A Hunter-exclusive app showed me the locations of F-Rank Gates.
I had three conditions.
There had to be no nearby Hunters, it had to be a monster-hunting Gate, and preferably no one else had touched it yet.
The world sure had become convenient.
To think an app could even find something like this for me.
There happened to be a Gate nearby that perfectly matched my conditions.
I did not even need transportation.
It was only a five-hundred-meter walk away.
"This must be it."
A restaurant that should have been bustling with customers was instead shrouded in gloomy darkness.
There was not a single customer inside. Association employees were stationed there instead.
When I looked into the restaurant, the reason became immediately obvious.
"Gates can appear inside buildings too?"
-They can appear anywhere Mana gathers.
A blue portal stood there, asserting its presence.
Despite being only an F-Rank Gate, it was giving off a considerable amount of Mana.
That was the Gate I would be entering today.
I was about to walk straight in when an Association employee stopped me.
"Hold on. Civilians aren't allowed in here. Please turn back."
He waved me away with practiced ease, as though he had done this countless times before.
His face was filled with annoyance.
I had heard that ordinary people sometimes came all the way here just to satisfy their curiosity.
Apparently assuming I was another one of them, he did not even bother looking at me properly.
There was no reason to get irritated.
All I had to do was prove who I was.
"Please hurry. If you get hurt or killed, we can't be held responsi—"
"I'm Awakened. I have both my Awakened ID and my Gate Access Pass."
"Ah! I'm sorry!"
When I pulled them out, the Association employee hurriedly bowed his head.
Seeing how flustered he looked actually made me feel bad.
Dark circles were deeply etched beneath his eyes.
And he was not the only one.
The other Association employees looked just as exhausted.
'I heard Association employees earn a lot because the workload is so brutal.'
It could not be helped when public safety was involved.
"It's fine. If I were you, I'd stop people first and verify their identities too."
"Thank you for understanding. We'll just do a quick check and let you in right awa— Hm? You registered today?"
"Yes. Is there a problem?"
My confident response left the employee even more bewildered than when I had pulled out my ID and pass.
His expression practically asked what kind of person I was.
The nearby reactions suggesting I had to be insane were merely a bonus.
"If your documents were issued today, then this is your first time entering a Gate, isn't it?"
"That's right?"
"But you're not wearing any equipment, and you don't have any party members. Isn't it too dangerous to go in alone?"
His judgment was perfectly reasonable.
Anyone looking at me would think I was dressed to make a quick trip to the convenience store.
I was simply an exception.
'It ends in one hit anyway. There's nothing to prepare.'
Of course, there was no way he could know that.
The Association employee looked deeply worried.
He could not keep still, clearly anxious.
Even the lowest-rank Awakened was a valuable resource.
If an Awakened died in the area under his supervision?
His performance evaluation and career record would probably hit rock bottom.
That was, if I died.
But the odds of that happening were about the same as the world ending today.
"Then I'll just look around and come back out. That's allowed, right?"
"Haah... You need to come back quickly. If you die inside a Gate, the monsters will eat you, and we might not even recover your body. In other words, you'll die for nothing."
"Yes, sir! I'll be careful!"
At last, I slipped into the Gate.
It was similar to the Tower, yet different.
In the Tower, I had to fulfill the objective before I could leave.
[Defeat 1,000 Goblins.]
[Goblin: 0/1,000]
But in a Gate, I could leave without killing all one thousand.
There were a few exceptional Gates where that was not possible, but they were rare.
It was not something I needed to worry about in an F-Rank Gate.
"Let's clear this quickly and get out, Fire."
-Waaah!
[Fire(EX) says he understands!]
Fire, who had already climbed onto my head, brought hell down upon them.
[Fire(EX)'s possessed skill, 'Hellfire(EX),' activates.]
KABOOOOOOOM!
ROOOOAR!
[You have defeated 1,000 Goblins!]
[Goblin: 1,000/1,000]
[Goblin Claw × 33 has been awarded!]
