Solo Hunt

Chapter 1: The Great Evolution

Year 2040, the Great Evolution has occurred on earth. From the religious beliefs, this was so-called Judgement Day but as what they expected, it wasn't.

The clouds echoed thunder, storming down the world and what could be seen from above are fractions of light forming from above.

Beams of light hit down every human on earth which they disappeared instantly and nowhere to be found. From the elderly to the most infant, there was no exception.

After this phenomenon had been finished, all humans on earth had disappeared leaving only ruins of the city burning in ashes and everything had become quiet for once.

Jin, a 1st-year college student was also hit by the beam. He had thought that this is the end of his life. Living as a bread shuttle, he was bullied and disgusted due to his figure, a very skinny, weak, and naive, everyone had avoided him. His classmates only treated him as a slave that they could give errands in which he couldn't fend them off due to him being relatively weak.

No one had bothered to talk to him and he himself didn't care less. He accepted reality as it is. Ever since his elementary days, no one wanted to be his friend because he was too silent. He didn't participate in any activities when it includes oral recitation. Still, he was an average smart person that could still pass any examination.

He had a shaggy hair causing him to look like he haven't cut his hair for years. He doesn't do any physical exercise causing him to be rag n' bones and the only exercise he could do was being beaten up and scolded by his bullies if he wouldn't be able to do what he was ordered.

Other than having an averagely smart brain, he was bad at everything. He was a loser in every aspect that even his family disowned him other than her mother that had been struck by an illness in which she couldn't wake up.

•••••••••

As I opened my eyes, the world I thought I had just lived in completely changed. I had been transported in a fantasyland that you could only imagine in novels and movies.

Not just me, I was acquainted with my classmates who also were filled in shock. A giant magical panel had greeted us and teach us the instructions to this world.

It was the will of God, this was his way for humanity to survive. We have to prepare ourselves for upcoming challenges that would threaten our world.

We were supposed to train in this world for 10 years and after that 10 years, we would return to Earth and start with our new life as Hunters.

To exterminate all evil and vanquish them to the pits of hell. This would become our new goal. To become the strongest and achieve what was impossible.

I thought that in this new world we are temporarily living, I could become a hero that everyone would love. But just like in my life on earth, it was just the same as here. Still a sore loser who is only purpose is to support my fellow classmates.

Having petty and useless skills, they called me the weakest hunter. No one helped me and I was force to strive alone.

Everyone grew strong for the past years while I stayed weak. I was pretty hopeless and continued to die. Thankfully, we couldn't disappear from this world since after we would be killed, we'd revive and continue to grow strong.

I had only waste the power God gave me. I blamed myself for everything as I wasn't strong enough to even defend myself.

I had become a loner and irritated. I wanted to go home and return to earth as fast as I could. Everyone looked at me as a burden to their shoulders as I was only a pesky gremlin to their eyes.

10 years had passed, we were now about to return to our world. I stood on a cliffside depressed. Everyone looked happy as they could now return to their homes and use their new power to help and defeat monsters.

I looked at the beautiful sunset from the seashore. I stared at the time for the countdown in the window panel.

COUNTDOWN FOR COMEBACK

000:00:00:00:34

"I wasted 10 years for nothing, sigh. I pretty much am a loser."

Jin muttered to himself. He looked at the beautiful horizon slowly going down and he didn't mind the timer.

"Welp, I can't help myself since I'm just a complete waste."

He sighed with regret while standing at the edge of the cliff. He looked like he was about to go suicidal but even killing himself isn't enough to replenish the depressed emotion he had.

He had died about a thousand times and due to this ridiculous feat, he had the record for the most deaths. He was rewarded by the system for having the most deaths a hunter could ever achieve in 10 years.

Pain nullification (Passive): Any physical and magical pain will be completely resisted.

He had become an infamous hunter, they call him, Pain Killer. A man who doesn't feel pain. The hunter who injected his body with a million of anesthesia.

That was the only great achievement he could boast. But still, he was weak and fragile. A single tier 2 skill could instantly kill him.

