Chapter 39: Hong Insu’s Training

Ion had two items in mind to purchase from Harry Strange.

“I need an EXP-boosting item and a detection item.”

For a skilled crafter like Harry, it was a simple order. One eyebrow rose in surprise.

But Ion wasn’t done. “The EXP item should accumulate based on ‘quantity,’ not time—five of them. The detection item needs tracking capabilities, with a 5km range. Both A-rank or higher. Delivery by tonight, please.”

Harry’s face twisted, as if no grumpier middle-aged man could exist. EXP items were easy, but a detection item with tracking was tricky. Delivering by tonight would max out his skill, leaving him unable to use it for a week due to cooldown.

“Big mouth spouting nonsense. I listened to your card trick, now scram.”

“Sir, On shared the poker hack,” Hong Insu interjected.

“That was for ‘talk,’ not a deal. Get out before I call security!”

“Wow, this guy’s got scammer vibes. Context matters—you can’t split talk and deal now,” Hong Insu snapped.

“Hong, enough,” Ion said, raising a hand to stop him, still smiling. “Rejecting without hearing the payment?”

“Money? That won’t—”

“Moshi.”

Ion had planned a different offer.

“You know Moshi, right? The one Jipyeongseop’s developing, all over the news. I can get you a prototype.”

The Moshi Dungeon Measurement System prototype, developed by Horizon’s guildmaster Jipyeongseop, was a global sensation. Jipyeongseop planned to make only 20, reserving them for allied nations, not individuals or companies. With no S-rank dungeons in most countries, nations clamored for the incomplete prototypes to predict overflows. The UK, Harry’s homeland, had secured one, but as an unregistered Hunter, Harry couldn’t access it.

Hearing this tantalizing offer, Harry’s interest was palpable.

“How would you get it? Why should I trust you?” he demanded.

“We’re Horizon Spec-1 members. We retrieved Moshi from the Naju dungeon,” Ion said, removing his mask. Hong Insu, after a glance, followed suit.

Harry quickly searched on his laptop, verifying their claim. While Ion’s face wasn’t public, Hong Insu’s photo popped up.

Convinced, Harry tossed off his green-feathered mask, revealing a deeply wrinkled face for his mid-50s, sunken cheeks, a slightly hooked nose, and age spots under his eyes. Awakening typically rejuvenated the body, so for an S-rank like Harry to look this worn suggested a rough pre-awakened life.

A lifetime breathing sawdust in a carpentry shop to raise his daughter, now an S-rank crafter conjuring items from imagination. His small, dark brown eyes gleamed with uncontainable curiosity.

Harry agreed to the deal, signing a contract and taking Hong Insu’s inventory ID.

Leaving the black market for the parking lot, Hong Insu said excitedly, “Moshi’s prototype is already huge—when it’s done, our guild’s gonna be filthy rich. How’re you getting a prototype? Talked to the guildmaster?”

“Not ‘our guild.’ We’re mercenaries,” Ion corrected.

“C’mon, same team, ‘our guild’ is fine. So, you talked to him?”

Of course, Ion hadn’t spoken to Jipyeongseop since his hospital stay. But he’d discussed it with Horizon’s real power, Aide Dam.

“When the items arrive, text me. We’ll hit dungeons together tomorrow and the day after.”

“What?” Hong Insu stopped dead. Ion turned, and he asked, “What dungeons?”

“To grind your EXP.”

“Oh… for me…!” Touched briefly, Hong Insu’s face fell. “That’s great, but we’ve got an A-rank raid next week. I need rest before that…”

“For your sister.”

“She feels safer with me there…”

Ion’s persuasion was blunt. “Then kill Choi Jungho.”

“Argh!” Hong Insu flailed like a freshly caught fish. “Stop saying that! Fine! When and where tomorrow?!”

That night, six items arrived in Hong Insu’s inventory:

EXP Piggy Bank (A) Insert a portion of a monster’s corpse into the piggy bank. Crack it open when full for double EXP. Crafted by H. Strange Durability: 100/100 Uses: 1/1

Five double-EXP items.

