New Order
Seventh Area.
It was supposed to be humanity’s hope.
The region where the monster-infested lands had been pushed back, where humanity could once again claim this planet as its own, the living symbol of a new beginning. The frontier that should have been reclaimed, protected, and turned into a beacon of victory.
Kevin and Mark, both hero aspirants, had come here of their own volition to safeguard the area that would one day stand as humanity’s new frontier.
They had come to help the barren land bloom into something human again, to protect the city they were building from the monsters that still prowled its edges.
Even living in a place with no branch office at all, they carried themselves with pride.
But.
Despite the firm resolve they had once shared—to carve out a new order in this new land—the Seventh Area had started to turn in the wrong direction.
Its internal economy had quietly begun to collapse, and while exhausted citizens slowly slipped into villainy, no extra support had arrived to stop the slide.
Kevin and Mark had done everything in their power to find the reason.
As heroes, if this corruption was tied to villains, they were supposed to report it straight to their superiors and let them handle the cleanup.
One day, Mark invited Kevin over to his house and showed him a letter that had just arrived.
“What is this?”
“A letter from New Order.”
“New Order? Seriously?”
New Order.
The so-called “legitimate” hunter guild that had been founded by a former A-rank hunter who had retired.
It wasn’t even a formal branch area, yet it managed a territory as vast as the Seventh Area inhabited by humans.
The Management Bureau had contracted with the guild because no other organization could possibly cover such a huge region.
The outer perimeter was handled almost entirely by New Order, not by the Bureau’s own hunters. They were the official subcontractors hired by the state to perform duties that were supposed to fall under government responsibility.
At first, everything had run smoothly.
New Order had thrown themselves into the assigned missions with genuine effort, and safe commercial districts and residential zones had even begun to appear inside the Seventh Area.
But then the cracks started showing.
The guild had crossed a line they should never have crossed.
New Order had gone far beyond simply blocking monster incursions and begun dabbling in other businesses as well.
There was no concrete evidence.
Yet the abnormal rate of growth and the sheer speed with which their power was expanding had already lit the fuse of suspicion.
The two of them had reported the matter to their superiors, only to be brushed off with a casual “nothing to worry about.”
Without any real help from above, Kevin and Mark had begun investigating on their own.
That was when New Order’s invitation letter had arrived at their door.
“What do you think we should do?”
The letter had been an offer to scout them, praising their talents and inviting them to join New Order.
While Mark read the letter, he carefully asked Kevin for his opinion.
“What do you think?”
“I don’t know… honestly, we should just ignore it. This is clear evidence. With this, we can probably report directly to the Hero Association or the Management Bureau without going through our boss.”
Kevin’s words hung in the air for a long moment. Then Mark surprised him with a completely unexpected statement.
“Kevin… maybe we should reconsider.”
“Reconsider what?”
“Think about it! As friends, can two ordinary apprentice hunters like us really become true heroes and reach places like the Zero Area?”
“Mark, you can’t be serious…”
“You know as well as I do that with talents as vague and ambiguous as ours, we’ll never make it past the pyramid. Opportunities are only opportunities when you grab them the moment they’re offered.”
Kevin understood why Mark was defending New Order. This city’s system was built on layers of walls. Even if you cleared one, another waited beyond it. And above that ceiling there was always another ceiling.
The Management Bureau had divided the surviving humanity into an absolute hierarchy.
Non-abilities versus abilities.
Citizens versus non-citizens.
Hunters versus heroes.
Even if you somehow survived all the hardships and somehow became a hunter or hero, unless you reached the highest ranks, the benefits the city promised would never be yours.
Still.
“No. I’ll still fulfill my duty as a hero.”
“Hero? You call it a hero? In the end, we’re no better than a lowly cop!”
“So does that mean it’s fine for the cop to take dirty money from a shady corporation?!”
“Mark, that’s all I have to say.”
Kevin stood up and walked away.
“Kevin, do you really have to be so stubborn? If we just close our eyes for once—just once—everything would be fine.”
“Mark, justice isn’t about turning a blind eye.”
Kevin’s eyes burned with passion and conviction. Mark flinched for a split second.
