Chapter 1

"Si-eun, why won't you let go?"

Rion's handsome visage showed no remorse or sympathy at uttering the heart rending words. His words were curt and uttered as if the man hadn't considered any other way to say it.

The woman's face morphed into a mix of shock and sorrow as she looked away from Rion's face.

The face she was used to was a warm face, but the contrast in facial expression pierced her heart.

Her mouth opened to speak but her words were not found.

"Si-eun... I've kept saying that we won't get together again. I'm sorry but if I keep being gentle you won't move on. Si-eun. Please move on."

Rion was tired of seeing her continue to try to win back his dead love. He had been gentle at first with his rejection but rather than stop her, all it served was to motivate her even more.

Without waiting for Si-eun to properly register his tumultuous words, Rion quickly turned his back and began walking away.

His steps were slow but loud through the concrete floor as he walked away into the late but bright night city background.

Si-eun stared at his back as he walked away.

She wished dearly in her heart for Rion to stop and run back to her to tell her it wasn't really what he felt.

Her legs weakened as the sorrow in her heart grew larger and bounced in waves with all the more pain. She clutched her chest and her vision blurred as tears marred her face.

For the bystanders secretly watching the scene but pretending not to, all they felt was pity in their hearts for the beautiful girl whose heart had been shattered.

Quietly sobbing, "Rion... do you hate me?"

Her sobs were unheard by Rion who had long ago walked away.

…

Rion's walk back home wasn't pleasant.

Rather, his heart was unsteady and beat unnecessarily quickly. His strong steps had long ago dissolved into weak, unsteady steps.

Some might have been surprised at being able to witness a famed B-Rank Hunter with such vulnerability. Especially someone like Rion who had renown for being a man of stone. Still, his usual quietness wasn't at all different from his normal self.

With no proper thoughts in mind, Rion opened the door to his unproportionally large home— too big and spacious for the lonely him to feel cozy in.

The Hunter's Association had given him this home. It was only natural that such a gift from the widely famed international association would be a luxurious and voluminous estate.

Rion locked the door and went to pour himself a glass of water in the kitchen.

His heart still shaken, he blankly stared outside the glass walls at two small white doves nested together on a tree branch.

One's head was tucked under the other's neck sleeping quietly while the other stared back at him.

It was a heartwarming scene.

Rion mirthlessly chuckled to himself,

"So even birds have a better love life than I do…"

His self-deprecating words reached no one except himself who heard the echoes of the sizable kitchen.

Unable to handle the lonely mood, his thoughts steered to a more productive direction.

Heading outside to the walled garden opened to his kitchen door, he picked up the wooden training sword laying upright against the wall.

As he raised the sword, he looked up again noticing the white dove's stare. The dove suddenly flapped its wings and flew away, leaving its partner peacefully asleep but by itself.

…

...

…

The world had seen the emergence of dungeons for the first time ten years ago.

Dungeons were portals that led to a seemingly different world and were filled with supernatural monsters hostile to Earth and all its living.

People received an ability that let them see their stats, similar to a game-like menu. The menu illustrated the attributes of Strength, Health, Intelligence, Luck, and Defense. These were the core stats for a human being.

Each time a specific milestone number of dungeons was cleared, every single human in the planet gained a stat point.

Thus, society progressed accordingly. Businessmen might improve their Intelligence, those that dealt with strenuous activity might improve their Strength, or others might focus on Health for a longer lifespan.

Hunters gained fame and were trained and paid for humans to clear more dungeons and get more stat points.

A human's main objective in the dungeon was simple.

Kill the boss.

Though the instructions are simple, the execution is not.

Many hunter's lives are forfeit every day as a result of entering a dungeon.

Initially, dungeons were prohibited for any human being to enter as when discovered for the first time also shortly lead up to the complete massacre of the first clearance group.

Quickly after was also the first and most heartbreaking dungeon outbreak the human world would see. The city of New York suffered uncountable casualties and astronomical damages. From that day onwards, it became a clear rule to never let a dungeon fester for far too long.

