Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 87

“As those of you who have seen the news should already know, this is a level-limited dungeon that appeared in Yeouido! It’s an Open Dungeon. As you can see, the forest is thick. That thing that attacked me was some sort of vines. I believe they are from plant-type monsters,” Ji-Cheok said to the viewers.

As Ji-Cheok was talking to the viewers, the owners of the vine whips that he had cut rose from the ground and revealed themselves. They were Nepenthes monsters!

These monsters were capable of walking on the ground by using their flower as their body, and their roots as tentacles. To make matters worse, the flower also had teeth. These teeth were so sharp that they could simply snap a human in half.

‘I saw their work when I was cleaning up corpses. The corpses had either the upper body half or the lower one, but none of them had both.’

“Oh! It seems like the enemy has already appeared. Well then, everyone, let’s kill it, shall we?”

He deliberately gave an exaggerated salute, then gently hid the chat to concentrate on killing the monsters. As soon as one monster popped out, other monsters started to come out together as well. The number soon exceeded one hundred.

-Is he going to barbeque them with Blaze Walk?

It would be a spectacular sight if Ji-Cheok set the ground on fire while riding his Mono Bike. But he had something different in his mind.

“For this dungeon, I will not use any fire-type skills until I reach the boss monster.”

-Wtf?? Are you crazy?

-Why would you NOT use the fire-type skills?

“Well, I don’t think there is anyone who doesn\'t know that grass is weak against fire. Haha… But I will show you how strong I am by not using any fire-type skills!”

Ji-Cheok was trying to provoke the viewers on purpose.

-What? You are just going to ignore the advantages of fire-type skills and kill the monsters? How is that possible?

-Umji, please just take back what you just said.

-[U_Play_Like_Sh1t] has donated 10,000 won.

[U_Play_Like_Sh1t]: If you do not use your fire-type skills and reach the boss room, I’ll donate 10 million won + an extra 30 million won if you kill the boss.

‘Ah, it’s you again. Are you going to try to kill me again?’

“Wow, I just received a 40 million won mission!”

He purposely made a cheerful comment about it and pretended not to know.

-Umji-pooh! Do not take that mission!

-That’s boo-boo, Umji! Don’t take that!!

-If he doesn\'t take that, it’ll just prove he’s scared. He has to take it.

-He is already being targeted in the media, if he doesn’t take that mission, it just means that he is going to use fire-type skills.

‘Just laugh. Let’s pretend I don’t know anything and just smile.’

?Master, do you want me to assist you??

‘No, I think I’m going to try to clear it by myself this time. I have to check how strong I’ve gotten from the training anyway. Also, If I use fire-type skills now, the viewers are going to think I’m smurfing, since they know I can kill level 80 monsters by myself. This means the viewers are not going to get excited, which means fewer Likes for me. And you know that there is already a lot of content on GodTube on smurfing. That’s one of the reasons why Fire Wizards are so popular. If I used my fire-type skills here, I wouldn’t be as flashy as those Fire Wizards, so this stream would just be another ordinary smurfing video. That’s why I need something to put the viewers on the edge of their seats.’

?Understood, Master.?

Instead of becoming bigger, Cheok-Liang wrapped around Ji-Cheok’s neck and made a cute cry.

“Cheok-Liang, just take a break on my shoulder today. Because I am the main character this time!”

Meow~?

Then, pretending to be careless, Cheok-Liang turned his head at a forty-five-degree angle.

‘He’s so cute omg~ I just want to smooch him to death!’

Even when the Nepenthes were coming near, Ji-Cheok stood still and took a deep breath. He drew in the energy around him while visualizing the [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art] over and over again.

Buzz—

The Sword Qi on the blade became brighter and more vivid. At the same time, the Qi in his body spread out, surrounding him. Ji-Cheok could feel his surroundings with his Qi like a bat using echolocation.

‘This is what it feels like to unite the mind, body, and Qi.’

