Leveling Up Alone

Chapter 4: The Awakened System (4)

Karvis, who was always on standby at any time of day, responded immediately without any hesitation when Han-Yeol called for her.

‘Is it possible to imbue mana into an object using the Mana Control skill?’?Han-Yeol asked.

[Of course.]

[Although it will not make a huge difference, the infusion of mana into an object will increase its durability by multiple times.]

‘Is that so?’?Han-Yeol thought as he decided to test out his idea. First, however, he slurped up the ramyun he had cooked and drank its soup down to the last drop. He would have liked nothing more than to put some leftover rice into the ramyun soup, but he was so poor that he did not even have any leftover rice lying around his house.

That was how Han-Yeol filled his starving stomach with ramyun and left the house. He then climbed the hills of his moon village.

Anybody who lived in the moon village would know that it was located adjacent to a mountain, and that mountain would be accessible if one climbed the hills of the village. The mountain was not that great or pretty, however, and nobody ever bothered to climb all the way up to visit it. The only visitors one might occasionally see were old people who sought refuge under the cool shade of the trees on the mountain.

The only facility on the mountain was an old resting hut next to a dimly lit street lamp, and the place emitted an eerie atmosphere once the sun set. That was one of the reasons why nobody dared to visit the place after dark. Additionally, the local street urchins claimed they had seen a ghost there a few days before, and people had avoided it ever since.

‘This looks like a good spot,’?Han-Yeol thought. He looked around the vicinity before finding a few things he might be able to use. He found five empty cans, then picked them up and lined them in a row. Then, he picked up a few stones that were littered across the ground.

‘I have to?imagine?my mana becoming one with the stone?to infuse the stone with it,’?Han-Yeol thought as he closed his eyes and focused. Then, he felt a sliver of his mana traveling all over his body. He gathered all of the mana he felt and infused it into the stone in his hand. The stone started to emit a blue glow as he infused more and more of his mana into it.

‘Alright!’

Han-Yeol made all his preparations before entering the pitching stance he had learned back in middle school. He pulled his knee all the way up to his chest and twisted his waist, then threw his arm forward while fully extending his shoulder.

Tak! Clank!

The stone flew out of Han-Yeol’s hand, crushing an empty soda can and embedding itself in a tree behind it with a deep impact. It was much stronger than throwing the ball of mana alone.

‘Alright! I can use this as a weapon from now on.’

Han-Yeol decided to kick the gear up a notch, deciding that this would be one of his offensive skills. He pushed himself and practiced harder as he was not satisfied with his hit-or-miss accuracy.

Whii… Thud!

He had briefly played baseball back in middle school, but he had not attended any lessons or classes for it. Additionally, a long time had passed since he had last thrown a ball, so his form and everything else were a mess.

He repeatedly imbued stones with his mana and threw them, heavily depleting his mana. His head started to hurt from his excessive use of mana, and his body suddenly started to feel weak all of a sudden. He walked around the mountain for a while to aid him in recovering the mana he had used.

An hour passed after he began walking to recover his mana, nearly restoring his reserves to full.

Whiii… Tak!

‘Alright!’?

The fruits of his labor finally started to show as he successfully hit ten cans in a row.

Ding!

[Your persistent practice has created a new skill.]

[A new skill has been created—Power Strike.]

‘Yes!’?Han-Yeol cheered inwardly at the creation of a new skill.

“Hooo…” He exhaled. He was covered in sweat from his continuous practice, but he felt as if he were on cloud nine at the moment.

‘Power Strike.’

[Power Strike (F)]

Type: Active

Description: A skill that imbues your mana into a small object and inflicts damage when throwing it toward an enemy. You will deal greater damage the closer your hit gets to an enemy’s weak spot.

‘Now all that’s left is a defensive skill,’?Han-Yeol thought, picturing the concept he already had in mind.

The offensive skill, Power Strike, had required a lot of movement and effort to create. On the other hand, the defensive skill on Han-Yeol’s mind required an extremely high amount of concentration. That was why he had begun sitting comfortably at the resting hut.

He initially crossed his legs the way the characters from a martial arts novel would, but he decided against it since he was quite susceptible to cramping.

