Leveling Up Alone

The three hyena sorcerers who crossed over to Earth died at the hands of the humans they looked down upon.

The outrageous news quickly reached the hyenas back home in the Bastro Dimension.

Char, the lord of the hyena race, was furious.

[Those fools. How could three sorcerers be killed by such an inferior race!]

[I-I apologize!]

Although the hyena sorcerers were fearless, Char, the sorcerer closest to the Dragon of Destruction and the source of their power, was feared.

Krrrr.

‘A part of me wants to tear him to shreds right now, but…’

Char couldn’t leave right now. A part of the reason was because the Bastro Warriors from the Light Faction, who were much stronger than before, were starting to act up. But this didn’t really matter since his subordinates could deal with them.

‘The Dragon of Destruction is about to awaken, and in order to do so, it will need a great deal of tainted mana. If I leave, no one else can control that mana.’

In the first place, he was born with a high concentration of tainted mana and ended up in the hands of the Dragon of Destruction. The exact date was unknown, but the Dragon of Destruction needed him in order to resurrect. If he wasn’t there, the dragon wouldn’t be able to resurrect properly.

Grrrr!

Filled with rage, Char clenched his fists tightly and grit his teeth.

Char had not been defeated by a human personally, but it was still a humiliating blow to his pride as a member of the hyena race. The hyena sorcerers didn't lose to a fellow Bastroling, or the Light Faction, but to a human at a three-to-one ratio. Despite their slightly more advanced science and technology, the human race wasn't much more than that.

He was even more enraged since he couldn't take revenge himself.

[You must—!]

[Yes, Char!]

[You must bring that human bastard before me alive.]

[Yes, Char!]

Krrr.

Char couldn't stand the sight of his subordinates any longer, so he stormed off into the temple of the Dragon of Destruction.

The temple was the only place in the world that only he could enter, and it was filled with the power of the dragon, giving him peace of mind.

[Human…!]

[I’ll never forgive you!]

The hyena sorcerers also thought of Han-Yeol and burned with the thought of revenge. Because of a mere human, they had been scolded by Char, the seeker and leader of their race. The humiliation they faced was something they couldn’t let slide.

[Have an assassination order put on that human right away! But, anyone who brings him back alive will be given one of the greatest treasures a sorcerer can have!]

[Yes, sir!]

The hyena warriors ranked below the sorcerers and usually in charge of escorting sorcerers and performing chores left the meeting room at the sorcerer's command.

Grrrr!

‘Human, I’ll make sure to catch you and deal with you!’

The hyena race had four chief sorcerers. They weren’t high ranking sorcerers, but hyenas who had surpassed that level. They were so strong that no matter how many high ranking sorcerers tried to fight them, they were no match. In the end, they were given a new rank that didn’t exist before, and they were called chief sorcerers.

Of the four chief sorcerers, one of them specifically had a strong desire for revenge. The other three were unaware of this, as they were currently on a mission to destroy the Bastrolings from the Light Faction.

[We’re going to Earth. Get ready.]

[Yes, Father!]

Krrrr.

The eyes of the first chief sorcerer were filled with a murderous aura.

*

Han-Yeol rubbed his eyes and yawned.

“Ah, I’m so sleepy.”

Tiredness was written all over his face.

Why did he still look so tired even though it had been half a month since he had killed the three hyena brothers?

“Tsk tsk, no matter how much time you have to spare, how can you play computer games without sleeping for half a month?”

Stewart gave him a pathetic look as Han-Yeol yawned.

“Hey, this new battle royale game is so good. Do you want to play with me? I wanna play duos, but it’s oddly hard to get a duo partner. I mean, why does everyone want to play squads? It’s so annoying. As soon as someone joins, they all want to play squads even though we were just playing duos… What a pain.”

Han-Yeol was fully invested in a new game called Battle Royale: Last Man Standing, which was released by a Korean game company named PURPLE HOLE. He used to make sure to get a certain amount of sleep even with the body of a Transcendent Master-Rank that didn’t need sleep, but he was so obsessed with the game that he gave up sleeping and played the game like crazy for fifteen days.

“But it’s still really fun playing alone or with four people!”

Was he teasing Stewart?

Han-Yeol gave Stewart a thumbs up even though he was clearly annoyed. Stewart didn’t care how many hours Han-Yeol played the game. He could just ignore him, but there was a problem.

“Ha, I’m so tired… Stewart, do you have any magic that can get rid of tiredness? Sleeping is such a waste of time…”

“There’s no such magic, just sleep if you’re tired.”

Even with the best magic, why would he want to use mana to deal with fatigue when a little sleep would do the trick? Even the most experimental wizard had common sense.

“Nope, it’s a waste of time. Ah, it started.”

Drrr.

After clicking READY and waiting in the queue, Han-Yeol was in the middle of a conversation with Stewart, but as soon as the game started, he stopped talking and focused on playing.

“Okay, let’s go. Let’s win again, everyone.”

