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Chapter 12: The Hunt (4)

Han-Yeol returned home after exhausting his mind, body, and mana. It was only after sleeping for twenty-four hours straight that he finally woke up and moved his exhausted body. His body felt heavy, just like a lump of lead, and he found it difficult to move.

“Yawn…!”?He yawned and got up. His body was still riddled with fatigue even after sleeping for so long. He grumbled, “I slept for twenty-four hours, but I still feel tired. Are the side-effects of using up my mana always going to be this bad?”

Han-Yeol slept around five hours every day, and even if he slept in due to exhaustion, it would only take an additional hour or two at most. However, the fact that he had slept for twenty-four hours continuously meant that he was not only dealing with physical exhaustion.

He thought it was possible that he was experiencing ‘Mind Shutdown’ syndrome, after squeezing his mana out to the last drop. Still, twenty-four hours of sleep was too long, despite the fact that he had recovered some of his mana on the way back home.

‘I have to pay extra attention to my mana next time,’?Han-Yeol thought, as he now knew that his ‘Walking’ skill would be limited in the event of Mana Down.

‘Ah, let’s apply for the Hunter evaluation first. I’ve taken care of the urgent stuff and?delayed father’s?illness from progressing, so I should officially become a Hunter and start earning legitimate money,’?Han-Yeol thought as he walked toward his computer. He booted the computer up and went to the Hunter’s Association website, then entered his identification code and applied for the Hunter evaluation test.

‘So?it’s three days from now. What should I do until then…?’?Han-Yeol thought. He stretched his tired body and moved his neck from side to side before suddenly thinking about his father’s illness. ‘Isn’t there any way to cure father’s illness in one guaranteed shot…?’

Curing his father’s illness was his top priority now that he had three days to spare. He was prepared to live his whole life in hiding while hunting illegally if it meant he would be able to cure his father’s illness.

“Karvis.” Han-Yeol called out to the Ego System, as Karvis would not speak unless he called for her first.

[Yes, Han-Yeol-nim?]

“Is there a way to treat my father’s illness? If my Heal skill might be able to help, is there a way for me to quickly level it up?” Han-Yeol asked.

[There is a way.]

Han-Yeol’s eyes opened wide when he heard Karvis’ response. He quickly asked, “R-Really…?”

[Yes.]

[I did not tell you because you did not ask me, but you do not necessarily have to keep using the skill to level it up.]

[Of course, in the case of physical skills, you have to train your body, perform any actions indirectly related to the skill, or use the skill often.]

[Your passive skills will level up when you repeatedly perform any actions related to them, however.]

Karvis only seemed to be quiet because Han-Yeol did not speak to her often, but she was quite talkative once she started talking. She started spitting out assorted information related to skills non-stop.

“Indirect?” Han-Yeol asked.

[Hmm… Ah! I will use the support skill ‘Heal’ as an example, since Han-Yeol-nim is trying to level it up.]

[The ‘Heal’ skill is related to repairing the human body.]

[Thus, it will be possible to level up the skill if you read medical literature and expand your knowledge related to the human body.]

“...!” Han-Yeol could not hide his surprise. He thought, astonished, ‘I can level my skills up just by reading books?!’

[Yes, although I do not know the reason why.]

[That is how the system has been designed.]

‘Then I absolutely have to do it!’?Han-Yeol thought to himself.

Combat-type skills required Han-Yeol to risk his life by repeatedly using them at the hunting grounds, but reading a book was definitely a much easier method to level a skill, since there was no need for him to risk his life. This time, the ‘battleground’ Han-Yeol had to go to was not one of the hunting grounds, but rather the library near his place that had multiple air-conditioners.

‘Let’s go!’?Han-Yeol cheered enthusiastically. He was the type of person who would act first instead of putting things off for later.

He changed quickly and prepared to go out, then left and went to the library. The library had been around for decades, but continuous complaints from the people had forced the government to renovate it and open it anew this year. It was also the place Han-Yeol had frequented in his primary school days to borrow comic books.

‘How long has it been since I was last here?’?Han-Yeol thought with a hint of nostalgia. However, that lasted only for a few seconds before he quickly entered the library building.

He checked the information board in the lobby on the 1st floor before going up to the comprehensive archives located on the 3rd floor, then looked for the books he needed.

