Levelling Up In An Exclusive Dungeon

Chapter 30

As soon as Lucia came out of the attic through the Return Stone, she cast a spell.

“It felt like this, right?”

Recalling the feeling of the mask she had worn before, Lucia wrapped her mouth with a wind-controlling spell.

As intended, the wind barrier prevented unpleasant dust and bad air from entering her airway.

“It’s a good thing I learned magic, even if it’s just roughly.”

Although she couldn’t handle anything complex because she didn’t have a proper teacher, Lucia was satisfied with her current level.

Unless one is overflowing with talent, one can’t excel in every field.

Lucia thought that if she had been engrossed in magic, she probably wouldn’t have acquired her current level of archery.

About to fall into useless sentimentality, Lucia lightly tapped her cheeks with both hands and looked for Kang Jin-hyuk.

Lucia turned her head and looked at Kang Jin-hyuk, who was standing a step away.

She found his expression shocked, as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have.

“What are you doing?”

Only after hearing Lucia’s voice did Kang Jin-hyuk regain his composure and straighten his hunched body.

“Is there something wrong?”

“Ah…….”

Kang Jin-hyuk hesitated to answer for a moment.

Frustrated, Lucia approached him, clicking her tongue.

“What is it this time? Are you regretting coming here?”

“No, it’s not that. I just got a message saying my Karma value went up.”

“Message? Are you talking about those letters that sometimes appear in front of your eyes?”

“Right. It appeared as soon as I used the Return Stone.”

There was only one guess Kang Jin-hyuk could make at that moment.

“Did you trick the Dwarf Ajusshi and your value went up?”

“Tricking is a bit harsh. Strictly speaking, I just postponed it for a while.”

“But right now, I can’t think of any other reason why the value would have gone up.”

“How much did it go up?”

Hearing Lucia’s words, Kang Jin-hyuk headed to the mirror in the house.

The number 65 was superimposed on his reflection in the mirror.

“It went up by 1.”

“Only 1?”

“No matter how little, the fact that it increased is what’s important, isn’t it?”

“Hmm…… You have a point.”

As long as they didn’t know the exact reason for the Karma increase, even a single point couldn’t be ignored.

Lost in thought for a moment, Kang Jin-hyuk came up with something he wanted to try.

“Can you hit me once?”

“Okay.”

Without a second’s hesitation, Lucia granted Kang Jin-hyuk’s request.

Lucia’s fist, which shot out in the blink of an eye, accurately struck Kang Jin-hyuk’s abdomen.

“Oof!”

Receiving the unexpected blow, Kang Jin-hyuk fell backward.

Staring intently at Kang Jin-hyuk rolling on the living room floor, Lucia tilted her head.

“Why did you ask me to hit you?”

“Ugh……. Why don’t you ask before you hit…….”

Kang Jin-hyuk thought Lucia would at least ask once why she had to do it.

He never expected her to swing without hesitation.

Thanks to that, he had to face the gut-wrenching pain without any mental preparation.

Only after the shock of the impact subsided did Kang Jin-hyuk slowly get up, supporting himself against the wall.

“I was trying to test if my Karma value went up because I tricked the Dwarf Ajusshi, then maybe it would go up if I used violence.”

“What’s the connection between the two?”

“They both have the commonality of harming others, don’t they?”

“So? What’s the result?”

Lucia’s Karma value, as seen by Kang Jin-hyuk, hadn’t changed at all.

It definitely wasn’t because she hit him softly that the value didn’t change.

As the one who experienced the hit firsthand, he was firmly convinced of that.

“It hasn’t changed at all. It’s the same.”

“Then it’s a bust.”

Lucia turned around, seemingly deflated.

Kang Jin-hyuk’s mind was in turmoil because what he thought was surely related turned out to be different from his expectations.

He couldn’t immediately figure out the difference between deception and violence.

‘Maybe my Karma value didn’t go up because I tricked the Dwarf Ajusshi?’

Lost in thought about the reason for the Karma increase, Kang Jin-hyuk suddenly saw stars flashing before his eyes.

It wasn’t because of some sudden enlightenment.

It was because of Lucia’s fist, which flew at him at an unexpected moment and hit him in the face.

“Gah!”

With a scream that an extra would make, Kang Jin-hyuk collapsed to the floor once again.

As he began to realize what had happened, anger came before pain.

Kang Jin-hyuk jumped up and glared at Lucia with reddened eyes.

“What the hell was that all of a sudden!”

“Before you get angry, check my Karma value first.”

“Value my foot! Damn it!”

“Calm down and check first.”

Kang Jin-hyuk was extremely displeased with Lucia’s calm demeanor after resorting to unprovoked violence.

As if giving in, he checked Lucia’s Karma value and his anger immediately subsided.

“The value increased? Why?”

He clearly remembered Lucia’s Karma value being ’82’.

But the value he saw now was 83, one point higher.

It had definitely increased, no need to doubt his eyes.

“What’s the difference from just now…….”

“Maybe the difference between agreeing to it and not agreeing to it?”

Lucia’s guess was enough to resolve Kang Jin-hyuk’s question.

As she said, the first hit was something Kang Jin-hyuk brought upon himself, something they agreed upon.

On the other hand, the second was violence that occurred without agreement or even warning.

If that difference affected the value change, it was understandable.

“So this Karma value doesn’t just change based on actions…….”

“It also considers the situation.”

