Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 140

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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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140. Swordsmanship Gathering
[Space Mage Han Hye avenges her mother!]
[Why did the cheers after the Gate subjugation turn to tears?]
After this Gate subjugation, the appearance I showed before the fans became a hot topic. Someone had filmed videos before and after entering the Gate.
To be honest, I wasn’t entirely comfortable with it. We appear in media so often that it’s fine for us, but the Elderly Woman wasn’t used to that kind of attention.
[‘I’m so grateful, truly grateful. Perhaps my youngest can now rest in peace.’]
Fortunately, the Elderly Woman spoke positively about a situation that could have been unpleasant for her.
Thanks to that, I could say something too.
[Space Mage: “Anyone would have done the same.”]
-Among the crowd, the Elderly Woman’s voice reached my ears. Hearing her story reminded me of my mother, who had passed away. If my mother were still alive, she would be around the Elderly Woman’s age by now.
-I resolved to subjugate the Gate by any means necessary. I gave the Elderly Woman the Earth Dragon’s scales hoping it would bring her some comfort.
-Space Mage is seriously likable lol
-The way she looked for the Elderly Woman right after exiting was so touching
Even just holding hands tightly
-I want to marry Han Hye, what should I do?
┗Hmm… I don’t know? Surprisingly, there’s not a single scandal
┗It must be tough for guys
┗It’s hopeless…
-Han Hye ←This one’s been likable since way back. No celebrity syndrome at all
┗No celebrity syndrome, but she’ll speak her mind when Liu Zhen provokes her lol
┗”This one”?
┗Is Han Hye your friend?
Thanks to that, public opinion toward me and our guild improved even more. It wasn’t intentional, but I was grateful that people viewed it positively.
Well, that aside, we decided to publicly release information about the Earth Dragon through the Hunter Association.
[New Monster ‘Earth Dragon’ Appears]
-It’s similar to a Great Worm but shoots breath? And has scales as hard as a dragon’s?
-A completely broken monster showed up
-Space Mage said ‘The scales were difficult to cut deeply even with a blade wielding flame.’ How tough are we talking?
┗If Han Hye beat even Liu Zhen, then those scales must be seriously hard
┗She cut down a high-rank Ogre in one strike. The durability seems to be top-tier
-Still, discovering the weakness near the gills was huge. Most Hunters would have a hard time targeting it
There was no reason to hide information about Gates or monsters—not about the Subspace interior.
Some Hunters do conceal such information for their own profit, but…
Given that I understood mana erosion, I couldn’t approve of such behavior. It was better for Earth’s Hunters to grow stronger, even if only slightly.
I even invested divine power in Liu Zhen and spoke to him to discourage him from joining the Übermenschen.
‘Min-jae is one thing, but having him become an enemy would be troublesome.’
The recognition we’d receive from sharing information like this would probably just be that the Dragon Guild was altruistic, but that didn’t matter.
The top-tier Hunters needed to survive and grow stronger, even if only by a little.
And I had faith in positive cycles.
If we opened up Gate information like this, perhaps other Hunters would be willing to share a bit more as well.
[The Trending Dragon Guild—What Gate Will They Conquer Next?]
In the meantime, we were preparing for another Gate subjugation. We didn’t settle on a specific Gate; we simply focused on conditioning ourselves.
It was because we’d taken two consecutive days off after subjugating the Crawling Roar of the Earth Gate.
The problem was that Mister and I both felt a dull ache in our wrists while attacking the Earth Dragon.
It wasn’t a serious muscle or ligament injury. Since we were so durable, fatigue had simply accumulated in our muscles.
Even though the Earth Dragon’s gill area was softer compared to its scales, it was still harder than most monsters.
Min-jae and Lee Shin-hee, who had consumed significant stamina, also decided to rest for two days.
‘I heard Han Chul was doing personal training.’
It seemed to be because he hadn’t fought much aside from running. With his excellent stamina, that much exertion probably wasn’t a burden for him anyway.
And after two days, we began by sharpening our dulled senses.
