Solo Leveling Chapter 50:

I Alone Level-up: Chapter 50

 

Jinwoo could not believe what he was hearing .

 

‘ . . . Penalty Zone?’

 

Ah-

 

He remembered .  He did not do the daily quest today .  He had purposely skipped it to enter the Penalty Zone, in order to test out his progress against the centipedes and see if he could continue the Demon Castle Raid .  To think that it would work out like this .

 

shaaaaaake-

 

Like back in the hospital, the area started shaking vigorously .

 

pshhhh

 

pshaaaaah

 

One by one, even the knights that he was fighting turned into sand .

 

The world changed around him .

 

‘Ha… ha ha…’

 

He silently laughed .  The System’s words before the quest started kept appearing in his head .

 

I wish you luck .

 

Was it because it was that difficult of a quest? Or did it want him to be lucky in obtaining more advancement points?

 

Luck, coincidence, call it what you want .  It was just another chance for him . The important thing was how he would use this chance .

 

Shaaaake-!

 

The tremors became stronger .  Instead of fighting to keep his balance like in the past, Jinwoo gave himself up to the earthquake and closed his eyes .

 

‘Be calm…’

 

And just like that, he felt a sense of weightlessness, and all sounds disappeared .  When he opened his eyes, it was in the middle of a familiar desert . Jinwoo collapsed onto the sand .

 

“gasp- gasp- pant- pant-”

 

He grabbed the sand with his hands and let loose a torrent of panting .  His lungs filled with a refreshing breath of air, spreading the feeling to his entire body .

 

Finally,

 

“I feel alive . ”

 

With the sense of safety surrounding his mind, Jinwoo stayed lying on the ground .  He looked up at the empty, black sky . The vision of an endless pitch black ceiling filled his view .  It was the Penalty Zone that he remembered .

 

‘Oh wait, now’s not the time to be lying down . ’

 

Because he had just escaped from an incredibly dangerous place, he forgot that this place was not exactly a safe one .  Still, he didn’t want to get-up, so he called up the status screen while lying down .

 

HP: 104 / 10,270 MP: 202 / 850 Fatigue: 91

 

He wondered why it was so hard to move .  Now he knew why; his fatigue had risen over 90 .

 

‘This is the first time that happened, I think . ’

 

He didn’t feel like moving a finger right now .  His health was one thing, but at the moment, it was important to recover his stamina .

 

“Shop . ”

 

ring~

 

The words “Buy” and “Sell” appeared in the air .  No matter how he looked at it, the System had clearly created the so-called shop with the bare minimum of effort, but today, it was an incredibly welcoming sight .  Jinwoo purchased the most expensive healing potion . The moment he confirmed the transaction,

 

shooo-

 

A glass bottle with a red liquid appeared in his sprawled arm .  

 

pop

 

In his state, it took effort even to uncork the bottle .  He poured the potion down his mouth .

 

gulp gulp

 

The red liquid passed through his throat .

 

Your stamina is recovered .

 

Your stamina is recovered .

 

Your stamina is recovered .

 

Since it was the highest level healing potion, just one bottle was enough to completely undo his fatigue .  Strangely, his health did not recover .

 

HP: 106 / 10,270 MP: 204 / 850 Fatigue: 0

 

Even when the bottle was emptied, his health stayed the same .  It was drastically different than the fatigue that was now zero .  

 

‘Why?’

 

The moment the last drop of potion fell into his mouth, he was able to find out why .

 

ring .

 

Your health is below 10% . You cannot recover your health with a potion .

 

The reason was simple .  It was because his health was too low .

 

‘Now that I think about it…’

 

Even healing magic had their limits .  This was not an unfamiliar phenomenon .  Just as Healers could not heal someone past a certain point depending on their skill, it appeared that potions had similar limits .

 

‘And you're telling me that the limit is 10% remaining health . ’

 

This was good to know .  Had he placed faith in the potion at a wrong time, he could’ve made a grave mistake .  This is why experience was important . Wasn’t there a saying?

 

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger . ”

 

That was all due to the power of experience .  Even right now, he thankfully had the experience of encountering the Penalty Zone .

 

‘It’s about time…’

 

And indeed it was .  He felt a lifeform rising beneath the sand .  Jinwoo raised his legs and shot up from the ground .  His body felt as light as a feather . Thanks to the potion, his strength had completely returned .  Jinwoo landed few steps away and turned around .

 

shaaaaah

 

As expected, the spot he was lying on was sinking to the ground .

 

‘Heh, I remember thinking that I’d slip and fall into that in the past . ’

 

Now, he could stare at the sinkhole with a carefree attitude .  The bottom of the depression boiled like in the past, and-

 

pshaaaah!

 

A column of sand exploded from the ground, revealing the form of the giant centipede .

