“Anyway, please continue what you were saying earlier.”
Lee Tae-sung had asked Alex about his identity and received the answer that he was the first Hunter.
He had thought he was just a powerful first-generation Hunter, so this was an unexpected revelation.
“What exactly happened back then? How did it all go?”
History told by the first Hunter.
That was quite an interesting story.
At that moment, the Flame Emperor clicked his tongue as if to say that wasn’t it.
“Disciple. Do you think it’s right to talk to him so nicely? What are you going to do if he lies?”
“Surely he wouldn’t do that?”
“Tsk tsk. My disciple is so naive and pure. My head hurts thinking about where to start teaching you.”
The Flame Emperor shook his head repeatedly.
“An interrogation starts by poking a few holes first. To lie well, you have to use your head diligently, but if your mind is clouded by pain, you can’t even lie. Understand?”
“……”
“And, what is our ability? Flame, right?”
“…Yes.”
“Flame-type abilities are also incredibly good for interrogation. You poke a hole and then sear it, right? Then they don’t bleed much so they can live longer, but the pain is disgustingly intense.”
“……”
Lee Tae-sung wondered if the Flame Emperor’s infamous reputation in the Dream World had perhaps been understated.
It was puzzling how someone like this became the world’s best, not the world’s public enemy.
“I-I’ll tell you the truth even if you don’t do that!”
Alex, sensing a threat to his life, spoke urgently.
As the first Hunter, he had been granted immense power and hadn’t suffered much hardship until now.
His mental state was already half-gone from this level of pain and the incomprehensible situation.
“I’ll be watching. If it seems off, I’ll step in anytime.”
The Flame Emperor still didn’t withdraw his suspicious gaze but stepped back for now.
He met Alex’s eyes and grinned viciously.
His expression carried the meaning, ‘Please, try something stupid.’
Alex, his body trembling, quickly opened his mouth.
“W-where did I leave off?”
“That you, Mr. Alex, are the first Hunter and that Earth created Hunters.”
“Ah! Right… Earth created Hunters to prepare for an alien invasion.”
The invasion of the Outer Gods.
Since Earth had no gods, it became their target, but after a long history of life, power had settled into the planet Earth.
It wasn’t omniscient, but it possessed a half-omnipotent ability.
Therefore, to block the invasion, it began evolving a portion of humanity.
“But the moment I awakened, I realized it. No matter how many Hunters awakened, we couldn’t stop them.”
In a world without gods, there were limits to what mortals could do.
Alex pondered for a long time from then on.
He didn’t just agonize in his room; he traveled to other worlds.
Using one of his skills, ‘Dimensional Travel,’ he toured other planets in a soul state.
“It was eventful. Most planets were only inhabited by microorganisms and were useless, and only a handful had developed civilizations. Once, I even went to a place ruled by an Outer God and nearly got annihilated… and then I arrived at the world of the Dream World.”
“The Dream World world?”
“It’s a name I temporarily gave it. You can probably guess just from the name… It’s the world inside the Dream World.”
“!”
The Dream World world was an incredible place.
Magic, martial arts, Hybrids.
A world full of fields developed in directions completely different from Earth, and a world where there even existed Ascendants who honed that power to its extreme and ascended to the heavens!
‘As I thought… Dream World wasn’t virtual reality.’
Lee Tae-sung could confirm what he had been suspecting.
Dream World was real.
The people he had formed connections with were also not virtual NPCs but real people!
He felt he had done well to treat them with sincerity all this time.
“I saw hope there. If we could handle and develop power like them, we could resist the Outer Gods too!”
From then on, Alex worked to reach the world inside the Dream World.
He developed an Access Device that could connect across dimensions, created avatars, and allowed humanity to accumulate various experiences in the Dream World.
His skills, ‘Design’ and ‘Craft,’ helped realize that intention.
Moreover, it wasn’t only helpful to humanity but also to Earth.
Earth, which had almost no cognitive ability and only power, grasped how to strengthen humanity once Alex set the direction.
From then on, Alex designed Hunter Missions and laid the foundation for the Score Shop.
Within the Missions, Hunters gradually trained and grew stronger, and the Score Shop further developed humanity.
“Huh? You’re saying you created the Missions, Mr. Alex?”
“In the early days, yes. I have a skill called ‘Design.’ I used that to create the Missions and the Score Shop.”
A system where Hunters grew stronger by experiencing events and powers from the various dimensions Alex traveled to, within the Missions.
By consistently giving rewards through the Score Shop, it motivated Hunters to keep growing stronger.
Once that direction was set, Earth continued to invest power, making the Missions increasingly richer and increasing the rewards.
Furthermore, he also created a separate Ranking Mission Site for the Outer Gods’ invasion, making a path so they could only invade through there.
“Completely blocking the invasion was impossible, but guiding it in one direction was something we could sufficiently do.”
On this land, Earth possessed omnipotent power, so the invaders, regardless, had no choice but to follow Earth’s method.
Thanks to that, social chaos was minimized and the current system was established.
‘So that’s why when I received an intimacy reward from the bear beastfolk in a Mission, it also applied in the game.’
If Earth’s Missions were created by referencing the Dream World, then essentially, intimacy would have been accumulated with the same race.
“You are truly amazing.”
Lee Tae-sung, having heard the whole story, was impressed.
To this extent, he was practically Earth’s savior.
