Chapter 12
Chapter 12
3. The System's Anchor -1
If you have debt, you have to work. And under the System, the way to earn Credits is—
[Dungeon | 3 Days | Designated Target Hunt | 100 Credits + D-Rank Random Box]
[Target: Hunt the D-grade elite Monster Tree 『Multiflora Rose』]
A Stage.
I wiped the sweat running down my jaw and muttered.
"......Shit, I'm dying here. Seriously."
The reason I was grumbling was that I was currently doing grueling rock climbing I’d never imagined I would be doing in my life.
Right now, I was crawling up a rocky mountain without so much as a single leaf of vegetation. I was managing to climb with near-superhuman physical ability, but it was damn hard.
This place was another world I'd crossed into through the System's Stage function. I'd deliberately avoided Party Matching, so I was alone.
This world was a place where only faint traces of human civilization remained. Most of the area was densely covered in trees and undergrowth, and the occasional primitive structure hinted at human existence.
Judging by the collapsed dugout huts, comb-pattern pottery, and crude totems lying around, it seemed to be around the Neolithic era. At that level of civilization, they wouldn't have been able to stand against the plant bastards.
Maybe that was why I hadn't sensed any sign of people so far.
"Ugh."
Thud.
To catch my breath, I climbed onto a ledge midway up the cliff and looked down at my surroundings. Once I pushed past the instinctive fear of the dizzying height, something even more frightening came into view.
The forest stretched densely like an ocean, all the way to the distant horizon. This planet was submerged in green. Every last bit of it was a potential Monster Tree spawning ground.
And some forests—if you looked closely, yellow dust-like particles drifted thickly like fog, and there were bizarrely overgrown trees and vines. Forests like that were places completely occupied by Monster Trees.
That looked like contamination level 1.
Contaminated forests endlessly expanded their territory, and they had the effect of turning even healthy plants into monsters. Given time, the contamination level would gradually worsen, and at some point the land would become utterly untouchable.
It was almost like the plant bastards were terraforming.
On Earth, there was land that had broken past contamination level 3 and become completely unusable. It was a living hell where toxic spores constantly spewed out, thorn-firing anti-air batteries stood ready, S-grade Monster Trees prowled, and hardened trees were woven together into something like fortress walls.
So it had to be purified early, before it could grow further.
Someone might say, why not just set a forest fire and solve it cleanly? But once contamination passes level 1, fire attacks don't work. The bastards act like they have intelligence—they draw up groundwater and shoot water cannons, or kill themselves to cut off the flames.
That's because contaminated forests contain an individual that serves as a kind of command center. Those commander-type individuals even have primitive brains growing inside their bark.
But having a brain means having a weakness.
Kill that thing and the forest’s defenses become considerably weaker, making it easier to push back the entire zone. So the standard way to purify a contaminated forest was: hunt the commander entity, then clear the vegetation.
The mission objective the System had posted seemed to be part of that procedure.
[Target: Hunt the D-grade elite Monster Tree 『Multiflora Rose』]
It had "elite" attached to it. It probably meant the command-center individual. The 『Multiflora Rose』 would be lurking at the center of that contaminated forest. Kill it and the Stage would be cleared.
So why was I rock climbing instead of heading into the contaminated forest? There were reasons. The first reason was reconnaissance, and the second reason was......
└ Azure Wind Wanderer (D / B)
Progress: 1% (0 Stars)
'The System's significance lies in wandering across a vast world, so roam through diverse worlds and feed it various rains and clouds. Then you shall be able to command wind and rain.'
(Additionally, progress can be increased by consuming Credits)
It was for skill enhancement.
The skill 『Azure Wind Wanderer』, which I'd received from the System's B-rank hunter 『Sky Roamer』, had an unusual growth condition. Namely, I had to tear off and absorb clouds.
I'd thought the skill description had some literary exaggeration, but it was exactly as written. This skill only grew by feeding it rain and clouds.
Also, progress couldn't be filled repeatedly in one place. On Earth, there was no mountain near Seoul high enough to touch clouds, so I'd absorbed as much rain as I could outside instead. After about an hour, the progress stopped rising past 1%.
In other words, I literally had to wander through multiple worlds and collect each world's rain and clouds.
That was why I was climbing the cliff. Since I couldn't summon rain here, I had to climb to a high place and tear off some clouds.
According to the description, I could spend Credits instead of doing all this annoying work, but with a mountain of debt, I had no choice but to do it the hard way.
I didn't really know what meaning this process had. I didn't think too deeply about it either.
I was just doing it because it made me stronger.
"......Huff, shit. Next time I should at least bring climbing gear."
The more I thought about it, the more unfair it felt.
