"Go to your room, I won't listen to even a second more of this!" Apollo's father shouted from the living room as Apollo stomped into his room, watching his mother staring at him with sadness and pity in her eyes while slamming the door shut with a loud bang, locking the door after himself.
Opening his status window, Apollo once again read his stats in quiet disappointment.
[Name: Apollo Hart]
[Age: 16]
[Strength: 8]
- Physical strength, lifting.
[Agility: 12]
- Speed, acrobatics, flexibility.
[Sense: 11]
- Reaction time increase, increases effectiveness of all 5 senses.
[Vitality: 7]
- Healing ability, toughness, resistance to poison, illness, stamina.
[Power: NULL]
- Magic power, magic power recovery.
[Attribute: NULL]
'Aaaargh, god damn it! Why don't I have an attribute? Why, out of all the people does it have to be me! Me who gets born unlucky! No, not even unlucky, beyond unlucky! My parents don't even let me be a scout or something similar, my agility ain't even bad! I don't want to live in my parents' house all my life and work some boring ass job in IT or bagging groceries! God damn it!' Apollo thought, enraged.
After more inward curses, Apollo's eyeballs suddenly started stinging as his face got covered by a blanket of smoke.
"H-huh?"
"Oh fuck!"
Apollo took a blanket into his hands and tried to smother the fire, only to discover the fire had spread to the blanket as well and was devouring it with crazy speed.
Immediately, Apollo ran to the door, shouting for his parents.
"Unlock, unlock, unlock, unlock god damnit! Mom, dad, help! There's a fire in my room and the lock's stuck! I can't get out!"
Apollo kicked the door to no avail, hearing his parents run up to the door soon after.
"Get away from the door, I'll kick it down!" Apollo's father yelled from the other side.
'My father's strength stat is 22. He used to be an E-rank tanker mercenary. If he can't kick the door down, no one in the house can!'
Apollo stepped back, feeling the hungry fire creeping up behind him, threatening to swallow him whole.
"Hrraaah!"
A loud sound of wood cracking reverberated throughout the house, but other than that, the door was still left standing.
"Haaaah!"
The door splintered, but it was still impossible for Apollo to get through. There was nowhere for him to go anywhere, the fire would swallow him any second.
One last desperate cry from Apollo's father could be heard as he finally kicked the door down, only to discover he was too late. The fire had already clung onto Apollo's clothes, burning his skin and travelling up his back and onto the rest of his body. Apollo's father instantly took off towards his son, hoping to pull him out of the fire.
"N-no, get away." Were the last words Apollo managed to say before losing consciousness.
Apollo suddenly found himself floating within a dark void, as if stuck in an infinite pool of water, unable to feel or breathe.
"W-Where am I? Am I dead?"
After floating for a few minutes, Apollo started hearing faint voices, the wailing of sirens, and the beeping of machines.
"Quickly, get him to the emergency room!"
...
"Get him into a hospital, he's badly burned!"
...
"How did he survive that?"
...
"We strongly suspect that the fire wasn't ordinary..."
...
"Come on, bud. Wake up!"
...
"Wake up!"
"Wake up!"
"Wake up!"
"Wake up!"
"Wake up!"
"Wake up!"
The words "Wake up!" reverberated throughout the infinite void dozens, no, hundreds of times, getting louder and louder. It was then when Apollo opened his eyes.
Looking to the left, he saw a man sleeping in the bed next to his own. Looking around, it was clear he was in a hospital with multiple different needles in his arm and bandages around his body.
"U-uncle Ryan." Apollo managed to stammer out with great pain.
Apollo's uncle, who had a noticeable stubble and looked disheveled with noticeable bags under his eyes, immediately opened his eyes and shot up, quickly approaching Apollo's bed.
"Apollo.. You're alive! I'm so glad you're alive! They somehow managed to take you from the rubble of your house right into the hospital. You've been in a coma for a few weeks but they say you should be fine!"
Giving Ryan a slight smile, Apollo looked at the ceiling with a sad but serious look.
"What about my parents?"
Ryan sighed, looking at the floor with a look of pure despair.
