Depthless Hunger

By normal standards, it had been the most successful Hunter Trials in recent memory. And yet, as the elders of Monskon City discussed the distribution of the prizes, Gunjin Granfian was thoroughly displeased. He'd put so much hope into Kai, only to be stymied by the awakening. When it came time to decide the final distribution, it went exactly the way Gunjin had feared.

"We're only a year from the next monster incursion," Hannagan Lantrian said. The old man always presented everything as done and settled. "We need our newest hunters to have grown enough to contribute to the defense of the city. If there are no objections, we'll reallocate resources from lost causes to promising candidates. Then w-"

"I object." Gunjin hadn't said a word up to that point, but now leaned forward at the table.

"Advocating for your precious orphans again?" Hannagan shook his head slowly. "Fate granted the boy a worthless Class. It would be madness to give him any resources to boost his development."

"I don't object to Class-based resources, but you're robbing him. Need I remind the elders of the growth we've seen? Kai Granfian was among the most promising candidates and he showed the greatest growth in Physique and Soul in the entire trial. Does such exceptional progress deserve a knife in the back?"

"Oh, his body absorbed a little mana, yes. But he's far from the top of the growth charts when Class is factored in, and that is where the differences will lie over the coming months. Come now, Gunjin, would you honestly put your boy up against a raw talent like Inafay Corinin?"

Hannagan gave a smiling nod to the head of the Corinin clan and Gunjin grimaced when he saw the old woman nod. A surprising number of elders, even those who were usually Gunjin's allies, appeared to be agreeing. The battle might be unwinnable, but Kai had given so much, Gunjin decided to try again.

"When the monster hordes come again," Gunjin said, "we'll need every hunter we can find. Forget the elites of this generation: how many of your weaker warriors would be able to defeat a Direboar alone, even after a year of training? Kai managed it today, with nothing but a sword and a worthless Class."

"All the more reason to give him nothing!" Hannagan glowered at Gunjin from across the table. "He'll acquire some brute force on his own, so let us give our resources to those who can excel with them."

"Brute force? He displayed exceptional ferocity, yes, but can you really criticize his tactical performance? Or how he allied with the Irunians and led multiple groups? There's great potential there, from leadership to-"

"That's even worse! His futile striving might inspire others and they'll follow a man who will never reach the true heights of power. When the incursion happens, he'll buckle and kill countless others alongside him. No, Gunjin, it would be a waste to spend anything on a candidate destiny has so clearly spurned."

Gunjin fell silent because he had other orphans he needed to advocate for. Too many of the other elders, themselves powered by their personal Classes, were in agreement. Nothing could be done.

"No more arguments?" Hannagan smiled smugly. "Good. Now, why don't we discuss the best approach to our Irunian guests? I thought that a mixed approach..."

The words slipped away. Gunjin hoped that Kai, still blissfully asleep, would be forgiving for his failure.

.

..

.

When Kai woke up, he wasn't in the monster reserve anymore. That should have been normal, but the past two nights had burned themselves into his mind. As he realized where he was, he also realized that the Hunter Trials were truly over.

The first thing that made it obvious was the air. He had almost forgotten what real air tasted like: less scorched than the monster reserve, filled with human smells both pleasant and unpleasant. More than that, there had been a constant hum of mana during the trials that was entirely absent now. He could have known it was over just from the fact that he was lying on a real bed, but it was the first breath of air that brought the truth home.

Kai swung his legs out of bed and immediately winced. Apparently he hadn't been cleaned up or even healed. He was sitting in a cramped room with a few beds, surrounded by walls made of stone blocks instead of the polished marble of the shrines. There was a large tunic hanging from the door, presumably for him since no one had given him a shirt either.

Before getting up, Kai looked himself over. Aside from the injuries and grime, he felt better than before. As he scratched his jaw, he realized that he already had the beginnings of a beard. Usually he kept his wild hair in check, but that had been a distinctly lower priority during the trials. Of course, looking at such details was mostly irrelevant, so he finally made himself use his spiritual sight again...

Name: Kai Granfian

Total Power: 26

Laborer Class: 3

Physique Level: G-6

Soul Level: 3

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His eye sockets still ached a bit, but the symbols manifested smoothly. While his useless Class bothered him, at least his ordeal at the end had led to significant progress. Nothing to do but leave the room and find the others.

How long had it been? Kai tugged on the tunic and emerged into a sunny hallway. He could see that the sun was most of the way down but not yet reddening. Just having gotten that much sleep made him feel a fair bit better, but he wanted to know the results of the Hunter Trials.

As he walked down the corridor, Kai finally recognized his surroundings: the royal blue wall hangings carried the symbol of the Hunters Guild. He'd never been up this high before: when he looked through one of the windows, he could see over practically all of the city. Monskon City stretched out in a maze of streets, separated only by the two great walls that marked off the inner and outer districts. At the moment he could stare over it all from the top of the highest hill.

Every year the Hunter Trials ended in the great hall, so he finally knew where he was going. Kai took his time on the way, shaking the last stiffness out of his joints. Maybe someone had fed him a potion of some kind after all, given the tension in all his muscles.

When he turned a corner, he made sure to look out the new windows to the west. He could just see the monster reserve beyond the city walls. It looked no different from before, but for the first time in his life, he was looking at an area he knew well. Instead of being a mysterious trial only for adults, it had been his entire life for a period of three days.

