Chapter 37
Kaede sat in silence, her eyes fixed on the translucent panel hovering before her.
Across the room, Iz mirrored her stillness, two fingers pressed lightly to her forehead, her brows furrowed in thought.
The Vice Guild Master’s office was unnervingly quiet, more so than usual. Both women were processing what they had just witnessed.
“Okay, first off,” Iz finally said, cutting through the silence, “we’re disabling the PvP function.”
Her voice was steady, but her tone betrayed a flicker of unease.
“Letting our members face enemies like that alone, in another dimension? Where we can't even step in to help?” She shook her head, fingers moving to tap quickly on the console. “It’s too dangerous.”
A soft beep sounded as she pressed a key and opened a comms window.
“Kaguya-san. I'm sending over a list of available Hunters. Have them head to Shiya Station immediately. Details of their mission are in the sheet I'm transmitting now.”
Kaede gave a small nod, her voice quiet but firm. “Yeah. I understand.”
She exhaled slowly, still watching the system panel.
“Good thing I boosted Vivi’s Vitality as much as I did. That’s what let her trigger the advanced class IGNIVAR.”
As if responding to her words, the system panel pulsed and shifted.
---
Calculating Rewards…
PvP Winner: Vivi Hachibana
Rewards Granted:
---
Weapon Name: The False Ranker's Spine
Type: Adaptive Glaive (Scales with STR, AGI, and INT)
Grade: Unique
Origin: Forged from the scorched remnants of Gin’s mutated glaive and spinal armor.
Description:
“The weapon pulses faintly, like the echo of a soul that refused to die.”
Effects:
+30 STR / +25 INT / +15 AGI
+60% Earth Damage
Unarmed attacks count as Bladed against armored enemies
Critical hits ignore enemy DEF, dealing bonus damage equal to 6% of target’s max HP
---
“Ew,” Iz muttered, recoiling slightly. “Did the system just make a spear out of Gin’s spine?”
Kaede shrugged. “Most of my weapon rewards came from monsters I killed.”
“Yeah, but…” Iz leaned closer to the panel, her nose wrinkling. “Gin was human, right?”
Kaede didn’t answer.
---
[Mission Complete]
"Ashes of the Ignivar: Slay the False Ranker, Gin."
Mission Rank: A
Completion Bonus: +12,000 EXP | Guild Level Up
Rewards for Vivi Hachibana:
+4 Skill Points, +1 Rune Slot Unlocked (Can only be set by the Guild Master)
Faction Victory: Plague Faction Defeated
+25,000 Guild Points (GP)
+5 Crates of Droneiron (Metal Ore)
Trait Gained: “Burnt Branch, Blooming Again”
Guild Effect (Passive):
> Whenever a guild member surpasses a Guild Milestone, survives a near-death combat moment, and lands the finishing blow alone, they gain a permanent +20% boost to their highest stat.
Effect on Kaede — Guild Master (Immediate):
> +10 to all base stats
---
“There it goes again,” Kaede groaned, rubbing her temples. “I swear, my reward system is broken. New World Online was never like this.”
Iz narrowed her eyes at the panel. “It says we beat a faction. The Plague Faction. Ever heard of that?”
Kaede shrugged. “Who knows? I barely understand half the things this system does anymore.”
Iz tapped a finger against the console thoughtfully. “This feels important. Do you remember that insect Gin swallowed at the beginning of the fight? He obviously got it from somewhere.”
Kaede’s attention returned to the screen as Iz rewound the battle footage. The moment appeared, Gin uncorking a small vial and swallowing a chittering, preserved insect.
“Enhancing drug?” Kaede guessed. “Or some kind of... parasitic buff?”
“Maybe. But nothing like that exists in Japan,” Iz muttered. “At least not anything that works. Trust me, I’ve looked.”
Kaede shot her a sideways glance. “You what?”
Iz shrugged, unbothered. “Back when I ran Brass Den. We were a smaller guild. We needed every edge we could get. I would’ve tested it for safety first, obviously.”
Kaede pouted. “That’s still not good.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Iz said dismissively, waving her hand. “Still, we might need to investigate this.”
Kaede blinked. “Wait, why? Gin was the enemy. Not whoever gave him... the bug juice. Besides, if we ignore it, it’ll probably just reveal itself. People are weird like that.”
Iz crossed her arms. “Considering Gin was defeated by someone the system lists as a C-Rank? You’re right, they’ll want answers. But we shouldn’t be complacent. Whoever backed him won’t just stroll up to our front door.”
Ring.
The console flashed from an Incoming Call: Kaguya.
Iz raised an eyebrow and answered. “Yes, Kaguya? Any issues with the Hunters?”
—Uh, no ma’am. We’ve received a call from a Miss Nisha Rai, senior biogeneticist at Mandala Genetics. She’s requesting a formal appointment.
Iz’s gaze slid toward Kaede, who was already grinning.
Kaede tilted her head dramatically. “Surely that can’t be a coincidence… right?”
---
Kanae resisted the urge to shake her head at the spar she had just witnessed.
“That girl is far too naive,” she muttered under her breath. “I seriously hope the Hunter Association doesn’t have too many like her.”
The Draw Sword Guild had arrived in Korea without issue. Now, they were training within the Korea Hunter Association’s main headquarters, using the on-site combat chambers while familiarizing themselves with the Korean hunters.