"They're.. Your dad, he.. he didn't make it.. And my sister is in a coma, but.. is in a much worse state than you. I used up my savings but I still can't afford her medical bills for too long.. They might unplug her from the special magic machine they're using to keep her alive if I can't afford to pay. If I use your inheritance, we have maybe 3 years max if they don't increase the price. Fucking scammers, monopolizing human life!"
Ryan gripped his head with his hands, shaking his head as tears dripped through his fingers.
"D-dad.. He saved me. The last thing I remember is him running into the room."
Taking a deep breath, Ryan continued talking. "Your mom was found inside of the house, using water magic to shield you both. It is a miracle she survived.. They're saying the fire was somehow different, it was hard to extinguish. I don't know how I'm ever going to afford paying the outrageous medical bills!"
"I'll become a hunter, and make a lot of money for us. Don't worry."
Feeling his grip on consciousness slipping, Apollo fell asleep again.
2 years later
Putting on the T-shirt from his locker, Apollo looked at his stats once again. Going to the gym for 2 years had increased his stats greatly.
[Name: Apollo Hart]
[Age: 18]
[Strength: 19]
[Agility: 17]
[Sense: 11]
[Vitality: 11]
[Power: NULL]
[Attribute: NULL]
'Finally, I'm 18. I can become a hunter. Even though my stats are shit, I need money. Ryan's running out, and if I become successful we might even get out of that shithole we're living in right now.'
Walking out of the gym, Apollo went straight to the hunter association.
...
It was Apollo's first time seeing the hunter association evaluation building. It was truly spectacular, with modern equipment and many young hunters waiting to get evaluated.
The loudspeaker sounded, and after waiting for 2 hours, it was Apollo's turn to go. "Number #844, Apollo Hart. Please continue to training room #17."
Upon entering the training room, Apollo was greeted by a young lady with blonde hair in a ponytail and full black clothes, wearing rectangular eyeglasses and sapphire earrings with eyes of the same color.
"Welcome to the hunter's evaluation sir, I will be your assistant. Please, put your hand on this artefact."
Apollo did as instructed and his stats showed up on the display right next to him.
The young lady read through the stats, and shock broke through her normally cold and unwavering façade upon reading the attribute and skills tab. She quickly hid her emotion and wrote something in her notebook, calling for Apollo to follow her.
"As you are quite the special case, we will skip the attribute test for now and go straight onto the physical ability test."
In front of Apollo stood a calisthenics bar, a bench press machine and a treadmill.
"Please sir, do as many pull ups as you can, the highest weight you can lift on the bench press, and run as fast as you can for 1 minute. That will conclude our test for today."
Nodding, Apollo loaded up 435KG onto the bench press machine.
'My PR is 440, but I really don't wanna embarrass myself here.'
With one of the three tasks done, Apollo moved onto the pullups, ending at 57.
And lastly, the treadmill test, where Apollo scored 48km/h.
Writing something in her notebook, the young lady spoke.
"With this, the test is concluded. Your final rank is E. If you wish for a re-evaluation, come again in no sooner than two months."
'E-rank? I expected that, which makes me wonder why I'm disappointed. I won't be able to make enough fucking money, not even close. God damnit. But looking on the bright side, I'm finally going to train in an actual dungeon.'
...
"Hey Ryan, what's up?" Apollo walked into the living room, seeing his uncle Ryan working on his shabby laptop.
"Hey, I'm good, how did the hunter evaluation go?"
"As expected, I'm only E rank, probably cause I still don't have a damn attribute. Anyways, could I borrow your car? I'm going to one of the gates outside the city."
"Do you have a squad or something? You can't be thinking of going alone."
Taking his gaze away from his laptop screen, Ryan stared Apollo in the eyes.
"No, I don't have one. I'm gonna go alone, I can't afford to split the money with some idiots, especially since it's only an E-rank dungeon. I'll be lucky if I get a few hundred from clearing it. Don't worry, I ain't gonna die." Apollo responded with a look of determination.
Ryan sighed and tossed the car keys to Apollo, warning him to be careful.
...
Apollo stopped in the parking lot just next to the small E-rank gate, surveying the evacuated area with glee.
'Sweet, there's only a few people here.' He thought to himself, approaching toward the gate.
