The All-Time Best Talent was F-Class Purification - Chapter 1

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

1
Chapter 1 – An Elite Talent Awakened as an F-Rank Purifier
Screeeech… screeeeech…
The grating sound of metal scraping against metal pierced my ears from beneath my feet. The rusted steel bridge, riddled with holes and easily over a decade old, yawned open like the maw of some ancient beast, ready to snap and plunge me hundreds of meters into the abyss below.
Since the Day of Reckoning, walking across this corroded scrap metal had become routine, yet the terror of the ground crumbling beneath me never dulled—no matter how many times I crossed.
‘Damn it. I’ll be dead before I even enter the Dungeon.’
I swallowed hard and forced my gaze away from the sprawling ruins of old Seoul far below. Once, laughter must have echoed through those streets. But after that day in 2035 when the world stopped, everything below became the domain of monsters.
Bzzzzzz—
My worn smartphone vibrated in my pocket. The moment I lit the screen, my face twisted involuntarily.
[Middle District First Hospital notification: Lee Tae-hyun, guardian. If unpaid treatment fees of 3,120,000 won are not remitted by midnight today, hospital regulations mandate mandatory transfer of the patient to Lower District Hospital.]
Numbers burned sharply onto the faded display. Even as the world crumbled toward oblivion, money’s grip around my throat remained merciless.
The final notice. The Middle District First Hospital where Mother was admitted was still considered a premier medical facility. But the cost was equally astronomical.
If I couldn’t secure that money by midnight, Mother would be cast out to the Lower District Hospital—a place where proper treatment was a luxury, where even basic sanitation couldn’t be guaranteed. The thought alone made my blood boil in reverse.
‘I can do this. I have to.’
I repeated the hollow incantation to myself and quickened my pace toward the contaminated Dungeon entrance, where F-Rank Hunters swarmed like ants. The air hung thick with cheap cigarette smoke and the sighs of the desperate. A few Hunters who spotted me exchanged knowing glances and began to snicker.
“Hey, look. Our district’s resident janitor has arrived. Hey! Lee Tae-hyun. Looking to do some sweeping today? Can’t even find a party, so you’re wandering solo…”
“Right? No party would take him. Not with that pathetic Purification skill. He’s really going to die like this.”
I ignored their jeers and pressed forward toward the Dungeon entrance, damp and reeking of brine.
The interior was a nightmare. Acid rain from last night had seeped through, leaving the floor slick and treacherous. The monsters were more agitated and vicious than usual. I gripped my worn dagger tightly, keeping my back pressed against the wall as I moved with deliberate caution.
Snarl!
A contaminated sewer rat erupted from the darkness, its fangs slashing through empty air. Its yellowed incisors nearly grazed my nose. The foul stench made my stomach heave, but I twisted my body desperately and drove my dagger forward. The blade pierced through its tough hide with a dull, sickening sensation that traveled up my wrist.
“Screeeee!”
With a sharp cry, the rat crumpled to the floor. Black blood splattered across my hand.
I quickly extracted the F-Rank Tainted Magic Stone, its surface gleaming with dark light, and shoved it into my pocket.
One hour passed. Two hours. As time wore on, my breath came ragged and shallow, and even that sensation began to numb. I leaned against the wall, gasping heavily. My entire body was caked with sweat and filth, and the worn blade of my dagger had lost several teeth along its edge.
After defeating several more monsters, I counted my haul: barely a dozen F-Rank Tainted Magic Stones. Selling them all would net me maybe 200,000 won at best. Nowhere near enough for the hospital bill. The clock already read 8 PM.
‘This won’t cut it… I need… another way!’
Anxiety tightened around my throat. That’s when I felt it.
From a corner of the wall where my back rested, where it met the floor, a faint breeze seeped through. Not like ordinary wind—this was something sinister and damp, as if the Dungeon’s deepest abyss itself were breathing.
I approached carefully and felt along the wall. Beneath vines and moss, I found a small fissure—barely wide enough for a person to squeeze through. The darkness beyond was far deeper and more absolute than the Dungeon’s ordinary gloom.
‘A Hidden Space…?’
Legends whispered among Hunters. Hidden spaces beyond the standard Dungeon routes. Within them lay powerful monsters and, alongside them, rewards befitting their strength. Of course, most who entered found death instead of treasure…
Reason screamed a warning inside me. Dangerous. An F-Rank Hunter entering a Hidden Space alone was nothing short of madness. The old me would have fled without a second glance. But I wasn’t that person anymore.
Mother’s bright smile glowed on my phone’s screen, and beneath it, the hospital’s threatening message crushed my reason beneath its weight.
‘…Should I go in?’
Hesitation anchored my feet. If I entered that darkness, I might never leave this Dungeon alive. Was this how I’d die? So pathetically?
‘But if I go back…?’
Would I just watch as Mother was transferred to the Lower District Hospital? Would I endure another hopeless tomorrow? Wasn’t it better to stake everything here than to live like that?
I squeezed my eyes shut. And I made my choice.
‘My life is already hell anyway. Whatever lies beyond might be better than this.’
With solemn resolve, I squeezed my body through the narrow fissure that felt like a serpent’s gaping maw. A cold, musty breath enveloped me, carrying the acrid stench of mold.
Beyond the crevice lay a cavern far more spacious than I had anticipated. Faint minerals embedded in the cave walls emanated an ethereal blue luminescence, casting an otherworldly glow across the darkness.
And there, in the center of this mystical landscape, a colossal form lay dormant atop a mountainous heap of monster bones.
A creature three or four times the size of an ordinary sewer rat, its entire body covered in ashen, stone-like skin.
‘Stoneskin Rat’
My breath caught. Every bone scattered about this place had been its prey. The apex predator of this domain. I began to retreat cautiously. I had to escape before it awakened.
