Player who Returned 10,000 years Later
chapter-36

"I'm sorry for what happened today. I'm going to kick YeongHo from the guild, and I'll make sure no one else does something like this," Chae YeonJoo said to KangWoo with her head bowed.

A member of the guild had been rude to a player they'd promised to offer their full support, so even if it was her, she had to lower her head.

"Well, since I received this, it doesn't matter."

KangWoo looked at the Gargoyle's Armor he had received from Moon YeongHo.

While looking at it, he opened its information window.

[Item Information]

Item Name: Gargoyle's Armor

Rarity: Unique

Normal Effect: Physical Defense +200, Magical Defense +80

Special Effect: Your Physical Defense doubles for 10 seconds. You can only use this effect once every 24 hours.

'As expected from a Unique-rarity item.'

With just one unique-rarity item, his physical defense had increased more than the total added amount he had gotten from the three epic-rarity items he had received.

'The special effect is also good.'

At least it was more useful than the one that the shadow armor had.

He looked at the item, satisfied, and turned his head toward Chae YeonJoo.

"Even so, if something like this happens again, I'll have to rethink my relationship with the Red Rose Guild."

Although he had received a unique item, he still had to clarify things.

The incident with Moon YeongHo happened because Chae YeonJoo had failed to control her underling.

Even if KangWoo had accepted his proposal, that shouldn't have happened in the first place.

'Although I can understand the reason behind his actions.'

Since KangWoo's body was closer to a demon’s than a human’s, he could understand lust very well.

He instinctively knew how much the other person lusted and wished for something or someone.

'I guess he was blinded by love.'

That expression really matched Moon YeongHo's situation.

"I'm sorry. I have no excuse…"

Chae YeonJoo sighed and asked for forgiveness once again.

The reason why she was acting like that wasn't only because of Moon YeongHo.

It was also because of the strength shown by KangWoo.

The fact that someone who had become a player only two weeks before had been able to defeat someone who had completed the seventh awakening was enough to change her attitude.

KangWoo had gone from a player with whom it was worth maintaining a good relationship to someone she had to have a good relationship with.

The relationship of power had changed.

Now she had to be careful while dealing with KangWoo.

"Then let's stay in touch."

After shaking his hands, KangWoo turned around.

"…"

Chae YeonJoo looked at KangWoo walk away.

"Oof."

She sighed.

'Is he really a human?'

It wasn't a matter anymore of whether he was talented or not.

He had a strength that went against common sense.

'I think I could beat him at the moment. But…'

Because of his growth speed, it wouldn't surprise her if he soon surpassed her.

It was scary enough to make her think it might be better to do something about him before he became too strong.

"It seems like a world ranker may appear in Korea…"

World Ranker…

It was a list with the top eight strongest players worldwide.

At the moment, there wasn't a Korean among the World Rankers.

There was a rumor that Korea's number one, Baek KangHyun, had a chance to become a World Ranker, but that he’d failed to become one in the end.

'But maybe if it's KangWoo…'

He was a monster growing at an unprecedented speed, so she thought that becoming a World Ranker may not be hard for someone like him.

While Chae YeonJoo was immersed in her thoughts, Park HyunWoo walked toward her.

"Guild Master, did Mr. KangWoo go back?"

"Yes, he just left."

"I heard that something happened between him and Mr. YeongHo…"

"Yes, I plan to kick him out of the Guild."

"…"

* * *

"Don't make that kind of expression. This is all YeongHo's fault."

"Understood."

Park HyunWoo nodded while smiling bitterly.

"I have something I need to tell you."

"What?"

"It seems like the people from the government have succeeded in planting a spy within the ranks of the Demon Cult."

"…"

"If we're lucky, we'll be able to obtain evidence."

Chae YeonJoo's eyes shone after hearing Park HyunWoo's words.

"Explain in more detail."

* * *

"Let's see..."

After returning to his house, KangWoo opened his status window.

[Status Window]

Player: Oh KangWoo

Level: 34 [4th Awakening]

1st Awakening Attribute: Authority of Predation (Rank: ???) * Most of the characteristics of the Authority are sealed.

2nd Awakening Attribute: Unfulfilled Hunger (Rank: C)

3rd Awakening Attribute: Mana-craving Demon (Rank: A)

4th Awakening Attribute: Ruler of Demonic Energy (Rank: A)

Strength: 23

Agility: 21

Vitality: 20

Magic Power: 0

Demonic Energy (Unique Stat): 53

Intelligence: 11

Wisdom: 13

If someone else had seen his status window, they probably wouldn't have been able to hide their surprise.

Usually, people who had completed the fourth Awakening could surpass 30 in a stat if they were lucky, but KangWoo's Demonic Energy stat had already surpassed 50.

'The other stats are increasing, too.'

Although the most important was the Demonic Energy, it wasn't like Strength, Agility, and Vitality stats were useless.

While he could fortify his body with demonic energy, he had to use that much of it to buff it.

If he could fortify his body with other stats, he could avoid wasting demonic energy.

'Although Intelligence and Wisdom are useless.'

Those two stats increased the effectiveness and destructive power of one's mana, but since KangWoo didn't have that stat, it was useless.

'Too bad I can't pick the stats as I want.'

The stats increased randomly.

The amount they increased was also random.

Usually, from the second Awakening onwards, the stats you used more frequently were the ones that increased the most.

But in KangWoo's case, all his other stats went up instead of the Demonic Energy.

'Is it because my Demonic Energy stat is already too high?'

There was a chance of that being true.

That amount of stat was impossible for a player of level 34 to have.

Considering that the higher your stat was, the harder it became to increase it, it made sense that his Demonic Energy wasn't going up.

'This means that, at around level 30, they can't raise the Demonic Energy stat since it's already too high.'

That probably explained why the other stats were going up.

"That's too bad."

He wanted to put all the stats in Demonic Energy if it was his decision, but that was impossible.

"But thanks to the hellhound, I surpassed my original goal."

He was planning to level up to 30 when his level went up to 34 after hunting a hellhound.

'If I keep this pace, I'll soon reach the fifth Awakening.'

Thanks to the Red Rose Guild, he could freely access higher-ranking gates.

He could skip the B-rank Gate and immediately go to an A-rank one, so leveling up was probably going to get easier.

"But now I'm finally able to hunt more comfortably."

Because his demonic energy had increased, the number of Authorities he could use had also increased.

While fighting against Moon YeongHo, he’d realized he had reached a quite high level among players.

He thought that he had at least enough strength to defend himself.

"Should I take this opportunity and raise Seol-ah and TaeSoo...?"

After seeing how much Chae YeonJoo was willing to support him, he realized something.

'It's better to invest early in players with great potential.'

Investing early in talented players could generate a huge return.

That was why one of the top 10 hunters of Korea was investing so heavily in him.

The value of his talent and growth potential was higher than what she was investing.

'TaeSoo and Seol-ah are also worth investing in.'

Although, compared to him, they weren't that impressive, but that was only when compared with him.

A tanker who had awakened an A-rank attribute on his second Awakening and a healer with a B-rank attribute were very talented compared to the rest of the players.

'And…'

The most important thing was that they had a good opinion of him.

The chance of them betraying him was low.

'Tomorrow, I should follow them to hunt.'

He wasn't planning to help them increase their levels.

More than helping, that could hinder their growth.

TaeSoo and Seol-ah needed to gain more combat experience and be taught correctly.

Just by guiding them to the correct path, they would probably be able to grow at an explosive rate.

"Should I return home?"

KangWoo headed home while feeling the pleasant weight of the pieces of equipment he’d gotten.