Chapter Text
Name: Davin Kane
Grade : C+
Stamina: 30
Strength: 22
Agility: 36
Mentality: 40
Mana: ??? (invalid readings)
Abilities:
Who Would be Useful?: Caster can spontaneously experience visions of favorable futures, generally related to subjects that are particularly compatible with his skills. Cannot be triggered deliberately.
You Belong to Me: Forms a mental bond between the caster and all other individuals subject to this ability. Telepathic communication is easy and instinctive between individuals subject to this ability. Groups can be compartmentalized, so parties will only communicate with each other and the caster. The skill is speculated to be limited by mana but at this point in time, no upper limit to subjects has been reached. Testing was limited by the conditions.
Conditions: To be affected by this spell, the subject must have voluntarily formed a contract of obedience with the caster. This includes any regular hierarchy where the caster is considered to be in a leadership position over the subject. If the hierarchy changes and the subject is removed from the caster’s control, the spell immediately ends.
I Protect What is Mine: Once per hour, when the subject is in danger of taking a lethal blow, a powerful shield will automatically activate. The strongest recorded strike blocked was from an A rank monster. Effectiveness against S rank is as yet undetermined. This ability is unique in that no cast is required. It is constantly active on all individuals in the mental network including the caster.
Conditions: Must be under the influence of You Belong to Me.
Do You Need Help With That?: Allows the caster to amplify and manipulate the skills of allies. This can be done remotely, with no restrictions, as long as the subject is part of the mental network. If the subject is not part of the mental network, they must be within visual distance of the caster. Manipulation requires that the caster has some knowledge of the skill being used. If the caster does not have this knowledge, only amplification is possible. Mana costs of the spell can be assigned to the caster if desired.
Exact degree of manipulation and amplification varies according to the skill being influenced and the amount of mana dedicated to the change.
You Dare?!?: Once per hour, when the subject takes damage equivalent to more than half of their health pool, all damage will be returned to the individual who inflicted it. The subject will still be gravely injured, this skill does not block or mitigate damage. If the subject is also under the influence of I Protect What is Mine, that skill will be prioritized. You Dare?!? will only trigger when I Protect What is Mine is on cooldown or the blow was not strong enough to trigger it. This ability is unique in that no cast is required. It is constantly active on all individuals in the mental network including the caster.
Conditions: Must be under the influence of You Belong to Me.
Die for Me: Once per 24 hours, the caster can trigger this spell on one individual in the network. The caster sacrifices 80% of all stats and they are conferred to the target, who becomes fixated on protecting the caster from all danger. Effect lasts an hour but can be ended early by the caster. Mentally speaking, this effect is unpleasant for the subject even when full consent is involved. When it is not, this ability generates feelings of betrayal in the subject.
Conditions: Must be under the influence of You Belong to Me.
Brother, Calm Down: This power can only target the caster’s brother, Felix Kane. Produces a deeply calming and mildly euphoric effect that lasts 24 hours. Can be ended at any point by the caster.
If this effect is ended by the death of the caster, all stats of the target will be amplified by 300% and he will gain the affliction Berserker Rage. This effect will last until death.
Admin 1: There are so many problems with this, I don’t know where to start.
Admin 1: First, how is this man C class? The utility of these skills should warrant an S class designation.
Admin 1: Second, the final skill is horrifying. Felix Kane is a highly disturbing S class. While it’s wonderful that Davin can control him, if he dies when that skill is activated the world will be destroyed.
Admin 6: Don’t exaggerate. A tactical nuke could still take care of the problem. Also, Davin has promised to use the power sparingly and only when he has someone with him who has agreed to die for him.
Admin 6: As for the C class, that’s an issue. I’m trying to get him upgraded but you know how the bureaucracy is. I’m worried he might start a private Guild if we can’t keep advancing him in the Hunter Association.
Admin 1: I hope you’re right about the nuke.
