Copying Runes to Become the World's Strongest - Chapter 15

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 15
[Absorbed the copied E-Rank skill rune: Magic Arrow.]
The next day.
The moment Hyeonjun opened his eyes, he absorbed the copied skill.
Next came the Rune of Agility.
With that, he finally had a combat skill, and his Agility rose to 21.
‘I finally have a combat skill!!’
Hyeonjun swung his arms wildly, buzzing with excitement.
He wanted to shout and run around, but it was only six in the morning. He couldn’t ruin the sleep of his little brother in the room across the hall.
‘Let’s see. Is this how I use it?’
Hyeonjun muttered under his breath.
“Magic Arrow.”
Whirr.
Mana traced a blue circle in midair.
Soon, a blue-glowing arrow took shape inside the completed ring.
“Wow, this is insane.”
Hyeonjun reached out and touched the arrow.
Hmmmm.
The arrow trembled faintly at his touch, giving off a humming sound.
Hyeonjun flinched and pulled his hand back.
A grin spread across his lips.
“Heh heh heh. Looks like we’ll be getting along.”
Since he was already at it, Hyeonjun decided to try controlling the arrow too.
There were two ways to handle it.
‘You can either grab it and throw it yourself, or give it commands in your head. That’s what they said.’
He was itching to try it right away, but breaking things inside the house was out of the question.
Hyeonjun calmed his excitement for a moment and dismissed the arrow for now.
‘Let’s head out first.’
Hyeonjun put on his armor, grabbed his weapon, and left the house.
He went straight to the F-Rank Grassland Hunting Ground, not far from home.
He planned to test his skill and, while he was at it, hunt something to get the most out of the trip.
“Let’s see now.”
Hyeonjun stepped into the Grassland.
He rolled his eyes around, searching for a worthy first test subject.
Perhaps because it was so early, there weren’t many people at the hunting ground.
Even after going just a little deeper in, there were quite a few monsters to choose from.
“That one looks good.”
A Grassland Mushroom, one of the lowest-ranked monsters in the Grassland.
It looked like a mushroom that had been blown up to a huge size, its green cap thickly covered with blades of grass.
‘With that look and that waddling walk of its, it’s a real crowd-pleaser.’
Its cute appearance.
It was so popular there were even merchandise goods made of it.
‘Sorry, but you’re going to have to be my test subject today.’
Hyeonjun stepped in front of the creature, blocking its path.
The Grassland Mushroom stared blankly at Hyeonjun with round eyes that looked like buttons.
“Magic Arrow!”
Hyeonjun summoned a single arrow and fired it instantly.
It felt like controlling something tethered by a thin thread.
It was his first time feeling it, yet the sensation didn’t feel strange at all.
Thwack!
The arrow cut through the air and sank deep into the Grassland Mushroom’s forehead.
Hyeonjun’s eyes widened at the unexpected power.
“Wh-did it go through in one shot?”
Thud.
The Grassland Mushroom collapsed right where it stood.
Its button-like eyes turned into X’s.
“It’s not a high-defense type, but I didn’t expect it to go down in a single hit.”
What amazed him wasn’t only that.
The accuracy, flying straight and piercing right through the forehead.
The arrow moved exactly as he had thought and commanded it to.
I had worried that someone without a Magic Trait would lose a great deal of accuracy the first time they used a magic skill, but there was nothing of the sort.
“Was I just lucky?”
Maybe the distance was short enough that he hit them easily.
Hyeonjun kept hunting the other Grassland Mushrooms.
He gradually widened the distance he had started from so close.
Just as expected, his accuracy began to slip little by little.
Still, control itself didn’t become all that difficult.
‘If I just focus a bit, I can still hit them pretty well.’
Hyeonjun poured his attention into every arrow he loosed, cutting down monsters left and right without pause.
Then, in the middle of it.
“Ugh.”
All at once his head spun, and his vision flickered.
He tried to steady himself, but in the end he lost his balance and collapsed.
“Gah… ugh….”
Sitting on the ground, Hyeonjun pressed his forehead hard with his fingers.
Dizziness, and a headache that came along with it.
The reason was obvious.
“I got so excited about being able to use magic that I overdid it.”
Overuse of the skill.
His mana had hit its limit.
‘Is it because my Willpower stat is low?’
If Mana stat determines the maximum strength of a spell, then Willpower is tied to how many times you can cast it.
He’d only held out this long because he was E-Rank. If he were F-Rank, he would have collapsed long ago.
“I did use a lot of it.”
Hyeonjun carefully got to his feet and looked around.
Monster corpses lay strewn everywhere.
