Part 1: Hunter Files and the Girl Who Remembered Him
Location: Blackthorn Central Guild HQ – Underground Analysis Division
The lights were dim. The data ran cold. And the room smelled faintly of sterilized magic—the kind used when secrets weren't just classified… they were dangerous.
Commander Hesten stood with arms folded as a digital screen played the footage for the fifth time.
It showed a boy in a torn coat walking out of a class D+ dungeon gate—alone, bleeding, calm—carrying a rare boss core no solo C-rank should've been able to retrieve.
No official license. No prior activity.
No Guild flag on his system signature.
Just a name the scanner barely managed to catch:
Riven Kael
[Status: Unregistered | Class: Unknown | Clearance: None]
"…That shouldn't be possible," murmured one of the analysts. "We ran the calc three times. That dungeon has a survival rate under 10% for team squads. And he cleared it solo."
Another officer leaned forward. "He's either got a hacked system…"
"Or he's not using one of ours," Hesten finished. His voice was cold. "Pull up the classification chart."
The screen shifted to the Awakener Class Tree:
Hunter Class Progression (Official Guild Paths)
F-Rank – Entry level (Stat Total < 50)
E-Rank – Beginner Hunter (Stat Total 50–100)
D-Rank – Team-viable (100–200)
C-Rank – Independent combatant (200–350)
B-Rank – Elite Guild member (350–500)
A-Rank – Commander-class (500–700)
S-Rank – National Asset (700+)
"Estimate his stat spread?" Hesten asked.
The AI chimed in.
[Stat Estimate: 300–350 Range]
[Suggested Rank: C+, leaning toward low-B based on mobility and boss kill]
"Impossible," one officer muttered. "He was an F-rank dropout. No class. No license."
"Until last week," Hesten said. "And now he's something else."
He turned to the side room.
"Bring her in."
Location: Guild HQ – Private Briefing Chamber
Lyra Veyne stood with her arms crossed, still dressed in her post-training uniform, sword sheathed at her side.
She didn't flinch when Hesten entered.
"You saw him, didn't you?"
"I did."
"Did he seem unstable?"
"No."
"Hostile?"
"Only when provoked."
"Strong?"
Lyra paused.
"Yes."
Hesten walked around the table slowly.
"Riven Kael wasn't on our radar until the Blackthorn collapse. Now he's cleared a rare gate, soloed a mutation-class boss, and somehow suppressed his mana signature through the whole thing."
He tapped the holo-display.
"We want you to find him. Not capture. Not kill. Just… monitor. Report every movement. Every fight. Every encounter."
Lyra's eyes narrowed.
"You're turning me into a spy."
"You're his only known contact."
Lyra hesitated.
"…You're wrong. We were barely classmates. We haven't spoken in two years."
Hesten leaned closer.
"Then why did you crush the comm crystal instead of reporting him?"
Silence.
Finally:
"…Because he shouldn't have survived. But he did. And I want to know why."
Hesten nodded.
"Good. So do we."
He slid a badge across the table.
[Classified Clearance: L-7 – Shadow Wing Operative]
"Track him, Lyra. Quietly. Before someone else finds him first."
Location: Sector 13 – Abandoned Metro Level
Riven's temporary hideout was a half-flooded metro tunnel beneath the city's worst district—no cameras, no Guild scans, no mana beacons.
It was perfect.
He sat cross-legged in the dark, his arm glowing faintly from the embedded Crimson Core.
[System Update Available – Class Enhancement Processing]
[New Trait Acquired: Core Sync]
→ Permanently increases MP regen by 15%
→ Boosts fire resistance
[Class Trait Progression: 26% to next Evolution Threshold]
[Current Level: 9]
[Unspent Stat Points: +18]
He pulled up his status window.
[RIVEN KAEL]
Level: 9
Class: Umbral Stalker
HP: 810 / 810
MP: 390 / 390
Strength: 26
Agility: 41
Vitality: 30
Perception: 35
Intelligence: 18
Skills:
Shadow Rend
Void Dash
Ghostwalk
Shadow Chain
Veil Eater
Essence Overdrive
[Next Evolution Trait: ??? | Unlocks at Class Level 10 or Boss Soul Ingestion]
Riven stared at that last line.
Boss Soul Ingestion?
That was new.
And dangerous.
He remembered the way that last boss looked before it died. The hate in its eyes. The chaos in its blood.
What would happen if he consumed that?
[Item Stored: Boss Core – Bound to Current Class]
No instructions.
No warnings.
Just possibility.
He'd find out soon enough.
Elsewhere – The First Antagonist Enters
Far away, in a dimly lit office deep beneath the Council Towers, a man in silver robes stared at the same surveillance footage Hesten had seen hours earlier.
But unlike the Guild…
He smiled.
"Another Unbound?"
He touched the center of the image, where Riven's shadow rippled unnaturally in the light.
"Looks like the system's cracks are finally surfacing."
He turned to the masked figure kneeling behind him.
"Send the Ash Blades. Not to kill him. Not yet. Let's see how far he can go before the world breaks him."
Part 2: The Eyes in the Smoke
Location: Sector 13 – Lower Slum Marketplace (Evening)
The sun had barely begun to dip when the first scream tore through the crowd.
