Tutorial Dungeon, Goblin Stronghold.
Most of the Awakened who had been transported there were bewildered.
They had been going about their ordinary lives only to be abducted without warning, for all intents and purposes....
Their reactions were only natural.
Elsewhere within the same dungeon, however, there were Awakened individuals of a different sort.
[Flame Arrow(A)]
WHOOSH-
[Defeated - Goblin Recruit (4)]
[Defeated - Goblin Recruit (9)]
“As expected... the Tutorial Dungeon is not difficult after all the training I received.”
Aiden Williams was a talent carefully cultivated by the United States’ Hunter Intelligence Agency (HIA).
His potential for an A-rank Skill had been discovered early on, making him one of America’s selected elites, trained to secure dungeon resources, buffs, and diplomatic advantages for the country.
“Though the dungeon’s difficulty is not the real problem right now....”
THUD-THUD-THUD-!
“Hahahaha! Out of my way! You annoying pests!”
“Oh... God.”
A tremendous rumbling echoed through the forest.
An enormous man was charging up the mountain, kicking up clouds of dust.
He paid absolutely no attention to the Goblins rushing at him with swords.
No, it was more accurate to say that he did not need to pay them any attention.
Every Goblin that collided with his body was reduced to a bloody pulp and sent tumbling across the ground.
“I told you not to stand in Medvekov’s way!”
He was rapidly catching up to Aiden, who had been far ahead of everyone else.
Judging by his language and appearance, Medvekov was undoubtedly a promising prospect cultivated by Russia.
And he was not the only one.
SLASH- SLASH-
“As expected... the Russian Hunter is as straightforward as we were taught.”
A Japanese Hunter followed along the path Medvekov had swept through, precisely finishing off the Goblins that still clung to life.
CLANG! CLANG!
“Very good. Behold the martial might of the Central Plains.”
There was also a Chinese Hunter advancing while commanding soldiers made of earth.
Every one of them possessed a powerful Skill comparable to Aiden’s.
Furthermore, none of them hesitated for even a moment when facing the Goblins.
They were clearly Awakened individuals who had been selected and trained by their respective countries.
“I need to move faster if I want first place.”
While most Hunters were still struggling against the weakest monsters, there was only one reason these elites were racing ahead.
They wanted to take first place in dungeon contribution.
The most fundamental reasons Hunters carried out dungeon missions were to collect loot and prevent Dungeon Breaks.
But if those were the only objectives, simply meeting the minimum clear requirement would have been enough.
In fact, during the earliest days after dungeons first appeared, meeting only the minimum requirement before leaving had been considered standard practice.
Then one day, a System message appeared that overturned that entire convention.
[Tutorial Dungeon F-0126/Slime Den has been cleared.]
[With a contribution rate of 34%, first place is awarded to Hunter ‘What the Fuck.’]
[As a 1st-place reward, a 2× Magic Crystal drop-rate buff will be applied to the affiliated country (United States).]
The announcement was shocking in every sense of the word.
The fact that the registered Hunter name was ‘What the Fuck’ was one thing.
What truly stunned the world was the reward: a buff that doubled the Magic Crystal drop rate.
It was an enormous reward, powerful enough to reshape the existing economic system.
From that moment onward, countries around the world scrambled to seize the highest contribution ranking.
And now, back to the present.
“Haa... Haa....”
Cold sweat poured down Aiden’s body, and his breathing had become ragged. He could taste blood in his mouth.
His A-rank Skill allowed him to dispose of Goblins easily enough, but staying ahead of the promising talents from other countries was another matter entirely.
Even so, Aiden ultimately became the first to enter the stronghold.
“There is not even a moment to rest.”
Being the first to enter the stronghold did not mean much on its own.
The most important part began now.
The core mission of this Tutorial Dungeon was not to ‘reach’ the Goblin Stronghold.
It was to ‘defeat’ the Goblin Centurion.
If Aiden wanted any chance of taking first place in contribution, he had to start attacking before the promising Hunters from the other countries did.
[Flame Arrow(A)]
SKREEE!
[Defeated - Goblin Priest (10)]
“Which one of these bastards is the boss?”
