This is my first story ever so please have mercy.

I don't own Solo Leveling or any story mentioned in this fanfic.

(Location castle town)

Naofumi: 'And just like that, all my money, my respect and my trust was gone. I lost everything...'

Jin-Woo: So what's your next move Naofumi?

Naofumi: 'Except Sung Jin-Woo. He's the only one that knows the truth and the only person I can trust in this world.' I don't know, only thing I can do for now is hunt balloons for exp.

Jin: What are these balloons?

Naofumi: They're monsters located in the fields next to the forest that are like balloons except they have eyes and mouths. Didn't you see them?

Jin-Woo: No, I went straight for the forest after all of us left. Don't want to waste my time with such weak monsters so I skipped the fields.

Naofumi: Jin-Woo, how strong are you?

Jin-Woo: You remember how I fought against monsters back in my world, it's pretty easy to hunt the monsters in the forest since they are exceptionally weak compared to the ones I've seen.

Naofumi: And what are those black clad soldiers that came out of the shadows?

Jin-Woo: That's my ability. I can summon shadow soldiers, there's more to my ability but let's talk about that later.

Naofumi: I wanted to ask you, why didn't you tell the others I didn't do it?

Jin-Woo: Quite simple, they're idiots. My shadows discovered that the other heroes actually think this world is just a game. So no matter what I said they'd believe the "damsel in distress" story that witch cooked up. But let's move on to something else, want some money to buy gear?

Naofumi: No, keep it for yourself.

As the 2 heroes walked through town there were many stares and quiet insults directed at Naofumi, but no one knew who Jin-Woo was so they assumed he's the shield hero's lackey or something and he got the same treatment.

As they continued walking someone called out to Naofumi.

???: Hey shield hero!

As they both turned to face a guy that looks like a blacksmith.

The blacksmith pulled Naofumi by the collar and backed him into a nearby wall.

Blacksmith: So I heard what you did to that girl you were with and the mage hero, I'm gonna punch you in the face!

Jin-Woo: 'Why call out that you're gonna punch someone in the face before you do it!?'

better let go of him now before you get one.

As Jin-Woo's grip tightens around the mans arm the blacksmith lets go of Naofumi from the pain.

Blacksmith: Agh, you've got a strong grip kid, who are you, his accomplice?

Jin-Woo: I am the mage hero, and who might you be?

Blacksmith: Wait didn't the mage hero get killed after the shield hero sent bandits after him, how would I know you're real?

Jin-Woo: As you see in not dead.

Blacksmith: But I thought the shield hero killed you and tried to rape that girl?

Naofumi: You're against me too?

Blacksmith: ...

Naofumi: What, weren't you gonna hit me?

Blacksmith: I don't feel like it anymore.

As Jin-Woo and Naofumi were about to leave the blacksmith stops them again.

Blacksmith: Hold on a second.

Naofumi: Huh?

Blacksmith: Take this you wont make it very far with no gear.

Naofumi: How much?

Blacksmith: Im giving it for free since it's not that much and you're broke, but it would be 5 copper.

Naofumi: Thanks, I'll repay you someday.

Blacksmith: 'Sure kid, just don't die' And here's something for you.

Jin-Woo: Why are you giving me this?

Blacksmith: You also don't have any gear, and you need it since you're a mage.

Jin-Woo: I don't need gear, but I'll take it. How much would it be?

Blacksmith: It's also 5 copper, but you don't need to pay.

Jin-Woo: No I have money, it won't be any trouble.

Blacksmith: If you had this money why didn't you buy any gear for your friend?

Jin-Woo: Well it seems Naofumi didn't want to rely on me and refused to take it.

Blacksmith: Good that he has some good qualities.

Jin-Woo: Thanks for helping him a little, he's in a dark place now. So if you can, please help me get him out of it.

Blacksmith: Ill do what I can, take care on your journeys.

(Location: fields outside of castle town)

As the 2 went to the fields, Naofumi started to attack balloons and after some time he killed 2, and Jin-Woo exterminated the rest.

Jin-Woo: So these are the monsters you guys were hunting while I was in the forest. Seems like they're pretty weak.

