Chapter 43: System blessings
Next morning.
It was around 8 in the morning, and Hal had just finished taking his bath. As he came out of the bathroom, scrubbing his wet hair with a towel, his phone suddenly rang out, the tone playing wasn't a song, but just a tone.
A tone that sounded like thick drops of rain beating on the pavement of walkways. A soft, sharp pattering of rain.
He loved the calm comforting sound and chose to use it as his ringing tone.
When he looked at the caller ID, it was who he had been expecting.
They spoke for a few seconds, Sir Jack giving the location of where they were, Hal taking mental notes of it.
After the call ended, Hal dropped his phone and quickly dressed up.
His sister had left for school already, so he didn't leave any note before going out.
[Skill: 'Dash' has been activated.]
He activated the skill 'Dash' as he headed to the location of the raid.
*****
The B-Rank Gate shimmered with unnatural hues, warping the air like heat waves on asphalt. It was located at the center of an old abandoned steel industry.
A ten-man squad stood before it—Sir Jack's raiding team, with Hal present of course.
He had arrived just a few minutes ago, and Sir Jack, I'd quickly gone through the introduction, and everyone prepared for the battle.
The synthetic muscle fibers tightened across Hal's limbs, syncing with his movements like a second skin. His red hair blew slightly in the wind, eyes focused on the Gate.
Yes, he didn't put on a helmet; he had decided not to anymore since he was now strong enough to protect himself.
The Gate swallowed them whole in a pulse of blue light, as they walked into it.
The air inside the dungeon was thick with spores.
Giant fungi towered like trees, casting long shadows over the moss-covered terrain.
A pale fog crawled across the ground, swirling around the Hunters' boots. The ecosystem pulsed, alive with strange energy.
Movement stirred in the fog.
Then they came—mushroom-like monsters the size of hounds, with red caps dotted by black blotches and white, segmented bodies slithering on six spider-like legs.
They chittered, their heads splitting open to reveal rows of needled teeth.
"Basic-tier Shrooms incoming!" one of the older Hunters called.
The front-liners rushed ahead, weapons flaring with Qi-charged energy.
Hal stayed near the middle, his daggers were drawn, his focus razor sharp as one of the monsters threw itself at him.
Hal reacted instinctively and lowered his body, his knees coiling, as his boots hissed with burst momentum.
[Skill: 'Dash' has been activated.]
He moved to the side, avoiding the razor-sharp legs and planting one dagger in the creature's soft underbelly which caused it to make a weird noise as it screeched and collapsed.
Hal was on alert, his gaze sharp, his breathing synced with his heartbeat.
Another monster came at him and he moved to deal with it, his body surging forward.
But something felt... different.
The world blurred around him, and he zipped past one of the mushroom monsters before it could react. He pivoted with uncanny precision, reappearing behind it like a phantom.
Tti-ring!
[Skill 'Dash' has leveled up!]
Movement speed has been increased by 40%.
A Cooldown time of 3 minutes has been added.
The system message rang out in his mind. Hal's eyes widened slightly.
'Wow! That's great!'
The Skill 'Dash' has leveled up after constant usage, and now he can move at an even greater speed!
Hal spun, his daggers flashing as he stabbed another monster in a spot right beneath the cap.
He wasn't distracted by the Skill level up and continued fighting with intent.
Right beneath the cap, where the stalk met the body—was a weak spot
The monster convulsed violently, letting out a garbled screech before collapsing. As its body hit the fungal ground, Hal heard the familiar dinging in his head again.
Tti-ring!
[New Skill Acquired: 'Vital Point Targeting'. Lv.1.]
Exclusive to daggers.
Attacks targeting weak points deal an additional 35% damage.
He understood now. His growing Intelligence Stat—the one he'd been quietly investing in—was allowing him to perceive enemy weak points. But this skill… it weaponized that perception.
Hal grinned satisfactorily.
'That... that's huge.'
It seemed like the system was being generous today.
His blade caught a lunging mushroom beast clean through its eye socket. It squealed as it moved backward in a flurry of steps, trying to escape, but Hal quickly moved in and stabbed the cap of the monster directly and could feel the edge of his blade slipping between the creature's chitin-like armor with unnatural ease.
'So the more I fight with dagger thrusts, the more the System adapts?' Hal thought.
It was indeed a crazy edge to have over every other Hunter.
***
As the group pushed deeper into the Gate, the monster tiers increased.
No more Basic and Mutant-tier cannon fodder. Now, it was the Intermediate and Advanced-tier mushroom monsters they faced.
Some with armor-like plating, others that exhaled spores to cloud vision and confuse senses.
But Hal remained unruffled and easily killed each of them that came his way.
Every slash that hit a white-lined target sent monsters crumbling faster than before. He was racking up kills—at least two dozen now—but something gnawed at him.
He couldn't feel the rise in his power; there were no level-ups!
Despite the stronger monsters, the quick kills, and the pace, the growth that should've followed wasn't there.
It was like there was a sort of resistance.
'I've leveled faster than this before, right? So what's causing all this?' Hal couldn't help but wonder.
It was as if his growth had hit a wall. The monsters still gave XP—but only in crumbs now.
Totally insufficient!
Hal grits his teeth, narrowing his eyes at the approaching monsters.
If this was a bottleneck… then he'd need a flood of monsters just to nudge forward.
Or stronger ones.
****
By the time they reached the heart of the Gate, the air had thickened into a choking musk. Glowing mushrooms pulsed on tree trunks, illuminating a twisted clearing with a massive fungal structure rising in the center—like a throne of decay.
It trembled, and from the base, the King-tier monster emerged.
It was huge. Eight-legged. Its red cap flared with jagged spikes and glowing black pustules.
A cloak of twitching fungi covered its back like a living forest.
The ground quaked as it stomped forward.
Hal had thought Sir Jack would order a battle formation but was surprised to see him step forward with his Katanas in hand, joined together at the bottom.
'Ah, I see.' Hal said.
He belatedly remembered that Sir Jack's weapons were Beast weapons, and these were equipped with special skills.
"You're going down!" Sir Jack shouted as he stepped forward, his chest puffed like a hero from the comic movies.
The tip of his blade hummed a deep sound as red bright light began to form, and sparks of electricity flew around it.
It didn't take long for the power to generate and Sir Jack sent it blitzing towards the monsters.
Boom!
The Attack Force slammed into the monster, and pierced a hole right through it, giving it no time to fight back.
The large hole in its chest sizzled with smoke as it slammed into the ground.
Boom!
"Ah, that was too easy." Sir Jack said with a smug expression, before continuing.
"Ok, guys, let's round up!" He said while waving his left hand around in a circle, the index finger lifted up.
They had to gather the crystals from the monsters and be done before the return Gate showed up.
Hal watched with alert as Sir Jack started walking towards him with a weird smile plastered on his face.
'Hmm…what is it now?