Chapter 50: New Frontiers (II)

People were busy analyzing their talents, backgrounds, and recent performances, with countless users debating which newcomers were worth keeping an eye on.

Jackson only skimmed through a few of the discussions.

Most of the information was already familiar to him, so there was little reason to waste time reading the same things he already knew. After a quick glance, he shifted his attention elsewhere.

There was no mention of Bitter Rain anywhere.

It seemed that most people had already forgotten about the rising star who had once gone on a winning streak of hundreds of consecutive battles and even defeated the super genius Alexander Drag.

After Bitter Rain suffered several defeats in the unranked matches, the general opinion had changed drastically.

Many people now believed that Bitter Rain had simply been a one-hit wonder.

According to them, his earlier victories had only been possible because of his powerful talent. His defeat of Alexander Drag had apparently been nothing more than an exception.

Jackson couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for Alexander Drag.

Because of that unfair battle, the poor guy had lost far too much face.

As Jackson continued scrolling, he even noticed several posts urging Bitter Rain to come forward and apologize to Alexander.

The first time he saw them, Jackson was completely dumbfounded.

Apologize for what?

For winning?

He couldn’t understand the logic behind it.

After staring at the posts for a few seconds, Jackson simply rolled his eyes and scrolled past them.

It was then that a particular post suddenly caught his attention.

His finger stopped.

"My theory as to why Green Soul Corporation has not closed the portal till now!"

Jackson’s expression immediately became serious.

His eyes narrowed as he opened the article.

The post had been written by a Gold-Rank Hunter known as Hidden Shadow.

Judging from the enormous number of followers beneath his name and the discussions surrounding his previous posts, Hidden Shadow was clearly a respected figure within the hunter community.

Jackson’s interest immediately increased.

He had been browsing the forums precisely to find out what had been happening with the portal.

And according to everything he had heard so far, Green Soul Corporation had been working on closing it.

But now this article was claiming something completely different.

Jackson’s gaze became sharp.

The portal hadn’t been closed?

Jackson was genuinely surprised.

He had assumed the portal should have been sealed by now.

After all, every portal represented a hidden threat. As long as it remained open, there was always the possibility that something dangerous could emerge from the other side without warning.

Leaving such a thing open for too long seemed almost absurd.

Yet after going through the comments beneath the article, Jackson realized that Hidden Shadow was indeed telling the truth.

The portal had not been closed.

How is this possible...?

A faint crease appeared between Jackson’s brows.

Something was clearly wrong.

There were strict procedures governing the closure of portals. The Hunter Association and major corporations had established protocols precisely because no one could afford to treat these gateways carelessly.

And yet this portal had remained open for days.

Even more strange was the lack of a massive public outcry.

The fact that such a dangerous portal could remain open without the entire hunter community erupting in panic spoke volumes about how serious the situation actually was.

Jackson’s curiosity was thoroughly piqued.

He immediately began reading Hidden Shadow’s article from the beginning.

The more he read, the heavier his expression became.

Too daring...

These people are too daring...

He continued scrolling, his eyes moving rapidly across the screen.

To think that for resources, they would go this far.

By the time he finished the article, Jackson finally understood why Green Soul Corporation had not closed the portal.

After the world changed, the amount of available resources on Earth had increased tremendously.

However, there was a problem.

Most of those resources were located deep within unexplored territories.

And those territories were not empty.

They were occupied by powerful monsters that humans could not casually challenge.

As for the resources located in relatively safe and accessible regions, most had already been discovered and claimed by the various corporations and powerful organizations.

It might not have been obvious to ordinary people, but humanity was actually facing an increasingly severe shortage of resources.

The world had expanded.

Humanity’s strength had expanded.

Its population and ambitions had expanded.

But the resources needed to support that growth were not increasing nearly fast enough.

Humanity needed somewhere new to expand.

It needed new territories.

New resources.

New frontiers.

And that was where the portals came in.

The other side of a portal was an entirely unexplored world.

A world filled with resources that Earth had never possessed.

At first glance, it seemed as though the corporations had simply become too greedy.

They were willing to leave dangerous portals open and send hunters into unknown worlds in pursuit of resources, seemingly gambling with humanity’s survival for profit.

But after reading Hidden Shadow’s analysis, Jackson realized the situation was far more complicated.

It wasn’t necessarily greed driving them toward such dangerous decisions.

In some ways, it was desperation.

If humanity refused to take these risks, it would eventually run out of room to grow.

And when that happened, the monsters hiding in the unexplored territories of Earth would become an even greater threat.

Humanity couldn’t remain stagnant forever.

One day, it would have to venture outward.

One day, it would have to confront the worlds beyond the portals.

Otherwise, there was a possibility that humanity would eventually be wiped out by the monsters lurking in the darkness.

Jackson stared at the article for a long time.

The more he thought about it, the more complicated the situation became.

The portals weren’t merely doors through which monsters invaded Earth.

They were also doors leading toward humanity’s future.

Just as he was about to quit browsing, he received a message from someone that he could not afford to ignore.

Alchemist Dawn had messaged him.

Jackson Immedietly got curious wondering what this fellow wanted.