It all started on September 13th, 2022, when 5 spheres each with different colors appeared in random locations. At first, many people were scared of this unknown object, the government tried to destroy it through every means possible but nothing worked. Bombs, guns, and even nukes were shot toward the sphere, but it just absorbed every attack given to it.
This all changed when the government had the brilliant idea of sending thousands of nukes toward the sphere in hopes of overloading it with energy so that it could destroy itself. What happened though, was completely out of what the expected outcome was, and it was terrifying.
Tails, hands, legs, wings, and every type of limb you could imagine could be seen in this massive chimera that was bigger than a football field. Its insides were the energy from every bomb thrown at it combined to make a blue fire that leaked out of its eyes and mouth. Its skin was made up of the metal of every bomb and nuke fired towards it, each with different sizes and overlapping the previous like dragon skin, except each metal plate was glowing hot and melted the landscape around it. Every step it took would burn another hundred trees and no one knew how to stop it from destroying everything.
It was during this moment of crisis when Hunters, people who were offered an opportunity to gain power appeared. Their opportunity was in the form of a system that gave away items, skills, and even experience to those who wield it. The experience was by far the most important as it could turn a newbie sword fighter into an experienced one in a matter of minutes. In a world where a path to strength doesn't exist, the hunters easily stood out and showed the power of someone who had a system. Strength to demolish mountains with a punch, leap over cities with ease, and speed that allows you to run across a country in a few minutes turned from impossible to achievable with the power of a system.
This reinstilled hope in humanity as a chance of beating the molten chimera finally appeared and, after 2 weeks of anxiously waiting, it was defeated by the combined forces of all the hunters that currently existed. But instead of the monster disappearing, it spawned 2 new spheres near the location of his corpse, bringing even more hopelessness to humanity. More of these monsters? We barely defeated one with the combined power of every existing hunter!
This was how the Hunters Association was formed. Because the system gave its users items, skills, and experience through quests that were mostly intense physical exercises such as 1,000 push-ups or a 10km run, people found a loophole in it. If you did a more intense exercise that targeted the same muscle groups as the ones required in a quest, instead of the system thinking you did the exercise once, it would think you did it multiple times and give you the amount that it thinks you have done. For example, if the quest you got was to do 1,000 push-ups, and instead of doing that, you decide to do bench presses, you would only need to do around 200-500 bench presses compared to the 1,000 push-ups that you originally had to do. With this information in mind, the Hunters Association invented a machine that exercises all of your muscles intensely at once and made it accessible to hunters that decided to join them. Although the machine gave you an unimaginable amount of pain every time you use it, it reduces a quest that would usually take 30 minutes to an hour to finish down to 10 seconds. The reason this was so valuable was that once you finished all of your main quests, you get access to the 'side quests' which are the quests that grant the best rewards. Skills that allowed you to fly, turn invisible, and even teleport. Items such as armor that resisted impacts comparable to a meteor or swords that could pierce through iron doors. Experience that turned an inexperienced archer into one that could easily shoot a target accurately across a city.
2 years after the formation of the Hunters Association, the strength of hunters worldwide skyrocketed. Once the government got confident enough, they decided to awaken another monster to test their new hunter's strength. Since it had been a while since the first monster awakened, scientists had developed a theory that once a sphere, or what they now called a monster core, got enough energy from its environment, it would absorb all physical materials around it to form a body. Since the first monster got its energy and materials at the same time, the scientists guessed that it didn't have enough time to properly decide what body it has, leading to the chimera-like monster we first saw. This time, the government decided to have hunters land their strongest attack at the monster's core to shorten the process it took for it to absorb enough energy. Surprisingly enough, their plan worked and the monster core instantly turned into a vacuum that sucked all the physical material around it. It didn't take long for 6 limbs made out of concrete to extend out of the monster's core. Each limb wrapped around the core like it was a baby that needed protection and soon enough, that core started to expand until it resembled a dinosaur made of concrete and metal. Even though this monster wasn't nearly as scary as the first one, civilians and hunters alike still got goosebumps looking at it.
Once the monster seemed like it finished its transformation, the hunters wasted no time as the swordsmen jumped onto the dinosaur-like monster and archers found a place where they could easily shoot its eyes and mouth. The hunters hacked away at the dinosaur's back trying to reach its core in hopes of quickly killing the monster. Frustrated at their attempts, the dinosaur used all of its power to jump to the sky and rotate upside down in hopes of ending all of the hunters in one shot. The dinosaur got closer and closer to the ground and landed with a loud BANG! The whole world watched in horror as the dinosaur easily killed all of the hunters, but all of a sudden, a huge sword appears under the dinosaur, instantly killing it and revealing half of the hunters that were alive.