Naofumi: Yea they can't even damage me. But it takes me 5 minutes just to kill 1 of them.

Jin-Woo: Well try to imagine punching a football or a balloon. It would probably take forever, but why don't you grab them by the mounts ant try to rip them in half, instead of just punching them endlessly?

Naofumi never thought of doing something so simple. But would something like that work?

As a balloon jumps at Naofumi, he grabs it by the mouth. It takes a moment but he could rip it apart. And as he did he still got 0 exp. Well they weren't lying when they said the weapons hinder each other.

Jin-Woo: Well I'm gonna go hunting. Let's regroup tomorrow. So until then stay out of danger.

As they both went out to accomplish their goals Jin-Woo noticed another presence spying on him.

Jin-Woo: 'That same presence again... I'll go deeper into the forest and surprise them.'

As he traveled deeper the unknown person followed

???: 'Seems he's just going to a dungeon to kill monsters. It's unnatural for a hero to be this strong at this stage. We'll need to assess him further.'

As she finished that thought The mage hero disappeared from sight. She started frantically looking around searching for him, but she found nothing, as if he disappeared into thin air. And out of know where she felt a blade against her neck.

Jin-Woo: Who are you, why have you been spying on me and the other heroes?

The spy knew very well that if she tried to flee she'd be dead.

Spy: I-I'm a shadow serving the queen. I have ben tasked with monitoring you, the mage hero.

Jin-Woo: Queen? Isn't the king the one in charge?

Spy: Yes the king is in charge while the queen is out of the country to attend the world conference. Otherwise when the queen is present she's in charge of the kingdom.

Jin-Woo: Is it possible to speak with your queen? I want to have a word with her about the king and who I'm assuming is her daughter called Myne, or should I call her Malty.

The spy was surprised, the queens daughter never revealed herself to be the princess, and she never gave out her real name. Yet this hero who was in this world for only a few days already knew of the princess.

Spy: T-The queen is not available at this time. And even if she was, to meet her you need to have permission first.

Jin-Woo: Alright I'll let you go for now. So go back to your queen and tell her of what I said and what I want from her. And be fast, because with the shit the king and princess had pulled and with what they're gonna do in the future,

The moment he finished a cold chill ran down the spy's spine. And she quickly leaped away to deliver the message.

Jin-Woo: 'I stuck a few soldiers in in her shadow in case the spy can't come in direct contact and needs to speak with other spy's for the message to get to the queen. But for spies that call themselves shadows, they are nowhere near as discreet as my shadows.'

When he confirmed that the spy left the area completely he directed his attention at the task at hand. As he continued through the forest he arrived in front of the dungeon he's planning to raid.

Jin-Woo: Time to begin the hunt.

To clarify something since I didn't do it in the previous 3 chapters, Jin-Woo is wearing his black hoodie, white shirt and pants he wore in the Jeju island raid arc. And those are the clothes he was summoned in. Now he's also wearing a black cloak with all that.

The goal for this dungeon raid for Jin-Woo is to increase his proficiency with his legendary weapon.

When he finds a group group of monsters he decides to test out a root specializing in fire magic.

Jin-Woo: 'Activate Fire root.' Let's see what this thing can do if I pour a little magic into it.

Fire root

When he aims at the monsters they spot him and charge him. But before they got the chance to reach him they were incinerated by his fire. But the fire didn't stop there, the giant pillar of flames continued and busted though the rocky dungeon walls and emerged on the side of the mountain, creating a giant tunnel of liquified and evaporated rock.

Jin-Woo: 'Fangs, analysis.'

Fangs: 'My theory is that even if you gave the weapon not even a fraction of your own magic it was still an incredible amount compared to amount the weapon would usually use.'

Jin-Woo: 'Well... that's a lot stronger than what I imagined it'd be. I'll have to tone down the magic I give this thing by a lot. Activate earth root.'

When he activated the root he tried to patch up the giant hole and best he could.

Jin-Woo: 'Hopefully no one will notice what happened.'

Beru: 'You my king, are the great and powerful shadow sovereign. My liege doesn't need to concern himself with the thoughts and judgement of lesser beings.'

