[Verification complete]
Even though it was late at night, Hunternet verification went through in an instant. It was the moment I could view Hunternet posts for the first time.
[Do Gates seem to have gotten a little harder lately, or is it just me? (15)]
[Is there really a Spatialist? This isn't bullshit, right? (31)]
I spotted a post about me right away and clicked on it.
-Yeah, it's real. He even broke the Gate practicum record. He beat Lee Hongju's record, lol.
-Is a Spatialist good? I honestly don't know;; Isn't that just a porter?
┗I wonder what grade this bastard is;; Watch the news once in a while.
-I heard the Subspace storage capacity is about one shipping container. It'll get even bigger when the skill level rises. This is insane;; Can Korea win the contract bidding war for him?
Unlike at the Workshop, this was a place full of experienced Hunters, so many people recognized my value.
It was anonymous, but the flood of praise made me feel pretty good.
-He isn't even in combat class, yet he shattered Knight's record. That alone makes him an elite prospect. Now add the fact that he has Subspace.
┗But is that possible? Even Knight caused a sensation.
┗There is a way.
┗What is it?
┗His awakened skill is S+ or A+. Plus-Grade skills have stat-boosting effects, you know.
I knew about this too. Certain skills gave additional effects to one's stats simply by existing.
For example, something like increasing all stats by three.
When the skill level rose, those effects could even stack.
That didn't mean an S+ appeared on the status window.
Hunters had simply given them the name Plus-Grade skills.
‘That would make a good excuse, wouldn't it?’
It was something I hadn't considered. My current stats were far outside the norm thanks to the Dragon.
If anyone noticed, I could simply say that I had a Plus-Grade skill.
[This is the Dawnlight Guild. If the Spatialist happens to use Hunternet.......]
When I searched for Spatialist, I saw several guilds trying to find me.
One of them stood out in particular.
The Dawnlight Guild.
It was the second-ranked guild in Korea, but its name recognition was far higher than that of the top-ranked guild.
That was because ‘Divine Spear,’ the highest-level Hunter in Korea, belonged to it. The reason it was second-ranked was that it was an elite guild with few members.
Rather than focusing on the number of Gates they cleared, they seemed to focus on high-tier Gates.
‘Wouldn't Dawnlight be a good choice?’
The thought crossed my mind, but I shook my head. There was no need for me to make the first move.
I wasn't the one in a hurry.
I wasn't even sure whether joining a guild right away would be good.
‘If I join, I'll have to move as part of a team.......’
I had a lot to hide.
That included the Dragon's Egg I was preparing to hatch, as well as my stats and the gear that had appeared inside Subspace.
Considering the attention I had been receiving lately, it felt like I might not need to hide them.......
Still, there was no need to advertise what I had.
‘Just look at the kidnapping case involving the American S-Grade Healer. You never know what might happen.’
It would be better to cooperate after I had grown stronger. Besides, Dawnlight was a small, elite guild for high-level Hunters.
Even if I joined, it would be difficult to work with them right away.
With that in mind, I intended to build my own team.
If the egg hatched, Uncle Cheolgi would be part of it, so I thought it would be good to find talented Mages or Healers.
People who would keep their mouths shut and whom I could trust, even if they noticed my secrets.
Of course, finding people like that would not be easy.
‘I'll look slowly.’
***
After looking through Hunternet for a bit, I even completed a Gate entry application.
‘Dead End of the Labyrinth.’
It was one of the survival-type Gates. In the Dead End of the Labyrinth, one had to hold out against swarming monsters.
‘Monsters rush in at set intervals.’
It wasn't really a conventional survival-type Gate. Since the rear was blocked off, it was more like holding the entrance.
That was fine.
The recommended level was 5~10, so even if it was difficult, the difficulty should be appropriate. I also had the Windflow Sword in Subspace.
Since it was an avoided Gate after at least three teams had failed to clear it, applying itself had been easy.
‘Will I be approved?’
Whether the application would be approved was another matter.
I was sure I could clear it, but the Association would not see it that way.
Well, if they denied it, I intended to explain my ability. That I could enter Subspace.
A survival-type Gate specialist.
Since I could clear Gates that others avoided, it would surely add to my market value as well.
Not that I intended to enter only survival-type Gates from now on.
After that, I entered Subspace.
It was time to experiment with hatching the Dragon.
Before leaving for the Workshop, I had ordered a heater.
[Heater (D-Grade)]
-A heater made with low-grade magic stones.
-It emits heat when mana is infused into it.
It was a tool used by Hunters.
Since they couldn't bring electricity into Gates, it was a device that ran on magic stones and emitted heat.
I would need it someday, so I bought it while also planning to try hatching the egg.
