Episode 1: Retirement (1)

Bzzt... Bzzt...

A silent buzz could be heard echoing through a dark and quiet living room. There, a young black-haired man could be seen soundly asleep on a couch, with all the nearby curtains covering up the windows.

Bzzt... Bzzt...

"...ugh..." As the buzzing noise persistently echoed within his ears, the man grunted, abruptly covering an ear with his hand to block off the sound. "Just five more minutes..." He mumbled quietly, moving his body into a different sleeping position. "Just let me sleep for five more minutes..."

Bzzt... Bzzt...

Bzzt... Bzzt...

Unfortunately, despite his plea, the noise didn't stop. "Argh... Would you just shut up already?!" Finally having enough of it, the hand that was gripping his ear began waving around furiously, attempting to get rid of whatever insect disturbing him. "Tch... Stupid annoying mosquitos and their... Huh?"

As his body began rising up from his couch in a fit of rage, he was immediately greeted by a familiar sight, leaving the young man, Jace, in slight confusion.

"...what the...?" He raised his brow, bewildered by the scene before him. "This is... My living room?" At the realization, he was left even more confused. "But..." Soon after, he looked down at his body, taking notice of the unchanged equipment that he had worn last night. "...wasn't I in a dungeon before this? How did I get here?"

Blinking in disbelief, Jace stood up from his couch, soon making his way over to the curtains in a semi-awake manner. At that moment, he pulled the curtains wide open, only to be greeted by the morning sun burning his eyes.

"U-Ugh..." He abruptly closed his eyes in the next second. Though he had mentally prepared himself for the sunlight, it wasn't enough. The sheer force from the refraction of light coming from the windows was unbearable for him to handle even for a second. "Tch... How do morning people handle this every day?"

After a short while, Jace opened his eyes again, finally able to withstand the jarring sunlight. At that moment, he was greeted by the city's street, where people could be seen casually walking on the sidewalks and cars driving through the roads.

"Ah...? This is..." Upon confirming that he wasn't imagining things, he was left speechless. "Have I finally gone mad from overwork?"

He was unable to comprehend the situation at hand. After all, the events that led up till now just didn't add up. Jace had vividly remembered that he was fighting an S-ranked boss just last night. However, at no point did he recall ever returning home.

"Argh... Did I dream it all last night?" He ruffled his hair, pondering on the matter. To have dreamt of being overworked to death was but a nightmare. "No way, right...? But, it felt almost real..." No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't put his finger on it. "..maybe it's because I passed out as soon as I returned home?"

Perhaps that could explain why he had woken up sleeping on the couch. It was a plausible reasoning. Yet, despite coming to a logical conclusion, he felt a strange feeling within him, almost like it was screaming at him that he was wrong.

"Ugh... Something doesn't feel right..." He shook his head, ruffling his hair once again. "If it's not me passing out from exhaustion... Then... C-Could it be..." As a thought passed through his mind, he gulped, soon swiping his fingers upwards, opening up his status window in the next second.

...

[ Hunter Profile ]

Name: Jace Young

Age: 29

Level: 1

Class: Synergist

[ Titles ]

Current Hunter Points: 0

<Indolent Sharpshooter (S)>

<Challenger of the Soul Oracle (S)>

[ Status ]

HP: 120/120 | MP: 274/274

[ Stats ]

STR: 12 | INT: 17

AGI: 19 | MND: 23

END: 6 | LUCK: 15

[ Abilities ]

<Soul Linkage (SSS)>

<Soul Seer's Eyes (SS)>

<Soul Channeler (S)>

<Phantom Mirage (A)>

<Rendering Field (A)>

<Lazy Mind (A)>

<Focus Fire (B)>

...

"...eh?" At a quick glance at the status window before him, the young man couldn't help but rub his eyes dumbfoundedly. "This... Haha... Hahaha!!" After a few seconds, he began laughing madly. "What's this? Level 1? Synergist Class? Haha! I've really gone mad!" The laughter continued, hurting his sides in the process. "This is such a funny joke! Hah... I haven't laughed this good in a while. Oh, man... My sides are hurting. Phew... I should probably just head back to sleep."

Drawing the curtains, Jace began making his way back to the couch, lying on it and closing his eyes soon after, attempting to fall back asleep. However, after a few minutes, his eyes opened once again.

"..." Staring at the ceiling fan, he gave it a dumbfounded blink, pinching his cheeks in the process. "This..." Upon feeling pain, Jace's expression paled. "This... THIS IS REAL?!"

In utter shock, Jace's body rose upwards, turning back to look at his status window again.

"No... This can't be real, right? Level 1? Shit stats? New skills? Synergist???" His eyes were shaky, glaring at his status window in utter disbelief. At the same time, he began scrolling through his newly obtained skills.

...

[ Soul Linkage (SSS) ] [ Passive ]

One's essence can be connected to another; forming an unbreakable bond.

When a connection is successfully formed between you and another person, your stats will increase by 2 and the strength of your abilities on them will grow stronger. At the same time, the more connections you successfully form, the more benefits this skill will gain.

