[Dungeon Cleared]

[Time used – 2:46:07]

[All Traps Destroyed]

[Killed – Centipede Soldiers: 503, Centipede Assault Soldiers: 3, Giant Centipede: 1]

[Special achievement: ‘Poison? What’s that? Can I drink that?’]

[Additional Rewards – New Skill Acquired: Poison Resistance (Passive)]

[Performance Rank – EX]

[Additional Rewards: Access Key to The Ant Cave Rest Area]

[… ]

“…”

The centipede collapsed, the dungeon was cleared, and the cave was destroyed. Jung Si-woo was speechless reading the words in front of his eyes, while Soo Ah-rin and the ghost had lost their words after the sight they had seen.

[Experience Calculated. Level has risen by 5.]

For a moment, Jung Si-woo’s body glowed as he rose to another level. However, unlike when he first acquired mana, this time, it was only increasing the amount of mana that he had, so there were no adverse side effects as before.

[Jung Si-Woo]

[Underground Player]

[Lv. 15]

[Strength: 112 | Agility: 111 | Endurance: 125 | Mana: 15]

[Passive Skill – Tail of Chaos: Lv. 1, Courage of the Ignorant: Lv. 2, Poison Resistance: Lv. 1]

[Active Skill – Amplification: Lv. 9, Strike: Lv. 7]

After confirming his changed status, Jung Si-woo exhaled deeply while pumping his fist. By rough estimate, it seemed that strength, agility, and endurance rose by 2 per level and mana essentially rose by 1 per level.

‘But my strength stat value doesn’t necessarily fit the full potential of my actual strength.’

Nevertheless, it wasn’t too bad to be able to see with your own eyes how much your abilities improved. He smiled proudly and confirmed the next reward. The first one was poison tolerance. In the process of clearing the dungeon, it seems that he achieved this by not being poisoned for even a second, but he couldn’t understand why the skill he obtained was poison resistance when he didn’t receive any damage by poison. Anyway, the effect of the skill was obvious without any need to look closely: the ability to resist poison, the ability to overcome poison. Deadly monsters were likely to appear in the future, so this was a must-have skill. Jung Si-woo was satisfied.

The problem was the second reward, the key in his palm.

[Resting Area Entrance Key]

[A key to enter the resting area in the Ant Cave, given only to Underground Players that show potential. Simply insert it into the ground, and an entry will appear.]

“That’s extremely vague, though.”

A resting area? Insert it into the ground? It would be hard to figure it out until he tried it. Jung Si-woo shrugged and threw the key into his inventory. Then, he pulled his hammer from the centipede’s corpse and smashed it, completing the dollar and gems looting. Finally, he turned to the ghost.

“Now give me the quest reward.”

[…Yes? Oh, Yes! Reward, I will reward you!]

The ghost finally came back to his senses. The technique Jung Si-woo had shown was far greater than the upper echelon of players with his outstanding speed and a mere strike skill…to a 10th stage dungeon retired player like him, it was truly a blinding spectacle to see. However, if he could help Jung Si-woo as he advanced through these dungeons, wouldn’t it be better than the insignificant life he had lived until now? The ghost felt his heart pounding even though he didn’t really have one.

[You exceeded the requirement by 500%. I shall give you my record crystal…!]

“Record Crystal?”

Finally, Soo Ah-rin came back to her senses. The record crystal was a great reward that even brightened her gloomy eyes, as frustrated as she was by the fact that she wasn’t doing anything in this dungeon to support Si-woo.

“You mean you’re going to give your skills?”

“Skill?”

[That’s right. I shall give you the last things I have left in this dungeon.]

After that, the ghost went quiet. He had been translucent so far and clearly visible, but his body glowed brightly right after the declaration. Soo Ah-rin frowned at the sight in front of her.

“This isn’t…?”

“If you know anything, tell me quickly.”

“No, at first I thought he was about to give you the skills he used in his lifetime…”

“But?”

Skill. Now Si-woo knew the power of the skill. It would be a good thing if that were possible, but he didn’t think that was the case after looking at Soo Ah-rin’s strange expression…then, Soo Ah-rin continued.

“This guy, I think he’s just trying to give you his entire life?”

“What? Now I feel bad!”

However, even if he regretted it now, which he didn’t, the spirit had completely become a fragment of light. The small crystals of light slowly flew in and penetrated the back of Jung Si-woo’s hand. Jung Si-woo closed his eyes, blinded by the beaming light from the back of his hand, and saw a strange pattern inscribed there. He then felt a different power than his own in his body.

[Quest completed!]

[You have acquired the skill ‘Soul Collect.’ Current soul collected: 1]

[The way to use the power of the soul is still unknown.]

“What is this?!”

“This is also my first time hearing about that skill. I’m sure he was hugely impressed by your power to give his entire soul, but he should at least tell us how to use that power if he’s going to do it like that…”

They almost pulled out their hair while racking their brains, searching for a way to use the power of soul inscribed in his hand, but it was impossible to figure out now. Jung Si-woo was extremely dissatisfied with the fact that the quest reward, which he exceeded by 500% at best, ended with a tattoo he didn’t know much about, but he soon accepted reality.

“Anyway, I have achieved my goal so that I will be satisfied with that.”

“I never thought that you could clear the whole dungeon without any damage, Si-woo.”

Of course, not all dungeons would be like the Centipede’s Lair, but anyway, it was concluded that if the dungeon were of a normal level, it was highly likely that Jung Si-woo could clear it without difficulty. The first dungeon was completed perfectly.

