Chapter 49 - Oppa, That's Wonderful!

"A... rank reassessment?"

"Yes. You're far beyond D-rank now."

I knew I was growing at an unprecedented pace. But it had only been a month to a month and a half since my last reassessment. Wouldn't anyone find it strange if I went back so soon?

Besides...

"... Have I really improved that much?"

I knew I'd improved, but I thought it was a little early for another reassessment. What I'd done in the Garden of the Dragon Sword had been less about my strength than a number of circumstances falling into place.

"Sometimes you seem like a genius, but then you show how dense you can be."

Rokan evidently disagreed.

"You still seem to think you're an ordinary hunter. Do you honestly believe everything you've accomplished is within the capabilities of a D-rank hunter?"

"..."

Honestly, I couldn't say that I did. The dragon power I'd once drawn from the Dragon Bone Sword alone had far exceeded what an ordinary D-rank hunter could manage. But I didn't consider it entirely my own power. Could I really call a power that carried a risk every time I used it fully mine? Maybe that was why I'd undervalued my strength. I'd also wondered whether, setting those things aside, my accomplishments were anything special at all.

But with Rokan vouching for what I'd achieved, I realized those worries had been pointless. If he was saying this, I must have made remarkable progress even without counting those things.

"I'll do it, then. Since we've brought it up, I'll go right now."

"Good, good. I'll take you near the rank assessment center while we're at it."

With that, Rokan teleported me there and promptly vanished.

It all happened so fast that I felt a little dazed, but first... I should contact Sia. I messaged her to say I was going for a rank reassessment, and she called before even a minute had passed.

["Oppa, are you going right now?"]

Wonder and pride seemed to mingle in her voice.

"Yeah. Now that it's come up, I might as well get it done quickly."

["Aw. I wish I could be there with you."]

Come to think of it, Sia had been with me for my last reassessment. She must have wanted to share the joy of a new rank at my side. I could see why she'd be disappointed.

"Well, if they'll let me record it, I'll film the assessment and send it to you."

I offered that as a consolation.

["If they'll let you stream it live, video-call me! Promise!"]

She stressed the word "promise," clearly upset that she couldn't be there.

"Yeah. I promise."

["You can do it, Oppa! I'm sure you'll get a great result!"]

With Sia's encouragement, I went inside and filled out the necessary forms. The receptionist glanced over them and looked up at me in puzzlement.

"Mr. Yoon Minjun, it hasn't been long since your last reassessment, has it?"

"No."

"Only a month and a half. Hmm..."

Fair enough. There probably weren't many cases like this, and I knew it might look odd. Still, did she have to make it so obvious to my face?

After sorting the paperwork, the receptionist said, "Because it hasn't been three months since your last reassessment, regulations require us to charge a testing fee."

That was news to me, though I could see why the Hunter Association might have such a rule.

"How much is the fee?"

"250,000 won."

I could afford it, but it was more than I'd expected.

"If the reassessment confirms that your rank has risen, you'll receive a full refund. Though that doesn't happen often, either."

"I see."

Then I'd just get a refund. I paid the fee and headed to the testing room.

Ah, that familiar atmosphere. It hadn't been long since my last visit, so I vividly remembered the wooden sword and the training dummy. By coincidence, it was even the same testing room, though the examiner had changed.

"Mr. Yoon Minjun."

"Oh, yes."

The examiner came in, skimmed my paperwork, and said, "It looks like it's been just over a month since your last rank assessment."

"Yes."

Like the receptionist, she seemed surprised I'd returned so soon. Fortunately, she made no further comment. After checking the form, she handed me a ring for measuring my rank and spoke in a businesslike tone.

"I assume you know how the test works, but let me know if you need an explanation."

"I'm fine, thanks. But would it be all right if I recorded my assessment?"

"Are you a YouTuber?"

Her flat tone suggested she got that question a lot.

"No. It's just... my girlfriend wants to watch."

"You can record it, but you can't stream it live."

"Got it."

Once I'd set up the recording equipment, I entered the room where the test would take place.

"I'll give you a signal when the test begins."

I channeled mana into the rank-measuring ring and started striking the dummy as soon as I got the signal. What had I been like during my last assessment? I couldn't remember clearly, but the vague impression I had was that I'd been much slower. I could feel how much nimbler I'd become, and the vibrations running through the wooden sword were definitely stronger than before. That had to mean I was putting more force behind each strike. Granted, I couldn't show my full ability with a wooden sword instead of the Dragon Bone Sword I normally used.

