Subspace Level 4 (Part 1)

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A Skill Level Up Scroll.

I had expected Dawn Light, the elite guild led by Shin Chang, to track one down far faster than I ever could on my own. Even so, I never dreamed they would produce results this quickly. Not when even the obscenely wealthy Saudis struggled to get their hands on one.

It hadn't been that long since our agreement, and I hadn't heard a whisper about them clearing another high-difficulty dungeon since our last gate. To me, it was nothing short of miraculous.

"How on earth did you pull this off?"

The moment our gate raid celebration wrapped up, I rushed straight over to the Dawn Light training grounds to meet Seo Seung-yeon. Naturally, Shin Chang was there beside her, sporting a dignified, satisfied smirk that practically screamed I delivered.

"When we spoke on the phone last time, you said you hadn't been able to find one."

"That's true," Seung-yeon replied with a knowing smile. "We couldn't find a scroll for sale. But we did find something else."

"Don't tell me... a barter?"

"Bingo!"

Her cheerful grin left me momentarily flabbergasted.

"Just what kind of item did you get that someone actually traded a Skill Level Up Scroll for it?"

"A rather exceptional set of gauntlets. We opened negotiations with Russia's Fist King, and as luck would have it, he happened to have a Skill Level Up Scroll sitting in his inventory."

"He hadn't used it?"

Normally, vanguard hunters used Skill Level Up Scrolls the second they acquired them. That was especially true for world-class legends like the Fist King. While elixirs and level-up items offered greater efficiency the higher your level grew, immediate survival inside deadly gates took absolute priority.

"You know how he is," she sighed. "He babbled on about how a true man's combat skills should only be honed through the blood and sweat of actual battle, or some nonsense like that."

Well, that tracked. The man had earned the moniker 'Hope of Pugilists' and maintained his vanguard standing purely on the strength of his bare knuckles. He wasn't just macho—he was the living embodiment of the concept.

"...Still took quite a lot of talking," Shin Chang murmured tersely.

"Right. The raw trade value was a bit skewed, so it took some serious diplomacy," Seung-yeon agreed.

I nodded in silent understanding.

Gauntlets. No matter how extraordinary their rank, a Skill Level Up Scroll held vastly superior universal value. As far as I knew, there were fewer than three Awakened pugilists past Level 30 in the entire world. Aside from the Fist King, one had retired, and the other was a Muay Thai specialist operating in Thailand.

There's practically zero market demand for high-tier gauntlets.

No matter how breathtaking an item's stats might be, if there was nobody to equip it, its practical worth plummeted. A Skill Level Up Scroll, conversely, had limitless demand across every single class on Earth. For the Fist King to accept the exchange despite the discrepancy...

"They must have been S-rank, then?"

"Spot on. Honestly, I wasn't sure he'd bite, but the moment the Fist King laid eyes on those gauntlets, he practically lost his mind. It went surprisingly smoothly after that. The Russian government threw a fit, of course, but thanks to his stubbornness, we got the scroll on the cheap."

"Ahem."

Shin Chang cleared his throat, clearly looking for his cue. Seo Seung-yeon chuckled and gestured toward him.

"San-oppa deserves a lot of the credit, too. He personally flew over and agreed to a sparring match with the Fist King to sweeten the pot."

A spar with the Fist King? He had more than earned the right to clear his throat.

"Thank you," I said, bowing slightly. "Truly."

"..."

When I offered my sincere gratitude, Shin Chang gave a tiny, contented twitch of his lips and waved his hand in a dismissive gesture that said think nothing of it. An S-rank artifact combined with a personal sparring session from Korea's top spearman... Even if this was part of our deal, I was deeply moved.

"Oh, come on, don't mention it," Seo Seung-yeon waved her hand as well. "A promise is a promise."

"Still, you went above and beyond for my sake, didn't you?"

"Well, of course we did. That leaves one left. I'll scour the earth to find the next one, too. You don't care which one it is, right?"

A Skill Level Up Scroll or a Class Skill Acquisition Scroll. Naturally, either worked perfectly. I desperately needed both.

"None at all."

"Understood. If we come across another great ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠piece of loot, I'll see if we can broker another barter."

Looking at Seo Seung-yeon's bright smile and Shin Chang's dependable presence, I felt an immense sense of security. This was Dawn Light for you—a guild on an entirely different plane from predatory outfits like Great Enterprise. To receive this much help from them... Just as that warm thought settled in, I remembered something important.

