The Spatial Ability User Who Puts Safety Above All Chapter 2

Absolute Space (1)

Even after defeating the Elite Orc Hunter and figuring out how to open and close the entrance to Absolute Space, Seon Yul did not go outside.

Although it varied depending on rank, once a Gate formed, monsters would usually continue to emerge until the Gate itself was destroyed.

This area wasn’t far from the Gate Management Bureau, so the Gate would undoubtedly be handled quickly. But ‘probably’ wasn’t good enough for Seon Yul. Just in case, he decided to stay inside for at least a few hours before going out.

Instead, he planned to use the time to examine the awakening ability he had obtained.

First of all, mana users commonly called Users became aware of an absolute entity called the System the moment they awakened.

Some people claimed that this System was also responsible for creating the Gates and that humanity was merely being toyed with by it.

But even if that were true, the System was practically an absolute ‘godlike’ existence. There was no way to oppose it. So Users simply accepted reality and adapted.

In any case, the System provided two major things to Users.

The first was the Status Window, which contained personal information.

The second was the Community, which all Users could access.

Seon Yul first examined his Status Window.

[Stigma Level: 5 (49%) (Stigma Points: 1)]
[Unique Ability: Absolute Space <EX> (Level 1)]
[Level Bonus: Lv. 1 → (Upon entering Absolute Space, you gain the ability ‘Hyper Regeneration’; however, it disappears immediately when you leave Absolute Space.)]
[Acquired Abilities: None]

Since it had already been over ten years since Users first appeared, even ordinary civilians roughly understood the basics about them.

Naturally, Seon Yul knew what Level Bonuses and Stigma Points were.

“You get one Stigma Point every five levels… and you gain a Level Bonus every ten levels, right?”

He quietly reread the Level Bonus description.

“Hyper Regeneration? Isn’t that the SSS-ranked awakening ability possessed by the Noblesse-class User ‘Wolverine’?!”

Users operated not under their real names, but under IDs they registered in the Community. Some used their real names, but most chose nicknames.

‘Wolverine’ was the perfect ID for someone with hyper regeneration, and everyone agrees with it.

“So inside this space, I basically have the same ability as Wolverine?”

No matter how many times he reread it, that was indeed what it meant.

“EX rank… Is this something incredible…?”

At this point, Seon Yul realized the rank he had obtained was anything but ordinary.

“Calm down. I’m just a rookie User who awakened today. I can’t get excited.”

He deliberately suppressed his excitement. As someone obsessed with safety, reckless excitement was something he feared most.

“With Stigma Points, I can probably raise the level of my Unique Ability or any Acquired Ability, right?”

After a brief hesitation, Seon Yul cautiously spent his Stigma Point to raise Absolute Space to Level 2.

[Absolute Space has leveled up.]
[The size of Absolute Space increases, and its functions improve.]

Whoooosh.

The moment it leveled up, the space expanded roughly fourfold.

Now it measures about 28 square meters, with a height of 4 meters.

[The maximum weight of external items that can be brought into Absolute Space increases from 100kg to 300kg.]

“Ah… I never even checked the most important part—the detailed ability description.”

Realizing he still didn’t fully understand Absolute Space, Seon Yul hurriedly opened the detailed description.

[Absolute Space <EX> (Level 2)]

[You can create an absolute personal space that no other being may interfere with.
This space belongs to no dimension and will never disappear under any circumstances.
If you close the entrance, it is completely sealed off from the outside immediately, and no entity may enter.]

[Space Size: 28 square meters. Height: 4m (Size and height adjustable by ratio.)]
[Number of Entrances: 1 (An additional entrance unlocks at Level 5.)]
[Emergency Exit: Not set (Can be used once per day. Once designated, the location cannot be changed for one week.)]
[Import Weight Limit: 300kg (0.312kg / 300kg)]
[Additional Functions: None (Unlocked at Level 5)]

“One entrance… a perfectly absolute space that belongs only to me…”

As he read, a genuinely happy smile spread across his face.

“This is amazing!”

This was exactly what he had wanted his entire life.

A personal space where he could be safe from any danger.

“This is seriously incredible!”

He couldn’t stop smiling. He even regretted all the years he had avoided exposure to mana out of fear.

After rereading the details multiple times in bliss, he finally opened the Community.

The Community had two main sections. A Bulletin Board, where all Users could post, and a Mail system, where Users could contact one another.

One convenient feature was that loot obtained from monsters was automatically distributed via mail.

Contribution was calculated precisely and fairly by the System, eliminating disputes over loot division.

[Please create a Community ID.]

Upon clicking the “C” icon at the bottom right of his vision and accessing the Community for the first time, Seon Yul was prompted to create an ID.

“An ID…”

He entered several usernames he had used in online and mobile games before.

However, they all came back marked ‘Already in use.’

