4 First Steps II: Settling In and Skills
vol 1 | Solo Leveling
arc 0 | Prologue
Ch. 4 | First Steps II: Settling In and Skills
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※ Warning!
This chapter is one giant infodump after the second linebreak and then some, but you get to see the birth of a bro-con cute imouto in the first. So, skip this at your own risk!
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"*Yawn* Good morning, Jinah~"
"*Yawn* Good mowning... Nmmm..." Jinah replied, mumbling to herself, walking out of her bedroom and diving face-first into the couch falling asleep again as Jinwoo smiled to himself while flipping his omelet.
After the initial execution-
"*ahem*"
Umm... Excitement... Yep. Let's go with that.
"Ah, what a beautiful day."
After the initial excitement of the first day had subsided, the weekend that followed was pretty bland.
With Jinwoo's early discharge from the hospital due to his speedy recovery, things have been slow and Jinwoo appreciated the peace and quiet.
It was a nice change of pace for once as it allowed him to relax, settle in, familiarise himself with his new environment, and just all in all, get more comfortable in his new skin.
The only awkward thing was Jinah.
As much as Jinwoo tried to treat her like his biological sister, it was all for naught, as Jinwoo felt no familial connection or any connection at all. Him treating her nicely was more out of obligation and duty than familial love or love in any sense.
"*Sigh.*" Setting two plates on the low table, Jinwoo switched on the T.V. as he poked Jinah in her side with the remote causing her to jerk and squeal into the couch in surprise. "Wakey, wakey. Eat or the food will get cold."
"Watch it jerk! I'm ticklish!" Jinah elbowed Jinwoo who shrugged it off not paying attention as she sat beside him.
"I know. That's why I did it." Jinwoo smirked a bit before it transformed into a frown as he saw the news.
"-As viewers can see from the disturbing footage, how a dispute between two A-Rankers allegedly resulted in two casualties, with several others being critically injured and millions of won worth of property damage. The guilds of respective hunters have come forward and apologized saying that they will compensate for the damage that's been done, but my question to them and every citizen of South Korea is, what about the human lives that were lost?! Is civilian life so cheap amongst the world of hunters that it can be wiped under the rug with a few half-hearted words and a couple million wons?! We have to recognize that Hunters are just as much of monsters as the creatures they 'claim' to protect us from! And so I plead our citizens to urge the government to push for a reform that will monitor and leash all the hunters-"
"What an asshole!" Jinah cursed snatching the remote and turning the TV off as Jinwoo chuckled to himself.
"Yeah, I thought he was going somewhere with that. But it's just your daily dose of propaganda." Jinwoo nodded, still bewildered and amazed at just how smoothly Korean rolled off his tongue.
Before his transmigration, he had barely dabbled in the Korean language due to a passing interest in Korean music but now, it was as if he had always been a fluent speaker.
Reincarnation system for the win.
But that was to be expected as suddenly transmigrating and being unable to understand the native language would have been... Awkward after all.
Though there was still the question why he didn't inherit Sung Jinwoo's love for Jinah if the reincarnation system worked well. While the system had merged both of them together it seemed to him that a lot of his being was missing and at same time a lot of him was crafted anew.
His theory was that to assimilate Sung Jinwoo and Jacques Lorcan Wallace perfectly, the reincarnation system had to compromise a certain aspects of the two so that they fit together perfectly within any contradiction.
For example, the system had to get rid of the originals meek and timid temperament as Jacques was anything but meek or timid. Similarly, Jacques who was always running away from every responsibility except his insignificant crusade against the criminal scum was now dutybound to look after Jinah and obligated to protect her from any form of danger.
So it could be that he woke up in his new body with attachment to people from his past so that's why he felt little familial love for Jinah, just the requirement to protect her at all cost.
That's why she seemed so familiar yet still a stranger.
Jinwoo decided to put his current train of thoughts on hold for now as he enjoyed his omlette.
The two continued to eat their breakfast in peace and once done, Jinah put the dirty dishes in the sink without washing them before flopping onto the couch yet again.
"So, what are you gonna do today?" Jinah asked, rubbing her face into the cushion like a lazy cat prompting Jinwoo to smile dryly to himself while pinching the bridge of his nose, contemplating if he wanted to do anything else except rest.
