Jaehoon goes to his closet and picks the attire he would wear for the assessment.
"The suit looks okay too. I should go while looking tidy. I don't really care about my rank. The thing that I know is, I would get at the very least E-rank. My strength surpassed that but my mana is too low. Whatever happens, happens," Jaehoon says, knowing even if he got the assessment result, he would still be an E-rank because of how small his mana amount is.
Meanwhile in Malaysia, the prime minister is giving a speech. "Hari ini, dua Irregular Hunter dari Malaysia iaitu Adam Zarif Dan Mukhlis akan dihantar untuk membantu Rusia dalam menangani isu Gate break yang sedang berlangsung di Vladivostok,"
At the Malaysian Irregular Hunter Association headquarters, Adam and Mukhlis are gearing up for the trip. Adam Zarif then says; "Kau serious la, Muk? Kita nak bantu Rusia ni. Bukan benda yang kita boleh ambil leceh ja," Mukhlis then replies; "Tak yah risau do, Dam. Benda ni tanggungjawab kita. Perdana menteri pun dh bagi amanah ni, kita kena la buat. Kau gila ke tak buat? Amanah yg diberikan harus dilakukan. Tu kan motif kita,"
"Kau betul do, Muk. Apa-apapun, kita berdua, selamanya," Adam Zarif says, extending his right arm for a fist bump with Mukhlis.
"Of course!" Mukhlis fist bumps him back.
Back in South Korea, Jaehoon is walking to the South Korean Irregular Hunter Association headquarters. "I wonder what the others are doing…. In-Seok probably is lazing around playing games. Hana…. I heard she has two younger siblings. A brother and a sister. I bet she's taking care of them," Jaehoon says, as he's walking towards the headquarters.
On Hana's side, she's currently preparing breakfast for her younger siblings. "Yuna! Jooh-Yoon! Breakfast ready! Come eat!" Hana calls out for her younger siblings and after a while, they come to the dining table.
"Yay! Breakfast is cooked by Hana!" Jooh-Yoon says as he sits on the dining table. "Sister's cooking is always the best!" Yuna then continues.
"It's really nothing, guys. Alright, let's eat," Hana says as she also sits down on the dining table across both of her younger siblings.
"Mom.... Dad.... I'll make sure to find both of you later.... For the time being, I will study as hard as I can. When I have the time, I'll become an Irregular Hunter and find both of you. I promised...." Hana says in her mind thinking back to the missing of her parents in a Gate.
Back to Jaehoon, he finally arrives at the headquarters. "Woah…. It's bigger than I expected ....", Jaehoon says, awes to the headquarters for being bigger than he expected.
"I can also sense people with high mana value. Most of them are workers but there are some Irregular Hunter's as well. The highest here is A-rank. I can sense it from that guy. I feel left out for having a small mana pool. The value will definitely be low as well," Jaehoon says in his mind, feeling the presence of mana from everyone at the headquarters.
Jaehoon then walks to the front desk to apply for a rank assessment. "Um…. Excuse me. Can I apply for a rank assessment?" Jaehoon asks the lady behind the front desk.
"Ah! You're here to get an assessment? Yes, we can apply you for an assessment. Before that I will need you to fill this document," The lady said as she put a paper on the table and asked Jaehoon to fill it up.
Jaehoon takes a pen and fills up the document. Jaehoon finishes filling up the document and the lady reviews the document.
"Alright. Your name is Lee Jaehoon and you're 21, correct?" The lady said, asking if the name and age of Jaehoon is true. "Yes, that's correct," Jaehoon replies.
"This way please, Mr. Lee!" The lady asks Jaehoon to follow her. The lady and Jaehoon then walk to a room where there is a machine with a white orbs in the middle.
"I'll now explain how this machine works. This machine is to calculate the value of your mana and your magic affinity. If the result of your mana comes out high but you don't have an affinity, you will be considered a non-mage type and will be escorted to the physical test. Even if you have an affinity, you will need to do the physical test as well so we can know what your potential is. Now, please step on the machine and put your hand on the machine. Channel as much mana as you can please. Don't hold back," The lady explained everything that Jaehoon will need to do in order to get his rank assessed.
Jaehoon steps on the machine and places his right hand on the machine. "We'll now commence the mana value assessment. We will ask you to please channel all of your mana," the staff that's managing the machine says.
Jaehoon then channels all of his mana and the machine starts to whine. After a while, the machine finishes counting. The result is low. "Seems like you will be getting E-rank for that value and your affinity is fire, a common affinity," the lady says, looking at the result. "Let's continue to the physical test then. Now if you will, please follow me,"
They then walk to another room where there is a separate area covered with a barrier made of magics. "This is…." Jaehoon says, feeling confused about where he is.
