Evolution Theory of the Hunter

“This is an ability of my skill. I am able to virtually save and store items.”

It was easier to explain it away in this way than to to tell that it was an additional ability that came with the glasses and manual.

If I were to really get technical, it’s not like they completely have nothing to do with one another so it wasn’t a complete lie…right?

So I finished storing the items in that manner.

***

-Escape (0) 5 sheets: Takes the user directly outside the dungeon

-Light Healing Potion (0) 5 bottles: Heals light wounds

-Ventilation Potion (0) 1 bottle: Resets the cooldown period

-Leather Agile Armor (2): Increases reaction rate by 30%

-Floodplain Cane (2): Can adjust range of attack. The wider the range, the lower the efficacy and vice versa.

-Ingot Sword (2): Increases equipment’s durability by 100%

***

“Damn…the Ventilation Potion is something.”

With that, I would be able to use Sooah’s one person buff more than once in a day. It could really end up being useful one day.

“Other than this, we also have a Level 3 no name armor. We also have some no name level 2 items – if there is something that interests you – feel free to take them.”

“What’s the point of 100% durability though? I thought items don’t break.”

Cho Youngoo picked up the Ingot sword and asked as he looked it it.

“Just because something is an item doesn’t mean it is indestructible. They do restore naturally with time  but if it breaks during a fight, it would be difficult to restore…because what would you do without a weapon in the midst of a fight. In such a case, that sword is much more reliable than a no name.”

I finished distributing the items.

The level 3 armor that Ban Shihyung had been wearing came to me.

Cho Youngoo took the Ingot sword, the Floodplain Cane went to Manager Kim, and the Leather Agile Armor went to Jong Sawon.

And everyone else took the level 2 equipment.

Sooah decided to take and use both the level 1 Agile Sword and Level 2 no name sword.

This was because it she couldn’t let the increase reflex option the agile sword provided go to waste.

Since she was plenty strong, it would be fine for her to fight holding a sword in either hand like I do.

It’s also true that most higher level hunters lean toward using dual swords instead of just one because their skills and abilities allow them to do so.

Now that everyone had graduated from level 1 gear, excitement was etched all over their faces.

“To think we came up on this much in just one fight…I think I can kind of relate to those hunters that weasel talked about.”

Han Joonseok whispered.

The items we had left over after everyone taking what they wanted was still valued at over 3 million dollars.

With that kind of money, we could buy two level 4 equipment.

All this…in just one day.

***

A sleepless night came and passed.

I had raised all my abilities that night save for endurance – for a total use of 9000 points.

***

Proficiency: 24

Reward Points: 230

Abilities: Strength 250? Endurance 300 Reflexes 250? Focus 200? Defense 200?

Upgrade: 1/1,000

***

My next available upgrade required 1000 ores. I could think that it was a lot but, if we kept up the pace, I would be able to save that much in a month.

I couldn’t even imagine what the next upgrade would bring.

“Sunbeh Oppa. Look at this.”

Sooah said while touching her smartphone.

“What?”

“It’s some news about the Yellow Sea.”

***

[Officials are in shock over news that there have been killings amongst hunters. Corpse count for just yesterday has been at over 100 and rising. It is estimated that there are over 200 dead. These unexpected events have set in motion the decision by the government to station a large number of police forces in the West Sea.]

***

“Seeing this, it’ll stop alot of people from coming.”

“This was probably what those hunters had been aiming for.”

Han Joonseok spoke up. Compared to dungeons, it was possible to make 10 times the amount on this land.

This would have easily convinced most hunters to venture here.

But this new piece of news could change everything.

“But wouldn’t it make more sense to just mobilize the army? I don’t think the police would be enough to regulate all the hunters…”

Cho Youngoo said. Hunters were vulnerable to firearms. Of course the police carried firearms as well but they were nothing compared to the army.

At the same time, it wasn’t that easy a solution.

“If they decide to mobilize the army, the Chinese will do the same. It’s better to send out the police instead – to at least keep the peace.”

“What a headache.”

“Well it’s not our problem. That’s the government’s headache to deal with. We just need to concern ourselves with hunting.”

