The Hero Returns
chapter-45

Chapter 45: Chapter 45

Act 1

“What does he mean? Do it all by himself?”

Lee Ju-ho was disconcerted by Su-hyeun’s confident answer. At first, he thought Su-hyeun might have an excellent plan. But he said he just take on the dungeon by himself. Lee Ju-ho had no idea how to take it.

“Well, don’t worry too much. I have an idea,” Su-hyeun said.

“It will be alright, won’t it?”

“Yes. I will make it alright.”

Su-hyeun didn’t plan to do anything. Although the situation would not help, he decided to manage it somehow. Lee Ju-ho smoothed down his chest after he listened to Su-hyeun’s definite answer. Since he looked confident, maybe he had an excellent plan.

“Then, I will count on you, Su-hyeun,” Lee Ju-ho said.

“Well…” Su-hyeun hesitated a little bit and said an uneasy word to Lee Ju-ho, who was finally relieved, “Although, it is not a very reliable way.”

“What?”

Su-hyeun didn’t say anything to Lee Ju-ho. Since he had already got treatment in the hospital, he caught a taxi and returned home. When he opened the front door, the first thing he saw was the blood trail from the living room to the door of the bedroom.

“I guess it’ll take a while to clean up.”

He opened the bedroom door. He had forgotten, but the bedroom was the same as well. Even the bed was covered with blood.

“I think… I just have to hire a cleaner.”

He tried to clean it up, but this was a mess that he couldn’t clean alone. He had lots of money he didn’t know what to do with. There was no place he could go, so he called the cleaning company. He discarded the dirty bedsheets and ordered new ones.

Plump—

Su-hyeun perched himself on the edge of the bed until the cleaners came. Now, there was only one month left until the disaster.

“Should I challenge the 21st floor?” he thought.

There was more time left than he thought. Trials on the 20th floor ended faster than expected. Originally, it was supposed to take nearly a month, but Su-hyeun ignorantly passed it in a day. Because of that, now he had a month to spare. He started to think about how to use this time.

“What if I get injured like this again?”

That would be dangerous, depending on the type of trial, he might end up having a serious wound. It was possible he couldn’t pass the trial in the right amount of time. If he completed the trial in one day, that would be a really big problem.

“I should hold trials for a while.”

Then there was only one thing to do for the rest of the month.

“The highest potential potion,” he mumbled.

Thanks to the rewards he gained after the recent trial, his achievement points exceeded two million. This was enough to buy what he wanted, the highest potential potion. He had been delayed until now since he had a serious injury. But he almost recovered to the point that he could move again.

“Wait a second,” He recalled another reward that he had forgotten, “Was it a new skill?”

The name of the skill was Immortality. Would it be as good as the name sounded? He checked the skill.

[Hero – Immortality.]

*Rating: It is direct proportion to the user’s magic.

*Category: Passive

*Lv: 1

This is a body of Adele Kleimer who fought against the devil a long time ago. It is said that the body of a hero was nearly immortal, like a god who does not die or get injured. It will automatically activate when the lifeline goes below a certain level. Regenerative Power and Health will quickly recover, and physical ability will rise rapidly. Duration, cool time, Regenerative Power and Health recovery rate is proportional to proficiency.

It was a tremendous explanation. More than anything else, the description of the hero, Adele Kleimer, who fought against the devil, seemed unnecessary. Unlike the name immortality, the ability of skill itself was not immortal.

“Is it because the skill level is still low?” he thought.

There was no skill that incredibly effective regardless of skill level. Such cases only happened when the skills didn’t require proficiency or level and they usually had a clear limit. Then, it would be much better to have Level-dependent skills like this. The existence of proficiency or level meant that there was no limit.

“I guess it is technically a higher version of Berserk skill.”

Berserk was a skill that compensated for physical strength and strengthened overall physical ability in proportion to negative conditions, such as physical strength and bleeding users. In terms of skill used in crises, Immortality and Berserk were similar.

The difference between them was in the form of active or passive. Unlike the Berserk that could be used at any time, Immortality was a passive skill that was activated when certain conditions were set.

“Of course, this is better because there are no side effects.”

Strictly speaking, Berserk was not a skill to recover the lost Health. It was only to make the user feel as if he had recovered his physical strength for a certain period. So, in the end, this skill made him feel more tired than he was the first time.

Immortality, on the other hand, was the ability to recover Health and regenerate injuries. Besides, physical abilities would rise rapidly. Although it was a passive skill, it could be called a higher version of Berserk.

Of course, he had no idea how much this skill would help his Health recovery or Regenerative Power. That would be something he had to check from now on.

“But how can I raise the proficiency of this skill?”

