Chapter 3 – Prologue III

Heаring Аmу’s urgеnt vоice, Asutо rаised his gazе.

In the citу visiblе frоm thе rооftop, rеd lights apреarеd оnе аftеr anоther.

—Gаtes.

Gatеs аrе dimеnsional rifts thаt leаd to other wоrlds.

Рassing through a Gatе, оne enters anothеr wоrld, or perhaps thе sрacе betwееn dimеnsiоns.

Inside live life forms thаt don’t eхist оn Еarth—Mоnstеrs.

If аn apрearеd Gate is left alоnе, it will fully cоnnеct in аbout a wеek, and Mоnsters will роur out from within.

To prеvent this, оnе must stеp intо the Gatе, аnnihilаte the Мonstеrs, аnd mаkе thе Gatе disарpеаr.

That is the main job of Hunters.

The Gates currently appearing are of the Immediate Break Type.

Their total number exceeds one hundred.

This phenomenon, where a large number of Gates connect at once, humanity has named thus:

—Outbreak.

During an Outbreak, Awakened are more likely to appear.

The First Outbreak was five years ago from now. At that timing, Hunters were born one after another all over the world.

Now, Asuto’s Awakening was due to this Second Outbreak.

Setting that aside, Monsters will soon appear from the Gates.

(If I remember correctly, the Monsters of the Second Outbreak are… Gray Wolves.)

Dog-type Monsters with sharp fangs and claws will soon be released from the Gates.

Last time, many citizens became victims. Surely, the same will happen this time.

(—But I can reduce the number of victims, even if just a little!)

Asuto immediately swiped his Status Board to the side.

The screen switched and the Gold Shop was displayed.

“Ah, huh? Why do you know about the Gold Shop?”

“Because information is uploaded on the net.”

“I see. Then buy a weapon right now. You can’t defeat Monsters without a weapon! By the way, my recommended weapon is—”

“Don’t need it.”

“Grrr… what an arrogant guy…”

Ignoring the muttering, he smoothly searched through the Shop.

The weapon Amy recommends is very useful. It has sharp cutting power and is easy to handle, matching Asuto’s Aptitude.

However, its price is 1000G.

If he uses all his Gold at once, he won’t be able to purchase other products—Skills.

Even with a weapon, without Skills, it would be fatal as a Hunter.

He learned this painfully in his previous life.

That’s why Asuto shuts his ears to Amy’s voice.

What he needs now is not an Angel’s words, but the wisdom of predecessors.

The Shop has a tremendous number of products lined up.

From Weapons and Armor Gear to Skills. Their total number is said to be in the millions.

Finding the target Item among them is an extremely difficult task.

However, using the product search, Asuto quickly throws the only Items he remembers into his Cart.

○Inventory Cart

• Skill Scroll 996425 900G

• Skill Scroll 023514 50G

・Dog Whistle 10G

・Lantern 10G

・Water 10G

○Total 980G

Will you purchase?

YES/NO

“Eh, why those Skills? No no, there are more useful Skills… that’s not it, you can’t tell what Skills they are just from looking at the numbers! Why did you choose those!?”

“Your face is falling apart.”

“Shut up. More importantly, answer me. Why are you doing something so much like gambling! You can’t defeat Monsters without buying a weapon!?”

“Well, I wonder about that.”

Ignoring Amy’s warning, Asuto tapped the ‘YES’ button.

“Ah, you’ve done it now…”

He immediately opened the Cart and used the Skills.

Using Skill Scroll 996425

You have acquired Memory Playback

Using Skill Scroll 023514

You have acquired Leap

“This is good!”

All humans’ memories fade with time.

Memory Playback is a Skill that allows one to clearly recall those memories.

This only has the Effect of remembering the past, and cannot be said to be a high-priority Skill for Hunters.

Rather than purchasing this, one would buy other more useful Skills.

But for Asuto, it’s different.

With this, he can recall in detail information not yet known at present, combat methods not yet established, and so on.

Memory Playback was an absolutely essential Skill for Asuto to survive in this life.

“Memory Playback and Leap, huh. This is checkmate now…”

Like a salesman whose client had defaulted on payment, Amy shook her head with a pale face.

That attitude seemed genuine.

(Could this be Amy’s true expression? …No, I’ll think about that later.)

Right now, preventing human casualties comes first.

Asuto quickly ran down the stairs while allocating his Status.

○Name: Yuki Asuto (23)

Level: 1 Aptitude: Assassin

Rank: G SP: 5→0

Held G: 20

○Physical Ability

Strength: 2 Stamina: 2 Magic Power: 1

Spirit: 1 Agility: 2→7 Perception: 1

○Skills

・Leap Lv1 (0%)

・Memory Playback Lv1 (1%)

・Return Lv1 (0%)

“Damn, my body feels heavy…”

Ten years later, Asuto was Level 9.

It’s not that he was slacking off.

He made the maximum effort he could.

Even so, in ten years he could only raise his Level by eight.

High-ranking Hunters easily exceeded Level 70.

Compared to them, it’s embarrassing.

—What the hell was I doing!

He desperately shakes off the dark emotions that well up.

Now is not the time to be depressed.

Asuto runs at full speed through the city where emergency alarms are blaring shrilly, heading toward his destination.

At the same time, he takes out the Dog Whistle from his Shop Inventory and blows it with all his might.

○Dog Whistle

Description: A Magic Tool whistle that calls dogs. Once blown, you’re guaranteed to be surrounded by lots of doggies! For those who want to be snuggled by doggies, please purchase!

Immediately, Gray Wolves attacked Asuto from various directions.