[Singah]
- Visualizes the target’s mana numerically.
- Displays the target’s rank as characters.
- Reveals whether there is a magic stone in the target’s heart.
- Penetrates to show the target’s location.
- Applicable range: Single target / 50 meters, Area effect / 20 meters
- Cooldown time: 1 minute
This was the explanation of the newly acquired Mystic Skill, Heart’s Eye.
At a glance, it was clear that this Heart’s Eye was an upgraded version of the previous Mystic Skill, Penetration Eye.
Mana ability numerical display.
Rank displayed as characters.
Presence or absence of a magic stone indicated, plus location penetration.
‘So, could the Mystic Skill be awakened by absorbing magic stones?’
Such a thought briefly crossed his mind, but he quickly shook his head.
If that were possible, countless hunters who had absorbed magic stones until now would have known this fact already.
Then there were only two plausible deductions.
First, when absorbing a magic stone extracted from a human body, only then could one awaken a Mystic Skill similar to what that person possessed in life.
Second, with a high probability, only Kim Seo-jun himself could absorb a human’s magic stone and awaken a Mystic Skill similar to the one that person held.
It was truly astonishing and bewildering.
Kim Seo-jun immediately wanted to test the effect of the Mystic Skill.
He targeted himself and activated the Heart’s Eye Mystic Skill. His eyes gleamed golden.
Jiiing—
He heard a strange pulsating sound inside his head.
[95/72/ Guardian]
A short string of characters appeared in front of his eyes, similar to an information window.
A single white dot shimmered over his heart.
‘So, it even shows internal mana exactly… but what is Guardian?’
Considering the explanation of Heart’s Eye, Guardian seemed to mean ‘Rank.’
Come to think of it, this skill had already allowed him to identify a monster’s special class based on the color that hovered around its body.
Apparently, Heart’s Eye’s rank showed that information directly in text form.
I have a magic stone in my body too.
That white dot over his chest meant the presence of a magic stone.
Right now, Kim Seo-jun’s mana was at 95. He had quietly reached Rank 0.
Thinking that if he died, a green magic stone would emerge from his heart made him feel like some kind of freak.
‘It must show the same for other hunters, right?’
He regretted not having another hunter nearby to test on directly.
But then something strange happened.
When he looked away from his body, the information disappeared smoothly, but when he looked back, it popped up again like a flag.
Looking away made it vanish; looking back made it appear.
He confirmed this multiple times, and it was always the same.
However, after ten minutes, the information no longer appeared.
“I see. Once you activate Heart’s Eye, you can continuously view information for ten minutes.”
This was quite a useful effect.
Curious, Kim Seo-jun tried activating Heart’s Eye on the Arondite.
Since Arondite was also infused with mana, he wondered if its mana value would appear.
When Heart’s Eye activated, a faint wave emanated toward the Arondite.
It was a transparent wave only Kim Seo-jun could see.
And information appeared before his eyes.
[97/ Normal]
Above the Arondite lying beside the campfire, letters appeared like a hologram.
Simple but very intuitive, making it easy to understand.
It says mana is 97… if used for a long time, the infused mana seems to decrease.
The Arondite’s weapon rank was Grade 8.
That meant its original mana must have exceeded 100.
But since it now showed 97, it meant its mana had decreased.
‘Normal rank means just basic.’
Normal rank meant common when classifying monster types.
Still, Arondite was a very fine weapon.
A mana 97 weapon, Arondite.
Since it was a weapon his father treasured, its value was significant just for that reason alone.
Kim Seo-jun left Arondite as it was, and took out other artifacts from his spatial pouch.
Whenever the cooldown passed, he checked the mana values with Heart’s Eye.
He could see the mana values of all artifacts using Heart’s Eye.
The artifact with the highest mana currently in his possession was a feather named Rare Hope.
Its mana value was an impressive 364.
That corresponded to Grade S, and its rank showed as Unique.
There was another artifact with S grade and Unique rank — the Cup of Recovery.
This small cup possessed a mana value of 310, making it as high-grade as the feather.
Kim Seo-jun memorized the mana values and ranks of the artifacts in his mind.
Now, let’s rest a bit.
Perhaps from being too surprised just moments ago, he felt mentally exhausted.
For him, rest was a form of energy cultivation.
He immediately sat cross-legged beside the campfire, opening the Solar Skill to begin energy cultivation.
Maybe because he was in the natural forest receiving clear energy, Kim Seo-jun lost track of time and maintained the state until morning came.
