Chapter 284
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 284
Chapter Title: Puppet Training Ground
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It was just like challenging the Power of the Heavens.
Hunting Blood Raplanta was nothing short of grueling labor.
But as repeated subjugations became routine, the time kept shrinking, and now it took less than two minutes to take down a single Blood Raplanta.
Whoa... This is seriously not dropping at all.
Mukho stuck out his tongue in disbelief.
And he was rightJeong Hoon had hunted around 5,000 Blood Raplanta so far.
Yet he'd only gathered 11 seeds.
He still needed 89 more, meaning he'd barely collected a tenth of what was required.
"Ten of them, and we're done."
The difficulty spike had jacked the material requirement up to 100.
If the difficulty hadn't increased, he would've long since moved on to the King Harmount dungeon.
'Master, how about taking a short break before continuing the hunt? A lot of time has already passed.'
Anima was right; time was flying by.
But Jeong Hoon had no intention of resting.
"I could've gotten one or two more if I'd hunted instead of resting."
And you'll collapse because of those one or two.
'Exactly. No matter how much holy power you have, there'll come a point where your mind hits its limit.'
The repetitive hunting was indeed mentally draining.
Jeong Hoon had hunted 5,000 without pause, cycling his holy power multiple times to recover both body and mind.
That was why he still had plenty of stamina left.
"Let's keep going."
Jeong Hoon plunged back into the dungeon teeming with Blood Raplanta.
One hundred Blood Raplanta seeds.
The white pouch in Jeong Hoon's hand was filled to the brim with exactly 100 seeds.
After days of nonstop hunting, he'd finally succeeded in gathering them all.
The accumulated fatigue in his body was no joke.
'Humans need sleep, you know.'
He could dispel physical exhaustion with holy power, but staying awake for so long inevitably brought on mental fatigue.
Still, he couldn't stop here.
"We're halfway there. Let's push on."
Jeong Hoon turned to glance at the portal beside him.
Next up: the heart of King Harmount.
Uh... The drop rate isn't even lower, is it?
Of course it was.
Even during the Power of the Heavens challenge, getting Harmount hearts had been far tougher than Raplanta seeds.
So it would be the same this time.
"No worries. Even if it takes a while, two weeks tops."
From his calculations while hunting Blood Raplanta, it looked like it'd take about two weeks of farming King Harmount to hit 100.
Jeong Hoon entered that dungeon and began subjugating King Harmount.
This is taking quite a while.
Baal gazed contentedly at the portal Jeong Hoon had entered.
Days had already passed, but there was still no word from Jeong Hoon.
"He's probably struggling against the Raplanta. Their abilities are incredibly tricky, after all."
Hariel said with a smug smile, brimming with pride.
Is that so?
"Yes! And the drop rate is utter garbage, so even hunting non-stop, it'll take at least two months minimum."
Even if he somehow scraped together 100 Blood Raplanta seeds with great difficulty, the next part was the real issue.
King Harmount.
With an even lower drop rate and trickier abilities than Blood Raplanta, it was highly likely he wouldn't gather them even after a year.
'I hope he just gives up here if possible.'
Giving up would be easy.
It wouldn't displease the lord, so no backlash for him either.
So please, just give up already, human.
One day.
Two days.
Five days.
A week.
A month.
Two months.
Even after a long stretch of time, the human didn't show.
But Hariel wasn't pleased at all.
Such a long delay meant the human hadn't given up and was still pushing forward with the subjugations.
Baal knew it too, watching the portal with evident displeasure.
He might actually succeed.
"No way! Blood Raplanta maybe, but King Harmount will take at least one to two years minimum. Rest easy and wait, my lord."
Hariel was certain.
One to two years.
That was the bare minimum estimate.
Of course, that assumed non-stop hunting.
Hunt casually, and it'd take even longermaybe never finish.
No ordinary human had that kind of patience; it was a difficulty that forced surrender.
But then, Jeong Hoon emerged from the portal.
Hariel's eyes went wide as saucers.
'He's back already...?'
It had been two months and a week since he'd entered.
Hariel quickly regained his composure and flashed a beaming smile.
Two months and change meant he'd come back to admit defeat.
'He lasted longer than I thought.'
Two months already transcended human limits.
Hariel welcomed Jeong Hoon warmly.
"Are you giving up?"
"Pardon? What are you talking about?"
"Aren't you back because you're forfeiting?"
"Pardon? I've brought all the materialswhat do you mean?"
"...Pardon?"
Hariel doubted his own ears.
What the hell did this human just say?
"I've got them."
Jeong Hoon confirmed it by holding out the pouch to Hariel.
"I-is that true?"
Hariel took the pouch with trembling hands.
Inside were exactly 100 Blood Raplanta seeds.
'Whew, almost got startled there.'
No matter how he looked, there were no King Harmount hearts or fragments symbolizing Ultimate Will.
He must've gotten so fixated on the seeds that he forgot the rest.
Hariel shook his head with a beaming smile.
"Just seeds, huh. Go back and get the rest."
Go back and get them.
Such utterly despairing words.
"Who said I only brought seeds?"
But Jeong Hoon grinned and pulled out two more pouches.
