Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 88

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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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88. Pharva Ancient Ruin (8)
An A-rank skill advancing in grade?
A message appeared that was difficult to believe even with my own eyes, but I had no time to leisurely open my status window.
Han Hye, we need to run!
Chun-bae was right. Ever since Hwarba’s essence seeped into my body, the atmosphere around us had become ominous.
Mana was fluctuating irregularly in all directions. The lava crouching beneath the altar was no exception.
It bubbled and churned, as if ready to explode at any moment, with the lava level rising steadily.
The heat intensified relentlessly. Even with my flame resistance increased by three levels, it was scorching. The ground tremors were equally severe.
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
The earth shook from deep below. I immediately spun around and began running at full speed.
It was the maximum velocity my power allowed.
Whoosh!
I had to continue using Leap as long as my mana permitted, shaving off every precious second I could.
I had to escape. In this situation, I couldn’t even hide in the Subspace.
To manipulate time, I’d need to create a microscopic gap, but here, lava would rush through that opening.
As I ran, the tremors of the earth grew increasingly violent.
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom!
The ground shook so violently that proper running became nearly impossible. An ordinary person would have been knocked down and unable to rise.
Suddenly, there came a deep rumble—Boom! It wasn’t an explosion yet, but a harbinger of one.
Exactly thirteen seconds later.
I reached the location I had marked beforehand. I immediately used Leap to propel myself upward.
Blue sky came into view. There was no time to hesitate.
“Yong-yong!”
I opened the Subspace and pulled Yong-yong out, then mounted her back. In that same instant, we soared into the sky.
Crash-boom!
A column of lava—dozens, perhaps over a hundred meters tall—erupted skyward from the entrance of Hwarba Mountain, accompanied by a tremor that felt like the earth itself was tearing apart.
The sight of the Gate deforming and time moving backward was being recreated in real-time before my eyes.
The sheer force of the volcanic eruption was overwhelming even to me.
The blue sky turned crimson in an instant—such was the intensity of the spectacle.
“That way!”
I had already scouted the direction beforehand, so I quickly steered Yong-yong accordingly. Soon, the lava that had shot skyward began raining down in all directions.
A shower of crimson lava beneath the blue sky.
The air was saturated with heat. The temperature must have spiked by roughly fifty degrees in mere moments.
Sizzle!
Where even a slight touch occurred, a burning sensation coursed through me. The clothes I wore naturally melted away.
Extreme pain radiated from the areas where my garments had burned.
‘Hwarba wasn’t just warning me for nothing.’
I had briefly touched lava in the flame zone before. It was absolutely nothing like this.
This erupting volcano was not a volcanic explosion from Earth.
Even the air near the volcano seemed to be burning. To be precise, I suspected it was Hwarba’s power itself that had detonated.
Is this the level of power that burns through mana?
“Krrrgh!”
Even Yong-yong, who loved heat, realized the falling lava was no ordinary phenomenon and weaved through the air to evade it.
Fortunately, the eruption of Hwarba Mountain didn’t cover an extensive area. There wasn’t much volcanic ash either.
‘This is my first volcano eruption too, but….’
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t the volcano itself that exploded—it was Hwarba’s power. The shockwave from the eruption wasn’t particularly severe.
Beyond a certain distance, the lava spray didn’t even reach us.
However, the lava flowing down the volcano persisted. Perhaps this was how Hwarba Mountain became what it was before its deformation.
A question suddenly occurred to me.
‘What were we originally supposed to find?’
I pondered briefly while flying, but no answer came. Perhaps Hwarba’s essence had been here.
But those who came before me wouldn’t have had leap skills or a dragon like I did.
They probably died in there.
If so, wouldn’t we end up obtaining Hwarba’s essence after it had expended its power on the volcanic eruption?
‘Then would it be A-rank or B-rank?’
One way or another, I had benefited greatly from my class. I had obtained an S-rank essence.
