LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 129
Chapter 129
A red line, as if slicing through the horizon, split Suho’s field of vision cleanly in two.
In the process, the Mega Parasite was also precisely cut in half, marking its end.
[ You have defeated the Mega Parasite. ]
[ The gate has been conquered. ]
[ The MVP of this gate conquest is ‘Ahn Suho.’ ]
[ As MVP, you are awarded additional experience points. ]
[ As MVP, you receive 1 bonus stat. ]
[ Level up! ]
[ All stats increased by 1. ]
[ You have gained 1 bonus stat. ]
System notifications poured in.
Seeing them, a smile crept onto Suho’s lips.
Notifications the conquerors of his past life would never have seen.
Unlike those who were forcibly expelled, Suho had met the hidden condition by slaying the boss monster and earned the MVP title.
And that wasn’t all.
[ You have reached Level 100. ]
[ For achieving this impressive milestone, the system awards you 5 bonus stats. ]
[ The player has reached a singularity. ]
[ The class quest has been activated. ]
[ The trait quest has been activated. ]
[ The first condition for unlocking the third power of Dragon Blood has been met. ]
[ The first condition for unlocking the second stage of Vampire Blood has been met. ]
Additional system notifications continued to pour in.
It was all thanks to reaching Level 100.
Suho couldn’t hide his delight as he read through the newly appeared notifications.
‘Finally, I’ve reached a 1-star level.’
An astonishingly fast pace compared to his past life.
Suho opened his status window and began distributing his stats.
[ Ahn Suho ]
– Lv: 100
– Class▲: Healer
– Traits▲:
– Strength (O): 26
– Stamina (O): 2
– Magic (R): 70
– Perception (R): 62
– Bonus Stats: 0
Suho allocated all the bonus stats he’d acquired to Magic.
Then, satisfied with the activation indicators on both his class and trait sections, he closed the status window.
Suho then turned his gaze to the body of the fallen Mega Parasite.
Without delay, he summoned Ghost Shadow Spear and embedded it into the creature’s corpse.
[ Ghost Shadow Spear reacts to the Mega Parasite’s shadow. ]
[ Ghost Shadow Spear absorbs the Mega Parasite’s shadow. ]
Shadow Feeding was now complete.
Suho shifted his gaze to the severed part of the Mega Worm’s innards, which had once been a wall, now sliced cleanly along with the Mega Parasite.
“Hmm.”
Perhaps the pain of being severed was buried due to the Mega Parasite’s rampage?
While it had been screaming when pierced by Blood Sword, there hadn’t even been a sound this time, nor any sign of struggle in the acidic tides.
Suho moved closer to the severed surface, examining the area.
‘Cut cleanly.’
It was so smoothly sliced that even the cut surface was immaculate.
Suho looked past the sliced edge to the scenery beyond.
Beyond the cut.
It was not the outer part of the Mega Worm’s body.
Beyond the cut lay another network of innumerable inner organ pathways.
And not just that.
Squirm…
The severed inner organs of the Mega Worm had already begun regenerating, barely moments after being cut.
This was why, in gates themed around internal organs, simply destroying the insides wasn’t a way to escape.
‘Of course, if I were to brute-force my way through, I could technically escape…’
But any player with a hint of common sense wouldn’t attempt such a thing.
First, no one knew what lay outside the gate set up this way, and if the gate conquest wasn’t recognized after such an effort, it would end up being a waste of energy and might even cause the gate to be obliterated entirely.
Just as Ghost Shadow Spear finished its feeding.
[ Ghost Shadow Spear has been strengthened. ]
[ Ghost Shadow Spear has fully absorbed the shadow of the Mega Parasite. ]
Since it had only recently been upgraded to the third stage, there was no major change this time, just a slight enhancement.
Instead, something valuable was left behind where Ghost Shadow Spear had absorbed it.
It was none other than the Mega Parasite’s corpse.
Suho dismissed Ghost Shadow Spear and took out a material item from his inventory.
What Suho pulled out was none other than the claw of a monstrous lion.
‘When the Blood Sword can’t pierce its exterior, this is the perfect tool.’
Using Cloud Slash or Steel Severance would certainly be enough to tear through the hide.
But Suho’s goal right now was looting.
If he carelessly swung a sword and damaged the interior of the Mega Parasite, it could significantly diminish the quality of the loot.
So, when looting, one had to work as delicately as an archaeologist excavating a relic site.
With that in mind, Suho carefully scored the Mega Parasite’s body with the monster lion’s claw, and the hide that had sparked even when stabbed with full force by the Blood Sword split as easily as silk.
Suho began meticulously slicing open the creature’s entire body with the claw.
Then, methodically, he delved into its insides, and before long, he was able to secure valuable loot.
The first treasure was a magic stone.
‘As expected, the magic stone of a 1-star boss monster is different in scale from the start.’
For a 1-star boss monster, no magic stone was ever rated below S-grade.
No matter how wealthy one might be, there was no reason not to collect it.
S-grade magic stones were no longer just moneymakers but valuable crafting materials.
Next, he secured the creature’s heart.
‘The heart of a parasite-type monster has regenerative abilities surpassing that of trolls.’
Moreover, it even had the unique regeneration ability called “Meal Regeneration,” allowing its consumer to heal through consumption.
However, the most important loot had yet to appear.
