72

72

The next morning, we gathered in the living room. We were looking over the rewards we had gotten in the latest gate.

I picked up the spear in front of me and raised it high. It was Lancelot’s spear, a great weapon. As I tried to examine the weapon, I could suddenly see some weird words in front of me. I wonder what it means.

[ Lancelot’s spear ] [ SS – ]

Divine Lance [ 50 / 50 ]

Magical Strike [ 50 / 50 ]

It was used by Lancelot, the loyal knight of King Arthur.

“Those are the skills that the weapon has, and below them is the description of the weapon. The numbers mean how many times you can use the skill.”

Weapons also have skills? Interesting. I wanted to know more about it, so Gi-Hoon explained further.

“Awakeners can learn skills in two ways.”

“I heard that one way is through skill stones, and the other way is through repeated training.”

Jeong Gi-Hoon nodded.

“This spear has those skills inside. By using a particular skill, you can eventually learn that skill. That’s why weapons like these are traded at a high price.”

That was comprehensive.

I also checked out the other artifacts we got.

[ Galahad’s boots ] [ S- ]

[ Merlin’s Staff ] [ S+ ]

[ Merlin’s Spellbook ] [ S+ ]

[ Percival’s Gauntlet ] [ S ]

I did mention that Jeong Gi-Hoon looked like an excited kid waiting for Santa Claus, but there was a good reason behind his giddiness. Every single one of these weapons had amazing skills. It was very fascinating.

Among the various artifacts we collected, Merlin’s staff was the most interesting one for me.

[ Merlin’s Staff ] [ S+ ]

Concentration [ 100 / 100 ]

Hellfire [ 50 / 50 ]

Teleport [ 100 / 100 ]

Mass Teleport [ 100 / 100 ]

Haste [ 500 / 500 ]

Invisibility [ 300 / 300 ]

Meditation [ 10 / 10 ]

It was like a special package, and even Gi-Hoon says he has never seen this type of artifact before. This was the first time an artifact was seen to have seven skills inside.

I passed it to Yoo-Jeong.

“Um… Do I deserve this?”

“You do, so take it.”

Kim Yoo-Jeong, her hands shaking, took the staff I handed to her.

I didn’t really need weapons. My physical ability was already excellent on its own. Raul’s unbreakable shield? I was much stronger than that.

If someone wants to hurt me, they need to have the power of a superior master. I don’t need armor as well; all I need is comfortable clothes.

I checked the other skills inside the weapons and distributed them to my team.

An innocuous black bag caught my attention. I opened it and was greeted with a lot of golden coins inside.

“Every single coin is enchanted. It has ‘Explosion,’ the A-rated spell.”

Did I hear him correctly?

“All of them?”

“Yes. Check this out.”

Jeong Gi-Hoon held up a coin in front of me.

[ Merlin’s enchanted golden coin ] [ A-~A+ ]

Created by Merlin to punish the thieves who tried to steal the treasure.

“In other words, even F-rated Hunters can use A-rated skills if they have these coins. Did I get that right?”

“Yes, sir.”

To be honest, I thought that this artifact was the best among our find.

“It’s surprising that he made a lot of these just to protect the treasure,” Jeong Gi-Hoon murmured.

I smiled. There was no need to talk about the dead wizard. I changed the subject.

“How about Musmahhu’s poison?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll turn it into bullets.”

“Do you think it will work?”

“Yes.”

“What if someone tries to steal it?”

“No need to worry about that. Sophie and Raul will be supervising the production. In fact, Raul was enthusiastic about it.”

He meant Raul Albanes.

“He’s a nice guy.”

“That’s why master Lee likes him. He is the type of man who never betrays his friends and works hard for them.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. The two of them frequently meet privately to have a drink. They had conflicts for a bit at first, but I assume they were able to resolve those well.”

Speaking of Raul…

“I saw that he was fighting with someone.”

“Yesterday?”

“The reason why he didn’t pay for his food and drink was because of that. Was there someone who came by?”