"Ah, right! There's actually something I wanted to share with you both."

"Oh? What is it?"

I had intended to bring it up during our previous training session, but between the intensity of our spar and agonizing over my new skill, Incineration, it had completely slipped my mind.

Seo Seung-yeon narrowed her eyes with playful suspicion.

"Don't tell me you fished out another S-rank skill or something?"

"No, of course not."

Seeing my flustered reaction, she gave an exaggerated shrug.

"I mean, it sounded like an absurdly terrifying gate. That infinite mana core thingy? You completely obliterated that, didn't you?"

"Come on, it's not like I haul in a jackpot every single time I step into a dungeon."

At my protest, Seo Seung-yeon shot me a sharp, sidelong glare.

"You uncover a hidden piece almost every single time. Every time I hear the debriefs, I turn green with envy."

Fair enough. She was Minjae's cousin, so she probably heard plenty of stories about our expeditions, not to mention the classified reports submitted to the Association. Naturally, she didn't know the full truth regarding Chunbae or the nature of my Subspace; I had drilled Minjae thoroughly on keeping those secrets locked down.

"That was just pure luck..."

"Luck, my foot. That's talent, Han Hye-ssi." Seo Seung-yeon tossed her head, then swiveled toward Shin Chang. "Oppa, I might just transfer over to Dinosaur Guild ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠one of these days."

"...?"

Shin Chang visibly flinched.

"I mean, look at them! They strike gold every run! Dawn Light has a great batting average, but Dinosaur is playing an entirely different sport."

She was teasing, of course, but it was enough to make Korea's top vanguard sweat.

"Ahem. Anyway, what I wanted to mention is about Uncle Chulgi—you know, the Dragon Knight? His son recently awakened. His class is a Jeweler."

"Pardon?"

"...?"

At the word 'Jeweler,' both Shin Chang and Seo Seung-yeon froze, their eyes widening in unison.

"It's a specialized artisan class capable of enhancing weapons and armor using gate metal."

As I laid out the details of what Minseok could do, a manic spark ignited in Seo Seung-yeon's eyes.

"Holy crap. Where is he? I need to get my rifle enchanted right this second!"

"Uh, Minseok's skill level is still pretty low, so—"

"Doesn't matter in the slightest! I can just have a new custom barrel machined!"

Unlike Shin Chang, who merely looked astonished and intrigued, Seo Seung-yeon's expression was dead serious. It was entirely understandable. To this day, standard firearms had never dropped as official system equipment inside gates. Modern-themed gate realms had appeared before, but any guns scavenged from those ruins were functionally identical to regular Earth firearms. Sci-fi gates with futuristic plasma weaponry hadn't manifested yet either.

Seo Seung-yeon's equipment is custom-made right here on Earth.

Her sniper rifle had been tailored specifically to handle her monstrous vanguard stats, but beneath the reinforced alloys, it was still ordinary machinery. The only real differences were the bone-shattering recoil and massive caliber designed to maximize physical kinetic force—things no normal human could ever shoulder. Her guns didn't register an item grade on the system interface; she had to rely entirely on her personal class passives and mana skills, like barrier-piercing rounds, to make them viable against high-tier monsters.

From that standpoint, even a Level 1 Jeweler's touch was an unprecedented breakthrough for her.

"Hmm. But will an enhancement even stick to a sniper rifle? It doesn't have an item grade, after all."

"Only one way to find out, right?"

Chunbae. Can an item without a system grade be enhanced by a Jeweler?

Since we were already at the facility, we naturally decided to hold a sparring session. But while stepping out to the restroom beforehand, I took the opportunity to consult my resident spiritual guide.

Chunbae's answer was far more shocking than I had anticipated.

Wait, what? Itemization?

Are you serious?

According to Chunbae, transcribing high-tier martial techniques into permanent ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠system skill books required the direct intervention of rare artisan classes.

All this time, I had assumed the martial arts manuals housed in my Subspace were just ancient relics looted by my predecessors across various realms. That wasn't the case at all. I had wondered how on earth an artisan who worked with metal and gems could influence paper, but Chunbae explained that they infused abstract properties like 'Preservation' and 'Conceptual Imprinting' directly into the medium.

Chunbae's following remark hit me with an even heavier weight.

...

