Chapter 6 – Preparation

Тhе dаy after соmpleting his Нunter registrаtiоn, Аsutо саme to а certаin hilltоp.

“Whаt аrе уоu doing сoming tо a plасе likе this? You finallу finished thаt Hunter registrаtiоn thing, so aren’t yоu gоing to a Gate?”

“Just going tо а Gate won’t mean аnуthing.”

The Gаtes thаt wеrе сurrently apрearing wеrе аlreadу оwnеd by othеr peоple or the Нuntеr Assoсiаtion.

Unlеss you рurchased thе rights through аn аuction on the Huntеr Site, еntеring а Gatе without pеrmissiоn wоuld be a lеgal viоlаtiоn.

Веsides Gаtеs, thеre wеrе two places where Hunters could level up.

—Dungeons and the “Outside.”

Dungeons referred to spaces that didn’t disappear even after all the Monsters were hunted down.

There were places where anyone could enter Dungeons managed by the Hunter Association.

However,

(I’ve visited many times, but it becomes a scramble the moment Monsters pop…)

Because there were no entry restrictions, Hunters were too densely packed.

That said, there were also Dungeons not managed by the Association, but these were monopolized by major Guilds, so individuals could never enter them.

The “Outside” referred to abandoned territories.

After the First Outbreak, Japan surrendered much of its land to Monsters.

Gates appeared regardless of location.

Areas with large populations weren’t a problem.

But in sparsely populated regions, Gate Breaks couldn’t be consistently prevented.

Breaking and defeating Monsters, only for another Break to occur in the meantime… this game of cat and mouse only exhausted Hunters and residents.

Therefore, the nation decided to abandon certain regions and constructed massive walls.

Outside the massive walls, Monsters that had appeared through Gate Breaks were running rampant.

In such outer regions, you could hunt freely.

However, without a C-Rank or higher Hunter’s License Card, you couldn’t get permission to pass through the gates.

—For Asuto, it was the most distant place.

In his previous life, Asuto couldn’t choose any of these options.

He didn’t have combat Skills, nor had he gained any rare Aptitude. He didn’t even have money to prepare equipment.

There were fifty thousand Hunters with the same abilities as him, and fifty thousand Hunters better than him.

—There was no reason for him to be chosen.

Without free choices available, Asuto had only managed to reach Level 9 even after ten years.

But this time was different.

The current Asuto had memories of the future.

With the Skill Memory Playback, he could know when, where, and what kind of Gates would appear.

For example, the day after tomorrow following the Second Outbreak—in just a few hours from now—a Gate would appear on a certain hilltop.

—This very place.

If he discovered a Gate first, he could obtain ownership rights to that Gate.

He could sell the ownership rights using the Hunter Site, or he could conquer it himself.

Naturally, he hadn’t even considered selling the Gate.

This was a chance to level up. It would be wasteful to give up the rights.

(I’ll make full use of the power to act freely)

“…What exactly are you doing?”

“Looking at the city.”

“Huh?”

“Nice view, isn’t it?”

“How should I know!”

Internally clicking his tongue at Amy’s curt attitude, Asuto opened his Status Board.

○Name: Yuki Asuto (20)

Level: 11 Aptitude: Assassin

Rank: F SP: 50

Held G: 1064

○Physical Ability

Strength: 5 Stamina: 2 Magic Power: 1

Spirit: 1 Agility: 10 Perception: 1

○Skills

・Leap Level 1 (51%)

・Memory Playback Lv1 (1%)

・Return Lv1 (0%)

(The Gate that appears here was bought by an F-Rank Hunter and cleared by a Party, if I remember correctly. I definitely can’t conquer it as I am now)

Strength, Stamina, and Agility literally enhanced physical performance.

Magic Power increased the power and usage count of magic, while Spirit increased resistance to magic.

Perception made it easier to detect enemy attacks and presences.

With his Aptitude being Assassin, Asuto would be fine focusing mainly on Strength, Stamina, Agility, and Perception.

He allocated 40 Status Points, keeping the remaining 10 points in reserve.

