Chapter one-The Beginning
A few years ago, the towers emerged - strange buildings, shrouded in mystery. Though they looked like any other towers, these monolithic structures pierced the skies like shards of darkness, with each floor resembling a whole new world. Their purpose and origin unknown, these towers, which looked dark and emitted an ominous aura, seemed dormant at first, until monsters started pouring out from within them. The monsters that poured out of them, however, were all too real. Waves of creatures, each one more terrifying than the last, ravaged the earth, leaving destruction and despair in their wake, slaughtering and destroying everything in their path, leaving not even a single blade of grass untouched. As humanity was almost driven to the brink of extinction, a single person began to kill all the monsters that were wreaking havoc. This man alone wiped out all the monsters he could find and then headed straight for the tower.
After this event, people all around the world began to awaken supernormal abilities. Those who were awakened had inhuman strength and power, allowing them to rival that of monsters. These awakeners were different from each other; not all of them had the same abilities. Some became warriors who fought with weapons at close range and had explosive strength, while some specialized in magic, and others relied on stealth. There were different variations of them. But one thing for sure was that each and every one of them was a monster themselves, capable of rivaling a country's military.
However, even among them, there were ranks. Those who awakened abilities were weaker, ranked between D-ranked to F-ranked, while those with exceptional abilities were classified from A-ranked to C-ranked. But even among them, there were rare talents with monstrous abilities and talents; they were known as S-ranked awakeners. These awakeners decided to call themselves Hunters.
After they awakened, all the Hunters one by one started going into the towers, as if they saw something or something was calling them into the towers. No one knew what it was, but one Hunter referred to it as the System. As humanity started to clear the floors at a fast pace, they caught the attention of the Transcendent - beings who stood at the pinnacle of the towers. Beings from other worlds, who had conquered the towers eons ago, now stood as paragons of power. Some were gods, once thought to be mere myths, while others were warriors or swordsmen who had transcended mortality. Not much is known about them, but all we know is that they might be a threat to mankind.
Well, that was 20 years ago, when nothing was known about the towers. Today marks the new year of 2055, and humanity has conquered up to the 60th floor. More information about the towers is being broadcasted on the news every day, thanks to the Hunters. Problems like food shortage and famine are starting to disappear, thanks to the access we have to the lands on the already cleared floors.
You know what? We'll talk about that later. I just realized I haven't introduced myself. My name is Hwon; I'm an orphan, so I don't have a surname. I'm 21 years old and live alone by myself. And no, I'm not awakened. Though life as an orphan and non-awakened isn't that good, it isn't that bad either... Never mind; this kind of life feels like shit. "Do you know how hard it is to survive in this world, starting with absolutely nothing? Well, if there's one thing I'm good at, it's surviving. You could say it's my own ability. I've been doing little work I could find and do since I was a kid until I was able to save up and get a place rented. At least I don't have to live on the streets again. And I bought some clothes to make myself look decent so I can look for a job. At least my life is finally getting somewhat better. But I wonder how my life would have been if I was an awakened. Would it have been better? I think it's best if I don't think like that; I don't want to jinx the life I've been building till now. Plus, I'm not exactly what you call lucky. So, that's that. Best not to get ahead of myself."
"Well, let's forget that. What about you? It's a good thing I found you in time and bandaged your wounds; otherwise, you would have definitely died." Hwon, who had been talking all this time, was shown to be in his house, talking to a cat which was sitting on the bed. It had an injury on its legs, but it seemed to have been well bandaged and taken care of. Hwon thought to himself, "It's a good thing I found this little guy in time. It seems he was attacked by some dogs but managed to climb a tree to escape. It doesn't seem to belong to anybody, either. If I hadn't passed by and seen him collapsed on the floor, he would have been in real trouble. But for some reason, after I helped him, he started following me and wouldn't go, no matter what I did. So, I decided to take him in. But now that I look at it, he does have a unique color of fur. Perhaps it's a breed I haven't seen before. Well, at least now I have someone to talk to. I was getting somewhat lonely lately."
The cat, which was on the bed, slowly crawled to him, rubbing its body against Hwon's hand, and then meowed. "Damn, he really is cute," Hwon thought.