The sound of a heartbeat monitor, an IV drip, and the smell of… cleanliness filled Marcus’s senses as he slowly woke up from his slumber.

  “Where am I…?” It was a stupid question, but it was one he answered without thinking. His eyes slowly adjusted to the blinding white room he found himself in. He was in a hospital? How? Did the other Hunters outside find him that fast? Well… he did appear from nowhere, and the ground around him was destroyed to bits when he did, but… “That was quick.”

  He reached for his sunglasses on his bedside table, but didn’t find anything. He actually didn’t find a table at all. This wasn’t his home or his bedroom. This was the first time that rigid daily routine was fully broken. Just like his left arm.

  “Fuck...” He winced in pain, immediately pulling the cast-covered arm away from the nonexistent bedside table.

  Marcus sighed, his head plopping back down against the fluffy pillow of the hospital bed, his eyes staring up at the ceiling. He should be terrified. Maybe even a little angry at what happened to him yesterday but, now that he was conscious he just couldn’t stop smiling.

  He was a system user. He could see what they could see.

  Looking around his surroundings, a strange green, translucent window would appear in his vision. He never heard about a system window being green, nor the words being some weird shade of blue…

  Whenever he looked at something and began to think on it, the window would appear and tell him almost anything he could ever need to know about the item.

  Turning to the window, it automatically updated.

  [WINDOW: Low Grade Protection Item]

  [Windows were made by early humans to keep their homes protected from outside forces, but also allow them to see through-]

  He moaned in annoyance, turning away from the window. He couldn’t close it.. “This could definitely get annoying.” He said, groaning under his breath.

  “Oh! Nearly forgot…” Gulping, Marcus struggled to get out what he wanted to do. He had always heard about stats and levels and stuff from Marie. She even told him what his level was before all that shit happened at the dungeon…

  “Status Window.”

  As he said the words, his senses were filled with new information… Lots of it good! A few, not so much…

  [MARCUS KOA]

  [Level 3 Porter, Level 1 Breaker Swordsman, ???]

  [ROLE: Main DPS]

  [STR: 11]

  [CON: 34 (+15)]

  [AGI: 25]

  [INT: 3]

  [WIS: 7]

  [MAG: -6]

  [???: 5]

  [CLASS ABILITIES: Lift, Carry, Inventory, Dash]

  Everything was a little confusing, like it was actually condensed… Why?

  “Hm.”

  Rubbing his chin in thought, Marcus continued to look at the status window in confusion.

  Just as he was about to expand his window to its full degree, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted something that he had never heard about in the System from other System Users.

  A health bar of someone he couldn’t see, even if he wanted to. Their stealth was too high.

  [PERCEPTION check failed.]

  Sitting right across from Marcus was someone he wasn’t expecting to see. If he hadn’t steeled himself, he would have jumped out of his skin.

  A taller-than-average man, at least 6’1”, sat in the chair next to his bed, wearing a clean, tailored suit. On his belt lay a badge… Two badges, actually. A police badge, and a Hunter's Association badge... This guy was an H.A. Agent! Creepy bastard.

  “Hello, Mr. Koa.” The man smiled, but it didn’t feel like a real one. His red eyes peered through those purple locks covering his face. “My name is Agent Zedrix. I’m here on behalf of the Police as well as the Hunter's Association. Care to answer a few questions?”

  Marcus was told as a child to never talk to the police without a lawyer, but in this case.. The person was a hunter as well. The weird floating question marks above his head only meant one thing… He was at least 30 levels higher than him…

  Clearing his throat, Marcus nods. “Sure. Ask away.” He was worried… Was this an official investigation? Who’s radar’s was he on..? Would it met him some cash? That was what he was actually worried about.

  He killed a Hobgoblin Queen and five more hob’s. He should be getting a pretty hefty payday from their tusks, ears, and even their mana stones and the loot drops.

  His train of thought is broken as the purple haired Agent began his interrogation.

  “So, Mr. Koa. You and Marie Pierce were the only survivors of the dungeon. Did you know that you survived an Abnormal Aberrant Dungeon?”