"Umm... No clue-Ahhh I might visit the local gym and see if it's any good and the barber perhaps." Jinwoo hummed as Jinah blinked and turned over to stare at her brother. Feeling her stare at the back of his head, he leaned back into the couch and turned his head to meet her gaze, and just shrugged at her questioning look. "I've been sitting and doing nothing. So a little bit of exercise should put me at my best and just look at the state of my hair? Don't you think it's a bit... Messy?"
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"..."
"...what?"
"...since when did you become so self-conscious? I told you that so many times before but you just told me to study and not bother you and now... Look at you!" Jinah explained as she froze before her eyes widened in 'realization'. "Ahaa! Did you get a girl-"
"Nah." Jinwoo stabbed her bubble of assumptions prematurely, standing up and turning to leave for the bathroom as Jinah just pouted to herself. "It's just that I think a man should at least 'look' presentable. And do you think any girl would be interested in me with the way I am now?"
Jinwoo left leaving the question hanging as Jinah's pout turned into a devious smirk as she nodded to herself at his words.
"Yeah, no way he's got a girlfriend." Jinah hummed to herself happily as she connected her console to the tv and booted up a Bloodbourne 2.
(A/N: Let me believe in my fantasy that FromSoftware released the sequel in an alternate dimension T.T)
"He better not... But what if he's lying?! He could be going out to-no... No way a girl except me would like a leazy guy like him and my oppa was never a good liar in the first place hehe~"
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Sung Jinwoo lied.
Well, partially.
He meant what he said about looking presentable, hence the new hairstyle he was rocking. It's just that he didn't plan to work out.
Not at the gym in the neighborhood at least.
With the sheer scale of the things that were destined to take place, there was no way a normal gym was going to be of any help to him, which meant he would have to resort to different means.
"Ah, here we are."
*Creegruump!*
Located in a remote neighborhood of Seoul, the rusty shutter of an old abandoned warehouse cranked open halfway as Jinwoo stepped in allowing the shutter to fall behind him as he stood straight to admire the view before him.
Sunrays creaking through the skylights illuminated a fairly big indoor space of the warehouse which was halfway filled with various raw materials which held Jinwoo's interest.
"Isolated, abandoned, and filled with stuff that's going to be very useful for my plans... How convenient~" Jinwoo mused to himself as he looked up to the sky through the skylights. "I wonder if this is Ani's gift as well or is it just my luck shining through... Well, whatever it might be, I'm thankful for it. Now, where to start with this, hmm?"
Jinwoo removed his shirt and put it away in the bag he brought, displaying his skinny, almost malnourished frame, as he utilized his strength to move the heavy materials to sort and arrange them properly.
The story that led to the worn-out condition and eventual abandonment of the warehouse was a muddy but simple one.
The original owner had planned to open an artifact workshop but after a B-Class Dungeon break occurred nearby, the major guild in this area around that time was wiped out along with other major businesses they were protecting, which led to the price of the land dropping, causing almost everyone to sell their properties to cut their losses and relocate to a place which was under the protection of a more reliable and very much alive guild.
When rummaging through the stuff of the dead men he buried a week ago, he discovered papers of this property and Jinwoo deduced that those fuckers likely scammed the previous owner and obtained the warehouse or it was the other way around and they were scammed instead as they never found a buyer who was interested in buying a land near an area that was always on the edge of threats from beyond.
After that, it was mostly used as a stash house to store the drugs those fuckers pushed and with them dead, Jinwoo had the papers. So, as long as no government official poked around, this was his property now as far as he was concerned.
And these weren't the only papers those low lifers had, there was a lot more property and assets than Jinwoo had imagined.
"These guys were loaded huh? But I guess, bad business still rakes in fat money, hah." Jinwoo mused to himself with a sigh, wiping the sweat off his forehead as he disposed of all the drug stashes. "But for guys dabbling in dangerous business, they were severely short-handed... Or maybe those who I buried were just a branch."
Jinwoo's eyes narrowed at the implications if there was any chance of that being the case. If it wasn't then there was nothing too much to worry about as long as he laid low until the double dungeon incident but if it was as he suspected then...
There were a lot more people that needed to be relocated under gravestones.
But as he was now, he was unprepared and underpowered to handle something of that caliber.
He needed to grow strong, fast.
He couldn't do nothing for six months except sit on his ass like a duck, waiting for the System to show up to get his act together. He had to start training and grow strong now but without the system, he could only rely on what was at his disposal.