“If you keep trying to convince me this way, I’ll have no choice but to drag you and New Order into this together. For now, I’ll let you go. But the next time you contact me… I hope you return as the hero aspirant I know you are.”
Kevin had been wiping away tears as he left the room when suddenly the world began to spin.
The ceiling tilted.
It kept spinning.
Ah.
It wasn’t the ceiling spinning.
In Kevin’s vision, his own body slowly crumpled to the floor.
“I’m sorry, friend. I can’t possibly pass up the astronomical medical expenses my mother needs.”
I see.
Mark, that idiot, had already fallen into New Order’s clutches.
“Goodbye, hero.”
The last thing Kevin remembered was the cruel, fake smile on the face of the friend he had once trusted.
The next day, a single sentence about the death of a young hero aspirant appeared in the news.
---
---
“Hah… what day is it today?”
Time had passed so fast I hadn’t even noticed.
I had expected Shan’s influence to seep into me, but I never imagined it would take hold this completely.
I stepped out of the cold shower feeling almost human again.
[Hehe, it’s good to rest, right? It’s good, isn’t it?]
“Yeah… it really was good.”
Thanks to a good night’s sleep away from the Disguiser’s threat, even Shan’s mental state had stabilized quite a bit.
The faint sheen on Shan’s cheek told me the condition that had been lost during the molt had fully recovered.
It wasn’t as though I had simply been lazing around in the safe house Emily had prepared for me.
I had spent the time analyzing the differences between the game I remembered and the current state of the Area, gathering the information I needed.
I had also searched through everything available in the Seventh Area to figure out exactly what Shan required.
I had checked off one item after another, and then I had organized a few small but essential things that Shan had asked for or would need.
Starting with an Essence that would let Shan actually taste food.
An Essence that would deliver a gentle electrical stimulus.
A substance that would quickly stabilize the mind.
An Essence that would make anything taste delicious.
An Essence that would digest anything perfectly.
An Essence that would store every bit of energy consumed.
And several other minor but necessary items.
[It really is all about eating, sleeping, and resting, isn’t it?]
It was clear to me now that proper rest was essential.
I planned to gather more Essences while mixing in the convenience items that would support physical growth.
I had also begun extracting and absorbing Essences from the Magic Stones I had brought with me.
I had originally intended to absorb the smaller, scattered abilities stored inside those stones, but I had decided to use them all to dramatically boost my own physical abilities.
Because of that, my strength and stamina had grown far beyond what I had expected.
I now possessed strength and reflexes on par with a professional boxer—able to tear through three phone books at once—levels that placed me at or above the average power of an Academy freshman.
Of course, being an Academy freshman didn’t make me weak.
Among all the ability users in the world, only those whose worth had been officially recognized by the Academy were admitted.
“Shan, can I prioritize the metal-related ability from the Disguiser’s Essence first?”
[Metalization, right?]
“Yes.”
[Yeah. Since it’s the ability I just got… I should make good use of it.]
One more ability beyond mimicry could be extracted from Rox’s Essence.
The unique power of the Steel Leaf Bug monster—**Metalization**.
In simple terms, it turned skin into steel-hard armor.
The reason I hadn’t used it until now was simple.
The ability could only be activated by eating metal.
If I activated it with the tiny amount of iron already present in my body, I would die instantly.
When I hunted monsters in the Seventh Area, I would prioritize gathering the extra Essences needed to activate Metalization, along with everything Shan required.
Smart.
“Come in.”
A knock sounded on the door, and Emily walked in.
“Tiss, you’re up? You washed your hair and everything. Taking a break must have done you good.”
“I needed to rest. It’s time to get back to moving.”
“Yeah? Good. Actually, I’ve been working on something. Want to see if it fits?”
What exactly had she been working on?
Emily placed a large object wrapped in protective scales in front of me as a gift.
[Open it quickly!]
When I opened the beautifully packaged box, a pure white coat appeared.
“Is this… a fur coat?”
“Hehe, it looks good, doesn’t it? The design is perfect. It’s an artifact I commissioned made from Shan’s fur.”
Ah, so that was already finished.
