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[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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Chapter 11: Hunter's Reawakening, Explosive Spirit Power (6)
The troll, who had lost Yeonwoo, went berserk, but Yeonwoo paid it no mind.
As he crossed the red line that marked the exit of the field-type mist, the scenery around him began to change rapidly.
It was a familiar phenomenon that occurred when returning back to Earth from a field-type mist.
His vision shifted dramatically, transforming from a bustling cityscape to what appeared to be an abandoned schoolyard.
Once there, Yeonwoo gently laid the woman he had been carrying onto a nearby bench.
If she had been seriously injured, he would have headed to a hospital.
However, the woman had no visible wounds and seemed only to be in shock.
"I wish she'd wake up soon..."
If someone had been hurt, he wouldn’t have had a choice but to bring them to the hospital.
Currently unable to summon even a water spirit with healing abilities, the only thing Yeonwoo could offer was a simple shock massage.
Fortunately, the woman wasn’t seriously injured, which was why he left her there.
From what he remembered, the Hunter Association was incredibly strict.
If he brought her to a hospital, they’d definitely question why he had been in that field and why he came back alone.
"I absolutely refuse to deal with that hassle."
In that sense, it was a relief that they were near an abandoned school with little foot traffic.
Now that he had some breathing room, Yeonwoo could clearly see the woman's face.
He’d known she was young, but like the boy who died inside the field, she looked quite youthful, likely in her late teens or early twenties.
"Damn... Is the situation really so bad that even kids have to fight?"
In his memory, Earth had been plagued by monsters.
There were too few combat-type hunters and too little information.
Mist appeared unpredictably from all directions.
If left unattended, monsters would break out, leading to mass casualties.
Korea must have been quite desperate.
Even if they had figured out how to harness the power of cores, 13 years had passed.
It was still questionable whether they had truly unlocked that knowledge.
"Ugh..."
At that moment, the unconscious woman stirred and let out a short moan.
It was a good sign that she was recovering from a deep unconscious state.
Though part of him wanted to just leave her somewhere safe, he needed to ask her a few things about the current state of Earth.
He was a stranger with no official identity.
Even though Earth was his home, that was only true in the past.
Rather than move blindly with zero information, it was better to get at least the bare minimum out of her, even if it was a little or a lot.
Moreover, she had lost her team inside the mist.
Yeonwoo had once lost nearly thirty comrades before, so he felt a twinge of sympathy.
"I should at least let her know the situation."
With a calm expression, Yeonwoo wiped the blood from her face and silently turned to the floating cube system’s status box.
It was a support system visible only to him, invisible to others.
The System Cube.
Everyone had one, this mysterious entity.
Since it announced it would create a navigator, it had been completely silent.
There were some weird comments earlier about ideal types, but it looked like nothing would be clear until the three-hour construction period ended.
But right now, the system had given Yeonwoo more important information.
"It accumulates... huh."
The status window shown by the cube clearly displayed a numerical measurement of the spirit power he had built up until now.
Normal humans have 0 spirit power.
In rare cases, people with extremely poor affinity can even have a negative number.
Compared to those ordinary people, Yeonwoo’s spirit power, currently dormant in his body, was 385.
The number alone might not seem impressive, but if this was the actual power he retained from before, the difference was overwhelming.
This was spirit power and affinity gained from a contract with a Spirit King.
Just because someone had a contract with a Spirit King didn’t mean they could go around destroying the world.
It was said that the strength depended on the user’s spirit power, affinity, and sensitivity.
In reality, spirit power differences could seem minor at first but became highly impactful once accumulated.
Yeonwoo was a Transcendent, a high-ranking spirit user equivalent to a ‘Master’ or higher in Earth’s fantasy novels.
If he truly let loose, wiping out a city or even a small country wouldn’t be impossible.
Even if he didn’t summon the actual Spirit King he had raised and contracted with, just a derivative high-level spirit would be more than enough.
From that perspective, 385 was definitely not a small number.
In fact, you could gather all the rare spirit users of the Rune Continent and not find one with numbers like his.
"I don’t know if I should be happy or pissed..."
A laugh escaped him, uncertain whether it was from emptiness or joy.
Yeonwoo prided himself on knowing more about spirits than anyone else.
So even if the cube system only gave vague explanations, he already understood them.
Like how spirit power could be used.
"Spirit power is similar to mana, fundamentally."
Here, he had found a new opportunity to grow.
Though not omnipotent, the application potential of spirit power was practically limitless.
He also had an adaptive capacity that other spirit users didn’t even dare dream of.
Sure, losing his contracts, his trials with high-level spirits, and his affinity had been a punch to the gut, but his spirits weren’t dead.
Someday, he believed he’d see them again.
"Maybe things will go easier than I thought."
His goal was simple: bring Artenis here.
Though things had gone off the course, if this improved the odds of success in that unstable endeavor, then it was worth the price.
"Of course, this is about bringing my sister over, after all."
Safety first.
Always.
That’s why the cube system felt like wings on his back.
He hadn’t even opened the gift Artenis gave him yet.
He had planned to check it once things settled down.
But he had landed smack in the middle of a battlefield and forgotten all about the gift during transit.
"Ugh..."
While he was lost in thought, the woman stirred again, her eyelids fluttering as she regained consciousness.
She had woken faster than expected, but hunter physiology was tougher than a normal person’s, so this was within normal bounds.
"Are you awake?"
Yeonwoo slowly spoke as he watched her roll her eyes around, trying to make sense of what she was seeing.
Then, her pupils locked onto Yeonwoo, who was looking down at her from above.
"..."
She stared blankly at him for a long moment, as if confused.
Then, as if realizing something was terribly wrong, her eyes widened.
"KYAAAH!!"
Her first reaction upon seeing Yeonwoo was a scream.
Apparently, his shaggy beard and wild hair gave off such a suspicious and creepy vibe that even a monster-hunting hunter would be alarmed.
He had a great face underneath, but the hair and beard ruined everything.
He knew that, but still, it stung.
A little.
Yeonwoo’s eyes narrowed ever so slightly, his mood souring.
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[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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