Chapter 152

The Red Gate (3)

A few days after meeting Commissioner Bachurka, the awaited news was announced to the press.

– Our dimension’s Union registration has been confirmed!

– An era that nobody has experienced before, what would be the strategy held fast by humans from now on?

– Expectation towards rewards of Main Quest increased… What is the ‘experience point?’

The most expected positive effect of being registered to the Union was, of course, the support regarding the Main Quest.

It was said that the day that the Tower of Choice was Cleared, the message questioning their acceptance or rejection to proceed with the Main Quest appeared, and most hunters accepted it.

Since unless it’s a particular case like China, they didn’t have to consult or get permission from the country to make this choice.

However, in reality, as they saw the list of the Main Quests, the Awakened felt hopeless.

– I mean… What is all this?!

– Does anybody understand what this means?

It was understandable.

Most of the list’s countlessly enumerated contents were things that they couldn’t even estimate how to approach.

Some of the contents were as followed:

– Obtain the [Stone of Sunset], the treasure handed down the Huering royal family that had fallen ages ago, and offer it to the system administrator.

– Capture knight-level individual among the magic species serving the lord of the Clear Sky and offer it to the system administrator. (You are at this moment informed that you must capture them alive. No points will be given if you are to bring the corpse.)

– Obtain the principles and activation method of the unique vision magic [Spiritual Shift] developed by the Astral Dragon and offer it to the system administrator.

From the perspective of an Earthling, there was no way for them to understand what any of those meant.

They weren’t aware of the Huering species, where they lived, and even the fact that they had fallen. Above all else, they wouldn’t even know what the Stone of Sunset looked like.

They wouldn’t even have the slightest idea where the magic species could be found.

There was even a quest that tasked them to understand and study the principles of magic that even a skill card hadn’t taught them.

It was all a problem that they couldn’t even guess.

– Don’t you all think that this isn’t a quest that could be solved by the Earthlings’ force alone?

– I think that we will need to ask other aliens. Those who are already in progress with the Main Quest before us, I mean.

– It is said that it seemed that the Pezra species that were trading with us in the Australian Gate have no idea as well. Of course, they wouldn’t.

Even though I was equipped with the memories of my past life, I faced a dead end as well.

Since we had gone past the tutorial phase, there were many events that would happen that I hadn’t experienced before.

Most of the Main Quest’s contents were so.

It was the result of all the decisions I made, and I had no choice but to accept it.

– Breaking news! International Hunter Association held a meeting with the Commissioner of the Union…

It was also one of the Union’s roles to be a lighthouse of hope for the Awakened beings of the new partnership world.

The Commissioner, who introduced herself to be in charge of supporting the adaptation process of the new partners, provided the Earthlings.

– The ruins of an already extinct species are mainly found in the middle dimension. However, since all species share the Main Quest, it cannot be guaranteed that the middle dimension is always connected to Earth.

– Do not attempt to target quests that are related to magic species for the time being. They are a race outside the system’s control and are very powerful and violent. Crucially, no Gate exists that connects to the world they reside in.

– To move to a dimension that doesn’t have any Gates, you must pay experience points to the system and purchase a ‘Dimensional Travel Ticket (For Main Quest Clearers Only).’

– It is economical to trade with other races rather than the system when looking for items or information. From the seller’s point of view, they are bound to sell it cheaper than the system to establish a deal successively. Likewise, it is also recommended to actively trade with the Union headquarters or partnered species for information about Clearing quests.

– It takes at least a few hundred years to master an extraordinary power, sword movements, magic, etc., without a skill card. It is not recommended to a short-lived species like humans.

Those were advice like light and salt.

Well… for me, all of those were information that I had already received through Adam.

It had reached a point where it seemed only natural for many of the residents of the dimension to hope to join the Union as soon as they entered the Main Quest, considering their advice seemed useful in the early stages.

– The following quests are recommended for Earth’s Awakened individuals.

Among the endless lists, the Union chose and told us which quests were suitably challenging in relation to the current level of Earthlings.

They weren’t as dangerous as the Red Gate, but they were quests that well-experienced species didn’t touch for the exceedingly economic reason that compared to the labor required by it, the points were too small.

– The experience points received after carrying out those quests are Think of it as an essential element for the development of civilization, security, and safety. Everyone experiences this phenomenon, but the points received always lacks as the world develops. I recommend you all to save it as diligently as possible.

The International Hunter Association recruited people to carry out the Union’s recommended quests.

