As the last of the abominable wolves fell, all but confirming my glorious victory, every bit of the previous tension left my battered body, and I collapsed to the ground, laughing crazily. "Hahaha! I won... I freaking won!"

By defeating those beasts, my silly childhood dream had finally come true... I was now a real Hunter.

However, as I began to slowly turn around, my victorious smirk instantly froze on my lips. Why didn't it go away?

The ominous-looking rift was still there; its previously glossy surface turned dim and lustreless, but it didn't close even though I had defeated all the invading monsters. Confused, I tried to peer into it, wishing to learn more.

[??? (Dormant) - The Seed has absorbed a portion of the portal's mana, allowing it to erect a temporary shield that will protect the Domain.]

What do you mean by temporary? Does this mean I will have to go through all of this crap again? Struggling to accept such grim implications, I simply stared at the now dormant portal, which was like an ugly scar on the face of this peculiar Domain.

So, it took me quite a while to notice the other message above it. Yet instead of any text, it was just a row of numbers [04:23:58:23]

I looked at it perplexedly, wondering what it could mean. Are the numbers ticking down? Wait, so is this something akin to a clock?

Even though this didn't resemble any clock I had seen so far, after a while, I managed to figure it out. It looked like I had less than five days before the rift would reactivate, spewing monsters once again.

No freaking way! The idea of having to battle an unending stream of monsters was nothing but terrifying.

There were no traces of my previous elation left, and all I could do was sit on the ground, staring at the jagged ceiling while helplessly wondering what to do.

But as I sat there for a long, long while enveloped by nothing but dead silence, my composure slowly returned, and I could think straight again.

Well, this time, it took me by surprise, but five days is a lot of time, and now that I know what to expect, I'm sure I can come up with a way to deal with this.

I certainly needed to go through the list of available buildings again. Finding something that could help me defend this place should be one of my top priorities.

Still, it will take some time before the Seed's mana recovers, so before that, I should probably take care of the other pressing issues.

Namely, I desperately needed to find myself a source of drinkable water, as all my bottles were almost empty. But for that, I first had to figure out how the hell I could even leave this place.

I think I should probably check on my status first… Now that the horrid battle was finally over, I remembered receiving multiple announcements but hadn't yet bothered to check them.

So, with a slight curiosity, I opened my status to see what had changed.

[Name: Jayden] [Race: Human]

[Level: 2 (Soul Essence: 20/200)]

[Class: Scavenger (lvl.1)]

[Skills: Synthesis (lvl.1), Portal (lvl.1)]

Wow, it looks like I'm now level two! I still couldn't feel any different, so I wasn't too sure how it affected me.

But a higher level means I’m getting stronger, right? Oh! I also got a new skill. I wonder what it does... Curious, I focused on the Skill's description.

[Portal (lvl.1) - A mysterious doorway that offers passage to the unknown]

Huh? What's with all those weird-ass descriptions?! Not being any wiser, I decided to try it out to see what would happen. I instinctively knew how to activate it, so all I had to do was to focus on it.

A moment later, the air in front of me swirled, and in its place appeared an elaborate old-fashioned black door with a golden knob.

I tensed, carefully observing the strange apparition with guarded expression. But nothing else happened. The doors just stood there, unmoving. What the hell... They're just some odd-looking door, so why exactly am I acting like a scared chicken?

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After a moment of hesitation, my curiosity got the better of me. It said [Portal], so it should lead somewhere… So while being hopeful that it would take me back to the Shelter, I approached the mysterious portal, and with a slight apprehension, I slowly placed my hand upon the shiny-looking knob.

Then, before I could react, the door swung open, and a strong force began to pull me in.

"Ahhhh!" I screamed, but there was nothing I could do, and in a blink of an eye, I was sucked in and then unceremoniously spewed out on the other side.

"Cough, cough" Seriously, what is this crap? Annoyed, I pulled myself up to my feet, trying to ignore all the dust swirling around, only to realize I was in a pitch-black room and couldn't see anything.

The only source of light came from the faint glow of the shimmering portal behind me, but I knew it wouldn't be long before it, too, would disappear as I could feel that with each passing second, it was draining me, making me more and more tired.

I panicked, unsure what to do, but as my eyes slowly adjusted to the dark, I realized I was in the same abandoned laboratory as before. Now, however, the glowing crystal was gone, and without it, everything was submerged in absolute darkness.