But what met my back was not soft earth.
Thud…
With a dull sound, the fissure through which I had entered was sealed shut by an enormous boulder.
A trap. The exit was blocked the moment one entered.
Screeeech…
The master of this cave stirred from its slumber. Two massive crimson eyes opened in the darkness, fixing their gaze upon me.
I had become a rat trapped in a jar.
Behind me, a cold stone wall blocked any retreat. Before me, the Stoneskin Rat—master and predator of this realm—blazed with scarlet eyes. The sheer pressure emanating from its massive frame suffocated me.
‘Calm yourself. Lee Tae-hyun. Keep your wits about you.’
I suppressed my wildly racing heart and desperately searched for a way to survive. Its stone-like skin could not be scratched by my worn dagger. A direct confrontation would be suicide. Then…
I glanced toward the bone heap piled in the center of the cave behind the creature. If I could reach that place, perhaps I could use the bones as a weapon and target its weak point—its eyes.
‘Move’
The moment I resolved to act, I kicked off the ground. Rather than charging directly at the beast, I bounded sideways along the wall. The creature seemed momentarily startled by my sudden movement, but it quickly launched itself forward in a devastating charge.
Boom!
The charge of a D-rank monster exceeded all imagination. With a deafening roar that shook the entire cavern, it anticipated my trajectory and cut off my path. I desperately changed direction, but the creature’s claws raked across my shoulder.
“Ahhh!”
Searing pain tore through me as my worn combat suit was shredded to tatters. Flesh was gouged, bone ached with a dull throb. An F-rank body could not withstand even a glancing blow. Yet somehow, I managed to reach the vicinity of the bone heap. I frantically seized a sharp bone fragment from the ground.
The creature charged again. I rolled swiftly to evade, and in the fleeting moment it passed beside me, I drove the bone shard with all my remaining strength toward its eye.
Squelch!
“Shrieeeek!”
A piercing wail erupted as dark crimson blood gushed from one of its eyes. A direct hit. But it only ignited the creature’s fury. Consumed by rage, its tail whipped toward me like a lash, striking my abdomen.
“Gack!”
The air was driven from my lungs. My body soared through the air before crashing against the cavern wall. A terrible impact radiated from my back. I heard the sickening crack of ribs breaking. I fell to the ground, coughing violently. The taste of blood filled my mouth. My body no longer obeyed me.
‘Ah… damn… is this how it ends…’
The creature’s crimson eye drew closer with each thundering step. Staring at that single eye now burning with rage and murderous intent, I thought of my mother’s face.
‘I’m sorry, Mother. It seems I’ll be going first.’
Just as I was about to surrender everything and close my eyes.
Ding—
A clear, crystalline bell chime rang out, and a blue system window materialized before me.
[Hidden Quest ‘The Will That Blooms in Despair’ has been cleared.]
[Your Second Awakening will now commence as a quest clear reward.]
‘What? What is this?’
As the window appeared, the world seemed to slow as if time itself had frozen.
The Stoneskin Rat’s lunge toward me decelerated into slow motion, each droplet of its saliva suspended in the air like crystalline pearls.
In the silence where time seemed to have stopped, a new message materialized before me,
and I could only stare at it blankly.
[Will you proceed with Secondary Awakening?]
[Upon awakening, your existing abilities will evolve and you may acquire new traits.]
[Warning: Unforeseen changes may occur during the awakening process.]
[If you consent, please blink your eyes.]
There was no reason to hesitate. If not now, I might truly die.
I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them. In that instant, a sharp cracking sound—like shattering glass—echoed through my mind, and an icy chill washed over me. My heartbeat grew serene, and the wild mana that had been thrashing through my veins began to flow in perfect order along my blood vessels.
[Secondary Awakening commences.]
[…]
[Awakening complete! Unique Trait: Purification blooms at Lv.1.]
[Purification Lv.1]
– Rank: Immeasurable
– Description: A singular, unparalleled authority that interferes with all contamination in the world.
You can annihilate contaminants or restore the true nature of corrupted matter.
An overwhelming flood of information poured into my mind. Moments later, the world resumed its normal pace.
The creature’s maw was inches from my face, but something was different now. Knowledge etched into my mind. I reached out toward its head—not hesitantly, but desperately.
Ssssszzzzzt—
Pure white light erupted from where my palm made contact. The stone-like skin that no weapon had ever managed to wound began to burn away like paper, dissolving into brilliant white nothingness.
“Kiiieeeeeek!”
The creature shrieked in agony. The purifying light that began at its head spread across its entire body, and its massive form melted away like snow, until finally nothing remained but a handful of white powder scattered by the wind.
In the now-silent Dungeon, I stared at my trembling hands.
‘What in the world is happening?’
As I steadied my confused mind and surveyed my surroundings, a mana stone caught my eye—distinctly dark and murky, flickering where the creature had vanished.
[Annihilate contaminants and restore true nature]
The system’s description flashed through my thoughts. As if possessed, I picked up the corrupted mana stone and murmured quietly.
“Restore its true nature.”
[Attempting Purification on Contaminated Mana Stone (F-rank).]
[Powerful contamination source detected. Accelerating purification process.]
[…Success!]
[Reborn as a supreme-grade Mana Stone (D-rank) with 100% purity.]
A blue system message materialized before my eyes. The dark, murky stone that had been in my palm was gone, replaced by a gem that shone with such brilliance it was almost blinding, radiating an ethereal luminescence.
A supreme-grade D-rank Mana Stone. The market value was around 15 million won, wasn’t it?
I gripped the mana stone tightly with trembling hands.

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