NOVEL NEXT Ch. 30
Chapter 30
“Here is….”
The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes—
A childishly designed robot that looked like it had popped straight out of a kids’ cartoon.
At first, it startled me a little, but when I looked more closely, I could faintly see through its body.
It seemed to be a hologram.
The robot hologram bowed politely to me.
[Welcome to the Violet Hunting Ground.]
[I am the Violet Groundskeeper.]
[If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.]
‘Questions?’
For something related to a Transmigrator perk, it was unusually friendly.
Well, I had a mountain of things I wanted to ask too. Information was always welcome, so I decided not to waste the opportunity.
“How should I ask?”
[Any question related to the Hunting Ground is OK. Just speak aloud.]
I see.
Let’s throw a few things out as a test.
“Who created this Hunting Ground?”
[That is a question I cannot answer.]
“Who owns this Hunting Ground?”
[That is a question I cannot answer.]
“Who made you?”
[That is a question I cannot answer.]
So that’s how it’s going to be.
Well, they were questions I never really expected it to answer anyway, so I gave up neatly. Time to move on to proper questions.
“What can I do in this Hunting Ground?”
[Hunters in the Hunting Ground can hunt various targets—human, arcane, mechanical—and obtain drop items.]
“And these drop items are?”
[Various goods that can be used in the main story. Money, weapons, essences, or even more special items may drop.]
“So, if the outside is the stage of the main story, this place is like a bonus stage?”
[Correct.]
It was literally a hunting ground.
Think of it as a system similar to a dungeon in an RPG.
“Does time here flow the same as outside?”
[One day here is the same as one day in the main story.]
“What happens if I die here?”
[You die. Please value your life.]
“How do I leave after finishing the hunt?”
[During the hunt, call for the Groundskeeper and speak to me.]
“Is there a time limit for hunting?”
[None.]
“Is there a limit to how much loot I can carry?”
[None. We recommend bringing bags or similar items upon entry.]
So the loot came out as actual physical items.
Unlimited hunting was nice, but simply sweeping everything in sight was meaningless—unlike a game, this world didn’t have something like experience points.
The smart move would be to take only what I needed and leave. I still had plenty of questions.
“Can I enter with others?”
[Entry is limited to ticket holders.]
“Can people with the same ticket enter together?”
[Possible. Also, those who use the same ticket can intrude during a hunt.]
Hmm.
It was a bit disappointing that this wasn’t a solo hunting ground, but with a slight change in perspective, there was room for exploitation.
Time to wrap up the questions.
“Is the entry point always the same?”
[Yes.]
“How is the difficulty of the Hunting Ground set?”
[Please be more specific with your question.]
“Does the combat strength of the prey change according to the entrant’s combat strength?”
[No. The prey’s stats match exactly with those in the main story. The entrant can also use their abilities from the main story without restriction.]
“When returning after a hunt, where will I end up?”
[Except for certain areas, you may set your desired return location.]
“Any other rules I should know?”
[None.]
No restrictions.
So this place was basically somewhere to farm items to get ahead of other Transmigrators in the main story.
Not bad.
Even better was the fact that most of it matched my predictions.
“That’s all the questions. I’ll call you if I need you.”
[Happy hunting.]
The robot hologram bowed once more before disappearing.
Once the Q&A was over, I finally looked around—and only then did I notice the scenery had completely changed.
This was what a metropolis might look like a few hundred years after humanity disappeared.
‘So is this Hunting Ground set in the distant future? Or is it simply another space?’
An abandoned city overrun by greenery.
The buildings that still reached straight into the sky had been partially consumed by enormous roots. Neon signs that once screamed end-of-the-century aesthetics were so rusted they were unrecognizable.
Patches of grass had taken over the cracked and broken asphalt, and some massive trees had even taken root on top of old car frames.
From time to time, animals darted between the bushes.
‘Real animals?’
Since transmigrating into this world, I’d never seen anything but animatronics or biomimetics—in other words, animal-shaped robots—so this was nothing short of fascinating.
Even the gloomy sky had brightened, sunlight spilling warmly down, making it hard to tell if this was a hunting ground or a nature reserve.
