Chapter 7
Korea Awakened Management Bureau.
“At 2:21 p.m. on the fifth day of climbing, Awakened Hikki’s clear of Floor 5 was confirmed.”
“The results?”
“They’ve taken first place both in Korea and globally.”
The conference room buzzed.
Just five days.
While others took fifty days or more to clear the tutorial stages.
Hikki kept climbing without taking a single day off.
“And never gave up the global top spot.”
“Just how much talent does that person have...?”
They would surely become the greatest Hunter Korea had ever produced.
Perhaps no one would ever catch up.
“Urgh….”
“Of all things…. Of all things….”
Even so, the mood in the conference room was strange.
No one dared to smile freely.
They still hadn’t identified Hikki.
“Their talent has been sufficiently verified.”
“Now that they’ve cleared the tutorial, guilds at home and abroad, along with foreign authorities, will launch a full-scale recruitment battle.”
“It’ll turn into a muddy free-for-all.”
And yet, five days in, Hikki was still unregistered.
‘Countless organizations have already latched on. And more will follow.’
All kinds of backroom maneuvering would take place.
Their asking price would surely skyrocket.
Patriotism, familiarity….
Approach them with a half-baked attitude, and they’d get burned.
“Let’s review the situation overseas first.”
“The U.S., China, Japan, and Russia are the most active. HUMINT reports say each is preparing astronomical sums and special benefits.”
“Still only working behind the scenes?”
“Yes. However, some are also trying to bring the matter into the open.”
The Director of the Awakened Management Bureau narrowed their eyes.
Their sharp gaze made the staff member giving the report swallow hard.
“They argue that if someone clears the tutorial while unregistered, they should essentially be considered a free agent.”
“Those lunatics. Do they think this is the sports world?”
“There are similar precedents, though….”
“Depending on the interpretation issued by an international body, things could take a strange turn.”
Sighs rose from all around.
Approaching discreetly wasn’t a major problem.
They didn’t know Hikki’s identity either way.
But if they openly courted Hikki…
There was no guarantee Hikki wouldn’t be swayed.
“Then what is our side doing?”
“We’re currently monitoring illegal magic-stone brokers. While unregistered, Hikki will have no choice but to use that route.”
“We’ve also been aggressively expanding our registration incentive campaign. Through all forms of media—”
“If that were going to work, Hikki would’ve registered already. I’m asking whether we can offer as much as they can.”
No one answered.
Everyone sat there like they’d swallowed their tongues.
The Bureau director furrowed their brow.
“Tsk, tsk.”
“Well… estimates put the U.S. and China’s direct and indirect bids at hundreds of billions of won—”
“Don’t worry about the budget. Whether I get a supplementary budget or move some money under the table, I’ll find it.”
“Yes? Ah, understood…!”
“But don’t let it be said we lost on the terms. Understood?”
The staff member nodded.
“Contact the Hunter Association and the guilds, too. Have them work as one with the Bureau in the recruitment battle, and promise enormous rewards to any organization that delivers results.”
“Understood.”
“And tell them I won’t let it slide if they do anything to upset Hikki.”
“…Yes.”
The Director of the Awakened Management Bureau added one more thing.
“Everyone here has their life on the line in this matter. Understand that I’m not speaking figuratively.”
***
A shabby guild office on the outskirts of Gyeonggi Province.
“We’re supposed to find Hikki?”
The woman lying on the couch playing a mobile game looked incredulous.
“It’s an opportunity! A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!”
Another woman waved the paper in her hand.
“If we find or recruit Hikki, we’ll get tax benefits, reward money, free artifact support, government mentorship, preferential treatment in all kinds of grant programs—”
“You do it.”
Her reaction was indifferent.
Even so, she didn’t give up.
“There are only two guild members right now, you and me, but if we recruit Hikki, we can become the best guild in the country overnight! No, even the best in the world. Right? Right?!”
“As if, desu wa.”
“All we need is one lucky break, right? There’s no reason we can’t do it.”
“If it were that easy, everyone would be doing it, desu wa.”
The Guild Master, Lee So-yeon, was being unreasonable.
The Vice Guild Master, Jin Sujin, looked fed up.
And yet, and yet, she refused to give up.
“That’s why everyone’s doing it. So let’s go too!”
“How are we supposed to find Hikki?”
“You’re a magic-detection ability user!”
Jin Sujin’s Unique Trait was Magic Detection.
It let her sense mana several times more keenly than an ordinary Hunter.
A ridiculously overpowered trait that let her use monsters’ mana against them to ambush or evade them—
Or so Lee So-yeon claimed.
Jin Sujin herself didn’t think so.
It was completely useless for swinging a sword.
All it did was let her sense more clearly how her attacks were blocked and how she was getting beaten up.
Anyway, what mattered was…
Lee So-yeon thought it was an overpowered ability.
“Hikki must be spewing out an insane amount of mana. You’ll notice right away if you get anywhere near!”
“No way.”
“Why nottt? Sujin, what do you mean, no way?”
“We’d have to get close first. How are we supposed to find that person somewhere in this enormous country?”
“Well… we just… go around… everywhere….”
She had no concrete plan.
Figures.
Jin Sujin reopened her game.
Lee So-yeon watched her gloomily, then…
“Wait a minute!”
She sat down in front of the office computer, too.
“What are you going to do?”
“There must be eyewitness accounts. I’ll find them all.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Look at this. Someone says a person in the apartment next door throws water balloons out the window every day. Could this person be Hikki?”
“So-yeon…. Never mind.”
It was Hikki.
Not just anyone, but Hikki.
The Hunter who was smashing through the Tower with unprecedented talent.
Jin Sujin often imagined what Hikki looked like.
‘Probably a terrifying-looking giant with superhuman strength.’
