Chapter 163: Preliminary Preparations (1)

Inside an eerily silent elevator.

While staring at Kim Ki-Rok the madman—no, the

Guildmaster

of the DG Guild, one of South Korea's most prolific guilds, and the foremost advocate for the subjugation of Awakened criminals—President Kikumoto carefully asked, "You're talking about China, aren't you? The country with the greatest number of S-Class Hunters on the planet."

"That's right," Kim Ki-Rok replied with a nod. "And they also dispatch a large number of those S-Class Hunters whenever they agree to help clear a Gate. Though the negotiations to get them to agree to such a deal in the first place are always extremely difficult."

𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

In return for agreeing to send reinforcements, China always demanded a great deal in exchange. However, if negotiations were successful, China would be sure to dispatch more Hunters than any other country.

Kim Ki-Rok continued, "This might be stating the obvious, but the more Hunters we have, the safer the Gate raid will be. Losses will be reduced, and the speed at which the Gate is cleared will naturally be faster."

President Kikumoto nodded in agreement. That was the simple truth. That was why Japan continued to negotiate with China for reinforcements, despite the difficulty in settling on a fair price.

"However, this Gate will be different," Kim Ki-Rok said calmly.

"Different?" President Kikumoto echoed in confusion.

"We'll have to battle against mechanical monsters that are extremely difficult to defeat, even with the power of an S-Class Hunter," he revealed.

As President of the Japanese Hunters Association, Kikumoto shared a similar disposition with his Korean counterpart, President Kang Man-Ki. He had risen through the ranks from the bottom, so he was familiar with field conditions and adept at handling practical matters.

"That means our usual strategies won't be able to target their weaknesses," President Kikumoto quickly surmised.

Kim Ki-Rok confirmed, "That's correct. Our opponents will be monsters with metal bodies and extremely high mana resistance. It would be difficult for the average Hunter to even wound such a monster. However, if we can figure out their weakness, it should be possible for an A-Class Hunter to defeat one solo. Of course, based on information the Japanese Hunters Association has managed to retrieve, this current Gate leads to a dimension already conquered by these mechanical monsters... so this Gate might be even more significant than we first thought."

"This Gate might be the last Gate that will ever connect to this particular dimension. After this raid, it might become impossible to reach this dimension through any future Gates."

"The last... Gate?" President Kikumoto muttered, considering the implications.

"Well, it's only a hypothesis," Kim Ki-Rok admitted with a shrug. "But why else would the Gate lead us to a perfectly intact city with humans living in it, rather than a ruin like the first Yuashiel Dimension's Gates did? Though... rather than a city, maybe it's better to call it a factory?

Tsk!

Let's just call it a city for now."

"In any case, the fact that this Gate is leading us to a city with human inhabitants leads me to believe this might be our last opportunity to intervene in this dimension."

President Kikumoto slowly collected his thoughts, turning over Kim Ki-Rok's words in his mind. As Kim Ki-Rok had said, this was the first time a Gate had opened so close to a populated city—or, more accurately, a populated factory. A huge factory presumed to be producing even more mechanical monsters, while the humans inside were forced to live as slaves.

"There's also another possibility..." President Kikumoto said. "According to the report from a Hunter sent through to recon the Gate, there is a castle at the very center of the huge factory. So the purpose of this Gate might be to lead us to something inside the castle, but as the castle is guarded by dozens, or even hundreds, of mechanical monsters, it's impossible to confirm what that potential target might be."

Kim Ki-Rok seemed to ponder this new information. "Hmm... so all we have for now are rough guesses."

"So do you think the main mission for this Gate will be to rescue the humans and subdue the monsters stationed in the castle at the center of the factory?" President Kikumoto asked thoughtfully.

"That's definitely part of my current hypothesis. We'll know how accurate it is once I get close enough to use Discernment on the Gate," Kim Ki-Rok said with a firm nod.

President Kikumoto let out a stressed sigh. "

Haaah...

that's true. Right now, all we have is an unfounded hypothesis."

But they would soon be able to confirm the truth. There was no point in worrying about it just yet, as they would find out all the details once Kim Ki-Rok used his Discernment Skill on the Gate tomorrow.

***

The Japanese Hunters Association had arranged accommodations for the Korean Hunters. As the first to arrive, the DG Guild immediately split up to rest in their rooms. After eyeing the reporters gathered outside, Kim Ki-Rok left the lobby and headed to his own.

"Let's see now, let's see..." he muttered, scanning for his room number.

With reporters swarming outside, leaving the hotel guaranteed attention. Most Hunters stayed in, and the Association had wisely booked a luxury hotel to offset complaints about the lack of privacy. While the rest of DG Guild took the chance to relax, Kim Ki-Rok was busy reviewing future events, deciding which to prevent and which to let play out.