Eventually Kai found his way to the great hall. It arched high overhead, the rafters filled with hangings portraying the greatest warriors in the Hunters Guild, but he didn't care about that today. Instead he focused on the long table and the podium set up at the end. He saw many familiar faces from the Hunter Trials seated there - Tusquo gave him a solemn nod and Inafay waved cheerfully. Both looked fully recovered, which put him out a little, but that didn't matter compared to the results.

Guild leaders and clan heads stood atop the podium, shifting various boxes into position for the ceremony. These weren't the toy-like chest from the dryad, but cubes banded by metal and mana. Everyone knew they contained the treasures of the Guild, given out only at times like this.

Just when he was about to join the other successful candidates, a hand closed around his shoulder. Gunjin pulled him to the back of the room and spoke in a low voice.

"There have been a few changes," his mentor said. "Can I trust you not to make a scene?"

"Why would I want to make a scene?" Kai shot an apprehensive glance at the clan heads and the treasures. "Did they not count my cores for some reason?"

"They counted, and your final strategy was correct. But..." Before Gunjin could find whatever he intended to say, a chime ran from the front of the room. Gunjin cast him a final look and went to join the other clan heads.

Troubled by the encounter, Kai found a seat at the back of the table and waited for the ceremony to begin. Surely they wouldn't change the rules after announcing them so dramatically from the sky. He'd endured to the end, killed the Direboar, and defended a large number of monster cores. That should entitle him to a substantial portion of the rewards.

"Thank you all for your participation in the 437th Hunter Trials!" The speaker was Hannagan Lantrian, head of the entire Lantrian clan. He was an old man, his white beard flowing almost as much as his purple tunic, but his frame was still strong and Kai couldn't read his strength in his spiritual vision. "You have passed from being children protected by the city's walls to adults who protect them. In the coming days, you will face far greater trials on behalf of your city and nation, but your actions have earned you rewards to help you face them."

Most of the speech was ordinary enough, so Kai shifted with increasing restlessness. Gunjin made eye contact with him exactly once, trying to pin him in place with a glare. Something must have gone wrong... what if there had been so many thefts in the final hours that his core total was ranked poorly? Since everyone remaining had a large number, he could imagine that others had doubled or tripled their numbers by the end.

"These gifts are not given idly," Hannagan continued. "Such power is easily wasted, which is why we have always created trials that force you to take the first steps yourselves. But the next steps will be with your life on the line, and we want you to survive to become the next generation of monster hunters. Let us begin with the potions for all who endured to the last day."

Assistants quickly distributed vials to the candidates, though a few like Inafay were skipped. She didn't look concerned, and Kai didn't particularly care when he was given his. It was a thin vial of yellow liquid: enough mana to restore a person's strength, but nothing special. Everyone was waiting for the true rewards.

"This year, we have taken an unusual step of granting scrolls of enhancement. These create a bond between one's soul and one's Class that significantly increases strength. For that reason, the council of elders has bestowed them on those we believe show the most potential."

For these, the individuals were called to the front one at a time. Tusquo Agyama accepted his with an Irunian bow and returned to his companions. Inafay Corinin grabbed hers cheerfully, and Kai couldn't begrudge her the reward given how well she'd fought. But as he saw more and more candidates he recognized - the Flamecaster, the vine-user, the hulk with the hammer - Kai started to suspect that he would be passed over.

Soon the last scroll had been removed from the case and his name had never been called. Kai sat and tried not to grind his teeth. He wanted to believe that it was nepotism, but actually few of the scrolls had been given to anyone from one of the powerful clans. Inafay was a Corinin and the hammer-user was from the Orgoron clan, but none of the others had strong clan connections.

Given that he'd fought several of them simultaneously, Kai thought that was immensely unfair. Surely his performance on the final day had proven his potential. It might be because the scrolls were tied to Class, which would mean his "Laborer" status hurt him again. Or, he hoped, it might be because he was already getting a special reward for killing the Direboar.

"Next, it is time to count totals." Hannagan swept an arm to the side and one of the assistant unveiled a huge table covered in monster cores. "In the end, your job is to fight our monstrous foes, so of course your direct performance must be rewarded. We'll begin rewarding the top candidates, starting with the tenth highest."

Kai listened tensely as they went up the list. The tenth highest had only gathered a couple dozen cores, but the numbers jumped immediately after that. Were the different sizes being given different values? He distinctly remembered how many he'd held at the end: 68 small, 11 large, and 2 huge. With every candidate, Kai leaned forward a little more: the numbers were creeping closer to his, but his name still hadn't been called.

And it never was.

He sat numbly as the last rewards were given, desperately searching for an explanation. Tusquo had explicitly told him that his total had been the second highest on the third day. The first candidate had over a hundred, and the second might have jumped past him by stealing cores at the end. There was absolutely no reason that Kai shouldn't have been third, much less not on the list at all. His fists tightened, and he glowered at Gunjin, but his mentor didn't even look at him.

As Hannagan began to speak again, Kai's stomach dropped even further. The entire time, he'd been telling himself that at least he would get a bit of recognition for killing the Direboar. But the speech was drawing to a close and he began to realize that they would never mention it. Everything he'd earned was being denied.

And so Kai felt as though fate had ruined his life again, but it wasn't even the second time.

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