Our main focus was not everyone else. It was to milk out as much as we could from this new land before things got too crazy.

We continued hunting for three days straight until we ran out of food, water, and fuel.

We were able to gather 250 ores and a total of 45 items in 4 days. Most of the investments were put into my upgrade. And after dividing up the items, we had about 31 unclaimed left.

I calculated the price of everything once sold to be somewhere around 4 million dollars.

Distribution contribution was split with me taking ⅓ and everyone else taking amounts according to their ranking.

Since I took all the ores, I wanted to do the split evenly with everyone ..but surprisingly Manager Kim pushed for me taking the larger split.

“If we don’t give this much to him, this bastard might just leave us. We need to give him as much money as we can so that the thought won’t even occur in his head.”

With those words, everyone nodded their heads.

I had no intention of breaking our party. I felt a kind of bond with everyone now.

“Where’s the trust?”

“Trust is empty. You need to back it up with money. Empty trust is easily shattered like glass.”

“Is that so…”

Is it because he’s had a lot of life experience? I felt a sort of wisdom in his words.

In any case, thanks to him, I was able to save 2 million dollars. Since there was now a Hunter’s Market at Manripo, there were no issues.

Everyone else took away 400,000 each. As soon as the money was deposited into their accounts, everyone’s face looked ready to rip from such wide smiles.

“Sunbeh Oppa. You want to get married with me? I’ll buy the house.”

…What the hell is this girl talking about?

We decided to take a day of rest so that the car could get maintenanced. Cho Youngoo went to the auto shop while Manager Kim and Han Joonseok went to rest at a hostel.

Jung Sooah, Bae Yeonkyoung, and I went out.

The number of hunters had increased much more than the first time we were here.

Even with the recent news, it seemed that everyone was dreaming of the riches to be earned instead.

“Why are we going to the market? Didn’t we sell everything we needed yesterday?”

“I was thinking of buying a skill.”

“What? Why? You’re going to throw away your effort skill? What a waste.”

“You crazy? Why would I throw that away?”

“Then ….?”

“I can learn one more…additional skill.”

“What??”

Both of them yelled out in surprise and stared at me with big Os for mouths.

Is it that surprising?

Well…if I thought about it…I guess it is.

“It happened somehow or another. Now that I have money, let’s go look for some decent skills to buy.”

“Is…is it all because of that effort skill you mentioned?”

Bae Yeonkyoung asked in awe.

I’d never noticed because she always had her hair tied up, but her long hair and white tee suited her.

And since she was well endowed in the front, she was drawing alot of looks from the men.

To think someone with a cute face would have such large…ahem.

It was almost enough where everyone seemed to do a slight double take.

I’m not the only pervert here. Good.

“Party head…?”

Shit. I was lost in my own perverted head for a second.

The market was crowded with a lot of people. Unlike a department store, they had containers lined in a row so you can only see from the outside like a Night Market.

I don’t know if it’s alright to sell items valued at over 100,000 dollars as if they were selling hot dogs.

It felt as if someone were selling luxury brands on the floor of a street market. No. That’s almost exactly what they were doing.

“I think they sell skills over here.”

Yeonkyoung grabbed my sleeve and pulled me. I followed her to where they were selling skillbooks.

Honestly it seemed like there were much more people just browsing than interested in doing any real buying.

“Wow…just how many zeros are there?”

Sooah opened her mouth. She could probably catch some flies like that. This place was selling skillbooks ranging from level 1 to level 5.

“Look, it’s a level 4 enchant. 1.2 million dollars.”

“Is that what I have?”

Yeonkyoung had a level 1 enchant. Of course if the difference in level is 1 and 4…the price difference should also be like the difference between heaven and hell.

“It’s the same category…but not the same.”

“Sunbeh oppa..what are you going to buy? Is there something you have in mind?”

“Ah. There is one thing. But I don’t know if I’ll be able to find it somewhere like this.”

I thought about what skill I should choose all night.

I first thought about what it was I needed the most. Ability-wise, I could always raise with my skill and Sooah’s buff…attack power…I had enough with the Honcheon sword.