○Name: Yuki Asuto (20)

Level: 11 Aptitude: Assassin

Rank: F SP: 50→10

Held G: 1064→164

○Physical Ability

Strength: 5→15 Stamina: 2→12 Magic Power: 1

Spirit: 1 Agility: 10→25 Perception: 1→6

○Skills

・Basic Dagger Arts Lv1 (0%)

・Evasion Lv1 (0%)

・Leap Level 1 (51%)

・Memory Playback Lv1 (5%)

・Return Lv1 (0%)

Next, he swiped the screen and opened the Shop.

○Cart

・Skill Scroll 013245 100G

Skill Scroll 019486 500 Gold

・Iron Dagger 300G

○Total 900G

Purchase?

YES/NO

“Well, I’m not surprised since it’s the second time, but…”

“What’s wrong?”

“Why can you throw masked Skills into your cart without any hesitation!”

“Because the information is uploaded online. I remember the necessary Skills.”

“My… reason for existing…”

Amy’s shoulders slumped dejectedly.

Angels had the role of supporting Awakened individuals.

They would teach about Skills that were masked with numbers in the System, and development policies suited to one’s Aptitude, all “without lying.”

However, just because Angels didn’t lie didn’t guarantee that what they taught was necessarily “correct.”

“Things that aren’t lies” and “correct things” were subtly different.

If you took an Angel’s words at face value, the power you could originally display might become slightly distorted.

(No one would seriously help someone who would become their enemy in the future)

Asuto could recall his previous life’s knowledge with Memory Playback.

This time, he didn’t intend to rely on an Angel’s advice.

“Still though, there are stronger Skills available, aren’t there? Gathering a bunch of cheap Skills won’t make you stronger, you know?”

“I can’t help it since I don’t have Gold.”

Even without Amy telling him, he wanted to acquire strong Skills. But Asuto didn’t possess enough Gold to buy whatever he wanted.

They say money isn’t everything, but that’s a lie.

Without money, you can’t even live as a human being. Asuto had learned this painfully through his life experiences.

Even with blood-drawing effort, you couldn’t escape from the “swamp” called rock bottom.

“This time for sure, I need to earn proper money…”

He had finally gotten off to a good start.

If he became satisfied with this situation, he’d return to a difficult life again.

Steeling his resolve, he tapped the purchase confirmation button.

“With this, I have 164 Gold remaining.”

The basic method for increasing Gold was Monster subjugation.

The Gold obtained from subjugation varied based on the individual’s Rank.

A G-Rank Monster would give roughly 0.1G per creature. An F-Rank would give 0.4G, and so on.

The other day, Asuto had subjugated 346 Gray Wolves.

Since these were G-Rank, they gave 0.1G each. Despite defeating so many, unfortunately only 34G was added.

“One, ten, hundred, thousand… sigh”

How many creatures would he need to defeat to earn enough Gold to purchase the items he wanted? Just thinking about it was depressing.

Asuto sighed as he used the Skill Scrolls and took out the dagger from his Inventory.

○Iron Dagger

Attack Power: 5

Description: A sword made of iron with a 30-centimeter blade length. Easy to use, but the sharpness isn’t good. It will break easily if not used carefully. Even for a beginner, there should have been better weapons available. Why did you choose this one?

“What kind of description is this? Are you picking a fight?”

If you’re going to question why I chose it, I’d like to ask why you put it in the Shop.

For Asuto (among the weapons he could purchase), this dagger was the best choice.

This was because certain weapons received Aptitude bonuses depending on what you used.

Swordsman Types got bonuses with Long Swords and Armor, Shieldman Types with Shields and Full-Body Armor, and Mage Types with Staffs and Robes.

Since Asuto was an Assassin, it was Daggers and Light Armor.

E: Iron Dagger

Attack Power: 5+2

Combined, that made Attack Power 7. It had become equivalent to a Long Sword in the same price range.

Now he finally looked like a proper Hunter.

“Come to think of it, you didn’t buy any weird items this time.”