Silas walked through the crowd, trying his best not to fall. The whole body was aching, the muscles were screaming in agony, mind was complaining.

Every step he took sent a dull ache to his thighs and lower back. The city was already buzzing—cars honking, hunters rushing around with open backpacks, vendors yelling at the top of their lungs as they sold mana potions like candy.

After struggling for a while, he finally made his way to the Awakened Centre, the board of the building was shimmering bright with the white and blue lights.

The glass doors of the Awakened Centre slid open with a soft electronic chime.

A few hunters laughed loudly near the vending machine, bragging about how they carried their entire raid once again.

Some of them were selling their drops, which they picked after clearing the monsters, and mana cores were getting sold at a rapid rate.

Some of them were getting themselves checked, getting treated by using the potions which they just bought from the Headquarters Items-Shop.

The whole Awakened Headquarter was full of chatter and banter of the hunters.

Screens on the walls were flashing with dungeon alerts, red warnings of it were pulsing like heartbeats

[GATE BREACH RISK: LEVEL RISING]

[TOP 50 RANKINGS]

[NEW D-RANK DUNGEON DISCOVERED IN EAST SECTOR]

Silas took a deep breath, letting the smell of the chaos, sweat, and mana discharge enter his lungs.

"Alright," he muttered under his breath, a small smile curled up on his lips. "Let's get this over with."

He moved further inside until he saw her. The same receptionist from that day, who gave him the E-Rank dungeon permit—the one who was chewing gum, he remembered the way she tried to disrespect him.

She was leaning on one elbow, scrolling her tablet lazily, blowing a small bubble with her gum. She looked like she was paid specifically not to care about anything happening around her.

Silas didn't pay any attention to his surroundings, made his way to her desk. "Yo." He said.

She looked up slowly towards Silas, her eyes widened slightly. Then a small smirk curled up on her lips, it was sharp, a bit amused, yet disrespectful in its own way.

"Oh, my? Is this our suicidal newbie from the other day, and still alive?" She tapped her pen's cap on the counter. "I actually had made a bet on you dying." She said, a small smirk was still there on her lips, felt like she was trying to downgrade Silas.

Silas drummed his fingers on the desk slowly, and a small rhythmic hum filled the air. "Yeah, I'm alive and also in one piece." A smirk curled up on his lips, continued with a cocky tone. "Did you really think I'll die that easily?"

She looked Silas in his eyes, a smirk wavering slightly. "Well, an F-Rank went to E-Rank gate alone, you want me to think that you'll survive?"

Silas shrugged and pointed his thumb towards his chest. "I'm still alive, though."

"Mhm, yeah, I can see that." She lifted one of her eyebrows. "So what now? Another gate that you want to do solo? Should I call and book a coffin in advance?"

Silas rubbed his face with the palm of his right hand. "I'm not here for any dungeon's permit, I'm here for a rank re-evaluation."

She froze as she blinked a few times, stared at Silas, blinked a few more times—felt like she was in a state of utter shock. Her voice came out low, shaky. "You... you're actually serious, or is it some low-class prank?"

Silas brushed his hair with his right hand. "As serious as my hospital bills."

She snorted, extended her hand and grabbed a clipboard, and slowly jerked her head. "Alright then, follow me, miracle boy."

Silas walked right behind her through the double doors.

The hallways were bright, they stretched in front of them, lined with holographic posters of the famous S-Rank hunters mid-action—blades slicing through monsters, spells lighting up the sky.

Then they slowly passed through the rooms, which were full of equipment:

Mana-pressure testers that hissed like steam engines, Strength-measure racks clanking with weights, Magic pulse monitors beeping in chaotic rhythms.

Inside one room, there was a hunter who screamed as he tried to pull a corrupted mana parasite off his arm.

The receptionist didn't even look at him. Silas's eye fell on the man, but the woman told him not to pay any attention to him.

The corrupted parasites are usually attracted towards heat, and when you look at them, you'll get amused, and then your body will produce some dopamine, which generates heat, it'll be difficult for them to remove it successfully then.

Finally, they stepped into the evaluation chamber.

It was huge—like a gym mixed with a lab.

Hunters were training everywhere:

One smashed a man's dummy, whose chest then exploded with blue sparks. Another one launched multiple fireballs at moving targets in front of them.

A group sat cross-legged on mats, meditating so intensely their hair fluttered from their own mana waves

At the center of the room stood a circular scanner—chrome, polished, glowing softly—like a futuristic altar.

The receptionist pointed towards it with her pen. "Miracle boy, put your hand on the mana indicator."

Silas took a deep breath as he stepped forward. His heart thumped with the speed of a bullet train—not with anxiety, but with anticipation.

He wanted to know; he needed to know what his new rank was.

He placed his palm on the glowing surface.

The mana indicator reacted instantly to his touch.

VWOOOM—

A sharp mechanical hum filled the air inside the evaluation chamber.

Mana burst out from under his palm—violent, electric, alive. Lightning-like arcs crawled up the glass, flickering around his fingers. The scanner's glow intensified from blue to bright white.

Hunters around the chamber paused mid-training. Some of them even turned towards Silas.

One guy who was a trainee dropped his dumbbell.

The receptionist slowly folded her arms, leaning forward slightly, eyes narrowing like she didn't believe what she was seeing at that moment.

"Let's see," she murmured, gum clicking between her teeth, "what rank you really are now."

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