Dungeon Beneath the Black Gate? (Part 1)
This Black Gate entrance was going to be way more fun than the last one. I wasn't trying to look down on or dismiss the Chunseong Min party at all, but the fact that all three of their members had F-class traits and that their current party was so different from the one before was undeniable. Of course, that didn't mean D-class was some ridiculously high level of trait. I knew that just fine, but knowing we were right on the cusp of E-class zone promotion made me excited. In other words, this meant the upper echelon of the E-class zone, and I could peek at Park In-su's status window to see exactly what that level looked like. So I focused on Park In-su's status window. What I saw was Park In-su's detailed status window.
『Park In-su』
『Trait: Greatsword Knight [D]』
『Skills』
▶ 「Sword Technique [D]」
▶ 「Mana Manipulation [E]」
▶ 「Shockwave [E]」
『Stats』
▶ 「Strength: 40」
▶ 「Agility: 28」
▶ 「Stamina: 38」
▶ 「Mana: 25」
'Oh my.'
The moment I let out a sigh of admiration, Analysis finished its job and a flood of messages popped up. [Successfully analyzed the status windows of all three members.] [Acquired a total of 210 AP.] [Successfully absorbed Park In-su's skill 「Sword Technique [D]」 and 「Mana Manipulation [E]」 along with Normal Yoon's skill 「Sword Technique [E]」 and 「Mana Manipulation [E]」 at the same time.] [Analyzed the upper-tier skills simultaneously, raising their proficiency by 1 each.] [Proficiency of skill 「Sword Technique [E]」 reached its limit.] [Proficiency of skill 「Mana Manipulation [E]」 reached its limit.] [Rank increased.] [「Sword Technique [E]」 ▶ 「Sword Technique [D]」] [「Mana Manipulation [E]」 ▶ 「Mana Manipulation [D]」] [Due to the increased-rank skills, Strength and Mana permanently increased by +3.]
'What is this cheat?'
The first message was that AP had gone up, followed by absorbing Park In-su and Normal Yoon's skills and raising their proficiency. On top of that, Sword Technique and Mana Manipulation had risen to D-rank, and Strength and Mana had permanently increased by 3 each. If I'd just been comparing Park In-su's abilities to my own, I never would have expected such an unexpected gain. So now that I had those raised stats added in, I compared them. 『Stats』 ▶ 「Strength: 25 ▶ 28」 ▶ 「Agility: 31 ▶ 38」 ▶ 「Stamina: 23」 ▶ 「Mana: 32 ▶ 36」 'Hmm.'
Contrary to my expectations, I didn't see much of a gap between myself and the others right now. Maybe the E-class zone this time wouldn't even require an immediate promotion? Well, that would be great for me, but setting that aside for now, I closed my status window, skimmed the upgraded Sword Technique and Mana Manipulation one more time, and gazed at Park In-su's remaining skill. Shockwave. A skill that fit me fine for using Sword Slash and Thrust, but still... 'Still, I'll learn it anyway.' [Acquired skill 「Shockwave [E]」 with 100 AP.] [The acquired skill permanently increased Strength by +2.]
After finishing that awkward exchange, I looked at Park In-su, who immediately sensed the pressure coming from me and spoke to me with genuine sincerity. "We'll do our best to keep up with you. Please take care of us." Looking at Park In-su's sturdy build, I nodded my head in satisfaction and answered, "We should be the ones taking care of you."
After a quick introduction, the parties exchanged greetings, then the two parties made their way to the Black Gate entrance check-in desk and waited for the staff. And not long after, Park In-su said, "Then let's enter."
* * *
E-class hunter Park In-su was a hunter belonging to the Association, but he was a man with quite a bit of ambition. Usually ambitious people like him would join a guild and get along well with everyone, but Park In-su was a bit different. The Steel Guardian, Han Mu-yeol. 'I want to become someone like President Han Mu-yeol after I get strong.' That was exactly Park In-su's ambition. Becoming a man as pure yet powerful as Han Mu-yeol wasn't easy, but Park In-su had been training with all his might to make it happen. As a result, he had been on the brink of promotion in the E-class zone while still belonging to the Association. He hadn't had subordinates yet and the slate still read E-class, but when he reached the point where finding a worthy rival among E-class hunters became difficult, he judged that he would soon be promoted to D-class. Because of that, he had plenty of pride and confidence, making the members of my party seem all the more out of place. I hadn't heard the rumors or important matters, but I could tell just by looking. 'Their momentum is completely different.' Even just what I sensed from them was enough. For a split second, they overwhelmed me with the pure, non-hostile gaze and eyes of Do-hyun. I didn't know what had made Park In-su scared or overwhelmed, but one thing was certain. That Do-hyun was an exceptionally strong person. So why would he ask an Association member like me, one of the top hunters, to be a guide? I wasn't naive enough not to see the hidden meaning, so I realized that Do-hyun was no ordinary person. However,
'The two party members behind him are monsters too.'