[Goblin Hide × 45 has been awarded!]
[Goblin Heart × 11 has been awarded!]
[Goblin Leader's Club × 1 has been awarded!]
[Lowest-Rank Mana Stone(F) × 76 acquired!]
[Low-Rank Mana Stone(E) × 1 acquired!]
[The Gate will disappear in 2 hours!]
[If you do not leave before it disappears, you will disappear along with it!]
"The rewards are worse than the Tower."
It did not matter.
Unlike the Trial Tower, Gates were not limited to one entry per day.
I simply walked back out through the same place I had entered.
Apparently unaware that I had returned, the Association employee kept sighing.
"An Awakened can't die in my area..."
"He'll probably just take a look around and come back. Even that Awakened should know an F-Rank Gate isn't somewhere you can enter unarmed."
"I suppose you're ri— Aaaagh?! W-Why are you back already?"
"Because I cleared it? Have a good day!"
"Y-You what? Cleared it? Huh?"
Thinking I was joking, the Association employee checked the Gate and froze.
It was already undergoing the disappearance process that occurred after a Gate was cleared.
Clearing one Gate was not enough.
'I need to keep moving if I'm going to fill 8,000 Hunger. Busy, busy.'
I had to use my time as efficiently as possible.
I immediately sprinted toward the next F-Rank Gate.
Inside a Gate filled with lush green vegetation—
A dark crimson hell descended.
KABOOOOOOOM!
ROOOOAR!
Nothing remained.
Everything had been burned away.
[You have defeated 1,000 Silver Wolves!]
[Silver Wolf: 1,000/1,000]
[Silver Wolf Claw × 43 has been awarded!]
[Silver Wolf Hide × 55 has been awarded!]
[Silver Wolf Fang × 8 has been awarded!]
[Lowest-Rank Mana Stone(F) × 61 acquired!]
[Low-Rank Mana Stone(E) × 3 acquired!]
[The Gate will disappear in 2 hours!]
[If you do not leave before it disappears, you will disappear along with it!]
"That makes nine."
I hurried out before the Association employee could speak to me and headed to a convenience store.
I bought a bottle of cold water and poured it straight down my throat.
"Ahhh! I feel alive again."
-Waaah!
[Fire(EX) reaches out his hands and asks for some water.]
"You too? You're a Fire Spirit. You drink water?"
-Waaah!
[Fire(EX) says that doesn't matter.]
"All right."
A 500-milliliter bottle of water vanished in an instant.
I knew it.
I bought another large bottle and poured it into my mouth.
Fire drank his share too.
"Yeah. Drink as much as you want. You worked hard. Of course, I worked even harder."
I was probably the only person in the world who found traveling more exhausting than fighting.
Combat consisted of entering the Gate and using Hellfire once.
That was it.
I did not even have time to see the monsters' faces.
One activation and everything was over.
Traveling was another matter.
'There were fewer Gates matching my conditions than I expected.'
Every Gate seemed ridiculously far from the next.
I had been running around and taking public transportation so much that I felt like I was going to collapse.
Still, my effort had paid off.
❰Hunger: (8,000/8,000)❱
[Hunger has reached 8,000!]
[Fire(EX)'s Level increases by 1!]
"Eight thousand!"
All that effort had been worth it.
Fire would finally obtain his new skill.
But there was more than just joy waiting for me.
❰Fire(EX) Lv. 5❱
❰Possessed Skill: Hellfire(EX)❱
❰Hunger: (0/16,000)❱
……A new skill will be unlocked upon reaching Lv. 10
……Lee Chanyoung will unlock a new skill upon reaching 16,000 Hunger
"...Sixteen thousand?!"
I had thought I might finally have some breathing room after selling the monster byproducts.
'He's a Mana Stone-devouring hippo.'
Even a hippo probably would not eat this much.
And then—
[Spirit Stones are required to unlock the next skill!]
[Lowest-Rank Fire Spirit Stone(C-): (0/10)]
"Reaching Level 5 wasn't enough to unlock the skill?"
