The dark spirits thought Gobel had lost his mind.
A high-ranking angel was fine, a Light Spirit King was fine, and even a monarch from another dimension was fine.
However, the Flame Emperor was absolutely out of the question.
If that man ever set foot in the Dark Spirit Realm again, it would be the day the world ended.
<…Kieeeeeek!!>
Gobel tried to reassure his comrades, but he failed miserably.
To them, the Flame Emperor and his successor were essentially the same thing.
The successor might not be as strong as the Flame Emperor yet, but what did that matter?
If things went south, the Flame Emperor himself would show up.
“I’d like to see those who are imprisoned here,” Lee Tae-sung said. In the end, he gave up on trying to be friendly with them.
He decided to just handle his business and leave quickly.
The dark spirits preferred this attitude as well. Rather than getting involved with the terrifying Flame Emperor’s successor, they wanted him to leave as soon as possible.
Lee Tae-sung was guided through various parts of the mansion.
“Gaaaah…”
“O… ooo….”
In each prison cell with iron bars, there were various races.
Humans, elves, dwarves, and even some alien races he couldn’t identify.
“Excuse me. Do you happen to know a Spirit Archer named Leo?”
He was Abeson’s son.
All Tae-sung knew was that he was a Spirit Archer and his name was Leo.
Since the map indicated by the ring was connected to the Dark Spirit Realm, he was only guessing that there would be a clue here.
“Gwaaaar…”
“……”
However, they were not at a level where conversation was possible.
Tae-sung turned to Gobel and asked, “They don’t seem normal.”
“How long have they been imprisoned?”
“……”
Thousands of years in a prison with nothing to do.
It was no wonder they had lost their minds.
In the end, there wasn’t a single person from the various races he could talk to.
The dark spirits also claimed they didn’t know anything about Leo, so it was a disappointing result with no real gain.
However, at the very last iron bars, a conversation was finally possible.
It was a Light Spirit.
A fox-shaped spirit inside the cell stared at Lee Tae-sung with curious eyes.
“Do you happen to know a Spirit Archer named Leo?”
“I see.”
Tae-sung was about to step back since he hadn’t expected much anyway.
Then, the Light Spirit stopped him.
“Why do you ask?”
The Light Spirit felt the faint divine power of the Heavenly Fire Holy Law Art radiating from Lee Tae-sung’s body.
Fire and divinity.
Both were things that Light Spirits loved.
Abeson, who had been quietly watching the situation from the side, muttered in disbelief.
Spirit magic was something that only the chosen could exert.
Even if he had managed to reach the Spirit Realm, to actually pull off a contract…
If this continued, wasn’t this guy becoming a Spirit Archer on top of being a Hybrider?
At the Light Spirit’s request, Lee Tae-sung reached his hand through the iron bars.
Ashaka smiled broadly and lightly poked the back of Tae-sung’s hand with a claw.
Simultaneously, a wing-shaped tattoo was engraved on his wrist.
Tae-sung felt an invisible string forming, connecting him and Ashaka.
At the same time, a notification appeared.
*Ding!*
**[You have acquired a new skill]**
**[Skill: Spirit Summoning]**
– Summonable Spirit: Lower Light Spirit Ashaka Now, Lee Tae-sung was a man who wouldn’t be out of place calling himself a mage anywhere he went.
After all, a Spirit Archer was still a type of mage!
***
Lee Tae-sung’s daily routine was simple.
Aside from the time he spent on Missions in the real world, he spent most of his time lying in the Dream World Access Device.
Since that was how he increased his specs, he even cut back on sleep to stay inside the Dream World.
However, once the Taesung Guild was established and the mass production and sale of Elixirs began, that routine was about to change slightly.
[Taesung Guild’s Elixir: A Massive Hit in the Industry!]
[What exactly is this Elixir that had large-scale Guild Leaders running out in their socks to get?]
[Taesung Guild Leader Lee Tae-sung, the key contributor to the Charles Accord. Is his true identity an Alchemist?]
The Taesung Guild didn’t have any connected reporters yet, but the large guilds he traded with had reporters stationed nearby.
