His name was Yoga, a 21-year-old youth hailing from one of the wealthiest families in Semarang. Today, Yoga had set out to explore the Warok Dungeon alongside his fiancée, Septi.
They were equipped with top-tier gear and possessed skills more than sufficient to navigate the depths of the dungeon. Or so they thought—until they were ambushed by a pack of ferocious white wolves attacking from every direction.
Septi had pushed her magic to its absolute limit, falling into a state of fatal mana exhaustion. Before she could recover, a white wolf lunged at her, slamming her violently against the dungeon wall. If Yoga hadn't moved to save her at that exact moment, she would have been dead.
Yoga sacrificed his arm to shield her. He didn't even let out a scream as the white wolf's fangs tore through his flesh. To Yoga, an arm could be regrown, but his fiancée was one of a kind.
...
"How does it feel? Any discomfort?" asked a high-ranking healer as they finished the treatment.
"No, it feels just like it did before," Yoga replied with a faint smile.
"Even so, Young Master, you need to rest for at least a month before you can return to dungeon diving."
Yoga gave a wry smile at the healer's words but didn't argue. "I understand. Thank you for restoring my arm."
"I was only doing my duty. Your father is waiting outside; you should go see him now."
Yoga nodded and stepped out of the room. A burly, middle-aged man immediately came into view. Yoga lowered his head, his voice tinged with guilt.
"Father... I'm sorry."
"Hah... I warned you repeatedly, yet you went in without the supervision of our hunter guild. Why?"
"I just wanted to see how far I could go on my own, without the guild's help."
"You... just make sure there isn't a next time, alright?"
Yoga nodded listlessly.
"By the way," his father continued, "who was the one that helped you?"
"Ah, that..." Yoga tried to recall the moment, only to realize he hadn't even asked for a name. "I don't know his name."
"Good grief. But you remember his face, don't you?"
"It's a bit blurry, but I'm sure I could pick him out if I saw a photo."
"Good. Follow me."
"Father?" Yoga tilted his head in confusion.
"Stop asking questions and just come along."
Yoga had no choice but to follow. Before long, he was forced to sit behind a desk buried under mountains of paperwork.
"Father, what is all this?"
"The records of every hunter who entered the Warok Dungeon today. Find the man who saved you."
"Why?! Why do I have to go through all this trouble?"
"Don't you want to thank him?"
"Ugh, well, yes, but—" Yoga looked at the thousands of documents and felt a headache coming on.
"If your story is true," his father said solemnly, "there is a high probability that hunter possesses a Master-tier skill."
"Eh?" Yoga froze, staring at his father in disbelief. "Master-tier? Are you serious?"
"Yes. Master-tier skills are incredibly rare. Even the high-ranking hunters in our guild only possess a few. Only rookies are supposed to enter the Warok Dungeon. If my hunch is right, we might have just found a hidden treasure."
"...I understand. I'll do it!"
Reinvigorated, Yoga began scouring the documents one by one. It took an entire day of grueling work to finally find the file belonging to a man named Rega.
The kicker? Rega's document was at the very bottom of the pile—the last one Yoga checked.
Thud!
"Dammit! If I knew it was going to be like this, I would have started from the bottom of the stack!" Yoga shouted in frustration. Yet, despite the exhaustion, he felt a surge of relief at finally knowing his savior's identity.
However, looking at the data, he could hardly believe his eyes.
"18 years old? Is this document even real?"
...
(Kill confirmed. Experience points doubled!)
(Level up! Level up! Level up!)
Rega picked up a magic crystal from the ground and swiped open his status panel.
Over the past two weeks of hunting, Rega had repeatedly reached level 1000 and increased his rank without a single hitch. He was now Rank 9, just a hair's breadth away from Rank 10. Notably, he was still fighting using only his spear.
During his last trip to the equipment shop, Rega had been drawn to an item called the Mana Ring. He chose to buy it even though it meant he couldn't afford any other gear.
The Mana Ring provided a massive boost: MP +3000 and INT +2000. Thanks to these additions, Rega's MP and INT stats had skyrocketed to 15,000—dwarfing all his other attributes.
Standing before the massive doors of the Boss Room, Rega took a deep breath and whispered to himself:
"Time to conquer the Warok Dungeon."
To be continued...