###
Ding!
[You have entered the F-rank dungeon <Rat Hole>.]
[Clear the dungeon by removing the branch of the World Tree.]
A light start.
It was a beginner-level dungeon.
“Hmm.”
The scent of home.
The dungeon’s backdrop was Kyle’s homeland, Thea.
Though now, it was a fabricated dimension.
‘I should visit my real home someday.’
There are two types of Gates.
Gates leading to dungeons, and those serving as passages to the real Thea.
This was the former.
‘I should also visit my friends’ homelands.’
A promise left unfulfilled in his past life.
They had vowed to tour each other’s hometowns after ending the war.
‘Tsk, if only I didn’t have vocal cord damage.’
He walked with idle thoughts, his steps relaxed.
But the dungeon was teeming with rat monsters.
Squeak. Squeak Squeak.
Dozens of rats, each the size of a cat.
A horde no single Awakened could handle.
Even a D-rank Awakened would struggle.
Yet Kang Hyun remained composed.
He lowered his black mask and stretched his stiff neck.
“Ahem. Ahem. Ah—Ah—.”
The wary rats swarmed toward him.
“【Stop】.”
Kiing—
The rats froze in place.
He opened a bottle of water and took a sip, observing the frozen scene.
Ah, the strange sense of stillness this brought.
‘I really missed this feeling.’
He pulled his mask back up.
He had chosen this place on purpose.
Like the plaza before, it was full of weak mobs in large numbers.
The stronger the opponent, the more mana the Words of Power consumed.
But here? Even with his pitifully low mana, it was enough.
‘Though this one use drained almost all of it.’
His body felt weak.
‘I need more mana soon, so I can try that.’
That ultimate technique of Words of Power.
Even thinking about it made his throat itch.
‘It wasn’t sealed off, was it?’
After the World Tree sealed his Words of Power, he had discovered it in a life-or-death moment.
‘Let’s see if I can manage it once….’
Fixing his gaze on a nearby tree, he cleared his throat.
“Die— Cough, Cough!”
As expected, insufficient mana.
His throat tightened uncomfortably.
‘Ah, no!’
Protect the throat!
He hastily rehydrated with gulps of water.
Gulp, Gulp.
The water ran out quickly.
“Ugh!”
It was clear he needed more mana before attempting it again.
‘I just shaved ten years off my life. I need to be careful or my throat will give out.’
But it shouldn’t take long.
Though the technique required strict conditions, its mana cost wasn’t as high.
He tossed the empty bottle aside and drew a short sword.
It was a piece of equipment provided during his application to the Awakened.
‘Taking them out one by one is going to be tedious.’
A strategy impossible for other Awakened.
As he approached, a rat rolled its eyes upward, staring at him.
Its will to resist had stopped, leaving it utterly powerless.
It trembled, sensing its inevitable fate.
Thwack!
The blade pierced its neck, and the rat collapsed.
After slicing through all the rats, he saw mana stones scattered on the ground.
The rat corpses had simply disappeared.
Mana stones— the main source of income for Awakened.
These tiny stones, barely the size of a pinky nail, were surprisingly valuable.
‘Even in an F-rank dungeon, huh?’
He diligently collected them.
‘I’ve got debts to pay….’
Debts from his failed academy.
How had the hero Kyle fallen to this?
Tears welled up.
After decimating the rat horde, he reached the deepest part of the dungeon.
A black object stood solitary.
It was a branch the size of bamboo shoot.
‘The root of the World Tree.’
The driving force behind dimensional invasions.
In other words, the dungeon’s core.
He cut it down without hesitation.
Slash!
‘Now the clear notification should pop up, and I’ll get my reward, right?’
As he expected, it was simple.
But then a different message appeared, one he hadn’t anticipated.
Ding!
[You have cleared the dungeon.]
[Calculating your clearance grade.]
Ding!
[Perfect Clear! (Solo)]
[A tremendous achievement! You have completely thwarted the invasion of the World Tree!]
[Due to your achievement, a ‘Blessing’ will be bestowed upon the surrounding area! Everyone will praise your achievement!]
“Huh?”
What was this?
He hadn’t heard about messages like this.
Moments later, the space cracked and shattered like glass.
The dungeon was cleared.
He found himself outside the Gate, back to the scenery from before.
