The preliminary exam was administered on the second day of the Tutorial. The purpose behind it was simple: to measure how much one could overcome their fear of monsters. Furthermore, monsters were still living beings. Could an ordinary person not used to killing bring themselves to kill a monster? While it was a simple test, it was a difficult hurdle to overcome. In fact, many Hunters had failed this preliminary exam. On the flip side, many of the Hunters who were now famous had achieved good results on this exam.

Since the guides basically determined the grades at the end, there were those who had wanted a more standard form of evaluation. Therefore, the stopwatch had been introduced. Nothing was as impartial as numbers, so a Hunter’s rating was determined by the time it took to pass the exam. The best record so far had been…

“Didn’t that person set the record at 15 seconds?”

“To think he completed it in 12 seconds…”

“What is he?”

Voices surrounded Lee Jun-Kyeong. Everyone around him was stunned by surprise.

“Do you think he must have already entered a gate before?”

“There’s no way. There’s a rule in the Tutorial qualifications that states you can’t attend the Tutorial if you’ve already entered a gate before.”

“You never know. He could have a really strong backing.”

However, among them were voices full of jealousy and suspicion. Of course, it had been clearly stated within the rules of the Tutorial. However, the regulation forbade those who had entered a gate after registering as a Hunter. This rule did not apply to Lee Jun-Kyeong, who had been rescued from a gate.

“Still, that’s impressive.”

“Don’t you think he’s going to become a great Hunter?”

Lee Jun-Kyeong sat down, ignoring the noisy chatter. Unfortunately, the exam had not ended just yet. Blocking out his surroundings, he stared down at his hands.

‘I pierced through something.’

He agonized over the feeling of piercing flesh and killing. Of course, while he had to fight goblins when he was initially plopped into this era, his memories of that incident were blurry. He had fought due to a desire to live, fueled by adrenaline and fear. This was different.

‘I chose to kill this monster.’

Lee Jun-Kyeong clenched his fist, carving the feeling he just had into his mind. It was something he would remember for the rest of his life.

“What is he…” Bae Sang-Su muttered to himself, staring at Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“What a monster…”

***

The next day.

“Only those who passed the exam yesterday were invited today.”

Bae Sang-Su examined the faces of the Hunters. Only a little over ten out of the original twenty students remained. This was to be expected.

‘The Hunters this time definitely are of a higher standard.’

Rather, there were more candidates who had passed than expected. The preliminary exam, the goblin hunt, was a difficult test for someone to grasp. It required someone to overcome the fear of watching something rush at you, hellbent on killing you. In addition, the new Hunter needed to have the resolve to cut a living, breathing being and take their life with their own hands. It was a near-impossible ordeal for the newly awakened Hunters who had never been in a real battle before.

‘Uh…’

But yesterday, Bae Sang-Su was startled as he observed one Hunter. That person’s exam results yesterday had broken the record. The current record of 15 seconds had been set by a famous Hunter who led a large guild, but it had been broken by three whole seconds.

‘He must be that D-Rank Hunter.’

It was an expected assumption, as it was an impossible movement to come from a Hunter who had just awakened. However, even assuming he was the D-Rank, it was such a high level of skill that it could be called crazy. The Hunter with the previous record had received an awakening rank of B. It was as if this Hunter had beaten a B-Rank at just a D-Rank. Of course, if one went into detail, there were things to critique.

But that wasn’t the part that had surprised Bae Sang-Su. It was normal to just brush this Hunter off as just a D-Rank. In fact, Bae Sang-Su himself was rated as a B-Rank Hunter. He was ranked high enough to hear the praises of a High-Level Hunter wherever he went. However, the reason why Lee Jun-Kyeong had made him so uncomfortable was that…

‘His eyes yesterday were similar to that person’s.’

The other Hunters may not have noticed it, but the examiner had definitely seen it. Lee Jun-Kyeong’s gaze while hunting goblins was unique. Bae Sang-Su had only seen that gaze once before, and it was at the gate where he had decided to retire.

The guild that came to save them.

‘Olympus.’

The Guild Master of Olympus had a gaze like that, a gaze with empty, lightless eyes. It had inflicted Bae Sang-Su with an inconceivable fear that was impossible to put into words.

He was the man who had awakened with a B-Rank, and the one who held the record before Lee Jun-Kyeong.

