The Gardener in a Hunter World

Disclaimer: This is an edited MTL. Thus, I can’t guarantee that my editing to be proficient. But I hope you enjoy this story with me. If there are any corrections, it is highly encourage to leave a comment.

“Noona, did you get this from the Sky Bookstore?”

“Huh. The boss there complained that it keeps getting returned. Isn’t the book ancient? It’s from the dungeon. So, they sold it cheaply for decoration, but all the people who bought it said they couldn’t find a place for it, so they sold it back. Aren’t you curious?”

“I see… It’s kind of weird because there’s no content. I think something needs to be written.”

“It looks like it’s under a spell, but I don’t like books like this either, evie!”

When SeonYeong was about to return the book, Yoo Ji-Ha grabbed it.

“I will buy this.”

“Huh? What are you doing with it when it contains nothing?”

“I just thought it would be a good decoration.”

“Okay then.”

Knowing that she is an ancient book enthusiast, she handed over the book without considering it to be strange.

The owner of the Sky Bookstore joked that it would come back here again.

“I assure you, this will be back to the store in less than a day or three.”

“Shouldn’t that be abandoned now?”

“It’s happened twelve times so far. Unless you have great talent… The result will be the same.”

The bookstore owner made a bold prediction.

Well, if you’ve sold it twelve times and keep coming back to the bookstore, you might think that some kind of ghost possessed it.

But Yoo Ji-Ha thought differently.

‘You have persevered to come to me. Let’s go to my house together.’

Tome of Infinite Magic.

He doesn’t know what it is, but isn’t it a great name?

Yoo Ji-Ha liked the mystery hidden behind the mist.

So, even when reading old books, he likes to think deeply about the real meaning and metaphors hidden within the sentences.

Most of them didn’t mean much, but this time it seemed to be something else.

Such a feeling came to him.

The two went back to their respective homes after the shopping trip.

Yoo Ji-Ha tried to write with all kinds of pens on the inside of the magic book, but all ended in vain.

“I really don’t know anymore.”

At this point, he wondered if some real magic was involved here.

He stumbled across it by chance, but where does he get the Thunderbird feather and ink?

‘Thunderbird… I’ve never heard of it.’

When he searched it on Hunternet, an article appeared.

[Thunderbird: A rare creature that appears in various dungeons except the Polars, Deserts, and Ocean dungeons. It is a humongous bird with a wingspan of about 25m and there was a movement to capture it, but it was not achieved due to factors such as time limit. According to the battle report #15-16563, a nest and eggs were found.]

Unfortunately, this was the end of the information.

Why didn’t they finish it properly?

In fact, most of the Hunters’ interests were focused on monsters, so there was relatively little interest in the flora and fauna in the dungeon.

At best, zoologists were interested, but very few people went into the dungeon to study.

‘Because there is nothing to study in the first place.’

Yoo Ji-Ha turned off Hunternet and paid attention to the Ancient Magic skill and Good Writing skills that were proudly engraved on his status window.

It’s an Ancient Magic skill. It’s not difficult like alchemy, but the problem is…

‘Is ‘Good Writing skills’ a Characteristic or something?’

When it comes to the Hunter Characteristics, it was like a passive skill.

Park SeongHo’s Stone Skin, Seo HyeJin’s Sword Riding, Hwang SeonYeong’s Paper Skill, etc. were very effective in combat.

There were about 40 Classes and hundreds of Characteristics, and none of them were considered unimportant.

But Good Writing skills…

‘Am I just going to become good at writing?’

Yoo Ji-Ha scratched his head, put away the grimoire, and started writing in his notebook.

scribble… scribble…

The pen moved back and forth on the paper, neatly written letters appear as it moves.

Originally, Yoo Ji-Ha’s writing was only good enough for reading, but now the writing on the notebook is quite beautiful.

Anyone who sees it will mistake it for a print.

He put down his pen for a moment and looked at his writing.

