Ch.7024. Sparring with Soso (1)

A week had passed. The cooperation mission was now just around the corner.

Naturally, the members of Flame were busy without a moment to spare in preparation. Me too. As the one in charge of the main operation for this mission, I had countless things to prepare.

‘Still, I suppose preparations are going smoothly enough.’

Final limit checks for the members. Recent condition checks. And thorough inspections of all the gear and equipment each person would be using.

Of course, I prepared even more expensive equipment for the guild members. Though hunters rarely change their gear, which is considered an extension of themselves.

But protective equipment and items that enhance hunters’ abilities were essentially consumables. It was advantageous to replace those frequently.

‘Thanks to our contract with Solaris, getting equipment fitted wasn’t difficult.’

Pyotr from Solaris visited Flame because of that equipment matter. Though we had already purchased the equipment, he seemed to be visiting for payment settlement and various collaboration meetings.

And I also attended that meeting.

“As everyone knows, Flame’s recognition is rising considerably. Especially the strategy to focus on recruiting subsidiary guilds in the southern Korean peninsula and Japan, where the influence of corporate guilds is relatively weak, seems to have been a good one.”

Pyotr addressed the attendees. As he said, the southern Korean peninsula—meaning Gyeongnam and Jeonnam regions—had relatively less penetration by corporate guilds.

Major corporations related to modern industry and main government agencies are all currently concentrated in the metropolitan area.

Naturally, focusing on maintaining security and clearing dungeons in those areas is more profitable for large corporations.

‘Or the cities of former North Korea adjacent to the Slavic Kingdom.’

This had become an opportunity for Flame. Especially if we dominated the south, we could look beyond that afterward.

We could extend our reach to Japan, which had less stable security compared to other Far East regions, and Jeju, which had now transformed into a neutral international city in the Far East.

“So there are quite a few local governments and regional companies in the southern regions that want contracts with Flame. Of course, since Flame is busy with important missions like the cooperation mission now, it’s important to actively utilize guilds that are cooperative with Flame.”

And naturally, to create subsidiary guilds, we needed to ensure that these guilds would receive definite rewards by being affiliated with Flame.

‘Stability and financial support. Those two are essential.’

That’s why many guilds want to become subsidiaries of corporate guilds.

Independent guilds or small guilds are always in competition with other guilds. And that competition is not much different from territorial disputes between mafia organizations.

In the hunter world, fists are faster than laws.

‘The Hunter Association tends to turn a blind eye to these conflicts.’

Of course, they do mediate conflicts that result in numerous casualties, but the busy association staff rarely have the leisure to intervene in minor local disputes.

Generally, the association maintains neutrality regardless of which guild takes security rights in a region. However, if that guild fails to properly maintain security, the association will revoke those rights in its name.

That’s why having a large guild as a backer is important for small guilds. The name alone can reduce unnecessary conflicts.

At that moment, Pyotr said:

“In that respect, if Flame continues to grow at its current rate, it will inevitably clash with Sigurd.”

And that was precisely the reason why I deliberately changed Flame’s reconnaissance zone to Zone A during the cooperation mission meeting.

Although Sigurd operates in the metropolitan area, former North Korea, and even in China and the Slavic Kingdom regions,

Sigurd still has the image of being second to Mansong. Recently, they’ve been expanding their business and security zones to the southern Korean peninsula and Japan.

Father Stefano fingered his rosary and spoke softly.

“That’s why this cooperation mission is even more important. Although we’re not in charge of the attack squad, scouting the depths of a dungeon that’s currently impossible to properly assess… Hmm. It’s quite a high-difficulty mission among various tasks.”

“As Father said, Flame has rolled the dice. The Association originally seemed to plan on assigning Flame a low-difficulty zone reconnaissance mission, but we refused. If we successfully complete the Zone A reconnaissance, the perception of Flame will completely change.”

Team Leader Seo nodded at Yuri’s response.

“The Guild Master is right. Especially since Sigurd is participating as the attack squad in this mission, they’ll get all the spotlight. So Flame can’t just be doing the cleanup work like this. Isn’t that right, Mr. Pyotr?”

Pyotr nodded at those words.

“That’s correct, Team Leader Seo. The board of directors at Solaris has already concluded their meeting. They decided that investment in Flame could be increased depending on the results of this mission. Zone A is definitely a dangerous zone that includes the boss area, right?”

At that moment, Yuri, Team Leader Seo, and Executive Director Maria glanced at me. Pyotr continued.

“Then as Father Stefano said, it might be a mission that’s as difficult as, or even more difficult than, the attack squad’s. Our board of directors judged it to be an excellent mission for evaluating Flame.”

As he said, I had boldly asked Secretary-General Choi Seung-hoon—someone whose shadow I should avoid—to change our mission zone.

‘If he had seen me as presumptuous, I would have been excluded from the mission, Zone A or not.’

He had that authority. Revoking an S-rank guild’s association license wouldn’t be difficult for him.

But it wasn’t an emotional move. As Solaris thought, we couldn’t just play a supporting role in a mission where major guilds cooperate.

It was a good opportunity to boost Flame’s reputation in one go. And considering how Secretary-General Choi had shown particular interest in me that day, I thought he would naturally be interested when I confidently said we could handle Zone A reconnaissance.

As I expected, Choi Seung-hoon immediately instructed to change Flame’s reconnaissance zone from C to A.

‘That wasn’t all.’

A few days ago, Choi Seung-hoon sent me an email directly. He said it was a thesis on combat magic he had recently conceptualized.

‘And it was an unpublished thesis at that.’

