Ranker’s Return

[The skill Mysterious Sky Demonic Art’s rank has risen to 9 stars.]

[A skill has been created.]

[Mysterious Demonic Martial Art]

[A famous martial art in the East Continent.

Once the proficiency reaches 3, 5, 7, and 9 stars, new skills will be opened.

Type: Martial Art

Rating: Unique

Skill Proficiency: 9 stars (the proficiency of martial arts is indicated by the star unit)

The attribute is fixed as the dark attribute.

The power of magic power is increased by 150%.

Mysterious Sky Steps can be used.

Mysterious Sky Range can be used.

Mysterious Sky can be used.

Mysterious Sky Demonic Strength can be used.

Mysterious Sky Core can be used.

Mysterious Sky Steps: Move quickly with magic power. 

Mysterious Sky Range: Use magic power to create a blade storm.

Mysterious Sky: Mysterious Sky is activated during combat.

Mysterious Sky Demonic Strength: Shoots strong magic.

Mysterious Sky Core: An inner core made of magic power is created. Your control over magic power will become stronger.]

‘Inner core? Is it like a heart?’

Hyeonu looked at the newly created skill. The effect of giving him stronger control over his magic power wasn’t very impressive.

‘Still, the overall effect has improved a lot.’

8 stars in Mysterious Sky Demonic Art increased the strength of his magic power by 80%, and once it reached 9 stars, it was 150%. It went up by a huge 70% from before.

‘It can be regarded as gaining a unique skill.’

He was satisfied with this and felt rewarded for having continued this difficult hunt.

‘The stat increases are massive.’

In addition to other effects, all stats had risen by 200, which was a huge number. Hyeonu currently had seven different types of stats. In other words, the total amount of stats he got from the 9 star Mysterious Sky Demonic Art was 1,400.

‘Good, good...’

Hyeonu was very pleased that he had achieved his purpose.

“That’s right, the meat.”

This was when he remembered the meat he had placed on the stone plate. Without even picking up the items on the ground, he quickly returned to the stone plate.

“Uh? What? Where is the meat?”

However, he found nothing on it. Only a layer of white oil proved that the meat had been cooked on the stone plate.

“Tang-E, the meat is gone. What happened to it?” Hyeonu asked.

Hearing that, Tang-E’s expression quickly became tearful. “Cook it again, Master dude. Tang-E wants to eat meat. I’m hungry.”

He grabbed Hyeonu’s pants and shook them. 

Hyeonu stroked Tang-E’s head. “Yes, let's cook it again.”

Hyeonu once again injected magic power into the stone plate without realizing that the bottom part of his pants, which were touching the ground, were glistening with oil.

***

[The No. 72 Fuca spartoi has been killed.]

[Experience has been acquired.]

Hyeonu had been hunting steadily ever since. Rather, he was hunting even more comfortably. The increase in his specs made hunting easier, and his mind became more relaxed as he had already achieved his goal of reaching 9 stars in the Mysterious Sky Demonic Art today. His calm mind meant a return to high concentration in battle, which also sped up the hunt.

‘Are there any conditions for the boss monster?’

Otherwise, he would’ve seen the boss monster by now.

‘If so, it will be hard to finish it by today.’

Hyeonu sighed. It was a bit of a pity. Human greed was endless. Hyeonu had achieved his goal of reaching 9 stars in the Mysterious Sky Demonic Art, but he also wanted the reward for clearing the instance dungeon.

‘It isn’t just the rewards for killing the dungeon boss monster... I think I can clear the quest at the same time.’

The situation was just too uncertain.

“It is regrettable, regrettable.”

Hyeonu continued to walk while feeling regretful. After another two battles, Hyeonu had been walking for quite a while when he finally saw a huge building. The building was a huge temple. Delicate patterns were engraved all over it.

‘Is it the dragon’s seal?’

Hyeonu looked closely at the patterns and noticed that they featured a dragon.

‘It feels good?’

His usual intuition kicked in and told him something related to the boss of the instance dungeon was here. Hyeonu carefully entered the temple-like building with Tang-E. Upon entering, Hyeonu’s speculation became more certain.

‘The paintings on the wall...’

Inside the temple, there were paintings of a flying dragon on both walls of the passageway. He walked further and saw statues as well as more paintings.

“Tang-E, be careful. It feels very dangerous,” Hyeonu whispered to Tang-E.

“Understood, Master dude.” Tang-E immediately clung to Hyeonu’s back, thinking that the safest place was Hyeonu’s back. No matter how crazily fast Tang-E’s running speed was, it was still nothing compared to Hyeonu’s Mysterious Sky Steps.

Tang-E clung to Hyeonu and used a buff at the same time. Knowing that it was more dangerous here, he felt he should prepare in advance. While walking, Hyeonu carefully observed his surroundings. The interior changed as he went deeper into the temple.

‘It’s wide.’

The end of the passageway opened up to a huge space that was wider than a soccer field and was roughly the size of an Olympic stadium. The ceiling of the space was made of glass, and the dark blue light of the demon world was passing through it.

Hyeonu continued to walk some more. He was more nervous now that his surroundings weren’t blocked. He didn’t know when and where spartoi would appear from and besiege him.