“Then now I will throw the gems on the altar…eh?”

At the edge of the boss’s room, he found an altar that emitted a bright light, and Jung Si-woo, who was approaching in a hurry, shook his head. This was because a little red altar next to it came into his view.

“What is this?”

“…I don’t want to tell you that.”

Soo Ah-rin frowned but soon sighed and opened her mouth.

“This altar shows itself when you clear a dungeon at or above an excellent rating. It’s called the ‘Reinforced Altar.’ Once you put an artifact in there along with monster gems, it’ll strengthen the artifact. The direction and degree of reinforcement are determined by the nature, quality, and number of the monster bead.”

“So, it’s like that.”

“Si-woo, please, let’s get armor first, okay?”

However, Soo Ah-rin already knew how Jung Si-woo would move even if she said that. Nonetheless, he turned completely away from the bright-lit altar and headed for the red one.

“There’s no guarantee that I’ll get armor in the first place. On top of that, we never know when the reinforced altar will pop up again. So, it’s better to strengthen your weapons when you can. Well, some say that the best defense is a good offense, right?”

“Grrr…”

After concluding his logical explanation, he put the sledgehammer on the reinforced altar with the boss monster’s bead and the three beads of the elite centipedes. However, the altar emitted a strong red light and bounced back two of the elite monster beads.

[Maximum reinforcement reached. This artifact cannot be reinforced beyond that.]

“Whew…!”

“Tch.”

The grade of the sledgehammer was already too high in the first place. The limit of the artifact reinforcement had been reached with only one bead from the boss monster and one bead from the elite monster. Jung Si-woo pouted but continued to observe the reinforcement process on the altar. The brilliant bright red light filled the cave for a moment before disappearing. Jung Si-woo then confirmed that the hammer on the altar did grow stronger. Not only that, it was impressive to see dozens of sharp thorns on the edge of the hammer.

[The Black Wolf’s Paw]

[Rank: D+++]

[Attack power: 450 – 1,050]

[Proficiency: 9 / 240]

[Option: 1. ??? | 2. A certain probability of inflicting poison when attacking]

[A sledgehammer that holds the strength of the Giant Black Wolf’s paws. It is destructive and powerful. However, it weighs as much as it is strong, making it difficult to wield. Strong poison has been added.]

“He actually got a D++ class weapon in the test dungeon and reinforced it to D+++ in the first dungeon…”

Regardless of Soo Ah-rin’s expression, Jung Si-woo swung the newly transformed hammer in the air. He liked that it was heavier and longer now, and the attack power was increased too.

“There are more options attached. Though I still don’t know what the first option is…”

“Perhaps it’s an option that resembles the nature or skill of the Giant Black Wolf? Don’t worry; if you increase your proficiency, it will unlock naturally.”

Soo Ah-rin said, grabbing his sleeve and leading him to the bright altar. Now that they had the weapon, the next thing was armor. Of course, there was no guarantee that armor would come out in the first place!

“It would have been great if I could use all of these beads on the reinforced altar, but since I can’t…”

Jung Si-woo longingly looked at the reinforced altar glowing with red light but soon shook his head and poured all of the beads on the other altar. 353 ordinary centipede beads and 2 elite centipede beads at once. This time, Soo Ah-rin didn’t try to stop him. She was praying that he could get armor for once. The altar shined brightly. Soon after that, Soo Ah-rin laughed after seeing what appeared together with the bright lights.

“Haha…hahaha…Huu…”

She laughed in disbelief.

[Centipede’s Fangs]

[Rank: D++]

[Attack power: 250 – 500]

[Defense: 250 – 450]

[Proficiency – 0 / 200]

[Option – ???]

[A pair of leather gloves created with the essence of centipedes’ strongest poison. It’s very sturdy and tough to defend one’s hands. The small, hard thorns embedded into the knuckle area are an effective weapon.]

“Oh, it’s armor.”

“Where are you looking at for this to be considered armor? It only protects your hands…no, this is basically a weapon!”

Unlike Jung Si-woo, who excitedly exclaimed as he picked up the leather gloves with sparkling metallic thorns, Soo Ah-rin facepalmed upon seeing the glove.

“I know that the altar’s reward items are affected by the dungeon clear record, but still.”

“People won’t get suspicious even if I wear this around. Moreover, it’s better to have this than just my bare hands, right?”

“Yes, but from now on, let’s find an easier dungeon, so…”

“Yes, thank you for worrying about me.”

Jung Si-woo wore the gloves on both of his hands and stretched them out. Noticing that they had finished their business, including the ghosts, the gate to the outside world was created, and the dungeon started to collapse slowly.

‘This is weird. Originally, the dungeon of Sky Castle is permanent unless there’s a special quest that occurs. Could it be because it is built based on the retired players of the Sky Castle…?’

Soo Ah-rin bit her lips as she saw what happened. This meant that it was impossible for Jung Si-woo to reconquer the dungeon once cleared to gain stable experience. There was also a degree of difficulty. The Ant Cave really was a place that went beyond the Sky Castle.

“Okay, let’s find out what the resting area is when we go out.”

“What is that about?!”

It was so complicated that she felt like dying when he pulled out a new keyword again! As Soo Ah-rin was amazed by him, Jung Si-woo jumped through the gate with a smile. Soon after, the dungeon was completely destroyed.