“Rank F,” Noah read aloud, unable to believe it. “Level 1.”
[Correct. Welcome to the bottom of the chart. There’s an incredible view from down here.]
“I didn’t ask for your opinion on the scenery.”
[You don’t need it. You have it anyway.]
Noah sighed and closed his fist in front of his system’s floating window, as if that could make it disappear.
It didn’t work. The white letters on the black background remained there, as patient as they were mocking, showing him the most depressing summary of his short existence as a Hunter:
[Name: Noah Astrea]
[Rank: F]
[Level: 1]
[Skills: Echo Thrust (Rank C) | Pilfered Hunter (passive) | Return (passive, unlimited uses)]
Two decent skills and an absolute beginner’s rank. It was as if they’d handed him a legendary sword and put it in the hands of someone who didn’t even know how to tie his shoes.
And yet, there was the detail that kept spinning around in his head: technically, that day was the day his “Hunter mark” was supposed to awaken for the first time, the date marked on the calendar that everyone knew and feared.
But he already had it. He had already died once. He had already stolen a skill.
That could only mean one thing.
“It was real,” he murmured. “I didn’t dream it. I really died.”
[Confirmed. And in case you’re worried about repeating it: the Return skill has no limit on uses or penalty. You can die as many times as you want. Within reason. Or not. Honestly, I don’t care that much about your emotional wellbeing.]
“How comforting.”
[You’re welcome.]
Before he could continue arguing with a voice that genuinely enjoyed his misfortune, three sharp knocks sounded at the front door.
“Brother?” Lily’s voice came from her room, soft and still drowsy. “Someone’s knocking.”
“I’ve got it,” Noah replied, already on his feet, adjusting his shirt as if that would improve his situation in any way.
He opened the door and his mood, which was already on the floor, dug one level lower.
A man in a gray suit, with a folder under his arm and the expression of someone used to ruining people’s day for a living, looked him up and down.
“Mr. Astrea? I’m from the District Collections Office. I’ve brought a summary of your outstanding payments.”
“What an early riser,” Noah said, with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
The man didn’t smile back. He simply opened the folder and began to read, as if he were announcing the weather.
“Overdue rent: two months. Special medication for the mobility treatment of minor Lily Astrea: payment pending for three cycles. In addition to accumulated debt for basic utilities.”
Every word landed like a blow more precise than any dagger.
“I’m going to pay it,” Noah said, with the firmest voice he could fake. “I just need a few more days.”
“You said that last time.”
“And I meant it last time too.”
The man sighed, jotted something down in his folder, and handed him a folded sheet of paper.
“You have one week. After that, the case moves to higher instances. And believe me, Mr. Astrea, you don’t want that to happen, especially with someone in your care with medical needs.”
He closed the door with a cold politeness that hurt more than any shout.
Noah stood there staring at the paper for a moment, feeling the pressure in his chest settle right next to the one he’d already been carrying since he woke up that morning.
Being a Hunter. Entering the Fortress. Leveling up. Earning rewards.
It was, without exaggeration, the only real way out he had. Normal jobs didn’t pay even half of what he needed, let alone with the speed the situation demanded.
Hunters, on the other hand, received rewards from the Fortress for every floor cleared. Money, materials, recognition.
The problem was that he’d already died once trying to get in.
And even though he’d technically “returned,” the memory of the dagger sinking into his side was still there, fresh, like a warning tattooed into his memory.
He looked at his system window again. Rank F. Level 1. Two skills stolen out of pure luck.
“I need more,” he told himself, tucking the debt notice into his pocket as if that made it less real. “And there’s only one place to get it.”
[Well now. Genuine motivation. I’m almost touched. Almost.]
“Shut up.”
◇◆◇
“Scrambled eggs, brother?” Lily asked from her bed, with that smile Noah had learned to protect with almost everything he had.
“Whatever Her Majesty requests,” he replied, giving an exaggerated bow that made her laugh.
“Then I want scrambled eggs. With lots of cheese. And if you can, the toast not so burnt this time.”
“That was one time.”
“It was horrible.”
Noah smiled for real, for the first time all morning.
Taking care of Lily had never been a burden; it was, if anything, the one thing he had completely figured out in a world that had suddenly turned him into something called a “Hunter” without asking his permission.
Her legs hadn’t responded for years, but her spirit had never faltered, and Noah had promised himself, long before any curse or strange mark, that she would never go without anything.