While Hyeonu was looking around with sharp eyes, a huge hill appeared in front of him. Simultaneously, an odd feeling of reluctance to move forward rose in Hyeonu’s heart. He knew intuitively that something was amiss here. Nevertheless, he couldn’t avoid it. He couldn’t pass through this area without passing by the hill. Naturally, the closer Hyeonu got to the hill, the better he could see it.

'What is that?’

The garden wasn’t a garden but something with skin so crumbly that it looked like it was about to become sand.

“A corpse?” Hyeonu wondered. This was definitely the body of something that once had life. Hyeonu quickly approached the hill he presumed to be a corpse.

‘Perhaps this is...’

His footsteps became faster. The speculation in his mind was hastening his feet.

Tang-E shook Hyeonu’s head and exclaimed, “Master dude, it’s huge!” 

The corpse he saw up close was really huge. It was no wonder why Hyeonu had mistaken it for a hill. At the size of an apartment building, it took more than 10 minutes just to look around the body. Before long, Hyeonu arrived in front of the corpse. “Hah...”

It was just a corpse, but he couldn’t erase the feeling of unease overwhelming him. The corpse’s appearance was actually very shabby. Its matte purple leather had lost all vitality and was so dry it seemed like it would crumble to bits at any time. Meanwhile, the dragon’s head remained vivid like it could open its eyes at any moment.

‘If I can make an item with just one horn...’

The dragon’s two horns that looked nearly 20 meters long and its tightly closed mouth were very daunting.

“Is that an altar?” Hyeonu said when he found a small altar covered in vines in front of the dragon’s corpse. He slowly approached the altar, not knowing what or when something would happen. However, they reached the altar safely. No monsters appeared.

‘What is this?’ Hyeonu reached the altar and saw a translucent staircase that hadn’t been visible before. The translucent staircase was connected to the dragon corpse—to be precise, its head.

Hyeonu climbed the stairs without much consideration, thinking rather naturally that there had to be a reason for the stairs. The stairs led him straight to the dragon’s head—between its two eyes, where the actual connection for the stairs was between its eyebrows.

“Master dude, there is a hole over there.” Tang-E turned Hyeonu’s head.

There was a very small groove in the spot Tang-E was referring to. Suddenly, something popped out of Hyeonu’s inventory forcibly—a small stone. The stone that Damanos dropped when he died had emerged at this very moment.

“What?!” Hyeonu shouted with a flustered expression. This was the first time such a thing had happened. It had never happened before in Arena.

[The item information has been updated.]

[Bead Sealed with Chaos]

[A bead sealed with chaos. It has been touched by an ancient dragon.

Rating: Epic

Restrictions: None

Effect: None]

The bead in Hyeonu’s hand was sucked into the hole between the dragon’s eyebrows. The problem was that Hyeonu also flew in with it.

“What’s wrong?”

Hyeonu was flustered about being moved in spite of his will. He looked at the message that appeared before his eyes and panicked again.

[A quest has been created.]

[Resurrection of the Sealed Dragon]

[Awaken the ancient dragon that has sealed itself.

Rating: SSS+

Conditions: Fill the bead with magic power 0/1

Rewards: Experience, dragon’s gift.]

“Um...” Hyeonu pondered about the unexpected quest, but it was only for a moment. He removed the message window from in front of him and put his hand on the bead.

‘Good.’

In any case, he was glad to see it. He didn’t have to kill a dragon; he could get a reward as long as he injected magic power into the bead. Hyeonu placed his hand on the bead, and the amount of magic power required to unseal it appeared.

[Please inject magic power into the bead.]

[Magic power required to unseal it: 1,000,000]

“Crazy!” Hyeonu swore uncontrollably.

‘1,000,000.’

The requirement was one million, but Hyeonu’s current magic power stat was just over 6,000. He would have to inject all of his magic power 166 times in order to unseal it.

‘I can’t do it alone.’

Hyeonu couldn’t help feeling it was impossible. The quest was definitely something he could never do just by himself. He needed to come together with a group to inject magic power. It was impossible to fill up the figure of one million otherwise. No, it was simply too time consuming—an unnecessary waste of time.

‘Let’s just fill it up once today and rest.’

Hyeonu started to inject magic power into the bead. Normally, he would inject it in moderation. However, he had already judged that this place was safe, and he had to go to sleep soon in reality in order to adjust his state anyway. So there was no problem if he consumed all of his magic power now.

[You are injecting magic power into the bead.]

[Current charge: 150]

The bead quickly absorbed Hyeonu’s magic power. It was more like the bead was pulling at Hyeonu’s magic power rather than him injecting it. The number before his eyes quickly increased in proportion to the magic power that disappeared.

[You have more than two attributes. The amount of magic power charged has increased sharply.]

The number rose faster since the message appeared. Hyeonu’s magic power soon disappeared, and the amount of magic power charged was 15,000.

“Sigh... It is hard.”

Hyeonu stood there quietly. He felt drowsy now that all of his magic power had disappeared. Right then, the bead that had fully absorbed Hyeonu’s magic power glowed. The light wrapped around the body of the baffled Hyeonu.

[Chaos is encroaching on your body.]

[Absorbing the magic power stat.]

[Absorbed magic power stat: 11]

Surrounded by the light, Hyeonu was unable to move his body. In the meantime, 11 points of his magic power stat were stolen. Just then, a purple-haired man appeared behind Hyeonu, who was currently being robbed of his magic power.

“Hrmm... Seems you’ve really found something?”

This man was Callioraks.