As soon as those reporters heard the news about the Elixirs, they immediately wrote articles about it.
— Oh.
What’s this?
I guess the Special Rookie this year was an Alchemist.
— Can a non-combat class even become a Special Rookie?
â”” Even if their combat power is weak, they can become one if their alchemy talent is insane.
└ That’s not how it works.
Hunter Missions are notoriously difficult.
If you don’t have combat abilities, you’ll die before you can last very long in a Mission.
Hunters were known for making massive amounts of money, but in reality, it was a dangerous profession with an even higher mortality rate.
People who knew the industry’s situation tilted their heads in confusion.
An Alchemist could become a Special Rookie by showing incredible performance in a Mission?
— Is it possible he’s insane at both combat and alchemy?
â”” Stop writing fiction.
â”” Even a Hunter made by AI would find that difficult lol.
While stories about him were spreading by word of mouth, Lee Tae-sung himself hadn’t encountered many of the rumors about Taesung.
“Uaaah! Orders are exploding! Save me, Guild Leader!”
Kang Woo-joo said, sweating profusely.
He was currently in the office, tirelessly packing Elixirs into boxes.
Orders were flooding into the Taesung Guild.
Thanks to Abeson, mass production had started in the factory, but the problem was that they didn’t have enough staff to pack and ship them.
They couldn’t just hire anyone, given how important these Elixirs were.
For the sake of security, they had to hire people they could trust, which wasn’t easy.
Because of this, Kang Woo-joo and two new Hunters were spending their time packing boxes for delivery instead of going on Missions.
Lee Tae-sung joined them.
He even channeled his Heavenly Fire Holy Law Art, bolstering his body with mana as he got to work.
*Phak!*
His hands moved so fast they almost left afterimages, and the packages were completed in an instant.
“Ooooh! As expected of the Guild Leader!”
“Wow….”
Kang Woo-joo marveled from the side, and the two guild members’ eyes went wide in surprise.
So this was what a Special Rookie was capable of!
Thanks to Lee Tae-sung, the work speed increased significantly.
The guild members finally caught their breath.
*Knock, knock.*
While the office was busy, someone knocked on the door from outside.
“We’re not taking orders for the time being! It won’t work even if you come in person, so just place a reservation!”
Kang Woo-joo shouted toward the door.
His attitude was like that of someone chasing away a solicitor.
When Lee Tae-sung looked at him, Woo-joo shrugged his shoulders.
“Rumors about the guild’s Elixirs have spread everywhere, and it’s chaos. I turned off the phones, so people are even coming all the way to the office. I’m sick of it.”
— I am not a solicitor.
I’m Song Sang-yeop from the Hunter Association.
Is the Guild Leader in?
“?!”
This time, however, it was someone from the Association.
Section Chief Song Sang-yeop walked in and flinched at the sight of the messy office, but his face brightened when he saw Lee Tae-sung.
“Taesung Guild Leader!”
“Section Chief. You were looking for me?”
“Yes. I have something to tell you…”
Song Sang-yeop gestured for them to step outside, suggesting they needed to speak privately.
Kang Woo-joo looked like he was about to cry.
With a shortage of hands, Lee Tae-sung was leaving again.
Especially when he was so good at the work!
“I’ll be back in a bit.”
“Yes, sir. But please come back soon, Guild Leader.”
‘I need to hire more people as soon as possible.’
Making that resolution, Lee Tae-sung followed Section Chief Song Sang-yeop into an empty office next door.
“Is it okay to just walk in like this?”
“The Association bought out this whole area to manage it. It’s meant to be provided when a new Special Hunter is born, so it’s currently vacant.”
“I see. So, what did you want to discuss…?”
“The Association has decided to treat you as a Ranker.”
Rankers were those who participated in Ranker Missions to protect the Dimensional Barrier and defend the Republic of Korea.
All of them were veterans.
To obtain a Dimensional Barrier Fragment, which was a requirement for Ranker status, one had to complete at least fifty Missions with excellent results.
However, Lee Tae-sung had only completed about twenty, and the time frame was incredibly short.