With the three components united like this, it was possible for Ji-Cheok to sense many things without touching them, just through his Qi. The world inside him would open and expand to its limit. This was what they would call the Qi Sense. If a person could freely use their Sword Qi and Qi Sense, they were considered to be in a ‘state of transcendence’. However, this was only applicable to a small number of people even among cultivators. In a way, this was also the reason why cultivation was denigrated—most cultivators would stagnate, never to reach this point.

‘Do you think that legends are dead? No, legends never die.’

Bam!

Ji-Cheok became one with the wind and ran toward the Nepenthes. These monsters were like skilled butchers. They whipped their vines toward his face, shoulders, head, abdomen, flanks, and thighs at a very high speed. It was impossible for any ordinary Hunters to block all of these attacks and protect their vital points at once. They would have to use a defensive skill or a shield.

Ji-Cheok activated the [Fleeing Shadow] and the [Wind and Cloud Steps]. The only thing the monsters could see was his afterimages. The reason why he did not use the [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Steps] that belonged to the [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art], was that [Wind and Cloud Steps] was faster in terms of speed. But it was not just about using skills. Because now he was starting to feel the Sense of Qi, from the unity of his mind, body, and Qi.

It did not take much movement to dodge the vine whips. Just by tilting his head a little, the vines brushed by his cheek and missed him completely. As the vine whips were trying to put a hole in his heart, he jumped up and twisted his body to dodge the monsters’ attacks.

?You just received a huge amount of Likes, Master!?

‘Good. Now, relax your hand and grip the sword lightly…. ’

He slashed as if his sword had become one with the wind.

‘And this is called fast sword.’

Slash! Swing! Slash!

In one breath, the sword Qi increased to 1.5 meters. The sword drew a wide trajectory and smoothly cut down everything in an instant. Ji-Cheok had killed five Nepenthes at once.

‘That was good. I think I might be in a state of transcendence.’

“Um, maybe I didn’t need to use my Sword Qi. The monsters were way too easy for me~”

He didn’t forget to smile at the viewers, doing his best to appear relaxed.

-Look at Umji, flirting with us.

-Umji, be careful. If you die, I die with you…

‘Let’s see… I’ll have to keep checking my Qi consumption. I don’t know how many more enemies there will be.’

Ji-Cheok stopped infusing Qi into his sword.

‘Then, let’s cut off the sword Qi and just continue with the Qi in my body.’

“Well, everyone. Let\'s start killing these monsters.”

Ji-Cheok used the [Wind and Cloud Steps] again. He easily surpassed the speed of sound as he glided through the air. Just like the name of the skill implied, he was running as fast as the wind, but strangely, there was no movement around him. Ji-Cheok felt surprised, yet comfortable at the same time as he was completely ignoring the laws of physics.

This was the power the System bestowed on humans. And this was the power that humans needed to use to save their world.

Ji-Cheok slashed vertically with his Monoblade, and then slashed horizontally again. The attacks of the Nepenthes were coming from left and right, but Ji-Cheok did not budge.

‘This is why I’ve been training all this time.’

As he remembered the times when he could only film himself doing mukbangs, he laughed a little.

-I’m just realizing this now, watching him clear this dungeon by himself, but doesn’t it look like he’s gotten a lot stronger?

‘Thank you for noticing. Since there are no special elemental attacks involved, if it’s just physical attacks, I can do this all day.’

Ji-Cheok was in a trance as he was cutting the monsters into pieces. The Nepenthes’ bodily fluids splattered on him.

[[Divine Protection of the Dark Flame] of the [Black Flaming Jacket] is resisting poison.]

‘I guess the [Black Flaming Jacket] is enough to block this kind of poison. Ji-Cheok has given one Like to his own alchemy skills.’

“Whew, is this enough for an appetizer?”

Ji-Cheok had destroyed all the monsters at the starting point. His surroundings looked as if he were in a bowl of salad he had just tossed.

[You have received 1 Like!]

[The Gods have shown interest in you!]

[You have received 1,100 Likes!]

[You have received 1 Like!]

[You have received 1,100 Likes!]

[You have received 1 Like!]

[You have received 1,100 Likes!]

[You have received 1 Like!]

‘Wow, the System messages are flooding in as soon as I turn off the System filter. It looks like the Gods are also watching me. That is niiice.’

