Chapter 47: Time to Hunt

Chapter 47

The sky was painted with a red sunset. As the sun gradually dipped below the western horizon, Kim Jinsung crouched in a secluded spot near the mountain ridge.

“Hmm…”

There, Kim Jinsung took a moment to carefully review his status window.

—

**Name:** Kim Jinsung

**HP:** 1800/1800

**MP:** 892/1490

**Strength:** 301

**Intelligence:** 149

**Stamina:** 180

**Agility:** 177

**Skin Defense:** 51

**Current Skills:**

– Unstoppable Charge

– Shadow Hiding

– Disguise Clone

– Nullify

– Draw

– Poison Powder

– Petrification Powder

**Permanent Skills Acquired Through Composite Traits:**

– Steal (Innate Thief)

– Sneak (Innate Thief)

– Wall Climbing (Innate Thief)

– Confusion (Mentalist)

– Hypnosis (Mentalist)

– Seduction (Mentalist)

**Current Traits:**

– Location Detection

– Nighttime Hunting Specialist

– …

**beast Karma Points:** 310

**Skills Available for beast Karma Points:**

– Magi

– Recovery

—

“There are so many traits that they don’t all show up at once.”

Kim Jinsung considered reading through all his traits but decided against it. Besides ‘Location Detection’ and ‘Nighttime Hunting Specialist,’ most of his traits were related to enhancing his physical abilities. His gaze returned to the list of skills.

“No matter how I think about it, I can’t defeat that plant with these skills.”

Despite racking his brain, he couldn’t come up with a strategy that surpassed the ‘Disguise Clone – Nullify – Confusion – Draw’ combo he had used earlier. Therefore, there was only one solution left.

“I need to acquire a different skill.”

Kim Jinsung looked away from the status window and gazed at the sky. The sun had completely set, and the island where the preliminaries were held was once again shrouded in darkness. It was the perfect time for his ‘Shadow Hiding’ and ‘Nighttime Hunting Specialist’ traits to shine.

“Alright, time to go hunting.”

After downing another mana potion he had obtained from a participant earlier, Kim Jinsung disappeared into the shadows.

—

**Thud!**

“Ugh…!”

A short while later, a participant hiding in a secluded spot let out a brief death cry. It marked the beginning of Kim Jinsung’s hunt.

—

▶ You have defeated an evildoer.

▶ You have earned 20 beast Karma points.

▶ You have acquired the trait ‘Escape.’

▷ Escape: Permanently increases agility by 15.

▶ Your agility has increased by 15 due to the ‘Escape’ trait.

—

“This one’s a dud.”

Seeing the notification, Kim Jinsung dismissed it. While an agility boost of over 10 was a decent trait, it wasn’t what he needed right now. He was looking for a skill.

“Where else could they be…?”

Kim Jinsung hid in the shadows again and began moving while scouting the area. Thanks to his ‘Nighttime Hunting Specialist’ trait, he could vaguely make out his surroundings.

“I need to search thoroughly. They must be hiding in really hard-to-find places to avoid getting killed.”

The participant he had just hunted was hiding in a hollow under a tree. Without the ‘Nighttime Hunting Specialist’ trait, it would have been nearly impossible to find him.

“Where could they be hiding… Huh?”

Kim Jinsung’s head naturally turned to the left. His ‘Location Detection’ trait signaled that someone was hiding in the left corner.

“There’s no one there.”

Although he couldn’t see anyone, his ‘Location Detection’ trait wouldn’t lie. Silently moving in the shadows, he approached the location. Once he got closer, he found it.

“Wow…!”

He couldn’t help but be impressed. A participant was crouched between rocks, sleeping. Their skin and clothes were the same color as the rocks, like a camouflaged insect.

“This would be hard to spot even in broad daylight.”

Admiring the participant’s ingenuity, Kim Jinsung mercilessly thrust his sword. The blade smoothly pierced the participant’s forehead, granting them a painless death. A notification appeared immediately.

—

▶ You have acquired the skill ‘Chameleon.’

▷ Chameleon: Changes the user’s skin and clothing to match the surrounding objects. Consumes 50 mana.

▶ Do you want to delete an existing skill to acquire ‘Chameleon’?

—

“…This is a very good survival skill.”

The notification explained how the participant had survived for five days. With such perfect camouflage, even monsters would have passed by without noticing.

“But it’s not what I need right now.”

After searching the participant for any useful loot and finding none, Kim Jinsung turned away empty-handed.

“I hope the next skill is combat-related.”

So far, all the abilities he had acquired, like the ‘Escape’ trait, were survival-oriented. It made sense since those abilities had helped the participants survive this long.

