Chapter 1
Chapter 1: Isekai Summoning Is Always the Best!
"Ugh, I wanna awaken so bad."
There are no such things as awakened ones or hunters in reality.
I just want to awaken.
A "resting youth," as they call it these days.
That's exactly what I am.
My situation—always reading web novels while browsing job sites.
At times like this, wouldn't it be great if I awakened a trait like Danger Detection and used it in the stock market?
Or maybe awakened physical abilities and became a special forces soldier in the US Army.
If you awakened in modern times, how many things would you be able to do?
While I was thinking that.
[You have Awakened!]
"….Huh?"
Fwooooooosh—!
There are many kinds of awakenings.
And in hunter fiction and such, they're split into countless different branches.
The commonly used elements would be gates and towers, right.
And the one that gets used often but falls behind the gates and towers mentioned above?
That would be isekai summoning.
These days, people do possession or reincarnation rather than summoning.
"Damn it…am I being summoned?"
Along with that dying breath, a bright light wrapped itself around me.
***
"Whoa."
A red sky.
And around it, an oddly mismatched surroundings that were nothing but blue.
And among those blue weeds, a chunk of stone lodged firmly in place, with a purple ore glowing faintly on top of it.
Wait, no.
Isn't this what they call a core?
I stared at the core in wonder for a moment before finally noticing something.
"…A timer?"
A massive clock floating in the sky.
To be precise, a digital clock was just sitting up there in the sky, bold as you please.
And the time remaining was a mere 13 minutes.
Since it felt like about 2 minutes had passed since I arrived, the time given must have been around 15 minutes in total.
What should I do in a situation like this?
Now I'd finally be able to shout out that line I'd been timidly muttering in front of the mirror out of embarrassment.
"Sta—"
[Tutorial (1)]
[Touch the Crystal Orb.]
[Reward: Worn Dagger]
"…Okay."
The system window that had appeared before my eyes.
Why only now.
I felt a bit resentful that it had to be right at this moment, but I couldn't become the idiot protagonist from the novels I'd read—the kind who wastes time calling out to the administrator or some such thing and raging alone.
I quickly placed my hand on what it called the Crystal Orb, and a window appeared before my eyes.
[Name: Kim Hyeon-woo]
[Unique Trait: Legion Commander]
[Trait: None]
"Oh…ohhhhhhh! The Status Window appeared!"
[Tutorial (1) Complete!]
Thud—
Perhaps because it landed in an area thick with weeds, a small dagger dropped down softly.
"This thing is…a dagger?"
What dropped was incredibly worn-out, hardly fitting to even be called a dagger.
So much so that the fruit knife at home that had been neglected for 4 years looked sharper.
"This is insane. They want me to fight with this?"
This can't be happening.
I quickly placed my hand on the Crystal Orb and moved it around in every direction, but there was nothing I could do.
The only things that came up were categories at most.
[Shop]
[Community]
[???]
[???]
[Shop] unlocks after the 3rd wave.
[Community] unlocks after the 5th wave, apparently.
The 2 [???] ones had no clues at all.
So I had to survive what they called the wave, coming up in 6 minutes.
"If they're summoned, that's a headache. At least with a gate appearing and forming, you'd know where they come out from."
If I stood still and got summoned behind me, it'd be an instant death.
I was wondering what to do when the weeds growing thick around me caught my eye.
The wave starting now would only be stage 1 or stage 0.
I quickly gathered the few scattered branches lying nearby and used them together with the weeds to tie a bundle.
I had no idea what kind of weeds they were, but they were sturdy enough to make a tool using the branches.
"This doesn't count as a tool? Even this dagger counts as a weapon?"
The thing gave no answer.
I didn't want an answer anyway, so I quickly got my body loose.
Time remaining: 1 minute.
30 seconds.
20 seconds.
10 seconds.
5 seconds.
3 seconds.
2 seconds.
1 second.
Ruuuumble.
It began to spiral like mad, and in an instant, a massive black vortex like a bottomless abyss formed.
"Damn…to think I'd actually see a gate with my own eyes."
Gulp.
Grip.
I swallowed my saliva and clenched the dagger and bundle of branches tightly in my hands.
And what emerged from the gate was none other than…
"A rabbit?"
It was a rabbit.
But its eyes were red, and its front teeth looked incredibly dangerous as well.
On top of that, the small horn on its head proved it was no ordinary rabbit.
"And there's still no unicorn?"
Better to land the first hit on an enemy you know nothing about than to let them hit you first.
That's what my dad told me on the day I came home having been beaten up by some delinquent who'd gotten me into anime when I was young.
It's not like I'd had any reason to fight since then, but…
"HRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
I'd been taught that you have to scare animals.
That's why, when animals fight, they stand on two legs or puff up their bodies.
So I charged forward screaming.
I ran at full speed—but at a moderate pace, since I couldn't let the rabbit ram into me.
