Chapter 9

9

Swordmaster Healer Chapter 009

Chapter 3: The Legacy of the Sword Saint (2)

‘Did my healer abilities also awaken with my past life?’

The enormous amount of mana absorbed during the awakening not only activated his body but might have also awakened his healer abilities, which had shown the worst healing performance.

‘Here he comes!’

The troll berserker approached right in front of him. There was no time to think deeply.

“Kyaah!”

The troll berserker let out a roar and swung his curved sword. A faint memory from his past life warned him of the danger.

Seungjun deflected the curved sword aimed at his neck and targeted the troll berserker's heart. To kill a troll berserker with excellent regenerative abilities, he needed to aim for the vital points, but it wasn't easy.

“Kyaah!”

With the troll berserker's roar, Seungjun's sword was deflected.

“Damn!”

Frustrated, Seungjun let out a short curse. A counterattack immediately followed, but he managed to respond by quickly recovering his sword.

They exchanged sword strikes in a tense and breathless battle. Although he wasn't physically exhausted, his mental stamina was severely drained.

Just as regret began to surface, a familiar voice echoed in his mind.

‘Troll? If you can't overwhelm it, cut off its limbs. Severed limbs won't regenerate and will cause it to lose its balance. Then, aiming for the vital points won't be too late.’

This was a memory from his past life.

Seungjun feigned an attack on the troll berserker's heart and suddenly changed the trajectory of his sword to cut off its leg. This was an advanced sword technique that could only be executed with rich practical experience.

If Seungjun hadn't absorbed some of his past life's memories and consistently trained through solo dungeon runs, he wouldn't have been able to execute it.

“Kyaah!”

As the troll berserker lost its balance, a gap appeared. Seungjun didn't miss this opportunity and plunged his sword into its heart.

The troll berserker trembled once and then died. Its body, like those of other monsters, soon disappeared, leaving behind a mana stone and a leather armor.

- Clear confirmed, measurement complete. You have cleared a C-rank dungeon.

- New item detected.

The measurement device reacted. Seungjun took it out of his pocket and brought it to the leather armor.

- Beep.

The screen changed with a mechanical sound.

D-rank.

Defense effect confirmed.

It seemed that the armor could be worn after repairing the hole in the chest. Seungjun put the leather armor in his bag and sighed softly.

“C-rank is a bit tough to handle alone.”

After the battle with the boss, the troll berserker, he felt a slight pain all over his body. Seungjun used ‘Heal’ for emergency treatment and then climbed the stairs to leave the dungeon.

The moment he opened the door and saw the sun, another memory fragment awakened.

In Seungjun's past life, Sword Saint Lowkel was facing dozens of orcs with a man who seemed to be his attendant. As Lowkel swung his sword with an unwavering stance, dozens of orcs were swept away in one strike.

“Watch carefully, my disciple. I will now show you the training method that allowed me to become the Sword Saint.”

As Lowkel raised his hand, blue mana rose from the orc corpses and was absorbed by him.

“This is the mana absorption technique. Although it's a small amount, it can steadily increase your mana limit. I will now teach it to you.”

Just as Lowkel was about to explain, the memory faded. Seungjun felt a tingling sensation in his hand. At the same time, he could recall how to use the mana absorption technique from his faint past memories.

Seungjun trembled with excitement.

‘This brings me one step closer.’

A cold smile spread across his lips.

*

The proceeds from selling the mana stone obtained from the C-rank dungeon were 56 million won. After spending 1 million won on repairing the leather armor obtained from the troll berserker and sending 50 million won to his father from the 50 million won he received for clearing a D-rank dungeon a few days ago, he still had over 50 million won left.

“This time, it's taking a bit longer…”

After lunch, Seungjun was enjoying a leisurely afternoon with coffee when he frowned, as he hadn't received any calls from the Dungeon Management Bureau.

While solo players can enter dungeons quickly regardless of their rating, it's impossible to schedule a run if there are no nearby dungeons.

“I should practice.”

Seungjun went up to the back mountain. For a while now, he had been practicing sword techniques by retracing his faint memories.

The more he practiced, the clearer his memories became. Each time he felt he had mastered a technique, a new one would come to mind.

He felt himself getting stronger with each practice. And indeed, he was getting stronger.

“Is it because my body was activated while using mana…”

After about two hours of intense training on the back mountain, Seungjun felt his movements were faster than a few days ago.

Hunters use a small amount of mana to fight monsters. Advanced techniques like auras and magic are the result of this.

“My body seems to have changed a bit…”

Seungjun examined his body. His previously thin frame had started to develop muscles due to good eating and consistent training.

On his way home, he received a call from the Dungeon Management Bureau.

- Hello, Hunter. This is the Dungeon Management Bureau.

“Has a schedule been set?”

- Recently, there have been many solo players applying for D-rank dungeons, so the queue is a bit backed up.

The staff explained the situation. Originally, there weren't many solo players. However, after the rumor that ‘Legend’ had cleared a D-rank dungeon spread on Hunter.com, many arrogant hunters applied for solo runs.

‘It seems most of them are coming out dead. Maybe they weren't ready enough.’

According to the posts on Hunter.com, about 90% of the hunters who entered dungeons for solo runs recently were found dead.

Despite seeing so much blood, they didn't stop. Seungjun couldn't help but laugh.

‘But it's not my concern.’

Seungjun smiled coldly.

- However, you can enter an E-rank dungeon immediately.

After a moment of consideration, Seungjun made his decision.

“Then, please do that. I'll move as soon as you tell me the location.”

- Thank you for your understanding, Hunter. I will send you the information via text message right away.

It seemed like he was being considerate of the Dungeon Management Bureau, but in reality, it was a calculated move. E-rank dungeons don't yield much money, but they are suitable for testing the mana absorption technique.

Soon, the text message arrived. Seungjun moved to the indicated location, received permission from the Dungeon Management Bureau staff, and entered the dungeon.

The monsters that appeared were, of course, low-level goblins. Seungjun dispatched two goblins with one strike and raised his hand.

Blue mana rose from the goblin corpses just before they disappeared and was absorbed by Seungjun.

“Did my stamina recover?”

Surprised, he blurted out his thoughts. Although he couldn't determine the exact amount of recovery due to the low stamina consumption, it was clear that his stamina had recovered along with the mana.

“This is like an infinite power source?”

‘Heal’ only treats injuries, not stamina. The reason hunters can't continuously clear dungeons is due to their stamina limits.

It's a clear fact that combat power decreases when tired. However, with the new ability ‘mana absorption’ that Seungjun had just discovered, he could recover both stamina and mana, allowing him to hunt without rest, like an infinite power source.

“Haha, hahaha!”

His laughter wouldn't stop.

In a world without potions, he had become a special hunter.