An average hunter who had trained for 10 years would have accumulated up to 30 levels. There was a penalty of death, you'd have your level reduced by one so for Jin who had died a thousand times, for these ten years, he was stuck at level 1.

He recalled the past memories from the 10 years he had spent in this world. Every death he experience was recorded in his mind and in the system's memory.

He would even rate his death on how brutal it is from 1 to 100. He recorded about 34 brutal death that he had rate 100, like being ground by a cogwheel, burned alive, even feed to giant sharks.

He couldn't forget it, the pain he felt was very excoriating. But now for him, it was just another fun experience.

As he looked at the time. It was now about time to return to earth.

COUNTDOWN FOR COMEBACK 

000:00:00:00:06

"Its been fun dying but I'm out."

As he was about to walk back. The ground on where he stood cracked causing him to trip and fall down the cliff.

'Bummer, this would be a hard fall so I might rate it just 57 out of a 100.'

As he crashed down, his head was bashed on the giant rock killing him. 

COUNTDOWN FOR COMEBACK

000:00:00:00:00

The timer went to zero just as the same time Jin died.

Every human who was anticipating at this moment were smiling with joy. As time ran out, the same beam of light hit down everyone as they disappeared in thin air.

•••••••••

Ting!

You have revived!

Your level has decreased by 1 but due to being level 1, level won't change.

"Damn, this is just stupid. W-wait! Why am I still here? Shouldn't I be back in Earth!?"

He was confused, the timer should've ticked to zero and he should have been transported back to earth but why was he still here?

"What the fuck? Is this supposed to be some glitch or a bug?"

As he thoroughly scanned his surroundings. Everything was normal, his player system was still working fine and yet he was still here.

He quickly teleported back to the town he started to and with his surprise, everyone had disappeared but those who had been here didn't move.

No, it seems like they where frozen but not like freezing cold, it's like the system had paused everyone.

"This...this is just crazy!"

He laughed at this event. He thought that he had gone insane due to dying too much but even if he bashed his head a million times, nothing changed and all this was were completely real.

He approached the frozen people and as he pokes them with his finger, they were still intangible and nothing changed.

Even the items in the stalls could be used but when he tried using the equipments, the system prohibited him from doing it.

ALERT! 

Using items without permission will result in a penalty. Please return the equipment.

Jin immediately returned the equipment he had just tried to steal and got in a conclusion.

"I see... I can't use equipments and consumables since the system promoted me to."

He continued checking the other stuffs and experimented with it.

"Can I still damage someone?"

He thought of that idea. He equipped a knife from his spatial inventory and tried to hit a person but he was having second thoughts.

"If I hit an innocent person, my charisma would drop and the guards would sent me to jail. But everyone had been frozen, does this mean I can kill anyone?"

He thought of this serial idea. With a slight slash from his bayonet, he hit the person dealing a small amount of damage.

-10

Warning! Charisma has decreased by 1!

"Oops! It seems the system still decreased my charisma. But other than that, I can do anything I want! But it would be bad if my Charisma drops down to zero."

Charisma is a special status that helps in talking to people and getting tasks and quests. The higher the charisma, the better the quest that could be received.

"People" is the term used for humans that are not from Earth. 

For now, Jin exempted from killing the people. But since he could damage anyone, he might as well kill monsters. 

But before that, he had to plan out everything. Luckily, all the knowledge he accumulated in 10 years didn't disappear. Now he could start on again, with the error by his side, he might become the strongest hunter.

He didn't forget good hunting spots so he first went to level 10 areas. His first hunting area was in Dulahorn lands.

The monsters in this area are goblins, dire wolves, lizardmen, ogres, orcs, and kobolds and this was the only area near the kingdom.

"Whoooo! This is exilhiriating! I can't wait to kill some monsters!"

If the monsters moved, he wouldn't stand a chance to defeat them but this time was different.

Jin arrived at a goblin village. There where about fifty goblins living in the village who were about level 4 to 7. The highest level was the Goblin Chief who's level was 7.

"Yah!"

-7 -7 -7 -7 -7

Jin continuously slash the goblin who had guard the entrance with his knife only dealing 7 points of the goblins health. The goblin had 700 HP so meaning, Jin had only dealt 1% of the goblins health with each slash.

