Chapter 6: Echoes of the Fallen World
The immediate aftermath of the first Gate's eruption was a chaotic symphony of sirens, panicked shouts, and the guttural roars of creatures that defied earthly biology. For Kang Ji-hoon, however, it was a deluge of raw data, a violent surge of spatial distortions and corrupted mana signatures that overloaded his senses. His mental maps of the subway station and its surroundings fractured and reformed, struggling to accommodate the impossible geometry of the dimensional tear.
His "Spatial Echo Projection" flickered wildly, painting fleeting, nightmarish images of the alien landscape visible through the Gate – twisted, organic structures pulsing with malevolent energy, and the grotesque forms of the goblins and other low-rank monsters spilling forth. The air itself vibrated with an unnatural frequency, a spatial dissonance that grated on his very being.
Despite the sensory overload, Ji-hoon focused, his analytical mind overriding the primal instinct to flee. He activated [Spatial Sense Amplification], pushing his perception to its limits, attempting to map the immediate spatial dynamics of the Gate and the movement patterns of the emerging creatures. The world around him seemed to slow, the chaotic movements resolving into discernible trajectories, the flow of corrupted mana becoming almost visible as a sickly green haze.
His [Resonance Analyzer] screamed with conflicting data, the energy signatures emanating from the Gate and the monsters unlike anything he had previously encountered. He recalibrated the device on the fly, attempting to isolate specific frequencies and identify any discernible patterns within the chaos. The initial readings suggested a highly unstable spatial conduit, fluctuating wildly in size and energy output, making any long-term predictions difficult.
Using his [Spatial Distortion Field (Advanced)], Ji-hoon subtly warped the air around his observation post, creating minor refractive distortions that helped to conceal his presence from any stray monsters that might possess rudimentary senses beyond the visual. He remained a silent observer, prioritizing information gathering over direct engagement.
The initial human response was exactly as his fragmented future memories had predicted: confusion, terror, and a desperate scramble for safety. He watched as ordinary citizens, caught unawares, became the first victims of this sudden invasion. The local authorities were overwhelmed, their conventional weaponry utterly ineffective against the otherworldly threats.
Then, the first flickers of awakening began. He could sense subtle shifts in the mana signatures of certain individuals in the vicinity, a nascent resonance with the alien energy pouring through the Gate. These were the first hunters, their latent abilities stirring in response to the crisis. He mentally tagged their locations, noting the raw, untrained nature of their power.
One individual, a young man with a determined expression amidst the chaos, exhibited a particularly strong and stable mana signature. Ji-hoon's "Future Echoes" flickered, a fleeting image of this young man wielding a simple knife with surprising agility. Sung Jinwoo. The name resonated with a chilling familiarity.
[So, it begins. The Weakest Hunter… his awakening is different this time. I can sense a latent potential far beyond what the early reports described.]
Ji-hoon activated [Spatial Echo Projection (Intermediate)], focusing on the area directly around the Gate. Faint, ghostly afterimages of the spatial stresses that had led to the tear materialized, revealing a complex interplay of dimensional forces, almost like invisible currents colliding and tearing the fabric of reality. He began to mentally map these forces, seeking patterns and potential points of instability that might be exploited later.
The initial wave of low-rank goblins was quickly followed by other grotesque creatures – dire wolves with glowing eyes, lumbering ogres with crude weapons. The power level within the Gate seemed to fluctuate, hinting at a larger, more dangerous presence lurking within.
[The scale… it's larger than I anticipated. The corrupted mana signature is intensifying. This isn't just a minor incursion.]
As the first awakened hunters began to engage the monsters, their raw, untamed abilities clashing against the alien invaders, Ji-hoon continued his silent observation. He analyzed their fighting styles, the nature of their awakened powers, and their effectiveness against the different types of monsters. This real-time data was invaluable, filling in the gaps in his fragmented future memories.
The chaos raged around him, the cries of the dying mingling with the roars of the invaders and the desperate shouts of the newly awakened. But within his mind, Kang Ji-hoon was charting a different kind of map – a map of the unfolding catastrophe, a cartography of the nascent hunter world. The first tremor had shaken reality, and the Cartographer of Fate was meticulously documenting every ripple. The age of Gates had truly begun, and his five years of preparation were about to be put to the ultimate test, not on the battlefield, but in the intricate understanding of a world irrevocably changed.