First, I returned the display case, then began walking toward the red Gate as I recalled the rest of my abilities. To start with, it was less a new ability related to collecting and more an ability that could be called the fundamental method of using the power I possessed.
Collectionization — When the target’s mental strength or physical strength has fallen below 20%, or when the target itself wishes it, an object or power possessing special strength can be “Collectionized,” making it possible to place it in the Collection.
I looked at the spear and shouted.
“Collectionization.”
Unlike when I had Collectionized the demon, I had expected some sort of special change to occur, but nothing happened at all, leaving me puzzled.
But after checking the skill information carefully, I ended up letting out a snort of laughter.
“Right. A weapon used by a B-rank ‘New Human’ would only amount to so much...”
To be honest, as far as I knew, once you were about a B-rank New Human, a five-person party could earn roughly twenty million won a day by hunting things like “Tyrons.”
It was by no means a small amount, and since that was the net profit after deducting Gate usage fees and taxes on byproducts and the like, the amount each individual could take home would be in the high four millions.
That was under the assumption that the cost of using ants like us and the armored vehicle rental fee were also deducted.
Thinking about that, if they didn’t suffer any special injuries, they could probably visit a Gate two or three times a week, and considering how much money they made, it was certainly impressive.
But the point was, they weren’t at a level where they could make enough money to possess weapons with special powers or go on special adventures.
“Special power, huh...”
Before I knew it, I had arrived right in front of the red Gate. Wouldn’t this also have its own “special” meaning? Thinking that, I reached out my hand and shouted.
“Collectionization!”
But once again, nothing changed, and that made one hypothesis come to mind.
“Does my flesh have to be touching it?”
That was the possibility I could think of, but the problem was that I was afraid to reach out. First, because of the vague thought that there might be swarms of demons that raised your stats to a ridiculous degree with just 1% of their power. Second, because I was worried something might happen the instant my hand touched it.
Whatever happened, the moment it did, it would be what people commonly called a “fucked” situation, but I didn’t think staying here like this was an option either.
Far, far in the distance, I could see traces of Tyrons, but I had no will to go all the way over there to hunt them.
For now, I had been ignoring reality simply because I had avoided starvation, but as I watched the rippling red portal, I decided to test another ability.
“If I don’t know, I can just ask.”
Spiritualization — Turns a collected target into a spiritual form, allowing conversation.
- In the case of living beings, conversation or exchange of intent becomes possible.
- In the case of objects or powers, the abilities they possess can be used. However, only up to a maximum of 10% of the abilities they possess.
Honestly, I was in no position to judge whether conversation with a demon would work, but I figured that if I was going to regret it, I might as well try first and regret it afterward. Since I could cancel Spiritualization anyway, I summoned the display case, took out the demon figurine, and immediately said,
“Spiritualization!”
Something began to pour out like surging gas. Then, right in front of me, the demon started taking shape.
- Kuoooooooooo!!!
The moment it took form, the demon let out a roar filled with rage. But whatever the bastard did, it was in a spiritual state anyway, so rather than worry, all I could think was that it was noisy.
“Could you be a little quieter? Are you my sworn enemy or something?”
Since he could be called the root cause of me being trapped here, the demon had become my sworn enemy.
The bastard glared down at me with an indignant expression for quite a while. We exchanged only looks without saying anything, until perhaps he was the first to grow frustrated, and the demon opened his mouth.
- What have you done to me?
“Ooh, oooh!! We can communicate?”
- Our wills are merely connected. This is not conversation.
Maybe because he was a demon, he seemed utterly stupid. If communication was possible right now, that was conversation. What else was conversation supposed to be? I glared at him and said,
“Whatever, I don’t need any of that. I’m asking straight up. What’s that place over there?”
The demon looked back at the red Gate. As if displeased, he glanced between the red Gate and me, then said,
- My home.
“Demons have homes too, huh... I thought you’d be from the streets of hell, but I guess not.”
Perhaps he thought he had been insulted, because the demon bastard started shouting noisily again, so I said to him,
“If you yell that loudly one more time, I’m canceling Spiritualization.”
- Do as you please!
The demon bastard came back even stronger instead. So I spoke as if coaxing him gently.
“Wouldn’t it be nice if we both got the information we need? Besides, because of you, I can’t even return to my world. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
The demon looked back toward the place where the Gate had opened in the distance, and I saw him smirk. The demon, chuckling with an unpleasant expression, said to me,
- I have no intention of helping you.
Seeing the bastard refuse to cooperate, I scratched my head furiously, then spoke as if venting my anger.
“Cancel Spiritualization!”
At my words, I watched as the spirit was rapidly sucked back into the figurine(?), then placed it back inside the display case and sent the display case away.
He was so uncooperative that if I kept asking more questions, I felt like I’d burst a blood vessel, so I decided to find out myself. With only the fragmentary information that this red Gate was the bastard’s home, I braced myself and, spear held forward, moved without hesitation.
Since it was all or nothing anyway, I boldly stepped through the red Gate, and at the sight that unfolded before me, I had no choice but to doubt my eyes.
“E-Eureka!”
The whole world was dazzling. Gold, silver, and jewels were piled up like mountains, and everywhere was filled with magnificent statues and strangely shaped structures. Seeing herds of Tyrons running between those treasures, I felt a sense of abundance fill my mind.