One surprising thing was that this Crawling Roar of the Earth Gate had become a source of motivation for the other guild members as well.
“I realized something this time. We really need to train as if our lives depend on it, even in our daily routines.”
“Yes. It doesn’t make sense that we’re training less than Han Hye, who has better stamina than us.”
Lee Shin-hee and Min-jae were especially affected.
After feeling their physical shortcomings in this Gate, they started coming to training earlier and increased the intensity of their running.
Since there’s a lot of chasing and being chased inside Gates. What had been normal training volume before had now become quite intense.
It was a positive change. They were already doing well, but if they put in more effort, it would naturally be better.
‘The previous and previous-previous generations couldn’t overcome the erosion either.’
The trials ahead would be even greater. Especially since level 50 wasn’t far off.
Gates after level 50 are said to have even higher difficulty, so it was quite a good stimulus.
* * *
While everyone was working hard, I wasn’t wasting time either.
Because I’d made progress in Segmentation, I focused on understanding the martial arts I’d observed during my sparring match with Liu Zhen.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
After pondering alone, my schedule didn’t align with Shin Chang’s, so I arranged a sword practice match with Sang-yeop.
To be honest, it wasn’t particularly helpful.
“Sigh, I can’t keep up anymore. This is frustrating….”
I adjusted my stats appropriately during our sparring, but now I was winning without much difficulty. It was unavoidable.
Sang-yeop had only one sword skill, and while the grades differed, I had two sword techniques and body technique in addition to martial arts.
He wasn’t without other combat skills, but they were of different grades. And didn’t I also possess spatial awareness?
Moreover, since we’d sparred quite frequently, I’d already become very familiar with Sang-yeop’s swordwork.
“I thought it would be better now that my sword skill went up a level, but it wasn’t.”
Even though Sang-yeop’s sword skill had risen a level, after crossing blades a few times, I’d become accustomed to it.
He tried variations, but not to the point where I couldn’t counter them like before.
‘It seems to be thanks to Liu Zhen.’
Liu Zhen’s swordwork was still vivid in my memory. Though I won during our match, I felt a difference in caliber in the swordwork itself.
An S-rank was an S-rank. There was an indescribable depth to it.
“I think it would be better for you to spar with someone else from now on.”
Sang-yeop spoke candidly.
“That’s a shame. I’ve learned so much from you, Sang-yeop.”
“I’m not at that level yet. I want to be helpful, but I think it would be better for both you and me if I raised my swordsmanship level a bit more first.”
Just hearing him say such things made him a genuinely good person. It seemed I was fortunate when it came to interpersonal luck.
“You mentioned earlier that you wanted to spar because of Liu Zhen, right?”
“Yes. I sensed something profound in his technique, but it was difficult to grasp the details on my own. I thought that by crossing blades, I might be able to learn something.”
“In that case, sparring with different people would actually be more beneficial. The issue is that your experience is too narrow right now.”
“Too narrow?”
As I tilted my head in confusion, Sang-yeop continued.
“The only people you’ve sparred with so far are me, Shin Chang, Choi Chul-gi, and Liu Zhen. Excluding the workshop, that is.”
“Oh, that’s true.”
He was right. My experience was indeed limited. I’d grown so rapidly, and I hadn’t faced many proper sword opponents inside Gates.
I’d trained in the swordsmanship I use now, but I lacked actual experience fighting against armed opponents.
“Experiencing various sword techniques through sparring with different people would be the most helpful…”
Sang-yeop clicked his tongue as he spoke.
“The problem is that people at higher levels don’t want to spar.”
That was true. The issue wasn’t that I wanted to spar—it was whether I could actually find partners.
“Right. There’s the matter of market value, reputation, and safety concerns.”
The culture of Hunters avoiding sparring hadn’t existed from the beginning.
There were two main reasons why sparring had declined.
First, even if the results were kept secret, malicious types would leak the information.
—Oh, him? I beat him in sparring. It was easy.
Usually, Hunters of similar levels would spar together, but no one welcomed hearing such comments spread behind their backs.
