Chapters 1-14 (Patreon)

Chapter 1: The Trial Begins

When fate decided to ruin the life of Kai Clanless, it didn't hold back. He'd lost count of the hardships he'd faced, but three hurt the most. Three times he'd reached out to claim his destiny only to have fate crush him and leave his dreams in tatters. Now he trudged into the wilderness, away from the only home he had ever known. Wondering why this had happened to him. Wondering howit could all have gone so wrong.

He had done everything right. For the first twenty years of his life, he had worked his way from the lowest rungs of society to become one of the supposed talents of the next generation. And it had all been taken away. For no reason except dumb luck.

Now he faced the lawless, monster-ridden wastelands. Kai refused to give up until his last breath... but unless he could stop this from happening again, that final breath might be coming sooner rather than later. One more time, he wondered how all of this could have happened...

…

..

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Six months earlier

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..

…

The first thing Kai realized was that there were teeth snapping at his face. He stumbled backward as the jaws slammed closed. Before he could catch his bearings, a leathery body crashed into him and he fell onto his back.

There was a monster coming toward him, but his instincts finally kicked in. Instinct took the form of actual kicks, beating away the beast that was trying to tear out his throat. It slashed back, its claws raking his shin, but he managed to land a solid kick.

As the beast slid away and Kai scrambled back to his feet, he gota better lookat it. The creature appearedlike a dog that had been turned inside out. It was hideously mangled, but it had teeth and claws that could easily kill a person. Ruined dogswere common monsters outside the city, scorned by the professional hunters as mere nuisances. Kai realized that there was a big difference between studying them in training and actually fighting one.

When the monster rushed forward again, Kai managed to leap back. The bloody stripes on his shin hurt like hell, but he was used to pain. Maybe he hadn't fought many real monsters, but he'd beaten the snot out of himself on the training yard countless times.

Before it could charge again, Kai scooped up a medium-sized rock in one hand and a heavy stick in the other. The beast was more cautious now, growling and circling around him. He took the time to check the area: no other monsters, no other hunters. He barely even remembered going through the shimmering portal, but there was no more time to think about that.

With another growl, the monster began running toward him. Kai waited until it got close and then hurled the rock at its head. The impact wouldn't have done much good, but the monster automatically juked to the side to dodge.

Which gave him just enough time to whack it in the face with his stick.

The blow knocked the monster to the ground with a satisfying crunch, but the stick broke on impact. Worse, the creature wasn't dead. Kai had always known that ordinary muscle couldn't compare to spiritually-enhanced strength, but he hadn't wanted to find out like this.

As the monster scrambled up onto its twisted legs, Kai desperately looked for another stick. The best he had was a jagged rock. He grabbed it as the monster began to run toward him and threw wildly.

The rock bounced off the creature's skull and it just kept coming. Kai desperately thrust with his broken stick as if he was holding a practice sword, before he could even think about it. Staring into the monster's enormous jaws, he wondered if that was going to be a fatal mistake.

His combat training hadn't failed him: the stick came up directly into the monster's mouth and the splintered end drove deep into the sensitive flesh.

The momentum from the charge nearly knocked him over, but the monster had impaled itself on the stick. But it wasn't dead. Kai felt a claw scrape across his shoulder before he managed to shove it away. He wasn't even thinking anymore, he just went after the fallen beast and kicked it in the head until it stopped moving.

After several seconds staring at the body, he dropped to one knee and caught his breath.

Were the Hunter Trialsalways like this? Kai had never been allowed to watch the previous years, but he'd asked older hunters for advice. He didn't think that trainees were usually thrown directly against a monster like that. If things had gone a little different, or if he hadn't trained his body for so long, he could easily have died. The goal of the trials was to forge new hunters, not to kill off the contestants.

Hunters were all that stood between his city, his country, and his world... and being torn apart by monsters. Now, staring at the first monster he'd ever killed, Kai realized that he was finally becoming a hunter. For the first time in his life, he could fight against the monsters that made living near the Frontier so desperate.

To do that he needed power, and soon. The veteran hunters could handle the ordinary monsters, but when hordes formed a monster incursion, they threatened to wipe Monskon City off the map. Almost twenty years ago, his parents had died fighting off the flood of monsters. Thirteen years ago, he'd huddled with the other orphans and hoped the city survived. Six years ago he'd thrown rocks from the city walls and wished that he could fight alongside the hunters.

Judging from how difficult it had been to fight a single ruined dog, they'd been right to stop him from joining the hunters. But Kai wasn't a child anymore: he'd been training his entire life for this moment. If he succeeded in the Hunter Trials, he'd gained the strength to fight a horde. Just so long as he didn't get himself killed first.

"Well, that was unlucky."

Even though he knew the voice, Kai still scrambled to his feet and put up his fists. He had no idea what the trials might throw at him. But his mentor stood calmly at a distance: Gunjin Granfian was a grizzled old man whose hair stood up in a gray shock. As usual, he was wearing his sword and armor, both of which Kai could really have used that moment.

"Normally trainees don't arrive right next to a monster," Gunjin said, "and normally monsters would be more cautious about attacking someone coming in via portal. But luck is part of the Hunter Trials, so it's good that you survived."

"Barely." Kai winced as he got to his feet. The gashes on his leg and shoulder weren't deep, but they were really starting to hurt once the adrenaline wore off. "Am I actually ready for the trials, Gunjin?"

"More than ready. It might have torn you apart, if your training hadn't increased your..." The old man punctuated his own sentence with a wave of his hand. "Never mind, you don't have the spiritual awareness to understand your own attributes yet. That will change, if you make it through the trials."

"Right. Okay. You can't be here to help me, can you?"

"Every candidate is traditionally given an explanation by their sponsor, to orient them after the portal. But we can't lift so much as a finger to help, which was why I had to wait for you to kill the monster. Fortunately, the rest of the trials should be somewhateasier for you."

"Alright, explain." Kai tore off part of his padded shirt with his teeth and began tying it into a rough bandage. He was better at combat than healing, but he'd trained in every discipline he could, just in case fate blessed him with healing abilities. No matter what he received, he'd use it to defend the city.

"Over onehundred candidates have been thrown into the monster reserve. You have three days to awaken your spiritual sight and true Class abilities. If three days of fighting for your life doesn't awaken anything, you're hopeless." Gunjin grinned at him. "You don't need to worry about that. Think of it as a time limit to achieve as many objectives as possible."

The bandage wasn't perfect, but it would do for now. Kai straightened up and looked back to his mentor. "How are the winners chosen?"

"All I am allowed to tell you about the evaluation is that the candidates will be judged based on many factors, including the number of monster cores they acquire. However, I can also say that there are a number of waypoints set up within the reserve. Two of those are dedicated to awakening your spiritual sight and your abilities. Some waypoints are limited to the first candidates who find them, some are not."

"Got it." Gunjin hadn't told Kai too much about the trials before today, but he'd made a few things clear. The best strategy would be to fully awaken his Class abilities first and only hunt for monster cores after.

"One more thing." Gunjin stepped closer and lowered his voice. "The spells on the reserve should prevent you from dying, but they won't stop you from being maimed or crippled. And they can't stop every lethal blow, especially once candidates start fighting one another."

Kai almost said "Got it" again, but he was getting too amped up to talk. This was the moment he had been preparing for, and these three days would define his life. Instead he just nodded and hoped that it looked strong instead of stupid.

"But honestly, Kai, you shouldn't have a hard time. You had such a bad start in life, you've probably used up all your bad luck. The rest should be easy." With that, Gunjin stepped backward into a shimmering blue portal and Kai was alone in the wilderness.

Well, not alone. There were a hundred other candidates out there and an untold number of monsters. Kai cracked hisknuckles and got started.

Chapter 2: Meeting The Competition

As Kai explored the wilderness, he let his first monster core roll around in his palm. He had seen them set in crystals in the city, but this was the raw material: a sticky orb of flesh. It felt disgusting to the touch, especially since he'd had to tear it out of the monster corpse personally.

But it was the first thing he'd earned during the trial. The only equipment he'd been given before going through the portal was a sack, and he should put the coreback inside, but for the time being he wanted the reminder. He'd actually survived a battle against a monster. It would be the first of many, if he succeeded and joined the hunters.

Since it didn't seem that any weapons would be provided, he headed toward a forested region to the east. He could find a better club there, plus he thought he saw some sort of building in the same direction. Though he'd never been allowed inside the monster reserve, based on Monskon City in the distance he could estimate that he'd been placed near the western side. Most likely the final goal was toward the center.

Along the way, he wondered what he would find first: weapons, monsters, or other humans. The humans worried him most, since they could easily turn on him. Kai thought he had a decent reputation among the other trainees, but he had no connections among the nobles and he spent too much time training to make many friends.

Fortunately, he didn't run into any threats before he reached the forest. Kai found a sturdy branch and tore it off a tree, then began to strip away the bark. Right in the middle of his work, a monster shrieked and jumped onto his back.

He instinctively raised the branch to defend his neck, just before claws arrived. The creature on his back was small and looked a bit like a monkey, but it had six limbs that were clawing into his back. When he tried to swing over his shoulder, the monstrous monkey easily ducked aside.

A second later he slammed his back into the tree, then threw his head back and felt it connect with the monster's skull. The combination was enough to stun the creature, and it dropped with an eerie moan.

Stunned, not dead. Kai whirled and stabbed the monkey with his branch, only to realize that he still hadn't sharpened it. Fortunately, the monkey was much less durable than the dog-like monster, so he was able to bludgeon it to death without any more trouble.

He was bending down to see if he could find its monster core when he heard several more shrieks.

Kai leapt up, ready to defend against a whole horde of the monkeys, but the sounds weren't getting any closer. When he tracked the source, he abruptly realized: there were three of the monkeys attacking a pair of humans deeper into the forest. They were crying out as well, desperately trying to fend off the monsters, but they already looked pretty bloody. The creature that attacked him must have wandered from the others.

After checking for ambushes, just like he'd been trained, Kai rushed in. His first swing caught a monkey in the side of the head, smashing it into the ground. The other two leapt backward, screeching. He roared back, waving his stick and his other arm over his head. Fortunately, these monsters weren't the most bloodthirsty, so they retreated deeper into the trees.

"Are you alright?" Kai asked as he turned back to the two humans. Two young men about his age, severely torn up by the monkeys' claws. According to city law, anyone with basic combat training could attempt the Hunter Trials. Clearly these two had expected it to be much easier.

"St-stay back!" One of them waved a broken stick in his direction. "We don't have any monster cores!"

"Or anything else," the second added. "Just let us retreat, okay?"

Kai sighed and swung his stick up onto his shoulder. "Tell you what, if you let me take the monster core from the dead one, we'll call it even."

They scrambled out, leaving him to try to harvest the two monsters that he'd slain. That proved frustrating, due to the monkeys' tough fur, so he ended up crafting a few weapons first. Only a stick with a sharpened point and a rough wooden axe, but they would be better than nothing. He hadn't really thought his survival training would be useful in the Hunter Trials, but he had always worked hard at it because he assumed Gunjin recommended it for a reason.

As soon as he was finished, he took the two small orbs of flesh and left the forest. The monkeys might be relatively weak, but if they teamed up on him in an ambush, they could be fatal. The blood soaking into the back of his shirt proved that. He could hunt monsters once he had fully awakened, since his Class awakening could make his crude weapons completely obsolete.

Still, as he walked back over the plain, Kai couldn't help but glance at the three orbs in his sack. They varied more than he expected, unless that was just what different grade cores looked like. Something to ask about when he wasn't fighting with everything on the line.

Gradually a shrine in the distance became clear. Almost certainly one of the waypoints that Gunjin had urged him to find. There seemed to be a few other people closing on it... and a whole group moving toward him instead.

Kai gripped his makeshift spear tighter as he realized that he recognized the group: Irunians. They were from the nation far to the northeast and they didn't try to blend in: they all had straight dark hair and wore sweeping red and blue robes. Irun and his own nation of Goralia were allies, but that didn't mean anything here.

More importantly, Irunians stuck together and they did not mess around. There were four of them, two men and two women, all of them armed. How had they gotten steel weapons so quickly? If they decided to attack him, he was going to have a major problem.

"Greetings." The man in the lead raised a hand and then bowed to it. "I am Tusquo Agyama, of Irun. May I ask your name?"

"Kai Granfian." Kai lowered his spear and tried a smile. "I hope you aren't here to fight?"

Tusquo didn't smile back, but gave a solemn nod. "We have been separated from half our number. Allying with someone familiar with local monsters is the wisest course of action."

"That's fine with me. How do you get those weapons? Did they let you take them in?"

"You dare?" One of the women stepped forward, her eyes flashing. "We would never cheat in the face of an honest challenge!"

"Calm." Tusquo raised a hand to hold her back, but didn't look away from Kai. "I think he meant no harm. Tell me, Kai Granfian, how do you think we came by these weapons?"

Was it some sort of test? Kai looked over the weapons, noting that they all appeared to be made of pure steel, without any wood or cloth bindings. All he could do was guess... "I know that Irunians have a skill they call the Path of Steel. Did it create them somehow?"

"Correct. Some of us have learned the Path of Steel, but we are here to absorb mana and awaken the Classes of Goralia. If you assist us, we will forge you a weapon as well."

Irunians were generally known as loyal allies, so Kai figured that this was probably a good opportunity. He did his best to copy their raised arm bow and smiled at the group. They seemed welcoming enough, and the woman he'd offended even muttered an apology. Kai wished that he had the spiritual sight to judge the group, but based on their toned bodies and the way they held their weapons, he guessed that they had decent training.

As for the Path of Steel, Kai got a good look at it for the first time in his life. Tusquo sat down and cupped his hands together, then liquid metal just... flowed out of his skin. It wasn't technically any more fantastical than the amazing things hunters could do with mana, but Kai still watched raptly.

They wouldn't answer questions about their nation's art, but they did let him choose his weapon. Kai thought for a while before requesting a long two-handed sword. He'd trained with every weapon up to the point of competence because Gunjin said that was the best way to prepare: his Class might turn out to use any weapon or none at all, so it was best not to specialize. He figured that a two-handed sword was reasonably flexible and would get him through the Hunter Trials.

Once he was armed, the entire group went back to walking and compared notes. They wanted to know about the local monsters, so he told them what he knew. Fortunately, it didn't seem like they were just trying to use him, because Tusquo reciprocated as soon as he finished talking.

"I do not want you to fear betrayal, Kai Granfian." Tusquo gazed at him seriously. "No one in our group would cheat, but... we do have information that we ordinarily would not. On the second and third days, there will be additional announcements. The prizes are meant to award all who acquit themselves well, not to encourage competition. If a team works together effectively, all will profit."

"What do you know about the prizes?" Kai asked.

