Chapter 23
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Vampire Princess Ring
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[Vampire Princess Ring (A+)]
[Type: Accessory.
Durability: 800/800
Effect: Absorbs the blood of enemies killed with a weapon. Absorption amount is influenced by the user's mana stat.
Description: An accessory given to the heir of the Blood Palace, one of the eight vampire clans.
Low-tier vampire monsters feel fear upon encountering the user. Additionally, upon winning a dominance contest against other vampires, you can absorb their dominance or force them into submission.
However, encountering members of the Blood Palace will forcibly establish a hostile relationship.]
The ring was beautiful.
Four fangs fixed a blood-red mana stone in place, encircled by a pearl-white depiction of a maiden's nude form.
♬~ ♩~ ♩ ♪~
Gonghyeok admired the Vampire Princess Ring while swinging the iron chains.
“Kieek!”
The iron chains wrapped around the goblin’s face. He yanked them back with force. D-rank strength, capable of lifting a ton with one hand, took effect—the goblin’s head snapped back like a yo-yo on a string.
“Ggyaaak!”
With a death cry, the head separated from the neck, and blood gushed from the torn, rag-like stump.
The Vampire Princess Ring gleamed greedily as the stream of blood flowed into the red mana stone. Flesh began to regenerate slightly, and two 9mm bullets embedded in his shoulder clattered to the ground.
Gonghyeok’s durability was 199 [E]—his combined leather and muscle durability was still only on the level of an elephant or polar bear. It would jump to large dinosaur levels once he reached D-rank.
‘Got a good one. Now just need nine more rings.’
Gonghyeok whistled a tune while holding the ring up to the sunlight.
Honestly, ripping the Vampire Princess Ring from Lilianne had been pure coincidence. He’d gotten accessories instead of weapons before, but they’d been limited to things like the Amulet of Restraint or items that boosted resistance.
This time, she’d shown up right when he was devouring Cerberus. He’d taunted her to get lost before he finished, but in her rage, she’d obliterated the corpse and coins—letting it all fall into his lap.
Gonghyeok counted the coins he’d looted from the top rankers he’d swept away.
24,227 purple coins, 11 blue coins. There were other junk items, but he’d discarded everything except the guillotine glaive (D+) that ranking 1, Moore Jackson, had been using.
“Stat window.”
[[Status Open]]
[Hunter Ju Gonghyeok]
Age: 21
Titles: Currently equipped 「Bloodsprayer」 + 10 others.
Class: None
Equipped Avatars: Ra-Djehuty (SS), Game Master (??) 2/2
Strength: 201 [D]
- Bench press 4 tons, one-hand 1-ton dumbbell level superhuman strength.
Durability: 199 [E]
- Boasts large beast-level defense like a polar bear or elephant, but still far from blue whale or large dinosaur durability.
Agility: 201 [D]
- Runs 100m in 2 seconds, can perform 15 poses in a single jump—entry-level superhuman.
Technique: 300 [D]
- Could drive a race car with both legs in a race while sniping flying birds with bazookas in both hands.
Mind: 149 [E] (Soul Worn to the Bottom 199-50)
Will: 300 [D]
Mana: 201 [D]
[5 D-ranks, 2 E-ranks. Total stat grade: D-]
[4 days have passed since the balance limit on Technique and Will was lifted.]
Despite his overflowing coins, Gonghyeok had two stats stuck at E-rank. It’d be ideal to max everything, but buffs and certain quests were based on individual stats. Buffs especially priced at around 100 purple coins per D-rank stat, with costs skyrocketing beyond that—blindly pumping everything could leave you unable to afford critical buffs when needed.
He wouldn’t need buffs until Floor 3, so he spent 15 purple coins and 1 blue coin to push durability to D-rank. From D-rank on, raising stats required blue coins, and higher tiers needed even rarer ones. Many hunters relied on training, experience, or quest rewards to fill gaps.
Strengths
- Living Hunting Manual (SS)
- Indomitable Incarnation (SS)
- Master of All Martial Arts (S++)
- NEW!! Rapport with Transcendents (B)
Weaknesses
- Soul Worn to the Bottom (-A)
- NEW!! Fearsome Rumor (-F)
The new strengths and weaknesses were light reputation effects from his Floor 1 actions. Fearsome Rumor fit with the 20 survivors and 100 hiders. Rapport with Transcendents came from trading and leaving impressions—they now saw him as “not an enemy.”
