Chapter 49

Oppa, This Is Really Great!

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“A rank… reassessment?”

“Yes. Your current level has long since surpassed D-rank.”

I knew perfectly well that I had been growing at an unprecedented speed. Still, it had only been about a month and a half since my last official assessment. Wouldn’t it look suspicious to the Hunter Association if I showed up for another evaluation so soon?

And there was another question weighing on my mind.

“…Have I really grown that much?”

I knew I had improved, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready for a higher rank. My performance in the Garden of Dragon Swords hadn’t been because I was overwhelmingly strong; rather, a set of very specific, fortunate circumstances had lined up in my favor.

“You seem like a genius at times, Minjun, but then you display a surprisingly dense side,” Rokan said, clearly disagreeing with my modesty. “You still seem to view yourself as an ordinary hunter. Do you sincerely believe the feats you’ve accomplished so far are merely at the level of a D-rank?”

“…”

When he put it like that, I couldn’t argue. Even the dragon power I had drawn forth through the Dragon Bone Sword was far beyond anything a D-rank hunter could dream of achieving.

However, I had never truly considered that power to be mine. Could strength that carried severe, life-threatening risks every time I used it really be called my own? Perhaps that was why I had been undervaluing my growth. Stripping away those dangerous boosts, I doubted whether my raw capabilities were all that impressive.

Yet here was an ancient Dragon Lord himself vouching for my accomplishments.

Realizing my self-doubt was pointless, I took courage from his words. If Rokan was willing to speak this confidently, I could safely assume I had made remarkable progress, even without accounting for external factors.

“Then I’ll do it. Since we’re on the topic, I’ll go get reassessed right away.”

“Good. I will drop you off near the assessment center.”

With a swift wave of his hand, Rokan cast Teleport, dropping me off right outside the building before vanishing as quickly as he had appeared.

Everything had happened so fast that my head was spinning, but before stepping inside, there was one person I needed to notify.

I should tell Sia.

I sent her a quick text letting her know I was undergoing a rank reassessment. Less than a minute later, my phone rang.

“Oppa! You’re going right now?!” Pride and wonder blended together in her voice.

“Yeah. Since the topic came up, I figured I might as well get it over with.”

“Hing… I wish I could be there with you!”

Come to think of it, Sia had been by my side during my previous assessment. She undoubtedly wanted to share the joy of seeing my new rank in person, so her disappointment was completely understandable.

“Hmm, well… if they let me record it, I’ll film the whole thing and send it to you.”

“If they allow live streaming, you have to video call me! You MUST!” she emphasized, thoroughly determined not to miss a second.

“Alright, alright. I will.”

“Good luck, Oppa! I know you’re going to get an amazing result!”

With Sia’s cheerful encouragement boosting my confidence, I entered the assessment center and filled out the necessary forms. When I handed them over, the receptionist scanned the paperwork and tilted her head in confusion.

“Mr. Yoon Minjun… it hasn’t been very long since your last assessment, has it?”

“No, it hasn’t.”

“A month and a half… Hmm.”

It certainly wasn’t a common request, and I knew how strange it looked from the outside. Still, having her display her skepticism so openly felt a bit blunt.

Setting the forms aside, the receptionist explained, “Because less than three months have passed since your previous evaluation, regulations require an additional assessment fee.”

It was my first time hearing about such a rule, but from the Hunter Association’s perspective, it made sense to prevent people from spamming test requests.

“How much is the fee?”

“Two hundred and fifty thousand won.”

It wasn’t a sum I couldn’t afford, but it was certainly steeper than I had anticipated.

“However,” she added smoothly, “if the reassessment confirms that your rank has indeed risen, the full fee will be refunded. Though… that rarely happens in such a short window.”

“I see.”

Then I’ll just have to make sure I get that refund.

After paying the fee, I walked down the hall toward the examination room. The familiar scent of polished wood and mana-dampening padding greeted me. Having been here so recently, the wooden swords and heavy training dummies were still fresh in my memory. By chance, it was the exact same testing chamber I had used last time, though a different examiner was on duty.

“Mr. Yoon Minjun?”

“Ah, yes.”

The examiner walked in, glanced over my file, and raised an eyebrow. “I see it’s only been a little over a month since your last evaluation.”

“Yes.”

Just like the receptionist, she looked intrigued by my speedy return. Fortunately, she refrained from pressing further. After verifying my details, she handed me the rank-measuring ring and spoke in a professional tone.

“I assume you’re already familiar with the testing procedures, but let me know if you need a refresher.”

“I’m fine, thank you. But if it’s alright… am I allowed to record the session?”

“Are you a YouTuber?” she asked impassively, as if dealing with online content creators was part of her daily routine.

“No. It’s just… my girlfriend really wants to see it.”

“Recording is permitted, but live video streaming is strictly prohibited.”

“Understood.”

After mounting my phone on a tripod to record, I stepped onto the reinforced combat mat.

“I will signal when the measurement begins.”

I focused my mana, channeling it into the measuring ring, and the second the start buzzer sounded, I lunged toward the heavy dummy.

How did I move during my last test?

I couldn’t recall every detail, but I knew with absolute certainty that I had been much slower back then. Today, my footwork felt effortlessly light, and the vibrations traveling up the wooden sword as I struck were immensely heavier. Stronger vibrations meant far greater force behind every swing.

Of course, using a standard wooden sword instead of my Dragon Bone Sword meant I couldn’t unleash my full strength. Even so, with every strike, I felt a completely different tier of power surging from deep within my core.

