Challenging the Gate (3)
This was definitely an E-rank gate.
A low-grade gate of such a level that even if it were left alone to collapse, it wouldn't cause any significant damage to the outside world.
But... why on earth was an S-rank here?
There were fewer than thirty S-rank hunters in the entire country.
Why would a hunter of that caliber be at an E-rank gate? And alone, at that? Why?
It wasn't just me who felt this way. The other hunters must have been thinking the exact same thing, as their expressions mirrored mine perfectly.
Han Yeseo seemed to realize how bizarre the situation was, so she offered a brief, half-hearted explanation.
"I just came out to play, but you caught my eye. I figured you were in a tight spot."
No. That wasn't what we were curious about.
We weren't asking why you spoke to us. We were asking why you were even here.
"Why is an S-rank hunter at an E-rank gate...?"
"Ah, so that's what you meant. I'm suspended. But it's just a light disciplinary probation, so as long as I don't use my guild's name, there are no restrictions on my activities. Of course, because of that, I can't do anything under the guild's banner, but an E-rank gate is fine. There's very little chance of any trouble arising here anyway."
To summarize: she came out because she was bored. It wasn't a very non-wizard-like way of thinking.
Most Awakeners, excluding wizards, can only grow by clearing gates.
To increase their mana capacity, they have to absorb the mana stones dropped by magic beasts.
And unless they have a skill book, they can only acquire new skills by obtaining the ones contained within those mana stones.
Other than that, they have to hone their pure combat techniques and instincts, which she was probably already doing.
If she was suspended and had nothing to do, it made sense to come to even an E-rank gate.
Well, that would be true if she weren't an S-rank hunter.
All of the above points lose their meaning the moment you slap the prefix "S-rank" in front of them.
Most people without talent get stuck at C-rank, let alone B-rank, and yet here is an S-rank doing this.
"Ah! How rude of me. Let me introduce myself. I'm Han Yeseo from the Hwarang Guild. And you are?"
"I'm Baek Sowol. I'm twenty years old."
She introduced herself, and I responded in kind. The others around us introduced themselves too, but I wasn't interested.
She didn't seem particularly interested in them either.
"Twenty? Then I'm your eonni. I'm twenty-two."
"I see."
Not eonni, but nuna.
Of course, since I had to play the role of Baek Sowol, I didn't say it out loud.
After that, the wimp, the brute, and the others tried to strike up a conversation to get closer to her, but she only gave polite, perfunctory answers, letting the conversation drift.
She clearly wasn't interested in the others. It seemed Han Yeseo's target was me.
The reason... honestly, it probably wasn't anything major. She probably just found my appearance unique or thought I was pretty. No grand reason.
She was just bored, came to an E-rank gate, saw someone who looked interesting, and decided to strike up a conversation.
"So, seeing as you don't have a party, it looks like this is your first time. Would you like to go with me? I happen to be bored, so I can show you around."
"But how does everyone know it's my first time?"
How on earth does everyone know I'm a newbie?
I thought those guys were just saying that to hit on me. Did I really give off that much of a rookie vibe?
"Usually, people who challenge E-rank gates alone are rookies. Experienced hunters who can solo an E-rank gate would form a party and challenge D-rank or higher."
"Ah."
I understood the situation. Ninety-nine percent of the people who came here alone had neither connections nor skills.
They were either people who weren't cut out to be Awakeners, or newly awakened rookies coming alone.
So that's why.
This is an unexpected harvest.
Even if she was suspended, she was still an S-rank hunter. Unless they committed a major crime, she was a precious asset that guilds would want to keep at all costs.
Just building a connection with such a person would be of great benefit to my future hunter life.
On top of that, safety was guaranteed. I didn't know the exact strength of an S-rank hunter, but I knew their reputation well.
Even if there were many non-wizards among government officials, this system was strictly one that wizards also participated in. There was a whopping five-rank difference between us; there was little chance she couldn't handle this.
"Then how about we all go together?"
It seemed I wasn't the only one thinking along those lines. The wimp quickly made a suggestion to Han Yeseo.
Han Yeseo looked less than pleased, but from her position, it was hard to openly exclude the others. Objectively speaking, they would be more helpful than me.
