Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 75

“I just wanted to discuss how to develop my abilities…” Ji-Cheok said.

?I am sorry, Master. I just wanted…?

“No no, it’s not your fault. Besides, you gave me a very important piece of information.”

Ji-Cheok and Cheok-Liang were now in a wilderness-type dungeon where only rocks were visible under the open blue sky. Thanks to the [Spontaneous Absorption], [Arcane Circle of Mana Recovery], [Double Core], and [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art], Ji-Cheok could control his breath and circulate his qi to recover all of his stamina and enter the dungeon soon after the previous one. Of course, if it were any other Awakened, it would have been impossible.

Since his inner strength was also converted into mana, he could clear one dungeon a day. If he got injured, he could heal himself, and if he got tired, he could control his breath and circulate his qi. He was basically an infinite dungeon farmer!

Still, Ji-Cheok didn’t immediately enter the dungeon. He had to spend a day recreating the smashed Mono Bike. For that reason, he was glad to have a large company on his side. Whatever materials he wanted, Ji-Cheok would just give the company the money, and they would take care of it. That was how this new Mono Bike was made.

[Mono Bike G]

[Class: B+ (Hidden)

Type: Summon / Vehicle

It runs by consuming the user’s mana instead of fuel. It is a hidden creation made by combining the [Scrooge’s Alchemy] and [Arcane Golem Creation]! It can run both on- and off-road, and it amplifies the user’s riding skills. Directly crashing into objects with it will cause hardcore destruction!

Skills

[Summon/Cancel Summon: The user can put the bike in a separate dimension for storage and summon it back to the user’s world.]

[Mana Save: The same amount of power can be produced with only 50% of an average arcane golem’s mana consumption. ]

[Acceleration: The higher the speed, the greater the skill damage. (up to 300%)]

[Outlaw of the Road: Ride both on-road and off-road.]

[Rapid Acceleration: Executes rapid acceleration for 3 seconds and doubles the speed for 10 seconds.]

[Wall Drive: The user can drive on walls.]

[Amphibious Drive: The user can drive on water.]

Additional skill

[Mana Sync: All skills of hunters on board can be synced to the bike.]

[Toughness Boost: Increase toughness by 5 times.]

There were four new skills for the Mono Bike: [Rapid Acceleration], [Wall Drive], [Amphibious Drive], and [Toughness Boost]. Ji-Cheok thought that the [Wall Drive] skill he bought before and the fact that his crafting skills got better had an impact on receiving these new skills.

“Alright. Let’s put it into practice here. That’s why I came to this unpopular dungeon.”

?Yes, Master. This is one of the dungeons where no one comes unless the Dungeon Break is imminent.?

The name of this unpopular dungeon was [Land of Walking Boulders]. Set in the wilderness, this dungeon had a radius of about ten kilometers. At the end of the dungeon, there was an invisible wall blocking anyone from going further. There was no maze or anything resembling it, and there was only one type of monster that appeared, the rock golem. This dungeon didn’t have any level limit, and it was evaluated as a 2-star dungeon. Also, the boss monster was not particularly hard to deal with. The rock golems had a reputation for being strong, but slow, and therefore easy to catch as a long-ranged dealer. All in all, it was a place that could be easily cleared by a team of Hunters around level forty.

The reason why this dungeon was unpopular was because the rewards were so poor. All the items that appeared in this place were rocks. The materials in dungeons were from another dimension, but rocks were not really money-making objects, so people had lost interest in the dungeon quite quickly. There were some Hunters who tried to extract the ore by melting the rocks, but the profit was not worth the trouble.

[The Gods have shown interest in you!]

[The Gods have shown interest in you!]

[The Gods have shown interest in you!]

Even though Ji-Cheok had entered an unpopular dungeon, messages that the Gods were watching him continued to appear.

‘Don’t Gods have better things to do? Why are they always watching me?’?

?Actually, a golem’s core can bring a lot of money, but you have to destroy the core to kill the golem, and a destroyed core is useless.?

“So basically, if you want to make money off of golems, you have to take the core while they are alive… But that’s a waste of mana.”

?It is, since it takes a long time to recover mana. Considering that Hunters make money by using their mana, spending mana meaninglessly is the same as throwing away money.?

“If others could recover mana as fast as I can, then maybe they could do something. I guess that’s why this place became an unpopular dungeon.”

The Hunters had to drain their mana like water to defeat the monsters, and the conversion rate between killing rock golems and making money was very poor. Come to think of it, this dungeon was not only unpopular, it was the exact opposite of people’s capitalistic ideology. The reason why Hunters tried to avoid entering this place was that the cost-performance ratio was terrible.

Of course, Ji-Cheok wasn’t here to make money. He was here to check on his powers and abilities. The first thing to do was to check the power of [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art].

“Cheok-Liang, activate detection.”

?Detection activated.?

Cheok-Liang’s tail turned toward the sky and morphed into an antenna-like shape.

?It is located 1.2 kilometers northeast.?

‘Alright, let’s go.”

Ji-Cheok got on the bike and started the engine.

“Rapid Acceleration.”

VROOM!!

The Mono Bike G accelerated at an impressive rate. The speed exceeded four hundred kilometers per hour in an instant!

After the Rapid Acceleration effect ceased, the speed gradually decreased and was maintained at three hundred kilometers per hour. Thanks to this skill, Ji-Cheok was able to get to the destination where the golem was located 1.2 kilometers away in a matter of seconds.

Thud!

Ji-Cheok jumped off his Mono Bike G and unsummoned it. While the Mono Bike G turned into particles and disappeared, he unsheathed his dual swords. At the same time, he took a deep breath and stimulated the energy of the [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art]. The qi spread throughout his body in an instant along his meridians. All of this was done while he was still in the air.

