After stepping into the instance dungeon, loud howls echoed through the area. The place resembled Seoul Central Station, but it looked as if it had been abandoned for years.
He took out a sword from his inventory — one he had bought long ago but never used.
[STANDARD HUNTER'S SWORD
+20 ATTACK
+3% chance to apply the effect bleed Bleed]
As he tread carefully past a dark corner, a four-legged beast suddenly lunged at him. Thanks to his increased Perception, he shifted slightly and avoided the attack. Just as he was about to kill it, two more beasts appeared — one pouncing from behind and the other from above.
He could have tanked the attacks, but instead of taking unnecessary damage, he chose to dodge.
He looked at the three hairless, pale canines before him.
[TUNNEL MAW HOUND]
The white text meant they were weaker than him. The problem wasn't strength — it was coordination. Monsters that coordinated their attacks were troublesome.
Jinwoo calmed himself. He deflected one monster's strike with his sword while dodging another. He kicked one in the stomach, grabbed the third mid-air with one hand, and smashed it into the ground with full force, killing it instantly.
Without hesitation, he reinforced his legs with mana and dashed toward the second, decapitating it in one clean motion.
The last hound trembled and tried to flee. Jinwoo picked up a large rock nearby, reinforced it with mana, and hurled it with full strength. The rock burst the hound apart on impact.
Notifications appeared.
[YOU HAVE LEVELLED UP][YOU HAVE LEVELLED UP]
He had leveled up. The three monsters were high E-rank individually but dangerous at D-rank level when fighting together.
"Let's see…" Jinwoo muttered as he hid behind a pillar.
As expected, the smell of blood attracted something larger. A big, dark-red wolf emerged.
[IRONFANG RAILWOLF]
The orange text meant they were of equal strength.
Its sense of smell was sharp. It immediately detected Jinwoo behind the pillar and created distance before pouncing at full speed.
"That speed is too fast… it's nearing C-rank," Jinwoo thought.
He sidestepped instantly, barely dodging. The wolf, however, used a pillar to redirect itself and charged again.
Jinwoo simply smiled and raised his sword.
One slash.
Its speed was impressive — but its defense was poor. What should have been shallow cuts turned deep. The wolf collapsed moments later.
[LEVEL UP!]
As he traveled deeper into the dungeon, he encountered more groups of [TUNNEL MAW HOUNDS] and several [IRONFANG RAILWOLVES]. He was getting used to their patterns. Killing them now took less than ten seconds.
All miscellaneous drops were sold in the system shop for a decent amount. They were only D-rank materials, after all.
He leveled up three more times, reaching Level 7.
"The monster density here is way lower than the one the original Jinwoo faced in the E-rank dungeon…"
He was proven wrong moments later.
After opening a side door, he found himself surrounded by over a dozen [IRONFANG RAILWOLVES].
They were fast, but unlike the hounds, they couldn't coordinate.
With his increased Perception at Level 7, Jinwoo relied on instinct — weaving, dodging, striking. Slowly but steadily, he reduced their numbers.
Ten minutes later, he stood among corpses. Several visible wounds covered his body, but they were healing rapidly due to the Pseudo Black Heart.
Throughout the fight, the delightful sound echoed repeatedly:
[LEVEL UP!][LEVEL UP!][LEVEL UP!][LEVEL UP!][LEVEL UP!]
He had reached Level 12.
After clearing the first floor completely and confirming no monsters remained, he moved to the second floor. After selling materials, he checked his balance.
[GOLD: 7866]
The second floor greeted him with a flurry of electric webs.
He side-rolled out of the way and spotted the attackers.
[CABLEFANG SPIDER]
Six of them.
They stood half his height, with six long legs and bluish bodies crackling faintly with electricity. Even their webs carried electric current.
Seeing spiders made Jinwoo shudder slightly, memories of the entity's spider flashing in his mind. He forced himself to calm down.
The spiders retreated into the darkness, preparing more webs.
Jinwoo took out several weapons.
[BASIC NINJA KUNAI
+5 ATTACK]
Basic weapons — but reinforced with mana and thrown precisely, they became deadly.
He launched them.
Two spiders died instantly. Three were crippled.
Dodging another incoming web with a burst of speed, he finished the rest.
[LEVEL UP!]
The floors were similar in strength — Floor 1 contained beast-type monsters, while Floor 2 held insect-type monsters.
"The deeper I go, the stronger the monsters. More XP. Since they respawn, I can sweep Floor 2, return to Floor 1, and repeat. Maybe I should grind here until the Job Change Quest…"
While exploring further, a nearby wall burst open.
[RUSTSHELL CENTIPEDE]
A four-foot-long centipede lunged at him.
He sidestepped easily and slashed it — but his blade chipped upon impact. Acidic body fluids.
"I need to avoid using my main sword against these."
There were also [SIGNAL MOTHS] that emitted brainwaves to induce sleep, but they were ineffective against him due to the blessing.
"Looks like that bastard contributed something useful."
Eventually, he received a drop that caught his attention.
[RUSTSHELL SWORD
+30 ATTACK
+7% chance to Poison]
"A better sword. I'll use this for now."
Other drops were minor — fangs, silk, materials — but they accumulated into a respectable amount of gold.
He continued the grinding cycle: Floor 2 sweep → Floor 1 sweep → repeat.
He even memorized respawn locations to spawn-camp efficiently.
The sound of [LEVEL UP!!] kept ringing, though the intervals gradually grew longer.
After one final [LEVEL UP!] that took twelve minutes and two full floor clears, he paused.
"Though I can continue, it would be inefficient now. Maybe I'll get stronger dungeon keys later. Let's go meet the boss."
He moved toward the entrance of the third floor.
[STATUS]
SUNG JIN WOO
LEVEL: 24
STRENGTH: 52
STAMINA: 47
AGILITY: 48
INTELLIGENCE: 34
PERCEPTION: 46
MANA: 540
Ability Points: 0
level 24 Grinding D-rank monsters had pushed him this far.
And it was absolutely worth it.
[A/N: any thoughts on things to improve upon]