After Jin tested out his Ice Shard skill, he went back inside to enjoy dinner with his sister.
"Hey, sis, this food is really good! Did you cook this?"
"Yes, I did, I've been noticing you always come back home very tired, why's that?"
"Oh, I'm just doing some exercise."
After Jin and Yoo Sung talked for a bit, they both went to sleep.
The Next Day.
Jin decided today he would go to the Awakened Association to become a hunter and receive permission to go inside dungeons.
The Awakened Association is a 30 minute walk from his house, and so he decided to use his bike for convenience. The Awakened Association in X City, ( the city Jin is stationed in,) is considered very small and minuscule compared to the main building of the Awakened Association
When Jin got there, he was very fascinated at the sheer size of the building, although he could see it from far away, it was even more gigantic in person, the Awakened Association is a 30 story building made out of the finest minerals you can find. There was also the fact that there was a huge crowd outside of the building! Yet weirdly enough, very little of them enters the building
Jin decided to go in the building, however, he wasn't sure where to register.
"Hello, sir! Welcome to the Awakened Association, how may I help you?" said a beautiful lady.
"Ah, hello, I would like to become a hunter, where do I register?"
" Oh, of course! Please follow me." said the lady.
After going up a few floors Jin found himself in a huge futuristic looking room, with a gigantic sphere in the middle, the sphere looked very majestic and was linked to many quantum computers.
Jin was very fascinated, since he had only read about quantum computers online, and when seeing one in person, you would start to think how the hell did humans make this?!
"Alright, sir, in order to become a hunter, we have to evaluate your prowess, please, put your hand on top of that object and put your mana inside of it, it will measure your strength from F Rank to S Rank." Said the woman cheerfully.
Jin was a little bit surprised since he only just noticed that there was indeed an object connected to the sphere, so, he did as the woman told him to do.
He starts slowly pouring his mana into his arm and fingertips, and slowly into the object..
"Alright, you can let go now!" Said the woman.
Jin let go and a panel appeared above the sphere, showing your ranking.
Jin read his and was quite shocked, It was D+!
Jin remembered there was a subset of ranks, for example, an S- Rank person is weaker then a S+ Rank person, the positive sign usually indicates that the person is very close to going to the next rank, while the negative sign means the person most likely just entered this rank.
While D+ may look bad, one must remember that when people awaken, they are
usually stuck in their rank for a long time unless they train vigorously.
So for him to be able to increase his rank through the system, it's a path that leads to an unprecedented amount of opportunities and growth.
"This.. is way too OP! It almost feels like I'm in a novel.. Will I ever be as strong as the shadow monarch?" Jin thought. ( Solo Leveling reference.)
"Congratulations sir! now, can you please hand over your Identification Card?"
The woman said,
"Ah, here." Jin says while handing her his ID
After they talk a bit, Jin got some new information on hunters.
First things first, hunters are a little bit different from Awakened people, hunters go inside dungeons and fight monsters, however, Awakeneds don't necessarily fight monsters, these people are usually politicians, or normal people that have powers, they don't go do any type of life threatening jobs.
After getting his hunter ID, he decides it's time to go, and he leaves the building.
However, as soon as he leaves, hundreds of people holding cameras and electronic devices alike, all bombarded him with questions, Jin realised the mob of people outside were news reporters and people looking to get new members for their guilds!
X City is a pretty small city, and so usually, D rank hunters are quite rare, and they are needed in order to complete dungeons and prevent a dungeon break.
And so, many guilds were offering him to join!
" Come to my Sky Breaker guild! We will offer you a down payment of 20,000$ and a salary of 5,000$ a month!" said a bulky man.
All of those numbers sounded very tempting, however, he knew that he couldn't be tied down to a guild, he knows he will soar and reach new heights, guilds would usually set down restrictions on their members, including: Must dedicate all of their time to the guild, must invest in the guild and help them when needed.. etc.
Jin knew if he was tempted by this amount of money, then he will never become a true hunter.
He knew once he levelled up enough, he would become an S Rank hunter and become one of the best hunters in the world.
Jin now had a new resolve and goal.
To grind and become the strongest.
After a very long session of saying "No, thank you" Jin went to the Dungeon Centre, this place is where hunters go to when they want to raid a dungeon.
"Hello, are there any E rank Dungeons available?"
"Hello sir, there is currently 4 E Rank Dungeons available, here they are"
The woman pulled out a tablet, and it had a full list of the available E Rank Dungeons, one of them caught his eyes, though.
Fire Goblin Dungeon
This dungeon consisted of goblins that had an affinity with fire, and people didn't usually visit this dungeon since it was rather dangerous considering the goblins are stronger then usual.
Jin decided to pick that one since he remembered that Ice Shard deals more damage to monsters related to fire or have a high affinity with fire.
It was a pretty long ride, so he decided to take a taxi there.
After arriving, Jin noticed some people guarding the portal to the dungeon, he decided to walk up to them.
"Hello, sir, I'm here to raid this dungeon." Jin said politely.
" Kid, this dungeon is owned by the Sky Phoenix guild, you must pay a fee of 100$ per person."
Jin could instantly tell that this person was hostile, if it were up to him, he would not care and just go in the dungeon, or at most, knock the person out.
However, Jin's intelligent, he's aware that if he starts a fight with a guild, it will only endanger his sisters life.
He needs more strength, and authority.
And in order to do that, for now at least, he has to stay low and not start fights unless needed.
So, with what money he had left, he decided to not resist and pay, he knows that monster corpses sell for a lot, so he could provide for his sister.
Jin entered the Gate.