There were so many Goblins rushing him that he could barely distinguish one from another.
He needed to take full advantage of having a ranged Skill right now....
Then—
BOOM!
BANG!
BANG!
“Looks like I am a step behind. Hahaha... I will take the boss.”
One wall of the stronghold shattered, and Medvekov appeared through the opening.
He looked considerably exhausted himself, and even his voice sounded strained.
‘Damn it. I need to find the boss and deal some damage before it is too late.’
Unfortunately for Aiden, the Japanese and Chinese Hunters soon appeared one after another as well.
“Heh. It seems the real contest for first place begins now.”
“Excellent! Very well. I am much more accustomed to situations like this.”
They were promising talents with Skills every bit as formidable as Aiden’s, each of them having Awakened at least an A-rank Skill.
Their appearances and languages were different, but every one of them was thinking the same thing.
‘Only one person can take first place in contribution, and that will be me.’
They intended to bring enormous benefits to their countries while raising their own value in the process.
Each of them steeled themselves with that determination.
At that moment, as though reflecting their resolve, a tiny point of light sparkled in the sky.
The promising Hunters were so intensely focused on finding the boss that none of them noticed it.
They took another step, each determined to be the first to claim the boss.
FLASH-
KABOOOOOM!!
The Goblin Stronghold collapsed.
Before any of those painstakingly cultivated elites could even understand what was happening....
They only realized that none of them had defeated the boss after the shockwave had already sent them flying.
[Tutorial Dungeon F-0011/Goblin Stronghold has been cleared!]
“What?”
“What?”
“What?”
“What?”
And once again, all four of them arrived at exactly the same thought.
‘Is this a bug?’
***
The HIA Situation Room in the United States.
The dedicated team that had sent Aiden into the dungeon was silently waiting for news.
Communication was impossible inside a Tutorial Dungeon, so unlike ordinary dungeons, they could not provide him with real-time coaching.
Still, there was nothing else they could do except remain on standby....
Only ten minutes had passed since Aiden had been transported into the dungeon.
There should still have been plenty of time before the clear.
But then—
BEEP-
Aiden suddenly reappeared.
It was one of the fastest returns in HIA history.
“What the fuck, Aiden? What happened? Did you give up?”
Michael Moore, the head of Aiden’s dedicated team, stared at him with a displeased expression.
Clearing the dungeon this quickly should have been impossible.
The only reasonable explanation was that Aiden had met the minimum requirement and withdrawn midway through the dungeon.
Before Aiden could even answer, disappointment had already filled the Situation Room.
It was only natural.
The amount of money invested in a single promising Hunter was astronomical.
Then the System window answered for him.
[Tutorial Dungeon F-0011/Goblin Stronghold has been cleared.]
[With a contribution rate of 100%, first place is awarded to Hunter ‘Naya Meteor.’]
[As a 1st-place reward, a 2× Magic Crystal drop-rate buff will be applied to the affiliated country (Korea).]
“Oh, fuck!”
Any Hunter management agency in the world would have reacted the same way.
A country they had never even considered a serious competitor had just taken first place....
“Bullshit! We lost first place to Korea of all countries?”
“Aiden, is that really all you can do?”
The team members continued criticizing him in disbelief.
Korea had a widespread reputation for poor Hunter management, so their excessive reaction was not entirely without reason.
Michael, however, could understand losing to Korea itself.
No matter how weak Korea’s management system was, it could still take first place by chance once in a while.
But—
“Has a contribution score of 100 ever been recorded before?”
One hundred.
The number representing perfection.
Michael had never seen such a figure in his life.
Unless he was dreaming, Korea had unquestionably just gained an extraordinarily powerful competitive advantage.
This was not the time to be blaming Aiden.
“Idiots! That is not what matters right now! Look at the contribution rate!”
The Situation Room fell silent at Michael’s sudden outburst.
Michael turned toward the dazed Aiden.
“Hey, Aiden. Are you all right?”
“...Yes, Michael. Sorry. I lost first place.”
Aiden was still bewildered.
Inside the Goblin Stronghold, he had kept track of all the promising Hunters from the other countries.
If one of them displayed an especially powerful Skill, he had been prepared to interfere with them as much as possible.
