First C-Rank Clear After the Spirit Contract
Grabbing the nearby rock pillar lightly, I pulled it upward. The stone lifted from its roots, sending a shower of dirt cascading down like rain. “…Whoa… this is really my strength? I could accidentally kill someone with this.”
Arin flew above my head, resting her chin on her hands as she leaned forward and playfully kicked the top of my head with her feet, giggling. “Jihoon, your strength is insane! But why do you look so surprised? Like you didn’t even know?”
Collecting myself, I clenched my fist and struck the rock hard. Even without using my full power, the boulder split cleanly in half, fragments scattering behind it.
“Hah… I really need to be careful with this. One wrong move and I could seriously hurt someone… Is this what a high-rank hunter’s power feels like? I should practice controlling it more before heading up. Telekinesis… and physical strength both increased at once.”
It didn’t match anything I knew. Elemental or psychic-type ability users usually had their physical abilities capped around C-rank. Beyond that, only mana and abilities grew while the body remained largely unchanged. My body had completely shattered that common sense.
When I raised my hand, the telekinesis responded instantly. The power felt far sharper and lighter than before. Three chunks of rock rose simultaneously, hovering steadily in the air without any sense of strain.
“…It’s definitely stronger. Just absorbing one C-rank dungeon core made a huge difference compared to when I was D-rank. Both my body and the telekinesis reaction… it’s intense.”
Arin floated beside me and gently placed a small flame on my arm. “Agh—hey, what are you—”
Before I could finish, the heat quickly faded. More precisely, the heat was there, but there was no pain. Arin crossed her arms and lifted her chin proudly.
“Feel it again. Tell me if it’s actually hot or not.”
I brought the back of my hand closer to the flame. Even when it touched directly, it didn’t burn. My senses felt dulled, as if filtered.
“…Huh? It really doesn’t hurt at all. Why is this happening?”
Arin smirked. “Because you contracted with me. I’m a fire spirit. My attribute can’t harm my contractor.”
“But I can’t block flames stronger than mine. So don’t go sticking your hand into just any dungeon fire. Strong flames will still burn you.”
“…Got it. So absorbing the dungeon core boosted both my abilities and physical stats, and the contract gave me fire resistance on top of that.”
“Yep. Exactly right.”
Arin spun around in satisfaction. “What about you? You said you were weaker than a low-rank spirit when the seal broke. How do you recover your power?”
“Me?” Arin tilted her head slightly. “I’m a fire spirit, so I recover by consuming fire-attribute energy.”
“Fire-attribute… energy?”
“Yeah. Things like fire-element energy crystals or spirit stones. Not just any crystal—only ones that match my attribute.”
“…I’ve never heard of spirit stones before.”
“Makes sense. The connection to the spirit realm is too faint in your world. You probably don’t even know what they are. I’ll tell you more when we get near one later.”
“Alright. Right now, getting back up is the priority.”
“That’s it! Your teammates are still fighting up there. Let’s go, Contractor.”
I looked upward. The echoes of battle still vibrated through the ground. A sudden thought struck me, and I turned to Arin.
“By the way, Arin.”
“Yeah?”
“When we get up there… how do I explain you to everyone? It’ll be awkward if they see you like this.”
“You don’t have to worry about that.”
Light rippled along her body. “If I want, I can make myself visible only to your eyes.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Spirits can do at least that much.”
Her lips curled into a playful smile, eyes sparkling with mischief. “How should I do it?”
I hesitated for a moment before deciding. “Then… make it so only I can see you. That would be best for now.”
“Got it.”
Arin’s body shimmered briefly before the light settled. “Now only you can see me. Let’s go. Your friends are still holding on up there.”
The cave entrance came back into view. I slowly spread telekinesis around my body like a cloak. A gentle pressure spread across my skin, and I began to rise. The ground quietly receded beneath me.
“…I can fly this way too.”
The words slipped out unconsciously. When I shifted the force to the side, my balance wavered slightly, so I corrected it and straightened my posture. While moving, I practiced adjusting my physical strength and sensing the precise control of my telekinesis at the same time.
Arin floated up beside me with her arms crossed. “Oh. You’re using it like that too? Pretty stable for a first try.”
“The control still feels… awkward.”