-Umji, you are crazy! Crazy, I tell ya!

-What is that? Am I seeing things? How can this be real?

-How is he under level 20? How is he under level 20? How is he under level 20? How is he under level 20? How is he under level 20? How is he under level 20? How is he under level 20? How is he under level 20?

-In Umji we trust!

-Holy shit, I think he just wiped out like a hundred monsters.

The chat was exploding and so were the Likes. Even the Gods joined in and started to give Likes to Ji-Cheok.

‘I’m glad I hyped up the stream. Look, everyone is enjoying it.’

?Yes, Master. I think it was a good strategy to give yourself a handicap to make it more difficult.?

‘Difficult? I don’t know how you felt, but it was pretty easy for me.’

?Everyone was focused from the moment you announced that you would not use your fire-type skills. It must have looked quite difficult from their point of view.?

‘Hm, I guess so. Is that why I’m getting this many Likes? I must have looked like a lion leaping through a fire ring.’

?I do not know about a lion… Maybe a herbivore might suit you better…?

‘What? How dare you compare me to deer, rabbits, and stuff like that! Roar!’

“So, I guess the prep work is over. From now on, let’s start exploring the actual special dungeon! With that in mind, I have a new skill that I’ve been wanting to try out.”

Everyone screamed at the news that a new skill would be appearing.

‘But I haven’t shown everything that I have yet. Looks like the appetizer was a success, so let’s start cooking the main dish now.’

* * *

Ji-Cheok started by collecting the corpses and putting them in one place. He knew that this part of his stream wouldn’t be popular with the viewers, so he turned off the stream under the pretext of preparing for the next part of the live stream. He told the viewers that the preparation wouldn’t take long and the actual hunting would start soon.

‘This is too familiar to me.’

He always had a feeling that someday, the dead body that someone took care of could be his. In this crazy world, no one cared about a dead Hunter. There were often incidents where even the bereaved family could not retrieve the body, so for their funerals, the Hunters’ corpses were replaced by mementos. Even worse, many of the corpses recovered so far were difficult or even impossible to recognize.

‘Okay, so now that I’ve collected all the bodies, let’s take out the funeral blankets.’

?You have already prepared the funeral blankets, Master.?

‘It doesn’t take up a lot of space, and just rolling the corpses up will prevent them from rotting to some extent.’

He closed the corpses’ eyes and paid a silent tribute. He didn’t know what kind of regrets they had before they died. Still, they were human beings, so he couldn\'t let them die like some random animal.

After a while, his hands were stained with blood. He cleaned his body up with his lifestyle magic.

?I guess you cannot completely remove the smell.?

‘That’s fine, the viewers can’t smell it over the screen. That’s all it matters to me.’

Just then…

Ding!

[You have received 1,100 Likes.]

‘Oh, so there was a God watching all this.’

[[Cat_of_the_Little_God] has given you 2,200 Likes.]

‘This one is sent by another God. But this one’s name didn’t get filtered by the System. I have never known which Gods were giving me Likes. This is the first time.’

?If the name of the God is [Cat_of_the_Little_God], it might be a being that recently became a God. I am assuming the registration process of the Dimensional System was delayed.?

‘I didn’t know the System could be delayed.’

[You have received 2,200 Likes.]

?This time, it was filtered properly. I think the System registered the being as a God a bit late.?

‘I didn’t know this was possible.’

?Yes, Master. There are major Gods in the world like Zeus and the angels of the Abrahamic religion, but there are also cases where the being just transcended from mortality to the ranks of the immortals. Since it’s not a death-type alias, this God could be the Patron God of this Hunter.?

Ji-Cheok pulled out the Hunter’s belongings. Their wallet contained a picture of a yellow tabby cat instead of the usual family pictures. The corners of the photo were worn out.

‘Baby…’

Ji-Cheok wondered if that was the actual name of the cat or just a nickname for the cat.

‘Can cats also become Gods?’

?It is possible, Master. But to do that the cat would have to build ridiculous achievements.?

‘I see. The cat might have told the Gods when it crossed the rainbow bridge that this guy was faithful and asked for him to be Awakened. ’?