[ present time ]
Iseul may have done nothing but brood over his failure for the last seven years but all that shutting in luckily didn't dull his survival instinct as he quickly got up before the dungeon door burst open. He ran, diving into any shelf that may offer a temporary hiding spot from whatever horror that was bound to exit the newly opened dungeon.
Peeking through he stared at the glowing rip that hung midair. It was like a scene out of what seemed to be a million webcomics he have read before. Looking at it made Iseul think that maybe, just maybe, he was dreaming. That if he hit himself hard, he will wake up on his nasty bed, drenched in his sweat and covered in his disgusting clothe, surrounded by trash that he accumulated through time.
The whole place was loud with the deafening roars of some monster mixed with screams of terror and cries of agony. Ducking back into his hiding place, Iseul stared at the floating window before him. His jaw went rigid as he pinched himself. He knew he will not wake up. He was already banged up from the quake and all the scampering and hiding.
But Iseul was hoping that he will wake up even when he was unsure if he'd rather face the chaos right now or wake back to the pathetic life he lead for seven damn years.
Shaking his head, pushing all those thoughts to the back of his mind, he stared squarely at the window before him. Lifting his arm, he clicked on the button that says 'Check your skills here β'.
There's no use in hoping that this was all a dream. Iseul has to accept reality and the faster he adapts to it the better. He actually got lucky because he awakened as a Class S+ Hunter and if he went to adopt the logic of those system webcomics it meant he was strong and rare. Not everyone awakened as S Hunter what more as S+ Hunter.
Clearly, in the genesis of the new world, Iseul won the lottery. Right?
So, he silenced the loud thoughts of his brain either asking if he was going to die or screaming how he doesn't want to die. Rather, he focused on the window of information before him.
"That's right", he muttered to himself. "It's like a game. It's like those mmorpg I spent hours playing." He took a deep breath. "Think of it as if you are playing Aesir."
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[ π€ Profile ]
β¦ Name: Jeon Iseul
β¦ Age: 25 years old
β¦ Title: The Fuhrer
β¦ Class: S+ Hunter
β¦ Exclusive Attribute: Absolute King (Level 1); ββββββββββ
β¦ Exclusive Skills: Dominance (Level 1); Skill Replica (Level 1); Skill Actify (Level 1); Perspective (Level 1); Sanction (Level 1); Pinpoint (Level 1)
β¦Stats: Stamina (Level 5); Strength (Level 5); Agility (Level 8); Magic (Level 25)
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Iseul couldn't help but feel the rush of excitement in him. He doesn't have any clue about what was written on the window but through being a gamer for years, he has some vague idea of what they could be.
One thing that he didn't like was the level of his overall stats. He had a feeling that if he didn't live as a neet for the past years those could have been higher. The level of his magic offset the disappointment. He doesn't have a clue about other people's stat but level 25 was not by any means low. That was a huge headstart if he says so himself.
A loud strange screeching noise surged. Iseul peeked at what was happening. The moment he saw monsters crawling out of the newly opened dungeon, he quickly moved. He grabbed a steel pipe he saw lying on the floor and quickly made his way to the exit trying to avoid any attention from the monster. His legs were shaking, and his heart was pounding but he ignored all of those. His main focus was to leave.
Iseul managed to crawl his way to the staff room of the grocery store where he quickly ran his way to the exit. He knew there should be an exit door that lead outside the establishment.
His eyes landed on the opened door and Iseul made a run for it. When he got outside he was welcomed by a gush of wind that hit his face, and his long hair that he tied in a messy bun fluttered. Looking up, he could see the silhouette of a huge monster that was roaming around the city in the distance. Sirens were blaring as an explosion shook the place. Pillars of smoke can be seen in every direction.
Iseul didn't waste his time and blended in with the running crowd that was moving in different directions. He didn't look back, he kept running and running until he reached a part of the city that seemed abandoned, and the stains of blood all over the ground and on the walls of establishments told him everything he needed to know.
Swallowing hard, he entered an empty convenience store. He grabbed a backpack he saw on the floor. After he emptied it, he filled it with all the essentials he needed. He reached for a cold bottle of water, drinking it in continuous gulps. Once he finished it, he grabbed another and downed it to half before he stuffed more water in his bag.
Once satisfied, he sat down in the corner making sure he was hidden. "Fuck," he pulled out his old smartphone. He groaned seeing a crack on the screen. Ignoring that, he began searching the internet about what was happening. All the webcomics he read before ran through his mind. None of them detailed what happened when dungeons first broke out. They would just summarize it by saying it was a total disaster, people died, and it took some time before the system that collapsed was built again.
He continued to scroll through his phone when he saw a video shared on social media where a young man was using and controlling lightning to fight monsters. People were cheering for him and others have a look of relief on their faces.
Of course, he thought, he wasn't the only one that was awakened.
"I can't just run forever," Iseul pocketed his phone and checked on his skill. He had always been the type of player that read through the skills and studied them before testing them out. Pulling out his profile window, he began clicking on things.
He clicked on his title which he admittedly found cool.
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[ The Fuhrer ]
β a title given to the user of Absolute King
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Iseul clicked on the [ Absolute King ] which also happened to be an exclusive attribute.
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[ Absolute King ]
Level 1
β an attribute that allows you to completely command the Grand Cross
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"What the fuck is a Grand Cross?" Iseul frowned. "Sounds like a skill from an old MMORPG." Iseul then continued to check on his exclusive skills, reading through them. The moment he had read through everything, he fell into complete silence.
Just a while ago, he felt like he won the lottery for awakening as a Class S+ Hunter and having a huge boost when it comes to magic level but now he felt like none of those matter because all of his skills were not offensive skills. They're not even defensive skills.
All of them were controlling skills that only works at whoever awakened as the /Grand Cross/. This meant if the Grand Cross was not with him then being a Class S+ Hunter and all his skills were useless! He can't even use it to protect himself. All his abilities depended on the Grand Cross which was a load of bullshit.
Iseul couldn't help but grab his hair with both hands out of frustration. He let out a silent scream. What's the fucking point of being an S+ Hunter if this was the condition. And what the hell was he supposed to do if the one who awakened as the Grand Cross was a useless fuck or someone who's maybe a class F Hunter.
Was he supposed to help them raise their rank? Was he supposed to guide them?
He slumped weakly on the ground. Taking a deep breath, he called for his skill Pinpoint which according to what he read will help him locate the Grand Cross whoever the fuck they were. Concentrating, Iseul activated the skill.
βΊ1%
βΊ18%
βΊ35%
βΊ67%
βΊ99%
[ ππ¨π° π₯π¨πππ’π§π . . . ]
"Why is this thing taking forever?" Iseul's patience was just dwindling. He swore if the Grand Cross happened to be from across the globe he might just have to walk into a dungeon and accept his fate.
Living in this utter chaos was too much. It will take the government and everyone to bring order back even when people were slowly awakening and fighting monsters.
Iseul was aware that all those thoughts were rooted in shock, fear, and exhaustion. He glared at the words 'Now loading...' on the glowing window before him. As if threatened, a new window popped up.
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[ β οΈ ERROR β οΈ ]
The Grand Cross hasn't awakened yet.
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Iseul couldn't help but scream, "You've got to be fucking kidding me!"