— a.h.a. headquaters of the oregon state, portland, oregon, september 2022

  "I'm younger than you though?"

  "Yes, but I've been an Awakened for years. You're too old to Awaken."

  "How so?"

  "Don't know, they said that you need to be in the early stages of puberty."

  "Who said that?"

  "The scientists of the United Nations Hunters Association," Rue threw in, "They found out that that's the perfect time for your Mana Path to build itself. You need that for Mana to improve on what physical strength, health and mentality you already have. You also need it to use Skills," she shrugged her shoulders at him.

  "When you are too old, your body shouldn't be able create a Path anymore and it can't be done artificially. Not yet anyway," Hayden added.

  'Well, I guess that's what I just did?' But he was by no means a normal person. "Maybe I'm a late bloomer," he deflected instead of arguing.

  "I guess," Hayden reluctantly agreed, since there was no other explanation. "Thy will probably question you when you register."

  He said that, but it wasn't like anyone could cheat on that, since there was an Entry Date of the Status Window – which, in fact, made it possible for the Association to even think of creating a law that forced one to register within a week of Awakening. As they knew they could check.

  That's also why it was possible to pursue those who didn't register right away. No one dared not getting registered, unless they knew they were going to be criminals from the get-go.

  The dates of Awakening of the first Hunters were all said to have been forged, regarding the popular opinion of the Gate issue being swept under the rug for way longer than stated by official governments – yet nobody could prove that claim. Status Windows couldn't be copied, they could only be shown to others upon physical contact.

  That moment, Hayden had realized something: Awakened weren't the only ones who had a time limit on reporting things.

  "Now that I think about it, wouldn't they be in hot soup right now? A Gate has to be older than three days if it Breaks. You gotta notify the government of those things within three days, ya' know? And those fucks had two of them."

  After the whole incident of the people distrusting the newly established non-governmental authorities which the Associations were, they had been pressured into reassuring the people with transparency. They were trying to build up trust, but it only worked on one half of the populace – the half that would have been fine with anything, as long as someone kept the monsters away from them.

  "You would be right about that. Thank god we only came to know about them yesterday, so it's not like we could be held accountable if we made our report tomorrow."

  "Yeah, that's probably tru-" The high school senior cut himself off before whipping his head around in the direction of the door.

  A shiny smile was blinding him as he looked at the person who had just answered his question very truthfully.

  "That said," the intruder added, "I thought we should collect you now. It's about time we dealt with that little inconvenience you three have brought on and the game of Hide and Seek has been going on for a bit."

  He, together with his colleague Lane from before who appeared in the doorway from behind Ron Kilmer, led them out of the room and followed the path back to the room they had been in when they sneaked away.

  "Did you know we were up here the whole time?" Hayden stated.

  "That is not it, though we did have a hunch about where you might have been going from your traces on the elevator shaft. I'm guessing you still are an Awakened, even when you are untrained."

  Shocked, the younger Awakened stopped in his tracks. "How do you know?"

  "Weren't you more than obvious? Also, if you use a Skill, you move your Mana about. There's no such thing as 'covertly using Skills' for someone who has no experience."

  That said, it wasn't an ability just anyone had. Being able to read those traces from a distance was a Skill in itself and it came to those of the Tracer category. Otherwise, one would have to have a great control over Mana to feel such a difference in energy.

  "You're a Hunter? But you're acting like a random security guy!" Rue exclaimed in awe, "Who's your sponsor?"

  "You're really an odd bunch, aren't you?" Ron stated, looking at the kids from the corner of his eyes, realizing that the dark skinned teenager might not be the only Awakened among them, though the feeling was faint and his passive Skill wasn't as strong, "I'm technically not a Hunter. I'm a former Mercenary who used to work in short-term security contracts before I got here. Since I'm not a great Hunter, there's no work for me in Dungeon Raids."

  For a moment, the soon-to-be Hunter had to pause, thinking about what he had just heard. He looked at the confidence the other was exuding, even when he had just admitted to being a dead weight of a Hunter; a lost cause. Someone, nobody wanted to work with.

  The annex seemed much quieter all of a sudden, which made two of the four people jump in surprise when the door next to them was swung in their direction with haste.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  Another security guard stood in the doorframe, looking pale and sweaty, as if he had run a mile before opening the door. "Did you really find them?" the guard they hadn't seen before asked.

  Judging from the voice, he was the one who had been talking to the woman when Hayden had listened in on them discussing the broken Gate.

  "Kyle, I told you to stay and keep watch over the other captive," Lane answered in an annoyed tone.

  Lane had no intention of being a babysitter. Not for a bunch of intruders and especially not for someone of supposedly equal standing to him.

  And he had also been the one who hadn't been present when the three children just got up and walked out of one of their interrogation rooms. If anyone were to find out about that, they would become a laughing stock.

  Kyle Barnes was someone who had experience, but only so on paper. Even if they told him to just stand there and point a gun at the floor, so he would be ready when someone or something came out of a Gate, for example, he would panic and shake like a leaf.

  Yet, taking him with them wasn't any better, as he was about to collapse when send out. Standing there had seemed more fitting, even if the broken Gate had just been full of Goblins and In-Sung Choi was taking care of them.

  They hadn't dragged him along because they wanted to, of course, but only those initially involved and the higher ups were supposed to know of the Gate and the battle of the higher races in the abandoned district, so there was no helping it.

