Are you sure you want to absorb Balmung into Old Reliable? Y/N

Isaac approved and the projected weapon vanished. He might not have been one hundred percent certain of the exact outcome, but he knew that it couldn’t blow up in his face too badly. He was still playing within the standard constraints of the [System], at least the [Skills] part of the [System], which had originally been intended to be helpful. Therefore, if he’d been about to fry his face off, again, he would definitely have gotten a warning.

Balmung has been absorbed into Old Reliable, taking up one of the two available slots. This slot will become available again if Balmung is unsummoned. While Balmung is absorbed, it can be wielded as if it were a regular form of Old Reliableand the upkeep cost needn’t be paid.

Perfect. Isaac grinned as he took his first few steps into the Dungeon. He’d managed to get himself the run of many of the city’s dungeons since he’d be leaving soon enough but still wanted to grab some XP, and well, his current status as somewhat of a folk hero made that an easy ask.

The first monster that lunged at him was an animated suit of armor that fell apart in two halves as Balmung passed through it, Isaac not even needing to apply [Piercing Strike] to enhance its cutting potential.

The monster fell to the ground with a clatter, but even as the last piece of metal came to a stop, two more creatures came charging out from the depths of the Dungeon. Like lambs to the slaughter.

***

Half an hour later, Isaac waltzed back out of the Dungeon, not a hair out of place. The only thing that that gave away that he’d just spent thirty minutes tearing apart monsters were the spots of light-colored rock dust that starkly contrasted the dark clothing it had stuck to.

“Nice Dungeon run?” a voice called out as Yoo-jin got up from the small waiting bench near the entrance.

“Nice enough.” Isaac shrugged “After a while, every Dungeon just sort of blurs together.”

“That’s what, seventeen dungeons in the last five hours?”

“About that.” Isaac shrugged again “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to stop before the meeting and get cleaned up though.”

“That’s not what I was going to talk to you about.” Yoo-jin laughed “I’m pretty sure that you’re adult enough to not show up in … that, let alone covered in monster dust while wearing those clothes.” Yoo-jin laughed “I just figured I should talk to you about what happened on October 3rd.”

“Do tell.” Isaac said.

“First of all, thank you. I didn’t really get the chance to visit you in the hospital, and I’m sorry about that …”

“… but you were busy cleaning up after a massive disaster while I sat on my ass.” Isaac finished the other man’s sentence for him “I get it, no hard feelings.”

Yoo-jin let out a barely hidden sigh of relief before replying “Anyway, I was wondering what your plans were, going forward. You’re obviously going to stay until the award ceremony and are going to take advantage of the available Dungeons. But afterwards … would you be amenable to, perhaps, staying?”

“I would be lying if I said it hadn’t occurred to me, but I’m afraid there’s nothing you could offer me to get me to stay, I believe my work is far too important. And after that [Raid Boss], I’m more certain of that than ever.”

Yoo-jin shook his head “I told them you’d say that, but they insisted I make an offer.”

“And if I say no to you, I’ll just get that offer again later?”

“Exactly. There are far too many factions that want to hire someone of our power and you’re the only one unaffiliated.”

“I have a job …” Isaac trailed off.

“A job at the other end of the world, out of sight, out of mind and all that. The only other people with comparable levels of contribution are extremely high ranking members of the Guild or military. And the only ones who also got Aspects are myself and [General] Blockhead.”

“I’m guessing that’s not his real name?” Isaac asked with a slight chuckle.

“Nope, of course not. It’s just that [General] Park doesn’t like the idea of civilians with Levels in combat [Classes] and the Dungeon Guild as a whole. He’s also not shy about expressing that idea and now he’s acting like the Demon Lord could have been taken down without casualties if everyone involved just had a little military discipline.”

“Yet he still got one of the Aspects?” Isaac asked.

“Yeah, the government mandated it.” Yoo-jin said.

“I’d guess they did that to create a counterweight to the power of the Guild. Someone who’d be unlikely to join you guys without a damn good reason, who won’t be seduced by what you offer.” Isaac supposed.

“Exactly. Unfortunately, he’s now also in almost any meetings involving the military, government and Guild leaderships, and he’s always negative just for the sake of being negative.”

“Hence ‘[General] Blockhead’. I know the type.” Isaac chuckled.