"Anyone who endures through all three days will be given one of your mana potions, though one of little value. Those who have accumulated many monster cores will receive a pill that increases the growth of one's Class. And those who prove strongest will receive a scroll said to permanently improve training."

That sort of thing was the exact reason that Kai was determined to succeed at the Hunter Trials. It was impossible to buy your way to great strength, but you did need some resources. The poorest of the poor could rise high, so long as they could win competitions.

Just when he was about to ask another question, Kai heard earth crumbling. He looked up in time to see a large rock hurtling toward them. Immediately he dodged, and all the Irunians got clear as well, but Kai had seen who had thrown it.

There was a group of eight competitors, and Kai recognized some of them. He groaned and drew his new sword.

Chapter 3: Noble Brawl

"Well, well, well! I should have known scum like you would immediately make an alliance with the foreigners."

Fhazi Lantrian was a young man almost exactly Kai's age, the newest potential hunter from the storied Lantrian clan. He had the sandy blonde hair and strong jaw the girls in their year considered attractive, though the wealth that came from his position didn't hurt. Even now he was wearing finely crafted boots and an expensive tunic of imported cloth.

He swaggered forward, as usual. The problem was that he swaggered at the head of a group of fighters, also as usual. Fhazi wasn't the most important member of the Lantrian clan, but he was important enough that he always had allies hanging on for his money. This time he also wore a magical breastplate, letting off yellow mana like steam. Most of his group wasn't armed, but he carried a silver sword, likely smuggled in via his family's connections.

"But I don't have time for you today, Kai," Fhazi went on. "The Hunter Trials are too important to waste on trash. Anyone who hasn't awakened on the first day is already behind, don't you know? So we'll be taking all those foreign weapons and any monster cores you've managed to find. Hand it all over and you can stay in the trials."

"Irun has always been a loyal ally of Goralia, and especially Monskon City." Tusquo settled a hand on the hilt of his sword. "We do not deserve this disrespect."

"Do you know how to count over in Irun?" Fhazi made a show of looking between the two sides. "You're outnumbered and outmatched. If you fail here, you won't even be able to awaken your Classes."

"The purpose of this trial is not surrender."

It seemed like Tusquo was going to keep talking, but Kai knew it was pointless. Instead he looked over Fhazi's group carefully. All of them were typical Goralians, pale with varying shades of brown hair. He guessed they'd all had the standard physical training as well, so they couldn't be ignored. The most obvious dangers were a pair of enormous men who looked like they'd gone through the same strength training that Kai had. Even without Classes, their bodies would be using small amounts of mana to strengthen themselves.

Neither of them interrupted the conversation, though. It was a slender woman who stepped from behind Fhazi and hurled a jade needle. Kai tried to move, too late, but Tusquo was faster. He struck it out of the air with a contemptuous swipe, then raised his sword. Immediately everyone on both sides readied their weapons, sizing up their opponents.

While everyone was facing off, Kai switched his sword to one hand and carefully hefted his wooden spear. It might look crude, but he'd put effort into sharpening the point. As soon as the others attacked, he hurled it toward one of the hulking guards.

To his surprise, the spear went deep into the man's thigh. He went down with a groan, clutching the wound, but there was no time to look at him.

Two of the others were rushing at him, so Kai met them head on with broad, sweeping strikes. A more skilled opponent could have exploited his movements, but these two were taken off guard. They were used to bullying in groups, not fighting a determined opponent. Before Kai could press them further, the Irunians moved in and the fight became a brawl.

Kai took a step back to use his sword's range better, and that made him a target. Fhazi rushed toward him, his armor glowing with hot yellow mana. He had a sword too, and he wasn't incompetent with it. Instead of overreaching, Kai engaged his strikes cautiously to test him.

"Come on, is that all you have?" Fhazi laughed and kept striking, blow after wheeling blow.

Though he retreated, Kai quickly realized that he had the advantage. His opponent's style was good for overwhelming opponents, but it was filled with openings. It would be a simple matter to redirect one of his wild blows and then cut him.

That led to the bigger problem: not killing him. Seriously injuring a member of the Lantrian family, much less maiming or killing, would only bring stronger warriors looking for revenge. Kai needed to end the fight without doing too much damage, and that was a problem when he didn't know how strong his opponent's armor really was. For the thousandth time he wished that he'd somehow awakenedhis spiritual sight before the trials. Only a lucky few got to do that.

When Fhazi swung wide, Kai tried a direct cut. It glanced off the armor with nothing but a few sparks of mana. Good, it was durable. Fhazi seemed surprised that the blow had done so little damage, glancing down briefly before actually lowering his sword to laugh.

"Are you serious? I could stand here all day and you couldn't hur-"

Kai put his full weight behind a two-handed strike and struck Fhazi across the chest.

It didn't pierce his armor, and he'd never intended it to: the sword whacked him like a club. Kai had put all his strength into it, and against a smaller and weaker opponent, it was enough to knock him into the air. Only a few feet, but Fhazi lost his sword and stumbled back. The breastplate hadn't broken, merely leaking mana from a gash across the ornate carvings.

Holding his breath, Kai gripped his sword in an aggressive position and tried to look like he'd planned exactly that. Fhazi stared in horror at the damaged armor, then fled. Kai let out the breath: that was the best he could hope for, defeating his opponent without injuring him.

That bought him some time to examine the rest of the battlefield. The Irunians were fighting admirably, all clearly trained in their chosen weapons. Tusquo was a virtuoso with his sword, far better than Kai's generalist training, and was easily pushing back two people at once. Both women had smaller weapons, but they fought back to back so effectively that they held off all the others.

That left the fourth Irunian, who fought with an iron staff against one of the hulking guards. He wasn't bad, but he couldn't land a solid enough blow to finish the fight. The guard charged in through a glancing blow and struck him to the ground. As the Irunian stared up dazedly, he raised both fists together to hammer into his head.

Kai struck from behind with a swift cut. Just enough to disable the shoulder, not to cut off an arm. His cut drew blood, but not a lot... and Kai realized too late that his opponent had trained his body more extensively than he realized.

The bulky guard lunged at him. Kai threw a desperate thrust, but his opponent shifted enough to make it a glancing blow off his ribs. Then the man's entire weight hit him like a brick wall, slamming him to the ground. Training made Kai keep a grip on his sword, but his arm was pinned and he couldn't bring it to bear.

He lunged in and bit his opponent's nose. That had never been part of his training. Kai had no idea where it had come from. But as he tasted blood, he used his full strength to heave his opponent up and fight free.

Though the brute grunted in pain, he wasn't stunned for long. He hit back, his fist driving Kai into the ground. What followed had nothing to do with the forms and styles he'd learned in training: Kai flailed for his life, landing whatever blows he could. He knew his lip had been torn open and blood was covering one eye, but he just kept hitting back.

When his opponent reared back again, Kai struck on instinct, his nails clawing the brute's eyes. His opponent cried out louder in pain and Kai leapt at him with a roar. Somehow he'd knocked the other man down and he began striking him, over and over, possessed by a rage he'd never...

Never...

Before Kai could decide what he felt, or land another blow, a hand closed on his shoulder. He snarled and looked back, but it was only Tusquo.

"Kai Granfian. You must be calm. The battle is over."

Kai panted for breath, slowly coming back to himself. It really was over. Fhazi's group wasn't defeated or even disabled, but the fight had clearly been beaten out of them. Right now it looked like the noble just wanted to flee with his guards, and Kai recognized that it would be better to let him go.

He wondered if they should have taken monster cores from their opponents, but Tusquo seemed indifferent. Eventually they let their attackers go, leaving Kai strangely dissatisfied. This was about the best outcome he could have hoped for, but he'd wanted something else. Or maybe he was still just recovering from the rage that had overcome him.

Shoving those matters aside, Kai focused on his real goals. Fighting Fhazi was trivial compared to reaching the shrine. If anything, he should be glad that the fight seemed to have improved the Irunians' view of him. They could be valuable allies during the Hunter Trials.

Monsters grew denser as they neared the shrine, but Kai welcomed the distraction. It gave him something to focus on, plus the Irunians wanted his knowledge of the local monsters. Most of them were simple enough to eliminate with a trained group. They even ran into another of the twisted dogs, just like the one that had attacked him at the beginning, but now that he was armed and prepared it wasn't much of a threat.

Of course, all the monster cores were split among the group. By the time they could see the shrine's defensive boundary, Kai had only gained two small cores and one larger. Still, he judged that was a worthwhile trade-off. This competition was a three day marathon, not a sprint where it made sense to go alone.

Plus, the shrine mattered far more. Stepping over the glowing boundary of defensive mana, Kai truly let everything else fall away.

"Welcome." An older man covered in scars emerged from the shrine's first archway. "Until this point in your life, you have been traveling this world blind. But your mettle has been tested, and you may be ready to see the world as it truly is. It is time to awaken your spiritual sight."

Chapter 4: Spiritual Sight

A small number of candidates gathered within the shrine while the central pool began to glow with mana. There were several warriors, all veteran hunters, who Kai guessed were there to keep order or rescue the injured. One of them gave healing potions in return for monster cores, and he judged that it was worth paying one of his small cores to heal all the injuries he'd received.

Kai sat down against a wall to rest while the potion did its work. The pain was gradually replaced by a strange tightness in his muscles, as if the potion was gripping his flesh from within. It wasn't pleasant, but it wouldn't get in the way of fighting like the open wounds.

The shrine was just a marble dome above a mana pool, with gates in all four directions and a circular barrier to keep out monsters. It looked like most of the architecture in Monskon City, but he'd never seen a shrine exactly like this. Neither had most of the others who arrived while the pool warmed up, judging from how they gawked at everything.

"Alright, shut up!" The scarred leader bellowed over the chatter until he got their attention. "Everything is ready, so the rest is up to you. If you've endured enough to awaken your mana, all you need to do is dip your face into the bowl. Come on, form a line."

Kai had been ready to jump into the pit of hot blue mana if necessary, but it seemed like it would be easier than that. The warriors began to dip large silver bowls into the pool and set them down on pedestals. Kai watched at first, noting how the candidates stepped up and lowered their face into the bowls. Then he realized that the lines were getting longer and scrambled to get a place.

The ritual was surprisingly not flashy: the mana sparked a little when a person touched it, and their eyes glowed when they rose, but that was it. No columns of mana, no peels of thunder. Actually, the most obvious result was that some of the candidates began looking around wildly, or stumbling a bit and grabbing their eyes. The warriors kept them from falling into the pool but otherwise didn't interfere with their confusion.

As he got closer, Kai shifted his weight repeatedly and tried to swallow, since his mouth had become incredibly dry. There was almost no chance that something would go wrong, but there werea small number of people who were mana blind. If he failed here...

All too soon, it was his turn. Kai had to wait a little longer as they dipped a new bowl of mana, and suddenly he wished that he had less time. No, he couldn't hesitate. As soon as he could, he bent down over the bowel and forced his head into the watery mana.

The power burned into his eyes and instantly shot through his head, burning paths into his mind. Kai pulled back with a gasp, nearly inhaling a lot of the mana. He had been determined that he wouldn't stumble around like the others, but he still found himself reeling as the world came alive with new lights and colors.

At first it was overwhelming: so many strange symbols burned into his mind that he couldn't keep up. Based on the stories of hunters, he had expected to see words floating in the air. This was far more of a sensation, an awareness that was a little like vision except in another sense not at all. The language he had simply wasn't up to the task of describing it. Apparently the hunters hadn't been lying when they said you had to experience it for yourself.

When he tried to read the sensations, all he got was strange talk to capacities that he didn't fully understand:

<

Name: Kai Granfian

Physique: Mortal

Soul: Mortal

Supremacy: None

Talent Capacity: Unawakened

Elemental Capacity: Unawakened

Essence Capacity: Unawakened

Cultivation Capacity: Unawakened

>

As Kai focused on his training, those symbols faded to embers. Yet even then, his vision flared up with more symbols every time he looked at a person. He avoided staggering around, yet his mind spun.

Kai carefully walked to one of the walls of the shrine, trying not to look at anything. Gunjin had given him suggestions for how to adapt as quickly as possible, so he began working through those. Eyes closed, first. Then carefully look down at himself. He wondered why looking at his own eyelids didn't count, and immediately realized that his intentions mattered.

If he wasn't trying to look for mana, his new spiritual vision wouldn't overwhelm him. It was just like any other sense, except his eyes needed to focus in a way they'd never done before. He managed to make the swarm of symbols go away first, then stared down at his hands, took a deep breath, and tried to read the chaos...

<

Name: Kai Granfian

Total Power: 6

Unknown Class: ???

Physique Level: G-2

Soul Level: 1

>

The symbols dissolved into wisps of light, yet he retained a stronger memory of them than he would have with a mere glimpse at a sign. Had he done it right? Kai repeated the process, reading more thoughtfully. He had known that there would be something about an unknown Class, since he had yet to awaken. The "levels" were less familiar to him, and he wasn't certain why there were two. That must be one of the things that Gunjin and the other veterans said he needed more training to understand.

What he hadn't expected at all was a rating for "Total Power." Warriors said that power was an objective part of reality... apparently it really was. But the numbers didn't add up. How much was each piece of his strength worth? If his unknown Class was counted, shouldn't the number be known by process of elimination?

Once he came to grips with the new sense, Kai began looking around at everyone. He started with one of the adult hunters who was running the shrine, and though the sensation was a bit more intense, he was able to comprehend all the symbols on the second try:

<

Name: ???

Total Power: 79

Warrior Class: 28

Physique Level: F-1

Soul Level: 3

>

Despite himself, Kai grinned. Being able to see mana this way felt good, in a way he hadn't anticipated. But he immediately threw himself into the task of figuring out what any of it actually meant.

The veteran warrior's Soul Level was only a little higher than Kai's, which surprised him. His Physique Level had an entirely higher grade, which Kai already knew about: that was why he could punch the hunters training him for days and never harm them. His highest number, and likely the biggest contributor to his total power, was his Class.

That made sense to Kai: no amount of exercise in the training yards would let someone kick through walls or throw fireballs. But Gunjin had told him that some hunters focused too much on Class, and it could lead to their bodies being weak. If the numbers weren't tricking him in some way, this fighter was ahead of him in every way, but not that far ahead.

That was an experienced warrior. Kai instead looked at the nearest candidate, a young man he didn't know.

<

Name: ???

Total Power: 2

Unknown Novice Class: ???

Physique Level: G-0

Soul Level: 0

>

That made Kai feel a little better: he might not be able to fight a veteran hunter, but his training showed up even in his spiritual vision. He began looking around at everyone in the room, just soaking in the new sensations. Most likely he looked like an idiot, swinging his head in every direction, but the thrill from using his new sight hadn't faded yet.

His first two samples hadn't been anomalies. The candidates who looked physically out of shape had a "Physique Level" of G-0 and those with an athletic build were several steps higher. Virtually all of the veteran hunters were in the F grade, but he was surprised how many were at F-0 or F-1. If that was the first plateau, some of what he'd heard from veterans made more sense.

