WeTried Translations
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Editor: BlueMangoAde
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 863: F-Rank Hunter Jeon Myeong-hoon (2)
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Shin Ah-young looks at Jeon Myeong-hoon's brightly sparkling eyes and wonders what she should say to him.
At the same time, she wonders how an Awakened with F-Rank potential could display skill on the level of a D-Rank Hunter.
Flash!
Rumble!
It comes from the house right next door.
An immense white radiance bursts forth from there.
"Th-this is...!?"
Shin Ah-young draws in a breath at the aura.
A man emerges from beneath the building rubble, coughing as he pushes the debris aside.
Something like a slime has burst behind him.
'Did he happen to kill a slime that had gotten separated from the Cyclops and awaken? No, more importantly, wait...'
"Are you all right? I'm Shin Ah-young, an A-Rank Hunter from the Hunter Management Bureau."
"Ah, I'm fine. My name is Kim Cheol-su... More importantly, something strange appeared in front of my eyes."
"Ah, that would be your status window. You gain a status window when you awaken after successfully killing a monster. But first, may I inspect your status window with my Appraisal skill?"
"Ah, yes..."
Shin Ah-young's mana scans Kim Cheol-su.
Then her eyes go wide.
[Name: Kim Cheol-su]
[Growth Potential SSS+]
[Note: An Irregular born from a system error caused by the descent of Outer God ■■■■■. He is an antibody devised by the entire world to counter the power of the extraterrestrial god. He is clearly a hero with potential enough to frighten not only humans but even minor and mid-level Constellations, but he is also a sign that the extraterrestrial god has descended and begun to regain its power.]
[Unique Skills: Once-in-a-Millennium Opportunity (Cooldown: 1 year. An automatically activated skill that can only activate once per year. It may also activate on targets other than yourself. It concentrates the good fortune of this entire galaxy upon yourself or an ally once, allowing them to narrowly escape death. Current Available Uses: 0/1.)
Vessel of an Angel LV.1 (Calls an angel's name and forcibly causes the angel to possess your body. An angel's power deals fatal wounds to all demonic beings.)
Strength That Uproots Mountains, Spirit That Covers the World
Strike Beyond Heaven LV.1 (Critical hit rate and critical hit damage against beings from the otherworld each increase by 100,000%.)
Mysterious King's Seventy-Two Sealing Tome (Manually activated skill. You may steal a desired Unique Skill from an opponent. The opponent cannot resist, and this can be done up to 72 times. Affinity, comprehension, and growth potential for every attribute related to the stolen skill increase by 300%. Current Available Uses: 72/72.)
Skyrocketing Morale LV.1 (Raises the spirits of those around you and sends their morale soaring. Helps those nearby surpass their own limits, gives them courage, and lets them challenge the impossible.)]
[Basic Skills: Healing LV.MAX, Skin of Steel LV.MAX, Thorough Reason LV.MAX, Intuition LV.MAX, Basic Internal Energy LV.MAX]
[Trait: Outer God's Antibody (Now that the Outer God has descended, the world concentrates every blessing and power upon you in order to drive it out.)]
"Uh... Uh...?"
She immediately understands how Jeon Myeong-hoon had defeated the Cyclops.
'This guy! This guy is the protagonist!!!'
SSS+ growth potential? She had never even heard of such a thing.
Elizabeth, the guild leader of Nature, the strongest Hunter guild, supposedly had the greatest growth potential among Hunters, yet hers was only SS.
Until recently, people had fiercely debated whether an SS+ rank even existed, let alone SS+ potential.
But SSS+?
Shin Ah-young has no doubt that Kim Cheol-su before her is a true hero chosen by God.
Jeon Myeong-hoon vanishes from her mind.
Just by seeing Kim Cheol-su's Unique Skills, Once-in-a-Millennium Opportunity and Skyrocketing Morale, she understands why Jeon Myeong-hoon, despite such potential, had managed to kill the Cyclops.
Shin Ah-young inwardly feels it is a waste.
'I shouldn't think this way, but... A consumable skill from a protagonist-class Awakened with SSS+ potential was used just to let an F-Rank Awakened accidentally kill a single D-Minus-Rank monster...'