Jin-Woo: 'I still have to save the people of this world. And I can't just disregard their opinion. Either way let's clean up the surrounding area of monsters, there's no humans anywhere near here right now so go wild.' Come out.

When he finished a few hundred shadows consisting of different types of monsters and armored soldiers came out. And they went in separate paths to hunt any monsters they come across.

Jin-Woo: 'I should check on Naofumi. Hey Igrit, what's Naofumi right now, any progress?'

Igrit: 'Not a lot master. From what he said he's just reached level 3. Considering that the other heroes have already reached level 5 yesterday it's gonna be troublesome for him to keep up with the others.'

Jin-Woo: 'That really is a problem. But if it's like that then how did the previous shield heroes get any stronger than what Naofumi is right now? Maybe there's a secret mechanic in the system. I'll have to check it out later.'

Igrit: 'Master, there's another thing about the other heroes. From what we've seen from the bow, sword and spear hero party's, party members that didn't contribute much to a fight or didn't do anything at all still gained the same exp as the others who did most of the work. We weren't sure of that until we saw the spear hero's party. From what we've seen the spear hero was the only one actually doing anything and his party members still got exp.'

Jin-Woo: '...Well that answers my question. If we get him a party member then everything will be alright. I'll go see him in the morning.'

(Timeskip: next day, morning)

Naofumi: So how did it go in the forest.

Jin-Woo: Pretty nice, cleared a few dungeons and found a lot of loot.

Naofumi: Where is it? You don't have any bags or pouches. Where are you keeping it?

Jin-Woo reaches into his pocket dimension and puls out a bag of monster loot.

Jin-Woo: Here.

Obviously since Naofumi has never seen something like that he thought he was seeing things.

Naofumi: Jin-Woo... where did you just pull that from!?

Jin-Woo: Pocket dimension.

Naofumi: I shouldn't be surprised anymore. Anyway let's go sell the loot we got.

(Location: castle town, in front of a merchant shop, I'm not good with names)

Naofumi leads Jin-Woo to some kind of shop to sell their loot. As they walk to it a man was doing business with the merchant owning the shop. And when the man turns around he looks at Naofumi and Jin-Woo fearfully and leaves quickly.

Merchant: Welcome sir.

Naofumi: How much for all of these?

When the man looks at Naofumi he recognizes he's the shield hero and looks at him with a troubled expression. But his face gains a smirk shortly after.

Merchant:Orange balloon fragments... Looks to be about 20 of them. How does 1 copper sound for the entire lot?

Naofumi: You offered the last guy a copper for every pair.

Merchant: Did I now, I don't recall that. You must understand I do have a business to run.

Naofumi: Is that so... then I assume these will fetch a better price then they're quite lively.

Merchant:Aaagh!

Naofumi puls the merchant under his cloak where the balloons start biting him. The balloons can't do much to Naofumi, but to normal humans they're as dangerous as any other monsters and could probably eat the merchant down to his bones if left alone.

Jin-Woo: Naofumi aren't you going a little too far?

Naofumi: Nah man it's ok, its not that bad Look I'm not trying to rip you off here, all I want is a fair market price. It's not personal so is there any reason you might have for hating me?

Merchant: Ok fine I'll give you whatever you want, now get these thing off of me!

Naofumi: Sounds like we have a deal. If you buy from me constantly I'll maybe even give you a discount. Better than trying to rip me off right?

Merchant: Consider it done sir! Of course the exchange of money and goods has nothing to do with the crimes you may or may not have committed.

Naofumi: And 1 more thing, spread the word to the other merchants that if anyone tries to mess with me they'll be covered in bite marks.

Merchant: Of course sir!

Naofumi: To a fruitful relationship. Jin-Woo, it's your turn.

Jin-Woo: How much for these?

The merchant doesn't recognize the man in front of him but is still cautious since he's with the shield hero. When he looks through the different loot he gains a look of surprise.

Merchant: Sir how did you get all of these. Some of these parts are from monsters that are really tough.

Jin-Woo: They weren't so tough, so how much?

