usable when equipping a bow or crossbow .
With repeated duds, I was becoming less excited .
Click .
"Wow!"
I couldn't help but exclaim .
On the smartphone was the skill's name .
'Glacial Field . '
Out of all the A+ ranking skills, this was the first one I tried to get .
While it had an aoe freezing effect, the damage was quite lower than Meteor or Iceberg, so I had given up on learning it .
But if it comes to me like this, of course I have to learn it .
It was like an herbal medicine after a long exhausting hunt .
The finale! The only skill book left was the one I got from defeating the highest ranking Lich King .
The stronger the boss was, the better the skill book drop .
I had a good feeling about this one .
"Probably not a skill beyond A ranking, but give me a good one!"
As I put my finger on the smartphone, I became nervous .
After scanning the skill name, I felt it .
The skill explanation was as follows .
-Formless Sword Aura-
Usable class: Warrior (Other classes have 10 times the mana cost . )
Mana cost: Channeled . (Per tick, uses 1% of total mana . )
Skill introduction: *Cuts apart the target with speed that cannot be followed .
*Target cannot detect the sword aura .
*As the skill rises, the destructive force increases .
*Usable on (???) ranking bosses .
Cooldown: None .
Duration: None .
Skill ranking: Attack S
Additional information: Using the skill increases user's physical and magical defensive stats increase by 10% .
Estimated skill book cost: ???
"S rank?"
Warrior class skill 'Formless Sword Aura' was an S ranking attack skill .
Out of all the skills I've obtained so far, none were an S rank .
I only had 3 A+ ranking attack skills . 1
And that's including the Glacial Field I got just now .
A ranking skills were not weak .
You can tell just by seeing it in action .
Meteor and Iceberg . No matter who the target was, they would receive massive amounts of damage .
But an S rank .
It wasn't just the skill's attack capability .
Looking at the additional information section, it said that I would obtain 10% physical and magical damage reduction .
Wearing the Lich King's armor set, each piece granting 20% damage reduction, and adding this new skill, I'd only receive half the damage of any skills used against me .
"It seems I'm slowly becoming a monster?"
As everyone said, "Amateurs are based on gear . "
But at this point, I had already become a pro with all the ability and growth I've achieved .
And I had gear to boot .
It was almost enough to make me scared of myself .
Checking the skill book once more, I began to organize the stones .
Grabbing a fistful of stones and shoving them back into the bag .
It was to make sure no Awakened Essences would end up mixed with the stones .
"One, two, three . Almost threw away one . "
After repaying the essence to the midget, I now had 3 again .
It was nearly time to Awaken Meteor and Iceberg, both of which were nearing level 100 .
The last one?
Of course I'd have to use it on Formless Sword Aura .
However, it would be difficult to raise this skill because it only hits a single target per use .
The condition for gaining experience for skills were a little bit different from skill to skill .
Most depended on how many targets it hit .
Explosion and Holy Missile were both single target skills .
That's why I had not obtained level 100 with them even after one week of obtaining them .
Of course, I was using my infinite mana to level up my skills at an incredible rate already .
Not aoe's, but single target skills are what differentiate me from other Awakened .
Thinking about that, I remembered the Assassin Weapon Throw that Jin used on me .
That skill was also a single target skill .
Dodging my attack as if it was nothing, I became more confused the more I thought about Jin . There was something wrong, but I couldn't put my foot on it .
For that guy though, I had a present ready for him .
Hiding my evil grin, I headed home .
"My bag is stuffed more than usual today, hehe . "