I could see that Gi-Hoon was not sure about it. I bet he didn’t even notice anything strange.

“No, sir.”

“Then never mind.”

I thought about something else instead. When Raul and I had been fighting in the gate, I noticed something interesting. A large number of goblins appeared, about eight hundred in total. Sophie, Yoo Ee-Na, and Yoo-Jeong took care of them.

“I was not that interested in the system, but I am now.”

“What do you mean?”

“I now understand the sentence, ‘Hunters get stronger by clearing gates.’”

Jeong Gi-Hoon wasn’t sure what I meant by that. How shall I explain?

When we entered the gate, it was me who cleared it.

“I saw that some life energy is released when a monster is killed, and that energy is absorbed by the Hunters. I am interested in that process.”

“You mean the transfer of energy?”

I nodded.

Jeong Gi-Hoon then explained the mechanism of the gate.

“The dungeon’s system is simple—you get stronger by killing monsters. No one knows the specific reason behind it, they just think that it is the system’s job. That was what I thought, too… But your theory is interesting. Could you tell me more?”

I looked around and saw that everyone was interested in what I had to say, so I decided to explain. After all, I was their leader.

“Every being has some sort of life energy. If that is all used up, then that living organism dies. I saw that the monster’s life energy is absorbed by the Hunters when they kill it. It’s like the life bar draining from a game.”

“I see.”

“But there’s a process for it. They filter it.”

“Filter? What do you mean?”

“When you absorb another being’s life energy, there is a repulsion. To reduce that, energy is filtered to change its form so that Hunters can absorb it. For example, So-Eun…”

“Yes, sir.”

“What’s your strength stats?”

“Um… three?”

I glanced at Jeong Gi-Hoon.

“She used to have a strength stat of one, but now it has increased.”

Usually, physical ability increases when a person trains a lot. That’s what I did. It might be hard to imagine from my life now, but I did work hard. I went through painful training to gain this power, but Hunters could definitely shorten the process by killing monsters.

This was revolutionary.

In other words, Hunters should go into the gate and kill more monsters. Gi-Hoon now understood the reason why I was telling them this.

“…Don’t tell me that you’re thinking what I’m thinking.”

As I said before, this man was smart.

“Unfortunately, what you are assuming is correct. Take this equipment and clear all the gates in our country. That way, So-Eun can rank up to D-rated or C-rated.”

“……”

“I heard that we must pay money to enter the gates. We have a lot of money now. Buy all the tickets for the gates.”

I tried to cheer them up.

“Let’s work as if that’s our destiny.”

I gave them a bright smile so that they can be motivated.

“…Together?”

Gi-Hoon asked hopefully.

“No, man. I have some movies to watch.”

We all laughed together.

Suddenly, my smartwatch rang, breaking up our laughter. Gi-Hoon taught me how to check and read my messages. It was from my brother.

[ You were on the news. ]

There was a video clip attached to his message. It was a news report showing that I had cleared the gate in China.

A man was announcing something to the public, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. I frowned, and Yoo-Jeong smiled and explained.

“He is the president of the Hunter Authority.”

She then asked me if I needed a translation. I always admit when I don’t know something, so I asked her to do so.

The Spanish guy’s words were now understandable.

b The Hunter Authority must be maintained. }

b Even if a problem arises, that won’t deter the Authority. We can fix it. Also, we were the ones who deployed the Korean hunter to save London, Lee Hwan. A person like him is loyal to the Authority. It’s not right to dissolve it. }

b Yes, I sent him. He is most loyal to me. I wonder if he’ll take orders from someone else.}

As the man continued talking, everyone froze.

I was the only one who was laughing.

I knew the reason behind this announcement, and some of them must know as well. The man did that to prevent the Authority’s disorganization. In a situation like this, that was the best thing he could do.

Hunters must pay taxes. I bet he would allow me not to pay my taxes so that he could have my loyalty. In other words, this was his last, desperate option.

However, his last option was the worst.

After a moment, a new message came in.