“Hmm… what a hassle…”

Staring at the registration window, he absent-mindedly typed something random:

[Creating ID: “AbsoluteSafetyFirst”]

It worked immediately.

“No way… that actually worked?”’

There were already over a million active Users worldwide. Most decent usernames were taken.

He had simply combined ‘Absolute Space’ and his life motto, ‘Safety First, ’ without much thought.

“It doesn’t matter anyway.”

The community ID meant nothing to Seon-yul. He had no desire to become famous and no intention of stepping into the spotlight.

Thus, the ID didn’t mean much.

Once the ID was created, he could finally access the Community.

The first thing greeting him was System Mail.

The loot from the Elite Orc Hunter had already arrived in real time.

[Elite Orc Hunter Loot]

[Black Iron Greatsword (Unique), Intermediate-Grade Mana Stone 1.6kg, Elite Orc Fang x1]

“Uh… did I just hit the jackpot?”

The moment he checked the loot list, he sensed it.

While it was his first time receiving loot personally, he had studied enough to understand item grades:

Common → Magic → Rare → Unique → Legendary → Mythic

Naturally, the higher the grade, the more valuable the item. Even Unique-grade items alone sold for enormous sums.

Prices easily reached hundreds of millions of won, and particularly desirable ones could sell for far more.

But this was a unique grade.

The starting price alone was well over ten billion won.

In reality, it would take tens of billions to secure one, assuming it even appeared on the market at all.

“This is insane.”

As he claimed the items, a massive dark greatsword that seemed to absorb light, a small pouch containing the mana stone, and a palm-sized fang materialized before him.

“Intermediate-grade mana stones are going for ₩100 million per kilogram these days, right?”

A mana stone was crystallized mana, a dense, compressed mass of magical energy.

In recent years, the field of magitech has risen to immense popularity. Using mana stones to create all kinds of devices and systems was collectively known as magical engineering, and its applications were countless.

Magitech products were steadily transforming everyday life. In fact, humanity had grown so dependent on mana stones that some even joked they should fear the disappearance of the Gates altogether.

“So that’s 160 million won from this alone? Wow… elite monsters really are something.”

All of this had come from slaying a single elite monster. Still, it was rare for an elite kill to produce such a lucrative payout.

The 1.6 kilograms of intermediate-grade mana stone and the elite orc fang were fairly standard drops. The real difference was the Black Iron Greatsword. A Unique-grade item with an extremely low drop rate, which was what made this haul extraordinary.

Without it, the reward would have been fairly average.

“I feel dizzy… this almost feels like a dream.”

He had already pinched his cheeks multiple times.

He browsed the Bulletin Board briefly, but the posts didn’t register in his mind.

Seon Yul remained sitting still in Absolute Space for several more hours.

He noticed several things:

The temperature was perfectly comfortable, neither hot nor cold. And the air was always fresh and clean.

Since the entrance was closed, his phone functioned as if in airplane mode, but he could still check the time.

“Has it been about ten hours?”

Given the Gate’s location and scale, it was highly likely the situation had been resolved within an hour. Even so, Seon Yul remained inside for another nine hours, just to be safe.

So what had happened outside during that time?

***

8 Hours Ago

“It’s mostly wrapped up.”

On the rooftop of a high-rise building overlooking the incident site, Team Leader Kim Ho-young stepped down from the railing after receiving the report, cigarette smoke trailing in the air.

“How far did the mana field spread?”

“Fortunately, the field covered an unusually small area for a Gate of this rank. Damage was minimal.”

The mana field destroyed all electronics within its range. Usually, it stabilized around ten minutes after Gate creation, but in this case, the affected area was unusually narrow.

“No elite monsters discovered?”

“No, sir. That might explain the narrow mana field… But, strangely, a C++ Gate had no elite monsters at all.”

“Hmmm… Could an unidentified User nearby have taken care of it?”

“Unlikely. To eliminate an elite that quickly, you’d need at least a Hunter-class User. The odds that an unidentified Hunter-class just happened to be present are extremely low.”

“True.”

Kim Ho Young nodded.

“Casualties?”

“No fatalities. One critically injured, seven minor injuries. One missing person under investigation.”

“For a C++ Gate in the middle of downtown, that’s remarkably low.”

“Probably thanks to the narrow mana field.”

“Well, low damage is good enough. Set up a perimeter and hand it over to general recovery. Let’s wrap it up.”

“The recovery team’s overloaded. They probably won’t deploy until tomorrow.”

“Once we hand it off, we’re done. Tomorrow or the day after, it’s their problem.”

Kim Ho Young’s Gate Response Team 7 handled E to C-rank Gates.

“Understood.”

As his subordinate went downstairs, Kim lit another cigarette.

“Still, this anomaly needs to be reported.”

A C++ Gate without elite monsters.

He decided to submit it as an anomaly detection report.