D-Class Zone Awaits
The phone call with my dad ended, and Lee Do-hyun focused back on the work at hand.
This time it was one of the textbooks he had purchased yesterday—the Human History of the Black Gate.
Even at a glance, the title of the book was far from ordinary, which is why Do-hyun had decided it was important and was concentrating intently.
Thanks to Analysis, the textbook translated automatically without him needing to spend points on it, and he stared at it with a very serious expression.
Human History of the Black Gate.
In other words, a history textbook that roughly listed the humans who had connected with the Black Gate. The content, like the title, was anything but ordinary.
‘They all went extinct?’
No details on the reasons were given, but Do-hyun could tell that three separate human worlds had fallen to extinction shortly after connecting to the Black Gate.
The longest-surviving world had only lasted a mere thirty years.
Even that.
‘The world with the Platinum Sword King?’
Do-hyun found it impossible to swallow the shocking fact that a martial arts world had lasted only thirty years.
Just what in the world had caused their extinction?
The detailed reasons were missing. It only stated how many worlds had connected to the Black Gate and for how many years, but everything else was left blank.
Do-hyun tilted his head with a very frustrated feeling in his chest.
The other worlds, excluding the martial arts one, had been similar to medieval Earth, while one of them seemed even earlier than that. He could understand that. But the martial arts world was different.
‘If it’s a martial arts world, it should have been insanely strong….’
According to what Do-hyun knew, even the Platinum Sword King alone possessed an immense amount of power.
So why had they gone extinct? And in just thirty years?
His first guess was simple.
Points.
Wasn’t it common knowledge that if you didn’t pay enough points, portals to the Black Gate would open somewhere in your territory and unleash monsters?
And hadn’t quite a few countries ended up like that?
After their cities turned into wastelands, they began to take it seriously and started prioritizing hunters as a resource.
Thinking about it, it seemed they had collapsed because they hadn’t gathered enough points.
No matter how strong, their small population or whatever.
Still, he couldn’t fully understand it, but that was as far as Do-hyun went.
‘There might be another book that explains the reason.’
He thought there could be another history textbook and closed the book.
He hadn’t found anything else worth reading after looking at it thoroughly.
Either way, his goal remained the same after reading it.
The strongest hunter.
With Analysis, wasn’t he far from being unable to achieve that?
While thinking that, Do-hyun stretched his body a little.
‘Let’s go in next week.’
It was finally time to enter the D-grade zone next week.
***
Three days after Do-hyun had handed out the interpretation, Ji Yu-chan opened his eyes from meditation in the personal training room, eyes closed.
Gold Sword.
Although it was a basic martial arts textbook, it contained both martial arts theory and sword techniques in one volume—something that would count as both martial arts manual and sword manual in a wuxia world.
Staring at the interpretation Do-hyun had sent over in that awkward tone, Ji Yu-chan slowly began swinging his sword.
His inner energy circulation technique had long since been mastered.
Just as he had been doing moments ago, he naturally circulated mana using the mana manipulation method and rotated it through his body exactly as the Gold Sword instructed.
At the same time, mana shot up from just below his navel—the lower dantian—through the middle dantian at his heart, and finally to the upper dantian at the brain. He felt the pure mana becoming even more refined as it passed through each dantian.
‘……So that’s what they meant by filtering.’
It was the perfect description.
Not all mana entering his body was pure. The impure ones were filtered out and sent out of the body through the dantians.
Now only pure mana remained in Ji Yu-chan’s body, glowing with a golden light like morning sunlight.
Storing that pure mana in his sword, he followed the Gold Sword’s forms. Every time he swung it, the remaining sparkling mana turned to powder, leaving golden light dust floating in the air.
Gazing at that beautiful golden light, Ji Yu-chan felt it was exactly why the style was called the Gold Sword.
But unlike its pretty appearance, the power contained in the sword was terrifying.
‘No joke.’
When the sword, which had once been blue like the color of mana, turned golden, he could feel an explosive surge of hot heat in the force Do-hyun had described as morning sunlight.
He even heard the sword humming rebelliously against its owner, Ji Yu-chan.
Any moment of carelessness, and that golden mana would surge and explode around him.
Even in such a situation, Ji Yu-chan swung his sword with perfect calm, executing the Gold Sword forms.
Huuuung——
Huuuung——
Although he had swung the sword infinitely slowly to practice the forms precisely, the power inside it now far surpassed the strength Ji Yu-chan had ever handled before.
It wasn’t fully familiar yet, but by the time he entered the D-grade zone after one week as Do-hyun had said, it would at least feel much more natural.
While thinking that, Ji Yu-chan swung his sword again and again.
‘I need to become stronger.’
His sword swings weren’t just to keep up with Do-hyun or reach second place anymore. He swung to become someone who could help Do-hyun.
Of course.
‘……Second place is still mine.’
He didn’t have zero attachment to the second place rank.
So Ji Yu-chan kept swinging his sword in the personal training room, growing steadily more familiar with the Gold Sword forms.
***
Three days after receiving the book from Do-hyun, just like Ji Yu-chan, Hana Rin was in her own room studying the interpretation and copying it into her notebook by hand.