[ What will you do? ]

As I mentioned before, I kill those who try to use me. I tried to send a message back to Ho, but before I could send it, my watch rang again. He was calling me now.

[ If you don’t want to do it, then I will. ]

I stopped and stared at him.

[ I was planning to kill him anyway, and he just made things worse. If you want, you can have him. ]

[ What happened? ]

[ You know… If it weren’t for you, I would have lost everything. ]

I rubbed my chin in thought.

[ Just in case, let me say that you don’t have to look after me. Do as you wish and live freely. ]

I could sense his anger from here. I wonder what happened, but I guess I’ll hear about it later. He is a busy man, after all. He continued.

[ I’ll leave this to you, then. Also, I’m going to Japan tonight. ]

[ Japan? ]

[ I have to meet someone. ]

Wow, so that meant he was working internationally.

Before I forgot, I also had to tell him something.

[ By the way, are there any strong Hunters in Switzerland? I think someone just fought with Raul and headed to Switzerland. ]

Lee Ho was quiet. After hearing that, he sighed.

[ …Switzerland. So that’s where he is. ]

See? I can see that he was angry.

[ Have you spoken about this to anyone else? ]

[ Just my teammates. ]

[ Good. You just gave me very important information. Thank you. ]

[ When will you tell me about it? ]

[ As soon as you return home. ]

I nodded. That was good enough. I can wait that long.

I’ll do what I have to do for now.

[ Take care. ]

[ You too. ]

I put my watch down and turned to Yoo-Jeong.

“Do you know where he is?”

“Yes… He should be in America, the main office of the Authority.”

America, huh?

“Can you get there using teleportation?”

“Yes, I can.”

Well then, things are settled.

“Okay, let’s head there now. Gi-Hoon, Ee-Na, and So-Eun, the three of you go back to Korea first.”

Yoo-Jeong and I can settle this ourselves.

“Be careful, sir,” Jeong Gi-Hoon told him.

I appreciated that, but there was really no need for it.

I immediately teleported with Yoo-Jeong and found myself in America.

72

The next morning, we gathered in the living room. We were looking over the rewards we had gotten in the latest gate.

I picked up the spear in front of me and raised it high. It was Lancelot’s spear, a great weapon. As I tried to examine the weapon, I could suddenly see some weird words in front of me. I wonder what it means.

[ Lancelot’s spear ] [ SS – ]

Divine Lance [ 50 / 50 ]

Magical Strike [ 50 / 50 ]

It was used by Lancelot, the loyal knight of King Arthur.

“Those are the skills that the weapon has, and below them is the description of the weapon. The numbers mean how many times you can use the skill.”

Weapons also have skills? Interesting. I wanted to know more about it, so Gi-Hoon explained further.

“Awakeners can learn skills in two ways.”

“I heard that one way is through skill stones, and the other way is through repeated training.”

Jeong Gi-Hoon nodded.

“This spear has those skills inside. By using a particular skill, you can eventually learn that skill. That’s why weapons like these are traded at a high price.”

That was comprehensive.

I also checked out the other artifacts we got.

[ Galahad’s boots ] [ S- ]

[ Merlin’s Staff ] [ S+ ]

[ Merlin’s Spellbook ] [ S+ ]

[ Percival’s Gauntlet ] [ S ]

I did mention that Jeong Gi-Hoon looked like an excited kid waiting for Santa Claus, but there was a good reason behind his giddiness. Every single one of these weapons had amazing skills. It was very fascinating.

Among the various artifacts we collected, Merlin’s staff was the most interesting one for me.

[ Merlin’s Staff ] [ S+ ]

Concentration [ 100 / 100 ]

Hellfire [ 50 / 50 ]

Teleport [ 100 / 100 ]

Mass Teleport [ 100 / 100 ]

Haste [ 500 / 500 ]

Invisibility [ 300 / 300 ]

Meditation [ 10 / 10 ]

It was like a special package, and even Gi-Hoon says he has never seen this type of artifact before. This was the first time an artifact was seen to have seven skills inside.

