Chapter 10

Chapter 10. The Weight of Qualification

***

"Airi, check the equipment."

I checked the armor first.

What lay on the black cloth was a metal artifact.

A faint sheen lingered across its surface, as if it were covered in red rust.

[Name: General's Red Brigandine Armor (Fragment)]

[Grade: Rare]

[Description: An artifact crafted from the protective energy imbued in the helmet of an old military officer.]

[Effect: When hit, reduces magic-attribute damage by 30% once.]

[Cooldown: 12H]

"Solid enough."

Its physical defense was terrible, but the magic defense option alone gave it plenty of value.

It would drastically increase my survival rate if an unexpected magic-type monster ambushed me, or if I stepped on a trap.

It was as good as gaining one extra life.

I took off my top.

The body reflected in the mirror was fairly firm.

It was only a level 10 body, but lean muscle had settled into place, and a faint film of mana flowed over my skin.

Was it because I had become a swordsman I was never meant to be?

"Airi, I am starting the binding process."

[Understood. Synchronizing the Successor's bio-code.]

[Pain may accompany the process.]

Along with the warning, the artifact floated into the air.

A low hum vibrated from it.

The surface of the pauldron shattered like glass, and blue Rune characters poured out from within.

They wriggled in the air like a swarm of living insects.

SHHK—

The characters burrowed into my back.

They were not simply attaching themselves. It felt as though they were piercing my skin and seeping between my muscle fibers and nerves.

"Urgh..."

A groan slipped through my teeth.

It felt as if something cold and damp were crawling down my spine.

To compare it to something, it was similar to a giant Lizardman licking bare skin upward with its rough tongue.

A chilling sense of foreignness.

Artifact binding was not a romantic process.

It was a form of biological modification, forcibly implanting an object from another world into a human body.

Each time a rejection reaction occurred, the muscles in my back contracted on their own, and cold sweat streamed down.

[Synchronization complete. Connection to the nervous system is stable.]

The dozens of seconds of torture ended.

I touched my back.

A red Rune tattoo had been engraved below my shoulder blade.

The foreign sensation had vanished, leaving behind only a weighty feeling, as if it had become part of my body.

"I never get used to this."

No matter how many hundreds of times I went through it, it still felt disgusting.

I rolled my shoulders a few times to loosen the muscles.

Next was the weapon.

When I pulled away the black cloth, an antique scabbard was revealed.

A dragon's head had been carved in exquisite detail at the junction between the hilt and the scabbard.

It had the form of a typical Korean saber.

Shing.

I drew the sword.

The blade traced a cold curve. It was roughly seventy centimeters long.

It was longer than the shortsword I had used and broken last time, but shorter than a longsword.

A size optimized for swinging in narrow dungeons or indoor battles.

A red glass bead was set into the dragon-head decoration at the end of the hilt.

The way it flickered like candlelight whenever it caught the light made it look like a fairly expensive item.

'Flashy weapons usually have terrible performance.'

I rotated my wrist and checked its center of gravity.

It was light.

But the weight carried at the edge of the blade was heavy.

The balance was incredible.

"Airi, what are the specs?"

[Name: Dragon-Head Sword]

[Grade: Rare]

[Description: A sword modeled after the image of a dragon by an unknown artisan. An alloy with high mana conductivity has been mixed into the blade.]

[Special Effect: 'Dragon Gate's Blessing' - Mana efficiency and amplification rate increased by 25%.]

"That is pretty good."

My eyes widened.

It was not a simple attack power increase.

Mana efficiency and amplification rate.

In other words, even if I used the same 10 mana, it would produce 12.5 worth of power, or I could produce the same effect with only 7.5 mana.

For me, with my small mana pool, it was a far more substantial option than attack power.

'It should have good compatibility with Synchronization.'

This sword would make up for the loss rate when converting mana into Aura.

For a weapon I would only use temporarily, it was almost too much.

The Skeleton had dropped something quite good.

I sheathed the saber again and fastened it at my waist.

Click.

The sound of it locking onto the leather belt was crisp.

Armor and weapon.

The basic setup was complete.

I turned on my phone.

I opened the [Hunter Qualification Management Agency] app and checked the exam schedule.

