Chapter 82 – Forest of the Dryads (3)

Ten days had passed since Lee Shin-Woo entered the forest protected by the Corrupted Dryads. He had managed to increase his Acid Resistance and Acid element by one more level, and became more adept at incorporating lightning into his weapon; he had a feeling that Bursting Thunder would level up soon.

However, he was thinking about something else whilst felling trees and diligently training his skills. He was wondering what the Dryads were protecting.

"The most likely answer is a World Tree, isn’t it?"

"Then shouldn't undead elves have come out rather than Corrupted Dryads?"

"It would be nice if it were a World Tree..."

A rotten World Tree. That’d be cool! Breaking a branch and holding it would probably subject Lee Shin-Woo to all the misfortunes in the world. And he could make a great weapon out of it!

"Enough with your delusions,” Jin snapped. “Swing your axe already."

"I am swinging it."

With the piercing power of lightning, Lee Shin-Woo’s axe cut through the incoming branches before they could perforate him. The trees roared as he axed them all at once. He sighed in satisfaction once he inspected the loot they dropped.

[You have acquired 21,050 Perium.]

[You have acquired 2 Melting Bone Roots.]

The deeper they went into the forest, the stronger the Acid Great Trees were. There was a huge difference between a level 5 close to 1,600 in stats, and a level 5 close to 3,200 in stats. The fact that they left behind more Perium was proof that they were stronger than the ones from before.

However, Lee Shin-Woo continued to kill the Acid Great Trees in a single blow even as they got stronger. His attacks were growing in power as well!

"Hoo... Hah! Hap!"

[Ggiaaaaaaaaaaaahk!]

Though he'd made great strides in Bursting Thunder and the defense zone since coming here, what Lee Shin-Woo had improved the most was his ability to hit his enemies’ weak points; in other words, he had gotten better at dealing critical hits.

Critical Hit started out as a skill before it was absorbed by Bursting Thunder. However, thoughtlessly swinging my weapon around wouldn’t improve the skill. I have to study it and develop the technique myself.

Bursting Thunder was a top skill that incorporated all close combat techniques, but it was incredibly difficult to level up for precisely that. Furthermore, leveling up the skill didn't mean that he would become proficient in every technique the skill covered.

The world didn’t give out anything freely. In order to master this supreme skill, Lee Shin-Woo would have to put in the effort in various fields. Among those various fields, he felt like the training he’d been doing to inflict critical hits was key to mastering Bursting Thunder, which allowed him to attack quickly and explosively.

[You have acquired 22,510 Perium.]

[You have acquired a Melting Bone Root.]

"Hoo, ha!"

Lee Shin-Woo didn’t have the time to even catch his breath. Even when he cut down a tree, the other trees would attack him from all directions with their branches.

The deeper Lee Shin-Woo went by following the Dryads, the more desperately the trees tried to stop him, and at some point, roots began bursting from the once unscathed ground. Of course, it was Jin's job to deal with those.

"They're cutting through my armor!" Jin screamed.

"Calm down, and cut the ones closest to you first."

"Easy for you to say!"

"Hoo... They keep coming."

There were hundreds of them attacking from above, below, and both sides; fighting off the tree branches and roots made Lee Shin-Woo think of some comics and films he'd seen on Earth.

It would've been a nice scene if the branches were attempting to tie up an elf, rather than a skeleton horse and a skeleton... Reality was cruel.

"Damn it, the way they moved is repulsive...!"

"That's why I told you to cut them down before they tie you up. You have to protect your body too."

"I'll break my back trying to match you...!"

It took only about two days for Jin to get used to the protruding tree roots; consequently, Lee Shin-Woo had to endure on Jin's back like he were performing a rodeo.

While Lee Shin-Woo shared Jin’s dynamic visual acuity and reflexes that came from his high agility, Jin shared Lee Shin-Woo's calm and keen movements, as well as his situational awareness.

Jin didn’t do it often, but in desperate situations, he could tap into all of Lee Shin-Woo’s ability to survive. And the result of that was clear.

[Critical Hit!]

"Hoo, we got out."

"Heup!"

Jin was able to slash through the roots, and Lee Shin-Woo cut down the weakened trees one by one, toppling three in quick succession. Finally, he was allowed to take a proper breath. With all the trees in the area cut down, they had temporarily created a safe zone where they wouldn't be attacked.

[Ggyaaaaaaaaahk!]

Lee Shin-Woo had heard that scream so often that it sounded sweet to him now; he followed the source of the noises and got close enough to see the flying Dryad. I’m getting close. His goblin fire rotated round and round.

"It looks like the Dryads are gathered in one place…” Lee Shin-Woo said. “We might be able to see something interesting if we play our cards right."

"Like a level 6 elite?"

"Ha!" [1]

Lee Shin-Woo started wondering if he had revealed too much of his intentions to Jin, but it was too late to dwell on that. With an awkward smile, he marked their location on his minimap. Then he turned the opposite direction of where the Dryad had gone in.

"What?"

"I'd love to go over there right now, but we're not done training."

"..."

Lee Shin-Woo's Acid Resistance wasn’t good enough to offset the trees’ Acid Poison completely yet! He didn’t plan to go to the heart of the forest until he achieved his goal.

