Chapter 19: Stat Training Center （3）
It was a perplexing moment.
To emerge from Qi Deviation only to find the Blood Demon Art had risen in rank.
Kang San took a moment to catch his breath. Once he judged his body to be sufficiently recovered, he checked his skills.
『Growth-type Skill』
『Blood Demon Art Rank 2』
1. Attack power temporarily increases by 2% each time an enemy is killed. （Can be stacked.）
2. The rank of Blood Demon Art increases when 100 lives are taken. （0/1000）
3. Attack power increased by 20%
『Conditional Skill（★★）』
『Blood Demon Sword Technique, First Style: Blade K*ll』
1. Only those who have mastered the Blood Demon Art can use the Blood Demon Sword Technique.
2. Unleashes a powerful strike. Temporarily increases attack power by 50%, with an additional increase equal to the attack power stat accumulated through the Blood Demon Art. Targets who have ‘shed blood’ due to this attack cannot be healed for a certain period due to the bleeding effect. （Cooldown: 5 minutes）
The abilities of the skills had increased overall.
The Blood Demon Art’s attack power had doubled, and the Blood Demon Sword Technique, First Style’s attack power had also changed from 30% to 50%.
A tremendous gain.
However, Kang San couldn’t be completely happy.
Just like at the beginning, there was no explanation of the side effects of the Blood Demon Art. There was no information on what mental problems might arise after dealing with a certain number of monsters, nor about the special effects that manifested when overcoming Qi Deviation.
‘In the end, is there no other way but to find out for myself again?’
The next day.
Kang San summoned Lizardmen and accumulated 20 stacks of the Blood Demon Art.
The buff effect that increased overall stats remained the same, but perhaps because the Blood Demon Art had risen to Rank 2, there were no side effects. The same was true for 40 monsters. He intentionally timed it with the monster reset time and dealt with 40 monsters consecutively, but no phenomena like falling into Qi Deviation occurred.
And there was one more change.
E-rank monsters were not included in the scope of ‘killing’ required by the Blood Demon Art.
It seemed that the quality of blood desired also differed depending on the current level, as the stack did not increase even by 1 from 0.
‘I guess I’ve solved the urgent problem for now.’
If there were no major problems with around 40 monsters, then the variables caused by the Blood Demon Art were at a level that could be sufficiently controlled. Although the Blood Demon Art was a dangerous power and it was uncertain what would happen in the future, Kang San didn’t even expect to completely conquer it in this training. Surely, little by little. If he made the Blood Demon Art his own, he would be able to perfectly control this power someday.
‘What kind of life did I live in my past life?’
Fragments of memory.
In his past life, he was wandering the world aimlessly.
Why he became like that, and the reason why such murderous intent arose in him, who was just an ordinary person.
Kang San became curious about his past life.
The fact that he was trash for killing someone with a story didn’t change, but in order to completely conquer the Blood Demon Art, he couldn’t separate himself from his past life. An uncomfortable but unavoidable truth. As he overcame Qi Deviation this time, and to bear the karma in the future, there was a need to explore his past existence.
That was a problem for later.
Kang San shook off his thoughts about his past life.
Although he had solved the problem of the Blood Demon Art, he still had the Trial of Azmoon and the 300-day period ahead of him.
“Let’s focus on training from now on.”
He had to become stronger.
Both internally and externally.
Kang San once again began training in earnest.
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Training was his daily routine.
Then, on the fourth time.
Precisely when he was conducting the fourth reaction speed training, Kang San heard a voice saying that the level of training had increased.
『From now on, Stage 2 training will be applied.』
Thwack!
“Ugh.”
Stage 2 was different from the start.
An arrow that flew in instantly pierced his arm, and Kang San had to frantically dodge the subsequent attacks. The attacks were always challenging at his current level. Thanks to this, Kang San didn’t just train his physical abilities in the reaction speed training. He felt that his skill proficiency was also increasing.
Trial’s Shield.
Iron Man.
He used defensive skills at the right time.
Unlike offensive skills, which could only be trained in skill proficiency training, defensive skills could also be utilized in this training ground.
One day, two days.
Time passed.
As the training sessions accumulated and fatigue piled up, Kang San heard a voice that instantly relieved his exhaustion.
『Reaction speed has increased.』
‘My stat has already increased?’
Stat increase.
It was a tremendous reward.
Stats that increase through physical training usually don’t increase in just a day or two. It takes a whole month of dedication to a single type of training to increase by 2 or 3 points, but Kang San’s reaction speed increased in just a few days.
Extreme difficulty.
Because he was undergoing life-or-death training every moment, it seemed that his stats were increasing rapidly regardless of time.
The reward wasn’t just that.
『Agility has increased.』
『Reaction speed has increased.』
『Toughness stat has been created.』
A feast of rewards.
Dodging, blocking, and enduring the arrow attacks were directly translated into rewards.
It was always like this.
Although the Trial of Azmoon was brutally difficult, the rewards were always certain. Not all Hunters receive such rewards even if they risk their lives. Because rewards were a matter of appropriate timing and luck, Kang San’s growth could be considered as receiving the fruits of his trials.
‘This changes things.’
He felt energized.
Expensive stat stones.
His stats were increasing rapidly even though he hadn’t consumed them.
If certain rewards were given, what did it matter if a few arrows were stuck in his body?
The moment Kang San thought it was manageable.
『Gravity has increased.』
“…He really doesn’t know how to do things in moderation.”