Ji-Cheok fell toward the golem that was walking slowly. While Ji-Cheok was falling, the Divine Qi that came out of Ji-Cheok’s core flowed through the sword and turned into Sword Qi, glowing with blue light.

Slash!

The rock golem that was three-meter tall was split in half. The core was also cut apart, and the golem collapsed and rolled on the ground.

?Because it is a low-level dungeon, the monsters have no mana resistance. The information I received was correct.?

“I know, the golem was cut down so easily!”

To block a Sword Qi, the enemy needed to have the same Sword Qi or have mana resistance. This golem was big but it was just a giant rock and nothing more.

?So, how is it, Master??

“The energy required to maintain the Sword Qi is reduced by half. With this, I will be able to maintain my Sword Qi for about six hours.”

?How about the Divine Qi consumed when attacking the golem with the Sword Qi??

“It’s minimal. If I had to fight golems back to back. I think it would last for about five hours.”

?This is great, Master. It has phenomenal durability. If you only use it briefly during battles, you will be able to fight for a longer period of time.?

“Also, because this is a passive skill, there are no trigger delays like other combat skills or support skills.”

For the skills to activate, Hunters needed to say the name of the skill out loud. Thanks to the [Silent Spell Cast], Ji-Cheok was able to activate his skills without making a sound, but he still had to think about them to activate them. Each skill was different, but it took at least one second to use the skill.

?It seems that things are going as I promised, Master.?

“You are right. A kind of power that can improve through effort and training, without the need for Likes. This way, I can use the Likes to get supplementary special abilities that can only be obtained from the Likes Shop. Cheok-Liang, your plan is working.”

?Furthermore, in the case of Sword Qi, it is a skill used by those who are at least level 60 or higher. The training process for cultivation is difficult, so there are very few people who actually use Sword Qi.?

“But I can use other skills, not just Sword Qi, right?”

?Yes, Master. The fighting techniques that come together with the Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art are all-encompassing. Fist techniques, palm techniques, swords and saber skills, all of these are included.?

“The Fist Art trains your fists, the Palm Art trains your palms. Basically, I need to smash rocks and bend metal with my bare hands. I should try this one too.”

?Speak of the devil, a new test subject is approaching.?

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.?

From a distance, a rock golem about three meters tall was walking toward Ji-Cheok. The clumsy rock golem, which looked like it was having trouble walking on two feet, came toward Ji-Cheok and raised its arms. Seeing this, he returned the Monoblade to its sheath and clenched his fist.

‘The rank of my strength is B. Then…’

Ji-Cheok inhaled and sent his qi throughout his body. At the same time, he used the [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Fist Art], which was an auxiliary of the [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art]. With Fist Qi flowing through his arm, he punched the rock golem.

Bam!

The rock golem’s arm shattered, its entire body was shaken by the shock wave, and the golem fell backward.

Thud!

Dust rose from the fallen golem. Ji-Cheok took a solid stance next to the fallen monster and threw a punch, his fist descending upon it like a ton of steel.

Bam!

Ji-Cheok’s punch, powered by Fist Qi, shattered the rock golem.

Boom!

The explosion was almost artistic.

“The power of the [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Fist Art] is amazing!”

If Sword Qi could cut through anything, Fist Qi was blunt impact—striking the opponent and crushing them, and ultimately blowing them apart. When it came to wide-range attacks, Fist Qi had the upper hand.

?Master’s current inner strength is not quite enough for such a performance. I believe that your punches are this powerful due to the fact that you also have the Troll’s Body in addition to the Fist Qi.?

“That’s true, my physique transcends that of a human.”

Thanks to the [Troll’s Body], Ji-Cheok’s stamina and strength were both ranked B. The addition of [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Fist Art] and its Fist Qi made Ji-Cheok’s punches incredibly powerful.

“Then… Shall I try the other skill too? Indestructible Toy Summon!”

Ji-Cheok used the newly acquired skill. There was information about what the skill was, but reading the description and actually using the skill were vastly different.

Boom~

Ji-Cheok was surprised at the result. A giant teddy bear had appeared in front of him. It was simply that: a giant teddy bear, the kind that was commonly sold in toy shops.

“This huge? How is this a toy?!”

The teddy bear was about five meters tall and looked incredibly fluffy. It was like a giant mountain of fur!

?This… This is unexpected. You should try to summon another one. I know there are quite a few types…?

“Uh… Okay. Indestructible Toy Summon!”

Ji-Cheok activated the skill once again. The giant teddy bear disappeared and a puppet that looked much less fluffy appeared instead.

“That’s a dinosaur!”

It didn’t look like an actual dinosaur, but a fantasy-like dinosaur made by a toy company to attract children. But the puppet looked cool and strong, and its teeth were jagged.

?In the Awakened database, this one is called “Drake”. It is a very powerful A-Rank monster.?

“Who the hell is this transcendent blacksmith that would make these puppets for his children as toys?”

?I do not know, but they certainly do not seem to be a normal blacksmith. Well… in any case, if you look in a positive way, this skill is truly unique.?

“You think so too?”

?Yes, Master. I think it can be very useful as a shield.?

Being able to summon an indestructible toy meant that Ji-Cheok now had an indestructible shield at his disposal. The fact that he could also control it with a remote control was a big plus.

Roooaaarrr!

A five-meter-sized Drake puppet roared loudly. The puppet was slow, like an actual puppet, but what mattered to Ji-Cheok was its enormous size. Besides, unlike the teddy bear, this puppet was a little stiff.

‘The downside of this skill is that there’s no guarantee that the puppet I want will be summoned, and the speed of the various toys is also different from each other. I’m not even going to talk about their attack power. I would be happy if these puppets could efficiently tank enemies’ damage. Gotta be satisfied with that.’

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