Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: Perk
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Right after everyone had left—
Do-yoon was about to dive into tackling the 8th floor in earnest.
-Tap tap tap!
He turned toward the sound of someone rushing over urgently from somewhere, spotting a familiar head of black hair fluttering as it approached.
"Rakiya Bells?"
"Do-yoon!"
Her expression showed no trace of calm, as if some urgent matter had come up.
And in that instant, he recalled what he'd just seen—her older sister.
Rakiya Serbel.
Not only did they share the same origins, but their relationship was undoubtedly a close one.
'She does take after her.'
Now that he compared them, Rakiya Serbel's features clearly overlapped with hers.
With that, Rakiya Bells came right up to Do-yoon and spoke.
"Are you okay?!"
An out-of-the-blue question.
"Pardon?"
As Do-yoon opened his mouth in confusion, Rakiya Bells grew even more flustered, scanning him up and down.
"Any injuries?! Oh, surely my sister didn't do anything... like kidnap you! Or threaten you! Or something like that..."
"No, how could anyone pull that kind of stunt in a non-combat zone."
"W-Well, that's true."
Unless they had no fear of penalties, no one would dare attempt something so insane.
Why on earth was she so worked up about his situation?
'Which side is she really on?'
Was this another hidden agenda she was keeping under wraps, or genuine concern based on that faint bond between them?
Do-yoon simply couldn't tell.
"A-Anyway...! Nothing happened with my sister, right?!"
"Nah, nothing did."
He'd faced off against a total of six Hunters.
Yet nothing had actually gone down.
Their only purpose had been to confirm his existence and get a look at him.
"No. I mean."
Rakiya Bells found the whole situation just as absurd.
'Our adorably dim-witted little sister just needs to quietly follow big sis~'
She'd said those chilling words before vanishing, yet apparently done absolutely nothing to him?
But his condition and body were far too pristine for there to be any cause for suspicion.
'What... what the hell is she up to?'
There was no way Rakiya Bells, who had only recently ascended to the upper floors, could comprehend the enigmatic intentions of the Upper Council.
"So. Why are you here?"
She'd definitely set off to tackle the 8th floor ahead of him.
Do-yoon decided to probe Rakiya Bells calmly.
To see if it was an act, or genuine panic.
There were still too many incomprehensible parts for him to judge rashly.
"I-I..."
Rakiya Bells hesitated, unable to get the words out.
That she was worried about him.
She knew he'd be aware of how she'd tried to assert dominance despite being strangers, making it too brazen to press forward.
Her face burned hot.
"I-I-I..."
"What're you saying?"
"I...! I came to check on those Hunters!"
"Those people?"
"Yeah! They're gonna be my future rivals...! With the penalty in effect right now, I wanted to spar with them once...!"
Ah, so that's it.
With the ghost of her past life death after failing to fight haunting her, it wouldn't be strange for her to rush all the way here with thoughts like that.
"Your sister has a dumb head!"
'Can't use words like that.'
As he cautioned Aira for her ominous remark, Do-yoon decided to ask about one more thing that piqued his curiosity while he was at it.
"By the way, that woman. Seemed like family to you."
"...Yeah."
"Lucky you. Having an upper-floor Hunter as direct family must make you hold your head high."
"...."
But at Do-yoon's words, Rakiya Bells's expression darkened instead.
"What? Not really?"
"N-No, it's nothing. Let's go."
Rakiya Bells brushed it off and walked toward the combat zone.
"Sure? Go on ahead then."
"...Huh?"
"I need to check the rewards I got from the previous floor."
You have unclaimed rewards! Back then, he'd been so desperate to return to Earth that he hadn't properly checked the reward list.
And once on Earth, he'd spent the time resting and hadn't gotten around to it there either.
Now was the chance to go over it properly.
Do-yoon opened his status window with a pounding heart.
"...Ah."
Rakiya Bells, who had naturally started heading to the boss room alongside him, froze in place with a flustered look.
"What're you doing? Not going?"
"Wouldn't it be better if we went together..."
"Sure, it'd be convenient for me if we partied up. But you still have to beat the boss room solo anyway."
There might be boss rooms where you could party up with other members, but at least the 8th floor with Do-yoon on it wasn't one of them.
She knew that, so he was just stating the facts as he knew them.
"...True."
In the end, Rakiya Bells yielded to logic and trudged toward the combat zone.
"Or you could stick around until then."
"...! Yeah, that'd probably be safer. Being with another Hunter we can at least trust makes it easier to prepare for variables—"
"Got it, got it."