  Marcus gasps. He never thought about it until now. The Gate was a simple E-Rank Dungeon. But there was a hobgoblin Queen and hobgoblins inside of a dungeon where their relatives, goblins roamed? Bullshit. It had to be an abnormal dungeon.

  “No. I didn’t know until you just told me now.” It wasn’t a lie but it definitely wasn’t the truth either. But the agent doesn’t react. All Zedrix does is note down what he said.

  [Title Gained: “It’s technically the truth!”]

  [While telling a half truth, it’s nearly impossible to discern what is a lie and what isn’t.]

  “Please, get out of my face.” He would whisper underneath his breath as the window disappears, Zedrix’s face now even closer.

  “What was that, Mr. Koa?” Zedrix would ask, eyes glaring through Marcus’ soul…

  Gulping, Marcus shakes his head, “No! Nothing at all, Officer. Sorry, I was just thinking…” Marcus responded, having his best poker face on.

  Zedrix took yet another note before continuing, “How did you defeat the Hobgoblin Queen and her subordinates? They have several sword scars and many of them even had blunt force trauma. If we can figure out your awakened ability as well, that would be wonderful.”

  As he asks about the Bara, Marcus winced in pain. He felt his brain contract as he tried to remember what happened exactly. After a few minutes, the pain subsided as he found his footing. “I… Awakened in that moment. I wanted to live, and the System blessed me with the ability to do so. I used my awakened ability to kill the Queen and her followers in quick succession. That’s all that happened.”

  [Marked for Destiny Activated: You have taken your first steps into the world as a Hunter. You said with your own two words who you are, marking yourself for destiny.]

  [+2 to all combat stats.]

  Marcus tried to ignore the window as Zedrix nodded at Marcus’s words, noting them down at the same time. “So, what is your awakened ability?”

  He cleared his throat, trying to think of a lie that could count as a half-truth at the same time...

  “Fuck...” he growled under his breath. This might be where he fumbled. He knew he awakened something, but not even he knew how the weird teleportation shit worked, nor was it showing up in his status window anywhere.

  Just as he was getting close to panic, a new window appeared… “About time.”

  [Awakened Ability Earned: Endurance]

  [The user has heightened defense against damage from going at high speeds, as well as a general defense buff against all damage, at about a 50% reduction.]

  As the new window popped up, he immediately answered the Agent’s question. “I got Endurance. That was all.”

  The Agent looked at him in confusion, but Marcus couldn’t quite get another emotion from him or figure out why he was feeling that way.

  “Endurance… The C-Rank Ability. Alright.” The Agent seemed to calm down, the air around him changing from one of hostility into one of pity. He cleared his own throat before speaking again.

  “Well, thank you for answering my questions, Mr. Koa. That’ll be all for today. The money from clearing the dungeon has been placed into your bank account, as well as the payment from your time as a Porter. But, I have some bad news for you as well.”

  Marcus raised an eyebrow, confused by that last part. “Uh… What’s the bad news?”

  “You’ve been fired from your job as a Hunter's Association Porter Employee. Good luck, Mr. Koa,” Zedrix said, standing up and dusting off his pants and suit before turning and leaving the room, closing the door lightly.

  Marcus sighed in relief as soon as the monster of a man left, but then sighed in frustration. “Fuck. There goes my job… Do I have to find a new Porter gig—” He stopped himself from speaking… Porter?

  “Hell no! I’m a Hunter now! Fuck that Porter shit!” he yelled out, holding his hands up high and cheering, before immediately wincing again and laying back into the hospital bed.

  “Okay… I’m a Hunter AFTER I get some rest… Fuck, my bones…”

  [USER will require FIVE DAYS of active rest to complete healing. Healing in progress…]

  Five days later, Marcus was finally fully healed and ready to head back home.

  Marcus stood in the middle of the hospital room that had acted as his home for the last five days, fixing his leather jacket and making sure his boots were tied.

  The last five days were uneventful. Just lying back, relaxing, and watching his body heal like there was no tomorrow. He actively felt his tendons reconnecting themselves as he healed. It was so surreal.