After carefully rummaging through the creature’s body, Suho finally found what he was looking for.
It was a black gemstone about the size of a melon, and Suho checked its information.
[ Unhatched Mega Parasite Egg ]
# An egg of the Mega Parasite that has not yet hatched.
# For the egg to hatch, it requires sufficient nutrient supply, and it absorbs nutrients from the surrounding environment when it responds to life energy.
Suho smiled as he read the item information.
An unhatched Mega Parasite egg.
While it was labeled as an egg, it was far from ordinary.
‘The egg of a large parasite… Depending on how it’s used, it could become a deadly curse or even a weapon for terror.’
So, Suho carefully stored it in his inventory.
It hadn’t been his primary goal in coming here, but he knew better than anyone the uses it could serve.
This would be enough.
Having completed the looting, Suho finally made his way toward the portal leading outside.
***
Outside the sealed gate.
How long had it been?
Suho, who had said he’d be out soon, had taken much longer than expected, and everyone had grown weary of waiting and was dozing off.
“Huh? Huh!”
“The gate line is collapsing!”
“The gate has been conquered!”
The soldiers on duty were the first to notice the conquest of the gate.
“Yes!!”
Especially Director Im Yeon-hyun, who was visibly delighted.
Watching him, Jo Jin-hwi didn’t miss the moment and snapped a photo with his camera.
Then he smiled and asked.
“Is conquering the gate that exciting for you?”
“Ah, of course, it is. Isn’t that obvious?”
“Well, to me, it looks like you’re just happy to finally get out of here.”
“Ahem, well… maybe that’s a bit of it… but, um, you’re not planning to put that exact quote in the article, are you?”
“Relax. It’ll be something like ‘A soldier rejoices at the successful gate conquest.’”
“Phew, that’s a relief.”
The two then headed toward the gate entrance to wait for Suho, and Jo Jin-hwi only finished the follow-up shots with him before they could leave the sealed area.
Jo Jin-hwi headed naturally for the driver’s seat and said.
“I’ll drive on the way back.”
“No, I’ll drive. You can save time and do an interview while we’re on the move.”
“Sounds good. Though if you’re tired, we could always do the interview later.”
“It’s fine. I’m not that tired.”
“As expected from Mr. Ahn. All right, let’s start the interview right away. So, what was it like inside the gate? I hear it’s crawling with parasites and acidic tides. How did you tackle it this time?”
“For this gate…”
Suho mixed in the tactics used by the conquerors of his past life with the hidden strategies he had employed, carefully describing the situation back then.
Of course, he didn’t reveal it as a hidden strategy.
In this timeline, Mountain Swamp was still an uncharted, unconquered gate.
“As expected from Mr. Ahn… And what did you get from the Mega Parasite?”
“The Mega Parasite yielded…”
As Suho was about to answer Jo Jin-hwi’s question naturally, he paused.
After some thought, he spoke to Jo Jin-hwi.
“Reporter.”
“Yes?”
“Would you like to work on a special feature?”
“A special feature?”
Jo Jin-hwi’s eyes sparkled at the mention of a special feature.
He opened a new page in his notebook and readied his pen.
“What kind of special feature?”
“A feature on the compensation for civil servant hunters who conquer gates.”
“A feature on gate conquest compensation… Wait, don’t tell me?”
As expected of the specialized reporter, Jo Jin-hwi, he grasped it immediately.
Nodding, Suho spoke.
“As you’re well aware, in our country, civil servant hunters have almost no rights to the gates they conquer. Unless it’s forcibly granted by the system, all loot obtained within the gate must be surrendered to the state.”
“Yes, and I hear our country is the only one worldwide with such a system?”
“What do you think the reason is?”
“It seems to stem from the fact that those who crafted our nation’s Awakener laws lacked an understanding of the industry.”
“Exactly. And because of such outdated, unreasonable laws, the appeal of being a national hunter has hit rock bottom. Though the hunter profession was created for the benefit of humanity, who could be more devoted than national hunters?”
“Absolutely. Even if not all hunters receive the treatment military personnel do, national hunters deserve at least as much respect as their country’s soldiers. But this nation has always treated patriots with contempt, whether soldiers or firefighters.”
“That’s why I’m sketching out a plan to correct this injustice.”
Jo Jin-hwi chuckled and replied.
“This time, you’re letting me in early?”
“For this project, it’s a bit much for me to handle alone. I’ll need your help.”
“Haha, to tackle this kind of issue, we’ll need to back it up with concrete examples and comparative data, and that requires a lot of legwork. Count on me. So… I take it you’ll reveal this all at once, then?”
“Yes. I plan to tie it in with other issues to create a bigger impact. That way, it’ll attract more attention.”
“Understood. I’ll keep laying the groundwork until then. So, what about the Mountain Swamp gate conquest?”
“I’ll tell you as soon as it’s approved.”
“Okay. Looks like I’ll be busy for a while. I can expand the feature if you like. Given the details, I think I can flesh it out quite a bit. Perhaps I could even include interviews with retired national hunters who weren’t properly compensated.”
As expected of Jo Jin-hwi.
Impressed by his thoroughness, Suho smiled and replied.
“Then, I’ll leave it in your capable hands.”
“Oh, the pleasure is all mine.”
Vroom!
With that, Jo Jin-hwi and Suho headed straight for the Korean Hunter Association.