Chapter 9
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : But how good is getting 10 mana, exactly?
ㄴ 풍뎅이 : Very. Your stats increase randomly by 1 to 10 each floor.
Which stat goes up is random, too.
ㄴㄴ 마법은 화력 : There are class modifiers, but unlucky bastards end up as things like strength mages.
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : Oh, then yeah, that's insanely good.
I only then understood.
Having all stats rise evenly was an enormous bonus.
To get a mana stat of 10, you had to pass through two probability rolls.
First, the chance that mana is the stat chosen from among all the stats.
Second, the chance that the stat increase rolls a 10.
“You get this every floor?”
Only then did I understand why rankers were so obsessed with first place.
With a bonus like that on the line, it made sense that the method for reaching rank 1 would be treated like a state secret.
I moved on to the next topic.
The most urgent problem I had right now was money.
[Title: Need to sell mana stones. Anyone got a contact?]
Author: ㅇㅇ
Since I got the bonus, the mana stones were doubled too.
To sell these, I need a broker, right?
Anyone know one?
ㄴ p깟쮸 : Huh? Can't you just sell them to the Association?
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : I'm unregistered, remember?
ㄴ 냉장고 : Ah, right.... But I've never used a broker, so I don't know.
Only then did they seem to understand my situation.
Come to think of it, there was no way A-rank and S-rank people like them would go around selling mana stones themselves.
The Association probably handled it for them, or they had dedicated staff.
It was too much to expect them to understand the troubles of an unregistered hunter.
ㄴ 마법은화력 : Yeah, you'll definitely have to look into a broker.
There are guys who specialize in dealing only with unregistered hunters.
ㄴ 풍뎅이 : Be careful. Most of them are scammers. They all have at least one or two hunters backing them.
ㄴ p깟쮸 : At best, they're C-rank or D-rank scrubs who can't even pull their own weight. They're not even worth calling hunters.
Our invincible newbie could blow them away easily.
“Danger, huh....”
At 풍뎅이's comment, I looked at myself in the mirror for a moment.
Long black hair, a youthful face, a slender frame.
From any angle, my build made me look like a middle schooler.
풍뎅이 was right.
If I went to meet a broker in this state, I'd clearly look like easy prey.
ㄴ 풍뎅이 : If anything comes up, tell me right away. I'll handle it.
ㄴ p깟쮸 : 풍뎅이, stop acting all sweet and putting on airs in front of the newbie. It's disgusting to watch.
I decided to keep 풍뎅이's words in mind.
But I probably wouldn't end up needing his help.
Anyway, I needed money right now. I had no choice but to head to Hunter Gallery.
When I searched keywords like 'mana stone' and 'buying,' related posts flooded in.
[(Credit/Safety/Speed) ◆Gold Rush◆ Top-price buyout of mana stones/junk items/equipment.]
[@ManaStoneBuy@ All areas of Seoul/Gyeonggi. 24-hour dispatch available. Telegram: @SSalDAPaM23]
Most of them were blatant ad posts.
“Don't the mods do any work.... Why are there so many ad posts?”
I clicked my tongue and picked the most normal-looking purchase post I could find, then left a comment.
ㄴ Mana stones for sale.
ㄴㄴ Telegram @SSalDaPam23]
A reply came back in one second.
It was a Telegram link.
Telegram, the messenger that had become a hotbed of illegal dealings.
It was perfect for this kind of trade because it guaranteed complete anonymity and automatically erased chat logs.
I followed the link into the chatroom and said I wanted to sell.
[I messaged saying I wanted to sell mana stones.]
[How much?]
[400g]
[400g? Sorry, we don't handle quantities that small.]
[We only deal in kilogram units.]
The answer was firm.
I let out a short curse. Small quantity?
[Then I'll just clear a few more floors and come back. Whatever.]
I closed the Telegram window without hesitation.
In the end, I had no choice but to keep clearing the Tower.
I resumed clearing the Tower the very next day.
When I entered the 3rd floor, new goblin types appeared this time, like goblin throwers.
Still just goblins.
With my Golden skill, they posed no threat at all.
“Quicksand.”
As soon as it started, I spread a huge quicksand pit and hurled a severed hand into it.
While they flailed in the pit, I made sand bullets from the ground and slaughtered them.
The goblin throwers tried to attack from range, but stuck in the pit, there was no way they could aim properly.
The stones the goblins threw sliced through empty air uselessly.
Cleared absurdly easily.
[Congratulations on clearing Tower Floor 3 (EXTREME).]
[First-clear bonus applied!]
[Rank 1 bonus applied!]
[All stats +10]
[Mana stones 400g]
The 4th floor was the same.
This time, goblin warriors with axes and spears even showed up.
Some of them were even wearing shabby armor.
But inside the quicksand, it was useless.
I accurately shoved bullets into the gaps in their armor as they stumbled around.
[Congratulations on clearing Tower Floor 4 (EXTREME).]
