The rooftop of the Special Disaster Response Agency’s main office.

Two employees holding coffee were chatting.

They were a male staff member in his 30s and a female staff member in her 40s.

“How are things these days? Much easier than the Hunter Support Department, right?”

“Oh, much easier. What more can I say? The gates themselves are cleared in a minute. How about the Hunter Support Department?”

“Well, nothing much here either.”

The Special Disaster Response Agency is an organization that performs national duties related to Dungeons, Hunters, and official positions.

The topics they dealt with were supernatural, like magic, swordsmanship, hunters, and gates, but the employees were ordinary civil servants who had never even entered a Dungeon.

What was important to them was the intensity of their work.

Because they didn’t get paid more for taking on difficult tasks.

“Even if we ignore the gates, it’s surprising that even the Hunters are quiet.”

“Isn’t that obvious? With Hunter Kim Songcheol being quiet, who would dare to act up? Even the Hunters who used to cause trouble when Hunter Cha Sehyeon was supporting Korea, we don’t even know if they’re dead or alive now. When you were in the Hunter Support Department, it was so noisy, but as soon as you left, it became quiet, ho ho.”

“Sigh… Should I be sad about this, or happy…”

“It’s a good thing. The more idle we are, the less trouble there is in Korea. Think about when the B-grade Dungeon burst.”

“Don’t even mention it. How many nights did I stay up…”

“Manager Baek collapsed back then, and it was pure chaos.”

“Oh, I really thought we were going to have a funeral.”

“The gate didn’t even burst, but we almost had a death count. Oh, by the way, I heard there’s a meeting today?”

“Ah, yes. Something about having over 200 million points…”

It was then.

A brilliant light suddenly erupted on the rooftop, and Kim Songcheol appeared.

“Oh…”

As soon as the male staff member saw Kim Songcheol, he fumbled about and then bowed deeply.

“Hello, Hunter Kim Songcheol.”

Splash!

Holding the cup to his chest, his body tilted, and coffee spilled onto the floor.

“Hello.”

The female staff member also barely swallowed her surprise and greeted him very politely.

Fortunately, she had placed her coffee on the railing, preventing a disaster.

Normal civilians usually don’t get surprised or flustered when they meet Kim Songcheol, let alone be glad.

Unless they are his fanatical fans.

But they are civil servants. And from the Special Disaster Response Agency at that.

Currently, all government officials in the Republic of Korea find Kim Songcheol difficult to deal with.

That was the government’s policy, and it was unavoidable.

Kim Songcheol had already reached a point where he couldn’t be stopped by any means.

To put it extremely, even if he assassinated the President and declared himself President, there would be no way to stop him.

Of course, I know very well that Kim Songcheol would not do that. After just a few conversations, one would be convinced that he would not commit anything outside the bounds of common sense.

However, the Government judged that this was precisely when it was most important.

What if a crazy public official upset Kim Songcheol?

What if that caused Kim Songcheol’s mind to change even a little?

The Government decided to proceed in a way that would not provoke Kim Songcheol as much as possible, and that policy was strongly conveyed to all public officials.

They couldn’t control the citizens, but at least public officials could be controlled to some extent, so the idea was to do as much as they could reach.

“Yes, hello. Good morning.”

Kim Songcheol smiled and bowed in return, then entered the building through the rooftop door.

“Oh my, you startled me.”

The Male Staff Member stood still like a mouse meeting a cat, and only after Kim Songcheol disappeared from sight did he finally pat his chest.

“I didn’t know you would come to the rooftop. Didn’t you come through the Main Gate last time?”

The Female Staff Member also wiped her forehead once.

“Indeed. Oh, now that I think about it, if you came through the Main Gate, you’d meet a lot of Employees. That’s probably why you came to the rooftop.”

It was not long after the Government policy came down.

Kim Songcheol had entered through the Main Gate just once, saw the Employees’ reactions, and immediately changed direction to infiltrate through the rooftop.

“That seems to be the case. Well, I guess he wouldn’t like us being startled or flustered, Your Excellency. But did you just spill it there? Like an offering?”

“It’s not that…”

The Male Staff Member scratched his head, looking down at the coffee pooling on the floor.

***

The Conference room of the Special Disaster Response Agency.