Those who cleared dungeons became more powerful as a reward for achieving the near impossible. Mana became a common matter of the world through the introduction of dungeons. The innumerable uses of mana made humans unsure if they should feel blessed or cursed for the introduction of dungeons in their world.

The challengers of dungeons were called Hunters and the fame and wealth they could accumulate was not little. They were ranked into 50 levels according to their power and were further grouped in five blocks: D, C, B, A, S.

Each letter corresponded ten levels.

D: 1-10

C: 11-20

B: 21-30

A: 31-40

S: 41-50

Similar to a pyramid, the lower ranked players were numerous while the apex of power was scant.

S-ranked players were nonexistent as no other player had been crazy enough to constantly challenge dungeons and risk their life and mental sanity.

Dungeons appeared in well-known cities, usually due to the concentration of humans and their difficulty was proportional to the population of the humans. This meant that the cities with the most population would have the strongest hunters deployed. While the cities with the smallest population had the weakest hunters settled.

Like this, the Earth witnessed its first cataclysmic supernatural event.

…

…

…

"Rion! Buddy, good to see you here."

Rion nodded at the middle aged man who he had been acquainted with for more than a few months.

"Gerard."

"Ah, still a man of few words I see…"

Gerard approached him with a bright expression and handed him a cup of coffee.

Rion smiled lightly and took the cup of coffee.

"So knowing I do not like coffee, you still proceed to hand me a cup of coffee… Gerard, why do you hate me?"

Gerard laughed and patted the young but talented man's shoulder, "It has been so long since you've joked around…".

Continuing, "Hate is not a word to be said lightly…" Gerard smiled at Rion, hinting at a deeper message.

Rion narrowed his eyes and took a sip of the bitter coffee he always thought disgusting— today, however, the taste was not so bad.

Perhaps the more bitter experiences a person goes through, the more they appreciate the sentiment.

Ignoring the latter part of Gerard's words, Rion sarcastically remarked, "There's no time to be joking when my life is so frequently on the line."

"Ah, you must be joking. It is exactly why we must be happy and positive. With such an occupation, who knows how long we get to be happy…"

Rion affirmed with a nod at the bright but gloomy sentence and took another sip of the coffee.

"Hunters!" A man with a microphone took the attention of the pair and the many other hunters situated in the area.

"The excursion will begin in ten minutes! Let us all gather please…"

Savoring the taste of coffee in his mouth, "...Not so bad," Rion muttered and walked with Gerard towards the center of the parking lot, standing with dozens of others before the portal that had appeared just yesterday.

…

"God, damn."

It was not just Rion that cursed, but everyone else had breathed a sigh of relief once the last monster of the room had been slain.

Rion wiped the green blood from his face and silently walked towards where the others rested.

"Map," he uttered and a dungeon-made mana hologram appeared before his eyes revealing the rooms they have cleared or have yet to enter.

Currently, the theme of the dungeon was a green forest and the monsters that had appeared were goblins, their variants, and an orc boss that they had just struggled to eliminate.

The rooms of a dungeon were sections cut out according to the map. Though a forest couldn't possibly have rooms, rooms were just what sections were named.

"Well we've just slain the first mini boss… hooray."

One of the hunters exclaimed with sarcastic cheer.

Mixtures of woo's and hurrays were muttered by the dozens of hunters. The unenthusiastic replies were not to blame, killing a mini boss was tiring enough.

"How long is the break?" Rion who usually never spoke and merely followed directions attempted to seem more sociable and asked the others.

"Eh… depending on how everyone is feeling?" One of the more experienced hunters asked the rest.

"RION! Watch out!"

A familiar voice called out to him. Unhesitant with his actions, Rion rolled out the way as an arrow thudded against the floor where he stood.

Rion turned to stare at the origin of the arrow and found a new enemy variant from the dungeon.