Right. Now that I had a moment to breathe, I remembered something I’d forgotten.
‘An S-rank skill!’
I hurriedly opened my status window.
* * *
[Lv31 Sky Lord, Han Hye]
Strength: 40
Agility: 40(+1)
Stamina: 41(+1)
Spirit: 32
Mana: 46(+1)
Bonus Points: 10
Skills: Subspace(S-rank) Lv3, Scorching Flame(S-rank) Lv1, Leap(A-rank) Lv4, Flame Resistance(A-rank) Lv7, Crescea Swordsmanship(B-rank) Lv4, Cockfighting(C-rank) Lv4, Swift Step(C-rank) Lv1, Cold Resistance(C-rank) Lv3, Imperial Basic Swordsmanship(E-rank) Lv6, * Wind Slash
“Holy….”
A curse-tinged exclamation escaped me. The A-rank Flame Resistance level had jumped to 7 in one go.
Unless one possessed power comparable to a Spirit King, they wouldn’t feel the heat anymore.
My Crescea Swordsmanship level had also increased by one from fighting the Flame Knight.
But that wasn’t what mattered right now.
‘It really became an S-rank skill.’
I had seen the message after absorbing Hwarba’s essence, but it was hard to believe.
An A-rank skill becoming S-rank the moment I obtained it. It was almost impossible to accept.
I was truly fortunate.
Hwarba had said I had some qualification to absorb its essence in the first place.
‘It’s thanks to Solar Transformation.’
The power I absorbed was then strengthened again because of Solar Transformation.
When I consumed the Solar Flame, I’d naively assumed the description “flame-related skills will be enhanced in the future” simply meant a minor level increase.
I never expected the grade itself to rise. And not just to C or B rank—an A-rank skill had become S-rank.
“Is this even possible?”
-Affirmative. It’s not impossible. However, it is extraordinarily rare.
I asked Chun-bae about it, and he confirmed it was indeed a phenomenon rarely witnessed.
-My hypothesis is that the Incinerate you initially received was not merely A-rank, but rather A-rank bordering on S-rank.
I understood what he meant. Skill grades aren’t uniform. Even skills of the same rank differ from one another.
If Incinerate was among the highest-tier A-rank skills, then its enhancement to S-rank made perfect sense.
After all, wasn’t this skill born from the power of Hwarba, the Flame Spirit King whose fire even consumes mana itself?
My body simply couldn’t fully accept all of it—but strictly speaking, this was a skill that should be classified as S-rank or higher.
-Hwarba’s will in granting you this power likely contributed as well. She was quite favorably inclined toward you.
“I see.”
-Congratulations. Obtaining an S-rank skill is never an easy feat.
The Incinerate that had settled into my mind was a force that ignited the burning of all things.
Just as Hwarba had incinerated mana itself.
-Whoosh!
I tested it while flying, and tiny flames erupted in the air. Though small in size, their power was extraordinary.
The mana surrounding where the flames appeared crackled and burned away.
-How fascinating. Flames that consume mana.
“You’ve never seen this before either?”
-Affirmative. Flames that incinerate mana—this is my first encounter with such a phenomenon in this place.
Even Chun-bae had never witnessed it. I’d definitely acquired something extraordinary. Was it because of the ancient ruins?
Now that I thought about it, I’d almost entered the Mercury War Gate instead….
‘Are Daeup’s bastards actually angels in disguise?’
If not for their trolling, I never would have entered here. They’d won the bidding in the first place, after all.
Could their earlier embezzlement of my funds have been a dark knight-like action, all for this moment?
No, stop spouting nonsense.
Having suddenly obtained an S-rank skill, everything in the world seemed impossibly beautiful.
“Han Hye!”
When I arrived where my guild members were, they all exhaled in relief and welcomed me back.
“Everything okay? It was intense out there. We thought the eruption would sweep all the way here.”
“Seriously. Lava pillars shot up to the sky—we thought disaster had struck.”