‘It’s pretty, but… Where am I supposed to use this?’

It was unknown.

He looked at the text for a while and then smiled slightly.

Well, what’s the big deal?

It’s enough that it gives him a little joy in life.

Yoo Ji-Ha practiced writing for a while.

When the skill level rose to Lv. 2, it was almost no different from the printed ones.

And then, a dungeon opened.

***

“It opened here.”

Usually, when a dungeon opens, the surrounding Ether shakes.

The wavelength is powerful enough to be detected by Hunters as well as people who are sensitive to Ether.

When he felt a shaking as if an earthquake had occurred, Yoo Ji-Ha looked around the store.

The gate was opened in the alley where no one went through.

“Is it Category 0?”

He can’t be sure before entering, but based on his experience, there was a high probability that there were no monsters in dungeons found in these corners.

Did Yoo Ji-Ha’s forest in his dream open like this?

‘Let’s go in.’

He packed his backpack and stepped inside.

【Difficulty: Category 0

Type: Meadow, Valley

Objective: Thunderbird’s Feather

Time limit: 1 hour

Target Restrictions: Workers】

‘Huh? What?’

This is the first time he has seen a quest window like this.

He thought it was absurd, so he blankly looked at the window.

In Category 0 dungeons, it was common to have no goal and no time limit.

And based on what he knew, Target Restrictions don’t even exist.

 ‘The feather of a Thunderbird?’

Isn’t this like a dungeon tailored for him?

It seems to be inviting him to enter this dungeon and pick up a Thunderbird’s feather…

‘I think someone opened the dungeon for me.’

That someone might have something to do with the dream forest.

Yoo Ji-Ha, firmly determined, stepped inside.

There was a high valley in the vast field. Literally just grassland and valley.

What’s unusual is that the huge tree roots seen in the Polar dungeon are also here.

It was so out of the blue that he doubted if it was supposed to be there.

“How big is it that there are tree roots all over the place?”

Yoo Ji-Ha squatted in front of the tree roots and stroked the bark.

Perhaps this tree supports the whole world.

‘Wait, there was a huge tree out of that book.’

The myths of each race were intertwined with the huge tree, he remembers reading it quite interestingly.

He fell into the forest of his dreams while reading it.

‘Then was it this tree that called me here?’

It was unknown because the tree did not respond.

After staring at the tree for a long time, a large bird suddenly flew and landed on the top of the tree root.

【Thunderbird¹

】

‘It’s a Thunderbird.’

It was so big that he couldn’t tell if it was a bird or a monster.

It is a Category 0 dungeon, so it’s probably an animal.

The guy looked down at Yoo Ji-Ha and tilted his head, spread his wings, and shrieked.

An intense shock wave spread out, and Yoo Ji-Ha curled up with his ears covered.

‘So that’s why it’s called Thunderbird.’

Because its shrill cries are like thunder.

As he was crouching for a while, several feathers gently landed next to him.

Thunderbird lost interest in Yoo Ji-Ha and flew away.

“…What is this?”

This series of situations in which the magic book was retrieved, the dungeon was opened, and the Thunderbird threw feathers felt very artificial.

When he enters the forest tonight, he would not be surprised if the Theradrones would bring him the ink.

‘Do you want to let me know that you are helping me?’

How crazy must he be to even imagine something like this?

Anyway, what happened has already happened.

After examining the inside of the dungeon, Yoo Ji-Ha came out with the Thunderbird’s feather.

A Hunter who had been lingering around Ji-Ha under Kim HyungSeok’s instructions hastily reported.

“Yes, chief. Yes. I’ll check it now. It seems to be a Category 0 dungeon. He went in with a backpack, but it was not confirmed what he brought back. I’ll go in now.”

He then reported that when he tried to enter the gate, he was pushed out by a strange force.

HyungSeok tilted his head upon receiving the report.

“Is there a dungeon that excludes people? Are you telling me to believe in that? What force do you think is pushing you away? I see. Let’s keep an eye out for a little bit more.’

