Chapter 36: One-Star General
My house.
"Open a Gate to the hunting ground with the best Contribution Point efficiency."
Even fanatics apparently started feeling that repeatedly dying and losing Contribution Points was a waste.
At some point, they stopped coming back.
Not that I have anything to regret.
I can just go somewhere else.
[Search complete.]
[Opening Gate to Tower of Fate Floor 70, "Resting Place of the Wraiths."]
Floor 70? I can't even reach that yet.
At least, not if I climbed normally.
My EX-rank Gate ability could take me to Floor 70 even if I hadn't cleared Floor 69.
But that's not what makes it useful.
It can instantly determine where I should hunt for the highest efficiency.
That was the true beauty of my Gate ability.
There was no point going to a high floor if I wasn't strong enough.
I'd just be a moth flying into a flame.
Hmm. So according to the Tower, Floor 70 is the optimal hunting ground for me right now.
If I went to Floors 80 or 90, maybe there would be monsters even Shadow Dagger couldn't kill easily.
I never fought those orcs on Floor 80 directly, so I wouldn't know.
Back then, I didn't have Shadow Dagger.
I didn't have anything.
What kind of monsters would be on Floor 90?
I'd probably need at least a full set of Tower Knights Knight Unit Leader equipment, or maybe even Knight Captain equipment.
Tower Knights equipment is PvP gear, but...
It still had basic stats based on its grade.
Armor naturally provided defense.
Accessories increased attack power.
And those effects worked perfectly well against monsters too.
I hadn't personally tested everything, but it was probably true.
Why?
Because Heavenly Demon, the guy who constantly posted information and strategy guides on Hunter Inventory, said so.
So it had to be right.
Almost all the comments agreed with Heavenly Demon too. So yeah. Probably right.
Right now, Hunter Inventory was going insane over the appearance of a First-Class Officer.
It'd probably stay like this for at least a week.
"Ahem."
My shoulders naturally rose with pride.
Current total Contribution Points: around 9.6 million.
Only about 340,000 left.
"Man... Once I hit One-Star General, I really want to take this weekend off."
Honestly, I was exhausted.
Still, it had been genuinely fun.
Of course, the reason it was fun was probably because I'd been playing the predator.
The low-rank Hunters getting boss rooms controlled on lower floors probably weren't having much fun.
Anyway, I stepped through the Floor 70 Gate.
Floor 70.
Resting Place of the Wraiths.
It reminded me of Floor 41's Graveyard of the Dead.
Dark.
Gloomy.
Of course, compared to Floor 41, the mana density on Floor 70 was so thick that comparing the two felt ridiculous.
And it was far more ominous.
On Floor 41, skeletons came at you with bone swords.
Here, skeleton knights wearing full armor glared with glowing eyes.
If I go to Floor 90, am I going to run into entire armies of Death Knights and Liches?
Maybe.
But...
There are barely any people here. This is just a normal hunting ground.
Why wasn't it a battlefield?
Then I remembered.
Oh. Right. I asked it to open a hunting ground.
I'd gotten so used to searching for battlefields that I'd confused myself.
Wait.
That means I was thinking of people as mobs.
Even I felt slightly disturbed by that.
Well, these things happen.
I wanted to be generous with myself.
Why?
Because the world is harsh enough on me already.
The only person who could afford to be generous toward me was me.
Anyway.
I decided to try hunting.
The moment I approached an area packed with monsters, I witnessed something unexpected.
Whoosh!
BOOOOM!
...Sword and Fist are here.
Fist was jumping around at heights that made it difficult to believe he was human.
Every time he came crashing down and punched the ground...
BOOM!
Nearby monsters were swept away by the impact.
And Sword?
Shiiing! Shiiing! Clang! Shiiing!
Blue sword aura extended her blade to twice, then three times its normal length.
Every undead that approached was cut cleanly into upper and lower halves with a single strike.
Are those two actually human?
But!
The two of them were hunting quite far apart.
Each remained within their own section.
As though an invisible border had been drawn between them.
Interesting. Those two aren't fighting?
It looked like they had signed some kind of non-aggression pact.
I could guess why.
Floor 70 was difficult to reach for anyone below NCO rank.
Simply being able to hunt here practically made someone part of the privileged class.
There was no reason to fight each other to the death and suffer the death penalty.
I glanced at their heads.
Both were [Third-Class Officer].
If killing a Third-Class Officer gives 10,000 points, dying probably costs 15,000.
I'd never died before, but everyone on Hunter Inventory said death cost one and a half times the points gained from killing someone of the same rank.
The appearance of a First-Class Officer probably played a role too.
Sword and Fist both seemed incredibly competitive.
There was no reason to exhaust themselves repeatedly killing each other when it would only hurt them.
They had probably concluded that monopolizing this amazing hunting ground that most people couldn't even reach was more profitable.
I hid myself and watched.
Then someone appeared from the other side.
Judging by the direction, he'd probably climbed here directly from Floor 69.
"Huh?"
The man who entered Floor 70 tilted his head.
"What? I haven't seen either of you anywhere lately, and you've both been hunting here?"
His eyes sparkled.
Who's that?
I'd never seen him before.
"Looks like this place is a gold mine."
Without hesitation, the man casually took a spot outside the attack ranges of Sword and Fist.
Neither of them stopped him.
Even divided among three people, the hunting ground was still large enough.
Fist was the first to speak.
"Don't come within thirty meters of my area. The moment you do, you and I fight, Light."
Apparently the man's nickname was Light.
An archer.
I hate ranged players.
"Same goes for me, Light."
Sword gave the same warning.
Light chuckled, shrugged, and started hunting nearby monsters.
There wasn't even an arrow nocked on his bow.
Yet when he pulled back the string, a golden arrow appeared and shot forward.
That's broken as hell.
He practically had unlimited arrows.
Sure, he probably consumed mana, but for an S-rank Hunter, it would be like scooping water out of the ocean with his bare hands.
For a while, everything remained peaceful.
Then...