‘Well, it’s perfect for laying low.’
Here, I could hide without fear of being discovered. Spending some time here as a kind of vacation didn’t seem like a bad idea.
‘That’s assuming it really is safe.’
This was an unknown location that hadn’t appeared in the original work. I’d asked the Groundskeeper plenty of things, but until I was certain of its safety, I couldn’t fully let my guard down.
‘Phew. I hadn’t planned on using the admission ticket so soon….’
Originally, I would’ve used it only after thorough preparation, but… two unexpected things had come up.
‘One is this damn murderous urge.’
I’d suddenly been overcome by a craving for blood, and I needed a quick way to suppress it. If I’d kept forcing myself to endure it while continuing Academy activities, it was inevitable I’d cause an incident.
‘Secondly, the discovery of the Titans.’
This was information I hadn’t passed on to Vladimir, and it was also the reason my inspection schedule for the production colony had suddenly been set.
The Titans.
Not just big, burly humans, but colossal and powerful giants straight out of myth.
At the same time, they were also the monsters responsible for the climax of Act 1, Part 1 of the original story.
In other words, they were supposed to serve as the most important stepping stone for the protagonist and his companions’ growth—especially Iri’s, both in terms of skill and mental maturity.
Well, their appearance itself was a natural development, so there was nothing surprising about it, but the problem was the timing.
‘…They’ve shown up way too early.’
Originally, they were supposed to threaten the protagonist’s party about a month later—specifically, during the G20 Summit of major corporations.
While the city’s main fighting force was tied up at that event and outside defenses were weakened, the Titans would attack from the outskirts—namely, the Fallen Sector and Sector E—triggering the incident.
‘In the original, the Academy students were summoned for support and ended up getting slaughtered one-sidedly.’
Iri, who had gone out with them, had nearly lost her life to a Titan, only to be saved at the last possible second by the protagonist. That was the intended story.
That’s why I had made several plans to align with that timing… but the early appearance of these things had thrown it all off.
‘Them appearing now means I have to abandon that production colony. It’s the only way to keep the flow of events even remotely close to the original.’
If I personally stopped them, it would disrupt the setup for the later episodes.
‘But if I just stand by and let the colony fall, the Stingray Group will definitely hold me accountable. In that case, I need to make it so that I can’t go.’
This time, though, I couldn’t use the excuse of poor condition, nor could I just disappear.
I needed a plausible pretext, so I used Vladimir and some back-alley mercenaries to stage that little incident.
Of course, there was also the goal of raising the risk of war so the group’s forces wouldn’t be deployed outside the city.
‘The Stingrays would rather lose one colony than their dominance in the city.’
It was also to ensure that the giants would clearly destroy the colony before moving toward New Valhalla City. If I intervened and killed them all prematurely, that would ruin everything.
‘About a week, I think.’
The reported size of the [Arcane] group.
The production colony’s size and its defensive forces.
The distance to New Valhalla City… Considering all that, I estimated it would take them about a week to appear in the city.
‘I’ll leave in about four days, just to be safe.’
Four days. Ninety-six hours.
My goal was to get the maximum profit out of this Hunting Ground during that time.
And to do that…
“Module check.”
[Equipped Combat Modules]
【Arcane】
[Cloud Spider Lv.5] – Inactive
[Corpse Eater Lv.5] – Active
[Thousand Pound Weight Lv.4] – Active
【Standard】
[Strength Lv.3] – Active
[Haste Lv.5] – Active
[Hawk Eye Lv.5] – Active
[Cell Regenerator Lv.2] – Active
[Neural Booster Lv.3] – Active
·
·
·
Active Combat Modules: 8
Inactive Combat Modules: 1
Overload: 9%
Currently, I had eight modules equipped.
‘Strength’ boosted muscle power.
‘Haste’ enhanced reflexes.
‘Hawk Eye’ improved eyesight.
‘Cell Regenerator’ improved recovery rate.
‘Neural Booster’ enhanced neural synapse activity.
Of those, the five standard combat modules I’d first equipped were essentially passive skills that improved base physical stats.
