Hokkaido is a beautiful island close to Japan, these days it was cold and it snowed heavily. Many tourists came here to ski over the snow capped mountains, the island had beautiful scenery and there was fresh air.

An old man living atop a mountain walked out of his small hut with an axe. His body swayed side to side as he took small steps over the deep snow leaving his footprints behind.

It was a quiet night, just like always. This part of the mountain was not a tourist spot because it was dangerous to ski around.

The old man stopped before a pile of perfectly cut firewood and exhaled. The air leaving his mouth was fog like as it had condensed due to the extreme cold. He placed his axe over a piece of wood and grabbed pieces of firewood off the large pile and turned around.

The firewood in the old man's hand fell on the snow, making no sound. The old man opened his eyes wide.

In front of him appeared a dungeon gate.

--

A middle aged woman sat in front of a tombstone over a grave. She put the flowers in her hand over the grave as she smiled.

But, the smile on her face slowly left. Her eyes became watery, a small tear fell down her face.

A hand reached over her shoulder, she stood up and turned around revealing a smile. In front of her was Gray in a black sweat shirt and tracks.

“Mother, I’ve started working again”

“You should rest more”

“No, you dont need to work again. I’ll take care of you” . Gray said as he smiled

His mother gave a warm smile.

“Also, I wanted to tell you in front of father” Gray paused and looked toward the tombstone before continuing “I have enough right now to pay off the debt”

His mother paused for a moment before her eyes started watering up. She hugged Gray gently.

“Thank you” she paused and continued in a broken voice “I’m… sorry”

Gray wrapped his hands around her and felt warm inside. He looked toward the tombstone again, he read the name on the stone.

‘Kent’

Gray’s father Kent had died when he was just 3 years old. He hardly had any memories of him, however, he always felt good thinking about him. In some way he felt his presence every day.

His mother had done everything for him since then, she had struggled to provide for Gray as a single mother. In fact, there was a lot of debt the family had accumulated over the years, they were just getting by because of the increasing interest payments. However, he had used his savings and the $7000 he had procured.

“No, thank you mother”

Gray had given up his future prospects to provide for his mother, this was why he had settled for a job that although did not pay very well was stable. The stability was all that mattered to him, he was afraid of taking on risk.

His mother looked toward him with a large smile on her face.

“How did you do it?”

Gray smiled back

“Well, lets just say I got a promotion”

Both the son and the mother walked out of the graveyard with smiles on their faces.

There was no way he could let her know that he was now a hunter. His mother would get very anxious and would not be able to sleep at night.

--

Thomas Filler sat with a bunch of his colleagues. Among them was Sung Ho. Both the men had a huge presence in this room. Sung Ho opened his laptop and read a professional document.

The document mentioned recent developments such as being able to imbue weapons with magic. Furthermore, there was one more thing.

The Hunters Association had still struggled to ensure the safety of Hunters. For example, nobody had any idea what kind of monsters would be present inside a dungeon. However, this problem was now solved.

Apparently, using the magic measuring stone the Hunters Association worked collectively to create a device that could measure the ‘ranking’ of a gate. This device was undergoing tests and was proved to be reliable. Gates with stronger monsters emitted more magical energy, this could be used to identify the threat of the dungeon.

This would allow hunters to identify the ranking of the gate they were entering. It was a spectacular leap as it would only further ensure the safety of Hunters.

Sung Ho finished reading the entire document, it had many meticulous details but basically explained the recent developments.

Sung Ho locked eyes with Thomas Filler. Both men were wearing perfectly tailored suits. They were intimidating.

Thomas Filler spoke.

“This is really spectacular, when are we making this information public?”

Sung Ho checked the time on his watch.

“In about 20 minutes”

--

Name: Gray

Age: 19

Title: First Warrior (Locked)

Class: ?

Level: 14

Fatigue: 0

HP: 56

MP: 0

Strength: 80

Agility: 47

Intelligence: 47

Vitality: 13

Sense: 2

Skills:

No Skills

Items:

Goblin Hunting Knife