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Chapter 197
Chapter 197: The River Touched by the Breath of a Dragon (1)
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The hot Christmas passed and everything was wrapped up by the end of the year.
The morning of the new year dawned.
And the academy’s vacation began.
This vacation is quite meaningful to me.
It’s the first vacation where I’m finally taking off the 1st grade title at the academy, and it’s a rest period that wraps up this year that was like a whirlwind.
If I had to evaluate the past year in one word…
I can say it in one word exactly.
Rune.
Through the fraudulent rune [Rune Hunter] so far, I have obtained countless runes, and those diverse runes have served as the foundation for me to grow without being confined to one place.
“The number is… 48?”
As I suddenly counted the number of runes I possessed, I was surprised.
Crazy.
Why are there so many?
It far exceeded the normal Holder’s limit on the number of obtainable runes (30).
I even almost filled up the 50 limit that increased due to the special effect of [Rune Hunter].
I thought I had managed it relatively well, but the pace was much faster than I thought.
“Ah, there’s one more.”
It’s not 48, but 49.
Come to think of it, there was one more that I obtained on Christmas Eve.
<Rune Information>
◎ Name: Antlers of the Deer
◎ Grade: Rare (Rare)
◎ Level: 4
◎ Engraved Location: Head
◎ Special effects:-
: You can freely manipulate the ice attribute. If used in special terrain with water or ice, etc., it can be utilized more strongly and quickly.
: If the target with horns on the body part possesses it, the power of the rune increases by 50%. Also, the antlers can be transformed into ice magic at any time without a cooldown.
◎ Derived skills:-
–
◎ Detailed Information:-
: Special ice antlers of deer that come only on special days. Originally it was the power to beautifully decorate the garden, but over time it also gained the tremendous power to freeze the surroundings.
It was the rune I obtained by defeating ‘Ice Rudolph’.
When I first got this, I thought it wouldn’t be included as a sub-rune of [Elemental Master], but strangely, this guy wasn’t included as a sub-rune.
That’s not the only one.
My [Fiery Flame] and [Penetrating Brain Strike] were also not incorporated as sub-runes and still remain in my possession.
Just because it’s a rune with a simple elemental attribute doesn’t mean it will all be incorporated as a sub-rune.
It seemed that [Elemental Master], unlike other upper runes, only recognized certain specified runes as sub-runes.
Anyway, as the name suggests, the [Antlers of the Deer] is a magical rune that allows me to handle ice attributes.
Although there are no derived skills due to low proficiency and rune level, there are special effects that conditionally increase the power.
In particular, the condition of ‘if the target with horns on the body part possesses it’ caught my eye.
“…It’s obviously telling humans not to use it.”
I felt a little bit of resentment, but in fact, there was nothing to resent when I thought about it.
‘I wasn’t supposed to get it in the first place!’
In the first place, humans cannot obtain this rune, so it was nothing more than forcibly obtaining it through [Rune Hunter].
At least I have the special skill, [Dragonization], which transforms my body, but…
This skill just pumps up some ability stats by making some scales sprout on my body, and doesn’t have any effects like making horns sprout on my body.
“I’ll have to give it to the contracted monster.”
I had to give runes to the monster I was going to make a new contract with, either by giving them runes or by raising the level of the [Promise Bound by the Dragon] rune and giving additional runes to Bon.
I could use it myself, but I didn’t think I would get much efficiency.
After all, if I really need ice magic, I can just go hunting with Kim Chae-eun.
“3 levels, and leadership is 31 too….”
After training steadily with Professor Kang Dong-wook and researching the special item [Order of Harmony]…
My abilities related to ‘contracts’ have also grown tremendously.
[Promise Bound by the Dragon] was level 3, and my leadership stat was 31.
Thanks to this, the number of targets I could contract increased from 1 to 3.
I felt that even making one more contract wouldn’t be too difficult to maintain the summoning.
“I need to hurry up and make a contract with one so I can strip some runes.”
I felt like I managed it relatively well, but I didn’t expect it to already reach 49.
It seemed that the 15 runes I obtained during the <Villain> purge operation took up a large portion.
If my rune inventory fills up, I may not be able to get the runes I want, so I decided to hurry up and make one more contractor.
There were a total of two ways to organize runes – ‘upper runes’ and ‘giving runes to contractors’ – but the latter seemed more certain and faster to proceed with.
“Jae-hyun, did you wait long?”
While I was briefly organizing my <Holder Information> like this.
I felt a familiar voice tapping my shoulder.
“Ah, Master.”
Snow white martial arts uniform and rattling white hair.
Beautiful appearance as white as snowflakes yet somehow ancient.
Her fashion may feel old, but her unique dignified atmosphere offsets this.
It was Yoo Eun-seol, who was now my ‘official master’.
She still spoke to me formally, but she had changed the stiff title of ‘Holder Do Jae-hyun’.
At first I didn’t think much about the title, but when my master called me by my first name, it made me feel closer.
It felt similar to when Juyeon and Ga-eun first called me by my first name.
