Transferred to an SSS-rank Production Class

Various spots along the corridor flashed with a vibrant red light. A green arrow traversed the corridor, now tinged with crimson.

“You can’t see this?”

I described the scene before my eyes, but everyone insisted they couldn’t see anything like it.

Only I can see it? As an experiment, Seo Young-woon, the sturdiest among us, stepped on a red tile. A fireball dropped from the ceiling. Though we avoided injury thanks to our preparedness, we were all stunned.

“Red means danger. Quite intuitive.”

“Isn’t a skill active? Your eye color has changed.”

“The iris change is indeed due to a skill, but it doesn’t have such a function…”

Come to think of it, I might have seen an unusual system message earlier.

I hastily opened the skill window and searched for Marksman’s Eye.

[Marksman’s Eye (C) → Explorer’s Eye (A)

: Detect the target’s weakness with exceptional observation.

: Grasp the target’s essence with exceptional insight.]

“Temporary unlock?”

This skill has been with me since I first awakened. There’s no way I wouldn’t know about this text…

Ah, trait evolution! Is that why it changed? Well, it’s fortunate either way.

“You’re right, it is my skill. Seems there was an effect I didn’t know about until now.”

“Mr. Kim, you have an amazing ability!”

If red means danger, then green must be safe.

We can somehow get through this one time. Everyone in the group breathed a sigh of relief.

Thanks to Explorer’s Eye, we’ve gained some extra time. We should discuss our next steps.

‘Wait, what’s this?’

As I was about to close the skill window, I noticed an unfamiliar icon. As if entranced, I moved my hand over the icon.

“Ugh!”

An intricately designed mana circuit suddenly unfolded. The abruptly appeared circuit folded in half, shrinking, then suddenly vanished.

A system window popped up where the circuit had been.

[Do you want to accept the Hidden Quest ‘Kallos’s Provision (F)’?

: A tutorial prepared by Kallos for his clueless disciple

– Clear condition: Follow the guide’s instructions

– Time limit: None

– Reward: Instructions for using ‘Enchant (S)’ (First attempt guaranteed success)

– Penalty: None]

“Tutorial?”

When I suddenly stopped, my companions turned to look at me. I told them it was nothing and read the quest window.

A tutorial? And with a guaranteed success on the first attempt, no less.

A path to survival has opened. Perhaps I should have sought my master’s help instead of the heavenly deities.

‘You could have told me earlier!’

I leapt nimbly over the red tiles and dashed towards the safe zone.

“Hey, do you think they’ve gone a bit crazy from exhaustion?”

Cha Taeyang whispered to the goblin. When I turned around, Cha Taeyang awkwardly hummed a tune.

[Monster wave begins in 3 minutes.]

That message no longer frightened me.

We sat in a circle to discuss our plans going forward.

“Hunter Yun Gaho, can’t you use that skill to find other safe zones?”

“Since it’s a skill that activates through my eyes, it might be difficult. It only works properly when something is within my field of vision.”

“I suppose we should be grateful it’s better than nothing?”

Seo Young-woon’s face was gloomy as he muttered. In just a few hours, he had become quite different from his initial self. It must be the pressure of having to protect everyone.

Despite everything, defensive hunters all shared a strong sense of responsibility.

“Hunter Cha Taeyang, could you explain more about the skill you mentioned earlier?”

“I already said I can’t use it now! Why do you keep asking? Do you think Taeyang is doing this on purpose?”

“I’m not trying to bully her. I think we might have a solution.”

Cha Taeyang, who had been placating the goblin, reluctantly explained about the S-rank area-of-effect skill, Gate of the Dead.

“Gate of the Dead is an additional skill that comes with my trait.”

“Hey, didn’t you say you were A-rank? But you have an S-rank additional skill? What kind of trait is it?”

“I told you not to talk carelessly about traits. Don’t you have any common sense?”

Jo Sung-hyun turned his head away, his face flushed.

Rarely, there are those born with traits or skills of a higher rank than their overall evaluation. This means…

“You’re lucky.”

“What?”

“It means you have the potential to grow to S-rank.”

“Is that so?”

Jo Sung-hyun clicked his tongue at Cha Taeyang’s bewildered expression.

As a Seoul Academy trainee, Jo Sung-hyun was undoubtedly an elite in his own right. But S-rank, unreachable without innate talent, was even more extraordinary.

Cha Taeyang, after glancing around cautiously, continued her explanation.

Gate of the Dead is a skill that summons a gate to send back beings belonging to the afterlife.

Based on the skill description, “Devours the wicked ones before its master,” it was expected to be able to eliminate all undead within Cha Taeyang’s field of vision.

“Sounds good. Let’s give it a try.”

“How?”

“I have a skill that enhances equipment. I’ll use it to try and remove the restriction on Hunter Cha Taeyang’s skill.”

“I’ve never heard of such a skill!”

Jo Sung-hyun, who had been sprawled on the floor, jumped up and pointed accusingly.

“It’s a skill I obtained recently through a hidden quest. I haven’t told anyone about it yet, so you wouldn’t have heard of it.”

We barely managed to calm down Jo Sung-hyun, who was ranting about why I hadn’t mentioned this earlier. Even Seo Young-woon’s eyes held a reproachful look.