He put down his phone and folded his arms.

It’s clear that luck had come to the young man named Yoo Ji-Ha.

“He said he was a Hunter with no Skills or Characteristics… That’s his Characteristic isn’t it?”

A Characteristic that has dungeons frequently open around him. Isn’t that a very good Characteristic?

HyungSeok concluded that it was Yoo Ji-ha’s Characteristic to have a dungeon open around him.

There are all kinds of Characteristics, so who can say for sure that there are no such thing as that?

‘It’s unpredictable.’

He was unsure if he should continue paying attention or stop observing Ji-Ha at all.

Certainly, the potion he created was great, but he hadn’t made it since.

Is it because the fruit is all gone?

‘I have no choice but to watch a little more.’

HyungSeok sat down and took out the documents from the safe.

A report came from an allied guild in Busan.

It was the bizarre content of the discovery of giants.

He couldn’t believe it, but they were claiming that the giants were the ones who annihilated the monsters in the Devil Ant dungeon.

The proof is a huge handprint.

The Busan Seagull Guild leader desperately tried to cover it up, but as dozens of people participated, in the end, information was leaked.

‘A giant… Were there any Myth grade monsters I didn’t know about?’

Tap tap tap tap tap tap.

Kim HyungSeok’s finger tapped the keyboard.

Hunternet, an information site favored by Hunters.

This site has secrets that most Hunters usually don’t know.

Single Numbered Hunters, descendants of the first nine Awakened.

Except for Han SeungHyuk, who is missing, the 2nd to 9th rankers are granted access to specific bulletin boards.

People called this bulletin board, MirWiki.

Although the species name and risk level of the monster were posted, there was no way to post or edit a separate article.

Even the one who created the Hunternet is still a mystery.

They don’t even know where the server’s data is being sent.

HyungSeok searched for information about giants while navigating through Myth grade monster information for a while.

‘It could be that it’s not updated.’

The information on MirWiki has not changed from the very beginning until now. Going back to the beginning, if more than one person is talking about it, then there must be something.

‘Is it just a new monster?’

But isn’t it too big for it to be a new monster?

Judging by the size of the hand print, it is said that it is almost the size of a building.

It was common knowledge that the bigger the monster, the stronger it was.

To achieve that size, it must exceed the Extinction grade.

‘There’s also something about the pincer monster found in the Polar dungeon.’

HyungSeok’s troubles deepened.

***

“Ancient magic… Here it is.”

Yoo Ji-Ha read the book with the huge tree again.

According to the contents, a huge tree was said to have passed on magic to the first races.

However, since this magic is so complicated and difficult to learn, it developed a kind of trick to make it easier to use.

That is Rune magic, Runewords!

Runewords are also used by modern Hunters.

Ether stones are processed to make Rune stones, and runes are written on them and placed on staffs, etc.

A Magician with this Rune stone wand was able to create firepower beyond imagination.

Is it possible to call them ‘Nukers’?

Taking a Magician to any dungeon will help clear it neatly and efficiently.

Recently, the importance of Magicians who can wipe out monsters in a wide area is indescribable.

But this book says that Rune magic is just a shortcut to Ancient magic?

“Creation… Harmony… Change… Destruction.”

As he read further, he discovered that Ancient magic was divided into four categories.

The Magic of Creation is not to be touched by mortals, but it is said that the magic of Harmony, Transformation, and Destruction can be used.

“Well… Magic is the law that changes the world, and magic is just the art of destruction.”

If the world is the sea, then it would be accurate to say that magic is the ocean current in it.

However, it did not show how to learn the magic.

It would be nice to have Rune words as an example.

After looking at the book for a while, Yoo Ji-Ha fell asleep.

When he opened his eyes, an unexpected situation awaited him.

“All of a sudden…”

The branch he planted on the ground had grown into a fully matured tree.

And on its stems were engraved letters glowing green.

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