“You’ll get faster once you’re used to it. Let’s head up now.”
I jumped toward the crack above the spot where I had fallen. Near the drop, I drove my hand into the fissure and climbed step by step, checking my muscle control and stamina response. Then I leaped to the opposite wall and repeated the motion until my movements flowed smoothly without interruption. Strength, stamina, agility… right now, I felt like I was at least B-rank hunter level. My body was incredibly light, and I barely needed any effort.
‘Then… how far can I fly with telekinesis?’
I lightly applied force in the air and lifted myself once more. I soared straight up through the gap I had escaped from earlier and took a short breath to steady myself.
“Whew… no problems so far. At this rate, flying around might actually work… heh.”
A natural laugh escaped with the words. Once I reached the top of the slope, I saw Team Leader Yoo Mira and Brother Do-yoon still fighting the Flame Behemoth on the red incline above. Their expressions were complicated—angry and impatient. Just from their faces, I could tell how urgent the situation was.
Hyunmu Team 3 was still in combat as well. Brother Do-yoon gritted his teeth and pushed with gravity, pinning the Behemoth’s upper body to the ground as it struggled. “Do-yoon, now!”
Team Leader Yoo Mira’s voice rang out sharply. At the same time, a blazing flame spear ignited. The compressed fire shot forward in a straight line and pierced toward the Behemoth’s heart.
Kwaaang—!
The massive body rolled backward. The Behemoth let out a long roar, shuddered once, then collapsed completely. Its movements ceased entirely.
I landed just behind the edge of the slope and rummaged through my backpack for clothes. The bag was scorched and melted in places from the fire, but fortunately the clothes inside were still wearable. Just then, Brother Jae-hoon looked around from below and spotted me.
“Jihoon!! …Huh?”
His running footsteps stopped abruptly. He scanned me from head to toe, and his expression stiffened strangely. Brother So-rin and Team Leader Yoo Mira stopped at the same time.
“Uh… what’s with those clothes, Jihoon? They’re all burnt…”
“Good grief… you’re alive. But why do you look like that?”
I quickly yanked up my pants and covered the lower half with my hands. “Ah, well… I fell and… rolled around a bit… Anyway, I somehow made it back alive.”
I couldn’t mention absorbing the dungeon core or the spirit contract, so I just put on an expression that said “I got lucky and survived.”
Meanwhile, Team Leader Yoo Mira and Brother Do-yoon were also coming down from above. Both wore expressions mixed with tension and relief. Team Leader Yoo Mira let out a deep breath.
“Jihoon, don’t ever move alone again.”
“…Yes. I’m sorry. It happened so suddenly… I just reacted without thinking.”
“Jihoon! Are you okay? I was shocked when I saw you fall through the crack! We were about to go look for you, but we figured finishing off the Behemoth quickly would be better, so we went all out to end it fast.”
“Thanks, Brother Do-yoon. I’m really glad I managed to catch myself with telekinesis before hitting the ground. I don’t know what would’ve happened otherwise.”
“That’s why you look like that! Hurry up and put some clothes on—you look ridiculous!”
“Yeah… just a second.”
I went behind another rock to finish dressing, then rejoined the team. “Thanks for worrying about me, everyone! My head’s still a mess, so I’d like to be alone for a bit!”
Meanwhile, Hyunmu Team 3 continued sorting through the remains. Team Leader Jang Tae-wook, who had been examining the charred remains, picked up something that sparkled. He pulled a small object from the Flame Behemoth’s corpse, turned it over in his hands, glanced at Team Leader Yoo Mira, then walked over to us. In his hand was a silver chain with a red ornament—a rather elegant and beautiful necklace.
“Team Leader Yoo Mira. This came from the Flame Behemoth. It looks like an item for flame-attribute ability users. The performance seems quite good. You should try it.”
Team Leader Yoo Mira’s eyes widened. “Huh… are you sure I can take this?”
“Without the investigation team’s help, it would’ve taken us much longer to defeat the Behemoth. You’ve more than earned it.”
Then he asked naturally, “Do you have an appraisal scroll?”
Team Leader Yoo Mira shook her head awkwardly. “The investigation team doesn’t carry appraisal scrolls. We rarely need to use items on the spot like combat teams do.”
