“Lackluster is an understatement, but I guess I have no choice but to go and kill monsters with these until I find some proper equipment,” Cassius sighed. Yet, he immediately thought of another way he could utilize these brooms and mops.

First off, he kept one mop and one broom, then he picked up the rest of them and snapped them in half with his knee. Normally, this would have hurt him quite a lot if it were his past self, but for the current him, he didn't feel a thing. And even after repeating this for 3 brooms and 1 mop, the pain might as well have not even been there.

“Now I have 6 half brooms and 2 half mops. Next is…” Cassius took the sweeper and mop parts off of the items, leaving just the splintered half wooden pieces. “With this, I have 8 wooden spikes that I might be able to use more than once. And then I have 2 wooden staffs, which I already took the cleaning parts off of.”

Looking at his Monster Hunter arsenal, Cassius couldn't help but be pleased with himself. However, as there was certain danger awaiting him, it was no time to be celebrating. “Even with this, taking on monsters will be tough, especially considering that I am not an awakened…”

Hunters, even the weakest among them, were still far stronger than regular humans. And although Cassius had gained quite a lot of power through ‘Advanced Character Development Training,’ he had no idea where he stacked up against Hunters or Monsters.

[Remaining Time until E-Rank ‘Savage Jungle' Gate break: 23 minutes 3 seconds]

But seeing as how the clock was ticking down, Cassius had not the luxury to second guess things. It was time to move out.

After packing up his weapons in a backpack that he was wearing when he got into the truck accident, Cassius once again snuck out of his room. He made his way toward the building’s Northern staircase, which he descended down, all while hiding from the watchful eyes of the nurses and doctors maneuvering through the Hospital. Eventually, though, he found himself outside of the Hospital, which he got to by exiting through a side door on the first floor. The main doors were automatic, and someone would surely notice him, look at his attire, and call security to bring back the escapee patient, so he opted for the side door exit.

“The fresh air feels good,” said Cassius as he bathed in the luminescent moonlight of the big, beautiful moon hanging above him.

Suddenly, his gaze hardened, with his senses picking up on intense energy fluctuations palpating a bit above the front gates of the Hospital. “The night is a pretty one, but it is soon going to be flowing in blood.”

A cold gleam passed through Cassius’s piercing blue eyes as his grip on the two wooden staffs tightened. Just as the Gate’s energy fluctuations intensified and it started to open up, he glanced at the system descriptions of his staffs and spikes.

BLING!

[Staff (Melee)] - [F-Rank]

|—[Attack: ~3]—|

[Spike (Melee/Ranged)] - [F-Rank]

|—[Attack: ~2]—|

There was also an effects section for each item, but seeing as neither of them had any sort of special effect, Cassius overlooked the section for now. More importantly, however, was the formation of the E-Rank Gate, which had already materialized and blown intense winds throughout the area. A few people walking around saw this happen in real time, which caused a great amount of color to drain from their faces.

“Ahh!! It’s a Gate! A Gate has appeared!!”

“A Sudden Gate!? Why would one of those appear around here!?!? Monsters will begin escaping the Sudden Gate within the next thirty minutes!”

“Quick, call the Hunters!!”

People began to panic, with several of the Hospital staff leaving the building to see what the commotion was about, only to have horror creep up their faces as well. They ran around in just as much of a frantic manner as the pedestrians. And for good reason; after all, everyone, from the youngest of children to the elders, knew what a Sudden Gate meant.

Unlike a regular Gate, which would contain the monsters inside it for a week, a Sudden Gate had the monsters come out in waves. The earliest of the waves consistently happened around the thirty minute mark, with the waves becoming increasingly tough the more time that passed.

When the system said everyone in the Hospital would be dead by the eight-hour mark, it meant that literally every single person would die by that point. It never said people wouldn't still die before the eight-hour mark…

Unbeknownst to all the screaming people outside, a young man with blue eyes and jet black hair had already entered the flickering bluish-orange Gate. His back passed through to the other side, throwing him into an entirely different landscape than the outside world.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

The first thing Cassius saw upon entering the Gate was a verdant forest that stretched in every direction for dozens of miles. A couple of hills stood above the mostly flat area, with countless unnerving animal noises bleeding his ears, leaving the stunning scenery as a mere afterthought.

Realizing that he had been immediately found out, Cassius dashed away from the boundless darkness of the forest.

“I don't know how they were able to discern my presence as soon as I entered, but they are definitely watching and chasing,” he analyzed while paying close attention to his surroundings. Even though this was his first time in a Gate and his nerves were put on edge, he still managed to keep his mind calm enough to hear the rapid rustling of bushes and leaves. Several glowing red eyes zipped throughout the forest, producing blood-curdling monkey screeches that had the Effect of ‘Fear’ imbued into them.

“Shit!”