Aden stood before him.
“Huh? How are you already out?”
On her phone, she had dialed 191— the emergency hotline for Awakened.
Fortunately, she hadn’t made the call yet.
“Put that away. The dungeon’s cleared.”
“What? But you just went in! Can dungeons collapse on their own?”
A solo clear was considered impossible.
Apparently, she had looked it up on her phone in that brief time.
“I thought Teacher might be in danger, so I was about to call for help.”
“Well, good thinking, at least.”
But solo clearing is impossible?
It wasn’t even that hard.
Have standards dropped so much these days?
At that moment, light burst from the Gate’s position, spreading widely into the sky.
“Huh? What’s that?”
“Oh, I think that’s the blessing thing.”
“Blessing? What’s that?”
“It’s called a blessing. They spread it around when you clear a dungeon well.”
“A blessing? No way, that’s not it.”
Aden seemed to know what blessings were.
“Blessings only activate when you achieve a Perfect Clear in a dungeon.”
“Yeah, that’s what I said.”
“But I’ve heard it’s incredibly difficult to achieve.”
“Yeah, that’s what I said.”
“Ugh, you’re not serious!”
She never believed people’s words.
“It’s not something trivial. The area it affects is up to 100 kilometers. If it activates, it’s like—”
Ding!
[An Awakened has achieved a ‘Perfect Clear!(Solo)’ of an F-rank dungeon, completely halting the World Tree’s invasion!]
[To honor their achievement, a ‘Blessing’ descends upon the surrounding area. Everyone, please celebrate!]
The notification appeared in front of them.
Aden stared at the air, seeing the same message.
“…What?”
“See? There it is.”
Just as Aden had described, the message appeared.
Still, it didn’t seem like something worth causing this much commotion.
100 kilometers, was it?
It felt unnecessarily flashy.
‘At least it’s not as bad as the plaza incident.’
People would probably assume some talented rookie had emerged.
It would calm down soon enough.
Still, it was better to leave the area. But then—
Ding!
[You have achieved a ‘Perfect Clear!(Solo)’ on your first dungeon.]
[An unprecedented achievement in history!]
[Achievement rewards will be granted.]
‘Oh?’
Achievement rewards?
This was new.
[You have received a ‘—Rank Random Box.’]
[This reward is unprecedented and temporarily unlocked due to your achievement.]
[Would you like to open the ‘—Rank Random Box’?]
A random box?
What is this, a game?
“Yes.”
Still, it wouldn’t hurt to see what it was.
A holographic box appeared in front of him.
However, the box was covered in mosaics, giving the impression that something forbidden might emerge.
[Opening ‘—Rank Random Box.’]
With flashy sound effects, the box opened.
Ding!
[You have received the trait ‘Inventory’!]
Was this good?
Instructions on how to use it flooded into his mind immediately.
He visualized placing the mana stone pouch in his palm into the inventory.
The pouch disappeared.
Shwish—
[Inventory]
– Mana Stone Pouch
The inventory was a type of intangible subspace.
Its size was roughly that of a shipping container.
Kang Hyun trembled.
‘Amazing!’
A subspace inventory!
He couldn’t contain his excitement.
Even Kyle, the strongest Word Mage, had never managed to create such a thing.
Even with the advancements of modern magical engineering, it was still the stuff of dreams.
And here it was, in his hands!
‘No mediating item required—completely intangible.’
If his former hero companions saw this?
A brawl would have ensued, no doubt.
Each would spout nonsense and argue endlessly:
“You don’t deserve this, you weakling!”
“This fits a noble saint like me perfectly!”
“The strongest among us should have it!”
Of course, Kyle would’ve beaten them all and claimed it.
But now?
‘This treasure is mine!’
Ah!
Hail the system!
Hail effortless progression!
‘Do other Awakened receive things like this too?’
This was totally broken.
‘If only the system had existed in my time…!’
He could’ve become much stronger.
He might’ve even defeated the World Tree!
A surge of regret washed over him.
“Hey, look at this! This clear reward is just—”
He eagerly turned to call Aden, but froze.
Aden was trembling, her mouth agape.
Her eyes, wide enough to tear, darted between the notification and Kang Hyun.
“T-This… how… Perfect… Real…”
What’s with her?
“…Are you okay?”