Plus we still haven’t heard any news of high level monsters appearing in the West Sea yet.

It was just a theory but I thought that maybe all the level 1 and level 2 monsters that had disappeared with the dungeons were all transported here to this new land.

Kind of as if this land was a replacement for those dungeons. I don’t know why something like that would happen but if this was true then I had no need for any real destructive attack power yet.

The kind of trash that would kill their own kind just for monetary gain…they could probably be much more dangerous than the monsters we would encounter here.

So I came to two options:

Level 4 skill ‘Immortality’ and Level 4 skill ‘High Detection’.

With the immortality skill, if you were in a situation where your head were to be cut off or your heart pierced by something…it blocked it from happening.

But since it had a cooltime of one day, it could be seen as potentially having several lives.

This would seem like an amazing skill to have..but it isn’t really.

Since most people only have one skillslot, what would be the point of having several lives if you’re lacking in every aspect of combat that will be useful in saving your life or getting you through a raid.

But for people who have more than one skillslot like I do…this is something very worthwhile to have.

The High Detection skill allows you to detect the location and type of organisms in a large range of land.

The reason such a seemingly simple skill is high in level is because as you increase proficiency with the skill, the options that come along with it are extremely useful.

Example: Option, ‘Force Alert’, is an ability that wakes up the ability holder if a hostile being is in close vicinity.

Then if you completely master the skill, you can not only detect hostility but also love or like in your opponent. It is called the ‘Eye of Truth’.

This is a skill very useful to people who are dating or in relationships.

Of course this particular option isn’t something I need.

But if I had this skill, we wouldn’t have any need for a night watch.

They were both great skills in their own way. The Immortality skill was good for just me…while the High Detection skill was great for everyone inn the party.

I saw hotdogs stretched out before me.

So they do sell those here too.

As I bit into the hotdog that Sooah handed to me, I purchased the Immortality skill.

It wasn’t a decision as much as that I couldn’t find the other skill.

The skill was expensive. 1.2 million dollars.

“So you can survive by yourself?”

“I need to survive so you can survive too.”

“True.”

So we purchased the skillbook in that way and started to leave when we heard some whispers.

“What’s so great about him that he has two girls…”

“The girls ain’t half bad. And they’re different styles too…”

“I like the big breasted one. She has a cute face and her body is whewww.”

“I like the tall one. Great style. And she has a pretty face on her.”

“Ha….should I go and talk to them? I have a good feeling.”

“With your face?”

“What’s wrong with my face? It’s manly you know?”

“Like hell. Retard. You’re ugly as hell.”

“Ah. Wait. I’ll go say something and come back.”

I could see why Yeonkyoung would be popular but I didn’t expect people to be into Sooah too.

I turned my head around and looked at her.

“Is there something on my face?”

“No. I just wanted to see if you had any pretty parts on your face.”

“Huh….SunbehOppa is finally interested in me….heuk.”

Sooah blinked out a tear. What.

***

I read the skillbook and learned the Immortality skill.

It felt as if a hard marble formed somewhere in my body.

It was hard to pinpoint what exactly this felt like. It kind of felt like I was a bit more sturdy now.

Well…I can now say that I have a spare life.

With this, I can now fight a bit more freely.

And last, I raised my ability.

I had over 20,000 reward points. I was thinking about how I should use it when I decided to just go ahead and raise everything by one.

I used up 14,500 points and raised my proficiency to 29.

***

Proficiency: 29

Reward Points: 5.730

Abilities: Strength 300, Endurance 350, Reflex 300, Focus 250, Defense 250

***

Looks like I still have more than 5000 points left.

Do I need to hit 30 in proficiency?

If my original theory is correct, the level 3 dungeons might end up disappearing and then they might all appear here in the new land.

Just like the level 1 and 2 monsters probably did.

Since there were already a bunch of low level hunters here, I had not no desire to bring any higher level hunters here.

The more hunters come to this land, the less we would be able to profit off it. So that was a N.O. I’ll wait.

***

The next day, we packed up all our supplies and put it in our car and left Manripo.

