1 Awakening

In the end, death is the only rest a man can have. For no man who breathes can ever purge away the urge for a higher purpose, the urge to be superior. The urge to be immortal. Still, in the end, all men will die. And only the [Final Hall] shall remain.

….

…

Death. The state where one can no longer love and can no longer be loved. Why have I entered that state as a living being?

On the eve of October 29th, 2085, the gates opened and the monsters and demons came rushing out, fueled not by savage instincts but rather by their will to survive. If they did not kill they would die. The same went for humanity but we were far too weak.

In a world where strength equaled the right to speak, we could only remain silent.

The gods, the orchestrators of the entire play, granted us blessings called a [Gift].

Don't let the name distract you, we were still just pawns.

Those who awakened and received gifts became hunters. The hunters entered dungeons and vanquished the monsters within,. What would happen if they failed to kill the monsters in time?, humanity's ranking would fall and a [Calamity] would be sent by the gods.

Another [Gift] from the gods some would say.

Simply put, a [Calamity] was a monster of extreme power, a pet of the gods that could destroy worlds whole and do the biddings of the gods that treated us as pawns.

Of course, the rankings' rules applied to all 10000 worlds inscribed upon it. If any of them failed to repel the gates, their rankings would fall and a [Calamity] would descend upon them. A [Calamity] didn't always mean annihilation but it definitely meant a disaster that left only the strong.

15 years later, the gates all suddenly closed and such a [Calamity] descended, one named [The Void Dragon], with its overwhelming power, it wreaked havoc and destroyed most of the world.

My loved ones and the loved ones of many others were powerless against even it's breath. A being that opposed the natural laws we treated as logic.

Eventually, after much sacrifice, it was finally forced to retreat by the joint force of all the hunters. In its slaughter, however it sent its minions, the abyssal dragons, to devour humanity.

That was when I faced the monsters for the first time. Giant, black-scaled machines of slaughter, human minds were not created to envision.

In the face of such unimaginable horrors, I froze. Even as claw was on its way to take my life, I could not move. My friends, with their courageous hearts, pushed me away and saved my life by sacrificing theirs. A bad exchange for my life was not worth nearly as much as theirs.

"Lee Sung! Chen hao!" I screamed, my voice filled with despair and my tears flowing like a river.

Even my sister, my final blood relative that I was meant to protect was stomped to death like an irrelevant ant. Her blood painting even my tears red.

"NOOOO!! JEAN!!!"

And yet they ask me why I feared the monsters, how should one react to such horrors?

Out of the 13 billion humans on Earth, only 2 billion remained and only one continent was left in a livable state, those who survived were a mix of every country's people now all living on one continent.

Soon, giant cities were built, and new defenses using the dragon's bodies and scales were constructed, technology leaped forward, and a universal language was formed.

In short, humanity evolved and moved up the rankings to an accursed and lowly number #9998 and it only cost 11 billion lives. A cheap price if you ask the gods.

The worlds on the rankings weren't always limited to 10000…

A peace was forged, a great majority of the population awakened as hunters, and the [Calamities] no longer descended. A balance of defeating the gates was created and our ranking stabilized.

Physically the human race recovered but mentally…

Many, myself included, had become empty machines, with no emotions, no hopes, and no dreams. Working as clerks, cleaners, shuttles, and any jobs that kept us away from the gates and the monsters. Two new terms soon came to be, [Undead] those whose minds were destroyed by the [Calamity] and [Revival], a word describing the event when the [Undead] awakened [Gifts] and overcame their minds to become hunters.

I didn't dream of [Revival] nor did I desire it, but my only remaining friend, William, kept pushing me to awaken even saying he would pay for everything.

I never accepted his offer, stating I was happy just being a janitor and earning enough Credits to eat. He wasn't as empty as I was however, he still had dreams and goals. He had long become a hunter and earned a good chunk of money, so he wanted the same for me.

Once I realized his good intentions, I accepted his offer.

And on that day, I arrived at the Altar, with him in tow.

"Stop looking so gloomy! You're definitely going to revive today!"

"I'm just doing this because you asked, even if I awaken an SSS-rank [Gift] I'm not going to suddenly become a hunter."

"You don't need to! But it's a waste to never try y'know, also you should really cut your hair it's already down to your back and covering your eyes."

"Stop nagging me. You're lucky I'm even here with you today."

"Yeah yeah! Let's go in already."

We entered the black spire-shaped building, placed in the exact middle of the continent and used as the [Hunter's Bureau]. After I scanned my ID, a barcode printed on my palm, I was given a number and told to wait.

While we were sitting in the waiting room, William reminded me of something.

"It's today isn't it?"

"Yes, the anniversary of their deaths."

Unlike lost coincidences that were intriguing and fun, my life included a strange one. I was born on the 29th of October 2080 and my sister on the 29 of October 2083, and my parents were also killed in the original opening of the gates on the 29th Of October, 2085. And even my friends and sister were all killed on the 29th of October 2100.

The day I went for my awakening also happened to be the 29th of October 2105.

Coincidences? Maybe, but definitely not of the cute kind.

"John Crane, it's your turn! Please enter the Altar!" An AI voice relayed.

"Go and break the record, John!"

"You're hoping for too much, there aren't any happy endings in this city."

