Four days have passed, the dungeon gate in the North District is still present. In fact, there were more dungeon gates appearing all around the world, the situation was tense.

A man was sleeping on the floor comfortably like he was at home, he was snoring loudly too. Around him were two people, they kept staring at the man.

One of the people staring at him was a man with an athletic build with short blonde hair, he was wearing a white shirt and pants. He was feeling especially agitated at this moment. He glanced over at the woman beside him, this woman had a cold expression on her face, she didn't talk unless she was asked something. She had a ‘I can't be bothered’ type of expression.

“This idiot, how did he get selected?” Brandon asked

The woman looked over to Brandon for a few seconds before replying “I don't know”. This woman was Yura, she had aced all the tests the military had set out for them.

Bradon felt disappointed after asking the question, the woman had always replied like this whenever he made conversation. What could he say after a response like that? This woman clearly was very quiet and didn't know how to hold a conversation. Bland responses like this made it difficult for Brandon to pass the time, they had been waiting in this room for the past ten minutes. Every minute felt longer than normal, Brandon was bored.

However, now he felt a little angry, throughout this entire time, that guy was sleeping comfortably on the floor, it was like he had no worry in the world. He didn't even introduce himself to these two. The man was middle aged and had long white hair with many freckles on his face. He was wearing a green t-shirt and black shorts.

The middle-aged man then shifted his body to sleep on his back and then scratched his stomach. This man was a little chubby, you could see the fat on his stomach. However, you could clearly see the muscularity on his arms and legs, he had worked out hard in his youth.

The reason these three were waiting in this room was because they had been selected by the military to go inside the dungeon that appeared in the North District. In the past four days, the government had learned a lot of new information.

They revealed that they could see a screen in their head and navigate around it intuitively. Furthermore, they had so-called ‘stats’. These stats were able to be shared between the ‘Awakened’ people if one chose to do so. Of course, the government mandated the individuals to share their statistics with a government representative who was also awakened

The government quickly pulled these people in and started running several physical tests. They wanted to determine the accuracy of these statistics. What they found was a clear correlation between both, this meant that these numbers were surprisingly accurate.

Hence, of the hundred or so people the ones with the highest overall stats were selected. Of these people, Brandon, Yura and this middle-aged man were selected to form a team.

“He even failed all the tests, this is ridiculous” Brandon exclaimed

He had still been selected because of his supposedly high stats.

Thomas Filler walked into the room, he immediately intimated Brandon with his huge build. He looked at the middle-aged man on the floor but did not have any reaction.

“We have decided to carry out the raid in two hours, we are preparing equipment for you”

It didn't matter what kind of equipment the military prepared, nothing could hurt the monsters but ‘Awakened’ people. However, it would still be better to carry something inside then have nothing.

Brandon regained his composure and asked “What about the compensation?”

The government had to compensate them adequately for risking their lives. Of course, Thomas had already had a discussion with his seniors regarding this.

“We will pay $500,000 to each of you”

Brandon did not say anything after that, this figure was much higher than what he had thought he would receive. There were many ‘Awakened’ people in the world now, it was not as if the government had to solely rely on these three. Then why did the government not create a ten man team? It was because they were afraid of what was beyond the dungeon gate.

Thomas Filler waited to hear any objections, however, nobody said anything. So he walked towards a table and laid down a piece of paper.

“Here is the plan”

Yura and Brandon leaned over the table and read it carefully.

--

A drop of sweat hit the ground.

A sweaty shirtless man was doing push ups, you could barely see his abs. He was struggling.

“Fifty four….fifty fi-” his body fell to the ground, he was laying on a patch of sweat and breathing heavily.

It was Gray. He had been working out when the nurses had given their patients some free time.

Of course, any patient could call for help if they needed anything.

Gray was using this time to work out everyday. He got up and grabbed a towel to dry his sweat.

“This feels great”

Working out not only made you look better but feel better. Your body would release ‘feel good’ hormones. This feeling was indescribable, it made Gray feel like he was on top of the world. In reality, Gray used to take care of himself before, however, after he got a job he used to slog everyday. The mental energy the work took from him did not leave him any time to take care of himself.

Gray opened his phone, he clicked on the news section. Two articles caught his eye.

Government announces plans to raid dungeon in North District today

Are you an Awakened person? Please enroll in the Hunters As...

“Oh, its happening today. This will be interesting”

Then he clicked on the second article to read the entire title.

“Hunters Association”

Gray had heard of this before, the government had created a Hunters Association to carry out dungeon raids to utilise the awakened people's power. Of course, the success of this depended on todays dungeon raid.

But, why were awakened people now referred to as hunters? It was just a psychological trick, it would make people feel that someone was there to hunt the monsters, making them think they are safe. The government would use tricks like this all the time.

Was Gray surprised that there were more people like him? No. He was actually expecting it, if there was no one else apart from him then humanity would be in a horrible predicament, because although Gray could easily beat a few goblins, there was no way he had enough strength to take care of all the monsters. Hence, he felt a sense of relief.

Gray opened up his inventory and something appeared in his hand.

“Now this key”

What Gray was holding now was a shiny red key. This key was very different to any other key Gray had ever seen, it was larger and looked like a key you would find in a museum.

--

[Dungeon Key]

Item Rating: B

Item type: Key

A key that allows you to create an instant dungeon.

--

“Item rating B”

The goblin knife Gray had was rating E. This key had a much better rating. Gray had chosen this key just because of this reason, he judged that it was most likely important.

“Also, the other reward was meh”

The system had given him a choice between two rewards, the other reward was a gain of 7 stat points.

“Every level I gain 3 stat points, so basically that reward was worth about 2.5 levels”

It was in no way an unsatisfactory reward, in fact, Gray had realised one thing that caused him to consider choosing that over the key.

“I’ve noticed the slight decrease in my levelling speed”

When Gray first gained a level, it was for killing one mere goblin. Then he had slayed six of them but only gained two levels, he was only level 4 now because he gained another level for completing that quest and clearing the dungeon. This meant that eventually he would reach a point where his stats would reach a standstill unless he killed many monsters. Of course, he was far from this issue for now.

“Even so, this key is much better”

The key had a rating of B, this most likely implied that the dungeon this key would create would have great difficulty but it would most likely also have great rewards. Gray could utilise this key when he was strong enough.

Anyways, there was one question that was on Gray’s mind.

“That dungeon gate that the goblins came out of had instantly disappeared after I killed all the goblins. What's wrong with all the other gates?”

No monsters had come out of the North District gate these past 4 days. In fact, all the gates around the world were like this, It was really weird.

“That means the gate I saw that day was a unique scenario”

That could be the only logical explanation. If all the other gates were different then the one Gray had seen, it wouldn't be wrong to make the assumption that somehow that gate was different.

“Right now I have nothing to investigate, there's no point thinking about it”

He hoped he’d eventually find out. Gray got up as he looked out the window at the city.

“This dungeon raid, it’ll be interesting to see what happens”