Thumbs Up, Level Up

Next to Ji-Cheok, there was a Hunter who specialized in training, named Kim Jin-Han. He was a handsome man with a lean and muscular physique and was ten years older than Ji-Cheok.

Although he was almost forty, he looked like he was in his late twenties. He said that he used to be a personal trainer, and one day, he found himself Awakening with the [Muscle Trainer] job.

If Hunters were trained by him, they could increase their Strength and Stamina regardless of their level. That was why all the top Hunters wanted to train with him, but that was not why he had joined Jungjin.

He just wanted to learn cultivation from Ji-Cheok!

“Teacher is here!”

“Hey, teacher! Welcome back!”

The training center of Jungjin looked very much like an ordinary gym. As Ji-Cheok arrived, everyone rushed toward him. There were not only young men and women, but even children and some older people too.

«Your fandom is incredible, Master.»

‘I know right? I guess I’m getting treated a bit better than ordinary teachers, haha. By the way, aren’t Super Rookies usually young? I see an older gentleman in the group.’

«Awakening at a later age is less common, but it happens, Master.»

‘Hm… I see. I didn’t know.’

“Some of you are meeting me for the first time, and some of you have met me before. It is a pleasure to be here with you. My name is Um Ji-Cheok and I am going to teach you about cultivation.”

Ji-Cheok introduced him to the crowd.

“First of all, I need the trainers at the front. Yes, the front row. Please take some distance from each other and sit down with your legs crossed.”

Meditation for reinforcing Qi and the spirit was the basis of cultivation. They needed Qi to do anything. Of course, since they were all Hunters, they had mana to work with, so if Ji-Cheok taught them cultivation-based combat techniques directly, they could still learn them. However, he wanted to teach them the basics first.

Thus, they first needed to train their Qi, and only then would he teach them combat techniques. In addition, in order to ensure their survival, he needed to teach them external cultivation techniques as well.

‘I have a lot of work to do…’

“This is for those of you who are new. And for those of you who have learned it before, let this be a review! Let’s start breathing! Stick your tongue to the roof of your mouth, close your mouth and breathe in, slightly open it and breathe out. Inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth, very slowly and deliberately! Tighten the muscles in your abdomen as you do the…”

Correct breathing was the foundation of Qi training.

Ji-Cheok went around the classroom, explaining things to his students. For those who were having a hard time, he put his palm on their backs and gave them energy to help their Qi circulate.

Once that part was over, it was time for the highlight of the day.

[Jaso Elixir]

[Class: B

Type: Elixir

A potion said to have been created by the Flower Mountain Sect using an Arcane Refining method. The rank of this elixir has been increased by 1 due to the power of the Divine Alkahestry and Alchemy. If the user drinks it, there is a good chance that the user’s Qi will increase by 20 years’ worth of cultivation.]

Ji-Cheok had made this himself. He had found the recipe for Jaso Elixir and bought it with his Likes.

He fed his new students the Jaso Elixirs. This was enough to make them very strong, very quickly. The reason why he didn’t feed them Low-Quality Elixirs from the get-go was that these Hunters’ levels were not that high and could not handle the amount of energy provided by an elixir.

His teammates’ levels were high enough to binge drink the Low-Quality Elixirs. If these Hunters had been as high-level as his teammates, they could have similarly started with a Low-Quality Elixir, but if they drank one as they were, they could suffer Cultivation Deviation.

‘Maybe they could try a Low-Quality Elixir a month from now…’

Of course, having a lot of Qi wasn’t everything, but once they did get a lot of Qi, they could combine it with their actual jobs and become incredibly strong. They could get stronger exponentially!

As for Ji-Cheok himself, even while he was teaching other Hunters, he was also diligently doing his other tasks.

His two clones were entering dungeons and destroying them! He left the dungeons near the city alone for the time being and was instead only going after the more remote and unpopular dungeons. He had learned [God of Magic’s Enhanced Invisibility], the [Ghost Demon Art], and the [Machine God Heart], which helped his clones to destroy dungeons more easily.

God of Magic’s Enhanced Invisibility was an invisibility spell that made the user both invisible to detection spells and impervious to dispel charms Class 6 or lower. In practical terms, that meant perfect invisibility—things that were invisible even to high-class detection spells could certainly not be detected by heat vision or X-rays.

In addition, Ghost Demon Art was a Divine Art that allowed them to move around like a ghost. The reason it was called Mana Art was that mastering it turned the user’s mind evil, but that didn’t apply to Ji-Cheok. He had plenty of skills and titles with mind protection effects, and even his shield protected him from turning evil.

The Machine God Heart created a mechanical heart next to his real heart. It was a piece of machinery lodged in his chest, but since he had the body of a God, it did him no harm. And the benefits were immense—his mana recovery rate increased three times, and his total amount of mana increased tenfold!

His Mana was combined with his Qi, so it showed up as Mana and Qi in his stats window. He had a hundred times the amount of mana and Qi that he originally had, thanks to drinking a lot of Low-Quality Elixirs and acquiring skills to that effect. Now that he had built ten whole floors above his already impressive foundation, he had more than a thousand times the mana and Qi that he was supposed to have given his cultivation time.

It was safe to say that no human could compete with him in a one-on-one mana battle.

Ji-Cheok wondered if ‘That Hunter’ could compete against him, but ‘That Hunter’ was someone who had been at the top of the Hunter game for a very long time. They probably knew about the world’s secret as well. It was even possible that they were a God like Ji-Cheok.

‘I’ll have to ask Ji-Han about that. He seems like he is not restricted anymore.’

With that, Ji-Cheok ended his reflection and looked at the Hunters training in front of him. They were all in a trance, gathering Qi. The training center they were in was newly built and was within the range of the World Tree. That was why Ji-Cheok could see the massive rate at which they were gathering Qi.