There were other monsters besides the mushrooms, too.
“I never even tried on the rabbits because they’re so fast, but I think I could catch them with a little practice.”
For a first day, it was a remarkable result.
Hyeonjun grinned to himself and drew his dagger.
He had killed plenty of prey, so now it was time to throw a feast.
***
The winter dawn, when the sun rose late.
Even in the bitter cold, a few people were out strolling through Neighborhood Park.
Pyuk!
Pyuk!
A little ways off the walking path, in a corner.
Beyond the dense trees and undergrowth, sharp whistling sounds kept ringing out.
“What’s that noise?”
An old man taking a walk stepped into the grass.
Once he got closer, a faint beam of light kept flickering in and out of the darkness.
-Hup!
Rough breathing came in time with it.
The old man peeked past the bushes and his eyes went wide.
Dozens of blue-tinged arrows were lodged in a target strapped to a tree.
‘A Hunter must be training. Even from that distance, his accuracy is remarkable.’
Arrows clustered near the center of the target, and the Hunter standing almost ten meters away from it.
Even now, arrows kept appearing in circles through the air and burying themselves in the tree without end.
‘This country’s future looks bright, heh heh.’
The old man sent a brief word of encouragement to the young Hunter devoting himself to training, then turned around.
“Whew.”
Hyeonjun wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Even with the temperature below minus ten, he had concentrated every nerve on repeatedly casting the magic skill, so sweat poured out on its own.
“Not a single one missed today.”
It had been four days since he’d learned Magic Arrow.
Going to a Hunting Ground every time to hunt and train at once was economically inefficient.
So whenever he had free time, he came out to the park near home and practiced the skill.
“At first I missed a bit now and then.”
As time went on, his accuracy rose along with it, and now he had become a perfect marksman, hitting every shot.
“At this rate, maybe I really do have talent?”
Watching other people practice magic on video had shown me how different it could be.
Most of them spent their first day flinging spells in every direction, then ran out of mana in no time and gasped for breath.
There was only one exception to that rule.
Those who had awakened a magic trait.
From the very first time they used magic, they handled it more easily than anyone else.
“I’m doing this much without any such trait. Isn’t this more than simple talent? Isn’t a once-in-a-lifetime genius being born here?”
Hyeonjun muttered with a serious face, then soon burst into a snort of laughter.
“Genius? It’s not like it’s the name of some neighborhood dog.”
Still, there was one thing I could be certain of.
I had a bit of talent for magic. After seeing what I’d witnessed so far, that much was clear.
“I never thought I’d actually have this kind of talent.”
Hyeonjun loosed a few more arrows, then gathered the target he had hung from the tree.
The arrows lodged in the target scattered into the air at a single flick of his hand.
He pulled on the coat he had left aside and headed home with light steps.
‘So today’s finally the day.’
Today was the day he would enter the dungeon.
To be precise, it was the day of the Michuhol Guild’s live combat test.
It would be a lie to say he wasn’t worried, but he wasn’t exactly anxious, either.
Well, that’s only natural…
‘My Soul Circuit is E-Rank, after all.’
Hehe.
He had even learned a magic skill.
And he wasn’t just knowing it on paper; he could wield it with considerable precision.
He couldn’t catch a Rune Rabbit yet, but he’d caught a few regular rabbits.
‘And I’ve raised my stats quite a bit.’
On a whim, Hyeonjun opened his status window to check.
[Name: Ko Hyeonjun]
[Trait: Primordial Eye]
[Primordial Soul Circuit <E>]
Stats ▽
-Strength: 1/100
-Agility: 61/100
-Stamina: 1/100
-Mana: 1/100
-Willpower: 1/100
Skills ▽
<Trait Skill>
-Copy
<General Skills>
-Magic Arrow (4/100)
One Magic Arrow absorbed each day.
I had poured the other ten points into Agility, and this morning, before coming out for dawn training, I raised it again.
Agility had already climbed past the halfway mark.
The rest were still at 1, but that didn’t matter.
Agility alone could make up for the shortfall.
‘At least it worked at the hunting ground. A dungeon shouldn’t make that big a difference.’
Just clear it safely and come back.
Once he got home, Hyeonjun readied himself and set off for his destination.
***
In front of a building in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon.
The outdoor parking lot of the large building was packed with people.
They were all F-Grade Hunters who had come for the Michuhol Guild’s entrance test.
“Wow, there really are a lot of them.”
Baek Jejung, who had been discharged from the hospital yesterday, was also watching the scene through the car window.
“Do you really have to go?”
A heavy, dignified voice.