3 days after the dinosaur was killed, reports of more people obtaining the system appeared, confirming a theory that everyone had ever since the first monster's death. They believed that foreign energy was released into the world every time a new monster is awakened and that mysterious energy is what caused people to possess a system. This was the start of the hunter's era.
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8 years later, up to 20 monsters had been killed. Half of the world's population owned a system. Plants and animals have started to evolve to adapt to the foreign energy they now called Veleno which has quickly spread into the world. Most of them grew larger, became tougher, and started to store Veleno. At some point, systems with different colors and specialties started to appear. It started with the first system, Blue, which was all about physical attacks. Its roles included Swordsmen, archers, and spearmen. The next system that appeared was Violet, which was a system based on turning intelligence into magic. Its roles included mages, necromancers, runemasters, and enchanters. The third and last system, Gold, was all about creating things. Its roles included blacksmiths, alchemists, and summoners. After the new systems were discovered, 2 more associations were formed for their respective systems. The Mages Association for the Violet system and the Artisans Association for the Gold system.
With the plants and animals evolving with their environment, all three associations now had new materials they could use to enhance their technology. The Mages Association used most of the plants because the Violet system's quests required its users to consume and control a plant's Veleno. The Artisans Association's bought most of the animal parts because the Gold system's quests required its users to make items using various materials. The Hunter's Association used the potions and weapons made by the Artisans Association to help the hunters with their quests which have now evolved into killing animals that have turned into monsters. With all three associations' cooperation, the technology and strength of humanity had advanced more in 8 years than in the past 100, and now that the entire world was covered in monster cores, they needed all of the strength that they could get.
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September 13th, 2042, exactly 20 years after the first monster's awakening.
[Applicant: Trevor Lepar
Age: 38
Height: 5'8
Weight: 182 pounds
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Conditions: Missing left arm, Slight PTSD
Statistics will be shown below. Please refrain from showing them to other people.
Swordsmanship: S+
Strength: A
Intelligence: B-
System Compatibility: F-
Note: Chances of applicant Trevor Lepar possessing a system are close to zero. It is recommended for Trevor Lepar to give up on being a hunter.]
Tears streamed out of my eyes as he read the paper. "10 fucking years", I muttered to myself, "10 fucking years of training to the limit and this is all my effort amounts to?". Even if everything else is leagues above any mid-rank hunter, the thing that decides my future just had to be something I had no control of. I crumpled the paper and threw it in the trash can before running back to my small apartment. Turning on my lights, I walk towards my messy bed and lay down. I looked at the damp yellow ceiling as I tried to recall everything I'd been through. It had been 10 years since I decided to be one of the strongest hunters in the world. I bought a cheap metal sword and then just started swinging it mindlessly until the sun went down.
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For the first 2 years, my hand kept getting injured every time I swung my sword, but I never gave up and turned my sword practice into a habit.
Another 2 years go by and I was able to hunt my first evolved animal. Though it wasn't as strong as the creatures shown on TV, I could feel that I was getting stronger by the day and was excited for the future that might await me.
After 4 years go by, I was able to easily kill evolved creatures with a sword technique I created and refined by killing hundreds of evolved creatures. At some point in this journey, I forgot the reason I even wanted to be the strongest hunter in the first place. The only thing in my mind was the sword. I had no reason for achieving this goal anymore, but I kept swinging the sword because it was the only thing I knew how to do.
In my 10th year of training, I was finally able to participate in killing a monster made from a monster core. Landing the finishing blow, I finally realized how close I was to the goal I set 9 years ago. I realized that all I needed was a system. So, I rushed to the Hunter Association to test my compatibility with a system, and turns out, I had no compatibility with a system.
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I look at the rusty metal sword I trained with for the past 10 years. I didn't want to change it because it would always remind me of the effort I put into my goal. I look over to the green chalkboard that I changed every day.
[Days trained in a row:
3926]
I sighed and walked towards the chalkboard to change 3926 to 0.
[Days trained in a row:
0]
Suddenly, I hear a loud shattering noise in the sky. I dash towards the window and looked up to see what could only be described as demons, creatures with bodies I couldn't describe coming out of a massive black crack in the sky, crashing and obliterating everything that was in its way. I panicked when I realized that one of the demons was heading towards me at a terrifying speed before demolishing the building I was on. Thankfully, I wasn't hurt that badly because I minimized the damage done by the fall with my tough body. Before I was able to get up, I saw the demon standing above me. With a closer look, I could finally make out what this demon looked like. It looked like a dog with a mysterious blue goo for its skin. I could make out many cracks in its body but I couldn't even see the core through the translucent goo. When I got up, I carefully walked toward its head and realized that it had no eyes. After thoroughly analyzing the demon, I tried to decide the best course of action but there was a sudden CRASH next to the demon along with a giant human figure coming out of the dust cloud.