These goddamn plant bastards were disgustingly numerous down below. Yet on this rocky mountain, where even a single tree root would have made the climb easier, there wasn’t a trace of them. What, even those relentless bastards thought this place was too much of a climb?
If so, then I was deliberately climbing a rocky mountain that even the plant bastards had given up on.
I reached out again, forcing my fingers into a crack in the rock face, and pulled my body up. The exciting mountain climb resumed.
........
After about three more hours of climbing, I reached the summit of the rocky mountain, stretched out my hand, and absorbed the leisurely drifting clouds into my body. Along with a refreshing sensation that was hard to describe, the System window's display changed.
[Azure Wind Wanderer's progress has increased: 1% => 2%]
When the percentage rose like this, the skill's power also increased noticeably.
"『Azure Wind Wanderer』."
When I activated the skill, the method of using it came to me naturally. As if a blueprint had been carved into my head. It still felt awkward and unnatural every time I used it, but I was gradually getting used to it.
To explain simply, Azure Wind Wanderer possessed the power to command wind and rain.
Swish.
I drew my finger from left to right and moved my Magic Power. Then wind began to blow.
Whoooosh—!
When activated to skim the ground, it produced wind strong enough to kick up a dust cloud. Compared to before absorbing the cloud, the power had exactly doubled.
Did the power scale honestly and proportionally with progress?
At this rate, after absorbing additional clouds and rain from about three Stages, I'd probably be able to fire wind blades on par with what an Earth-born B-rank hunter with an atmosphere-manipulation ability could produce.
Then I'd have a proper ability I could use anytime, without having to get beaten up all day just to use 『Download -2』. The mountain climb had been damn hard, but it was worth it.
"......Feels like just yesterday I was envying the bastards who awakened decent emission-type abilities."
It really drove home the value of what the System provided.
From my position—no, from Earth's position—this was a chance to receive a skill from a being close to a god. It was an undeserved harvest I'd gotten thanks to the Hidden Piece, but honestly, it was no different from an opportunity to change my fate.
Because Earth-born hunters' abilities couldn't be changed or additionally acquired.
When a talented human came into contact with the Magic Power beyond the Gate, they awakened an ability at that moment and became a hunter. And the ability determined that way never changed. Not even its output.
Hyejin, a B-rank hunter in Seoul, had awakened the ability to emit blue flames during the Gate Incident, and she'd named it 『Azure Flame』.
And the amount of blue flame she emitted was no different now than it had been back then. Whether in her high school days or now, after everything she'd been through. In terms of output alone, it was B-rank level.
In other words, the ability itself didn't grow. You just optimized how you used it and became more skilled.
A D-rank hunter stayed D-rank forever, and an A-rank hunter stayed A-rank forever. You could raise your rank through effort, but the output of your awakened ability never dramatically increased.
In effect, a hunter's station was decided from the start.
It resembled fate, in a way. In that no matter how hard you struggled, you couldn't escape it.
I'd been the same. Compared to people who couldn't even awaken, I'd gotten my hands on more than enough power, but that power hadn't been enough to protect the peaceful days I'd loved.
No matter how hard I struggled and scraped, all I’d been able to hold onto was the devastated Seoul of today.
But...... yeah. If I could climb a little higher with the System's help.
I did want to build that fence again, after all. A cozy fence without war, where a third-rate idol didn't have to pick up a sword and shield just to survive.
It was more convenient than I'd imagined.
"『Azure Wind Wanderer』."
Whoooosh—!!
The wind swirled around me, constantly pushing away the yellow dust that filled the contaminated forest. The toxic dust couldn't invade my respiratory system.
"That saved me a good five hours......"
Originally, I would've had to strike the dust-producing individuals and retreat, eliminating them one by one to lower the contaminated forest's dust concentration to a tolerable level before entering. Or bring an oxygen tank.
Now there was no need for that. If I just cut across the forest like this and killed the 『Multiflora Rose』, the mission would be complete.
Assaulting the interior of a contaminated forest was like urban warfare.
Everywhere I looked and walked, the plant bastards' ambush forces were hiding. Roots erupting from the ground, poison needles shooting from between leaves...... It was no exaggeration to say I was fighting the entire forest.
So if an inexperienced novice went in, they'd most likely collapse from exhaustion before even reaching the commander individual.
Then wasn't assaulting it alone suicide?
No. At contamination level 1, one experienced person was far better than a hundred clueless ones. Ultimately, the bastards were plants with relatively slow reactions, so if you watched carefully and moved well, you could take them down.
For example, that broad leaf draped over the ground. It looked like a sundew type. As long as I didn't step on it, it wouldn't attack.
