Chapter 39 - What are you?

I was looking at a glowing crystal after finishing the talk with an excited Vice Admiral over what had just occurred.

After the implosion of the dungeon monolith, there were many hunter soldiers that were badly injured, and I was able to see the versatility of my recently learned skill, [Guardian’s Light]

When I directed this skill to the injured soldiers, whether it was a light scratch or deep wounds, they all began to heal in a few seconds before becoming as good as new. A few guards that were near death were also stabilized and brought back to health in a few seconds

The next hour after that was the most tiring time I had gone through these past few days. The first point was the only thing that was left behind as the dungeon disappeared. Information about its name was the only thing I could observe, everything else was unreadable. [Plane Crystal- ?}{>][email protected]}[email protected]}]])@+}@

A plane crystal...what are you and how can you be used?

I had tried putting in energy, crushing it, absorbing it, nothing had changed. Something even more pressing along with this was the episode where I had an excruciating headache, and whether I was hallucinating or not, I clearly saw the words "Move Faster"

I gave some thought to these new developments as I realized I might be in the middle of something much greater than what I knew. When I spent the hour discussing with Vice Admiral Magnar about everything that had occurred, this was the only thing on my mind. I told Magnar I needed some time to think, and here I was staring at this crystal while thinking about those words

Among the many possible hypotheses I had, one of the more likely ones was that there was a correlation between what I have become able to do, the blank [Focus], and now all of that was somehow weaved into whatever sent me that message while my head was splitting apart the moment I caused a dungeon to disappear

When the cracks spread throughout, it wasn’t the normal dungeon break where monsters broke out, the entire monolith was just completely gone. My mind had already ascertained that it was around 40 times I had cleared the dungeon before the light blue color became thinner and thinner, eventually exploding after

This meant as long as dungeons were cleared a specific number of times under a very short duration, there was a possibility of breaking them. I knew something like this was huge, as it would put me in the middle of this taking a leading role for the time to come. Nobody could clear dungeons as many times as me without tiring out. Unless many hunters formed tens of teams to target one dungeon, they wouldn’t be able to match my rate

I was questioning why lower-ranked dungeons had not disappeared like this before, and came to the conclusion that different ranks of dungeons would require to be cleared a different number of times rapidly before the monolith would implode.

There were three rank B dungeons in Star City, and they were being cleared maybe 3 or 4 times a day by teams of hunters. Lower ranked dungeons in core defense cities like this one would be cleared in faster rates, with rank C being approximately 10-20 times, rank D 30+ times, rank E 40+, and rank F more than 50 times each day as there were more and more hunters each level down

These numbers were only normal for core defense cities, and would be even lower for the cities in the outer perimeter of the empire that had very few dungeons. An example was how Outer Bank X City only had its rank C dungeon cleared once every few days

But none of these lower-ranked dungeons had disappeared, meaning they required to be cleared even more times in a day before a case similar to [Mangrove Swamp] could repeat itself. This was only a theory and had to be tested. I had cleared this rank B dungeon so rapidly that it could not keep standing

Many questions came after that which made my head buzz. I took a deep breath as I stopped thinking for a bit. I would understand everything in time. What I needed to focus on now was simply what the words in my head said. Move faster. I already thought my rapid progress was monstrous, but I had to move at a much faster rate. I was planning how to start testing some of my thoughts when a light knock was heard

Sigh, didn’t I tell them not to bother me for now? I stayed quiet and kept on thinking, but I soon heard the door clicking open and footsteps coming inside. You all really couldn’t wait? I was about to berate the figure that was intruding in my living quarters but was stunned when I saw who it was. A sweet voice rang out mischievously as a woman wearing a red dress with a head full of golden hair came in

"You really are full of surprises aren’t you?"

Elizabeth was trotting in like she owned the place, which might not be too far off as whatever access she had allowed her to enter my room with no problems. I looked at her calmly and replied

"I don’t even know what happened myself" These words weren’t completely false as there was a lot I didn’t know.

The hunter that seemed to be in her late 20s or early 30s smiled and looked around the room as she said, "I would love to get a better idea about what happened. May I...accompany you for a discussion tonight?"

I looked at the woman whose every word she spoke seemed to have multiple meanings. I looked at the tight red dress she was wearing and the head full of golden hair. I continued to be alert so that I wouldn’t be taken in by her pace and smiled. Sure. I’ll bite

---

Magnar was not able to get a wink of sleep the entire night. He had spent a majority of it deflecting powerhouses from getting near a certain man and being grilled with questions. He wasn’t fully successful though as someone had still slid through. He thought of a certain hunter as he shook his head and thought about all the collection of hunters that were staying in his base

He had been excited just like everyone else at the new development and was waiting to see how things would play out from here. Dungeons could be permanently erased. This was naturally good news, but it prompted another question that he didn’t want to think about. Should they all be permanently erased? Should only some be erased and a manageable few left behind? Magnar was thinking of all the resources that came out of dungeons as these ideas clashed in his mind

Things got even more hectic as people from Blessed City appeared, making him feel like he was walking on eggshells. He tried putting all of this aside as he neared the quarters of a now-famous man and knocked

A moment passed before the door opened and a half-dressed man looked out. His upper body seemed packed with muscles as the abdominal muscles were so pronounced that it almost seemed they were fake. In the room, slender long legs of someone could be made out dr.a.p.ed over the bed

Magnar looked at this and gave a smile, choosing his next words carefully. "...Sir, we’ll be holding a forum with representatives from major cities to discuss the new developments and how to move forward from here"

He couldn’t bring himself to talk to the man the same way he had been doing before. He was doing too many inconceivable things. The man seemed to shake his head before he spoke, "I’ll be out in a moment"