“Then—”
Team Leader Jang Tae-wook pulled a thin sheet of paper from his backpack and held it out. “Here. You can just use it.”
He carefully handed over the necklace. “You’ve more than earned the right to receive it today.”
Brother Jae-hoon’s eyes widened beside me. “Whoa… an appraisal scroll and an item? You’re just giving that away? As expected of Hyunmu… their scale is insane.”
The necklace, glowing with a faint red light, swayed gently in Team Leader Yoo Mira’s hand. She took a short breath and examined the ornament. A flame-like red pattern slowly moved across the metal surface.
“Thank you. Then… I’ll make good use of it.”
Team Leader Yoo Mira carefully placed the necklace into her auxiliary backpack. A light metallic click sounded. The atmosphere had softened considerably, and everyone was finally feeling that today’s battle was over.
Meanwhile—
Arin was circling the Behemoth’s remains unnoticed. ‘Arin… what is she doing over there?’
Then, at some point—
Arin flew straight toward my backpack. Her small hands were full of dark-red stone fragments, and on top of them rested a single brightly shining highest-grade mana stone.
“Hehe.”
She glanced around once, then began stuffing all the dark-red fragments into the backpack. She didn’t stop there—she went back for more fragments from a little farther away and repeated the motion. Her movements were light, typical of a spirit, but the collection work looked suspiciously deliberate to anyone watching.
‘That… that’s a highest-grade mana stone, right? And those dark-red ones… Behemoth origin stones? Or are they what she called spirit stones? …Whatever. I’ll ask her quietly later.’
After collecting everything, Arin linked her arm around Jihoon’s shoulder as if nothing had happened and floated up with a spin.
Once cleanup was finished, we quickly withdrew. The moment we exited the gate, the smell of the wind changed completely. When we reached the parking lot, the night air felt refreshingly cool. After organizing our equipment, Team Leader Yoo Mira looked at her terminal and spoke briefly.
“We defeated the Behemoth… but the dungeon core never appeared.”
Brother Jae-hoon frowned. “We killed the boss but there’s no core? Then where did it go?”
“Rather than vanishing—”
“It’s likely it burrowed deeper into the dungeon strata and hid. At that depth, we won’t find it.”
Brother Do-yoon crossed his arms and nodded. “There was definitely one with that level of vibration… but we missed it.”
“That’s right. The rampage indicators have stabilized and the values returned to normal. The only thing unaccounted for now is the core. So…”
“We’ll have to manage it as a stabilized dungeon for the time being?”
“Exactly. If we can’t recover the core, the internal flow might change again. We’ll need to observe it periodically.”
“I’ll handle the report. That’s enough for today.”
At that moment, a sinking feeling hit my chest.
‘…They couldn’t recover the core? No, it’s not that they couldn’t… I absorbed the whole thing.’
A chill ran down the back of my neck, and cold sweat formed on my palms. ‘I can’t tell them… If they find out, it won’t be the investigation team—it’ll be straight to the experiment table.’
‘Hah… this is bad. If the gate disappears right after the next investigation, it’ll be obvious. From now on, even if I find one, I’ll have to absorb it secretly later. Please… just let this one slide quietly.’
After Hyunmu Team 3 also exited the gate, brief greetings were exchanged. “Good work, everyone. We’ll send the results right away. Let us know if you need anything else.”
The gate’s light faded, and the scent of the wind changed once more. By the time we arrived at the Uijeongbu Northern Branch parking lot, the night air was quite cool. Team Leader Yoo Mira opened the backpack she had received from the Hyunmu team and carefully poured the spoils onto the table.
“Let’s check the loot.”
The stones we had collected were lined up one by one on the table. Most of what we recovered today were C-rank mana stones that had fallen from the battle area. Their surfaces sparkled as if freshly polished, and their colors were evenly uniform.
“Twenty-four of them.”
Brother Jae-hoon counted and nodded in satisfaction. The quantity alone showed just how large today’s hunt had been.
“Wow… this is a huge haul for today, isn’t it?”
After the brief verification, Team Leader Yoo Mira carefully took out the necklace she had received separately. It was a pretty necklace with a small ornament, and a soft red light shimmered across the metal surface.
“I’ll try the appraisal scroll.”
The appraisal scroll rang briefly, and the reading result appeared.