Officials from various ministries, including the Minister of Interior and Safety, attended.

Kim Songcheol sat in the middle of the round Conference room, and the officials each took their seats.

By seating arrangement, the Minister of Interior and Safety was in the highest position, but in reality, he was the most wary of Kim Songcheol.

“Well… first, the Republic of Korea’s total Points are approximately 232.34 million Points. First, I’d like to thank Hunter Kim Songcheol for his efforts.”

The topic of the meeting was, as expected, the use of the 200 million accumulated Points.

Since the amount of Points was unprecedented, the Government also seemed to find it difficult to definitively decide on their use.

“We have several proposals. Securing additional Portals is considered the best option. If we were to use more Points, ‘Zero-Point Preservation Vault’ would be worth considering.”

The Zero-Point Preservation Vault is a vault that perfectly preserves the state of matter.

If you put fruit in it, it won’t spoil, and if you put a warm pizza in it, it can be preserved as a warm pizza forever.

Of course, living organisms are not included. Apples cannot be preserved, but apples can be preserved to the extent that they are distinguished from living organisms.

The size of the preservation vault was almost limitless.

It had limits, but it was large enough that there was no need to consider them.

If they gathered a little more Points, they could also acquire an ‘Ark’.

The Ark is, as its name suggests, a large ship.

It was equipped with engines powered by a Mana absorption device, and its hull was strong enough not to be penetrated by most bombardments.

Most of the things that could be acquired with Points were like this.

It felt less like a Tea Set that simply improved the quality of life, and more like preparing for something in Nothingness.

“What is the estimated value of the Zero-Point Preservation Vault?”

The Official Position from the Ministry of Interior and Safety asked.

The price of the Zero-Point Preservation Vault is 100 million Points.

Simply put, it was a question of whether they could get their money’s worth.

“If we purchase it, its value will exceed its worth. In particular, it has excellent synergy with the Portal. If we operate it by receiving logistics through the Portal, storing them, and shipping them when needed… countries will line up to use it. It can be called another logistics revolution.”

Even just receiving Official Position fees would amount to an astronomical sum.

A warehouse where the state of anything stored does not change.

Its uses were not limited to just one area of Nothingness; they were endless in Nothingness.

The Official Position seemed to have almost decided on purchasing the Zero-Point Preservation Vault, but…

“I think it would be good to postpone it a little.”

Kim Songcheol, who had been listening, poured cold water on the idea.

“It’s definitely good. But honestly, I’m a bit uneasy right now. 200 million Points is a very large amount, but it’s also an amount that can only delete about five A-rank Gates. The truth is, it’s been a long time since I entered an A-rank Dungeon, and no A-rank Gates have appeared, right? To view this as purely positive…”

At Kim Songcheol’s point, the Official Position quietly nodded.

It wasn’t simply because it was Kim Songcheol’s opinion.

It was a valid point.

Purchasing the Zero-Point Preservation Vault would not only elevate the Republic of Korea’s status but also increase its influence in the international community.

However, if it meant purchasing it by risking the Republic of Korea’s crisis, it implied questioning its true value.

“We don’t know when they’ll appear, and once they Beginning to appear, there might be even more than usual.”

Kim Songcheol’s level has not yet reached the critical point. If he had surpassed the critical point, an A-rank Gate should have already appeared.

The problem is how Kim Songcheol will cross the critical point.

He shouldn’t think the same way as other Mages.

Kim Songcheol knew that best.

He still had a lot of Magic to learn, but if he were to list only the big goals right now, they would be ‘Thunderclap’, the highest grade of 2nd-tier Thunderbolt Magic, and then probably ‘Magic that expands The Source into a domain form’, which he could learn from Pioneer.

If he crosses the critical point after learning Thunderclap, it would rather be a Scythe.

Because it wouldn’t be a huge leap.

However, if he learns The Source domain Magic and crosses the critical point, there’s a high probability it will be a significant leap.

In that situation, A-rank Gates could appear in an unmanageable number.

Kim Songcheol wanted to cross the critical point with many Points.

That way, he would be able to respond no matter what happened.

“Even so, 200 million Points is not a small amount of Points. I think… we need to find some more suitable uses.”

“What kind…?”

“We have our seniors, don’t we? We can just ask them.”

