Chapter 1: Take off your mask (1)
I opened the first page of the spell book.
Understanding Spellcraft. Chapter 1.
Unlike magic that uses mana, spellcraft involves creating spell arrays with unique charactersâŚ
Understanding Spellcraft. Chapter 2.
Multiple unique characters can be combined to form spell arraysâŚ
Understanding Spellcraft. Chapter 3.
Spell arrays are primarily used to enhance weapons and armor or to break cursesâŚ
Understanding Spellcraft. Chapter 4.
Dragons or dragonkin have strong resistance to spellcraft and curses, so only S-rank or higher spells can affect themâŚ
Iâve read this dozens of times, so itâs boring as hell, but I carefully read every single word.
Even if I know the content, I have to read it from start to finish without stopping to fully absorb the spell book.
I canât let my focus slip, not even for a moment.
This was the method for raising spell skill ranks that was popular on Earth.
In this world, this method hasnât spread, so those with A-rank spellcraft are extremely rare.
Naturally, finding one is like searching for a needle in a haystack.
So, I decided to become an A-rank spellcaster myself.
About an hour and a half later.
Snap!
Having read the final page, I closed the book.
At that moment, the spell book began to slowly disintegrate.
[You have absorbed the spell book.]
[Your understanding of spellcraft has increased.]
[Your spellcraft rank has increased.]
[Spellcraft (B+)] -> [Spellcraft (A)]
After enduring for so long, I finally achieved A-rank spellcraft.
A colossal gate opened, covering the entire sky, and countless beasts poured out.
Its size was beyond comparison to any gate that had appeared before.
The beasts emerging endlessly from it were unlike anything weâd faced before.
Each one was a force to be reckoned with.
Even the weakest among them had power comparable to A-rank beasts.
In just one day, every city collapsed.
Hundreds of millions of unrecognizable corpses littered the streets like trash.
Screams and explosions echoed without end.
Ordinary people who barely survived fled, but even renowned hunters couldnât last more than a few days before being torn apart by the beasts.
Top-tier hunters fought endlessly in that hopeless situation.
One day, two days, a week, a month⌠a year.
Even with no end in sight, they never gave up and kept fightingâŚ
I tossed and turned on the narrow bed in my tiny studio apartment before opening my eyes.
âHa⌠I thought Iâd forgotten.â
It had been a while since I dreamed of my days on Earth.
That day, humanity on Earth technically won.
But calling it a victory was generousâit was closer to defeat.
Out of over ten billion people, only a single-digit number survived.
I was one of them.
I became part of Earthâs last remaining humans.
If there had been a woman, maybe it wouldâve been different.
We couldâve rebuilt the species.
But reality wasnât so kind.
All the survivors were men.
Just when I thought Earth would end like that, the dimensions warped.
Space twisted and shattered, as if being absorbed by something.
Earthâs dimension merged with another.
This world, where I now live, was formed by the fusion of dozens of dimensions.
Itâs called Graytia.
A young dimension with only 300 years of history.
Earthâs merger was the last, and no other dimensions have fused since.
For some reason, when I first opened my eyes in this world, I was a newborn.
I retained all my memories but regressed to infancy.
Thankfully, my main skill and two primary stats remained intact.
This world isnât too different from Earth.
There are gates, hunters, and humans.
The only difference is that, due to the dimension merger, various races live together.
âI wonder if the other Earth survivors regressed to infants too.â
I donât know what happened to them.
This world has something called a stat measurement stone, so I kept the name I used on Earth.
[Minhoo Seol]
Overall Rank: C
Thatâs how I was recorded when first measured.
Itâs the same concept as the status window used by Earth-born hunters, but itâs a downgraded version.
It doesnât show detailed stats.
Thereâs a separate skill measurement stone, apparently.
For a newborn to have a C-rank overall was enough to be called a promising future hunter, so I was quite favored at the orphanage.
That is, until I got the mask at age ten.
âUgh. Time to get ready for the Association.â
Rubbing my eyes, I lifted my lighter body and headed to the bathroom as usual.
I looked in the mirror.
Black hair reaching my shoulders.
Pitch-black eyes.
A sharp nose and a slender jawline.
âHmmâŚâ
I stared intensely at my face, soon to be that of an adult.
Itâs the first time Iâve seen my face since I was ten.
Based on my features, Iâm definitely KoreanâŚ
The mask said good things might happen if the curse was lifted, but nothing special seems to have happened.
Was it a lie?
âAverage⌠no, maybe above average?â
Not a bad look.
Not as good as the old me, the SS-rank hunter Minhoo Seol from Earth.
âI thought Iâd end up with the same face when I grew up, but I guess not.â
Itâs a bit disappointing.
Even if I wasnât popular, I loved my looks back then.
Narcissist? Thatâs what my teammates often called me.
Overly self-aware, they said.
I donât think so.
Back then, my looks couldâve rivaled a hundred gods combined.
Thatâs why Iâm disappointed with my current appearance.
âWell, living an ordinary life isnât bad.
No, as long as I donât have that mask, I donât care if Iâm ugly.â
Last night, thanks to my A-rank spellcraft skill, I managed to remove the cursed mask.
It wasnât as hard as I expected.
Probably because Iâd been tirelessly studying curse-breaking spellcraft.
After a quick wash and shower, I brushed my hair back and tied it up.
If my hair reaches my shoulders, I roughly cut it with scissors and tie it back.
Thatâs my style.
I couldnât go to a salon with that mask on.
Theyâd kick me out at the door.
âWe donât serve beasts in our salon.â
âIâm human.â
âYou look like a beast.â
âF*ck.â
After being chased out like that a few times, I stopped going to salons.
Not that it matters anymore.
I threw on jeans and a white short-sleeved shirt and left the studio.
Todayâs the day to find a new party.
At the National Hunter Association, a female receptionist named Ria Moa sat at her desk.
She twirled her pink hair while checking todayâs schedule.
C-rank Hunter Minhoo Seol (19)
âHeâs looking for another partyâŚâ
Why does this guy insist on joining all-female parties when he knows heâll be despised?
Does he enjoy being insulted?
In truth, Minhoo Seol had one reason for choosing all-female parties.
He was after the compensation fees paid when contracts were unilaterally terminated.
Men could somewhat tolerate his âmasked face,â so it took longer to get expelled.
Women, on the other hand, couldnât stand looking at him for even a moment, so they often broke contracts early.
It was a calculated strategy on Minhooâs part.
Ria Moa had no way of knowing his intentions.
âSigh⌠And itâs disgusting that he keeps dumping work on me.â
Minhoo never specifically assigned work to her.
He only contacted the Hunter Association without naming anyone.
But since other receptionists avoided him, Ria Moa, the newest, got stuck with him.
âUgh, I just thought of that mask⌠Gross!â
Ria Moa grimaced, recalling Minhooâs hideous mask.
She was particularly picky about menâs appearances.
Looks came before ability or wealth.
If a guy was handsome, sheâd be willing to take him in and support him for life.
But if he was ugly, sheâd shudder with disgust.
As a receptionist who always had to smile and be polite, her displeasure was obvious whenever she saw an unattractive man.
With Minhoo, it was beyond extremeâshe even gagged openly.
âBut I just have to get through today!
I told the new hire sheâll be handling Hunter Minhoo Seol from now on, so I just need to survive today!â
Slapping her cheeks to psych herself up, Ria Moa checked the time.
â11:20⌠Heâll be here soon.
Heâs always punctual.â
One minute, five minutes, ten minutes passed.
When the clockâs second hand hit exactly 11:30.
Thud. Thud.
A man pulled out the chair in front of her and sat down.