“Keep going,” said the instructor.

“I can’t.” The muscles in Doran’s body ached. “I can’t swim anymore.”

The pool’s generated current pushed against his body. Each miniscule inch of progress toward the other end took mountains of effort. 

Jun and Mekan laughed. “Just drown, loser. It’s better that way.”

The instructor blew the whistle, “Come back to the edge.”

“Y-Yessir.”

He let his body relax and the water carried him most of the way. 

“Classic F-ranker. Can barely make it past the endurance test,” mocked Jun.

F-rank. The lowest class of the hunter system established ten years ago. For F-ranks, there was almost no line of work outside of F-ranked gates. The best job he’d get was as a porter, a pack-mule for others in any other dungeon. 

He sighed and sat on the edge of the training pool as the others snickered. Suddenly, a towel smelling slightly of lavender was thrown around his shoulders. 

“Here.”

“Oh, th-thanks…”

“Evelyn, you’re next,” said the instructor.

Evelyn winked at him and jumped into the water. Her slender frame shuddered as she adjusted to the temperature. Her silky skin glistened under the dozens of overhead lights as her long arms and legs pushed her further into the pool. 

Mekan snorted.

Hatch, one of their underlings, spit in his direction. “Lucky punk.”

Doran ignored them and watched as a new current was stirred up by the pool. The assessment was both for endurance and strength. Swim for a few minutes and then pull through. As an F-rank, Doran was given the lowest setting and even then he couldn’t finish. 

He was probably one of the weakest hunters out there.

Evelyn completed the test with no problem. It was probably just light exercise to an S-rank like her. She squeezed the water out of her hair on the other side and when she came back, he offered her the towel.

She smiled, drying herself with it, and said, “Good luck in the gate.”

The instructor ended the assessment and they left. His house was about twenty minutes away by bus. When he got home, dishes covered in tinfoil were left on the table. He pulled out the uneven chair and sat down, eating the meagre meal of rice and cheap chicken. Three ants crawling along the kitchen floor caught his eye and he stepped on them as he went to wash the dishes. 

“How was the test?” his sister, Luna, asked.

“It was fine. Don’t you have school tomorrow?”

She shrugged, “Junior year’s easy. They already contracted you, right? Why do they need to test you?”

“It’s to figure out where our strengths are and to see if we’re a good fit for the guild. I saw your favorite hunter when I was there,” he said.

“What, really? You saw Evelyn? What was she doing? Was she the instructor? Did she think you were cool? Can I meet her?”

“...Go to bed.”

“Geez, okay, okay. Good night.” She disappeared from the kitchen and back into her room.

He sighed as he put the dishes away and swept up the ants’ crushed bodies. Before bed, he peeked at his parents door, then shut his own.

 

---

 

Ryan, a fellow F-ranker who he’d handled a few jobs with, grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him close. “Doran, buddy. When did you get so close with Eve? She’s way out of our league.”

Ryan was about two years older than him. He was a big guy with broad shoulders, made to look even broader with his ugly pauldrons. It was good that he was naturally built for his tank role, both in body and mind, unlike Doran who had to train for various months to use his sword. Ryan was a ‘go with the flow’ type of guy.

Doran pushed him away, “Don’t touch me when you smell like goblin shit.”

“What?” He smelled his arm. He finished a gate an hour before. “I thought I washed it off. Allie said I smelled okay too.”

Allie, their shared healer friend, looked away as she whistled.

They were in the middle of a mall. A bunch of families and teenagers gathered around to watch them work. Police had set up a perimeter five days prior and officers kept the scene clear until they arrived. 

They were about twenty strong in total. One was a D-rank, two were E-ranks, and the rest were F-ranked. Naturally, since this was a gate commissioned by the Swallowtail Guild, they were all hired hunters, except for the D-ranker who supervised them. 

Judging from the confidence in the man and the amount of new equipment he had, the D-ranker must’ve recently been promoted. It was a gruelling process to go up a rank and most hunters never did.

“Is everyone ready?” the D-ranker said. “The other teams have already entered theirs.”

They all nodded. The Swallowtail Guild was offering extra payment for whichever team came out first. A tantalizing offer considering that the extra payment was more than just money. Sometimes, if they were lucky, it was a way to get contracted as permanent sweepers, hunters that cleared low level gates.

“Good! Keep that enthusiasm and drive and you guys just might climb up a rank or two.”

Doran snorted at the recently promoted hunter’s encouragement. For him, even if he managed to get contracted as a sweeper and gained access to all the F-ranked gates in the area, he would never rise in rank. 

