The military priests are largely divided into two groups: those in charge of the north and those in charge of the south. They are commonly referred to as the Owls for the north and the Eagles for the south.

The jeep was rattling through the mountains.

Although there were no roads, it seemed like spaces for vehicles to pass through and a map of sorts had been created, with blue markings on trees every so often.

“Eagles and Owls?”

“Yes, since they are military priests. Ares and Athena. The one in charge of the south is Ares and the one in charge of the north is Athena. Our Tushin constellation is Athena, right? I guess that’s why they matched it that way.”

In response to Kang Ihyeon’s question, Lee Jisung explained while turning the steering wheel to the side.

‘Normally, you would receive about an hour of this kind of training upon entering, but since Kang Ihyeon has joined and shortened the period, it seems there won’t be time for that~’

Before departing, he had said this and that he would explain on the way to the base camp, which was the current situation.

“The Eagles, under the command of the guild leader, handle what you might call… the gates that ‘don’t make money’. The Owls, centered around Tushin and myself, manage the gates on this side to prevent them from growing larger.”

Tushin, at that word, Rude barely managed to stop his fist from clenching.

It seemed like that ‘fox’ who had even figured out the pill bottle in his coat pocket would quickly notice.

As if to prove that point, Lee Jisung was staring intently at him through the rearview mirror.

Without taking his eyes off Rude, Lee Jisung spoke again.

“Originally, the reserve forces training outsourced by the country is the job of the south team. This side deals with national secrets.”

“If it’s a national secret, why are mere quasi-government employees managing it instead of soldiers?”

At Rude’s sharp question, Lee Jisung laughed and said:

“It’s not like they station soldiers in border areas in the first place. Maybe before the gates exploded when it was a truce, but doing that now would be like picking a fight. But this area is quite a golden goose that needs to be protected. So instead, they established a public corporation.”

He went on to complain at length, saying that although the work they actually do is almost that of soldiers, they are not treated as such at all, that they have to sign confidentiality agreements and be under surveillance, and how frustrating it all is. Rude raised an eyebrow and asked:

“Golden goose?”

“Hah~ really. The 1st may not know, but you really have no idea. I guess kids these days only believe in what they can see, huh? This land is overflowing with gates. So what do you think that means?”

Overflowing with gates. As Rude pondered, his eyes widened. The fact that it’s overflowing with gates means that the resources inside them are overflowing as well. And managing that means…

In other words, it meant managing the resources that could come out of this space.

“You know our country is an energy powerhouse, right? It’s all because we extract mana stones and resources from here and send them down. How many countries can boast this?”

‘Come to think of it, I think I heard about this in modern history class…’

Although Nari had been too busy dozing off during class in high school to pay attention. With those words, Jisung tapped on the radio in front of the jeep.

“Owl 2 returning. Entering the barrier. Requesting entry permission.”

At the same time, a blue mana stone barrier appeared in front of the jeep that had been driving through the forest.

Zing, a space barely large enough for one car to pass through opened, and the jeep rattled inside again.

The base camp was a converted school. The hunters were looking at the jeep with cold eyes while signaling.

After parking in the schoolyard, he turned around and looked at Rude and Kang Ihyeon.

“Okay! From now on, this is your base camp. I’m the leader here, so you absolutely cannot go outside without permission. Understood?”

“Yes.”

“…Yes.”

“Our kids will show you around. For now, rest in that room and I will summon you at an appropriate time. Go unpack your luggage.”

Jisung opened the driver’s seat door with a clang and said something to the surrounding hunters.

Two guns crossed over a shield. The hunters with the military priests’ insignia nodded their heads and opened the back seat door.

“Please get out.”

“Rude, be careful.”

“Ah, okay.”

Ihyeon caught Rude who almost fell over while getting out of the jeep as he was looking around.

Rude irritably pressed his eyes a few times. Looking around, he felt a different, stark atmosphere than before.

The controlled clothing with the same insignia, the fierce expressions and tones, the base camp made by renovating an almost ruined school. The unmanaged natural environment, the occasional angry screams of monsters coming from afar. There wasn’t even internet.

Although they had driven a short straight-line distance, the atmosphere was so different.

As Nari, he couldn’t even imagine living day to day in such a tense and rigid space.

“Here’s the terminal.”

“Oh, thanks.”

Rude took the military priests’ dedicated terminal handed to him by Kang Ihyeon. For the few seconds their hands brushed.

Rude’s dark mental power entered Kang Ihyeon’s sleeve like a small snake. Kang Ihyeon pulled his sleeve down to hide the mental power, in case someone else noticed.

Kang Ihyeon, trying to act as familiar as possible, quickly checked the assigned dormitory on the distributed terminal.

“I’m in the annex. Is Rude in the main building?”

“Yeah. Oh, I specifically requested a private room, but…”

“There’s no way that would happen. Looking at it, they do all the work separately too. I guess it’s more advantageous to keep us apart…”

Rude clicked his tongue in annoyance. Kang Ihyeon smiled awkwardly and comforted Rude. He waved his hand a few times and turned his body.

“Then Rude, I’ll see you later.”

“…Okay. See you at dinner.”

Kang Ihyeon headed to the annex, and Rude to the main building.

He had suspected it might happen, but it was really despicable of them to separate the dormitories and work spaces as soon as Kang Ihyeon came along.

“Those damn foxes…”

Rude, muttering the nickname Kang Ihyeon had mentioned, ground his teeth. But he couldn’t just take this lying down.

