Chapter -7- [Only the dead can see me-3]

Erta, the little angel who came into the room, ignored what Il Han had said earlier and started talking about whatever she wanted.

[It is very difficult for people who have never had any contact with mana to be able to use mana, which is an energy necessary for their advancement. The reason why people spend ten years in other worlds is to experience the years needed to use mana.] She began to retell what he had heard from Lita for hundreds of years.

"Yes. All of humanity except me."

At Yu Il Han's sharp reply, the angel continued to speak with obvious annoyance on her little face.

[Angel Lita made a strong plea to help the human Yu Il Han. Saying that it was completely unfair to be left out, for someone who had only trained his body a little, she asked for an angel to help him use mana in this short period of time.]

Hearing Lita say this, Yu Il Han immediately realized what this klutz angel was up to and his heart warmed. She wanted to come to his side again, nominating herself on the pretext of being able to teach him mana. Even though it hadn't even been a day since they parted, this klutz angel already seemed to be worried about him.

[After her bitter complaints, her request was accepted. Although she wanted to come herself, the higher-ups were worried about a human and an angel getting too close, so I was assigned to this mission.] and Erta's next sentences confirmed Il Han's guesses. He could not help smiling.

"So that's how it is." 'Even if they take such measures, I don't think they can keep Lita away from me for long.' 

He would be lying if he said he wasn't a little disappointed, but he would patiently wait for his klutz angel to come to him.

But Erta did not seem to like what she saw.

[But now that I'm here, it's different from what she said..]

"What's different?" he asked as his smile widened.

[How can a body like that be considered even a little trained?]

As Erta reviewed how Yu Il Han had improved his physical condition without using mana, she tried to mumble in a voice he couldn't hear, but Il Han heard everything she said. As she said, this was Lita's excuse to come to Il Han's side.

Even considering a thousand years, the level of evolution of his body was incredible. If powerful mana was added to his body, how much more could this human evolve? At this point, Erta was also beginning to be curious.

If they had known beforehand how much he had trained his body, Erta's appointment would never have happened. But Lita's determination in putting forward this mission as soon as she returned to heaven was never seen before, and her request was seemingly quite reasonable. The idea was accepted, the preparations were made, and it was carried out as fast as lightning popping corn. And when she came to this person this was the situation Erta faced..

However, an already realized thing wouldn't be reverted. Erta, who descended with a mission, couldn't return until she completed that mission. In other words, they were all bamboozled by Lita. To think she would use such a sly method even though she was an angel, who is supposed to be the purest existence in the world!

Erta sighed again, speaking in a weak voice.

[So long story short, I'm going to help you until you can master the mana, so please learn fast.]

"So Erta, how do you intend to help me on this glorious path?"

[It's very simple, my being near you as a higher being will activate the mana in you... In terms of perception, control and use, you can adapt to mana 10 or more times faster than people who go to other worlds...]

In the past, without a single shred of mana in his body, this method would have been impossible even if Lita clung to his body for a thousand years. But now that the Great Cataclysm had happened, one year was enough. That was Erta's calculation, though.

Remembering what happened in the original, Yu Il Han could only smile and nod at Erta's words.

When they finished talking, Erta flew up and settled on his head. 

"These angels are always perched on my head. Is this a behavior you are all used to?" he said, looking at Erta through the mirror. But Erta did not even move.

[I don't know about the others, but I'm more comfortable this way. I need to be near you all the time anyway. And in addition, I'm under a spell that hides me from other people's eyes, so you don't have to worry about me.]

"...So you're just going to keep sitting on my head?"

[Yeah! You better get used to it..]

Il Han decided to leave the new menace alone.

[I don't care what a lower existence like you does. So you do not need to worry.]

"I don't care if you see what I do. I don't care what you do if it doesn't harm me and my family. Do whatever you want to do." The smile on Il Han's face hadn't gone when he heard her dismissed as a lower existence. He now remembered Erta's first behaviors in the original novel. 

Angel Erta did not expect such an answer from Il Han. Il Han said nothing more to her, sat on his bed and began his meditation. And Erta just stared at this human being. And she said nothing to him.