The moment I slipped the coat on, it shrank to fit my body perfectly.
[It’s so fluffy. Like Tis’s hair.]
“That’s because it’s made of Shan’s fur.”
“The material itself is durable, and the defensive stats are very high, so no extra processing was needed. That’s why I focused on adding flame resistance and automatic size-adjustment instead.”
She had enchanted two things?
The cost must have been enormous.
“Speaking of cost, what about payment?”
“You don’t have to worry about extra charges. I used the remaining fur to cover it.”
[Hehe, there were a few trial-and-error moments at first, but it turned out great.]
“Yeah. Thanks to Shan, it worked out perfectly.”
That was a relief.
If I had gotten it wrong, I would have started the month already in debt.
As expected of a material born from Abaddon’s spawn, the finished artifact boasted stunning quality.
This was on par with the official suits issued to formal hunters by the Management Bureau.
I had never expected an ordinary student like me to produce something that would make people’s eyes spin.
It was bright, white, and utterly spotless—impossible to mistake for anything else. Even without a single glittering highlight, it still stood out. But with my mimicry ability, it should be easy enough to hide.
“Tiss, just to be sure, you didn’t cause any trouble while I was away, did you?”
Trouble?
Eating, resting, sleeping, and gathering information.
Outside this safe house, I hadn’t left for anything else.
“What trouble? Did something happen at the Management Bureau?”
“Based on your reaction, it doesn’t seem like anything. Still, take a look at this.”
Emily showed me the news article on her terminal.
A short news report about the death of a hero aspirant.
“Why are you showing me this?”
[Tis, the hero aspirant died! Isn’t this big news?]
Shan’s eyes filled with unease as she watched me react with utter indifference.
“In the Seventh Area, this level of thing is almost routine.”
The Management Bureau cared about hunters and heroes, but they only valued them as disposable resources.
Among those resources, they barely paid attention to low-rank or apprentice hunters and heroes.
The special privileges and attention they offered were reserved exclusively for A-rank hunters and heroes.
They would never even report the death of an apprentice hunter or hero who got injured or killed every single day.
As far as I knew, incidents this small were so commonplace in Neo Sion that I had no idea why Emily was showing them to me.
She had simply shown me something ordinary, something that could easily have been any other day in this Area.
The darkness of this city was clearly tied to the death of that hero aspirant.
“It’s not ordinary, is it? That dead guy must have had some enormous backer powerful enough to kill a hero aspirant and keep it quiet.”
“Exactly.”
Emily nodded readily at my words.
“The hero aspirant I was investigating for New Order… and even our boss already knows about it but is trying to sweep it under the rug.”
She even mentioned that Emily, a wandering hunter, had received some kind of pressure.
It seemed the company was already moving quickly.
[Tis, what exactly is New Order?]
“Ah, you don’t know, do you? Can you explain it to Shan?”
“Leave it to me.”
Emily began telling Shan everything she knew about New Order.
Monsters. Villains. Heroes. Hunters. Local forces. Cult groups.
New Order was the emerging superpower that had risen from the chaotic mess of the Seventh Area, the de facto king of the entire region.
It was also the villain faction that played a central role in the middle of the original story.
Of course a small company founded by a retired hunter had grown into something this massive—there had to be a powerful backer.
Parrot Queen Beelzebuth.
The Abaddon’s spawn who had sent Rox—the very descendant we had come to fight—was the true force behind New Order.
[Beelzebuth…]
“A high-tier calamity descendant who has been active for several years, building her own power and fighting for supremacy with the other monsters.”
Beelzebuth was also the reason we had come to the Seventh Area.
By the time we arrived, we had already weighed the benefits of fighting her directly against the damage we would cause to the original story and the difficulties of changing the human route.
“We’re going to kill her. One way or another.”
She had threatened our lives, and we had lost our left arm in the form of Rox.
A foe we had bitten once could not be allowed to live.
Two suns could not coexist in the same sky.
The debt would be repaid.
On top of that, she was also the owner of the **Rejuvenation** ability—the first key to the project I was preparing.
From hatred to necessity, she had more than enough reason to die.
---
New Order has entered the story.