A tall, blocky man with close cropped black hair, styled neatly with a bit of a wave, sat back in a plush office chair. The office that surrounded him was surprisingly spartan. A single Ikea bookshelf, filled with items and monster cores. A metal filing cabinet, filled to the brim with folders and documents. Yet underfoot was a very expensive, plush carpet and to his right was an expansive window, giving him an excellent view of a large, well-tended garden and an ornate fountain.
Closing his eyes, he rubbed his forehead. Things are going fairly well but I need more. His Guild was only three years old and they were more or less scraping by. He had two teams that he could reliably field and with his abilities, they could both punch over their weight. However, only one of them could do it without his constant attention, because they were the one with a buffer. He needed another buffer.
Who Would be Useful? Activated! His eyes flew open and he stiffened as the skill hit like a punch to the gut. All awareness of the real world fled and he would have fallen if he had been standing. A vision flowed before his eyes, of a young man with a broken leg and incredibly weak abilities… but they were buffing abilities. And as he saw the vision, information flowed into his mind, telling him exactly what he needed to do.
When the vision was over, he had to close his eyes for a time and just stay still, letting the dizziness pass. Of all his abilities, this was one of the ones he liked the least. Shaking his head, he reached out to the others on the network.
Marcus, when you get back from that dungeon, come to my office. I have a special mission for you and your team. This was going to be a bit expensive but if he could secure another buffer, it would be worth it. Also, he was looking forward to giving Marcus his instructions, and Marcus would love it. For a moment, he smirked to himself.
Who would have imagined that being a rude American could be a super power?
Han Yoojin wasn’t expecting the call.
After his leg was broken, he thought he’d finally been blacklisted from every reputable company. Even before that, he’d rarely gotten calls from the Taekon group. They were actually a pretty good outfit that specialized in D and C ranked rifts. Why would they call upon an F rank failure?
Han Yoojin! We have an opportunity for you, his contact said, but his tone was a bit strange. Jovial on the surface but slightly off. A brand new team needs a porter. Can you come tomorrow?
“Yes, I can,” Yoojin said instantly. His bank account was completely dry, he would accept anything and Taekon’s rates were good. Although… he hesitated a moment. “Ah, my leg, will the team be okay with it?” Although they knew about that, they had to. His contact brushed it off.
This team has a healer, they can fix that for you before the raid begins. Wait, what? Yoojin was speechless. Healing was a very rare talent and they charged high rates for something like his leg, what was this man saying? Come to our Sejon location at 9 AM Thursday. He abruptly hung up and Yoojin stared at his phone, confused.
“Was he serious?” he whispered to himself, hardly daring to hope. Nothing good ever happened to him. Nothing.
But… could it happen… just this once?
Yoojin was careful before the day of the raid.
Over the long years as a social pariah, he’d fallen into bad habits. Alcohol, mostly, to dull the physical pain and the heartache. Neglecting to shower, forgetting to eat. For Taekon, though, he put in the effort. No soju, a good shower, applying a salve and then bandaging his knee, the only half-decent clothes he had left. Even a bit of body spray, his apartment didn’t smell too great, that would help.
When he got to the rift, though, Yoojin felt like most of his care had been wasted.
There was a very loud argument going on between a big, blonde man and the gate attendant. It was a bit hard for him to understand, since it was conducted mostly in English, but it seemed to be a rather pointless argument about the rules and paperwork. It did give Yoojin a moment to look over the rest of the party and after a moment, he swallowed. He’d seen more reputable looking teams in black companies.
The party was small, just five people, four men and one woman. The big blonde man seemed to be a tank type, just going by the tactical shield he had strapped to one arm. His gear was good but old and battered. There was a man in a hoodie, with long blades strapped to his legs. He was sitting and holding a rosary, the beads moving through his hands as he murmured what Yoojin assumed were prayers. He paid no attention to Yoojin, unlike the last two men. They both turned to look at him and Yoojin shivered a little inside at the sharp, assessing gazes they gave him. One was bald and tall, wearing scale armor that seemed to mostly be held together by wire and hope. The last was short, with dark hair and an asian appearance, but not Korean. Yoojin guessed he was Chinese. He was in civilian clothing and it was badly stained. Was that blood?
