-We will arrange a top-tier residence near the Association for you. As it happens, we have one available.
Not long after applying for a residence relocation, I received a call from Park Seo-ung.
Not only had the residence relocation been approved, but the Association also said it would connect us with a newly built luxury apartment near the Association.
"Really? They'll set us up there?"
Even Uncle Choi Cheolgi, who had been listening, spoke in surprise. His face soon filled with a smile.
It was the apartment that people in Korea most wanted to move into at the moment.
-You can also take out a Hunter-only loan offered by the Association, so you do not need to worry too much.
I had nearly 10 billion won, but housing there cost even more than that. However, Park Seo-ung said they would support that side of things as well.
I could not spend all the money I had.
-Separately, there is something we would like to ask. Would you be willing to take part in clearing a level 16~20 Level-Limited Survival Gate in the future?
It seemed he had not called simply because of the residence.
-This is a request separate from the residence relocation application. Naturally, we will provide compensation appropriate for a request for the Association's cooperation.
He said it was separate, but it was not truly separate. Having received those benefits, it would be awkward to refuse.
But it was exactly what I wanted.
I had already planned to go, and I had been waiting for a request to cooperate in clearing a Level-Limited Survival Gate.
In other words, it was an ideal situation. The residence relocation matter had also been resolved beyond what I wanted.
"Of course."
-We sincerely appreciate your cooperation.
"I'll just go in alone and come back, right?"
-Ah, there is something additional we would like to tell you about that.
Were they going to tell me to enter with Uncle Choi Cheolgi? After giving us another Gate Escape Scroll? I thought that might be the case.
At the moment, Uncle Choi Cheolgi and I were the most closely watched prospects. It would be reasonable to give us experience as well.
-We are considering having Han Hye, Choi Cheolgi, and two people requested for cooperation by the Association form a four-person team and enter together. Would that be acceptable?
Not the two of us, but four?
It was not unusual. It was common for the Association to connect prospects of appropriate levels into teams.
"Uh, but won't it be dangerous? The safest option is for me to go in alone."
-We plan to provide Gate Escape Scrolls. They are normally used exclusively by Advance Teams, but...... we consider all of you potential Advance Team Hunters.
In other words, they intended to invest boldly to help us gain experience.
-The two people we are introducing are both in support roles, so their class balance should be a good fit with Han Hye and Choi Cheolgi. They were the people who had originally been waiting.
From what I heard, they had been requested in advance to clear this Gate, which was about to face a Gate Break.
In other words, the arrangements had been made before I Awakened, and they had not raised their levels beyond 20.
There had been a long wait because there was a shortage of talented people to handle the frontline, and Uncle Choi Cheolgi and I had appeared at just the right time.
Otherwise, they would have requested Hunters from abroad.
'Cooperation with other countries happens sometimes, but the cost is high.'
The Association provided compensation when requesting cooperation from Hunters, but for foreign Hunters, it had to provide an even greater reward.
If a problem occurred, the other country would lose talent as well.
-A Healer with A-Grade Healing and a B-Grade Buff Skill, as well as a B-Grade Spiritist, are on standby.
Oh, that was sincerely not bad. An A-Grade Healer was the nobility among nobles, a being that could truly be called royalty.
A B-Grade Spiritist was also in a position worthy of an earl.
-If you get along, it would be good for you to work together as a team. They have also been unable to find suitable frontline members.
Right. The fact that we were prospects who had recently been standing out did not only have good aspects.
It meant it was difficult to find decent party members at our level.
Honestly, I was abnormal.
Level 6 and level 20. A normal Hunter would have difficulty closing that gap in a short time.
'Even if we form a team, consider safety, choose Gates, and apply, there is no guarantee the applications will be approved.'
It meant that, normally, it would not have been easy to meet people of this caliber.
Of course, meeting them did not guarantee that we would get along, but was this not an opportunity?
-They are registered with Guilds, but they have received nothing, so they are in a position to leave at any time. Please feel free to meet them.
Oh, that was unexpected.
Being registered with a Guild did not mean that you necessarily found your team within that Guild. It simply made it awkward to refuse when asked.
In cases like that, it became worse the more you received from the Guild.
