Chapter 7
Six days later.
Day 18 since his reawakening.
In a secluded alley behind the Exchange, Hyeon-jun was copying and absorbing Vitality Runes.
[<Copied F-rank Vitality Rune> has been absorbed.]
[<Vitality> has reached its limit.]
Vitality finally reached 100.
Hyeon-jun immediately entered the Exchange, sold his Vitality Rune, and purchased a Strength Rune.
[<Strength Rune> has been copied.]
[<Strength Rune> has been copied.]
[<Strength Rune> has been copied...]
He returned to the alley and copied the Rune nine times.
After absorbing all of them, he ran toward the Grassland Field.
Now, even sprinting several kilometers at full speed no longer exhausted him.
“Whew.”
At the Grassland Field, Hyeon-jun took a single deep breath.
Then he immediately began hunting Rune Rabbits.
Day 18.
Strength: 19.
Day 19.
Strength: 29.
Day 20.
Strength: 39.
Day 21.
Strength: 49.
Day 22.
Strength: 59.
His growth and hunting continued every single day.
As his Vitality rose, the severe muscle pain disappeared.
Once his Strength increased too, even the minor soreness vanished.
Eventually, simply hunting Rune Rabbits was no longer enough to exhaust him.
Then, on Day 26...
A post appeared on the Free Board of HunterNet, the largest Hunter community in South Korea.
[Chat] Did the Boramae Grassland Rune Rabbits Go Extinct??? [6]
Came here for some pocket change after a long time away, but I haven’t seen a single hair for two hours;;;
Wasn’t this place basically a half-fishing spot before?
[Comments]
-If you’re going there, you need to time it right.
└That’s old news. Apparently someone basically lives there with a tent now.
-Why the hell did you go to Boramae? Brain issue?
└BECAUSE I LIVE NEARBY!!! This place used to be overflowing with Rune Rabbits!
-Another victim of Boto-slayer.
└What’s Boto-slayer?
└Boramae Rabbit Slayer. At this point someone needs to report that bastard for animal cruelty. I’m starting to feel sorry for the Rune Rabbits.
-He’s still there? That guy is seriously persistent. You’d think he’d move to a higher hunting ground by now.
-I went there yesterday and got nothing too. Glad it wasn’t just me lol.
└Screw you.
Countless users browsed HunterNet’s Free Board.
The post disappeared quickly beneath newer threads.
However, the nickname “Boramae Rabbit Slayer” became firmly engraved in the minds of a few users.
And at that exact moment...
The man who had unknowingly gained a new nickname was yawning so widely his jaw nearly cracked.
“Yaaawn.”
Inside a lonely tent pitched in the middle of the Grassland Field, Hyeon-jun blinked sleepily.
“Morning already?”
His recovery had become so fast that he had eventually started living directly inside the field.
Instead of returning home after hunting, he would rest inside his tent.
It had already been four days.
Now it was finally time to end that lifestyle.
[<Copied F-rank Strength Rune> has been absorbed.]
[<F-rank Strength Rune> has reached its limit.]
Hyeon-jun copied ten Strength Runes and absorbed them.
Then he absorbed the original.
With that, Strength, Agility, and Vitality all reached 100.
“Today’s the last day.”
Hyeon-jun stepped out of the tent.
Rune Rabbits that had respawned while he slept were hopping around everywhere.
“Take care, Rune Rabbits.”
He packed up his tent and shouldered his bag, already filled with spoils.
Then he left the hunting ground.
He immediately went to the Exchange, sold the Rune Fragments, Mana Stones, and other loot, then purchased a Willpower Rune.
“Ugh... My precious money is disappearing into fees...”
Hyeon-jun grimaced while checking the deposit message.
If he could have, he would have waited until reaching E-rank before selling everything.
But he had expenses to pay.
There was no other choice.
“Still, at this rate I might even be able to start paying off the principal soon.”
Because he already had savings, he had long since secured enough money for his regular monthly expenses.
Everything he had earned over the past few days was excess income.
“If I use that to pay off the principal... No. Do I really need to? Wouldn’t buying Runes be better?”
He had 180 Runes left.
That was eighteen days.
Even if he spent those eighteen days earning money like this and repaid part of the principal, it wouldn’t dramatically reduce the interest.
“But if I use that money to buy Runes and increase my Stats?”
His hunting efficiency would increase.
And he could reach E-rank faster.
If he reached E-rank faster?
Then he could start progressing toward the next rank sooner too.
“And Runes become more expensive and rarer at higher ranks.”
The higher the rank, the more powerful Copy became.
In other words, F-rank was the only stage where spending money directly on Stat growth was this efficient.
“Of course, there’s no absolute guarantee that Copy’s maximum grade will increase when my rank does.”
Still, the probability was high.
Most Trait Skills grew alongside the Soul Circuit.
If expressed as a percentage, it was probably true in 99.9% of cases.
“Whew. Don’t make yourself nervous for no reason. There’s no way I’ll fall into that 0.01%.”
Hyeon-jun pushed away his anxiety and made his decision.
He would buy Runes and absorb them.
“I have two Stats left. Buying both would be ideal, but I don’t have that much money.”
Mana and Willpower.
Mana Runes were more expensive because they were closely connected to the damage of magical Skills.
Their price hovered around 300,000 won each.
“But Willpower Runes? As of today, they’re 180,000.”
Ninety Runes would cost around sixteen million won.
He already had enough money saved to buy them.
“Good. Let’s do it.”
Hyeon-jun returned to the Exchange.
There, he purchased eighty-nine additional F-rank Willpower Runes.
[<Willpower> has reached its limit.]
With that, every Stat except Mana had been raised to the maximum.
His bank account was empty.
But his heart was full of hope.
“Only nine days until E-rank.”
The day he had been waiting for was just a little over one week away.
“Haa...”
Inside an F-rank Swamp hunting ground, a young man stood with his hands on his hips and sighed.
“Why aren’t there any monsters?”
Normally, hunting grounds should have monsters everywhere.
But he hadn’t seen a single one in thirty minutes.
The only creatures around were a few flying monsters that were difficult to catch.
Even those were scarce.
“This happened once before too... When was that?”