As a result, the Clear squad composed of SSS-Class and SS-Class went through the Gate, receiving the media’s attention.

The destination was either a different world or a dungeon, whose dimension was connected to a middle dimension.

The quests began to be Cleared one by one. However, people around the world that were cheering for the achievements began to raise their doubts at some point.

– Hmm, why isn’t Seo Jin-Wook stepping out? At such a crucial time…

– I know. To think of all the performance he had shown… I thought he would be the first one to step up and sweep all of it.

It was a question that could naturally be asked about the situation, but the reason why I didn’t come forward was evident.

‘The quests that the people are Clearing while crowding up like that… All fall short of the Screening Quest rewards that I monopolized during the tutorial, while on the contrary, it takes too long to Clear.’

There was a reason why the other species didn’t bother themselves with it.

‘So, why would I hop in? It’s better to let the other Earthly hunters gain experience.’

When we first met, it was true that Adam said there was no better way to collect points than the tutorial-level screening quest.

After entering the Main Quest, most of the time, the points that were given off weren’t satisfactory, even if the missions were even more difficult.

That difference was also the kind of consideration the system gave to tutorial-level Awakened.

However, it had become impossible to carry out the Screening Quests.

‘Because I’ve Cleared up all the goodies anyway.’

For that reason, I ignored the invitation, recommendation, and pleas of the International Hunter Association and waited quietly for the Union’s call from Korea.

And then, one day.

Finally, the change I had been waiting for on the Main Quest list came up.

The quest containing the keywords that I had been paying close attention to was finally updated.

– Observe the red gate occurrence at the next coordinate within the dimension of the Gorangsha tribe. Handle the monsters that appear there.

As if they had been waiting as well, the Union sent a message to Earth.

In order to carry out the quest at issue, the Awakened beings would also be selected from Earth, so we were tasked to pick Awakened with above 40,000 Active Mana as the current standard and dispatch them.

Meanwhile, only three hunters on Earth met the criteria, excluding Adam, who measured Mana fraudulently.

Of course, all three were members of the Celestial Dragon Guild.

Considering obligations had to be fulfilled in order to enjoy all of the privileges we had as members of the Union, the Earthlings saw us off in worry.

“Then, shall we? To the first Main Quest.”

The Commissioner had prepared a stage to prove my value in front of the other species.

Since she had suitably laid the groundwork for me, I was planning to live up to her expectations.

***

The Gorangsha species’s dimension that the Red Gate was scheduled to open at wasn’t connected to Earth yet. Hence, we had to go through several Gates and pass through their dimensions.

Of course, I could’ve just mobilized the [Door of Hope] to move to the designated location directly, but there was no need to lay all my cards in front of them, and there was no reason to spend my own resources, so I used the means provided by the Union.

The process was much more comfortable than imagined, considering we only had to tear the teleport scrolls provided by the Union in the order they told us to.

We couldn’t leap to a dimension with it, but if we walked on our two feet, crossed the Gate, and then tore a scroll, we were sent precisely in front of the next Gate.

At that point, we would walk over the Gate again, then rip another scroll again…

Paht!

Paht!

Paht!

***

After progressing so fast that we started feeling nauseous, we finally stood under a strange sky right after tearing the twelfth scroll.

As soon as we stepped on the ground, an alien language applied with interpretation magic was heard in my ears.

“Oh, are you the Awakened beings from the Earth dimension? Welcome!”

The plains of the alien land spread before us.

There, the warriors of the Gorangsha welcomed us.

Their appearance was so gentle that it was hard to recognize them as strong Awakened beings.

‘They’re similar to something… Ah, I see.’

If I had to necessarily find something on Earth that the aliens could be compared to, deers would match their description quite accurately.

Among them, the representative greeted us politely.

“Thank you for your aid in stopping the Red Gate at our dimension.”

Although he clearly knew that we were dispatched because the Union told us so, he still paid us respect.

His sparkling, chestnut-like eyes looked at us while saying those words.

Except for the fact that they had no fur and their skin was green, they could be described as deers that walked in a bipedal manner.

“You must be the advance party. When are the rest of the Awakened scheduled to arrive?”

He wiggled his wobbly horn and asked a question.

As he stared at me, waiting for a reply, I answered him with words that defied his expectations.

“It’s just us.”

“Hmm? There must have been an error in the translation magic. Could you repeat that, please?”

“No, the magic seems to be working well. We’re the only ones sent from Earth this time.”

“?!”

The word spread to the others.