Iron Wall Guild had offered Uncle Choi Cheolgi and me enormous benefits, but if we had accepted them, we would have been tied to that Guild.
Having received an investment, we would have had to do work commensurate with it.
"We're happy to. Thank you for introducing us. We'll contact you again once our levels match. It will probably be soon."
After a brief discussion with Uncle Choi Cheolgi, I nodded.
It was good that I had Awakened a useful ability and hatched a Dragon's egg, but it was also good that the Association was looking after us.
If someone like Dae-eop Guild's Guild Master had been on their side, it would have been an order rather than this, and it would have been unpleasant.
It was like things that were going well were going even better.
"Our next Gate plan has already been set."
After clearing Desolate Ruins, we would enter a Level-Limited Survival Gate. Both were Gates with excellent rewards.
Uncle Choi Cheolgi and I grinned.
We had also been studying the new things that had appeared after Subspace reached level 2 whenever we had time.
The first thing we checked was food.
Because the weapons and secret manuals had been so extraordinary, I wondered if the food might also have some incredible effect.
But unfortunately, so far, I had found no remarkable use for it.
'At least it's edible.'
After examining it with every sort of testing device, we found that the food contained no poison or anything similar. But it did not have a special effect such as raising stats when eaten.
It had an exotic flavor, and it seemed to provide a little more satiety. That was all.
Perhaps it was because I had only eaten a tiny amount, just in case.
For now, I did not know exactly what effect it had.
'More than that, I'm curious about these seeds.'
Food was one thing, but the seeds were what I was focusing on.
My eyes naturally turned to the seeds divided among small sacks.
[Unknown Seeds]
-They are Unknown Seeds that have not yet germinated.
No matter how closely I looked at them, this was the only description that appeared for the seeds.
Was it because they had not germinated yet?
It kept babbling only about things I already knew without being told, which oddly annoyed me.
-At present, it is a plant that cannot be analyzed....
I searched online and even commissioned a private institution to analyze them, but there were no answers.
Well, considering the items that had appeared so far, these seeds surely came from another world as well.
Moreover, the fact that an item description appeared made it clear that they were not ordinary crop seeds.
The question was whether I could grow them as they were.
'I shouldn't grow them in ordinary soil.'
Since they were seeds from another world, there was no telling whether they would suit the soil here.
There was also no way of knowing what they might bear.
Above all, the items in the Subspace were things left to me by the previous Princess.
Considering the items the previous Princess had left so far, I could not treat these seeds lightly either.
'Maybe the next Subspace level-up will yield farmland where I can grow them.'
It sometimes looked as though the Subspace gave out items indiscriminately, but so far, it had given me things that suited my growth perfectly.
If I thought about it that way, these seeds were something I could look forward to as well.
I carefully returned the seeds to their place so they would not spoil. Fortunately, perhaps because a preservation spell had been placed on them, the seeds remained exactly as they had been even when left like this.
Just in case, I had prepared a few plant lights and pots as well, so perhaps I could grow one or two if necessary.
'For now, let's wait until the next Subspace level-up.'
Now it was time to enjoy something certain.
'Elixir time!'
All three Elixirs I had received had been invested in Yongyong, but Uncle Choi Cheolgi had returned one B-Grade Elixir to me.
I was about to enter Desolate Ruins and a Level-Limited Survival Gate.
Desolate Ruins was one thing, but I could not spare my strength in the latter.
It meant it was time to invest the Elixir and stat points I had been saving.
[Moonlight Herb(B-Grade)]
-A flower that has taken in the power of dense moonlight in a mana-rich region.
-It seems that beneficial energy will settle in the body when ingested.
It was an Elixir that felt slightly cold. It would be good if this gave me something like Cold Resistance too.
With a little anticipation, I ate the Elixir. Coldness ran down my throat as mana spread throughout my body.
[Lv16 Princess (Void Lord), Han Hye]
Strength : 18
Agility : 20
Stamina : 23(+2)
Mentality : 11(+2)
Mana : 23(+2)
Spare Points : 29
Skills : Subspace(S-Grade) lv2, Fire Resistance(A-Grade)lv2, Fighting Rooster(C-Grade)lv2, Basic Swordsmanship of the Svinhood Empire (E-Grade)lv4, Cold Resistance(E-Grade)lv1, *Wind Cleave(lv1)
"Oh."