But while he had been focused on fighting, something suddenly flashed.
Then the dungeon was cleared.
That was all he could remember.
“Naya Meteor.... ‘I am Meteor,’ basically. What a bold name.... Who the hell is this guy?”
“Honestly... I have no idea. My mind is completely blank, like someone hit me over the head with a hammer.”
“This is the worst possible outcome. Someone cleared the dungeon in ten minutes with 100% contribution, and we cannot even figure out who they are.”
The HIA’s fundamental strategy was to analyze an opponent’s Skill and devise a customized countermeasure.
The Tutorial Dungeon itself aside, if they wanted to compete for first place in future dungeons, information on rival countries’ Hunter Skills was critical.
“For now, the Russian appeared to have a Skill that lets him charge forward with an enhanced body.”
“A Berserker-type Skill, then.”
“The Japanese Hunter fought with a sword, but their primary Skill seemed to be teleportation. The Chinese Hunter used earth to create soldiers.”
“So every major country has produced unprecedented Skills in this generation....”
“But this Meteor person... I cannot make any sense of them at all.”
At that moment, Aiden remembered what he had seen just before the flash.
Something had been falling behind the Goblins struck by his flaming arrows.
A tiny glowing object.
A rock?
“Wait. Now that I think about it, I remember a rock falling! And when I was thrown into the air, I saw the ground where it hit... a crater! It made a crater!”
“Jesus.... You are saying it really was a meteor? One powerful enough to wipe a Hunter’s memory?”
Michael was stunned.
It was common knowledge that Hunters could not harm one another with Skills inside a dungeon.
But a blackout was quite serious damage, was it not?
Meteor....
A Hunter capable of shattering the conventional rules of dungeons had appeared.
“This Meteor person has a Skill beyond S-rank. An Awakened unlike anything in recorded history. If we do not find some way to deal with them, we may have to assume that first place belongs to Korea from now on.”
The dedicated team’s mood sank after Michael’s sharp assessment.
If there was no longer any possibility of securing buffs, the team itself effectively had no reason to exist.
In fact, perhaps it would not stop at the team.
The HIA itself could become meaningless.
Michael studied the atmosphere for a moment before bursting into laughter.
“Damn. Did I kill everyone’s motivation too much? Get a grip. Managing Aiden is not our only job.”
They had simply forgotten their original purpose for a moment because their own country’s Hunters had performed so well until now.
As Michael said, the HIA’s purpose was to conduct intelligence operations and recruit Awakened individuals from around the world.
And so their operation began in earnest.
“Effective immediately, Aiden’s dedicated team has a new objective. Negotiate with Korea’s HIS with an alliance as the stated goal. Behind the scenes, devote everything to finding Meteor!”
***
At the same time, at Korea’s Hunter Intelligence Service (HIS).
Every team leader had been summoned by Director Kim Gang-hun.
“You are supposed to be team leaders, and you are telling me none of you knows what to do?!”
First place in a dungeon.
In some respects, it was an incredible stroke of good fortune comparable to winning the World Cup.
But Kim Gang-hun could not simply celebrate.
Existing Hunters were protesting that the newcomer was receiving preferential treatment....
The President was demanding that they find the Hunter so an official decoration could be awarded....
And they did not have a single useful piece of information about the person.
“Prospect Analysis Team. Brief me on whatever you have managed to figure out so far.”
Kim Gang-hun called on Noh Da-bin, the head of the Prospect Analysis Team, who still looked completely lost.
“Ah... yes. According to our analysis, the Hunter name is ‘Naya Meteor.’ ‘Meteor’ sounds similar to ‘Matteo,’ that is, Matthew, one of Jesus’s disciples.”
Kim Gang-hun was dumbfounded.
They had guessed ‘Matteo’ based solely on the Hunter name....
He almost felt guilty toward the citizens who were celebrating so enthusiastically.
After all, someone capable of producing an analysis like this was serving as a team leader in the Hunter Intelligence Service.
“So we believe the Skill itself is most likely some form of Holy-attribute magic.”
“Team Leader Noh... stop.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kim Gang-hun had plenty he wanted to say, but he calmly collected himself.