As he turned his attention away from the Hunters, he saw one of his clones in the distance, destroying a deer-shaped jewel that was probably the Core of some dungeon.

‘Good… This buys me a little more time. We need to go faster. Faster and stronger.’

Just then, his phone started to ring.

“Yes, this is Um Ji-Cheok.”

—It’s me, Ji-Han.

“Oh, hi. Is everything okay?”

—I’m assuming your training is about to end. Do you have any other plans afterward?”

“No, I don’t.”

—Then I need you to go to the Manaformed northern areas and clean up.

“Did you get the permission?”

—Yes.

North Korea had been Manaformed. There were plenty of dungeons still open, and Dungeon Breaks happened regularly, spewing out countless monsters every time.

The South Koreans had been building fortresses along the rivers, using them as barricades, and slaughtering monsters that tried to cross the border. This was why the government had tried to move the capital from Seoul to the south, but that plan had been canceled many times.

As a result of this situation, North Korea had long since become a forbidden area. It was illegal to go in there and hunt in those dungeons. However, Ji-Han had somehow gotten the authorization to go up north. Of course, Ji-Cheok and Ji-Han had talked about this beforehand.

“I’ll go right now.”

—Do you think you can do it alone?

“Yes. I think it’s better if I go alone.”

Ji-Cheok’s growth had been accelerating since he became a God. In addition, he thought that it would be easier for him to lure in Golden Horizon if they were up to something.

—But I will send Reable, just in case.

“Okay, I’ll meet him there.”

—Best of luck, Ji-Cheok.

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Ji-Han hung up the phone.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Vroom!

Ji-Cheok was riding his Mono Bike G through the sky, along his usual telekinetic road. The speed was incomparable to what normal roads could offer. As he pressed forward at top speed, he passed the fortress that was located at the Imjin River.

Just then, something shot out from the ground.

Boom. Boom!

It was beads made of some kind of poisonous liquid. They crashed into Ji-Cheok’s telekinetic barrier and exploded in the air.

«They look like insect-type monsters, Master. They are Ants.»

Ji-Cheok had heard that there was a type of Ant that could kill its enemies by spewing a strong acid from its rear. That was probably what was attacking him from the ground.

‘Cheok-Liang. Burn them all.’

«Your wish is my command.»

Cheok-Liang shifted into his massive form and leapt down. Ji-Cheok also swerved toward the ground and charged straight for the ants that shot poisonous beads. Ji-Cheok slammed his bike into an ant the size of a large dog that had crawled out from among the trees. Enveloped by Sword Qi, the motorcycle turned into a lethal weapon and crushed the ant.

“Activate Fire Dominion, Cthugha’s Steps, and Life Spreading Flames.”

The newly acquired skill [Life Spreading Flames] made the magical flames he used spread everywhere, engulfing everything around him. It was a Legendary skill that he had bought specially in order to sanitize all the Manaformed areas.

‘That’s right. I bought this skill just for today!’

Roar!

Riding his Mono Bike G, he smashed and crushed everything in his path, tearing through the forest like a bulldozer. The flames behind him spread in all directions, consuming the surrounding trees and plants as fuel.

Normally, Cthugha’s Steps did not spread this easily, and while the Flame Dominion ignited the surroundings, it only created natural fire, not magical fire. However, with the effect of [Life Spreading Flames], all of those flames that burned through the forest were imbued with magical power!

There were many monsters that could not be killed without magical power, but with this fire, it was only a matter of time before they turned nice and crispy!

“Burn them all!”

Ji-Cheok bulldozed and burned, yet the flames surrounding him were of his own making, so not even a hair of his was harmed.

As he ran around destroying the forest, Ants and other creatures started popping out and attacking him.

There was a Basilisk, a giant lizard with eight legs, and a Cockatrice with the head of a chicken and the body of a dinosaur. There was also a Barghest, a beast that could shapeshift into several different forms.

Soldier Ants and knight Ants, which were the strongest of Ants; plant monsters, Undead, and other monsters that could not be identified, all appeared and attacked Ji-Cheok.

Boom!

However, he pushed through and set them on fire, and one by one they were consumed by the flames and began to die. Even when the monsters charged at him, Ji-Cheok ignored them and just rode his bike. He let the flames do their job.

After setting the forest and monsters on fire, he took to the skies. As he looked down at the ground, he could see miles and miles of Manaformed area burning.

“Kieeeak!”

“Kiiiiiaaeeek!”

“Chekk! Chiiieaaak!”

He could hear the screams of various monsters. The monsters were trying their best to escape the forest and survive, but it didn’t look easy. The ones on the outskirts of the area where the flames were burning were able to escape quickly, but the rest were trapped in the flames, thrashing around in pain only to end up a roasted corpse.

If Ji-Cheok could level up normally like ordinary Hunters, he would have been leveling up like crazy by now.

‘I wonder how many of them died.’

«As far as I can tell, over 1,200 of them are already dead.»

‘I guess this is why it's called the Manaformed area. There are so many damn monsters living here!’

«According to estimates by scholars specializing in monster research, there are hundreds of thousands of monsters living in this Manaformed region in North Korea that are deemed capable of killing humans.»

‘No way… Hundreds of thousands of monsters?!’

«The monsters are also hostile to each other, so they formed an ecosystem of sorts. As a result, the numbers will not increase much more than that.»

‘If we take care of those monsters and the dungeons, that will buy us some time, right?’

«Yes, Master. And if you build the mana-burning facility that we have been planning underground in this area, we can delay the end of the Tutorial.»

‘I guess it’s better to build both mana-burning facilities and the dimensional barrier rather than just focusing on one.’