Deep Diving

He arrived next to the Steel Fanged Lycan, with his dagger high in the air aimed towards the next of the beast. Slashing downwards without any delay, Sung Jinwoo felt his dagger cut through the air as the beast twisted its body slightly, causing the dagger to hit nothing.

Jinwoo clicked his tongue as he stepped back, away from the beasts retaliating jaw.

Chasing its failed attack, the beast followed Sung Jinwoo, leaping into the air, its teeth bared.

A small smirk appeared on Jinwoo lips as he waited for the Lycan to fall. The claws on the beast edged closer to Jinwoo as he ducked out of the way, rotating his body once more as his dagger followed through, piercing the canine in the side.

The monster howled in pain as it dropped to ground out of the air.

Sung Jinwoo used the time to regain stable footing, before not missing a step, launching his body at the injured beast, stabbing his dagger deep into the throat of the howling beast. Its muscles tensed as it thrashed, in a desperate attempt to eliminate the source of its pain.

Feeling the end of his dagger go limp, Sung Jinwoo stepped away from the Steel Fanged Lycan, making sure to keep vigilant as he made some distance.

As his heart rate returned back to normal, a system notification appeared. One he had not seen before.

'NOTICE: LEVEL UP'

Sung Jinwoos eyes lit up when he realised what this meant. 

Hastily calling forth his status, he inspected it with an intense stare.

As expected, the area labelled 'Level' was now displaying 2 rather than the previous 1.

"So I really can only level up through defeating monsters"

Sat in contemplation, Jinwoo mulled over the facts he had just unearthed. This was one question he had been wondering about since his first daily reward.

Looking over the status board further, Sung Jinwoos eyes widened in surprise once more.

'They've gone up...'

He mumbled to himself.

'STATUS'

'NAME: SUNG JINWOO'

'LEVEL: 2'

'JOB: NONE'

'HP: 200'

'MP: 20'

'STRENGTH: 17'

'AGILITY: 17'

'SENSE: 14'

'VITALITY: 14'

'INTELLIGENCE: 11'

'REMAINING POINTS: 0'

From what he could see, his status had all gone up by one point, except MP which had increased by an interval of 10 and HP which had increased by 100.

"I see... Levelling is the key to strength..."

His whisper was quiet, however it was filled with his conviction to press forward.

Remembering his latest battle, Sung Jinwoo opened up his Inventory screen and noticed a new item.

'Item: Steel Fanged Lycan Claw'

'Rank: E'

'A claw from the ferocious Steel Fanged Lycan, while not as sharp as the jaw of the beast, its claws can tear through weaker armour with ease'

A small smile sat upon his lips as he looked down at the item he had received. It was definitely better than the dagger from the Goblin. 

Normally, Hunters harvest the mana cores of the beasts they slay and sell them to make a profit. It was very rare for any form of item to drop. Guilds would transport entire corpses in hopes of harvesting a single drop, though they were often left with nothing. As for special items and skill stones, they were highly sought after for the pure fact that their drops were ridiculously rare.

Despite all the common sense Sung Jinwoo knew, this E-Rank dungeon(Estimated) completely toppled his logic.

"I suppose selling the drops will be very suspicious if I'm not careful, I will have to find a way to use them that doesn't involve mass selling"

A dejected conclusion to say the least. However, Sung Jinwoo wanted to avoid the spotlight as much as possible for now. His strength was too low to content with the powers of the world, if he was exposed now, he would end up as nothing but a leashed dog.

Suddenly, a new panel appeared before his eyes, with no prompting from Jinwoo.

With a surprised look, he looked at the title of the panel.

'Notice: Shop Unlocked'

It was exactly as stated. When he thought about the shop, the panel swiftly changed, showing a catalogue of various items. There were a plethora of tabs ranging from weapons to medicines.

At the bottom left of the panel, he saw what seemed to be a currency tracker with 0 Gold being shown.

"Gold? Not Won?"

