27 Illegal deal
In his cramped room, Hans now faced yet another dilemma.
After emerging from the gate, his level and wisdom had both skyrocketed to impressive heights and now he stood at level 85 with an astonishing wisdom stat of 984.
Taking a couple of days of rest, he then delved into training with his newly acquired spell tome.
Two days later, he achieved Expert level in {Gravity Control} (1st Rank).
Unlike a spell tome, this was a path tome and hence didn't disappear once he had mastered it, allowing him to access it anytime. After arriving at the first rank, he gained access to spells, {Load} and {Lighten}.
{Load (Tier-1)
Description: A spell obtained by reaching beginner proficiency in the 0th layer of the path {Gravity Control}.
Effect: Increases the weight of a chosen object by 1.5 times}
{Lighten (Tier-1)
Description: A spell obtained by reaching beginner proficiency in the 1st layer of the path {Gravity Control}.
Effect: Decreases the weight of a chosen object by 1.5 times}
After attaining this level of mastery, Hans received a message from the system.
[You have comprehended 20% of the tome path {Gravity Control}]
[Due to the effect of the skill {Knowledge Hunger}, your wisdom has increased by 20.]
[Warning!!]
[Failed to increase wisdom!]
[The UNKNOWN class {Knowledge Seeker} has blocked the wisdom's increase!]
[The UNKNOWN class {Knowledge Seeker} is making a request!]
{Class quest: Prove that you are worthy of advancing to a middle-class mage by subduing a powerful threat.
Quest requirements: Defeat a B-Rank monster alone.
Until the quest is completed, your wisdom will be capped at 999, and you won't be able to form your 4th circle.
Quest rewards:
-Unsealing of the wisdom limit.
-Increase of all the wisdom points accumulated in the meantime.
-???}
'Now I can't even grow in peace anymore?!' Hans thought to himself.
'I need a B-rank. B-rank.. B-rank. Do I… really need to solo a C-rank gate?'
'No… I only have to kill the boss alone, as for the rest of the monsters, I can let others take care of them for me.'
'First of all, I should get some people to accompany me,' after coming to a decision, he slept overnight before paying a visit to Emily the next morning.
Entering her office a sarcastic phrase came from the woman's lips as she remarked, "What an honor to have you here Mr. Benefactor."
A couple of seconds of silence followed before she burst into a loud laughter and clutched her stomach.
It took her a while to compose herself, but even after that, she seemed to be struggling as her mind was telling her to laugh while she couldn't help but imagine what might be the reaction of the citizens and the reporters if they realized that the person they crowned as their savior was just a barely grown kid.
Hans on the other side, didn't find it amusing and just averted his gaze, trying not to cross eyes with her.
All this just wasn't for him, and they both knew it.
"Mh, Mh," Emily cleared her throat before continuing.
"So what have you come here for Mr. Unknown"
"Quit that!" Hans retorted.
"I came here to ask for a favor," he said scratching his neck in embarrassment, after all, he only came to her when he needed something.
"And what would it be?" she asked.
"Can you organize a team of 'volunteers' and a C-Rank gate for them to accompany me in?"
"And why would I do tha-"
"I'll give you half.."
"Deal," Emily's eyes shone like a star as she agreed before Hans could even complete his sentence.
'As always, she's easy to deal with,' Hans thought and let out a sigh.
Knowing that even if he were to raid any gates, his power wouldn't increase, for the next week Hans just concentrated on raising his mastery over his spells.
During this time, the {Gravity Control} reached Tier 2 and he had unlocked the skill {Gravity Field}.
{Gravity Field (Tier-2)
Description: A spell obtained by reaching beginner proficiency in the 2nd layer of the path {Gravity Control}.
Effect: Increase the gravity in a certain circular space.
The weight variation, covered surface, and mana consumption depends on the will of the caster and the skill proficiency}
Along with that, the abilities of skills {Load} and {Lighten} had reached its maximum effectiveness of (3X).
Finally, he received a message from Emily.
[Tomorrow, 6:30, xxxxx]
The following morning, Hans arrived at the given address early and found an unusual scene: many hunters lined up in front of a gate with Emily waiting eagerly for him.
"Pleasure doing business with you," she shook Hans's hand before taking her leave.
The gate was located outside the city and unregistered by the association, in short, this was an illegal raid and if caught, they would go through a not-so-pleasant period of their life inside a cold and isolated prison cell.