‘I’ll watch him closely today.’

Bae Sang-Su swore to observe and guess precisely how big the unnamed Hunter would become.

“I’ll begin to explain the Tutorial graduation ceremony briefly. As you all may know from my previous explanations…”

Bae Sang-Su slowly explained to the gathered Hunters.

“Today, we enter a gate.”

The Tutorial Graduation Ceremony occurred at the end of every Tutorial, and the successful participants entered a gate. It was a stabilized gate, where they would enter the lowest level gate and experience it themselves. In a way, it was the most necessary part of the Tutorial.

“Of course, you won’t have to worry about safety. I’ll be entering with all of you.”

For the beginner Hunters, participating in the Graduation Ceremony itself was recognized as having graduated from the Tutorial. After all, it was pretty much guaranteed that the gate would be cleared. Still, it was obvious that some of the newbie Hunters were nervous.

A man stood out among them.

‘You seemed nervous during the last test…’

He caught Bae Sang-Su’s attention.

Hunter No. 7.

He had clearly been anxious during the preliminary exam yesterday, but his current appearance was completely different. Like a seasoned Hunter, he was warming up his body and regulating his breathing.

Bae Sang-Su shook his head to clear his mind and said, “Let’s head out immediately after I hand out the supplies and potions.”

Now, the graduation ceremony had officially begun.

***

[You have entered the Village of the Weak Goblin.]

A voice rang out in everyone’s ears as they entered the gate. It was the first gate they had ever stepped into. Everyone seemed thrilled but nervous as if they were accepting the situation in their own ways.

‘It’s my first gate.’

The previous gate was one Lee Jun-Kyeong couldn’t remember properly, but this time was different. This was the first gate he had entered after becoming a Hunter.

‘It’s sticky.’

The first thing he noticed after entering the gate was that the air around him was so sticky it was almost palpable. It was an already recorded phenomenon.

“Don’t be alarmed. As we discussed before, the density of magic power within the gates is very high. As it’s much different from Earth, where the density of magic power is low, you’ll be able to feel it at the beginning,” explained Bae Sang-Su.

“For now, we’ll be setting off immediately. All you have to do is listen to what I tell you during each individual monster encounter we have.”

The skittish Hunters each gripped their weapons. They had finally found themselves in a dungeon. They were on a state of high alert, not knowing when or where the monsters might appear.

“Keruk?”

“Keruruk.”

But, by chance, as soon as Bae Sang-Su’s explanation ended, they had run into a group of goblins. Bae Sang-Su slowly raised his hand and signaled the Hunters to stop moving.

[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> is watching you.]

The Hunters and goblins made eye contact and a voice heralded the start of the battle. This wasn’t just something that happened to Lee Jun-Kyeong. Within the gates, everything about the Transcendents was being watched by the Sponsors.[1]

“Here they come!”

As soon as Bae Sang-Su’s warning shout had ended, the goblins began to chase the Hunters.

“Keruruk!”

“Hunters No. 1 and No. 3! Raise your weapons!”

Bae Sang-Su gave orders to the two Hunters closest to the goblins.

“U… Understood!”

“Yes!”

They shook off their nervousness and raised their weapons. One held a longsword, the other an axe.

Clang!

Their weapons clashed with the goblin’s dagger.

“As you may have just felt, the goblins are much weaker than you may think. Considering you all have passed the preliminary exam, you should be able to dispose of them easily as long as you don’t become a deer in headlights.”

They all nodded. Bae Sang-Su was right. While goblins were considered monsters, they were ranked the lowest. The goblins ended up being shoved around by the weapons of the Hunters. However, there were many of them.

“Hunters No. 16 and No. 8, it’s your turn!”

The two Hunters stepped forward and prepared their weapons.

Clang!

They parried the weapons of the rushing goblin.

Slash!

One of the two gutted it with a sword. 

“Confirm your kill!” ordered Bae Sang-Su when the fallen goblin started moving again. Then, after a moment’s hesitation, the Hunter who had just gutted the goblin stabbed his blade into the goblin’s head.

There were still many goblins.

“Hunter No. 7!”

There was only one Hunter with that number. No. 7. When that number was called, the gaze of the nervous Hunters prepping for battle focused on a single person.

