Acquiring Talent in a Dungeon

Chapter 6 - Day 2, 2nd Floor Complete

[Technique - Limiter Release: By turning off the subconscious safeguard, you can greatly reduce the pain you feel and raise your strength beyond normal limits. Your body will bear the burden of being pushed beyond its limits. As the pain is blurred, there are a few cases where people don’t realize they are self-destructing.]

[Pain reduction and muscle growth rate will rise in proportion to the level.]

[Current level: LV 1. 1/100]

Yes. Yes. Yes.

I roughly understood. Thank you for everything. But couldn’t you tell me how to use it?

Kwang!

I was backed against the wall and being hit by the terminator. No, the dummy’s punch hit the wall. I was definitely glad I had the effects of Pain Tolerance. I couldn’t retreat due to being hit in the stomach.

[In order to activate, the command is ‘activate - technique name’.]

[In order to disable, the command is ‘disable - technique name’.]

Activate. Technique - Limiter Release.

I should have said it with my mouth, but ended up saying it inwardly due to being punched. But it worked.

[Muscle strength has exceeded the limit.]

[Muscle strength: 11]

My senses suddenly disappeared. It felt like my whole body, excluding the head, had received anesthesia.

Bam!Bam!Bam!

I squatted down and guarded my body with both arms. There was no pain at all. It just felt like I was being pushed. My heart started beating wildly. It was very similar to the first time I drank coffee. It felt like I could do anything.

[Current Balance: 82/123]

I knew what had happened to my body, and now was the time to act as quickly as possible. I gently released my guard and straightened my body. The dummy’s fist slammed through the hole in my defenses.

A hit.

Pak!

It didn't hurt.

It didn’t mean there wasn’t an impact. My head shook and I could taste blood in my mouth. But there was no pain. Most importantly, my eyes didn’t close despite being hit. Was there such a thing as fighting without pain?

I stretched out a hand towards the dummy. It didn’t matter how many blows I took, I just focused on catching it. It was different from earlier. In a fight of strength, I could easily overcome the dummy like it was a child!

Kwatang.

The dummy fell to the ground and I trapped it from above. Once again, this guy’s weakness was obvious. If I wasn’t shaken by its fists, then I could easily press and hold it down.

[Current Balance: 59/123]

Although I had been hit quite a bit before this, that nightmare was now over.

Son of a b*tch.

I sat down on the dummy’s abdomen and used my knees to pin its arms. How should I kill this guy? Usually, these enemies would be able to move even after body parts are torn off. The head or torso usually had to be broken before they stopped working. The torso or the head?

I decided the head was my target.

Putting all of my strength into my fists, I started a barrage of punches aimed at the dummy’s head.

Bam!Bam!Bam!

In a matter of seconds, we had exchanged roles from punisher and the pummeled, completely reversing the tide of battle.

[Current Balance: 54/123]

[Current Balance: 51/123]

[Current Balance: 48/123]

My health was reduced as I injured myself. Blood covered my fists. No matter how much the gloves protected me, I was still punching solid wood.

But I kept on punching.

I didn’t have much strength, but the face of the dummy was gradually breaking into splinters. "Just a little more! Quickly! Die! Die!” Maybe it was the effect of Limiter Release that made my personality a little more radical.

[Named Monster. Wooden Dummy, Scold has been handled.]

Suddenly, the dummy’s face looked like crushed garlic. The body I held down no longer reacted to anything. It was finished.

Hu. As I breathed in and out, I saw that I had 30 HP remaining. Still, I felt none of the pain in my body. Wasn’t there a command to disable the technique? As a test, I just thought about it in my head.

Disable. Technique - Limiter Release.

It was effective as all the pain came flooding back.

"Uck!"

My shoulders felt like the muscle had been torn from the bone. My elbows and wrists were screaming and the bleeding fists looked raw and gory.

I had crushed a wooden head with my fists. Perhaps it was for this reason. However, I’d done it with something else in mind.

[Punching. LV 2. 87/200]

[Pain Tolerance. LV 5 29/1600]

Although only one of the two talents were updated, I had gained quite a few points for them.

It happened as I finished checking my body and got up. Smoke started rising from the head of the broken dummy.

“Heok?”

If it was reviving then I would instantly run towards the stairs. Even if I used Limiter Release again, I only had 30 health and would lose that from the punching.

But my worst fears didn’t come true. The smoke just wrapped around my fists and my head. To be honest, I was worried that it was the dummy’s ‘curse,’ but that fear didn’t last long.

[You have learnt the basics of the martial arts imprinted on the training dummy.]