That meant money, materials he could gather, and the boons he had obtained from Ani.
Breathing in, his eyes narrowed at the makeshift heavyweights he had made out of the raw materials as a small grin surfaced on his boyish visage.
"Let's test the limits of this body, shall we?"
Progress without the system would be slow but, progress is still progress, no matter how small it may be.
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"Hah... Hah..."
Jinwoo panted as he leaned against a steel beam, slowly sliding down to sit on his as sweat dripped down his body like a waterfall. Jinwoo had lifted more weights in the past few hours than he ever had in his entire two lives combined.
Putting his body through extreme strain in the course of the past few hours, Jinwoo was able to learn the extent of his strengths and limitations quite accurately.
In terms of strength, Jinwoo could easily punch a hole through solid concrete while only suffering a few bruises. Once he was able to get his hands on a decent artifact to protect his knuckles, he was positive he would be able to stand his ground against a Mid-To-High C-Ranker. He would lose in a test of strength against a C-Ranker without a doubt due to him being an E-Rank, but if he utilized his combat experience and 100% of his body then he would not lose easily.
That was already impressive considering how weak normal E-Rankers are.
His speed was miserable and the less said about his stamina the better. While this new body of his was magnificent compared to his old one in terms of physical capabilities, it was miserable compared to even other E-Rankers.
Jinwoo was barely faster than the fastest normal human, Usain Bolt and that's after utilizing 100% of his muscles.
Not to mention using 100% of his muscles would drain him of all of his stamina in less than three minutes, causing him to run on fumes once all of his juice was depleted.
While Jinwoo wanted to test his durability, there wasn't a good way to do it that wouldn't result in him ending up back in a hospital bed and Jinwoo wasn't a fan of getting beaten up by thugs just to check just how much punishment he could take before he folded.
But he was confident he could take a full power punch from a Mid C-Ranker without any protection and survive with only a nasty bruise to show.
No wonder Jinwoo wasn't categorized with a class before he received the system.
He couldn't be a fighter because he had shit fighting skills, couldn't be a ranger because he couldn't even hold a bow properly.
Couldn't be a tanker because even though he had good strength his stamina was shit.
Couldn't be a healer because duh.
Couldn't be an assassin while his speed resembled that of a snail on an evening stroll.
And he couldn't be a mage with the amount of magic energy he had.
Ah, and what could be said about his magic capacity?
Nothing.
There was nothing praiseworthy about a measly 10 units of mana.
There was nothing noteworthy or redeeming about his new body when he compared it to his peers.
Even Lee Joohee has a better physique than Jinwoo and she is a fucking healer!
Granted she is a B-Ranker while Jinwoo is a low-low but still, healers are generally weaker than even mages, and hence there are at the back or the center of a raid team, requiring to be protected all the time.
The only known exceptions to the rule are the South Korean S-Rank healer Min Byung-Gyu and Japan's S-Rank healer Akari Shimizu who both have the combat potential of an A-Rank Fighter.
All in all, Jinwoo was quite frustrated with himself. In his previous life, Jinwoo had trained his body to its peak condition as Jacques to perform his executions most effectively during his crusade against criminal scum, and he was immensely proud of the fact that he had been one of the most dangerous individuals as Jack The Ripper's successor.
But now he was just frustrated that even at his best this body wouldn't amount to much unless he obtains the system. And there are still six months for that to happen if this timeline was following the canon.
But there was no point bitching and moaning, not when he had expected this from the start. So he would do his best to train this body to its limits until he's able to break past it once he starts leveling up.
The condition of his body frustrated Jinwoo but at the same time, it made him thankful that the gifts he had wished would be very much useful even in this state of his.
The first wish he had asked for, was 'magic'.
The ability to utilize mana and weave it into clusters to perform spells with various effects.
The reason he asked for such a vague thing is because magic is within a doubt one of the most diverse powers and asking for anything specific would have limited its reach and potential. And since Ani didn't tell him to ask for a specific branch of magic, his capabilities regarding magic were at large but Jinwoo suspected that he was not restricted in the utilization of magic like the rest of the people in this world were.
The world of Solo Leveling is mysterious and full of unknowns with a lot of who's and how's and even in the source material it was the same due to the author not being specific about the power system of the world, leaving a lot of spaces empty.