"Soul Level" was harder to interpret, other than the veterans universally having higher numbers. He didn't need magical vision to tell him that, unless there was something more to it. What did become clear was that the numbers never quite added up. Could something be wrong with his awakened vision?

Kai looked around for the warrior with all the scars, and what he saw didn't help:

<

???

>

Nothing. Not symbols for unknown values, like he saw for everyone's new Class, just a chaotic tumble of color. The bottom dropped out of Kai's stomach and he wondered if there was something wrong with him. Was it possible for an awakening to break somehow? Since the visions weren't overwhelming him anymore, Kai hurried over to the oldest veteran.

"Excuse me, sir... I can't seem to see anything about you." Kai tried one more time up close, with no luck. "Should I be able to?"

"Wouldn't expect it." The veteran turned to him and folded his arms. "Your spiritual sight has just been awakened, soit isn't perfect. You may get confused at first, especially if someone is too much stronger than you, or they're from another nation."

"Then... does that mean it's possible to deceive yourself? Could I just... get someone's strength wrong?"

"Heh, like an optical illusion? No, not usually. Maybe with crazy foreign magic, but not the way you mean." The veteran poked him in the temple, a bit too hard. "You're seeing power that's really there, not imagining things. It may not be all as nice and neat as a merchant's ledger, but you're seeing reality."

Kai absorbed that slowly and tried again, but without any better luck. Since the veteran was willing to talk to him, he decided that he might as well try to put his other questions to rest. "Why don't the numbers add up? I've been looking at everyone, and there's always a discrepancy."

"You're already seeing several numbers, eh? That's pretty fast."

"Should I not be?"

"Usually people start with vague impressions, then slowly make out a single number. In a day or two, most of the kids here will be able to make out a person's Class, and there's a lot more after that. It's odd that you can see so much already."

"Well, Gunjin tried to prepare me for the spiritual sight."

"One of Gunjin's brats, huh? Maybe you cantrain before awakening after all." The veteran shrugged, making his scars ripple over his muscles. "Eventually you'll learn how to compare each traitexactly, if you work at it. Some go up slowly, but each stage is worth a lot. You'll want to focus on your Class first, because it risesquickly. So don't worry too much about all the symbols. Let your head get used to it first."

That was a bit of a relief, but even with the explanation, Kai couldn't squeeze better numbers out of his new vision. "Do I need to stay here until I figure that out?"

"You can leave whenever you want."

"But should I?"

The veteran chuckled and finally unfolded his arms to shoot a thumb over his shoulder at the other candidates. "I'd say you can go as soon as you're not staggering like a drunk. Just be careful with monsters: they don't use mana like we do, so you probably won't have any idea about their strength for a while. What you think is a wimpy alpha rank might actually be a beta. But you can already see enough to make your way to the center."

Someone else walked up with another question and the veteran turned to talk to her, so Kai decided he'd heard enough. There would be time to perfect his spiritual vision when he wasn't engaged in a trial that could decide the rest of his life.

Abruptly he realized that the veteran might have given him a hint: apparently his new spiritual vision could help him find the center in some way. That didn't immediately make sense, so he went out to test it. The barrier around the shrine looked different, symbols throwing themselves at his head along with the normal glow, but he couldn't make much out from them. Instead he examined the skyline while straining his new vision.

Not much back the way he came. A few wisps of symbols that might be monsters or stragglers. But when he looked eastward, toward the theoretical center, he saw... well, he wasn't sure what he saw. It was like a swarm of numbers so tangled up that he couldn't read them. He guessed it was pretty likely that the concentration of power probably meant the center, or at least a point of interest.

So he had his new eyesight and a path to the center. The sun was burning overhead, barely past its noon peak. Not bad.

It was hard to judge the exact distance, but if he hurried he might be able to make it to the center before nightfall. That would mean he'd been fully awakened before the first of the three days was complete. Kai couldn't help but grin. For the first time in his life, things were going his way.

Nothing could stop him now.

Chapter 5: Measuring Up

Kai wanted to run straight for the central shrine and awaken his Class, but he couldn't give in to the impulse. Candidates had already begun forming alliances and they'd run into one another even more as they got closer. They might not be as aggressive as Fhazi and his goons, but others were arriving all the time.

Fortunately, he didn't need to wait long before Tusquo and the other Irunians emerged. One of the women was still stumbling and staring, but otherwise their group seemed to have adapted quickly. When Kai told them about the source of power to the east, they agreed with his assessment and headed off together.

"Do you not have spiritual sight in Irun?" Kai asked. Tusquo was silent for a time, watching the horizon, but he eventually answered.

"It exists, but there is less mana in the air at home. There are other such skills, but they are more difficult to learn. We were sent here in order to awaken talents we could not find in Irun."

"Oh, is that the reason? I guess I never really thought about it."

But Kai was definitely thinking about what Tusquo and the others might be ranked. As soon as he got a chance without looking rude, he opened his spiritual sight fully to examine the other young man.

<

Name: Tusquo Agyama of Irun

Total Power: 8

Unknown Novice Class: ???

Physique Level: G-1

Soul Level: 1

Path of Steel: Iron 1

>

The results were surprising in more ways than one. There were more symbols than anyone he'd seen before, not just Physique and Soul but a "Path of Steel" as well. Apparently it was good for more than just creating weapons. Tusquo was the first candidate Kai had seen with more spiritual strength than him, though an actual fight between them would come down to many other variables.

As for the others, none were as impressive, but none of them were rated zero in any category. Except for the lack of Classes, which prompted another question.

"Do they have Classes in Irun?" Kai asked. "If there's less mana there..."

"That is a more serious matter." Tusquo seemed unwilling to say any more, so Kai was almost glad when they were attacked by a monster not long after.

This one was a twisted boar that drooled blue mana from its jaws. Kai immediately tried to use his new spiritual sight on it, only to feel a confusing muddle of symbols. Just like the scarred veteranhad told him might happen. Gunjin had explained that monsters operated by different rules, though Kai hadn't fullyunderstood the explanation before awakening.

Since he couldn't be sure how strong the monster was, Kai began in a defensive stance. The boar charged at him and he spun aside, cutting through its flank... or he tried to. Its knotted fur deflected the strike relatively easily, and it rounded on him the next moment.

His allies struck from multiple sides, but the monstrous boar immediately began kicking and attempting to gore them. Tusquo lunged in and cut deep into its shoulder, and for a moment Kai thought the tide had turned. Then the boar lashed out, slamming its head into him hard enough to send him tumbling.

Tusquo hit the ground heavily, unable to get up before the boar charged at him. Kai tried to intercept and stabbed as deep as he could into the boar's side. This strike made it through the fur, but the boar thrashed wildly. It managed to wrench the sword from his hands, then turned with a bloodthirsty grunt.

Kai realized that he had saved Tusquo, but now the boar was focused on him. Before he could retreat, it was in his face, tusks flashing at him. Without thinking, he grabbed the one aiming for his head. The sharpened point jabbed toward his eye... but he managed to hold it back.

As the beast'shead swung, Kai automatically grabbed the other tusk, thinking he could hold the boar in place. A second later, he realized that he was an idiot. The boar didn't feel that much stronger than him, but it had four legs and a lower center of gravity. All he could do was hang on for dear life as it began to toss its head, trying to throw him away so that it could impalehim.

Finally a club slammed into the monster's head... but it hadn't been Tusquo.

Focused on the fight, Kai hadn't even seen Fhazi and his group approach. One of his largest goons had a massive stone club now, and that one had dealt the finishing blow. Kai released the boar's tusks, forgetting all about the cuts on his hands. This could turn bad rather quickly.

"That was our kill!" Fhazi emerged from the group and waved as if to brush them away. "The core is ours, but since you helped, we'll let you go. We can fight over cores after we've truly awakened."

Coming in to steal the core was obviously unfair, and Kai ground his teeth, but he realized that they would have to put up with it. There was no profit in fighting Fhazi and the others now, and their group was completely healed. When he looked over his shoulder at the Irunians, they didn't seem eager to fight again.

"Alright, take it." Kai pulled out his sword, then retreated from the corpse. He kept his eye on them, but Fhazi's group let them depart while they searched for the monster core.

While he backed away, Kai took a second look at Fhazi and his goons.

<

Name: Fhazi Lantrian

Total Power: 4

Unknown Novice Class: ???

Physique Level: G-1

Soul Level: 0

Sacred Armor: 2

>

Immediately he understood why the veterans said you could only rely on magical items for so long. Fhazi's special armor might have doubled his strength as a novice, but it was only worth a tiny fraction of a veteran's power. More powerful mana-using equipment existed, but it wasn't that much more powerful, so the limits to buying power seemed quite clear.

The rest of the group had actually been more interesting. Most were average candidates, butboth of the large men were rated as a Physique Level G-3, higher thanKai. Most surprising, the woman whohad thrown the needle in the previous fight was at SoulLevel 3. None of the candidates Kai had seen were that high, and even some of the veteran fighters weren't.

That made certain what he'd suspected: they were ringers. Anyone could verify if someone had awakened their Class, but there were no rules about other forms of training. Kai wondered just how strong someone could become without a Class, though it would be stupid to ignore your primary source of power. That was probably why even the ringers weren't that much older than the normal candidates.

Combined with physical fitness, the woman actually had a total strength of 10. Either the system wasn't completely accurate about relative poweror she had been holding back earlier. Either way, Kai thought that it was smart to avoid the fight. They could resolve things after they'd awakened their Classes.

"We now have two choices." Tusquo's voice broke him out of his analytical thoughts.

"What? Don't we want to go to the center?"

"Yes, but by what path?" Tusquo pointed directly east, then swung his finger to the side. "None of us have perfect vision. Tell me what you see."

Kai squinted as he opened his spiritual sight, though he wasn't sure it did any good. The jumble of power was still quite a long distance away, but there was something else. Various symbols pressed themselves into his mind when he looked toward it, nothing he could quite make out.

What was certain was that there was some kind of structure, and he could see the glimmer of a barrier with his bare eyes. It looked like another small building, so they really only had one option... "We might as well visit," Kai said. "It isn't that far out of our way."

No one objected to that plan. Along the way they spotted two other candidates, who kept their distance, and no monsters. After the boar, the area seemed emptier than he'd expected. Except for a hill nearer the center, there was nothing to look at but their destination.

To his surprise, there was a little house inside the barrier. Not a shrine, not a fort or tower, just a wooden house like any in Monskon City. It even hung out a sign with a crossed flask and branch of flowers, the symbol for a healer. Had they built a whole house just for the sake of the Hunter Trials?

"Be cautious," Tusquo said. "This is almost certainly another test."

As if to contradict him, at that moment a woman emerged from the front door. Kai was mildly surprised: for the first time since he'd started the Hunter Trials, he actually recognized someone.

Juray Phrissanran an apothecary in the neighborhood near Gunjin's house, so Kai had spoken to her on multiple occasions. She was a woman of about thirty with long brown hair that fell around her shoulders. Instead ofher usual stained apron, she wore a jerkin and practical pants. They did nothing to hide her attractiveness - Kai knew that some neighbors gossiped about why she wasn't married yet.

"Well, hello there!" She waved and beamed at them. "You're the first to arrive, and I've been terribly bored!"

"I'm glad to see you too, Juray, but what are you doing here?"Kai stepped forward, despite Tusquo urging him to move more cautiously. "You can't be here for an awakening, can you?"

"Of course not. I'm here to represent the good citizens of Monskon City, who you will be protecting if you join the Hunters Guild." Juray frowned and glanced over the Irunians. "Well, I suppose that isn't as likely for all of you, but you're still welcome to use my services."

"So you're operating a store in the middle of the reserve? Do you sell all your normal potions?"

"They'll only let me exchange healing items for monster cores. However..." Juray gave him a wink. "If you're confident in your skills, I have a little challenge for you."

"Let's d-" Kai cut off when Tusquo raised a hand in front of his face.

"We must remain cautious," he said, still frowning at her. "What manner of challenge is this?"

"I'm not allowed to say," Juray answered. "Do hunters ever know what they'll be called upon to defend? If you accept the challenge you'll face a risky fight, but there will be monster cores in it for you. Say the word and I'll release the seal."

A seal? Kai looked around the house while the Irunians spoke amongst themselves. He didn't see anything unusual within the barrier, but he spotted a large stone plate sitting several paces away. It glowed a little in his spiritual sight, so he guessed that was the source of the challenge.

Tusquo glanced at him, waited for a nod, then turned to Juray. "Very well. We will attempt this challenge."

"Great! I'm a bit curious what will happen myself." She stepped back into the house and Kai heard a sound like a clay pot shattering... and then something much larger shattered.

The stone plate he had seen before broke into wisps of brown mana, revealing a ramp plunging into the earth. Just as he wondered if they needed to enter, a dark shape emerged from the shadows. It was a boar like the one before, grunting and drooling the same mana.

No, not aboar. Dozens of them. They tore their way through the remains of the seal and charged as a single horde.

Chapter 6: The Challenge

Kai's body drew his sword, but his mind had no idea what the hell he was going to do. An attack like this seemed absurdly dangerous for a groupof hunter candidates. Maybe it was a mistake, maybe it was an assassination... whatever it was, it was running toward them.

"This is impossible." Tusquo took an involuntarily step backward, then glanced at the others. "We should retreat inside the barrier and await reinforcement."

"No!" Kai kept his eyes on the charging boars, but tried to call to the others. "If this challenge is about defending the city as hunters, we can't just retreat. Can the barrier even handle that big a charge?"

There wasn't much time to discuss it, so Kai was relieved to see that the Irunians didn't flee. Actually, several of them had already cupped their hands to generate new weapons. He had no time to check the details, because the boars had arrived.

Spinning knives hit them first, many glancing off but a few managing to spear boars in the eyes. Tusquo had hurled caltrops over the ground instead, which was a smart idea that didn't work. The monsters' hooves trampled directly over the spikes.

Then it was up to Kai. He thrust directly into the nearest boar's charge, its momentum driving the sword deep into its throat. That didn't stop it. The beast was shedding huge amounts of blood, but it kept pushing toward him with hate-filled eyes, its tusks shaking wildly.

But he'd expected that after the previous fight. Kai had his feet braced and strained his arms as hard as he could to swing the boar to the side. It collided with several of the others, and for just a moment Kai thought that he could fight them back.

Another boar slammed into his side, one tusk ripping through his shoulder. Kai staggered back, yanking his sword free, and swung wildly. It managed to keep any more from attacking him, but they were closing in from all sides now.

As soon as he had a second to breathe, he glanced at the others. They'd managed to blunt the charge, but only because the boars had scattered to surround them. If they didn't have their backs to the mana barrier, they would already have been completely encircled.

