“C-rank? Are you sure you’re trying to enter this ‘Namsan Gate’?”
The Gate Manager, checking my dismantler license, asked me. The manager looked displeased, raising one eye skeptically.
As a C-rank dismantler, coming to an E-rank gate seemed to irritate him. Though I hadn’t done anything wrong yet and felt wronged, I understood his negative attitude. There had been many cases where hunters and dismantlers entered gates below their rank and caused problems.
There were even official crackdowns from the government and Hunter Associations. To him, I probably looked like one of those troublemakers.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“… Baek Do-woon, identity confirmed.”
After verification, the manager handed my license back. His weary voice made it clear he didn’t want to let me in. He seemed to have some instinct that letting me enter would cause trouble.
In fact, that instinct might have been right. Though I was obtaining permission to enter the gate as a dismantler, I had no intention of actually doing dismantling work. The real reason I came here was curiosity—wondering who among my pursuers was lurking about.
I figured they’d approach if I wandered alone. A wise person might avoid such danger, but…
My curiosity was greater. Besides, it was possible no one would even come.
“You’ve been working hard. Take care.”
“Yes, thank you…”
The reply was weak and drained. It almost made me feel sorry for him. Let’s both pray no strange problems arise.
Muttering this in my mind, I stepped into Namsan Gate. The moment I entered, the climate and atmosphere changed.
It felt like stepping into a different dimension.
The once blue sky turned gloomy, and the previously clear air thickened as if a yellow dust storm had rolled in. Although the Namsan Gate ranked low because its monsters were weak, its air pollution was worse than other gates, making hunters reluctant to come here.
That was why I chose this place. Fewer hunters meant it’d be easier for those watching me to move. If anyone was watching, that is.
“Skill window.”
Passing by occasional hunters and dismantlers, I opened my skill window. Alongside the bluish pane, new skills I had recently acquired appeared instantly. My goal was to identify those hunting me, but I also planned to check out the new skills while I was at it.
[Skill Window]
[World Tree Keeper (S-rank) – The first human to nurture the World Tree, earning the Keeper qualification.]
[Transforms mana nature into that of the World Tree, gaining favor from other races and immunity to all negative energy and mental attacks.]
[Also increases health and mana regeneration speed, and enhances physical abilities when using World Tree-related items.]
[World Tree Summon (S-rank) – Summons the World Tree to turn a certain area into its domain.]
[Nullifies all negative energy and mental attacks regardless of friend or foe.]
[Also increases health and mana regeneration for all people.]
[Currently cannot be activated due to insufficient unlock conditions.]
[Warm Touch (A-rank) – The World Tree’s mana warmly envelops the finger.]
[By tapping the finger, mana can be transferred to a sprout or used to harm enemies.]
[Mana can only be gathered as much as the sprout can accept at once.]
[World Tree Swing (A-rank) – Imbues weapons with the World Tree’s mana for attack.]
[The more mana gathered, the stronger the attack.]
[Current mana capacity equals ten uses of Warm Touch.]
[Dance of the World Tree (A-rank) – The mana-formed World Tree sprout (currently in sprout form) dances, provoking hostile entities.]
[Lasts for one minute.]
The first skill that caught my eye was ‘World Tree Keeper.’ Thanks to this skill, I was immune to all poisons. I was feeling that effect keenly now.
Normally, the polluted air of Namsan Gate would have made breathing difficult. Without a mask, I wouldn’t have been able to breathe properly. But the skill purified the polluted air automatically as I inhaled.
“It seems the World Tree Summon skill is nice too…”
But I couldn’t use it yet. Checking ‘World Tree Summon’ showed:
[Currently cannot be activated due to insufficient unlock conditions.]
Even though it was an S-rank skill, it was useless if I couldn’t activate it. That’s why I planned to test the lower-ranked skills first.
Though they were A-rank skills—one tier below S-rank—I didn’t feel any disappointment. A-rank skills always had incredible efficiency.
For example, ‘F-rank spinning’ and ‘A-rank spinning’ both involved drawing thread from objects, but the results were worlds apart, so they were treated as different skills.
A-rank spinning could even extract thread from gold and handled special materials. Many people spent their whole lives honing just one A-rank skill.
Having three such skills newly acquired, how could I feel anything less than satisfied?
“Oh.”
Not far from the village, I spotted prey to test my skills on. It was one of the humanoid monsters commonly found in E-rank gates—the Red Gnoll. These hyena-headed creatures had wide ears and excellent hearing.
I stopped approaching and observed. There were four Gnolls clustered together, greedily eating something. Fortunately, their prey was not a human but a wild animal.
I decided to use the skill whose name felt most familiar among the new ones.
“Warm Touch.”
As soon as I activated the skill, mana warmly wrapped around my finger. I had expected the mana to cover the entire finger, but it only enveloped my right index finger.
“Why the index finger…?”
Maybe it was the finger I tapped most often on my smartphone screen? I thought I tapped a lot with my thumb too, but apparently more with the index.
Enough thinking. I decided to hunt the Gnolls. Keeping Warm Touch active, I carefully approached the Gnolls feasting on the wild animal.
