Chapter 06
Could it be because everything was synchronized?
I was able to experience the killing intent and presence that Rachis sensed.
I couldn’t see anything.
But through Rachis’s senses, I could clearly feel that something was there.
It was fascinating.
Was this what it felt like for experts who could detect hidden enemies?
For someone like me, who had always had to rely on my eyes for all visual information, it was a unique experience.
― First Specialty of the Special Forces! Detecting those damn assassins from the Belkan Empire!
Judging by his wording, it seemed that the Arslan Empire’s enemy was a country called the Belkan Empire.
An enemy that couldn’t be seen was bound to be the most dangerous.
He must have trained relentlessly to detect such enemies.
A while later.
Rachis returned proudly.
I was simply grateful and relieved that this guy, who could kill me just by flicking the tip of his sword, was my summoned creature.
Honestly, I felt like my body would be torn to pieces if Rachis merely moved the tip of his sword.
The thought that such a summoned creature was absolutely loyal to me made me feel incredibly reassured.
‘Don’t just sit back and ride the bus without thinking.’
That thought suddenly occurred to me.
I wanted to become a master who could make wise use of a capable subordinate.
Of course, I would already have plenty of fun just by using Rachis the way I was now.
But.
I felt like I would be wasting something.
If his potential was 100,
but I was actually using less than 10 of it?
My future would depend on how far I, his master, could push Rachis and make use of him.
Thinking about how to do that would probably be much more fun.
The fact that only I could benefit from appraisal.
Honestly, that was ridiculously awesome.
“These are the spoils!”
Rachis handed over the fruits of his victory.
One axe.
And two rings.
The axe wasn’t a weapon I could use right away regardless of what appraisal revealed, so I decided to postpone appraising it.
I only had two appraisal chances remaining out of the three available that day.
So I decided to examine the two rings, starting with them.
An 8th-grade item usually sold for around 100 million won on the market.
“Get some rest. I think I need to do some appraising.”
“Yes! I will check whether the assassin who was following us earlier is still nearby!”
“Keep an eye out for me.”
“Yes! Thank you!”
This was the first time I’d seen someone thank me for asking them to do something troublesome.
Judging by how he kept grinning, he seemed to be enjoying the situation.
I suppose he had every reason to.
His life in the Arslan Empire had already ended with his death.
Now that he had been given the chance to live a new life, perhaps he was even more satisfied than he had been in his previous life.
“One is for mana, and the other is for health.”
They were rings belonging to different categories.
The one that caught my attention was the mana ring.
One of the chronic problems hunters had was insufficient mana.
If I broadened the scope a little, a lack of mana recovery was another major issue.
I first took out a handkerchief and carefully wiped the mana ring clean.
It was one of my gaming routines.
I always cleaned up the item I was about to appraise and proceeded with the appraisal in a solemn state of mind.
Soon, the appraisal was complete.
[Appraisal complete!]
[* A mysterious change has occurred, causing the ring’s radiance to remain unfaded even after prolonged use.]
‘Well, that’s the result I expected.’
I wasn’t particularly disappointed.
If every item had a hidden option, there would be no reason to call them ‘hidden’ options in the first place.
Even in the game I played, the probability of an item’s composition changing through appraisal had always converged around 25%.
In other words, it wasn’t a common event.
‘The Orc King ring might be the same.’
I turned my attention to the ring with the health-support option.
Even if I was disappointed by the mana ring, I could still immediately secure 100 million won by selling it on the market.
That was the advantage of appraisal.
There was absolutely no way for the value of an item I owned to decrease.
I immediately proceeded with the next appraisal.
Once this appraisal was finished, I wouldn’t be able to appraise anything else until midnight.
It wasn’t long until midnight anyway, and I was also tired from going outside for the first time in a long while.
I should finish the final appraisal quickly.
And then.
[Appraisal complete!]
[You have discovered a hidden option and newly unlocked the power of the ring!]
“Oh!”
The result was completely different from before.
There really had been a valuable hidden option.
And even more surprisingly.
“…6th grade?”
Even the item’s grade had changed.
In terms of simple value alone, an item worth 100 million won had suddenly become an item worth 10 billion won!
All of that had happened with a single appraisal.
[Spring of Healing]
Grade: * 6th Grade
Health +20
- Health +80
- Can use the ‘Healing Magic Circle’ skill.
The display was much more intuitive.
The Health +20 was the option the ring originally possessed when it was 8th grade.
The information marked with the * symbol and added afterward was the hidden option unlocked through appraisal.
This applied only to me.
If another hunter wore this ring, only the options without the * symbol would apply.
‘With 100 extra health, my body suddenly feels like I just woke up after a good night’s sleep.’
Now I understood why hunters were so obsessed with stats.
The difference was incredibly noticeable.
While I was at it, I put all 29 bonus stat points I had gained from leveling up into mana.
No matter what kind of skill I wanted to use in the future, I would inevitably need mana.
I checked my status window as well.
Hunter: Lee Yeon
Level: 30
Class: General (* Appraiser)
Strength: 3 Agility: 3
Health: 103 Mana: 32
Physical Resistance: 1 Magic Resistance: 1
My stats were displayed clearly.
It seemed that only I could see my class as Appraiser.
If I ever had to publicly reveal my class status window, it would probably appear as ‘General’ to other people.
General meant that I had not been assigned to any specific class, and the system was still withholding judgment on what my primary specialty was.
Someone who had consistently practiced kendo since childhood might be classified as a Swordsman.
Someone with exceptional mathematical ability might be classified as a Mage.
That was how class assignments worked.
Apparently, in the system’s eyes, I was still neither one thing nor the other.
