Solo leveling vol 4, p.1
Solo Leveling, Vol. 4, page 1
Copyright
Solo Leveling IV
CHUGONG
Translation by Hye Young Im and J. Torres
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
SOLO LEVELING Volume 4
© Chugong 2017 / D&C MEDIA
All rights reserved.
First published in Korea in 2017 by D&C MEDIA Co., Ltd.
English translation © 2022 by Yen Press, LLC
Yen Press, LLC supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture.
The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact the publisher. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Chugong, author. | Im, Hye Young, translator. | Torres, J., 1969– translator.
Title: Solo leveling / Chugong ; translation by Hye Young Im and J. Torres.
Other titles: Na honjaman rebereop. English
Description: First Yen On edition. | New York, NY : Yen On, 2021.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020047938 | ISBN 9781975319274 (v. 1 ; trade paperback) | ISBN 9781975319298 (v. 2 ; trade paperback) | ISBN 9781975319311 (v. 3 ; trade paperback) | ISBN 9781975319335 (v. 4 ; trade paperback)
Subjects: GSAFD: Fantasy fiction.
Classification: LCC PL994.215.G66 N313 2021 | DDC 895.73/5—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020047938
ISBNs: 978-1-9753-1933-5 (paperback)
978-1-9753-1934-2 (ebook)
E3-20220311-JV-NF-ORI
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
1. The True Reward
2. The Korea-Japan Alliance
3. Ryuji Goto
4. An Ominous Presence
5. King of the Ants
6. A Fruitful Harvest
7. All Eyes on Jinwoo
8. An Unexpected Proposal
9. The Applicant
10. How About SoloPlay Guild?
Yen Newsletter
1
THE TRUE REWARD
“Whew…”
Jinwoo breathed a small sigh of relief. This moment signaled the end of his long journey of clearing the hundred floors of the Demon’s Castle. As he closed his eyes to process the powerful wave of emotions that flooded over him, his mother’s face popped into his head.
……
When Jinwoo opened his eyes again, he saw the system messages still in front of him. Incredibly, there were four level-up notifications.
Four levels at once?
His face lit up. It was an unbelievable triumph, considering how his leveling speed had significantly slowed after reaching level 90. He checked the stat window right away.
[Level: 97]
He had indeed gone up four levels.
Nice!
Jinwoo pumped his fist. The feeling of relief over having cleared the dungeon was overlaid by a sense of achievement, but he decided to save the celebrating for later.
There was something more important.
Purified Blood of the Demon Monarch.
It was the last ingredient he needed to make the Elixir of Life. Jinwoo unwrapped the bandages from his hand and reached toward the light sparkling from the corpse of Balan, the Demon Monarch.
[You have discovered Item: Demon Monarch’s Ring. Would you like to acquire it?]
[You have discovered Item: Demon Monarch’s Sword. Would you like to acquire it?]
[You have discovered 2 Items: Demon Monarch’s Daggers. Would you like to acquire them?]
[You have discovered 2 Items: Balan’s Horns. Would you like to acquire them?]
[You have discovered Material Item: Purified Blood of the Demon Monarch. Would you like to acquire it?]
Jinwoo was more anxious than elated as the notifications for items other than the one he wanted popped up one after another. He shouted for joy when the notification for the Purified Blood of the Demon Monarch finally appeared.
There it is!
Jinwoo acquired all the items and then called the Purified Blood of the Demon Monarch to his hand.
[MATERIAL ITEM: PURIFIED BLOOD OF THE DEMON MONARCH]
Acquisition Difficulty: ??
Category: Material
This liquid was made by purifying the blood of Demon Monarch Balan.
It possesses powerful magic but still contains traces of poison even after purification, so the materials World Tree Fragment and Spring Water from Echo Forest are required in order to neutralize the poison and use it as medicine.
The red liquid sloshed around as Jinwoo held the clear glass bottle containing it at an angle.
This is the blood of the Demon Monarch……
He already had the World Tree Fragment and Spring Water from Echo Forest, so why wait?
Jinwoo called up the Craft window.
[CRAFT]
Consumable: Elixir of Life (3/3)
Unlike the last time he’d checked, Elixir of Life was now flashing on the screen. As Jinwoo skimmed the contents, the word Craftable caught his eye.
[ELIXIR OF LIFE]
—Craftable
—Materials
Purified Blood of the Demon Monarch (1/1)
World Tree Fragment (1/1)
Spring Water from Echo Forest (1/1)
[Would you like to craft Item: Elixir of Life?]
In his impatience to see the result, Jinwoo didn’t hesitate.
“Craft.”
[Crafting Item: Elixir of Life.]