Wooong…

All Han-Yeol wanted for his defensive skill was a simple shield—nothing more and nothing less. That was why he gathered as much of his mana as he possibly could and created a ball of mana. Next, he stretched the ball of mana to be as wide and thin as possible before forming it into a circular shield. Then, he practiced maintaining the mana shield for as long as he possibly could.

‘Keuk!’

The training he was doing demanded a lot of concentration from him, and he gritted his teeth as he tried to sustain the shield for as long as he could. It was his first time doing such a thing, so he had no clue if he was doing the right thing or not, and the only means he had to progress was to go through a process of trial and error using his own body as the test subject.

Tremble…

His arms started to tremble, but Han-Yeol did not give up. He had enough of running away and giving up, and he was sick and tired of living like a loser as he had before he awakened. He no longer wanted to give up.

“Graaaaah!”?Han-Yeol screamed, squeezing out every single ounce of strength he had in his body.

Ding!

[A new skill has been created—Mana Shield.]

“Hoooo…”

He had finally managed to create his own defensive skill, and was thus no longer required to concentrate as hard as he had when creating the skill to sustain the shield. The shield remained casually on Han-Yeol’s arm as if it belonged there naturally.

‘Finally! Skill, Mana Shield.’

[Mana Shield (F)]

Type: Active

Description: A shield made by stretching the user's mana to be wide and thin. It will be able to protect the user from attacks depending on the user’s mana capacity.

Han-Yeol had successfully created the two skills he desperately needed—an offensive skill and a defensive skill, and felt that he had managed to take care of the urgent stuff for the time being. He wanted to create more skills, but he did not have any ideas for what to make. Besides, his stamina was quite low after creating two new skills, and so he decided to go back home and rest up.

“Euk…?I’ll just continue tomorrow…” Han-Yeol muttered, walking back to his home while swaying from side to side.

It was then…

“Eup! Eup!”

“Shhh! Be quiet! I can’t guarantee your life if you don’t!”

“Huh?” Han-Yeol looked around when he heard the voices of a man and a woman. However, the impression he got from the sound was not a pleasant one, but rather that of a clichéd criminal and victim scenario. ‘This place is?pretty lawless?after all.’

The moon village where Han-Yeol currently lived had a lot of people who worked in the sex industry. That was why many criminals gathered in it, and those criminals took advantage of the lack of foot traffic in the area to commit all sorts of crimes. The roads were winding and arduous with steep inclines, and that made it difficult for the police to patrol at night.

Ignoring what he heard was the right thing to do, as he would end up getting the short end of the stick if he got hurt by chance while trying to be a hero. The criminals who committed crimes in this neighborhood usually carried weapons with them.

However…

‘Something feels off…’?Han-Yeol thought.

The instincts he usually depended on when life got tough for him kicked in from time to time. This time, his instincts told him to go and take a look. His body was telling him to go home and rest, but his instincts kept nagging him to go and help out the woman.

.

‘Ah, damn it…?Here goes nothing!’

Han-Yeol decided to listen to his instincts, and walked toward the active crime scene just as those instincts told him to.

“Eup! Eup!”

“Hehehe! Look at this little bitch. You must have wanted it too if you were out loitering around at this hour. Stop resisting and stay still, will you?!”

‘As I thought. It’s just a stupid pervert.’

A lot of poor, powerless women lived in this neighborhood, so there were a lot of sex crimes that specifically targeted those women. Due to that, there had been a public outcry from the surrounding neighborhoods to destroy this neighborhood and put it up for redevelopment. In their eyes, the moon village was nothing but a cancerous tumor that reduced the value of properties in the surrounding neighborhoods.

It was right as Han-Yeol was about to click his tongue and leave when he suddenly noticed something.

‘Huh??A high schooler?’

Han-Yeol noticed that the victim was a beautiful high school student who lived with her mother next door. The fact that she lived in this neighborhood alone was more than enough to speak volumes about what kind of poverty she lived in. Despite her circumstances, however, the girl was quite polite and always smiling. She was always the first one to approach and greet Han-Yeol, who usually avoided interacting with other people.

‘I knew it. My instinct is never wrong,’?Han-Yeol thought.

Ding!

[You have displayed a keen sense that surpasses the normal five senses of a human being.]

[A new skill has been created—Sixth Sense.]

‘Eh? What’s with this Sixth Sense all of a sudden?’?Han-Yeol was momentarily confused by the sudden development.