I had not expected Spirit Stones to be required too.
Ten of them, at that!
I almost unleashed a torrent of curses.
Spirit Stones were several times more valuable than Mana Stones.
To Spirits, Spirit Stones were growth boosters.
Even the Lowest-Rank ones normally cost hundreds of millions of won each.
"Where am I supposed to find those right now?"
-There is a way. They occasionally appear inside Gates.
And Towers.
Yes.
Occasionally.
The drop rate was horrendously low.
So low that most people simply bought them on the market instead.
I was wondering whether I should give up for now when—
[Successfully reached 8,000 Hunger.]
[Skill, 'Spirit Stone Detection(C+),' acquired!]
<Spirit Stone Detection(C+)>
Description: A skill personally created by a certain Spirit who loves to eat. Detects nearby Fire Spirit Stones.
"I get this skill now?!"
I looked at Fire.
Judging by the description, it seemed this was thanks to him.
-Waaah. Waaah.
[Fire(EX) crosses his arms and puts on an arrogant expression.]
[Fire(EX) urges you to thank him, saying it's all thanks to him.]
"Yeah. Thanks."
A Spirit King really was a Spirit King.
To think he could even do something like this.
It benefited both of us, so there was no reason not to use it immediately.
It could only be used once a week.
Its range was fairly wide.
A full ten kilometers.
There was still a chance it would find nothing, so I activated it nervously.
[A Gate containing 12 Lowest-Rank Fire Spirit Stones has been discovered!]
[Spirit Stone Detection(C+) can be used again in 168 hours.]
"It worked?"
It was not even particularly far away.
Less than one kilometer.
"Let's go."
I ran over and arrived at a building under construction.
There were no workers around, so I could sneak inside.
Once I entered, I found a Gate sitting there completely unattended.
"That one?"
-Waaah! Waaah!
[Fire(EX) says he's certain!]
[Fire(EX) says an incredibly delicious smell is coming from there!]
"Then that's definitely it. If it isn't showing up on the app, it must be a newly formed Gate."
The timing could not have been better.
That meant if I cleared it before Association employees or Hunters arrived, I could keep everything for myself.
If it only contained Lowest-Rank Spirit Stones, the Gate could not be particularly high-ranked.
[Annihilate the Orc Village.]
[Orc Village: 0/1]
"It's a little higher than D-Rank."
-A village normally contains at least one thousand monsters. Three thousand is common, and larger ones can contain as many as six thousand.
That would have been far too many for one person to handle alone.
But—
"I'm counting on you."
-Waaah!
[Fire(EX) says it's a piece of cake.]
"Didn't you say you were tired? You said we should stop for today."
-Waaah!
[Fire(EX) says delicious food is an exception!]
Apparently, exhaustion meant nothing when food was involved.
Dark crimson hell came crashing down.
[Fire(EX)'s possessed skill, 'Hellfire(EX),' activates.]
KABOOOOOOOM!
ROOOOAR!
[You have annihilated the Orc Village!]
[Orc Village: 1/1]
[Orc Hide × 343 has been awarded!]
[Orc Blood × 355 has been awarded!]
[Orc Sturdy Club × 456 has been awarded!]
[Orc Chieftain's Skull × 6 has been awarded!]
[Orc Chief's Cloak × 2 has been awarded!]
[Lowest-Rank Fire Spirit Stone(C-) × 12 acquired!]
[The Gate will disappear in 4 hours!]
[If you do not leave before it disappears, you will disappear along with it!]
Even monster byproducts.
There were no Mana Stones, but I had obtained twelve Spirit Stones!
That left me with two to spare even after fulfilling the requirement of ten.
I wondered how much Hunger a Spirit Stone would restore.
-Waaah! Waaah!
[Fire(EX) begs you to hurry up and give him the Spirit Stones!]
"I'll give them to you later. Let's get out of here first."
I had no idea when Association personnel might arrive.
I also needed to sell the monster byproducts, so I hurriedly disappeared from the area.