Riven turned from a vendor just as the bodies dropped—two Hunters in blue coats, struck down with clean slashes to the neck. A third gurgled blood and collapsed near him, wide-eyed.
He knew the work instantly.
Assassins.
Not street gang kills.
Not monsters.
Trained. Silent. Too clean. Too fast.
[Warning: High-threat entity detected nearby]
[Initiating Threat Scan…]
[Class Signature Found: Ash Blade – Rank: Unknown | Status: Systemless | Risk: Critical]
"Systemless?" Riven whispered, stepping back.
And then he saw it.
A figure in gray, hooded robes stood atop a cracked metal awning, a curved dagger spinning in one gloved hand. Its presence was hollow—like the system didn't know what it was.
[Error: Entity cannot be logged]
[Error: Mana signature nullified]
[Advisory: Engage only if unavoidable]
The assassin tilted his head.
Then moved.
Fast.
Faster than anything Riven had seen since awakening.
He ducked, barely—feeling wind peel past his cheek as the blade missed by inches. He tried to counter—
But the figure was already behind him.
Riven twisted with Void Dash, appearing several meters away behind a stall.
He raised his blade.
"I don't know who you are," he said, "but you're not walking out of here."
The assassin didn't reply.
But another voice did.
"I knew you were hiding something."
Riven turned sharply.
Lyra.
She stood several rooftops over, sword in hand, eyes locked on the robed figure.
And she looked pissed.
Combat Begins – Shadow vs. Silence
The assassin rushed again. This time, Riven didn't dodge.
He met the strike with Shadow Chain, the coils shooting from beneath the assassin and binding his ankles mid-lunge. The strike still came close—razing Riven's shoulder.
[HP Reduced: -140]
[Bleed Effect: Minor]
He spun, kicked the assassin in the chest, and leapt backward.
[Essence Overdrive – Active]
[Stat Surge +20% for 8 seconds]
He blitzed forward, blade humming with energy—
—only for the figure to vanish in a blur of smoke.
Lyra launched down from the roof just in time to intercept a second blade that came for Riven's side.
Sparks flew as steel met steel.
"You're welcome," she muttered.
Riven didn't reply. His eyes were locked on the assassin, who now stood several feet away, slightly crouched.
A voice whispered from under the hood:
"You are not supposed to exist."
Then it launched a volley of black shards.
Riven and Lyra moved in sync—Riven dashing right, Lyra forward, deflecting three with her saber. He dodged the rest with Ghostwalk, weaving through the shadows like smoke.
Then he struck.
[Shadow Rend – Critical Strike!]
[Damage: 782]
[Target Status: Wounded – Mobility Reduced]
The assassin staggered for the first time.
Then something strange happened.
It smiled.
And dropped a small crystal to the floor.
[Warning: Spatial Rift Triggered]
[Escape Attempt Detected – Tracking Failure Imminent]
"No you don't."
Riven charged.
But the figure disappeared into smoke before he could strike again.
Gone.
[System Report: Unknown hostile escaped]
[Tracking – Failed]
Riven stood still, chest heaving, shadows slowly unraveling from his limbs.
Lyra stared at him in the silence that followed.
"You're stronger than I thought."
He glanced at her.
"And you still followed me."
"You're terrible at hiding," she said dryly.
He smirked.
"You going to report me?"
Lyra hesitated.
Then:
"I should."
"But you won't."
Silence.
She finally looked away.
"I want to know what you are."
Riven didn't answer.
Instead, he opened his system screen.
[Level: 10]
[Class Tier Upgrade – Available]
[WARNING: System Acknowledges Deviant Evolution]
→ Proceeding will permanently mark you as Unbound
[Class Upgrade Path Unlocked – Choose One:]
Umbra Reaver – Assassin specialization. Shadow clone. Dual-wielding speed burst.
Hollow Shade – Control specialization. Area-of-effect shadow dominance.
Revenant Blade – Hybrid specialization. Sacrifice HP to summon weapon echoes and memory ghosts.
Riven read them all.
He knew what this meant.
Once he chose—he couldn't go back. He'd leave behind any chance of hiding under the normal system.
But he didn't hesitate.
[Choice Confirmed: Revenant Blade]
[Unbound Class Ascended – Tier 2 Achieved]
[New Skill Unlocked: Soul Echo]
→ Summon ghost of previously defeated elite enemy to fight for 30 seconds (Cooldown: 5 min)
[New Trait: Blood Memory]
→ Survive any fatal blow once per day and counterstrike with stored damage
The system pulsed inside him.
For a moment, the world went quiet.
Then:
[You are no longer a system-recognized Hunter]
[You walk a path beyond class restrictions]
He opened his eyes.
Lyra took a step back.
"Your aura just… changed."
"I'm not the same anymore."
She stared at him.
And said the words she'd been avoiding:
"You're dangerous now."
He looked up at the stars.
"I have to be."
Elsewhere – Council Chamber, Unknown Location
The masked man who had watched Riven before now stood in a circle of others. Some wore robes. Others armor. All radiated power.
"Unbound," one muttered.
"He's evolving faster than expected."
"We must capture him before he reaches Tier 3," said another.
But the first man, the one who smiled last time, simply whispered:
"Let him evolve."
Then, colder:
"I want to see what happens when the system loses control completely."