Zap!
She glares at Jeon Myeong-hoon for no reason.
Why does he have to step in to begin with?!
But she cannot blame him, either.
Looking at Kim Cheol-su's Skyrocketing Morale, she can understand why he had done it.
Of course, understanding does not mean accepting it.
"Mr. Kim Cheol-su. Please accompany me to the Hunter Management Bureau for a moment. As the head of its Internal Affairs Division, there is something I must ask of you."
"Ah, yes. All right."
As Shin Ah-young looks at Kim Cheol-su with blazing eyes, Jeon Myeong-hoon's eye twitches.
"Excuse me, but I think there's something wrong with that status window... What should I do?"
Shin Ah-young answers curtly.
"What do you mean, what should you do? Just live like that. Be sure to go to the Hunter Management Bureau, get examined, and receive your Hunter license."
"What? But..."
"Come, Mr. Kim Cheol-su. I'll escort you."
"H-hey, wait a moment..."
"And Mr. Jeon Myeong-hoon? If you do not report to the Hunter Management Bureau for an examination within fourteen days of awakening, you will be classified as an illegal Awakened. You will be fined and may be detained. Make sure you come on time."
"Hey, hey...! Listen, I told you, I think this has an error!"
"There are no errors in status windows. Status windows are like absolute laws. I'll be going now."
Tap!
Ignoring Jeon Myeong-hoon's calls, she scoops Kim Cheol-su up in a princess carry and bounds away.
Jeon Myeong-hoon stares blankly in the direction she went for a while, then erupts.
"Arrrgh! Wh-what is this!?"
He wildly shakes the lump of charcoal inside the plastic bottle and shouts.
"Hey, hey! Answer me. What the hell do you mean my potential is F? Why is my potential F?"
[Keh, kehek... That is... The potential displayed is not the current rank of your soul. The status window's potential is a complete assessment of your spiritual root, aptitude, and potential from your mortal days before you acquired an Immortal Status...]
"Then why does it say I'm F-Rank? Even before I gained an Immortal Status, I had the Heavenly Golden Lightning Body, and countless cultivation sect masters coveted me! I even reached the rank of Heavenly King! So how, why, do I have this pathetic level of potential?"
[Kehek... I do not know either... Perhaps there has been some mistake...]
"Arrrgh!"
Jeon Myeong-hoon's face, which had naturally expected a smooth rise to greatness, twists horribly.
Creak...
Strength enters the hand gripping the pipe.
Through the power of Treading Heaven Beyond the Path, he can roughly hear that woman's thoughts.
At first, she wondered whether Jeon Myeong-hoon might be someone incredible. But once some guy named Cheol-sun or Yeong-hui or whatever appeared, she decided that he was more incredible and immediately began fawning over him while ignoring Jeon Myeong-hoon!
"I... I!"
It is Jeon Myeong-hoon who commanded the lightning of the Three Thousand Worlds with a gesture, ruled over the living beings of Mount Sumeru through terror, fought Lightning Immortals, and seized the Throne of the Lord of Heavenly Punishment.
But the level assessed for his soul is only F-Rank?
"I... Ngh...!"
Jeon Myeong-hoon's anger surges, but then he groans and rolls across the ground as muscle pain suddenly crashes over his entire body.
"Urgh... Fuck... Sword Spear... What did you do to me...!"
After saying that, Jeon Myeong-hoon finally passes out. Listening to the sirens of fire trucks and ambulances in the distance, the lump of charcoal inside the plastic bottle sighs.
A Gate had opened and monsters had come out, but they had been swiftly subdued.
The injured will be transported away, so there is no need to worry about the unconscious Jeon Myeong-hoon.
However, the charcoal lump is worried because, according to what it had heard, Jeon Myeong-hoon had originally been a powerless human from another dimension. He had only barely risen to the position of Heavenly King after obtaining a fragment of Absolute and receiving the aid of an absurdly powerful companion called the Crystal King.
The being that had sent the charcoal lump to this dimension with Jeon Myeong-hoon and granted it intelligence had said so, so it cannot be wrong.
'We were told to gather enough causality and return... But how much causality can we gather with that being...? Do we just gather the causality of begging? Even that person would not be pleased by such causality...'