“I’ll go make you breakfast,” he said, ruffling her hair. “And then I have to go out for a while.”
“Will you be long?” Lily asked, with a flash of worry.
“Maybe,” Noah admitted. “But I’ll come back. I always come back.”
‘More than you can imagine.’
“Okay. I’ll be waiting for you here. Where I always am, if they let me,” she joked.
“Hey, don’t say things like that. I’ll leave you extra water and food in case I’m gone a while; but anyway, I’ll go make you breakfast.”
“Sure. Thanks, brother.”
◇◆◇
He saw it before reaching the main plaza: a colossal castle, red as dried blood, so tall its peak vanished among the clouds and something beyond them.
The Fortress of a Thousand Floors. The obsession of an entire world, the promise that no one had managed to fulfill in generations.
No one knew what was on the thousandth floor.
Everyone wanted to find out.
This time, the plaza wasn’t a battlefield. Not yet. Thousands of Hunters advanced in line, pushing with impatience but without open violence, because the curse hadn’t yet activated its clock of blood.
That would come later. When time ran out.
Noah sized up the line with a cold eye. At this rate, it would take hours to get through the door. And he knew, from recent and painfully literal experience, that hours were a luxury the curse had no intention of giving him twice without charging something in return.
“I’m not going to wait. The curse will get here first,” he murmured.
He searched the crowd for someone who looked strong, intending to force his way through by pushing, forging ahead with the stupid confidence of someone who already knows that death, for him, is just a temporary inconvenience.
It was a mistake.
The man he pushed didn’t even look at him as a threat. He simply turned his arm, grabbed him by the collar, and threw him to the ground like someone shoving aside a bothersome piece of furniture.
Before he could get up, a boot sank into his stomach, knocking all the air out of him at once.
“Watch where you’re walking, Rank F trash,” the man spat, without even bothering to look back.
Noah lay there for a second, coughing, eyes watering from pain and wounded pride in equal measure.
He didn’t have the strength to get past the strong ones.
That much was clear.
But maybe, he thought as he forced himself back to his feet, he didn’t need strength to get past the strong ones.
He needed to find a gap among the weak ones.
And steal something from them along the way.
‘In a week they’ll take everything from me. I don’t have enough work to help my sister right now. If I have the ability to steal skills through death, I’ll use it without question to secure a better life for Lily.’
He got to his feet and looked along the edges of the massive line.
‘I need the best skills, but the ones who have them are already inside the Fortress. I’ll have to find a way to get in.’
He walked back toward the man in armor who had kicked him earlier. He picked up a rock from the ground and smashed it against the man’s head.
The murmur of the crowd began to stir. The man turned, looking at him with rage. Noah drew his dagger to provoke him and said:
“I don’t care anymore whether I die here or die inside the Fortress, but I’m going to kill you right here.”
‘I’ll trust the system one more time. Please, please, please bring me back from death.’
[I will.]
‘Great, it reads my thoughts too.’
The armored Hunter drew his colossal axe, sharpening it against the metal. Noah felt a chill of intimidation.
“You’ll do nicely to help me blow off some steam. I love teaching stupid rookies like you a lesson.”
Noah pointed his dagger at him.
‘The truth is I am scared… but I have to do this. I don’t have all the time in the world. I need to become stronger.’
He shouted and lunged at the armed man, trying to stab him with his dagger. The man got into a combat stance and, with a murmur of contempt, said:
“Pathetic.”
In the blink of an eye, Noah was in the sky. He saw the world upside down. Or rather, he was the one spinning.
His body fell, rolling across the ground. The distant laughter of Hunters reached his ears.
‘When did…?’
His vision caught sight of his legs in the distance. His torso had been split in half without him ever seeing the movement.
Blood poured out in streams.
His body turned cold and, after a few seconds…
He died.
[You Died.]
[Activating passive skill: Return.]
[Random skill theft activated.]
[Analyzing… analyzing…]
[Skill stolen: Swift Step]
[Rank C.]
[Allows the bearer to accelerate a few meters in an instant. All attributes are boosted for a single attack.]
[This Hunter is locked. You can only steal one skill per person.]
NOTE: I’ll be uploading one chapter a day. :D
Remember, if the novel gets enough support, I’ll increase the release rate to 2 chapters a day. ^^