Yoon Taesung stood alone in the alley where the Rift Pulse had just ended. The air still shimmered faintly, like static left behind from a lightning strike. Around him, the bodies of minor Voidspawn crackled into black ash, fading from the world as if they had never existed.
He exhaled slowly. His pulse had returned to normal, but his mind was still catching up.
>
[Awakening Complete]
Class: Arcane Strider (C-Rank)
Skills Unlocked:
— Blink Step (S-Rank)
— Manablade (A-Rank)
>
Those words were still burned into the back of his eyelids.
"C-rank?" he muttered, staring at his palm. "But… those are high-rank skills."
He'd seen awakened Hunters before—dozens of them during his time at the Academy. They were always ecstatic about their new powers. They celebrated. Took selfies. Called their friends. Got poached by guild recruiters within the hour.
Taesung only felt one thing: suspicion.
His hand curled into a fist. The Guilds had turned him away for being "unremarkable." His stats back then were barely above average. No bloodline, no affinity, no connections. They said he had no potential.
And yet, here he stood, having blinked through a Voidspawn's chest and sliced it open with a blade of pure mana.
"System," he said quietly. "Show me my stats."
>
[Status Screen]
Name: Yoon Taesung
Age: 24
Class: Arcane Strider
Rank: C
HP: 870 / 870
MP: 1440 / 1440
Strength: 43
Agility: 82
Perception: 79
Endurance: 46
Intelligence: 93
Mana Affinity: 102
Available Skill Points: 3
>
"Why is my mana this high?" he whispered. No C-rank should break 100 in any stat. This didn't add up.
He glanced at the cracked wall where the Voidspawn had exploded moments earlier. Still warm. Still real.
Maybe the Guilds had been wrong about him. Or maybe… the system itself was playing by new rules.
He didn't report the awakening.
Didn't call the Association. Didn't register. He vanished from the cleanup site and ghosted his Rift-hunting team. They'd just assume he died—or escaped and refused to talk.
Fine by him.
Taesung found an abandoned parking garage and holed up in the far corner. It wasn't glamorous, but it had power, a vending machine with expired drinks, and more importantly—no cameras.
Sitting cross-legged on the cracked concrete, he activated the system again.
>
[Skill Upgrade Available]
— Blink Step (S-Rank) [Lv. 1]
— Manablade (A-Rank) [Lv. 1]
>
He tapped Blink Step and sank 2 points into it.
>
[Blink Step Lv. 3]
Cooldown: 3 seconds → 1.2 seconds
Distance: 8 meters → 12 meters
Mana Cost: 80 → 65
Passive Effect Unlocked: Momentum Carry
>
He stood up and tested it. The world shifted in a blink, and he reappeared near the far wall, his boots skidding across the concrete from the leftover velocity.
Fast. Faster than anything he'd seen from a C-rank.
Another pulse of static trembled in his blood. It was addictive.
---
The next few days were spent training alone.
He slashed at shadows with Manablade—realizing the blade wasn't fixed. It changed shape based on his thoughts. A short dagger, a longsword, even a curved sabre—all possible. It hummed with potential.
He watched Hunter footage online. Studied high-ranked duels, system glitches, Rift breakouts. Everything he had never been good enough to learn at the Academy.
And he started thinking.
Hard.
---
If he registered, he'd be locked. The Guilds would label him, monitor him, maybe even suppress him. They'd never let a nobody have an S-rank skill. Not without trying to use it—or erase it.
But if he stayed unregistered?
If he acted from the shadows?
He could become something else. Something more than a Guild tool or a cleanup grunt.
Something they couldn't control.
---
On the fourth night, his peace shattered.
A new Rift opened in Dongmyo Station. Level 3 alert. No Guilds close enough to respond immediately. Civilians were trapped.
But Taesung felt it before the alert even hit the news. A tug in his bones. Like the Rift recognized him—and welcomed him.
He strapped on his jacket, checked his boots, and blinked out of the garage.
---
As he stood at the mouth of the subway stairs, listening to the screams echoing below, Taesung muttered to himself:
"Let's see what a C-rank with S-rank skills can really do."
And he descended into the chaos, shadows stretching behind him like waiting claws.