“Everyone does. They’re the scourge of modern society.” Yoo-jin said dryly and they both laughed for a bit as they walked along the street of one of the many little ‘Dungeon towns’ that had sprung up around the city, chatting about random stuff. Even with the signs advertising monster meat being served visible in the windows of restaurants, and the bodies belonging to creatures out of myth and legend being carted around, it felt wonderfully mundane.

The medal awarding ceremony, on the other hand, would be a dreadfully formal affair, and Isaac was just glad that he’d gained the patience of a far older and more experienced person.

***

As it turned out, the awarding of medals themselves wasn’t all that extraordinary. Sure, there were medals being handed out by the President of a country, but Isaac had been through this a couple of times, and they were always the exact same thing. Thank you for doing x-thing, here’s the appropriate medal, we’re grateful and if I you were to stay/enlist/keep helping, that would be great. Nice, but very structured.

Isaac had just stood there and politely thanked the President when receiving the Order of National Security Merit 1st Class.

The lesser versions of this were given to most Hunters, though Yoo-jin had also earned himself the 1st Class order. Many received it stoically, but there were a few exclamations of ‘yeah’ and people punching the air.

… juvenile idiots.

Meanwhile, the various members of the military who’d earned this degree of official recognition received the Order Military Merit, rather than the Order of National Security Merit.

That whole affair had taken a surprisingly long amount of time, but eventually, it was over and they were all released to join everyone else in massive ballroom. That was when the schmoozing and negotiating began.

“… and that is what I can offer to you, should you choose to …” the Japanese diplomat had been right in the middle of offering Isaac a generous amount of money and non-material support in exchange for a couple of months training Japan’s elites when he was suddenly cut off by a truly massive fart. His own.

Isaac successfully stifled a chuckle or any other response that indicated amusement while surreptitiously threading his [Aura] through the crowd until he reached the person responsible for that … breach of politeness and smacked him. The man, likewise a diplomat, went white and hurried off towards the bathroom as quickly as he could without it being obvious he was fleeing.

On the inside, Isaac was torn between amusement and exasperation. On the battlefield of politics, people had plenty of [Skills] available, just as they did everywhere else. [Skills] to draw the eye, to make others lose their train of thought, [Skills] to reveal embarrassing truths … and then there were those that interrupted people while talking.

The latter ranged from literal fart magic, which was exactly what it sounded like, to [Skills] that simply triggered the biological process that was the closest to occurring naturally. A sneeze, a burp, and yes, a fart, all of which would not only represent a faux pass but also massively throw most people off their game. And if Isaac’s [Hunter’s Gaze] hadn’t allowed him to track [Skill] use, that guy would have gotten away with it.

As it was, though, Isaac wasn’t interested in the Japanese man’s offer and even if he had been, he wouldn’t have accepted it at a Korean event. Therefore, he cut in just as his conversation partner tried to start talking again.

“I’m afraid I won’t have the kind of time accepting your offer would require for a while.”

Then, in a low voice that [Perception Block] ensured only the other man could hear, he added “Some [Skills] to ensure that other people can’t embarrass you like that again wouldn’t go amiss.”

With that, Isaac headed into the crowd. There were a couple of people who stood out like beacons, like they held the answers to all his problems, so he fixed each of them with a hard stare for a few seconds, then pointedly ignored them. There was a big difference between using [Skills] to get an advantage, and using them in a way that was borderline mind control.

Perception altering crap could be annoying, and Isaac let those that tried to use it know exactly what he thought of it, but actual mind control was a hard line that shouldn’t be crossed and would be treated accordingly.

Mostly, Isaac was here to drum up support to the ‘Treaty of Seoul’, which was currently being negotiated. Like many such treaties, it was named after the location where it had been signed, or would be signed, in this case. And because the incident that had prompted it had occurred so close to Seoul and a lot of the responses had been brainstormed there, it was where the particulars were being hammered out.

It would take a while for everything to be finalized, or even to get everyone here for the official negotiations, but the basics had already been determined. In essence, if someone summoned a [Raid Boss], they had to announce it, and get permission. Otherwise, if anyone found out such a creature had been summoned, and they would find out due to the fact that their presence was announced to anyone and everyone nearby, it would get obliterated. Not just attacked with everything available, but nuked, if that was what was required.

A literal nuclear warhead wasn’t mandated as a method of disposal, of course, but it would likely be what was required anyway.