By planting Earth's World Tree and creating the first permanent Gate, Kim Ki-Rok had dramatically altered the future's course. The Gate's advantages sped up the rise of expert Hunters and accelerated the rate at which Gates were being cleared. The only constant was the timing of the Gates' appearance.

Kim Ki-Rok began talking to himself as he went through a list of Gates, "That one was cleared... So was that one... and that as well."

Rather than waste the week waiting for other guilds, the DG Guild could've leveled up by clearing local Gates. But the Japanese Hunters had already swept through the high-class ones while preparing for the S-Class raid. At least near Tokyo, nothing worthwhile remained. The DG Guild's options were limited.

"It seems we'll just have to train," Kim Ki-Rok eventually concluded.

He'd have to ask the Japanese Hunters Association to borrow a training ground for his guild. The debuff artifacts—stat-reducing tools Kim Ki-Rok used to ensure proper training—were safely stored in his subspace pocket, so getting everyone a solid workout wouldn't be a problem.

"I guess I should also gather some information..." he muttered thoughtfully.

This S-Class Gate was one Kim Ki-Rok had already cleared dozens of times in previous Attempts. The strategy for clearing it was already stored in his head, or rather in his Record Skill, but he couldn't just reveal that he had one ready to go, so he would have to pretend to do some preliminary research first.

"Looks like I'm in for more boredom.

Tch!

" Kim Ki-Rok clicked his tongue in disappointment.

He would need to relay all his knowledge to the people involved, while pretending to be discovering it for the first time. It was a deception he had repeated dozens of times, so it no longer bothered his conscience, but it had become a very annoying and boring chore.

At his door, Kim Ki-Rok instinctively swept his mana outward, checking for hidden presences. Sensing nothing unusual, he tapped his key card and stepped inside. Kim Ji-Hee wasn't rooming with him like usual, but with Lee Ji-Yeon and Cha Min-Ji. With the rest of the guild already paired off, Kim Ki-Rok ended up with a room to himself.

As he flopped face-down onto his bed, Kim Ki-Rok began sorting through his thoughts again.

So what should we do about China...?

If China decided to make excessive demands during negotiations, things could get difficult. If Japan was forced to accept a bad deal with China, there was a good chance that other countries, who had already reached agreements with Japan, would demand to renegotiate their own contracts.

In previous Attempts, Kim Ki-Rok had tried threatening them. That turned his relationship with China hostile, but they still cleared the Gate without issue. In other timelines, he made backroom deals to stop other countries from renegotiating, but ended up costing Japan heavily. China, emboldened by those wins, later stirred up trouble in future negotiations. So when an S-Class Gate eventually appeared in China, their calls for reinforcements were met with cold silence from the international community

"We could just give up on negotiating with them..." Kim Ki-Rok muttered.

Even without China's help, the Gate could be cleared without much trouble, but minimizing casualties would mean tripling the time spent inside. At this stage, time had become the most precious resource, despite Kim Ki-Rok's seemingly "infinite" supply of it.

"Well, for now, let's just try to throw out some bait..."

And if China remained unreasonable, even after he dangled the bait? Then he'd simply move on. It might take longer, but Kim Ki-Rok was confident he could complete the Gate raid without the Chinese Hunter teams.

"Anyway, those guys are really..." he trailed off with a sigh.

In every one of his Attempts, that country had always caused a lot of problems.

***

Kim Ki-Rok stood before the S-Class Gate with President Kikumoto and called out, "Discernment."

[

The Last City of the Patera Dimension

]

Difficulty: Levels 101–135

Reward: Unable to confirm

Clear Condition: Subjugation of the First Mechanical Monster

※Special Reward Condition: Rescue the surviving human beings

※Special Reward: Unable to confirm

※Special Consideration: The salvation of the Patera Dimension

As Kim Ki-Rok relayed the information he saw, President Kikumoto broke out into a cold sweat and asked carefully, "Did you say... salvation?"

"Yes," Kim Ki-Rok confirmed with a nod. "Like I hypothesized, this might be the very 'last' Gate that will ever connect to this dimension that has been conquered by the mechanical monsters—the Patera Dimension."

"So this really could be... the last chance," the president said slowly, frowning.

"That's right. This is our last chance to save this dimension."

President Kikumoto looked up at the entrance to the Gate. The word "last" seemed to bring up many thoughts for the president of the Japanese Hunters Association.

He eventually spoke, "So there really won't be any more Gates connected to this dimension. This will be the last, forever."

Usually, upon clearing a Gate, no one ever knew if it might be the last time they visited the dimension on the other side. After all, even the Patera Dimension was just one of many to have made contact with Earth. However, entering a Gate knowing it would be the last time ever visiting that dimension was completely different from entering a strange dimension and never knowing if it might be the last time.