Realizing my blunder, I quickly jumped back into the portal, and right after I was thrown out, promptly returning to the Domain, the portal flickered and disappeared.

Feeling totally exhausted, I lay flat on the cold, hard floor, cursing and having no idea what to do next. I had nothing flammable I could turn into a makeshift torch, and even if I had, I was out of matches anyway.

But then my eyes rested on Rocky, who was still standing precisely where I had left him, a short distance from one of the wolf's corpses. A subtle smile played on my lips as I suddenly got a crazy idea. Could this work?

Well, there was only one way to find out, so after resting for a bit, I tried to use the Skill again, but all I got was [Error! Skill is in cooldown - 07: 49: 43]

Wait, so I must wait eight hours before I can use it again? Grimacing, I dismissed the prompt, but despite my sour mood, I was glad I discovered this critical piece of knowledge sooner rather than later.

I couldn't even imagine what I would do if I had to wait eight hours while stuck on the other side in the dark. Shuddering, I quickly chased away such unnerving thoughts as I looked around until my eyes settled on the dead wolves.

Now that I know I could get back, I guess it's time to do something about those corpses…

Approaching one of the massive carcasses, I briefly wondered what to do about them. I knew they were probably way too heavy for me to carry the entire way back to the Shelter for processing. However, simply collecting their valuable bits should be more than doable, even for me.

After all, it was common knowledge that the Hunters often brought back the skins and the claws of the monsters they slew.

The claws were especially valuable as they could be fashioned into armor-piercing arrow tips, while the skin could be made into various pieces of clothing or makeshift armor.

I eagerly looked at the massive corpse, but then I paused, having no idea where to start. Previously, I had skinned plenty of rats, but never something so big.

Still, simply staring at it wouldn't get me anywhere, so with a sigh, I kneeled next to the reeking carcass and got to work.

Luckily, when the monsters died, their unnatural toughness also seemed to disappear; thus, although tough, I was able to cut through the wolf's skin with the help of my poor knife, which appeared to be on its last leg but was still somehow holding out.

So, without delay, I cut into the monster's rancid flesh, attacking it with all my strength, and I managed to make quite a large cut across its abdomen.

It was by no means easy, but in contrast to the tiny scratch I had left when it was still alive, this was incomparable.

Thus, with an excited smile, I happily continued cutting it, and after a bit of a herculean effort, I managed to skin the wolf and collect its pelt.

However, while working, I couldn’t help but notice something shiny buried deep within its broken skull. I quickly realized that it was the exact same wolf Rocky used its Skill on, smashing a part of its head in the process, which was why I was able to notice it in the first place.

I eagerly dug inside it with my knife, and after a short struggle, I was able to pry out a small, perfectly round ball. What's this? Oh, could this be a monster core?

I looked tenderly at the tiny crimson gem in my hand, unable to believe my luck. If this truly was a genuine monster core, then I’d have made more money in a single day than in the previous three months combined!

Grinning widely, I hurriedly put the precious marble deep into my pocket, hoping to sell it when I got back.

Although the monster core's worth was a bit less than that of the mana crystals, it was still a very rare and expensive commodity as they could be used to improve the quality of weapons and armor.

I could never get my hands on one, but I heard rumors that they made the weapons much stronger and sometimes even gave them special abilities, which made them a greatly sought-after item among the top-tier Hunters.

That's why I quickly ordered Rocky to crush the other wolves' heads in order to check them for more cores, but sadly, there were none.

Still, I wasn't too dismayed since, with the golem's help, I even managed to pry out the razor-sharp claws from the wolves’ corpses, thus gathering everything I could.

I then threw the rest into a big pile at the edge of the Domain so that it wouldn't get in the way before I could figure out how to dispose of it.

Ultimately, it took me a little over an hour to complete everything, and as I checked, I still had plenty of time left before the Skill would reset.

So, I decided to take a short nap as the exhaustion of the battle was finally catching up with me, and I could barely move.

Laying on the hard ground with nothing but a flimsy, worn-out coat under my head, I replayed the crazy events that led me to this weird place.

I still had a hard time believing everything that had happened, but as the fatigue finally took over and I slowly began drifting off to the peaceful embrace of sleep, I couldn't help but think.

After all the crap I went through, fortune had finally smiled on me, and I got myself a real Class... And no matter how I got here, this is now my Domain; if anyone wants to take it from me, they will have to get it over my dead body!