He skillfully dodged more desperate arrows and rushed to behead the pig-headed creature.

Bipedal creatures with different animal heads emerged from behind the slain pig kobold.

"Motherfucking kobolds…"

They had successfully lured Rion away from the group, albeit at the cost of a dispensable cannon fodder.

Though his teammates rushed to help him, Rion had long been encircled.

Wielding a sword, Rion skillfully evaded the strikes of the kobolds with mana influenced agility.

Limbs flew one after another as Rion singlehandedly took the lives of the despicable monsters.

"Screech!"

The kobolds yelled cries at the unforgiving blade while fighting for their own lives.

His eyes narrowed at the cries, a common sign that their ferociousness would double. Almost immediately, Rion evaded the strike of a dog-headed kobold and tripped the monster to the floor.

Wishing to slice the neck of the kobold, he was stopped by another piercing blade. Rion narrowly blocked with his own sword and managed to dodge in time to avoid the lunge of the kobold whom he had just tripped.

He slashed an approaching kobold across their chest and with the momentum gained elbowed them through their face.

Suddenly, an axe flew lunging through the air aiming at his head. Ducking just in time by reflex, he barely blocked a kick to the side and was knocked aside.

With heavy breaths and sweat clouding his face, Rion maintained a steady pose while glaring at the offenders. Corpses he was responsible for littered the floor.

"Fuck, damnit!" He could hear his companions struggling to break through the encirclement towards him.

"Idiots! Stay back and let me go to you!" he yelled at them.

It'd be easier for him to evade attacks and get to his companions who could just form a line of defense but if they entered the encirclement like that it would just complicate him even more.

"No way we're leaving you alone!" They yelled back.

He punched the neck of a Kobold and kicked a boar-headed kobold into his rushing pack.

Finally seeing a moment of space, Rion positioned his sword horizontally and quickly accumulated mana at the blade of the sword.

This was an offensive move that used mana to create a strong flying projectile slash. The name of it was—

"Mana Slice!" Yelling the name of the attack gave more power itself to the attack, for reasons unknown…

[AN: Cough cough, seriously, why do people always yell their moves?]

The kobolds flew further back by the impact of the slash with a massive gash in their stomachs.

The encirclement was broken and his companions quickly disposed of the remaining kobolds.

Without having to move, another section of the dungeon had been cleared.

Rion planted his sword on the floor and abruptly sat on the ground with pants.

He sighed with relief and wiped the sweat off his face.

The hunters who helped him came by slapping his back with admiration.

"Truly a B-Rank hunter… you looked fucking cool out there," Gerard stated with a youthful atmosphere seemingly unfit for a middle aged man.

"Ah, I feel like I'm dying," Rion took heavy cold breaths into his lungs.

"Next time just let the damn archers kill the kobold instead of going yourself," a female voice of a mage chided him.

Rion silently nodded and calmly regained his breathing with practiced ease.

He patted his shoulder and looked at the mana engraved tattoo that stated his level.

XXI, 21.

He was level 21 and was at the lowest power of a B-Rank Hunter. Still, the strength the levels gave him were not to be underestimated. Each level presented a percentage of boosted attributes. From 1-10, each level gave a 5% boost. From 11-20, each level gave 7% boost. From 21-30, each level was a 10% boost.

50% + 70% + 10%.

At his current level, he presented a total of an 130% boost in his attributes just from his dungeon level.

Through the ten years of existence of dungeons, twenty stat points had been distributed to the population of humanity.

Rion's stats appeared like this:

HP: 100 (230)

Mana: 100 (230)

Strength: 10 [20] (46)

Health: 10 (23)

Intelligence:10 [13] (29.9)

Luck: 10 (12) [27.6]

Defense: 10 [15] (34.5]

First were the base numbers, the ones with no parenthesis. The ones in brackets were the base stats added with the distributed points. The ones in parenthesis were the brackets accordingly boosted to Rion's dungeon level.