 

screeeeech!

 

It was all just as he remembered .

 

‘Man, they looked a lot scarier back then…’

 

Now, they appeared to be moving in slow motion in Jinwoo’s eyes .  He raised his gaze and confirmed the red letters above the centipede’s head .

 

‘Poison-fanged Giant Sand Centipede’

 

A red name .  Just like the Cerberus from the Demon Castle .  The quest message appeared .

 

ring~!

 

Penalty Quest: Survive

Goal: Survive for the required time .   Required time: 4 Hours   Remaining time: 4 Hours 0 Min 0 Sec

 

After reading the message, Jinwoo clenched his fists .

 

‘I can buy some time with this . ’

 

As he did not use the Instant Return Stone out of the Dungeon, he probably still had a chance .

 

‘I’ll probably be moved back after the penalty quest . ’

 

And if the 4 hours he spent here was added to the endurance timer? The advancement points he would gain would be massive .  Well, he still did not know just how the math worked .

 

‘Still…’

 

When he thought about how the System worked up until now, this might become an incredible windfall .

 

‘Four **** hours!’

 

He couldn’t last 10 minutes back there and was about to use the Instant Return Stone .  Now, thanks to the Penalty Zone, he would be able to add 4 hours to that timer . There was one problem left .  He had to survive this world with barely a 100 health remaining . Since he could not recover using a potion, he had to level-up through the centipedes without receiving any damage .  In a way, this was an additional condition of the penalty quest .

 

‘ . . . Let’s do this . ’

 

Jinwoo summoned Casaka’s Poisoned Fang .

 

Remaining time: 3 Hours 59 Min 59 Sec

 

The moment the penalty quest started, Jinwoo began to move .  Because of his experience, he knew to move before the centipedes did .  He closed the distance in a flash and jumped .

 

land!

 

He reached a halfway point on the insect’s body then started working his way to the head while slashing at its body .

 

stab! stab stab! slash!

 

Wherever the dagger attacked, the exoskeleton of the centipede cracked and seeped a liquid .

 

screeeech!

 

Every time Jinwoo made a new wound on its body, the centipede thrashed in pain .

 

‘Sprint!’

 

Jinwoo’s legs sped up .

 

step, step, step, step!

 

He quickly reached the top of the monster’s head and grabbed the dagger with both hands .

 

‘Vital Stab!’

 

He used the skill and brought down the dagger onto the centipede’s head .  The dagger dug deep into the head .

 

crack!

 

‘Vital Stab’ has leveled up!

 

‘Alright!’

 

It had been a while! The leveled-up skill appeared to have done quite a damage .  The centipede shook its head in pain .

 

screech, screee!

 

Jinwoo did not stop there .  He moved from its head towards the centipede’s back .  The monster’s back was completely exposed .

 

stab!

 

After stabbing a point behind the centipede’s head, Jinwoo held the dagger in place and jumped down .  

 

cra-cra-cra-cra-craaaaaack!

 

Combined with the strength over 120 and a leap from a height of a 5 story building, the dagger slid completely across the centipede’s back, cutting it wide open .

 

cra-cra-crack!

 

land .

 

Jinwoo landed safely .

 

screeech, screeeeee!

 

The centipede spewed a liquid all over the place then finally fell .

 

Boom!

 

Its body raised up a cloud of sand .

 

ring~

 

You’ve defeated the Poison-fanged Giant Sand Centipede

 

Jinwoo patted the sand off his body and checked the time .

 

Remaining time: 3 Hours 59 Min 42 Sec

 

‘That took 17 seconds . ’

 

It took him less than 20 seconds to take down the centipede .  It was completely different than the time he took down the Cerberus .  His strength had reached a different dimension .

 

‘Well, if I think about all the leveling I did and the items I’ve obtained…’

 

It made sense .  At this rate, Jinwoo was confident he could continue hunting without losing life .

 

‘Now the problem is if there are enough monsters here for a level-up…’

 

Only then would he have a chance of surviving when he went back to the class advancement quest .  If he went back without recovering his health, he was sure to be crushed like an insect . As he was deep in worry, multiple sand columns appeared around him .

 

pshhhhh-

 

pshaaaah-

 

The centipedes had arrived after smelling their kin’s blood .

 

screeech-

 

screeech-

 

Jinwoo’s face brightened .

 

‘Just how many are there?’

 

Looking at the heads of the centipedes popping up from the ground, Jinwoo could not hide the smile on his face .

 

 

You’ve leveled up!

 

You’ve leveled up!

 

You’ve leveled up!

 

You’ve leveled up!

After nearly 4 hours, Jinwoo had gained 4 levels after taking down countless centipedes .  He had reached level 51 . The penalty quest was almost over .