It was very tiring for Jin who was weak and thin. He had to use high force to even move the knife although it was only a small weapon.

He panted and sweated but he didn't stop, even if it meant slashing the goblin 100 times. The goblin's health slowly depleted...80%,70%,60%,50%,40%,30%,10% and finally! The goblin died.

+1000 XP

YOU HAVE LEVEL UP!

The player interface popped up after the goblin dissipated into dust. Due to having a high-level comparability, one goblin had given him a level.

"Pant! Finally, I killed it."

Thud!

Jin tirelessly fell to the ground, this was one of the most tiring accomplishment he had ever achieve. He was happy that it had gave him a level but he didn't stop here, he must clear all of the goblins in this village to level up fast as he didn't know when this error lasts.

In 4 hours, Jin had completely defeated all the goblins in the village. In contrast, he received 4 levels. In level 1, he had to gain 1,000 experience points to reach level 2 and in every level gained, the experience points need would be multiplied by 1.2 so reaching a level had become a very hassle thing.

You would need to grind for a day just to gain a level but depending on your combat ability and the difficulty of the monster, it would entirely depend on your skillset.

Gaining 4 levels in just 4 hours was just ridiculous! You would need to grind a week in a level 10 hunting grounds for you to reach that levels but this was entirely different in Jin's scenario.

No one would hurt him since they were completely frozen so he could kill them with ease without thinking of tactics. Just throw slash them with your knife and you're done.

For now, Jin's plan was to continue grinding levels until he reaches level 10. He needed this to enter the level 20 grounds so he can continue in reaching higher levels.

But first, Jin had to distribute the status points that he had received.

Ting!

Name: Jin

Class: <none>

Level: 4 (2%)

HP: 100/100

MP: 80/80

[AGI]: 12

[STR]: 9

[VIT]: 10

[INT]: 8

Status pts: 20

Status points must be distributed wisely, if you're being reckless, it could mean having an imbalance character. This would decrease your growth and constrict your body from leveling up.

The wisest choice was to place the status points wisely. If you were not sure of what class you were to choose, the best decision is to either save the points for later or balance out your status.

Well, it would be different to Jin, he had already planned out what he will do with the points. Not only he had known of the outcome, but he to also insert the scenario momentarily.

"If I want to deal a faster and heavier damage, I should raise my strength and agility. This should also help to move faster so I can travel to places without wasting much time."

Jin had made his decision. He placed 10 points in strength and 10 points in agility. 1 point could completely change your body's extremities.

Ting!

As the ringing noise echoed in his ear, he could feel his body getting lighter and stronger at the same time like he was enlightened.

The fatigue he felt earlier had completely disappeared. He stretch his body trying to warm up with this new power inside him and averted his gaze to the next location he would go.

"Wooh! I feel stronger! Now let's see how fast I can go."

Jin dashed down the way. His speed was now comparable to Olympic athletes competing in a 400-meter run. He sprinted on the way leaving trails of dust, joy etched on his face as he smiled in satisfactory well only for a short amount of time. 

Due to being absorbed with satisfaction, he didn't realize a stone in the way causing him to trip and tumble down the ground.

Tududud!

Rolled down the ground receiving minimal damage, fortunately, he didn't feel any pain due to his passive [Pain Nullification].

-2 -3 -2

"I need to practice more, seems like I still can't control my body."

Jin stood up and returned in sprinting but now, he was being slow and steady.

20 minutes passed, Jin arrived at a Direwolves cave. As he entered the dark and shallow entrance, he saw the wolves sleeping in crowds. On top of the cave, there was a small ledge and there, a giant grey wolf could be seen asleep.

It seems that the giant wolf who had triple the size compared to the dire wolves sleeping is their leader.

Ting!

DREAD WOLF

Rank: Low-tier Boss

Level: 11

HP:1250/1250

The player interface showed up right after Jin went closer to the wolf. This was the effect when a player is near boss type monsters. Though this only happens to bosses but common monsters with no unique abilities will not activate this effect.

So it meant that the Dread Wolf had a unique skill. Well luckily, the unique skill won't function since they all had been frozen.