  Yawning softly, Marcus took a look at the room one last time before smirking. “Finally done just sitting on my ass! I should head back home, make sure Ana was getting babysat correctly…” He turned to the bed one last time, grabbing a picture of Ana off the top of it and stuffing it into the inside pocket of his jacket.

  “I’ll be home soon.”

  Marcus turned toward the door and walked up to it, grasping the handle and pulling it open, almost running into someone!

  “Ah! Mr. Koa!” The voice of the nurse hit his ears as he chuckled awkwardly. He didn’t really let the hospital know he was fine just yet. But it should be fine, right?

  “Ah! Hey! Sorry. I'm feeling fine now, so I was gonna head back home,” he said, rubbing the back of his head as the nurse looked up at him with a smile.

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Don’t worry about it! I’ll let the doctor know. Stay safe! I don’t want to see you here hurt like that again!” She patted his shoulder before moving past him into the room, immediately starting the cleanup process.

  Marcus was slightly confused about why she was being so nice to him, but he guessed it was just because she was a nurse.

  Nodding, Marcus walked out of the room and down the halls of the hospital alone. The various doctors and female nurses gave him glances, some even stared... What the hell was happening?

  [Stat Unlocked: CHARISMA]

  [After being a Porter for so long, women never gave you a second look, especially with those dirty clothes and that cold look you always gave. But after getting a clean pair from the Hunter's Association and being recognized as the Hunter who cleared an Aberrant Dungeon, you have a different type of pull now.]

  [CHA: 18]

  “Thanks, asshole,” Marcus said under his breath. He loved that he had a System now, but his was a little bit of a dick… It wasn't like he wanted to spend nearly thirty years of his life single. He never really felt comfortable getting a girlfriend or anything, especially after Ana called him ‘dada’ a week ago. She wasn’t old enough to realize that he wasn’t her father. It made him feel disgusting thinking of getting a girlfriend before Ana could even understand that she was his sister and not his daughter.

  Walking through the lobby, Marcus pulled out his phone and decided to take a look at his bank account to see just how much money he had earned from that dungeon. “Let’s see—”

  As soon as he stepped through those double doors, his heart nearly dropped into his stomach… He was expecting a payday, but he wasn’t expecting…

  “50,000 dollars?!”

  Marcus scrambled to cover his mouth… 50K was a lot to him, but it was a gold mine to other porters lower-ranked than him. He shouldn’t have screamed that.

  Other patients and people who were standing outside now had their eyes on him, and Marcus wanted to immediately get their eyes off him. Walking away from the hospital and down the road, Marcus was officially out of that crazy place and now on the streets of New Vegas.

  Gulping as he walked, he checked his bank account again. It wasn’t just that 50K payment that came in; another 25,000 came in from Marie… “She does owe me her life.” Marcus was righteous, but he wasn’t the type to pass up payment for doing the right thing. Why would he? He needed the money for Ana’s food as well as his mother's hospital bills.

  “This should be enough for Ana to eat for at least the year, and for Ma’s medical bills for the month. But I need more money.” Rubbing his chin as he walked, he looked up at the billboards of the blindingly bright city of New Vegas… He might have to hit a dungeon today. Or would he have to get his rank evaluated first?! Fuck, so many things to do!

  “By the Gods, I might be screwed. What do I do first?” Swearing under his breath, he groaned. This was too much… Ana might have to wait—

  RING… RING…

  His phone buzzed in his hand. Checking the caller ID, it was… Marie! “Just who I wanted to talk to. I should get evaluated and then hit a dungeon today. Marie will be the first person to know what to do first!”

  Answering the phone, Marcus immediately began to talk her ear off. “M! Hey! How are you? I hope you’re alright. It’s been a couple days. I needed your—”

  “Marcus. Stop talking for just a second.”

  Marcus immediately shut his yap. When Marie was talking like this, it was likely because she was pissed, or something important was about to leave those lips.

