Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 153

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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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153. Trial of Stamina (5)
I discovered the island while examining the belongings the Übermenschen had been carrying. The items fell into three distinct categories.
There were the Übermenschen’s possessions and the equipment taken from hunters of two nations.
-Sort through these for me.
Sorting wasn’t difficult since I’d kept one of them alive.
Through him, it was easy to identify the origin of each item.
“Wow, this is A-rank?”
“Probably government property. They must have received it in preparation for the Trial Gate. Given that stamina increased by 5, I’d say so.”
We couldn’t keep all these items. Lost property from Gates like this had to be returned to the respective nations.
It happened often enough—most cases involved hunters who’d died while cooperating with other countries.
Some tried to deny everything, but the international standard was to return the equipment.
If you were caught using that gear, you’d face international condemnation.
‘There’s precedent for all of this.’
Initially, Britain had cooperated with France’s hunter request, but when the British hunter died, France simply kept the equipment.
They even made excuses, claiming they hadn’t found it inside the Gate. When it was discovered later, the international dispute was enormous.
South Africa had once attacked a hunter who responded to a cooperation request, targeting their equipment.
An internal whistleblower exposed it, and South Africa became an international pariah, denied all cooperation requests for a considerable time.
‘At this rate, I might get around 20 billion won.’
Returning the items did earn a certain compensation, though it was absurdly low compared to their actual value. But there was no helping it.
It was a convention established by multiple nations through the UN Gate Countermeasure Committee.
In truth, it wasn’t wrong.
If I died in France, it wouldn’t be strange for my money to become France’s money, would it?
Regardless, I carefully examined the belongings of the hunters attacked by the Übermenschen and stored them in the Subspace.
What remained were the Übermenschen’s possessions. These were legitimate spoils of war.
[Ring of Mana Enhancement (E-rank)]
[Necklace of Seor (C-rank)]
[Gloves of Stamina Recovery (D-rank)]
There were a few others, but these were the only worthwhile ones. Besides these, there were mana potions and wizard items, but…
Whether it was a staff or anything else, what Min-jae currently used was superior.
“Tch. There’s not much worth keeping here.”
“They only needed to row and cast spells, so they probably invested minimally.”
“Wouldn’t the rowers be practically naked by those standards?”
“Maybe they planned to just steal decent equipment from other hunters after arriving?”
It was an ambush, after all. The first strike had a high success rate. There was no reason to bring quality gear. Stacked equipment on a boat would raise suspicion anyway.
They probably intended to grab only a few decent items and leave.
I’d heard that the Übermenschen, unless dealing with truly critical matters, prepared for losing things outside. After all, they were enemies to all.
Mister nudged Min-jae in the ribs.
“Still, Min-jae came out ahead. You got the necklace and ring.”
“Yes. The ring is acceptable enough, but the necklace is quite decent.”
The Gloves of Stamina Recovery had no one particularly suited to use them. Both Mister and Han Chul had equipment better than D-rank.
I could use it if I wanted to, but it didn’t feel right. Truth be told, I was deliberately avoiding equipping most of my gear.
‘I’m already too strong for my level as it is.’
Back when I was training in swordsmanship, didn’t I always match my blade’s speed to my opponent’s level?
Convenience items like Arachne’s inner garment were one thing, but I had no intention of wearing mediocre equipment.
As for the True Armor and Necklace of Protection that Liu Zhen gave me, I wore those for my own safety.
So I’d just tossed them into the Subspace. I could dispose of them later anyway.
“Still, we managed to get five Escape Secretaries.”
“That’s thanks to you, hyung. But how do you take down a Secretary before it tears away?”
We started obtaining them from low levels, so we’re used to it, but Escape Secretaries are rarer than people think.
They’re items that let you escape from any Gate, no matter how dangerous, just by tearing them.
The other hunters weren’t stupid for falling to the Übermenschen. They either didn’t have Escape Secretaries or were ambushed before they could use them.