"Boss or not, you'll just die."

Swing! Swing! Swing!

-10

-10

-10

"Oh, this might take longer than expected."

Jin sighed. The difference after he was enhanced wasn't very wide. But either than that, Jin could slash his knife faster so this means he had improved.

Jin continued on slashing the Dread wolf but eventually, he stop.

"This might take me forever, maybe I can do much higher damage if I hit in certain points."

Jin thought of it, he remembered some documentaries from a famous hunter who was a journalist. The journalist would make records of every monster he encounters writing weak and strong points of it, not only helping him but also his fellow hunters.

"If I remember correctly, he had said that most wolf type monster had the same weak spots. The eyes, throat, chest, and ears." 

After remembering the journalist's words. Jin proceed on stabbing the different weak spots and in his surprise, it had successfully worked.

-100

-120

-97

The damage had definitely changed and not only that, the damage indicators that should be dyed red had now been colored blood red. This indicates the unique effect called Critical. This effect would only function if the damage hits a certain mark like weak spots or fatal strikes.

"Now! I can kill you with ease!"

Jin continued in stabbing the weak spots and just in a short amount of time, the Dread wolf died.

Ting!

You have slain a Dread Wolf!

Reward:

+1 to all status

Dreaded Fang [D]

+4,000 XP

You have level up!

"Wow! A boss reward!"

Jin gleamed in joy. He had forgotten the fact that boss monsters gave special rewards if killed. The rewards given to him was a status reward and an item.

Ting!

Dreaded Fang [D]

Type: Dagger

+30 Physical Damage

+10% Attack Speed

Durability: 120/120

Item Skill: Bite

- Every damage to an opponent stacks 1 Bite, after stacking up to 7 times, the next damage will deal 200% splash damage.

"Nice!" 

Jin was astounded by the item he was given. Not only that it had a huge difference between the current weapon he had been using. The dagger itself had its own skill.

An item having its own skill was rare. The ones sold in shops didn't have any certain skills inside it and those hand made by blacksmith could only make items with skills in a very low success rate.

But those items dropped by bosses where different. They were specifically unique in their own way but only if one could defeat a boss.

"Let's try this out!"

Jin quickly retrieve his old knife in his inventory and in exchange with his new dagger, the Dreaded Fang!

He went over to the sleeping dire wolves and slash one with his dagger.

-70

To his surprise, the damage that he had dealt with was quite heavy. It was not even a Critical damage and was just a normal one. Not only that, he saw the skill effect functioning after seeing a faint gray glow on the dagger.

The dire wolf only had 300 HP so Jin could kill it with few slashes, also if he includes the weak points, he might deal and instant kill but Jin wanted to test out the item skill first.

With four strikes, the Dire Wolf died giving Jin 4 stacks. He could also see the faint glow in the dagger getting brighter and more concentrated.

+1200 XP

There were about 10 wolves sleeping with each other and after one had died, only 9 had left. They were all the same types and nothing on them was out of the ordinary so Jin continued on his test.

Jin struck the wolf 2 times dealing 70 damage. He saw that the dagger was gleaming in gray glow and was almost full.

As he slashed again, he accurately hit the throat of the dire wolf dealing critical damage instantly killing it.

-250

+1200 XP

Finally, the dagger was now fully stacked. Jin was excited on what type of damage he could deal and with his excitement, he used his full force towards the next wolf and in his surprise, the silver glow that had coated the dagger turned into a ripple of the wave hitting the first wolf and then towards the rest of the wolves.

- 140

-140

-140

.

.

.

.

All of the wolves received double the damage leaving them with only half of their HP left so Jin finished it by stabbing their chests one by one instantly killing them.

Ting!

You have level up!

"Yeah! 2 more levels!"

Jin smiled in satisfaction. The points he received was equally distributed to AGI and STR.

Name: Jin

Class: <none>

Level: 6 (1%)

HP: 110/110

MP: 90/90

[AGI]: 28

[STR]: 25

[VIT]: 11

[INT]: 9

Status pts: 0

"Ah, I feel more powerful!"