I turned on the heater and hugged the egg. Even at its highest temperature, I didn't feel hot.
‘Is this A-Grade Fire Resistance? That's insane.’
I really felt like I wouldn't get hot even if I touched actual flames. If this didn't work, should I try sitting over a campfire while holding the egg?
I spent ten minutes thinking thoughts like that.
“Hmm.”
Unfortunately, there was no particular reaction. It seemed the heater had no effect.
When I had first seen it, the egg had reacted to the heat alone when the Dragon entered the lair.
‘Wait?’
Come to think of it, the egg had also reacted when I ate the Sun Blossom and exhaled heat.
And today, I had received the Flame Herb.
‘Would it react if I ate the Flame Herb and breathed on it?’
I was going to consume the elixir anyway, so there was no harm in trying. I opened the wooden box and took out the Flame Herb. It gave off heat.
Just as I was about to put it straight into my mouth...on the off chance, I held the Flame Herb near the egg.
SCRATCH-!
It happened in that moment. The egg did not shake, but I heard something scratching from inside.
“Oh. It reacts.”
Well, it was a Red Dragon. Perhaps it needed not ordinary heat, but the properties contained in an elixir.
‘Should I turn on the heater, hug the egg, and leave the Flame Herb on top of it?’
The moment I placed the Flame Herb on top of the egg.
FSSSH-.
The Flame Herb on the egg suddenly faded away with a burst of heat.
“Huh?”
In other words, the egg had absorbed the Flame Herb.
“C-crazy......!”
I couldn't help but be flustered.
The Flame Herb was a C-Grade elixir. It was worth billions of won, yet the egg had devoured it instead of me.
FSSSH!
However, the movement inside the egg seemed to have become a little more active. I could also feel a faint warmth from it.
[Red Dragon's Egg]
-It is a Dragon's Egg that is not far from hatching.
-A little more heat is needed for it to hatch.
I immediately checked the egg's description. The text had changed from what I had seen last time.
“A little more” had been added to the second description. It had originally said, “Heat is needed.”
‘Could it be that it has to consume flame-related elixirs in order to hatch?’
This was going to cost more than I had expected. I was a little surprised, but it wasn't a bad situation.
After all, the direction had become clear.
Elixirs themselves cost billions of won, but...a Red Dragon couldn't be bought even with tens of billions—no, hundreds of billions of won.
What was I saying?
Dragon Coin.
This was the bottom.
No matter how many elixirs the egg ate, I had to do it.
***
The next morning.
Uncle Cheolgi, whom I met in front of Dragon Dragon Pork Belly, looked tense in a way he normally didn't as he let out a deep sigh.
“Whew. I'm worried.”
“About what?”
“The training center. It's been years since I've done anything like exercise.”
A Hunter training center.
It was a place where people learned Gate knowledge, swordsmanship, magic, and more. In other words, it was often called a Hunter academy.
Since it was for Awakened only, the training was intense.
There was a gym too, but the weights were on a different level. With Strength stats, people could lift a few hundred kilograms with ease.
Even with stats, people had to exercise.
Some people relied on their stats and did not work out, but they were fools. It always helped.
‘There was an experiment.’
A muscular man and an ordinary person with the same Strength stat competed in a test of strength. What was the result?
The muscular man won.
“You'll get used to it quickly.”
“But come to think of it, once the Dragon hatches, I'll be riding it around. Do I really need to train?”
“Pardon?”
When I looked at him as though he were pathetic, Uncle answered with a proud look in his eyes.
“It's not like I'm saying this just because I suddenly don't want to work out.......”
“It sounds like you're saying it because you suddenly don't want to work out.”
“I'm telling you, that's not it.”
“Then why?”
“Honestly, if I'm riding a Dragon, what do physical abilities matter? If the Dragon doesn't hatch, I can't even return to being a Hunter.”
It seemed like half a joke and half the truth. The first half was a joke, the second half the truth.
He must have said it because the disappointment would be too great if he got his hopes up for nothing.
I smiled and said,
“You don't need to worry about that. There has been progress.”
“What?”
I told Uncle what had happened. The egg had eaten the Flame Herb and reacted. Because of that, hatching had drawn closer.
Uncle started in surprise.
“Isn't that crazy? Do you know how much that was worth?!”
Ah, that was what surprised him?
Uncle looked even more excited than I was. Well, elixirs were expensive.
“What does it matter if it hatches? Honestly, even without the Dragon's Egg, if you had told me you were returning to Hunter work and asked for it, I would've given you that elixir, Uncle.”
“What are you saying.......?”
That trivial elixir. I wouldn't have regretted giving Uncle every last one of them. But he continued to look guilty, so I added playfully,
“If it really bothers you, hit it big with the Dragon later and pay me back. If you're going around with a Dragon, tens of billions will be nothing.”