"Seems like it's your first time here. I'll explain what's in here. Basically in the middle, it's an area for us to test Irregular Hunter's physical capabilities. Once you step in, we will start a simulation of fighting monsters based on your mana value rank. There are no rules. You can do whatever you want. Use magic or even ambush the enemies. But remember, it's only a simulation so the enemies aren't real. You won't get hurt. But once you're hit by an enemy, the test ends," she explains everything to Jaehoon in a slow pace so Jaehoon can understand clearly.
"Oh. I understand now. Then I need to just fight in this simulation?" Jaehoon says, asking if all he needs to do is just fight in the simulation.
"That's correct! I will get the simulation prepared. You can go inside the barrier first," the lady says, asking Jaehoon to wait inside the barrier while she's preparing the simulation.
Jaehoon walks to the barrier and steps in. Once he's in the simulation starts to calibrate. The lady then says; "Alright, it's all ready. Can we start the simulation now, Mr. Lee?" asking Jaehoon if she can start the simulation now.
Jaehoon then replies, "I'm ready. You can start it now."
"Based on your mana rank, we will be doing E-rank. You can do it as fast as you can. Once you're done, we can move on to making the official Irregular Hunter license for you," she replied to Jaehoon
"Based on mana rank, huh? Then that will be easy for me to cleae.... I can clear it in an instant if I want to.... I'll hold back just for this. I don't really want to raise any suspicion," Jaehoon thought, telling himself to just hold back so he won't raise any suspicion.
The simulation starts and several goblins start to appear in front of Jaehoon. Jaehoon hesitates purposefully so he won't raise any suspicion because of his confidence. While fighting, Jaehoon acts like he's struggling on purpose while he can easily win this fight. Because of his acting, the lady actually believes that Jaehoon is struggling with the simulation.
After 10 minutes, Jaehoon finally finishes the simulation. "Seems like you just finished the physical test. To summarize the fight, your rank will be solely on E-rank. Are you fine with this rank, Mr. Lee?" the lady says, asking Jaehoon if it's fine for Jaehoon to have an E-rank result.
"That's fine. I'll accept it," Jaehoon replied.
"Yes! I didn't raise any suspicion and I managed to get the lowest rank because of it! This is actually great!" he thought.
"Alright then, you can go back to the lobby and wait while we prepare for your Irregular Hunter license. You can look around as well if you wanted to," she said, telling Jaehoon to wait and do his things while waiting for his Irregular Hunter license.
Jaehoon nods and he walks back to the lobby. He then finds a bench nearby and sits down. "I managed to get the lowest rank possible. But I still need to be careful. One wrong step while doing my job as an Irregular Hunter, I would raise suspicion very quickly. Plus an Irregular Hunter can't grow stronger, unlike me. The system helps me to get stronger. Even though sometimes it feels like torture," Jaehoon thought to himself, telling himself that he needs to be careful. He suddenly remembered something,
"Oh yeah. I forgot to do the daily quest dungeon. I guess I'll do it later."
While waiting, Jaehoon is scrolling through his phone, reading the news. He comes across the news talking about the Malaysian government sending two national rank Irregular Hunters to help Russia in the Gate break incident at Vladivostok. "This is the first time I've heard about Malaysia taking part in big incidents. Usually they do it in southeast Asia only. That's groundbreaking news. I wonder if Korea will help as well or not," Jaehoon thought, feeling slightly surprised since this is the first time he heard about Malaysia taking part in big incidents outside of southeast Asia. He also wonders if Korea will help
Suddenly, an announcement was made. A lady voice from the speaker says, "Calling for Lee Jaehoon. Please come to the receptionist desk to get your official Irregular Hunter license.i repeat, calling for Lee Jaehoon. Please come to the receptionist desk to get your official Irregular Hunter license. Thank you," she said.
Jaehoon stands up and walks to the receptionist desk. The same lady from last time sees Jaehoon arriving at the receptionist desk and says "Ah. You're already here, Mr. Lee. I suppose you're here to pick up the license," she asked.
"That's correct," Jaehoon replied.
She then hands over Jaehoon's Irregular Hunter license to him and says "Here's your license, Mr. Lee. Hope you're satisfied with our service. If you have further questions, you can ask us,"
"I do have a question. Are there any raid party shorts on members? I would like to help even for a bit," asked Jaehoon to the receptionist.
"Let me check first," she replied. She then goes to the computer and checks if there's any raid party short of members. "Ah. There's one. You need to be a carrier. You just need to carry stuff while they're clearing a C-rank dungeon. They said any rank is fine," she says as she found a job for Jaehoon. "Do you want to take this job?" she asked.