Jin exhaled air while he stretch his body. He got out of the cave and continued to trace out the monster's habitats.

He arrived at a kobold's cave and there, he massacred every kobold giving him 2 more levels. He expected no bosses in the kobold's grounds and as expected, there was none. The points he got were distributed to strength and agility.

He returned in his chase of hunting grounds and found a nearby swamp, there a group of level 10 lizard men could be seen drinking fresh water. Of course, they didn't move so quickly, Jin charged down to their location and slashed their long necks with his dagger. The dagger got fully stacked and Jin's next attack made a ripple of damage killing the lizardmen in an instant.

To his surprise, he was given 2 levels causing him to reach level 10. But along with the system interface popping up in front of his view, another unexpected window popped up.

Dreaded Fang's durability has decreased to 13!

"Ah shit. I almost forgot about this effect."

Jin gritted his teeth. He had almost forgot that equipments had durability status. If the durability of an item goes to zero, the item would be completely destroyed so a hunter must check the durability of their equipment if they want to use it efficiently.

The durability of equipment can still be repaired. You just need a blacksmith to fix it for you, but it comes with a price. Depending on how much the durability of your item decreased, the cost will rise significantly.

Sadly, all of the people had been frozen in time. Jin had no hope of getting his equipment fixed so his only choice was to kill more boss monsters hoping they would drop items that are suitable for him and if not, he'd have a hard time and would waste pretty much time itself.

"It seems like the durability of Dreaded Fang decreased on the 20th [Bite]. It's okay since now I know when it will decrease but I have to also check the difference of the level gap of my next opponent."

Jin had to be wary of the types of monsters he would face. There are monsters that had very high defense that could decrease the equipment's durability fast if you were to strike damage nonchalantly.

Well for Jin, this was only a small problem, he was now more focused on his level.

"Khuahahaha! I'm finally level 10! Now I can get the class that I am longing for!"

Reaching level 10 rewards you with a class. A class is a role given to a player on what area of expertise they are good at. If your good at archery, you can pick the marksman class. If your good at hand to hand combat, you can pick the martial arts class and etc.

Choosing a class in the first part is very crucial, if you were to pick a class that you are not very fond of, your growth would decrease rapidly. One must always choose a class wisely because, after the long-running, many obstacles will block your path to the goal you have been dreaming.

On the other hand, Jin had never accomplished in reaching level 10, the highest level he had reached is only level 5 but since he had died a thousand times, he was completely stuck at level 1.

He had seen many hunters regretting on the class they had picked. One of them was a fat guy, after he reached level 10, he picked the assassin class which was not suitable for his body. Assassins where fast and nimble, they are also good at hiding yet he, on the other hand, he couldn't perform any of that. Due to his oversize weight, his movements where limited so he couldn't do even the basics of being an assassin resulting in his class'es power to go to waste and rapidly limiting his growth.

Jin had seen many players for the past 10 years and he could tell if the player was good or bad at being a hunter. With just a look at the hunter's physical appearance, he could identify what the hunter had been lacking or what they were strong at, from the equipments, skills and prowess, Jin could see it with one look.

Jin wouldn't make the same mistake he did for the past years. With this chance that was given to him, he wouldn't let it go down the drainage. Even if this was all due to God's tiny error, he'd use it as his advantage to become the strongest hunter.

Ting!

Congratulations on reaching level 10!

You can now choose a class!

WARRIOR- this type of class has skills that are centered around strength and physical combat with a wide variety of melee weapons, and the ability to survive while tanking for the group, usually at the cost of agility or range.

MARTIAL ARTS- this type of class focused on enhancing strength, defense, and speed. Though this will restrict the user from using weapons and defensive types of equipment, they can perform very explosive attacks and agile defenses just by physical enhancement alone.

TANK- Tank characters distract enemy attention and attacks toward themselves in order to provide protection or decoy for teammates. Since this role often requires them to endure concentrated enemy attacks and often suffer large amounts of damage, they rely on a high health pool or armor level, healing support by friendly healers, evasiveness and misdirection, or self-regeneration while simultaneously sacrificing their own damage.