The last person was the woman and Yoojin felt his gut sink as he looked at her. She was wearing a robe that had started as white, but was now a dingy grey. It had a red cross on it and Yoojin knew that American and European guilds mandated that as the sign of a healer. She was not an ugly woman but her long blonde hair was tangled and there were deep, dark circles under her eyes. As he watched, she fished a flask out of her belt and took a swig. Yoojin cringed internally. She was going to be the one healing his leg?
“This is our porter?” The blonde man was suddenly striding over to him and Yoojin swallowed, looking up at him. He was very tall, well over six feet. “Tsh! Why did you send us a gimp? Aren’t we paying good money?”
“You have a healer, sir,” the gate attendant said with painful neutrality and Yoojin suddenly realized why he’d been called for this party. The Taekon employees did not like them at all. Were they hoping his ‘bad luck’ would manifest and kill this party? The man snorted.
“Sponging free healing off us? PAH! Nadia! Put the booze away and heal him,” he said sharply and the woman tucked away her flask before coming to help him. “She’s only D rank but she can help you out a little.” D rank… Yoojin nodded, resigned. He’d never had a D rank healer tend him, only an F rank, but he doubted it would be much better. She could likely only ease his pain enough to get through the raid. Maybe his knee would be better for a week, if he was lucky.
Wait.
Did she just wink at him?
Before Yoojin could react, her hands touched his knee and a beautiful warmth spread through his body. Yoojin’s eyes went wide as he registered a level of mana that was far beyond a mere D rank. This was at least B rank healing, maybe A rank! The pain of his knee vanished and Yoojin felt a few pops, as cartilage was smoothed and mended. Other small aches and pains, things he scarcely noticed anymore, vanished without a trace. He hadn’t felt this good… since…
“You done? Toss those crutches away and take this.” Yoojin barely managed to catch a bag that was thrown at his face. It was weird though, a fancy duffle bag? What was - “Come on.” He didn’t manage to question anything before a hard hand grasped his shoulder and he was almost forced through the rift. The gate attendant just watched with professionally hidden disgust.
What’s going on? Something was completely off. Yoojin swallowed heavily as he held the duffle bag, glancing around the start of the dungeon. It was covered in cobwebs, which gave a very good idea of what this place would be like. Who are these people? Are they going to use me against dongsaeng? He couldn’t get away from them now though. No wait, this was the Taekon group! They would never be willing to anger Haeyeon!
That thought wasn’t as reassuring as it should have been when everyone suddenly turned to him, giving him their full attention.
“So, Han Yoojin. I’m Marcus, leader of Team A in the Impius Pueri Guild.” What? Yooji had never heard of that guild. Also, what kind of name even was that? “Let me introduce everyone else. This is Nadia, B rank healer,” he said as he gestured towards her and Yoojin noticed his body language had changed completely. So had the healers, as she stood straight and smiled, her eyes bright and showing none of the fatigue of before. “Zane, C rank rogue type,” Marcus said as he gestured to the man with the rosary. He’d put it away and had his blades in his hands, casually scanning the surroundings and paying little attention to their conversation. “Anders, C rank mage type. He uses telekinesis. That shitty armor he’s wearing is actually just detachable projectiles.” The bald man nodded to him with a pleasant smile and Yoojin nodded back mechanically. That made sense. “And Ziyang, D rank bruiser. But he has a berserker type ability that lets him punch over his class, so he gets to stay.”
“Oh fuck off, we’re recruiting an F class,” the last man muttered and Yoojin stared. Recruiting? Marcus smiled, a warm, engaging expression that he did not trust at all.