I passed it to Yoo-Jeong.

“Um… Do I deserve this?”

“You do, so take it.”

Kim Yoo-Jeong, her hands shaking, took the staff I handed to her.

I didn’t really need weapons. My physical ability was already excellent on its own. Raul’s unbreakable shield? I was much stronger than that.

If someone wants to hurt me, they need to have the power of a superior master. I don’t need armor as well; all I need is comfortable clothes.

I checked the other skills inside the weapons and distributed them to my team.

An innocuous black bag caught my attention. I opened it and was greeted with a lot of golden coins inside.

“Every single coin is enchanted. It has ‘Explosion,’ the A-rated spell.”

Did I hear him correctly?

“All of them?”

“Yes. Check this out.”

Jeong Gi-Hoon held up a coin in front of me.

[ Merlin’s enchanted golden coin ] [ A-~A+ ]

Created by Merlin to punish the thieves who tried to steal the treasure.

“In other words, even F-rated Hunters can use A-rated skills if they have these coins. Did I get that right?”

“Yes, sir.”

To be honest, I thought that this artifact was the best among our find.

“It’s surprising that he made a lot of these just to protect the treasure,” Jeong Gi-Hoon murmured.

I smiled. There was no need to talk about the dead wizard. I changed the subject.

“How about Musmahhu’s poison?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll turn it into bullets.”

“Do you think it will work?”

“Yes.”

“What if someone tries to steal it?”

“No need to worry about that. Sophie and Raul will be supervising the production. In fact, Raul was enthusiastic about it.”

He meant Raul Albanes.

“He’s a nice guy.”

“That’s why master Lee likes him. He is the type of man who never betrays his friends and works hard for them.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. The two of them frequently meet privately to have a drink. They had conflicts for a bit at first, but I assume they were able to resolve those well.”

Speaking of Raul…

“I saw that he was fighting with someone.”

“Yesterday?”

“The reason why he didn’t pay for his food and drink was because of that. Was there someone who came by?”

I could see that Gi-Hoon was not sure about it. I bet he didn’t even notice anything strange.

“No, sir.”

“Then never mind.”

I thought about something else instead. When Raul and I had been fighting in the gate, I noticed something interesting. A large number of goblins appeared, about eight hundred in total. Sophie, Yoo Ee-Na, and Yoo-Jeong took care of them.

“I was not that interested in the system, but I am now.”

“What do you mean?”

“I now understand the sentence, ‘Hunters get stronger by clearing gates.’”

Jeong Gi-Hoon wasn’t sure what I meant by that. How shall I explain?

When we entered the gate, it was me who cleared it.

“I saw that some life energy is released when a monster is killed, and that energy is absorbed by the Hunters. I am interested in that process.”

“You mean the transfer of energy?”

I nodded.

Jeong Gi-Hoon then explained the mechanism of the gate.

“The dungeon’s system is simple—you get stronger by killing monsters. No one knows the specific reason behind it, they just think that it is the system’s job. That was what I thought, too… But your theory is interesting. Could you tell me more?”

I looked around and saw that everyone was interested in what I had to say, so I decided to explain. After all, I was their leader.

“Every being has some sort of life energy. If that is all used up, then that living organism dies. I saw that the monster’s life energy is absorbed by the Hunters when they kill it. It’s like the life bar draining from a game.”

“I see.”

“But there’s a process for it. They filter it.”

“Filter? What do you mean?”

“When you absorb another being’s life energy, there is a repulsion. To reduce that, energy is filtered to change its form so that Hunters can absorb it. For example, So-Eun…”

“Yes, sir.”

“What’s your strength stats?”

“Um… three?”

I glanced at Jeong Gi-Hoon.

“She used to have a strength stat of one, but now it has increased.”

Usually, physical ability increases when a person trains a lot. That’s what I did. It might be hard to imagine from my life now, but I did work hard. I went through painful training to gain this power, but Hunters could definitely shorten the process by killing monsters.

This was revolutionary.

