The moment the announcement ended, blue light surged up from beneath my feet.
Then the light swallowed my body whole.
I had only blinked once, but when I opened my eyes again, I was standing alone in a dim, unfamiliar space instead of the assessment dome.
It was a Stage I had entered once before, twenty years ago.
I did not remember much about it, though.
I barely Cleared through Level 2 back then, didn’t I?
Even with the Easter egg doubling the benefits, Clearing only two levels was a pathetic result that would not have earned me anything worthwhile.
It was too dark to see anything around me.
I did not bother looking. I simply stood still and waited.
Soon, I sensed the notification that a new message had arrived.
I opened my Status Window.
[Stage NO#7287. Welcome to your visit...]
[Special conditions have been fulfilled. Converting to Stage NO#7777.]
[Stage NO#7777. Welcome to your visit. A tutorial has been prepared for this Stage. Would you like to proceed with the tutorial?]
[Yes / No]
“No.”
Come on. A regressed Hunter did not need a tutorial.
[Entering Level 1.]
[You will advance to the next Stage if any one of the following three conditions is met: the Gatekeeper dies, the Gatekeeper is ruled out of bounds, or the time limit expires.]
Those were the conditions for Clearing the Stage.
Conversely, if I, the challenger, died or was pushed out of the arena, the Stage would end.
[START]
[60:00]
[59:59]
[59:58]
...
I stood quietly in the darkness and waited for my Level 1 opponent.
Then, as if someone had flicked on a light, the surrounding area brightened all at once.
I was standing on top of an arena about a meter high.
Neatly arranged gray square tiles covered the floor. Judging by their number, the arena was roughly twenty-five meters long and twenty-five meters wide—not especially large, but not small either.
Beyond the edge of the arena stretched an endless white void.
As I looked around, I suddenly sensed an unfamiliar presence.
When I faced forward, a creature that had not been there before had appeared.
I used [Unique] System Observer to check its Status Window.
【Goblin】
【Level】: Unable to Verify
【Performance Score】: 200
“KEEKIT!”
It was a goblin—a small, agile monster with rough, mottled green skin.
It looked around in confusion, then spotted me and drew the dagger hanging at its waist.
“KEEIT!”
Without hesitation, it charged.
Goblins were crafty and quick to assess a situation. Having identified me as an enemy, it seemed intent on overwhelming me before I had a chance to react.
I dodged its attack without difficulty.
I might not look it, but in my past life, I had been a Level 52, B-grade Hunter. A Level 1 monster was not going to make me feel threatened.
The goblin kept rushing at me without tiring.
Its bulging crimson eyes rolled wildly as it did everything in its power to drive the dagger in its hand into my throat.
Its labored breathing reeked of a foul stench.
The more its attacks cut through empty air, the thicker the killing intent it gave off became.
Anyone without experience facing a monster directly would have no choice but to shrink back from that blind, murderous intent.
How many people, after living only nineteen short years, had ever faced someone trying to kill them with everything they had?
In my previous life, I had struggled desperately against this thing too.
In the end, I Cleared Level 1 by shoving it out of the arena.
This brings back memories.
I kicked the goblin square in the stomach as it leaped at me.
Then I summoned a Puppet Needle.
【Trait】
[Manipulation] Puppet (LV 1)
└ Summonable Quantity: 2
└ Duration and Recharge: 1 hour
└ Controls the target pierced by the needle.
It was not stated in the Skill description, but the effect of Puppet Needle depended on the gap between me and the target.
And I could accurately judge that gap through the Performance Score displayed by my other Trait, [Unique] System Observer.
For reference, my Performance Score was 27,000.
The goblin’s Performance Score was 200.
Heh-heh-heh.
This was enough to make a man hum.
Honestly, there was no need to bring out Puppet Needle against something like a goblin.
But I had to think ahead.
I intended to Clear as many levels as possible without wasting this opportunity. I was going to wring every last benefit out of the Easter egg that had helped turn Korea into a Hunter powerhouse.