But that kind of response had probably been planned anyway, by a significant number of governments. The important part was that, well, once that treaty was signed, it wouldn’t matter who or what around the [Raid Boss]. The summoners would get blown up if they were still alive, but quite frankly, screw them.

The most extraordinarily part of the whole affair, however, was the idea that it needn’t be the nation on whose land the monster had been summoned which destroyed them. If the monster was close to a border, endangering another nation, they too could engage. The particulars involving how much firepower could be thrown how deep into foreign territory and what kinds of safety radii needed to be given for what protected areas still needed to be discussed, but at the end of the day ideas were unlikely to change.

In the other timeline, there’d actually existed a similar creation, but it had been a hasty, twisted thing created in the wake of a true tragedy, a city of millions razed and appropriately messed up. No proper discourse to discuss the parameters under which actions on foreign soil would be alright had occurred, and several wars had nearly broken out as a result. Hopefully, this time around, it would be a fully mature creation which allowed the signatory nations to destroy the [Raid Bosses] without nearly sparking World War 3.

Yet even with a world class, [Skill]-strengthened poker face, his personal nigh-bottomless well of patience and the serenity of an ancient warrior at his beck and call, the constant barrage of political [Skills] and occasionally stupid questions managed to wear him down.

“First time at one of these places?” a voice rang out from beside him as a field of mana enveloped the table he was standing at, preventing the words from being heard by anyone other than him.

“Mostly.” Isaac sighed “A few symposiums, a big discussion at a police precinct during a massive inter-agency manhunt for a serial killer, but nothing like this.”

“In that case, you’re in for one hell of a ride. Or were, I suppose. You lasted longer than I expected.” Professor Kim told him.

“Thank you.” Isaac said as he snatched up a couple of hor d’oeuvres and ate them “It’s fascinating being here, but I’m practically exhausted. Everyone wants something, and so few of them really know enough about me or the subject matter to make the right kind of proposition.”

“You think it’s bad now, just wait until the third Evolution powerup becomes common knowledge.” Kim told him with a dark expression that was at odds with the joking tone of her statement.

“You’d think people would have the maturity to turn down those advances if they’ve got the maturity to wield third Evolution power without immediately getting themselves arrested and/or executed.”

“You would be wrong.” Kim said “Just like you’d be wrong to assume that people would know better than to make indecent proposals to people who could turn them into a grease stain with a thought.”

“Levels aren’t usually visible externally. Intellectually knowing that someone is that powerful doesn’t elicit the same fear as facing, say, a dragon.” Isaac suggested.

“It’s a tale as old as time. If it doesn’t look scary, it can’t hurt you.” Kim said, her head suddenly snapping around and zeroing in on a person in the crowd, Yoo-jin.

“What’s up?” Isaac asked.

“Oh, I was just wondering if one of us needed to drag that kid over into a corner by the ear and give him that talk we just had.” Kim sighed.

“That ‘kid’ is almost half again my age.” Isaac pointed out.

“And yet in a way, you’re older.” Kim told him “I realized it shortly after we met, Dr. Thoma, you are an old soul. It was obvious even then, but it’s grown far more pronounced since the fight against the [Demon Lord].”

“Noticed that, did you?” Isaac chuckled wryly.

Kim raised an eyebrow as she looked back at him “I’m guessing you hold an inheritance [Class].”

He nodded “Hildebrand, a hero from Germanic mythology and the Song of the Nibelungs.”

“Who was he?”

“The teacher of a great king, an old warrior who fought to alongside a great hero.”

“That … that would explain a lot, actually.” Kim nodded.

Aaaaaannnd there it was. Someone with the right knowledge to understand the impact that kind of knowledge might have on a young twenty-something man knew about the inheritance [Class], and would make some assumptions from there. Those assumptions would be wrong, but they’d provide a perfect explanation for Isaac’s weirdness.

Now, Professor Kim was hardly a gossip, but that knowledge would still spread. And back in Germany, something very similar would happen once more as Isaac organically brought his status as an inheritor up in conversation with the right person.

“Anyway, I’m heading back out there, wish me luck.” Isaac bade her goodbye and left the bubble of isolated space. As much as he would have loved to continue having an intelligent conversation with one of the most interesting people in the room, this gathering represented an opportunity he couldn’t afford to waste. Sigh.