On Earth, humanity reigns supreme, overwhelmingly superior to all other races. However, in The Oneness, this is not the case.
Many other races possess equal power and intelligence to humans. Furthermore, The Oneness is home to monsters—creatures of incredible strength, comparable to legendary beasts and demons.
Some can destroy entire cities or alter landscapes with a single attack. Such immense power renders human inventions virtually meaningless. The Oneness Association categorizes monsters in The Oneness into eight levels of strength to help players decide on hunting them.
Common level: These are the most common monsters, with strength comparable to animals on Earth. One or two Rank E players with the right artifacts can easily handle them.
Professional level: These monsters are ten times stronger than animals on Earth. A single one can easily take down a large African elephant. Hunting monsters of this level... Hunting these monsters requires a team of players, ideally including a Rank D player.
Elder-level monsters are extremely terrifying and dangerous. A single Elder can wipe out a small human village. Hunting them requires a party of several Rank C players, or even higher-ranked players.
Warlord-level monsters are difficult for even high-ranked players to contend with. Hunting a single Warlord requires a party of Rank B players, or ideally, a Rank A player.
Marquis-level monsters are the highest-level monsters players can currently hunt. They are so strong they can destroy entire cities. Hunting them requires a large group of Rank A players, and ideally, a Super Player or Rank S player should be in the party.
Emperor-level monsters are even too difficult for Rank S players to handle. Even if an S-rank player forms a party, they can only injure or drive them away. The power of Emperor-level monsters is enough to destroy an entire human kingdom.
But Emperor-level monsters aren't the highest rank in The Oneness. Sometimes, monsters that even S-rank players can't handle appear. If they have to face them, the only option is to flee. The One Society calls these monsters "Ancient. - level" The reason for this name is that their power and abilities are assessed based only on extremely ancient skeletal remains and various legends.
Furthermore, there are rumors that in The Oneness, there are beings even more powerful than Asian-level monsters—beings as powerful as gods.
However, since there's no evidence, not even skeletal remains, The One Society classifies these beings as "Chaos-level," meaning that if they exist, their power could bring chaos to the entire world.
Fortunately, creatures from The Oneness cannot travel to our world, because if they did... The human world would face a catastrophe far greater than World War III.
Due to these dangers and horrors, exploration of The Oneness has been limited. Even though humans have been in The Oneness for many years, they have only explored the tip of the iceberg. Many territories remain inaccessible to players.
Fortunately for Thailand, the areas connected to The Oneness by the country's teleportation gates are mostly within the territory of the Jotundia Kingdom, ruled by humans.
This means there are fewer dangerous monsters, and because it's human-ruled, players can use the cities as bases for shelter, information exchange, and supplies.
While players' primary income comes from monster meat and energy crystals dropped from killing monsters, many choose other professions in The Oneness, such as merchants, doctors, farmers, or even soldiers.
Some have even risen to prominence, earning more than monster hunting. Some have even become nobles or city rulers.
When the two worlds become connected... One's status in The Oneness directly impacts one's status in the human world. The president of The Future Guild recognized this connection.
Taking advantage of the war in the Jotundia Kingdom, he used his power to rise to become the kingdom's supreme commander. This gave him the kingdom's military power as a foundation, propelling The Future Guild to become one of the three major guilds in the country.
This is why The Future Guild dared to declare its intention to act as a law enforcement force within the Jotundia Kingdom.
Even so, the other two major guilds weren't afraid of The Future Guild, as they also possessed powerful supporting forces no less formidable than the Jotundia Kingdom's army.
The Earth Tiger Guild has a president and vice-president who are both A-rank players. Most of their members are renowned bounty hunters, highly skilled in combat against other humans.
Furthermore, they have ties to the country's mafia. Above all, there are rumors that the Earth Tiger Guild is supported by the Darkness Association, a powerful and influential evil organization spanning several kingdoms throughout The Oneness.
The Darkness Association commits various wicked acts solely for money and power. More than half of the evil events that occur in The Oneness are directly or indirectly linked to this association.
Frankly, the Darkness Association's power may even surpass that of the Jotandia Kingdom, but they prefer not to openly expand their power, instead infiltrating and reaping the benefits from behind the scenes.
As for the Azure Dragon Guild, although it only has one A-rank player, its president Tamba, the strongest tank player in the Indochina region, the Azure Dragon Guild boasts the largest number of high-rank players—more than The Future Guild and the Earth Tiger Guild combined.
The reason is that the Azure Dragon Guild was founded by the country's elite, making most of its members descendants of high society.
These individuals possess immense wealth and resources, and before entering The Oneness, they all received training from the Asashi Academy, a leading institution that trains aspiring players.
Upon entering The Oneness, they developed their skills far faster than ordinary players, making the Azure Dragon Guild's power unmatched by any other guild in the country.
If the conflict escalated into a guild war, even with the backing of the Yotandia Kingdom, The Future Guild would find it difficult to defeat the other two guilds easily.
The most likely outcome would be casualties and the potential collapse of all three guilds. This is what Yongyuth had gathered from analyzing years of collected data.
"Why are you telling me this?" Nawa asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Nothing in particular. I see you're a smart kid. This information will help you make easier decisions about your future," Yongyuth said to Nawa with a serious expression.
"You probably don't realize you're in danger, do you?"
