AWOST 03

Chapter 03

I had unexpectedly acquired ‘loot.’

And it was a reward for punishing a murderer who had tried to kill another Hunter.

Rakis took out only the useful items from the corpse, gathered them up, and continued on his way.

Peace returned.

Even though we were quite far apart, I was pleased with the stable ‘mental connection’ I had with Rakis.

I could communicate my intentions simply by thinking, and the same was true for Rakis.

I could see and hear everything Rakis saw and heard.

So even when he was far away, I could accumulate experience through him.

It felt as if I were doing everything with my own body.

“He’s definitely not Legendary-grade for nothing.”

That was what I thought.

Normally, a Summoner Hunter was someone who temporarily summoned a creature and had it fight near them.

If the summon moved too far away, the ‘Soul Connecting’ would be severed, causing it to disappear automatically or forcibly return.

The only summons that could be sent somewhat farther away were insect-type or extremely small summons, but those had no combat abilities.

They were essentially for reconnaissance.

Even reconnaissance summons had a maximum range of around 200 meters, while Rakis was already several times farther away.

If this wasn’t Legendary-grade, then what was?

No matter what standard I applied, he was completely different from anything ordinary.

There was no doubt he was an irregularity.

How much time had passed?

I was sitting comfortably while observing Rakis’s field of vision when.

“Hmm?”

I spotted a monster that was unmistakably the Orc King.

Rakis seemed to recognize it immediately as well, because he spoke enthusiastically.

“I shall dismember every limb of that monster and make Master pleased! Come at me, green monster! I am Rakis of the Aslan Emp—”

I briefly scratched my ear.

How many times was he going to introduce himself?

I’d have to tell him to stop once he came back.

I’d barely heard it a few times.

Yet I had already memorized the fact that he was Rakis, Code One, the top knight of the year and a member of the Imperial Special Forces of the Aslan Empire.

It was a title worthy of pride, but hearing it repeatedly made my fingers curl from secondhand embarrassment.

Kuaaaaar!

The Orc King’s roar echoed.

I had expected Rakis to charge forward aggressively.

Instead, he stood there proudly without showing much of a reaction.

‘Is he provoking it?’

It was possible.

Monsters had simple thoughts.

Perhaps the Orc King found it irritating that a human could look at it without showing any particular emotion or change in expression.

Even through shared vision alone, I could feel the Orc King’s characteristic intimidation.

I was getting chills just watching from a distance, yet Rakis seemed completely unconcerned as he scratched his face.

Just then.

Waaaaagh!

The Orc King roared and began charging.

The vibration that shook the ground conveyed the immense weight of the orc’s body.

—Hoo.

I heard Rakis take a deep breath.

Thud! Thud! Boom! Thud!

As the Orc King drew closer.

Rakis immediately drew his sword.

Kriiiiiing…!

With lightning-fast speed, he released aura forward.

Unlike when he had dealt with the murderer in the canyon earlier, this aura contained a much denser and sharper energy.

Did the Orc King not know?

Or had it known and simply ignored it?

Even when it saw the aura flying directly toward it, the Orc King didn’t dodge.

It merely crossed both arms in front of its body in an X.

The next moment.

Swoooosh!

It was over.

The two thick forearms, each roughly as thick as an adult man’s entire body, along with the Orc King’s entire body, had been split in half.

The cut had been so clean.

The dead Orc King didn’t even have time to scream before departing for the afterlife.

Soon, I heard Rakis’s voice.

—Since Master has relieved me of all concerns about mana, there is nothing holding me back!

The Blessing of Omnipotence really was something.

Come to think of it, not only summons but Hunters also suffered from chronic mana shortages.

How else could mana potions cost more than ten times as much as health potions?

They were so scarce that people couldn’t even buy them when they wanted to.

But since I didn’t have to worry about mana at all, the biggest concern was gone even from my perspective as the person controlling the summon.

And so the Orc King died.

It had happened at an extremely distant location.

I wondered whether the experience might not reach me properly.

But there was only a slight delay before it was applied.

My earlier concern had been completely unnecessary.

[Your level has increased significantly!]

[Your level has reached ’30.’]

“Wow.”

A gasp escaped me.

I had gone from level 1 all the way to level 30 by killing a single Orc King.