***

The next day when he woke up from meditation he felt his body was refreshed and he could feel his mana had risen. When he called up his status and checked his mana, he saw that it had increased by 10 points and, not surprisingly, his health had also increased by 5 points.

He was really on his way to becoming a Cultivator. When he learned to control mana, he was going to make a flying sword. 

He did his morning rituals. He went down to his family for breakfast. After breakfast he went back to his room and put on his clothes. Since his mother would notice if he came out with a spear, he chose to come out with chaos swords. He placed the swords diagonally across his back. And Erta was shocked to see these weapons. She could not believe that these weapons were made of a material like steel in a non-mana environment.

[Lita really deceived us all..]

The Korean morning was mixed with the anxiety that the world would change and a slight expectation for the changing society, it looked very lively on the surface. The people Yu IlHan saw, after leaving his house with Erta on top of his head, were like that. 

If one ignored the soldiers in army uniform with guns securing the perimeter while walking due to the joint operation with the government.

"Fuck, I was drinking with a woman at my side until yesterday morning...!"

"But it's better than the climbers in the mountains, sir... I heard monsters have already appeared."

"If I kill monsters, I can at least level up! I need to find my Thunder Sword quickly!"

"Corporal Seo, The entire regiment knows that you didn't even earn a skill until the end in Guundia...?"

Yu Il Han looked at these soldiers with pity and then hurried off to the university. He thought he was walking slowly, but he arrived at the school in the time it took a car to get there, early. This was funny even to him. 

He went to the humanities campus of Sungkyunkwan University.

Befitting of being built within the city, Sungkyunkwan university was built on a hill that made its students seriously wonder whether it was commuting or climbing, thanks to using a small area of land as efficiently as possible.

Of course, such a distance was nothing to Yu Il Han now.

The campus was full of people. Since most of them were students, they were more inclined to think positively about what awaited them in the future rather than what calamity might befall them. And most of them were talking about things Yu Il Han had never experienced before.

"Have you gained a skill?"

"Yes! What about you? I managed to make one anyhow."

"Fuu. I have two."

"...What does it mean to make a skill?" Il Han asked Erta.

[It means being able to use a little mana and junk records to create something to use in combat. In my eyes as a higher existence, all of their vaunted abilities combined would pale in comparison to your concealment.]

"Unfortunately, the ability to use concealment is not a skill that I created.."

He heard new information from people. And most of it, except some of it, was things that he liked.

Anyway, the summary of most of the things he heard was this;

"In the end, who was 'Empress'?"

"Nobody knows. Does that make sense? It's the sole Sung U's person who flew her name for 10 years in Lanpas, and we don't know who she is."

"But wouldn't we know if monsters appear?"

"I don't know, maybe.. but she might wear a mask again."

He learnt that there was a woman called 'Empress' who showed mighty ability in the other world in his university, and something he was actually interested in. The reputation of the 'Empress' was really great. He had already come to see her today. During this one-day period, how much of her abilities, which had been reset, she regained.

"When will the dungeons appear?"

"I don't think you could get in there even if they showed up. There's a level requirement. What level are you at?"

"Level 7."

"I'm Level 4.."

"Huu."

"Damn..."

He heard that in other worlds there were places known as dungeons and that you had to be at a high level to enter. Other than that, there was no other information he could find. One thing he did know about dungeons was that there was a reward.

Dungeon... It was a word that tightened one's heart.

When he went to the classroom, there were already many people there. To think that after spending ten years in another world, they were still coming to school... Did they, by any chance, miss ordinary life like Yu Il Han?

In a flood of 'emotion', he looked around the classroom, but there was no one he recognized. Il Han sat in the classroom closest to the door. And he started asking Erta questions. Even though he normally knew what was going on, he didn't want to let Erta know that he knew.

"What exactly is this dungeon they are talking about?" he asked Erta.

[It's a trap.]

"What kind of a trap?"

[It's a trap created by God. It lures and traps the monsters by putting out bait that attracts them. The gathered monsters become trapped there. Unlike the monsters, humans with sufficient qualifications can come and go as they please and hunt there more safely].

