Ch.20Hunter Registration Is Dangerous (2)

“Nice to meet you. Are you here for the test?”

“Yes.”

With the appearance of a talent rumored to be exceptional, all the scouts and waiting applicants focused on him.

“Oh, that guy.”

“His name is Choi Seongcheol. He’s a vanguard who handles battle axes at an expert level.”

“Well, he was quite a talked-about talent even before this incident. His title was Guardian of Earth, wasn’t it?”

I glanced up at the counter and saw a man with a somewhat familiar build.

Though he still had bandages wrapped around various parts of his body, suggesting his wounds hadn’t completely healed, he at least looked healthy on the outside.

“I’m envious. At that level, he’s practically guaranteed a D-rank.”

“Just looking at his title, isn’t he already a top-tier talent?”

“Why bother thinking about the celestial realm? If you can just exceed the top 50% at level 1, you can live comfortably. Let’s just pray our results turn out well.”

As the bustling atmosphere continued, for some reason, one of the counter staff came over to where the waiting applicants were gathered.

The woman looked around in all directions, and when her gaze stopped, it was somehow on me.

“Ah, you’re Baek Eunha, right?”

“Yes, that’s… correct…”

Did I make some mistake? I quickly tried to think back, but couldn’t remember anything noteworthy.

As I looked down at the floor and shrank back, the staff continued with a slightly embarrassed voice.

“Um, I checked the information you provided, but is this title really correct?”

“…Y-yes.”

Of course, it was a lie.

The title section on my status window was still completely empty.

But a title is also another name. What people in the world call me.

In that sense, it was definitely my title.

“Well. I don’t mean this with any bad intentions, but ‘Lord of Death’… Such a grandiose title is hard to find even among top-tier hunters.”

At those words, all eyes in the center turned toward me.

This included Choi Seongcheol. When he spotted me with my hood pulled down, he frowned with a resentful expression.

The staff member took a deep breath and continued.

“…This seems to be a matter I need to report to my superiors, so could you please confirm once more if this is really your title?”

At that moment, I fell into contemplation. I had a feeling that something troublesome was about to happen.

I was seriously considering making up a different name when I heard mocking voices from all around.

[This happens every now and then. You should be ashamed. Don’t you know what happened to those who tried to draw attention before?]

[Leave him be. He just wants attention. He probably got stuck with some pathetic title, and it won’t last long once he starts dungeoning anyway.]

[Even so, isn’t this too blatant? Lord of Death my ass. Is he an S-rank or something?]

Truly a festival of ignorance.

In fact, even “Lord of Death” was a relatively modest title from my perspective, but I didn’t expect it would invite such ridicule.

I became irritated in an instant.

‘Blind chimpanzees…’

Can they not sense my fundamental dignity just by looking at me?

If they lack even that level of intelligence, then standing before me is disrespectful in itself.

A curse that makes them lose their hair would be too lenient for their transgression.

“……”

But thinking about it, perhaps it’s not so incomprehensible. Even Helena, who was S-rank, didn’t have such an impressive title.

It was something like Guide of the Dead or Ferryman, wasn’t it?

Calming myself, I looked up at the staff member with a slightly disgruntled expression and replied.

“…Th-there’s nothing wrong with it.”

“Ah, then, well. I’ll process it as is for now.”

The staff member left, but the gazes of many remained fixed on me.

I quickly retreated to the bathroom to escape the rising headache and heartburn.

‘Chimpanzees…’

In the midst of it all, I didn’t forget to glare at them slightly through my hood.

Thud.

Crouching in the farthest toilet stall, I made a promise to myself.

‘…I was planning to just get this over with and go home.’

But now, I didn’t care about a little inconvenience.

I would engrave directly into their bodies and minds that there has been a clear difference in level between chimpanzees and humans since ancient times.

‘……’

A battle for the pride of a fundamental necromancer was about to begin.

#

The first process was simple.

It was a physical examination.

“Next person, please come in.”

Using the latest equipment created with the cooperation of research and invention-type awakened individuals, they clearly determine whether one has the physical abilities to work as a hunter.

Of course, this alone doesn’t determine whether one passes or fails. Rarely, there are those who have specialized abilities that exclude physical capabilities.

However, physical indicators are the most intuitive and consistent criteria, so their importance is high.

“Please stand here with your arms spread, and don’t move until I give you the signal.”

Whirr.

Click.

After finishing these trivial tests, the most important event of this first process approached.

It was the mana measurement.

With a trembling heart, I completed all the tests and waited for the results.

After a moment, the female guide spoke with a somewhat embarrassed expression.

“M-mana level 253 points. You barely passed the cutline by 3 points.”

“Ugh.”

I had somewhat expected it, but it was truly a miserable result.

‘T-two hundred and fifty is still two hundred and fifty in its own way.’

The number is desperate, but there will be a big difference in what one can do with it.

Simply put, it’s like the difference in concentration between plain water and black ink.

So it’s not that important right now. I desperately avoided the pitying gaze of the woman and left my seat.

“How much mana did you get?”

“470 points.”

“Really? Just 30 more points and you’d be at D-rank level? Lucky bastard.”

As is typical with physical examinations, the chimpanzees were already cheerfully chatting about their test results.

