Chapter 48
“Let’s move.”
I glanced at the wreckage of the broken machine, then walked over to the new one Kim Suho was guiding me toward.
This one was incomparably larger and more complex than the crystal orb from before.
It seemed to be the kind where you wore a helmet-like device and gloves.
“This one has no limit, so this time, really go all out.”
At Kim Suho’s words, I nodded and put on the helmet and gloves.
Cool and smooth to the touch.
With my vision cut off, all my other senses grew extremely sharp.
I closed my eyes and focused.
I drew together every last bit of mana inside me.
More. Stronger.
As if opening the floodgates of a massive dam, a torrent of mana burst out from below my solar plexus.
I worked the mana in a trance-like state.
A state of complete immersion where everything around me faded and I focused only on the flow of power within me.
That was when it happened.
“Wait, stop.”
Kim Suho's voice shattered my concentration.
“I did tell you to go all out... but this is a little much.”
“...”
I felt deflated.
I let out a sigh and took off the helmet.
But the next moment, I was so flustered by the scene beneath my feet that I lost my words.
The floor around where I was standing had somehow turned into fine sand.
Kim Suho clicked his tongue and said,
“If I hadn’t stopped you, you would’ve blown the whole thing apart. I never imagined it would turn into sand instead of exploding from overloading....”
I scratched the back of my head, feeling embarrassed.
“Anyway, let’s look at the results.”
We walked up to the terminal screen.
The screen was crammed with my detailed stat measurements.
Kim Suho's eyes went wide.
“What...?”
“How strong is it?”
Even looking at the numbers, I couldn't get a sense of how good they were.
Seeing my bewildered expression, Kim Suho started explaining kindly.
“To put it simply, just by the numbers alone you're at least in the lower end of S-rank.”
“So I'm S-rank now too?”
“S-rank isn't decided by stats alone. You have to look at everything overall—skills, level, output, and so on.”
Kim Suho looked at me and asked,
“What level are you now, by the way?”
“Level 5.”
“And how many skills do you have?”
“Hmm... Sand Quagmire, Insight Eye, Sand Barrier, Weathering, Sand Totem... five, I guess.”
At my answer, Kim Suho seemed to quickly run some numbers in his head.
“Hunters around the 30th floor are usually about level 5... Your growth rate is really fast.”
“If you're only at the 30th floor, that's barely mid-tier even among A-ranks, right? Isn't that low?”
“No, look at your leveling speed now. The difference may not seem huge at the moment, but the gap will widen exponentially as you climb higher.”
He went on.
“S-rank is usually benchmarked at level 7 or higher. You're a little short of that standard... One or two skill slots make a pretty big difference.”
He paused for a moment, then added,
“Well, S-rank isn't actually impossible. Mages get a bit of a bonus because of their class... More than anything, all your skill grades are high.”
“Ah, then should we go register you as S-rank right now?”
“...You're only at the 20th floor, you know? Right now, all the S-ranks are people who've climbed above the 50th floor. Climbing floors doesn't just raise your level and stats. They've also picked up a ton of hidden pieces and gear.”
He went on with a slightly worried expression.
“Even so, if you just reach the 30th floor, I think you'll easily outclass most S-ranks... And once you reach the 50th floor—the usual benchmark for S-rank—I feel like you'd wreck everything, demigod or not.”
He came to a conclusion.
“Is there really any need to register as S-rank right now? It'd draw way too much unnecessary attention. You can always reveal it after you've become the strongest, can't you?”
I nodded at his words.
His logic made perfect sense.
Well, I did kind of want to try the whole hidden-powerhouse act.
So I decided to wait quietly for the day I surpassed everyone.
And with that, all the tests were over.
Kim Suho pulled a newly issued card from the terminal and handed it to me.
[A-rank Hunter Kim Hanbyeol]
On the surface, it was an ordinary plastic card.
But the weight carried inside it was by no means light.
My first official identification, finally in hand.
Kim Suho said,
“With this, you'll be able to freely use all kinds of convenience facilities and training grounds for Hunters.”
He paused briefly, then added,
“Of course, if you walked through the Association's front gate with this right now, Korea would be thrown into chaos. You're planning to keep the fact that you're A-rank hidden, right?”
I nodded.
“Then I'll pre-enter your permissions into the relevant facility systems. Even if you use the card, your identity won't be exposed. Since it's S-rank authority, no one will be able to look into your personal information... But you'll have to use it only at a few designated places.”
Kim Suho wrote down the locations of the facilities and handed them to me.
Wow, they're all in Seoul?
