The Summoner's Rebirth: Awaken, Milady

Chapter 6: An Unexpected Encounter

"Ah! I don't need everything, just something to.. cover up with," Aria clarified, realizing how weird it sounded.

Il-hoon was a bit taken aback, but he quickly realized the reason she said that and took off his jacket. The woman was naked, possibly because of another battle. As his savior, even if she told him to strip down completely, he would do it without a doubt.

The length of the coat covered her body from shoulders down to her knees.

The lack of undergarments was a little discomforting, but she had to deal with it for the time being.

Il-hoon's gaze went back to his two fallen comrades. They weren't dead yet, but there was no chance of them surviving.

"..That, aren't you going to do anything about it?" Aria saw the aggrieved look on Il-hoon's face and asked.

"It's.. too late. This place is pretty far from the main city. Normal hospitals won't be able to take care of injuries made by dungeon monsters of rank D or above. Not to mention, it's so severe... I'm going to mourn here for a while before going back. Thank you for saving me," Il-hoon was still absorbed in his own mind and did not question why Aria was unaware of such basic knowledge for hunters, especially one of her caliber.

"..Well, that's too bad. Can you get out of this gate alone?" Aria felt some sympathy and offered.

The location they were in right now was not far from the entrance. If the man wanted, she could escort him.

It wouldn't hurt her anyway. She took their sword and a coat that helped her solve her naked problem.

"Yes, since we passed the substage phase, the gate's entrance will be opened for a short while. Savior-nim, are you not going to..?" Il-hoon wanted to ask if Aria really wanted to continue.

C-ranked gates weren't meant to be cleared alone. Aria's decision to stay in the dungeon meant that she wanted to subjugate it by herself.

That was a stupid idea.

"I have some unfinished business here. Ah, could I borrow some money? The carcasses of those guys, I'll give it to you,"

"Ah.. ahh, of course, that's not a big deal at all," Il-hoon was shocked to see how Aria wasn't interested in the wolves' leftovers at all.

Then, it clicked.

Aria was clearly a high-ranked hunter. One that was enough to take care of a C-ranked dungeon by herself.

Sure enough, she was leagues above him. Taking care of 50 wolves alone, whereas they couldn't even handle it with three people.

But why did she want money?

If she was that powerful of a hunter, she could've just came back to the Association and report her journey, no?

"To answer your question, I'm not from this place. I need money to go back and reunite with my comrades. Not Korean,"

Il-hoon was still heavily affected by the death of two of his brothers. Perhaps, that was what made him susceptible with Aria's words.

Although it sounded convincing, those who listened and paid attention to the information clearly would know that something was amiss.

Yoo Jin, who did exactly that, couldn't help but gaze at Aria in a strange way.

Aria offered to do light treatment with Dianthe's power.

"Perhaps it might ease their sufferings," After receiving an agreement from Il-hoon, Aria proceeded to clean up their wounds and try to heal the wounded parts.

'Dianthe, how much regenerative power do you have right now?' Even back in her time, a water spirit's regenerative power was well known to be one of the best out of all elemental spirits, standing side by side with nature and light spirits.

Dianthe, who lent its water element to Aria could only shake her head.

Their condition was critical. The current Dianthe wouldn't be able to save them.

It was impossible, after all.

"That should be it," Aria removed her spells and wiped off nonexistent sweat.

Even after making large movements here and there, her body didn't feel sore at all.

'..But my movements after I woke up degraded. Why, after all the fighting I've done, is my body unaffected?'

'Come to think of it...' Aria looked over to her status and reviewed the [Tempered Body] skill.

Her status was wiped clean, she started from the very beginning.

She could only think of one thing that must've caused this to appear.

The Unity Flame that burned her to no ends.

True enough, if she didn't make any changes even after being burned for that long, it'd be weirder.

Her body felt purified. It was as if she was released from any restrictions. If she wasn't wrong, the prowess she showed earlier was also affected by this skill. Even if she used to be able to perform huge feats, she had been stagnant for thousands upon thousands of years, her lack of practice should have made the skill be rusty.

'It was subconsciously activated.' It was the only conclusion she could draw.

Before fighting, she still felt a strange disconnection between her mind and the movements she made, but the current her had perfect synchronization.