The system would naturally determine my direction when the time came, so there was no need for me to force anything.
“The magic circle can be deployed once. It lasts for one minute, and it restores 1% of health every second. So that’s 60% recovery.”
The skill’s configuration was insane.
Even this single healing skill would be enough for most raid groups to desperately try to recruit me.
What was even more incredible was that ordinary hunters couldn’t use skills belonging to classes different from their own.
But I was different.
The options I obtained through hidden options were structured so that I could use them without any restrictions, since I was the only person who could benefit from them.
‘If a class like this existed in the game, I think all the players would just quit.’
It was that broken.
Anyway, after today’s events, I had a clear understanding of Rachis’s level.
He was far more impressive than I had imagined.
It seemed there was a reason he had been given the title of a Legendary-level summoned creature.
He was a summoned creature worthy of such a title.
Then…
I needed to become a master worthy of his caliber as well.
It looked like I was going to be very busy from now on.
On the way home.
I visited a nearby Hunter Association building that operated 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
I was there to get my license.
The entire process was automated from beginning to end, so it was issued quickly.
All they needed to confirm was that I was a hunter.
Once the measuring device classified me as a hunter, the procedure was immediately completed.
However, Rachis was not officially a hunter.
More importantly, he was an existence who wasn’t recorded anywhere in the first place.
So, while looking for a way to send only Rachis into dungeons through some loophole, I casually asked an employee while lying about the situation.
Of course, I had already made absolutely sure that Rachis kept his mouth shut.
“I have a very close American friend. If I guarantee his identity and take full responsibility for him, can I share the dungeon-clearing license issued to me by the Association?”
Could I really talk this much?
It had been an incredibly long time since I’d actually spoken to someone face-to-face, so I had been worried about it.
But the words came out more smoothly than expected.
I usually communicated with players I’d befriended through games by text chat, so I rarely had any reason to use my voice.
If the method I had just mentioned was possible,
I wouldn’t even have to enter dungeons myself. Rachis could simply go in and clear them.
However.
“Sharing itself is possible. But to do that, your friend’s license would need to be verified several times during the initial process. There are so many counterfeits that we’re very strict about it.”
“Ah, I see. Then I’ll prepare everything and ask again next time.”
“Yes. If you show us the license issued by the American Hunter Association, we’ll verify it and connect you to the next stage.”
“Thank you.”
It looked like this method wouldn’t work.
There might also be some underground route for solving Rachis’s identity problem…
But if I got caught doing something like that,
it wouldn’t just be my license that was in trouble.
I could receive an aggravated punishment under the Special Hunter Act.
My life would be over.
Plan A—sending only Rachis into Association-owned dungeons—was rejected.
I needed to think of Plan B.
On the way home, I stopped by the Hunter Market and sold the Grade 5 Dimensional Stone.
A huge sum of 1 billion won suddenly appeared in my account.
Once again, I could really feel how the hunters’ economy worked.
I also sold the mana recovery ring that hadn’t changed through appraisal.
Its options were so poor that it didn’t seem worth keeping.
Rather than stubbornly wearing it, I figured it would be better to sell it for a reasonable price.
When I got home, my body felt sluggish.
Judging from my health, I felt perfectly fine, but mentally I was hazy.
My life had changed overnight.
Maybe it was because I hadn’t even logged into my usual game and had gone outside, something I normally never did.
There were also a ton of messages waiting for me.
Checking them wasn’t difficult.
But I couldn’t be bothered to focus my attention on anything right away. There was no urgent problem, after all.
First, I figured I should deal with where Rachis would sleep before I went to bed.
“Rachis.”
“Yes! Arslan Empire Special Forces…”
“Just stop at ‘Yes.’ You don’t need to mention your affiliation.”
“Yes!”
He really listened well.
“Sleep in the small room. I’ll prepare the bedding, so don’t worry about anything and sleep comfortably.”
“Sleep? I’m fine!”
“Don’t you need to sleep too?”
“I’m still full of energy, so I don’t need sleep! Even if I do sleep, one or two hours is more than enough!”
“Can you really live like that?”
“The royal family’s cultivation technique of the Arslan Empire contains the principles needed to enable compressed sleep!”
“…Can I learn that too?”
Good heavens.
I slept eight hours a day and still felt like I was dying from exhaustion, yet there was apparently a way to be perfectly fine after sleeping only one or two hours.
“I’m sorry, but that’s impossible! You need the naturally sturdy physique and bloodline of an Arslan!”
“Then I’ll give up quickly.”
I couldn’t make something possible if it was impossible.
Anyway, it didn’t seem like I needed to force Rachis to sleep.
Of course, I intended to get a proper night’s sleep.
I was exhausted.
Then.
“Rachis, come here for a moment.”
“Yes! Moving immediately!”
I called Rachis closer.
Then I whispered what I wanted him to do.
“I shall carry out your orders! I’ll be back!”
He immediately left the house.
I had given him the mission I wanted him to perform.
Now my work was done.
I took a shower and the moment I lay down on my bed, I immediately fell asleep.
I practically passed out.
And until the next day came.
Or perhaps it was reality.
In a hazy state between sleep and wakefulness, I dreamed that my level was rising tremendously and that all sorts of things were piling up in my living room.
It felt far too real for a dream.
I woke up.
My body felt unbelievably light.
I stretched for the first time in a long while, opened my refreshed eyes, and then—
“…?”
I was startled when I looked at my status window.
Level: 60
My level had been exactly 30 only six hours ago when I went to sleep.
And now it had become exactly double.
Automatic hunting during sleep!
The moment it became reality.