Escape Secretaries were highly polarized items. Hunter-strong nations had them; hunter-weak nations rarely did.
‘Well, that’s obvious.’
Escape Secretaries only drop from high-difficulty Gates. Strong hunter nations subjugate them and acquire them that way.
Weak hunter nations consume whatever few Escape Secretaries they get during their initial expeditions. A vicious cycle versus a virtuous one.
“Oh! Over there…!”
That’s when we spotted the island.
“There’s an island?”
“It’s different from any island we’ve seen so far!”
* * *
I could immediately tell that this was the Center of the Sea because it was completely different from every other island we’d encountered.
For one, it was about three times larger than the current island, which was only the size of a few tennis courts put together.
Moreover, while the original islands had just a single boat sitting on the ground, this one was different.
From a distance, I could already see what looked like coconut fruits.
Even though it was the Center of the Sea, there were no waves nearby. As always, it was a tranquil sea beneath the harsh sunlight.
I figured that just the directional disorientation alone must have been an enormous physical limit for most.
‘Just looking at how we rowed for two days straight.’
Even knowing the way and searching for it took two days. The sea must be incredibly vast.
Or perhaps there’s some mechanism preventing people from reaching this place through normal means for a certain period of time.
“Yong-yong!”
With our destination right in front of us, I urged Yong-yong forward. The island we reached quickly didn’t have much on it.
On land slightly larger than the other islands, grass and the coconut trees I’d seen earlier grew.
“There’s a pond too?”
And next to the coconut tree was a small pond. The peculiar thing was that the pond’s surface had a faint luminescence.
As I drew closer, I could see it more clearly. It wasn’t an ordinary pond.
“There are blue orbs inside the pond…”
“It looks ominous?”
I approached cautiously just in case. A monster could appear suddenly after all. But there was nothing particularly threatening about it.
As I drew near, I could see it clearly.
[Blessed Pond of the Sea (A-Rank)]
-Drinking it would make my body exceptionally healthy.
-Can only be used once.
[Heart of the Sea (B-rank)]
-The heart of a waveless sea.
-Can generate water anywhere, at any time.
“It looks like this pond and that orb are the Gate rewards.”
The coconut palm tree beside us also bore fruit, but since no item description came to mind, it didn’t seem to be an elixir.
Besides, there were over ten fruits to begin with. That would have been greedy.
“Let’s drink the water first and think about it?”
I retrieved five new cups from the Subspace and distributed them to my guild members. Scooping water with bare hands wouldn’t look very dignified.
Everyone filled their cups with pond water and made a light toast.
“Thank you for your hard work these past two days.”
“Thank you for your hard work!”
We clinked our cups lightly and swallowed the water, and my eyes widened involuntarily.
“Wow, this…”
“This water tastes insane.”
“Is it even allowed to taste this good?”
The water tasted exquisite. It was less like water and more like a work of art.
From my mouth through my throat, a smooth coolness mingled with a clean, refreshing taste.
[The blessing of the sea spreads through your body.]
[Stamina increases by 10.]
And there it was—my stamina stat actually rose by 10. I’d anticipated this to some degree.
During the last Trial of Mana, my mana increased by 10 as well.
The slight disappointment was that I hadn’t reached 20 like last time. There must have been something here, just like the mana core.
I suspected it might have been the mechanism creating the darkness.
‘It’s impossible to find every hidden reward.’
I decided not to dwell on it. Without Godmon’s Compass, I wouldn’t have achieved even this.
Gaining 10 stamina was already a stroke of fortune.
“Huh?”
As soon as we finished drinking, the water in the pond suddenly began to disappear.
Or more precisely, it seemed to be drawn into the orb called the Heart of the Sea within the pond.
“So that’s what ‘single-use’ meant.”
“Still, water generation… this is a bit ambiguous, isn’t it?”
Mister tilted his head thoughtfully.
“Well, it’s certainly not bad… but it is a bit unclear for us.”
In truth, if it had been other hunters who discovered this, they would never have reacted this way.