"...."
What? These pouches?
Hariel peered inside with trembling hands again.
His eyes began to quake like they were hit by an earthquake.
'One, two, three...'
Slowly.
Counting each heart carefully, in case he'd been tricked.
But unfortunately, there were exactly 100 King Harmount hearts.
And in the pouch beside it: 10 fragments representing Ultimate Will, perfectly intact.
"Right?"
Jeong Hoon grinned.
"...How in two months?"
"Worked out by hunting non-stop."
"That's nonsense... Even non-stop, two months isn't nearly enough."
"Then how do you explain these results?"
Exactly.
There was no explaining the materials Jeong Hoon had brought.
In any case, Jeong Hoon had successfully completed the first task of the Ultimate Power.
"...Success."
Hariel nodded with great difficulty.
'It's fine... I already figured he might clear stage one.'
He'd accounted for clearing the first stage.
Even if way faster than expected, he was certain stage two would be impossible.
'Good.'
Meanwhile, Jeong Hoon clenched his fist in triumph after completing the quest.
Over two months, not a single minute of restjust pure hunting.
He'd had to craft over 200 extra Drop Rate Explosion potions along the way, burning through all his achievement points.
It had been an incredibly grueling path, but Jeong Hoon endured solely on his resolve to claim the Ultimate Powerand he succeeded.
But it wasn't time to rest yet.
He'd only finished the first stage.
Ahead loomed the wall of stage two.
"What's the next stage?"
"...Why not rest a bit first? You probably haven't had proper rest gathering those materials."
"No. Let's start right away."
There was no time to rest.
He was barely holding on with holy power; he'd push straight to the end like this.
"...Ahem. For the next stage, hunt the puppets."
"Puppets?"
"Yes. Puppets modeled exactly after Transcendents."
"Hm, so I just need to hunt those puppets?"
"Yes. But you'll have to fulfill special conditions while facing them. Fail, and it's instant failure."
Special conditions, huh.
Jeong Hoon's lips twitched.
Whoa, special conditions. This is total bullshit.
'Dirty bastard, scheming to make me fail no matter what.'
Mukho and Anima spat curses.
'This won't be easy.'
Jeong Hoon expected this stage to be several times harder than gathering materials.
"Understood."
But he couldn't give up just because it was hard.
He was the one who'd taunted them to crank up the difficulty as high as they wanted.
So he had to succeed, no matter what it took.
"Then off you go."
Hariel snapped his fingers.
A new portal materialized in front of Jeong Hoon.
Good luck.
Baal's eyes curved like crescent moons.
'This punk thinks I'll fail here.'
Sorry, but that won't happen.
Jeong Hoon smiled back at Baal and nodded.
"Yeah. I'll definitely succeed and return."
Would you like to enter the Lv.1,500 Puppet Training Ground?
Puppet Training Ground.
This was the venue for the second stage.
'Enter.'
As Jeong Hoon affirmed, his body was sucked into the portal.
The Puppet Training Ground was exactly thata training ground.
Unlike ordinary ones, though, the floor was about 100 pyeong of tiles, with a bottomless cliff beyond.
A chasm so deep the bottom was invisible.
Leaving the training ground results in disqualification.
'Can't step outside this place.'
100 pyeong.
Not a small space at first glance.
But for battling a Transcendent puppet, it wasn't exactly spacious.
Depending on its abilities, it could feel awfully cramped.
The puppet will be summoned.
Then, smoke billowed before Jeong Hoon, and a puppet with a build similar to his own slowly materialized.
Lv.1,500 Puppet
Conditions are imposed.
Failure to meet conditions disqualifies victory over the puppet; automatic disqualification.
Special conditions to fulfill, right?
Alright, what are they?
The current conditions total 4.
Four of them.
That rude bastard Hariel.
Quite the list of conditions.
As Jeong Hoon furrowed his brow, the messages continued.
1. Subjugate with fewer than 100 hits received. Reaching 100 hits received triggers automatic disqualification.
2. Subjugate with fewer than 100 effective damage instances. Reaching 100 hits dealt triggers automatic disqualification.
3. Subjugate using max 5 skills only. Exceeding skill types triggers automatic disqualification.
4. Subjugate within 30 minutes. Exceeding 30 minutes triggers automatic disqualification.
Each condition boasted hellish difficulty.
'Ha, even hits taken are limited?'
Utterly ridiculous conditions.
The 100 hits received counted any damage taken, even a little.
Meaning even perfectly parrying its attacks would increment the hit counter.
He had to dodge its attacks as much as possible while dealing damage.
The problem? Damage instances were limited too.
'Can't just probe and feel it out. Have to crush it from the start.'
And skills were restricted.
Max 5 types allowed; exceed that, and automatic disqualification.
Not even 30 minuteshe had to finish faster.
They really love making it special.
This was basically telling him to fail quick.
Whoa... This is way too much.
'Stronger than that Shadow King we fought before. Beating a guy like that while meeting these absurd conditions is impossible.'
Jeong Hoon shook his head.
"Still gotta do it."
It was a trial he absolutely had to pass.
Jeong Hoon stepped into Supremacy of the Heavenly Demon and charged at the puppet.