“Pull up the Hunter community.”
***
[Breaking News: Korea Just Got an All-Time #1 Hunter]
Author: Dolsoe
Did everyone see the System window today?
The Korean Hunter ‘Meteor’ took first place in a dungeon and got Korea a buff.
I looked it up, and apparently it took them only a little over ten minutes to clear the dungeon;;
Anyway, Magic Crystal drops have doubled thanks to them, so everyone bow to Lord Meteor once before you enter a dungeon.
-Wolyeong: What is Lord Meteor’s Skill?
└Dolsoe: No idea. Apparently something fell, and then it was over.
└snsQk: Could it have been an actual meteor?
-Khun: Lord Meteor is officially joining the Do You Know Club now.
-Balgwang: I just got out of the Tutorial Dungeon. I seriously thought a Goblin was going to kill me, but I blinked and suddenly the dungeon was over.
└Wolyeong: Did you actually see the Skill?
└Balgwang: Yeah. I did see something like a red light.
***
It was the earliest post to appear and the first to bestow the nickname ‘Lord Meteor.’
The Hunter community was already being flooded with posts mentioning Lord Meteor.
The details common to nearly all the accounts were the same.
A glowing object had fallen, there had been a flash, and then the dungeon had been cleared.
“You call this attribute magic? This?”
“I am sorry!”
“This really does look like a Skill that attacks with an actual meteor....”
The team leaders’ eyes widened at Kim Gang-hun’s speculation.
There were countless varieties of Skills in the world, but none of them had ever heard of a Skill comparable to a natural disaster.
If his theory was correct, then a Hunter capable of overturning everything they had previously considered common sense had appeared.
While the team leaders remained frozen in shock, Kim Gang-hun shouted again.
“Everyone, get it together! Effective immediately, the Prospect Analysis Team is disbanded, and every remaining team will be merged into one. We have one objective. Find Lord Meteor!”
Korea was already suffering under diplomatic pressure from neighboring countries.
One first-place victory by a Korean Hunter was nowhere near enough.
There was no telling when or where another country might attempt to recruit the Hunter.
If they wanted to prevent such a valuable asset from leaving the country, finding Lord Meteor was their highest priority.
***
[You have achieved 1st place in the Tutorial Dungeon.]
[As a 1st-place reward, your Skill will be enhanced.]
First place in the Tutorial Dungeon.
It was an outcome Seong-hyeon had never even dreamed of.
He had never expected to Awaken in the first place.
And now his Skill was apparently Meteor of all things....
The direction of his life had been decided.
『Meteor(EX)』
Level: 2 (1▲)
Details: ……
As the Skill leveled up, the System window presented him with a choice.
[Please select Meteor(EX)’s Level 2 Trait.]
Increase diameter by 10 cm
Increase speed by 5 km/s
Material Change: Tungsten
Was this another way an EX-rank Skill differed from ordinary Skills?
As far as Seong-hyeon knew, most Skills were automatically adjusted by the System.
But his Skill allowed him to choose its enhancement....
The problem was that he had absolutely no idea which option to choose.
How was he supposed to know when he had barely seen the Skill in action?
The only thing he had actually experienced after using it was the shockwave....
‘The speed already seemed fast enough....’
The instant he activated the Skill, there had been a flash, and everything was over.
‘Does the material really matter that much?’
Even an iron meteorite had produced power unlike anything he had ever seen before.
After eliminating those options one by one, only a single choice remained.
[Meteor(EX)’s diameter has increased by 10 cm.]
『Meteor(EX)』
Level: 2
Details: ……
Skill Mechanism:
……
Material - Iron Meteorite
Diameter - 20 cm (10 cm▲)
Speed - 10 km/s
……
If he at least made it bigger, maybe he would actually be able to see it next time.
Once he finished making his selection, Seong-hyeon was transported back to his entryway.
“Mom, I’m home.”
He could always find out how much stronger the Skill had become by testing it again.
The more immediate problem was how he was supposed to tell his parents.
Awakening as a Hunter was not exactly something he could bring up casually.
Still....
‘Why are my ears itching so much?’
Had someone been talking about him?
His ears had been itching nonstop for a while now.