And those vines over there, wrapped around branches and hanging down like snares set at a door. I fired a line of wind to test their reaction, and the vines writhed sluggishly. Too quick for a plant, too slow for an animal.
Then that was also a sensory organ of some Monster Tree. I'd go around it.
In this way, gaps existed in the contaminated forest's perimeter system. If you squeezed through those gaps, reaching the deep interior wasn't difficult.
The difficult part was the next step.
Three hours into the breakthrough. I arrived in front of the D-grade elite Monster Tree 『Multiflora Rose』.
"........"
I observed carefully.
Nothing particularly strange was visible. Nothing floating in the air, no bizarrely twisted structures. Fortunately, this time it seemed only the Multiflora Rose's main body had manifested.
The multiflora rose was a small white flower belonging to the rose family. It had a dainty appearance, but its stem was covered in sharp thorns.
The 『Multiflora Rose』 looked like something that had taken those traits, extracted only the malice, and inflated it to the extreme.
Shurrrrk—
It stood about 5 meters tall.
A large single eye resembling an insect's compound eye was ringed with white petals like saw teeth, and the long stem extending below it was densely covered in thorns about 30 centimeters long.
At this point, it looked like a long-necked monster. Disgusting.
Most Monster Trees used tactile senses through roots or leaves as their sensory organs, but this one seemed to have uniquely mutated toward enhancing its vision.
Yeah, this bastard had an eye.
"........"
I'd been planning to sneak attack while avoiding its tactile senses, but I ended up making direct eye contact with it. Of all things, it had to be an eye.
Squirm, squirm.
The 『Multiflora Rose』 moved its eye-bearing flower part this way and that, as if tilting its head, and stared at me. As if it were pondering what I was.
And soon it would judge me as an enemy that had invaded its forest.
I had to strike first.
"『Azure Wind Wanderer』!"
I immediately summoned wind, scooping it along the ground to hurl dust and small pebbles forward. The dust struck the bastard's cornea head-on.
At the same time, I threw my body to the side.
Shurrrrk——!! Puhak-!
The bastard fired a volley of thorns at the last place it had seen the intruder—the spot where I'd been standing just moments ago. Thorns close to the size of spears flew with a whistling sound and thudded into the ground.
Its reaction between sight and movement was fast. If its brain had been buried near the roots, the distance between eye and brain would've made its reaction much slower.
My guess was that its brain was near the eye...... in the flower part.
Now then. If I fought leisurely, I could kill it safely. The 『Multiflora Rose』's main attack method appeared to be the thorns on its stem, and once it fired all of those, the most it could do was swing its stem around.
But unfortunately, I couldn't do that. Fighting a commander individual had to be finished quickly.
Because at this moment, an emergency signal would have been broadcast to every Monster Tree in the contaminated forest. And they'd be lifting their roots, expending their own energy, and running hard toward the center.
Plants running like animals would have consumed almost all their nutrients and be staggering, but even so, if the entire forest's hidden numbers swarmed in, I couldn't handle it. Especially since I didn't have any area-of-effect attacks.
I did have 『Flame Goat Gauntlet: Flame Emission』, which I'd gotten from fighting R-11, but it was a precious skill obtained from a D-rank artifact, so I wanted to save it if possible.
Then there was only one method. Kill the 『Multiflora Rose』 quickly and get out of here.
Whoosh-
I gripped my dagger in a reverse grip and ran straight at the bastard. As I got closer, it seemed to locate me by the sound of my footsteps echoing on the ground. The bastard bristled its thorns and prepared to fire.
Puhak-! Puhak-!
Sap burst out as thorns launched. I blocked the thorns flying at me head-on with my shield and kept running. Then I planted my foot on the bastard's stem and pushed off.
Using the momentum of my sprint, I ran up the 『Multiflora Rose』's stem. Before gravity could fully kill my acceleration, I slashed the stem with my dagger to carve a groove.
Then I stepped on that groove and leaped again. My body rose into the air, and only then did I come eye-level with the 『Multiflora Rose』. Now I had to mentally prepare myself a bit.
Because I had to jump inside that huge single eye, destroy its brain, and come back out.
"Hup!"
Kwaaak-!
Shurrrrr——!!
I slashed a large cross with my dagger and burrowed inside, and I could feel the bastard's entire body thrashing in desperation. I kept my balance and swung my dagger without concern.
I extended my weapon deep inside. Cutting through everything that caught on the blade's tip, I went deeper and deeper.
Crunch.
And⋯⋯ I succeeded in destroying the bastard’s brain.
Since it had no mouth to scream with, it staggered as if trying to express its final words through its body, then laid its bulk down on the ground. I tumbled and rolled out from inside the lens to the surface.
"......Phew."