There were a total of fifteen participants gathered in front of the gate, including all five members of the 5th team who were drawn by Hans's performance during the previous gate raid.
Some were enticed by the pay, while others sought to establish a good relationship with such a formidable senior.
When prepared, they entered the gate.
But once inside, all of them couldn't help but feel that something was wrong with the mana in the air around them. It didn't take fifteen steps for them to find out what seemed off: a colossal shadow covered their bodies from the pleasant sun, prompting them to raise their head to comprehend what it actually was.
In the very next instant, their faces paled, and the previous enthusiasm on their faces vanished.
At that moment, all their minds turned blank while their entire lives replayed before their eyes.
A giant gray golem's leg was rapidly closing in on them, trying to press them under a stomp.
[You have entered the B-Rank gate: Machine's Paradise]
While the meteor-sized leg was closing up on them, all of them hurriedly tried to run back in the gate, except for Hans who put all of his mana on the line to create a complete cover for his body with the (Tier-4) spell {Ice Armor} he had just recently achieved.
A stomp, just one single stomp was enough to destroy every kind of preparation they had done, destroying every hope they had of getting out alive from there, along with every thought in their brains.
When the golem's leg receded in the air, the part of the forest that grew all around the gate was razed to the ground, splattered with little spots of red that stained the dirt and surface of the golem's leg.
Amidst all the destruction, a hole remained in the middle of the razed, brown earth, and lying down in the deepest part of this hole was the unconscious Hans.
His broken ice armor was slowly chipping off, revealing his bruised face.
Time passed, but the golem remained in its place, as if ready to launch another attack if needed.
Even after waking up, Hans' eyes remained fixed on the golem's terrifying red ones and he didn't dare to move even an inch, afraid of facing the same end as his fellow hunters.
The only reason he had managed to survive was due to his calm mind, which helped him think of using the skill {Load} on himself before taking the blow and ending up underground instead of becoming a splattered meat to fertilize the now empty pit.
Grabbing onto the thought that his family needed him to stay alive, Hans managed to retain his reasoning and reminisced about what to do for hours and hours.
His enemy stats remained unknown, all that the {Piercing Gaze} showed him was this:
[Boss Monster
Race: Titanium Golem
Name: None
Level: ???
Strength: ????
Dexterity: ????
Endurance: ????
Skills:
Evaluation: An extremely powerful golem, probably surpassing A-Rank.
Creator: ??? ]
It took a while, but Hans finally came up with a plan.
A golem would only remain a golem and probably react to any movements in its field of vision.
Thinking it through, Hans created an ice spear before lightening it and throwing it high up in the sky, a couple of seconds later, the spear touched the ground, and as if feeling the movement, the golem immediately raised its leg.
Taking the opportunity while it was distracted, Hans lightened himself with the last bits of mana he was left with and threw his injured body in the direction of the gate.
Clearly detecting its enemy's movement, the golem turned its head, but akin to a computer, the golem reacted to the first movement it had detected and finished stomping the ground where the spear landed, creating yet another hole which gave Hans some time to push himself towards the portal.
On the other side, Hans's bruised and weary body burst out, flying through the gate, landing in the desolate space around it and found absolutely no one around.
He wanted to make an urgent call, but since any kind of technology was ineffective in the gates, it was typical for hunters to not bring a phone with them to work, and the same was true for him.
Ignoring his injuries, Hans sprinted as fast as he could with his remaining energy, and in ten minutes he reached the association's branch.
Not even noticing Aiden, who was carrying some packages around, Hans rushed up the stairs and reached Emily's office.
Opening the door, Emily stared at him with her eyes wide open because it hadn't been more than a few hours since she saw him at the gate, but now his clothes were all ripped and his body was bleeding from all regions except a few.
"Hans what happened!??" Emily hurried to catch the almost falling Hans and asked in worry, before he tried to say something as his eyes closed, "Hans!!"
"Hans, can you hear me!?" Emily tried once again only to hear a few indiscernible words.
"The, ga te.. A ran-"
After that he fell completely, weighing on Emily's shoulder and making her fall too, causing the office to echo with a loud THUD.
She sweated and stared at the ceiling, afraid of what would happen to them now.
Though Hans wasn't able to say much before falling unconscious, the mention of "A Ran" buzzed in her mind, and seeing his condition, she prayed that what she was thinking would not turn out to be true.