Daejeon may be a backwater, but it's still a city I've grown attached to.
Moving to Seoul is a little much, though...
Kim Suho nodded after hearing my concern.
“In my opinion, after a few months have passed, it should be fine to reveal that you're A-rank. Of course, keep your detailed specs and class completely secret. Just casually let it be known that a new A-rank Hunter has been registered in Korea.”
I immediately understood what he meant.
If my A-rank registration were made public right now, people would naturally connect me with the ranker who had cleared the 20th floor.
But what if I left a gap of a few months?
The link between the tower-climbing record update and the A-rank registration would grow hazy.
“When that time comes, I'll even invite you to the anonymous gallery only A-rank Hunters use. Well, there is also a real-name group chat, but I don't think you'd like that...”
“And after that?”
“Then you just need to take over the tower's control rights. Let's see, the owner of the Daejeon Tower... Jeong Manho? He stopped climbing at the 27th floor.”
Jeong Manho... Somehow, the name sounded familiar.
It didn't take me long to dig that name out of my memory.
He was the one who had competed with Jeong Taeyeon when I sold the axe.
“The moment you climb to the 28th floor, the tower's control will pass to you.”
“I don't need anything like that...”
“Well, if you want, you can just leave it alone. Either way, by then you'd be the de facto ruler of Daejeon, and you'd be able to freely use the Hunter facilities nearby.”
“Hmm...”
The ruler of Daejeon?
The result of hunters growing louder and continuing to wring concessions from the government.
I knew they could wield influence over a region like medieval lords.
But no matter how much the world had changed, I still didn't like the idea.
What did I know about politics? Or economics?
Kim Suho quickly added, looking sheepish.
“Ah... this kind of talk probably isn't familiar to you, huh?”
“I guess so.”
“Sorry. I think I said something unnecessary...”
“No, it's something I do need to think about.”
I said with a shrug.
His expression turned a little more serious.
“Anyway, by then it'll be hard for you to handle everything alone. If there's someone you can trust, think about making them your manager. There'll be plenty of people who underestimate you just because of your looks...”
Someone I can trust?
I repeated the words in my head.
Had I ever had someone like that in my life?
I wasn't sure.
I slipped the A-rank Hunter card into my pocket and gave him a quick goodbye.
“I can walk you out if you'd like?”
“I'm fine.”
Leaving him behind, I left the empty Association building.
A little later, I saw the hemispherical barrier beyond disappear.
Even then, only one word kept circling in my head.
A manager... Yeah, that would definitely be nice to have.
Especially with my looks, I'd attract way too much attention.
But who on earth could I entrust it to?
***
A few days passed.
Moving day had been decided.
I still hadn't seen the house myself, but I figured the broker had surely found a good one.
The problem was money.
Buying a house in the tower zone had thoroughly drained my bank account.
Why the hell is a backwater like Daejeon this expensive...?“
I muttered a quiet curse as I looked at the bank account that had been emptied in an instant.
For something that's supposedly tower-zone property, they sure gouge you.
The broker said that with similar conditions in Seoul, tens of billions would have been nothing, but that didn't comfort me one bit.
In the end, there was only one answer.
I headed for the Tower to make money.
Where else in the world could I make money this easily and this quickly?
[Entering the Tower's 21st Floor (EXTREME).]
Along with the familiar system message, the scenery before me changed.
Finally graduating from the jungle, huh...
What greeted me instead was cold, damp air.
And the musty smell of dirt and coal dust.
Everything around me was plunged into pitch-black darkness.
Only the faint ore embedded in the walls here and there gave off a blue glow, lighting the way.
The new theme of the 20th-floor range was an abandoned mine.
For some reason, I felt a strange nostalgia in this dark, cramped space.
It felt like I'd returned to the first floor.
Of course, the person I was then and the person I am now were completely different.
I raised my hand on instinct, about to activate Desertification.
But at that very moment, the heft of the staff in my hand stopped me.
The staff I'd brought to try out in real combat for the first time.
I smirked.
Without hesitation, I drove the tip of the staff deep into the dirt floor.
Thud—!
The moment the staff sank into the ground, a thrilling shiver ran through my whole body.
A completely different sensation from before.
It wasn't just sand I was controlling.
The earth and rock around here, even the ore veins embedded in the walls.
I could feel dominion over every bit of earth that made up this space passing to me.
This...
I murmured with a satisfied smile.
Should I bring the mine itself down?
I pushed my power up to the max.
Through the staff, my mana spread throughout the entire cavern.
At the same time, a sound like thunder rang out.
It was the sound of the cavern collapsing.