Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 90

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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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90. Summons
“How have you all been?”
“Quite well.”
….
Shin Chang nodded silently as usual, yet his expression looked rather pleasant.
It wasn’t my imagination—the corners of his mouth were subtly raised.
“You seem to be in a good mood today?”
….
At my words, Shin Chang quickly lowered the corners of his mouth, but Seo Seung-yeon explained the reason.
“I think training alone helped him.”
“Ah, that time?”
“Yes.”
“…It’s nothing special. Let’s spar.”
“Right. We don’t have much time.”
And so training began. I welcomed it since I had a meeting late in the afternoon and time was limited.
At first, it was simple—the same drills as before.
Shin Chang thrust his spear at me to improve my spatial sense. It wasn’t easier than last time.
No, it wasn’t easier—it was harder. Shin Chang had drawn out more power.
“Ugh.”
“…You’ve improved.”
I took far more hits than last time, yet hearing that I’d improved felt… peculiar.
Seo Seung-yeon was grinning widely.
“It wasn’t for nothing that you hunted a high-rank Ogre. Just like you said, you’re dodging well even when he goes harder.”
Her words sounded like teasing, but they were praise. After all, I was still evading despite the increased speed of attacks.
Next came my turn to attack Shin Chang with Leap.
-Thud!
-Thud!
My routes were more varied than before. I leaped straight ahead at times, and used Leap twice in succession at others.
But if his improvement was real, Shin Chang defended far better than last time.
Then we continued sparring lightly. Naturally, the intensity was higher than before. My swordsmanship level didn’t increase during this, but I learned quite a bit. Shin Chang’s attack patterns came at me sharply and innovatively.
His assault routes felt fierce and refreshingly novel.
“…Indeed, you’ve made progress too.”
Though we hadn’t met in a while, Shin Chang recognized my growth and smiled with satisfaction. He seemed quite pleased.
Then, during a brief rest, conversation naturally drifted toward the Trial Gate.
“I have an acquaintance in China, so I asked them, but they said they absolutely couldn’t tell me. It’s classified.”
“That serious?”
“Yes. Seeing how quickly they’re preparing, I suspect they’ve caught wind of clues about the rewards given upon clearing the Gate.”
Everyone was thinking along the same lines.
“They might just hate the idea of others clearing it first based on their experience, even though they suffered losses.”
“That could be it too.”
Isn’t that place known for having a strong sense of pride? I genuinely wasn’t sure if they didn’t know about the reward or if it was something else entirely.
Of course, I knew the reward was substantial through Chun-bae.
“In any case, be careful. Liu Zhen may be an idiot, but he has real skills. The fact that he failed suggests this isn’t a trivial difficulty level.”
“Yes. I’m also expecting it to be quite challenging.”
Taking advantage of the conversation’s flow, I decided to seek advice on another matter.
“Actually, that’s why I wanted to ask. I acquired a skill this time, and I’d like some advice about it.”
“What kind of skill would make you ask us for advice?”
“It’s called Conflagration, and it’s an S-Rank skill.”
A brief silence followed. Both Seo Seung-yeon and Shin Chang stared at me with wide eyes.
“…?”
“…Pardon? S-Rank?”
“Yes. An S-Rank skill.”
“What the….”
Seo Seung-yeon let out a hollow laugh.
“You already have an S+ Rank skill, and now you’re getting another S-Rank skill? Isn’t that completely broken?”
“Haha, it just happened that way….”
At that moment, Shin Chang silently extended his fist. The grin on his face seemed to indicate congratulations.
After meeting a few times, I was starting to understand how to communicate with Shin Chang.
“Thank you.”
As I bumped fists with him, Shin Chang nodded. Seo Seung-yeon looked even more dumbfounded.
“Wait, oppa, is that really how this ends? Aren’t you surprised?”
“…It’s simply something to celebrate.”
“Right! That’s true. Congratulations.”
Seo Seung-yeon belatedly offered her congratulations as well. Seeing the two of them, I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Man, I’m jealous. An S-Rank skill? There are really almost no people carrying two S-Rank skills.”
“There are almost no people carrying even one.”
“It’s a bit annoying when Han Hye says things like that.”
Of course, since it was said in jest, I simply laughed it off.
“So, what kind of skill is it?”
“It’s a flame-related skill called Conflagration, and it can even burn mana. It’s only level 1 right now, though.”
Seo Seung-yeon’s eyes widened.
“Wait. You can burn mana?”
“Yes.”
“The Gate we’re going to next is the Trial of Mana. Wouldn’t that be a perfect skill for it?”
She was right. I’d had a similar thought myself.
* * *
After showing them the Conflagration skill and seeking advice, I didn’t gain much immediate help.
It was because the skill level was still too low.
It was only a small flame, and true to its nature as an S-Rank skill that burns mana, the mana consumption was considerable, making it difficult to use.
-It seems like it’ll be quite powerful later? A flame that burns mana….
—If this can burn even magic, then wouldn’t it beat most mages?
Still, as an S-Rank skill, it was clear that this had promising potential for growth. For now, I had no choice but to develop it.
Besides, if I entered the Trial of Mana, there might be applications for it there.
After all, why do hunters conduct mana attunement training in rooms saturated with magic stones where mana density is high?
If the interior of the Gate was such a place, I might be able to lower that concentration with the Blaze skill.
* * *
“I never thought you’d actually come with us.”
“Right? This is quite the opportunity.”