If it weren’t for Alex, perhaps humanity would have already fallen into chaos and perished.
Anyway, after that, he also created an organization called the ‘Revelation Society’ and carried out various activities…
Haha…
Thank you.
“…”
Alex, as the first Hunter, heard Earth’s will most vividly, but among the Hunters born afterward, a few with strong power also heard Earth’s will in the form of revelations, little by little.
Some received warnings of the Outer Gods’ invasion through dreams, others through half-dazed states of mind.
However, since most Hunters roughly dismissed it and lived lives pursuing their desires, wielding their power as they pleased, the Revelation Society Alex created had no choice but to grow its power gradually from the shadows.
“The news of the Outer Gods’ invasion is truly important intelligence and could create social chaos. So we’ve only gradually recruited people we could really trust.”
They comprehensively examined strength, character, future growth potential, etc., to decide whether to accept them or not.
“But then why did you try to drag me away by force out of the blue?”
“…I’m sorry. I was really curious about what that skill was that killed the invasion manager, and it was one of the things we absolutely needed, so there was no room for choice.”
Alex bowed his head deeply.
If he could turn back time, he wanted to stop his past self from making that choice.
Then at the very least, he wouldn’t have been beaten up like this.
He had heard roughly everything worth hearing.
Just as Lee Tae-sung was organizing what he had just heard in his head…
“Alright.”
The Flame Emperor grinned.
“Say everything you said again. I’m an Ascendant, so my memory is pretty good. If even a single particle is wrong from what you said earlier, I’ll take it as you lying right at that moment and start poking holes immediately.”
“……”
Alex’s face turned deathly pale.
In the end, there were no lies in Alex’s words.
-Huh? You saw our world through Dimensional Travel 28 years ago? Didn’t you say 27 years ago earlier?
-Ah, no! It was 28 years ago! It was so long ago I was momentarily mistaken…
-Seeing you get confused makes it seem like a lie. Let’s poke one hole first.
-P-Please spare me!!!
After going through several verification processes, it was all confirmed to be true.
‘I thought it all seemed true from the first time I heard it…’
From Lee Tae-sung’s perspective, Alex hadn’t spoken falsely.
The clarity in his eyes when speaking, the strength in his voice, the conviction felt, the pressure from the Flame Emperor watching from behind…
No matter where he looked, there was no evidence of a lie.
‘If even I could feel it, Master probably knew too… It seems like he was just tormenting him for fun.’
Looking at the Flame Emperor’s beaming, smiling face, a reasonable suspicion arose.
Anyway, Alex was able to leave this house alive (?) and unharmed.
There was more to talk about, but they decided to let him tend to his body and mind, cool his head, and meet again later.
“Disciple. So when are you going to that Mission or whatever?”
“I think I’ll go now.”
“Hehe. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Hoho. This monk feels the same.”
The Flame Emperor and Goeseung chuckled and laughed.
Just before leaving, Alex gave a final warning.
-Since one manager died, there will definitely be changes to the Missions as well.
The details will probably have to be experienced directly, so please participate in a Mission as soon as possible.
I also plan to enter once my body fully recovers.
Killing a vanguard of the Outer Gods’ invasion was the first achievement in decades of war with them.
So he said there would definitely be some changes.
Lee Tae-sung intended to participate in a Mission to find out about that, and the two Ascendants were in a state of excitement at the prospect of going for a new experience.
“Participate in Mission.”
-Ding!
『You have participated in the Mission』
As the notification appeared, Lee Tae-sung’s vision flipped.
A moment later.
The place he was standing was a village in the mountains.
-Ding!
This is the 22nd Mission.
“Mission: Defend the Village.
『You have arrived at the slash-and-burn village of the Nameless Clan. Numerous chimeras released by an evil Dark Mage reside in the vicinity of this village.』
The chimeras have learned the village’s location and are coming this way.
TIP: The number of chimeras is quite large. Defending the entire village alone is nearly impossible, so build barricades and guide the enemies’ movements to one location.」
Mission Reward: 25,000 SC
Special Reward: If the Mission is completed perfectly, a reward needed by the performer will be given randomly.”
The first thing he saw was the Mission reward.
The reward had increased dramatically.
From what Lee Tae-sung remembered, the Score reward from the previous Mission was in the late 10,000s.
But now it was a whopping 25,000 points.
As the Mission stage gets higher, the Score increases gradually, not jumping up sharply like this.
And a more important point.
‘A special reward?’
Originally, they don’t announce or indicate that there are other rewards like this.
When you did well, it appeared as a sort of surprise reward, but this time, they explicitly stated it as a special reward.
It was probably one of the changes Alex mentioned.
He already intended to do well in the Mission, but this time, he absolutely had to finish it perfectly.
The moment Lee Tae-sung made that resolution…
“I’ll be back. Stay here, disciple.”
“Stay here, benefactor. I shall go for a brief stroll.”
Without even waiting for an answer, the Flame Emperor and Goeseung immediately dashed out of the village.
And it wasn’t even ten seconds later.
-Ding!
『You have defeated Mebadance.
You have acquired 1,650 SC.』
『You have defeated the Turquoise Toad.』
You have acquired 1,800 SC.」
『You have defeated the Black Water Panther.』
You have acquired 1,200 SC.』
『All threats around the village have disappeared.』
Mission Success!
“……”
Lee Tae-sung rubbed his philtrum with an even paler face.
His nose was bleeding.