Hanekawa, an A-Rank hunter from the Japanese Association, had been sent along as their translator. That was the extent of her role, at least, it should have been. But she had overstayed her welcome by challenging one of the Korean hunters to a duel... and lost. Badly.
'Foolish girl lost to a slower opponent.' Kanae sighed inwardly, lowering the brim of her cap as she leaned back against the wall. (Kaede always claimed she looked cool when she did that.)
Hanekawa had potential, Kanae wouldn’t deny that. But during that sparring match, it was as if she'd never faced a human opponent before. Her technique was flashy, not refined.
“Thank you. That was an exciting match,” Goto said as he approached the Korean hunter who had made quick work of Hanekawa.
He turned to the younger hunter. “Hanekawa, would you please relay my words to everyone here?”
“Ah, of course,” she said, quickly straightening up.
Goto faced the Korean hunters again. “In the interest of building trust between our two countries, I have a proposal.”
Hanekawa dutifully translated his words into Korean.
“What do you say we have our S-Rank Hunters…” Goto’s gaze swept the chamber, “...spar with one another using the same rules?”
Kanae frowned at that. “He’s at it again,” she muttered, arms crossed. “I bet he’s planning to fight the strongest one here just to stroke his ego.”
Her eyes lowered to the floor as a sharp instinct tingled at the edge of her awareness. Something had moved. Just for a fraction of a second, she caught it, a shadow slipping silently into the wall behind her.
She stiffened slightly, now alert.
What she didn’t see, however, was the Korean hunter who had noticed her.
'She noticed my shadow?' Sung Jin-Woo narrowed his eyes, intrigued as he studied the Japanese hunter leaning casually against the wall.
Unbeknownst to the others, Jin-Woo had begun releasing his shadows, silently attaching them to the visiting hunters. It was part test, to see who among them would notice, part insurance, if they ran into any trouble too much to handle, he would be able to help using Shadow Exchange.
No one had noticed. Not until now.
He had already hidden three shadows without a hitch, but the girl…
She’d sensed one.
'She’s strong,' he thought, a smile playing at the corner of his lips.
He turned to the A-Rank Hunter who was translating for the leader of the Japanese Hunters.
“Oh? So he wants to see how strong we all are,” he thought as he walked beside Go Gunhee.
“Sounds good,” said Go Gunhee, the chairman of the Korean Hunter Association, with a small smile. “However, let’s exclude the mage types and non-combatant Hunters, it would be difficult to determine a clear winner in those cases.”
“Let’s also add a few more rules while we’re at it,” Baek Yoonho added. A large redhead and the Guild Master of the White Tiger Guild, Baek’s hair often turned white whenever he entered battle. “You win if you touch your opponent’s wrist or back, or if you knock them down.”
Goto leaned in as Hanekawa translated Baek’s words.
“Let’s make it more interesting with multiple Hunters fighting at once instead of one-on-one matches,” Baek continued. “That way, you can’t pick and choose your opponent. How does that sound?”
“All right, sounds good,” Goto agreed.
Go Gunhee nodded and gestured toward the Korean side. “Korea will send Baek Yoonho, Ma Dongwook, Cha Hae-In, and Lim Tae-Gyu.”
The four top Korean Hunters assembled, each radiating their own unique aura of strength.
Baek Yoonho, a tall man with wild, spiked orange hair and a muscular frame, stood shirtless with his arms crossed.
Ma Dongwook, dressed in a traditional white martial arts gi and black belt, looked like a wall of pure power. He was by far the largest Hunter in the room and the Guild Master of the Fame Guild.
Cha Hae-In, the lone woman in the group, wore a composed expression. Her lean build, blonde hair, and sharp aura matched her reputation as Korea’s only female S-Rank Hunter. As the Vice Guild Master of the Hunters Guild, she was a swordswoman renowned for her speed.
Lim Tae-Gyu, standing to the far right, had curly black hair and a laid-back demeanor. Dressed in a simple black t-shirt and jeans, he was known as Korea’s top marksman and the Guild Master of the Fiend Guild.
“Who will participate from the Japanese side?” Go Gunhee asked.
“Ippei Izawa, Hoshino Minoru, Kumamoto Atsushi, and Tawata Kanae,” Goto replied as the four Japanese Hunters stepped forward. “Japan will send these four.”
Ippei Izawa, a pale young man with sharp features and black hair, wore a black hoodie with red linings and a skull-like red pattern on the hood.
Hoshino Minoru, second in line, had wild blonde hair styled like flames. He wore his guild's hooded jacket, marked by red flame-like designs curling up the sleeves.
Kumamoto Atsushi, third, kept his face partly hidden behind a white mask and long dark hair. His hands remained buried in his pockets, and though relaxed in posture, there was something unsettling about him.
Tawata Kanae, the only woman in the Japanese group, stood on the far right in a striking pink blouse. Her long black ponytail swayed slightly with each step. A purple cap shaded her eyes, but her expression was sharp. ‘Now he’s dragging us into this? We won’t even interact with them during the raid. This is pointless,’ she thought.
Sung Jin Woo leaned in. 'A match between S Rank Hunters. I'm glad I came.'
![Harry Potter with Technology System[Completed]](/api/novels/cover/nv-cfkodar-cover.jpg)