But he said I could use it freely if I could understand its contents. It was an unexpected windfall for me.

The finals of the exchange competition—the tactics in that final were the core of combat mages that Choi Seung-hoon always emphasized in his writings. Not only that, but my recent record of capturing Jang Gye-shin seemed to have left a good impression on him.

‘Anyway, this mission is truly important.’

Not only is the mission itself very high difficulty, but it will also directly impact what happens afterward.

I recalled the main story of Part 3 of the original Arca Hunter.

The story of Siwoo’s Justice, which started as a small guild like the current Flame, growing into a major corporation by dominating the southern Korean peninsula, Japan, and Jeju.

Of course, the ending became unknown due to the series being discontinued, but at least I had a duty to guide Flame, which was replacing Siwoo and Justice, in the same direction as that story.

“Then we’ll conclude the meeting here.”

The attendees rose from their seats. As Pyotr stood up with them, I casually approached him. I handed him a business card.

“Mr. Pyotr. Would you like to take a look at this?”

“What business card is this? If it’s yours, I already got it from Flame’s operations team.”

“It’s not mine. Have you ever heard of this company?”

The business card I handed him had the name “HE Investment” printed on it.

“HE Investment? I’ve heard of it. I heard they’re actively making sponsorship contracts with young hunters these days. They deal in special pharmaceuticals that hunters mainly consume, and also fashion brands, so they don’t have much connection with Solaris.”

“Somehow it seems like a shady company. Could you look into it in detail for me?”

Pyotr nodded.

“Well, of course I should. Especially since it’s a request from you.”

As Pyotr left with Team Leader Seo, someone gently tugged at my sleeve.

“…I need a sparring partner. Please spare some time.”

It was Soso.

***

Soso and I entered the training room alone.

On our way here, we briefly encountered Yuri and Arini, but Soso maintained her usual cold expression, or rather, her strict expression as a swordswoman, the entire way here.

To anyone watching, she clearly looked like someone heading to train.

‘Though she kept holding onto my sleeve the whole time…’

She only let go of my hand briefly when Yuri and Arini were watching, then grabbed my sleeve again as we walked together.

Previously, she would suddenly grab my hand first, but after I suggested we take things step by step, she seemed to become very conscious of even that simple physical contact.

‘Well, that’s just like Soso.’

When no one else was around, Soso and I had started speaking comfortably to each other. Just like back in Ains, when we were close.

That rekindled closeness seemed both satisfying and embarrassing for Soso.

Now that we were alone in the training room, I could feel her breathing quicken as she lowered her head, highly conscious of my presence.

Click.

But she didn’t forget to lock the door of the training room. When I looked at her doing that, Soso became flustered.

“A… Awakened ones’ sparring… using mana requires intense concentration… if others suddenly enter, it diminishes the meaning of the sparring… no… because it diminishes…”

She explained to me unnecessarily. Of course, I didn’t particularly care whether the door was open or closed.

‘No, maybe I do care.’

I didn’t know how Yuri or Arini would react if they witnessed Soso and me speaking comfortably to each other again.

But I decided to focus on Soso in front of me now. Soso took off the dragon-patterned flight jacket she was wearing and placed it on the floor.

“D-don’t stare at me like that! When a woman is undressing…”

And as she removed her jacket, her usual outfit that revealed her figure was exposed. Leggings and a tank top.

She was somewhat tall with a body now well-toned from exercise.

‘Even during Ains days, she lost a lot of weight after awakening the Heavenly Demon Divine Technique.’

After joining Flame, I learned that Soso still ate a lot like she did at Ains.

But since the Heavenly Demon Divine Technique consumed enormous calories just by using it, by the summer of our third year, Soso’s physique had become similar to what it is now.

‘I received a lot of help from Soso when preparing for the exchange competition.’

Soso simply wasn’t interested in what people called martial arts, but her talent was worthy of being called genius, befitting the daughter of the Five Great Celestial Families.

The swordsmanship and basic physical techniques she briefly learned as a child, combined with the Heavenly Demon Divine Technique, a high-level mana acceleration method, quickly raised her student rank to single digits.

The reason she could defeat a highly skilled swordsman with martial arts in the exchange competition finals—

While it was because of the Infight skill I obtained through the system, it was all thanks to Soso that I could raise the proficiency and level of that Infight skill.

‘Because I could practice with an excellent sparring partner.’

It was then that Soso, who had been lowering her head while being overly conscious of her outfit, finally raised her flushed face and spoke to me.

“S-so shall we start with a light warm-up? You said you wanted to spar against a close-range damage dealer…”

Soso was right. Though her reason for calling me to the training room seemed personal, I happened to need a sparring partner.

‘I sparred with Yuri at Mt. Seorak, so I’ve somewhat regained my feel for facing ranged damage dealers. Then…’

Now it was time to regain that feel against a definite close-range damage dealer.

The extremely high reaction speed and instantaneous velocity unique to close-range damage dealers and swordsmen—those are terribly tricky for mages.

It’s the same when facing monsters. If you can’t handle enemies that approach you, as a mage, you’ll always have to hide in the back.

‘And the latest thesis that the Secretary-General passed to me…’

I wanted to test the new combat magic theory written in that thesis. In many ways, I was glad Soso had sought me out. Soso shouted:

“Then I’ll go first!”

I concentrated. Having done weight training every day without fail during my intense rehabilitation, I was confident even without the system’s skills.

‘Since Soso isn’t using her sword now and this is just a warm-up, I should be able to hold my own to some extent.’

But shortly after, I found myself entangled in Soso’s arms and legs, rolling on the floor.