That afternoon, Sang-yeop, whom I met at the Hunter Association, greeted me with a smile. He introduced me to his guild members.
“This is the Space Mage Han Hye I mentioned.”
The members of the Maze Guild looked at me with curiosity. Some seemed to think, “Wow, it was real.”
We had taken a photo back then, but I guess they didn’t believe the distance between us was that close.
In any case, greetings were exchanged between our guild and the Maze Guild. The same happened with the people who arrived afterward.
The separately summoned mages and healers, along with the Iron Wall Guild, came and exchanged light greetings.
“Then we’ll begin the meeting.”
As more people arrived, we couldn’t have lengthy conversations or discuss anything in depth.
Park Seo-ung, the Association President’s direct secretary, came down and continued the meeting with Lee Hong-ju of the Iron Wall Guild.
“Currently, the nations preparing to enter the Trial Gate are China, which failed once before, the United States, France, and our country.”
“While everyone else is hesitant, we’re attempting entry because we believe our country has the best talent pool among hunters in the 25-40 level range.”
Park Seo-ung said this while looking around at those gathered. The assembled hunters each nodded once.
It was no illusion that Seo-ung’s gaze lingered on us for a long time during this.
“The United States and France are expected to take a few more days, but it appears China will attempt re-entry tomorrow along with us.”
“Seeing how their movements changed immediately after news of the Dragon Guild’s participation, they seem to have a competitive spirit. Or perhaps there’s something inside the Gate.”
After the brief situation briefing ended, the conversation immediately shifted to the formal composition of the subjugation team.
Despite having a hunter with S-Rank swordsmanship, China had retreated, so the hunters’ expressions were grim.
“The subjugation team will consist of a total of 17 members: 5 from Iron Wall, 5 from Maze, 4 from Dragon Guild, and 2 individually cooperating mages and 1 healer.”
“You might wonder why we didn’t fill all 20 spots, but we decided it was better not to send hunters who don’t meet the standards.”
Everyone nodded in agreement. Three reliable guilds, two mages depending on the Gate’s name, and one support healer.
Since China had retreated, it was better not to bring anyone who would be a burden.
“I am Lee Hong-ju of the Iron Wall, taking command of the subjugation team.”
Then Lee Hong-ju, the Dragon Knight of the Iron Wall, took the floor from Seo-ung.
“I’d like to explain the composition of the subjugation team. Basically, we’ll operate in guild units.”
In typical subjugation teams, members were often grouped by profession, but that was only possible with sufficient time to coordinate.
Right now, we simply didn’t have enough time to synchronize with each other.
The individually drafted mages and healer would likely be distributed among the different teams.
“In truth, since China is keeping quiet about it, there isn’t much I can tell you… but let me explain the composition.”
With that, Lee Hong-ju pointed to the screen in front.
“Basically, our Iron Wall and Maze Guild will be responsible for the subjugation team’s composition. Whether we take the vanguard or rearguard, or stand together in the front line.”
One puzzling thing was that our guild’s name didn’t appear anywhere among the large guilds shown on the PowerPoint.
The structure was either Iron Wall in the vanguard with Maze in the rearguard, or both standing together in the front line.
“Everyone will likely wonder why the Dragon Guild isn’t listed.”
Lee Hong-ju turned his gaze toward us.
“I’ve decided to classify the Dragon Guild as a separate unit.”
“A separate unit?”
The Maze Guild’s mage tilted his head in confusion.
“It’s a place with Dragon Knights who ride on Red Dragons and Space Mages who can teleport. It’s difficult to think of them as ordinary hunters.”
Still, the assembly nodded at Lee Hong-ju’s following words.
Certainly, we perform best when fighting freely across vast battlefields.
“When there’s a specific target that needs to be struck, it’s better for the Dragon Knights or Space Mages to move rather than us breaking through. Isn’t it Han Hye over there who eliminated a high-grade Ogre in a single strike?”
Whether it’s the Mister with Yong-yong or me, we both operate without spatial constraints.
Since all eyes turned toward me at such excessive praise, I let out a small cough.
“Moreover, the Dragon Guild’s mage possesses destructive power comparable to B-Rank mages, and the healer has become renowned for her unceasing healing.”
When their names came up, Min-jae smiled slightly, and Lee Shin-hee lowered her head expressionlessly.
“It’s a team that’s difficult to judge simply by their early level 30 status. Our support is also effective when we’re in crisis. That’s why I decided it would be better to keep them as a separate unit and have them operate independently.”
To summarize Lee Hong-ju’s words, Chulbyeok and Maze Guild form the basic subjugation force, while we’re more like wings, so to speak.
“Of course, it does seem like we’re placing too much burden on the Dragon Guild… but given the series of burst-type Gate incidents, I decided because I believe they’ll handle it well. Does anyone object?”
And no one objected.
Hmm. I’ve ended up being expected to perform by hunters with higher levels than us….
‘Well, there’s no major problem.’
Just looking at my stats alone, I can operate at the level of a 40-level hunter. The skills below that are even better.
The same goes for the Mister, the Dragon Knight with Red Dragon.
Just as Lee Hong-ju said, Seo Min-jae and Lee Shin-hee are also skilled hunters who exceed their level.
All I need to do is meet those expectations.
“Everyone, let’s go.”
And so, the next day.
Our subjugation squad entered the Trial of Mana Gates that had opened in thirty locations across the world.

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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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