So it was better to test any unknown variables in the early stages.
“Come here.”
I beckoned to the goblin.
Apparently realizing the difference in our strength only now, the goblin, which had been rolling across the floor, began backing away.
Nothing remained of the vicious creature that had charged at me with killing intent.
“Kreeek...”
“It’s okay. It won’t hurt a bit!”
I rushed forward in an instant and drove a Puppet Needle into its neck.
The goblin shuddered once, then stood obediently before me.
“Hi?”
“KEEIT!”
It certainly knew how to answer loudly.
Now it was time to see whether Puppet Needle was functioning properly.
Sometimes, the rules and restrictions inside a Stage limited certain functions. I needed to find out what its limits were.
“Want to stab yourself in the neck with that dagger?”
“KEEIT!”
Without hesitation, it gripped the dagger backward and tried to plunge it into its own throat.
Right before the pointed tip could pierce its Adam’s apple, I kicked the dagger far away with the tip of my foot.
The goblin ran toward the fallen dagger.
Its back seemed to radiate an absolute determination to carry out my command no matter what.
“That’s enough. You don’t have to stab yourself anymore.”
“KEEIT!”
The difference in our Performance Scores was so overwhelming that my control extended even to its life and death.
Judging by its behavior, the Stage itself did not appear to be interfering with the Skill.
Then let’s move on.
“Walk out of the arena.”
The conditions for Clearing a Stage were killing the Gatekeeper, enduring until time ran out, or forcing the Gatekeeper out of the arena.
Following my command, the goblin hopped down from the arena.
“KEEIT!”
The instant it left the arena, alerts began appearing in my Status Window.
[Level 1 has been Cleared.]
[Rewards will now be distributed.]
At the same time, a black chest that had not been there moments ago appeared in the center of the arena.
The goblin that had fallen out of bounds clung to the edge of the arena and peeked its head over the side.
“Want to come back up?”
“KEEIT!”
“KREEEK?”
Despite my command, an invisible barrier blocked the goblin from climbing back into the arena.
“So once you’ve been ruled out of bounds, you can’t come back up. That’s a shame.”
“KEEIT!”
I left the goblin alone.
Once I advanced to the next level, it would naturally disappear.
I headed to the center of the arena and opened the chest.
Inside were five thumbnail-sized red fruits, five small blue beads, and a coin purse about the size of my palm.
I already knew what all of them were for.
Still, personally checking Clear rewards one by one was part of the fun.
I picked them up and examined them individually.
[Purified Red Fruit]
└ Very sweet.
┕ Encroachment Rate decreases upon consumption.
[Mana Orb]
┕ A sphere containing mana.
Those two items were indispensable to Hunters active within the System.
Purified Red Fruit lowered an Awakened’s Encroachment Rate.
Hunters who operated within the System inevitably saw their Encroachment Rate rise. And once it exceeded 50%, they began suffering some very unwelcome symptoms.
If you wanted to survive in this line of work with your sanity intact for any length of time, you had to eat these fruits like a staple food.
Very sweet? I’ve never seen that before.
Getting a sweet flavor meant you had been incredibly lucky.
Bitter, sour, and spicy were still considered decent.
Rotten, rusty, earthy, coal-flavored, lava-flavored...
Unfortunately, Hunters had to eat them no matter what they tasted like.
The higher the grade of Stage you entered, the faster your Encroachment Rate rose and the more fruits you had to consume.
Even if it tasted like coal, you had to eat it if you did not want the System to consume you.
In that sense, very sweet was practically top-tier.
Next came the Mana Orbs.
They were a kind of currency that could be used within the System.
They were also one of the reasons people around the world were so desperate to get involved with it.
A single one of those beads contained energy equivalent to a small power plant’s entire monthly output.
The last item was the palm-sized coin purse.
I had not noticed while it sat inside the chest, but when I picked it up, I saw that a round eyeball was embedded directly in the center of the purse.
It even blinked at me as if it were greeting me.