At that point, hundreds of Goransha species gathered on the plains and talked to each other in disarray.

Grunt!

Gruuunt!

Their whining language, which did not pass through interpretation magic, rang as they scratched our nerves.

“O-only the three of you?”

He had accurately identified that only three of the five, including Genograche and Euclid, were Awakened.

He pointed his finger as he continued.

“The devil seems to be a servant of the King of Gold, so he must not be an Awakened…”

– Chet.

Genograche only mumbled and did not resolve the misunderstanding by blabbering.

Regardless, it was true that he wasn’t an Awakened being.

The deer alien’s finger pointed next to it.

“That one smells like a dragon… and if so, it’s probably not an Awakened.”

He easily guessed Euclid’s identity.

“I understand that one of you is greatly skilled in terms of taming. Did you put all of your trust in that? However… the monsters from the Red Gate cannot be tamed.”

When he expressed his concern…

Paht! Pa-pa-paht!

Hundreds of drops of light repeatedly exploded and flashed around us.

Every time a flash that flickered brilliantly faded as if to burst a flashlight, beings who looked different from the Gorangsha appeared.

Their numbers are of hundreds, too.

Due to that occurrence, the plains of the alien world had been filled with hundreds of Gorangshas, hundreds of new aliens, and five of us from Earth.

A hard voice flowed from the machine’s vocal part controlled by the newly emerged representative of the species.

“We are reinforcements from the Tongel dimension. The horned nobles must be the natives here… and are the humans, devil, and the dragon next to you all livestock? As far as I know, I heard that the Union recruited reinforcements from another dimension other than us.”

The Tongels, who said that, were controlling a human-like robot.

– What? Livestock?!

When Genograche was about to explode telepathic waves enveloped by his throbbing rage, I gestured and calmed him down.

The Tongels’ representative continued to drop words of doubt.

“That’s a strange composition. I don’t know what’s going on here.”

At where his head should be, there was a spherical fish tank filled with orange liquid, and within its transparent perimeter, a starfish-like small creature could be seen.

The main bodies of the Tongels were the starfishes in their fish tanks.

Looking at the reflected scene through [The Successor’s Eyes], the Mana flowing from the main body in the tank was seeping into the robot, controlling its movement.

The deer alien greeted them belatedly.

“Oh, oh! It’s a pleasure to meet you, warriors of the Tongel race. I am the commander of the Gorangsha warriors. And… the reinforcements sent from the other dimension is…”

The starfish alien was surprised to hear the explanation from the Gorangsha Commander.

“What? The newly partnered dimension only sent three Awakened beings?!”

The round eye on the center of the starfish body submerged in the liquid gave us a closer look.

After it kept silent for a moment as if it were absurd, it finally spoke again.

“It must be a much insignificant dimension. Were you guys the only ones qualified to be sent as reinforcements?”

Then Gorangsha and Tongel’s commanders ignored us and began to talk among themselves.

The following were the occasionally leaking sound of words.

‘Gorangsha, have you got something held responsible under the Union? Is there any reason that they would not send proper reinforcements?’

‘Not really. I think… They must have considered that the Tongels, your battle force, was enough.’

‘It would be more likely. Then, were they sent here for a field trip? That’s incomprehensible, but…’

The two concluded their conversation and declared it to us.

“Since it’s a newly partnered dimension, you wouldn’t have experienced the Red Gate, and it would be good if at least you were of a large number, but you aren’t… So, I don’t think you all would be very helpful in this battle.”

“So don’t get in the way and mess up the battlefield. Instead, just watch from behind our lines. Our two races will be handling this quest ourselves.”

They didn’t even bother to listen to our reply. Rather, they busied themselves with making the formation among themselves.

After witnessing what just transpired, Nate whispered in my ear.

“Wouldn’t we… be ignored tremendously?”

I smirked and replied with a smile.

“Let them be that way for now.”

They would find out soon enough anyway.

There was a reason why the Union did not care to explain to them and set up the situation in that way.

I looked at the starfishes in their portable aquariums.

Even if their appearance looked so shabby, they were the great traders dealing with almost every dimension that joined the Union. They were a race that had their networks spread in countless dimensions. They could also propagate an event that happened from a different world to another dimension the fastest.

‘The Commissioner had done her best if this is the outcome.’

It was only proper for us to show our true strength through the quest assigned to us in return.

As we waited in that manner for a while…

Whooong!

“Oh, there!”

With a thick echo ringing the air, red cracks began to form in the air.