I Just Subscribed and It’s the Best Hunter of All Time - Chapter 97

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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 97.
Thievery.
At first glance, this channel seemed far removed from what I had been searching for.
―Thievery? Is there really a reason to subscribe to something like that?
Onyx expressed his bewilderment as well.
But Jung Han-sung felt an inexplicable pull, so I examined the channel’s detailed description, and soon let out a small exclamation of admiration.
“It’s not just simple thievery, though.”
―What, is it some kind of extraordinary thievery?
“No. It’s not a channel that only deals with stealing objects and such.”
Jung Han-sung read through the description again and explained it to Onyx.
“Infiltration methods, trap detection and disarming, navigation, stealth techniques, building structure analysis, and so on. The range of topics covered is incredibly broad.”
―Hmm. Those are certainly all things necessary for thievery.
“That’s true.”
To commit theft, one would naturally need to remain undetected and slip in unnoticed, become intimately familiar with a building’s layout, and avoid triggering any traps.
So it made sense that the channel’s content would cover such a wide range.
“Since this is an introductory channel, it covers everything broadly, and you’d need to subscribe to individual advanced channels to learn deeper techniques. But for now, it doesn’t seem like a bad way to learn the fundamentals overall.”
―Setting aside the word ‘thievery’ itself, these do seem to be abilities my master would need.
“Right?”
Jung Han-sung, already half-convinced, examined the channel a bit more before making a decision.
“Alright. I’ll go with this.”
Once the decision was made, everything proceeded swiftly.
A Silver Ticket—what had previously been a Gold Ticket—I purchased one.
And with it, I immediately subscribed to the channel.
[You have subscribed to the Shadowless Divine Thief’s Grand Thievery using a Silver Ticket]
[This subscription is valid for 7 days]
“Excellent.”
Jung Han-sung smiled with satisfaction upon seeing the subscription period.
This time, my goal was to internalize the ability from the beginning and make it my own, so the longer the subscription period, the better.
“A week should be enough to master at least one thing.”
With that thought, Jung Han-sung cleared the message and looked ahead.
―One week? You intend to master my secret arts in that time?
And I was momentarily startled.
An old man had appeared before me without the slightest warning.
The old man had an utterly ordinary appearance and wore robes similar in style to those the Heavenly Demon had worn.
“Are you… the Shadowless Divine Thief?”
―That’s right. I am the Shadowless Divine Thief.
The old man’s narrow, elongated eyes swept over Jung Han-sung from head to toe before he spoke again.
―You seem far removed from the art of thievery.
“Ah, yes. I’ve never attempted it before. However, I do have experience infiltrating places and such.”
Jung Han-sung spoke while recalling his experiences in the Cyberpunk World.
However, the Shadowless Divine Thief still spoke again, his eyes narrowed to slits.
―Infiltration. That’s merely a part of thievery. You don’t seem particularly eager to steal, do you?
“Yes. What I wish to master are things like infiltration, trap mechanisms, and structural analysis of buildings.”
Since there was no reason to hide it, Jung Han-sung answered confidently.
―Hmm.
The Shadowless Divine Thief’s eyes narrowed even further at Jung Han-sung’s words.
Jung Han-sung, observing the Shadowless Divine Thief, opened his mouth.
“But are you perhaps teaching me directly?”
―Huh? No? Why would I?
“Well, you’ve appeared like this in person.”
Whenever I had subscribed to a channel before, the channel owner only appeared when directly teaching something.
So I wondered if this channel followed the same format.
However, the Shadowless Divine Thief shook his head.
―I just came out of curiosity.
“Out of curiosity?”
―Yes. Based on your appearance alone, you don’t seem particularly connected to thievery or anything like that, yet strangely, it seems you’d learn things quite well.
At those words, Jung Han-sung recalled his compatibility rating with the Shadowless Divine Thief’s channel.
‘Was it 89%?’
That was quite high. Truly incompatible channels sometimes showed ratings like 3% or 4%.
Reflecting on his subscription experience thus far, an 89% rating meant you already possessed considerable talent in that field.
―Hmm. Based on talent alone, you’re a born thief, but….
