Garden of the Abyss (Part 4)

"Whoa."

"An Elixir? Holy crap, are we the first ones to ever find this?"

"Probably. Outside of video games, I've never even heard of it dropping."

The guild members stood with their jaws slack as they inspected the Elixir. How could they not? It was an S-rank item—and one that had never once surfaced in recorded history.

'Considering there's no mention of the alchemist brewing it, it must have been seeded when the gate was reconstructed,' I mused.

—Affirmative. Even the pre-predecessor Space Lord attempted mass production of the Elixir and failed. Even for an accomplished alchemist, concocting such a draught would not have been simple.

True enough. In the first place, if the Garden of the Abyss was the alchemist's actual residence, they wouldn't have rigged their own estate with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bizarre death traps and puzzle mechanisms.

"At this point, we should call this S-rank luck," Uncle remarked, shaking his head in disbelief. "How many times have we laid eyes on items of a rank that most hunters spend their entire lives without seeing even once?"

I couldn't disagree. Lately, our brushes with S-rank items had been absurdly frequent. From the Essence of Hwarba to the Caduceus Key, and now the Elixir—we had acquired three of them in a remarkably short span of time.

Setting aside the Caduceus Key, which had practically fallen into my lap within the subspace, pulling two consecutive S-rank items from gates was nothing short of miraculous. Considering that even pioneer vanguards pushing Level 60 rarely laid eyes on S-ranks, our excitement was hardly an overreaction.

"Ahem. Seeing as we pulled an S-rank, I take back what I said earlier," Minjae cleared his throat playfully. "Hye-hyung really is a genius."

"Of course, of course," Uncle chimed in. "A brilliant young man who looks out for his teammates' growth every step of the way."

"I always believed he was competent from the very start," Lee Shinhee added smoothly.

Everyone enthusiastically piled on the praise, though something about Lee Shinhee's delivery gave me pause.

"Why does that sound like sarcasm to me?"

"Oh, perish the thought. Never," she replied with an innocent smile.

Seeing even Lee Shinhee join in on the teasing proved that morale couldn't be higher.

Well, joking aside about whether I was a genius, our compatibility with this gate had been exceptionally favorable. To claim the Elixir, one had to bypass two layers of hidden gimmicks inside a survival-type gate with a tight time limit. But between the Caduceus Key and my innate spatial awareness, the whole ordeal had been a breeze.

—Lord Han Hye, by that very same logic, I, who recommended this gate, must also be quite wise and—

'Quiet.'

—Understood.

Chunbae tried sneaking his way into the praise, so I swiftly shut him down.

In any case, we had no immediate use for the Elixir. None of us were injured, and using such a panacea haphazardly would be a waste.

"Let's store it as guild reserves," I suggested. "Who knows when we might need it?"

An Elixir.

It was a brand-new discovery. Chunbae had mentioned that it only dropped with an excruciatingly low probability in Level 60+ gates. While I had access to the Subspace Healing Facility, the other guild members didn't. Having this locked away as emergency insurance in the event of a catastrophic injury was ideal.

"Indeed," agreed Minjae. "You can never have too much insurance."

It was just like the Escape Scroll our guild kept tucked away—a trump card for worst-case scenarios. Strong as we had become, we still couldn't hope to survive an anomaly gate like the Level 90+ mutant gate I had stumbled into upon awakening. The odds were slim, but disaster never gave advance warning. Stashing away lifelines for unforeseen catastrophes was something you could never overdo.

"Exactly," I said. "As long as Shinhee-ssi keeps someone breathing, this guarantees their survival."

Nobody objected to keeping it as guild property rather than selling it off, so I deposited the vial safely into the subspace.

Now, only one task remained.

"Since we've uncovered the S-rank hidden piece, I doubt there's much else of that caliber, but shall we explore the mansion a bit?"

"Looking for a fight?" Uncle asked.

"Combat and scouting combined. You never know what else might be tucked away."

"Phew, that was exhausting."

"Take a breather, Uncle. It looks like the timer will expire before they regenerate anyway."

"Whew..."

The entire party was worn out. After securing the Elixir, we had taken brief breathers while pressing forward into continuous combat.