Looking at Hana Rin and Ji Yu-chan, I thought that. Both of them didn't give off that much visible momentum. As a hunter of Park In-su's caliber, guessing the strength of weaker hunters was second nature, yet he couldn't sense it from Hana Rin and Ji Yu-chan, who were obviously just newly promoted to E-class. That meant they were exceptionally good at hiding their mana, and the better they hid it, the more impressive their mana control must have been, proving that everything about them was superior to Park In-su. At this point, there was no way he could ignore it. 'What an insane party.' While thinking about how the Association had created a monster party, Park In-su didn't forget his role. With this entrance, Park In-su was on the brink of promotion, but no matter what, his role right now was to guide them, so he would carry it out thoroughly.
When we first entered the E-class zone, the Do-hyun party wasn't overly surprised, but they frowned at the suddenly changed environment. If F-class safe-zone village Widia had been a wasteland under hot weather, this place had strong winds blowing in and clouds floating quite low. The weather wasn't mild either; it was chilly with cold air seeping everywhere. The moment the Do-hyun party quickly realized it and looked around, they understood. The clouds weren't just floating low; the place itself was floating. "This is the safe zone Widia. It's one of the safe zones located on the floating island Radon." The mere fact that there was a floating island was already bizarre, and the Do-hyun party couldn't stop their mouths from falling open at the fantastic scenery of multiple floating islands drifting besides the one called Radon, even knowing that spotting a rookie here would draw a villain. Who would have dared imagine such a fantastic sight? As they floated around, some floating islands were connected by flowing rivers, while others had massive river flows dropping straight down, scattering light to create rainbows. Some huge floating islands were covered in clouds because they sat at higher altitudes than the others. Above all, various animals with wings darted between the floating islands, including lifeforms that looked like Pegasus, something that only appeared in myths or with fish. Unable to stop admiring the fantastic appearance, the Do-hyun party swallowed hard while looking around, and Park In-su nodded his head as if he had known they would react that way. Of course he would; Park In-su himself had reacted exactly the same way when he first arrived in the E-class zone. Thinking back on the old days, Park In-su explained to them. "The entire E-class zone is made up of these floating islands. There is no continent, and you can travel between floating islands using portals." "Wow..." "..." "It's beautiful." "I can't help but admire it." Do-hyun couldn't help but say that, and even always-cool Hana Rin and Ji Yu-chan couldn't suppress their admiration.
After gazing at the long, beautiful scenery, the Do-hyun party suddenly snapped out of it with a start, and Park In-su belatedly explained with a calm face. "This area is basically a safe zone used only by hunters from Earth, so don't worry." Hearing that, Do-hyun analyzed it sharply while feeling relief that it was fortunate. If most of the people here were Earth hunters, in other words... "The floating island Radon doesn't seem to have a particularly good location." "Correct." Park In-su had no choice but to nod his head at Do-hyun's sharp judgment. Since the buildings in the safe zone were purchased with points, the area that Earth hunters could afford to live in was limited. Park In-su began his explanation to Do-hyun in earnest. "First, don't talk about this here and head to the Korean Hunter Association dormitory."
Park In-su's words made the Do-hyun party and Park In-su's party move, and before long they arrived at a place that could be called a dormitory. The two parties sat at the largest table in the common area. Once seated, Park In-su continued the explanation from earlier. "As I mentioned, there aren't many places to hunt on Radon. So you have to go to floating islands without safe zones using portals to hunt, but using portals costs points." "Hmm, entrance fee." "Yes. There are portals like slate, but if you don't pay a certain amount of points, the portal won't open. Just like entering a Black Gate, you have to pay points per party." Everyone nodded their heads in agreement with Park In-su's explanation. And he also explained other precautions. "And although it's a common area floating island, most of the time mixed-species compete with each other and don't hesitate to fight. You wouldn't gain any disadvantage by becoming a villain here anyway." "Oh." "..." Hearing that villains could appear often, Do-hyun's face lit up, while Park In-su looked at him blankly. Discovering that, Hana Rin and Ji Yu-chan felt a bit embarrassed and stopped him. "..." "Do-hyun Oppa." "Do-hyun." "Ah, sorry sorry." Since Do-hyun caught on and apologized while focusing, Park In-su swallowed hard and continued. "Anyway, you have to be most careful of the other mixed-species, and the next thing you need to know is dungeons." This time, without anyone having to say it, Hana Rin and Ji Yu-chan's eyes sparkled. They had no choice. Although dungeons appeared occasionally in F-class, they weren't a common concept anyway. Since it had only been half a day, they probably wouldn't have discovered a dungeon yet. But everyone looked at Park In-su at the mention of dungeons, and he continued. "This E-class zone has active dungeons, so you should be able to find them easily." Hearing words that matched their expectations, the Do-hyun party all lit up with sparkling eyes.