"That's also a consideration from God to the humans, huh.. But Isn't it over if they're trapped? You can just leave it alone, right?"

[A dungeon is naturally destroyed after a certain period of time, so the monsters inside it have to be dealt with before that. In the first place, many monsters don't get caught in the trap, and there are many which can destroy it, and many that can camouflage as dungeons. So carelessness is forbidden.]

While Yu Il Han and Erta were talking, the professor arrived and the class started. However, it was obvious that the professor didn't want to teach and the students weren't listening properly. Yu Il Han, who mastered this lesson a long time ago, wasn't listening at all.

"All of you must adapt to a changing society. The United Nations has already proposed banning the unnecessary use of mana and establishing a leveling system. Powerful countries like America and China are focused on adapting to the changing environment with monsters emerging from mana. Depending on the role Korea plays, many industries may collapse and many other industries may rise."

Throughout the fifty-minute lecture, he arrogantly went on and on about how everyone could think about these things. Thanks to this, Yu Il Han instantly forgot his centuries of loneliness and waited earnestly for the lecture to end. 

[The efficiency in training mana doesn't become different no matter what you do in whatever place. Actually, there is one.]

"What is it?"

[Hunting monsters.]

"That's already on my list. When I get out of here today, I'm going to start hunting monsters."

[That's a good mentality. Just like the people in the world are low level, the monsters and dungeons that will appear now will be low level. This is because they've only just encountered mana. There may be high-level ones or colonies from natural disasters, but that is, in the end, a special case, and it's possible to recognize and avoid beforehand.]

"Hmm... That's right."

[Now that the absolute majority of the monsters are weak, it would be advantageous in the long term to adapt to mana faster by acquiring experience.]

Erta seemed to love giving information. She explained everything in detail.

"Don't worry! I hope the creatures I'm slaughtering today will give me enough experience so that I can go home with my first job today."

[You can't enter the dungeons because it requires a level. So you have to hunt monsters outside. Considering your current level, I think you can hunt monsters at level 50.] This was the conclusion she came to after only a casual analysis of his body. If she could see his status, she would immediately return to heaven and report Lita to the higher-ups.

"...I'm a level 1 lower existence with no skills other than concealment who still can't use mana. you know that, right?"

[On the contrary, you have a monstrous body!!! I say this even though you don't have proper armor. If you did, you could hunt even higher level ones.] Erta, hearing his sarcastic question, replied directly.

[Fuu. I'm a higher existence, I can help you find monsters so I can escape faster from you... no, I mean I can help you find monsters to help you develop.]

"There's no need to exhaust yourself. How is the latest situation, Amagi-chan?" Il Han called out to the little fox.

{Papa, there is a swarm of insects approaching your location. And the area around your home is safe for now.}

Erta looked towards the phone when she heard this voice.

"Good job, my little fox. You can keep on watching the perimeter of my house."

{All right. Papa, leave this to me and I'll let you know the moment something happens... Have a good hunt.}

While waiting for the bugs to reach the university, Il Han started surfing the internet on his phone.

(Fuck. People inside the building never set foot outside from now on.)

(Who the hell lied? Outside right now is hell.)

(The inside is also hell. Can't you see the building collapsing?)

(It's the first time I saw soldiers shooting guns since I was born. Shit soldiers are so cool.)

(Yeah. You'll be able to shoot them soon ^^)

(Before training mana to level up, don't we have to legalize firearms first?)

Articles on a community page seemed to exaggerate things a bit. Yu Il Han clicked on one of these articles. A picture appeared on the screen. 

A hunting dog that grew to the size of a bull, was attacking a human with a fiercely twisted face. It was too terrible to accept as reality, but the dog was too realistic for it to be CGI.

Yu Il Han looked up. The lecture had stopped and everyone, including the professor, had thrown themselves against the window and were looking out at the square. It looked like the insects had finally reached the university.

Il Han grabbed his bag, stood up and headed for the nearby door. No one even noticed him open the door and leave the classroom.

Finally, the Grind was starting. 

His first massacre would be of insect monsters. 

Insects the size of humans..

Monsters...

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-End of the chapter 7-