Moreover, fights would break out on Hunter Net and the internet about who beat whom and who was better.
Once it became somewhat established fact, the Hunter Association would even price the winner slightly higher during contract renewal season.
There were also cases where sparring with someone of questionable character resulted in serious injury.
‘It’s hard to trust your opponent, so the culture naturally declined.’
Inside Gates, Hunters encountered monsters far more often than sword-wielding enemies.
That’s why sparring among Hunters was limited to people like me, Sang-yeop, and Shin Chang—those with similar temperaments.
“Hmm. I don’t know many, but would you like me to introduce you to someone?”
“Are there people you could introduce me to?”
“Two people besides you. I don’t know many myself.”
If Sang-yeop, who had been a Hunter for years and served as a swordsmanship instructor at the workshop, only knew two people, I could gauge how sparse the sparring culture was.
It meant that while one could spar occasionally, maintaining it was difficult.
‘Once there’s a level difference or they feel it’s not beneficial, they just stop.’
I pondered for a moment. Two people. Hoping for progress through brief sparring meetings between individuals was too little. Then, a different thought occurred to me.
In the long term, wouldn’t it be better if good people met frequently? Pure sword technique exchange.
“What if we formed a swordsmanship group?”
“A swordsmanship group?”
“Without worrying about levels, it would be purely for developing sword technique. I thought starting with four of us—the two people you know and us—wouldn’t be bad.”
“Oh?”
“It wouldn’t be about who won, but rather we’d limit stats and use only blunt swords to avoid safety issues. The goal would be pure sword technique development.”
“That sounds fine to me.”
Sang-yeop’s eyes brightened.
“Honestly, I’ve thought about it before too, but we weren’t close enough, and with the level gap between us, it was difficult to organize.”
“Hmm. So it still won’t work now?”
“No, it’s different now that Han Hye is involved. If you call, they’ll definitely come, right?”
“Because of me?”
When I tilted my head in confusion, Sang-yeop laughed.
“Han Hye’s popularity is something else. There’s one person who’s genuinely introverted, but even he would come right away.”
“To that extent…”
“Shin Chang regularly spars with Han Hye, doesn’t he? Do you know how absurd that is?”
Sang-yeop explained that Shin Chang never regularly called other Hunters to meet with him.
I thought there were a few others besides me…
Except for the Saebyeok Guild members, it was difficult to even spar once before it ended.
“That’s why Han Hye is remarkable. It wasn’t for nothing that I said she was overflowing with talent.”
Hmm. To be honest, Shin Chang seems to find more appeal in defending against attacks using jumps than in my swordsmanship…
Still, I thought he continued sparring because he could see some promise in me.
“Let me contact them right away. They’ll definitely say yes.”
“Good.”
Talking about the swordsmanship gathering reminded me of someone else.
“By the way, what about Knight Lee Hong-ju?”
“A knight? That’s great. Last time he went into a Gate and we couldn’t meet up…”
“I check in on him occasionally. Let me ask him.”
I called right away, and the timing was perfect—Lee Hong-ju answered immediately.
-Yes, Han Hye. A swordsmanship gathering? Pure swordsmanship only?
I relayed what I’d discussed with Sang-yeop, and Lee Hong-ju welcomed it enthusiastically.
-That’s perfect for me! Wow, I was just thinking it would be great to have something like that. When are we doing it?
This person also genuinely loved the sword—perhaps not without reason for being a knight, or maybe it was because of me, as Sang-yeop suggested.
It didn’t matter. As long as we could exchange swordsmanship, the reason didn’t matter. I’d been feeling frustrated lately.
“I just contacted them, and both said they’d definitely come? They’re asking when?”
And the two people Sang-yeop knew as well. It seemed we’d be gathering quickly.
We decided to meet within a few days and were coordinating schedules when something unexpected happened.
-Han Hye.
A call came through to Seo-ung.
-Would it be possible for you to meet with the Dragon Guild members as soon as possible?
His voice sounded quite serious, as if something had happened.

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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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