The boars lunged in one or two at a time, so their group could hold them off, but soon the monsters would rush in at once. Tusquo looked entirely focused on the combat, managing to knock down one or two of the beasts with well-placed blows. But it couldn't last.

"Retreat when they charge!" Kai called. "Through the barrier, then strike back!"

His warning couldn't have come a second later. Several of the boarsrushed in and the group quickly retreatedthrough the wavering wall of blue mana. The boars slammed into it like an invisible wall... which trembled at each impact.

Kai leapt back out again and managed to land a thrust directly into one of the monster's eyes. But he struggled to pull his sword back out and several of the others nearly gored him before he could retreat.

None of the boars seemed disturbed by the invisible wall. Their eyes were fixed on their prey within and they kept stabbing their tusks into the mana. Kai wasn't an expert on barriers, but he knew that they only had limited energy. Even normal arrows could eventually wear them down, much less monsters with mana of their own.

"What kind of challenge is this?" Tusquo demanded. While his allies watched the barrier nervously, he turned on Juray. "This would be a threat to fully awakened warriors!"

"I don't know." Juray had wrapped up a hand in her hair, so tightly that her fingers were white. "I've helped with the Hunter Trials for several years, and they've never given me anything this dangerous. But that might not matter. If I help you, you'll probably still be disqualified."

For the first time it occurred to Kai to check her with his new spiritual vision. He had been coping by keeping his spiritual eyes closed most of the time, so it was easy to miss things.

<

Name: Juray Phrissan

Total Power: 26

Herbalist Class: 8

PhysiqueLevel: G-1

SoulLevel: 2

>

Her "Herbalist" Class seemed to offer her less strength than the others, which made sense for - no, there wasno time to think about that. Juray was strong for a civilian, but she couldn't surviveagainst so many monsters. Disqualification or not, they were on their own.

"Kai Granfian?" Tusquo didn't sound angry like before. He sounded worried.

When Kai turned back toward the barrier, he understood why: an enormous boar nearly as tall as him was pushing its way through the others. A few grunted back and it knocked them aside with a casual swing of its head. It didn't take a monster expert to see that this was the leader, and that they were going to have a major problem. Kai was no expert on monster ranks, but this one was at least a beta, which meant it was lethal for unawakened fighters. Maybe even a gamma.

The largest boarslammed against the barrier and the mana wall shuddered a lot more than the monster did.

"Our only chance is to break them apart." Tusquo cupped his hands together to form a new weapon, and it looked like he had a plan. "Kai, do you think they'll follow the largest one?"

"I can't promise," Kai said, "but probably some of them will. Monsters that are over-sized have usually absorbed extra mana and dominate others of their kind. What are you planning?"

"It'll be just like the races back home. Come on!"

Tusquo gestured to the other Irunians, revealing strange hooks in his hands. The others didn't look happy about it, but they obeyed him and moved closer to the barrier. While they created their own hooks, Tusquo turned back to him.

"Kai Granfian. We will divert them, but I do not know how successfully. You must take the opportunity to strike." He raised a hand and gave another Irunian bow. "If we are separated, it has been an honor to fight alongside you."

"Uh... you too." Kai should have bowed back, but he was way too busy watching the monsters slam into the barrier. Was the mana already dimming a bit?

In a single twisting leap, Tusquo vaulted out of the barrier and onto the largest boar's back. The steel hooks bit down into its fur - they didn't draw blood, but they seemed to dig in deep. When the boar gave an angry shake, Tusquo managed to ride it out by gripping the hooks and digging in his feet.

As soon as it realized it couldn't shake him off easily, the boar pivoted and tried to slam its back into the barrier. Tusquo barely crawled out of the way in time, struggling to stay on the boar's back. Seeing how much trouble he was in, the other Irunians rushed into action, and Kai ran with them.

He couldn't jump on top of a boar like they did, but he did manage another thrust directly into a boar's eye. A back kick from the leader nearly took his head off, but the missed strike put it into position. Kai saw his chance and took it, thrusting against the beast's leg.

His sword glanced off. This monster was a threat for veteran hunters with fully awakened Classes, not candidates.

Fortunately, the beast charged away instead of rounding on him. Tusquo seemed to have stabbed one of his hooks into its flesh, so it was bellowing and twisting in pain. The others were staying on top of smaller boars, trying to herd them, and the rest of the monsters seemed to be following.

While the majority rushed away in a herd, a few were still attacking the barrier. Kai ran along the edge, ducking in and out to avoid their charges and striking back. He couldn't always deliver a lethal blow, but he could deal injuries to legs or faces that made the monsters retreat. Perhaps if the majority left, he could actually take out those that remained.

Just when he felt a bit of confidence, he heard a scream from outside the barrier. One of the Irunian women was flailing wildly in the air, barely holding on to one hook. As he watched, she lost her grip and went flying into the horde. She crashed into one of the boars and several others rounded on her.

Before he had time to think, Kai burst from the barrier. He managed to stab one boar through the jaw, but another got to her. She struck back wildly with a short knife, but she couldn't cut deep enough. Before Kai could catch up, the monster thrust a tusk into her side.

Her screams urged him on and Kai fought the remaining boars savagely. If his training hadn't been beaten into him, he might have died in the rush. By the time it was over, three boars lay dead and there were no others nearby. When he looked up, he saw that the horde was retreating into the distance, Tusquo and the others still struggling to redirect them.

There was no way he could catch up, and even if he did... no, that didn't matter. After checking one last time for other monsters, Kai bent down to the Irunian woman. She was still breathing, but there was a lotof blood pouring out of her side. He jammed his sword in his belt and scooped her up, carrying her back to the barrier.

"I can heal her," Juray said nervously, "but she'll be removed from the contest. Do you think that's what she'd want?"

"I think she'll die if you don't." Kai set the Irunian down and then collapsed onto his back. He was bleeding from a lot more injuries than he'd realized and he'd probably have bruises all over. None of that seemed important when there was a horde of monsters rampaging through the reserve.

Juray bent down beside the Irunian and managed to make her swallow blue liquid from a vial. As she worked, Juray spoke to him without looking up. "Did anyone in your group have enemies?"

"You think this could be sabotage?" Kai's eyes widened as his mind had time to catch up after the violence. "Does that happen?"

"It's not supposed to, but the strongest clans can get away with bending the rules. If no warriors have shown up by the end of the day, they aren't going to help."

That was what he had been afraid of. Gunjin had told him that real world threats were necessary for awakening a strong Class, which was why the Hunter Trials were so dangerous. In the end, it didn't matter whether the horde was sabotage or just bad luck... he needed to survive it all the same.

Thinking about it that way, Kai realized that he really only had one choice. Even if he could chase down the boars, he couldn't help Tusquo as he was now. His best chance was to use this opportunity to reach the center and awaken his Class. Kai forced himself to his feet, groaning as he discovered brand new pains.

"The challenge was supposed to be defending civilians, right?" He glanced down toward Juray. "Is there some kind of reward aside from the monster cores?"

"Not much, I'm afraid." She finished making some kind of poultice, then rummaged in her bag for something and handed him a twisted glass vial. "All I'm allowed to give you is a healing potion, as well as food and water. I'm guessing you don't have time for that?"

"Doesn't look like it." Kai took the vial and drained it immediately. The tension in his body was a lot worse than before, but it was better than pain.

"If you come back later, I can give you the rest of your reward then. Otherwise... all I can say is good luck." Juray gave him a nervous smile and then returned to her work.

As Kai stepped through the barrier, he realized just how many boar corpses had been left around it. He didn't feel like he'd landed many lethal blows, but between all of them, they had taken out almost a dozen. That was far more monster cores than he currently had, but cutting through all the boar hides to find their cores would waste too much time.

No, this was all or nothing. Kai refocused on the central hill and began sprinting to awaken his Class.

Chapter 7: Awakening a Class

The idea of sprinting all the way had seemed great at the start. As his sides ached and his lungs strained, Kai began to regret it. He'd trained himself with running plenty of times, but that hadn't been over such rough terrain after fighting several battles. Normal human stamina wasn't enough to run an area the size of the monster reserve.

Which was why he needed to reach the center. The intense source of power was getting closer and he could see that it was a small hill with a shrine on the top. If that wasn't his destination, at least he could climb up and get a good look at everything else. Though the sun was getting close to the horizon, he should still have time to scout the region.

So far he hadn't seen any monsters except a single twisted dog, which he'd outrun until it gave up. He'd briefly passed another candidate and had a shouted exchange about the horde of monstrous boars to the west. That meant nothing had been done and the candidates were on their own.

He'd have to hope that Tusquo and the other Irunians had made it. If they didn't survive the initial rush, there was nothing he could do for them.

When he hit the edge of the hill, Kai collapsed against the first stone steps winding their way up the side. He just held himself upright for a while, panting for breath. All his muscles burned, but he'd made it. Without getting attacked. Hopefully in time.

"Hey, good job! You're the third person here."

The voice came from further up the hill, so Kai forced himself back upright and tried not to look exhausted. The source was a woman in her thirties lounging on a stone bench near the top of the hill. She wore light armor emblazoned with the crest of the Orgoron clan but didn't carry any weapons. Unlike most of the veterans, she didn't have any scars. He still got a sense of danger from her and wondered for a moment before remembering to focus on his spiritual vision again.

<

Name: Unknown Orgoron

Total Power: 94

Spellbow Class: 32

Physique Level: F-3

Soul Level: 4

>

She was no slouch, even by the standards of the veteran hunters. Kai wasn't sure what a "Spellbow" was, but he assumed that her Class let her keep her distance from monsters. The Orgoron clan was one of the largest in Goralia too, so he needed to make a good impression.

"Do I get a prize for being third?" Kai asked. He even managed not to gasp for breath midway.

"No, but being one of the first candidates with a Class will be advantage enough. Come on up, but no rush. We're not quite ready for you."

He couldn't say too much while he climbed the stairs, not with his body becoming one solid ache. Once he got a bit closer, however, he had to ask. "Are you all aware of that giant boar monster rampaging around?"

"We saw it, but we're not quite sure how a gamma-ranked monster got in." The Orgoron warrior stared out from the hill, almost as if she could actually see it. "Once you kids have awakened, you should be able to kill it. It's too bad that some will fail against an unfair challenge, but that's better than interfering with the Hunter Trials and ruining a whole year."

When he reached her seat, the woman slid to her feet. Kai was looking past her toward the main shrine, which looked more similar to the ones he'd seen in the city. It had four open entrances, but the ceiling was filled with a sheet of blue glass that cast everything within in unreal light. He could see some other warriors waiting around, along with some who looked like nobles or merchants from the city. Leaders? Sponsors of candidates?

"My name is Rallia, by the way." The Orgoron woman tapped on his sleeve to steer him in another direction. "I'll guide you through the process, but you have to wait."

That apparently meant waiting for the second arrival to finish awakening. Kai peered through the shifting blue light to see the pool in the center. This one was also filled with mana, just far larger than the little shrine where he'd awakened his sight. There was a stone stair leading down into it, and a young man about his age was currently lowering himself into the mana. Very slowly.

"Are there consequences if you can't awaken?" Kai asked Rallia. She nodded somberly.

"If your mind isn't completely focused, your heart might explode in your chest."

"What?"

"I'm kidding." Rallia cast him a lopsided grin. "If someone can't awaken, they just fail to absorb the mana. Theywaste it, and everyone's time, and people are pissed, but nothing else happens. But you don't need to worry too much about that.We make the Hunter Trials dangerous enough thatit basically never happens."

Kai's nerves were too high to appreciate any humor, so he just nodded. The man who had gotten there before him was really taking his time. Before he could think of another question, Kai saw Gunjin emerge from the shrine entrance. As soon as he arrived, the older man grabbed him by the shoulders and smiled.

"You've done well, Kai. Excellent performance so far."

"Thank you, sir." He glanced between his mentor and Rallia, but they barely looked at one another. "Do you think I made a mistake, leaving all those monster cores? Uh, I assume you havea way of watching..."

"No, it was the correct decision. You can acquire plenty of cores later." Gunjin kept one hand on his shoulder and guided him closer to the shrine. "Excellent work making an alliance withthe Irunians as well. It's difficult to earn their respect in times of peace, so you took a rareopportunity."

"Does that mean they survived?"

"Another of their number was disabled and removed, but Tusquo Agyama is mostly unharmed. That's all I can tell you without breaking the rules."

Gunjin always had been a stickler for the rules. None of the talents he'd taken into his clan had ever received an unfair advantage, and he fully used that reputation. The Granfian clan wasn't huge, but Gunjin had built it into a rival for the major national clans. Every noble family sought to find talent from the lower classes, since they didn't have enough in their own children, but Gunjin specialized in the search.

Out of curiosity, Kai tried to examine his mentor with his new senses. All he got was a haze of symbols implying great power, just like the other old veteran. Gunjin was in good physical shape, Kai knew that from the practice yard, but he was a slender man. His strength clearly came from something deeper than Physique.

While they were talking, the other candidate went completely under the mana... and burst upwards the next moment. He tore up the steps, mana scattering off him. At first he wore a shocked expression, then it dissolved into joy.

Slowly the young man raised a hand with his palm up. A flame, born out of pure mana, flickered into being. The candidate stared at it a moment, then twisted his wrist. Without warning, the fire exploded up, engulfing his face.

When it faded, his hair had been blown backward, but he was unburned. After several moments staring with wide eyes, he laughed loudly. One of the nearest warriors took him by the arm and guided him out of the shrine. That meant Kai was next, but he took a moment to examine the other candidate.

<

Name: ???

Total Power: 8

Flamecaster Novice Class: 1

PhysiqueLevel: G-2

SoulLevel: 1

>

So his Class was "Flamecaster." Kai only knew the general terms for Classes that were commonly seen in the city, so that wasn't familiar to him. He had expected more broad categories, and he wasn't sure exactly how the word "Flamecaster" had gotten into his head. But it felt right, and perfectly matched his intuitions.

If he had his math right, the Class granted an immediate slight power boost, but would soon grant much more. And now it was his turn. Kai looked to the others, wondering if there would be further delays, but Gunjin only gave him a satisfied nod and Rallia gestured for him to enter.

"You can go right in," she said as they entered the shrine. "Won't make any difference in the end, it just changes how tingly you feel first."

"Then let's not waste time." Kai stepped forward and jumped directly into the pool of mana.

The power engulfed him immediately, then rushed into his body. It was lighter than water, so he went directly through and hit the bottom of the pool. His legs were thrumming with so much power that he barely even felt the impact. Raw mana was flowing into his body, far more intense than before, his very flesh beginning to burn.

It wasn't purely random, though. Kai could feel the mana sliding along the grooves of his mind. The familiar movements in the training yard, the adrenaline of a good fight, his blood soaking into his clothes... the mana flowed directly through all of those experiences and kindled them into a new flame.

