“A sword, huh?”

    Seeing the notification, Su-ho couldn’t help but smile.

    Out of all the weapons, of course, it had to be a sword.

    “I’ll finish this quickly.”

    He thought it was actually a good thing.

    In the Library of Mu-hak, where he had to fight against Mokuzan, who had mastered all kinds of martial arts, if the first round was a sword fight, then Su-ho could finish it faster than anyone.

    With that thought, Su-ho reached for his weapon.

    [Blood Weapon activated.]

    As the skill activated, the Blood Sword appeared in Su-ho’s hand.

    Mokuzan, too, was armed.

    At some point, a steel sword appeared in its grasp, and Mokuzan stared at Su-ho for a moment before charging at him like an enraged bull.

    Crash! Crash! Crash! Crash!

    With each step, the Library of Mu-hak seemed to tremble.

    But Su-ho didn’t dodge. He simply watched as Mokuzan charged at him like a bull.

    Then, just as Mokuzan thrust its sword forward like a horn, Su-ho swung his sword in a single motion.

    Clang!

    The Blood Sword sliced through the air.

    It collided with Mokuzan’s sword.

    Screech!

    To Su-ho’s surprise, Mokuzan’s sword snapped in half, with its blade sliced clean through the middle.

    .......

    Mokuzan, having lost its weapon, paused for a moment.

    It seemed this was a first for Mokuzan.

    Perhaps that was why?

    [The Guardian of the Library acknowledges its defeat.]

    [The gate has been cleared.]

    [The MVP of the gate clear is ‘An Su-ho.’]@@@@

    [Bonus experience awarded for MVP.]

    [Bonus stat of 1 point awarded.]

    [Level has increased.]

    [All stats have increased by 1.]

    [You have gained a bonus stat.]

    To Su-ho’s surprise, the Guardian of the Library acknowledged its defeat, and at that moment, the gate was cleared.

    Looking at the flood of system notifications, Su-ho recalled the Blood Weapon and said, “Truly, martial artists are different.”

    The whole purpose of the Library of Mu-hak was to test the challenger’s abilities, so Mokuzan had no choice but to acknowledge defeat cleanly.

    And Su-ho appreciated that.

    Most gates involved boss monsters obsessed with killing, unlike Mokuzan.

    After the gate was cleared, Mokuzan stood still, trembling for a moment, before freezing into position like a stone statue.

    Su-ho walked toward the library and took a close look at Mokuzan.

    “It’s solid.”

    Touching it, Su-ho could feel the heavy, steel-like weight.

    Even the broken sword blade was just as solid.

    But despite that, the fact that such a sturdy steel blade had been broken meant that Su-ho’s Blood Sword was tougher.

    “I didn’t even use a skill. This is pure physicality.”

    Of course.

    Even Gu Taek-su, the King of Martial Arts, couldn’t defeat Su-ho when it came to pure swordsmanship.

    Su-ho nodded in satisfaction as he walked closer to the library.

    The Library of Mu-hak contained numerous martial arts manuals.

    As Su-ho looked around, he reached out, and a system notification appeared before him.

    [Welcome to the Library of Mu-hak.]

    [Having defeated the Guardian of the Library, you may now receive 1 book of knowledge from the Library.]

    Just as Gu Taek-su had said.

    The Library of Mu-hak granted knowledge to those who defeated the guardian, and this knowledge, of course, came in the form of skills.

    Soon, a few options appeared before Su-ho.

    [Swordsmanship]

    [Footwork]

    [Grappling]

    The three options appeared before him.

    Su-ho looked at the last option and couldn’t help but smirk.

    “Grappling, huh?”

    He knew what Swordsmanship and Footwork were.

    But Grappling?

    Grappling wasn’t a martial art in itself, but a collection of other miscellaneous techniques. But just because they were classified as “miscellaneous” didn’t mean they were insignificant.

    Su-ho never underestimated them. He knew exactly what skills could be learned from the Library of Mu-hak, and he already knew all the options available.

    Grade: BGrade: S

    And sure enough, he saw the gate line slowly vanishing, and a chill ran down his spine.

    “N-No way!”

    At that moment, someone appeared from the gate.

    It was Su-ho.

    Su-ho, looking as casual as someone who had just been out for a walk, stepped out of the gate with a relaxed expression.

    “Ah, so you guys were all waiting here.”

    “Su-ho!”

    People crowded around him.

    Among them, Jeong Cheol-min was the first to rush to Su-ho.

    “Do you know how worried I was? What happened?”

    With a slightly awkward smile, Su-ho replied to Jeong Cheol-min’s heartfelt worry.

    “Well... It seems like my mana suddenly surged, and that’s what caused all this. Luckily, the gate itself wasn’t too difficult, so I was able to make it out safely.”

    “Ahh... Thank god... I’m so relieved...”

    “You were really worried, huh? Haha... Sorry about that.”

    “Worried? Of course! I was really, really worried. My legs are still shaking.”

    Seeing Jeong Cheol-min so genuinely relieved made Su-ho feel a little guilty.

    Even though he knew what kind of gate this was before approaching, seeing Jeong Cheol-min breathe a sigh of relief made Su-ho feel a tiny bit guilty.

    Su-ho smiled awkwardly and said.

    “Well, I made it out safely. But... What about the field evaluation?”

    “Is that really important right now? What matters is that you made it out alive.”

    “That’s true, but...”

    After all, it was still a test, right?

    Afterward, Su-ho strongly suggested doing the evaluation at another gate, and of course, he earned a perfect score again.

    ‘Finally, the Special Department.’

    After taking the evaluation at another gate, Su-ho left early and headed home.

    Now, the only remaining training department was the Special Department.

    And naturally, Su-ho wasn’t too worried about the evaluation there.

    The Special Department was the most favorable place for him.

    Once home, Su-ho quietly opened his status window.

    [An Su-ho]

    Lv: 75

    Class: Healer

    Traits: New Blood Heracles Candidate

    Strength (R): 99

    Health (R): 37

    Mana (R): 37

    Sense (R): 37

    Bonus Stats: 2

    Level 75.

    And 99 Red-tier Strength stats with 2 bonus stats.

    All of these had come from the Library of Mu-hak.

    Su-ho deliberately avoided distributing his stats.

    He wanted to enjoy the moment when his stats would finally rise to Orange-tier.

    So, for now, he allocated one bonus stat into Strength.

    [Your Strength stat has reached 100.]

    [Your Strength stat has grown further.]

    [Congratulations! Your Strength stat level has risen and is now Orange-tier!]

    His Red-tier Strength stat had become Orange-tier.

    At the same time, the stat value of 100 was reset to 1, and the red border turned to orange.

    Next to it, instead of the "R" symbolizing Red-tier, an "O" symbolizing Orange-tier appeared.

    Seeing the notification, Su-ho chuckled in disbelief.

    He had felt the same way when he first obtained the Red-tier stats, but this growth rate was truly ridiculous.

    *“I wasn’t even at 1-star, and I’m already at Orange-tier...”

    With this growth rate, Su-ho felt confident that he wouldn’t lose to anyone in this life.

    “No, maybe I could even clear the first Cataclysmic-tier gate by myself.”

    He was confident.

    It was a gate he had already cleared once.

    Could two attempts be too difficult?

    Though, going solo would require additional preparation.

    Su-ho invested his remaining bonus stat into Mana and closed his status window.

    Just then, his phone rang.

    He checked the caller ID and got up.

    It was a call from Pi Seong-yeol.