She had never thought of tinkering with that skill, but her actions were affected.

'Then, that so - called <Adapter> power..' Aria didn't know what the other thing did.

'It must've had some kind of effect, though.'

<Adapter>.

What did it mean?

Adapting to situations?

Was she granted that title because her body literally adapted to thousands of seasons? Went through the trials of time, which was known to be the trial one dreaded the most?

Overcoming the endless pain and loneliness.

Even if the source was determined...

What was the power?

Or perhaps her ability to retrieve her fighting prowess without much drawbacks was due to this <Adapter> title?

Aria was silent as she continuously thought about it.

"..Thank you, savior-nim. Here is the money. I just want to apologize in behalf of our trio for not adhering to the association's rules.. By the looks of it, savior-nim seems to be experienced with helping foolish hunters like us. I.. will stop being a hunter,"

"If any of us dies, the rest won't follow, but their status as a hunter would die. It was something that we promised," Il-hoon emptied his small magic pouch, clearing it from his personal items, leaving only money inside, and handed it to Aria.

A logical promise. They've worked together forever, suddenly losing a member would be too painful to continue on like always.

"Don't worry too much about it. I have tried to stop the worsening of the injuries. If you truly desire to have a last hope, run back with great vigor. Though I don't know where that hope would lead you to, I wish you the best of luck,"

"Miss seems to be a strange one,"

"Your sword skills and the strengthening is a Power - type Main, but the water spirits' summoning is part of the Control group," the child continued. His expression warped to that of a cheeky spawn of evil.

'Main?' Aria thought about the possible meaning of the word and caught on to the contexts.

'Main should be what they call the powers. But, saying 'Power - type' and 'Control group'... That sort of classification never took place in my time.'

The only thing needed was aptitudes. If you had high aptitude, you can control most of the elements.

Just like what Aria did. Going around and trying to master everything that came into her sight.

"I was waiting for miss to say that her powers came for runes, but it seems to me that you don't even know about it. Miss, where did you come from?" The kid smiled. It gave off a creepy feeling, like he was trying to pierce through Aria just by staring.

"..Runes?"

"Do you really not know?" This time, Yoo Jin was genuinely surprised. He thought that she knew about it. He guessed the reason to be something like: she was too wealthy that she didn't need to scour for one, or that she was too strong that she no longer needed a C-ranked rune.

Aria's features were exquisite. Her skin was as smooth as pearl, although slightly pale. Her hair was silky smooth and looked healthy. Her facial features were endearing and pleasing to look at. Although she was on the skinny side, the power she showed was unbefitting of her physique. She did not look like she went through the harsh trials of life.

Yoo Jin's first impression was a wealthy young lady.

"I am someone from a lineage of people who live deep within the mountains. We excel in swordsmanship, but the Main I got was more of a magic type.. My family didn't approve, so I ran away,"

'God, it's such a pain trying to cover up. I already got my money, so should I just..?' Aria's thoughts wandered off to the negative side. The kid before her was a nuisance. Now that she had regained a water spirit, killing the kid off would be easy.

"Then, what you said to the man just now was wrong, huh?" Yoo Jin had recorded their past conversations. Aria told the man that her current state was because of a gate she just took down, but her statement contradicted that.

"That part- I wasn't lying when I said I destroyed a gate right before this," Aria coughed. She was confident in her ability to continue her lies. She only needed to not mess up.

"May I ask your name?"

"..Aria. Aria Schreiner," The kid in front of her was probably the only one who knew about her name in this huge world.

"Miss is not South Korean? Your features are pretty sharp, but I didn't think that you were foreign... Anyways, I am called Yoo Jin," Yoo Jin introduced himself, lifting his right hand to offer a handshake.

'South Korean.. the name of this country, I suppose.' Aria had to be aware of everything he said. Picking up small clues would help her to familiarize herself with the absurd changes that happened.

'It would be easier if I could just tell my true story and form a cooperation with him, but I can't trust him fully. Ah, maybe memory loss was a better excuse? I messed up...' Aria felt dejected. She lost her golden chance.

As Aria was having an internal strife, Yoo Jin continued observing her.

"Miss Aria, do you know about the existence of <Players>?" Yoo Jin asked.