But after conducting his own research Jinwoo was able to understand this world better.
After the appearance of the first gate, mana and monsters began to flood the earth, destroying it and strengthening it at the same time.
Shortly after the appearance of the first gate and the dragon calamity, 'hunters', superhumans able to fight, hunt and repel the monsters of the abyss began to appear all over the world and this was due to Mana, the rawest and most basic form of arcanum, strengthening certain selected individuals.
Mana, depending on the compatibility with different individuals, strengthened them to various degrees, hence ranking the hunters became a necessary practice to form a power dynamic and chain of command in a world engulfed in chaos and disarray.
Sometimes, a hunter experiences a subconscious epiphany and can comprehend a certain aspect of arcanum and can imitate it and this was dubbed as 'skill' or 'ability'. Most hunters belonging to certain classes (hunters specializing in certain natures of arcanum) share some common skills. For example, most tanks share the skill/ability 'Tank' and Healers share the skill/ability 'Low Heal' or 'Boost'.
These skills/abilities aren't something that can be simply learned and can only be obtained after comprehending a branch of arcanum (The Great Mystery/The Root/The Akashic Record) or by obtaining and breaking Rune Stones.
Rune Stones are runic items that are either dropped by Magic Beasts of certain strengths and intelligence or are found hidden in the depths of dungeon ruins.
These runic items are crystallized forms of skills and upon being shattered by the user allow them to be able to comprehend and utilize the said skill.
Rune stones are scarce, immensely valuable, and hence are highly sought after due to being the only known way for most hunters to grow.
There are exceptions to the rule though.
Mages are classes said to be blessed by Mana itself. Mages have higher mana capacity and comprehension ability and thus they can grow stronger the more they study and unravel the arcanum.
But even among mages, there are power structures as a Mage's true strength is determined by his/her's affinity towards magic.
The stronger the affinity, the higher the comprehension ability is. The higher the comprehension ability is, the easy it is for a mage to unravel and manipulate mana freely.
But as incredible as mages are they have a glaring flaw, similar to that of a healer.
While mages are considered most versatile due to their knowledge of various branches of magic and often being the main damage dealers, their physical conditioning wasn't that great and they would be the next to fall after the healers in case a raid went south.
But luckily Jinwoo wasn't restricted to following a certain path to grow stronger. He could be a fighter or a tank or a ranger and still be able to use various branches of magic with little difficulty as long as he studied the craft.
And with Jinwoo receiving a 'good' affinity with magic he had no doubt it would be quite potent.
"Even though my mana capacity is low, I can easily and freely control the mana that I have without any restrictions. The only limit is my capacity and my imagination~" Jinwoo smirked to himself as he circulated mana internally to replenish his stamina and nourish his sore muscles.
Once his mana capacity increased he would be a force to be reckoned with even without the ability to extract and summon shadows.
But for now, he would have to limit himself to power-conserving spells. It would limit his combat potential by a good margin but his second gift would close that distance for now and in time it will become one of his greatest assets.
His 'eyes'.
While Jinwoo couldn't ask for 'Rinnegan' or 'EMS' he poached a good power out of Ani by keeping his wish as vague as possible.
And he got what he wished for.
While his eyes couldn't conjure unyielding black flames or summon fucking meteorites to rain hell on earth, it was still very useful as of now.
Channeling mana to his eyes, he saw the world around him shift. It was a weird surreal feeling as the world turned still and clear. He was able to spot the fly zooming past his eyes, he could see it so clearly, the tiny hair it had on its hind and he could just barely distinguish each flap of its wings and it was impressive considering a fly can flap its wing more than 300 times in a second.
Jinwoo willed it and the world shifted yet again turning grey and lifeless, looking down his eyes widened as he saw a faint blue aura pulsing throughout his body. It was his mana without a doubt.
Jinwoo's inspiration that sparked him to wish for this were from various Anime and Video games for example, the famous Eagle Vision from the Assassin's Creed series.
Jinwoo grinned in victory as his wish had been realized as exactly as he had envisioned it, pun intended.
Jinwoo winced, feeling a pang in his temple prompting him to quickly stop channeling mana to his eyes.
Well, it seemed like this power too had its limitations but Jinwoo was more than happy with it nonetheless.
The next thing he had asked for was good luck but there was only one way to actively test it.
Gambling.
