Sometime after the A-Rank Gates start appearing all over the world, a device to measure the magic power of awakeners and Gates is finally developed. Researchers actually have worked on this device for months with the help of production class awakeners like blacksmiths and enchanters.
But they couldn't make decent prototypes that can measure the magic power accurately. The previous prototypes often change the value of magic power they measure even if it's used on the same person or Gate.
It finally stabilizes when they use A-Rank monster cores. Then they get the best result when they use the core of an A-Rank Gate's boss. They publicize this device after making sure it works well, so now countries can use it to measure the power of their awakeners and Gates.
Many countries were researching to make this device. But the first to succeed is the USA that has been recruiting awakeners of different classes very actively. Other wealthy countries also recruited awakeners from other countries, but the USA was bolder at their recruitment.
Furthermore, they are one of the most populated Nations. So they obviously have a high number of awakeners even without recruiting from other countries. Their biggest competitors for the highest number of awakeners gotten from their countries or recruited from outside are China and Russia.
They recruited awakeners from poor countries or countries at war. After all, people from those places will move to get much better lives even if they need to risk their lives. Also, they don't need big wages and only need enough to live, that's why wealthy countries can recruit a lot of awakeners to defend themselves.
But that makes the poor countries lose strong awakeners. They often have monster outbreaks that kill a lot of people. It won't be strange if some small and poor countries will disappear from the map in some years if they keep losing strong awakeners.
'Well, there's no mention of such a thing in the series, be it in the novel, manhwa, or even anime. Maybe it's because the story was focusing too much on Jin Woo. But if we want to protect Earth's future, then we will need to protect as many people as we can. Even in those poor countries, there must be people with great potential."
Indra needs to find those people with great potential and take them to his side. But to do that, he needs wealth and authority. That's why he needs to be a National Level hunter so he will have freedom and won't be used by any country, even his country, Indonesia.
It doesn't mean he will leave the country and not protect it from monsters. He just doesn't want to receive orders from politicians who only think of their wallets' thickness. Also, as a National Level hunter, he will be able to go anywhere he wants and no one can stop him.
"I need to keep getting stronger. I can do everything I want if I have power."
With such determination, Indra continues to raid dungeons every day. But he still needs to gamble when choosing Gates. The device to measure magic power has been created, but it hasn't spread to all countries.
"I guess it will take a rather long time for that device to spread all over the world. Even when the world is in such danger, people's greed is still out of the roof."
The price for magic power measure devices is very high and the USA keeps the production method as a National secret. It's a very understandable action to keep their country safe. Other countries won't have other choices but to maintain a good relationship with them so they can ask for help if something bad happens.
It's probably the reason why they can get a lot of S-Rank Hunters' help to clear the first S-Rank Gate aside from giving a lot of rewards. They can even maintain a good position after more than 100 S-Rank hunters died in the raid.
But that's of no concern for Indra at the moment because he only needs to get stronger for now. He needs to wait until he gets the authority and wealth before he can start recruiting people. With his Awakener skills, he will recruit many strong people to work under him.
While Jin Woo uses the power of the dead, Indra will use the power of living beings. This way, they can get a lot of power to face the Monarchs' armies. Although obviously Indra can't revive his force like Jin Woo.
'Well, Jin Woo can resurrect them if they die. But their strength when they live will affect their shadows' strength, so it's better to recruit as many strong people as possible.'
If even Iron can be that strong while he was just an A-Rank hunter when he was alive, then they will get powerful armies if Jin Woo can use S-Rank hunters' shadows. Although it's better if they don't die, there will surely be casualties in the war against those Monarchs, so they will need to do this.
'But still, I need to try using my Awakener skills so I can understand it more before I start my plan.'
Indra thinks for a while before he gets an idea. He will use his awakener skills on people with potential to be B and C-Rank awakeners. B & C-Rankers have decent power and abilities to keep themselves alive, after all.
So it's better than awakening D & E-Rankers because he will just send them to death. There's still no proper regulation for dungeon raids now because there are still no measurements for hunters' & Gates' magic power in this country. Besides, even when proper regulations have been made, the death rate of E & D-Rankers is still high.
But Indra can't just awaken people willy nilly. He needs to make sure they are of the proper age, and aren't criminals. Those are the most important things he needs to make sure before awakening them. After all, he won't use Soul Contract on them as they are just his test subjects.
'Ugh, experimenting on good people just doesn't feel right. But I don't know any other way to do this.'
Indra is thinking about it while raiding a D-Rank dungeon that appeared near his house. It's just a D-Rank dungeon, but it's still dangerous if he leaves it. After all, the Gate appeared in an empty house as the family living there is going to their grandparents' place, so no one notices the Gate except for Indra.
He can't get enough XP here, but he can do some experiments and train his skills. The skill that he wants to try right away is the Devour skill. These monsters are much weaker than him, so he can try a few things without any worries.
The Devour skill can be used after he kills the monsters or when they are still alive. But he can only use it on living monsters if they are weaker than him. Still, using it on dead and live monsters must give different results and he wants to find it out.
"As I thought, the total amount of XP I got from both methods is different. I get more XP if I use it on them when they are still alive. The Devour skill absorbs their magic power and converts it into XP. Then when the monsters die, I get more XP from killing them. The XP from killing the monsters is the same. But the difference is the XP I got from the Devour skill when I use it on corpses and living monsters."
Indra assumes that it's because of the difference in the amount of magic power that corpses and living monsters have. When they are still alive, they obviously still have a lot of magic power. But when they die, the magic power in their bodies gets released and dispersed.
"I tried using Devour skill on the corpses that have been devoured while they were still alive, but it doesn't work. Seems like Devour skill really takes all their magic power. But I never thought it couldn't be used to kill them. I thought these monsters will die when they lose all their magic power, but they are still alive. Hmm? Does this mean I can Devour awakeners' magic power without killing them? But I don't know if it will take their power permanently or just temporarily."
Indra is pondering about that, but he can't get any answer.
"Hmm, maybe I can try using it on criminals."
Indra clears the D-Rank dungeon while thinking of such a dangerous thing.
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