I truly felt like I could share the feeling Archimedes had when he shouted “Eureka,” but the problem was that this emotion soon began turning into sorrow.
“What’s the point of having it...”
It was what people commonly called a situation where you couldn’t take a bite even if it was handed to you. The reality that none of this—this immense amount of everything I could enjoy—could be taken to Earth rapidly cooled my excitement. My emotions were swinging up and down so wildly that I wondered if I was going to develop manic depression, and whether it knew this situation or not, a Tyron took a shit on top of the gold coins.
“Ah, fuck...”
Letting out heavy sighs at the reality that nothing destroyed an emotional flow quite like “shit,” I began looking around.
The demon bastard had called it his home, but I had no intention of believing that literally. The space looked far too large to simply be called a house. There were mountains visible in the distance, and even a salty wind blowing from somewhere.
In a case like this, there was a high chance there was an ocean nearby. If I couldn’t go to Earth, I intended to adapt well and survive here at least. Until I eventually found a way to get back to Earth, I planned to eat well and live well to the best of my ability.
So what I chose first was to look around the home the demon bastard had mentioned. His home had the feel of an extremely old castle. It was also enormous in size, with gold, silver, and treasures piled everywhere, along with Tyrons...
“Hey, you shit-generating bastards!!”
Because of the foreign sensation under my foot and the foul smell, I felt my temper snap for a moment. When I got angry, the quick-witted Tyrons all swarmed back the way they had come.
Since it seemed there were limits to the paths out due to the castle walls blocking them, the bastards’ choice was ultimately to turn back. I watched the Tyrons vanish in a herd, then looked back at the traces they had left behind.
Shit, shit, shit.
It was truly a world of shit. I had been thinking of using this place as my home in my own way, but now that I was facing this situation, it just felt like one huge bathroom.
So what I chose was to gather intact items, put as many as I could into the Collection, take some suitable jewels, leave the red Gate, and pin my hopes on some possible chance.
I thought about the probability that the Gate entrance would open again.
Surely countless Gaters would be opening and closing profitable C-rank Gates, and I wondered if, in the process, one might open here.
“As expected, my wisdom is insane...”
Blushing slightly at my own self-praise, I gave one cough and began looking around the castle. I had a bit of a hard time walking while avoiding shit, but as I wandered everywhere and used “Collectionization” countless times, I began to roughly get a sense of what kinds of items were special.
And each time I Collectionized one of them and put it in the display case, I said to the demon bastard,
“Thanks.”
At that short word of thanks and nothing more, I felt the illusion that the demon figurine was trembling, but I thought of it as my own method of mental victory and didn’t stop.
Like that, several hours—no, several dozen hours—passed. After looking through most of the castle, I sat in the chair I assumed the bastard had been sitting in and looked over the interior of the castle at a glance.
“It would be perfect if there weren’t any shit.”
The Tyron shit that provoked irritation. I clicked my tongue, then used Collection to summon the display case. Looking at the display case filled to the brim, I was able to put on a fairly satisfied smile, and I wondered just why the demon bastard had settled down in a place like this and why he had gathered so many things.
But since I wasn’t a demon, there was no way I could reach a conclusion.
“I wonder how strong I’ve gotten?”
Considering the amount of collectibles, I was certain I must have gained considerable strength. But since I didn’t know the numbers that would serve as a standard, all I could do was vaguely think that I had gotten stronger; there was nothing concrete to go on.
Was I going to grow old and die here, eating nothing but Tyron all by myself for the rest of my life?
“I want to have kids, get married, and date a beautiful woman too, you know?”
The order was extremely wrong, but in the end, I only said it because I wanted to do all of it. Only an empty echo that no one would hear rang through the castle interior.
At the tender age of twenty-one, Isan had no choice but to seriously worry about his future in some unknown place.
* * *
Day 103 of being stranded.
Usually, it took around seventy-two hours for a Gate to form and then disappear naturally. But I had already been trapped here for well over three months. Even so, no matter how hard I looked, there wasn’t a single Gate forming from the outside for a long time.
And perhaps because the red Gate, too, had been a special power as expected,
it had been Collectionized and stored in one corner of the display case. Now I was left alone inside a Gate filled only with Tyrons.
On top of that, after eating so much Tyron meat, I had reached the point where even if a Tyron merely came close, the smell of shit made my head spin. Today as well, I was chewing Tyron meat while enduring the fishy stench as always, when it happened.
A small ripple formed in midair.
“!!!”
I knew what that trace was because I had seen it often.
It was the trace that appeared when a portal opened. That small trace would swell in size and gradually become a round Gate. Seeing the Gate in exactly that growth stage, I immediately started running.
“Yes, this is normal. Right. There’s no law that says I have to die!”
Even though I looked so wretched that a beggar might bow deeply and concede defeat, shame? I had none of that. If only I could get back to Earth, there was nothing more perfect than this. So I waited for quite a while, wagging my tail like a little mutt waiting for its owner.
At first it was slow, but then the Gate’s formation began rapidly speeding up, and I cheered.
Then, the moment my eyes met those of someone who took the first step in from beyond the Gate, they shouted,
“A primitive man?!”
“Ooga?”