470 points.

357 points.

292 points.

No matter where I looked, no one had a lower score than me. I was dead last.

And unlike me, there was someone who boasted an outstanding score among the chimpanzees.

“…I heard it’s over 900 points.”

“I heard it’s practically a thousand.”

“That’s insane. Is that what true talent looks like?”

Choi Seongcheol.

The one who could be called the king of chimpanzees in terms of intelligence sat with his arms crossed, wearing a smug expression.

When this Choi Seongcheol spotted me coming out of the examination room, he spoke up.

“It’s been a while. How did your results turn out?”

With those words tinged with subtle competitiveness, everyone’s attention focused on us once again. It was completely set up as a confrontation.

I hesitated and turned my head. Then, using my brain at full capacity, I blurted out a plausible answer.

“…H-hmph, not interested.”

“Huh, so you’re saying you didn’t even bother to check? That’s quite the confidence.”

With that, Choi Seongcheol stood up abruptly from his seat, and as he was leaving the waiting room, he turned his head and said to me.

“I’m the top this quarter. See you at the next test.”

And so began the practical test that would officially rank and value the hunter aspirants.

“Everyone, please prepare the weapons you’ve been issued. We’ll start the measurements one by one.”

The first step was measuring combat ability through weapon skills.

The method was simple.

Use the skills you’ve honed to attack a sandbag for one minute.

The latest equipment enhanced with magical engineering would then measure the tester’s combat proficiency from various angles.

However, all skills except for simple mana usage were prohibited; this stage was meant to measure pure physical abilities and techniques.

Slash!

Clang!

Crack!

“One minute has passed. We’ll now begin the second measurement.”

And next was the firepower measurement.

Attack the defensive barrier of a magic stone placed next to the sandbag to detect your maximum firepower.

Here, abilities and skills were allowed. In short, this was the stage to show all your potential as a new hunter.

“Uaaaah!”

Whoosh!

Boom!

The first man to take the test struck the barrier with a sword surrounded by faint flames.

With that, the first measurement was completed.

“Combat proficiency 291 points, maximum firepower 370 points. Both are at the average level for E-rank. Good job.”

It might seem like an invasion of privacy, but there was a reason for announcing results so publicly.

It was meant to make people aware of their limits, accurately understand their current position, and avoid unnecessary deaths.

There was no better way to realize this than through simple comparison, so it was a kind of rite of passage in its own way.

“468 points, 564 points, D-rank.”

“433 points, 291 points. E-rank.”

For the examiner, this was a familiar process done weekly, so there was no particular expression of emotion.

It was simply a continuous process of measurement and result announcement.

However, soon even the examiner was surprised enough to open his mouth.

KWAAANG─!

“C-combat proficiency 782 points, maximum firepower 1197 points. Top D-rank level.”

At those words, murmurs grew stronger from all around, and the examiner immediately checked some kind of document before continuing.

“…Amazing! This is the highest score this quarter, no, the highest across both the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Your level is definitely 5, correct?”

“That’s right.”

“Well, it seems a future A-rank hunter has visited the Seoul branch today. I look forward to your future endeavors.”

The middle-aged examiner who had seen the sprouts of many high-rank hunters in this place.

Such a person gave the evaluation of a future A-rank.

Exclamations erupted from all around.

“Wow, damn. What’s the annual salary of an A-rank? He’ll probably appear on TV later?”

“What does salary matter? Whether it’s buildings or resorts, he could stack up dozens if he wanted to.”

“Gibeom, go get his autograph later.”

In modern society, an A-rank hunter is truly an all-around superhuman with everything.

Money, honor, and their own strength.

As people were lost in thought imagining this, the supervisor collected himself and spoke again.

“Ahem. Let’s continue. Is Baek Eunha present?”

“…Y-yes.”

It was truly malicious timing, but I went forward regardless.

Honestly, I was just confused.

I couldn’t understand, no matter how much I thought about it, if that was really a skill worth such praise.

‘…I think Kim Seungmin was much better.’

But it seemed to appear differently to them; people began to whisper and mock me.

[Ha, how embarrassing.]

[After boasting so much, and then a monster like that shows up…]

[If his mana measurement had been good, word would have spread somehow.]

It hurt a little to hear the facts mixed in, but I didn’t particularly care.

After all, from now on, I was planning to show a difference in class that anyone could clearly see.

‘…It’s been a while.’

Needless to say, death energy and mana are different branches of power.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t handle mana.

Swish.

Since the gazes were disturbing my ability to perform properly, I lowered my hood while using the stabilization magic contained in my ring.

A unique refreshing sensation enveloped my head, and simultaneously, commotion spread among the people who saw my bare face.

Murmur.

Murmur murmur.

‘……’

But such reactions didn’t matter. I focused my mind and began to manipulate all 253 points of my mana, which had been evaluated, with extreme delicacy and precision.

Whoosh.

In terms of quantity, it was honestly really small.

To put it crudely, it was an insignificant amount.

But in old tales, they say a master can cut a boulder with just a twig.

The moment my tiny amount of mana barely covered the entire blade surface, I struck without hesitation.

Slash─!

The sound of that sword strike that reached my ears was truly clear and elegant.