…Was that a compliment?
While Jung Han-sung was bewildered, the Shadowless Divine Thief suddenly blurted out.
―Wait, come closer so I can examine you properly.
“Yes.”
Jung Han-sung walked forward and stood before the Shadowless Divine Thief.
Then the Shadowless Divine Thief scrutinized Jung Han-sung with a serious and piercing gaze, unlike before.
But after examining him for a while.
The Shadowless Divine Thief suddenly flinched in surprise and stepped backward.
―Wait, you. Have you already learned martial arts?
“Huh? Oh, yes. But what about it?”
―…The Heavenly Demon’s martial arts?
“Yes. How did you recognize it so quickly?”
The Shadowless Divine Thief’s wrinkled face grew pale for a moment.
―What is your relationship with the Heavenly Demon?
“Well, there’s nothing much to speak of. I simply learned his martial arts.”
―Directly?
“Yes. He taught me directly.”
At those words, the Shadowless Divine Thief’s eyes rolled about. Then he let out a small cough and opened his mouth.
―Very well. You are certainly qualified to receive my teachings. I understand. I shall take my leave now.
“What? All of a sudden?”
―I’ve examined you thoroughly enough. Ah, don’t mention me to the Heavenly Demon.
The Shadowless Divine Thief spoke those words before hastily turning his back, vanishing like smoke before Jung Han-sung could even reach out to stop him.
“What was that about?”
Jung Han-sung scratched his chin at the Shadowless Divine Thief’s abrupt departure.
But then.
Strange knowledge began flowing into my mind—the knowledge of the Shadowless Divine Thief himself.
“Mm.”
As the knowledge poured in, I leaned against the wall and pressed my temples firmly, enduring the characteristic headache that accompanied such transfers.
After approximately five minutes, the headache subsided.
“Phew. This knowledge is far more vast than I expected.”
From the descriptions alone, I could sense the scope was quite broad, but this exceeded my initial assessment.
It was knowledge comprehensive enough to transform even a complete novice into a professional thief.
At that moment, Onyx spoke up.
―It seems there’s some kind of connection between that Shadowless Divine Thief and the Heavenly Demon, both transcendents.
“That’s exactly what it looked like.”
At first, he seemed incredibly meticulous, the type who would nitpick at the slightest issue, but the moment the Heavenly Demon was mentioned, his entire demeanor changed.
Witnessing that transformation right before my eyes, it would be strange not to pick up on it.
Jung Han-sung stroked his chin thoughtfully.
‘This might be useful information to remember for later.’
I had a feeling.
A feeling that my connection with the Shadowless Divine Thief wouldn’t end here.
“Alright. I can test this ability when I climb the next floor.”
Normally, after subscribing to a channel, I’d immediately challenge the next floor, but now I had one more task remaining.
“Now I need to test the puppet art.”
Specifically, I needed to try using the puppet art I’d obtained as a trial reward.
―Can that puppet art be applied to your existing undead as well?
“Yes. The moment I acquired it, I understood it completely. But I’m not planning to apply it to all my undead right away.”
I answered Onyx while summoning one of my undead.
“First, I should experiment on an undead that’s had almost no processing done to it.”
The undead I summoned was none other than Akasha.
Akasha was an undead I’d obtained from a floor resembling the Cyberpunk World.
Given its unique existing abilities and how it differed from my other undead, I hadn’t found a practical use for it yet.
“Fatalis’s puppet art divides into two categories: creating puppets and controlling them.”
―Are those two separate?
“Yes, they’re distinct. The control aspect can be used even on puppets I didn’t create myself. Though using it on others is quite challenging, of course.”
If I mastered that aspect, it would likely prove invaluable in combat.
But what I intended to test now was the former.
“Right now, I want to experiment with creating puppets, but the drawback is that they’re more passive than my existing undead.”
―Passive?
“Right. Even with undead possessing strong willpower, once puppet mastery is applied, they can’t make autonomous judgments and act like Karon or Araktar.”
―Then wouldn’t that make it inferior to necromancy?
“But it has its advantages.”
I continued speaking while surveying Akasha.