“Then it’s a pretty flexible value.”

Perhaps the hidden skill obtained through an act of self-defense had this characteristic.

Kang Jin-hyuk felt like he had just taken his first step.

Now that he knew one of the conditions for the value change, he started to get a sense of direction.

“Okay, let’s move on to the next experiment.”

Lucia, seemingly feeling the same way, showed an enthusiastic look.

The problem was that her enthusiasm wasn’t directed where Kang Jin-hyuk wanted it to be.

“Why did you suddenly pull out a dagger for an experiment?”

“We need to see if the value increases differently between beating someone up and stabbing them.”

“……Are you sane?”

“You have potions. If I avoid vital points, it’ll be fine.”

“Crazy.”

Sensing that Lucia was half serious, Kang Jin-hyuk quickly turned and ran.

◈◈◈◈◈◈

After desperately escaping being stabbed, Kang Jin-hyuk breathed heavily.

His pale face proved that he had run for his life.

Lucia was the opposite of Kang Jin-hyuk, who was panting as if he was about to collapse.

Without breaking a sweat, she put the dagger back into its leather sheath with a look of disappointment.

“I was trying to finish it in one shot without hurting you, but you really hate it, huh?”

“Would you gladly accept it if you were me?”

“It’s to understand your own skill. You have to take that much risk.”

“It’s easy for you to say when it’s not your business.”

Kang Jin-hyuk wanted to collapse right there, but he wasn’t at home; he was outside.

Even though it was a deserted street, it was common sense that collapsing in the middle of the road was problematic.

“Wait…….”

Realizing that he was outside, Kang Jin-hyuk turned his gaze to Lucia.

Sure enough, her ears, vastly different from ordinary people’s, were clearly visible.

“What are you doing coming out without covering your ears! Didn’t you not want people to find out you’re an elf?”

“I covered them with magic, so it’s fine.”

“I can see them perfectly fine?”

“That’s because you’re not the target of the magic.”

Lucia explained that applying camouflage magic to someone who already knows would be a waste of mana.

Kang Jin-hyuk felt embarrassed, as if he had made a fuss over nothing.

“Magic is really convenient.”

“From my perspective, those ‘skills’ you use seem more convenient. You just shout the name of the technique, and it activates automatically.”

“Isn’t magic the same?”

Lucia chuckled emptily and shook her head.

“Magic isn’t that simple. You have to precisely match the amount of mana used for the spell, and you have to complete the formula in your head…….”

Since it requires detailed mental calculations, people with bad brains can never use magic.

Although swordsmanship also requires talent, Lucia felt that magic was the true realm of talent.

“Well, anyway, you can’t use it as freely as you want.”

Lucia thought there was no point in rambling on about magic here.

There was no use in telling someone from a different world about things only she knew.

If he were a talented person, it might be different. Kang Jin-hyuk didn’t seem like someone with a talent for magic.

‘Someone who can’t even sense the flow of mana properly can’t use magic.’

While Lucia made up her mind, Kang Jin-hyuk made a plan to study his skill.

He quickly racked his brains, thinking that if the conversation stopped like this, she would chase after him with a dagger again.

“I think I need to look at various cases to properly understand my skill.”

“……You say something obvious as if you’ve made a great discovery.”

“Be quiet and listen.”

Kang Jin-hyuk argued that it would be more efficient to observe the actions of people with low and high Karma values than to figure it out by using his own body.

By analyzing the differences between the two cases, he would be able to learn about the skill.

“Hmm…….”

Lucia reacted with a puzzled expression after hearing Kang Jin-hyuk’s explanation.

The method itself seemed quite good, but she felt it was still lacking.

“What criteria will you use to determine high and low values?”

It was impossible to set an objective standard without clearly understanding the hidden skill.

Fortunately, there was a hint in another skill Kang Jin-hyuk had acquired.

“I think a value above 200 is high.”

“Why?”

“The description of the other skill said there’s no penalty for killing someone with a value over that.”

“Penalty? What do you mean?”

When Lucia couldn’t understand what he meant, Kang Jin-hyuk took some time to explain the penalty for Hunters who commit murder.

After Kang Jin-hyuk’s brief explanation, Lucia made a dumbfounded expression.

“It’s a brutal place to brand someone for a single murder.”

“It’s not brutal, it’s safe. If it weren’t for that penalty, people would be dying even in broad daylight.”

Most Hunters would do anything for their own benefit.

If such people didn’t have these restraints, there would have been great chaos.

“Anyway, so 200 or higher is the standard, right?”

Lucia grabbed the diverging topic by the scruff of its neck and pulled it back.

What she wanted was to learn about Kang Jin-hyuk’s hidden skill, not to delve into the circumstances of Hunters.

“Since you, me, and the shorty Ajusshi are all under 100, it seems like it’ll be hard to find someone over 200.”

“That’s why I’m thinking of going to a crowded place like a station when people are getting off work.”

“Station? Where is that?”

Kang Jin-hyuk thought it would be better to take Lucia there directly rather than explaining it, so he grabbed her arm.

“Just follow me.”

Lucia was surprised to have her arm suddenly grabbed, but she obediently followed behind Kang Jin-hyuk.

‘Insolent.’

Lucia found Kang Jin-hyuk’s attitude of leading the way, even though he was much weaker than her, irritating.

It wasn’t that she disliked it, but somehow, it made her uncomfortable.