First, we swept the interior of the mansion, dispatching grotesque chimeras, living armors, and mimics. While stronger than the mutant plants outside, they were manageable.

'At least they didn't swarm us in endless hordes.'

Afterward, we moved back outside to engage the plant monsters. Their numbers were daunting, but treating the engagement as live-combat training, we refused to yield an inch. That stubbornness earned us a few scratches; the thorny vines were wickedly sharp, and the stamen darts launched by the mutant flowers packed toxic venom. Lee Shinhee had her hands full keeping everyone patched up, exhausting her mana despite her healing-efficiency-boosting equipment.

"Man, battling those living armors was great, though," Uncle remarked, wiping the sweat from his brow. "They actually wielded weapons, so it was fantastic spear practice."

"The outside wasn't bad either," I replied. "I saw you using Swiftness earlier."

"True enough! And I even gained a level."

From the hidden piece to intense combat, we had accomplished everything we could have hoped for from this gate, leaving me thoroughly satisfied as well.

In my case, fighting out in the courtyard had been especially gratifying. My swordsmanship had already been honed through sparring with Shin Chang and Sang-yeop, but throwing myself into chaotic melee against swarms of foes polished my close-quarters unarmed art, Fighting Rooster, and boosted my Swiftness, bringing along another level-up.

"Leveling up is really starting to get tough," Uncle grumbled.

"Well, we're stepping into super-rookie territory now," I pointed out.

Level 36 was typically where hunters began being recognized as legitimate B-ranks. As a hunter leveled up, the required experience pool expanded exponentially, and past this threshold, the demand surged sharply. That was why, despite fighting continuously out in the garden, I had only gained a single level.

Uncle clicked his tongue in regret. "Back when we first teamed up, we'd shoot up three levels per gate."

"Well... didn't you go up two levels just recently?"

"Considering how long we fought and how many monsters we slaughtered in there, I should've gained three!"

Well, there was nothing to be done about that. It was a plateau every hunter had to endure.

"By the way, Uncle, are you still not up for it?"

"Up for what?"

"Sparring."

For a while now, I had wanted to bring Uncle along to spar with Shin Chang or Sang-yeop. But Uncle had consistently declined, claiming he wasn't skilled enough yet. His self-assessment wasn't entirely wrong, so I had respected his decision, but now that he possessed a B-rank spear art, I figured he was ready.

"I'd just be a nuisance to them."

"You might actually learn a ton. And honestly, Shin Chang might love it. You could ride Yongyong into a spar—he'd call it valuable aerial training."

Knowing Shin Chang, that was precisely how he'd react. If I told him I'd met a dragon, he'd immediately insist on practicing against mounted combatants, claiming you never knew when a draconic threat might emerge.

"Let me gain just one more level in my spear arts first, then I'll think about it."

"Fair enough."

Aside from the fruitful combat gains, we hadn't discovered anything else of note inside the alchemist's mansion. Given how thoroughly hidden the Elixir had been, I had hoped for at least a few B-rank or C-rank items lying around, but beyond silverware and decorative dishware, there was nothing but books. Furthermore, because they hadn't materialized as system items, reading them was impossible.

—I can translate the texts, but there is little reason to take them, Chunbae noted.

Since the setting hailed from Chunbae's original world, the language presented no barrier to him, but their practical utility was negligible.

—They describe recipes for specific concoctions, none of which possess notable efficacy. Moreover, the required ingredients do not grow on Earth, making them nearly impossible to source. In all likelihood, having been reconstructed within the gate, they were placed merely to furnish the study.

In short: useless clutter.

Though clearing the gate awarded a modest chunk of experience, it wasn't enough to trigger another level-up. Still, there was no denying this raid had been immensely successful. Walking away with an S-rank item alongside skill advancements was an incredible haul.

"Where should we head next?"

After exiting the gate, we gathered for a team dinner. Five hours inside the gate had left us ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠famished, despite snacking periodically to keep our energy levels up.

"A place like this one would be ideal," Uncle chimed in between bites. "It was pretty solid, wasn't it?"