"Sure. I'll take the job," Jaehoon replied.
"Alright then, I'll contact them and inform them about this. They will start the raid at 4:30 pm this evening. The location of the meeting is near the construction site," she continued, telling Jaehoon the time and place of the meeting.
"The one that they just put up?" he asked.
"Yes. That construction site. They will be waiting there at 4:30 pm. Are there any more questions?" she replied.
"Alright. Thank you then. I will be taking my leave now," he says, telling the receptionist he wants to leave.
"Be safe on your way, Mr. Lee!" she said.
Jaehoon nods. He then turned around and left the headquarters. While walking down the street, Jaehoon thinks, "I should do the daily quest dungeon first. But I need to find a place where I can open the Gate."
While looking around, Jaehoon finds an empty alleyway and goes to the alleyway. "This should be safe from other people. I can start the quest now. Daily Quest Dungeon, Start,"
The same Gate like last time appears in front of him. He enters the Gate and recognizes the environment being the same. Jaehoon moves quickly through the dungeon as he has already remembered the way of this dungeon.
Jaehoon then arrives in front of the boss room. He then thinks "It's the same as last time. The boss will also be the same this time around. Well, I hope I get good drop from the boss this time,"
The cycle of killing the boss is the same process just like the first time Jaehoon did it.
[You have killed the boss]
[You have leveled up]
[You have leveled up]
[You have received Anansi's Poison Gland]
"Another material. I don't know what it's used for. A weapon? An accessory? Whatever it is, I should find it out later," he thought to himself. He suddenly remembered,
"I haven't checked the daily shop yet. What is in the daily shop, I wonder."
Jaehoon then opens up the daily shop interface in the system.
[Shop]
[Daily shop items]
[Black Metal: 5 coins]
[Angelic Feather: 20 coins]
[Unbreakable Iron: 50 coins]
[Extra item]
[Leviathan Scales: 15 coins]
"Oh? There's an extra item in the daily shop for today. Nothing is that expensive except for the Unbreakable Iron. Well, not really since I have 65 coins. Before that, I should check if there's anything I could craft," he thought.
Jaehoon then opens up the crafting menu to see what he could craft. While he's scrolling, he sees that he can almost craft the Anansi's Poison Dagger. "I can almost craft the Anansi's Poison Dagger. I just need the Black Metal item to craft it. Wait. Isn't it available in the daily shop? What am I waiting for? Let's buy it and craft this new dagger!" he thought as he saw the only item he needed to craft the Anansi's Poison Dagger.
"Buy Black Metal," he says.
[You have purchased Black Metal for 5 coins]
[New craftable item available]
[Do you wish to craft the Anansi's Poison Dagger?]
"Heck yeah!" he replies as the system asks for confirmation.
[Successfully crafted!]
[You have received Anansi's Poison Dagger]
"Finally! A new weapon for me to use. I can fight more efficiently this time," he says, feeling grateful. "I should check out the stats first. Item info,"
[Anansi's Poison Dagger]
[Rarity: Epic]
[Stats: +25 strength]
[Description: a dagger made from the boss Anansi's fangs and poison gland. This dagger will be more effective against insect type monsters]
[Special effects: Apply 'Poison' and 'Paralyze' debuffs to the enemy for 60 seconds]
"Oh. Special effects. That's actually useful and the dagger will be more effective against insect type monsters," he says as he looks at the weapon description.
The exit Gate opens up and Jaehoon steps in. Once outside Jaehoon goes back to his house to take a little rest before going to his first official raid.
In the evening, Jaehoon arrives at the construction site where the rest of the raid party members are and the leader looks at him.
"You must be the newbie the hq is talking about. Welcome to the raid party. I assume you already knew your job here. You will be carrying all that stuff and follow us into the dungeon," as the captain points at a bag full of stuff.
"Don't worry, we'll make sure that you're safe so rest assured. My name is Park Soo-Won. B-rank. You are?" he continues.
"Lee Jaehoon. E-rank," Jaehoon replied.
"Nice to meet you, Jaehoon! Let's work together as a team!" Soo-Won says.
"Alright," replies Jaehoon as he picks up the bag full of stuff.
They then step in the Gate and come out to a field type dungeon.
"A field type dungeon, huh? Be on guard, everyone!" Soo-Won says.
Everyone ready themselves for an incoming unsuspected attack. Just as everyone gets ready, a horde of mummies and sand drakes appear and they're currently surrounded by them.
"Ready for battle!" Soo-Won says to ensure everyone is ready for battle.