[10, 9, 8…]
He held his breath.
[7, 6, 5…]
[The rate of success and item quantity will vary based on the crafter’s intelligence level.]
Jinwoo stared, incredulous.
Does that really say the rate of success and item quantity depends on my intelligence level?
Did that mean he wouldn’t be able to craft this at all if he was stupid? Jinwoo found himself nodding as the logic behind it strangely made sense.
The countdown continued.
[4, 3, 2…]
Why did the words rate of success bother Jinwoo so much? His only comfort was that he’d invested every single ability point in the intelligence stat after belatedly realizing its importance.
[1, 0.]
[Crafting is complete!]
[Crafting was successful!]
[You have acquired 6 Items: Elixirs of Life!]
“Yes!” Jinwoo threw both arms in the air as soon as he saw that it had worked.
Huh?
But then he noticed something strange—the bottle with the Demon Monarch’s blood was still in his right hand.
The amount of blood did decrease a little bit, but…
He tried pulling the World Tree Fragment and Spring Water from Echo Forest out of his inventory. However, all that appeared on the ground before him was the World Tree Fragment, which seemed to have a chunk missing.
He opened and thoroughly scoured his inventory, but no Spring Water was to be found.
Hmm, maybe…?
Examining the craft window confirmed his suspicions.
—Materials
Purified Blood of the Demon Monarch (1/1)
World Tree Fragment (1/1)
Spring Water from Echo Forest (0/1)
Out of the three ingredients, only Spring Water from Echo Forest was down to zero.
So it uses only the amount necessary instead of the entire item?
It appeared as though crafting had stopped because Spring Water from Echo Forest had run out. It seemed that not much blood was required for the recipe, and the World Tree Fragment had always been quite a large hunk of wood. It made sense that the small jar of Spring Water from Echo Forest had run out first.
Jinwoo smiled.
This isn’t exactly bad news.
It meant he could craft more elixirs as long as he acquired more Spring Water from Echo Forest.
Now, the big question remained.
Jinwoo had to forcibly calm himself when he saw not one but six wooden bottles of the Elixir of Life appear on the ground in front of him.
[ITEM: ELIXIR OF LIFE]
Acquisition Difficulty: S
Category: Consumable
A mystical potion that cures all diseases using powerful magic. An entire bottle must be consumed for the full effect of the potion.
Would this item actually cure his mother?
…I guess I’ll find out today.
Excited, Jinwoo carefully stored the six jars of Elixir of Life in his inventory, as well as the leftover ingredients.
But there was still pl enty of other items left for him to inspect.
A ring, a sword, two daggers, and even two miscellaneous items.
An S-rank instance-dungeon boss really did drop a ton of loot, but as happy as Jinwoo was to see so many items, he didn’t have time to inspect them all. His priority was to get out of there and see his mother.
Jinwoo stowed all the items he’d acquired from the Demon Monarch, then looked around as he dusted off his hands. He didn’t want to miss anything just because he was in a hurry. After all, haste made waste.
Jinwoo glanced over his shoulder and saw his shadow soldiers, who had just destroyed an army ten times their number, all standing at attention in neat rows. Behind them, the corpses of demon soldiers were strewn all over.
But where’s the dragon?
Jinwoo’s eyes sought out the monster the Demon Monarch had ridden, but he could see only mounds of dead soldiers everywhere he looked.
Did it fly away during the battle?
His worry didn’t last long as Iron approached Jinwoo, dragging something huge. It was the dead body of Kaisellin, the winged dragon.
“Dang, that’s pretty impressive, Iron.”
Iron bashfully scratched the back of his head—or rather, the back of his helmet. It’d been a while since Jinwoo had last complimented him. Jinwoo patted Iron on the shoulder and stood in front of the body.
Just as I thought…
It was as he’d suspected based on the dragon’s full title and appearance. Black smoke rose up from the dragon’s corpse, signaling that Jinwoo could extract its shadow. Jinwoo held out his arm.
“Arise.”
The extraction was quick and easy, since his level had jumped so much.
Skreeee!
With a scream reminiscent of the cry of a beast on the brink of death, a shadowy mass surged out of the dragon’s shadow. It immediately recognized its master and approached Jinwoo with its head bowed.
[Please choose a name.]
Oh.
Jinwoo eyed the message in surprise. He’d thought the dragon would only be good for riding, as he hadn’t seen its abilities in combat, but it was a knight rank, so it must be relatively skilled. This was remarkable considering Igris, the star of the shadow army, had also been a knight rank until recently. If he thought about it, though, there was no way a demon monarch would choose an inferior monster to ride.