"Not just pretty solid—it was phenomenal," I corrected him. "We scored an S-rank Elixir and got some dense, high-yield combat in."

Minjae nodded eagerly in agreement. "Totally. I got to cast magic to my heart's content. I think I tested out nearly every new spell I've learned."

"Same here, but I couldn't focus purely on my spear arts against those plant swarms," Uncle grunted.

"Ah, fair point."

I understood his slight dissatisfaction; he had brought up his spear arts repeatedly inside the gate. Remembering how excited he had been when mastering Flying Dragon Flash, he was itching to unleash his new B-rank spear techniques in proper combat.

"Why is it that we seem to fight the hardest when an Outbreak Gate bursts?" Uncle grumbled.

"Normally that's true for everyone, but it's even more pronounced for us," Lee Shinhee observed with a slight smile. "Thanks to Han Hye-ssi, our regular gate raids are far more comfortable than anyone else's."

"Why don't we pick our next gate specifically for combat practice?" I suggested. "Somewhere slightly lower in difficulty where we can focus entirely on polishing our skills."

"You don't need to do that just on my account," Uncle said.

"No, it makes sense. We're all sitting around Level 35 right now, which is an awkward spot. Wouldn't it be better to hit Level 36 first before we spend our Priority Pass on a higher bracket?"

"Mmm. Good point."

Recommended gate levels typically shifted in increments of five, so the party readily nodded.

"Besides, Shinhee-ssi recently picked up sword-and-shield techniques and is currently practicing," I added. "It would be great for her to test them in live combat too."

"I would appreciate that very much," she said.

"I cast enough spells today to satisfy me for a while, so anywhere's fine by me," Minjae offered.

The consensus was unanimous. You couldn't expect every dungeon to be a treasure vault overflowing with hidden jackpots. While we had fought hard, strengthening our fundamentals was essential. In fact, we had already talked about diving into a dungeon specifically for foundational training not too long ago.

I turned the options over in my mind. "If there's a gate infested with Werewolves, that would be ideal for our current setup."

"Werewolves?"

They were essentially a downgraded variant of Grendels, which were ranked on par with Ogres. With our current strength, Uncle and I could overcome them without much trouble. If we restricted ourselves from relying purely on stats and aimed to defeat them using pure swordsmanship and spear arts, it would pose a solid challenge—which was precisely what we wanted.

"Yeah. Uncle and I can handle the awakened variants, and while we support the perimeter, Shinhee-ssi can cut her teeth against the non-awakened ones."

While Grendels or Ogres technically aligned with our ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠level range, their massive brute frames weren't suited for martial arts refinement. Moreover, Werewolves were notoriously nimble and vicious, making their gates unpopular among ordinary hunters.

"Should we look for one?"

"Why search ourselves? Hold on. We can just ping the guild house," Uncle said.

"Ah, I'll make the call," Minjae volunteered, pulling out his phone.

One of the greatest perks of establishing a proper guild house was having staff to handle logistical busywork outside of dungeons. There was a reason hunters flocked to guilds. It was immensely convenient.

"Huh?"

While Minjae stepped aside to make the call, Uncle tilted his head at his smartphone screen.

"Kim Hancheol returned to Korea?"

"Who's that?"

"The Guardian. You know him, don't you?"

"Ah."

Of course I knew him. He was an awakened hunter with an exceptionally rare class who had crossed over to the United States during the early days of the Gate Cataclysm. His departure stood as one of the Korean government's most bitter, self-inflicted blunders.

After moving to America, he had served as a frontline vanguard for years before suffering a crippling injury that forced him into near-retirement.

"Man, a guy like him would be the perfect addition to our party," Uncle murmured with genuine longing.

"Right? We definitely need a dedicated rearguard protector," I agreed. "Even if Shinhee-ssi is learning sword-and-shield techniques, we need someone who can reliably anchor our defense."

"Damn Collapsing Mana... Who would've thought one of America's elite vanguard tanks would get sidelined like that?"

Uncle shook his head in deep sympathy. Right at that moment—

—Lord Han Hye.

Chunbae's voice resonated within my mind.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

—If it is Collapsing Mana, the Elixir can cure it completely.

"Wait, what?"