Evolution Theory of the Hunter

After killing the Black Tiger, I found my team members gathered around behind me.

Did they already kill the Giant White Tiger? It was a level 7 though?

Han Joon-suk nodded as if he was reading my mind.

“Your expression seems to be asking how we were able to kill a level 7 monster.”

“Are you learning mind reading?”

“It’s written all over party leader’s face. Anyway, to answer your question we killed it more easily than expected. Manager Kim worked really hard.”

“Manager Kim?”

“Haha. It collapsed after three casts of Sleep.”

Manager Kim was smiling to the point where the ends of his mouth was touching his ears. The guy that pursued safety more than I did shot the Needle Gun at the Black Tiger before as well, there seems to be something different about him.

Listening to their story I could picture the situation. The Sleep skill that Manager Kim had right now was a level 5 wide area skill.

On top of the Amplification Staff raising its potency by 30%, using the Floodplain Staff to decrease the target area the ability was further strengthened.

It wouldn’t be enough to make a level 7 monster fall asleep with one cast, but using it three times as soon as the cooldown was over made it unable to endure.

Since level 5 weapons could do some damage to level 7 monsters it probably was enough to be able to kill it.

Cho Young-gu inspected the dead Black Tiger and let out an exclamation.

“Either way, this thing really is huge. May I take some pictures?”

“Well, as much as you want. You will have to take it quickly before it returns to the void.”

“Let’s take a group commemorative photo while we’re at it then. It’s a commemorative level 10 monster after all.”

The people started crowding together at Cho Young-gu’s words. The photo was to be taken by Edward and I also stood in front of the Black Tiger.

I usually didn’t like things like this but just for this monster I wanted to leave some proper evidence. That it was ridiculously hard to kill.

We waited for them to return to the void while keeping the eagles in the sky.

It was the same for the level 7 Giant White Tiger but I was incredibly curious as to what would drop from the level 10 Black Tiger. I opened my mouth to talk to Edward.

“Why are you so quiet?”

“What do you mean?”

“We killed a level 7, level 10 monster so why are you so quiet. I thought you’d ask for blood.”

“At my level I wouldn’t be able to endure such a level of monster’s blood though.”

“Is that so. Seems complicated.”

“Isn’t that the same for humans? It’s the same thing as getting a stomach ache after eating too much.”

“I don’t know in what way it’s the same but…… well, I get what you’re trying to say.”

He probably means that it’s better to draw a moderate line.

The level 7 Giant White Tiger finished returning to the void first. It was a helmet that let out blinding luster.

Archimedes’ Helmet (7) : A helmet with gold and silver mixed in. Will eternally give off light.

“We will let Cho Young-gu have this.”

“Re, really?”

“You’re the main tanker after all. You should have priority to defense equipment.”

I held the helmet and passed it to him. To be honest, it was an item I needed as my original armor was completely destroyed.

But I didn’t have the courage to wear that shining thing. It was an item that was good for being a target at night.

The rest of my party members seemed to agree. More than it being my words having power, it was because there was a reason they could all accept.

Even if it was a country if they did something outrageous then backlash would appear.

“Thank you.”

Cho Young-gu grabbed my hand with an expression that seemed to be on the verge of crying. Well, since they all killed it with equal difficulty it didn’t really matter whomever took it.

That was especially more so for Cho Young-gu. The party member’s lives were dependant on how long he could endure.

Then, finally, the Black Tiger that we were waiting to return to the void finally ended.

What dropped was a book.

“Wow. A skill book.”

Soo-ah shouted. I was also surprised. How long had it been since a skill book dropped?

As I quickly went to pick up the book that dropped on the ground, the skill book’s information appeared through the manual.

Aura Blade (10) : Clads a single sword with aura. A skill that is bound to the person that obtains it.

“A Binding skill?”

I was expecting a level 10 item to come out of the level 10 monster. But a Binding skill you say.

While I was wondering what it was the book in my hand suddenly disappeared.

“Huh?”

“Why?”

“The book disappeared.”

“Didn’t you put it in the manual?”

“No. It disappeared while I was just holding it.”

“Damn. There’s such a thing?”

“I’m also thinking about what might have happened.”

I was considerably flustered. A level 10 skill book. The name was ‘Aura Blade’ and could be clad on a weapon.

Even if I didn’t know exactly it was obvious that it would be a powerful skill. However, I lost it the moment I had it in my hands.

“What happened?”

Han Joon-suk approached me after seeing my expression of stupefaction. They all had eyes curious as to what the level 10 skill book is. What did I have to say to them?

No, lets calm down for now. There’s no way it would have just disappeared like that.

I opened the manual for now. It definitely said it was a Binding skill person. I didn’t know exactly what that meant but it at least didn’t seem to mean it would just disappear.

Skill Name: Effort (0), Immortality (4), Aura Sword (10)

It was there. The Aura Sword skill.

I let out a sigh of relief unintentionally. I was really glad.

Soo-ah held my arm and shook it.

“What is it? Why are you sighing?”

“Haha…… it looks like I obtained the skill.”