[First-clear bonus applied!]
[Rank 1 bonus applied!]
[All stats +10]
[Mana stones 400g]
By the time I cleared up to the 4th floor over two days, I had exactly 1.2kg of mana stones.
Now I had enough.
“You said a boss comes out on the 5th floor, right?”
According to the info I got from the gallery, the 5th floor was guarded by a boss monster called the Goblin Shaman.
Even I wanted to go into my first boss fight properly prepared.
I left the Tower for now and contacted the broker again.
[I've got 1kg of mana stones. Will you buy them now?]
[1kg? Great. Let's meet at 2 p.m. tomorrow.]
The deal was arranged.
***
Meanwhile, at that time in Virginia, USA. A bunker beneath the Pentagon.
It was a place boasting the best security in the world, but it was useless before one man.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
Demigod, the strongest living S-rank hunter, shouted as he slammed the desk.
That added one more desk to today's smash count.
The agents seated in front of the monitors shrank back.
Given his temperament, the next thing to get smashed might have been his own head.
“My first-place record has been getting stolen for days now, and you still haven't found out who it is?”
“Sorry, the other side deliberately erased all traces….”
“Cut the excuses! What even is this nickname? How are you supposed to read it? Two circles? Are they mocking someone?”
One agent carefully opened his mouth.
“For now... we're calling it 'Double O.'”
“Double O?”
“Yes. We think it might be a Japanese hunter.
There are suspicions he might be a dual-sword swordsman recently trained in secret by the Japanese government....”
Demigod snorted.
“The Japanese? No way.
There's no way those guys would do something this bold.
They're always just monkeys trailing behind us!”
“But….”
“Find him. Right now! No matter what it takes, uncover the identity of that 'Double O' bastard!
If I don't get a report by tomorrow morning....
I'll throw every one of you here into the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Get your heads on straight and do your jobs, you worms.”
Leaving that murderous threat behind, Demigod spun around and stormed out of the bunker.
‘Why is that water-rocket loser who got stomped three-to-one because he couldn't even do it himself taking it out on us….’
The staff swallowed their curses and cleaned up the broken desks and computers.
***
Before meeting the broker, I gathered information thoroughly.
There were often posts in Hunter Gallery from victims who'd been scammed by brokers.
The most common tricks were to fudge the weight or slash the price by claiming the mana stones were low purity.
In severe cases, they even just took the mana stones by force.
Besides, look at me.
No matter how you look at it, I only seem like a kid, or a middle schooler sent on an errand.
I didn't look like a hunter at all.
Even a broker with no criminal intent would definitely get ideas after seeing me.
So I made full preparations.
Just in case.
The meeting place was a quiet officetel.
As soon as I sent a message on Telegram, a reply came right back.
[I'm almost there.]
[Come to Room 1302.]
I rang the bell for the room the broker had told me.
Creak-
A moment later, the steel door opened and a rough-looking man appeared.
Broad shoulders, forearms covered in tattoos.
He was obviously no ordinary person.
The man looked very surprised the instant he saw me.
“What the hell, some kid?”
He couldn't hide how flustered he was.
His mind seemed to be racing.
He was probably confused.
An unregistered hunter who came to sell mana stones, and a middle school kid at that.
He settled on the most sensible explanation.
“Who told you to come? Is your dad a hunter?”
He asked while trying to intimidate me.
But I wasn't actually a middle schooler, and there was no reason to be scared by threats like that.
I deliberately stood crooked, hands in my pockets, and answered.
Everything was about establishing dominance first.
You can't let them look down on you as a kid at first glance.
“You're pretty curt with a customer right from the start, aren't you?”
“…What?”
“I'm a hunter. What the fuck, why? You got a problem?”
The broker seemed to lose his words for a moment at my rude speech and profanity.
He soon let out a laugh.
“Heh heh heh. I've seen everything now.”
“So, are you buying or not?”
“I don't know what you heard, but no matter what you do, you're not scary to me at all, so cut it out.”
What? Treating me like some grade-school kid?
Should I just wipe him out? I could butcher him so thoroughly he wouldn't even be able to open his mouth.
Just as I was about to show him what I was made of.
He seemed to think for a moment, then stepped aside and said,
“…Come in for now.”
Click-
The moment I stepped inside, the door lock behind me clicked shut automatically with an ominous sound.
The broker gestured for me to sit on the sofa, then called someone.
“Yeah, it's me. Right.... No, just one kid. Yeah. A total pain in the ass. ...The area? It's clean? Got it.”
From the snippets of conversation that leaked out, it seemed he was checking whether my crew or the police were around the officetel.
Apparently, he thought this was some kind of trap.
But there wasn't even a crew to begin with.
After checking several times, the broker let out a sigh of relief and hung up.
And in the meantime, I prepared one thing of my own.
“Quicksand.”
My left hand turned to sand and flowed out.
I hid a small sand pit under the carpet and waited for the right moment.