“It was a bit harrowing, but we’re fine. We were in the safe zone.”
I grinned at their joy at my return, but unlike Mister and Min-jae, Lee Shin-hee examined my body carefully.
“You’re not injured, are you? Wait… these burns are severe.”
She then cast a healing spell on the burns I’d sustained from the lava rain earlier.
Mister was shocked to see this.
“You have A-rank flame resistance, don’t you? And you’re burned badly enough to need healing?”
“It doesn’t make sense. These flames consume mana, so even with flame resistance level 7, I ended up like this.”
“How severe are we talking?”
Mister tilted his head in confusion before his eyes widened in shock.
“Wait, Level 7? Wasn’t it Level 3? You couldn’t have risen that much just here, could you?”
“I ended up absorbing the essence of Hwarba. Since it was forced upon me, I couldn’t refuse and it happened. I apologize.”
While the distribution issue could have sparked complaints, the guild members didn’t seem particularly bothered.
“Don’t worry about it. Of course you should have it.”
“What can we do? It looks like we wouldn’t have made it out without Han Hye.”
But Mister’s eyes gleamed with curiosity.
“So you got a boost to your flame resistance skill from consuming the essence? What else? Did you get an elixir or something?”
“No. I acquired a new skill.”
“What skill?”
“It’s called Scorching Blaze….”
I smiled at Mister with a slight grin.
“It’s an S-rank skill.”
“What?”
“Huh?”
“Insane….”
The reaction was predictably explosive.
* * *
[Deformed Gate ‘Hwarba Ancient Ruin Exploration Team’ subjugation complete.]
[You have gained experience.]
[You have leveled up.]
I only gained two levels, but it was another record-breaking moment for Gates of legendary proportions.
After all, I had obtained an S-rank skill.
‘Scorching Blaze. It’s still only Level 1.’
While I could generate intense flames, at my current combat level it wouldn’t have a significant impact.
But it was certainly a skill with promising potential. The potential of S-rank skills was tremendous.
Some skills were complete from Level 1 like a leap, while others grew stronger over time.
Especially with high-grade skills—the weaker the early stages, the more devastating the firepower later becomes.
“I, I’m out!”
As we exited the Gate, the surroundings erupted into chaos.
“Huh? Why does it seem like there are more people?”
“Right?”
Since we had spent over 24 hours inside the Gate, I had expected fewer people to be waiting.
Journalists might linger, but ordinary people would struggle to wait an entire day.
Yet there were more than when we entered. Amid the sound of camera shutters, an Association Staff member approached.
His expression was relieved yet somehow anxious.
“Congratulations. You’ve returned safely.”
“Yes, but is something wrong?”
“Well… after the Dragon Guild entered the Gate, identical Gates were generated simultaneously across the entire world.”
“Identical Gates?”
The Association Staff member scratched the back of his head.
“Well, I’m not quite sure how to explain this. Park Seo-ung said to contact him immediately when you arrived. I think it would be best if you heard the explanation directly from him.”
I stepped into the waiting area for a moment and surveyed the situation outside—quite a lot had happened in just a single day.
[(Breaking News) Thirty identical Gates have appeared worldwide.]
[The names, level restrictions, and personnel limits are all the same.]
The Gate was named “Trial of Mana,” with a level restriction of 26-40 and a personnel limit of 20 hunters.
It had appeared in only thirty countries, including ours.
[Some speculate that the nation to conquer the Gate first might receive a special reward.]
[China boldly enters the Gate first, led by Liu Zhen, who possesses an S-rank sword skill.]
[Reckless? China’s confident challenge for the first-conquest reward!]
The most recent article caught my attention.
[China’s Trial Gate subjugation force retreats… Only some hunters who received an escape scroll return.]
[What happened inside? China remains silent, sharing no information despite requests from other nations.]
Then my phone rang from Park Seo-ung.
-Han Hye. This is Park Seo-ung.

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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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