And that wasn’t the only change.

[Starting at 00:00, your maximum number of daily appraisals will be adjusted from ‘1’ to ‘3.’]

[The next change in the number of appraisal attempts will occur at level ’40.’]

The number of appraisal attempts had changed.

It wasn’t midnight yet.

As my level increased, my available attempts increased to three.

Since I had already used one appraisal earlier, I could perform two more.

At this rate, there was no way I could avoid leveling up.

To perform more appraisals, I needed to raise my level, and raising my level would in turn allow me to perform more appraisals.

It was a perfect cycle.

“The notification window is going crazy.”

There was one more message.

It seemed I had also received a title.

Hunters were known to receive titles when they fulfilled special conditions that were difficult to achieve.

Since titles were permanent, many Hunters were eager to obtain them.

However, most titles required difficult missions and had a limited number of holders.

As a result, it was extremely common for Hunters to reach level 100 or even 200 without obtaining a single title.

Yet I had obtained one at the same time as my debut with Rakis.

[You have obtained the title ‘One-Hit Killer — Orc King’!]

[The Orc race will instinctively fear you and your subordinates.]

[The acquisition of this title has been announced to all Hunters currently in this dungeon and to all Hunters in every dungeon within a 15 km radius.]

[The title ‘One-Hit Killer — Orc King’ has been obtained in the dungeon ‘Kakuar Ruins’! 10 titles remain.]

“It doesn’t seem to reveal who obtained it.”

In games, the player’s name was sometimes displayed or hidden anonymously.

But the Hunter system seemed to announce only the fact that the title had been obtained.

Since I had no desire to deal with unnecessary complications, I was simply satisfied that the system had taken care of the matter on its own.

“I heard that titles that cause fear in a specific race have an effect equivalent to a 20% reduction in combat power.”

I knew because I’d spent some time browsing Hunter communities in the past.

I wasn’t a Hunter myself.

But I found it interesting to look into the world they lived in and search for information.

Among the information available, there were also experimental reports about things that couldn’t be quantified, such as analyses of titles.

“At this level, it should be worth aiming for titles in other places too. Rakis is much stronger than I thought…”

Strong.

No, he was far stronger.

I was curious about the Aslan Empire.

A knight with that kind of overwhelming strength wasn’t even a knight commander.

He was merely a top-ranking knight.

Then just how strong were the knights above him?

—Master, I’ve finished gathering everything! I also secured the Orc’s heart. I’m bringing all of these back!

Rakis proudly held up the loot in front of his eyes.

I could see the blood-covered heart of the Orc King.

There was also a Grade 5 dimensional stone sitting in his bloodstained hand.

There was a ring too.

Grade 5 dimensional stones usually traded for around one billion won in the market, so that alone meant I’d already made a considerable amount of money.

“I can see all the information.”

The information on the items and loot Rakis saw was also visible to me through the status window.

The statement written on the Staff of Omnipotence—that all experience gained by the summons was bound to and accumulated by the master.

It seemed to include all this information as well.

At this point, he was practically my clone rather than merely a summon.

“I should appraise the ring and the axe he took from that Hunter earlier. And should I sell the dimensional stone and use the money to buy Summon Cards?”

Various thoughts came to mind.

At the same time, seeing the perfectly maintained connection with Rakis even across such a vast distance made me realize that I had no reason to force myself to leave the house.

My preference was closer to appraising and examining items than sweating through battles.

If Rakis diligently brought back various things, it would be more fun for me to uncover what was hidden inside them.

“This is really convenient.”

My main class was Appraiser.

But at the same time, I could also use summons as a secondary ability.

That was my simple overall assessment.

I felt extremely good knowing that I had gained a worker I could work to the bone without pause from now on.

The corners of my mouth naturally rose.

For someone like me, who almost always kept a straight face, this was a remarkably rare emotional change.

It was fun.

This really seemed like it was going to be interesting.

At the same time.

Hunter ‘Jin Sehee’ was moving deep into the Kakuar Ruins when she suddenly stopped upon seeing the publicly announced title message.

A Hunter who had surpassed level 200 at an astonishing speed despite having awakened less than a year ago!

She had been evaluated by all kinds of media as an S-rank prospect and was a talent among talents recognized even by experts.