What the hell? I’ve never seen a purse with an eyeball attached to it, even in my previous life...
The coin purse itself, however, was a familiar item.
[System Pouch]
┕ Stores various items.
┕ Storage Capacity: 1m³
A System Pouch was, as the name suggested, a pouch used to store all sorts of items obtained through the System.
Only things originating from the System could be placed inside.
It might have been palm-sized, but the capacity of one pouch could differ wildly from another.
This one was quite high-grade, with a storage capacity of one cubic meter.
That was enough room to hold a thousand liters of water.
A System Pouch was also a guaranteed reward when an Awakened entered the System and Cleared their first Stage.
Usually, though, the capacity was absurdly small.
Around 0.01m³, maybe.
In other words, this was another reward that had clearly benefited from the Easter egg.
I had used the System Pouch I received at this time in my previous life until the moment I died.
There wasn’t an eyeball on it back then.
I pressed the eyeball with my finger.
The pouch fluttered its eyelid rapidly as though it were in pain.
Then a single tear rolled down from its eye.
“Ugh, what is this... It’s kind of creepy.”
Still, finding a System Pouch this good was incredibly difficult.
Since I had received it, I had no choice but to use it well...
I placed the fruits and Mana Orbs inside the pouch, then closed the chest’s lid.
The chest gradually turned translucent before vanishing without a trace.
Then another alert appeared in my Status Window.
[The experience of all Traits you possess has increased by 10%.]
Yes.
This was what I wanted.
Hunters often said this:
“An Awakened is a Trait wearing human skin.”
That was how meaningful a Trait was to an Awakened.
I agreed.
A Trait was the source of an Awakened’s strength, and their very essence.
But the instant you tore a Red Ticket and stepped onto the path of an Awakened, your Trait was assigned to you like fate.
It was unavoidable.
You could not choose it, and you could not change it.
Lucky bastards got a Trait and immediately began soaring through the sky.
Unlucky ones ended up with nothing more than thicker hair.
Unable to accept that unfairness, people had come up with what they called the Trait Equality Theory.
All Traits possessed the same potential.
The only difference was when that potential manifested.
Bullshit.
The gap between Traits unquestionably existed.
If every Trait had been equal, I would not have spent ten years suffering in my previous life.
Still, there was one part of their argument I could agree with.
Once your Trait had been decided, you had to throw away pointless regrets and devote yourself to developing and strengthening it as though your life depended on it.
In that sense, a 10% increase to the experience of all Traits was an extremely welcome reward.
Raising a Trait’s Level was not easy.
Once the rewards had finished distributing, a new message appeared.
[Would you like to advance to the next Stage? Selecting No will automatically end the Stage.]
[Yes / No]
“Yes.”
[Entering Level 2.]
[You will advance to the next Stage if any one of the following three conditions is met: the Gatekeeper dies, the Gatekeeper is ruled out of bounds, or the time limit expires.]
[START]
[60:00]
[59:59]
[59:58]
...
“KEE-HEE!”
“KEE-HEE-HEE!”
Level 2 had two goblins.
So far, that matched my memories.
But then I sensed an unexpected movement outside the arena.
“KEEIT!”
The goblin I had faced in Level 1 was still there.
“What? Why are you still around?”
In my previous life, I had Cleared Level 1 by shoving it out of the arena.
Back then, the goblin that had been forced out disappeared once the Stage advanced.
What’s different from back then?
Puppet Needle.
As long as the goblin remained under the control of Puppet Needle, it was no longer treated as the Gatekeeper of Level 1, but as a creature bound to an Awakened.
Could that mean...
“Come up here.”
“KEEIT!”
Unlike before, it was able to climb into the arena.
The goblin ran over to my side and stopped at attention.
The Stage changed, and the entry restriction from being ruled out of bounds was lifted.
“KEE-HEE?”
“KEE-HEE-HEE?”
The two newly spawned goblins merely stared at us with confused expressions.
“Heh-heh-heh. What are you little shits looking at? You think two against one means you can win? Now it’s a tag match.”