I got to my feet, covered in disgusting sap.
Normally, all sorts of stuff would've gotten into my mouth and ears too, but thanks to the protection from Azure Wind Wanderer, I finished with less nausea. I'd won.
Now I just had to escape the forest......
[You have hunted the D-grade elite Monster Tree 『Multiflora Rose』.]
[You may now return.]
I could return from here too? I'd thought escaping the forest was part of the job, so this was a relief. Then there was no reason to refuse.
"Return."
I was enveloped in light and returned to Earth.
[Reward: 100 Credits + D-Rank Random Box awarded.]
Credits Held: -9,999,999,900 (Debt)
"........"
I let out a weak laugh. It wasn't because it was funny—I was just dumbfounded looking at the number. At D-rank level, I could really feel that this was an amount I couldn't repay even if I died and came back to life.
And then, the random box.
I placed my finger over the [Use] button glittering in a corner of the System window and looked at my watch. The second hand was ticking, moving one space at a time.
It was currently 7:06:11. I would press the Use button at exactly 7:07:07.
......I know. It's childish.
But doesn’t everyone have at least one superstition like this? I’d always been this way. Whether I was enhancing gear in an RPG or rolling weapon options, I believed there were lucky times when success was more likely.
I remembered succeeding at +14 enhancement, a server first, in some game that had already shut down by the time I entered college. Back then too, I'd definitely pressed the enhance button at 7:07.
I'd been earnest back then too, but my current earnestness was on a whole different level. I hoped something amazing would come out. Someone might say I'd already devoured a Hidden Piece, so what more could I want—but conversely, wasn't that exactly why I could hope?
My luck had been good so far. I'd caught the flow, so to speak. So maybe this time too!
With a trembling heart, I lowered my finger.
"Open."
Dugudugudugu—
Tadan!
[D-Rank Random Box Result: Random Grocery Box x5]
[Congratulations!]
Along with an anticlimactic sound effect, emergency rations poured down from the air with a clatter. It was a product with block-shaped yanggaeng depicted on it, with a suspiciously glossy surface.
"Nice!"
Yeah!
See, didn't I say I'd caught the flow? Something good came out.
Food supplies had been running low lately, so it was fortunate that food came out at just the right time. My luck was good, as if it were finally compensating me for my twisted past life!
Good.
Setting aside the debt, my hunter life was smooth sailing. I'd finished the Tutorial well, gotten a Hidden Piece, and as I'd confirmed today, I could push through a Stage alone.
Let's just keep going like this. Clear Stages to grow 『Azure Wind Wanderer』, procure the materials Seoul needed through random boxes, and steadily build up my foundation.
........
Like that, I completed three more Stages, and from the random boxes I obtained one Magic Power generator and eight grocery boxes.
Azure Wind Wanderer's progress rose to 5%. Now, in addition to powerful wind, I could also gather clouds, if only slightly.
It was stable. Stable growth. I almost wondered if things had ever gone this well in my life.
Maybe once I'd gained a bit more experience, I'd try challenging a harder Stage. Thinking that, I selected the next Stage.
[Dungeon | 5 Days | Designated Target Hunt | 100 Credits + D-Rank Random Box]
[Target: Hunt the D-grade elite Monster Tree 『Dandelion』]
"........"
I hesitated for a moment at the name "Dandelion."
'Noah, there’s a dandelion here. Blow on it, like this. Hoo!'
An old memory flashed by. A scene from a moment with Eve, a foreign exchange student with a cute face and blonde hair. She was, how should I put it, someone with an untainted innocence...... like a child.
But at the same time, she sometimes showed a surprisingly mature side. At least, she was a junior who was far more grown-up than I'd been back in college. That was why I'd been drawn to her, and that was why we'd broken up.
So to speak, she was my ex-girlfriend.
I'd heard she was living in the city-state of New York now. I wondered if she was doing well.
No, she'd be doing well. Who was I to worry about whom? New York was the safest land on Earth, ruled by S-rank hunter Max Owen. At the very least, she'd be living a life hundreds of times better than living in Seoul.
Let's stop the trip down memory lane here. It was time to work.
"......Entering Stage."
Along with a fragment of nostalgia brushing the tip of my nose.
Wrapped in the now-familiar white light, I moved to another Stage—
"A pathetic growth rate, Noah Won. Have you been slacking off?"
"........"
"Yes, with growth like that, you'd have nothing to say even if you had a mouth. You rejected my teaching, but I find it hard to watch a jewel being shoved into the dirt. Raise your shield. I'll give you a lesson."
"Oh, for fuck's sake."
The crazy spear-wielder from the Tutorial.
I'd run straight into Sergios of Mount Moria.