Since he had already brought back the reward of a Ranker, the Association decided to treat him as the fastest-ever Ranker based on his overwhelming skills.
“Hmm. Thank you.”
“There’s no need to thank me. We’re simply treating you according to your abilities. By the way, the matter I need to keep secret isn’t this. A Barrier has collapsed in China.”
“!”
It was a topic that required discretion.
Hunters who weren’t Rankers didn’t know about the Dimensional Barriers and Gates.
“Then is China in chaos?”
“Fortunately, it’s not all of China, but the Guangzhou area.”
In a country with a vast landmass like China, multiple Gates existed.
The Shanghai region, Guangzhou region, Hong Kong region, Beijing region… in this way, there were separate Dimensional Barriers and Gates that covered certain areas.
“Several of our Rankers are planning to go and provide support. I was hoping you could help as well, Guild Leader Lee Tae-sung.”
The three nations of Korea, China, and Japan had formed an East Asian Hunter Union.
They agreed to unconditionally help one another if a Dimensional Barrier collapsed and a Gate appeared in their territory.
While the relationship between the three nations wasn’t usually great, they had signed this treaty out of a sense of crisis when the Gates first appeared, fearing that their nations might collapse.
“Rankers are provided with more benefits from the state, but in return, they are obligated to defend these Gates. Since you haven’t signed a contract with us yet, you have no obligation, but…”
“I understand. I’ll go.”
“Thank you!”
Lee Tae-sung nodded without much hesitation.
He had seen the Dimensional Barrier and Gates before, but he didn’t know how monsters actually emerged in reality.
He might have to stop something like that if it happened in Korea later, so he wanted to see what it was like beforehand.
***
Guangzhou International Airport.
Civilians were standing on the airport runway.
To be precise, they weren’t civilians, but members of the ‘Whirlwind Guild,’ who reigned as the masters of Guangzhou.
‘Is that the plane from Korea?’
Yang Hai, the Whirlwind Guild Leader, glared at the approaching plane in the distance.
As a Chinese Ranker, he was out here to welcome the Hunters coming from Korea as reinforcements.
However, that was only the superficial reason.
He was actually interested in the ‘Elixir Hunter’ on that plane.
‘Sending a rookie disguised as a Ranker… it’s enough to complain about a treaty violation.’
Just a few hours ago, he had received the list of Special Hunters coming from Korea, and there was a name he had never seen before.
After a quick scan of the Korean media, he discovered the person was a newcomer who had recently become a Special Rookie.
Yang Hai was annoyed by Korea’s behavior of sending such a person as a Ranker, but he had no intention of complaining about it.
It was because he was interested in the mass-produced Elixirs the man supposedly made.
He hadn’t had time to investigate more deeply, but if they were real Elixirs, he planned to ask the man to sell some to his side as well.
Of course, a separate ‘negotiation’ would be necessary.
“Is that it?”
“Ah, Commissioner! You’re here!”
As Commissioner Jang Xuan of the Central Committee approached, Yang Hai and the other members of the Whirlwind Guild bowed politely.
He was a high-ranking official from the Party who had come to oversee the Gate situation.
‘If I handle this well, I’ll even have a small connection with Commissioner Jang Xuan!’
Yang Hai clenched his fist.
From the opportunity to purchase Elixirs to forming a network with the Party’s central leadership.
He had been worried when the Gate burst open, but it seemed like it was actually going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
A short while later, the aircraft landed, and the Korean Hunters disembarked one by one.
Yang Hai hurried over and gave a cold smile.
“Which one of you is the Hunter named Lee Tae-sung?”
If those people were the Rankers of Korea, he was a great Ranker of China.
Yang Hai glared.
“Coming here as a reinforcement when you aren’t even a Ranker is the same as despising great China. However, since you have manufacturing abilities, if you hand them over to this side, I’ll let this matter slide—”
“Little Brother! You’ve arrived!”
“Brother? Why are you here?”
“Haha! My little brother is coming to my home country, so of course I had to come see him!”
“???”
Yang Hai’s eyes nearly popped out of his head as the cold-faced Jang Xuan broke into a broad smile and wrapped an arm around Lee Tae-sung’s shoulder.