As an Assassin-type Hunter, she was moving deep into the ruins, a place most ordinary Hunters wouldn’t dare enter.

Known as a promising young talent, she received full support from the guild she belonged to, so she had no hesitation about taking on challenges.

The reason she had come here was simple.

She planned to hunt Orc Kings and Armor Orcs and farm rare materials to strengthen her daggers.

She had been searching diligently for an Orc King.

But even she, a Hunter recognized for her skills, had never succeeded in obtaining a One-Hit Killer title against an Orc King.

One-hit killing meant instant death.

If you attacked several times in a short period, it wouldn’t count as a one-hit kill.

It meant the attack had only happened once.

It meant that with a single use of a skill or whatever method was used, the Orc King’s life had been extinguished.

“Even I can’t one-hit-kill an Orc King, so someone got the title this easily? Was it a ‘playground trip’?”

The easiest conclusion was, as always, denial of reality.

Jin Sehee used the term ‘playground trip’ to describe high-level players coming to low-level dungeons to obtain titles before leaving.

It happened from time to time.

That made the situation easy to understand.

If a Hunter at level 300 or 400 instantly killed an Orc King.

Depending on their abilities, it wasn’t necessarily impossible.

“Who is it…?”

If it really was a playground trip.

Then she was curious about who it was.

It couldn’t be an ordinary expert.

Just then, she sensed someone approaching from the area where the Orc King’s habitat was located.

Ssshhh.

She immediately concealed her appearance.

She also erased her presence.

It was the skill ‘Absolute Stealth.’

A skill at the very top of the skill food chain.

Unless the user made a mistake, it was a technique that made it virtually impossible for others to detect them.

‘I can see him.’

The identity of the person who appeared to have obtained the title was revealed.

A blond man with an innocent, cheerful expression, running while carrying the Orc King’s heart and other loot.

But then.

‘He’s… not a Hunter?’

Jin Sehee’s eyes glowed red.

She possessed Magic Eyes that could distinguish Hunters from non-Hunters.

Simply put, they were eyes that could see through entities summoned or manifested by Hunters, such as summons and illusions.

But that man wasn’t a Hunter.

Nor was he an illusion.

Then that meant he was a summon with a master.

A subordinate.

‘Does this make any sense? There doesn’t seem to be a master anywhere around the canyon…’

Something abnormal was happening.

She had seen countless Summoners before.

Among her close colleagues, there were also countless Summoner Hunters.

But she had never seen anyone control a summon from such a great distance.

Even when it happened, the summon was usually something tiny, like a fly, and had absolutely no value beyond reconnaissance.

For this to be possible.

The master’s mana would have to be nearly infinite, or the master would have to be an incredibly powerful figure unknown to the public.

Unless it was one of those two possibilities, the scene before her couldn’t be understood according to common sense.

‘Who is the master?’

Her curiosity naturally shifted toward the person controlling such a summon.

So Jin Sehee used the bushes around her as cover and was about to follow the summon.

‘……!’

The summon, which was quite far away, suddenly turned its gaze directly toward her.

She had completely concealed her presence.

She had even taken every precaution to ensure that not a single blade of grass moved as she shifted her position.

Yet.

The blond man stared directly in her direction and casually wiggled his index finger from side to side.

‘A warning? Even Absolute Stealth should have completely hidden my presence. Did he just guess?’

But if that were the case, the timing of his discovery and the direction of his warning were far too coincidental.

Moreover.

‘……’

The man even gave her a bright smile and waved enthusiastically in her direction.

Anyone could tell what the gesture meant.

Don’t bother following me. Just go on your way.

A chill ran up Jin Sehee’s spine.

She stopped pursuing him.

If the summon had detected her presence, there was no doubt that its master had also seen through her stealth.

Stealth that had been detected was a failed stealth.

It was embarrassing to even call what she had done surveillance.

Jin Sehee quickly left the area.

The question remained unresolved.

Leaving behind one enormous question mark.

‘A Hunter capable of seeing through even Absolute Stealth. Just who is the master of that summon?’

No matter how much she thought about it.

He couldn’t possibly be an ordinary Hunter.

He had to be one of the major named figures who had come to play for a while in the world of the highest-ranking Hunters.

That was the only explanation that made sense.