“Ah… morning.”
Opening his eyes, Kim Seo-jun smiled upon realizing daylight had arrived.
Looking at the time, it was 7 a.m.
He had done energy cultivation for roughly ten hours.
I wonder if my internal energy increased?
Lowering his hand to check, he confirmed his internal energy value had risen from 72 to 75.
My internal energy rose by 3 in just one night…
He felt a little worried if growing this fast was really okay.
Kim Seo-jun packed his belongings.
He placed all important items in the spatial pouch and neatly packed his sleeping bag and camping gear on his back.
Though the campfire was already out, he covered the ashes to erase any sign of camping for later.
Kim Seo-jun then left Sumok Park and slowly walked toward the city.
*****
9:40 a.m.
Arriving home, Kim Seo-jun unlocked the door with his secret code and entered.
“Son, you’re back? Wash your hands quickly and come eat.”
Baek Yeon-ji greeted him and immediately headed to the kitchen.
His father was also in the living room.
His once chubby figure was almost gone as he watched the news.
“How’s the world turning… Have you heard anything?”
The news his father was watching was about the sibling murder case near Rift No. 57.
“Do you know anyone involved?”
Since Shin Woo-jin’s interview repeatedly aired on the news, his father might recognize him.
“Of course. With the field work going on so long, I don’t really know which hunters are still active these days.”
Kim Ju-hyuk didn’t recognize Shin Woo-jin.
“That hunter being interviewed now—early thirties, right? Then maybe you saw him in the field sometime.”
“Now that you mention it, I think I’m familiar with the name Shin Woo-jin…”
His father seemed to ponder deeply but shook his head.
“Maybe my memory isn’t as good as before. I’m not sure. But why are you just standing there? Go eat.”
“Y-Yes.”
Feeling awkward, Kim Seo-jun dropped off his bag in the room and headed to the bathroom.
He had originally planned to give the green magic stone to his father right away, but decided to postpone it for a few days.
Suddenly pulling out the magic stone now would definitely raise suspicions.
After washing his hands and face, he ate the meal prepared by Baek Yeon-ji, feeling an unparalleled happiness.
Having a place to return to.
Knowing there were people to welcome him back stirred deep emotion within Kim Seo-jun.
Just then, as he was about to enter his room, a message appeared on his phone.
Hunter Shin Woo-jin?
Before passing through the rift, they had exchanged contact info, so the number was saved.
[Student Kim Seo-jun. If you’re free, can we meet this evening?]
Shin Woo-jin waited a full day and only contacted him on Sunday.
Kim Seo-jun thought it was fortunate since he had business to discuss with him anyway.
[Beam at 6. There might be watching eyes, so be careful.]
Kim Seo-jun chose the meeting place himself.
He sent a message that he would drive and leave the back door open, so Shin Woo-jin could get in on his own.
Shin Woo-jin readily agreed.
Hunter Shin Woo-jin is just the right person to handle the Golden Stone and artifacts.
What Kim Seo-jun wanted to entrust Shin Woo-jin with was selling the Golden Stone and artifacts.
He felt uneasy about taking such matters on himself as a student.
But with Shin Woo-jin, it would be handled without suspicion.
Entering his room, Kim Seo-jun emptied his backpack, placing the Golden Stone and six low-importance artifacts inside.
Important artifacts were stored separately in the spatial pouch.
Now, let’s rest a bit.
Having his parents’ strong support made his heart very calm.
So, he decided to sleep until the evening meeting.
He lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling for a moment before closing his eyes naturally.
*****
5 p.m.
He told his parents he was meeting a friend briefly, then headed to the meeting spot.
It was a place reachable within 40 minutes by subway from near his home, giving him plenty of time.
The meeting spot was in front of a convenience store on a busy street.
Waiting in an alley next to the store, Kim Seo-jun spotted the 84!/ vehicle briefly stop on the street six minutes before the appointment.
That’s the car.
Matching the vehicle number Shin Woo-jin had given, Kim Seo-jun quickly slipped deeper into the alley and put on a cloaking mask on his face.
Now transparent, he reemerged onto the road.
Just then, Shin Woo-jin came out of the convenience store buying drinks and returned to the car.
He opened the rear door to put his items in, then stood around pretending to be on a phone call.
Taking advantage of the moment, Kim Seo-jun sneaked into the car while invisible.
After a moment, Shin Woo-jin got back into the driver’s seat and started driving as if nothing had happened.
