“Please, come this way.”
Jin Woo stepped up to the middle of the examination area. Its interior layout much resembled an indoor gymnasium commonly found everywhere.
If there was one thing different from those gymnasiums, then it’d be the fact that one could sense powerful fluctuations of magic energy coming from the walls as well as from the floor. Magic had been utilized to reinforce the structure in case something went wrong.
The examiner asked Jin Woo.
“What kind of ability can you use?”
The Association President Go Gunhee didn’t return to his office immediately and, while standing in the far corner, stared at the examination process with a great deal of interest.
This was the reason why he came to guide Jin Woo personally. He wanted to confirm Jin Woo’s powers with his own eyes as quickly as possible.
“Well, I can do this.”
Jin Woo called out a single Shadow Soldier.
“Heok?!”
The examiner was greatly taken by surprise.
Seriously speaking, how could anyone stay composed when a soldier decked out in jet-black armor suddenly rose up from the ground?
Jin Woo deliberately chose the lowest-leveled one out of his regular Soldiers, but still, the dude emitted intense pressure that most normal people found hard to endure.
“This…. Is this your summoned creature? You can control a summon?”
The examiner’s voice was trembling noticeably.
Jin Woo had half a mind to helpfully explain that his Soldier was definitely not dangerous, but….
He formed a pitying expression while making his reply.
“….Well, something like that.”
“I-in that case, h-how many summoned creatures can you control?”
“…”
‘Well, it will be useless to lie, so….’
Indeed, the number of eyewitnesses who saw his Shadow Soldiers yesterday was nearly twenty.
Jin Woo spoke up to a slightly reduced number of Soldiers sealed inside his shadow through his skill.
“It’s around 100 or so….”
The examiner’s eyes went wide at the number 100.
“A h-hundred?!”
“Yes.”
On the other hand, Jin Woo remained nonplussed.
At the same time…
As he stared at the Shadow Soldier, Go Gunhee’s eyes were glittering brightly.
‘A hundred of those….’
At a glance, that ‘soldier’ possessed around the same amount of magic energy as a B-rank Hunter. If that young man could summon a hundred of those soldiers, then one simply had to concede that his powers had already exceeded a regular large Guild’s combat force.
Truthfully, that was an incredible ability.
Jin Woo could feel Go Gunhee’s passionate gaze burning up on his skin.
He breathed a sigh of relief after confirming the reactions of the surroundings.
‘Well, if one regular Soldier can elicit this sort of reaction, then….’
He should thank his lucky stars that he didn’t choose to call out the highest leveled soldier among his flock, ‘Igris’, or the boss-level creature he managed to poach yesterday, ‘Tusk’.
Whatever the case may be, this was enough to prove the type of ability he possessed.
“In that case…. Hunter-nim Sung Jin Woo, you’re a mage type.”
The examiner studiously jotted down something on the recording document and raised his head up, while looking rather satisfied.
“We can now head to the measurement room.”
Jin Woo held the newly issued Hunter license in his hand.
It said, ‘Sung Jin Woo, [D] Alpha, S-rank, Mage-type’.
Even though his face was plastered on the photo box, he still found it hard to believe.
‘Very good. It’s been smooth sailing until now.’
Jin Woo quickly shoved his new Hunter license inside his wallet. When he got to the end of the corridor, the waiting duo of Baek Yoonho and Choi Jong-In approached him.
“Mister Sung Jin Woo, can we have a chat?”
“Sung Jin Woo Hunter-nim, I…..”
“I’m sorry. I’m pressed for time at the moment.”
Jin Woo ignored them both and quickly walked towards the glass door.
“Uh? Uh?!”
Baek Yoonho raised his worried voice.
“If it was me, I wouldn’t use that exit.”
‘Is he trying to imply that the sweet deals he prepared for this occasion will make me regret walking out of this door or something?’
Jin-Woo wasn’t interested regardless of what was being offered, so he continued to ignore Baek Yoonho’s dissuasion and pushed the glass door wide open.
When that happened….
The reporters that had managed to climb up the steps to push and shove against the Monitoring Division’s agents, began clicking their cameras non-stop, with flashes exploding brightly all around him.
‘What the heck is this?’
Jin Woo became utterly speechless at this blinding explosion of lights.
As usual, Sung Jin-Ah stopped by the school tuck shop after the third period ended, and bought herself a pack of banana milk.
There was still around one hour to go to lunch. If she didn’t fill herself up temporarily with something like milk, for instance, she’d be unable to concentrate during the class.
And sure enough….
Already, her remorseless stomach was noisily demanding for more fuel to be put in there. Jin-Ah rubbed her hungry tummy and was about to enter her classroom, but then, one of her friends grabbed her wrist, a shocked expression clearly visible on that girl’s face.