###
Aden couldn’t believe the reality in front of her.
She needed a moment to process it.
‘A Perfect Clear… something said to have only happened twice in history.’
And now, it had happened right before her eyes.
Her teacher entered the Gate.
The dungeon was cleared in an instant.
Her teacher mentioned a blessing, and a blessing indeed descended.
Most importantly, the system explicitly told her:
[Perfect Clear!(Solo)]
‘Solo. Cleared it alone.’
No doubt about it.
The magic teacher she had been learning from— the man standing before her, newly Awakened, Kang Hyun— had achieved a Perfect Clear.
“…”
After wrapping her head around it, Aden immediately sprang into action.
Kang Hyun flinched.
“W-what are you doing? What’s with you?”
Without hesitation, Aden dropped to her knees.
“Teacher.”
“Huh?”
“From now on, I will serve you as my Master.”
###
Awakened Management Bureau Headquarters, South Korea.
Chief Choi Young-ho hurriedly urged his subordinates.
“Have you still not located the S-rank Word Mage?”
“Well, sir, without access to CCTV, the investigation is—”
“Keep it short and concise.”
Chief Choi turned sharply, staring at the subordinate.
“Efficiency is a basic principle of public administration.”
“Yes, sir. We haven’t located them yet.”
“I see.”
Hah.
He removed his square-framed glasses and exhaled deeply, as if the floor might cave in.
“We must locate them as soon as possible.”
If another country were to snatch them up?
He’d probably be forced to resign that very day.
Not just any rank—an S-rank.
And the successor to Hero Kyle, no less!
“What’s the word from higher-ups, sir?”
“They want us to turn the peninsula upside down if we have to.”
“Is that all?”
“Hardly. They’re furious, asking how we failed to identify such talent in the first place.”
“That’s a bit harsh.”
An S-rank who seemed to have dropped out of nowhere—
How could anyone have foreseen this?
“Enough excuses!”
“Ah, you startled me, sir.”
“Public administration must leave no room for error, especially in matters of national security!”
“Oh no, he’s started again….”
“This is a failure not just on my part but on this entire department! We must take this as a lesson for future—”
And so began another lengthy speech.
The subordinate quietly went to grab a coffee from the vending machine.
Ten minutes later, they returned to their seat.
“—Which is why we must handle national affairs with utmost responsibility and diligence!”
“Understood, sir. Thank you for your insights.”
“I’m glad my words were helpful!”
The coffee was surprisingly sweet.
“But how could anyone have predicted this? I’d believe it if you told me they just awakened yesterday.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Of course, I was just saying, hahaha.”
Chief Choi adjusted his square glasses.
“In any case, we must locate the S-rank Word Mage immediately. If they end up in a foreign country again, it will be disastrous!”
Especially if it were the United States.
They had a history of poaching Awakened from other nations.
A country obsessed with hero narratives, idolizing them wholeheartedly, backed by tremendous financial resources befitting a global superpower.
“Not to mention, we don’t know how Thea might react this time.”
“True.”
After all, this was Kyle’s successor.
“We must—”
Chief Choi suddenly paused, noticing something off about his subordinate’s expression.
“What’s wrong?”
The subordinate’s wide eyes were locked on thin air, their face frozen as if they’d seen something they shouldn’t have.
“A blessing…?”
“Excuse me? What did you say?”
“Uh, sir, can the system malfunction?”
“Efficient communication! State your observations clearly and concisely!”
“No, it’s just….”
At that moment, the corridor outside became noisy.
Thud, Thud, Thud!
Someone was running toward them, and the door burst open.
“Senior Shin?”
Another department chief, a former Awakened, rushed in, panting.
Unlike Choi Young-ho, Senior Shin had field experience.
Chief Choi calmly adjusted his glasses.
“Senior! Running in the hallway undermines the dignity of a public servant—”
“Shut it, Young-ho! Did you see it? No, wait, you’re not Awakened, are you?”
“See what?”
“A blessing just descended over Seoul!”
A blessing?
What was he talking about?
Why Seoul?
It took Choi a moment to process.
“Explain using proper reasoning—”
“Forget that! It’s a Perfect Clear! The third Perfect Clear in Earth’s history! It just happened!”
“…What?”
Chief Choi, who prided himself on rationality, momentarily forgot his principles.