I saw dirt spilling out of a large truck as a streamroller was moving behind it to create a makeshift road.

Because the lay of the land was pretty smooth to begin with, road construction looked fairly easy.

If the roads were completed, it would make travel safer for hunters.

“Why do you think the monsters aren’t heading towards the roads?”

Sooah, who had her head popped outside the car window, asked suddenly.

“I heard they don’t like the smell of asphalt from the roads.”

“But monsters appear in the cities too.”

“I said they don’t like the smell…not that they can’t bear it.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Just because you don’t like the smell of a bathroom doesn’t mean you won’t use it if you needed it right?”

Sooah raised her thumb up and smiled.

“You answered it perfectly so I could understand in one go!”

“Since there are still a lot of people here on the outskirts, I’ll move closer toward the inner land.”

Cho Youngoo said.

And we drove for a long time.

Weirdly, the number of hunters just didn’t seem to decrease no matter how far we drove in.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to hunt properly like this.”

“Let’s go south..there should be roads easier to travel by car there.”

Han Joonseok looked at my smartphone and said.

“What’s that?”

“Ah…this is a map that the internet explorer drew out. You have to pay for it, but it’s pretty accurate.

I knew this from my years of collecting data. I knew it would come in handy someday. This was a site that had more up to date and accurate maps than your usual web search maps.

“This land is already mapped out?”

“Someone’s got to pioneer this stuff. I’m sure they’re making a killing off of it too. They also keep record of monster species and count. If we want to avoid these monsters, we have to go further south.”

“Why do you want to avoid them? Isn’t it better for us to run into them?”

“Because everyone else will already know about them…there’s a high probability we might run into them. It’s better to go to a place with fewer people.”

“I guess.”

I took about an hour more for us to find a spot where we could hunt without seeing any other hunters.

“There’s a water spot near the canyon so we would be able to hunt here longer than somewhere else.”

“Uh? That….?”

Cho Youngoo, who had been driving, grasped his steering wheel a bit tighter and made a frown.

In the middle of the canyon, there were over a dozen vehicles blocking the road.

This was the only road that was accessible by cars… all other roads required offroad vehicles to travel.

And those cars were barricading this road.

“What’s that?”

Cho Youngoo slowed down as he muttered in annoyance.

In front of the barricade were a group of hunters waiting.

Squeaaak.

We got out of the car and headed towards the barricade. There were some people protesting against the barricade.

“Why are you blocking the road like this? If we don’t hunt here we have to turn back again and drive for a long time!”

“Not my problem. This is Ezekiel’s Area. You can’t pass.”

“What…if we turn back…we have to drive for a real long way…”

“Oh well. If you want to pass, then pay a toll. Or else buzz off.”

“Shit. How much?”

“1000 per person. 10,000 per vehicle.”

“What? That makes so sense…”

“If you don’t like it, buzz off. You see this flag here? This mean it’s Ezekiel’s land.”

“The government said they would give rights to land but they never said they would allow you to charge for passage!”

“Go report us if you don’t like it.”

“How the hell are we supposed to report you from here…”

What the hell.

Manager Kim opened his mouth.

“Do we need to pass through here? We just need to hunt monsters. Let’s just turn around and hunt somewhere else.”

“I think Manager Kim is right. I don’t think there’s any real need for us to pass through this way.”

Cho Youngoo said as he nodded his head.

We turned our car around and changed directions.

“Again…?”

Cho Youngoo’s face crumpled again.

The road was blocked.

This was the third time.

I turned on my smartphone and checked the map.

“This….It seems that all the roads in the South may be blocked.”

“Then we can’t go south anymore?”

Cho Youngoo asked.

“It’ll be hard for us to do so by car. There is a road that isn’t on the map yet because the map isn’t complete but that might be dangerous. If we’re just hunting, it’ll be to just leave the car and hunt on foot nearby.”

“Leaving the car is a bit…”

Leaving a car in a place like this is almost the same as begging someone to just steal it.

We had to at least leave it closer to the city and move on foot.

“Whew…I guess we have no choice but to leave the car closer to the city.”