Though it treats him as His Highness outwardly, the charcoal lump inwardly sighs, feeling as though it is being forced to raise some fool rather than serve a superior.
* * *
Jeon Myeong-hoon receives treatment afterward, goes to the Hunter Management Bureau to register his awakening, and receives a Hunter license.
Then he hears something like a bolt from the blue.
"What? What do you mean?"
"Mr. Jeon Myeong-hoon, you cannot enter Gates."
"What kind of nonsense is that?"
"You know F-Rank is the lowest rank, correct? Hunters who have awakened and gained status windows but do not possess even a trace of mana. Those people are collectively called F-Rank. If you had even one useful skill, you could become E-Minus-Rank and accompany Gate expeditions as a porter while growing, but... F-Rank, plus the Mana-Insensitive Body Trait... Growth is nearly impossible. You have a status window, but your physical abilities are at the level of an ordinary person. Gates are not places you can enter with an ordinary person's abilities. Do not be too discouraged, Mr. Jeon Myeong-hoon. Many people awaken as F-Rank."
"No, I heard you have to enter Gates and clear them to grow little by little. Doesn't that mean you're telling me not to grow at all?"
"Even so... Isn't having your growth blocked a little better than dying? These laws are all for people like you."
Jeon Myeong-hoon sighs.
"As I understand it, you can only feel mana inside a Gate. Doesn't that mean I'll never be able to feel mana for the rest of my life?"
"Normally, yes?"
"No, seriously!"
Though Jeon Myeong-hoon shouts angrily, the Bureau receptionist does not seem particularly frightened.
The employee is an E-Minus-Rank Hunter herself.
Perhaps because she possesses mana, she does not seem intimidated by Jeon Myeong-hoon's irritation.
Of course, it would be different if Jeon Myeong-hoon raised killing intent rather than mere annoyance. However, he does not want to get into a scuffle with hatchlings barely in their twenties or thirties, so he does not release any killing intent.
"Is there really no way?"
Jeon Myeong-hoon suppresses his anger and speaks to the employee.
Looking at him, she clicks her tongue inwardly.
There is no shortage of people like this.
They happen to kill a monster and awaken, only to turn out F-Rank. Or somewhere around E-Rank.
Countless people rejoice as if they have become the protagonist of the world, then fall into despair after seeing their rank.
She herself had been like that once.
Until she finally gave up her dream and found work as a Hunter Management Bureau receptionist, she had also uselessly run around insisting that she would enter Gates.
Back then, a Hunter Management Bureau employee had made her face cold reality. But this man's circumstances are so pitiful and unfortunate. According to his paperwork, he has no assets or parents, and has even lost his home to this Gate, making him homeless.
Seeing her past self overlap with him, she finally decides to offer him some hope.
"...Go to a Monster Park."
"A Monster Park?"
"It is a Gate, but the monsters inside are weak enough to deal with using firearms or even stun guns. So it is a Gate that was deliberately left uncleared and opened to the public. Inside, you might be able to feel mana..."
"...! Thank you!"
At those words, Jeon Myeong-hoon immediately rises, thanks her, collects his Hunter license, and leaves the Bureau.
The receptionist clicks her tongue as she watches his back.
"...The park admission fee is pretty expensive... He doesn't look like he has any money... Ah, whatever. He'll figure it out himself."
* * *
Jeon Myeong-hoon sits in Han River Park with the charcoal lump in the plastic bottle and speaks with it.
"So this mana has a somewhat different nature from heaven and earth spiritual energy?"
[Yes, Your Highness. Since the very foundations of Mount Sumeru and this world are different... There are no dimensional ranks here, so I believe you must approach it from a somewhat different perspective.]
"Hmm..."
He roughly checks this world's ranking system.
'Anyone who can sense mana and manipulate it to strengthen their body, or who possesses even one offensive skill, is an E-Minus-Rank Hunter.'
A Gate called Slime Gate Park is open in Han River Park, in front of Yeouido.
It is a Gate Park called the Weak Slime Gate, containing monsters weak enough to be stomped to death and too weak to awaken someone even if they are killed.