Upon entering the gate, they were thrown into a pitch-black cave. A single droplet fell on his head, running down his face until he wiped it away. Magic users illuminated the area with their spells as they created floating orbs of light. 

Allie and Ryan were right behind him. 

“Keep together,” the D-ranker said. “This is probably a goblin den.”

His words were proven a moment later. Rushing from the darkness, dozens of goblins descended, swarming the hunters. Doran swung with his two-handed sword cutting one right in half. Allie smacked another with her stave. Ryan held back three with his shield.

A goblin screamed out as Doran stabbed it. The monster dropped its shoddy stone knife and disintegrated, leaving behind a cloudy blue crystal. It was a core. They were some of the most worthwhile loot that came from the gates and even low level ones sold for a decent amount. He tossed it into his pocket and ran to Allie’s side.

After a few minutes of fighting, the initial wave of goblins were wiped out. The group took the chance to rest and heal. Allie’s brown hair, tied into a ponytail, swayed as she circled him, her green eyes searching for wounds. She was about a head shorter than he was so she forced him to bend down.

“You don’t need to do that,” Doran said. “I’m fine.”

“No,” she shut him down with a pout. “You always say that.”

“What about me?”

“No one cares about you, Ryan.”

“Jeez. Make it more obvious why don’t you?”

“Sh-Shut up!” 

Her face flushed red as she hit Ryan with her stave.

Finished with their rest, they ventured deeper into the cave. The D-ranker leading them hit his communicator. “This is team 3, does anyone read me?” There was no response. Not even the people outside the gate said a word.

“Don’t you think something feels off?” asked Allie.

“No,” Ryan said as he spit on the ground. “They’re probably trying to keep us in the dark and finish faster. I know that asshole Jun is on team 1.”

“Doran?”

“It’s fine, Allie. I’m sure Ryan’s right.” 

She shuffled closer to him and seemed to calm down. At the front of the formation, their leader raised his hand. Everyone stopped. He signaled and one of the mages sent their orb forward. 

All of them held their breath. Six green skinned monsters sprinted their way. Their arms were almost as big as their massive clubs. Overgrown fangs protruded from the bottom of their mouths, some decorated with misshapen rings. They were orcs. C-rank monsters. Alone they were already stronger than humans and in groups, they were some of the scariest monsters around.

“Everyone,” the D-ranker called out. “H-Hold your ground…!”

It wasn’t his first time seeing an orc but Doran was shaking. Just before he awakened as a hunter, there was a gatebreak three blocks away from where he lived. The monsters that poured out were orcs.

Ryan grabbed his arm, “Get it together!”

He took a breath and brought up his guard. The orcs raised their clubs as they charged. It was like watching a stampede of bulls tear through a crowd of people. Sounds of crushed bones, crumpling metal, and cries of the injured echoed in the cave. In the charge alone, at least half of the team was wiped out. 

Ryan raised his shield and stepped in front of them as the orcs closed in. They braced for the end.

The green-skinned monsters ran past.

“What?” Allie said, peeking through one eye.

Ryan watched them run, “The hell? Why’d they ignore us?”

The answer came a moment later.

 

---

 

Doran woke up in a large, black room. A single light attached to the ceiling kept the dark at bay. Around him were dozens of other people, hunters, all laying down fully equipped. He checked the pulse of a man next to him. They were still alive. 

He scanned the room for any sign of Ryan and Allie. 

[You are -ar----pant num--- 88]

[There are --------]

[Please wait]

He shot to attention and looked around for the source of the static filled voice but couldn’t find anything. There wasn’t a single speaker in the room. 

[Welcome]

Instead of the static voice from before, a blue text box appeared in front of him, making him jump. 

[You are the fastest in your cohort to awaken]

[You have gained a new title]

[Title: “Light Sleeper” has been acquired]

[Would you like to apply the title?]

[Yes/No]

He clicked ‘yes’. He wasn’t sure what it was or what it would do but he’d played some games before and titles always did something. It also wasn’t the first time he heard about something like this happening in a gate.

[Title: “Light Sleeper” has been applied]

[You are now more sensitive to stimuli when asleep]

[You have lost 1 Vitality]

[You have gained 1 Luck]

Doran assessed the title. On one hand, being lucky was probably one of the most important ‘skills’ in life. All the hunters who were above D-rank were definitely lucky while he ate shit at the bottom thanks to that same luck. On the other hand, he was a frontline damage dealer. He wasn’t meant to tank the hits, that job went to someone like Ryan, but having extra health only meant good things for him.

As he mulled over whether or not he should unequip the title, he noticed something off about his screen. He tapped the icon and a new system message appeared.

[WoUld yOu liKe to eDit?]

[yEs/nO]