"I know, just do your best and hope for the best."

I then entered into the altar. What greeted me was a room entirely of complex stones, in the middle a long flight of stairs ascended towards what felt like the sky, but after a while of climbing, I reached a large golden altar with a large bowl filled with blood and a golden dagger in front of it.

"They said to cut my palm and drip the blood into the bowl, right?"

I took the dagger and in one fell swoop, I cut into my palm.

"Ack!"

I dripped the blood into the bowl and a golden energy flowed out of it and surrounded me, under its effect I was pulled into the sky and beyond. Floating amongst the clouds, I looked around and suddenly found 12 colossal figures of shadow surrounding me. On each of them, a single glowing object could be seen. A knife, a sword, a shield, a bow, a gun, a mask, a cape, an eye, a chalice, a scepter, an orb, and a crown.

"..." I attempted to speak but could not.

Voices that could shake the heavens suddenly resounded all around me.

"This one is….dangerous. I vote to vanquish his soul!" said the one with the scepter.

"I agree but maybe he's fitting for the [Stygian Crypt]" said the one with the bow.

"I also agree." said the one with the knife.

"But it'll be fun! If we grant him his right, he'll grow to entertain us! I say we bless him!" said the one with the gun.

"I agree!" said the one with the mask.

"I agree. He's a being made for suffering, ´that' world is where he should be," said the one with the cape.

"I disagree! Why should we put ourselves at risk? We represent the countless gods in this council to determine entertainment! Though he would be entertaining, the risk is still there!" said the one with the orb.

"I say to kill him." said the one with the sword.

"I disagree. Let him live" said the one with the one with the shield.

"Let him live! He poses no threat." said the one with the chalice.

"I disagree." said the one with the golden eye.

"Silence." said the one with the crown.

"King!"

"I have decided, he lives. Give him his right, no matter what the fates show, they cannot know what he will be. If he is revealed to be a threat we will destroy his soul. Until then, he is just a human of the lowliest race that has no god." said the one with the crown.

"The king has spoken! The gift shall be allowed!"

In that instant, I descended back to the altar, at first nothing felt different.

"That was a…..strange experience to say the least. Those shadows, were they the gods?"

I squeezed my mind but nothing came of it.

"They said to say, Status, right?"

Suddenly, a floating panel appeared to me:

NAME: John Crane

LEVEL: 0

AGE: 25

RACE: Human(#9998)

GIFT: [Transcendant]

STATS: Physique-09, Mana-00, Spirit-03

SKILLS: None

[SHOP](locked)

"From what I know, my stats are horrible! Physique means: Strength, Speed, Endurance, and Durability. Mana is mana, the magical energy that skills, swordsmanship, magic, and even some cyberware are powered by. Spirit means: Luck, Mental Fortitude, Resistances and spiritual strength. That's all I know from browsing the internet. Anyways let's check my [Gift]."

I tapped on [Transcendant] and its information appeared on a new panel.

[X-Rank gift [Transcendant]: Simply put, unparalleled genius. Max Talent. Max Comprehension. Max Potential. Max Affinity. Max Instinct.]

I stood there speechless for a few minutes, even my emotionless mind was intrigued.

"…X-rank? That's higher than SSS-rank right? There are only a few known X-ranks in the world and I'm one of them? A [Undead] loser? And its effects are truly insane."

{Don't you desire power?}

"…thats the voice some people said they heard.. [The Devil]."

{Don't you want power..?}

"I don't need anything like that. I don't have such a thing as dreams and goals."

{Oh but you're a special one. You're worthy of my greatest creation. Come child!}

The strange voice continued.

"I don't need that."

{but your friends? What about them? And your sister, so very young..}

"How do yo-"

{How I know is not important, what is important is that if you accept my gift, i'll tell you how you can revive your friends!}

"That's not-"

{Not possible?, humans are ranked #9998 on the rankings and your race has no god. And you dare preach your lack of understanding?}

"I...I accept."

{Come then, closer to the altar.}

I walked back to the altar and as I stood there in wait, a hand touched my shoulder.

"?!"

When I looked back I saw a hooded figure nearly 10 feet tall touching me with their shadow-like hand.

{There, the gift has been placed within you.}

"What is it?"

{You'll know soon enough. As for your friends, the tower will soon come, within it is a door to a different world, in that world lies the [Black Stone], with its power their revival will come with ease.}

"I…why me? Why did you choose me?"

{why didn't you ask the gods why they granted you such a great [Gift]? This chessboard known as the rankings has a different name to those above. I would wish you luck but what I've given you, you won't need it. Farewell 12th.}

The figure disappeared instantly leaving me there in disbelief.

"…..Status."

NAME: John Crane

LEVEL: 0

RACE: Human(#9998)

GIFT: [Transcendant].

CURSE:[The Immortal].

STATS: Physique-09, Mana-00, Spirit-03

SKILLS: None

CLASS:None.

[SHOP](locked)

"The…immortal?"

I tapped on it and shock filled me to my core.

[X-Rank curse [The Immortal]: An affront to the divine. You cannot die. You cannot gain skills through normal means. You are Immune to curses and poisons. You are weak to mental attacks. Pain received X20. Your age has been removed.Your level will increase at half the normal rate. You are the 12th bearer of an X-rank curse.]

"What?!"

…..

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