The clouds split open over Seoul. Lightning did not flash in its usual rhythm—it shimmered in slow motion, like molten gold tearing the sky apart. The ground trembled with each pulse, and the world's mana veins roared alive as if something ancient had awakened beneath the surface. Hunters across the continents felt the tremor. Even the most distant guilds stopped what they were doing, their instincts screaming one message: a new power is awakening.
Sung Jinwoo stood in the open training field behind the Hunter Association, the cold wind whipping his coat around him. Shadows spread beneath his feet like living mist, swirling in rhythm with his heartbeat. The air bent around him, each breath distorting reality slightly. It was as if the world itself was bracing for what he was about to become.
Around the perimeter, his closest allies gathered—Cha Hae-In stood to his right, her aura glowing with steady light that contrasted his darkness. Baek Yoonho and Jinah stayed farther back, monitoring the mana readings. Igris and Beru knelt behind him, awaiting orders in silence. Even now, the loyalty of his shadows pulsed through the field, creating a resonance that made weaker hunters tremble.
The sky responded with a blinding flash. A silver column of light descended, cutting through the storm. Then came the voice—mechanical, cold, familiar.
System Message: Advancement Trial Initiated
Objective: Conquer the Dimensional Rift between the Nexus and the Mortal Plane.
Failure Condition: Death or Total Mana Collapse.
Reward: SS Rank Evolution.
Jinwoo exhaled slowly. He felt the words carve into his mind, like the tolling of a great bell. The air around him collapsed inward, and for an instant, everyone watching could see his body flicker between light and shadow.
Cha Hae-In stepped forward, voice soft but firm. "You'll come back, right?"
He looked at her, calm but determined. "Always."
And with that, the shadows consumed him. The world blinked out.
---
He stood now in an empty place—a void suspended between existence and nothingness. There was no horizon, no gravity, no air. The ground beneath him shimmered like a mirror, and every step he took sent ripples of mana through the space.
Trial Realm Activated.
A faint light appeared in the distance. As he approached, the mirror ground began to change. Images flickered beneath his feet—memories of past battles, the faces of those he had lost, every shadow he had absorbed. They moved like ghosts, whispering words that only his soul could hear.
Then, the first illusion took form.
A figure stepped out from the mist, identical to him in every way. Same black coat, same eyes, same calm stance. But the aura was different—colder, heavier, filled with the suffocating intent of pure destruction.
The clone smirked. "You think you've mastered power, Jinwoo. But all you've done is borrow it. You are no king—you are a vessel."
Jinwoo's hand closed around his blade. "If I'm a vessel, then I'll decide what I hold."
Their blades clashed, and the void exploded into sound. Every strike shattered fragments of light and memory. Each movement was flawless—perfect counters, mirrored reactions. But as the battle continued, Jinwoo noticed something. The clone was not attacking to win. It was testing him—forcing him to acknowledge the weight of his own evolution.
The clone's voice echoed through the empty sky. "You cannot ascend by rejecting your darkness. You must become it."
Jinwoo drove his dagger forward, piercing the clone through the chest. Shadows erupted from the wound, wrapping around him like chains. Instead of fading, the clone smiled. "Then prove it."
The chains tightened, dragging Jinwoo downward into the ground. The glass beneath his feet shattered, and he fell into an abyss of crimson light.
---
He landed in another realm—one that burned with scarlet clouds and rivers of molten mana. Massive structures floated in the air, each one humming with power that reminded him of the Nexus itself.
At the center of the sky hovered a sphere of light. Its glow pulsed in rhythm with his heartbeat, and the voice of the System echoed once more.
System Directive: Phase Two – Face the Guardian of the Rift.
From the molten river rose a colossal being made of pure energy—its body shaped from the same essence that fueled the rift itself. Wings of radiant plasma spread wide, its eyes like twin stars.
Entity Identified: Rift Guardian – Class SS Trial Construct
The creature spoke, its voice reverberating through dimensions. "To ascend, one must master both dominion and restraint. Can you command your power without consuming yourself?"
Jinwoo's eyes glowed violet. "We'll find out."
The Guardian attacked, hurling spears of condensed light that tore holes through space. Jinwoo countered by summoning Igris and Beru through shadow gates, their forms merging into his aura instead of manifesting physically. His strength surged—the air screamed with each motion.
The battlefield became chaos. Each exchange unleashed shockwaves that fractured the molten ground. Jinwoo's mana surged uncontrollably, spilling into raw arcs of darkness that devoured the light itself. For the first time, he felt the weight of the System struggling to contain him.
The Guardian's wings folded inward, forming a massive spear. "Then perish in your own hunger."
It hurled the spear straight through Jinwoo's chest.
For a moment, everything went silent. Then the shadows erupted.
Jinwoo's eyes flared black and violet, and his voice came out layered with power. "You're right. I am hunger."
He caught the spear, crushed it, and released his full aura. The explosion was instantaneous—a burst of light and darkness intertwining like two halves of a broken god. When the smoke cleared, the Guardian was gone. The field was silent again, and Jinwoo stood alone, his body steaming with power.
The System's voice returned, clearer than ever.
System Message: Advancement Complete
Rank Achieved: SS Rank
Title Earned: Monarch of Equilibrium
A deep breath escaped him. The world around him began to dissolve, reforming into familiar light.
---
He opened his eyes to find himself back in Seoul, the storm dispersing above him. His allies stared in awe. The ground beneath him was scorched, the air still humming with residual power.
Jinah ran forward, stopping just short of him as the air distorted from the heat. "Oppa… your aura…"
Cha Hae-In's eyes widened. "It's… balanced. Light and dark at once."
Jinwoo looked at his hands, where shadows and light intertwined around his fingers. The power felt stable, no longer a storm but a steady flame.
"SS Rank," Baek Yoonho whispered. "He really did it."
Igris and Beru knelt. "My king," they said together, their voices trembling with reverence.
Jinwoo smiled faintly. "Rise. The real work begins now."
Far beyond the mortal world, in his dark citadel, Agnorath's eyes opened. His aura rippled with cold satisfaction.
System Message: Agnorath – Current Rank: XXX Threshold Achieved
"Good," he said softly. "Rise higher, Jinwoo. The closer you climb, the sweeter your fall will be."
Back in Seoul, Jinwoo gazed at the calm horizon. He could already feel it—the faint call of the Nexus.
Something was waiting for him beyond that threshold. And for the first time, he was ready to answer it.