In other words, Hunters should go into the gate and kill more monsters. Gi-Hoon now understood the reason why I was telling them this.

“…Don’t tell me that you’re thinking what I’m thinking.”

As I said before, this man was smart.

“Unfortunately, what you are assuming is correct. Take this equipment and clear all the gates in our country. That way, So-Eun can rank up to D-rated or C-rated.”

“……”

“I heard that we must pay money to enter the gates. We have a lot of money now. Buy all the tickets for the gates.”

I tried to cheer them up.

“Let’s work as if that’s our destiny.”

I gave them a bright smile so that they can be motivated.

“…Together?”

Gi-Hoon asked hopefully.

“No, man. I have some movies to watch.”

We all laughed together.

Suddenly, my smartwatch rang, breaking up our laughter. Gi-Hoon taught me how to check and read my messages. It was from my brother.

[ You were on the news. ]

There was a video clip attached to his message. It was a news report showing that I had cleared the gate in China.

A man was announcing something to the public, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. I frowned, and Yoo-Jeong smiled and explained.

“He is the president of the Hunter Authority.”

She then asked me if I needed a translation. I always admit when I don’t know something, so I asked her to do so.

The Spanish guy’s words were now understandable.

b The Hunter Authority must be maintained. }

b Even if a problem arises, that won’t deter the Authority. We can fix it. Also, we were the ones who deployed the Korean hunter to save London, Lee Hwan. A person like him is loyal to the Authority. It’s not right to dissolve it. }

b Yes, I sent him. He is most loyal to me. I wonder if he’ll take orders from someone else.}

As the man continued talking, everyone froze.

I was the only one who was laughing.

I knew the reason behind this announcement, and some of them must know as well. The man did that to prevent the Authority’s disorganization. In a situation like this, that was the best thing he could do.

Hunters must pay taxes. I bet he would allow me not to pay my taxes so that he could have my loyalty. In other words, this was his last, desperate option.

However, his last option was the worst.

After a moment, a new message came in.

[ What will you do? ]

As I mentioned before, I kill those who try to use me. I tried to send a message back to Ho, but before I could send it, my watch rang again. He was calling me now.

[ If you don’t want to do it, then I will. ]

I stopped and stared at him.

[ I was planning to kill him anyway, and he just made things worse. If you want, you can have him. ]

[ What happened? ]

[ You know… If it weren’t for you, I would have lost everything. ]

I rubbed my chin in thought.

[ Just in case, let me say that you don’t have to look after me. Do as you wish and live freely. ]

I could sense his anger from here. I wonder what happened, but I guess I’ll hear about it later. He is a busy man, after all. He continued.

[ I’ll leave this to you, then. Also, I’m going to Japan tonight. ]

[ Japan? ]

[ I have to meet someone. ]

Wow, so that meant he was working internationally.

Before I forgot, I also had to tell him something.

[ By the way, are there any strong Hunters in Switzerland? I think someone just fought with Raul and headed to Switzerland. ]

Lee Ho was quiet. After hearing that, he sighed.

[ …Switzerland. So that’s where he is. ]

See? I can see that he was angry.

[ Have you spoken about this to anyone else? ]

[ Just my teammates. ]

[ Good. You just gave me very important information. Thank you. ]

[ When will you tell me about it? ]

[ As soon as you return home. ]

I nodded. That was good enough. I can wait that long.

I’ll do what I have to do for now.

[ Take care. ]

[ You too. ]

I put my watch down and turned to Yoo-Jeong.

“Do you know where he is?”

“Yes… He should be in America, the main office of the Authority.”

America, huh?

“Can you get there using teleportation?”

“Yes, I can.”

Well then, things are settled.

“Okay, let’s head there now. Gi-Hoon, Ee-Na, and So-Eun, the three of you go back to Korea first.”

Yoo-Jeong and I can settle this ourselves.

“Be careful, sir,” Jeong Gi-Hoon told him.

I appreciated that, but there was really no need for it.

I immediately teleported with Yoo-Jeong and found myself in America.