章 44: Main Quest #2

"...You're more than just a Training Sword?" Cassius asked with raised brows, genuinely surprised.

However, after half a minute of no response, he sighed in disappointment. "Seems you are not yet sentient, just bloodthirsty… But who knows? Maybe that will change the more you and my Newbie Equipment get upgraded. Same thing goes for my Serrated Devil Blade…"

Cassius briefly admired the intimidating tattoo etched across his right arm before pulling out a dotted holographic map. "Time to decide which one I should go to first."

From what little he knew about the world of Hunters, the White Tier Gates correlated to the F-Rank, Orange for E-Rank, Green for D-Rank, and so on and so forth, with Purple Gates representing the A-Rank.

Now, this begged the question: why was the highest rank only of the A-Rank? Naturally, this was because Gates became increasingly tougher the higher the Rank.

To clear even the weakest of Purple Tier Gates would require dozens of S-Rank Hunters working together in seamless harmony. As for the strongest of Purple Gates… Well, it was a good thing that Japan had only ever experienced those of the Mid-Tier. Unlike some more unfortunate countries, such as America or Russia, Japan came out on the luckier side of things.

Yet, even though Mid-Tier Purple Gates weren't considered world-ending Gates, Japan nearly went extinct on more than one occasion.

FWIP!

While casually thinking about the different Gate ranks, Cassius vanished from his spot using the D- Skill |Shadow Step|.

*Ding!*

[|Shadow Step (D-)| leveled up from 'Lvl 2' → 'Lvl 3']

Cassius's brows furrowed in interest, yet that didn't stop him from blurring to and from rooftops. Even though it was midday, nobody would pay any attention to a slightly abnormal shadow, especially when the shadow in question had expertly synced up with the shadows of the surroundings.

As he inconspicuously raced through the neighborhoods of Hoshito, Cassius realized that the Gate he was aiming for was coming up. To the left, a few hundred meters away, groups of men and women in shiny armor were speaking a whole lot of nothing with one another.

The stealthy shadow in the distance had an exceptionally handsome man emerge from within, with his cold gaze scanning through the gathered Hunters.

'The D- Gate known as the 'Kobold's Catacombs',' thought Cassius as his eyes traced up toward the small building-sized oval-shaped mass of green cosmic energies. 'Among D-Rank Gates, it can be considered to be near the very bottom of the barrel. But as opposed to a strong E-Rank Gate like 'Savage Jungle,' it is still leagues ahead in terms of both terrain difficulty and the strength of the monsters within. Monsters which will undoubtedly be Kobolds—human-sized bipedal dogs that know only death and cruelty.'

It was definitely the most optimal choice for someone's first D-Rank Gate, but it was still something that would prove a serious challenge if Cassius were to go at it himself.

Acquiring a few teammates from among the Hunters gathered below was certainly an option, but they would no doubt be untrustworthy. And they were also likely to just hold him back rather than assist him. Furthermore, it didn't seem like the Idle Evolution System very much appreciated that thought…

*Ding!*

{[Main Quest 2]}

—[Solo Conquer the D- Gate 'Kobold's Catacombs'] - [DO NOT get the help of any others.]

—[If you do, the system will have deemed your character development as being lacking, thus creating weakness in your soul and body. As a result of this, you will lose a leg of your choice and experience 12 hours of horror in the Land of Nightmares! All to counteract the lack of character development.]

[Reward 1: 2 Stat Points in Strength, 1 in Agility, 1 in Defense, 2 in Endurance, and 3 in Perception.]

[Reward 2: 5 AP]

[Reward 3: 'Troll System' Idle Benefit #2 will be unlocked.]

[Reward 4: 'Are you looking to get face-slapped?']

Cassius had a few things he was curious about upon viewing the rewards. However, he, more than anyone else, knew that the Idle Evolution System would never do anything that could be seen as coming easy to him.

It was with a resigned sigh that he turned his attention away from the 2nd Main Quest Mission and the system itself, instead focusing on the quarantined zone below.

'I saw it in the nearly identical set of memories of the previous me in this body, but it seems that it really is true,' Cassius thought keenly as he phased over a few more buildings before finding himself outside a small group of nosy onlookers. 'The Gates are like attractions in this world, with the government taking a carefree approach to the management of most Gates.'

Looking around, he saw not a single government official or guard in the area. The only things preventing the citizens from getting too close to the Gate and accidentally getting sucked in were local police officers and a thick line of caution tape. Moreover, of the few officers that were there, not a single one had power greater than the F-Rank, with the majority of them not even having awakened.

Cassius was intent on figuring out more about why the Gate security was so lax. Coincidentally, among the sea of busybody citizens grouped up outside the caution tape, there were those who loved to gossip.

"Have you heard about the new law placed on the management of Gates?? It is said that our government no longer believes it to be necessary to prioritize higher manpower outside Gates, mainly because of the sudden increase in Purple Gates worldwide!"

'How… convenient of a conversation topic…' Cassius thought in passing.

"Yep, our government, like many others, can no longer afford to station more powerful people outside the Gates that they use to farm materials. Like the Kobold's Catacombs, which has been repeatedly cleared by the Hunter Guilds, all of the other Red-ranked and below Gates have long since been left out in the open!"

"Yeah, well, not like the government has to worry about anyone non-related to a raid going into a Gate. That is unless they have a death wish!"

Cassius: "...."