While copying, she was also organizing the content in her head.
Of course, the genius Hana Rin already had all the content inside her, but she had to organize it properly. By writing it by hand, she wasn’t just memorizing it—she was figuring it out in her own way.
But considering the textbook required three million points to interpret, that made sense.
It was quite difficult.
Still, Hana Rin wasn’t unable to understand it.
She could even use it.
‘I know the principle, I know what it means. I can use it, but….’
Infusing will into magic.
That was something Hana Rin could do right now.
Proof was in her open palm, where ice bloomed in the air.
Chzzt——
Ice appeared without a magic circle forming.
It was the basic elemental magic called Ice that Hana Rin normally used, but it was created with just her will—no magic circle or incantation.
Because the principles and circles were already inside her, they activated automatically with only her will, mana, and the infused will, producing the magic.
Hana Rin canceled the ice and opened her palm again. This time the Ice magic circle appeared, and will was added.
Chzztzztzt——!!
A much larger ice mass emerged. Watching the phenomenon with a dumbfounded look, Hana Rin wondered how she was supposed to understand it.
By adding the will to use Ice plus the Ice magic circle, the ice had grown more than four times larger.
Just like that, she could manifest her usual magic with only will, and by adding will while using the magic, its power and size expanded enormously.
Hana Rin couldn’t understand how this principle actually worked.
Simply because her own will was added, the magic became stronger.
And yet another thing.
‘What on earth is the starting point of my inner heart?’
Just as they said there was a starting point for the inner heart, it was clearly written in the interpretation of the will magic.
But so far Hana Rin hadn’t been able to find that starting point.
She had been told that by understanding her own history and the things that formed her, she could find the starting point. Yet even during meditation she couldn’t sense it at all.
She knew she shouldn’t be impatient, but she had become a little restless.
She already understood how to infuse will and how to use it, but since she hadn’t obtained the most important starting point of the inner heart, it was only natural.
After all, Hana Rin wanted to help Do-hyun too.
‘Uuu, what exactly is the starting point of my inner heart….’
The interpretation had said it might be the fundamental core that forms the personality, or the most precious memory that forms the starting point of the inner heart.
She understood it, but since she still couldn’t find it, a little frustration settled in her.
“Haah.”
Right now she felt too frustrated and that she was too slow, which made her think she was pathetic.
But Hana Rin didn’t give up and continued thinking.
‘I won’t be impatient.’
After all, it was just a matter of time.
If understanding the inner heart and expressing it in the world was magic, then since she was a magic genius she would surely be able to do it.
Believing that with all her heart and shaking off her anxious, impatient mind, she kept at it.
If more research didn’t reveal anything, it meant there was no immediate conclusion, so there was no need to cling to it.
That was why Hana Rin instead focused on will.
Although she hadn’t perfectly mastered will yet, she was confirming various magics by covering basic elemental magic, general magic, and concept magic.
To become stronger and be able to help Do-hyun.
And.
‘I can’t lose even to Yuchan oppa.’
While thinking the same thing about not being able to fall to third place.
***
Time flew by like an arrow, and the day finally arrived to enter the Black Gate.
Do-hyun’s party had already informed them, so of course they all changed their appearances with transformation magic using the temporary identification provided by the association in advance and gathered at the association.
Do-hyun, Hana Rin, and Ji Yu-chan.
It had been a week since they had last met like this, so they all looked somewhat happy to see each other.
Among them, Do-hyun looked at the two with a strange smile and said, “Long time no see, everyone?”
“Yeah, it’s been a while.”
“Yeah, just a week.”
While the three were gathered like that, Do-hyun opened their status windows with a very meaningful look.
『Ji Yu-chan』
『Trait: Platinum Sword King[S]』
『Skills』
▶「Sword Arts[A]」
▶「Sword King’s Intuition[A]」
▶Sword Arts-「Gold Sword[A]」
▶「Mana Manipulation[D]」
▶「Intimidation[E]」
▶「Ambush[E]」
『Stats』
▶「Strength: 40▶44」
▶「Agility: 30▶32」
▶「Constitution: 32▶35」
▶「Mana: 33▶35」
『Hana Rin』
『Trait: Magic Empress[Sorceress Supreme][S]』
『Skills』
▶「Aether Heart[S]」
▶「Empress’s Majesty[A]」
▶Magic-「Will Magic[A]」
▶「Intermediate Elemental Magic[D]」
▶「Intermediate General Magic[D]」
▶「Intermediate Concept Magic[D]」
……(More)
『Stats』
▶「Strength: 20▶21」
▶「Agility: 26▶27」
▶「Constitution: 24」
▶「Mana: 40▶45」
Seeing both of them have grown far more than before, Do-hyun smiled with a twitch.
They had worked hard all this time.
‘Both of them really learned it right away.’
He thought geniuses were different. As the three entered the Hunter Association, a person waiting for them was already there.
“Is this the party of Lee Min-woo?”
“……Ah? Yeah, that’s right.”
Do-hyun, almost forgetting his temporary ID, nearly said no, but barely managed a response. The association hunter who had been waiting greeted them and said, “I’ll give you a small briefing on the D-grade zone before we enter.”