The man in the driver’s seat, past middle age, glanced back at Jejung and asked.
“Don’t worry, Uncle. This time I’ve really prepared properly.”
“I don’t quite understand why you keep insisting on being a Hunter. Won’t you at least tell me?”
“Ah, I told you, it’s a secret…”
“Just… everything from yesterday, I’ll tell him.”
“Okay, okay!”
At the mention of telling their father, Baek Jejung quickly spoke up.
“W-well, it’s cool, isn’t it?”
“…What?”
“Doesn’t it feel like a hero? Monsters threatening the world… and someone who protects people from those monsters…”
Baek Jejung had admired heroes like that since he was a child.
That was why, whenever asked to name someone he respected, he always ended up mentioning his father.
“That’s such a childish… no, wait. When you first said you wanted to become a Hunter, didn’t you say it was just for fun?”
“That’s what I said back then. I was just lying to myself, pretending I couldn’t become a hero with this kind of ability. But my mind has changed.”
First, I was stirred by how a Hunter of the same rank flaunted a strength far beyond my own.
Second, I owed my life to that very same person.
Going through those experiences, I finally understood what I truly wanted.
“I want to inspire someone, and to become someone who saves others too.”
“Does it really have to be as a Hunter?”
“Yes. For me, it has to be as a Hunter.”
“…Fine. I understand.”
Baek Gangjun, Baek Jejung’s uncle and head of the Awakened Police Bureau, nodded.
There wasn’t a trace of wavering in his nephew’s eyes as he spoke of his dream.
He was no longer a headstrong boy.
He was a young man who knew what he wanted and was prepared to march toward that goal.
“Then from now on, at least buy some runes without holding back. It’s not like you’re short on money.”
“I’ll compromise on that much. I’m just not comfortable chasing a dream with money I haven’t earned myself.”
“Stubborn as ever… Don’t tell me that’s why you’re joining this too?”
“Well, yeah. Oh, look at the time. I’m heading out.”
Before Baek Gangjun could add anything, Baek Jejung hopped out of the car and dashed off into the crowd.
Watching his retreating back, Baek Gangjun let out a light sigh.
“He’s just like his father.”
.
.
.
“Everyone! Today is Day 1! Anyone who got a Day 2 message, please head back now!”
A Michuhol Guild staffer shouted toward the Hunters gathered in the parking lot.
The test had been split across several dates because there were so many applicants.
Even so, the number easily topped three hundred.
“Check your ID cards and then line up by your assigned groups!”
There were plenty of people, but keeping them under control was easy.
For F-Rank Hunters, this was a large guild they’d likely never have any connection to.
Which is why everyone moved quickly and efficiently, careful not to draw the staff’s displeasure.
‘I’m in Group 23.’
Hyeonjun checked his group on the nametag he’d just been handed and headed in that direction.
“Huh?”
As he lined up, a voice came from beside him.
When he turned, a familiar face was standing there.
“Oh.”
It was the man who’d nearly been run through by a rune-killing a few days ago at the hunting ground. Baek Jejung, was that his name?
“Fancy meeting you here!”
Baek Jejung greeted him with obvious delight.
“No kidding. What a coincidence.”
“I was actually trying to find your contact information so I could thank you properly, and now we run into each other like this… Could you give me your number? I’ll reach out later.”
“Come on, handing over all that loot to me that day was more than enough.”
“No way. That’s not nearly enough! You saved my life!”
Baek Jejung chattered on, all excited.
Hyeonjun found himself swept along with the flow of it.
“Hmm.”
And there was someone else watching the two of them.
At the very back of Group 22.
Baek Jehyeok, a cap pulled low, disguised as an F-Rank Hunter.
From what he’d overheard, it seemed the man in Group 23 was the one who had saved his younger brother.
‘They say he fights well.’
Baek Jejung had been making such a fuss about it, too. He’d even said this guy would be a good fit for the group.
‘Even if he’s only F-Rank… guess I’ll take a look.’
Baek Jehyeok nudged a guild member who had infiltrated Squad 23.
“Why?”
“Let’s switch places.”
“All of a sudden?”
“Someone in that squad caught my interest.”
“Aren’t you going to keep an eye on your little brother?”
“What could possibly go wrong in an F-Rank dungeon?”
“The vice master’s going to blow a gasket if he finds out.”
“Tell him to take it up with me.”
Shrugging, the guild member happily traded spots with him.
“Keep an eye on Jejung.”
“Yes, yes. Don’t worry about it.”
Baek Jehyeok gave a few more warnings, then fixed his gaze on Hyeonjun up front.
‘Let’s see how well he fights.’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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