As the months with varying numbers of days passed, the 400-day year ended. Lev and his group celebrated Jack and Amelia’s birthday before celebrating Kayla’s a week before the year's end. All of them had acquired their classes.

Jack’s class was almost entirely focused on defense. It gave him bonuses while wearing heavy armor and provided a skill for heavy one-handed weapons. With a shield and Warhammer, he was going to be a formidable presence on any frontline. Amelia and Kayla got their classes within the same week. Amelia’s class ended up being different from what she originally aimed for. Focused equally on physical and magical capabilities, she could use her sword as a conduit for fire magic while controlling the heat in her surroundings. Despite her initial misgivings about selecting the class, it turned out to be rather extraordinary. Her Heat Perception skill allowed her to make out most monsters from afar. Heat Manipulation allowed her to absorb heat. She could use the absorbed energy to channel it into her sword to cast skills and power her body enhancement instead of using her mana.

Kayla’s class was an aura class. The class primarily had area-of-effect skills and was extremely useful in large groups. No less effective in smaller groups, it allowed her to buff everyone passively in a fixed radius around her. Her active skills were healing injuries, a single attack and defense skill, and a final skill that allowed her to increase the main attribute of a teammate. The latter had a very high initial cost and required a constant supply of mana to keep running. When she leveled it to the maximum of level 10, she would be able to buff five people at once, getting to buff one more person every two levels.

Lev continued his attribute hunt while the others accustomed themselves to their classes. Theoretically, humans could gain 30 points in each attribute with sheer hard work and practice. While that was true, the effort required for each point increased exponentially after 25 points. That is why Lev stopped training for an attribute as soon as he obtained the 25th natural point. The first attribute to hit this self-imposed cap was Intelligence. Lev trained it day and night, every time he got a chance. By now, he could stand on his barrier for a few minutes without any major strain on his mind. Moving the barrier around while standing on top of it was barely faster than walking, but it was a great start. Slowly, every other attribute except Perception also hit the cap, which refused to move past 22 natural points.

Changing his approach, Lev started making rounds in the Merchants and Crafters district. Informing the guards about his intentions so he didn’t get into trouble for hours of walking around, he practiced picking up on details that would normally elude him. An adventurer with a cracked shield, an official-looking person trailed by guards blending in with the people, the gazes of patrol guards lingering on some people longer than others, all of this sent him on thinking tangents more than once. He had to bring himself to the present multiple times and focus on observing.

In the beginning, it was incredibly exhausting. The tiredness that came from training his perception forced him to take naps even if his body felt fine. Slowly, he narrowed his training to focus on specific areas more than others. That was even more tiring than his initial practice, limiting him to training for only half an hour every day before being forced to rest. Four weeks into it, the attribute finally hit the cap. Instead of stopping there, Lev continued his rounds for another week and picked up details that he had missed before.

Everyone that went in and out of Crafters and Merchants Districts had subtle signs showing bits and pieces of their story. Some people were far more sure in their steps, signifying bright future prospects. Some were hopeful, while others were resigned. A group of adventurers sauntered around with heads held high, clearly proud but not looking down on others. Another group of Hunters held traces of bitterness in their eyes as if yearning for acknowledgment of their efforts. These idle observations proved that the human emotions that Lev had observed in his past life were still present but with lower intensity.

They are muted. Lev realized. Everyone is united to ensure their continued survival. Goes to show how precarious the overall situation is, even if the general consensus is that everything is okay to maintain a semblance of calm and balance.