"Moreover, considering the trees’ Acid Poison is getting stronger the deeper we go, the boss at the end..."

"Won't it have high-rank Acid Poison...?" Jin speculated.

"Maybe."

"Ugggggggh."

Jin silently screamed, already picturing the fight. His Acid Resistance had only just reached the intermediate rank. An even more potent Acid Poison would be too harsh for him to endure.

"That's why we should keep training,” Lee Shin-Woo said. “We can't let the sacrifices of the Dryads and this forest go to waste!"

"I don't think anyone thinks they're sacrificing themselves for you..."

Lee Shin-Woo ignored Jin's muttering. His Acid Resistance was still at intermediate level 5. He didn't have any time to waste if he wanted to train his Acid Resistance to the point that he'd take no damage from the trees’ acid!

[Intermediate Assimilation is now Lv4. Agility and Magic have increased by 5. The range of Assimilation is gradually increasing.]

Two weeks had passed since they entered the forest. Now Lee Shin-Woo could endure the Acid Poison with only a helmet on.

The Acid Skull Full Helm increased the effectiveness of acid related skills by 20%, but that alone wasn’t enough to protect Lee Shin-Woo's body from acid. He melted under the acid attacks. That, however, allowed him to train his Acid Resistance and Regeneration, so it was all for the best.

[Intermediate Regeneration is now Lv2. Endurance and Magic have increased by 5. Regeneration speed increases.]

Lee Shin-Woo nodded to himself. "Good, good. It's going smoothly. Well, I still have some mana left. I can afford to melt a little more..."

"I want to learn Regeneration too..."

"If we meet a Rural Rat Queen later, we’ll have a talk with her," Lee Shin-Woo said as he rubbed bone powder on the half dead Jin.

As he thought, that dungeon was unusual and particularly difficult for its level. He'd found a few other rat dungeons after that, but none had any rat queens.

"It seems we have to stay on the outer rim a little more since you sound like you’re dying."

"Are you planning on training all of your resistances like this from now on?"

"Uh... If I can...?"

This was more efficient than randomly hunting monsters and undead. In the process of training a variety of skills, not only do his stats increase, but his fundamentals improve as well.

Lee Shin-Woo wasn't a sick bastard who got any pleasure out of the training itself, but he was the type that could endure the pain of training to achieve his goal.

"But using the defense zone is too easy now. I'm confident that they'll never break through my defense."

"Then should we go deeper now?"

"We can't, since our resistance training isn't complete yet… Fine, I guess I have no choice but to do this."

Jin could never hide his unease when Lee Shin-Woo was trying something new. What the hell was Lee Shin-Woo attempting this time? How would it affect him? Jin was concerned and couldn't rest easy.

Suddenly, the Melting Bone Double Axe appeared in the air. It was a different one from the one Lee Shin-Woo wielded. It must have been created with Bone Armory.

"You...?"

"I'm training Rule of Bone. It takes a lot of concentration to control a flying axe, so it'll become harder to use the defense zone."

"..."

"In my home country, there's a saying that goes 'the hardships of youth are invaluable'."

"In my country, they say that 'hardship leads to success'... No, let's stop."

Lee Shin-Woo had made the right call. It was no joke controlling the axe midair with Rule of Bone while maintaining the defense zone with the other axe. He almost died a few times, but Lee Shin-Woo didn't give up on his multi-tasking training.

Three more days passed. Now he could maintain his defense zone with the axe in his hands whilst controlling the axe in the air, which cleaved through the trees and branches from afar. Then Lee Shin-Woo summoned another axe and controlled both at once while maintaining his defense zone!

"Ah, it becomes so much easier when I use two axes to slice through the nearby trees. I should send these guys a bit farther."

"You dumbass," Jin screamed.

Lee Shin-Woo had gotten used to the reaction, so he didn’t pay attention to Jin. Soon, Rule of Bone leveled up and further improved his control. Still, it only pushed Lee Shin-Woo to attempt something even more difficult...

[Bone Armory is now Lv5, and you can now maintain five pieces of equipment at once. Endurance and Magic have increased by 5.]

Time passed like that for a bit longer, and his Bone Armory finally leveled up. With his improved proficiency in the skill, he couldn’t imagine ever fighting without equipping armor! However, the moment Lee Shin-Woo cheered at the level-up, something unexpected came with it.

[Your magic stat has surpassed 1,000! You have acquired the title, 'One Loved by Mana'. Magic has increased by 10. Your body is reborn to be more magic friendly than before. The transformation is highly compatible with your species, so Magic has further increased by 10.]

"Huh...?"

Lee Shin-Woo muttered as he felt a slight change in his body that accompanied the message.

His magic stat had already surpassed 1,000; that in itself was surprising. It was understandable, though, since most of his skills were closely connected to magic. However, he didn’t expect to suddenly get a title and undergo a physical transformation, so he didn't take the occurrence lightly.

The chatroom... I don't want to cause another uproar, so I'll have to ask Kratia about it later.

When Kratia gained the private chat function, she would message him first. He decided he'd ask her then. Lee Shin-Woo nodded and continued hunting. He didn't see any signs of his training ending any time soon.

1. T/N: This is more like a gasp, but English doesn't really have a good onomatopoeia for this.