If it was a situation where they couldn’t communicate with each other, he just had to make it possible. And Rude was an ‘Illusionist’ class specialized in distorting senses.

[Illusionist exclusive basic skill :: ‘Sensory Transfer’ is activated! (Ver. For communication)]

As if watching two TVs at the same time, his vision split in half.

The other half of the vision was Kang Ihyeon’s.

‘Can you hear me?’

‘Yes, I can hear you. Ah, but it’s a bit… confusing because your vision is coming in together with mine.’

Kang Ihyeon’s thought shot into Rude’s mind. Rude held his temple for a moment as if dizzy, then continued thinking.

‘It can’t be helped since it’s been modified from a non-communication version. If you focus on your daily life as much as possible, my vision will naturally blur. Only think of it when it’s urgent.’

‘Okay, got it. You too, Rude. Be careful.’

Rude closed his eyes slightly and opened them. Like how the side of the screen you focus on becomes blurry, Kang Ihyeon’s vision became blurry.

Anyhow, he had no intention of being easily pushed around.

[This is the timeline separator] [The 12089th mock battle will now begin.]

Bang! A monster with the head of a cow and the build of a human slammed its axe into the ground.

The silver-haired man swiftly rolled his body to the side to dodge. The sound of friction screeched on the floor.

As soon as he rolled over, he pulled out a handgun from inside his cloak. Blue mana swirled in his eyes and around the gun.

[Shooter exclusive basic skill :: ‘Mana Bullet Creation’ is activated!]

“Kraaaahhhh!!!”

Bang−! As he fired the gun, a small hole was punched through the monster’s palm.

The man’s eyebrows furrowed deeply as he watched the monster scream as if the world was collapsing from just a small air hole.

He pulled out another handgun from his cloak. Unrefined anger flickered in his eyes.

Gathering mana in his legs, he lightly jumped up and aimed the two handguns.

[Status effect :: ‘Overconcentration’ is activated!] [Shooter exclusive basic skill :: ‘Mana Bullet Creation’ is activated!] [Shooter exclusive basic skill :: ‘Mana Bullet Creation’ is activated!] [Shooter exclusive basic skill :: ‘Mana Bullet Creation’ is activated!] [Shooter exclusive basic skill :: ‘Mana Bullet Creation’ is−]

Ratatatatat−! Along with the notification of the status effect, the basic skills with short loading times were rapidly activated.

Mana bullets were being fired from his guns without rest.

“Kuoooooh!!!”

Pale blue smoke obscured the field of view. Gunshots rang out endlessly, and the monster that had become a honeycomb screamed and thrashed its body.

Thud−! The monster collapsed to the ground with a huge tremor. The man, whose mana was nearly depleted, sat on the floor panting. Only then did the status effect turn off.

The man wiped the sweat running down his forehead and stood up with difficulty, using his knee. As he was sighing in relief, a notification window suddenly popped up in front of him.

[Failed to clear the stage. The boss monster is getting back up.]

“……!!!”

Squirm, the monster’s body moved again. A deep sense of defeat pervaded the man’s face. Just as he was about to pull out his gun from his cloak again and gauge his remaining mana.

[The mock battle is automatically terminated due to external interference.]

“Suho~ That’s enough.”

Click, the illusion disappeared and the lights in the mock battle room turned on.

His old partner, Lee Jisung, entered the mock battle room. Seeing the bullets lodged all over the walls, Lee Jisung smirked.

“Couldn’t control it again, huh?”

“……”

Silver hair, sharp blue eyes, S-rank of the military priests. And Lee Jisung’s partner. Jeong Suho, upon hearing his words, irritably threw off his cloak.

Pak! The cloak was slapped onto the floor of the battle room, and he lifted his sweat-soaked tank top to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

Lee Jisung handed him a bottle of vodka, seeing how infuriated he must have been with his furrowed brows and huffing.

“Drink this and cool down. The 2nd brought it today. How did he know you like this?”

“……”

Lee Jisung put his sunglasses back on while watching Jeong Suho snatch the alcohol and chug it straight from the bottle.

“The 1st and 2nd are here. You know that, right?”

Jeong Suho gestured without even looking, indicating that he knew. Lee Jisung leaned against the wall and spoke in a serious tone.

“Suho. Don’t you want to be higher up? Don’t you want to go down soon?”

“……”

He put down the bottle and turned his gaze. Seeing the bottle that was nearly half empty, Lee Jisung smirked and snatched it from his hand, starting to pour it into his own canteen.

“Have you calmed down a bit?”

Nod, Jeong Suho’s fierce expression softened again. As if he had never exploded in anger like that, his expression was calm once more.

Lee Jisung handed him back the cloak that had been slapped on the floor and said:

“It can’t be helped. You said you want to go down. What are you doing staying here so foolishly? You’ve done over 12,000 mock battles without any effect.”

“……”

Seeing Jeong Suho hesitate slightly, Lee Jisung urged him to take the cloak quickly.

As Jeong Suho hesitated for a moment, Lee Jisung’s expression turned cold again.

“You know you can’t do anything in that state, right? Then why so foolishly… I can’t understand what you’re thinking.”

“……”

Jeong Suho slowly reached out and grasped the cloak. Flick, the mock battle room’s lighting automatically turned off as no one had moved for a long time.

Lee Jisung’s eyes glinted coldly.

“I called you here after begging the guild leader. So accept the help as it’s given. Whether it’s the 1st or the 2nd, use them all… and let’s go back to how it was originally.”

Jeong Suho’s blue eyes shone. After pondering for a moment, he finally put the cloak back on and left the mock battle room.