[25th Regular Hunter Qualification Exam]

[Date/Time: Month X, Day XX, 09:00]

[Location: Hunter Association Hunter Test Site, Zone 7]

"Two days from now?"

Not bad. In fact, it was perfect.

If I finished my final training at the altar and adjusted my condition, the timing would be exactly right.

Whether I worked under City Hall or acted independently, it was illegal without a license.

If I did not want those Bureau bastards to pick at me, I needed to enter the system.

A legitimate identity. That would be my first weapon.

I pressed the button immediately.

[Registration complete.]

***

Before the morning sun had fully risen, a motorcycle cut through the dawn air and came to a stop.

Hunter Association Hunter Test Site, Zone 7.

It was a Hunter test site made by remodeling what had once been a military base.

Perhaps because it was surrounded by mountains, the air was good.

Barbed wire had been strung along the top of the high walls.

Warnings like [No Entry] and [Live-Fire Zone] were posted everywhere.

A pressure closer to a prison camp than a test site hung over the place.

'Same as ever.'

I took off my helmet.

Before the regression, I had tasted the bitterness of failure here three times.

Back then, that iron gate had looked like the entrance to hell.

Now it only looked like an old heap of scrap metal.

Hundreds of examinees had already formed a long line at the entrance.

Young people with tense expressions, middle-aged people muttering that this was their last chance, and punks who had dressed themselves up to the nines.

The air was acrid with mixed desire and desperation.

"Next, show your ID!"

Armed soldiers were controlling the entrance.

Before joining the line, I quietly called Airi.

"Airi. You prepared it, right?"

[Yes. The Successor's public status has been modified.]

[Displayed Level: 5]

[Class: 1st Circle Mage]

[Main Skill: Energy Bolt.]

Level 5, not level 10.

It was an appropriate level, neither too low nor too high.

A spec that would not stand out, while still being enough that I would not be ignored.

Above all else, it would be troublesome if my EX-grade trait were caught by the scan.

My real power had to remain hidden.

In addition, I had changed Airi to silent mode.

The thing's chatter would be distracting during the exam.

"ID confirmed. Move inside and receive your equipment."

I passed through the checkpoint without issue.

Inside was an equipment distribution area made from temporary tents.

For safety reasons, bringing in personal equipment was forbidden.

Only standard equipment issued by the Association could be used.

"Hm, your profession is... mage?"

The supply officer asked while looking at my paperwork.

"Yes."

"Then would you like a staff? Or an orb?"

"Please give me a sword. Not a longsword. A shortsword."

The supply officer's hand stopped twice.

He looked at me with round eyes.

"A sword? But you are a mage."

"Yes. Staffs are heavy, so a sword is more comfortable for self-defense."

"Ah... yes."

It was a ridiculous excuse.

But the supply officer shook his head as if he could not be bothered and tossed me a training sword that had been shoved into a corner.

A dull-edged wrought-iron sword.

It was nowhere near enough to cut through a monster's hide, but it was enough to break bones.

"You will have to compensate us if it is damaged. Next."

I took the sword and headed to the waiting room.

The waiting room, a remodeled giant hangar, had hundreds of plastic chairs laid out inside.

The murmuring noise struck the domed ceiling and echoed.

"Hey, who is the examiner this time?"

"No idea. I heard a complete lunatic came last year."

"Please, I just hope it is not undead. I am hopeless with holy magic."

"Judging by the pattern, it is an Ogre. They have not used one once in three years."

The sounds of chatter.

Most of them were pointless worries.

There was no such thing as past exam questions for the Hunter exam.

A different examiner every time. Different monsters every time.

The moment you tried to predict it, you failed.

I sat down in a corner seat and closed my eyes.

I let the surrounding noise pass over me like white noise.

At that moment, a tearing howl rang out from the speaker.

"Ah, ah. Mic test. One, two, three."

The hall fell silent in an instant.

A man walked up onto the platform.

A khaki field jacket, short-cropped crew cut.

His angular gait made it obvious at a glance that he had a military background.

"Good to meet you. I am Yoo Hye-sung, a member of the Hunter Association and today's exam supervisor."

Yoo Hye-sung.

The instant I heard that name, I opened my eyes.

A B-rank Hunter, and a man with the alias 'Minotaur.'

He was the brute of a man who swung an axe on the front line whenever a large Gate burst.