MARKSMAN- The Marksman is adept at striking hard from afar using their weapons of choice. Be they hunters of animals for sport, or hunters of men as assassins, Marksmen know how to down their targets. They work best when able to hide themselves, as their melee options are limited.

CLERIC- A Cleric is usually The Medic — some variation on dedicated healers. Unlike Magician-classes, the Clerics usually draw their powers from either Faith, a god, or some variation of the two.

MAGE- These have the widest variety of any set of role-playing classes simply because there are so many varieties of Functional Magic. A Magician is usually a Glass Cannon, blasting away at long range, but easily taken down at close range. 

ROGUE- Rogues are a diverse class that contains everything from dexterous thieves, to treasure-hunters, to assassins. Masters of stealth and infiltration, Rogues prefer to attack when their opponent is least aware. They are quick but fragile, unable to take heavy damage, and instead rely on their speed to dodge attacks and slip in and out of the shadows to catch their opponent off guard; setting traps and inflicting status effects on foes to give them the edge.

" These classes are very tempting, but either way, I have to choose one. Since I'm lean, skinny, and tall, I'll have to choose Rogue."

Ting!

You have chosen class Rogue!

ROGUE SKILLS

Greed (passive): There is a 20% chance that the loot drop has a high rarity and drop quantity.

Flash (buff): Upon activation, your movement speed will increase by 30% for 20 seconds.

Mana Cost- 16

Cooldown- 3 minutes

Hunter Strike (DMG/AOE): Your next attack will cause a wave of thorns in a fan-shaped area each dealing with 120 physical damage (+50% strength). Each thorns that hits an enemy, it will decrease their defense by 2% (stacks up to 10 times).

Jin had received 3 skills that would come useful for the future. But other than that, he first check his status and distributed the remaining points solely to AGI and STR.

Ting!

Name: Jin

Class: Rogue

Level: 10 (5%)

HP: 110/110

MP: 90/90

[AGI]: 38

[STR]: 35

[VIT]: 11

[INT]: 9

Status pts: 0

Jin was now satisfied with his growth. Since he was now level 10 his time here was over and he would be heading to the next hunting area for level 10-20.

His plan was to go to Gaia's Canyon. It was the hunting grounds for level 15 to 20 hunters but level 10 hunters can sneak into the area if they are not caught by the guards.

But for Jin, he doesn't need to sneak in. He could just enter the main entrance without care. But Gaia's cave was 20 kilometers away. If he had a teleportation scroll in his inventory, he could just teleport there but unfortunately, he didn't have one.

"Sigh, I must set on foot then. [Flash]!"

He activated the skill [Flash]. His body was lighter than ever due to the increase in agility and movement speed. In just a blink of an eye, he sprints down the way as fast as an automobile.

Now, he was more stable and careful. He didn't want to trip again but something hit him in thought.

'I had been fighting for 10 hours nonstop but why do I not feel hunger and thirst?'

Jin said to himself. It was weird that he hadn't thought of this since when he got tired, he just had to rest for a few minutes, and eventually, the fatigue had worn off. He didn't even have the need to pee or to take a crap, it was like, his body's functions stopped.

In his theory, it must have been due to the error. Since everyone had been frozen, his body must have been also affected by it but only his body's functioning. Since he could feel fatigue, his cells must still be working fine and active.

After finishing with his deep thought. He saw that he had almost arrived at Gaia's canyon. So he sped up his pace and stopped at the main entrance. Before he would enter, he had to plan out his hunt.

The monsters in this area were mostly insect types and some reptiles. Sand scorpions, Giant beetles, giant spiders, centipedes, desert snakes and armadillos. There are even times that a Terra Drake showed up and some Griffins appear.

Drakes are very special type of reptile monsters because not only do they fly, they are also the younglings of legendary dragons. Griffins, on the other hand, are one of the most hunted monsters, the reason was that they give a ton of exp and not just that, there are chances that griffins drop a Tome.

A tome is a magical book that if you were to get, you could instantly learn some combat techniques. That's what Jin was anticipating in gaining. Luckily, this area had been thoroughly searched for so everyone knew of where the Griffins are located.

"Yoosh! Time to hunt some Griffins!"