****

[

Name: Lev

Class: Bladewalker - Level 6

Titles: None

Attributes:

Strength: 31

Dexterity: 33

Constitution: 31

Intelligence: 45

Wisdom: 40

Perception: 40

Class Skills:

Arcane Barrier Manipulation - Level 1

Incisive Edge - Level 1

Whirling Rim - Level 1

Barrier Armor - Level 1

Opportunity - Level 1

Swiftfoot - Level 1

Heavy Lifting - Level 1

Needle Precision - Level 1

General Skills:

Mana Manipulation - Level 10

Identify

]

Lev inspected his status as he walked back to the orphanage. Nodding in satisfaction because of the ever-increasing attributes, Lev’s mind drifted off to his immediate future. All four of them had completed their apprenticeship and were ready to enroll for the short yet mandatory examination for joining the Hunters guild. Not long ago, when Lev and his friends returned to the orphanage after seeing the monster wave decimated, Oriana told him about needing to be a sufficiently successful and trusted Hunter to be an Adventurer. The job was not only extremely lethal for an average Hunter, best investments and results also needed to be ensured. To that end, Lev and his friends had to prove themselves before being allowed to explore the surrounding regions.

Entering his room, he found Jack and Amelia talking about their apprenticeship while Kayla was staring at the ceiling, daydreaming. Lev sat down on the bed beside the former two.

“It's about time,” Lev exhaled as he stretched his limbs and yawned.

“What’s gotten you so tired already?” Jack asked, exasperated.

“Weelll… I might not have noticed that I was focusing on training perception despite having hit 25 in it. I just need to rest for a bit.” Lev slowly explained himself, not wanting to delay anything due to his antics.

“If you say so. I am quite excited about our bout today. Watch me beat you all with sheer resilience.”

“We’ll see how long you survive after I burn your hair off,” Amelia snorted.

Opening his eyes wide in mock terror and a hint of genuine fear, Jack exclaimed. “Don't you dare! The entire build will fall apart if I don't look sufficiently dashing.”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Everyone laughed at that. Kayla came over and sat next to Amelia. “So, what’s the plan, boss?” Kayla asked as she hugged her knees.

Lev rolled his eyes at that. “The plan is what WE decide for it to be. Don’t call me boss.”

“Whatever you say, boss.” Kayla retorted with a cheeky grin. “I’m genuinely curious though. What’s stopping us from going to the Hunters Guild and registering right now?”

“Simply because we have absolutely no experience fighting as a team. I really don’t want to be learning how to cooperate as a team outside the city walls for the first time.” Lev reasoned, imagining how badly a single misstep could be when fighting against monsters.

Kayla looked sheepish at that, most likely thinking how it was obvious despite it not being so. Everyone in the group had focused only on improving themselves for the past year, making teamwork unimportant for the time being.

“Also, despite everything all of us have gone through so far, I won’t feel as confident as I want to be without reliably beating a lot of simulations. We need to train.”

****

Lev and friends found themselves in Oriana’s office. After they had collectively decided to train together for a week, the group wanted the Director to know.

Oriana tapped her fingers on the table, “What are your guys’ goals? How far are you willing to push yourselves?” She asked after a few seconds of silence.

The group looked at each other. The thought of when they were going to stop felt so alien when they hadn't even started yet. Lev answered for all of them.

“How are we supposed to know? Probably till we have no more need to fight?”

“I mean, what rank will be your goal?” Oriana clarified. When she noticed that all the kids looked clueless, she sighed. “There are many ranks that are shared between Hunters and Adventurers guild. They start from bronze and go all the way up to Rhodite, Irinite, and Oscium. The last three were extremely rare metals found in the kingdom lands, but only Irinite has been found so far on Monarch. They are differentiated based on levels and have radiant combatants or squads starting from Platinum rank.”

All four of them were leaning forward in their chairs, not wanting to miss a single word. “What about the level ranges and the rest of the ranks?” Jack complained when they got nothing more.

“What about them?” Oriana raised an eyebrow.

“Come on, surely you can't expect us to not be curious when you mention only the first and last three ranks,” Lev whined, making Oriana roll her eyes.

“Fine, even if most of them don’t matter at all right now. The first rank is Copper, the one you guys will start with. It’s for people who are newly initiated and below Level 30. Most copper missions are done within city walls and generally do not require any monster combat. Your group being potential Adventurer candidates, crossing copper should be easy after your examination. Normally, Hunters are required to complete a certain amount of missions and have a decent level of competence in combat before ranking up. All Adventurer candidates are tested way more thoroughly and need to be vetted, which earns them a few merits, such as skipping the first rank.