“If you consent, please sign this temporary contract and we can begin your trial run.” Wait, what?
“No, wait, back up. I’m just an F rank. Why would you recruit me? Where are you from?” None of them were Korean. Were they from another country?
“Impius Pueri is based out of America. Our name is in latin, it translates as unholy children or wicked children. As for why we’re trying to recruit you, our Guild leader has a precog ability as well as various other buffing abilities. He has predicted that his abilities will harmonize extremely well with yours, making you a pseudo-C grade as long as you are a member of our guild,” Marcus said patiently and Yoojin stared. Pseudo-C grade?
Han Yoojin actually did know what he meant by pseudo-C grade. In a lot of countries, Korea included, the ranking system was very inflexible. It went by physical stats, not abilities. Theoretically, if Han Yoohyun had lower physical stats, he would be a lower grade… the fact that his flames were disgustingly powerful wouldn’t matter. This system of ranking did correctly identify the cream of the crop, since S rank physical stats always went with very powerful skills. But it also penalized a lot of people who had skills that warranted a higher rank.
“Uh, how could that be? My buffs only give five percent and only one can be active at a time,” Yoojin said after a moment. Marcus smiled brightly.
“Sign the contract and see!” Yoojin bit his lip before setting down the duffle bag and accepting the contract. It was very easy to read, not much of a legal document at all, despite the fancy paper.
For the duration of this dungeon trial run, Han Yoojin agrees to join the Impius Pueri guild as a trial member. At the conclusion of the run, he will be paid 3000 USD in addition to a fair share of the dungeon loot and any additional payments arranged through the Taekon group.
Han Yoojin choked for a moment. 3000 USD? That was… a lot of won! He tried to remember the exchange rate and felt faint. Was that 4 million won? That would pay his rent for a while. He quickly signed before they could change their mind, hoping that they would really give him that money. It wasn’t like he could afford a lawyer if they didn’t -
[You Belong to Me activated] Han Yoojin blinked at the system notification. For a brief moment, he thought he heard the murmur of distant conversation but then it abruptly cut off. Confused, he looked at Marcus and the man took back the contract as he explained.
“That’s the Guild leader’s primary ability. He’s also a buffer type, officially C rank, but a pseudo-A class. Can you tell me your abilities?” He asked and Han Yoojin hesitated before complying. Although he left out the Caregiver title. There was no need for them to know about that. “Okay, boss, he’s got three different buffer skills that each give 5% on a single stat. They can’t be stacked. Can you work with that?” Yoojin frowned, confused. Was he talking to his Guild leader? How, in a dungeon? Wait, was that what his ability did?
[Do You Need Help with That? Activated!]
[Strength Up Mentality Up and Agility Up combined into Caregiver’s Grace]
[Caregiver’s Grace: Buff all stats of a target by 20%. Comes with a heavy mana cost but that cost will be transferred to the owner of Do You Need Help with That? Duration: 4 hours
Note: This is a temporary skill created by Do You Need Help with That? And can be removed at the will of the caster]
Yoojin gaped silently at the skill. 20% buff to all stats for four hours? That was a God tier buffing skill! If only he had really Awakened with that skill, he would have been given a place in Haeyeon… this was probably a B rank skill!
“Well? Hit us up,” Marcus said and Yoojin blinked before nodding and activating the skill. The way it felt was extremely weird. Normally, when he used his skills he felt a drain on his Mana and since he had such a tiny mana pool it was significant. Now he sensed that vastly more mana was being used but it was coming from somewhere else, just flowing through him. “FUCK! That’s good!” Marcus stretched, groaning in pleasure.