Somehow Kai was stumbling up the steps. He'd never consciously chosen to leave, but the experience had just been too intense to linger. Something had definitely changed within him, and he felt stronger, but... how? The previous candidate had almost immediately begun experimenting with flames. Kai had no idea what he was supposed to do next.

Everyone was staring at him. Kai stared too, and his spiritual vision immediately fixated on a new word.

<

Laborer

>

Just what was that supposed to mean? Kai had heard of people receiving generic-sounding Classes before, but "Laborer" was new to him. The warriors running the shrine looked surprised too... and not surprised like they were impressed.

"Well, shit." Rallia walked up beside him, shaking her head sadly. "That's rough luck, kid."

"What?" Kai grabbed her arm before she could turn away. "Does it say the same thing for you? What does that mean?"

"I don't know what you're seeing, but don't overthink it. Your Class is for manual labor, apparently. Maybe it has to do with how you've trained, maybe it's your destiny, maybe it's just dumb luck. But there's nothing much you can do with it. I can't help you."

She turned away and Kai desperately looked toward Gunjin. His mentor was staring at him with a total lack of expression that was almost terrifying. Abruptly he closed his eyes and turned away. "I need to research if this Class has any hidden potential.Continue the trials to the best of your ability, Kai."

Gunjin stepped into one of the archways and disappeared into a portal. Rallia gave him an apologetic shrug as she walked away. All at once his support was gone. A few of the warriors clapped him on the back or offered vaguely encouraging platitudes, but they wanted him out so they could get ready for the next candidate.

Kai stumbled out of the shrine and stared into the setting sun. He tried to find some hidden strength within himself, but there was nothing. His Class had awakened, and it gained him nothing. Even though he tried to tell himself that Gunjin would discover that it held a secret power, he didn't honestly believe it.

Exhausted, Kai sat down at the edge of the hill and just stared. At the end of the first day of the Hunter Trials, fate ruined his life for the first time.

Not the last.

Chapter 8: The Second Day of the Hunter Trials

That night, Kai slept like a stone. When he woke up, the tightness from the magical healing was mostly gone and he felt better. At least until he remembered his awakening, and the Class that apparently meant all his hard work was pointless. Rallia was gone, Gunjin hadn't returned, and nobody else seemed inclined to talk to him.

Two more candidates had arrived during the night, both locals. Unfortunately, checking them with his spiritual vision wasn't any comfort: the woman had awakened a "Knight" class and the man was apparently a "Rogue." That sounded mildly negative, but the manwas already training how to throw knives and have them reappear in his hands. Just the sort of magical powerthat a Class should grant, not his worthless Laborer status.

To avoid slipping into misery, Kai glanced at himself again:

<

Name: Kai Granfian

Total Power: 11

Laborer Class: 1

Physique Level: G-2

SoulLevel: 2

>

His training was comparable to the other candidates, and in most cases better. If his spiritual vision was accurate, he'd grown substantially more powerful since beginning the Hunter Trials. He forced himself upright and resolved that he wouldn't let this setback stop him.

That moment of great determination was undercut when his stomach growled. He'd eaten basically nothing since breakfast the day before, and he was really feeling it.

After confirming there was nothing else for him at the central shrine, Kai headed back to Juray's waypoint. Assuming that she was still there, she had food and water for him. He tried to comfort himself with that a little: even though things had gone wrong, they'd managed to defend the position against an unfair challenge. Even before awakening.

Was it possible to be a monster hunterwithout a Class? He knew that Physiqueand SoulLevelswere important, because the local hunters often talked about fighters who had put all their work into their Class but lagged behind elsewhere. But the advantages granted by a Class were so massive, it was hard to imagine how it would work.

Kai eventually came up with one example after walking for a while: Gunjin had once spoken about a man whose inborn abilities were tied to poison. They hadn't strengthened him like other Classes, but they had made him immensely lethal and he had become a veteran hunter at the Frontier.

So it worked for one person... but it was hard to imagine the same thing for a Laborer. Kai imagined a fighting style based on carryingrocks and pushing wheelbarrows, which made him snort. Not likely.

When a monster came prowling toward him, Kai actually hesitated. It was another one of those twisted dogs, just like he'd killed at the beginning. Yet now that he apparently wasn't fated to be a warrior, he found himself staring instead of acting...

In the end his training took over. He drew his sword and sliced across the monster as it struck, nearly cutting it in half.

After staring down at the body for several seconds, Kai bent down to find its monster core. He might have encountered an obstacle, but he wouldn't let this stop him. If there was any potential to be found in the Laborer Class, he'd find it. Meanwhile, he would finish the Hunter Trials in as strong a position as possible.

Before he encountered any other monsters or found the waypoint, a light appeared overhead. Not the rising sun, a glowing point of mana. He shielded his eyes to look at it better, wondering if it could be a threat, when he heard a voice speaking over the reserve.

"The second day of the Hunter Trials has begun!" The voice sounded like an old woman, but he didn't recognize her. Kai kept walking while she spoke. "New waypoints have been placed throughout the reserve. For those who have not awakened, these shrines will assist you in arriving. But for those who already have, they will offer opportunities to deepen your new skills. Good luck!"

Both light and voice vanished. Kai had heard rumors that the Hunter Trials could change midway through, and now he understood what those meant. Most likely there would be another announcement on the dawn of the third day. Other than keeping an eye out for new waypoints, it didn't change his goals.

Along the way, Kai spotted a cluster of rocks that looked unweathered, as if they had been dropped in overnight. They were infested with small lizard-like monsters, and he braced himself for a tough fight, but to his surprise they dropped easily. He killed half a dozen of them with only a few scratches, then sat down to extract their monster cores. Small, but still valuable.

Perhaps those in charge of the test had added in some easier challenges to help those who had trouble with the horde of boars. Kai wasn't sure if he wanted to find them again, since he didn't have a new edge. He would hunt weaker monsters if he had to, but he wanted more.

When he finally reached Juray's isolated house, he saw that the barrier had been restored. She emerged before he did, waving cheerily.

"Hello there! They set up my waypoint again, and would you believe the next group only had to fight three of those dogs? You got really unlucky..." Her amusement faded as she got a better look at him. "Kai? You look fine, so... oh. That's not what you wanted, is it?"

"No, but there's not much I can do about it." He pushed past her instead of greeting. "Do you still have the food you offered?"

"That I do!"

She ushered him in, though the interior was absurdly spare compared to a normal home. There was only a simple table and chair, but Juray pulled an entire meal out of her pack. It must have been spatial magic, but that sort of thing was too expensive to be part of Kai's life normally. He sat down to eat and he was impressed by the assortment of food. Bread that melted in his mouth, mixed fruit from the entire country, and wine along with clear spring water. They hadn't skimped on the reward.

It could only taste good for so long, though, before he began to think about his situation. Eventually he sat back and asked a question while his mouth was briefly empty. "Has this happened in previous Hunter Trials? Someone just gets a useless Class?"

"I've seen a lot of disappointed candidates, but yours does seem a bit rough." Juray pulled an entire chair from her bag and sat down opposite him. "It never helps to say this, but it's the ultimate reminder that life isn't fair."

"Could I have... done something to do this? Is it my fault somehow?"

"Who really knows how Classes work? Certainly not me. I know that I spent every day as a teenager trying to train in mana-crafting, then my Class decided that I needed to work with herbs. So... here I am."

Since Juray had been an apothecary the entire time he'd known her, the idea that she had wanted to be something else set him back a bit. Kai looked her over curiously. "Mana-crafting? What's that?"

"It's similar to what I do, but it involves making and enhancing curatives from raw mana. I can work with herbs better than a normal person, butnot fundamentally differently. It's like the difference between someone whose Class lets them be a slightly stronger fighter and someone who can call down lightning."

"Huh. I hadn't known that." Kai considered for a moment. In the end, it didn't matter: he was full now, so he didn't have time to sit around feeling sorry for himself. "Is there any way to fundamentally change your Class?"

Juray shrugged with an odd smile. "I have concoctions for temporary strength or faking a Class, but changing someone's naturalpowers? If that kind of thing exists, you can't get it from a lowly Herbalist."

"Thanks for the food. I don't suppose you can offer any other help without cheating?"

"If you win, you should get a very nice potion I made that will help you, no matter what your Class is. Until then, just be careful with the new waypoints."

That was an odd line, but when he stared at her she only gave a mysterious smile. Maybe an oblique hint? Kai thanked her again and headed out, examining the horizon in all directions. He could work out the big problems when he wasn't under such a tight deadline.

There were more points of interest on the horizon: either they'd dropped in a lot of waypoints or his spiritual vision was getting better. Based on how strong an impression the symbols made on him, Kai could roughly estimate their distance. Not much else about them, but that was a start. He checked his sword and began jogging out toward the nearest.

As he drew closer, he strained his eyes to try to extract more information. He thought he could make out several different sources, like clusters of symbols. Reading them individually was impossible, but the combinations looked extremely familiar - they were probably candidates just like him. Moving around rapidly, unless his eyes were tricking him.

Then he got closer and he saw what they were fighting: an enormous tree that stood alone in the wasteland. Not only was it lashing out with vines, abranch clenched into a fist and punched one of the candidates. Even as he ran closer, Kai saw one of the candidates try to hack at its trunk and immediately collapse to the ground as roots wrapped around their legs.

No, not a tree. There was a woman clad in leaves in the center of the branches.

He had no idea what that thing was, but the Hunter Trials were clearly about to get more complicated.

Chapter 9: A Different Kind of Test

Kai kept his sword sheathed as he sprinted the remaining distance. Understanding the battle could be more important than entering it, especially because he couldn't be certain the humans were his allies. Four candidates about his age, all looking local to Monskon City. No, five - another onehad been smashed into the ground, unconscious or dead.

His spiritual senses were a bit overwhelmed with all the rapidly moving fighters, but he could pick up a few things. Three out of the four had awakened their Classes, probably that very morning. The fact that they were having so much trouble against this monster was a bad sign.

That monster made him pause. From a distance he'd just seen branches and vines attacking them and figured it was some sort of monster tree. Now that he got up close, he could see that the humanoid form was merged with the center of the tree. It looked like the upper half of a voluptuous woman with bark-shaded skin and green hair. He still couldn't identify her, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that she was controlling the tree, even before she waved a hand and sent out another fist of branches.

One of the candidates was running toward the trunk, shielded by some sort of shell of blue mana. Whatever the shell was, the wooden fist punched straight through and sent him flying. Since Kai still hadn't drawn his sword, he was able to catch the man before he hit the ground.

"Thanks." The other candidate wiped some blood from his face as he briefly examined Kai. "I don't know who you are, but if you help us, we'll share the reward."

"Just what is this thing?" Kai asked as he drew his sword.

"No idea, but it's guarding a chest there. Look out for the vines, and it can also make roots grow from anywhere..."

Though the other man kept talking, Kai stopped listening to him when he saw the treasure. The wooden chest by the base of the tree looked like it could have come out of a children's story book. Nobody he knew would keep anything in a chest like that... now that he looked closer, it didn't even have a lock. Most likely the leaders had placed it as a reward for overcoming the challenge, but the oddity made Kai hesitate and look at the creature more carefully with his spiritual vision.

<

Name: ???

Total Power: 39

Dryad Class: 10

Soul Level: 3

>

For one second he was puzzled, then the next he realized that he'd been an idiot. He looked up to try to call to the others, but the person he'd been talking to was already running in again. Vines immediately lashed out at him, but that had only been a distraction.

A young woman in red robes leapt over her ally, both her hands burning with dark mana. It looked like she'd intended to grab the humanoid in the trunk, but she didn't get close. Several of the upper boughs bent lower, sweeping her out of the air and into some of the other fighters.

Kai spotted one of the others remaining at a distance, gathering mana. It was the man who had reached the shrine before him the previous day and become a Flamecaster, and it looked like he had developed his control significantly since then. Before he could fire, Kai ran in his direction.

"Wait!" he called. "Use your spiritual sight!"

The other candidate narrowed his eyes in the direction of the tree, frowned, then pumped more mana into his fireball. "It's stronger than I thought. Distract it and I'll put everything I have into one flame."

"That's not what I-" Too late. The others listened to what the Flamecaster said and attacked from all sides.

All of them were quickly knocked away, but the next moment a torrent of flame erupted from the Flamecaster. Several boughs bent down to block it, only for the flameto burn directly through. When the column reached the humanoid in the center, she raised a wooden arm. Power swelled around her, resisting the flames, but leaves were burning all around the beam.

Kai dropped his sword and instead grabbed the other man's arms, pulling the beam upward. Immediately he was resisted, and the flames turned toward him. Before he could be incinerated, Kai slapped the Flamecaster across the face as hard as he could.

That shock was enough to quench the flames, and the other man seemed to have exhausted most of his strength. All of his allies turned on Kai, confused but more than ready to fight. Before the situation could turn bad, Kai raised his arms and spoke to all of them.

"Have any of you used your spiritual vision on monsters? Have you everseen one that had a name or Class? If she has both, she must not be a monster." Of course, Kai couldn't take all the credit for that observation. When he'd asked Gunjin about all the races that existed in the world, Gunjin had told him that the difference was clear in spiritual vision.

Only now did he understand how clear it was. Not every nation in the world was locked in a war with monsters, but they all saw the difference in soul as sharply as black and white.

His argument got through to them and the group hesitated. Some looked to their fallen comrade, but it seemed that he was still alive, just stunned. As they finally stood down and released their techniques, the woman in the tree let out a long yawn.

"Oh, thank goodness. This was getting very tiresome." Her voice sounded surprisingly human, and she covered her mouth while she yawned just like a human would. "At least I can go home now."

"If you're not a monster, what are you doing here?" the Flamecaster asked.

"Your leaders asked me to help." The dryad, if that's what she was, lowered a branch in front of her and leaned forward onto it with her arms crossed in front of her. It made her breasts pillow in a very distracting way and Kai did his best to remain professional."They said they were worried that their children were too eager to fight. Seems like it."

"Then we weren't supposed to fight you for the chest?"

"Nope. Please go away now." She settled in deeper into her leaves, surprisingly laid back for a being who had minutes before been fighting all of them.

The group didn't look happy about it, but after some conversation, they picked up their injured companion and departed. A few shot him an angry glance even though it wasn't his fault. Kai just picked up his sword and waited for them to get some distance away before he approached the tree. Up close, the dryad really did look remarkably human, and her skin didn't look quite so bark-like. He found himself wondering how it would feel and shoved that thought out of his mind.

"Uh, excuse me... is it okay if we talk?"

"I would rather not." The dryad looked up from her branch as if she'd much rather be asleep. "But I suppose you passed the test. Good job. Good human. Are you happy now?"

"I've never met someone like you," Kai said, and immediately felt as awkward as a teenager. "Should we have known your, uh, people?"

"Probably not. You know what's south of Goralia?"