Well, considering the staggering inheritance I had received from the Subspace, taking up that responsibility if our world fell was only fair. The reason Chunbae kept the darker details of past dimensional collapses vague was likely to prevent his 'Subspace Master' from succumbing to existential dread and throwing in the towel.

Not that I had any intention of rolling over. I was going to grow relentlessly and overcome the creeping Erosion of Mana, no matter what it took.

Still, it cemented one truth: the Subspace was a dimensional treasury, built across generations of dying worlds.

Come to think of it, Chunbae had previously mentioned that the sole surviving god from the ancient cataclysm had taken a bizarre interest in the previous Subspace Masters' legacy-building efforts.

Makes sense.

If that god was allied with the forces driving the Erosion, his curiosity was inevitable. He was an inscrutable entity who viewed mortals as playthings. Or perhaps, recognizing that this accumulated inheritance might one day produce someone capable of breaking the cycle, he had kept close watch to ensure we didn't succeed.

From what little I had witnessed of him, he seemed thoroughly amused. When even pantheons of deities had been snuffed out by the encroaching mana, did our desperate mortal struggles look like nothing more than thrilling street theater to him?

Just dwelling on it left a bitter taste in my mouth. And that simmering annoyance became the prime fuel for my upcoming spar with Shin Chang.

"Phew! Thanks for the match."

Granted, despite channeling all that irritation into my strikes, I still spent the vast majority of the duel getting thoroughly battered by Shin Chang's spear. Even so, while my skill level didn't tick upward, the experience was invaluable.

"...You've grown accustomed to the blade," Shin Chang observed, lowering his spear with a rare look of quiet approval.

Between my recent swordsmanship level-up and sparring against the Knight of Flames in the previous dungeon, swinging my sword had finally ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠begun to feel second nature. Shin Chang had noticed immediately.

"...Thank you for the information," he added.

"Yes, truly," Seo Seung-yeon chimed in. "Sharing such a game-changing secret couldn't have been an easy decision."

"Given how much you two have helped me, it was the least I could do," I replied candidly.

As we prepared to part ways, both of them thanked me once again. For an entire decade, gate metal had been dismissed as useless, unrefined junk—a glorified mining scam. This revelation was going to completely upend the global market. Furthermore, the advent of a Jeweler was a monumental turning point for the nation's vanguard forces. It justified aggressively stockpiling high-grade gate minerals, which would serve as the essential cornerstone for scaling our national firepower in the years ahead.

"If this works out, I'm definitely rewarding you properly!" Seung-yeon promised brightly.

We agreed that her weapon enhancement would be handled in close cooperation with the Hunter Association, where Minseok was currently undergoing intensive training to level his crafting skills.

"Understood. And you should probably coordinate your gate metal acquisitions through the Association as well," I advised.

Given the geopolitical sensitivity of the resource, my own purchases of gate metals were already being conducted through discreet, closed-door agreements with the Association. We had to manage the domestic supply chain with extreme care so foreign syndicates and hostile nations wouldn't detect unusual market movements.

"...I will repay this debt," Shin Chang said, his gaze solemn and steady.

I had no idea what kind of repayment Korea's foremost vanguard had in mind, but if the Divine Spear offered a favor, there was certainly no reason to turn it down.

After parting ways with the Dawn Light duo, I returned home and immediately took a hot shower in a state of quiet, reverent focus.

After all, the time had finally come. My Subspace was about to level up once again.

Chunbae stubbornly refused to give me the faintest hint regarding what lay behind the next dimensional barrier. It was a little frustrating, but I understood his sentiment. Truthfully, I wanted to experience the unveiling with my own eyes.

When I first saw that elixir garden, my jaw practically hit the floor.

Of course, as Chunbae cautioned, not every tier expansion could be an earth-shattering treasure vault like that. Given how absurdly fast my personal growth had been, I might have outpaced the milestones prepared by my predecessor for this stage. But experiencing the suspense—and the reveal—was part of the journey.

Naturally, every single core attribute climbed by three points. The higher my base stats reached, the more completely broken the passive bonus from the Subspace felt.

Yet right now, raw numbers were the furthest thing from my mind.

What's waiting for me in there this time?

Feeling my heart slam against my ribs, I triggered the skill and unraveled the boundary of space.

Wuuuung.

Dimensional folds parted, revealing the newly unlocked chamber.

And the sight that greeted my eyes...

...was utterly, bewilderingly bizarre.