SSSSS-Rank: Negative Leveling

The girl's eyes went wide. "The Gorgon Mines? But the old man said that's a scary slave mine!"

"Correct. Which is why we are going to go there and free all of the slaves."

For a second, she just stared at him, her mouth open. Then, her expression changed from fear to pure, unfiltered excitement.

"Seriously?! We're going on a real-life slave liberation adventure?! That's so cool! It's like something out of a hero story!"

'I am not a hero. This is just more fun than going back to the city.'

"Go gather all of their supplies. Food, water, whatever looks useful. We are taking their cart and their horses."

"Okay!"

She ran off to loot their camp with an enthusiasm he found slightly disturbing. Luthra, meanwhile, untied the five men and, one by one, threw their unconscious bodies into the back of their own sturdy-looking transport cart. He then tied them up again inside the cart, just to be safe.

By the time he was done, the girl had returned with several sacks of supplies and a very large waterskin.

"I got everything! They had a lot of dried meat, and some weird-looking alcohol, also this map!"

She proudly held up a worn piece of parchment. It was a crude, hand-drawn map of the surrounding territories. A location to the far north was circled in red ink, with the word 'MINES' written next to it.

"Good work."

He took the map and glanced at it, then he climbed into the driver's seat of the cart. The girl scrambled up and sat next to him, her legs dangling over the side.

With a snap of the reins, the cart lurched forward, pulling away from the messy campsite and heading north, deeper into the lawless territories.

He held the reins with one hand, the other resting on his leg. The girl sat beside him, kicking her feet against the front of the cart. The five unconscious bounty hunters jostled in the back.

'This is a pain. I need to fix my weapon.'

He pulled the cart to a stop in a small, rocky clearing.

"Stay here."

He jumped down and walked a few paces away. The girl watched him, her head tilted. He took the broken chain off his shoulder and laid it on the ground. Then, he took out the pile of mana cores he had acquired. Thirteen F-rank rabbit cores, seven other miscellaneous F-rank cores from the bounty hunters' stash, and three E-rank cores.

'Okay, System. It is time.'

[Required materials for chain evolution (Stage 1) have been confirmed.] 

[Host's Personal Weapon (Industrial Chain) x1] 

[F-Rank Core x20] 

[E-Rank Core x3] 

[Skill [Negative Weapon Forging Lv. -1] will now be activated.]

He knelt on the ground. He did not use a hammer or fire. He simply placed his hands over the broken chain and focused his will. The mana cores he had placed on the ground began to float.

'This is it.'

One by one, the glowing stones shot toward the chain and simply vanished into the metal, they were absorbed without a sound. The F-rank cores went first, twenty of them disappearing into the iron links. Then the three larger, brighter E-rank cores followed.

The chain began to tremble. The cracks in the metal sealed themselves shut, and the warped links straightened. The color of the chain began to change, the dull, rusty iron darkening until it was a deep, pitch-black that did not reflect any light at all.

[Forging process is at 78%... 91%... 100%.] 

[Success. Your personal weapon has evolved.]

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION] 

['Damaged Industrial Chain' has successfully evolved into 'Chain of the Void (Stage 1)'.] 

[Skill [Negative Chain Arts] has Leveled Down.]

He picked up the newly forged weapon. It felt the same weight, but its presence was different, heavier in a way that was not physical.

He checked his skills.

[Negative Chain Arts Lv. -2] 

[A skill born from the host's deep-seated familiarity with a specific weapon.] 

[The chain becomes a conduit for negative energy.] 

[Current Effect 1: For every 1 level this skill is below zero, the weight of the chain is increased by 200% for enemies.] 

[Current Effect 2: The chain can now interact with intangible and spiritual entities.]

'This is a good upgrade. The weight increase is doubled, and now I can hit ghosts. Very useful.'

He wrapped the chain around his arm and stood up. The girl was staring at him, her eyes wide.

"Whoa! What did you just do? The chain, it's all black now! That was so cool!"

He just looked at her. "Oh yeah, I never asked. What is your name?"

"It's Rebecca. What's yours?"

"Luthra."

He looked at her again, at her ragged clothes and the bruise on her face. "Why was a kid like you out in the Fanged Woods alone? You should be in the city."

Her cheerful expression vanished. Her face became unreadable.

"I prefer not to talk about it."

He noticed the look in her eyes then. It was a familiar look, one he had seen in the mirror and on the faces of his siblings whenever they looked at him. It was a look of pure, concentrated hate.

'Who does a kid hate that much? Her parents? Or someone else?'

It was not his problem. He turned and walked back to the cart.

Rebecca seemed to notice his stare, because she got defensive. "What? What are you looking at?"

"Nothing."

---

Inside the Hunter Association headquarters, the main meeting room was tense. Ten hours had passed since the President had issued his order. The drone footage of the Unranked hunter and the Beast King played on a silent loop on the holographic table.

Jax slammed his hand down on the table, his voice a low growl. "What do you mean you can't find him!"

The assistant who had given the initial report was sweating. "Sir, we sent a team to the address he provided on his registration form, in the Omafo district. The room was empty. There was nothing there but a burnt frying pan and a cheap mattress."

The master of the Silver Tower Guild, a woman named Liona, spoke. "Perhaps he went deeper into the wilds to hunt. It would not be unheard of for an unregistered individual."

Jax scoffed. "An Unranked hunter, hunting deep in the Fanged Woods? He would be dead in an hour. This Luthra is hiding. He knows we are looking for him after his encounter with the Beast King. He is a threat."

President Paulas, who had been watching the footage, finally spoke. "The Omafo district." He brought up a different file on the hologram. It was the subjugation report for the unexpected gate that had appeared there days ago. "The hunters who filed this report, E-4 rankers, Marco and Pola. Bring them to me."

---

In a small, clean apartment, Marco was laughing. "Hahaha! Look at this, Pola! Real steak! Not that processed protein paste! We are living like kings!"

Pola cut into his own piece of meat, his expression more reserved. "We were lucky, Marco. That man could have killed us."

"But he didn't! He made us rich! Forty-three thousand credits! We can finally buy the Cerberus Vambraces! We'll be unstoppable!"

Suddenly, they heard a knock on their door.