"I thought it was just wilderness."

"More or less, but some of us live there. I'm from far, far to the south." The dryad let out a long yawn and pushed herself up a little to look at him, which made clear that she was wearing nothing but leaves. "Humans are always running around, stabbing things. It's very disruptive."

Kai swallowed, unsure where to take that. Eventually he glanced down toward the chest. The treasure chest. "If we weren't supposed to fight you, then what about that treasure? Was it just bait?"

"Oh that. You only have to ask for it without attacking me. Why don't you go take a look?"

He approached the base of the tree carefully, expecting to be swatted at any moment, and knelt down next to the chest. Now that he looked up close, he saw that the wood had an almost identical appearance to the rest of the tree, but wasn't attached to the dryad. There was an ordinary enough hinge, so he opened the lid. All that it contained was a cushion with three pills atop it.

No, seeds. The pale green spheres radiated mana like strengthening potions, but he felt certain that they were alive. So there was a reward after all.

"Do I take one of these?" he asked. The dryad looked over his shoulder and blinked a few times.

"You know, I'm not sure. If you take them all, I can go to sleep, so why don't you do that?"

"Thank you." Kai took the three seeds carefully, but even up close he couldn't make anything of them, with spiritual or normal vision. "Can you tell me what these are?"

"Mana seedlings." The dryad answered as if she expected him to understand that, and when he obviously didn't, sighed and went on in a lower voice. "Theywill enhance your growth, but only under specific circumstances. You should eat one of them before you enter a dangerous situation. If you're having trouble developing, it could help you over the obstacle."

"Should I save them for when I get stuck, then?"

"They'll probably grow less effective the stronger you become. These are for seedlings, after all." She patted him absentmindedly on the head and then settled back onto her branch. "I guess you aren't so bad, but I'm tired of talking now."

That seemed to be the end of the conversation as far as she was concerned. Kai thanked her a few more times and backed away. The seeds burned in his palm the entire time, emitting huge amounts of mana. He'd heard of items like this, and it wasn't surprising that they'd be placed within the Hunter Trials, but he hadn't expected to find any so soon.

As he walked away, Kai considered his options. He placed two of the mana seedlings into a very secure pouch within his sack, where they'd be safest. The last he kept in his hand, both in case it was necessary and to think about it. His gut instinct was to save them, but the dryad had said they'd be less useful that way. Deciding when the right time to use them was would be difficult.

He'd lost several hours in his early travels, but the majority of the second day still stretched before him. It probably made sense to use all three mana seedlings during the Hunter Trials, so he just needed to figure out when the most "dangerous situations" would be. The trials were intended to push them to their limits, so opportunities were sure to come up, he just didn't want to waste the seedlings on a trick like the dryad.

Less than an hour later, Kai spotted a cloud of dust on the horizon. He shielded his eyes and made out a group of the monster boars: only about half the group, and not including the largest. They weren't moving toward him, so he could simply let them run on.

Instead, Kai swallowed the first of the mana seedlings and ran into battle.

Chapter 10: Second Sunset

As the horizon began to swallow the sun, Kai staggered back to the nearest waypoint. It had been a day of grueling combat, and if he ran into any other candidates he might regret pushing himself so hard. There hadn't been much fighting between humans on the second day of the Hunter Trials because of all the new monsters. That would probably change.

He had used up two of his three mana seedlings. Hopefully he wouldn't regret that, but he resisted the urge to examine himself with his spiritual vision. The numbers didn't matter as much as working as hard as he could, and getting to safety so some monster didn't kill him in the night.

After the good prizes from the dryad, he'd aggressively pursued other waypoints, but they hadn't been as eventful. Many of those that looked like they might have been interesting were already cleared by someone else. Once he saw several of the goons that served Fhazi taking down an octopus monster in a small pond, then leave with the rewards. It seemed that the best challenges were taken fast.

There were a few simpler waypoints that distributed food and water. The quality was far worse than the reward meal given by Juray, so he belatedly wished that he'd thanked her more. He'd considered going back to her, but it would have wasted too much time retrace his steps. Best to keep moving forward.

Before the sun set completely, Kai reached his destination. Just another little shrine surrounded by a barrier. Fortunately, it looked like no one else had returned to it, so the only occupant was a bored-looking hunter. When Kai arrived he nodded to the man, who grinned.

"Turning in for the day, huh?"

"I'm pretty tired," Kai said. He paused and stared back out into the darkness. "Wait, are there special events occurring at night?"

"Not for the basic Hunter Trials. Get your rest and heal up. You look like you need it."

Kai didn't hurt as badly as he'd expected, given all his injuries and the potion he'd taken during the day. He still really, really wanted to sit down. Before heading in, he decided to press for one more question. "If it's not cheating, can you tell me what the situation looks like out there?"

"You think they tell me anything important or let me use the portals?" The hunter snorted. "No, I just run the shrine and save candidates if they're getting themselves killed. I guess I can say that more candidates are out than usual. That huge monster is still out there."

"The giant boar?" Kai strained his eyes into the darkness, as if he hoped to find it. His spiritual vision had been improving through practice, but he didn't spot any concentrations of power that might be the over-sized monster.

"Yeah, that thing is a problem. But they might put a bounty on it tomorrow, so I can't say anything else."

After thanking the man, Kai shuffled into the shrine and finally dropped. He needed rest, but his mind was racing. To take his mind off everything, he opened his sack and counted all the monster cores. He'd been trying to keep track, just not very carefully given all the fighting.

So far he had 53 small cores, 14 larger, and 1 enormous core he'd torn from the chest of a twisted bear-like creature. That one had required a trap, several injuries, and a bit of luck. He hadn't been comparing totals with the other candidates, but he thought that was a pretty decent number.

Once he'd finished counting, Kai decided that there was no point putting it off any longer. It was time to see if his work that day had made any progress...

<

Name: Kai Granfian

Total Power: 16

Laborer Class: 2

Physique Level: G-4

Soul Level: 2

>

It wasn't as bad as he'd feared. His Physique Level had improved twice, no doubt due to the mana seedlings fueling his combat experiences. At this rate he was rapidly approaching the F rank, which would make him about as tough as most of the veteran hunters... just without a useful Class.

That was the fly in the pudding. None of the fights throughout the day had revealed any special abilities or wondrous secrets to his "Laborer" Class. Its level had increased for some reason, possibly due to the mana seedlings. Or possibly just to mock him.

If he worked twice as hard as everyone else, could he keep up? Right now it felt like it, but Gunjin had implied that every source of power became more and more difficult to increase as it advanced. For now, all he could do was give the last day of the Hunter Trials his all.

Lying down and thinking about his plans, Kai wasn't sure when he fell asleep.

.

..

.

He woke up with the earliest light stabbing into his eyes. That was the way it had always been: the slightest light was guaranteed to wake him up. Since he'd lived in hole-ridden shacks until Gunjin took him in, he'd gotten used to rising early.

Kai rose to his feet and yawned. He struggled to remember the fragments of dreams that slipped away before realizing it was pointless. One last day.

There weren't any sources of power on the horizon, so Kai decided to train until the dawn announcement. If they changed the rules for the last day, that could significantly change his strategy. Given the apparent weakness of his Class, his best hope of getting stronger was to acquire the top rewards for the Hunter Trials.

Since the day didn't seem to have started as far as the managers were concerned, Kai dropped to the ground for his old physical training. He started with ordinary push-ups, and when they proved too easy, he vaulted into a hand stand and lifted his body weight that way.

As he went through his routine, he marveled at how much stronger his body had become. Since he'd finished puberty, his gains in strength had always been slow and steady. Even when he tried more difficult exercises, he could only advance at a limited rate. But now his body was being enhanced by more than simply his physical exercise, and he was already seeing the benefits.

He might not have gained an exceptional Class ability, but he'd take what he could get. Exercising normally felt better than before and he wondered if he could improve that way now that he could attempt new exercises. Most likely there would be diminishing returns switching between combat and physical training. That didn't mean he couldn't balance both to see how far they could take him.

Kai had time for a long routine before a glowing point of mana appeared overhead. It briefly outshone the sun, but he just ignored it and prepared his things for the day's work while he listened.

"The third day of the Hunter Trials has begun!" It was the same old woman as before, though her voice was a bit less cheerful. "There has been a change to the schedule: the trials will end today at noon. Everyone's performance up to this point has been evaluated, and if you're still here you're eligible for prizes to be awarded at the end, even if you're eliminated today. A different prize will be awarded to any group that is able to eliminate the Direboar.

"No new waypoints have been added, but all candidates are encouraged to compete with one another to test their new Classes. Anyone who is still conscious when the bell rings will receive a mana potion. But the most substantial rewards will go to those with the largest number of monster cores. Stealing monster cores is permitted and encouraged. The strategy you choose is up to you, but prizes will be awarded at our discretion, for the good of Monskon City. Good luck!"

Those were essentially the rewards that Tusquo had explained to him. Good to know that the Irunian hadn't been lying. Kai was especially glad to hear that some rewards would be given based on the discretion of those judging. They would see that he was working at a severe disadvantage given his Class and hopefully reward him for his effort.

As for the others... Kai headed away from the shrine and searched the horizon while he considered strategy. He wasn't sure how his collection of monster cores compared to the others, but he didn't think he needed to be too concerned about volume. They were encouraging infighting, which could turn bad for him unless he found allies. Except all allies could easily be enemies.

He predicted that the least honorable candidates would go for the easiest path of taking down weak opponents to steal their cores. This late in the trials, they wouldn't risk their lives against the largest monsters unless they had to. If that was true, then hopefully the best plan for staying away from them would be to throw himself into danger.

Time to see if his new strength could take on the Direboar.

Chapter 11: A Rough Hint

After killing only three lesser monsters, Kai was starting to get frustrated. Not many monsters so far. All the other candidates he'd seen were trying to run out the time. The sun hadn't gotten far up in the sky, but he only had until noon. He wanted to find the Direboar, or at least some other challenge... even getting ambushed would be better than wasting his time.

Then a whirlwind slammed into the ground in front of him and he regretted those thoughts.

For a moment he thought it was a living tornado, then he remembered to use his spiritual vision. That made clear the spinning bands of viridian mana, whipping the air into a frenzy. They dissipated not long after he saw them, revealing a young woman in a green cloak. She looked vaguely familiar, with a mop of blond hair and a slim athletic build. She wore a top that left her midriff bare, but her hands were encased in gauntlets with nasty spiked knuckles.

"You and me, winner take all!" The woman bashed her gloves together with a cheerful grin. "I was planning to do this anyway, but then they told us to fight each other, so..."

"This didn't seem fair," Kai said. She was obviously going to attack him, he just wanted more time. He pointed at the sack tucked into her belt. "If that sack is filled with your monster cores, I have way more than you. I have more to lose."

"While everyone else was getting cores, I was training my Class. It's a valid strategy." She gestured for him to attack. "My name is Inafay Corinin! Come on, fair duel!"

The Corinin clan was another of the largest in the city, and prominent throughout Goralia. Kai bought a little more time as he drew his sword. "That's not very honorable for a Corinin."

"Dammit, it's not like I targeted you because you got a weak Class. I'm looking for tough fights, and I've seen you kill monsters - you're a beast! So are we going to fight, or are you going to disappoint me?"

She still hadn't taken the initiative, and he didn't think that had anything to do with honor. Still, while she had been talking he'd gotten a clear look at her spiritual presence.

<

Name: Inafay Corinin

Total Power: 13

Windcutter Novice Class: 6

Physique Level: G-1

Soul Level: 2

>

Inafay might be physically weaker than him, but she was no slouch. And she hadn't been lying about training her new Class: she had the highest rating he'd seen from any candidate. The fight could go either way depending on a few variables...

Finally she got impatient and thrust a fist forward. They were still many paces apart, but a burst of wind exploded from her hand. Kai managed to duck aside and felt the wind whip his clothing violently. She was already winding back for a punch with her other arm.

Kai ducked underneath the wind as he stepped in, his sword sweeping up. The tip of his blade would have cut her face, but Inafay leaned back just enough to avoid it. She grinned at him and dodged back with a little dancing step, as if taunting him.

Her next two punches went wide, giving him a chance to run in for a direct attack. Kai closed the distance... and then leapt backward as hard as he could.

Her gauntlets smashed together and wind mana exploded around her, forming a sphere so intense that it tore through the ground. That was exactly what he'd been afraid of: she was clearly a physical fighter, so why had she been spending so much time taunting him to attack? The sphere of wind was more potent than he'd expected, but he'd been able to get out of range in time.

Inside the sphere, he saw Inafay's eyes widen as she realized her mistake. Not fast enough. As the wind began to fade, he leapt in and thrust directly for her heart.

She barely managed to jerk aside and his blade pierced her shoulder instead. It should have been a disabling blow, but Inafay turned her cry of pain into a roar and slammed a fist into his chest.

For a moment his entire torso was raw pain, then Kai felt his back slamming against the rocks. He tumbled several times, losing his grip on his sword somewhere during the process. When he finally skidded to a halt, he struggled to lift himself up to his elbows, much less get to his feet. If she hadn't been weakened by the stab wound in her shoulder, she might have finished him off then.

Was that the power of a trained Class? The wind had shredded most of his shirt, lacerations covered his chest, and there was already an ugly purple splotch where her fist had struck.

Kai forced himself back up and considered his options. Okay, he couldn't afford to take hits like that. But she was down an arm and couldn't use her sphere technique, so he had a chance. When he went to pick up his sword, Inafay hurled several wind bursts at him, but he was able to dodge around them until he was armed again.

"Damn, that hurts." Inafay let her injured arm hang limply and thrust her other arm toward him. "But I'm not giving up yet, so bring it!"

She unleashed a wind burst the next second, without any punching motion. He barely managed to get out of the way, but when he tried to step in, a second burst nearly caught him in the face. This was her fighting for real, effectively keeping him at a distance.

Every time he tried to get into her range, one of her bursts of wind would clip him. Kai realized that a lengthy fight would benefit her: she might be bleeding from her shoulder, but she could keep up these movements a lot longer than him. If he ended things soon, he might be able to heal with a potion, but at this rate he'd be beaten to a pulp.

So he needed to accept a hit. The right hit. Kai readied his sword, pretending to grip it with both hands while shifting all the weight to his right. Then he charged.

As expected, she retaliated with wind punches. This time he let the first hit him in the left shoulder, jerking his arm back. But he converted the blow into spinning momentum, his right arm thrusting out to pierce her stomach.

Just before he could hit, Inafay ducked. No, she wasn't ducking: she slammed her fist down into the ground and a half-sphere of wind exploded from her. The sword was instantly blown from his hands, and the wind hit him like a wall.

His instinct was to flinch back... but he pushed on. Ignoring the pain as the arcs of wind cut him repeatedly, Kai pushed through the sphere and slammed his head directly into Inafay's forehead. The impact made him reel, but when he could see again, the wind was gone and she was flat on her back.