Lee Jun-Kyeong.

He began to walk forward with a spear and shield. Unlike the other tense Hunters, he had an unusually indifferent gait.

"Keruk! Keruk!"

"Kerrleuk!"

"Keruk!"

As he stepped forward frighteningly, three goblins rushed forward at the same time. The other Hunters had only dealt with one goblin at a time, but this time, three goblins had rushed towards one Hunter. The other Hunters looked from Lee Jun-Kyeong to Bae Sang-Su, and their eyes shifted back and forth as they fretted about dissuading him or helping. However, Bae Sang-Su was watching Lee Jun-Kyeong and the goblins more seriously than ever.

‘It’s usually too much for someone to handle.’

Awarding a D-rank merely only ranked a Hunter’s potential after awakening. Their real strength typically wasn’t anywhere close to a real D-Rank. However, here, it seemed possible for some reason. Furthermore, there weren’t any safety issues here. Bae Sang-Su was an assassination-type Hunter with an ability that made use of an invisible thread. His thread had already been wrapped around all of the goblins in the vicinity. It was just that no one had noticed, but he was prepared to help whenever the situation turned dangerous.

‘Show me your skills.’

Hunter No. 7’s real strength might be shown now.

Clang!

When Bae Sang-Su’s expectations had reached a tipping point, Lee Jun-Kyeong and the goblins finally collided. The three goblins swung their daggers simultaneously while the rookie Hunter blocked, the blades bouncing off his shield.

‘Impressive!’

It was an incredible display of strength. For a recently awakened Hunter, it was unbelievable that he could push back three goblins at the same time. That wasn’t all. Lee Jun-Kyeong immediately dropped his shield and thrust with his spear. 

“Kek!”

Before the falling goblins could land on the ground, a goblin died with a final scream. The spear pierced into his heart. However, there were still two goblins left. Seeing how their comrades fell, the remaining two rushed towards Lee Jun-Kyeong again. He held the spear with both hands and swung it towards the oncoming daggers this time.

‘He’s having a hard time.’

Spears were weapons that were able to exert their power when there was a certain distance between the user and the enemy. If an enemy got too close, it became more difficult to deal with them using the spear. Furthermore, Hunter No. 7 was a newly awakened Hunter. No matter how much potential he may have had, it was clear that he wasn’t used to handling a spear. It was a situation that required either a quick response or strong weaponry skills.

Clench.

Bae Sang-Su tightened his hold on the thread attached to the two goblins as he was prepared to end the monsters at any time.

Puheuk!

However, a sharp sound rang out. The edge of a shield bashed into a goblin’s head. As for the last remaining goblin, Lee Jun-Kyeong reacted in an astonishing way.

“Keruk!?”

He dodged the goblin’s dagger, not even bothering to block it.

'He’s agile.'

He drifted by the goblin’s dagger very naturally. As he evaded the blade, Lee Jun-Kyeong let go of his spear.

“What are you thinking?!”

Bae Sang-Su reacted in a panic, but his reaction had been too hasty. Lee Jun-Kyeong slid his hand up the haft of the falling spear, grasping it right before the base of the blade. He had modified his grip on the weapon, make-shifting a short spear with a reach similar to that of a dagger.

“Ke…ruk…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong plunged his weapon into the back of the goblin he had just evaded, without hesitation.

This entire fight had happened in the span of five minutes.

“...”

Everyone held their breath, completely unable to comprehend what they had just seen.

"Are you telling me you’re really a freshly awakened Hunter?"

"Why are you even taking the Tutorial?"

"Fuck… There’s no way the other Hunters were like that, right?"

The other Hunters were shaking their heads and talking about the unbelievable performance.

‘He’s terrifying.’

Bae Sang-Su was dumbfounded. Never before had there been a Hunter who had shown this level of performance within the Tutorial. No matter how talented a Hunter may have been, this was impossible, even for the Guild Master of Olympus.

‘I’ll have to investigate him after we get out this time.’

While there wasn’t any chance that this could have happened, Bae Sang-Su still had to verify. Could there have been an experienced Hunter who lied about his identity and entered the Tutorial?

[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> admires your performance.]

A system message appeared for Lee Jun-Kyeong, and at the same time, he felt his body filling up with power.

[You have leveled up.]