‘Let’s see… Medical books… Medical books… Where is it…’?he thought as he scanned the place. The medical books he was looking for were not those used by medical students, but those used in regular schools that were easier for an ordinary person like him to understand.

The library made Han-Yeol feel awkward and out of place. Although he had frequently visited it when he was younger, he had gradually stopped once he got older as the realities of life caught up to him.

Eventually, he found a total of ten books that he needed. He then picked a spot at a nearby table and sat down.

Flip…

There were a lot of people at the library, even though it was noon on a weekday. All of them seemed to be absorbed in their books, and appeared highly focused. However, the truth of the matter was that they were there just to read their own books, and they were only using the library because it was convenient and quiet; not that that was illegal or anything.

‘All of them must be preparing for the civil servant exam,’?Han-Yeol thought as he glanced around. He always watched the news no matter how busy his life was, because he had always maintained a glimmer of hope that he would be able to hear of a new cure that could potentially treat his father’s illness. That habit of watching the news had made him aware of all sorts of issues. The economy of Korea was undergoing a recession, so there was a boom of people applying to become civil servants.

‘Figures. No matter how much money Hunters can earn, the process of becoming one is pretty tedious and difficult. They have to become Porters first and join in on monster hunts to be able to become Awakened, which is a prerequisite to becoming a Hunter. Most people who have experienced risking their lives as Porters while being looked down on by Hunters would definitely give up and try to become civil servants instead.’?Han-Yeol grimaced, recalling memories of wanting to quit countless times. He had not minded being looked down on by Hunters, but the main reason he had wanted to quit was because he had experienced countless near-death situations.

‘Who will take care?of father?if I die?’?was the thought that had always entered his mind whenever he wanted to quit. However, in the end, he had decided to keep going.

‘Well, I got lucky in the end,’?he thought. He had almost died countless times, but he had survived, and had even managed to awaken in the end.

‘I probably would have preferred to become a civil servant instead of going through all that shit just to become a Hunter if I had been born in a normal household,’ he thought, and that felt somewhat bittersweet.

The world was changing. The economy that had once depended on fossil fuels now relied on a new form of energy derived from mana stones, and the power possessed by a nation had begun to be decided by the quality of the Hunters they possessed instead of their military might. A lot of jobs had been created because of the change, although a lot of jobs had disappeared as well.

The ones who had noticed the change and grabbed the opportunity had managed to land a spot in the new industries, but most normal people who worked paycheck to paycheck had been unable to adapt to the changes that had happened to the world overnight.

Those sudden changes had increased the popularity of stable jobs. Civil servant positions, which were already the most popular jobs in Korea, had seen the highest increase in popularity. However, the changes had also further increased the wealth gap, as money had become even more concentrated in the possession of the elite few.

‘That’s not what’s important to me right now.’?Han-Yeol shook his head as his train of thought started to drift into the political domain. The people around him in the library trying to become civil servants were not what was important to him right now. He needed to focus all of his efforts on finding a cure for his father’s illness. Thus, he checked the title of the book in front of him.

[A Study of Rare Diseases]

‘Rare diseases…’ Han-Yeol thought as he flipped a page.

Flip…

He turned the first page, but its contents were not as impressive as the title of the book implied. The content of the book was simplified to give the reader an introduction to medicine, but there was not much that could prove helpful for Han-Yeol.

[All kinds of rare diseases follow certain mechanics, ruled by the same laws. We must understand and resolve those mechanics to help the countless people dying from those rare diseases.]

The book started with those words.

‘Hmm…’?Han-Yeol started to read the book diligently.

Some time passed since he began reading, and he managed to read a significant proportion of the books. His reading comprehension speed was normally very fast, due to his habit of reading fantasy novels in his school days.

However, he struggled to read the medical books quickly, as he had no medical background and there were some complex words included that took him a while to understand. Still, he slowly managed to read through all of the books. ‘I think I’ve made some good progress,’?he thought.

Suddenly, however…

Ding!

[Your continuous reading of medical textbooks has increased your medical knowledge.]

[Your newfound knowledge has contributed to its related skill.]

[The proficiency of ‘Heal’ has greatly increased due to your newfound knowledge.]

A message popped up, before another message quickly followed suit.

Ding!

[The rank of ‘Heal’ has risen from (E) to (D).]

