In a small apartment, with mold covering the walls. Orion slept on a small bed, and at the corner of the room gazing out the room was Rael. Rael pulled the glass of alcohol close to his lips, and sipped. The moonlight waned.
Rael suddenly smiled, and laughed quietly as he looked at his son. He then became focused.
He pulled up his status screen.
"My Unique skill has changed. Was this the reward from killing the Ash Dragon? Whatever the case, I'm so unbelievably thankful to whatever and whomever allowed this. I'm back here, and I'm already a Player. I can't believe I didn't need a awakening stone this time, but whatever. Now I have a way to live properly, before I was too weak and pathetic to do anything for Orion."
Rael stood up, and his fists tightened as he closened to the window. The bars seemed to escape his attention, and all that remained was the far reaching sky.
...
"Orion, here's your lunch. I'll be a bit late today, be good and wait. I'll get you ice cream as an apology."
Orion nodded, his small plump cheeks tumbled as he rotated his head quickly.
Rael patted his son on the head before dropping him off at the preschool.
He gazed at his son's retreating figure, his eyes slowly sharpening. He turned his back, and began his new day.
...
"It has been thirty years since our lives completely changed, in the beginning thanks to the capable feats of a few heros and champions humans managed to survive the "Twilight week," an unprecedented genocide of humanity, by voracious invaders. Humanity clung to the lame light, and provoked a new era! No more are we hunted, we are hunters. Aiding humanity in it's reclamation of our world are the God's, and we the Hunter association swear to serve our dream of one day obtaining a truly safe world. Alongside our ever advancing technology, the birth of training institutes, and guilds, we have been able to starve our enemies!"
A loud announcement rang, it proposed an inspiring declaration. It moved the spirit, but inevitably it had no concise association with anything physical. It was a vague statement, that looped the same feats of the past with no true beacon of hope.
Rael gazed at the screen that produced the loud announcement, a beautiful woman, a supermodel, wearing the association uniform clearly repeated a scripted appraisal, without any genuine passion to incite the heart.
Rael sighed, "They say all this, but other than the Top 100 hunters, no other hunter has yet to actually achieve anything note worthy. If anything rather than hunting, we are more akin to struggling to breathe in a room full of hulking overlords. We barely defer the invading hordes as the countries and guilds are busy competing for profits, and soon the second stage will be opened. Hah."
In the thirty years bar those few exceptional hunters, the majority are commonplace and unremarkable, the achievements they produce are less than a ripple in a sea. It made sense after all most who "could" didn't wish to risk their lives, and rather than enter dangerous and important dungeons entered the most profitable ones, and those who "couldn't" soon died. Ten of the most important and dangerous dungeons were ignored for too long, and as a result three countries were completely destroyed. Not to mention the less financially capable counties which on a daily basis teeter between destruction and life. Humanity in truth is like a stretched string, with the last fibre soon to be pulled.
The guilds also while they said they trained and guided new hunters, in reality they chose only the best and the rest were thrown to the wilds, furthermore the lesser of the chosen were basically made slaves.
Rael sighed.
He walked towards a counter, and slipped his identity card forward.
"I would like to participate in the Hunter test."
The woman behind the counter smiled, "Are you awakened, sir?"
Rael nodded.
The woman's face flickered in anger, before returning into a smile.
"Very well. Please put a drop of blood into the inspection orb."
Rael, pulled a needle the woman offered him. He plucked his finger and dropped his blood on the inspection orb.
It buzzed in a golden light.
The woman nodded and said, "Please make your way to studio 11. The group will enter the dungeon very soon. Please be made aware that you will only be able to return from the dungeon and be considered to have passed once you reach level ten. Typically it takes at most 5 hours, of course the better of worse you are the time changes. I wish you good luck."
Rael nodded and left for studio 11.
He pulled the bag he had on in front him, making sure everything he needed was there.
...
In front of glowing blue rip into the void, a bulky man stood with a group of twenty men and women of all ages.
"As most of you should be aware, at level 10 you earn your first class. When you enter you will have to face a variety of monsters in a complex environment, forgo common sense when you enter. You may leave at any time, but remember that only once you reach level ten will you have considered to have passed. Select a weapon from the right, and proceed inside when ready. Additionally, know that the various guilds, and the majority of gods watch you here, this is your first stage, a grand platform to draw the attention of beings who can truly change your life so work hard."
Rael pondered for a bit, before taking a spear and shield. He shifted his gaze into the portal before tightening his grip.
He felt his nerves shiver in fright and gloom, but an unpleasant force travelled up his heart to his head and produced a unyielding determination. He slapped his face hard, and closed his eyes.
Countless scenes flooded his head, death, pain, loss, regret, fear, love.
Adrenaline burst like a firework in his veins, it wriggled like countless burrowing worms Hungering to devour him.
His eyes opened, and they were bloodshot. His every muscle contracted like a stern bowstring. He felt pressure at each step weigh on him, yet he kept moving forward.