An OP Cheat Skill

I decided to work through the status window from the bottom up.

First, the stats. These were a straightforward numerical breakdown of my capabilities. I didn't feel any stronger physically at the moment, which meant these numbers reflected my original body — the baseline I'd brought into this world.

"Hmm… and what's mana supposed to be? Is it the same mana I'm thinking of?"

Back when I was still in the service, I'd had a second lieutenant under me who was a hardcore gamer. Thanks to that guy, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I knew my way around game systems well enough. Mana was almost certainly the resource you burned to use skills.

Beyond that, the stats page didn't offer much in the way of immediately useful intel. The only real takeaway was that I now possessed something called mana.

On to the next section.

"Whoa. Why are there so many skills? Do they normally hand out this many?"

The EX-class skill, ???, offered zero information — nothing to go on there. But when I tapped the S-class skill, Master of the Sky Island, a detailed description popped up.

"Hmm… this one's pretty good."

It lived up to the S-class label. Master of the Sky Island packed a serious effect. What I liked most was that nobody could waltz in without my say-so. In an apocalyptic world, that meant I'd just secured a private sanctuary all my own.

The phrasing "anything" especially caught my eye. I couldn't be certain, but reading the description, it sounded like the skill would block even bullets and missiles.

"The one thing that worries me is getting stranded up here…"

Nothing in the detailed description said I couldn't leave the Sky Island. Still, given the island's structure, isolation was a real possibility I couldn't rule out.

I'd surveyed the surroundings earlier. The Sky Island was floating at roughly eight hundred meters. About the same height as Baegundae peak on Bukhansan — a good two hundred fifty meters higher than Seoul's tallest skyscraper.

"That's not a height you climb or descend with a ladder or a rope. Getting off this island is going to require flight capability, no question."

A helicopter would get me down to the ground. But the best option by far would be a flight-type skill that let me soar through the air on my own.

"Flying through the sky, huh… Haha. Straight-up fantasy."

Bottom line: unless this Sky Island had some special gimmick I hadn't found yet, I had no way down to the surface.

"Not that I'm particularly worried. From what I can tell, there are plenty of ways to pick up a flight skill."

First up was the skill shop in the system window. A quick glance showed it stocked a variety of skills. Something that let you fly through the sky was available if you saved up enough Coins.

And more importantly, with the other skill I already had, I was certain I'd eventually get my hands on a flight skill no matter what.

Having Predator was exactly why I was confident I could obtain a flight skill. The skill came with several sub-skills, which boiled down to this:

It looked complicated with all those skills listed out, but the simple version was this: the more monsters I killed, the stronger I got.

I'd read plenty of webtoons and web novels during night duty in the military. I knew exactly how broken an ability like this was.

"Growth-type skills that let you power up fast are always the most broken ones. Absolute jackpot on the skill gacha~"

Harm Nullification and Sub-dimensional Pocket were excellent too. Poison immunity was a massive boost to survivability. And Sub-dimensional Pocket spoke for itself — a safe inventory space? How convenient was that?

"Without Sub-dimensional Pocket, I'd be hauling a full combat pack around this apocalypse… Ugh. Just imagining it is nightmare fuel."

I was Special Forces, sure, but that didn't mean I enjoyed lugging a ruck. Hell, was there a single soldier alive who actually liked wearing a combat pack?

"Haha. Looks like I'm locked in as a munchkin character. Time to hunt some Sky Island monsters and get stronger."

The profile section of the status window was nothing special — just my name, age, level, and coin balance.

"Level is level. Coins are the currency for buying stuff from the System Shop. Nothing much to look at."

The System Shop was the only part with any real interest, and even that didn't have any standout features. It sold skills, food, and various tools — your standard status-window shop cliché.

I had no idea how freely Coins would flow, but from what I could see right now, the efficiency didn't look great. The skill shop especially. Compared to food, skill prices were absurdly inflated. And the skills on offer topped out at C-class — nothing with genuinely broken power.

"Still, at least they've got Flight. Minimum insurance secured."

That wrapped up the status window. All that remained was to properly explore the Sky Island and start hunting monsters.

Ah — and if anyone was thinking, You don't even know how strong the Sky Island monsters are, isn't charging in bare-handed completely reckless?, that was a wasted worry.

