If this Gate is a copy of a destroyed dimension as Ray said, it also explains why the same monsters appeared in Gates so far.
So in this ‘Serena’s Ice Palace’ too, monsters that came out in other Gates might appear. If we could just figure out what dimension this is, we might be able to refer to other Gate conquests.
—Although it might be a completely different dimension with just a similar environment.
‘Still, there’s a possibility, right?’
We’d be able to judge more certainly if we saw the monsters, but unfortunately, I was a porter positioned at the very rear.
The conquest team moved in the order of support team (exploration group) – conquest team – support team (standby group) – porters, and since we were moving in the safest place, we couldn’t see any battles happening in front at all.
If I were a real porter, I’d be grateful for this consideration, but there was too little information.
But I couldn’t break this set formation either. The area where we spawned was the middle point of the snow mountain. Not only was the wind blowing fiercely along the mountain range a problem, but there were many narrow paths where one wrong step could make you roll down.
In such paths, we had to cross carefully one by one, so the moving speed slowed down considerably. Although the porters were also awakeners of at least 3-Circle, moving with luggage wasn’t an easy task.
No matter what happened in front, moving safely with the luggage on our backs. That was precisely the role of porters.
Whether battles were happening in front or not, the porters just moved stolidly.
Perhaps because of the cold numbing to the fingertips, with thick clothes on and refraining from talking now, all the porters did was move, eat, and rest.
“Rest!”
At the captain’s words, the porters stopped.
“Meal!”
Following the order, I took out dried rations from the bag at my side. Everyone took out burners to melt water and sprinkled boiling water on the dried rations to eat in a stew format.
Maybe because it was Sirius, even the Gate dried rations were quite good. The ones I ate when I was doing Gate mining work seemed like ground stone powder.
I scanned the surroundings while sipping the stew in a pouch.
There were traces of battle all around. I heard sounds from the front earlier, so it seems there was a battle.
Traces of melted and scorched fire. And even cliff rocks that had fallen off from someone’s strikes.
Unfortunately, no traces of monsters remained. They must have all been collected by the middle group, or perhaps they were monsters that didn’t leave a form behind.
As soon as the meal was over, the captain shouted:
“Move forward again!”
We packed up our luggage. I glanced at Han Seo-hyeon. It was quite a grueling march for Han Seo-hyeon to endure. The disadvantage was that I couldn’t check his complexion because of the mask. Han Seo-hyeon gave a hand signal that he was fine at my gaze.
Nothing special happened until that night. After descending the steep cliff, we found a place where everyone could rest.
It was a terrain with the snow mountain firmly backing us, enough for over a hundred people to stay, and open space in front. If there was a river flowing beside, it would have been a perfect terrain for defense, but unfortunately, there was no river.
Still, there couldn’t be a better terrain for spending tonight. Although there was still quite some time before sunset, the rest order was given, probably judging that we couldn’t find better terrain than this.
Now it’s the porters’ turn. I took out equipment from the luggage I was carrying on my back.
Actually, the heaviest things among the luggage the porters carried were materials for building this accommodation. Although it’s temporary accommodation, it has all sorts of defense circuits engraved so it can serve as a bunker.
I’ve become quite confident in my handiness lately while crafting artifacts, so I moved following people while scanning the surroundings.
Actually, it wasn’t even that difficult. When I took out panels separated from the luggage, they stuck together neatly as if magic was engraved. The panels I made would become the walls of the accommodation. Meanwhile, other porters in charge of pillars and floors quickly built the frame of the accommodation. I passed the completed panels over there.
In an instant, a quite decent temporary accommodation was built. About 40 such accommodations were built like that.
Inside the accommodation, everything was comfortably prepared to an unbelievable degree for being inside a Gate. There were even beds to lie down and rest, tables, and even bathrooms where showers were possible.
It was a bonus that it looked much sturdier than the tent I stayed in before building the base.
I glanced towards where Yoo Seon-je’s conquest group was. The accommodation built there was so amazing it wouldn’t envy a penthouse. Compared to the porters’ accommodations unified in beige color, that side was truly splendid. There were even windows to look outside. The size was also much larger than other accommodations, seeming to have several rooms.
Although we entered the Gate together, the positions of me as a porter and Yoo Seon-je belonging to the conquest group were tremendously different.
For now, I couldn’t even properly see that handsome face.
Certainly, Yoo Seon-je is an amazing guy to receive such treatment.
‘Even so, he won’t be able to conquer this Gate.’
I wanted to examine the faces around him, but it was too far to see without using mana.
In the end, giving up on examining the conquest group, I entered the porter accommodation with Han Seo-hyeon. Fortunately, the porter accommodation was 2 people per room.
I firmly closed the door.
“Ugh, I’m dying.”
Han Seo-hyeon groaned as soon as he saw me. It’s amazing that he endured this far.
“Any information?”
“Hmm, nothing special has come up so far. The snow certainly makes it hard to secure visibility. And people walked with their mouths tightly shut.”
“It wasn’t a good situation to get information.”
“That’s right. We’ll have to hope for some conversations tonight.”
“Yeah.”
The biggest advantage of the rat minions is that they can eavesdrop on conversations between people. There wasn’t much gain on the way because people kept their mouths shut even because of the cold, but tonight will be different.
Because this accommodation has melted people’s hearts.