Guides and reception staff stand before the Gate, taking money and allowing people inside.
The admission fee is expensive. More precisely, it is too expensive for Jeon Myeong-hoon to remain inside for as long as he wants.
To stay for the time he wants, Jeon Myeong-hoon, who is currently penniless and has even lost his home, needs to find work and receive two months' salary in advance.
Of course, Jeon Myeong-hoon had never looked for work in his life.
He had been born into a good family, grown up comfortably, and entered a company through connections.
Therefore, Jeon Myeong-hoon gives up on earning money.
Instead, he decides to feel mana in front of the Gate. He has heard that though it is far weaker than inside, mana still flows out before the Gate.
After hearing a detailed explanation from the charcoal lump about the difference between Mount Sumeru's heaven and earth spiritual energy and this world's mana, he picks up a branch in front of the Gate and assumes a stance.
Clack.
He focuses his entire mind upon the branch.
'This is a spear.'
The moment he thinks so, the branch in Jeon Myeong-hoon's hand becomes the finest spear beneath heaven.
He enters Spear and Body Unity.
Click.
Maintaining that state, he stares at the Gate in extreme concentration.
The front of the Gate.
He feels the flow coming from it.
Jeon Myeong-hoon closes his eyes.
He forgets the gazes of students walking through the park who glance at him.
He forgets the voices of middle-aged women nearby, whispering that he is a crazy homeless man.
He forgets the shit stench coming from his body after being unable to wash for days.
He forgets the pain and sensation of his body, whose torn muscles cannot properly recover because he has not eaten well.
He forgets the churning of his stomach, which exposes his hunger and makes him feel miserable.
Forgetting the five senses, and even the sixth and seventh senses.
He visualizes that only the spear and Jeon Myeong-hoon exist in this world.
No, that is not it.
There is only one thing in this world!
A single spear!
At some point, even Jeon Myeong-hoon's heart becomes one with the spear.
As the spear, as a natural object existing in this world, he senses the world.
At the same time, as the Lord of Heavenly Punishment, the being who had ruled the Throne of Heavenly Punishment, he feels a familiar wave within that flow.
Crackle, crackle...
With his eyes closed, forgetting even his sense of time, he perceives the lightning around him.
The electrical current flowing through streetlights.
The current contained in smartphones.
The radio waves resounding through Wi-Fi and phone calls.
The bioelectricity within people's bodies.
The electric charge held by clouds high above in the sky...
Electricity!
Together with the spear, he senses only electricity itself.
Then, in that state, Jeon Myeong-hoon's consciousness plunges even deeper.
Into electromagnetism itself!
Jeon Myeong-hoon is the king of all lightning in this world.
As long as it is electromagnetism, even with his Immortal Status sealed, merely having the experience of wielding it is enough for him to perceive it.
The forces formed through electromagnetism: friction, van der Waals force, elasticity, tension, Coulomb force, hydrogen bonds, ionic bonds...
He can even feel the electricity supporting this world's physical laws.
Just as Jeon Myeong-hoon's perception finally descends to the level of the electromagnetic coupling constant within it...
Sss...
Jeon Myeong-hoon half-opens his eyes.
The moment he penetrates electricity's power down to the domain that supports the foundations of most physical laws in this world.
He finally recognizes an alien power that does not fit this world.
The authority of another world, only perceptible within the domain of the electromagnetic coupling constant.
A power that twists the world.
"Hoooo..."
Slowly exhaling, he thrusts forward with the spear in his hand.
Within that thrust, Jeon Myeong-hoon begins gradually drawing his sense of that alien power, which he had needed to perceive at the level of constants, upward into the ordinary realm of the five senses and the sixth sense.
When his spear finally reaches the point he wants.
Bang!
Jeon Myeong-hoon finally perceives the power alien to this world.
Mana, the authority that had come from beyond the world's rift.
"Mr. Jeon Myeong-hoon? We received a report. You need to come with us."
...And then, after a report that a homeless man had been spending days in Han River Park holding a branch and doing strange things, he is taken (?) by the police to a homeless shelter.
Jeon Myeong-hoon insists that he is neither crazy nor homeless while being led to the shelter, but nobody listens.
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