Since she barely knew me, it would be difficult for her to exclude only them. Saying she only wanted to run the gate with me because she wanted to get close to me would be socially frowned upon.
Especially since she was currently suspended and on probation. She had to be mindful of public opinion, so it was best to avoid anything controversial.
"Well, alright. Let's go together. But no hitting on anyone. That goes for her too. I'm on probation, so a scandal would be dangerous for me, okay? So we can go together, but let's keep a reasonable distance. That's fine, right?"
Of course, since she wasn't thrilled about it, she set up some safeguards.
I guess she just didn't like getting tangled up with men.
Since Han Yeseo's words were reasonable, everyone reluctantly agreed.
"Then follow me, everyone. Since I'm an S-rank, I should take the lead, right? I'll give you a brief explanation about gates."
We decided to explore the gate under her guidance.
"The inside of every gate looks different. It's literally a gate—a state similar to a portal connected to another dimension."
Once we stepped inside the gate, the previous scenery vanished. Just a moment ago, we were in the middle of a normal city center.
But after passing through the purple crack, the view that unfolded was a peaceful grassy field.
"Usually, they rarely look this peaceful. That's only because this is an E-rank. In reality, even if the rank is just slightly higher, you have to go in with everyone playing their designated roles. Even if I'm an S-rank. From SS-rank onwards, you don't really need that, but I'm not there yet."
Her explanation was quite informative. To become an S-rank, you ultimately had to prove yourself, which meant she had successfully cleared numerous gates.
Few things are as helpful as advice from an actual practitioner.
"Gates that have already been cleared usually reopen once a month. If you leave a gate alone, the inside will go wild, and magic beasts will pour out into the real world. Of course, as time passes, the mana inside a gate depletes, and it eventually disappears. I heard this gate was actually a C-rank when it first appeared."
"You know a lot about it."
"I was the one who cleared this gate for the first time. I wasn't an S-rank back then, so I was incredibly nervous... but I've made it all the way here now."
Ah, so that's why she knew so much. Han Yeseo excitedly continued her explanation.
And since just listening to her talk would be bad for our dynamic, I asked a question of my own.
"What is your role, Han Yeseo-ssi?"
"Me? I'm a Battle Mage. To put it simply, have you ever played an MMORPG? You can think of it as being like the mages in those games. People who use skills that look like magic. If your main attack is a skill and you don't use a separate weapon, most of them are classified as Battle Mages. Since true Wizards already exist."
"Is there a big difference between a Wizard and a Battle Mage?"
"Wizards are in a league of their own. Ugh, those people can't even be compared to me. If I get into a huge controversy, the guild might try to kick me out even if I offer to take a pay cut. But for a Wizard, unless they turn into a villain or commit industrial espionage, the guild will hold onto them without even trying to renegotiate their contract. Wizards are an exception in every single field."
We continued our conversation, exchanging light questions.
The difference between a Wizard and a Battle Mage was quite interesting.
"Let me give you an easy example. If even one person here awakened as a Wizard? Within a few years, they'd sign a contract far better than mine. The difference is overwhelming."
A Battle Mage is closer to a mage in a game, in that they use skills that look like magic.
But a mage in a game can only learn and use the exact magic the game developers intended.
A real-life Wizard, however, has no such restrictions. They can learn any magic they want, and going a step further, they can even create it from scratch.
That value is what keeps elevating the status of Wizards.
On top of that, they are so rare that there are only eleven of them in South Korea, so it is only natural that their status is incredibly high.
"Basically, gates that have been cleared multiple times have the locations of the magic beasts recorded. There are some magic beasts over there. Do you want to try hunting one? Even if I hunt an E-rank, I don't really get anything out of it."
Unlike uncleared gates, cleared gates have an atmosphere almost like a public square.
Everyone roams around on their own, hunting the monsters that show up.
Following Han Yeseo's guidance, we arrived at a spot where several magic beasts were gathered.
I immediately got ready, chanted a simple spell, and fired it at a magic beast.
Fzzzt—
A blue electric current discharged from my fingertips, striking the magic beast. Perhaps because it was a low-grade beast from an E-rank gate, it turned into a pile of ash and vanished in a single strike.
