Chapter 38
Chapter 38
38.Discharge-type Gate (1)
“Ugh, I’m tired.”
“Should we rest for a bit?”
“Let’s rest for three minutes.”
The daily life of diligent Hunters isn't anything special. On days they don't enter a Gate, all they do is train.
And I was in a position where I had to work even harder than those diligent Hunters.
-It's important to maintain your balance. Growing at such an incredible rate is very positive, but you must keep in mind that it can disrupt the balance of your body.
-You should always strive to use more than 90% of your enhanced physical abilities.
That was Chunbae’s advice, and I deeply agreed with it. I had been growing overwhelmingly strong until now.
It was safe to say that I hadn't faced any major difficulties in the process.
I overpowered everything with Stats and easily overcame difficult obstacles with the fraudulent nature of my Subspace.
Of course, it was nice and easy. I would continue to use it as much as possible in the future.
‘But I need to prepare.’
I don't know how long this approach will work.
Didn't the predecessor who created Chunbae, and the predecessor who inherited that legacy, ultimately fail?
I can't be complacent just because my growth is faster than theirs.
I need to work hard from now on in preparation for situations that will be difficult to overcome with Stats and Subspace alone.
‘Adapting to my physical body will be difficult to keep up with at this rate of growth.’
Even growing too fast was a problem. My Stats increased more than my adaptation to the enhanced body.
In fact, my growth rate was unprecedented in the 10 years since the Gate incident.
‘The current standard for the vanguard is roughly level 50.’
I know that the highest-level Hunter in the world is 60, and Shin Chang, the best in Korea, is in the late 50s.
On the other hand, I am level 22, less than two months after Awakening.
I was gaining an average of more than 2 levels every time I entered a Gate.
This was because, unlike ordinary Hunters who prioritize safety, I mainly entered high-difficulty Gates without rest.
‘This speed won't be maintained as it is, though….’
The amount of experience required increases as the level goes up, so I won't be able to do it like this forever.
Still, even if I maintain it to some extent, wouldn't I become the fastest-leveling Hunter in the world? That's why physical adaptation was essential.
“Oh, you were already here?”
As I was resting with those thoughts, Seo Min-jae and Lee Shin-hee entered the training ground.
Today's training wasn't just for Uncle and me.
With Lee Shin-hee joining the Guild, the four of us formed a team, so it was necessary to train together.
‘We need to coordinate.’
Originally, coordinating was planned even before entering the Level-restricted survival gate.
But the association urgently requested it due to the Mana concentration issue, so we entered without having time to do so.
“Dueling among ourselves is really just individual training. I feel bad taking up other people's time for that.”
“I was going to practice individually after this. I'll come earlier next time!”
As Seo Min-jae answered energetically, Uncle waved his hand.
“Huh? No. You don't have to. Do as you please.”
“I feel comfortable being with you guys!”
“Really? Then it's good to have you.”
There was no reason to stop him if he liked practicing together. Seo Min-jae suddenly looked at Lee Shin-hee.
-Shin-hee will come too, right?
It was as if he was saying that. Lee Shin-hee, receiving the gaze, looked embarrassed.
“Ah, I have a place where I train separately.”
“Ah….”
Seo Min-jae was slightly disappointed. This friend definitely had a personality that liked to cheer each other on.
Of course, the Dinosaur Guild is a Guild that respects individual freedom. Isn't the Guild Leader a person full of respect?
“Hey, Guild Leader. What are you doing?”
As I was thinking that, Uncle scolded me for being distracted.
No one else, but Uncle will have no more exemptions from training in the future. That's what the Guild Leader decided.
* * *
The basics of team coordination training are forming formations.
“Left! Troll appearance!”
It was training to quickly change formations assuming we encountered a virtual enemy.
It seems trivial, but it's important. There's a reason it's basic. Because it connects to responding to irregular situations later.
“Monster appearing from the rear during combat!”
After finishing the formation training, we shared the Skills we had through a meeting.
