Chapter 53
Chapter 53
Hyunseok had nearly single-handedly stopped this Monster Wave.
And he had done it in just thirty seconds.
It wasn’t exactly a graceful sight, but that didn’t matter.
What mattered was that he had achieved something the system classified as a “Truly Impossible Feat.”
“‘Impossible’ already includes the word ‘never,’ doesn’t it?”
He smirked to himself. Still, the fact remained that a “Truly Impossible Feat” ranked higher than a mere “Impossible Feat.”
The proof was right there before him.
“To think that the title ‘Pioneer of the Impossible,’ which originally required ten Impossible Feats to unlock, actually upgraded…”
His title <Pioneer of the Impossible> had leveled up by +1.
Normally, that title could only be obtained after stacking up ten “Impossible Feats.”
Meaning, for it to upgrade, it would logically require an even higher threshold, at least ten times that.
That could only mean one thing:
A “Truly Impossible Feat” ranked far above any “Impossible Feat.”
He couldn’t calculate the exact numbers, but the results were obvious.
He had earned eighty Greenstones this time.
Not every Twin-Headed Orc dropped one, so it meant he had likely slain around a hundred and twenty of them.
And without any wide-area skill, at that.
“If I keep doing this a few more times… maybe I’ll actually unlock an AOE skill.”
Hyunseok felt great.
The title Pioneer of the Impossible originally granted a 100% increase to remaining stat points.
Unfortunately, the bonus only applied once, to whatever unallocated stat points he had at the time of acquiring the title.
But now that it had been upgraded to +1, that bonus had doubled, from 100% to 200%.
It was an absurdly overpowered effect, something that would drive the entire Slayer community insane if they knew.
Not that any normal Slayer could ever hope to obtain it.
“I had 83 unspent points before… so now that’s 249.”
His Remaining Stat Points: 249.
Currently, his Strength sat at 367 thanks to title effects.
If he poured all remaining stats into Strength, his total would exceed 600.
“Six hundred Strength… could that be the threshold for transitioning to Hard Mode?”
That was what frustrated him, there was no clear condition.
It wasn’t as if the system forced transitions every hundred points.
Even when his Strength reached 300, he hadn’t been forced into Hard Mode.
Minseo, completely oblivious to his inner dilemma, smiled brightly beside him.
Her tone was playful and full of cheer.
“Oppa, your title was Pioneer of the Impossible, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Then guess what mine is?”
Hyunseok chuckled.
“I’ve heard that at least three times already. You still can’t get enough of it?”
“Yup! I love it!”
It wasn’t just Minseo who was in high spirits.
The entire Inha Guild was grinning from ear to ear after such an unexpected harvest.
Minseo even began humming, off-key but joyful.
“Lululu~ Lulala~ I’m the one who challenges the impossible~!”
Watching her sing, Hyunseok couldn’t help but laugh softly.
“Maybe I should check my title effects again.”
Indeed, some of his titles had updated.
His previous ones, like Bee Slayer and Orc Slayer, had been replaced with higher-rank variants corresponding to stronger monsters.
Title Effects Updated:
- Bonus Stat: +200% of Remaining Stat Points
Thanks to that, his remaining stats totaled 249.
His highest stat, Strength, was 367, while his lowest, Intelligence, was 206.
His non-combat stat, Vitality, stood at 186.
Interestingly, once his Vitality exceeded 100, the fatigue penalty associated with it vanished entirely.
Whether it was connected to his “Vitality” stat or not, one thing was certain, his mornings had been quite… energetic.
“Oppa, oppa, oppa! You’re going to block the Monster Wave again tomorrow, right?”
“Of course.”
Naturally.
The monsters were practically walking piles of cash.
If he spread his arms and sprinted through them for just half a minute, he’d earn billions in rewards.
Each wave was a treasure field, teeming with profit and stat bonuses.
And if every successful defense awarded another “Truly Impossible Feat,” that meant +50 bonus stat points each time.
He couldn’t not go.
Twenty or thirty seconds of work for money and power pouring in like rain… yeah, that’s a no-brainer.
But then the headlines started appearing, and they were a bit off.
<The Platinum Slayer, Self-Sacrificing Hero, Marches to Battle Despite Exhaustion!>
<Three Consecutive Days of Relentless Combat! Slayers Must Learn from His Devotion!>
The public’s fantasy of the Platinum Slayer grew larger and larger.
Hyunseok’s team continued to sweep through five regional Monster Waves, one after another.
For now, it was the safest and fastest way to suppress the outbreaks, and no one could deny that.
After clearing those five waves, the phenomenon stopped altogether.
At first, everyone thought it was just a coincidence, but even after five days, no new Monster Waves appeared.
The media went wild.
Some journalists speculated that the danger might still linger, but most headlines were pure praise for Hyunseok.
Thanks to those reports, the Platinum Slayer’s name soared to new heights.
❋ ❋ ❋
Slayers stopping Monster Waves, that was monumental.
Hyunseok’s elimination of the Twin-Headed Orcs had directly halted the wave.
Several theories emerged.
The most convincing one stated that if a Slayer eliminated a certain number of monsters within a wave, the phenomenon would cease.
It wasn’t scientifically proven, but then again, none of this fell within the realm of science anyway.
