Chapter 194: speed increase

The two remaining iron crabs didn’t wait for the gray mist to clear away. The cavern was too narrow for them to run, and the unfiltered logic of The Monarch’s Ledger had driven their primitive instincts into a blind, territorial rage. Their iron legs scraped violently against the black salt pillars, throwing up showers of white mineral dust that smelled sharply of dry brine.

Jun-ho stood right in the center of the frosted ring, his large rubber boots planted firm in the black mud. The gray numbers in his left eye were blinking, waiting for his confirmation.

[Unassigned Attribute Points: 5]

[Level: 15]

[Mana: 1500/3000]

"Put all 5 points into Speed," Jun-ho whispered into his collar.

[Attribute Allocation Detected: 5 Points to Speed.]

[Applying 100x Multiplier to Resource Logic...]

[Speed increased by 500.]

The shift inside his legs didn’t make a sound. The air right around his rubber boots simply grew thin, the loose grey salt crust beneath his soles rippling in small, rapid circles as if a heavy weight had suddenly been lifted off the stone floor boards. To Eun-bi, who was watching from behind the salt pillar, he didn’t look like a vanguard preparing to take a hit anymore. He looked like a shadow waiting for the light to go out.

The second crab lunged first, its massive right claw opening wide to snap his torso cleanly in two.

Jun-ho didn’t raise The Ash Remnant to block. He didn’t even drop into a defensive stance. He just took a single, ordinary step to the left. To the monster’s primitive perception, he simply vanished from the track, its heavy iron claw slamming into the empty stone floor with a massive, dull thud that split the foundation wide open.

Before the beast could even register that its target was gone, Jun-ho appeared right above its iron head casing. He didn’t use the sharp matte edge of his sword; he brought the heavy, solid flat of the blade straight down onto the center of the shell, using just the snap of his left wrist.

The thunderclap was faster this time. The truck-sized shell didn’t just break; it fractured into thousands of tiny gray iron shards that blew straight down into the mudflats below, the shockwave tearing the third monster off its pillar before it could even raise its legs. The third crab hit the stone floor hard, its grey iron plate buckled and broken from the sheer kinetic pressure of the air alone.

[Target Neutralized: Mutated Iron Crawler x2.]

[Total Experience Gained: 900,000 XP.]

[Level Up!]

[You have reached Level 16.]

[You have received 5 Unassigned Attribute Points.]

The deep purple glow in the cave walls began to fade out rapidly, the ink-black distortion at the exit tunnel opening back up as the area loop concluded. Right where the two monsters had fallen, two massive heaps of high-density blue crystals materialized, piling up against the rusted oil drums like piles of raw gravel. Over four hundred raw mana stones lay in the dark, casting a thick, liquid blue light across the salt walls.

Jun-ho didn’t look at the gray notification boxes. He slid the black blade of The Ash Remnant straight into his canvas duffel bag, the dark iron vanishing from sight under his spare shirts.

Eun-bi walked out from behind the pillar, her heavy canvas bag slung over her gray flannel shirt. Her hair was messy, sticking to her forehead from the salt sweat, but her sharp face carried that regular, flat public-sector drawl as she knelt down by the pile of blue light. She began scooping the raw stones into her bag, her fingers working fast as the silver blades of her scissors clutched loose in her belt loop.

"This is more than four million won worth of raw mineral density, Jun-ho," she said, her voice quiet but steady in the quiet room. She didn’t look up, her hands sorting the gems into neat lines inside the canvas casing. "If Old Man Hak sees this many stones in a single canvas sack, he’s going to think we robbed the ministry’s main regional vault. He’s an old river rat—he knows a Tier 1 meat shield shouldn’t be carrying five hundred unfiltered Tier 5 crystals."

"The old man won’t ask about the vault," Jun-ho said, his large rubber boots making a quiet, firm thud on the dirt floor as he knelt down to help her pack the remaining heap. "Because when we walk onto his wooden deck, he’s going to see what happened to the three guild boats at the slipway.

"He’s going to want a clear explanation for the transponder log, idiot," she muttered, her shoulder brushing against his arm as they both stuffed the final crystals into the bag, the heavy canvas stretching to its absolute limit under the weight. "But I guess four million won buys a lot of silence from an unranked broker."

"It buys the whole lugger if we need it," Jun-ho said flatly.

He stood up, slinging the swollen canvas sack over his right shoulder while his left hand held the strap of his duffel bag. The weight didn’t even register against his multiplied strength; he stood perfectly straight, his frame rigid and steady.

They walked out through the ink-black portal, the gray mist of the altered gate vanishing behind them as their boots hit the wet volcanic shingle of the beach again. The morning fog was still thick, rolling over the lower river mudflats, but through the yellow mist, the dark, low outline of an old wooden lugger was visible, its single oil lamp flickering weakly as it drifted toward the concrete pier.

Old Man Hak was standing by the bow rail, a long hemp rope coiled over his leather coat, his eyes locking straight onto the two heavy bags they were carrying out of the dark surf.

The wooden deck of the lugger smelled of old fish oil, rotten hemp, and wet timber that had never dried properly. The boat didn’t ride the river swells smoothly; it wallowed, its heavy oak frame giving a long, low groan every time a wave hit the square rudder from behind.

Old Man Hak didn’t look like a licensed captain. He was short, with a back that curved like an old root, and his hands were permanently stained black from the cheap grease he used on his single-cylinder diesel engine. He stood by the wooden tiller, his long leather coat stiff with salt crust, his eyes small and watery under a wool cap as he watched Jun-ho’s large rubber boots step onto his deck planks.