  “Thanks for saving me. Seriously. I appreciate it. I know that you just became a Hunter and all, but I’d like to ask if you wanted a job opportunity.” Her voice had a little bit of a shake underneath her words, and Marcus could tell this was something important to her. He needed the money, but he didn’t want to seem easy.

  “You know how it is out here, Marie. You gotta tell me what the job is and the pay before we do anything like that.”

  Silence followed. For an entire minute, Marcus couldn’t hear a thing from the other end. “Probably talking to her boss.” He understood the grind, and he could never hate Marie. She always gave him the easy jobs, and she even risked her life for him, just as he did for her.

  “My Guildmaster would like us to get you evaluated before he wants to talk business personally. I also know that you want to attempt a dungeon today. There’s a gate he’s willing to rent out for you.”

  This was starting to sound too good to be true... But it was Marie. There was no way that she would do anything without his best interest in mind. “What was your guild again, Marie?”

  “Guardians. My guild is called Guardians. Meet me at the Hunter’s Association Building on the Strip.” She hung up as she finished, giving Marcus some time to remember why she was always able to get the easy jobs. She was a part of Guardians. An up-and-coming C-Rank Guild. She was also the daughter of the Guildmaster.

  “Jackpot.”

  Smirking, Marcus immediately began the walk down the Strip to the Hunter’s Association. He knew the streets of New Vegas like the back of his hand, especially the way to the H.A. Building. That was where he had been a Porter until recently.

  The walk wasn't long at all, only about a mile. Once he arrived, he saw Marie standing outside, wearing an outfit he’d never seen her wear before. She usually wore armor or something similar, but now she was wearing a nice blue sundress and a beautiful necklace. It complemented her bright pink hair perfectly.

  “Hey, Marie. Looking better than you did in that dungeon!” Marcus said as he walked up to the larger woman, making a joke about something traumatic, trying to lessen the burden on them both.

  She turned around, and a solemn smile came across her face. She was obviously beating herself up about the incident. “Hi, Marcus. Yeah! I’m trying...” She looked left to right before bringing Marcus into a tight hug, pushing his head into her chest.

  “W-Whoa there, M!” He at first tried to pull away, but eventually just let it happen. He could hear a slight sniffle leave her nose before she let him go and wiped her eyes.

  “Ahem! Either way, you ready to be evaluated?! This could change your life forever!” she yelled, the big smile appearing on her face yet again.

  “Yeah! Let’s do this!” Marcus yelled right back. He was happy that she seemed fine.

  With that, the two Hunters walked into the Association Building, and their moods immediately simmered down to a cold temperature.

  Before them stood possibly the longest line either of them had seen in their lives. The queue for Evaluation was longer than ever!

  “It wasn’t this long when I got evaluated…” Marie said in confusion as Marcus nodded in agreement.

  “Yeah, but that was fifteen years ago, M. Feels like we’re in a new age now. People from back when we were green are now in our position. Just... far more humans than before.”

  Marie nodded in agreement as the two of them got in line for Evaluation. The oldest person there for first-time evaluations, other than the two of them, was eighteen…

  “I really am a late bloomer.”

  The two stood in line and waited. And waited. And waited. They waited for so long that even the System got bored.

  [You have waited... 53 minutes and 23 seconds... Achievement pending...]

  “I hope you know that I can’t actually determine how long I wait in this line, right?” he asked in his mind, not exactly expecting an answer. It had never answered before.

  [You could always cut the line, user.]

  “Window dismissed,” he ordered, and the System window disappeared just as they reached the front of the line.

  Marie didn't step forward, letting Marcus do the honors of introducing himself as a new Hunter.

  “Ahem… My name is Marcus Koa. I’m here to take the Hunter Evaluation Exam to officially get my license. Here’s my ID,” he said extremely quickly, sweat running down his forehead. He was so excited he could hardly contain himself. Handing over his ID card, he gave a shit-eating grin to the receptionist.

  “Um… Are you sure, sir? You’re a bit old to be taking the Evaluation Exam.” She looked slightly worried, but that look of worry immediately disappeared as a frown appeared on his face… She couldn’t see his eyes through his sunglasses, but she could feel the intent behind them… Anger. He was definitely a Hunter.