*Soul Linkage List:

1. None. Make some friends,

-This skill will update when you form your first bond.

...

[ Soul Seer's Eyes (SS) ] [ Active Ability ] [ 70 MP ]

The weight of a soul can be seen through the eyes of the seer.

When using this ability on an applicable target, you are able to see their basic status window. Alongside the basic information, you are also able to see the "Bond Compatibility" levels between you and said target's soul.

*The higher the initial percentage of "Bond Compatibility", the easier it is to link with them.

...

[ Soul Channeler (S) ] [ Active Ability ] [ 35 MP ]

A string of fate ties one into a path that crosses with another.

When activating this ability, a small thin invisible string will be formed, connecting you and a target ally. So long as the string remains, 40% of the damage dealt by you per attack will be evenly split into healing you and connecting allies.

*You may connect yourself with any number of allies, creating new strings in the process. However, the more strings that are formed, the more mental energy is needed to maintain the strings.

*If the strings are forcibly broken, a certain amount of mental energy will be consumed.

...

[ Phantom Mirage (A) ] [ Active Ability ] [ 65 MP ]

Cast upon a shadow of mirage to deceive one's eyes.

When moving towards an area nearby, you may blink towards it instead—disappearing for a second and reappearing at the targetted spot. If you do so, leave behind a phantom mirage for two seconds that provides a small shield for all surrounding allies, that if not broken, would instantly be absorbed as HP after the shadow disappears. The shield's strength is based on 20% of the user's AGI and MND.

*This ability has three charge(s), and two minutes are needed to replenish a single charge.

...

[ Rendering Field (A) ] [ Active Ability ] [ 120 MP ]

A magic forcefield is created around an ally, nullifying the first instance of debuff that hits them. If a debuff was nullified this way, the enemy that inflicted said debuff would instead be temporarily paralyzed and be inflicted with [Weakness] for two and a half seconds.

*[Weakness]: Those who are inflicted by this status will take 20% more damage.

...

"God... It keeps getting worse by the minute..." Reading through his newly obtained skills, Jace felt like crying. "Everything is utility related..." Placing his hand on his head, he sighed in disbelief. "There's absolutely no remnants of my old skills whatsoever... Just what kind of sick joke is this?"

He was left in complete shock. Everything in his status window was completely different. From his skills no longer being recognizable, his level, to even his stats. It was as if he had gone back to being a new hunter from all those years ago.

"This must really be a sick joke, right?" Still in denial, he took another glance at his skills, going through each one meticulously. "Ugh... This is real... This is real... God... Why me?"

Unable to take it anymore, he covered his entire face, letting out a long pained sigh the next moment. To wake up to this sudden news was already too much. Taking it all in was easier said than done.

"Hah... At the very least, my equipment didn't up and disappear on me..." This fact was the only thing he could be happy about. Or so he tried to reason. "What about my inventory?"

Swiping a finger upwards, a blue screen filled with many small boxes appeared before him. Soon after, his eyes squinted, taking a good look at every single thing in his inventory.

"It looks like everything's here. Even the mana cores I picked up yesterday—" As Jace sighed with relief that the system didn't decide to lock his entire inventory away, a sudden realization hit him. "...the S-ranked Monster Core... It's not here...? This... This..."

The realization left him staring blankly at the screen. The dungeon that he had entered last night wasn't a dream. So, therefore, the Guardian boss he had fought was real. However, he had only now realized that he never took the S-ranked Mana Core, leaving it to rot in an already closed dungeon.

"$#@%!"

A loud swear resounded through the room.

...

Exiting the showers, Jace made his way back into his living room in a foul mood. The young man was no longer wearing a mask, revealing two dark eye circles below his eyes, his turquoise blue eyes, and a tired expression.

"Hah..." Wiping his wet hair with the towel in his hand, Jace reached out for a chair nearby him, soon sitting down. "This is all just too much to take in..."

From the shock in the morning to now, he felt as if he had lost about 10 years of his life. Of course, that included the years of hunter's work as well. Everything that was built up to now; his skills, stats, titles—were all left to dust.

"Sigh... This is such a pain..." He grunted, opening up his skill window once again. "Everything's completely different. Well... Except for Focus Fire and Lazy Mind. But those two are passives..." Pinching the bridge of his nose, he sighed louder. "Hah... To be a supporter and back to square one... This is just wonderful."

His already dead look glanced towards his equipment thrown to the side. His black hood, white mask, trusty holster belt, two pistols, boots and everything else could all be seen within his sight.

"Ugh... This is just stressful." This entire situation was against his own free will. But the system didn't care. It decided to welcome the class change with open arms. "What a pain... What an actual pain. There's so much work to be done... Then I have to report to them too..."

As he was mumbling out and dreading his future, a sudden call rang out from his phone.

"Tch... What now?" Rolling his eyes at the abrupt call, he grabbed onto his phone that was on the table, soon glaring at the name on the screen.

[ "Problematic Dumbass' Assistant" is calling. ]