A principled, rigid man with not a trace of flexibility.

As far as I remembered, he was not affiliated with any guild.

'Of all people, it had to be him.'

The difficulty of this exam would probably be high.

Yoo Hye-sung was infamous even among examiners as a failure manufacturer.

He took the microphone and swept his gaze over the crowd.

At his fierce eyes, several examinees flinched and looked away.

"I will not speak at length. This place is not a playground. It is a gambling den where bastards who want to make money with their lives on the line have gathered. Let us be honest."

Rough language.

But no one could argue.

"You will face monsters in an environment identical to real combat. Your arms or legs may be cut off, and if you are unlucky, you may die. The Association takes no responsibility for any accident."

He waved the tablet in his hand.

"Sign the [Bodily Rights Waiver and Liability Release Agreement] that has just been sent to each of your devices. If you do not sign, you leave immediately."

The speech was exactly the same, without a single syllable different.

It was a routine I had heard before the regression too.

I almost laughed.

There had to be a script.

This was a test of nerve. A bluff that worked like a first filter.

Veteran Hunters were always on standby around the test site, so actual deaths were extremely rare.

"What the hell... Why are they not taking responsibility?"

"Are they insane...?"

"Fuck, do not get scared."

Curses burst out from here and there.

A few people, frightened, threw their phones down as if tossing them away and left the ranks.

But those who remained were different.

After all, it was an undeniable fact that if an accident happened, it could lead to serious injury.

A mad profession where people earned money by putting a price on their lives.

That was what a Hunter was.

Ding.

The consent form appeared on my side as well.

[I will not hold anyone civilly or criminally liable for injuries or death that occur during the exam.]

This time, I scrawled my signature without hesitation.

***

The murmuring subsided.

Those who would leave had left, and only those who would remain were left.

The air of the test site sank heavily.

Click, clack.

The sound of equipment being assembled came from somewhere.

The eyes of the participants checking their equipment around the weapon boxes scattered here and there had changed.

Yoo Hye-sung smiled unpleasantly.

"Good. From this moment on, you are not civilians. You are corpses-in-waiting."

Tension. Fear. And excitement.

The real beginning.

"Excuse me."

Someone tapped my shoulder from behind.

When I turned around, a man in a green tracksuit was standing there.

A face smiling brightly.

An overly light attitude, without a trace of tension to be found.

The type I disliked.

"You must be pretty nervous. Your shoulders are stiff."

"Who are you?"

"Ah, I am Examinee Number 37. This is your first time, right?"

Number 37.

He did not say his name. His impression was ordinary.

But his eyes were strange.

He smiled as if he were good-natured, but his eyes were constantly rolling around, gathering information from the surroundings.

"Yes, it is my first time."

"I knew it! You can tell at a glance."

The man laughed with a shrug.

"This is my second time, you see. Ah, it really is not easy. The first time, my heart was pounding so hard my hands were shaking. Ask me anything you are curious about."

I rolled my shoulder once and nodded.

"Ah, thank you."

Inside, I sighed. He was plainly a talkative and idle person.

I had a feeling this would turn into a long conversation for no reason.

Just as I expected, he poured out words without even waiting for my answer.

"By the way, what is your profession? I am a Knight. A Knight! Tanks are really popular these days, right? So when I become a Hunter, I am going to get hired as a tank. Does that not seem like a decent choice?"

"Mage."

I answered simply, but his face quickly brightened.

"Oh, that is seriously cool. You make magic explode, bang!, and sweep enemies away, right? To tell the truth, I wanted to Awaken as a mage too... Ah, I am jealous. A mage!"

I had picked the wrong person.

The sound of him talking without a moment to breathe made my head throb.

The man glanced around for a moment, then tilted his chin toward the examiner.

"You see those suits standing beside the platform over there, right?"

"Yes."

"Those people? They are private guild managers. They come here on purpose to scout anyone who passes. You can smell the money on them, can you not?"

I looked toward where his finger was pointing.

Beside the platform, several men in neat suits were standing there.

One of them was holding a folder that caught my eye.

A skull emblem set against an axe.

'Those bastards...'

It was a familiar logo.

The archenemy of the Blade Guild, Guild Invictus.

The man was still chattering, but his voice had already faded into background noise.

I never expected the day I saw that emblem again would come this quickly.

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