Was his mana really limitless?
Obviously not, okay?
Min-Jun had been using his Manager to try to find a way to increase his mana or grow his physical ability, like how the system in Jin-Woo's body could increase Jin-Woo's physical ability by putting points into the strength, intelligence, agility, vitality, and senses stats like a character in a video game.
Was it impossible?
No, it was possible somehow.
Yes, it was possible!
In the canon Solo Leveling universe, this is impossible. A Hunter's mana capacity is fixed at birth. You can train your muscles or skills, but your "Mana Rank" (S, A, B, C, D, E) never changes unless you experience a rare "Re-Awakening."
However, because Min-Jun had an "AI-like ability" (Manager), he was the only exception besides Sung Jin-Woo. He was effectively a "glitch" in the world's logic.
Sung Jin-Woo's levelling was explosive and obvious (he went from E-Rank to S-Rank in months).
For Min-Jun, who was an S-Rank originally, to go beyond that, the first thing he did was to compress his mana. Normal Hunters leak mana constantly. His Manager helped him to "compress" his mana.
Instead of "Leveling Up," his Manager optimized his mana density.
Unlike the other S-Rank Hunters who were constantly leaking out their mana, despite having the same rank output, his 'fuel tank' was 10x deeper than Choi Jong-In's.
Even if those S-Rank Hunters in his surroundings might have had a better experience, he could outlast everyone, as he had the most energy.
Also, this was the reason why his scent was neutral like a morning dew in front of Hai-In's nose, and made her unable to look away from him.
Still, if there was a difference, it was that Jin-Woo had strict Daily Quests, such as a 10km run and various other things, but for Min-Jun, there was no need for it, as all he had to do was absorb the mana in his surroundings so that he could grow stronger.
However, while he might say that it was easy, it wasn't as easy as he had thought it to be, since to create the replica of the system, he needed time, and he wasn't sure how long it would take, since the Architect, the creator of the system, Kandiaru, needed eons to create it.
While the "Manager" could help him make up for the trial and error, it still needed time, so without a doubt, he hoped for Jin-Woo to get his system as soon as possible, as that way, he could ask the "Manager" to analyze Jin-Woo's system and recreate a better one without any risks of being taken over by the Monarchs or many other things.
For now, it was fine for him to compress his mana, so he had more fuel, but he knew that if he wanted to take the next step, without being afraid of the threats that came from either the Monarchs or the Rulers, he had to think of a way, thinking or else, his only way was to become the peak of the S-Rank Hunter, so that way, he wouldn't attract the attention of the Monarchs or the Rulers, hiding under the protection of Jin-Woo.
Still, such a thing was far away, and his focus should be on his test, which was the combat test.
As Min-Jin had said before, his class was an 'Archer', so the evaluators brought out an S-Rank reinforced target dummy (made of high-grade monster bone) positioned 100 meters away.
"Please demonstrate your maximum piercing power on the target, Hunter-nim."
The staff member, who was on the side, also came to him and asked, "Do you need to borrow a bow, Hunter-nim?"
"No, it's fine."
Even if his rank was an archer, Min-Jin didn't really need a bow or an arrow, as frankly, it took up a lot of space, but while the arrow was troublesome, he didn't mind holding a bow, as it was cool.
Yup, cool.
He knew that his reason was shallow, but he couldn't help it, okay?
He was a boy, after all.
Regardless, while everyone was confused, they stepped back, wondering what Min-Jun wanted to do.
Would he summon a bow?
After all, some Hunters were born with a unique skill, such as Baek Yoonho, who could transform into a white tiger.
Still, Min-Jun didn't even take his stance. He kept one in his pocket, but at that moment, he summoned a single, glowing blue arrow made of pure, compressed mana. It hovered next to his head.
Manager directly used the auto-aim function for his arrow, then—
Snap!
Min-Jun snapped his fingers.
The arrow broke the sound barrier instantly. It didn't just pierce the dummy; it vaporized the top half of it, blew a hole through the reinforced concrete wall behind it, and continued out into the sky.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMM!
The shockwave shatters the reinforced glass of the VIP viewing gallery.
"....." Everyone.
Still, everyone wasn't the only one who was surprised, but Min-Jun was also dumbfounded.
'Hmm, Manager...'
[Yes?]
'Am I that powerful?'
[No.]
"..." Min-Jun.
[You can be more powerful than that, but if you give your all, you might destroy some parts of the city, so we decrease the input of your mana slightly.]
'....thank you.'
Rubbing his chin, Min-Jun realized that he was stronger than he had imagined, yet when he thought of the opponents that he had to face, as the Monarchs and the Rulers could even manipulate the universe to a certain extent, for an S-Rank Hunter to be able to destroy a city should be acceptable and understandable, right?
Still, Min-Jun couldn't help but glance at Lim Tae-Gyu, the number one S-Rank Archer in South Korea. Their eyes met, and he smiled, but Tae-Gyu dropped his coffee cup, as he knew in that exact second that he was now the second-best archer in Korea, and the gap between the number one and two was the size of an ocean.
As the smoke cleared, the VIPs, who had recovered quickly, rushed down to the floor, and before Min-Jun could even say anything, the bidding war started before they even left the testing room.
"PLEASE JOIN OUR GUILD! WE WILL MAKE YOU OUR VICE PRESIDENT RIGHT AWAY!"
"White Tiger will offer you a 30 Billion Won signing bonus, right now!"
"The Hunters Guild will double that and give you an executive board seat!"
However, as everyone gathered to try to get Min-Jun into their guilds, Go Gun-Hee walked toward them, flaring his aura, causing everyone to scatter like a group of children in front of an adult. He didn't look at those guildmasters, but looked at Min-Jun, then at the vaporized target dummy, then at him again.
"Kim Minjun-nim. The Guilds can wait. The Association requires a moment of your time. Chief Woo, prepare my office."
What was Gunhee planning to do?
However, Min-Jun didn't look intimidated, and he checked his watch.
"I have 45 minutes before my next class, Chairman Go. Lead the way."
As Min-Jun walked away, the Guild Masters were left sweating. They knew that if Go Gun-Hee convinced him to join the Association's Monitoring Division, they would lose him forever.