Similar patterns were soon reported in other regions.
The Inha Guild, with Hyunseok at the lead, traveled one city per day and suppressed every active wave across all five regions.
As a result, the national Monster Wave crisis finally came to a halt.
People lauded Hyunseok’s “selfless sacrifice” for the citizens, but he knew the truth.
“Monster Waves aren’t a one-time thing.”
No, they’d come back, stronger and more frequent.
Just as dungeons kept forming and monsters evolved, so too would Monster Waves.
Still, at least now humanity had a countermeasure.
“This’ll make Slayers even stronger.”
Monster Waves could only be stopped by Slayers themselves.
Modern firepower could assist, but in the end, only Slayers could finish the job.
And with that, the influence of Slayers in modern society skyrocketed.
“The Union was supposed to be negotiating that… wonder if any news came in yet.”
In any case, this particular wave was over.
The Orc and Twin-Headed Orc waves, Easy Mode, essentially, had been cleared.
No Trolls or Twin-Headed Trolls (which belonged to Normal Mode) had appeared.
A relief, though slightly curious.
With things finally calm, Hyunseok could focus on something he’d been planning for a while.
“Item Enhancement.”
The Item Enhancement Shop business was booming.
Despite there being few Slayers overall, enhancement costs were only one-tenth the price of Monster Stones, so enhancement-type Slayers were making a fortune.
As long as they had enough MP, they could continuously use enhancement skills, gaining skill EXP, regular EXP, and money all at once.
A perfect three-in-one.
In Seoul’s Hongdae district stood one such shop, PolyNet Item Enhancement Store.
Three male enhancement-type Slayers worked there full time.
Their leader was a man named Jungsik, who was currently busy handling a customer.
Just as he finished a successful White Stone enhancement and was admiring his own handiwork, his junior, Minho, came running, breathless.
“J-Jungsik! Jungsik!”
Startled, Jungsik turned from his workbench.
“What is it? Why are you freaking out like that?”
“It’s just, uh, well—”
“Spit it out, man!”
Minho caught his breath and finally shouted,
“Someone wants to use a Yellow Stone for enhancement!”
Jungsik froze.
“Wh-what? Are you kidding me?!”
“I’m serious! It’s real! For real, Jungsik! Real, real, REAL!”
Jungsik frowned deeply.
“Are you sure this isn’t a scam?”
“How could it be? Even if someone tried, we’re the ones doing the enhancement. If they don’t hand over the item, there’s no deal, so there’s no way to scam us.”
“Wait, Minho. You’re telling me someone actually brought a Yellow Stone for enhancement?”
“Argh! How many times do I have to say it?!”
“That’s insane! Do you even know how much a Yellow Stone costs?! Who in their right mind would use it for enhancement?”
It made no sense.
Even Green Stone enhancements were rare, mostly done by Gold-rank Slayers, and even they used them sparingly.
After all, the enhancement boost wasn’t overwhelmingly large.
A single Green Stone cost 1.5 billion won, and PolyNet charged one-tenth of a Stone’s value per enhancement.
Meaning each “+1 Enhancement” earned them 150 million won.
The three at PolyNet went into a frenzy.
They already had a full reservation list, but that was irrelevant now.
If someone was truly using a Yellow Stone, that wasn’t just a VIP, that was VVIP status.
“But the person doesn’t match any Gold-rank Slayer profiles we’ve recorded.”
“They might’ve sent a proxy. We’ve been doing this long enough to know how these things go. What matters is verifying that the stone is real.”
Minho nodded quickly.
“Not just that, they also want to enhance some kind of skill book. I think it said… ‘Shield’? Never even heard of that one.”
None of them even considered the possibility that their customer could be the Platinum Slayer himself.
The odds of meeting the world’s one and only Platinum Slayer were astronomically low.
Even bumping into a random celebrity was more likely.
So they didn’t even think to connect the dots.
And once you don’t think of something, you don’t see it, even when it’s right in front of you.
Finally, the truth came out.
“W-wait… You’re really using a Yellow Stone for enhancement?”
“Yes,” Hyunseok replied calmly. “Is that a problem?”
“N-no, sir! I mean, our skills can handle Yellow Stone enhancement. Our upper limit… happens to be right at Yellow Stone tier.”
Which, in other words, meant they couldn’t handle Red Stones, like the one Hyunseok had obtained from the Cyclops.
“So enhancement with Yellow Stone is possible, then?”
“Yes, but… the success rate isn’t 100%. The first enhancement is guaranteed, the second is 70%, the third is 50%. After that, there’s a chance of item destruction starting from +4.
We can only safely enhance up to +5.”
He rambled nervously, completely flustered.
In essence, he was trying to say: “Please think this through, that stone is way too valuable.”
“Just do it,” Hyunseok said casually.
The disparity between their perceptions of “value” made communication nearly impossible.
To Hyunseok, a Yellow Stone wasn’t some priceless treasure.
Jungsik swallowed hard.
“W-who the hell is this guy…?”
During the recent Monster Wave, Hyunseok alone had collected over 300 Green Stones, and that was his personal total, not the guild’s.
It had only taken five days.
With about thirty seconds of effort per day.
Excluding travel time, that meant he had earned it all in just 150 seconds.
(End of Chapter 53)
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— Translated by Prime Works —