Yoo Eun-seol came over to me, gently touching her robes and daggers. josei
“I’m sorry. Since this is a dungeon I’ve been preparing for a long time, there are a lot of things I need to check.”
“No, I just got here too.”
Today, just a few days after the new year began.
We were preparing to hunt in a 2-person party.
The promise Yoo Eun-seol and I made when we first met.
The reason why she specifically took up the position of academy instructor.
It was to clear the double dungeon inside <The River Touched by the Breath of a Dragon>.
“Did you bring the items I told you about beforehand?”
As Yoo Eun-seol checked her magic bag and equipment, she asked me.
The items she told me about beforehand – [Intermediate decryption potions], [Intermediate sedative potions], [Intermediate haste potions], and others.
<The River Touched by the Breath of a Dragon>, the dungeon we’re going to, spawns various types of monsters. Most of them use runes or skills related to ‘abnormal statuses’.
That’s why to clear it, we absolutely had to either include a divine class Holder in the party, or bring ‘abnormal status recovery’ items made by an alchemist.
“Since it’ll just be the two of us clearing the dungeon, we really need those items.”
However, for this clear attempt it would just be Yoo Eun-seol and me.
Just the two of us.
The reason being, our goal isn’t <The River Touched by the Breath of a Dragon> itself, but clearing the ‘double dungeon’ hidden inside it.
Only two Holders possessing special conditions can enter this double dungeon.
According to Yoo Eun-seol, those conditions are ‘Holders possessing the dragon’s energy’…
At the time, I hadn’t unlocked the tablet yet so I don’t know how I qualified back then.
In any case, while informing me of such clearance information, she instructed me to be sure to bring related items before coming today.
‘I don’t need them because of Keen Mind…’
But in truth, I don’t need items like that.
Due to the epic intellect rune [Keen Mind] I obtained in Japan after defeating ‘Yamata no Orochi’.
This rune, Pank Jin-Woo’s second trademark, has the outrageous effect of complete immunity against intellect-based attacks.
Already at level 6, normal abnormal statuses were at a negligible level.
“Yes, I brought everything here.”
Still, the master’s instructions are instructions.
There was no need to add explanations about my rune information, nor was there any harm in preparing for the worst case.
When I took out all the relevant items from my magic bag, Yoo Eun-seol nodded in satisfaction.
“Good. Then let’s go straight there.”
“Should we take the academy warp gate?”
“Yes, since we have to go to Chungcheongnam-do.”
<The River Touched by the Breath of a Dragon> is located in Gyeryong Mountain across Gongju and Daejeon city in Chungcheongnam-do.
During the original clear, Yoo Eun-seol purchased all the shares from her party members, making it her personal property.
Thanks to that, it seemed we would be able to attempt the clear today without interference from other Holders.
We moved from the front gate towards the warp gate inside the academy.
“It’s convenient that there’s a warp gate in the academy.”
“It’s a bit disappointing that normal students can’t use it though.”
In truth, ordinary students can’t freely use this warp gate.
The academy has usage restrictions.
Only insiders, former professors, or specially approved students could use it.
Since it wasn’t a national government operated warp gate but one privately managed and connected to the foundation and association, such restrictions were possible
‘Well I can use it but…
By the way, I also have usage rights to this warp gate.
‘Circle of the Year’ – The award my <Anti-Villain> circle officially received from the academy last time.
Among the benefits of receiving that award was ‘academy warp gate usage rights’.
They said there would be special and varied benefits, and surprisingly, there was a use for it not too far away.
Thanks to that, I could use the warp gate with Yoo Eun-seol without having to go too far.
“Even though I’m about to leave, the academy still acknowledges my status.”
Yoo Eun-seol said as she walked next to me.
As she first aimed for, she resigned from the academy after precisely 6 months as an instructor.
Professor Tak Won-ho also accepted this, so he let her go without complaint.
However, since the academy’s official graduation period is February of the new year, it seemed she was still recognized as a special instructor for now.
I smiled and replied.
“Well of course. You greatly contributed in the last operation, Master. You did a lot to save the academy.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Without you Master, we would have been annihilated there.”
“Shouldn’t you say that to Jae-hyun instead? I think Jae-hyun did more than me.”
“Ah…”
After complimenting her once, I received an even more embarrassing compliment.
In truth, I can never win against the Master in conversations like these.
Master had tremendous pride in taking me as her disciple.
Even in media interviews, she would always praise me and mention me, making the shocking statement that I would surpass her to become the youngest S-grade Holder ever.
‘…I have to do well.’
At first, I was just embarrassed by her praises, but now the thought of living up to her expectations comes first.
That just shows how much she believes in and relies on me as her ‘first official disciple’.
“We’ve arrived.”
While chatting about this and that, at some point we had reached our destination.
Daejeon, Yuseong-gu, after passing through the warp gate.
At its outskirts lies Gyeryong Mountain National Park.
The mountain leading to <The River Touched by the Breathe of a Dragon>.
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