Cassius felt his body uncontrollably slow down, with his limbs suddenly feeling sluggish. “I can't falter here; I have to gain the upper hand. But how??” His eyes darted around him, trying to find something he could take advantage of. But there was nothing! He was in a goddamn forest; what was he expected to find!?

Whatever was chasing him definitely had the territorial advantage—and likely the strength advantage as well! He was fucking screwed—

Just as Cassius pulled his weapon satchel over his shoulder and into his hands, a few shadows jumped from an overhanging tree branch and landed with a thud right in front of him.

“Screech!!!” They screamed at him while flashing their sharpened claws, which produced deadly gleams that effortlessly cute through the air.

Turning around in an instant, Cassius’s brows jittered in slight fright. He had never seen a monster before, but now that he was face-to-face with them, he felt a level of savagery that he hadn't previously thought possible. It was terrifying—terrifying enough to make him want to flee and escape the Gate without looking back.

‘...I need to run… I don't want to die…!’

Just as his feet were about to take him away from these horrifying monsters, he stopped in his tracks and clenched his teeth.

With his face shrouded in shadows and his head turned down in shame, Cassius remembered exactly why he couldn't run away. Unless he wanted to return to how things once were—being the ugly fatty hated by everyone and everything, scorned for merely breathing—if he didn't want that, then he needed to fight!

He had to fight!!

“Damn it!!!” Cassius gritted his teeth and swiveled his body around, just narrowly avoiding death. A monstrous monkey, half his size, cut through the air, its cruel eyes tracing his movements mid-flight.

Cassius felt a gash tear through his shoulder blade. Even though he had preserved his life, the monkey still hit him. He cursed under his breath before rolling away from another monkey aiming to cleave off his head. Another bloody gash appeared on his body, sending waves of mind-numbing pain to his brain. Yet there was little time to process the burning pain, as the first monkey careened toward him, aiming for his ankle.

Cassius jumped, barely escaping with no damage.

While in the air, he finally got a good look at the monkeys in the darkness, which was when he noticed illuminated name tags above their heads. They were all yellow in color—one for each of the three monkeys—and they read:

[Savage Monkey (F)]

There were no levels or detailed descriptions, but just the color of their name tags was enough of a hint for Cassius. Almost instantly, he understood that the strength of the monsters was determined by the color of their name tags. He didn’t have much for reference, but seeing how easily the Savage Monkeys were putting him on the defensive, yellow was definitely dangerous.

*Ding!*

[The difficulty of the monsters you face, as you guessed it, is determined by the color of their nametag.]

[Gray → Yellow → Red → Black]

[Weak → Dangerous → Extremely Dangerous → Certain Death]

The system came in clutch with a brief rundown, but as Cassius was doing his utmost to avoid more blood loss, he had to put all his focus on evading. It was only thanks to his Agility Stat that he was still alive, but as the Savage Monkeys were incredibly nimble creatures, their main attributes also happened to be Agility/Dexterity.

Cassius tried blocking their claws with a staff, but it didn’t last even half a second before being shredded to bits.

‘Shit! So much for acquiring a useful weapon to fight with!’

He bent his back like he was doing the limbo, narrowly dodging the two Savage Monkeys that flew overhead. Seeing an opportunity, he reached out and grabbed the tails of the monkeys, yanking them downward. One of the monkeys slipped free, but the other was not so fortunate.

BAM!

With overwhelming force, Cassius slammed the Savage Monkey into a large rock lying on the ground. It shrieked in pain as several of its bones shattered on impact. Yet its suffering wasn’t over. With a new layer of coldness in his gaze, Cassius rolled onto the monkey and drove one of his wooden spikes down.

“Esceetch!!!” It shrieked, causing the other two Savage Monkeys to rush over in a bid to assist.

However, before they could gouge out the brazen human’s neck, Cassius quickly pulled up his system interface with his free hand and tapped the up-arrow beside his Agility stat a total of five times. His spike-stabbing hand suddenly fell with several times more force and at a far greater speed.

Instead of using the Strength Stat, in a situation where he had the high ground, leveraging gravity with the Speed Stat to multiply damage was the only correct choice to make.

The result…

“Esceetch…!!!”

The Savage Monkey let out one last shriek before its body arched upward with Cassius’s wooden spike at the center. As blood gushed from the monkey’s mouth and its corpse fell limp, it had officially… died.

Cassius killed his first monster.

From the corner of his icy gaze, a few illusory system notifications appeared. He rolled off the Savage Monkey corpse, effectively evading the angered strikes of the other two Savage Monkeys, yet he still found time to read the system notifications.

*Ding!*

[You leveled up!]

[All of your Stats increased by 1 Point!]

[You received 2 AP!]

[You leveled up!]

[All of your Stats increased by 1 Point!]

[You received 2 AP!]

Feeling his power increase by another significant margin, Cassius also noticed a few more pop-ups appear, offering what seemed to be options.