“If I keep finding survival skills while everyone is hiding so well…”

As he pondered this, he suddenly stopped, sensing something to his right. Once again, he couldn’t see anyone, but his ‘Location Detection’ trait indicated that someone was about 10 meters ahead.

“Another survivalist?”

Kim Jinsung, thinking about the participant with the chameleon skill he encountered earlier, started moving in that direction.

Or at least he tried to.

As he took a single step forward, he distinctly heard it: the sound of something cutting through the air.

“Danger!”

Instinctively, Kim Jinsung moved. He shot up from the shadows and took a defensive stance.

With a loud noise that shattered the forest’s silence, a dagger clattered to the ground, having been deflected by Kim Jinsung’s longsword. Simultaneously, Kim Jinsung counterattacked, throwing his sword towards the source of the dagger.

**Thud!**

The sound of the sword embedding itself deeply came from in front of him. But unfortunately, it had pierced a tree trunk, not a person.

“Did they escape?”

Kim Jinsung drew another sword from its sheath, maintaining his guard. Despite waiting for a while, he sensed no presence within 10 meters.

“Someone found my hidden position.”

So far, only three entities had detected his location within the shadows: Kang Minhyuk in a berserk state, a defensive soldier with the ‘Location Tracking’ trait, and that giant plant monster underground. Now, there was a fourth.

“Either they’re stronger than me, or they have a tracking ability like ‘Location Tracking’…”

Neither option was good news for Kim Jinsung. It meant he couldn’t hunt at night against this person.

“I need to leave this area quickly. The sound of deflecting that dagger was too loud.”

Surely, all the nearby participants had heard the sound of his sword deflecting the dagger. Most would either prepare for an ambush or flee further away. Some might even try to ambush him, which would actually be beneficial for Kim Jinsung.

“I hope someone tries to ambush me.”

It would save him the trouble of searching for participants. After retrieving his sword from the tree, Kim Jinsung hid in the shadows again.

—

At that moment, far from where Kim Jinsung was, a man in a black mask suddenly appeared on a high ancient tree branch. It was Fade.

“Just now, that guy…!”

Although his expression was hidden by the mask, his trembling eyes revealed his shock.

“It was definitely the guy who ran off with the food bag on the first day.”

The memory of the ambush while trying to steal a food bag, resulting in his own injury, resurfaced in Fade’s mind. The youthful face of the guy from that day matched the face he had just seen in the darkness.

“How did he get so strong all of a sudden?”

Fade was shocked for this reason. If he had been unlucky, he might have been killed instantly by Kim Jinsung’s thrown sword. Considering the immense amount of mana in that sword and its incredible speed, it was entirely possible.

“He wasn’t at that level when I met him on the first day.”

With Fade’s level of skill, he could gauge an opponent’s level just by their movements and the amount of mana they used. The guy he saw on the first day and the one he just encountered felt like beings from entirely different dimensions.

“It’s one of two things: he either hid his true level, or he grew stronger.”

The most likely scenario was that he had hidden his true level on the first day. Growing that much in just five days was almost unheard of in Earth’s history.

“I need to be more cautious. I should stay out of sight unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

Fade decided to remain hidden until the helicopter arrived, unless he faced a truly dangerous situation. With this resolution, he used his stealth skill and disappeared from the tree branch.

—

About 30 minutes had passed since Kim Jinsung’s encounter with Fade. Still using the ‘Shadow Hiding’ skill, Kim Jinsung was wandering around the mountain, feeling deeply regretful.

“I shouldn’t have blocked it with my sword… I should have dodged somehow…”

He was filled with self-reproach because he hadn’t found anyone for 30 minutes. He believed it was due to the noise made when the swords clashed.

“If they all ran away because of that noise, it makes sense that I haven’t found anyone yet… Huh?”

Kim Jinsung’s movements halted. After 30 minutes, his ‘Location Tracking’ had finally detected something. He turned towards the direction of the signal.

“…It’s a rabbit.”

A cute white rabbit was staring at him from inside a small burrow. Wait a minute. Staring at him?

“An ordinary animal knowing my position in the shadows?”

This didn’t make sense. The white rabbit wasn’t strong like Kang Minhyuk, nor did it have a tracking trait.

“And the aura I’m sensing isn’t that of a normal rabbit.”

Feeling suspicious, Kim Jinsung made up his mind. He decided to attack the rabbit. Still hidden in the shadows, he charged at the rabbit. As he drew his sword and reached the rabbit,

“Damn it! I knew this would happen!”

The white rabbit suddenly spoke in a young man’s voice. Simultaneously, the rabbit’s body was engulfed in flames,

**Boom!**

And the entire area around the rabbit burrow exploded in a burst of fire.

—