Azmoon reacted immediately.
✦✦✦✦✦✦
The goal of this training was not survival.
At first, he was only desperate to dodge in order to survive, but as time passed, Kang San gradually found his purpose.
‘I need to increase my skill proficiency.’
Skills.
The blessings bestowed upon humans in this chaotic world.
Ignorant people used skills simply, but in reality, the power of a skill varied greatly depending on the user’s proficiency. For example, there was a famous Korean Ranker named Yeon-woo, a Mage. Usually, water magic had weak killing power, but Yeon-woo used a method of transforming the shape of water to overcome this weakness. Depending on the situation, his magic transformed into the form of thorns or a blunt weapon. With his method of utilization, people could no longer say that water magic was weak in front of him.
Just like that, Kang San also needed to become familiar with his skills.
Instead of simply using the skill’s ability as it was, he had to maximize the skill’s utility.
Therefore, Kang San always reviewed the previous situation after each training session. Whether his decision to dodge the arrow was correct, whether he used the skill efficiently. After each training session, he spent enough time looking back on the situation, and tried his best to remember it for the next training session.
Naturally, the results were insignificant at first.
He only got more wounds on his body due to repeated failures, but Kang San didn’t take failures seriously.
‘Failure is a necessary process.’
His past life.
Kang San’s life was stained with misfortune.
It was a life where failure was inevitable, and in order to rise from that life, he had to overcome failure.
That’s how his strong mentality was born.
Kang San valued what he gained from failure rather than the fact that he failed. If he failed without gaining anything, he would blame himself and resolve to focus more next time. If he gained something, he would try to make use of it somehow. In any direction, Kang San led himself in a positive direction regardless of the outcome. There was such effort behind the fact that a mere F-rank human shield survived for six years in the Other World where even high-ranking Hunters died.
Time flew by quickly.
Around halfway through the 300 days, Kang San’s efforts began to bear fruit.
Crack!
An arrow was fired.
The arrow, which had reached Stage 5, aimed for Kang San’s vital points at high speed, and it was not a speed that could be dodged.
A situation where a choice was needed.
Kang San used Iron Man like before.
However, the way he used it was different.
‘Iron Man.’
Whoosh.
Mana surged.
One part of his body.
He concentrated the power of Iron Man on the exact spot where the arrow was likely to hit.
Originally, Iron Man was a skill that increased defense by 5%, but when he concentrated the power in one place, the effect manifested differently.
『Defense power increased by 10% only for that area.』
It was a double effect.
If it hit any other area, he wouldn’t receive the effect of Iron Man at all. Like Achilles who died from being pierced in the heel, Kang San could also be fatally wounded, but there was no wavering in his expression.
Firm trust.
Kang San believed that the arrow would hit the area he had in mind.
The direction of the incoming arrow indicated so, and he had moved his body to make it so.
Thwack!
The arrow struck.
However, the impact wasn’t as severe as he thought.
Kang San didn’t even groan, let alone contort his face.
‘It’s bearable.’
150 days of training.
Kang San had become accustomed to pain.
As he repeatedly and intentionally got hit by arrows, the problem of his reaction speed slowing down due to pain did not occur.
Anyway, the wound would heal if he treated it.
Healing Aura had the power to completely heal wounds, not just fatal ones.
‘Healing Aura was a better skill than I thought.’
As his Divine Power increased, the recovery amount of Healing Aura reached a whopping 31%, so most wounds healed quickly. It was truly the best skill for a Tanker. A Tanker who endured at the front had to rely solely on healing magic for recovery, but Healing Aura helped him solve that problem on his own. And if he continued to grow like this and the recovery amount reached 100%, it would be as if Kang San had one more life.
The training was just as difficult as it was on the first day.
However, Kang San, the person, had changed.
If he was a novice who didn’t fully understand his own power on the first day, he was now becoming an Iron Fortress.
『1 hour has passed.』
『Training is over. The next training session will begin in 3 hours.』
Kang San immediately went out to the waiting room.
There was no time to waste here.
Review.
Kang San constantly strived to grow.
✦✦✦✦✦✦
300 days.
Just one month outside.
That time had passed.
Having reached Stage 8 in the end, Kang San couldn’t hide his satisfied expression as he looked at his changed stats.
『Kang San』
━ Strength: 32
━ Agility: 40
━ Divine Power: 16
━ Reaction Speed: 12
━ Toughness: 8
His stats had risen dramatically.
Divine Power increased by 5 as a reward for the trial, and the growth rate of the remaining stats, except for Strength, was quite significant.
Usually, stats like Strength and Agility were called basic stats. The average of basic stats was considered as the evaluation criteria for rank, and it was very difficult to increase other stats through training once they exceeded 10. Nevertheless, his Reaction Speed reached a whopping 12. It was a level that exceeded the average, and Kang San now had the ability to see and dodge most attacks in time.
It was time to vacate the training ground.
As he came out, the staff’s eyes widened.
“…What happened inside?”
Kang San’s appearance.
It was a sight that couldn’t be found in a training ground.
His clothes were tattered like rags, and they were in such a state that they could be called blood-stained clothes, leaving the staff speechless.
Within his exhausted face.
Kang San smiled faintly.
“Nothing happened.”
The past 300 days.
That time was well worth it.
Kang San wanted to quickly test this power in the Other World.
However.
‘Let’s rest today.’
Even for Kang San, who had a strong will, 300 days of training was inevitably a burden, both physically and mentally.