Even so, as I swung, I could feel power stirring inside me on an entirely different level from anything I'd possessed before. The faint gray aura blooming at the tip of my sword was proof. Each time I struck the dummy, it danced along the path of my blade.

I poured the sensation I'd felt in Minos's tomb into my sword and attacked the dummy, determined to smash it to pieces even though it was nearly impossible to destroy. And then, though I couldn't achieve the same result as I had back then, I focused my will fiercely into the sword's tip as if I were using dragon speech. I swung in a frenzy, so absorbed that I didn't even notice the sweat soaking my body.

And finally...

"The assessment is complete. Please come out and wait."

The announcement came over the speaker.

My whole body ached and I was short of breath from exerting myself so intensely in such a short time, but an inexplicable exhilaration rose within me. I gulped down some bottled water provided in the room and waited calmly for the results.

A little later...

"... That's strange."

The examiner stared at the results, muttered to herself, and started typing again.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, um... just a moment. I think the results might be wrong."

Murmuring, "That can't be right," she tilted her head and kept typing. Only after confirming there was no error did she bring up the results on the monitor.

[Yoon Minjun / B / Assessment

Strength: 47(+3)

Stamina: 41(+3)

Agility: 44(+3)

Mana: 48(+3)

Average: 45(+3)

Special Skill: [EX]??? (+3)

Final Average: 48]

"...!"

I was so stunned by the results that I forgot to cry out. B-rank—and a high B-rank at that. Barely a month and a half ago, I'd been an ordinary D-rank hunter. Now I'd reached B-rank.

But that wasn't the only surprise. An unidentified skill had appeared under Special Skill.

[???( EX)

Skill Description: ???]

It was an EX-rank skill with neither a name nor a description. Until now, it had existed only on my status window; no rank assessment had ever detected it. I'd practically forgotten about it after my teammates kept treating me like a lunatic whenever I mentioned it. This time, not only had the test detected it, but a (+3) had appeared beside it. I still had no idea what the skill was, but had its true value finally come to light?

"Here's your results sheet. Show it where you submitted your paperwork, and you can get a full refund of the testing fee."

While I was lost in thought, the examiner handed it to me. Her voice was as calm as before, but the slight tremor in her eyes told me she was more than a little surprised herself.

"Thank you."

I took the sheet back to the receptionist and submitted it. She, too, looked quite surprised when she saw the results.

Anyway, once I'd finished everything, I called Sia. She answered before the first ring was over, as though she'd been waiting desperately for the results.

["Oppa! How did it go? Did you get a good result?"]

"Yeah. Better than I expected."

["What did you get?"]

Her voice brimmed with excitement and anticipation.

"B-rank."

["Really?!"]

Her sudden shout nearly burst my eardrum.

I told her my detailed stats and about the unidentified EX-rank skill the previous test hadn't detected.

"What on earth could that skill be...?"

["I know. You told me about it a few years ago, remember? You said you had a skill like that, but nobody believed you."]

After thinking for a moment, Sia said, ["Could it have something to do with dragon power?"]

"Dragon power?"

["Yeah. Given everything that's happened, doesn't that seem most likely? If the system's only just started recognizing it, it might be connected to when you used dragon speech in that dungeon."]

Sia thought that using dragon speech might have opened something up in me, like a blocked channel clearing, allowing me to reach a new level. It sounded quite plausible to me.

["We'll have to ask Grandpa for the details... Anyway, this is wonderful!"]

"It really is. We might reach our goal sooner than we thought."

I shouldn't get carried away already.

["Maybe so. Oh, Oppa, I have something to do, so I'll call you later. Have a good day!"]

Unusually for her, Sia said something urgent had come up and hung up.

... What was that about? Since we'd reunited, Sia had almost never been the one to end our calls. Well, thinking back, there might have been a few times. But I didn't think she'd ever hung up first when we hadn't even been talking for ten minutes.

Could it be related to the plans Rokan had mentioned for this afternoon? I wasn't sure, but maybe she was going to spend some quiet family time with him. If not... what else could it be? Something about it bothered me, but I decided not to dwell on it.

The reassessment had gone well, so for now I'd go home and rest. On a day this happy, I should have been celebrating with Sia over a drink. What a shame.

* * *

Sia's lair on Jeju Island was unusually crowded. People from all walks of life had gathered there, from ordinary citizens to famous entertainers, business tycoons, and politicians. They came from different countries and held different jobs, so why had they all suddenly assembled in her lair?

On the surface, they had nothing in common. But in fact, they shared one thing.

Every last one of them was a dragon in human form.