“...All right. I will.”
Uncle fell silent for a moment before answering. He must have understood how I felt. That was the kind of relationship we had.
“Anyway, it had an effect, so I'm going to try more things. I think I'll have to feed it more flame-related elixirs.”
“Can you get them?”
“I have to try. Besides, there's always contract time, isn't there?”
Once I reached E-Grade, I could sign a Hunter contract. Offers would come, whether from abroad or Korea.
Honestly, I had no idea how much I would receive. Knight had received a total close to a hundred billion won in his first contract.
Since I had broken that record and possessed Subspace as well, wouldn't I receive at least the same or more?
“I originally wanted secret manuals or elixirs. I'm just going to ask for flame-related elixirs instead.”
It was something I had thought about even when I was an Unawakened Hunter. Honestly, having tens of billions of won right now would not change much for me.
Wouldn't it be over once I bought a house or a car? I had lived without money, so I didn't even know how to spend it well.
‘It's more profitable to receive elixirs instead.’
This was also a type of contract promising Awakened often made. They could make more money once they grew stronger.
“Will that be all right?”
“I'll earn more money once I'm stronger. I don't have anywhere to spend it. And if I die in a Gate, there's no one to leave the money to.”
“What do you mean, no one? You have to leave it to me.”
“Hmm, you're going to pretend you don't know about the price of the elixir the egg ate and take my inheritance too?”
“......I'll buy lunch and dinner today!”
“Not just lunch and dinner today. Shouldn't you be buying my meals until I die?”
Uncle chuckled.
“Once the egg hatches, do you think I won't be able to do that?”
***
“With the rise in Earth's mana density now confirmed, the UN Gate Countermeasures Committee has decided to name the strange phenomenon that has begun occurring in Australia ‘Erosion.’”
“Erosion.......”
The president of the Korean Hunter Association nodded while looking over the materials.
Australia, which had become a land of monsters, was in a state where high-grade Gates remained open constantly.
The problem was that the land near the Gates had begun to change.
Into land from alien worlds. And it was not just one kind.
The areas near the Gates had transformed into more than twelve different kinds of otherworldly terrain, the kind one could see only inside Gates.
“What about the Gate problem?”
“Other countries are similar. The proportion of survival-type and story-type Gates has increased, and Hunter mortality has risen noticeably.”
“Since mana density began rising?”
“Yes. Gates are definitely becoming more difficult. The problem is that level-limited Gates are increasing as well.”
The Association president let out a deep sigh.
The circumstances gave no other choice.
“The chances of survival-type and level-limited Gates overlapping will rise.”
“This is no ordinary problem.”
“Set this Erosion thing aside for now. I'm worried about the immediate Gates.”
Survival-type Gates were difficult for their recommended level, but high-level Hunters could be sent in.
Even if they gave up some experience and rewards, they could prevent a Gate Break itself.
But level-limited Gates could not be handled that way. Unlike ordinary Gates, which even unawakened people could enter, only Awakened of a specific level could enter them.
The problem was when a level-limited Gate overlapped with a survival-type Gate.
If only Hunters of the appropriate level could enter an already difficult Gate, clearing it became hard.
The likelihood of a Gate Break occurring increased.
Australia had also become a land of monsters because of a level-limited survival-type Gate.
“It's enough to drive me mad. There are level-limited Gates we still haven't resolved.......”
The Association president clutched at their head.
A-Grade Hunters had been assigned to the high-level Gates. If a Gate Break occurred there, it would be impossible to contain.
The problem was low-level Gates of awkward difficulty. Lately, it has been difficult to find skilled Hunters at low levels.
In other words, there was a manpower shortage.
If the situation was left as it was, a Gate Break would occur and civilians would suffer damage.
“Hmm.”
Promising low-level Hunters came to mind. But the president could not be certain they were capable of clearing a level-limited survival-type Gate.
Then one name suddenly came to mind.
Han Hye, the Spatialist.
His Subspace ability alone was extraordinary, but it was also remarkable that a noncombat class had broken Knight's record.
‘Considering his performance at the Workshop.......’
If he grew a little more, he would be capable enough.
The thought occurred, but the president could not make a decision right away because of the value of his ability.
The Spatialist could not be lost in a low-level Gate under any circumstances.
At that moment, the Association president's secretary burst through the office door.
“President!”
“What is it?”
“The Spatialist has applied to enter a survival-type Gate.”
Reports concerning the Spatialist had been made top priority, so the secretary had come in immediately.
“What? Who is he going with?”
The secretary scratched their cheek.
“Well......the application lists one person.”
“He's going alone?”
The Association president couldn't help but be flustered.