Satisfied with his new soldier’s rank, Jinwoo responded. “Kaiselli…no.” He decided right then that a nine-letter name was too long.
“Kaisel.”
The winged dragon reared his head and roared long and loud into the air at his new name.
Skraaaaaw!
“Good job, everyone.” He recalled the soldiers back into his shadow, including Kaisel.
It was about time to leave the Demon’s Castle now, but there was one thing left to do. Jinwoo opened the inbox to read the quest completion message.
[You have completed Quest: Collect Demon Souls (2).]
[The rewards have been delivered.]
[Would you like to check your rewards?] (Y/N)
Yes.
At his answer, the system showed him the list of rewards.
Ping!
[YOU HAVE THE FOLLOWING REWARDS.]
Reward 1. Rune stone of the highest rank
Reward 2. Ability Points +30
Reward 3. Mystery Reward
[Would you like to accept all?]
Jinwoo selected the first reward, having been curious about the rune stone ever since he’d initially received the quest.
Let’s start with reward one.
Ping!
[The rune stone of the highest rank, Rune Stone: Shadow Exchange, has been delivered.]
The weight of a small stone in his hand accompanied the message. He opened his hand to find a rune stone unlike any other he’d seen before. It seemed to emanate a strange black color that was incomparable to a regular shade of black.
Crsh!
Previously, he’d had to squeeze the stone in his hand to break it, but now he only had to think about crushing it, and it broke apart. Black energy from the rune stone swirled around Jinwoo’s body and was absorbed.
Jinwoo promptly checked the skill window.
[SKILL: SHADOW EXCHANGE, LV.1]
Job-exclusive skill.
No mana required.
The caster may switch locations with a designated shadow soldier.
Once used, you may activate it again only after a three-hour cooldown period. Wait times can vary depending on skill level.
Whoa!
Jinwoo’s eyes widened as he read the explanation. The cooldown period was a minor drawback, but it was such a handy skill, it made sense that it had some form of limitation.
So I can swap locations with any shadow soldier no matter the place?
In a nutshell, this skill enabled instant teleportation. Jinwoo considered summoning forth a soldier in order to test the skill but quickly changed his mind.
I might as well test this out with a soldier farther away.
He happened to have some soldiers he’d left behind, outside the Demon’s Castle. He’d assigned one group to dwell in his sister’s shadow and another to patrol the neighborhood.
It’s an easy choice.
He couldn’t exactly teleport to Jinah; not only would it shock her, but he also didn’t know if the skill had any residual effects. And so Jinwoo zeroed in on one of the five soldiers patrolling his neighborhood.
“Shadow Exchange.” As soon as he’d uttered those words… “O-oh?”
Jinwoo heard the chime of a notification just as his own shadow swallowed him whole.
[As the boss has been defeated, the dungeon will now revert to its origin…]
The sensation of free-falling didn’t last long. The gravitational pull suddenly reversed, and Jinwoo shot up at the same speed he had fallen. His gaze, which could detect only darkness, went back to normal in the blink of an eye.
This is…?
Jinwoo took in his surroundings.
Zzt, zzt…
A flickering streetlight that was most likely defective, a pushcart that leaned precariously against a wall, an electrical pole with torn flyers on it—it was the empty alleyway he often passed on his way home.
This is our neighborhood, isn’t it?
Coincidentally, this was same place where he’d ordered his five soldiers to patrol the neighborhood.
I actually changed locations.
He couldn’t help feeling gobsmacked, but he was able to collect himself enough to check under his feet. He’d come from the same shadow out of which his shadow soldiers had risen. He cautiously tapped his shadow with his foot.
……
When the skill had been activated, his feet had sunk into the shadow as if he’d stepped into a pool of water. But the shadow was back to normal now.
Amazed, Jinwoo looked up the skill info again. The three-hour waiting period before he could reuse the skill had started as per the explanation.
[SKILL: SHADOW EXCHANGE, LV.1]
Job-exclusive…
…may use the skill after 02:59:57.
Amazing…
Jinwoo’s heart raced at what he’d experienced for himself.
It all happened so fast……
He had maintained concentration from the moment he’d been sucked into the shadow. Considering how time had seemed to slow from his perspective while he was in that state, he really had teleported in an instant.
He swallowed hard.
Shadow Exchange. Depending on how he used it, the possibilities were endless.
Oh right, I don’t have time for this.
Jinwoo calmed himself and tamped down his mana. He finally had in his hands the medicine that could cure his mother, so there was no time to waste.
He anxiously turned on his phone to check the time.
It’s already……
He frowned as the numbers on the screen told him it was ten o’clock at night. Visiting hours were technically over, but Jinwoo didn’t hesitate to summon the shadow of the dragon.