He limped to pick up his sword, struggling just to raise his arms. His plan had been to hold it by her neck to force a surrender, but he wasn't sure he could keep it in place without accidentally stabbing her. When he turned back, however, he saw the young woman shake her head.

"No need. You could finish me off, so better to call it here." Inafay used her good arm to wipe away some of the blood on her face. "You're absolutely crazy, but I guess it worked."

"Are you going to need help?" Kai asked. "I mean, I'm going to steal all your stuff, but will you be okay out here?"

"Someone from the clan will be along to pick me up. I just keep everything in this... ugh, I guess you'd better reach it."

Kai took the sack that had been tucked in her belt and looked through it. She had over a dozen cores, a few of them reasonably large. More importantly, she had been carrying a healing potion that looked like it had been earned at one of the bigger waypoints. He drank it immediately, because all those cuts from the wind were starting to wear on him. Nothing he could do about the loss of his shirt, though.

"It was a good fight," Kai said. "But do you know anything about the Direboar? I was aiming for that prize."

"I actually took a shot at it earlier, but my wind slid right off its hide." Inafay shook her head, but she was smiling just a little too much. "If you're really taking it on... good luck."

"Why are you smiling like that?"

"Well... I might have been running away from the boar. Just a little."

"What?" Even as the pointless question fell from his mouth, Kai began whipping his head around to search. All the wind battering him had wiped out his sense of orientation. Which direction had she been coming from, anyway?

Soon it didn't matter: there was a cloud of dust growing on the horizon. It was coming straight for him. Kai looked down to talk to Inafay, but there was already a man stepping from a portal. He wore a similar green robe, so he must have been one of the Corinin representatives. The man barely glanced at Kai before he helped Inafay to her feet and into the portal.

"Have fun!" She gave him a little wave just before she was pulled through, then the portal disappeared. Leaving Kai alone in the wasteland to face the rushing monster.

Chapter 12: The Direboar

Kai stared at the charging mass of tusks and muscle the size of a wagon and wished he had a bigger sword. The weapon that the Irunians had created for him was still undamaged, but it was not going to be enough. Not for the Direboar.

As he began to retreat, Kai tried to look at the monster with his spiritual vision one more time. Nothing but a muddle of symbols that made it clear the boar was a monster instead of intelligent creature. He had a vague sense that it was rather powerful, enough that he wasn't going to take it head on. Beyond that, he would need to use his instincts. And those instincts told him that standing directly in front of that thing's charge would be suicide.

He needed a better arena to fight it, and in the monster reserve, he didn't have many options. All he saw in range was a region of clustered rocks and a small cluster of trees. Not the rocks - the Direboar could probably charge over them. That left the forest.

Though he managed to reach the first trees before the monster caught up, it wasn't far behind. Kai slipped behind a tree, then ducked and crawled around a small bush to another location.

Less than a minute later the Direboar leveled the tree with a single swipe of its enormous head. Its pointed hooves tore apart the ground where he had been not long ago. Realizing he wasn't there, the Direboar stabbed through the fallen trunk with both tusks and hurled it deeper into the trees. The points of its horns pierced the old wood like it was paper.

From his hiding place, Kai tried not to breathe. It was a damn good thing he hadn't tried to hide behind one of the nearest trees and ambush the monster immediately. Now the Direboar was stomping around the grove searching for him, giving him a little more time to prepare.

First he got a better look at the creature. There were several metal hooks still hanging in its fur, and an Irunian sword had been thrust deep into its neck. One leg was matted with blood and someone had managed to burn part of its flank. None of that seemed to slow the monster down in the slightest.

Kai figured he only had one thing going for him: he wouldn't have to deal with any other monsters. He spotted several of the twisted monkeys, but they fled from the Direboar. One that was too slow was trampled, then the beast bent down to eat its corpse. While it was occupied with its meal, Kai crept further away and began preparing.

Once again, the optional survival training he'd taken on was going to be essential. Kai saw a few vines that could be turned into trip ropes and discarded the idea almost immediately: the boar was charged with so much mana that it would probably tear straight through. A pit trap might have worked, if he had a day to prepare. But there were plenty of branches, and he'd already tested them as spears.

Keeping an ear open for the Direboar's rampages, Kai carefully found several appropriate branches and turned them into sharpened stakes. There wasn't enough time for a large pit, but maybe an alternative would work...

If he'd had hours, Kai might have been able to set up a perfect trap. Part of him had been hoping that his Laborer Class would somehow make the work easier. Unfortunately, he was only partially done when the Direboar began to leave the small forest. It had been grunting and snorting through the trees for some time, pursuing his scent, but apparently it was giving up. Since he stood no chance out in the wasteland, Kai decided that he needed to make the attempt now.

He got into position, swallowed his last mana seedling, hefted a wooden spear he hadn't had time to finish, and yelled, "Hey ugly!"

Instantly the boar whirled in his direction. Its eyes actually burned with mana, and it shot mana-flecked spittle in all directions as it roared. Kai hurled his spear as hard as he could, aiming for its open mouth, but it closed its jaws as it charged. The dull tip glanced off the thick fur, just as he'd feared.

The earth itself seemed to shake as the Direboar charged directly at him. Suddenly his plan didn't seem so smart, and holding his ground in front of it felt incredibly stupid. Too late now: Kai drew his sword and held it by his shoulder in thrusting position.

Several paces from his position, the Direboar's hooves smashed through the hastily covered pit. It stumbled forward only a step into the shallow pit... directly into the sharpened stakes. The beast's momentum rammed it straight into the points, and some of them drove into its stomach. As it roared in pain, Kai thrust forward with all his strength.

It wasn't enough.

Before he could strike the Direboar's face, it shook wildly, one tusk knocking his sword aside. He barely kept his grip on it and struck back against the nearest tusk. His cut only chipped it, but he tried again. While the Direboar was impaled on the stakes, it couldn't charge at him, giving him a chance to dodge and strike back. He managed to land a few jarring blows to its tusks and even opened a small cut on its face.

For just a few blows, Kai thought that he might be able to go toe-to-toe with the Direboar. Then it pushed through his stake trap and Kai had only a split second to realize. Not long enough.

The next thing he knew, he was spread painfully against a tree trunk. He hadn't been impaled on a tusk, but being struck by the boar's head felt like a building had kicked him. All that saved him was the fact that the blow had sent him flying some distance away.

With a snort the Direboar powered through the rest of his attempted trap. Some of the stakes snapped and a few dangled from the beast's chest. It was losing a lot of blood, but he had a feeling that wouldn't stop it. His sword lay on the ground just in front of the Direboar... it stomped contemptuously and the metal actually bent in the middle. After a frenzy of grunting and stomping, the sword was too damaged to ever be used again.

Kai stared into the creature's eyes and wondered if he was going to die. There hadn't been time to set up another trap, so all he had was a few more spears at another location. Any second now, it was going to charge directly at him. If one of those razor sharp tusks struck him in the head or heart, he doubted he'd live long enough for any of the judges to save him.

Before it could charge, Kai bolted for his remaining spears. Well, he staggered. The impact seemed to have re-opened many of the wounds on his chest that had been cut by wind, and he felt like all his internal organs had been replaced by bruises. He was fighting on pure willpower now.

He barely managed to reach his spears before the Direboar caught up. After hurling the first, Kai leapt to the side to escape the charge. The monster whirled on him quickly, just not quite quickly enough. Kai thrust his second spear into the boar's side where its armored hair had been burned away and felt the spear drive deep.

And then snap. He stumbled forward, directly into the boar's maw as it turned. Pure instinct made him jerk his head aside and avoid the tusk going for his eye. The beast merely tossed its head and tried to impale him again with the other tusk.

Kai grabbed both. He hadn't planned to, and he felt like an idiot a second later, but it had happened automatically. With his hands wrapped around the tips, he could try to wrestle with the monster. It couldn't see him well, since he was so close, and so it began to push aggressively to trample him.

As he had been at the start of the Hunter Trials, Kai would have been dead. Even with all the strength he'd gained, he struggled just to keep the Direboar from throwing him aside. He needed to retreat with every step or it would flatten him, so it was pushing him back through the forest rapidly. Soon his arms would give out or he'd stumble and then he'd be impaled.

When the Direboar roared, Kai roared back. He stared back into the face of the monster, ready to fight to the end... and then he saw the cracks.

One of the Direboar's tusks was severely damaged mid-way down its length. His repeated blows during the battle had chipped away a few pieces, and now it looked like it might give way. Kai didn't feel any weakness when he strained against it, but he didn't see any other choice.

Letting go of the left tusk, Kai slammed his free hand into the side of the tusk and wrenched as hard as he could. The Direboar whirled to impale him... and its tusk broke with a resounding crack.

Spinning the tusk in his hands, Kai thrust it directly into the beast's throat. The sharpened point pierced the armored hair with ease and the beast's charge drove it deep. Almost immediately Kai was half-buried in the beast's putrid fur, his hands burning from the tusk's jerking movements.

He had nothing left. If the Direboar had survived even that, he was dead.

Slowly the enormous body slumped forward, half-pinning him to the ground. Blood was beginning to gush from the wound now, and the ground was muddy with the gore from its torso. It all burned with foul mana, but Kai was too exhausted to escape from underneath it. By the time he managed to pull himself out, he was coated in the blood.

Had he actually done it? Kai stared at the corpse in disbelief. He wanted to retrieve the monster core, but he'd lost his sword and his hands ached.

"That's it for you, kid." One of the scarred veterans stepped from a portal and grabbed him by the arm. "We need to treat you before the toxicity takes hold."

"Toxicity?" Kai resisted on instinct. Going into the portal meant ending the Hunter Trials early. It meant giving up. "What... what's the...?"

"You don't want monster blood on you ever, and especially not in open wounds. Come back. You'll get credit for killing it, but you can't stay like this."

"No... keep going..." Kai used what little strength he was regaining to pull away. "Feel fine..."

"That's absurd, you..." The hunter trailed off and frowned at him. "Did you actually resist the toxicity? Your training has been extreme for a candidate, so..."

He stood back and watched Kai as if expecting him to collapse any moment. Kai couldn't pretend that he felt well, but as he got further from that vicious encounter, he felt further from death. Wiping away the blood hurt worse than anything during the fight: the shallow wounds caught with every movement and sent pain shooting through him.

Eventually the warrior departed with a shake of his head. Kai stared at the Direboar corpse for a little while before using a few of the wooden spears to try to get deeper. If the monster core had been lodged in the center of the beast's mass, he almost didn't want it.

Fortunately, he found the core not far from the place the tusk had pierced and was able to pull it out. His arm was covered in blood again, but he held his largest core yet. When he tried to pull free the tusk to use as a weapon, it proved to be stuck firm in the Direboar's skull. That wasn't coming out.

Once he felt better, he'd make some more weapons from the trees. For the time being, Kai sat on the corpse and let himself recover a little. Should have stockpiled potions. He wasn't near death, but he ached all over and his hands were still numb.

"There you are!"

Exhausted as he was, Kai hadn't sensed anyone approaching. He looked up just in time to see Fhazi and his goons entering the forest. Fhazi frowned at the Direboar and then turned to shake a finger at him.

"You stole my kill. You're going to pay for that."

Chapter 13: Final Noon

Kai tried to keep his face neutral and was pretty sure he did a terrible job. Fhazi still had six of the members of his entourage, including the two huge men and the suspicious woman. Though he wasn't as exhausted as just after killing the Direboar, Kai was tired and nearly weaponless.

To add insult to injury, every member of the group had awakened their Class. They might not have progressed much otherwise, but he'd be facing a storm of mana if it turned into a fight.

"Do you want the monster core?" Kai asked. His pack was secured in a tree and he didn't want to turn his back to get it, but he figured negotiation was worth a shot. "Others softened up the Direboar first, so I guess it's not fully my kill."

"You really think I'll let you get away so easily?" Fhazi sneered and took a step closer.

Actually, Kai had been hoping that they would forget the exact terms of the trial: the winner was the one who killed the Direboar, not the one holding its core at the end. Losing one core would have been a fair trade for avoiding an unwinnable fight. Unfortunately, it looked like Fhazi just wanted to beat someone.

There weren't a lot of options left. Maybe he could bait Fhazi into a duel? There was no reason for him to agree, but it might appeal to his ego. Kai reached for his spiritual vision - it felt like staring directly into the sun - and checked the young noble:

<

Name: Fhazi Lantrian

Total Power: 8

Grandfist Novice Class: 3

Physique Level: G-1

Soul Level: 1

Sacred Armor: 2

>

Even Fhazi had gained a powerful-sounding Class and increased it several times. Classes really were the fastest path to power.

"Witness my power!" Fhazi raised both his fists and mana began to flow from him. It slid in smooth curves that began solidifying around his fists, forming gauntlets that looked like they were made of woven steel. Steel that began glowing red hot.

It was all impressive, and rather slow. If he hadn't been so beaten, Kai would have tried to hit Fhazi before he could finish preparing. Some people were able to use their Classes extremely quickly, like Inafay, but he'd also noted that others were slow to warm up. That would be good to remember for the future, if he had a future.

"That's enough." The quiet voice drew everyone's attention, and Kai turned just in time to see Tusquo walk into the forest.

"You again?" Fhazi whirled on him and raised his fists. "You want to settle this now?"

Kai was glad to see that Tusquo looked mostly unharmed - torn robes and a few bruises, but still able. What bothered him was the fact that Tusquo was alone. Either the other Irunians had been removed from the competition, or...

Without warning shards of ice exploded through the trees. Fhazi's group staggered, and Fhazi himself raised both over-sized gauntlets in front of him to deflect the fragments. As soon as he turned away, Tusquo drew his sword and swept it through the air. An arc of mana shot out, cutting several trees in half and sending members of Fhazi's group flying.

They might have ended the fight right then, if one of the huge goons hadn't summoned floating mana shields to block the next attacks. He was faster than he looked. Kai was ready to join in the fight when Tusquo walked up to him and grabbed his shoulder.

"Kai Granfian, you must go. We will handle this fight."

"Go?" Kai stared at him. "You don't want my help?"

"You will endanger everyone more by being here." Tusquo kept his eyes on the growing brawl and continued speaking to him in a low voice. "There is a waypoint that reveals the current state of the competition. You have the second most monster cores of any candidate, and fighting the Direboar revealed your location. I suggest you escape."

"I... thanks." Kai clapped the Irunian man on the shoulder and headed out. They were outnumbered, but their ambush seemed to have been effective, so they should be fine. Maybe they even wanted all of Fhazi's monster cores for themselves.

He was happy to let the Irunians have them. It was nice to have at least a few people in the entire monster reserve who wouldn't be hunting him down.