This was to match the distribution of Skills and the coordination when using them.
“I'll Leap as soon as you give me a Barrier.”
Among the shared Skills, we were developing our team's own attack routes by combining those with good synergy.
What I just did was my idea.
It was to charge into the middle of the enemies with a Barrier. It's an attack that involves attacking while the Barrier holds and then coming out again with Leap.
It wouldn't be used often in normal situations, but it seemed good against enemies who fall into chaos when the boss dies.
-Kooong!
“We can get a little closer, right?”
I also checked the sense of distance for the Magic that Min-jae uses. For example, seeing how far Min-jae's Fireball affects.
All parties with Magicians do this. Min-jae was a Magician and had new Magic he had learned, so it was necessary to pay a little more attention.
‘Hmm.’
Come to think of it, is it because I saw Hunter Net yesterday? As I observed Lee Shin-hee, I definitely thought she seemed like she was from a chaebol family.
The introverted aspects she had shown before also felt like a somewhat exclusive moment.
I don't know much about the lives of chaebols, but wouldn't it have been difficult to form normal relationships?
The world has changed even more since the Gate incident.
The same goes for when she took out the pendant and looked around.
I thought she was being cautious back then, but maybe it's because it doesn't matter if she just gives away an E-grade item.
“Shin-hee. There's something I want to ask you.”
So I just decided to ask her during a short break.
“Are you perhaps a granddaughter of a chaebol family?”
“Yes?”
Lee Shin-hee was flustered. Min-jae and Uncle were the same. They had faces that said, ‘What nonsense are you talking about?’
“I heard that somewhere and was curious. It might be a false rumor….”
“No. It's true.”
Lee Shin-hee admitted it more calmly than I thought.
“Yes?”
“What is that?”
Min-jae and Uncle Cheolgi were more surprised by Lee Shin-hee's answer than when I asked.
The reason I bothered to ask this wasn't for any other reason.
“Is there anything that you can't do during Hunter activities? Are there any parts we need to be careful about?”
It would be a bit awkward to go around together if there were restrictions on normal Hunter activities.
I told her that we mainly enter difficult Gates, but it would be troublesome if she suddenly said she couldn't.
This Gate was difficult, but maybe she entered because the Escape Secretary was provided.
Park Seo-woong recommended her, so I didn't think she was that kind of person, but I needed to confirm.
“There's nothing like that. You can just think of me as an ordinary Hunter.”
“Ah, it's just that Hunter Net comments keep getting deleted….”
She's not just an ordinary Hunter, so I asked again. It's tiring if she changes her mind later.
“Oh, did it happen again?”
Lee Shin-hee sighed.
“That's because there's an information control clause in my contract. Because of the risk of kidnapping.”
“Kidnapping?”
“Why, an S-class Healer was kidnapped in the United States before.”
That's right. That happened.
It was committed by China. It was under the pretext of curing the diseases of high-ranking politicians, but it turned into a pretty big deal.
I didn't know much about it back then because I was a Gate orphan, but the United States dispatched fighter jets, moved aircraft carriers, and showed a move to wage war.
Then China ended up releasing the Healer after treatment.
After that, an Awakened Coup occurred in China, overturning the regime. It was a pretty big incident.
Now, as a result of that, it has become a country divided into dozens of states like the United States, and there was a rumor that the United States was behind this.
‘Well, no one really knows, though.’
Anyway, incidents of kidnapping Healers like this happen often. Especially for high-grade Healers.
This is because Healers are very rare. Most of them go into the medical field rather than becoming dangerous Hunters.
Of course, it's rare for a country to do it on a national scale like China.
Most of the time, ‘Ubermensh,’ an Awakened criminal group, kidnaps Healers for illegal Gate subjugation.
“My father and grandfather are so particular… When I signed a contract with the Korean Hunter Association, a clause was included to control my information.”
It was the moment I understood why the comments were deleted.
“It will be revealed someday, but it's a bit dangerous before I get stronger. So I still go around with bodyguards.”