“This will be easy,” Ziyang said with a grin, flexing his muscles. The others reacted in a more subdued manner but they all seemed to enjoy it. Then, they got down to business
The rift was filled with tiny spider monsters. A flame power would have been ideal to clear them out, but Zane had an answer for that, creating flames that licked at his two blades and set the webbing on fire. Anders also did very well, tossing out dozens of shards of metal that tore apart waves of spiders. Marcus defended the two of them with his body, capturing any spiders that would have bit him and Ziyang held back. His bruiser abilities were bad with swarms.
Han Yoojin just stayed with the healer, watching the team fight. Nadia was completely calm, as if it was all another day’s work and to her, it probably was.
For me too, really, Yoojin thought. He’d been through this so many, many times before. Yet there was always an edge of fear. He didn’t have much to protect himself with and his teammates were not very reliable. Now he felt so much better and all he had to do was carry the - hey wait.
“Uh, what is this for exactly?” Yoojin asked Nadia, holding up the duffle bag. It could carry some things but it wasn’t particularly large.
“That’s a spatial storage.” Yoojin stared at her, perplexed, and she gave him a small smile. “There’s an Awakener in the United States with the power to alter space, if you can provide him with a powerful enough monster core and other materials. And a lot of money. Boss got that as the spoils of war, I can’t say anything more about it. We use it to pull out entire monsters.”
“Entire monsters…” Yoojin repeated, a bit dazed. All teams did carry out entire monsters, but usually only the really valuable ones. And it was an extremely arduous process, particularly with the large ones. Yoojin remembered helping with that, his whole body straining under the weight of a giant salamander. “How much can it hold?”
“That one? 1,000 cubic meters. That’s about the space of a 3 story house.” Wow! That was incredible! “An S rank monster core went into making it. Most of them aren’t that big. Also, never mention that to anyone. We could all be killed for that.” Yoojin shivered internally for a moment. She was absolutely right, even Haeyeon guild would be tempted. “Oh, it also has this really nice feature, if you want something in particular, reach in and just think about what you want. Could you pass me some water?”
“Uh? Sure.” Yoojin said, a little distracted by the ongoing battle. Larger spiders were coming out now and Ziyang was getting into the fight. His fists made short work of them, shattering their bodies. He reached in and as she said, the water bottle came into his hand. He passed it over, still watching. “They’re really good.” They were making this look easy. Nadia shook her head, opening the water bottle.
“That’s to be expected. This is only a C rank portal, we didn’t want to take you any higher and our team routinely clears B ranks without your buffs.” Ah. That would explain it. “Normally, I would be healing them all by now but now they don’t need it.” Yoojin wanted to tell her not to jinx it.
The power of jinxing was strong, though. Shortly after she said that, Marcus grunted as a larger spider managed to clamp mandibles around his weapon arm. He fought with a maul and it was working well, but the spider forced it away and bit deep. Marcus slammed it with his shield and Ziyang quickly nipped in, slamming his fist into the spider’s head. That killed it but Marcus was bleeding copiously and Nadia muttered a curse before lifting her hands. The wounds mended, with no touch from her and Yoojin was awed. Distance healing was a super rare ability!
“I don’t actually have the ability to heal without touch. That’s the boss again,” Nadia said after she was done, mildly embarrassed. Yoojin nodded, although he wanted to ask more questions. Still, now wasn’t the time.
They made steady progress through the rift and all the bodies of the larger spiders got tossed into storage. They also paused at one point to do a bit of mining, pulling a chunk of odd ore out of the wall. This was the first time Yoojin had seen someone do that but he presumed for most teams, the weight wasn’t worth the money. This team didn’t have to worry about that.
Rifts got larger the higher the rank and a C rank was decently big. They eventually paused for lunch, and Yoojin found there was a big bucket of fried chicken stored in the duffle bag. It was still warm, somehow the bag had kept it fresh and Yoojin felt like he’d stepped back in time as he enjoyed fresh, hot chicken. The last time he had this was for his dongsaeng’s birthday, so long ago.