[Sixth Sense (F)]

Type: Passive

Description: The sixth sense that follows the five senses of a human being. You will be able to read the enemy’s movements. The duration and coverage of the skill will increase the higher the skill level is.

‘Who knew this was going to turn into a skill?’?

He had never imagined that his instincts, which had no shape or form, would actually turn into something he could depend on. He also thought that there was no harm in having more skills, and he could not complain about his unexpected profit.

However, that was not what was important at the moment. The rapist had tied up the girl next door’s arms while Han-Yeol was distracted, and he had even taped her mouth to shut her up. At that point, he was about to strip her clothes off.

‘What should I do? What should I do?’?Han-Yeol panicked. The girl next door was going to be scarred for life by a horrible and traumatic experience if he did not do anything.

As he looked around in a panic, however, he found something on the floor. He thought as he grabbed the object, ‘Ah, I don’t know. Here goes nothing!’

“Hehehe…! Now, shall we have a taste of you, pretty little thing?” the rapist said excitedly in a creepy voice.

“Eup! Eup!”?The high school girl’s face was covered in tears, as the only thing that went through her mind was, ‘Mom! Help me!’?She had probably called for help more than a hundred times in her mind.

It was then…

Shwiiiii… Bam!

A stone suddenly flew out of nowhere and embedded itself in the street lamp right beside the rapist’s head.

“W-Who the hell are you?!” the rapist exclaimed in surprise.

‘Damn it. I missed,’?Han-Yeol cursed under his breath. Perhaps it was because he was nervous, but the stone imbued with his mana had missed his target. Fortunately, he had been able to separate the rapist from the girl next door, as his attack seemed to have startled the man.

‘Here goes nothing!’?Han-Yeol thought as he used the opening to rush at the rapist.

“This little bastard!” the rapist cursed, moving quickly in an attempt to cement his advantageous position by taking the girl next door hostage.

But…

Shruuuuuuk… Tak!

“W-What the hell?!” the rapist exclaimed. He tried to attack with a knife, but his movements were suddenly restricted by a chain thrown by Han-Yeol. The rapist tried to undo the chain wrapped around his hand, but it was tightly bound up as if it had been pulled together by a magnet.

‘N-no way…!’?The rapist thought, going into denial.

“Die, you trash!” Han-Yeol shouted as he threw a punch. The rapist could not avoid the punch, as he had been held in place by the chain.

Bam!

“Kuheok!”?The rapist let out a groan as he flew backward and hit a wall, having been hit by the punch of an Awakened.

“Hooo…” Han-Yeol let out a sigh of relief. It was a risky gamble, but thankfully, it had paid off. Suddenly, he received a notification.

Ding!

[A new skill has been created—Restrain.]

***

‘Restrain?’?Han-Yeol thought as he checked the skill details.

[Restrain (F)]

Type: Active

Description: The user may imbue mana into an object such as a rope or a chain before throwing it at a target. The target will be momentarily stunned and bound by the skill.

The new skill was a flexible skill that was open to improvisation based on the situation. Han-Yeol felt that he had received quite the reward, as he had succeeded in saving the victim as well as obtaining quite a useful skill.

Tremble… Tremble…

The rapist was already down and out, but the high school girl still had her eyes closed while trembling uncontrollably. She was aware that someone had helped her just then, but there was no guarantee that the newcomer was a good person. She was scared that she would spiral into unending despair if she expected them to be a good person, but then they turned out to be the exact opposite. She was still young, but she had been forced to experience the world at a young age, so she knew a bit about how the world worked.

“Hey, high schooler,” Han-Yeol called out.

Flinch…!

The girl’s trembling ceased for a moment when she heard the familiar voice that called out to her, and she carefully opened her eyes. She saw a familiar face standing in front of her, and that person knelt down and carefully removed the tape over her mouth. He also untied her arms and fixed her disheveled clothes. His gaze did not possess any lust or ulterior motives, even though an exposed and vulnerable young girl was right in front of him.

‘How would it feel if I had a little sister like this…?’?Han-Yeol thought. He did not treat the high school girl right in front of him as an object of lust or desire, but rather saw her as a little sister.

1. This is the name used to refer to shanty towns in Korean cities where low-income people live.