It was dark outdoors, the dogs were yelping while the human traffic was low. In the inadequately lit run-down apartment site,
Ed walked towards his apartment floor absent-mindedly.
Ed stood outside his apartment door as he looked at the giant F on the metallic card in his hand.
'I'm a hunter now...but at what cost'
Putting the sad thoughts behind him, Ed unlocked the door with keys and entered the apartment. Ed latched the door behind him and turned around to look at the run-down apartment.
Right as you entered the door what you would see is the tiny kitchen, passing through you would enter the living room which was just barely big enough for a couch and a T.V. Connected to it was a short corridor which had the doors to Eds and his sister's room and the toilet and the bathroom.
As Ed looked at the sorry excuse of a home he once again reaffirmed his desire to be a hunter.
'F-rank or not, a hunter is a hunter I can only do my best '
Ed took his shoes off went directly towards his room as soon as he was about to enter his room, the door opposite to him opened up. His sister peeked ahead out of her room.
"Your back. Do you want something to eat? I bought some groceries on the way back from school"
"Nah I'm fine you continue with your studies, Jen "
Jen took a good look at his brother. After making sure he was fine she went back to her room to study. Unlike Ed who always wanted to be a hunter and pursued the supernatural.
Jen preferred the opposite she was a studious girl and wanted to pursue a career in medicine. However, as much as she wanted to be a doctor the family's current financial situation couldn't sustain her hence she opted to pursue nursing instead like their late mother.
"okay"
"don't stay up too late Jen"
Ed entered his room and directly flopped onto the bed. After a minute of shut-eye, he turned to face the ceiling while lying on the bed.
'Now for the moment of truth...'
"system status window"
________________________________________________________________
Name: Edmond Dantes
Class: Thief
Passive skills:
preception (lv1)(class exclusive), recovery (lv1), stamina (lv1), agility (lv1), vision (lv1), strength (lv1), mana preception(lv1).
Active skills:
sprint (lv1), mana control (lv0), mana hand (lv0)(class exclusive), strike(lv1), mana strike(lv0)
Mana count: 897
(Synchronization 8.28%)
Class bonus: thieving eyes (expendable)
________________________________________________________________
'.....a thief.....fuck'
Look at the status window Ed blanks out on his bed. As he was at his home despairing about his future as a hunter little did he know he was creating small ripples in multiple parts of the world.
the news about the world's first F ranker became widespread among the hunter society. While for many it became a butt of their jokes. A few among the hunters found this unusual case very interesting.
...............................................................................................................
USA Washington DC.
An auburn-haired man in a black suit walked along the white marbled corridor with steady footsteps. On his side was a slimmer man with a white suit, he was currently engrossed in his phone as he followed behind the auburn-haired man.
Finding something interesting the man in the white suit looked up from the phone and said with a grin.
"Hey Arthur have you heard of the new F ranker"
"..yeah"
"Hehe, interesting isn't he? wanna bet how many times he will rank up? I bet at least two times"
Hearing what was said Arthur stopped turned around to look at the guy behind him.
"And what makes you so sure he will rank up, John"
"Come on don't pretend as if you have no clue. This guy had the 'special' mana in him which allowed him to cross the threshold of 100."
Hearing what John said Arthur neither confirmed nor denied it. John continued.
"Without this 'special' mana this guy would have failed to cross the threshold with his low amount of normal mana hence the F-rank. Now the interesting part is how far up the ranks will this mana carry him. So what do you say bet or no bet?"
Arthur turned around with the same expressionless face leaving behind the words
"Three times at least. I'll have the first pick from the dungeon boss the next time."
Stunned, John was left behind as Arthur continued with a steady pace
"Okay it's a bet, but seriously three times!! aren't you thinking too highly of this guy?"
John's words however fell on deaf ears as Arthur moved further and further away.
...............................................................................................................
The next day Ed woke up all fresh and well-rested. ready to challenge the world... or at least in his ideal world he did in reality, he had even deeper black circles than before and bloodshot eyes as he came out of his room.
After comforting his worried sister and a light breakfast, he took a shower and changed his clothes. Jen soon went off to her school while Ed sat down on the living room couch, thinking about what to do next.
He had two part-time jobs which, however, he didn't need to go to as a hunter. While the money that an E-rank hunter makes is more than a standard salaryman, however, the risk is equally high.
Ed picks up his phone, intending to call the managers of the two places about his resignation. Before he could, however, his phone rang as he held it in his hand. Ed looked at the caller id that was unknown to him. He picked up his phone.
"hello"
"Hello, this is a call from the association. Is this F-rank hunter Mr. Dantes speaking?"
'you can skip the F rank part ya know Ed thought almost reflexly.
"yes"
"This call is to inform you that your hunters' account has is now registered in the association database. The details along with a link for the hunter's app will be sent via email. That will be all any question Mr.Dantes ?"
"uh- No"
"very well I will be ending this call. Happy hunting !"
" Thanks?"
The person on the other end of the call ended it promptly. Ed looked at the phone call which now had 'disconnected' written on it and quickly opened his email, where he saw the email from the association at the top.
Opening the email he saw basic business-styled greetings in the first half while below it was a basic description and uses of the app.
***********
' App designed to centralize the trade of information as well as facilitate hunters with communication and business dealings. The economy of the app will follow the * system's shop* values with 1 CC ( Crystal Coin ) being equal to one compressed red crystal. Your Hunters account has already been linked with your bank account. The general features are access to :
Hunters forum
Auction
Hunters recruitment for gate exploration
Hunter society news '
************
After reading the email twice to make sure he didn't miss anything he followed the link and started the download.
'I wonder if Jong Kwan has already downloaded the app'
Thinking of his friend he remembered that he still hadn't told him that he had awakened as well...nor that he awakened after illegally entering a gate.
"sigh... status window"
________________________________________________________________
Name: Edmond Dantes
Class: Thief
Passive skills:
preception (lv1)(class exclusive), recovery (lv1), stamina (lv1), agility (lv1), vision (lv1), strength (lv1), mana preception(lv1).
Active skills:
sprint (lv1), mana control (lv0), thieving hand (lv0)(class exclusive), strike(lv1), mana strike(lv0)
Mana count: 897
(Synchronization 8.28%)
Class bonus: thieving eyes(expendable)
________________________________________________________________
While waiting for the app to download, Ed studied his status window once again. Last time the revelation of his class gave him such a shock that he couldn't focus on the rest. Most of the skills had self-explanatory names.
The class-exclusive skills, however, were a bit vague, as he was wondering what they might be he thought of another skill he had one that to his information no one had nor was it listed on the status window, which was 'system sensei'.
"the system what does the skill perception mean"
[perception: the ability to detect a dangerous situation or moments with certain probability]
[ A passive skill that is always active and can be leveled up after the user successfully nullifies the perceived danger by the skill ]
'... well that is a good skill I guess?'
"and what does the skill-thieving hand do?"
[Thieving hand: ability to steal a physical item with a certain probability]
[The probability increase if the user places a mark on the target and the target is near the user. Skill can be leveled up by each successful use ]
'Makes sense to have a skill like this with my class..sigh'
"okay lastly what is this class bonus"
[class bonus: an expendable class-exclusive skill which can be used but cannot be learned]
[The given class bonus and its number of uses are different for each host ]
[Current class bonus ( Thieving eyes): A rare class bonus with only one usage, can copy a class-exclusive skill from the target with certain probability]
