Synced Powers and a Familiar Face
"Sung-gi, that......"
Kim Seol-bi stared in surprise at my hand, still shimmering with light. I looked down at my own hand as well.
So this was what it felt like to use a skill. Naturally, this was a skill I hadn't possessed before. From the message that had suddenly popped into my head, I could tell this ability had just been acquired.
How was something like this possible? There was only one answer.
It had come from Kim Seol-bi.
The only ability I'd ever had, Unreasonable Favor, had undergone a massive upgrade yesterday after ten long years. Thanks to that, I'd learned that being with Kim Seol-bi allowed us to grow together. And just now, I'd realized that growth wasn't limited to mere experience points.
Kim Seol-bi lifted her own hand with a joyful expression. Mana surged from her, and a similar ability activated on her hand—the same as what had flared from mine. Of course, the light's brilliance and mana intensity were nothing compared to mine.
"Sung-gi. You have the same ability as me."
She was misunderstanding something. With nothing particular to say, I just brushed it off vaguely.
"Yeah, I had no idea I could do this either."
Hand Blade Cut. This was a bare-handed technique. If I'd known I'd get something like this, I never would've bought a sword and shield. Not that I'd had the slightest inkling things would turn out this way.
And the ability I'd gained wasn't just Hand Blade Cut. My agility had increased too, she'd said.
"I'm glad we came to the dungeon."
Kim Seol-bi said it with a beaming smile, and it was true. If we hadn't come here—if we hadn't come together—I never would've discovered the full potential of Unreasonable Favor.
"Great! Since we're here, let's go all the way to the lowest floor!"
This dungeon had three levels. So the "lowest floor" just meant descending two more. But most hunters who came to a D-rank dungeon were D-rank or lower, so clearing the whole thing in a single day was rare. It took too much time and carried too much risk.
For an S-rank hunter, though, this place was little more than a playground. Clearing a D-rank dungeon in a day with Kim Seol-bi shouldn't be hard at all.
"Shall we?"
Kim Seol-bi reached out her hand. The mana crystals from the two zombie rats we'd just killed were sucked into her palm.
"Huh?"
As I blinked in surprise, she explained.
"Oh, you didn't know? Hunters can use their mana to draw in mana crystals. It saves time picking them up."
She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. But I doubted every hunter could do this. Probably only someone at S-rank like her could pull crystals at will. And up until now, she'd only hunted with other S-rankers.
"I see......"
Her common sense and mine were worlds apart, so there was no point in unnecessary chit-chat.
Kim Seol-bi handed me both crystals that had flown into her hand. Normally, I'd ask why she was giving them all to me, but it was a pointless question. To her, mana crystals from D-rank dungeon monsters were less than worthless.
But not to me. If we cleared the entire dungeon today and took out all the crystals, it'd be a windfall.
I stored the crystals in my inventory and kept moving forward with her.
#
"Keeik! Kiieeeek!"
"Kyaaaak!"
The deeper we went into the dungeon, the stronger the monsters naturally became. At first, it was just zombie rats, but later zombie dogs and zombie humans started appearing too.
In the end, though, none of them were a match for us. More precisely, none of them could ever match Kim Seol-bi.
I could see now why she'd called this dungeon boring when she heard it was full of zombie-types. As the hunt continued, it became even clearer: the essence of her power lay in her lightning-fast movements. She darted around at incredible speeds, slicing through monsters with powerful Hand Blade Cuts like they were tofu.
Even when swarms of them appeared—enough to seem dangerous—she ended it all in a single second.
At first, I just watched her in action, but eventually I thought, I can't just stand here, and started hunting too, picking off monsters with swift movements and Hand Blade Cuts. Since the ability came from her, it looked identical.
Seeing me contribute made Kim Seol-bi beam.
"We're soulmates, aren't we?!"
What could I even say to that?
"Haha! Yeah, looks like it."
As the hunting went on, I felt myself growing stronger by the minute. Kim Seol-bi's arsenal boiled down to chains of ultra-fast Hand Blade Cuts. In a dungeon of this level, she had no need to show more.
I figured that wasn't the extent of her abilities. If she used other skills, maybe I'd copy those too—but I wasn't greedy enough to push for it.
Honestly, for my first dungeon dive, gaining agility far beyond the rank and mastering Hand Blade Cut was achievement enough. Mimicking an S-rank hunter's power was plenty to handle.
Shiiiik—
Pak!
"Grraaaahk!!"
In the dungeon's deepest chamber, a brute five times the size of a regular zombie human appeared. I tensed, thinking Is this the boss?—but even the dungeon lord was just another one-second kill for Kim Seol-bi.
She dispatched it effortlessly, drew the thick mana crystal into her hand, and passed it to me.
"That was faster than I expected."
It really was. We'd cleared the entire dungeon in under three hours. About an hour per floor on average.
From what I'd seen working at the Dungeon Management Office, hunters usually came in parties and took half a day to clear one floor.
Kim Seol-bi and I had blitzed all three floors in less than half that time—without even rushing. It was basically a stroll. Her naturally blistering speed had just shortened things further.
Sometimes I worried she was moving too fast, but I kept up without much trouble. Hunting with her was boosting my agility in real-time.
Truth be told, I hadn't done much in the dungeon. Even so, just being with her had led to massive growth. The Unreasonable Favor I'd dismissed as useless for the past decade suddenly felt like cheat-level power.
Given how massively it'd expanded yesterday, who knew how much further it could develop?
"Shall we head out?"
Despite slaughtering hordes of monsters, Kim Seol-bi's gear was barely dirtied. Compared to the filthy, ragged hunters I'd seen emerging from raids, it was unbelievable.
My own body was spotless too—of course, since I'd barely lifted a finger, unlike her.
We stood together before the return stone. Return stones were special rocks, walls, or boulders inscribed with sorcery, scattered throughout dungeons. Hunters who used them could resume from their last progress point on future visits.
I'd only heard about them before; this was my first time seeing one.
Kim Seol-bi hooked her arm through mine and placed her hand on the stone. In one second, we were back at the dungeon entrance.
"How was it?"
She asked for my impressions of my first raid.
"Easier than I thought. Because I was with you, Seol-bi."
"Hohoho. I was surprised too. You adapted way faster than I expected."
"Hahaha."
She still had no idea my ability was a copy of hers.
That was when it happened.
Kim Seol-bi, walking ahead, suddenly stopped in her tracks.
"Huh?"
Hearing her startled voice, I followed her gaze. There, standing in front of us, was a young woman. She was pretty and youthful-looking, and vaguely familiar. Racking my brain, I remembered: an A-rank hunter who'd come to this dungeon once or twice for practice since awakening recently.
But why was Kim Seol-bi so shocked to see her?
"Unnie......"
The girl in front of us looked just as stunned. Her face rigid, she glanced back and forth between me and Kim Seol-bi.