“I see.”
“Cheol-gi and Han Hye will also have separate bodyguards, right?”
“Yes? Us?”
I suddenly wondered what that meant.
“Don't you know? The association probably assigned bodyguards. A Dragon Knight with a Dragon and an S+ grade Spatialist. How much are they worth? Of course, they would have protected them from the beginning of their Awakening.”
I didn't really feel that?
No. My Spatial Sense is 30m now. I might not know if a high-level Thief was observing from afar.
“They originally assign them to high-grade promising talents. I don't know who the protected targets are, though. There are actually many cases of kidnapping abroad.”
Indeed. There aren't many countries that maintain security after the Gate incident. Korea was one of the top countries.
Ubermensh, an Awakened criminal group that is notorious worldwide, kidnaps not only Healers but also promising Awakeners.
It wasn't for nothing that I was hiding information about Subspace. I'm getting attention now, but things about other worlds are a no-go.
I felt a bit eerie thinking that I was being protected without knowing it. I might have been kidnapped.
‘Crazy bastards. I need to kill them all.’
It wasn't a villain group in a comic book with goals like world destruction. You can just think of them as criminals who have Awakened.
They are using the power created by the Gate incident for bad things.
Well, they claim to be Awakened supremacists who advocate that Awakeners are a new human race and Ubermensh…
Looking at them kidnapping the same Awakeners, it's just a facade.
It's not easy to catch them because they live together by seizing military power and the government in countries ruined by the Gate incident.
‘I need to get stronger quickly.’
The solution is simple. I just need to become strong enough that there won't be a problem even if those criminal bastards appear.
Honestly, I can hide in Subspace, but Uncle Cheolgi can't.
“Anyway, to reiterate, you really don't have to worry about it. I didn't intend to hide it from my teammates in the first place. It's just that it was hard to say…”
“Indeed. It's strange to suddenly say, ‘By the way, I'm a chaebol granddaughter.’”
Lee Shin-hee let out an awkward laugh at my words.
* * *
“Then let's start the first Guild meeting.”
After finishing all the training, we took our seats in the small conference room prepared in the training center.
Although there are only four of us, it was a meeting to determine the direction of the future because the team was formed in combination.
“As Shin-hee, who is new, also knows, the Dinosaur Guild is still a mid-to-lower-tier Guild.”
The Guild's ranking is based on the association's internal evaluation. At this time, the evaluation criteria are simple.
It's not the Guild's strength ranking. Points are scored for Discharge-type Gate defense and Gate subjugation.
Since Discharge-type Gates don't happen often, Gate subjugation is usually the main evaluation factor.
Even if it's the same level Gate, the score varies depending on the Gate's difficulty calculation criteria.
‘Only the association knows the details.’
It wasn't possible to check the Guild's score from the outside. The Dinosaur Guild was still in the mid-to-lower tier.
We did subjugate the Level-restricted survival gate this time, but that alone doesn't have a big impact.
This is because the absolute number of Gate subjugations is insufficient. Some Guilds subjugate dozens of safe Gates that don't give much experience.
Rather, we were able to rise to the mid-to-lower tier in a short period of time because we mainly went through difficult Gates.
“As you all probably guess, we plan to continue to focus on difficult Gates in the future.”
As a matter of course, higher-level Gates are scored higher in the Guild evaluation. To exceed the incomparable number of subjugations, we have to aim for that.
Therefore, our goal was to subjugate high-difficulty Gates.
Not only do we get a lot of points, but we can also grow quickly. In other words, we are competing with quality rather than quantity.
Lee Shin-hee and Seo Min-jae nodded as they expected.
“Does anyone object?”
“No.”
It was a formal procedure, but it was necessary. There were also things to discuss while the overall direction was decided.
“Regarding the distribution of Gate subjugation, I'm thinking of distributing the Magic stone equally and the items to the most suitable person. Is that okay?”
Lee Shin-hee tilted her head and raised her hand at my words.
“Is there a reason why you're doing it that way?”