Do-yoon cut off Rakiya Bells as she lit up and started spilling info, then sat cross-legged on the bare floor to properly check his grown stats and rewards.
#
Rakiya Bells stared fixedly at Do-yoon, who was sitting on the floor gazing at his status window.
He wore unusual Earth clothes, yet possessed a sturdy body optimized for combat.
But that sturdiness wasn't excessive.
A build perfect for maintaining agile movements.
Rakiya Bells sensed the mana dormant within Do-yoon.
-Swoooo...
That bizarre energy that made him special.
Mana of a quality similar to what emanated from the Tower itself stared back at Rakiya Bells.
'Ugh.'
Well-trained physical Hunters were a dime a dozen.
But Do-yoon possessed abilities far more unique than any of them, even in comparison.
Thinking ahead to the future, maintaining a comrade-like relationship with him was definitely not a bad idea.
'With my sister...'
And just what had happened between him and her sister, along with the other upper-floor Hunters?
She hadn't pried in detail, but Rakiya Bells wanted to know what he'd been through.
If it was the sister she knew—the one who always drove her into deadly situations, forcing her to grow stronger—
She doubted it had left a good impression on him.
"She seemed nice."
"...Huh?"
"Seemed like a good person. At first I thought it was some threat or whatever, but nah—she just came to see my face."
At those words, Rakiya Bells's thoughts ground to a halt.
"My sister. Just...?"
"Yeah."
"N-No way."
Rakiya Bells's life experience outright rejected Do-yoon's assessment.
Who was it that had thrown her to fight a local beast when she was five?
Who had withheld food, calling her weak?
The deeply ingrained image of her sister threw Rakiya Bells into confusion.
"N-No..."
"What?"
As he watched Rakiya Bells spiral into a mental breakdown on her own, Do-yoon checked his status window.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ ⚡ Strength: 30 💨 Agility: 21 ✨ Magic Power: 26 💪 Stamina: 28
The stat growth was fairly standard.
Still, the existence of his perk lingered heavily in his mind.
"Hey."
"Why would my sister... to you of all people..."
"Hey."
As Do-yoon grabbed her shoulder, Rakiya Bells finally snapped out of it with a start, looking up at him with trembling eyes.
"...Huh?"
"Do you have a perk too?"
"N-Not yet. I haven't reached the level for it."
'I got mine early thanks to the Hidden Piece.'
With that thought, Do-yoon asked for more info.
"So you know about them?"
"...Yeah. When a Hunter first hits level 10, the Tower grants something like enhanced stats based on that Hunter's nature..."
"That's all?"
"...?"
"Like, there are weirder kinds too, or whatever."
He held back from mentioning his own extraordinarily ominous perk name, 'Progenitor's Contractor'.
Earth Hunters had been taught it was best to keep such things secret from those of other worlds as much as possible.
"There are combat-specialized perks like Shieldbearer, Archer, or Mage, of course, but unusual variants exist too."
Rakiya Bells listed off the types of perks she knew.
"Some handle beastly powers, or gain immense strength at the cost of mental instability..."
"Not always tied to stats, huh."
Rakiya Bells nodded.
"The Tower's will isn't fixated solely on a Hunter's individual strength."
"Good stuff either way."
"Y-Yeah."
In game terms, it was like the directionality for getting growth on track—the 'class' itself.
'So what's mine?'
Progenitor's Contractor.
To anyone, it looked directly tied to the Tower.
'Kinda burdensome.'
A Hunter being pushed by the Tower.
More than repulsion, anticipation welled up that climbing to the next floors would be a breeze.
'Should've graduated those bosses hard.'
Suddenly, the 6th and 7th floor bosses he hadn't graduated nagged at him.
— Gallery Mod Lower-floor boss mobs rotate graduations so fast anyway, don't sweat it lol Shaking off the thought by relying on the info from the gallery wristband holders,
"Anyway, the Upper Council, huh? Seemed like a good spot. Everyone gets stronger together and crushes the clears—sounds great, right?"
"Well, yeah, but..."
As she said that, Rakiya Bells subtly averted her gaze from Do-yoon.
'She's hiding something.'
As expected.
Just like having an upper-floor Hunter as direct family was her background, she undoubtedly held more info unknown to Do-yoon and the Earth Hunters.
For the time being, he'd play along like he knew.
Any personal grudges had already been settled back in the theme stage.
She'd gotten thoroughly thrashed by Aira on her own anyway.
"Alright, shall we?"
"Yeah!"
The response came from Aira.
"....."
Leaving Rakiya Bells behind, who watched him with meaningful eyes.
Do-yoon began tackling the 8th floor in earnest.