  Gulping, she said, “Sorry, sir. You’ll be heading to room 52 for your exam.”

  Marie nodded to the receptionist before she turned and began to lead Marcus toward his examination room. That frown turned back into a smile as he nodded his head at her as well and followed after.

  The halls of the Association were extremely clean. Almost insanely so. The floors almost sparkled. They were made of some strange type of glass surface, and the walls were all an extremely tempered metal, the black color reflecting off the floors for a nice obsidian look.

  “Wow... this place isn’t how I imagined it, but... this is nice,” Marcus said, looking around like a kid in a candy store.

  “Well, it’s okay. My mansion is better,” Marie said, joking as she chuckled lightly.

  “Yeah, your mansion is definitely better,” Marcus agreed, their walk leading them directly where they needed to be. Room 52.

  The room’s door was large and metallic. It had several sensors all around and even a fingerprint scanner. The camera at the top of the door turned on and immediately scanned Marcus before the door opened.

  “Head on in. I’ll be watching,” Marie said, turning down the hall and walking away, a bit of a pep in her step. Marcus just couldn’t stop watching as she walked away... That dress did wonders.

  He shook his head as his mind wandered, though. They couldn't… They had known each other for fifteen years. He didn't even know if she’d reciprocate.

  Steeling himself and finally pulling off that pair of glasses, he entered the examination room.

  Inside the room lay a singular giant crystal in the middle. Beside the crystal stood a scientist, and past that crystal was another door. Seemed like it would be a room-by-room basis for the test.

  “Hello there, Mr. Koa. Please, place your hand on the crystal. We’ll be measuring your mana quality as well as its rank. It should be based off of your magic stat,” the examiner immediately began, throwing Marcus slightly off guard.

  Clearing his throat, he walked up to the crystal and rolled up his sleeves. “What if someone doesn’t have mana?” he asked, believing it was a good question…

  “Ha... HAHAHA! Oh my god, you’re funny, Mr. Koa. No mana as an Awakened?! Even the most physical Hunters have at least a 1 in their mana stat!” The examiner began to laugh his ass off as if Marcus was some comedian.

  [Uh-oh.]

  “You’ve gotta be kidding me…”

  Marcus groaned before placing his hand against the crystal. It began to glow a bright white light before… nothing. Absolutely nothing at all. The crystal stopped shining—there was no light, nothing.

  Then, a System window appeared above it. It was neither Marcus’s nor the scientist's. Just a lone window. The main System.

  [MAGIC… Negative rating. Below zero.]

  The scientist’s eyes nearly burst out of his head and through his glasses as he watched the text appear before him. Noting this down, he cleared his throat. “Your mana ranking is F-Rank. Continue on through the door for the next test.”

  Walking past the crystal and the scientist, he entered the next room. Inside lay a simple room. White tiles covered the floor, and a single large window sat at the very top of the huge room. At the other end lay a door, meaning there was at least one more test after this one.

  “Hello, Mr. Koa.” Marcus looked up as he heard a voice from a speaker somewhere in the room. The voice sounded a bit similar to a mad scientist, if he was being entirely honest.

  “This test is quite simple. You’ll be defeating three goblins using your Awakened ability. Once you complete this test, you’ll head to the final room to complete the physical challenge. Then you’ll be done and be evaluated. Are you ready?” It was an earful to listen to, but Marcus understood.

  “Yep. Let’s get this party started!” Marcus yelled before going to grab the hilt of his blade… But as he did, he felt his hand shake, his breathing hitching again... just like during that Aberrant Dungeon.

  Taking a deep breath, he steeled himself yet again, pulling out the blade and getting into his combat stance.

  “Good, Mr. Koa. Good luck,” the mystery man said as the air in the room immediately got heavier. In mere seconds, three mana signatures appeared in Marcus’s vision, and then three health bars as the goblins appeared from thin air in the middle of the room.

