The lights were turned off. Currently, I am in the assembly hall of my high school. This assembly is for new freshmen in high school. The students around me were all muttering to each other in quick breaths. I could feel the anticipation, the excitement, and the tension all bubbling around me. I, too, felt those same emotions. The reason, because this assembly marks the start of our path to becoming professional Hunters. 

 

Just when the chattering around me slowly begun to climb in volume and intensity. The lights suddenly switched on. "Vroooom" I could hear the inner workings of the lights go on full throttle. The sudden exposure to the bright lights temporarily blinds the rest of the students and me.

 

Upon recovering my vision, I could see the principal walk onto the stage while covered in a coat of fire. This flashy entrance incited some cheers and sounds of amazement from the students. After all, most of the students here had probably never seen a hunter so close before. Many students were amazed by this spectacle, but not me. I had already gotten used to it. After all, this is my 10th year being here, and the high school principal does the same thing every year to the freshman.

 

While students were still admiring the principal's actions, the principal suddenly exclaimed, "Welcome freshmen, to the Damaculus Battle Academy!" the students cheered following the principal's announcement.

 

The principal continued to speak excitedly, "Hello, students. I am your principal, Victor Smith. First of all, let me inform you of how fortunate you are for attending this school. The Damaculus Battle Academy holds a distinguished history you will seldom find in other battle academies. This school was built shortly after the monsters were pushed back into the dungeons by the Chosen Ones and their fellow combatants. Don't forget. This school once taught the A rank hunter, Calvin Goldstein!" The students cheered again. Meanwhile, I thought to myself how this situation was both quite funny and sad at the same time.

 

Damaculus Battle Academy is by no means an elite school. It's not that far up from the very bottom. The principal is trying to make the academy sound more incredible to make himself and the students feel better. The fact is more than 90% of today's battle academies were established shortly after the humans repelled the monsters. Calvin Goldstein, the school's pride, had his talent noticed and transferred to a more prestigious Battle Academy before he was even here for a year. The school had little to no impact in regards to Calvin's success. 

 

The only reason someone would attend this school is that their performance was just that bad, and this school was the best battle academy they could get in or cases like me where this is the only school one could afford to go to. Historically, the Damaculus Battle Academy has an abysmally low graduation rate of 8%, meaning out of 100 students, only eight will become professional hunters. Excluding Calvin Goldstein, this school has yet to produce a hunter of the B rank. What's worse is that the 7th best battle academy in the world, the BraveHeart Battle Academy, founded by one of the Chosen, Peter Braveheart, is a 20-minute walking distance away. Talk about demoralizing and depressing.

 

The principal yammered on about the school's greatness for another twenty or so minutes before the assembly ended. Around me, all the students looked pumped up, ready to face anything the world throws at them. Just wait till tomorrow, where you will see only the face of dread on their faces after realizing the reality of the situation.

 

For the freshman, the school officials planned to give a tour of the school to the new students while doing their best to make sure none of the freshmen see the prestigious BraveHeart Battle Academy on the horizon with their large castles and golden buildings. Since I've already been here for ten years and probably knew the school better than these school officials, so I slipped out in the middle of the tour and returned to my dorm in the school dormitory.

 

Upon entering my dorm, I immediately flopped onto my bed and thought about my plans. I wanted to become the greatest Hunter in the world, a pretty childish dream, but I still stand by it. I wanted to become the best because I felt that only by becoming the strongest Hunter in history will I get revenge on my absent parents. To prove to them that even without them, I was able to succeed. To tell them that it was their loss to abandon me in the streets.

 

I reflected on my plans. I understood that if I wanted to achieve my dreams, I had to first get out of this school and transfer to any one of the best battle academies on the planet like the BraveHeart Battle Academy next door. To do that, I must attract their attention by doing exceedingly well at the national battle tournament where all the academies in the nation will send their best combatants to compete. The national battle tournament is held twice every two years, one for sophomores and seniors. I have two years to prepare for the tournament since I'm currently a fresh freshman.

 

Due to time constraints, I should focus on one skill and excel at it. I don't have time to become a well-rounded hunter, so I must resort to being a one-trick pony. This reminds me of those referred to as Children of Heaven. These people are born with supernatural abilities and can hone their ability to become strong Hunters. Those born with supernatural abilities are near guaranteed to become strong Hunters in the future.  People with that gift are the la crème de la crème[1]. If I had been born with a supernatural ability, I would have been able to immediately enroll in the most prestigious battle academies and be accepted. 