“Come!”
“Come, come!”
But before I could get close, the Gnolls noticed me. With their keen hearing, they quickly sensed my presence and found me as they scanned the area. One of them, its muzzle dripping red blood, licked its lips and charged at me with a wooden club raised.
It was ridiculous.
“Look at these guys.”
They were viewing me as prey. Their cluelessness was almost comical. The Gnolls had always been easy monsters to hunt even without using skills when I was active.
But now, after eating the World Tree fruit, my body was far better than before. Not only that, but the World Tree had grown inside my smartphone, granting me A-rank skills.
Now, the Gnolls weren’t even prey—they were just subjects for testing my new skills. It was absurd that they thought of me as a meal. I had to kill them quickly to shatter that delusion.
“Come, come!”
“Grrr, grr!”
The Gnolls soon reached me. Being low-rank monsters, they didn’t try to surround me but immediately swung their wooden clubs. Dodging the clubs, I extended my right index finger toward the Gnoll right in front of me.
Since it was swinging a large weapon, it was off balance and sure to fall if I nudged its shoulder.
Bang!
… Huh?
But my finger didn’t push the Gnoll away as expected. When it touched its left shoulder, a loud explosion sounded as if a bomb had gone off. A large hole was torn in its left shoulder, and its left arm dropped limply to the ground.
The Gnoll, with half its torso blown apart, sprayed blood and collapsed. Startled, I forgot about the remaining Gnolls and stared at my finger. Even after that attack, mana still wrapped around it.
“What the—”
Bang!
A hit sound cut me off. Another Gnoll swung its club, striking my forehead. A sharp pain flared briefly before vanishing.
Just like when I faced Jeon Myunghwan, the injured area healed instantly. Thanks to the World Tree fruit I ate, my regeneration was incredible. And now it had improved even further.
Because the World Tree Keeper skill further increased my health and mana regeneration rates. I came alone because I was confident I wouldn’t die, even if the opponent wasn’t a Red Gnoll but someone else.
“Grrr…?”
“Surprised? Me too.”
I said as I jabbed my finger at the Gnoll swinging its club. Another bang! The sound of an explosion echoed again. Like the earlier Gnoll’s shoulder, this Gnoll’s head disappeared.
Its body, headless, collapsed on the dirt, still clutching the wooden club tightly.
“Grr! Grrr!”
By now, even the foolish Gnolls seemed to realize I wasn’t prey or a normal target. Knowing I was the one who’d kill them, the remaining two began to retreat.
I hadn’t finished testing all my skills yet. If they tried to flee, I’d use one of them. The perfect skill for this moment was ‘Dance of the World Tree.’
“Dance of the World Tree!”
I activated the skill, and the image of the World Tree began to appear in midair. It was the sprout form I had seen on my smartphone screen.
The mana-formed sprout slowly shook its stem. As the stem swayed, the leaves naturally fluttered along.
“…….”
“… Come?”
Well, it looked more like a violent thrashing than a dance. A fierce writhing stretching from the base of the stem to the tips of the leaves.
Watching it, I could only feel ridiculousness. No wonder even the Gnolls made surprised noises. I wondered if such a thing could really provoke enemies.
That thought and worry began filling my mind, but—
“Grr! Grrr!”
“Grrr, grr!”
Contrary to my concerns, the effect of the Dance of the World Tree was remarkable. The startled Gnolls took a step forward and charged at the image. Barking loudly as if shouting to destroy the sprout, they wildly swung their clubs.
I had no idea what caused this reaction. The sprout’s writhing alone somehow excited the Gnolls.
“Hmm… as long as it works, that’s enough.”
Since it wasn’t ineffective, I didn’t mind. Now that the Gnolls were distracted, frantically swinging clubs at the sprout, it was the perfect moment.
The skill lasted one minute, so I decided to test the ‘World Tree Swing’ skill I hadn’t tried yet. I picked up the wooden club of the first Gnoll I had killed and started gathering mana.
World Tree Swing allowed me to control how much mana to infuse into a weapon—the more mana, the stronger the attack. The maximum mana I could gather was equal to ten uses of Warm Touch. But overcharging against Gnolls seemed wasteful, so I infused just once.
Feeling the faint blue mana wrap the wooden club, I approached the two remaining Gnolls. I was curious how powerful it would be.
“World Tree Swing.”
I activated the skill on the Gnolls still wildly swinging their clubs at the sprout. The horizontally swung club scattered blue mana through the air and struck the left Gnoll’s torso.
It then hit the torso of the Gnoll on the right.
“…!”
No.
The word ‘hit’ wasn’t accurate. Though I swung a wooden club, the Gnolls were sliced in two as if struck by a sword. Not only that.
The club also cut down trees behind them, even those it hadn’t touched directly.
Thud, thud!
I stared in shock at the falling trees.
“Just one use of Warm Touch mana and it does this much?”
World Tree Swing could gather mana equal to ten uses of Warm Touch. I wondered what would happen if I gathered the maximum amount…
As that thought crept in, I heard footsteps not far away.
“…….”
Someone was definitely approaching.