Heal had ranked up from E to D. It was astonishingly fast progress, if he compared it to his other skills that were still at rank F or E at most. He was greatly pleased with Heal’s fast progress, as what mattered more than earning money for him was the treatment of his father’s illness.

‘Yes! So this is what Karvis meant when she said that gaining knowledge would help rank skills up!’?Han-Yeol rejoiced.

Karvis had already told him how it worked, but seeing it personally still shocked him, and he decided not to waste any time and take full advantage of it. He read all of the books he could get from the shelves, planning to maximize the four days he had left before his Hunter evaluation test.

Ding!

[Your continuous reading has enhanced your mind and increased your rate of absorbing knowledge.]

[A new skill has been created—Infinite Library.]

‘Infinite Library…?’?Han-Yeol thought as he read the skill’s details.

[Infinite Library (M)]

Type: Passive

Description: A library rumored to contain all of the knowledge in the world. Its fame has traveled across the world, although no one has been able to see it yet. It will increase the user’s ability to absorb knowledge, as well as the proficiency gained by the user for gaining knowledge related to a skill. You may witness a miracle if this skill levels up and evolves into another skill—although the chances of that are slim to none.

‘This is interesting,’?

It was his first time obtaining an M-ranked skill. The skill’s description was nothing short of a riddle and he understood almost nothing about it, however. The only thing he could do at that moment was to keep reading books to develop his skills.

Ding!

[The rank of ‘Heal’ has risen from (D) to (C).]

Han-Yeol had been focusing on medical books. He had first started by reading the simplified ones that were easy to understand but had less detail; now, he could slowly increase the difficulty of the books he was reading.

He had initially had a hard time understanding the content of the books, but now, whether it was the effect of the skill ‘Infinite Library’ or because Han-Yeol was naturally a genius, he could now understand the medical books even if he speed-read through them.

‘I should become a doctor if I fail to become a Hunter,’?Han-Yeol joked inwardly. In any event, his Heal skill had grown to C rank after he read books for three days straight.

‘Haaa… I would’ve been able to go to Seoul National University if I studied this hard during my school days,’?he thought.

It would be basic social etiquette to let people off at least once in their lifetime for such delusional remarks—no matter how arrogant they sounded.

He still had more books to read, but the Hunter evaluation test would be conducted very soon, and he had to leave the library.

‘But first, there’s something I have to do,’?Han-Yeol thought before he left the library and headed home. He quickly prepared to go out once again, heading toward the hospital where his father was.

***

Beep… Beep… Beep…

His father was still sleeping motionlessly with an oxygen mask over his face. He did not need to wear an oxygen mask while he was awake. However, his breathing had been unstable for days while he was asleep, which was why he needed to have the oxygen mask on while sleeping.

‘Father…’?Han-Yeol grasped his sleeping father’s hand tightly. Then, he slowly infused his mana into his father’s body.

‘Slowly… Slowly and carefully,’?he kept repeating in his mind while infusing his mana.

‘Heal!’?Han-Yeol used Heal, which had now grown to C rank.

Woooong!

Blue light emitted from his father’s body when Han-Yeol used the now-stronger heal. Fortunately, his father’s room was located farthest away from the reception of the ICU, so no one noticed the strange phenomena going on in the room.

‘I used to hate where they placed him,’?he thought.

Han-Yeol had initially been worried that the location of the room, being farthest from the staff, would be the deciding factor during an emergency as the staff might reach him a second too late. However, the room being the farthest away from everyone else was a blessing in disguise for him now.

‘There’s no chance of anyone passing by unless they come over on purpose,’?Han-Yeol thought. However, he stopped dwelling on those meaningless thoughts and decided to focus on infusing his mana into his father’s body. He made sure he was not infusing too much or too little of his mana, and he also made sure that the mana was neither too dense nor too sparse.

Time passed for a while.

Badump… Badump…

‘Keuk!’?Han-Yeol groaned, as the effects of overusing his mana started to show. He had ignored the signals his body was sending him the previous time, but he decided to take things slowly this time. The healing process he had chosen this time was less like a 100m sprint, and more like a 42.195km marathon.

He cut off the flow of mana after using Heal sufficiently on his father.

“Hooo…”?Han-Yeol looked around after releasing a breath, just to check if anyone had witnessed what he had just been doing.