"You already had a skill?"
Ah, right. Come to think of it, since this was my first run, the probability of me having a skill was low.
"Yes. I just had it from the start."
"Ah, that happens sometimes."
Of course, I couldn't tell her the truth, so I just bluffed. Fortunately, it seemed such cases did exist.
Blue crystals dropped from the magic beast's corpse. The crystals melted into blue energy and were absorbed directly into my body.
"This is exactly why you have to run gates to grow. When an Awakener who has awakened their mana kills a magic beast, the residual mana of the beast creates a mana stone. You can absorb these mana stones to increase your mana capacity. Of course, there's still a limit to how much you can increase it."
How does a body that has awakened mana grow its power?
Simply put, it increases by absorbing those mana stones. Sometimes, there are even skills contained inside them.
The funny thing is that most common mana stones are immediately absorbed by the person who killed the beast.
So acquiring a skill is highly dependent on luck. There's a reason skill books are so expensive.
With a skill book, you can designate exactly who receives the skill.
"The others are hunting too."
Since I was done, I looked around and saw the men who had followed us were also hunting magic beasts.
As expected of experienced hunters, they were hunting multiple beasts without any trouble.
If things keep going like this...
Yes, if things kept going like this, I would be able to grow stronger comfortably.
It was E-rank now, but eventually, I would move past E-rank to D-rank.
And ultimately, I would climb as high as I possibly could.
It was just as I was making that firm resolve.
Rumble, rumble, rumble—
Whaaaaaaaaailing!!!!!!!!!
"W-What is it?!"
"What's going on?"
A massive vibration suddenly started.
And following right after was the sound of a siren.
Everyone stopped hunting the magic beasts, thrown into confusion by the loud siren. Han Yeseo was no exception.
Since this was clearly not a normal situation, her face was filled with panic.
"Gate Escalation...? Why? How?"
"Gate Escalation? What... is that?"
Just hearing it made me anxious. What on earth was it?!
"It's a situation where a gate's rank suddenly shoots up. It almost never happens..."
"Didn't you say they check the gate's status by looking at the mana levels? Then how?"
A gate's rank is measured by the mana leaking out from the inside.
That's why the rank can change dynamically.
Of course! Because they keep using the mana they already have! It gradually weakens and changes!
"There are two possibilities. Either mana that was sealed inside the gate has been released... or another gate opened in a similar location and merged with the existing one. In both cases, the amount of mana suddenly skyrockets, causing the gate's rank to change rapidly..."
"Which means?"
"Quickly! We have to get out of here right now!"
Han Yeseo cut herself off and grabbed us, trying to quickly escape the gate.
"For an uncleared gate, you need to be at least two ranks higher to guarantee survival! If it's a C-rank gate! You need to be at least A-rank to even talk about survival! We have to get out quickly...!"
BOOM—!
And at that moment, a massive explosion suddenly rang out.
Rumble, rumble, rumble—
"Ah...!"
Something appeared before us.
"Already?!"
A massive silhouette loomed over us. I raised my head to identify the entity.
The source of that massive vibration just now was a wolf. To be precise, a magic beast in the shape of a wolf.
A monster easily over thirty meters tall, something that could never exist through normal evolutionary means.
"...That's a C-rank?"
Where? How is that not an S-rank?
"...All the mana inside the gate has gathered into one place... Gate mana measurement is basically based on the total sum, so if that mana is concentrated into a single entity, even a C-rank gate can birth a magic beast of B-rank or higher."
"Then... how strong is that thing...? S-rank?"
"It's not S-rank, but it's probably around A-rank! And a top-tier one at that! Still, at my level, I can buy us some time! Everyone, run! It looks like a wolf, but... it's not a wolf, it's a horrific magic beast—"
Just as Han Yeseo was trying to get the others to escape,
ROOOOOOOOAR!!!!!!!
A massive howl shook the earth.
"Everyone, run!!!!"
With Han Yeseo's shout as the cue, everyone began to flee toward the gate's exit.
From us hunting the gate.
To the gate hunting us.
The tables had turned.
I knew my luck was too good to be true...!
We had to run now.
From the gate.