The small forest had been too damaged to offer any more safe hiding places, and it was likely to be everyone's target. Kai headed back out into the wasteland and looked for any defensible locations. Nothing. The sun beat down mercilessly on a mostly flat landscape.

Worse, his spiritual vision picked up several people who seemed to be moving toward him. Kai began running in an empty direction, hoping that would take him away from the greatest concentration of fighters. He winced as he ran, but his body was working well enough to move. Just a bit of pain. He could fight through pain.

Just when he started to feel confident, something slid around his ankle and he smashed into the ground.

He kicked free, even before he knew what was happening. Some kind of vine wrapped around his ankle? It must have been an attack, so he tried to scramble onward. Just in time to see an enormous hammer flying for his head.

Kai rolled to the side, barely avoiding the blow. It tore into the earth and the warrior ripped it free the next moment, nearly clipping him again. He managed to vault to his feet, only for more vines to wrap around his ankles the next second. They were thick and covered in thorns, but they hadn't yet pierced his skin.

Two opponents. He realized that even before his spiritual vision registered on a conscious level. There was a young woman in leather armor nearby, her mana snaking to the vines. The hammer was wielded by a man about the same age and roughly twice his weight. All muscle. Whoever he was, he would have towered over even Fhazki's largest thugs.

The two of them clearly wanted his monster cores, and Kai doubted he could beat them in his current state. Before they could strike, Fhazi himself came running after them. His enormous gauntlets pumping as he ran looked a bit silly, but they were still burning with mana.

"Not so fast! He's mine!" Fhazi's yell managed to draw their attention, so Kai used the chance to kick his way out of the vines.

"You're after their cores too?" Kai threw out the question as sincerely as he could. The woman turned sharply to glare at Fhazi.

"You can't fight us both," she hissed. Fhazi only raised his gauntlets, as if prepared to fight all of them.

While they all faced off, Kai began to edge away. He only got a few steps before a wall of thorn-covered vines erupted in his path. They hissed with so much mana that it emanated like steam, completely blocking off his path. The woman wasn't looking at him, but she was more than prepared.

Before he could think to go around, a burst of flames tore through the vines. Another man leapt through the gap - it was the Flamecaster from earlier. Kai felt the briefest flicker of happiness before the man's fiery eyes targeted him. Now he was trapped between four of them. All that kept him alive was the fact that the vine-user and her partner were turning to face the new threat.

"He's mine!" Fhazi yelled. "All of you get away!"

"All of you are mine." The Flamecaster grinned and his teeth glowed with inner flame.

"If you think you can-"

"Enough!" The warrior bearing the hammer slammed it down into the ground and shouted loud enough to silence all the others. "We all want the juiciest target. Don't let him turn us against each other. We defeat him first, then fight over his monster cores."

Unfortunately, the hulking warrior proved surprisingly persuasive. After a few glances, all four turned toward Kai.

What followed was an onslaught unlike anything he'd faced before. He constantly needed to retreat from bursts of flame that scorched his skin. Vines exploded from the ground to bind him at every opportunity. Worst was the hammer-wielding warrior, who was slow but deliberate. When he managed to land a blow on Kai's side, he was pretty sure that several of his ribs turned to splinters.

Fhazi was the easiest to deal with, since his charges were the most reckless. Kai managed to grab him at one point and throw him into the vine-user, which earned him a few moments of relief. But even Fhazi could hurt him if he landed a blow.

His vision was swimming too much to see any of the symbols, but he knew they had all begun to develop their Classes. In just a few days, they had already acquired this much power. Even if he had been at full strength, even if he had a weapon, even if...

Kai staggered back. Bloody, scorched, bruised, aching. He refused to fall and stared out at the four of them through bleeding eyes.

"This is senseless," the largest warrior said. "You cannot hope to beat us. Surrender before you are permanently injured."

"That's what you think." Kai raised his fists and smirked. "You haven't seen what I can do. As soon as I get a hold of even one of you, there will only be three left. Then two. Then one."

"He's completely mad," the vine-user told her partner. "Just put him out of his misery."

"Stop hiding behind those vines! Come and face me directly!"

"This is senseless," the warrior repeated, shaking his head slowly. "You cannot think you can win. Why are you still fighting?"

All Kai did was smile. He wavered on his feet, but he stayed up. The sun was hot, so hot. It had to be soon... abruptly the warrior realized and looked upward to check the sun.

Too late. The bell finally rang to mark noon, and the Hunter Trials officially ended.

Kai managed to stay on his feet until the judges started to emerge from portals, then he collapsed.

Chapter 14: The Purpose of the Hunter Trials

By normal standards, it had been the most successful Hunter Trials in recent memory. And yet, as the elders of Monskon City discussed the distribution of the prizes, Gunjin Granfian was thoroughly displeased. He'd put so much hope into Kai, only to by stymied by the awakening. When it came time to decide the final distribution, it went exactly the way Gunjin had feared.

"We're only a year from the next monster incursion," Hannagan Lantrian said. The old man always presented everything as done and settled. "We need our newest hunters to have grown enough to contribute to the defense of the city. If there are no objections, we'll reallocate resources from lost causes to promising candidates. Then w-"

"I object." Gunjin hadn't said a word up to that point, but now leaned forward at the table.

"Advocating for your precious orphans again?" Hannagan shook his head slowly. "Fate granted the boy a worthless Class. It would be madness to give him any resources to boost his development."

"I don't object to Class-based resources, but you're robbing him. Need I remind the elders of the growth we've seen? Kai Granfian was among the most promising candidates and he showed the greatest growth in Physique and Soul in the entire trial. Does such exceptional progress deserve a knife in the back?"

"Oh, his body absorbed a little mana, yes. But he's far from the top of the growth charts when Class is factored in, and that is where the differences will lie over the coming months. Come now, Gunjin, would you honestly put your boy up against a raw talent like Inafay Corinin?"

Hannagan gave a smiling nod to the head of the Corinin clan and Gunjin grimaced when he saw the old woman nod. A surprising number of elders, even those who were usually Gunjin's allies, appeared to be agreeing. The battle might be unwinnable, but Kai had given so much, Gunjin decided to try again.

"When the monster hordes come again," Gunjin said, "we'll need every hunter we can find. Forget the elites of this generation: how many of your weaker warriors would be able to defeat a Direboar alone, even after a year of training? Kai managed it today, with nothing but a sword and a worthless Class."

"All the more reason to give him nothing!" Hannagan glowered at Gunjin from across the table. "He'll acquire some brute force on his own, so let us give our resources to those who can excel with them."

"Brute force? He displayed exceptional ferocity, yes, but can you really criticize his tactical performance? Or how he allied with the Irunians and led multiple groups? There's great potential there, from leadership to-"

"That's even worse! His futile striving might inspire others and they'll follow a man who will never reach the true heights of power. When the incursion happens, he'll buckle and kill countless others alongside him. No, Gunjin, it would be a waste to spend anything on a candidate destiny has so clearly spurned."

Gunjin fell silent because he had other orphans he needed to advocate for. Too many of the other elders, themselves powered by their personal Classes, were in agreement. Nothing could be done.

"No more arguments?" Hannagan smiled smugly. "Good. Now, why don't we discuss the best approach to our Irunian guests? I thought that a mixed approach..."

The words slipped away. Gunjin hoped that Kai, still blissfully asleep, would be forgiving for his failure.

.

..

.

When Kai woke up, he wasn't in the monster reserve anymore. That should have been normal, but the past two nights had burned themselves into his mind. As he realized where he was, he also realized that the Hunter Trials were truly over.

The first thing that made it obvious was the air. He had almost forgotten what real air tasted like: less scorched than the monster reserve, filled with human smells both pleasant and unpleasant. More than that, there had been a constant hum of mana during the trials that was entirely absent now. He could have known it was over just from the fact that he was lying on a real bed, but it was the first breath of air that brought the truth home.

Kai swung his legs out of bed and immediately winced. Apparently he hadn't been cleaned up or even healed. He was sitting in a cramped room with a few beds, surrounded by walls made of stone blocks instead of the polished marble of the shrines. There was a large tunic hanging from the door, presumably for him since no one had given him a shirt either.

Before getting up, Kai looked himself over. Aside from the injuries and grime, he felt better than before. As he scratched his jaw, he realized that he already had the beginnings of a beard. Usually he kept his wild hair in check, but that had been a distinctly lower priority during the trials. Of course, looking at such details was mostly irrelevant, so he finally made himself use his spiritual sight again...

<

Name: Kai Granfian

Total Power: 26

Laborer Class: 3

Physique Level: G-6

Soul Level: 3

???: ???

>

His eye sockets still ached a bit, but the symbols manifested smoothly. While his useless Class bothered him, at least his ordeal at the end had led to significant progress. Nothing to do but leave the room and find the others.

How long had it been? Kai tugged on the tunic and emerged into a sunny hallway. He could see that the sun was most of the way down but not yet reddening. Just having gotten that much sleep made him feel a fair bit better, but he wanted to know the results of the Hunter Trials.

As he walked down the corridor, Kai finally recognized his surroundings: the royal blue wall hangings carried the symbol of the Hunters Guild. He'd never been up this high before: when he looked through one of the windows, he could see over practically all of the city. Monskon City stretched out in a maze of streets, separated only by the two great walls that marked off the inner and outer districts. At the moment he could stare over it all from the top of the highest hill.

Every year the Hunter Trials ended in the great hall, so he finally knew where he was going. Kai took his time on the way, shaking the last stiffness out of his joints. Maybe someone had fed him a potion of some kind after all, given the tension in all his muscles.

When he turned a corner, he made sure to look out the new windows to the west. He could just see the monster reserve beyond the city walls. It looked no different from before, but for the first time in his life, he was looking at an area he knew well. Instead of being a mysterious trial only for adults, it had been his entire life for a period of three days.

Eventually Kai found his way to the great hall. It arched high overhead, the rafters filled with hangings portraying the greatest warriors in the Hunters Guild, but he didn't care about that today. Instead he focused on the long table and the podium set up at the end. He saw many familiar faces from the Hunter Trials seated there - Tusquo gave him a solemn nod and Inafay waved cheerfully. Both looked fully recovered, which put him out a little, but that didn't matter compared to the results.

Guild leaders and clan heads stood atop the podium, shifting various boxes into position for the ceremony. These weren't the toy-like chest from the dryad, but cubes banded by metal and mana. Everyone knew they contained the treasures of the Guild, given out only at times like this.

Just when he was about to join the other successful candidates, a hand closed around his shoulder. Gunjin pulled him to the back of the room and spoke in a low voice.

"There have been a few changes," his mentor said. "Can I trust you not to make a scene?"

"Why would I want to make a scene?" Kai shot an apprehensive glance at the clan heads and the treasures. "Did they not count my cores for some reason?"

"They counted, and your final strategy was correct. But..." Before Gunjin could find whatever he intended to say, a chime ran from the front of the room. Gunjin cast him a final look and went to join the other clan heads.

Troubled by the encounter, Kai found a seat at the back of the table and waited for the ceremony to begin. Surely they wouldn't change the rules after announcing them so dramatically from the sky. He'd endured to the end, killed the Direboar, and defended a large number of monster cores. That should entitle him to a substantial portion of the rewards.

"Thank you all for your participation in the 437thHunter Trials!" The speaker was Hannagan Lantrian, head of the entire Lantrian clan. He was an old man, his white beard flowing almost as much as his purple tunic, but his frame was still strong and Kai couldn't read his strength in his spiritual vision. "You have passed from being children protected by the city's walls to adults who protect them. In the coming days, you will face far greater trials on behalf of your city and nation, but your actions have earned you rewards to help you face them."

Most of the speech was ordinary enough, so Kai shifted with increasing restlessness. Gunjin made eye contact with him exactly once, trying to pin him in place with a glare. Something must have gone wrong... what if there had been so many thefts in the final hours that his core total was ranked poorly? Since everyone remaining had a large number, he could imagine that others had doubled or tripled their numbers by the end.

"These gifts are not given idly," Hannagan continued. "Such power is easily wasted, which is why we have always created trials that force you to take the first steps yourselves. But the next steps will be with your life on the line, and we want you to survive to become the next generation of monster hunters. Let us begin with the potions for all who endured to the last day."

Assistants quickly distributed vials to the candidates, though a few like Inafay were skipped. She didn't look concerned, and Kai didn't particularly care when he was given his. It was a thin vial of yellow liquid: enough mana to restore a person's strength, but nothing special. Everyone was waiting for the true rewards.

"This year, we have taken an unusual step of grantingscrolls of enhancement. These create a bond between one's soul and one's Class that significantly increases strength. For that reason, the council of elders has bestowed them on those we believe show the most potential."

For these, the individuals were called to the front one at a time. Tusquo Agyama accepted his with an Irunian bow and returned to his companions. Inafay Corinin grabbed hers cheerfully, and Kai couldn't begrudge her the reward given how well she'd fought. But as he saw more and more candidates he recognized - the Flamecaster, the vine-user, the hulk with the hammer - Kai started to suspect that he would be passed over.

Soon the last scroll had been removed from the case and his name had never been called. Kai sat and tried not to grind his teeth. He wanted to believe that it was nepotism, but actually few of the scrolls had been given to anyone from one of the powerful clans. Inafay was a Corinin and the hammer-user was from the Orgoron clan, but none of the others had strong clan connections.

Given that he'd fought several of them simultaneously, Kai thought that was immensely unfair. Surely his performance on the final day had proven his potential. It might be because the scrolls were tied to Class, which would mean his "Laborer" status hurt him again. Or, he hoped, it might be because he was already getting a special reward for killing the Direboar.

"Next, it is time to count totals." Hannagan swept an arm to the side and one of the assistant unveiled a huge table covered in monster cores. "In the end, your job is to fight our monstrous foes, so of course your direct performance must be rewarded. We'll begin rewarding the top candidates, starting with the tenth highest."

Kai listened tensely as they went up the list. The tenth highest had only gathered a couple dozen cores, but the numbers jumped immediately after that. Were the different sizes being given different values? He distinctly remembered how many he'd held at the end: 68 small, 11 large, and 2 huge. With every candidate, Kai leaned forward a little more: the numbers were creeping closer to his, but his name still hadn't been called.

And it never was.

He sat numbly as the last rewards were given, desperately searching for an explanation. Tusquo had explicitly told him that his total had been the second highest on the third day. The first candidate had over a hundred, and the second might have jumped past him by stealing cores at the end. There was absolutely no reason that Kai shouldn't have been third, much less not on the list at all. His fists tightened, and he glowered at Gunjin, but his mentor didn't even look at him.

As Hannagan began to speak again, Kai's stomach dropped even further. The entire time, he'd been telling himself that at least he would get a bit of recognition for killing the Direboar. But the speech was drawing to a close and he began to realize that they would never mention it. Everything he'd earned was being denied.

And so Kai felt as though fate had ruined his life again, but it wasn't even the second time.