You Can’t See Me? (3)

The small angel who came into the room, Erta, ignored the pre-conversation and started talking.

[For humans, the energy they acquired post-natally, mana, is extremely difficult to handle. The reason why humanity had to spend 10 years in other worlds is also that one has to experience that many numbers of years to acquire the possibility of using mana-]

"Humanity excluding me."

At Yu IlHan's interruption, Erta showed a clear annoyance on her tiny face and continued speaking.

[Lita used that point to strongly claim the assistance on the human Yu IlHan. While saying that it was seriously unfair to leave the dropout, who only trained his body a little, like this, she requested the dispatch of an angel to help him adapt to mana in a short period of time.]

When he heard that Lita spoke up for him, Yu IlHan felt his heart pound. Although they separated without being able to say their farewells, she also seemed to worry about Yu IlHan.

[Because of her strong claims, her request was approved. Lita wanted to take on the role herself, but due to the decision of the higher-ups who were worried about a human becoming too close to an angel, I was dispatched in her place.]

"Is that so."

It would be a lie if he said he wasn't disappointed, but he also thought that it was instead fortunate. He resolved to become a higher existence in order to meet Lita, but if they met for some random reason before that, wouldn't he be fired up for nothing?

However, Erta had the expression of not liking the situation.

[But now that I'm here, the situation is a bit different from what she said.]

"What is?"

[How is this 'a little'...]

While scanning Yu IlHan's physical body which ascended into a new realm without the help of mana, she muttered with a small voice that couldn't be heard by Yu IlHan.

Even considering 1000 years, the evolution of his body was at the level of being unbelievable. If the strong power of mana was added to this body, how far could this human grow? It was to the point that she was curious about it.

If they knew that he had trained his body until this point beforehand, then the dispatch of Erta wouldn't have happened. However, Lita drove this work with a force that was never seen before with her, the moment she returned to Heaven, and her request which looked very reasonable on the surface was passed, prepared, and realized at the speed of light. And the situation Erta met was this.

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 and spoke with a powerless voice. [In any case, I'm planning to help you until you can use mana skillfully. So please learn it fast.]

"How will you help me?"

[It's simple. A higher existence, me, just being near you will activate the mana inside you. Recognition, control, use – in these regards, you would be able to adapt 10 or more times faster than ordinary people.]

In the past, when he didn't have a single inkling of mana in his body, it was impossible to even with Lita sticking to him for 1000 years, but now that the Great Cataclysm had occurred, 1 year was sufficient – this was Erta's calculation.

Yu IlHan also didn't know anything about mana so he could only nod his head at her words. He would just accept whatever she spoke of. When the conversation ended, Erta flew and placed herself on his head. "What are you doing?" – he said while brushing his head, but Erta didn't budge a bit.

[I have magic cast on me to prevent recognition from other lower existences so you don't need to mind.]

"...So you will continue to stay on top of my head in the future?"

[That is so.]

That was not good. He won't be able to make use of the 1.7 Terabytes of treasure in his hard drive (And one piled up during the countless years) was in a difficult position.

Even Lita didn't stick to him all day, but to think an ambush like this would come now!

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

"You read my mind?"

For that instant, Yu IlHan seriously pondered whether to return the angel or not, but he couldn't miss the opportunity to adjust to mana in just 1 year.

Yes, it's one year. He needed to endure for just one year. Yu IlHan cried blood and accepted reality.

[I really don't care if you breakdance, belly dance, or dance dance revolution.]

"I care! And how do you know what the last one is?"

----

The next day after humanity returned, 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 earn a skill until the end in Guundia...?"

Yu IlHan shook away the breath of despair which would come his way in the near future and hurried to college. (T/N: All males have to go through compulsory military service in Korea). He thought that he walked slowly, but as it took the amount of time it would take him by car and he arrived early, he felt funny even when he himself thought about it.

He went to the humanities campus of Sungkyunkwan University. (T/N: one of the top tier unis in Korea, will be shortened to Sung U when necessary.)

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, that level was laughable for the current Yu IlHan.

The campus was filled with a lot of people. As most of them were young college students, they tended to think positively about what they became able to do rather than the crisis they were about to meet. And most of them were talking about a topic that Yu IlHan didn't know about.

"Did you make a skill?"

"Yeah, I managed to make one somehow. How about you?"

"Heh. Two for me."

Yu IlHan asked Erta with a small voice. "...What does it mean to make a skill?"

[It means creating something to use in an attack somehow by combining tiny bits of mana and insignificant records. As a higher existence, in my view, even if you combine all the skills that they are boasting about, I think that it will pale in comparison to your concealment.]

"Concealment wasn't a skill I wanted...!"

One could arbitrarily make skills? Anyway, this was something he didn't learn yesterday. Yu IlHan perked up his ears and walked. New stimulation. New information. They were all things that he loved.

Anyway, the results.

"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.

"When do you think dungeons will appear?"

"Even when they appear, you wouldn't be able to go in. Besides, I think there's a level requirement. What level are you?"