And that Hikki…
Would they really play around by throwing water balloons out the window?
Besides, if Hikki could be found through internet eyewitness accounts,
wouldn’t someone have found them already?
“Tsk….”
She’ll give up soon enough.
Jin Sujin thought so.
***
└Hikki : Ugh, seriously….
└Hikki : Nooooo…!
└Water Spirit : LMAOOOOOOOOOO
└Iron Beard : Hahaha! Isn’t this great?! Life is all the more fun because it’s unpredictable!
└BestDryad : What can you do? That’s just how it turned out…. LOL!
└Ice Bat : Mmm, Frost Hell difficulty. That’s my disciple, all right.
As soon as I got home, I went to the gallery to complain.
And why did AngryArtist have to say something so weird?!
I vented all my frustration.
But all I got in return was mockery and laughter.
This is so unfair….
A few tears welled up.
└NoWorldTreeNoParty : Geez, human. If it were me, I’d be doing windmills from sheer joy.
└NoWorldTreeNoParty : What gets a mage more excited than a stronger enemy?
└Elfprpr : This is why humans are so damn….
└QueenNeverCries : Don’t cry, newbie. Hell can’t be that different, can it?
└GoodAtHousework : That’s right! With your abilities, Hikki, I’m sure this is a trial you can overcome!
└Woofwoof : So what changes when it’s Hell?
What changes?
How would I know?
Because I’m the only one!
But I can make a guess.
The higher the difficulty, the stronger the monsters.
Strong monsters get stronger, fast monsters get faster, and so on.
Hell difficulty was probably the same.
I’d face enemies who were incredibly strong, incredibly fast, and incredibly intelligent.
└AngryArtist : LOL, guess you’ll have to train harder, huh?
└└Hikki : Aaaagh!
How annoying.
I closed the gallery.
‘Maybe I should do something to clear my head.’
I opened the status window.
[Inventory]
[Weapon Selection Ticket]
I’d been assigned Hell difficulty, but…
I got a present out of it, too.
Was it hush money?
Hmm, maybe.
Let’s open it for now.
[Using Weapon Selection Ticket.]
[Holy Zulfiqar]
[One-Strike Claymore Greatsword]
[Swift-Strike Karambit]
[…]
[…]
[…]
A list of weapons appeared one after another.
Swords, spears, bows…
After scrolling down for a while, I saw staves, too.
[Staff That Holds Nature]
[Magic power increases in proportion to the number of nearby plants.]
A staff that holds nature.
Was this some kind of plant-welfare staff?
‘Hmm… not great.’
It only worked if there was plenty of greenery nearby.
Too conditional.
That made it useless in the desert.
I moved on to the next item.
[Fire Staff]
[Fire magic efficiency greatly increased.]
Was this exclusively for fire magic?
This counted as conditional, too.
Most of the other staves were similar.
Either they only worked in certain environments,
or they boosted casting speed at the cost of destructive power,
or greatly increased mana recovery but had no other functions at all.
None of them appealed to me.
‘No conditions.’
I needed to fight with different kinds of magic in all kinds of environments.
I shouldn’t limit my own potential.
Staves that maximized just one specific aspect were out, too.
For the same reason.
You never knew what might happen in the Tower.
“Looking at it that way, they’re all kind of iffy.”
Rattle, rattle—
I scrolled down for a long time.
“Huh?! Back up, back up.”
Then I spotted one that caught my eye!
[No Affinity]
Even the name was full of swagger.
[All Stats +0]
[Magic Power Amplification +0%]
[Mana Recovery +0%]
[Fire Affinity +0%]
[Water Affinity +0%]
[…]
[…]
[…]
Its stats, by comparison, were pathetic.
“What are you? You’re a ridiculous thing, aren’t you?”
Wasn’t it less No Affinity and more No Abilities?
(Congrats) Does nothing (Celebration) A staff is pretty rare, you know?
Curious, I kept inspecting it.
At the very end of the long, long stat window was a description.
[Perfect. Not yet, though.]
Not yet, huh?
That was clearly hinting that it had a lot of room to grow.
Just like I was growing in the Tower.
It meant this staff would grow stronger alongside me, too.
Nice.
I liked it exactly as it was.
Wasn’t this what people called a late-game carry item?
Things like this could be totally broken.
“I’ll take this one.”
[‘No Affinity’ selected.]
[‘No Affinity’ has been issued.]
A staff appeared out of thin air.
It was a long staff made of wood, with some decorative touches.
‘The design’s pretty plain.’
It was a manageable size for me, too.
I took hold of it.
Flash-!
A status window appeared.
[No Affinity (Lv. 0)]
[Growth / Resonance / All-Rounder]
[You must resonate with ‘No Affinity’ to grow it.]
[The current Resonance Stage of ‘No Affinity’ is Stage 0.]
Hmm?
The explanation wasn’t as intuitive as usual for a status window.
Resonate?
What was resonance?
What is this, Zhuge Liang?
Why not tell me to do it with Cao Cao, too?
I tried digging around in the status window some more,
but I couldn’t find even a hint, let alone an explanation of what resonance was.
‘Should I ask the gallery….’
I still wasn’t over it….
Tsk.
Whatever!
I’ll just ask.
[What is resonance?]
[Author: Hikki]
I got a growth-type item.
It says I have to resonate with the staff to make it grow?
└AngryArtist : Ah~ that?
└BearDoorBearDoorBear : Ah… You don’t know…? That’s…. No, maybe it’s too early for you.
└MomThatKidEatsDirt : I explained it~
└ElectricityIsntFireMagic : Wow, you have to resonate. I’m so jealous.
└OuchCold : Resonance is good lol do it a lotㅋ
Seriously, what’s with everyone today?
So how do I resonate with it?!