Chapter 2: Provoked
Chapter 1
Present
People had long adapted to the current lifestyle. No one remembered the Shadow Clan anymore, everyone believed they had gone extinct. The remaining four realms had merged and now lived as one, working together to conquer portals, although they still had different kings for each realm and everyone kept to their boundaries.
These portals appeared randomly, on any day, at any time, and in any location. They were gateways to the Beast Realm. Ever since the seal was broken by the five-element weilder, these portals started appearing, allowing beasts to enter the world freely and destroy humanity.
Once a portal appeared, it remained sealed for three days and could only be accessed from the outside. During those three days, the beasts couldn’t come through. But on the third day, the portal would fully open, and the beasts could easily come out, which made it extremely dangerous.
So, special people were trained to go into those portals and kill the beasts before they could step out. These people were called Hunters.
Being a Hunter had no specific qualifications. One just had to be strong enough to kill a low-level beast.
It was one of the most prestigious jobs someone could get. The profits were huge because of the gems and treasures one could retrieve from the Beast Realm. Beasts had core treasures buried in them, which were very valuable, and the realm itself had many more treasures. Because of that, most people applied to become Hunters.
No one below eighteen was allowed to apply, so most parents trained their kids from an early age so they could apply as soon as they came of age.
Although born without magic, Kaizen was no exception. He had no magic, so he trained the hardest. His father was a retired Hunter who wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. But he was disappointed when he found out Kaizen was born without any magic.
Even with that, Kaizen still wanted to make his father proud. So he didn’t stop training. He worked on his strength, agility, and speed, making sure he was capable of killing a beast without using magic.
Kaizen applied to become a Hunter two months ago. At first, he was almost turned down because the mana stone used to test the level of magic a person emitted couldn’t even read anything from him.