He sees a lot of people on the side. Hiding themselves in the corners, having secret conversation. He pulled up his hoodie. He realized there were a lot of homeless people.

As he walks through the bustling street of night slum, he hears muffled cry for help. He went towards the direction of the sound which led him through the alleyway. He encroaches upon a group of gang members trying to beat on a helpless person.

"Hey, you know you should've paid us to begin with, this is on you." A gangster raised his fist.

It never gets old. Some gangsters are animals. I remember the time I was extorted. I gave them my money only to still be beaten up brutally. I couldn't work for months. They still beat me up, anytime they had found me. Well... Ken breathed in and breathed out to relax himself.

"Hey guys, can you stop?" Ken asked interrupting the man who raised his fist about to punch.

They had a number 4 on their shoulder as tattoo. They seemed to be part of the Forever gang, didn't think I would come by them here, didn't think they fell here.

"Hey, who are you? You want to be next!" A rando gang member exclaimed.

"No guys, can you stop and let that person go. I am just a passerby, right? No harm, no foul?" Ken tried to deescalate.

Out of the periphery, a gang member shot at Ken's torso. Ken felt nothing but heard a sound. The bullet didn't even manage to penetrate Ken's skin. The gang member realized nothing was happening. They started blasting. Ken remained unfazed and unharmed.

Ken went towards the shooter and slapped them while slowing down time by couple of percent. He had no warning of destroying the world, he sighed in relief. The impact of the slap landed directly on the cheek of the shooter. The shooter’s head slammed heavily into the concrete floor. The shooter Ken couldn't care less if the shooter was alive or dead.

"So, the rest of you, stay where you are and drop all your weapon." Ken demanded the rest of the gang.

The gang didn’t care for his demand, so they all launched their attack on Ken. Before they realized it, Ken brutally demolished them except for leaving one.

The remaining gang member feared for his life, he collapsed, couldn’t run.

“You can go now.” Ken shooed the bullied person away, they went away running.

Ken approached the collapsed gang member and asked “So… what’s now?”

“I don’t know…please let me live” The gang member hesitantly answered.

“Yeah, I don’t think your friends are dead, but I am not sure. What’s your name?” Ken asked the man in front him, who was drooping his head shivering.

“Lucas.” The gang member responded trembling.

“So, Lucas, are you able to take me to your boss?”

“No.” Still trembling.

“Why not?”

“I will get killed then.”

“Ahh okay – well, that would suck to happen. Well, take your friends, and get them hospitalized. Before that, just give me everything on you, money wise. Cool?”

Lucas looked up at Ken “Okay, yeah. Here you go man.” Lucas gave Ken a card that contained money. Ken accepted it.

“How much is in this?”

“About more than 10000 dollars.”

“Wow, how did you accumulate this, don’t tell me extortion?”

“Yeah, it's extortion.”

“Okay, well, give me the list of who you extorted from.”

Lucas was hesitant. Ken put his hand around Lucas's neck and heavily clarified “I am not asking you to take me to your boss.”

Lucas gave into fear of getting strangled to dead. He provided the list to Ken.

Ken looked at the list, the people who Lucas had extorted from and with couple of addresses they were at. The addresses were all within the dark burrow.

This place has no sort of protection for the weak, as usual. Ken idly thought as he pushed Lucas out of the way. Lucas stumbled only to run away. Well, that's not surprising at all.

He exited the alleyway, went towards the first address. Reaching the destination, it was an inn. He went into the inn. He found an older lady behind the desk.

"Hey - are you Heidi?" Ken asked.

"Yes, what can I help you with?" Heidi responded back.

"I believe the forever gang extorted from you. I'm here to return some extorted money back to you." Ken stated as he bought up a card to show Heidi.

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"Really?" Heidi was aghast.

"Yes, also I will give you my contact information, I am a hunter. Contact me up if you are feeling bothered by them. I can assist there." Ken offered.

"Thank you..." Heidi was looking for a name.

"Ken."

"Thank you, Ken. This helps me a lot." Heidi took Ken's contact information in case they needed it.

Ken nodded and exited the inn. Headed towards the next destination and last destination. It was a pharmacy. He entered the building to find it empty with only the shopkeeper. It was an elderly man. Ken went to the elderly man, and asked "Are you Jon?" Confirming. Jon had received the extorted money back and had gotten the contact information in case he was going to be bothered by the forever gang.

Ken went back into the busy slum, lost in the thought. Nothing came out of the ordinary for the next couple of months. He never really slept, and he maintained order within the slum. For many people living the dark burrow, it was a peaceful time for them - no fear of fighting or danger.

In the time passed, Ken did help other store owners from being extorted, the leader never showed up. He trained in different martial arts. He practiced different sets of scenarios. He bought couple of different clothing. He was just biding his time until the tournament because he was unable to take any missions.

Ken was pissed for a bit but came to term with it. But there was nothing he could do beside cause mayhem. It was a couple of days before the tournament, and the tournament was being hosted at the capitol of the kingdom, Valahut City. He headed towards the city in the most experimental way he could think. He flew up to the atmosphere and dived. He broke the sound barrier.

