Kael remained silent for a while, quietly organizing everything he had learned. The amount of information Jonas had revealed today was enough to overturn almost everything he thought he knew about the world.
After taking a slow breath, he finally looked at Jonas.
"I know there’s a reason you’re telling me all of this," Kael said. "But before we continue, there are a few questions I’d like to ask, if you don’t mind."
Jonas smiled faintly and nodded without hesitation. "Of course. I was already expecting that."
Kael remained quiet for another moment before asking his first question.
"How has the Association managed to protect the Safe Zone all these years?" he asked. "From everything you’ve told me, there’s an enormous wilderness outside these walls filled with countless monsters. Monsters are naturally hostile toward humans, so shouldn’t we have been facing endless beast hordes by now? Yet I’ve never heard of anything on that scale happening."
Jonas couldn’t help letting out a quiet chuckle.
"It wasn’t anything complicated," he replied. "We simply used the monsters’ own instincts against them."
Kael frowned, unable to understand what he meant.
Seeing the confusion on his face, Jonas continued.
"A few decades ago, the Association negotiated with several powerful solitary monsters and reached an agreement with them. We allowed them to establish their territories around the outer perimeter of the Safe Zone."
He smiled slightly.
"There is no better monster repellent than another monster."
Kael’s brows slowly knitted together as he thought about it, but only for a few seconds before realization dawned on him.
It was common knowledge that monsters were incredibly territorial creatures. Once a powerful monster claimed an area as its territory, weaker monsters instinctively avoided it. It was an instinct engraved into them, one born from countless years of survival.
Using that instinct as a defensive wall...
It was a surprisingly brilliant idea.
In other words, the Association had used monsters to guard humanity... from other monsters.
Of course, at first glance, the plan sounded extremely dangerous. What if those powerful monsters suddenly decided to attack the Safe Zone instead?
But the more Kael thought about it, the more he realized the likelihood of that happening was actually quite low.
The stronger a monster became, the greater its intelligence. High-ranking monsters were no longer mindless beasts driven purely by instinct. They were capable of reason, negotiation, and understanding mutual benefits. Otherwise, the Association would never have been able to strike a deal with them in the first place.
Even if one of them someday chose to break the agreement, dealing with a handful of powerful monsters was still infinitely better than facing countless monster hordes pouring endlessly out of the wilderness.
The Association had simply chosen the lesser of two dangers.
It was a gamble.
One that had apparently paid off.
Satisfied with the explanation, Kael raised his head again.
"My second question."
Jonas gestured for him to continue.
"Earlier, you mentioned something called a Pioneer." Kael looked directly at him. "Is that the realm above S Rank?"
Jonas nodded, although his expression quickly became uncertain.
"You could say that."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"But to be honest... even I don’t know the full details."
Kael looked at him in surprise.
"I only know that Hunters who surpass S Rank are referred to as Pioneers. Beyond that, I don’t know what that realm truly represents or what qualifications are needed to reach it. Those matters are kept at a level far above my authority."
Kael couldn’t help frowning.
Originally, he had assumed the ranks would simply continue upward.
SS Rank.
SSS Rank.
Just like skills, talents, and equipment followed the same ranking system.
Apparently, Hunters were different.
Or perhaps the truth was simply hidden from people at Jonas’ level.
Either way, there was little point dwelling on it.
He slowly nodded.
"That answers everything I wanted to know."
The room fell silent once again.
Jonas looked at Kael for several seconds before his expression gradually became serious.
"Good."
He leaned forward slightly.
"Then what I’m about to tell you next isn’t simply classified information."
"It is a request."
"A request directly from the Association President."
Kael’s eyes widened.
"...The Association President?"
Jonas nodded.
The simple confirmation caused Kael’s mind to tremble.
The Association President.
To this day, almost nobody knew who that person actually was. His identity had never been revealed to the public, and there wasn’t a single confirmed photograph or piece of information regarding him.
Yet despite remaining hidden for decades, his reputation had spread throughout every Safe Zone.
Everyone knew one thing.
He was unimaginably powerful.
Throughout the past fifty years, countless powerful guilds had risen and fallen. Extraordinary Hunters had appeared one after another, and influential organizations had emerged across the Safe Zone.
Yet not a single one had ever dared challenge the Association’s authority.
That alone spoke volumes.
The strength supporting the Association was enough to silence every ambitious individual.
Which left Kael with only one question.
Why would someone like that take an interest in him?
Seeing the look on Kael’s face, Jonas began explaining.
"About five years ago, a Rift appeared."
"It wasn’t an ordinary Rift."
"The energy signature it emitted was unlike anything the Association had ever recorded before."
"As always, we immediately dispatched an exploration team to investigate."
His voice became noticeably heavier.
"When they returned..."
"They brought back a report that stunned everyone."
Jonas looked directly into Kael’s eyes.
"The Rift contained no monsters."
Kael blinked.
"No monsters?"
Jonas nodded.
"There were no mountains. No forests. No cities. No oceans."
"There was nothing."
"When the exploration team entered, they found themselves standing inside an endless white space."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"And within that white world..."
"There was only a single door."
Kael listened quietly as Jonas continued.
"Naturally, the Association had ordered another team to investigate what lay beyond it."
"When they opened the door and stepped through, they found themselves in an unfamiliar location."
"It wasn’t another region of the same Rift."
"It was an entirely different place."
"And right before them..."
"There was another Rift."
Kael frowned, but before he could ask anything, Jonas continued.
"That wasn’t the strange part."
"The truly unbelievable discovery came moments later."
He took a slow breath.
"It turned out that our Safe Zone wasn’t the only one that had received that mysterious Door Rift."
"The other three surviving human Safe Zones had each discovered an identical Rift."
"And when their exploration teams stepped through their own doors..."
"They all arrived at that exact same location."