Come on, I didn’t know it would turn out like this either…

◆◇◆◇◆

“From now on, I’ll focus all my efforts on enhancing Hunter Cha Taeyang’s weapon. In the meantime, please discuss how we can use Gate of the Dead effectively.”

“You mean…”

“Yes. We’re going to conquer this place with our own hands.”

Seo Young-woon and Jo Sung-hyun simultaneously grimaced. Only Cha Taeyang, unfamiliar with hunter affairs, nodded.

Floor clearance, the domain of high-ranking hunters.

Normally, a C-rank hunter like me wouldn’t dare dream of such a thing. For me to propose conquest, perhaps Cha Taeyang was right—something must have happened to me.

Even though I said it myself, I couldn’t manage my expression at all.

After a moment of silence, Seo Young-woon let out a dry laugh and answered.

“I’ll think about contingency plans in case we fail.”

“Yes, please do.”

“Hey, Cha Taeyang! Stop bothering her and come over here!”

I received the gloves from Cha Taeyang and sat down in a corner. The quest window blinked as if urging me to accept quickly.

Well then, let’s get started. I pressed the accept button on the quest window glowing in the corner of my vision.

[You have accepted the Hidden Quest ‘Kallos’s Provision (F)’.

※ The quest will be forcibly terminated if the skill ‘Explorer’s Eye (A)’ is deactivated.]

Forcible termination?

I hastily pulled out a mana potion from my inventory and drank it. I was about to deactivate the skill since it consumes a lot of mana, but that would have been a big mistake.

“Gaho, what are you staring at so stupidly?”

A small guide NPC resembling Kallos popped out of thin air. Slightly larger than a palm, the mini-Kallos looked down at me with his arms crossed.

“Master?”

“I’m only helping this once.”

Seeing Cha Taeyang behaving calmly when she would normally have rushed over excitedly at such a sight, I realized this must be visible only to me. Mini-Kallos began his explanation in an indifferent voice.

“Your skill ‘Enchant’ bestows new power to items. It’s faster to try it than to explain. Come on, take out an item.”

Even knowing this wasn’t the real master, I felt oddly self-conscious and hesitantly held out Cha Taeyang’s gloves.

[Studded Gloves (C)

– Health: 5

– Strength: 7

– Agility: 3]

As expected of close-range dealer equipment, it boosted HSA (Health, Strength, Agility).

She said she just came today, so she’s using standard-issue equipment from the guild. Yet with such power… A-rank truly was different.

Mini-Kallos’s tongue-clicking pulled me out of my reverie. He frowned as if looking at garbage.

“You brought such a terrible thing… Are you really going to use this?”

“We have no other choice right now.”

“Tsk, first, read the flow of mana. The more you understand the structure and essence of the item, the higher your success rate. With your disastrous dexterity, you need to increase your item understanding to succeed.”

I’d heard about reading mana flow ad nauseam at Kallos’s house. This seemed different from just sensing the mana emanating from items.

“Oh, what’s this?”

The mana circuit engraved on the item became clearly visible. Is it because of the skill?

As I unconsciously channeled mana into the circuit, I vaguely sensed how each structure was connected. So many knots in just one C-rank equipment.

“In these gloves, the studs increase the strength stat…”

Mini-Kallos, who had been watching me with a somewhat pleased expression, clapped his hands to get my attention. Then, without permission, he opened my inventory.

Wait, that’s possible too?

“A player without even a proper mana stone…”

“Why do I need mana stones?”

“When you use your skill, you can apply two effects to an item. The innate effect uses the item’s inherent nature, but the acquired effect needs additional materials.”

The nature of the item used as material determines the acquired effect. And depending on how you combine it with the item you’re enhancing, the enchant effect can vary tremendously.

Even at a glance, it seemed like a skill with limitless possibilities.

“Won’t this work?”

When I took out a D-rank mana stone, he firmly shook his head. Mini-Kallos, arms still crossed, grumbled as he looked at the inventory window.

“Using such a low-rank item is worse than not using anything at all.”

“Then can’t we just apply the innate effect?”

“What ignorant words. Everything must have balance.”

Mini-Kallos clicked his tongue, spouting vague nonsense. When he clamped his mouth shut, I had no choice but to speak first.

“How about this then?”

“Hmm, it’ll do in a pinch.”

Mini-Kallos responded positively upon seeing the Ruby Staff I had grabbed on my way out of the dormitory.

‘So equipment items are okay too.’

No sooner had I thought that than Mini-Kallos added that using equipment items as materials was inefficient. But we have no choice right now.

Following his instructions, I laid the two items side by side.

“Mana stones are best. Material items that complement the equipment are good too.”

“Complementary items?”

“I’ll tell you about that later. We don’t have time. Now, think about how to naturally connect the structures of these two items. Imagine your mana as the adhesive joining the circuits.”

It was a vague instruction. But now wasn’t the time to question things, so I had to give it a try.

I activated the skill while visualizing the structures of the gloves and staff in my mind.

[Choose an effect to apply to ‘Studded Gloves (C)’:

– Innate: One-Hit Kill (B), Steel (C), Sturdy (E)

– Acquired: Sage (A), Flame (C)

※ The world’s greatest craftsman aids you. Success rate is fixed at 100%.]