—Even if your illness is cured, just in case, it’s better to start adapting to the ones with lower replacement rates first…
Following Miyu’s advice, I had been keeping my replacement rate below 10% for a while. Thousand Pound Weight already had a low replacement rate and could be used by anyone in the original, so I didn’t need to worry about it.
Earlier, before Iri arrived, I had a short conversation with her, and she advised me that I could now equip a few more modules.
‘As for the tickets and modules I have left…’
I had three special tickets remaining:
Two [Module Compatibility Increase Tickets] and one [Overload Rate -10% Ticket].
I had enough Achievement Points now that I could give one to Miyu for research, but this time I decided to use them myself.
After checking the remaining modules on the list, I couldn’t help but be impressed again.
‘…Even after seeing it so many times, this is broken as hell.’
Most of them were standard modules, but even those were at least Level 3, military-grade.
Naturally, there were plenty of Level 4s, and even Level 5 standard modules—plus Level 5 Arcane Modules, the so-called “game changers.”
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call this body a walking nuclear weapon.
‘Equipping this many modules within the replacement rate limit… That’s just monstrous.’
The thought of how much technology and capital Stingray must have poured into this made me dizzy. This body itself deserved credit for surviving all the experimentation.
Anyway—
‘What I need now is something that helps with defense and survival.’
My current setup already had enough offensive capability, so for unexpected situations, defense-oriented modules were best.
‘Miyu’s recommendation was [Tungsten Skin] and [Poison Immunity], right?’
I immediately equipped those two modules.
Thanks to the [Corpse Eater] module, compatibility was ignored and the installation succeeded without issue. But the moment it was done, my heart began pounding wildly.
Warning: Overload Rate 78% (Danger)
‘As expected, not easy.’
I could feel my body temperature spike.
At this rate, I wouldn’t be able to use ‘Cloud Spider,’ let alone move much in combat without collapsing and being unable to get up.
‘Just as Miyu calculated.’
As expected of the world’s best Modular, she had already foreseen this situation—adding that I would need to use all of my tickets.
‘[Corpse Eater] alone isn’t enough after all. I should follow her advice.’
I immediately tore all three tickets at once.
The tickets dissolved into the air, and the overload percentage displayed on the system UI began to drop rapidly.
Overload Rate: 21% (Safe)
My heart, which had been racing from the high overload rate, calmed down again. That was thanks to raising compatibility first, then lowering the overload rate with the tickets.
As the modules began functioning normally, I could feel my body changing down to the cellular level.
The most noticeable change was in my skin. Outwardly, nothing seemed different, but when I pressed down with my hand, I could feel something hard beneath.
It was the effect of the subdermal armor module [Tungsten Skin]. At Level 4, it should be able to stop most large-caliber bullets.
‘That takes care of defense against attacks.’
I also felt a faint stinging in my esophagus. That was because the [Poison Immunity] module was growing purification filters in my esophagus and respiratory system.
With this, I could safely ingest most poisons. Special toxins produced by [Arcane] entities might still be dangerous, but at least I no longer had to worry about being poisoned by a human.
‘And lastly…’
Within the limits of my overload rate, I equipped one more module. Even though my tickets were gone, I could use [Corpse Eater] to make up for it.
My choice was [Trauma Scanner].
A Level 3 scanner, it was a standard military radar with added functions like a biometric scanner, thermal imaging, mana detection, and more.
Because so many features were crammed in, the performance of each individual function was slightly reduced, but in terms of versatility, there was nothing better than this module.
Both my eyes began to itch as they were replaced with mechanical ones. My vision blurred rapidly.
Overload Rate: 29% (Safe)
Replacement Rate: 26%
‘Both are within safe limits.’
After equipping a module, some time was needed for it to fully integrate. Thanks to the nanomachine Pandora’s performance and my physical capabilities, ten minutes should be enough for everything to settle.
‘That’s it for now…’
I still had some points left from the mid-chapter reward for Act 1, but I decided to save them.
For the moment, there weren’t any modules I urgently needed to install, and the shop level might rise along the way. Something even more useful than a ticket or that ‘Armstrong whatever’ multi-tool might appear.
After taking the time to fully equip the combat modules and checking my condition by moving around—
“Guess it’s time to get moving.”
I decided to start hunting.