And:

Tracker’s Navigation (A) Tracks an object’s mana signature via compass, displaying the owner’s location on a map. Range: 5km from user. Crafted by H. Strange Durability: 100/100 Uses: 1/1

Seeing the item details, Ion inwardly marveled. Exactly what he wanted.

They’d be a huge help for tomorrow’s “training.”

The next morning, near dawn, Ion dragged a groggy Hong Insu into a C-rank dungeon filled with chicken-like monsters half a human’s size.

Cluck-cluck-cluck!

Cock-a-doodle!

Crested monsters with fan-shaped combs that could tear skin chased the blonde Hunter relentlessly.

“Argh, you damn chickens, stop following me!” Hong Insu yelled.

Cluck! Cock-a-doo!

“Crazy! There’s over a hundred—how am I supposed to bind all their shadows? Ion, your sidekick’s gonna die!”

Ion had given Hong Insu a task: bind every chicken’s shadow without killing any.

“Did I hear that right?” Hong Insu had asked innocently, only to be kicked off a low cliff into the monsters’ nest.

An hour later, Hong Insu was still screaming and running.

Cluck-cluck! Cock-a-doo!

“Damn it! Give me time to use my skill!”

Dark red mana surged like waves. Hong Insu’s shadows targeted the monsters nipping at his clothes. But when one lunged with its comb, he dodged in panic, losing focus, and most shadows retreated.

It wasn’t a total failure—29 of the 113 chickens were bound.

“Again,” Ion said from a higher perch.

Hong Insu freaked out. “Why? I caught some! Why keep releasing them? If it’s just binding, I can do it one by one!”

“All at once. Or kill Choi Jungho.”

“Argh! Damn it! So annoying!”

Hong Insu released the 29 shadows and chugged a mana potion—his first today.

C-rank potion, so ten’s the safe daily limit, Ion noted.

Overusing mana potions caused two issues: tolerance, where potions stopped restoring mana, requiring a healer’s skill or months of rest; and addiction, bringing fever, spasms, paralysis, or worse. Addiction in combat could be deadly.

Hong Insu would pace himself, but Ion tracked his potion count.

Next try: 35 chickens.

Then: 40.

Then: 36…

Progress stalled, and Hong Insu’s outbursts waned as he tired.

Cluck! Cock-a-doo!

“Fine, chickens, eat me. I’m done,” he said, collapsing face-down.

Ion sighed, jumped down, and conjured vines to form a wall. Hong Insu, still prone, muttered, “Ion, I’m B-rank. My skill’s limit is 40. A sidekick’s got his best, and I’m tapped out.”

His voice dripped with defeat.

Ion decided to share a fact still unknown at this point. “Awakening rank doesn’t determine skill power. A C-rank’s force can outstrip an A-rank’s.”

“What?” Hong Insu shot up, energy renewed. “How’s that possible?”

Awakening ranks were fixed, unchangeable—a rule holding until the novel’s end. But ranks weren’t everything. They affected mana control and the maximum number of skills: E/F-ranks got one, D-rank two, C-rank three, B-rank four, A-rank five, S-rank unlimited.

Max mana, skill power, and cooldowns? Unaffected by rank, only by EXP.

“Crazy, I didn’t know! So I can get four skills?” Hong Insu said.

“Yup. Train hard, and you’ll awaken curse-mage skills.”

“How do I awaken them?”

“Two ways. First, intense emotions, like when you got Shadow’s Curse.”

Hong Insu winced, clearly avoiding that memory. It wasn’t in the novel, and Ion wasn’t curious.

“Second, stack EXP. It’s like currency for awakening or enhancing skills. You’ve heard rumors online—skills get stronger than at awakening.”

“Saw posts saying skills improved with use… So I just spam my skill?”

“Not just spamming. It has to be effectively applied to a target. Don’t try gaming the system—just train diligently.”

EXP wasn’t quantified. No gauge showed how much was needed for the next skill or enhancement, or how much a single chicken kill gave. Only honest, persistent training worked.