Perhaps an even louder cheer would have erupted than when stamina increased by 10.
The reason was simple: from now on, we wouldn’t have to worry about drinking water when entering Gates.
Among hunters’ supplies, water was a greater concern than food.
‘We never know how long we’ll stay in a Gate, and even less what the water situation will be like inside.’
Water carries considerable weight. The basic strategy is to bring as much as possible when entering.
For lengthy Gates, you carry it throughout. Otherwise, you abandon it.
Some mages possessed water-related magic, but they weren’t numerous. The efficiency wasn’t particularly good either.
If this marble-sized orb could generate water infinitely…
Wouldn’t it be worth at least tens of billions? Of course, there was nothing wrong with us having it.
“Well, we can secure Subspace storage anyway.”
“Don’t tell me it’s the same delicious water as before? That would be incredible?”
I tested it immediately, but unfortunately, it didn’t have the exquisite taste of the earlier water. Though it was quite good—the comparison point was simply different.
Still, the amount of water generated was substantial. It seemed I could control it, and at maximum output, I could summon quite a lot.
“Hyung, would it be alright if I tried using it?”
That’s when Min-jae asked me.
“Huh? Sure.”
With my permission, Min-jae chanted a spell while gripping the orb. The moment water materialized ahead—
Chain Lightning magic fell upon it.
“Huh?”
“I thought about it and figured it could be used offensively. The quality is different from conventional water-creation magic.”
Min-jae continued.
“Normally, if you cast water magic then lightning magic, there’s a gap between them. But this allows simultaneous casting.”
Everyone in our party unanimously nodded at Min-jae’s demonstration.
I’d actually considered trading this with the advance party for other A-rank or S-rank equipment.
Saebyeokbit and the advance parties of other nations would certainly need the Heart of the Sea that generates water.
In this situation, there was no need for that.
We had quite a large space in our Subspace for storing water, which we could utilize, and it would help Min-jae’s magic as well.
“Wow, it’s sweet.”
“This is really delicious too. Almost as good as that water from before? Though it doesn’t raise stats.”
After giving the Heart of the Sea to Min-jae, I picked coconuts from the palm trees standing open on the island and ate them.
They were genuinely delicious. The taste was incomparable to any coconut I’d eaten before.
“This kills the romance. They didn’t place something like this in the center for nothing.”
“We’re doing this, but what about the other hunters?”
If they’d discovered this place after rowing for a long time, their bodies and minds completely exhausted…
Wouldn’t these coconuts and the blessed water we’d tasted earlier have seemed more delicious than anything else?
Of course, that was…
Something we’d consumed, having entered the Center of the Sea comfortably using Yong-yong to pull our boat and the compass, without any concerns about food or drinking water.
[Gate ‘Trial of Stamina’ conquered.]
[Experience acquired.]
[Level increased.]
.
.
.
And when we exited the Gate, chaos had naturally erupted.
While the Übermenschen had taken down two teams, in terms of sheer offensive capability, more than two teams had suffered casualties from their attacks.
[Three Nations’ Hunters Used Escape Secretary; Übermenschen’s Ambush Was the Cause]
[Approached While Posing as Ordinary Hunters, Even Strong Hunters Cannot Guarantee Safety!]
Because of this, reporters and onlookers had gathered in front of the Gate we’d entered.
Thanks to the hunters who’d used the Escape Secretary, information about the Gate’s interior had already spread, and we were bombarded with questions the moment we emerged.
“How did the Gate subjugation go?”
“Did the Dinosaur Guild reach the Center of the Sea?”
“Who reached the Center of the Sea first!”
“We heard the Übermenschen were there—did you encounter them!”
It was just my impression, but the foreign reporters seemed more intrigued than our domestic ones.
Thinking about it, I suspected they believed we’d failed to subjugate the Gate due to some unfortunate circumstance.
“Ah, that?”
I answered with a slight smile.
“We arrived at the Center of the Sea first… and we dealt with the Übermenschen on the way there.”

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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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