In the Dungeon, there are Hunters from countless worlds.

Among them were Hunters from worlds that had developed around scientific technology, like the Hunters who joined the Magic Alliance.

They have lived in close contact with the Dungeon for much longer than Earth currently has.

They would know well how to use Points effectively and efficiently.

While the officials were just looking around.

“I think that would be a good idea too.”

The Ministry of Interior and Safety official, who had followed Kim Songcheol’s words for a long time, also came forward to support him this time.

Not only was it Kim Songcheol’s opinion, but it also made sense.

The Zero-Point Preservation Vault is a good place to use points, but it’s not immediately necessary.

There was no problem with taking enough time.

So, the results of the meeting were put on hold for now.

The points were kept in the national treasury as they were.

***

Kim Songcheol headed to the Magic Alliance after a long time.

The purpose was to share Thunderclap, the final stage of the three-stage Electric Shock Magic, which progresses from Thunder Shock to Thunder Control and then to Thunderclap.

Second-tier Magic of the Thunderclap level is the most powerful among common magic, and depending on the mage, it can rival the power of first-tier magic.

However, despite its power, its diffusion rate was quite low. The first difficulty was its complexity, and the second difficulty was the ‘existence of first-tier magic’ itself.

Thunderclap is a magic that requires a high level of proficiency due to its difficulty, and you can’t even use it properly without considerable training.

The saying that Thunder Shock handles Electric Shock, Thunder Control dominates Electric Shock, and Thunderclap becomes Electric Shock itself, is literally true.

Thunderclap inherently requires the process of transforming the caster’s body into Electric Shock.

While all the magic formulas cannot be explained, it was one of the ultimate second-tier elemental magics that maximized what could be achieved with second-tier magic.

As a result, mages often chose to move on to first-tier magic rather than learning Thunderclap, and mages without The Source often gave up on acquiring Thunderclap.

It was inevitable that mages who had mastered Thunderclap were quite rare.

“Hello.”

As he entered the Magic Alliance Headquarters, he saw a middle-aged male staff member sitting behind the desk.

“Welcome.”

He greeted with a fairly bright expression. Had someone suitable finally been assigned to the Head of Headquarters position?

“How can I help you?”

“I’m here for magic sharing. I want to share the second-tier Thunderclap. What kind of requests are there?”

Kim Songcheol approached the desk and said.

“Ah, Thunderclap. Not many people learn it, but you seem confident, haha.”

The new Head of Headquarters tapped his finger in the air and said. He seemed to be looking for a suitable request.

“Rather than confidence, it’s more like a means of survival. I think I’ll need it.”

The reason Kim Songcheol needs to learn Thunderclap is related to ‘The Source Domain Magic’.

Kim Songcheol’s The Source is ‘Nothingness’, and if he only reveals The Source without any other actions, it has the effect of deleting first-tier magic and sword aura.

If everyone becomes unable to use first-tier magic and sword aura, then second-tier magic will immediately rise to prominence.

Victory or defeat will be decided by second-tier magic or a few third-tier magics, and Thunderclap, one of the ultimate second-tier elemental magics, would clearly become a very powerful Nothingness technique.

“Oh, but. How long has it been since a dungeon appeared there?”

Kim Songcheol asked.

The Headquarters Chief stopped, then stroked his chin.

“We’ve been at it for over… 70 years, right?”

“As time passes, you accumulate some points, don’t you? More than at the beginning.”

“That’s right, of course.”

“How do you use normal points? What you can buy from the system is… good, but…”

“Still, portals and zero-point storage are quite useful. There were countries that had a lot of fun with them in the past. Nowadays, it seems people just buy blueprints and use them for rupture generation.”

“Blueprints?”

“Yes. If you need a specific item, you have to custom-order the blueprint. Something like a Mana Power Plant is quite useful, so you just buy the blueprint. You leave the construction to the country, and you just operate it.”

“Mana Power Plant…?”

“Yes. It doesn’t generate a lot of power, but it’s eco-friendly, isn’t it? Haha. And if you think about it, magic is new technology in the scientific civilization. So there are a few offices, I guess you’d call them, that design the necessary items. That’s why there are many resulting products. Shall I introduce you?”

The Headquarters Chief smiled kindly and said,