"In The Oneness, it's nothing like the human world. There aren't even laws or organizations there. Killing a player is no different than slaughtering a chicken. Your actions today, while commendable, are bringing trouble upon yourself."
Nawa nodded. He knew exactly what the other person meant. He was now involved in the conflict of the country's three giant guilds. One wrong step wouldn't just end his life as a player, but his life in the human world could be over as well.
"Thank you. But can you tell me what you want me to do?"
Yongyuth was stunned by this. He hadn't expected the other person to be so direct. If it were someone else, knowing their life was in danger would cause panic and fear, affecting their analytical thinking.
But this young man remained calm and composed, and intelligent enough to see through his own ulterior motives.
"Since you prefer direct communication, then I'll get straight to the point."
Yongyuth stated his offer: Nawa should gather information about The Oneness for him. He had initially thought he would need some persuasion before making this move. "I never expected Nawa to agree so immediately, without any negotiation," Yongyuth said.
"Aren't you going to think about it first, little brother? Especially the contract terms and the income," Yongyuth asked, his eyes full of suspicion.
"That's not necessary. If you don't pay me appropriately for the information, I'll just withhold it. Or if I don't do a good job, you'll just hire someone else anyway. Why should I waste my time on something so trivial?"
Nawa spoke in a calm tone, as if it were a perfectly normal thought.
Yongyuth, who had dealt with countless cunning politicians before, knew their true intentions like reading his own hand, was now unable to keep up with the young man's thinking.
Nawa's words seemed careless and inexperienced, but upon reflection, there was no way he could argue against them.
"Excellent. You always surprise me, little brother. How about this, let me treat you to a meal to celebrate the start of our work," Yongyuth said with a cheerful expression.
"But I have to register as a player today," Nawa said.
"Don't worry. There are some second-year students today."
"From the Asashima Academy, you're applying to be a player. Even if you go now, the test can't start yet. You have to wait for those high-society people to arrive first. Besides, don't you want to eat some monster meat to boost your power before the test?" Hearing this, Nawa couldn't refuse.
Nawa was surprised that the other party was so generous as to treat him to Elder-level monster meat. After eating until his stomach was full, Nawa felt incredibly strong. After sincerely thanking them, Nawa took the elevator straight to the player registration area of the The One Association.
"Floor 5, the elevator is about to open," the automatic voice came from the elevator's speakers.
When the elevator doors opened, Nawa saw many young men and women grouped together, chatting throughout the large hall.
The scene felt similar to a singing competition Nawa had seen on television a long time ago. Most of the applicants to become players were around 18-19 years old.
Since only those 18 and older are allowed in The Oneness, this isn't a matter of law or maturity. It simply means that the Player equipment used to enter The Oneness begins to function when a human body reaches approximately 18 years of age.
Furthermore, power enhancement through consuming monster meat only starts to take effect after the age of 18. Before that, even consuming the highest-level monster meat won't improve the body.
For this reason, most people don't rush into The Oneness. Instead, they spend a year or two buying monster meat sold in the human world to enhance their power before entering. Rushing in with stats not much different from a normal human is tantamount to suicide.
Nawa received a queue number and found himself at number 108. He thought to himself he'd probably be going home late. Normally, only a few people take the Player test each day, so Nawa hadn't factored in much extra time.
But today, there were second-year students from the Asashi Player Academy taking the test, making the number of applicants ten times higher than usual.
The Asashi Academy is the only player training institute in the country recognized by The One Association as producing high-quality players who meet the association's standards.
The Asashi Academy accepts high school graduates, who receive training in combat, skills, and techniques necessary for monster hunting. Furthermore, the curriculum is divided into classes based on the aptitudes and talents of each student, allowing for rapid development of their player abilities.
Most of the students here today are second-year students at the Asashi Academy, aged 19-20. They have already received a certain level of combat training from the Asashi Academy and have even consumed monster meat to hone their physical abilities.
Therefore, their physical stats and combat power are vastly superior to the average test taker.
Because of this, many others chose to come back later, not wanting to be compared to the Academy students.
Only Nawa didn't care about this; he just wanted to get into The One Association as quickly as possible because of the daily interest he had to pay. It was worth far more than social standing.
"Hey…look at that guy. Do you know what class he's from? I've never seen him before."
A girl said to her friend when she saw Nawa walking in alone. Although Nawa was dressed shabbily and unadorned, he was considered quite handsome, so it was natural that he attracted the attention of the girls.
"Judging by his clothes, he probably isn't a student from our institute. He's probably just an ordinary person applying to be a player."
"That's too bad. If he were a student, that would be great. I'd make him my boyfriend."
"Don't even think about it. Having a boyfriend who's a working-class player? You'd be so embarrassed."
Nawa heard every whisper, but he didn't care. Such insults were like the chatter of birds to him. He'd even considered eating scraps from a trash can. So this kind of contempt meant nothing to him.
There were many low-ranked players who didn't hunt monsters but worked as laborers. These people were often called working-class players, even though their income was higher than working in the real world.
But it wasn't enough for them to eat good monster meat or have enough money to learn high-level combat skills, making it difficult to improve themselves. The term "working-class player" thus became a derogatory term.
"Please note the registration order on the sign on the side," the female officer shouted to those in line. When Nawa looked in the direction she pointed, he saw a sign that resembled a movie theater program; it was a screen displaying images to explain the registration details.