“The next rank is Bronze, covering levels 30-75. This is where monster combat becomes the norm and is the third-most achieved rank across the plains. After Bronze comes Iron, going up all the way to level 100. Anyone who has evolved is eligible for Silver, going up to level 150. Gold is for levels 150-200 and is the last rank defined by levels. Platinum, Mythril, Rhodite, Irinite, and Oscium are earned based on feats and merits, rarely seen in Hunters. The plains, while dangerous, do not require many teams above platinum to ensure their safety. The exploration of Monarch was supposed to be a priority ever since we first came here. Unfortunately, it had been ignored in favor of making the plains more hospitable and only recently has been prioritized again.”

Lev and his friends digested that information, noting the extra information about them being Adventurer candidates. Pondering in silence for a few minutes, Lev broke the silence by asking something he couldn’t wrap his head around.

“Wouldn’t it have been better to have some strong squads continue adventuring and amass enough power to stabilize the situation? The history books said there were many strong combatants on the ship.”

Oriana leaned back in her chair, thinking about how to answer this. When she leaned back forward, her eyes were much more serious than before.

Oh shit, I forgot she was on the ship too. Lev realized, lamenting that he made her live through bad memories.

Oriana sighed. “This isn’t written in the books, so please keep it to yourselves. History paints a much better picture of continuous struggle and survival without this knowledge.” Just trying to form her next words, she let out a deep breath, making Lev feel even worse for asking the question. “When the ship first started to descend, many parts of the thruster system responsible for landing failed in a short period. They were deemed responsive enough to make it to the surface of the planet, only to be disrupted by the sheer mana density in the higher atmosphere. By the time we were halfway through the fall, the mana density had been reduced enough that most of them were operational again. That didn’t matter, however, as even with the remaining capabilities, the ship would’ve survived the landing mostly in one piece. What did matter was that by then, the stealth systems were almost fully broken, and nothing masked the mana being channeled into the ship by hundreds of mages.”

The four of them sucked in a sharp breath at the turn of events, but Oriana continued without noticing, staring somewhere past them while being lost in her memories. “The first to attack us were large avian monsters. Somehow, they detected us from beyond even the forest and reached us before any other monsters. Immediately, all combatants above level 500 were deployed to intercept them and keep them occupied while the ship continued its descent. The battle between such high-level monsters and humans completely ruined any remaining strategy for stealth and broadcasted their presence to the plains, forest, and the sea on the opposite side.”

“The ship’s landing was just barely better than a crash landing, preventing any deaths inside it. Before they could celebrate, the front hull of the ship was torn open by a few of the flying monsters that slipped by the combatants. By then, almost every monster roaming the surface in the surrounding regions was moving towards their landing spot. Soon, they were streaming in through the opening. Before they could slaughter everyone, the civilians and low-level combatants were escorted and locked into the storage rooms. For two months, monsters roamed the inside of the ship while we waited for salvation. When it finally came, nearly 40% of the survivors had perished. By now, the plains house a population well into the tens of millions, but back then, only less than 70,000 humans had touched the surface alive.”

Oriana sagged into her chair and looked ten years older just from retelling the events.

“All exploration beyond the forest was put on hold, to not attract any more of the avian monsters or similar calamities. Humans huddled together in the plains and slowly dismantled the ship, salvaging the surviving technology and using the metals to strengthen their combat capabilities.”

Lev looked at his friends and signaled them to leave. Thankfully, they took the hint and left. When only Lev and Oriana were left in the office, Lev took her hand and made her stand up before pulling her into a tight hug.

“I’m so sorry,” Lev whispered.

She looked at his face and gave him a tired smile. “I have had more than enough time to process this, Lev.”

“I believe you,” saying that he kissed her forehead but made no move to release her from the hug. Eventually, she relented and leaned into it, savoring the comfortable silence.