[Technique - Ravenous Wolf Fist has been acquired.]

At that moment, an enormous amount of data filled my mind.

[Technique - Ravenous Wolf Fist: A martial art inspired by the hunting of ravenous wolves. It is characterized by the aggression that sacrifices defense in favor of hitting the opponent. The creator is an obscure master of fist techniques who kept a low profile.]

[No level. Information learning type.]

It was a strange experience. The information that filled my mind wasn’t two dimensional things like letters or pictures. Rather than ‘information’, it was ‘experience.’ It was like I directly experienced the martial art before my senses cleared again.

I formed a fist. I had never experienced martial arts before, but I tried to take a stance. The preparation was no different from boxing, Just step with that foot and... Let’s see, step here...

Hak!

“Uaack!”

I had forgotten for a moment that the condition of my arms wasn’t normal.

[Pain Tolerance. LV 5 30/1600]

Still, I knew for sure that I could perform it with my fist. All of the dummy’s movements belonged to this martial art. Of course, the speed of my fist was much slower.

If I didn’t look at my stats and just the actions, it seemed like the techniques had been imprinted into my body. If I knew more about it, then I could use this in a real fight.

“...”

The previous fight popped into my head. That An Su-hyun bastard. I scanned the ground with gleaming eyes. The loot he left behind was shining on the ground.

[Elmer’s Dummy Destroyer. Equipment item. Rank C.]

[Able to destroy vital spots during a surprise attack, it is a stolen sword from the collection of ‘Elmer’ who hated golems. The quality is normal against regular creatures.]

[When attacking an object that moves with magic or mechanical principles such as golems, it will damage the ‘nucleus’ or ‘manipulating object’ of the target.]

Well... It seemed like this was the source of confidence behind An Su-hyun attacking the wooden dummy so fearlessly. I didn’t know if I cracked the nucleus, but according to the description of the item, it was a good weapon against golems. An Su-hyun just overlooked the fact that the dummy was a professional fighter.

[Use the ‘load’ command to put it into the inventory.]

I was happy to take the sword that had been thrown away. As the sword disappeared from my hand, I cracked my back.

“Hoo.”

Tired. Although there was no bleeding, so my HP didn’t decrease, my whole body felt heavy. I really wanted to lie down on a bed right now. But I couldn’t just yet.

I didn’t know how much of this dungeon floor I had left. “Just a little more strength.” I turned on the map again. I could still get experience for the Cartography skill. I moved my weary body back the way I came.

Well, the remaining areas didn’t take as long as I thought. Only H rank monsters emerged. I found three more wooden boxes and kicked them, but all that emerged were the trap blades.

The only thing that stood out was that I found another staircase. It was the one that An Su-hyun came down. I didn’t think much of it and went on my way. Still, there was some success with the map.

[Cartography LV 3. 241/400]

By the time I reached level three and gained some experience, I was at the end of the dungeon’s second floor. And in that place...

[Stairs. It leads to the 3rd floor.]

[Changes in the following floor: Dungeon space has expanded. You can encounter +1 explorer. Monsters below E rank will emerge.]

Stairs? The room was a dead end with the exact same staircase. What did it mean? I thought about it for a few minutes and came up with a few speculations.

The other staircase and this one. There were two staircases that led to different third floors.

I thought about earlier. An Su-hyun was on a different first floor from me.

There must be countless first, second and third floors that were exactly the same. Right now, there might be many people thinking the same thing as me on the other second floors: the stairs ascending and descending just created another maze.

Well, there was no point thinking about the whole structure of the dungeon just yet. If two stairs led to different third floors, should I go down the same stairs as An Su-hyun?

Honestly, my first thought was ‘No.’ I disliked An Su-hyun. An Su-hyun had abandoned me before and being in the same place as him would be stressful. But another idea came to my mind. An Su-hyun was a jerk.

At least on this floor, the dungeon seemed to encourage competition rather than cooperation. I couldn’t get an item when the other person did. The number of monsters was limited and they gave small experience.

If two people fought the wooden dummy together, would the Ravenous Wolf Fist technique be passed on to both of them? Probably not.

In other words: Dungeon space has expanded. You can encounter +1 explorer.

This is what those words meant. It would be harder to take things. Also, the number of people that things would have to be shared between would increase. On the third floor, I would encounter two people.

If I followed An Su-hyun, I could be assured that one of the two competitors was a fool.

If the third floor was no different from the second floor and competition was encouraged, it would certainly be profitable. However, if there was an area where cooperation was required then we would fail.

I worried about it for a bit. Then I descended a staircase.

[2nd floor cleared.]