There was only one way to come to his mind right away.

“Should I harm myself?”

A sigh came out. It looked like he needed to do it once, at least. To use the skill, he had to know when it would activate or how much it would recover his health, and how much it would regenerate. It wasn’t a bad skill. He just was not sure how great this skill was as its name.

“Well, then…:

Su-hyeun, who checked the effect of the skill, got up and opened the door.

“I guess I have to go shopping first.”

“What did you say?”

“I said the highest potential potion! A catalyst!”

Su-hyeun said in frustration to the middle-aged man with a shaggy beard. He asked Su-hyeun three times already.

The middle-aged man, who was the owner of the store, blinked his eyes and asked again, thinking this question would be the last one, “You mean…the highest one?

“Yes.”

“Why are you looking for that here?”

He thought his previous question would be the last one, but he asked again.

The owner thought this situation was very ridiculous. It was only the 21st floor. He could not believe there was someone who was looking for the highest potential potion. He tried to convince himself he misheard a higher grade. But no matter how many times he heard, this customer kept saying highest.

“Why? You don’t have it?”

“No, I have it…”

“Then why don’t you just give it to me?”

The owner thought he might be joking, but it seemed like it wasn’t. People usually purchased a low-grade potential catalyst. Some rich people bought a middle-grade potential catalyst. But this man was asking for the highest one. The middle-aged man reached out to Su-hyeun. He wanted to make sure he had enough Achievement Points.

[Achievement Point: 2,081,400.]

Su-hyeun was not joking. He had 2,081,400 points. He had enough points to buy the highest-grade potential catalyst which was two million.

The owner could not believe it at first. He never thought there would be anyone who would buy this expensive thing. He also never thought there would be anyone who would get that many points either. He thought he would never take this stuff out from the shelf.

“Huh, well…”

“What’s wrong? It is a good thing for you to sell expensive stuff, right?”

“Yea. I mean. I am a little surprised. Yes, it is a good thing.”

There would be no shop owner who would deny selling expensive things. He hurriedly brought the stuff from the downstairs.

“Here. This is the highest-grade potential catalyst.”

What the middle-aged man brought was a small, thumb-sized bottle of dark purple liquid. The size and shape were not significantly different from other catalysts. The only difference was the darkness of the purple. But Su-hyeun, who already knew this product, recognized it at once.

[You have spent 2,000,000 achievement points.]

“Thank you for the stuff. Have a good day.”

Su-hyeun took the catalyst and left without hesitation. He left the shop and headed to a small inn in the city. He rented a room and went in. He opened the bottle.

Pop—

“Yuck.”

As soon as he opened up the bottle, a terrible smell filled the room.

“I can’t believe I have to drink this again…”

Su-hyeun had already drunk the highest-grade potential catalyst several times in his previous life. It had the worst flavor ever. He could not believe this horrible taste could exist in the world. He didn’t want to drink this anymore. After he had drunk a few more times, it didn’t give him greater power anymore. He didn’t drink it anymore after that. But…

“If it is used for the first time, the effect is significant.” Su-hyeun took a deep breath. “I can do this. I just got to do it.” He was trembling more than before he fought Fafnir.

Gulp—

He could feel vividly the feeling of the catalyst passing over to his throat. The taste he could not use to it, no matter how many times he drank, lingered on his tongue. He felt sick. He felt like he would vomit soon. There were many times people drank this catalyst and spit it out again because of this flavor and feeling.

“Weck…”

He closed his mouth with hands and barely endured not vomiting. It was disgusting.

Gulp—

Once again, he swallowed the disgusting taste left in his mouth with saliva. He swallowed the lingering flavor on his tongue a little. His stomach felt sick, but it was better to not taste it.

There was no time to hesitate. Su-hyeun sat down quickly and began to concentrate his nerves on his body. Now, the most important part would begin. If he hesitates because of the flavor, the catalyst would be digested soon.

“I have to hold it.”

Whiiip—

The catalyst that reached to the stomach after passing his throat started to react. The key was how much he could melt this catalyst in his body. The catalyst was for inflating the magic. It reacted with original magic in the drinker’s body and increased it. How effective it would be was depending on the individual’s ability. Even if it was the highest-grade potential catalyst, to somebody it could be just a horrible flavored useless potion. It also could be the best restorative for someone.

Rumble, rumble —

The catalyst began to loosen little by little at Su-hyeun’s will. The first thing he had to do was spread it throughout his body. However, since the concentration was much thicker than other grades of catalyst, it did not move as he intended. If his Magic Level and Factor were lower, it might not move at all.

“Move.”

Rumble—

The catalyst started to react. The catalyst that contacted his magic started to spread the power from the stomach all over his body.