“J-Jin-Ah!!”
“Wha-what?!”
With her friend shocked like this, even Jin-Ah got shocked alongside her for no reason.
“It’s your Oppa! He’s on TV right now!!”
“What?? Why is my oppa…??”
Jin-Woo felt her heart tumble to the pit of her stomach.
Did he get injured again? If not, could it be even worse….??
The friend dragged Jin-Ah by her wrist inside the classroom as if she didn’t want to waste time explaining anymore.
Jin-Ah’s eyes immediately shifted over to the large TV located next to the blackboard.
And there was….
“O…. oppa?!”
The moment Jin-Ah saw the TV screen, the banana milk in her hand fell to the floor.
____________
Meanwhile, Park Jongryeo is occupied in the Spiral Abyss.
He had returned to the hell place because there was something he needed desperately to acquire.
He didn’t know if this item called ‘Holy Water of Life’ could really heal his amnesia.
‘However, if there is a one in a thousand, no, even if it’s one in a ten thousand chance, then I…..’
He wanted to clear the last chamber as quickly as possible and collect all the ingredients so he could craft this ‘Holy Water of Life’.
It is fortunate that ‘Earth’s Core’ is protecting him from the overwhelming heat of the Abyssal Moon Spire.
Even a second couldn’t be wasted here.
And so, just how much time passed them by?
Even after a long period of waiting, no enemies showed themselves, and Jongryeo began tilting his head.
‘Was I wrong about this whole thing?’
He began suspecting that, rather than powerful enemies, there just so happened to be a big concentration of enemies in the location of his soldiers getting annihilated – but, then….
Jongryeo’s eyes narrowed to a slit.
‘Here they come.’
Maybe the enemies were also concealing their presence until the soldiers got closer to them, Jongryeo had discovered them a bit later than usual. He closed his eyes and focused his Perception.
His shockingly enhanced Perception began sweeping over all the presences found within the vicinity like a radar.
‘Sprint.’
Jongryeo activated the Sprint skill to approach the enemy.
The Fatui’s were greatly taken by surprise, but as expected of ‘pros’, they immediately sensed Jongryeo’s hostility and attacked him right away.
Jongryeo punched down bare-fisted on the two Fatui beside him, and then, grabbed the last one rushing at him and slammed the sucker down hard on the ground.
CRACK!
The spiderweb-like cracks formed on the ground and a message popped up in his view.
[You killed a Fatui Pyro Agent.]
[You have earned 3,000 experience points.]
The exact same messages repeated three times.
Each of his attacks killed one of his enemies. In less than one second, he cut short the lives of three monsters.
[You killed a Pyroslinger Bracers.]
[You have earned 3,000 experience points.]
[You killed a Fatui Pyro Agent.]
[You have earned 3,000 experience points.]
[You killed a Geochanter Bracers.]
[You have earned 4,500 experience points.]
Each time the Illuminated Soldiers killed a monster found inside the chamber, Jongryeo was inundated with the experience points messages without rest.
Preparing for the final showdown on the top floor, Jongryeo continued to raise his levels diligently.
When there were good rewards on offer, the accompanying risk would also be high, as well.
‘The Holy Water of Life, bonus Stat points….’
When he thought about the rewards he would get after defeating the overlord of the geovishaps, there was just no way he’d slack off on leveling up himself.
[Level up!]
As it so happened, almost all the demons in the vicinity had been taken care of, so Jongryeo summoned his Status Window to confirm his current level.
[Level: 87]
Before he entered the Abyssal Moon Spire for the second time, his level was 80, but it had already reached 87. Seeing the increased Stats, a smile automatically formed on his face.
‘Good.’
Jongryeo tightly clenched his fist.
[You killed a Fatui Pyro Agents.]
[You killed a Electrohammer Vanguards.]
In the meantime, his Illuminated Soldiers killed off the remaining demons. It was a complete victory.
With the battle now over, the soldiers gathered before Jongryeo as usual. Among them, Xiao was the fastest to arrive at his side. As if he was expecting to be praised, Xiao crossed his arms and stood tall.
Jongryeo chuckled slightly while looking at the soldier.
“You finish with everything?”
Xiao nodded his head.
“Are you sure?”
Xiao nodded his head again.
However, he sensed something was different about Xiao.
‘What’s this?’
Jongryeo tilted his head.
Xiao knelt down, before lowering his head. Up until here, it wasn’t such a strange scene. But, quite unlike from before, Jongryeo heard the mechanical beep of ‘tti-ring’ going off suddenly in his head.
‘A message?’
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