I Just Subscribed and It’s the Best Hunter of All Time - Chapter 248

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#Chapter 248
I had climbed through countless floors. And traversed countless worlds along the way.
Jung Han-sung wondered if this floor might be yet another one of those worlds.
“Hmm.”
But it wasn’t.
The place I had arrived at was unfamiliar terrain.
A land of deep crimson hue. And in the distance, I could see massive stone pillars floating gently in the air.
Turning my gaze to the opposite side, both the sun and moon hung simultaneously in the sky. And beside them, a mountain range rose so high it nearly touched the sun.
A strange and mystical place.
Yet somehow, gazing upon it stirred a sense of familiarity.
‘That time….’
Once before, I had attempted to return to my Territory but ended up in an unfamiliar location instead.
There, I had received a certain proposal. I had refused it. This place carried a similar resonance to that one.
The moment that thought crossed my mind.
[Objective: Enter the Pantheon]
[Time Limit: None]
The objective for this floor materialized before my eyes.
Jung Han-sung’s eyes narrowed upon seeing it.
‘The Pantheon?’
Why would it suddenly appear here of all places?
The Pantheon should certainly be located in the Neutral Zone.
“Onyx?”
―What is the matter, Master?
I explained the floor’s objective to Onyx.
Upon hearing my explanation, Onyx opened his mouth to speak.
―Strictly speaking, the Pantheon in the Neutral Zone cannot be called the true Pantheon.
“What do you mean by that?”
―The Pantheon does not refer to any specific building. It is a space where countless transcendents can intersect.
Onyx spoke in a measured tone.
―Therefore, the Pantheons in the Neutral Zone are merely projections. They cannot be called its true essence.
“…So you’re saying the true Pantheon exists here?”
―Did I not say so? The Pantheon is not something like a specific building. There is only its essence and its projections.
“What are you talking about?”
―Sigh, to put it simply. There likely isn’t a ‘true’ Pantheon in the way you imagine here. But given that an objective has been assigned, there must be a way to approach it.
The answer still felt frustratingly vague.
But rather than pressing Onyx further, I furrowed my brow and then nodded.
“I think I grasp the general idea, though.”
The Pantheon does not exist in any specific location. What bears the name Pantheon are merely projections of its essence.
Therefore, one need not necessarily approach the Pantheon through its projections alone.
If I could only discover a way to contact the essence itself, I could approach it anytime, anywhere.
“The issue is the approach itself.”
―For what it’s worth, I don’t know either. I might have known in the past, but I lost those memories as I declined.
Unfortunately, Onyx wasn’t much help either.
But Jung Han-sung didn’t blame Onyx for it.
How many times had he been given difficult objectives? And no matter how difficult, he’d never been given a goal with zero chance of success.
“For now, let’s just explore around.”
So he decided to scout the surroundings as he usually did.
It was far more productive than agonizing over the problem without any clues.
“Still, this floor is relatively peaceful.”
―That’s true. The recent floors have been absolutely brutal with hardship after hardship.
Onyx answered, licking his lips.
His words were accurate.
As they approached the 200th Floor, the difficulty increased exponentially.
Even in simple hunting missions, one couldn’t afford to let their guard down.
The enemies that appeared were that troublesome and dangerous.
―And what’s even more impressive is that the master barely used his original abilities even in such situations.
“Subscription ability?”
―Yes.
“What’s that about?”
This too was what Onyx meant.
Recently, Jung Han-sung had barely used his subscription tickets. And he’d explained the reason simply enough.
“I’m saving them on purpose. For when I hit a wall.”
There was also the purpose of honing himself more sharply.
The powers Jung Han-sung possessed were things that would earn anyone the title of genius if they had just one.
He held multiple such powers, and because of that, he could climb The Tower more easily than others.
“But that doesn’t mean I’ve given my absolute best to each and every one of them.”
―Still, having more abilities isn’t a bad thing, is it?
“Of course not. That’s why I said it—I’m saving them.”
It’s not like he’d completely sealed his abilities for training or anything like that.
He was simply saving them.
“By saving them like this, I’ve now accumulated enough to subscribe to several quite powerful Channels multiple times.”
Of course, that didn’t mean he intended to use those saved tickets right now.
He’d use them on the 199th Floor.
Knowing that the difficulty there was on an entirely different dimension, he’d need to pour everything he had into it.
―Well, the master will judge for himself.
Onyx simply said that instead of nagging further.
Jung Han-sung also chuckled and nodded in agreement.
So he continued walking and walking. But the scenery around him barely changed.
At most, the stone pillars floating in the sky had drawn a bit closer.
Yet even with considerable distance remaining, Jung Han-sung could tell. Those stone pillars had little connection to the Pantheon.
‘It doesn’t seem like I’m just looking for something visible.’
Even without Onyx saying it, I felt the same way.
There was no way I’d been given such an easy objective.
“Hmm.”
And so, after careful deliberation, I made my decision.
“All right. Then let me use what I’ve been saving.”