“At first I didn’t believe that Sirius would be greatly shaken if this conquest fails, but certainly, if a conquest of this scale fails, the blow would be big.”
Even to Han Seo-hyeon, who was experiencing a Gate conquest for the first time, Sirius’ conquest team seemed impressive. Certainly, even just the things given to the porters today give a feeling of strong backing.
“This conquest is no different from a test for Vice Guild Master Jin Yeon-hwa.”
“A test?”
At those words, I realized Han Seo-hyeon needed a detailed explanation. Well, there’s quite some time left until we get proper information anyway.
It wouldn’t be bad to give a history lesson.
“Do you know how Sirius became the best guild in Korea now?”
Han Seo-hyeon nodded at my words.
There’s no one who doesn’t know about the Jin family who founded and led Sirius. It’s natural since the history of that Jin family is closely intertwined with the history of Korea.
Sirius, previously known as Polaris, was founded by Jin Yong-seok. He’s the paternal grandfather of the current Vice Guild Master Jin Yeon-hwa.
“Hunter Jin Yong-seok was an incredibly strong hunter himself. On top of that, he manipulated the political scene at will. As a reliable hero figure appearing in chaotic times, all of Korea admired him.”
Hunter Jin Yong-seok was truly the textbook example of what a righteous guild master should be, presented by the world.
Honestly, if you compare abilities, he’s a cheat character to the point where you’d be speechless.
A hunter strong enough to be counted among the top ten in Korea while also having excellent political sense and management skills?
Moreover, Korea at that time was in a period of chaos. Because it was when Gates had just appeared. It was Jin Yong-seok who suppressed all that chaos.
The guild created by him, who was admired by everyone, was Polaris.
“But even Jin Yong-seok couldn’t overcome the passage of time. The one who took over the guild next was Jin Yong-seok’s son, Jin Kang-hoon.”
But unfortunately, Jin Kang-hoon wasn’t as outstanding as Jin Yong-seok. His ability as a hunter, his political sense, and his judgment in operating the guild. Nothing was satisfactory to Jin Yong-seok.
Of course, as they say there’s no sage under a famous father, Jin Kang-hoon was also someone who met the basics to some extent. But unfortunately, his father was Jin Yong-seok, a once-in-a-century genius, and he began to directly educate his ‘lacking’ son.
And this choice led to terrible consequences.
“Hunter Jin Kang-hoon died in an accident…”
“No, he took his own life. It’s a story only known to those who know.”
I heard it from Seol Rok-jin. Seol Rok-jin liked to tell me old stories that only he knew.
I was quite surprised when I heard this story too. Jin Kang-hoon was only 33 years old when he died.
“When Jin Kang-hoon died, his daughter Jin Yeon-hwa was only eleven years old.”
Did Jin Yong-seok, who drove his son to death, regret? Did Jin Yeon-hwa, who lost her father, resent her grandfather Jin Yong-seok? Well, even Seol Rok-jin didn’t tell me that far.
He only told me what happened next.
“Jin Yong-seok designated Jin Yeon-hwa as his successor.”
“She was only eleven years old?”
“Although Jin Yeon-hwa couldn’t become an awakener, she was born with Jin Yong-seok’s management skills and political abilities instead. Moreover, she was Jin Yong-seok’s only remaining bloodline.”
The method Jin Yong-seok chose was to attach as many of his talents to Jin Yeon-hwa as possible. At that time, Polaris was undoubtedly the best guild in Korea, and all the talents in Korea wanted to belong to Polaris.
Jin Yong-seok tried to make them thoroughly his people, and Jin Yeon-hwa’s people.
“At least the people who entered Polaris while Jin Yong-seok was alive, the so-called Jin Yong-seok kids, followed Jin Yeon-hwa. Because they were people whose lives were saved by Jin Yong-seok many times.”
The seeds Jin Yong-seok sowed grew well. There were countless people whose lives were saved by him, and countless people who finished their studies with his money. Jin Yong-seok tried to make them recognize ‘Jin Yeon-hwa’ as their master, but those touched by Jin Yong-seok’s hand only wanted to follow Jin Yong-seok.
“There was no problem at all. Anyway, the owner of Polaris was Jin Yong-seok, and Jin Yeon-hwa was his granddaughter. But problems arose when Jin Yong-seok collapsed five years ago.”
With Jin Yong-seok collapsing due to villains’ attacks, Jin Yeon-hwa had to support the massive guild Polaris at the young age of just twenty-six.
The ‘Jin Yong-seok’s children’ filling the guild were her allies, but at the same time her enemies. To make this guild completely ‘hers’, she needed new talent to keep Jin Yong-seok kids in check.
“The start of that new talent is precisely Yoo Seon-je. There were many hunters with quite good potential before, but none as great as Yoo Seon-je.”
That’s why Yoo Seon-je is important. That’s why Seol Rok-jin targeted Yoo Seon-je.
Han Seo-hyeon, who heard my words, tilted his head as if it was difficult.
“They’re grandfather’s people anyway, and it’s a guild inherited from grandfather, is there a need to be at odds like that?”
At those words, I smiled bitterly.
“Judging by the fact that she changed the name from Polaris to Sirius, it seems she couldn’t completely forgive her grandfather who caused her father’s death.”
People often think Polaris is the brightest, but actually the brightest star in the night sky is Sirius, the Dog Star.
There must be a reason why she changed the guild name Polaris, which she named with the meaning of ‘always moving in the right direction’.