Come on. Special Forces aren't Special Forces for nothing. At my level, bare hands should be more than enough to take down a monster.

"Looking back at the scenario prologue with the Shadow Monsters, nothing with ridiculous power is going to show up out of nowhere. At worst, we're talking mountain wildlife."

If the point of this whole situation was simply to wipe out humanity, they wouldn't have bothered with a prologue. The scenario was calibrated to a difficulty humanity could actually resist. So there was nothing to be afraid of.

I expected the monsters at this stage to be about as strong as wild animals. Any Special Forces operator could hunt those without breaking a sweat.

"Hmm. Or maybe not?"

Either way, there was no reason to be scared. And surviving meant hunting monsters — there was no other option. If I was going to do it, I might as well enjoy it.

I loosened up with a light stretch and started walking deeper into the Sky Island.

Judging by the size of the shadow cast over Han River Park, the Sky Island's total area was roughly the size of Yeouido. Not small, but not particularly large either — about three hours would be enough to recon the entire island.

The ecosystem was a common forest terrain you'd find in any Korean mountain. For a former Special Forces operator like me, it was extremely familiar ground. That made recon straightforward.

About ten minutes in, I encountered my first living creature. It was a mountain rabbit with a sharp horn growing from its head. From the look of it, it didn't seem particularly strong.

"A rabbit, huh… That one's easy."

Before starting recon, I'd torn strips from the clothes I was wearing and braided them into a sturdy cord — a sling for throwing stones. I picked up a rock of suitable size and seated it in the sling.

Ah, right — just a moment ago I'd said Special Forces could handle this bare-handed. So why the sling?

Heh. Did you think I was fighting a saint? You really thought I'd actually go hand-to-hand?

"Good thing I learned how ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to use a sling from Sergeant First Class Park. I'll put it to good use."

Sergeant First Class Park was an NCO with a serious interest in deserted-island survival. During joint training, I'd picked up how to make and use a sling from him, and I was confident in my stone-throwing as a result.

My form was perfect. The stone whipped toward the rabbit and struck its body dead-on. The Horned Rabbit crumpled to the ground, twitching. I walked over and finished it cleanly — no chance of it getting back up.

The moment I killed the Horned Rabbit, its corpse was swallowed by darkness and vanished completely. At the same time, I felt a portion of the monster's power flowing into me.

One point of Agility and a skill called Acceleration. I moved around a bit, testing how much a single point of Agility actually changed. My body didn't feel faster, exactly — more like my dynamic vision and reaction speed had sharpened.

Hmm. Raising Agility apparently didn't make the body itself more agile. My guess was that the Agility stat measured something closer to "speed of thought."

"Makes sense. Raw speed ultimately comes from muscle."

To actually move faster, I'd need to raise Strength. Okay — stats checked out.

Now for the newly acquired skill, Acceleration. I opened the status window and pulled up the detailed description.

The description was simple. I could accelerate whatever I wanted — people, objects, even other people, from the look of it. C-class, but a solid skill. Used right, it could become a seriously dangerous weapon.

Still, the only way to really understand it was to try it myself. From the moment I'd acquired Acceleration, I had an instinctive sense of how to use it.

I accelerated my own body and took a short running hop. It wasn't just that my movements got faster — the speed at which I fell toward the ground increased too. It felt like applying a playback multiplier to my entire existence.

Next, I put Acceleration on a stone and launched it with the sling. The rock flew far faster than before, packing serious destructive force.

You know that famous line from the manga? Speed is power. An accelerated sling stone hit with roughly the threat level of an assault rifle.

I liked it. With this, I could handle most of the beasts on the Sky Island.

Stat Predation still hadn't given me much of a tangible feel, but Skill Predation's performance was rock solid. Predator really was an absolute cheat skill, just like I'd thought.

"Hmm… but imagining that Horned Rabbit accelerating and charging me with its horn is enough to make my blood run cold. These monsters are sneakily dangerous."

The first hunt had taught me something. Yes, I'd gotten a cheat-tier ability — but that didn't mean I could afford to let my guard down. The other side had its own hidden potential. I needed to stay sharp and keep my focus locked in all the way to the end.

"Alright. Let's keep moving."

I loaded another stone into the sling and kept walking forward. The real recon of the Sky Island was only just beginning.