Within the earth there was no sense of time. As I left the secret cave's exit and resurfaced a sudden beam of sunlight hit my face. I covered my eyes and allowed them to slowly adjust before removing my hand. "So it's daytime..." I mumbled as the light revealed my red swollen eyes.

It had been two weeks since I last stepped my feet in regular dirt. I crumbled it under my bare toes. "Well then, it's time to finally head home." I said before beginning my journey.

Without much thought I began to walk. There was no way to know where I was so I didn't think much of it and just started to move forward. When night fell, I slept in the trees, when I got hungry I ate the fruit I found about, until eventually I met strangers crossing by.

They told me I had to turn around to find my city, so I did so and continued on. It wasn't bad, the walk I mean. Sure my feet was becoming sore and I had to frequently stop to massage my soles, but I enjoyed the time it gave me to think. Life was valuable and I have to make the most of it.

As I was sitting down rubbing my feet when the bushes in front of me suddenly began to rustle. ".....!"

Shshshsh...

I readied my sword, but I soon realized there was no need.

"Mewwwww!"

A small fluffy thing jumped out of the bushes and ran towards my feet. Despite its fur being full of dirt I could still make out that it was white. The little thing jumped on my leg and began to climb up me with its claws.

"A kitten..." I mumbled as I picked it up and looked at it closely.

"Meww!" It screamed again.

Suddenly another one jumped out of the bushes, and began to climb up my leg. "Eeeee!" It screamed at a higher pitch.

"Interesting," I said as I placed them on the ground. They looked at me with big blue eyes, nearly convincing me to bring them with me, but instead I ran.

'Those things were pretty cute but their mom is probably nearby so I'll just leave them there.'

"Eeeeee!"

"Mewwww!"

They screamed loud enough for me to look back. Feet too small to barely run struggled to keep up with me. '...No way, they're chasing me???'

"Stop, go home." I told the kittens.

Purr purrr purrrrr....

Apparently they didn't understand human words and assumed I was showing them attention. I blankly stood there as they rubbed on my legs.

"......"

I somehow ended up with two little kittens following me the entire way. Sometimes I'd hold them, and other times I'd let them follow me. At night when they're sleeping I'd try to escape and leave them in secret but they'd somehow wake up and start screaming and chasing me.

In the end we decided to take this journey together. Eventually we ended up home. "I made it."

I could smell the yeast from the freshly baked bread as I stood at a distance, observing what I thought I'd never see again. A humble home of weak wood, makeshift doors, and lousily repaired holes in the roof. Despite what appeared to be a house on the verge of death the atmosphere was abundantly alive.

The kids ran around and played without a care in the world, and Heather carried a basket of bread that she had just finished baking. When she turned to take the bread inside she suddenly gasped and dropped it to the ground.

"A-Allan..?" She asked as if she had seen a ghost.

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A fitting reaction considering she hadn't seen me ever since the illegal expedition and probably assumed I was dead. Well, if Aremi told her the full story then anyone would say I died for a fact. Could a person survive a hole in their chest?

Aremi must've heard her because he slammed the door open a moment later to see what she was talking about.

"What, where?!" He asked frantically as he quickly glanced around.

Speechlessly, Heather pointed at me. She must've been in shock and could no longer use her words. Then he saw me and gasped just like Heather did earlier.

"...Hello." I waved awkwardly.

"WAHHHHH!!! You-you're alive..!" Aremi screamed as he tackled me to the ground, and began to cry.

I could barely see anything as my face was squished by his arms that wrapped around my head as if he was trying to make sure I would never leave. Everyone else had the same idea and covered me from head to toe in hugs.

Our reunion was a long one filled with many tears, laughs, and looks of disbelief. I could still see in their eyes that they couldn't believe that I was here, sitting in front of them back in the home that we grew up in. For the next few hours, I explained to them my long journey, how I could now level up, why, who I met, and the skills I obtained, and Aremi told me his as well.

After he was teleported above ground he immediately went to the wanderers association and called for help, but when the scouts arrived at the boss room there was no secret door. Only the empty boss room. The association flagged Aremi for wasting their time as there was no evidence of any of his claims and left it at that. One of the other faults of illegal expeditions.

At the end of it, I searched their eyes to try to see what they were thinking. After my near-death experience would they try to stop me from being a wanderer?

"You guys, I don't know what to say. I'm really happy to be home, but this beating feeling in my chest... I can finally fulfill my dreams. Our dreams of being the greatest guild."

"Allan," Heather replied sternly. "My eyes are still swollen from all the days I cried for you. We had to dig a grave and bury our best friend without even having his body. I can't even put into words how hard that was."