  They had needed everyone they had at their disposal. It was a mess in every conceivable way and Ron was having a terrible headache already.

  "She's been behaving very quietly." Kyle responded nervously.

  The thought of a Dungeon Break – albeit a minor one and the supposed strongest Hunter in the world had a hand on it – made the young Agent nervous. He had been around Gates before and the mere thought spooked him.

  Some Gates looked like nothing but black holes. Some looked like mountain ranges or lush forests. Once they were open, you could technically look right into them, as if you looked through an open window.

  But all he could see in this case was a pile of corpses – monsters and Hunters alike – and pools of blood. It was dark, the stench was abysmal to everyone close by, and all he could hear were distant screams, echoing off the walls. It was nightmarish; an utterly horrible scene he would never forget.

  News of the Break had shaken him up, making him pace around to calm down a bit.

  "Sorry, I thought it was fine," he excused his actions once more with his head lowered.

  Suddenly, a scream tore from his throat as he was thrown to the ground in front of his colleagues. They couldn't even react, as a fast moving shadow emerged from the room behind the newbie, charging at the four people standing in the hallway. The sound of an elevator opening accompanied the situation from behind.

  A shot was fired, loud enough to ripple their eardrums, yet it only lead to the hairy monster evading to the side. It darted forward, aiming for the young ones first. The four of them stood in its way and there were two more obstacles coming from the back. It had to be fast.

  When they saw the golden furred beast in front of them, time seemed to come to a halt. Their bodies froze, being invaded by a feeling of alienation. The Agents were aware of what they were seeing, yet it still felt wrong to them. That unknown feeling created fear.

  Hayden shifted to cover Isaac and Rue, who hadn't moved an inch since any of this started, while Ron stood in front of them, taking a knife out of thin air to thrust it into the neck of the tall creature with a swift movement. It wasn't enough to cut through the dense muscle tissue deeply, but enough for blood to spill and land everywhere, coloring the white collar of the former mercenary red.

  Taken aback, it crashed through a wall without windows and only then did they see him carrying someone on his back. 'There goes our main witness,' Ron noted in a daze, watching the two of them flew to freedom.

  It hadn't been a clean job, but at least a fast one. Their ears were still ringing. The female guard had been thrown to the side at some point and lost consciousness. Everything that had happened went over in a mere moment.

  So fast in fact, most of them couldn't even quite process it – only one could.

  Isaac watched all of this in a manner of intrigue and wonder. He hadn't seen many Hunters working before. Of course, he had been aware of S-Ranks, like In-Sung Choi, Karina Hausner or the Krasnoff twins, but he had never seen someone of lower Rank fight. He hadn't expected much.

  This wasn't a grand display by any means, yet he felt he had to re-evaluate humans on a fundamental level. After all, there were rules. Within Dungeons, it seemed that humanity retained the Authority they brought in with them, but without the limit this Dimension would level on them.

  Monsters however, not belonging into this Dimension, would be smothered outside of the Dungeons, because the Authorities that gave them their powers initially wouldn't exist in this Dimension. The fact that all Dimensions are born from the same Origin is the only reason they could do anything here at all, that much was true for him from the moment he had seen the Giant Crocodile King.

  All of that wasn't true for neither Vampires nor Werewolves. They were born from Authorities native to this very Dimension, so they had an entirely different fundament. Even scratching one meant the man had skill.

  All that had happened this day had shown Isaac that he had been losing touch as an observer. He had antagonized his siblings and kept his distance; he hadn't watched over anything at all.

  In fact, he had played dead. That's what he had now realized.

  No, he had known all along. He wasn't the God of Dreams – sleeping was neither his special need nor his favorite pastime. He had always been a friend of less commotion indeed. Despite that, he had never shied away from taking action before.

  This didn't mean that he wanted to be a Hunter of all things, but now that he had been Awakened, he should ask the questions he put aside out of disinterest. After all, it would help him as well, as it was also his lack of oversight that caused them to even end up in their current situation.

  That's why he was now here, even though he should have been at home, reading a book or sleeping quietly. He had been humiliated on a level he couldn't even quite grasp. His actions were akin to that of an amateur playing around, so much so, it made him feel outright stupid.

  Yet there was this quiet voice in the back of his head. This feeling that lurked just beneath the surface. It was asking 'why did you enjoy it then?' in a voice he felt he knew. It was a question that couldn't be answered.

  Yes, he had enjoyed this mess. He hadn't enjoyed being led around by the nose, as he hadn't enjoyed being shot in his last life without any chance of retaliation. The pain he had felt hadn't enjoyable either.

  Still, he had enjoyed "something" about it. He couldn't tell what it was. Isaac, no… "Elijah" simply knew that he had fun for the first time in a long time.

  He shook his head, looking at the dark dreadlocks that had pushed in front of him before, then turned to look at the people around them. The Agents were around the two of their colleagues which had been rendered unconscious, checking if they were okay or needed medical attention.

  'What a dud,' Hayden thought. How did all of this even start?

  Isaac thought the same thing, even after he had already pondered it. The new plan involved getting caught, that was true, but this outcome was truly not it. And all of the work they had put in was for naught after all. He had never had a situation in which a human would have posed a threat to his existence enough to retaliate, so technically, it all started with this one troublemaker.

  The world had truly changed. This was the first time he had actually felt that was the case. And it was a feeling that he wouldn't allow himself to forget.