And while I was running, just as I'd expected, the thing lowered its head and charged at me with that small but sharp horn.
Ducking is too dangerous.
So—
Thud.
I planted my right foot to the left.
My body veered left while I kept my gaze fixed on the rabbit.
Since it had charged in a straight line, the rabbit was now right where I'd been standing.
Softly.
The moment it landed and was about to kick off its back legs to lunge at me again, I instinctively kicked the thing.
"Gwoooooork! Gwoooooork!"
"What the hell kind of sound is that?!"
The rabbit flew off letting out a sound like a water deer, and began bristling its fur as if furious.
Still, maybe because it was the powerful kick of an adult male.
Seeing the thing screaming but not able to properly charge at me, my confidence surged up.
"Hey. You're a small fry. If you were a goblin, you'd be dead."
I steeled myself and charged at the rabbit again.
This time too, the thing started slowly swaying its backside as if building power in its hind legs.
Slide.
"Fooled ya?"
It had jumped slightly to the left this time, probably thinking I'd jump left again.
Unfortunately for a rabbit, it seemed to have exceptional intelligence, but not enough to get past me.
I shoved the bundle of branches into its clearly dangerous-looking mouth.
"Gwook…keeeerrgh..!"
Seeing the branches in the struggling thing's mouth disappear, I panicked and quickly kicked it in the head.
Come to think of it, the kick from this thing that had even been high-speed charging might hurt a bit.
Better than getting injured, though.
After kicking it in the head, I didn't know if it was dead, but it flew quite far.
I flew right after it and delivered a hectopascal kick.
"Uhhyoooooo!"
I leapt from above and stomped straight down on it.
Even then, the crazy rabbit maintained its form without bursting.
[You have survived Wave Stage 1.]
[Trialseeker HP: 100%]
[Crystal Orb Durability: 100%]
"Alright, alright. Give me something good!"
[Reward: Enhancement of Unique Trait]
"Huh? Enhancement?"
It had only told me what my Unique Trait was with no proper explanation, and now suddenly it's enhanced.
As I stood there baffled wondering what was going on, the system—or administrator?
Let's just call it the system for ease.
Anyway, a cluster of white light had formed around my body, and I quickly placed my hand on the Crystal Orb.
[Name: Kim Hyeon-woo]
[Unique Trait: Mechanical Legion Commander]
[Trait: None]
"Mechanical…Legion Commander?"
As I was thinking about what it could mean.
Boom—
"What?!"
Suddenly the sky began to shake.
And then.
[30:00]
"30 minutes…I suppose."
The massive digital clock floating in the sky.
The time had definitely increased.
I was quietly staring at it when I finally realized there was nothing I could do, and just as I began thinking about the trait again.
[You have successfully cleared Wave Stage 1. The Crystal Orb is enhanced.]
"Huh?"
Along with those words, the number [10/10] floating above the Crystal Orb changed to [15/15].
It seemed that was what it had meant by durability earlier.
Anyway, I placed my hand on the Crystal Orb again, and a description finally appeared.
Pressing the ! floating next to the Unique Trait brought up an explanation.
[Unique Trait: Mechanical Legion Commander]
[You are the Legion Commander of the Mechanical Legion. Fulfill your responsibilities as the master of the Mechanical Legion.]
[Path of the Unique Trait (1)]
[Summon your first mechanical soldier for the great path.]
[Reward: Lowest-Grade Summon Ticket (1)]
"…Summon?"
Fwooooooosh—
Along with those words, not a magic circle but a massive gear rose from the ground and began radiating light.
The light wasn't white or anything like that—it was a color that smelled of oil, like copper or iron.
And when the light faded, what emerged was.
<Creaaaak…>
"You've gotta be kidding."
A small ant.
[Lowest-Grade Gatherer]
[Gathers.]
"Ha…go gather then."
At those words, it led its creaking body and began gnawing at the weeds.
[Path of the Unique Trait (1) Complete!]
At the same time, a new window appeared before my eyes.
[Highest-Grade]
[High-Grade]
[Mid-Grade]
[Low-Grade]
[Lowest-Grade]
Summoning split up this way.
And next to that, a separate summon standing apart from the rest.
[Commander]
"Hmm. I certainly don't think I'll be able to command well."
But the problem was that summoning a Lowest-Grade required a whopping 100 points.
Low-Grade was 500.
Mid-Grade was 1,000.
High-Grade was 5,000.
Highest-Grade required 10,000.
And that 1 point…
"Damn ant!"
[+0.001]
[+0.001]
A completely useless ant Gatherer.
"Lowest-Grade Summon. Right now."
What began to appear in response.
"Son of a—!"
[Lowest-Grade Gatherer]
[Gathers.]
"Are you serious…the ones you pull for 100 points are these guys?"
While I wallowed in despair, 30 minutes passed in an instant.
Ruuuumbleeee—
A black vortex beginning to form before my eyes.
Gulp.
"Come on then…all of you."