TSOT#1 Chapter 21

Jae-rim stood nearby, glancing at Chan-hee with a puzzled expression, wondering what was going on.

 

Chan-hee briefly replied to his teammates before turning his attention back to the oncoming monster, quickly finishing it off.

 

From beyond the glass wall, Joo-ah watched her team in silence, her expression momentarily tightening.

 

She swiftly moved her hands to activate her system window.

 

 

Health: 263 / 263 (+9)

Mana: 193 / 193 (+10)

 

 

Her stats hadn’t fully recovered yet, but strangely, both her health and mana had been slightly restored.

 

With a perplexed expression, Joo-ah murmured under her breath,

“…Did I unknowingly use a healing spell?”

 

But healing spells, when used on oneself, should only increase health. Mana, on the other hand, should have decreased.

 

Her gaze shot upward suddenly, landing on Chan-hee, who was still fighting monsters. A thought flashed in her mind—Chan-hee had touched his system window earlier.

 

Hurriedly, Joo-ah checked Chan-hee’s stats.

 

 

Health: 1698 / 2720 (-9)

Mana: 1543 / 3092 (-10)

 

 

In the virtual training, pain sensitivity was set to 50%, but energy depletion in Hunters was reflected accurately.

 

From previous training sessions, Chan-hee’s health and mana were already significantly depleted. Moreover, the recently consumed energy was separately noted in parentheses.

 

Joo-ah carefully scrutinized Chan-hee’s system window.

 

 

Health: 1698 / 2720 (-9)

Mana: 1543 / 3092 (-10)

 

 

Could it really be a coincidence? The restored values in her own stats matched his depleted stats precisely.

 

Her expression subtly changed as her mind raced back to the chaotic moment during the monster attack at the banquet hall hours ago.

 

When Boram, near death because of Lim Hyuk-jae’s attack, had miraculously been saved, Joo-ah had experienced something eerily similar: a sudden surge in her own stats, accompanied by total exhaustion on Boram’s part.

 

The coincidences were piling up.

 

“…Maybe it’s a new skill I have,” Joo-ah muttered with a faint smile.

 

Although the visible special skill of each Hunter was limited to one, the secondary skills they possessed could exceed that number.

 

Joo-ah herself had three primary magical skills: Reinforcement, Healing, and Purification. But these were considered basic skills in her repertoire.

 

The potential of Hunters, however, was boundless. Creating one’s own limits meant being stuck in place forever. Conversely, breaking past those limits allowed Hunters to acquire unimaginable abilities.

 

Perhaps Joo-ah’s hidden skill, something capable of erasing her E-rank title in an instant, had unknowingly revealed itself.

 

Her gaze drifted across the training room to her teammates.

 

At some point, the SS-ranked monster had been defeated, and the virtual training ended.

 

Yeon-joo and Jae-rim adjusted their dirtied uniforms, while Chan-hee continued staring at his system window with an unreadable expression before turning his head.

 

His eyes met Joo-ah’s. She quickly averted her gaze, casually greeting Yeon-joo and Jae-rim as they exited the training room.

 

 

[Fourth Tower – Gate Appears on Floor 499. Immediate deployment.]

 

 

The second team call had come.

 

Joo-ah joined her teammates at the entrance to the Fourth Tower, bowing politely.

“Safe travels.”

 

The team turned briefly to look at her. Despite being on the same team, she wasn’t sent into live combat due to her low rank.

 

Initially, her face had looked dejected after being excluded from the first call.

 

But by the second, she seemed fully accustomed to it, her farewell natural and unaffected. This left her teammates startled instead.

 

“Aren’t you going in?”

 

Joo-ah tilted her head at the hesitant group still standing at the gate.

“Hurry up. Otherwise, another Hunter team might claim the boss before you do.”

 

Her reasoning had nothing to do with ensuring safety but rather about losing their prey to another team.

 

Chan-hee stared at her in disbelief, but Joo-ah ignored him. As Yeon-joo reluctantly entered the tower, Jae-rim and Chan-hee slowly followed suit.

 

“Wishing you a safe journey,” Joo-ah said cheerfully, watching their retreating figures before swiftly turning away.

 

Her steps quickened, leading her to an alley where a monster was cornering civilians.

 

Peeling off the white bandages wrapped around her hands, Joo-ah summoned a longsword from her inventory.

 

“Let’s play, shall we?”

 

 

Monster Information:

 

Level: C-rank

 

Attribute: Water

 

Ultimate Skill: Bubble Blast

 

Special Note: Appeared from Gate on Fourth Tower Floor 499

 

 

The monster was an amorphous liquid mass that emitted a foul stench. It corroded the ground wherever it moved, leaving white smoke in its wake.

 

Joo-ah charged at the monster, her brown hair whipping in the air.

 

Whoosh—

 

The sharp sound of her blade cutting through the air rang out.

 

The monster leaped up effortlessly, dodging her attack, and retaliated by spitting boiling bubbles.

 

Joo-ah narrowly avoided the scalding liquid, which scorched the concrete floor, releasing a thick, acrid smoke.

 

Gathering all her mana into her blade, she infused it with sacred energy.

 

The monster lunged at her, but Joo-ah climbed the wall and slashed downward in one swift motion.

 

A burst of radiant energy from her sword bisected the monster in half.

 

But it was a C-rank monster—it wouldn’t die so easily to an E-rank Hunter.

 

Sure enough, the split pieces reformed into two identical monsters.

 

Both launched their Bubble Blast simultaneously.

 

Joo-ah raised her sword to form a barrier, but her weak stats rendered it ineffective.

 

She was thrown backward, slamming into a wall with a painful thud.

 

“Damn it,” she muttered, licking the blood in her mouth as she staggered to her feet.

 

A monster charged at her, attempting a body slam. She barely dodged and quickly retrieved a Taser Gun from her inventory.

 

Bladed attacks only multiplied the monster. The only solution was magic.

 

Her trembling hands gripped the weapon as she whispered,

“But first, let’s see if I’ve got what it takes.”

 

[The Anonymous Constellation mocks your attempt to force a hidden skill in such an artificial setup.]

 

Cursing, Joo-ah dodged the next attack. She leaped onto the monster, firing her gun at point-blank range.

 

The magic-infused bullets hit their target, obliterating one of the monsters.

 

But the other remained, and her mana was completely drained.

 

Before she could recover, the monster’s Bubble Blast hit her uniform, burning it.

 

Knocked back again, Joo-ah struggled to move as the remaining monster pressed down on her throat.

 

As her health plummeted, she managed a faint smile, gripping the monster’s face with trembling hands.

 

“…A perfect moment to learn a hidden skill.”

 

A radiant light erupted from her fingertips.

 

Her face regained color as the monster fell lifelessly to the side.

 

[Congratulations! You have unlocked a Hidden Skill through sheer potential in a life-threatening situation!]

[Your rank has increased from E to D.]

[Your level and all stats have risen.]

[Ranking updated: Unranked → 998th.]