"Everyone!"

With a shout, Kim Ki-Rok drew the attention of President Kikumoto and the representatives from the various countries who had gathered to examine the Gate.

"First of all, we now know that the fate of an entire dimension is at stake."

The representatives from every country paid close attention, fully aware that nothing Kim Ki-Rok said should be taken lightly. So far, most of his opinions had proven correct.

"As you can see, the reward for this Gate cannot be confirmed. The same goes for the special reward. Even with my skill, we can't identify what it might be," Kim Ki-Rok revealed.

"Does that mean the rewards for clearing this Gate could be greater than we expected?" Ji Seok-Hyun, representing the South Korean Hunter Teams, asked.

Ji Seok-Hyun had a close relationship with the DG Guild and the other Korean guilds who had cleared the Gate and resurrected the World Tree alongside them, so he had already gathered a lot of information in advance.

"Yes, that is correct," Kim Ki-Rok confirmed. "It's just like when we resurrected the World Tree. I don't know whether the Patera Dimension has a god like the Yuashiel Dimension, or if there is a system like the one on Earth, but for now let's say there is a god. It's very likely that the god of the Patera Dimension personally requested Earth's help, and as part of the price for receiving that help, the level of the clear rewards will increase."

At this news, the eyes of the representatives from the various countries lit up with greed. While gathering information on the operation to resurrect the World Tree, they had all discovered an interesting fact. Thanks to the god of the Yuashiel Dimension having to pay a price for their help, the Hunters who participated in the Gate raid and the operation to resurrect the World Tree had received increased rewards.

"We need to defeat the mechanical monsters while rescuing the surviving humans and keeping them alive. Our reward will probably increase or decrease depending on how many survivors we manage to save."

After finishing his explanation, Kim Ki-Rok turned to President Kikumoto, who nodded in agreement with his hypothesis.

"Of course, this is still just a guess on my part," Kim Ki-Rok admitted. "However, doesn't it seem plausible?"

The president spoke up in support, "Yes, after all, something like that has actually happened before. So I agree, I think there's a good possibility your guess is correct."

"Since that's the case, I have one suggestion I'd like to make."

"What might that be?"

"It doesn't matter whether you want to capture the monsters or kill them, but please try to keep their bodies intact," Kim Ki-Rok requested.

President Kikumoto nodded. "Alright."

In fact, Kim Ki-Rok had already discussed this suggestion with President Kikumoto. However, he brought it up again publicly so the president could accept and give it his official approval.

"So the reason you want us to cleanly subdue or kill these monsters is to use their corpses as research material and identify their weaknesses with the help of the Yuashiel Dimension, isn't that right?" President Kikumoto asked, clarifying Kim Ki-Rok's reasoning.

"That's right. Once we manage to find their weakness with the help of the Yuashiel Dimension, and if we can use that weakness to easily subdue the monsters, how about letting lower-ranked Hunters participate in the raid as well?"

"Huh?" President Kikumoto blinked in feigned surprise.

Kim Ki-Rok quickly continued, "Of course, we'd only do so if the weakness can be clearly identified and if it's not something only higher-ranked Hunters can target. However, the rewards for clearing the Gate should be based on contribution, not participation, so even if ten more Hunters join the raid, it wouldn't force any of the others to share their own rewards, right?"

"That's certainly true," President Kikumoto agreed.

Kim Ki-Rok pressed his advantage. "Yes, since that's the case, wouldn't it be better to field more people to make the job easier?"

The president hesitated. "That's... that's true. Well, assuming the weakness is something a low-level Hunter can reliably target, then..."

Before anyone else could argue, Kim Ki-Rok smiled and said, "Well then, thank you for your agreement, President Kikumoto."

The reason he brought up this issue in public was to remind the Hunters that this wasn't a zero-sum game where they all had to fight over a single reward. He was also reminding everyone that their mission wasn't just about saving a city or a country, but the salvation of an entire dimension. So those who took part in this Gate raid could look forward to huge rewards upon success.

Though this was all based on the assumption that these mechanical monsters had a weakness even low-level Hunters could target, Kim Ki-Rok was also suggesting in advance that low-level Hunters should be allowed to enter the Gate, so everyone had time to get used to the idea.

"For now, it might just be a guess, but it's a guess with a very good chance of turning out to be correct. With that in mind, do you think your negotiations will go a bit more smoothly now?" he asked the president.

"Of course they will, Hunter Kim Ki-Rok," President Kikumoto replied with a pleasant smile.

He wore the kind of expression often seen on the faces of villainous managers in Japanese dramas.