As Apollo was about to walk into the gate, he heard a voice coming from behind him. "Hey, dude, what rank are you?"
Without turning around, Apollo responded. "E-rank."
"The fuck? Are you crazy? Why are you going alone into an E-ranked gate when you're an E-rank yourself? Do you wanna join us? We'll be going into the gate in a bit and could use a fourth member."
Apollo responded with a quick "I genuinely don't give a shit", disappearing into the E-rank gate. "Moron." is the last thing Apollo heard the man say before emerging in a spacious cave system.
As Apollo wandered through the maze-like cave system, he heard the sounds of water and followed them, eventually coming across a narrow, lush cavern with a rushing river. He followed the river and noticed the cavern widening into a massive forest filled with lush greenery.
'Finally, something interesting.' Apollo thought, following the riverbed
Suddenly, Apollo heard growling behind him. A lone wolf circled around him, showing its teeth and growling. Vines grew from the ground, aggressively waving in the air.
"Welp, let's hope this shitty kitchen knife is enough." Apollo said to himself, taking the knife out of its sheathe.
The Damascus steel of the freshly bought knife shone in the light inexplicably coming from the ceiling as Apollo took a stance, waiting for the wolf to attack.
The wolf, however, howled, turned and started running away.
"The hell? Oh no you don't!" Apollo yelled, sprinting behind the wolf through the forest.
After sprinting for some time, Apollo noticed something peculiar. The wolf would periodically turn around and look at him, as if confirming he was following.
'Wait, hold on a second, it's leading me into a fucking trap!'
All of Apollo's senses suddenly started screaming as he quickly turned around, starting to run the other way. While jumping over a fallen tree, a large white wolf dashed out of the tall bushes, tackling him to the ground.
"Argh, damn it."
Looking around, Apollo saw at least 10 normal wolves around him watching as the white wolf, who had pinned him to the ground, was about to bite his face off.
'Great, what did I fucking expect would happen.'
Tensing his muscles, Apollo kicked the white wolf from below with all his might, but the kick only managed to launch it about 20cm in the air.
That, however, was enough for him to free his hands and stab the wolf in the neck. Or so he thought, as the wolf redirected its body, choosing to be stabbed in the chest rather than in the neck.
The wolf jumped away, and Apollo used that time to stand up and charge at the wolf again. The wolf growled and the rest of the pack started running towards Apollo.
Apollo swung his knife towards the wolf, which dodged to the left and lunged at his left arm. The lunge connected as the white wolf's teeth sunk into Apollo's forearm, flailing him around as if he were made of feathers.
The knife was now useless, being in the same arm that was now held by the wolf. Apollo used the momentum from the wolf flailing him around to launch a powerful kick at its head.
The kick connected and the wolf let go, taking a few steps backwards in a daze. Apollo gripped the knife with his right hand, about to pierce the wolf's skull, but the rest of the pack had arrived, chomping down on Apollo's tender flesh. His blood spilled, but it didn't hurt.
'Great, how fucking anticlimactic. Eaten by wolves in the first dungeon I go to.'
But suddenly, the status window popped up.
[Conditions have been met]
[You have unlocked inherent ability: Hellfire]
[The lock on your stats has been lifted by the Hellfire coursing through your body]
[The lock on your potential has been lifted by the Hellfire coursing through your body]
[Attribute changed to: Hellfire]
"...What?"
The wolves suddenly backed off, growling, as if afraid of something.
Apollo's body burst into dark blue flames, slowly healing the wounds the wolves have created.
"Huh? What's happening?"
[Mental state being forcibly changed to allow for optimal usage of Hellfire]
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"
Apollo's head felt like it was about to burst, bringing him to his knees in agony.
As quickly as the pain appeared, it also disappeared along with the look of agony on Apollo's face, instead replaced with a cold stare.
[Mental state change successful.]
Apollo stood up, looking as the Hellfire slithered back into his body, awaiting his call, and grinned, opening his arms as if inviting the wolves to attack him.
"Where do you think you're going? The fun's just beginning."
Opening the status window, Apollo looked at his stats.
