Prologue

A passage between time and space, connecting our world with a different dimension known as "Gates" suddenly started appearing in different parts of the world after a meteor fell on earth on January 19, 2001.

Dungeons, places where monsters dwell started emerging. It was not the only change that happened, some people also went through awakening and came to know as Protectors. People who undergone awakening received superhuman strength, skills, and power. It will not be an understatement to call them monsters as well.

Those people started raiding dungeons, some for fun, some for adventures, and some for making quick bucks. Whenever monsters die, they leave soul crystals behind which are sold for hundreds of thousands. Not only the crystals but also the body parts of monsters are sold for a huge amount. So as the number of monsters increased, people hunting them for money also Increased.

As time passed, Protectors slowly became the most influential and richest figures. High-level protectors created their guilds, while among low-rank protectors some served as mercenaries, some as a porter, some as collectors, and some just didn't involve themselves in dungeons living a normal peaceful life.

20 years later,

January 15, 2021

"Wake up Ray, just how long are you planning to sleep? wake up fast or you will be late for your first day in work"

"aaa www mom waking up, don't shout and it doesn't matter if I go to work or not, am just an E-rank protector"

Ray woke up from his sleep yawning and told her mom not to worry as he is just a low-rank protector, so it will not affect the raid even if he goes or not.

Moving out of his bed Ray opens the curtains and moves towards the drawer to get ready for his work. After taking a shower and changing his clothes, he moved downstairs to eat breakfast.

After eating breakfast he bid farewell to his mom and left for work.

Ray reached his destination, a D-rank dungeon after walking for around 15 minutes. He met his party members there, it was a party of 10 members. 1 C-rank, 3 D-rank, and 6 E-rank protectors including Ray. The raid captain introduced himself "Hello you must be Ray, the mercenary we hired. I am Sung, the raid captain and we hope that you have a good time here". Ray greeted him and other party members, though they acted friendly Ray had a bad premonition meeting them.

They went towards the dungeon and Ray felt an enormous amount of mana from the gate. " It's your first time working in a dungeon, so you must be afraid but don't worry nothing will happen to you". Ray was made to sign a contract before entering the dungeon regarding the share and responsibility if he loses his life. Ray knew that working as a protector is hard, especially for a low ranker like him who can lose his life at any time. But he didn't have much of a choice as his father died back then when he was 3 years old in a dungeon outbreak.

He was not talented in anything and was forced to quit his studies to start working to support his mother who was the only one in his family alive.

Ray and his party entered the dungeon, it was completely different from the world outside, grassland with trees, caves, mountains, and the bright sunlight falling on the white jade skin of Ray. They move forward for 10 minutes and came across goblins, goblins are considered the weakest monsters in a dungeon but the fact is different as they attacks in groups. Sung and the others made the formation and started killing the goblins, Ray being the weakest and a newbie was struggling to kill mere goblins. After 5 minutes the mage in the party uses a fire spell and burns the remaining goblins. As the fight was over, Ray took notice of his surroundings, he was out of breath, sweating saw the dead bodies of goblins and blood flowing in the ground.

Goblins as the weakest race of monsters don't leave soul crystals and as they are common, their bodies are not of that importance.

They rested for 2 minutes and decide to continue the raid, finally, after fighting many goblins on their way, at the end they reached the boss monster den, a cave. Even being a low-ranked protector, Ray could feel the dark ominous aura from the cave. He thought to himself that how can a D-rank dungeon contains such aura. As Ray was going to ask his party members, Sung broke the silence and said "oops, Ray sorry but can u please enter the dungeon before us. Actually, we forgot the mining equipment in the car. We will be back in a minute, so can you please wait till then." They didn't even gave a chance to Ray to speak, pushed him into the cave, and went away.

Ray injured his leg and couldn't move. He dragged his feet and started moving as he thought lying there doing nothing will only attract monsters. He could hear the voices of his comrades laughing and going away. He understood at that moment that they did this to him because he is weak, as a rule by the government is that if a person dies in a dungeon and other party members came back alive then the share of the dead party member will be given to the party to reduce their trauma damage and also some other benefits will be provided, It was a rule made in 2002 when many people used to die in the dungeon due to which many protectors refused to go to raid.

His blood was flowing in the ground as he was forcibly dragging his feet, attracted to which an enormous and dark presence came to him. He can't see which type of beast it was due to the darkness, but he felt chilled to his bones sensing the magnificent amount of mana it was releasing. Seeing the glow of its eyes, saliva falling on him from its mouth, thinking about the betrayal of his comrades, afraid of leaving his mom alone in the old poor neighborhood, he was scared. He was shivering, he can't utter a word, he was petrified by the view.It was as a small kid fallen into abyss. Death was near the corner as if he was visiting the death himself, he was frightened. He knew it all happened because he was too weak. After all, he was the lowest-ranked protector that he can't do anything even if he tries his hardest. But he still wanted to live, he wanted to see his mother smiling for him.He aked himself multiple time "why why why why why why why I am born so weak, doing nothing but crying, just why?", His will to live, his spirit to fight forced him to stand up to fight death, to overcome death, to overcome adversity. He stood up with all his might, gritted his teeth and used all his last breath he was left with to pull a punch and threw it towards the beast. Nothing happened, he closed his eyes thinking how pitiful he is to think that an E-rank protector can solo kill such a beast with just a punch.

"Haha I am really an idiot to think I thought I can kill it alone with just a punch...sorry mom I can't become a filial son" drops of tears was falling from his eyes, he was crying in pain, he wished to gain power, he wished to become stronger not to get betrayed again, stronger to protect his mother, he wished.

The beast slashed his arms, blood was flowing like a stream.His senses became dull. As he was on the verge of death, Ray saw a white flash, it was so bright that Ray couldn't saw anything else, ultimately he collapsed and lost his consciousness.