 

Unfortunately, I don't have a supernatural ability. However, some people gain their supernatural abilities in their teen years rather than as an adolescent. Though chances of developing a supernatural ability are so abysmal, acquiring it as a teen is even lower. Therefore, it isn't very reasonable to believe that I will gain a supernatural ability someday in the next five years. 

 

The two paths of development I have considered are either the swordsmen or the magician. Swordsmen possess unparalleled physical abilities and display incredible prowess with the blade, and magicians train their magical skills that are similar but different from supernatural abilities. I've been seriously contemplating which occupation I should pursue as a Hunter because there is no turning back once I make the decision. This decision will probably be the most important decision I make in my life. Therefore, I need to be exceedingly considerate of the pros and cons of both occupations. 

 

I wrestled and turned while laying in bed, still unable to decide whether I should be a swordsman or a magician. Before I knew it, a couple of hours had already passed. I got up from bed and rejoined the tour of the school that was nearing its end. Very soon, the students would be given their very own Hunter Systems. 

 

The Hunter System is the backbone of the Hunter world. The Hunter System displays the stats of the user. It's similar to the game systems commonly found in RPG games. However, it only reflects what the user possesses. It is purely informational. The Hunter System was created by one of the Chosen, Calvin Bumstead. Calvin's abilities were technology-related, and using his abilities, he singlehandedly brought the world into a new era of technological advancements and achievements. 

 

The Hunter System comes in the form of a wristband. Upon the user's request, the wristband will display a floating UI that is only visible to the user. The Hunter System will show the user's stats, abilities, stats, gear, etc. 

 

After waiting in line for a few minutes, I was finally handed my very own Hunter System. I immediately called the UI out of pure anticipation after receiving it like many other eager students. 

 

Name: Gideon Lenoir

Age: 15

Title: N/A

Bloodline: N/A

Class: N/A

Strength: F

Agility: F+

Endurance: F-

Intellect: E-

Wisdom: F-

Luck: B+

Abilities: Sprinting (F)

Status: Healthy

 

Sprinting (F) (Max: D+): The ability for the user to run very fast at the cost of higher energy consumption.

 

My stats didn't shock me much. The only thing that caught me off guard is my oddly high luck stat. But I didn't dwell on it much because no one knew what the luck stat even does. Not even the creator of the Hunter System, Calvin Bumstead, knows what the luck stat is. One might assume that having higher luck stats makes one luckier. However, there have been numerous cases of people with high luck stats dying in unlucky situations. The average stat of a healthy adult is E+ where you are still considered a normal human being. Only until all your stats reach C- or higher will you be qualified to become a professional hunter.

 

After the students all got our Hunter Systems, we were dismissed to do whatever we wanted to do for the rest of the day. Having a good idea of what my stats were like gave me a better idea of my talents. Excluding the luck stat, I noticed that my agility and intellect were higher than the rest of the stats, meaning I probably had more aptitude for those two stats than the others. 

 

Strength represents one's ability to hit strong and to carry lots of weight. Strength could be trained by lifting weight and training for muscle mass. Agility means how fast someone is, including their flexibility and accuracy. Agility could be trained by doing speed training and flexibility training. Endurance represents how much someone could get hit without dying and increased resistance to the elements, diseases, and curses. Endurance could be improved by getting hit a lot and exposing the body to extreme elements. Intellect represents the intensity of one's magic. It could be raised by reading books to acquire more knowledge. A common misconception about the intellect stat is that one must be smart if they have a high intellect stat. However, that isn't always the case. The intellect stat is relevant to how much one knows rather than how smart they are. For example, a complete moron who knows a bit of everything would have a high intellect stat even if they're incredibly dumb. Wisdom represents the amount of mana one possesses. Wisdom can be raised by meditation and reflection about oneself. The luck stat has no explicit purpose, and no one understands how it increases. 

 

My high agility stat and intellect stat got me thinking. Suppose I wanted to attract the attention of the top battle academies, I had to accomplish something truly remarkable. Frankly, I don't have enough talent in any single stat that would be able to propel me to greatness. On the other hand, I may have some talent in both Agility and Intellect. I decided to focus on those two stats and create a fighting style that utilizes speed and magic to complement each other. 

 

[1] The best or choicest of anything