[Yup, yup, user Leveling Up Alone-nim.]

[Let’s go!]

Once he was focused on the game, he paid no attention to the rest of his surroundings.

“Ha,” Stewart deeply sighed, annoyed by Han-Yeol’s attitude.

There was a reason Han-Yeol was so focused on the game to the point of ignoring Stewart. Han-Yeol wasn’t much of a gamer, and it had been a long time since he’d found a really fun game that appealed to his tastes.

If this was like any other time, in a more peaceful state, he would’ve taken his time and enjoyed the game slowly. However, in a time like this, when he didn’t know when or where something might happen, he was sure that there was going to be no time to rest once things got busy. So he had to enjoy the game while he could.

“Tsk.”

Stewart had zero interest in games, so found Han-Yeol pathetic.

“Can’t you respect my taste?”

“Okay, sure, sure.”

“Well, I’m going to focus on the game so…”

“I’ll leave.”

“Good.”

‘Tsk.’

This time, Stewart clicked his tongue and started to leave the game room that Han-Yeol had set up on the second floor above the hotel.

Zing!

“Huh?”

“Damn it, I’m done playing.”

Han-Yeol let out a small curse as he could sense strong mana from what he thought was a Bastroling from a distance. This was the kind of mana that he knew very well.

‘Huh? Why the roe deer all of a sudden?’

The moment he asked this question...

Whoosh!

[Hehehe, are you curious?]

‘Huh?’

The Spirit of Space, Delfusia, appeared out of thin air even though Han-Yeol didn’t summon it.

Spirits of the four elements couldn’t appear in the middle realm unless their summoner called them. However, unlike ordinary spirits who were constantly created and destroyed, the Spirits of Time and Space had existed since the beginning of time, and they could appear without the call of their summoner.

Traveling between dimensions was not a difficult task for the spirits who controlled space and time.

[So are you curious~.]

‘Ah, yeah, I am.’

[Then give me fifty cents!]

‘Here.’

[Huh?]

Han-Yeol knew that Delfusia, the Spirit of Space, was joking around. It was a very mischievous creature, and it played all kinds of pranks on Han-Yeol all the time. However, when it came to pranks, Han-Yeol was a few steps ahead since he had been doing this since high school while the Spirit of Space was clumsy due to its lack of interaction with others around it.

Han-Yeol embarrassed the Spirits of Space and Time who played tricks on him like this every time.

[Aaa! That’s not how this was supposed to go…]

Swoosh!

When its prank failed once again, Delfusia made a cute face and circled Han-Yeol.

‘You still have a long way to go, Delfusia.’

[Aww, meanie!]

Delfusia had existed since the beginning of time and was hundreds of thousands, millions of years old, but it still had a childlike innocence similar to its appearance.

‘So, what’s up all of a sudden?’

[Tsk, I’m going to succeed next time!]

‘Yeah, yeah, you do that.’

[I’m here to grant the contractor’s wish.]

‘Huh, what wish?’

Han-Yeol could only cock his head at Delfusia’s answer. No matter how much he thought, he had never been desperate for anything.

[No! I’m sure you were desperate and thought, ‘Huh? Why are the roe deer here all of a sudden?’]

Delfusia even mimicked the tone of Han-Yeol’s voice, though it wasn’t quite similar.

‘Ah, that’s what you call desperate?’

Han-Yeol thought it was a little ridiculous.

[If I say so, then it is!]

‘Sure, sure, but how are you going to fulfill my wish?’

[Wow, how could you forget the skills of your contracted spirit?!]

Delfusia looked incredibly disappointed.

Han-Yeol felt bad, so he quickly started to think. If he disappointed or hurt the spirits, this conversation could have detrimental effects on his power, as the spirits’ strength was determined by their level of connection.

Luckily, Han-Yeol was quick enough to recognize a hint in Delfusia’s reply.

‘Ah, of course I know!’

[Really?]

Delfusia looked at Han-Yeol with a slightly doubtful expression. It looked like it was going to be really disappointed if he didn’t get it now.

‘O-Of course! Is the skill you were talking about spatial transfer?’

[Yup! So you did know it!]

‘O-Of course!’

‘Phew, that was a close call.’

Han-Yeol breathed a sigh of relief without Delfusia noticing it, using a method he had been practicing for a while which was thinking inside his thoughts.

Only when Han-Yeol understood its intentions did Delfusia return to its original bright self.

[Hehe, this skill can send things here to a certain area, but it can also open doors that lead to here from another area.]

‘Oh, really?’

[Yeah. I’m the great Spirit of Space after all!]

After explaining the skill, Delfusia placed its fists on its hips, straightened its back, and pushed its chest out, shrugging in a cute pose.

‘Hmm, but how am I supposed to use this skill?’

Elementalism was a bit different than most skills. He couldn't just chant the skill and control his mana to activate it.

It was a very complex process that required a special connection with the spirit. The contractor had to become one with the spirit to take the power the spirit already had, and then reveal it in the middle realm.