“They can exert almost all of their previous abilities.”
―Ah, I see. The stronger the being was in life, the more worthwhile it is to turn them into a puppet.
“Exactly.”
That was the core essence of Fatalis’s puppet mastery.
“But there’s something that bothers me about it.”
However, after examining the knowledge of puppet mastery, I felt a slight dissatisfaction.
No matter what, completely erasing the existing consciousness and turning them into a puppet that moves solely by command seemed somewhat inefficient.
“So I thought I’d try using only some of the puppet mastery’s abilities.”
―…Is that even possible? It doesn’t seem like it would be easy.
“I’ll just try it. It doesn’t seem that difficult, honestly.”
The puppet mastery I obtained as a reward became clear in its detailed principles the moment I learned it, as if I’d subscribed to a channel.
Because of that, utilizing only some of its abilities didn’t seem particularly difficult either.
Well, I’ll only know the results after trying it.
I immediately began deploying puppet mastery with my hand on Akasha.
Uuuuung―.
I drew up mana and began chanting an incantation. And in my mind, I recalled the knowledge of puppet mastery.
Shortly after, a blue magic circle began to emerge above Akasha’s body.
It spun round and round, then gradually shrank before settling at the nape of Akasha’s neck.
“Phew.”
I confirmed the magic circle had settled perfectly, then exhaled deeply and stepped back.
Converting Akasha into a puppet consumed nearly half my mana.
I’d anticipated it to some degree, but the mana efficiency was absolutely terrible.
‘Creating an undead only costs about a tenth of that mana.’
I thought this to myself while observing Akasha.
“Akasha. Can you hear my voice?”
At my question, Akasha immediately nodded.
Nothing special so far. Even as a puppet, moving in response to commands was possible.
So I gave a different instruction.
“Speak to me.”
This instruction seemed simple, but it was the best way to verify if puppet mastery was properly applied.
If Akasha had become an ordinary puppet, they would just open and close their mouth silently.
They were told to speak, but they couldn’t produce sound.
However, if they could understand the instruction, make their own judgment, and carry it out….
Swish―.
Akasha lowered their head and made a motion as if writing something.
I then retrieved paper and a pen from my inventory and handed them over.
Akasha then wrote something on paper and showed it to Jung Han-sung.
―I am currently unable to vocalize and cannot execute commands. My apologies.
Seeing this, Jung Han-sung’s face broke into a satisfied smile.
“Perfect.”
That was something a mere puppet could never do. Even if she were undead, she couldn’t have managed this.
Akasha’s spiritual essence wasn’t particularly strong to begin with.
―Impressive. You converted her into a puppet, yet her spiritual essence grew even stronger?
“Her essence didn’t grow stronger—she simply gained the ability to utilize her knowledge from life.”
Jung Han-sung explained this to Onyx, then stroked his chin thoughtfully.
“And after examining the puppet technique, I understand now.”
―Understand what?
“The flaw in this puppet technique isn’t really a structural problem.”
―What do you mean by that?
Seeing that Onyx didn’t grasp it at all, Jung Han-sung explained kindly.
“In other words, the puppet technique itself doesn’t suppress free will due to inherent flaws—it was deliberately designed that way.”
―Why would that be?
“I can’t say for certain. Perhaps the original creator simply wanted puppets that would obey commands without question.”
―Hmm. That does make sense.
“Oh, and the mana consumption increased dramatically. It seems to be roughly ten times higher.”
After calculating, Jung Han-sung realized that if free will had been removed, the mana cost would have been similar to creating undead.
Afterward, Jung Han-sung conducted various tests on Akasha. The results were extremely satisfactory.
Simply by applying the puppet technique, Akasha became far more formidable than she had been as ordinary undead.
Her physical strength and speed hadn’t increased, but she could now fight by utilizing her existing knowledge.
Her infiltration abilities had also been enhanced.
“I should gradually research this and apply it to other undead, bit by bit.”
With that conclusion, Jung Han-sung unsummoned Akasha.
He’d rested enough by now and was ready to advance to the next floor.
But then.
[An Awakener has intruded into your Territory]
A message suddenly materialized before his eyes.

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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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