For a moment, Yoojin just remembered as he ate. He’d made that chicken himself, coating it and frying it nice and hot. He’d even made dips for it, with mayo and sriracha. Yoohyon had loved it a lot…
His appetite abruptly vanished and Yoojin felt his stomach clench. Fortunately the nausea quickly passed, and he was already mostly finished. Yoohyon, why did it turn out this way? What had he done wrong? What -
“Okay, let’s get going!” Marcus tossed his bones away, littering in the dungeon. Yoojin didn’t protest and in fact, did the same. They should all disappear when the rift vanished anyway.
When they reached the final boss it was, unsurprisingly, a giant spider. This one had plenty of spiderlings under its control and quickly, they divided the work. Zane and Anders took on the spiderlings, controlling them and keeping them from helping the boss. Marcus and Ziyang killed the boss, supported by Nadia, who had to take active part now. Her healing lit them both and she could also dispel poisons.
The giant spider was agile, though, and used that well. They had to fight hard, and Ziyang was able to fully showcase his abilities as he triggered his Berserker Frenzy and fought with double his usual, D rank strength. Yoojin noticed, though… Marcus didn’t have a taunt ability, but he had some kind of intercept? He could almost teleport to get in the way of one of his teammates, when they were about to take a bad injury.
Ziyang finally landed an excellent punch on the monster’s head and it went down in a spray of gore. The exit portal appeared as the team caught their breath.
“Alright! That was good, much quicker than it would have been without the buffs. Yoojin, collect that.” Yoojin looked at the bag in his hand, and then at the corpse. It wasn’t as big as some monsters but how was he supposed to? “Just stick a leg in the opening of the bag, it will do the rest.” Really?!? Yoojin tried that and found it worked although the process of the spider disappearing into the bag was very hard to look at. He felt a little ill, as the space distorted for a moment.
The rewards for clearing the dungeon were pretty mediocre for a C rank, just a few mana stones and a pair of boots. Yoojin shivered a little as he remembered… this was exactly the kind of haul that would make other teams try to short his pay or even claim he shouldn’t be paid at all. Not a problem with Taekon group, but with the black companies and illicit dungeons, he’d suffered that way many times.
“Cheap dungeon! Pah. Yoojin, before we leave the dungeon, we have to discuss the final stage of your recruitment,” Marcus said, dead serious. Yoojin met his eyes and noticed they were steel grey with hints of blue. “We already decided that if you could handle anything past ten percent buffing and seemed competent, we would make the offer. Here is the full guild contract. You can read it over at your leisure or have a lawyer look at it. We’ll give you a week to decide.” Yoojin swallowed before nodding, taking the papers. “Let me give you my number. It’s also on the contract.” Yoojin took out his phone and quickly programmed in the contact, just labelling it as Marcus.
“I’ll let you know,” Yoojin said, feeling a deep stab of pain in his chest. Was he really thinking of doing this? Not just leaving Seoul, but Korea entirely? But wouldn’t this… wouldn’t this be what Yoohyun wanted? His hyung would be completely out of his hair. Yoojin swallowed heavily, putting aside his feelings - he would deal with that later - as they left the dungeon. As soon as they stepped out, something changed.
[You Belong to Me ended]
[Caregiver’s Grace lost]
“Ah… right…” Yoojin mumbled to himself, wondering how the Impius Pueri’s guild leader’s abilities worked. Something contract related, it seemed like. A lot of curse users had powers like that. That sent a chill up his spine and he decided he would have to have a lawyer look over the contract. With a week, he had enough time. As for the money - “Can you send me the money right now?”
“Yeah sure, let me pop it to you. Hold on - there - what’s your account number?” Yoojin supplied it and Marcus tapped his phone a bit. “There you go. Accept the transfer and you should have it immediately.” Yoojin pulled up his account and saw the 4 million won. Feeling an incredible relief, he accepted the transfer and it showed up in his account.
Along with the payment from Taekon, he would have plenty of money to look into his options.
Author’s Note: Next chapter, some angst!