Skills - Forced Awakening (U.SSS), Prediction Path (U.S), Intimidation (C-), One-Cut Dual Sever (D), Battlefield Analysis (D- → C), Terrain Grasp (E → D), Fire Magic - Ignition Booster (D), Throwing (E), Stealth Movement (E), Fire Magic - Ignite (E)
Skills had piled up, but the key was One-Strike Firework evolving into One-Cut Dual Sever. With Master-level precision slicing everything so cleanly, even the skill name changed.
Skills usually grew via coin investment or long training/meditation, but with a century of experience, he had the knack.
Throwing came from skill coins looted from temple guards hurling javelins from behind in the great temple. Stealth Movement and Intimidation were from his actions converting to skills.
Babel’s system-heavy environment often quantified exceptional feats into skills when they broke its logic.
“Next. Avatar window.”
[Avatar Ra-Djehuty (SS)] LV.10
Stat Increases - Mind +110 (+10), Mana +220 (+20), Will +132 (+12), Technique +88 (+8)
1st Ability 《Open》 ‘365 Days Oath’
Oath-type ability that forcibly enforces mutually agreed contract terms. Cannot use non-existent elements as collateral. ex) Cannot contract to transfer Technique 120 if it’s only 100.
2nd Ability 《Open》 ‘Omniscience Magic Tome’
Activation consumes 10% total mana; halves all mana costs and doubles power. Current limit: 12 minutes.
3rd Ability 《Open》 ‘Wisdom of Time’
Consumes 20% total mana; stretches 1 second to 60x. Current limit: 10 seconds. Usable once every 30 days. Remaining: 29 days 23 hours 15 minutes.
Ultimate Ability Sealed ‘?Myth’
Anti-Person Aptitude: D
Anti-Army Aptitude: A
Anti-Boss Aptitude: S
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[Avatar ‘Game Master’ (??)] LV.11
Stat Increases - ???
1st Ability Open ‘--- Not Found’
2nd Ability Open ‘--- Not Found’
3rd Ability Open ‘--- Not Found’
Ultimate Ability Sealed ‘Authority Expansion’
Currently Active Authorities:
[Avatar Space Expansion 2/2]
[Skill Devour Grant]
[Skill Space Expansion 1/1]
Anti-Person Aptitude: ??
Anti-Army Aptitude: ??
Anti-Boss Aptitude: ??
Normal avatars like Ra-Djehuty improved stats, skill limits, and efficiency with levels. Game Master expanded available authorities with coin investment.
For the Floor 2 10:10 mission, he planned to snag a skill devour at night. Next Game Master level needed about 10,000 purple coins—even after mass slaughter, he was short.
Upper floors devalued purple and blue coins, letting weak hunters catch up quickly...
For now, he invested 30 blue coins to expand skill space.
[Skill space expanded to 1/2.]
Equipment - Hellhound Mask (C), Kobold Assassin’s Cloak (E), Legoni’s Execution Chains (D-), Great Temple’s Golden Halberd (C-), Sharp Nord Greatsword (D), Aryan Knuckles (E), Guillotine Glaive (D+), Swamp Siren’s Rust Chains (E), Ju Gonghyeok’s Floor 1 Smoke Grenades x4, Ju Gonghyeok’s Floor 1 Tear Gas x2, Drug-Making Herb Bundle...
While checking his status, two parties passed by Gonghyeok.
“Then, we’ll head out for hunting, X.”
“Mm.”
Gonghyeok kept his words sparse. Chatty only with those he planned to kill. Until the mask’s voice modulator was ready, better not leave loose ends.
Maria and her group weren’t mentally fit for hunting after the shock. But staying amid corpses and an angel-razed village was too fragile for their souls.
They’d already sworn not to hunt low-rankers. Just wait out the time, save 110+ people, and clear the quest cleanly.
Then, beyond the passing parties, a familiar giant came into view.
Soma Sangai, who should’ve been in the northern dungeon.
The northern waterfall dungeon was a day away—meaning he’d rushed here since yesterday.
‘You’re here. Yeah, I’ve got business with you too. Time to unravel some old tales.’
Soma always danced on the edge of life and death on Floor 1. Plenty of tangled memories there. Especially his 4th life, where entanglements with Soma had screwed up the regression itself—impossible to forget.