 

Penalty Quest: Survive

Goal: Survive for the required time .   Required time: 4 Hours   Remaining time: 0 Hours 3 Min 19 Sec

 

It was about time he’d return .  Jinwoo looked around at the corpses of the centipedes that littered the area .  Thanks to their sacrifice, he was able to recover his health .

 

‘It’s a shame they didn’t drop any items or gold…’

 

Well, it wouldn’t have made sense for a place of punishment to reward him that much .  Now, it was time to prepare for his return .

 

‘Shop . ’

 

Current Gold: 3,115,629

 

On top of the various moneybags from the humanoid monsters, he had earned a whopping 1,500,000 gold from Ygritte .  He had plenty of funds now . With that in mind, he looked through the shop for a new weapon . A suitable upgrade caught his eye:

 

Knight Killer

Rarity: B   Type: Dagger   Attack Power +75   ‘Knight Killing’: +25% damage against heavy armored opponents   It’s a sturdy and sharp dagger designed to cut a knight’s armor . Because of its serrated blades, it will not slip easily against armor .

 

It was a weapon meant to be used for killing heavily armored targets .  The cost was 2,800,000 gold . He would have to spend most of his gold, but this was not the time to be stingy .

 

‘Can’t take my gold with me to the afterlife . ’

 

Without hesitating, Jinwoo bought the weapon .  Additionally, he also purchased some wrappings .

 

You’ve purchased “Knight Killer” .

You’ve purchased “Wrappings” .

 

As its description noted, it was a scary looking dagger with a serrated blade .  He took the weapon with his right hand and used the wrappings to tightly bind it in his hand .

 

slash! slash slash!

 

He swung the blade around .  It felt natural in his hand, as if it was a part of his body .

 

‘At the very least, I won’t be dropping it like this . ’

 

He briefly considered wrapping Casaka’s Poisoned Fang to his left hand but decided against it .  It would be too inconvenient to lose both of his hands . He would keep the usage of his left hand just in case .  He placed the leftover wrappings into the inventory then noticed the Runestone he had gotten from Ygritte .

 

‘Ah right, there was this . ’

 

Runestone: Ruler’s Hands

Break the Runestone to absorb the skill .

 

He needed every little bit right now, whether it was an item or a skill .  Jinwoo smashed the Runestone without a regret .

 

You’ve learned ‘Ruler’s Hands’ (Lv . 1)

 

Ruler’s Hands (Lv . 1)

Active Skill   Mana Cost: 0   Exert your will over an object without physically touching it .

 

‘Ah…’

 

Reading the explanation, he remembered a scene from earlier .  It was when Ygritte stretched a hand to his sword and brought it to his hands from a distance .

 

‘So he used this skill to move the longsword . ’

 

A skill to move an object from a distance just with his mind! On top of that, it didn’t have a mana cost .

 

‘If I can really move anything, it’s an incredible skill . ’

 

Jinwoo quickly tried it out on the corpse of the centipede next to him .

 

Your proficiency is insufficient to move the object .

 

Your proficiency is insufficient to move the object .

 

It seemed that moving something heavy required more practice .

 

‘What about this one?’

 

Jinwoo dropped Casaka’s Poisoned Fang onto the ground, then stretched a hand toward it .  The dagger easily moved into his hand .

 

grab!

 

‘Oh~ . ’

 

Jinwoo stared at the dagger with amazement .

 

‘Alright, this is helpful enough . ’

 

And with that, he had completed all preparations .  Jinwoo raised his head and saw that the time was almost over .

 

Remaining time: 0 Hours 0 Min 4 Sec

 

As the 4 seconds decreased to 3, the System messaged him .

 

ring~

 

The Penalty Quest will end soon .

 

And another one followed,

 

ring~

 

Because you’ve hunted in the Penalty Zone, The next Penalty Quest’s difficulty will be adjusted .

 

An adjustment of difficulty .  It would make it harder to hunt so that the penalty will feel like a penalty .  Well, would there even be a next time? Jinwoo gulped .

 

‘Now, the class advancement quest will resume . ’

 

Hundreds of monsters would probably be waiting for him back in the boss room .  Perhaps even more . Although he thought of it as “returning” to the room, it was more like he was being “thrown” back there .

 

Health, mana, fatigue, equipment and skill .  In addition to those, even his mind had improved in the past 4 hours .  Still, he was feeling nervous .

 

ba dum ba dum ba dum

 

The beating of his heart was almost painful .  

 

Jinwoo closed his eyes to calm himself .

 

Then, the electronic tone rang .

 

ring .

 

The Penalty Quest will end now .

 

‘This is my last chance…’

 

When Jinwoo opened his eyes, he saw the mass of silver knights starting to turn towards him .  They were not his target . Jinwoo’s eyes shifted side to side, looking for his target .

 

‘First, the mages!’