"Level 7."

"I'm level 4."

"Huu."

"Shit..."

He learnt that there were places called dungeons in other worlds and that one needed to have high levels in order to enter it. Other than that, there wasn't any information that he could make out, but there was a reward just in knowing about dungeons.

Dungeons. It was a word that made a person's heart pound.

In the lecture room, he arrived quickly, there were already many people. To think that they attended school even after they spent 10 years in other worlds… Did they perhaps also miss the ordinary lives as Yu IlHan did?"

While soaking himself in emotion, he looked around the lecture room, but there wasn't a person he knew anyway. It was trivial but what is the reason that he became sad all the time? Yu IlHan, who found an empty seat and sat down, was afraid that he might be heard by other people so he wrote the questions he had until now that he didn't ask Erta.

'What is a dungeon exactly?' And when he held it up slightly, Erta, who was on top of his head, recognized that and spoke.

[It's a trap.]

"A trap?"

As he heard an answer that was too unexpected, Yu IlHan ended up speaking out loud. However, his concealment was truly amazing and that level of voice wasn't found out by the people around him. So sad.

[It's a trap installed by God. By installing attractive baits for monsters, it attracts them and closes the exit. The gathered monsters become trapped inside the dungeon, and unlike monsters, humans, who can freely enter and exit once they have the qualifications, can hunt with more safety.]

'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 IlHan and Erta were conversing, the professor came and the lecture started. However, the professor didn't seem to have an intention to teach a lecture and the students didn't seem to want to listen properly either. Yu IlHan, who expected a lecture after such a long time, became slightly disappointed.

"Every one of you will have to adapt fast to the changing society. The situation is that the UN is already proposing the banning of indiscrete use of mana, and regulation on levelling up, and strong countries including America and China, are focusing their attention on the changing environments and monsters due to mana. According to how Korea would act, countless industries would collapse and countless other industries would rise."

During the entire 50 minutes of the lecture, the professor was haughtily spouting out what anyone could think up about. Thanks to that, Yu IlHan forgot the centuries of loneliness in an instant and waited earnestly for the end of the lecture. No, he questioned if he needed to keep going to university in the first place.

In his life in the future, how much importance would a certificate of university graduation have? He could only shake his head. He just came as he knew how much worry his parents would have since they knew he couldn't use mana.

If he became able to use mana, then he will stop going to a school where he's ignored by everyone! It wasn't his fault! It was the society and the university who's bad!

Erta spoke as if she predicted what he was thinking at that moment.

[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.]

'I don't like dangerous things.'

He couldn't even use mana but she wanted him to confront monsters? It was Yu IlHan, who rejected thinking it was nonsense, but Erta spoke as if she knew that such a reaction would come.

[Like the humans on Earth having low levels right now, the monsters which would appear later and the dungeons too, would have low levels. It is because they came into contact with mana just recently. 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 true but...'

[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.]

Yu IlHan hated dangerous things. The countless years of immersing in self-training were, in the end, for him to not die meaninglessly after the Great Cataclysm. However, perhaps as a side effect, as countless years have passed, when he knew that it wasn't dangerous, he had the boldness to unhesitatingly move his body once he was sure that there was no danger.

A typical example would be crossing the world to conquer libraries and the one where he went out to sea on a fishing boat to reproduce the scene of Moby dick.

At that time, he thought that it was necessary, but strictly speaking, it was close to the domain of amusement rather than the domain of training. He had acted unconsciously to not paralyze his mentality in the flow of countless time.

'...Good. I'll have a go, then.'

This was the same. He judged that it wasn't dangerous, and when he was assured that it would help his survival in the future, he expressed his will to do it without a moment of hesitation. Erta spoke as she waited for this moment.

[You won't be able to go inside dungeons as there is a level requirement. So you would have to hunt the monsters outside. Considering your level now, then wouldn't you be able to kill monsters around level 25?]

'...I'm still level 1, you know? And I can't even use mana?'

[Instead, you have a monstrous physical body. I even said this considering that you don't have sturdy defensive equipment. If you have good defensive equipment, then you will be able to hunt even higher-level monsters.]

"The problem is, where do I find such monsters."

[Fuu. I'm a higher existence. To get away from you faster... not that. To help your growth, I can help you finding monsters.]

"How?"

[If there is a monster nearby, then I can detect it.]

"..."

In the end, the route Yu IlHan chose was the internet again. Honestly, he didn't expect much. He planned to leave with Erta as soon as the lecture ended. However, what he found online was interesting...

{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?}

The articles on a community website were slightly exaggerating. Yu IlHan clicked one of those articles, and not a long time later, one photo came up 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 a CGI.

it was then that Yu IlHan raised his head when he noticed it was strangely quiet. 'When did the lecture pause?' Everyone, including the professor and the students, stuck themselves on the window and looked down on the square.

He stood up slowly and approached them. While nobody paid attention to him. He looked down at the narrow grass square over the glass window.

And that when he saw them...

Insects the size of humans...

Monsters.