"Heather I-"

"Still, I have always believed in you, and our dream. As you said we finally have the chance we always wanted, if death wasn't something we weren't prepared for since the start then... well then we were just being naive. So no I won't ask you to stop now."

Aremi folded his arms and nodded his head vigorously. "Mm yes, I couldn't have said it better myself." He then got really close to me, and pulled my ears. "More importantly... what is this new look. Are you an elf now?"

When I became a half ghoul hybrid and obtained the emperors body one of the physical features that changed on me was that my ears grew long and sharp. Not quite as long as a ghouls, but definitely much more than a humans. I noticed my canines also grew longer.

To someone who never seen a ghoul hybrid, I suppose I would look like an elf at first glance, but actually my ears were a little longer, and pointed outwards.

"Hey stop it would ya... I told you I became a ghoul-human hybrid somehow, I don't like it very much either."

"Actually isn't this a good thing?" Heather asked with a curious expression.

"Good how?" I asked.

"Well, do you remember what happened when you first awakened and people found out that you had an unbound potential?"

"...!"

'That's right, I was completely helpless by the amount of scouts and investors that wanted me to be apart of their organizations.'

Whenever new awakeners are evaluated their information is sold off to be reviewed by hundreds of scouters. Anyone below D-rank isn't even worth looking at most of the time and usually become criminals or go to low ranking guilds. Then the people with a potential of C to A rank are always highly sought after by major guilds, and make up the bulk of their forces.

S-rank potentials were a completely different story. Anyone evaluated at S-rank potential was treated like royalty, and scouters would do anything to get them into their guilds. Because the competition for them was so high, often times this meant offering them shares of the entire guilds revenue.

Then what about the unbound? If an A-rank's potential was comparable to bronze, and S-rank's potential to gold, then the unbound would skip over platinum and be recognized as an entirely new divine metal.

When my potential was evaluated as unbound all the guild leaders who people can go their entire lives without meeting came to see me. They did not care about my heritage or what my race was, all they wanted was to own me.

"Join us, and you'll have everything."

"Come, let's understand the world together."

"You're a man of beauty, don't listen to those old men and join hands with me."

"The strong should stick together."

"Join me."

"Join me."

"Join me."

"Join me."

"Join me."

"Join me..."

If one of the major guilds of the world obtained an unbound they would instantly rise above the rest. In their eyes I was just a means to look down on others, but In the end It didn't matter who I chose because I was quickly found out as a fraud. Perhaps it was better that way because now I'm free to do as I like, and achieve my own dreams.

"If people saw you growing stronger after being evaluated as unbound all those years ago they would come chasing after you again. So in reality this appearance change is a huge blessing in disguise."

I began to fondle with my ears. "I guess you're right, I didn't think of that somehow, but this only makes my drive stronger." I said as I stood up tall, and smiled. "We're finally going to do this right? Be wanderers together and become the greatest guild?

My eyes were wide, and my voice was shaking. I couldn't contain my excitement. Leveling up by myself was one thing, but with my friends would make everything a million times better.

"Mhm."

"Yep!"

"In that case, I want to do two things immediately. Three months from now the wanderer's test will be held this year. I intend to grow my strength and take it so that I can finally have access to expeditions."

Expeditions. The way most wanderers make their living. Their tasks range from dungeon clearings to monster eliminations, and most importantly unexplored land chartering. In order to even be eligible for one of these expeditions one must have passed the wanderers exam. Not to be mistaken with the awakeners test.

Whereas the awakeners test is there to test those who have just awakened and determine their max potential, the wanderer's exam is meant to weed out the trash from the great.

Awakeners from all over the world come together every year to take the Wanderers exam for the sole purpose of becoming an official wanderer. Unlike the awakeners test, everyone must be willing to put their lives on the line during the wanderer's test, and to those who pass. Only fame, glory, and many more benefits and privileges await.

"None of us have taken it yet due to the dangers, but if we can all grow stronger before then I believe we should be fine."

"Well, not to rain on your parade but you'll have to exclude us. We've already reached our maximum levels." Aremi mentioned.

He was level 26 D rank, and Heather was level 57 C rank. One would imagine they were strong enough to pass the wanderers exam, and they likely are but the risk of death wasn't a risk they were willing to take. Not with the chance of leaving me behind.

"Heather may be ok, but that's it. Last year only 21 out of 506 D rankers passed the test."

A smirk appeared on my face. "Which is what brings me to the second thing I wanted to do," I said as my hand began to glow with a bright green light. "Limit breaker."