He landed safely by slowing down time and allowing himself to become steady. He had gotten the warning to correct this intent - should he had dived straight into the planet while the time was slowed down, he would've just destroyed the planet per usual.

Ken headed towards the tournament site, and he checked in. He was directed towards the place where he would be staying alongside other S-ranks Hunters. He was the only G-rank. The architecture of the place was staying at was very reminiscent of older Kingdom. Before he went to his room - he explored. As he explored the hotel, didn't really notice any other hunters.

He always appreciated patterns of the kingdom, wanted to somehow incorporate it when he has his own place. He went to his room, and it was massive. Ken looked around, there was even a gym in his room. He looked over the tournament guideline.

It was a battle royal, cannot bring any weapon in that was not declared. He didn't have any weapons to declare anyhow. The tournament will take within a specialized space to prevent any sort of damage to the outside world. The specialized space is a modified dimensional rift. The tournament will take over the course of a week. The first day will be the battle royal portion, where the top 32 groups remaining would continue to have versus matches for remaining week. Solo hunter count as a single group.

He looked into his bank account. He had 3000 dollars left. He was going to see if he bet on himself. He did find a betting booth near the tournament stadium. He found the booth attendance for betting. "Hello, can I place a bet for the Rank Royal?" Ken asked the betting booth attendance.

"Yes, would you like to?" The booth attendance replied professionally.

"Yes."

"Okay, do you want to place money on specific individual?"

"Yes, can I place a bet on Ken, G-rank."

"We can. I see that you are..." The attendance coughed a bit "You are participating in S-rank branch."

"Yes. What are the odds?"

"+100 millions odd for first place and other odds I can let you know if you give me the specific." !0

"No that's fine. I'd like to bet 3000 dollars for first place. Will you be able to handle the payout?"

"Understood. Yes sir, we will be able to handle the payout."

"I mean, there's no limits right. If I win first place, I'd expect 3 billion dollars."

"Yes sir."

Ken processed the payment leaving him broke for now.

"Here is your ticket, and you'll get a confirmation also."

Ken thanked the attendance and went about. He probably assumed no one was dumb enough to bet on him, a G-rank, so he thought.

...........................................

The attendance herself bets 100 dollars on Ken also for the heck of it. The man spent 3000 dollars of his own money on himself. If she loses, she'll lose only 100 dollars, but if she wins. She'll be set finally.

..........................................

He started walking back to his hotel. He saw bunch of high-class vehicles with paparazzies taking pictures of anyone coming out vehicles. He whistled as he approached the main door, he noticed the red-carpet lining into the main entrance of the hotel. He tried entering, but it has been sequestered off. He waited with the paparazzi for his curiosity was piqued up until it was not. He saw couple of S-rank hunters presumably a team because they came out a same car.

He slowed down time enough to slip into the hotel. He went to his room. Tomorrow is the big day. Rank Royal.

He worked out until the next day, and he wore his florist shirt he found on the cheap and his short. He slicked back his hair with a little bit of pomade. He headed out. When he reached the meeting spot. He looked at the clock, it was 8 am - the time to meet. He sees a single person, in a suit. Ken approached the person and introduced himself "Hello, I am Ken. Is this a proper location for S-rank Rank Royal?"

The man in suit answered politely "Yes you are. Just be aware, there will be drones, so look your best. The tournament will begin in 30 minutes, which is the cutoff time."

"Will do." Ken backed off and went to the side. He started reading some fiction. He looked up, and there was a crowd. All S-rank, he didn't expect to see so many, at least he thought they were S-rank. Either way, he got up from his position, the cutoff time neared.

A large man also wearing a suit yelled "Hello everyone, my name Han. This is the S-Rank Royal tournament. If you were able to enter here, that mean you have had been verified. Thank you for joining here today. There are over 200 individuals here, only forming around 120 groups. We will begin the tournament, the first portion. Only top 32 group left remaining will proceed. As I say your name, or your group name - please come towards me. You will be heading towards the tournament site. Once there, please prepare however you must. The time limit will be the first hour and then the tournament will begin. You should realize also that the barrier of the tournament will become smaller overtime, please remain inside while eliminating other groups. Once the number of groups ends at 32, this portion of the tournament will end. Should the group not be eliminated by that time to 32 groups, we would rely on number of tokens collected by a group to rank. So, please steal/take as many tokens as you can before the end of day to ensure you do not get eliminated. In the event, no one eliminate anyone, and each one of the groups have a single token - we'll ensure that only the top 32 group will pass to the next stage who have the highest rank on average and most experience. Know that if you have one more token then another group, you will be ranked higher. This should not happen, but to take care of any sort of edge case, this is it. Thank you, I'll call out your group now."

Ken was eventually called, he went towards Han the agent. He stood on a circle he was direct toward, and he immediately found himself on an island after a bright light, mountainous in sight with the ocean behind him.