But there was a place and time for it but now wasn't the time nor was a warehouse a place to gamble his luck out.
So Jinwoo made a mental note to test it on his way home as he put it on hold for now, moving on to the last thing he had asked for.
"Umm... So, how do I do this? Should I just ask for-woah!" Jinwoo muttered to himself as a small crack appeared in the space before him and a thick tome emerged and fell through it. Jinwoo managed to catch it before it hit the floor and blinked in surprise at the weight and hardness of the cover. "Wow... This is... Gorgeous!"
And it was.
The tome was 12 x 9 inches, 4 inches thick with the hardcover being made of solid silverish metalic material with black-gold engravings and a red-orange gem sitting right in the middle of the cover. Pulsing hypnotically, almost like a heartbeat.
The spine of the book was made of blood-red metal that he wasn't aware of with the same black-gold outlines.
Jinwoo ran his finger over the tome feeling the book bond with him as the gem glowed brightly before the glow died and the tome opened on its own. Jinwoo marveled as the pages made of luminous gold sheets, decorated with various symbols, texts, and runes in black, began to turn on their own at a rapid pace before they stopped.
Jinwoo's fascination only grew as the arcane alphabets shifted into that of the modern Latin script that he was most familiar with the heading at the top reading-
'Introduction To Rune Magic Vol. 1.'
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*Inhale*
"Let's fucking goooooooooooooooooo!"
To say Jinwoo was excited would be an understatement.
"*Ahem* That was awkward... But this is just... magnificent!"
Rune Magic was a primordial branch of arcanum that utilizes the help of runes to invoke a magical reaction. It was a magic that required understanding of ancient texts, comprehension of 'runic alphabets' their nature and attributes, and the nature of their interaction and reaction with other 'runic alphabets'.
It was essentially magic even a cripple with the most minuscule amount of mana could use if they had enough brain cells to understand the runic system and not blow themselves up accidentally by carelessly stringing runes together.
It was right up Jinwoo's alley who had always been a huge fan of characters like Rune King Thor, Odin, Scáthach/Scáthach-Skadi, Cú Chulainn, etc.
He couldn't wait to start his study and utilize rune magic in combat. It would take a lot of hours, a lot of trial and error, and a lot of failures but it would be worth all the effort in the long run.
Not just rune magic, this book, his 'magical encyclopedia' was an archive for all sorts of arcane knowledge and Jinwoo would learn and use everything to get stronger.
"Ahh, it's getting late."
Sadly, it would have to wait for now as it was getting dark and he had to get home early as to not worry Jinah.
But before he returned, he had one more thing to do.
Jinwoo smiled to himself as he stood up, straightened his attire to look presentable, and stepped out of the warehouse and towards the heart of Seoul.
After freshening up at one of the public baths, he changed into a formal attire and walked towards the heart of Seoul-
-Towards the most luxurious part of the capital and its various casinos.
Stopping outside a building that seemed to beaconing him and his wallet, Jinwoo smirked to himself before he stepped inside with a confident stride.
"Shall we see just how good my luck is now?"
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Alternate Titles:
-My imouto can't be a bro-con!
-Ahoy! I see the land of plot convenience! Anchors boys!
-These eyes see through your bullshit!
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Word Count = 4100+
※ Notes:
Ah, info-dumping ain't fun but it's necessary to build the world. Plus I had to flesh out how everything works, magic, skills, classes, etc.
The arcanum stuff is just some bullshit I made in an attempt to make sense of the world after learning about Akashic Records and the strings of knowledge.
Also, disclaimer, I'm not very smart so if you see a contradiction in the power system I've fleshed out or if the explanation wasn't detailed enough and you need more answers do let me know. I'll try to answer to the best of my brain's computing capacity.
So, the reason I didn't give the MC anything ridiculous or any combat power right out the gate, is because that would spoil the whole fun of Solo 'Leveling'.
Instead, I gave him crutches (Very OP crutches) that would help him bridge the gaps in his capabilities until he acquires the system. If you have any complaints or queries, just let me know.
Anyways, that's all for today. Go away now!
Do come back soon tho. Take care! >.<
P.S.: So... Do you like 50 BMGs, 20/25 mms? So... Incase you do I take you like boltguns too? So... If that's the case then I take you wouldn't mind Sung Jinwoo welding one for the time being aye? Shadow Monarch with a Boltgun?
Huh.