[Name: Apollo Hart]
[Age: 18]
[Strength: 90]
[Agility: 125]
[Sense: 123]
[Vitality: 74]
[Power: 189]
[Attribute: Hellfire]
[Attribute mastery: Novice «0% mastery»]
[Hellfire
- The purest of flames used by the first demon king of hell. It is also called the Primordial flame. Grows with the user.]
"Hahah, hahahahahahah!"
Apollo laughed maniacally, watching the status window. He heard faint shuffling of the grass behind him, turning around in an instant.
The white wolf, previously a threat, now moved as if it was in slow-motion.
Extending his hand, Apollo whispered. "Die", releasing a small bullet of hellfire, which quickly engulfed the wolf, leaving behind a charred corpse.
Apollo snickered, thinking. 'I wanted to release a large wave, but only a little fucking bullet came out? is this the height of my ability?'
The Hellfire hungrily sucked his stamina, so Apollo let go of his hold on it.
'I don't need Hellfire to deal with some pathetic wolves.'
Turning his head towards the rest of the wolves, Apollo snickered and shot towards the closest one, stabbing it multiple times. The wolves futilely tried to stop him with their vine magic, but it was to no avail.
He repeated this process with the rest of the wolves, then cut them apart, taking out their cores and stashing them in his backpack.
Every single dungeon monster, no matter what it was, possessed a core. It was basically a battery filled with magic, able to influence the monster's given element and recharge itself from the magic in the air.
With his sense stat being heightened by almost a dozen times, Apollo felt that the white wolf wasn't the strongest monster. A large magic signature stood out like a sore thumb from the deeper part of the woods.
Apollo called upon the hellfire, eager to test out his newest idea. He concentrated the Hellfire inside his legs, and jumped.
The hellfire amplified Apollo's leg power, his jump launching him almost 20 meters in the air.
'Great, but I can't keep this up forever. Let's go.'
Using his newfound ability, Apollo ran with massive speed towards the magic signature about 10km away.
...
Sitting on top of a tree, Apollo watched as a large gray bear with two large horns protruding from its head and deep red markings lining its bulky body and wings laid inside of a large hollow tree, sleeping.
'Looks dangerous, let's finish this fucker quickly.'
Apollo grinned, directing Hellfire inside of his legs and launching himself towards the log.
Hellfire instantly enveloped his right hand which he placed on the log, setting fire to it and luring the now awake demon bear out.
Apollo aimed his index finger at the bear, shooting out a bullet of Hellfire, now larger than before.
Opening its mouth, the bear launched a large wave of fire at the bullet, not expecting the bullet to easily penetrate the bear's attack unscathed.
As a last-ditch effort, the bear spread its large wings, flying above the bullet of hellfire, sending a wave of fire at Apollo.
Apollo ran below the wave of fire and launched off of the ground, delivering a massive Hellfire-amplified punch to the bear's belly.
Out of breath, Apollo let go of Hellfire, which was quickly draining his stamina.
The bear stood up, seemingly unharmed, and barreled towards Apollo.
Taking out his knife, Apollo took a stance, and dashed towards the bear.
The bear, using its front legs, launched fire at Apollo in a crisscross shape.
Apollo kicked the bottom of a small tree, removing it from its roots, and swung it vertically at the large cross of fire barreling towards him.
The fire went out and Apollo threw the tree at the bear like a spear, but it was only a distraction. Following the path of the tree, Apollo slid below the bear, stabbing it through its thick skin in its stomach.
The bear roared, stomping on Apollo and smacking him with its front paw, sending him flying into an adjacent tree.
'Tch, I'm never going to win a battle of attrition.' Apollo thought to himself, activating Hellfire one last time and sprinting towards the bear.
Hellfire circled around his palm, forming one last Hellfire bullet. This attack was all or nothing.
The bear once again swung its paw, a wave of fire following right after. Apollo jumped over the wave and found himself right above the bear, aiming his index finger at it.
"Die."
The bullet whizzed through the air, connecting with the bear's large round body and engulfing it in dark blue flames.
Collapsing on the ground from exhaustion, Apollo smiled to himself, proud of his growth.
Author's note: I'm going to quickly spew out a few chapters I created beforehand, although every new chapter is going to be coming on saturday/monday, dunno yet.