The faint, grey aura blooming at the tip of my blade was undeniable proof.

Every time I struck the dummy, the hazy aura danced along the arc of my sword. Recalling the sensation I had tapped into inside Minos’s tomb, I poured everything I had into each swing, driven by the desire to shatter the reinforced target. I focused my intent onto the tip of the blade, mimicking the focused force of Dragon Tongue.

I swung in a complete trance, so thoroughly absorbed in the rhythm that I barely noticed my clothes soaking through with sweat.

Finally, a automated voice chimed through the speakers overhead:

— Measurement complete. Please step back and await your results.

I had unleashed everything in a short, intense burst, leaving my muscles throbbing and my chest heaving. Yet, alongside the exhaustion, a strange, thrilling rush coursed through my veins.

I grabbed a bottle of water from the side table, gulped it down, and waited for the examiner’s verdict.

A few moments later, the examiner stared at her monitor, frowning. “…That’s strange,” she muttered, her fingers clicking rapidly across her keyboard.

“Is there a problem?” I asked, stepping closer.

“No, it’s just… please hold on a second. I think the system generated an error.”

Muttering “This can’t be right” under her breath, she re-ran the diagnostic software. Only after confirming three times that the machine was functioning correctly did she turn the screen toward me.

[ Name: Yoon Minjun | Rank: B ]

- Strength: 47 (+3)

- Stamina: 41 (+3)

- Agility: 44 (+3)

- Mana: 48 (+3)

- Average: 45 (+3)

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

- Final Average: 48

“…!”

The moment the numbers registered in my mind, my breath hitched.

B-rank. And not just entry-level B-rank, but a high B-rank!

Just a month and a half ago, I was an unremarkable D-rank hunter struggling to make ends meet. Now, I had shattered that ceiling entirely.

But the numbers weren’t the only shocker. My eyes locked onto the mysterious entry listed under Special Skills:

[ ??? (EX) ]

Skill Description: ???

An EX-rank skill with no title and no description. Until today, that line had only ever appeared on my private status window—the official Association measuring tools had never once detected its existence. Whenever I mentioned it to other hunters in the past, they had laughed it off as a visual bug, leading me to eventually ignore it myself.

Yet now, not only had the Association’s high-precision system picked it up, but it also displayed a massive (+3) modifier beside it.

I still had no idea what this skill actually was. Was it finally starting to wake up?

“Here is your official evaluation sheet,” the examiner said, snapping me out of my thoughts as she handed me the printout. Her tone remained composed, but the slight tremor in her eyes betrayed her utter astonishment. “If you present this at the front desk, you will receive a full refund of your assessment fee.”

“Thank you very much.”

I took the document and returned to the lobby. The receptionist looked equally flabbergasted when she processed the paperwork and handed back my refund.

The second I stepped outside, I pulled out my phone and called Sia. As if she had been staring at her screen waiting for my call, she answered on the very first ring.

“Oppa! How did it go?! Did you get a good rank?!”

“Yeah,” I replied, unable to hide my grin. “It went way better than I expected.”

“What rank is it? Tell me, tell me!” Her voice overflowed with excitement.

“They classified me as B-rank.”

“REALLLLLYYY?!”

Her deafening squeal nearly shattered my eardrum, forcing me to pull the phone away.

Once she calmed down, I read off my exact stat values and mentioned the mysterious EX-rank skill that had finally registered on the official test.

“What do you think that skill could be?” I asked.

“Hmm… remember how you told me about that skill years ago? You said you had it, but nobody believed you,” Sia recalled, pausing to think. “Couldn’t it be related to dragon power?”

“Dragon power?”

“Yeah! Given everything that’s happened, doesn’t that make the most sense? If the testing system only started picking it up today, it’s probably connected to the moment you unlocked Dragon Tongue inside that tomb!”

Sia’s theory made a lot of sense: channeling Dragon Tongue had likely unlocked a hidden pathway within my mana circuit, finally allowing the Association’s equipment to register the latent EX-rank trait.

“We should ask Grandfather about the details later… but either way, this is amazing news, Oppa!”

“I know. At this rate, achieving our ultimate goal might not take nearly as long as we thought.”

“Definitely! Ah—Oppa, something urgent just came up, so I have to go! I’ll call you later, okay?”

Uncharacteristically, Sia abruptly announced she had to leave and hung up the call.

…What’s going on?

Ever since our reunion, Sia had almost never been the one to end a call first. While there had been a couple of rare exceptions, this was the very first time she had hung up before we had even talked for five minutes.

Could it be related to the business Rokan mentioned he had this afternoon?

I wasn’t sure, but perhaps she was simply heading over to spend time with her grandfather. Or maybe something else had required her immediate attention. Though a faint sense of curiosity lingered, I decided not to overthink it.

The assessment had been a resounding success, and that was what mattered. I headed home to rest up. On a joyous day like this, I normally would have celebrated with Sia over drinks, making it a bit of a shame she was unavailable.

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Meanwhile, Sia’s grand hidden estate on Jeju Island was unusually crowded.

An astonishing array of individuals had gathered inside the grand hall—from ordinary citizens to top-tier celebrities, wealthy chaebol heirs, and influential politicians. On the surface, their backgrounds, nationalities, and professions shared no common ground whatsoever.

So why had such entirely unrelated people gathered together in her private sanctuary?

Although no connection was visible to human eyes, every single person in that room shared one absolute truth:

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