Depthless Hunger

The idea of sprinting all the way had seemed great at the start. As his sides ached and his lungs strained, Kai began to regret it. He'd trained himself with running plenty of times, but that hadn't been over such rough terrain after fighting several battles. Normal human stamina wasn't enough to run an area the size of the monster reserve.

Which was why he needed to reach the center. The intense source of power was getting closer and he could see that it was a small hill with a shrine on the top. If that wasn't his destination, at least he could climb up and get a good look at everything else. Though the sun was getting close to the horizon, he should still have time to scout the region.

So far he hadn't seen any monsters except a single twisted dog, which he'd outrun until it gave up. He'd briefly passed another candidate and had a shouted exchange about the horde of monstrous boars to the west. That meant nothing had been done and the candidates were on their own.

He'd have to hope that Tusquo and the other Irunians had made it. If they didn't survive the initial rush, there was nothing he could do for them.

When he hit the edge of the hill, Kai collapsed against the first stone steps winding their way up the side. He just held himself upright for a while, panting for breath. All his muscles burned, but he'd made it. Without getting attacked. Hopefully in time.

"Hey, good job! You're the third person here."

The voice came from further up the hill, so Kai forced himself back upright and tried not to look exhausted. The source was a woman in her thirties lounging on a stone bench near the top of the hill. She wore light armor emblazoned with the crest of the Orgoron clan but didn't carry any weapons. Unlike most of the veterans, she didn't have any scars. He still got a sense of danger from her and wondered for a moment before remembering to focus on his spiritual vision again.

Name: Unknown Orgoron

Total Power: 94

Spellbow Class: 32

Physique Level: F-3

Soul Level: 4

>

She was no slouch, even by the standards of the veteran hunters. Kai wasn't sure what a "Spellbow" was, but he assumed that her Class let her keep her distance from monsters. The Orgoron clan was one of the largest in Goralia too, so he needed to make a good impression.

"Do I get a prize for being third?" Kai asked. He even managed not to gasp for breath midway.

"No, but being one of the first candidates with a Class will be advantage enough. Come on up, but no rush. We're not quite ready for you."

He couldn't say too much while he climbed the stairs, not with his body becoming one solid ache. Once he got a bit closer, however, he had to ask. "Are you all aware of that giant boar monster rampaging around?"

"We saw it, but we're not quite sure how a gamma-ranked monster got in." The Orgoron warrior stared out from the hill, almost as if she could actually see it. "Once you kids have awakened, you should be able to kill it. It's too bad that some will fail against an unfair challenge, but that's better than interfering with the Hunter Trials and ruining a whole year."

When he reached her seat, the woman slid to her feet. Kai was looking past her toward the main shrine, which looked more similar to the ones he'd seen in the city. It had four open entrances, but the ceiling was filled with a sheet of blue glass that cast everything within in unreal light. He could see some other warriors waiting around, along with some who looked like nobles or merchants from the city. Leaders? Sponsors of candidates?

"My name is Rallia, by the way." The Orgoron woman tapped on his sleeve to steer him in another direction. "I'll guide you through the process, but you have to wait."

That apparently meant waiting for the second arrival to finish awakening. Kai peered through the shifting blue light to see the pool in the center. This one was also filled with mana, just far larger than the little shrine where he'd awakened his sight. There was a stone stair leading down into it, and a young man about his age was currently lowering himself into the mana. Very slowly.

"Are there consequences if you can't awaken?" Kai asked Rallia. She nodded somberly.

"If your mind isn't completely focused, your heart might explode in your chest."

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"What?"

"I'm kidding." Rallia cast him a lopsided grin. "If someone can't awaken, they just fail to absorb the mana. They waste it, and everyone's time, and people are pissed, but nothing else happens. But you don't need to worry too much about that. We make the Hunter Trials dangerous enough that it basically never happens."

Kai's nerves were too high to appreciate any humor, so he just nodded. The man who had gotten there before him was really taking his time. Before he could think of another question, Kai saw Gunjin emerge from the shrine entrance. As soon as he arrived, the older man grabbed him by the shoulders and smiled.

"You've done well, Kai. Excellent performance so far."

"Thank you, sir." He glanced between his mentor and Rallia, but they barely looked at one another. "Do you think I made a mistake, leaving all those monster cores? Uh, I assume you have a way of watching..."

"No, it was the correct decision. You can acquire plenty of cores later." Gunjin kept one hand on his shoulder and guided him closer to the shrine. "Excellent work making an alliance with the Irunians as well. It's difficult to earn their respect in times of peace, so you took a rare opportunity."

"Does that mean they survived?"