The merchant doesn't try to play any tricks this time. Any man who can hunt down and kill the monsters the loot was taken from wasn't a person to be messed with.

Merchant: Seems all the items are in good condition, how does 25 silver sound?

Jin-Woo not caring much for the price since it took little effort for him to get all of it accepts the deal. And adds 25 silver to the 799 silver and 95 copper he still had since the only thing he spent money on in this world was the cloak he was currently wearing.

When they leave the shop some time later, the 2 heroes stop at a crossroad.

Jin-Woo: There's something I have to go do in the forest so I'll be back in about 2 days.

Naofumi: Yea me to, I also need to do a few things. See you in 2 days then.

As the 2 part ways Jin-Woo walks into a nearby alley way and activates stealth. What he really want to do is monitor Naofumi for the 2 days to see what will happen during the time he's gone.

When he exits the alley and is on a building he follows Naofumi to a blacksmith shopthat belonged to the blacksmith they met yesterday. He becomes curious as to what Naofumi is here for but his curiosity soon disappears when he sees Naofumi drop off 5 copper that he said he'd pay back the blacksmith guy without him noticing.

Jin-Woo: 'Even after what happened to him he's still good on the inside after all.'

(Timeskip: 2 days, night time)

For the past 2 days Jin-Woo has ben following Naofumi around. In the 2 days Naofumi unlocked a few shields that helped him in harvesting herbs. Naofumi started using the shields to harvest and sell herbs and on the second day even started trying to learn how to make medicine and other stuff with the herbs he's collected. Now it's night time and Naofumi is in an inn eating.

Naofumi: 'Since that day, everything I ate had no taste.'

Random guy1: Oh great shield hero, we'll join your party if you want.

3 drunk guys walk up to Naofumi.

Random guy2: Yea thank your lucky stars.

Naofumi: Ok, how about we discuss the terms up from.

Random guy2: Sure thing.

Naofumi: Your pay will be entirely performance based. Do you know what that means?

Random guy1: Not a clue!

Random guy1, 2 and 3: Hahahaha!

Naofumi: That means your pay depends on the loot we get on our quest. And since I'm leader, I'm keeping at least 40%. I'll split up the rest amongst you guys, if you do nothing of value then you get nothing.

Random guy2: What the hell! That means if you get a wild hair up your ass you can end up keeping it all for yourself!?

Naofumi: I promise to pay you if you do your job. Assuming you can.

The 4 leave the inn and the random guys follow Naofumi.

Random guy2: Let's go get us some equipment boss.

Naofumi: Get your own. I have nothing to gain by doing that.

Random guy2: What!?

Random guy1: Forget that crap. Hand over your money.

Naofumi: If you just have said it would have saved us a lot of time.

Random guy2: Who knew this was so easy.

As Naofumi reaches into hic cloak he grabs a balloon and throws it at random guy2's face. Random guy1 pulls out a knife and try's to stab Naofumi, but he blocks the knife and the shield emits a wave that knocks random guy1 of his feet.

Random guy3: Bastard!

Random guy3 tries to attack Naofumi from behind with a dagger but something blocks it.

???: If you guys come here trying to hurt someone...

As random guy3 turns his head towards his right arm that's holding the dagger he sees a man holding his wrist. Naofumi also turns around.

Jin-Woo: Then prepare to get hurt yourself.

When he finished his sentence he crushed the guys wrist and it bent in ways it shouldn't be able to.

Random guy3: Aaaaaggh!

The man fell to the ground holding his broken hand. Screaming out in pain.

Jin-Woo: Remember this. If I catch you idiots pulling this again,

When they heard his words they didn't waste any time on the floor and got up and ran as fast as they could. They knew very well that if they sticked around they wouldn't be getting out of there with just a broken limb.

Jin-Woo: So how were the 2 days I wasn't around for you Naofumi?

Naofumi: Not that bad. But there's a problem. I have real good defense but no offense. Without it I can't kill monsters. And because of that I can't farm exp. and since I can't farm I can't raise my offense. I'm stuck in a god damn loop!

Jin-Woo: That is a huge problem. But i may have a way to fix it.

Naofumi: How!?