  He heard "Awakened ability" and assumed that he’d be fine to use his newly found power here. Especially since he had a skill called [Dash] available for use as well, he didn’t need to hide.

  How wrong he was.

  As the goblins fully appeared, they began to look around in confusion before seeing a human. Their prey. Two of the goblins pulled out their daggers and the last one took a bow off a sling on its back, putting an arrow between the string and its fingers.

  Marcus took one more deep breath before looking at the spot right next to one of the goblins with a dagger.

  One second Marcus was standing forty feet from the goblins, the next he was standing right next to one of them, the ground beneath him shattering as he teleported, taking the goblin off its feet. It screamed in terror before its screams were silenced with an impossibly fast slash to its neck, its head rolling.

  “M-monster!” the other goblin screamed as it backed away from its comrade's dead body, watching the man who killed him with terror.

  A monster was feeling fear for the first time in its two minutes of existence.

  The goblin archer launched an arrow at Marcus, but he disappeared yet again, appearing behind the goblin and stabbing him through the chest, killing him swiftly by pulling his blade through the right side of his chest and disappearing again.

  He continued to teleport over and over again, all around the room. Each teleportation caused less and less damage to the floor… It was still a ton of damage, but his control was getting better with each use.

  Finally, he appeared beside the terrified goblin and cut off his head with ease, the body falling to the ground as the head rolled right by its buddy’s.

  Marcus groaned slightly as he fell down to one knee… Even with the [Endurance] ability, that took a lot out of him. His knees were screaming in pain… But he felt good.

  [QUEST COMPLETE: Combat Examination]

  [55XP Gained.]

  “How much do I even need to level up...?” he asked, the System not responding this time as he looked up at the window and grinned.

  “M-Mr. Koa. You didn’t tell us you had two Awakened abilities,” the scientist questioned. Marcus could hear the excitement in his voice… Fucking creep.

  “I don’t. I used [Endurance] and my [Dash] ability from my class.”

  The examiner didn’t answer... Seemed like that was a fine enough excuse. He could use his powers whenever now and just use the excuse that he used [Dash]. Super convenient.

  The final door opened and inside was... the exit. Seemed like his show of force in the combat examination allowed him to skip the final test.

  At the end stood a lone scientist, and behind her stood a door. The exit.

  Marcus walked up to her, putting his glasses back on and fixing his jacket before giving her a smirk.

  “Mr. Koa, congratulations. You’ve been identified as a D-Rank Hunter!” she said, giving Marcus his Hunter Identification Card.

  Marcus’s smirk immediately became a frown yet again. D-Rank?! How?!

  “D-Rank? I couldn’t get at least C?!” he raised his voice lightly, causing the woman to recoil in slight fear before shaking her head.

  “Your physical capabilities are extremely impressive, but currently you’re only slightly stronger than the average man and can only [Dash] a few times before you start to take damage yourself. You also cannot deal magical damage, which many high-level monsters can only be damaged by. We cannot give you a higher rank than D…”

  Marcus growled... There went all the money he could make from sponsorships and gifts and such from higher-ranked guilds and Hunters. He was hoping to get at least A-Rank. That would have made him one of the top rookies of the 2136 Class of Hunters... “Whatever.”

  He sighed, taking his card and leaving through the door, dragging his feet, his head hanging low.

  Once outside, he saw Marie standing at the entrance to the lobby. Seemed like the exit doors for the examination rooms made a full loop back to the lobby. Convenient. At least he didn’t have to walk the whole way back.

  “Marcus! Great job! A D-Rank Evaluation isn’t so bad! Most start off as E, and many rarely even get past D to begin with!” Marie said as Marcus walked back up to her, sighing yet again.

  “Yeah, whatever, M.” He felt so defeated. He knew he was more than just the letter, but still. Just made him feel like trash…

  “Would it cheer you up that we get to head to a dungeon together with some more of my guildmates and the Guildmaster?” she asked, the question causing Marcus to cheer up slightly.

  “Yeah. That would be nice.” And with that, the two left the Association and made their way to Marcus’s first dungeon as a Hunter.