Chapter 22 - Explosive Growth

I was in love with this rank C dungeon. Only a single floor that held all the monsters in one place. Someone in my positions couldn't have asked for a better setting to quickly take everything down in record time and rake in an unimaginable amount of profit

I never thought a day would come where I would be able to collect this many rank C skills, and even lucky enough have a rank B skill drop along with a few items.

Hunter's had been clearing [Solael's Dungeon] twice a week, so over the span of the last few months they might have cleared it around the same time as I cleared it in one day. Just the thought of it made me amazed

My 2 storage rings had nearly filled up to the brim with the influx of [Core]s, [Skill]s, and [Item]s.

I was currently in the BOSS room of the dungeon where a broken TITAN lay dead while browsing through the rank C items first. There were two pairs of [Igneous Armor]s, one [Igneous Sword], [Fiery Helm], and [Fiery Boots]

All of them exactly the same as the equipment that Anderson wore, but I wouldn't have to wait before equipping these ones. The ones I had obtained from him were still repairing from the heavy explosions done by [Explosive Rune]

I changed from [Swift Boots] to [Fiery Boots] and equipped one of the armors and helm. The armor had a similar characteristic of being unnaturally flexible even though it seemed like it was made up of extremely strong stone materials. The helm on my head also made me look like some sort of gladiator, so I took it off for now and only planned to equip it when I was faced with enemies

The [Item]s vastly improved my defense and acted as another layer of resistance besides the many skills already active.

Next up were the abundant amount of skills, something I never thought I would be holding is such large quantities. These would cost millions if I were to sell them, but money wasn't the main thing I was after. I looked through the skills trying to find which ones were actually effective for me to learn and narrowed it down to 8

The rest were skills that either required bows or another specific weapon to activate or they were offensive skills with similar power to the ones I was currently using. I would learn as many supportive and defensive skills, but I would choose my main attacking skills with close scrutiny as those are the only ones I have to actively cast and use. If I held too many offensive skills and switched from to another when using, I would just have many skills in a similar level of power and not a few skills with high proficiency that have even more power

The 8 that I absorbed and learned were [Sharpen: Your attacks and skills deal more damage to your enemies], [War Cry: Motivate yourself and your allies, increasing attributes by 5%], [Retaliation: Reflect back some of the damage from your enemies], [King's Rage: The rage of a king flows through you, granting a boost in damage], [Military Tactics: The qualities of a fortified soldier are activated, increasing all attributes by 10], [Unpredictable: Attack and Casting speed increased by 10%], [Elemental Damage: Any attacks using the elements deal destructive damage], and [Stealth: Move undetected as all the energies you emit are absorbed]

Learning and activating the skills gave me another sense of exhilaration. [Military Tactics] that increased each of my attributes by 10 added the specified amount to [Vitality] and [Strength] while [Focus] remained as blank as usual

The rank B skill book that had been lucky enough to drop was [Stealth], which was such a great skill that it trumped everything else I gained today because of its high utility. Any colors or imposing airs released by the activated skills were all reigned in and I seemed like a normal human being without an ounce of strength.

I could also choose to blend into my surroundings to a similar effect like [Camouflage]. Adding these two skills together would just be a killer combination. I would keep [Stealth] active at all times and only activate [Camouflage] or use the blending in effect of [Stealth] when I really needed to

I didn't grasp the full strength of a full-fledged rank B hunter that held multiple rank B skills and items, but I felt like my strength was at the peak of B if not higher. I would make no conclusions before meeting hunters that I can test against though

My next move was to absorb the multitude of [Core]s filling up the two storage rings, there being more than enough to bring my attribute points to 200 after an hour of extensive absorbing

Feeling the packed strength of my body that had been increasing way too fast, I took a second to reminisce how it was barely just a week since I awakened. My body felt like it could explode with tremendous power any time I wished, giving me even more confidence on the path I was walking on

I rose up and touched the green crystal to leave the dungeon, looking back and seeing the dungeon monolith now having a color of light blue. [Solael's Castle] was now a low-risk dungeon that had no chance of a dungeon break occurring any time soon

Hunters that were stationed a distance away in shops and stalls quickly noticed the change a few hours ago and began discussing amongst themselves as to which peak hunter had come across their city

I didn't want to completely break their common sense with them seeing me enter the dungeon every 20 minutes, so I took off [Camouflage], while still keeping [Stealth] active and hiding the assortment of colors and armors around me from the skill effects every 2 hours for them to see a figure be transported out of the dungeon and diving back in right after

I was already renowned and didn't need to hide, but that didn't mean I shouldn't hide this unexplainable level of strength I held for the time being. I did want to build a reputation for myself from now on for future plans, but I would only show them a surface of what I could do

In the case another crazy hunter appeared in front of me, I had the confidence to completely take care of them if they were only expecting the level of strength I was showing

This was the last time I was leaving the dungeon today so I didn't use [Camouflage]. There were reporters and cameramen at a far distance carefully doc.u.menting the changes and pointing their cameras towards me

I tried not to react to any of it and took a ride from a nervous driver that was driving carefully at the speed limit while constantly looking back at me. I chuckled at this as we went towards the Pristine Residency lodging

I would visit the Awakened Center tomorrow morning to see if there was anything of value, but seeing as I was the person clearing the highest-ranked dungeon currently and holding onto all the loot, I doubted there would be anything fruitful

My next phase of plans was to...relax. It was only in the evening but I wanted to stop thinking for a bit, eat a whole lot of food and just sleep. I recalled the platters of shrimp and steaks that I had been eating the past few days and placed an order for 4 plates when I grabbed my room keys at Pristine Residency. Tonight would be a relaxing night.

---

In Star City.

A man was looking at the profile of a hunter they had just received more news of a few hours ago. He was Vice Admiral Magnar. A decorated officer that stood at the front lines when monsters were running rampant and killing people left and right. He had risen to this rank because of his continuing hard work and planning while fighting for his country

His country that he was trying to save once more, he just needed people to stop shoving their heads up their asses and listen. His work and stress had been piling up recently as he was recruiting talent to dive into the rank B dungeon, [Mangrove Swamp]

They needed more production of [Core]s, [Skill]s, and [Item]s more badly than most people thought. He thought back to the report that described the huge threat that was congregating in one location not far from the empire and then focused once more on hunter in front of him

Noah Osmont. Active for around a week and already making waves. These were the types of people he needed. He quickly made a phone call to the contacts stationed in Outer Bank X and gave a message for them to deliver

[Noah Osmont][Occupation: Hunter]

[Vitality: 200+40]

[Focus: - ]

[Strength: 200+60]

[Skill(s): (F-Fireball-100)(F-Heal-53)(E-Arctic Armor- 100)(D-Flames of Torment-100)(D-Safeguard-38)(D-Danger Sense-100)(D-Rough Skin-23)(D-Fleeting-24)(C-Arcanist's Sphere of Protection-100) (C-Camouflage-83) (C-Aura of Haste-72)(C-Explosive Rune-81)(C-Life Essence-73)(C-Increased Penetration-58) (C-Regeneration-21) (C-Whirlwind-33) (C-Smite-28) (C-Gracefulness-21) (C-Precision-21) (C-Adamant-21)(C-Sharpen-4)*(C-War Cry-4)* (C-Retaliation-4)*(C-Kings Rage-4)*(C-Military Tactics-4)* (C-Unpredictable-4)* (C-Elemental Damage-4)*(B-Giant's Strength-27)(B-Stealth-3)*]

[Equipment:(2x C-Ring of Storage)(C-Fiery Boots)*(C-Igneous Armor)*(C-Fiery Helm)*]

[*=New]