It was a swift choice.
If this were a battle where I had to stake my life, I would simply fight with everything I had.
But without clues like now, the first priority was to obtain any lead at all.
I consumed a single ticket.
[You have subscribed to Cassandra’s Lucid Intuition Channel]
[Subscription Duration: 1 hour]
I had subscribed to the highest-tier channel among all of Cassandra’s offerings.
In that instant, my senses expanded dramatically.
The channels I had subscribed to before merely granted me a sense of something.
Going there would be good. That place feels ominous. That direction feels fine.
Something like that.
But now it felt as though a third eye I never possessed had suddenly opened.
“Hmm.”
I paused for a moment and surveyed the world with this new vision. My eyes narrowed.
‘What kind of space is this?’
On one side of my field of view, a vast and rugged world remained visible.
But on the other side, a Dark Dungeon Space stretched endlessly. As if everything I saw before my eyes was false.
‘No, it’s different from false.’
This wasn’t some crude illusion or anything like that. Rather, how should I put it…
‘Overlapping?’
The Red Earth, stone pillars, sun and moon, and mountain ranges I saw before my eyes were undoubtedly real.
But above them, or beneath them.
Another layer of space was layered on top.
Like two sheets of paper placed on top of each other. And there was one more important thing.
‘The Pantheon is over there.’
Not in this Red Earth world where I stood.
The Pantheon existed somewhere in that Black Space. Once I realized that, other truths naturally came to mind.
‘The Essence Realm.’
Perhaps this space alone wasn’t special. Essence dwells in all places.
Essence overlapping with reality exists everywhere, but until now I simply couldn’t perceive it.
The reason I could recognize it so clearly in this moment was probably thanks to the intuition I had subscribed to.
‘Perhaps using this ability at any random time wouldn’t have made this possible.’
My current purpose was to find the essence of the Pantheon, so my intuition simply aided me in that.
“Phew.”
Jung Han-sung exhaled deeply and blinked. His mind felt hazy from merely glimpsing the Essence Realm for a moment.
It felt as though I had stolen a glance at something forbidden.
Yet I couldn’t turn away. To enter the Pantheon, I had to walk across it.
Steadying my breathing with deliberate inhales and exhales, I moved forward with caution.
My feet still touched the Red Earth, but I kept my vision fixed solely on the Essence Realm.
Every so often, my toes caught on stones or I stumbled when failing to notice steep inclines.
Yet I kept my gaze unwavering upon the Essence Realm.
And then, at some point—
Whoosh―.
My body passed through something like an impossibly thin membrane.
I sensed it instinctively.
That I had crossed from reality into the world of the Essence Realm.
But nothing changed. I simply continued walking, just as before.
However, the outside world underwent a subtle transformation.
When I had been entirely anchored to reality, my movements followed its laws.
A single step forward meant advancing exactly that distance—but now it was entirely different.
Whoosh―.
With one step, the scenery around me shifted dramatically.
And with the next step, it shifted again.
To an observer, it would appear as though I were teleporting in rapid succession.
Yet the only thing depleted in this process was my mental fortitude.
This was neither magic nor a skill.
Simply by walking along the Essence Realm, reality warped to accommodate it.
Whoosh―.
After several more steps, I had reached the summit of the Red Mountain range.
Even at full sprint, it would have taken at least an hour—yet I arrived in mere footsteps.
I wasn’t astonished by this. Truthfully, I had no mental capacity to be.
‘That is—’
For an even more astounding sight unfolded before my eyes.
A colossal gate stood directly ahead.
Or rather, upon closer inspection, it resembled a low window, or perhaps multiple stone pillars arranged in a row.
With each blink, its form shifted countless times.
The Pantheon’s Essence is where transcendents intersect. Its appearance shifts according to the heart of the beholder.
For it is merely an outer shell, disconnected from the Essence itself.
‘The Pantheon.’
Thus I spoke its name aloud and imagined anew.
A vast Vacant Lot atop brightly shining, towering Stairs.
And as I blinked, the landscape I envisioned materialized before me.
Tap.
And I began to ascend the Staircase.
―Watch out! There’s nothing there!
Onyx cried out in alarm at that.
But my body ascended into the empty air without any problem. To Onyx’s eyes, I appeared to be standing in the middle of a sky with nothing beneath me.
Only I had entered the Essence Realm—Onyx had not.
Thud―.
But I ignored it and continued climbing the Staircase. Then Onyx, quick to catch on, finally closed his mouth.
And so, when I finally climbed all the steps and arrived at the wide Vacant Lot above.
A message appeared before my eyes.
A message confirming the completion of the 193rd Floor. And various rewards.
But instead of looking at it, I gazed blankly at the Pantheon.
More precisely, at the countless stars floating above the Pantheon.
I had long known that each one of those was the divine essence of a Transcendent.
But in this moment, I came to understand in my heart exactly what that meant.
‘Divine essence.’
They were those who had earned the right to anchor themselves in the Essence Realm.
Transcendence was precisely that.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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