Once he got out of the smoke, I realized who he was immediately. Andrew, the strongest hunter in the entire world, wearing his signature red armor, is capable of hunting as many as 5 monsters at once without breaking a sweat. 'With him here, I'm safe!' I thought. Instantly, Andrew disappeared and reappeared in front of the dog-like demon, drawing back his large red broadsword, he lands his ultimate attack at it, creating a blinding light that made everyone incapable of seeing anything for a few seconds. When we regained our sight, what we saw wasn't the outcome we expected. The goo-like skin of the demon absorbed the attack and wrapped its skin around the sword before using its large mouth to eat Andrew whole all in the span of a few seconds. Andrew didn't even have time to react and he was killed just like that.
NO
YES
Would you like to possess the ultimate system?
Once the demon finished chewing its meal he turned around and made a deafening noise before using all of its energy to jump across this city and into the next. The impact alone caused me to be pushed back so hard that when I eventually finished crashing through multiple walls, I coughed out blood and realized that every bone in my body was shattered. Looking back up at the sky, I pondered on why I even decided to train my swordsmanship. Then I realized, touching the stump that used to be my left arm, I laughed at my childish reasoning. "How can you be strong enough to protect people you care about when you've already lost everyone?" I muttered with my last breath.
"Ding!"
Suddenly, I hear a dinging noise similar to when someone gets a notification. I look up and see a black circular panel with white text. The question that appeared on the panel shocked me.
[Would you like to possess the Ultimate System?
[YES] [NO] ]
Reading the offer that some mysterious entity gave me, I closed my eyes and chuckled. 10 years of effort wasted because I didn't have a system and here I am, being offered what seems to be the best system that someone could possess just moments before my death. I raise my right hand towards the panel and clicked [NO] without hesitation.
I don't know why I did that, but I was instantly transported to a black void the moment I clicked [NO]. Out of nowhere, a hoarse but clear laugh could be heard all around me. I tried to look around but couldn't since I wasn't standing on anything. Noticing my attempts to try and find the source of the voice, the unknown entity said "Don't bother, you won't find me even if you spent 100 years in this place.", I then asked it a question, "Who are you?" but no voice came out. Considering that I no longer felt the unbearable pain of every shattered bone, I concluded that my body wasn't the thing that came to this place, it was probably my soul. As if it was able to read my thoughts, it chuckled and told me, "Yes, you are right. I only transported your soul here because your body was already beyond repair." 'Then why did you bring me here?' I thought to myself, hoping that he was able to read my mind. "Hmmm, how do I explain this, let's just say that you are the first person in 3 billion years to refuse to become my underling," it said out loud, clearly not understanding what it was saying, it continued "What you people call systems, they are just contracts made by what you people call god that offers a tiny fraction of the owner's power in exchange for quickly boosting the underling's strength up to the Potential Limit.". 'Potential Limit? What's that?' I asked. "It means exactly what it's called" it calmly answered, "A limit to someone's potential to stop them from growing at a certain point.". This revelation shocked me, 'So you're telling me that someone without a system could grow stronger than someone with a system?' I questioned. "Isn't it obvious? Of course." it nonchalantly answered.
This information shocked me, I started questioning everything I'd believed up until now. Are systems the only way to get stronger? Could it be possible for someone without a system to be equal to the strongest hunter if he trains hard enough? All of these questions started flowing in my head but the entity cuts me off with a loud laugh, "HA, did you think that I would give you all of this information without knowing your reaction? I brought you here to break you, by letting you know that if you trained just a little bit harder, you could've been the strongest in your world, and then keeping you here to regret every action you ever made for eternity-AHH". Before I could react to its screaming, a visible white crack appeared in front of me. The crack got bigger and bigger until a giant white arm reached through it and opened its palm in front of me. I tried looking away as I anticipated my death, but the only thing that I could feel was a warm sensation as the blinding white light covered me and the voice of that unknown entity shouting: "He chose someone! After all this time, he finally chose someone!". I didn't know what he was talking about, nor did I care, I only wanted to feel this warm sensation for as long as I can, but it suddenly started to fade away along with the blinding light. The last thing I heard before everything turned black was a gentle voice saying "Don't disappoint me".
Once everything turned pitch black, I could feel all of my senses returning to me. I open my eyes and only saw a wasteland with no signs of the demons anywhere. For some reason, I didn't feel any pain in my body and I felt a weird sensation on what was supposed to be my left arm. I reached my right hand out to touch my left arm expecting there to only be a stump, but that wasn't the case. "No way…" I screamed, not only had that god-like entity restored all of my shattered bones, but he also restored my left arm. I clenched both of my fists in excitement and got up, trying to find something that resembles a sword, and that's when I saw it, a shiny red broadsword that belonged to Andrew. Using all of my strength, I lifted the sword and thought to myself, 'If god sent me back here, then it must mean that there is still hope left.' I swung the heavy sword as I kept a mental note.
[Days trained in a row:
3927]