Even if it was E-Grade, I had gained Cold Resistance. Skills did not exist for no reason. Even a low grade was better than having nothing.
An A-Grade Elixir was simply better than I had imagined. This was still a pretty good outcome.
'My Stamina, Mentality, and Mana stats went up too.'
In any case, this was my status screen after clearing Flame Valley. I had a considerable number of Spare Points remaining as well.
I wanted to make it look nice, if I could.
It looked better when the numbers came out neatly than when the stats were a little haphazard.
[Lv16 Princess (Void Lord), Han Hye]
Strength : 25(+7)
Agility : 25(+5)
Stamina : 25(+2)
Mentality : 20(+9)
Mana : 25(+2)
Spare Points : 4
I left four Spare Points and distributed the rest so that the stats looked neat. It would have been nice if Mentality were 25 too, but these were pretty enough.
I needed to put a few points into Mentality too. People said it was a stat that you felt painfully as your level rose.
It was a stat that had been looked down on at first, then became valuable after people experienced their bodies freezing at a single monster's roar.
The way my body had frozen when I met the Red Dragon had been influenced by it as well.
Unlike me, most Awakened tended to concentrate their stat points according to their classes.
But allocating them evenly was best for reaching a high ceiling.
The frontline needed mana, and the rear guard needed physical ability to handle emergencies.
I did not need to concentrate on my points. There were already so many factors that had improved my stats.
'I'm going to be an all-rounder.'
.
.
.
I spent the next few days busily. I inspected the apartment introduced by the Association and set a moving date.
It was a 165-square-meter apartment, and I gaped in amazement at the luxury I had never seen before.
'The floor-to-ceiling windows show the entire city.......'
It felt as though I had entered a place I had only seen in dramas and movies inside the Subspace. Uncle Choi Cheolgi was surprised too, but I was even more surprised.
I was moving from a one-room apartment into such a luxurious apartment.
I also needed to buy appliances and furniture, and because I knew nothing about them, Uncle Choi Cheolgi's wife helped me. Of course, since I had plenty of money, I bought all the latest models.
During that process, I gave Minseok the Fire Crystal Jade that we had obtained in Flame Valley, and he liked it more than I had expected.
-Wow, big bro! I love you!
He had been happy and thanked me even when I gave him a magic stone, but he looked more than ten times happier now. The way he treated me had become somehow more respectful too.
There was something puzzling as well.
-But it feels kind of strange.
-It's probably because of the mana.
-It's a little different! Magic stones have mana in them too!
-Isn't it because of the heat? It was a jewel that had been inside lava.
-It's different from that! There's something inside it, like something's in there!
Honestly, I did not know what the strange feeling Minseok spoke of was. Well, children could find anything fascinating.
I was satisfied just seeing how much he liked it.
It made me want to give Minseok every one of these that I found in the future.
"What do you think of the car?"
"It's nice, but an SUV......."
Of course, I bought a car too. One that did not require waiting for delivery. Uncle Choi Cheolgi chose a foreign luxury sedan, while I bought a luxury SUV.
When I was an Unawakened Hunter, I drove an old SUV from the beginning because I had to carry cargo around.......
Perhaps because of that, even now that I did not particularly need space for cargo, an SUV still felt more comfortable.
I had even been more drawn to the SUV when I took it for a test drive.
"What's wrong with an SUV?"
"A sedan's comfort, kid. You know?"
"It feels great being able to look down from higher up."
In any case, after handling all those miscellaneous tasks, Uncle Choi Cheolgi and I arrived before the Gate to Desolate Ruins.
"We didn't forget anything, right?"
"We checked everything together."
I had already placed everything we needed inside the Subspace.
"Let's go in right away."
"All right. Heh heh."
Uncle Choi Cheolgi grinned broadly.
A Ruins Gate. Was it not a place every Hunter wanted to enter? I was just as excited.
'There are Hunters who leave without finding anything, but.......'
That would not be us.
My spatial sense, which could feel the surrounding 20 meters. If something was hidden, there was no way I could miss it.
"We need to find something."
I intended to search every inch of this Ruins Gate.