He tilted his head slightly as he noticed that everything in the store required Gold, a currency that the world no longer used. Even the coinage of modern civilizations used an alloy as opposed to pure gold coins.

His confusion was evident as he spotted another peculiarity.

Above the shopping catalogue were two tabs, one displaying 'Buy' and another displaying 'Sell'.

However the 'Buy' option had a small lock symbol next to it whilst being noticeably fainter.

"I see! So the drops can probably be sold for gold to use in the shop right?"

His eyes lit up when he found a potential use for these left over items. While he did intend to slowly siphon the drops into the market, there was no way for him to make a lucrative money making scheme out of it. Yet, he now had a way to support his hunter job without eating into his dungeon profits.

Deciding to test his theory, Sung Jinwoo selected the drop in the 'Sell' tab. It wasn't long before he noticed the icon leave his inventory and an audible ding echo. That wasn't all. His Gold soon increased by 10.

"It works! Now I just have to unlock the buy option... Perhaps when my level grows."

With those words, Sung Jinwoo reaffirmed his resolve. Everything was telling him to level, to fight and kill as much as he could.

"I suppose its about time I get back to hunting"

His eyes were that of a determined hunter, ready for its next prey.

His legs took him down the long corridor. He hadn't noticed before, but it seems his backpack had gotten lost in one of his previous battles.

Fortunately, there was nothing of value in there besides a few emergency rations.

In fact the loss of his backpack had actually helped him notice an oddity in this dungeon. Sung Jinwoo had yet to feel hunger despite his constant battles. 

"I doubt that's an effect of levelling up"

He chuckled to himself at the odd thought.

His chuckle session didn't last long before he had finally found more prey.

Two large dog-like beasts emerged from the shadows, their signature metallic jaws were wide, showcasing their dagger-like teeth.

"Two this time? I suppose Lycans are pack animals"

Simultaneously the Steel Fanged Lycans launched themselves from the shadows ahead.

Sung Jinwoo jumped high above, letting the two beasts launch at thin air.

Though not for long, they quickly twisted their bodies and circled around the dropping Jinwoo.

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, Sung Jinwo focused on the one to his right.

As the ground got closer, the Lycans closed in with perfect synchronicity.

Sung Jinwo swung his dagger down towards the steel jaw waiting for him, fully aware of the deathly maw behind him.

The dagger clashed against the steel of the Steel Fanged Lycan. Sparks exploded briefly before the sound of shattering metal rung aloud.

Unfortunately, the Lycan remained fine, albeit slightly stunned.

Using the momentum of the first Lycans halted attack, Sung Jinwoo inhumanly twisted his body with his fist clenched, delivering a striking blow to brow of the deathly dog waiting behind him.

Both of the beasts recoiled slightly from the unexpected attacks, allowing Sung Jinwoo to stumble onto the ground and roll a distance away.

"No good huh?"

Sung Jinwoo stared at the weapon in his hand. A weapon no more, all that was left was a fractured handle.

Throwing it to the side, Jinwoo inspected his body and affirmed that no damage had been taken, rather he was surprised at the level of strength in his punch before.

"It seems that the specs in my Strength stat are just as prominent as my agility"

He looked over at his foes and noticed that the one which had received his blow, had an agape mouth.

'I doubt its that shocked. Sure it got hit unexpectedly, but to be reacting like that, it's likely broken'

As he arrived at the conclusion, the unharmed Steel Fanged Lycan stared at his injured friend before letting out an angry growl.

Much to his surprise, the uninjured Steel Fanged Lycan charged at Sung Jinwoo, its eyes locked onto his every movement.

"Wait a second..."

His surprise came from something else. The injured beast had started to retreat after the growl. It had turned its body in a 360 and left the battlefield with no hesitation.

A wave of regret washed over him as he realised he would not be able to finish what he had started since there was still the immediate danger before him.

"I guess I will take out this regret on you. Thank you very much for the kind volunteer work."