"Another of their number was disabled and removed, but Tusquo Agyama is mostly unharmed. That's all I can tell you without breaking the rules."

Gunjin always had been a stickler for the rules. None of the talents he'd taken into his clan had ever received an unfair advantage, and he fully used that reputation. The Granfian clan wasn't huge, but Gunjin had built it into a rival for the major national clans. Every noble family sought to find talent from the lower classes, since they didn't have enough in their own children, but Gunjin specialized in the search.

Out of curiosity, Kai tried to examine his mentor with his new senses. All he got was a haze of symbols implying great power, just like the other old veteran. Gunjin was in good physical shape, Kai knew that from the practice yard, but he was a slender man. His strength clearly came from something deeper than Physique.

While they were talking, the other candidate went completely under the mana... and burst upwards the next moment. He tore up the steps, mana scattering off him. At first he wore a shocked expression, then it dissolved into joy.

Slowly the young man raised a hand with his palm up. A flame, born out of pure mana, flickered into being. The candidate stared at it a moment, then twisted his wrist. Without warning, the fire exploded up, engulfing his face.

When it faded, his hair had been blown backward, but he was unburned. After several moments staring with wide eyes, he laughed loudly. One of the nearest warriors took him by the arm and guided him out of the shrine. That meant Kai was next, but he took a moment to examine the other candidate.

Name: ???

Total Power: 8

Flamecaster Novice Class: 1

Physique Level: G-2

Soul Level: 1

>

So his Class was "Flamecaster." Kai only knew the general terms for Classes that were commonly seen in the city, so that wasn't familiar to him. He had expected more broad categories, and he wasn't sure exactly how the word "Flamecaster" had gotten into his head. But it felt right, and perfectly matched his intuitions.

If he had his math right, the Class granted an immediate slight power boost, but would soon grant much more. And now it was his turn. Kai looked to the others, wondering if there would be further delays, but Gunjin only gave him a satisfied nod and Rallia gestured for him to enter.

"You can go right in," she said as they entered the shrine. "Won't make any difference in the end, it just changes how tingly you feel first."

"Then let's not waste time." Kai stepped forward and jumped directly into the pool of mana.

The power engulfed him immediately, then rushed into his body. It was lighter than water, so he went directly through and hit the bottom of the pool. His legs were thrumming with so much power that he barely even felt the impact. Raw mana was flowing into his body, far more intense than before, his very flesh beginning to burn.

It wasn't purely random, though. Kai could feel the mana sliding along the grooves of his mind. The familiar movements in the training yard, the adrenaline of a good fight, his blood soaking into his clothes... the mana flowed directly through all of those experiences and kindled them into a new flame.

Somehow Kai was stumbling up the steps. He'd never consciously chosen to leave, but the experience had just been too intense to linger. Something had definitely changed within him, and he felt stronger, but... how? The previous candidate had almost immediately begun experimenting with flames. Kai had no idea what he was supposed to do next.

Everyone was staring at him. Kai stared too, and his spiritual vision immediately fixated on a new word.

Laborer

>

Just what was that supposed to mean? Kai had heard of people receiving generic-sounding Classes before, but "Laborer" was new to him. The warriors running the shrine looked surprised too... and not surprised like they were impressed.

"Well, shit." Rallia walked up beside him, shaking her head sadly. "That's rough luck, kid."

"What?" Kai grabbed her arm before she could turn away. "Does it say the same thing for you? What does that mean?"

"I don't know what you're seeing, but don't overthink it. Your Class is for manual labor, apparently. Maybe it has to do with how you've trained, maybe it's your destiny, maybe it's just dumb luck. But there's nothing much you can do with it. I can't help you."

She turned away and Kai desperately looked toward Gunjin. His mentor was staring at him with a total lack of expression that was almost terrifying. Abruptly he closed his eyes and turned away. "I need to research if this Class has any hidden potential. Continue the trials to the best of your ability, Kai."

Gunjin stepped into one of the archways and disappeared into a portal. Rallia gave him an apologetic shrug as she walked away. All at once his support was gone. A few of the warriors clapped him on the back or offered vaguely encouraging platitudes, but they wanted him out so they could get ready for the next candidate.

Kai stumbled out of the shrine and stared into the setting sun. He tried to find some hidden strength within himself, but there was nothing. His Class had awakened, and it gained him nothing. Even though he tried to tell himself that Gunjin would discover that it held a secret power, he didn't honestly believe it.

Exhausted, Kai sat down at the edge of the hill and just stared. At the end of the first day of the Hunter Trials, fate ruined his life for the first time.

Not the last.

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