“Huh? Wait a minute. Senior brother doesn’t have a skill slot left. Don’t tell me you threw away the immortality skill and put it in there? Holy crap! You just took it because you were afraid that we would take it! I was thinking that senior brother was giving out too much. It was about time for you to become greedy. However, I liked it better when you were a pushover…… no, I’m not saying that senior brother is such a person and anyway wasn’t such a person but since you became a new person after clearing your mind it’s better…… no, either way I approve of your decision.”

“Hey you. So do you like it or not.”

Manager Kim said as if suffocating. Wow. How did the atmosphere suddenly become like this.

“Who? Me? Who do I like?”

Soo-ah looked at me with a red face. What do you want me to do if you glance at me like that.

Why is this girl that is even more shameless than a politician like this suddenly. I still don’t understand what kind of character this girl is.

Either way, I had to explain what I had to explain.

“This seems to be a Binding skill.”

“What’s a Binding skill?”

Han Joon-suk said.

“To explain it simply, should I say that the person that picks it up is the…… owner?”

“I see. However, is it learned even without a skill slot?”

As expected, he’s a fast at understanding.

“Yes. It seems to be learned even without a remaining skill slot due to being a forceful acquiring. I think I will have to check if it actually works properly though.”

This kind of thing wasn’t something that existed in the old system. There is no mistake that this was something made by the Delta system.

Either way, considering how a single skill slot is 100b, this binding type is sure to have quite an impact on the original raid system. Seeing how it didn’t exist before it seems to be something that only applies to level 10 skills but…… it’s an understatement to call it a catastrophe.

I took out the Dancing Sword.

For now, the skill explanation was simple. Cladding a single weapon in aura. If it’s a weapon then it should apply to a weapon that flies around in the sky as well. There was nothing about having to hold it in my hands after all.

I focused on the Dancing Sword and imagined it being clad in aura.

I was groaning like that for a while when Soo-ah opened her mouth.

“What are you doing? Like a dog that needs to poop.”

“…… I don’t get how to use this.”

“Isn’t there a chant or something? Shouldn’t something happen if you shout out the skill name?”

“Ah. Right.”

Since I only used passive skills I forgot the simple matter of shouting the skill name.

In the case of active skills, you normally had to at least shout it in a quiet voice to activate it. Of course, there were many that weren’t so as well.

However, even if it wasn’t like that you either had to make a special contract or act in a certain way to activate it.

“Aura Blade!”

I shouted loudly at the Dancing Sword.

However, as expected there was no response. Wow. I really shouted with great confidence. I was started becoming embarrassed.

Han Joon-suk opened his mouth.

“How about you use it after holding it?”

“Ah. Like this?”

I held the Dancing Sword in my hand and shouted the skill name. Then, a milky light 1 meter long came shooting out of the entire blade.

Jesus christ. What is this. The light was something as well but the feeling I got from the blade was overwhelming. If it was with this then I felt like I would have been able to slice the Black Tiger in a moment.

“Wow. It’s beautiful.”

Yeon-gyeong looked at the Dancing Sword as if entranced by it. As she said, it wasn’t enough to say that the light from the blade was mystical.

It wasn’t overly bright nor dim, neither murky nor clear. It had an exquisite sense of beauty exuding out of it.

Also, as the light was not just spreading out but was unwinding like a skein it further added to the mystical feeling.

Soo-ah’s eyes shone as she shouted.

“Try using it once!”

“I was going to do so.”

I looked around and found a large boulder by the lake. It was a quite large boulder of 3 meters both horizontally and vertically.

The sword went in cleanly. There was the unique feeling of slicing through a boulder but it wasn’t something like resistance.

This time, I lightly cut the surface like slicing meat.

A thin slab of the boulder actually got sliced off. However, it was impossible to tell the actual might of the Aura Blade. This much could be done with the level 3 Rubicon Sword I had before.

What was known for now was that it had good cutting force.

“Is there nothing more? Something really sturdy would be nice.”

“Hm. Isn’t there that? The broken armor.”

“Ah. Right.”

At Soo-ah’s words, I took out my broken armor. It was the level 6 Black Plate Armor that got broken with a single front paw swing of the Black Tiger.

Ah. Tears are suddenly coming out. I couldn’t think of it during the battle because it was hectic but this was worth 10b. That had disappeared into thin air.

Destroyed armor couldn’t even be repaired. If it was crumpled up or had a crack then it might have been possible but the chest part was completely shattered and gone. I either had to sell this as a lump of metal or roughly put it together to be displayed in the Hunter Market.

As I was staring blankly at the armor, Soo-ah came and hugged me from behind.

“The armor will be glad that senior brother used it.”

“Yeah. That I can understand but why are you hugging me.”

“To comfort you of course.”

“…… Well. Okay.”

It wasn’t like she was like this for a day or two. I didn’t have the spirit to tackle her about it each and every time.

I got Soo-ah off by force as she tried her best to cling on and put the Black Plate Armor on the ground.

If this got cut then the Aura Blade skill could be called the strongest skill I possessed.

“Hah!”

It passed by the armor with barely any feeling transmitted to my hand.

I tried touching the armor a bit thinking that I might have cut wrong but the only thing that could be seen was the armor being cut right in half.