“You’re good at acting.”
A sudden voice came from the back seat, startling Shin Woo-jin.
“Ah, you scared me… Is that really Tang? Did you get in when I opened the door earlier?”
Kim Seo-jun removed the cloaking mask and grinned.
“Good to see you again.”
“Yeah. I’m glad to see your face again too. By the way, you have quite a strange assortment of artifacts.”
“Just lucky, I guess. By the way, this car—is it safe?”
“Safe? Oh, yes. The windows have special coatings, so no one outside can see inside. Security for hunter vehicles is strict.”
“That’s a relief.”
Kim Seo-jun looked around the surprisingly spacious car, then took two drinks out of paper bags.
He opened one and handed it to Shin Woo-jin.
“First, let’s head to the hunter’s destination. We’ll have plenty of time to talk along the way.”
The reason for his caution was that someone might be watching Shin Woo-jin on behalf of Lee Hyun-mo and Lee Han-su, the two brothers.
“That sounds good. But, Kim Seo-jun, are you really okay?”
Shin Woo-jin was worried about him.
Knowing how deeply Kim Seo-jun was involved in the brothers’ deaths, he wondered if the young man had been seriously shocked.
He didn’t think Kim Seo-jun killed the brothers himself.
Most likely, they had manipulated the situation using artifacts to force the brothers into killing each other.
Killing monsters and killing humans were completely different matters.
No matter how much artifacts were involved, since Kim Seo-jun was the one who orchestrated it, it must have been mentally difficult.
Kim Seo-jun appreciated Shin Woo-jin’s concern.
“They were scum who deserved to die. It’s divine punishment. I’m fine, so don’t worry.”
“I feel sorry for putting all this burden on you. I should’ve stepped up.”
“Each of us had our own duties. Under those circumstances, it was natural for me to chase after those two.”
“That’s true… sigh.”
Shin Woo-jin had always felt uneasy about sending Kim Seo-jun to deal with Lee Hyun-mo and Lee Han-su.
Originally, he wanted to follow up personally, but with the seizure forces near the rift, drawing their attention away and handing over the bodies of the brothers to Bruuk had to be done by Shin Woo-jin.
He had no choice.
“Well, as long as the outcome was good.”
“Right. But… did you find out who was backing those two?”
Shin Woo-jin was very curious about the brothers’ backers.
If left unchecked, similar incidents might occur again, so he wanted to investigate thoroughly and root out the source.
But Kim Seo-jun thought he had no duty to track down and eliminate their backers, so he didn’t pursue it and just killed them.
“I don’t know who the backers are. But… there’s a lead we can find.”
Kim Seo-jun decided to leave the investigation to Shin Woo-jin.
“A lead?”
“Yes. I’ll give you a number. It’s a burner phone, but it belongs to the scavenger who kidnapped Hunter Park Jae-hong’s family. If you investigate well, you’ll find information. Lee Han-su called that scavenger Kei.”
“Scavenger Kei? That bastard Lee Han-su even hired a scavenger?”
Shin Woo-jin slammed the steering wheel in anger.
Kim Seo-jun waited until he calmed down and then sent him a phone number.
It was the number Lee Han-su had used to contact the scavenger who kidnapped Park Jae-hong’s family.
Fortunately, he had remembered the number and could share it with Shin Woo-jin.
“Try tracking accounts linked to Lee Hyun-mo and Lee Han-su as well. It looks like a lot of money changed hands. Following the money trail should lead to some clues.”
“That makes sense. Thanks for everything. It’s because of you that Jae-hong’s family was safe.”
Shin Woo-jin had heard that Park Jae-hong’s family had returned home safely last night, and he knew Kim Seo-jun was responsible.
“Well, it was my duty.”
Kim Seo-jun’s rescue wasn’t out of guilt for turning Park Jae-hong into a monster, but his own belief that innocent families shouldn’t become victims.
“Now, what will you do?”
“What else? I’ll just go back to being an ordinary Hunter Academy student.”
“If you ever need help, contact me anytime.”
Shin Woo-jin owed his life to Kim Ju-hyuk and now to his son Kim Seo-jun.
Being a trustworthy ally, Shin Woo-jin wanted to repay them both someday.
“Then, I have a favor to ask.”
“Oh? Not just one? Two, three would be fine.”
When Shin Woo-jin happily said favor, Kim Seo-jun chuckled softly.
“Hunter Shin Woo-jin, can you sell some goods for me as well?”