The guildhall bell tolled at dawn, its deep iron note reverberating through Dawnreach like a summons to judgment. Hunters stirred from taverns, barracks, and alleys, some staggering drunk, others already sharpening their blades.
By the time Jaeheon reached the central square, the air thrummed with voices. Dozens of hunters gathered, their ranks uneven—some armored in steel plate, others in leather stitched thin by coin. E-tier aspirants, all of them, waiting for their trial.
The Trial of Ascension.
At the platform's edge stood the adjudicator, her iron-gray armor catching the morning light. Behind her, banners of the guild swayed, black and silver against the rising sun.
Her voice cut the noise like a blade. "Hunters. You stand here as aspirants. By dawn three days hence, you will return either proven, broken… or not at all."
The crowd fell silent.
"The Black Quarry awaits," she continued. "Once a mine, now a nest of beasts. Within, you will find your trial. Proof of kill must be brought back—cores, fangs, or hides. Survive, and you rise. Fail, and the Quarry keeps what it claims."
Her eyes swept over them, cold and steady. "No aid will come. No rules protect you. You enter together, but only strength will see you out."
The words were not warning. They were law.
---
Beside Jaeheon, Minjae smirked, his blond hair gleaming like a crown. "Try not to trip, baron's whelp. It would be embarrassing to die before the beasts even notice you."
Jaeheon didn't reply. His gaze stayed on the platform, but inwardly, the system's hum steadied his thoughts.
---
[System Notice: Trial of Ascension registered.]
[Objective: Survive three days in the Black Quarry. Collect at least 3 Beast Proofs.]
[Reward: EXP, increased Fame, potential Rank Advancement.]
---
Hunters filed forward to register, names inscribed into glowing tablets. When Jaeheon's turn came, the clerk's quill hesitated a fraction before writing his name. The Ravager kill already hung like a shadow over him.
"Han Jaeheon. Recorded."
Whispers rippled. He ignored them.
---
Later, in the quiet of a rented room above a tavern, Jaeheon laid out his gear. His sword gleamed faintly after long sharpening, his cloak mended where claws had torn it. He had no enchanted armor, no noble's cache of potions, only steel and the system whispering behind his eyes.
He called up the panel.
---
[Status Screen]
Name: Han Jaeheon
Tier: E
Level: 4
Strength: 9
Agility: 8
Endurance: 5
Intelligence: 8
Charm: 1
Luck: 0
Unallocated Stat Points: 3
Skill Points: 1
Skills:
Hunter's Instinct (Passive): Increased reaction speed against beasts.
Beastpiercer (Title Passive): Damage against beast-types increased by 10%.
---
Three points. He weighed them carefully.
Strength tempted him—raw power to end fights faster. But without speed, he'd be overwhelmed. And without endurance, his body might break before his blade did.
He split them: one into strength, one into agility, one into endurance. Balance, always.
Then the skill list flickered.
---
[Available Skills]
Silent Step (Passive): Movement noise reduced. Increased evasion in low light.
Adrenal Surge (Active): Burst of speed and strength for 10 seconds. High stamina cost.
Blood Edge (Passive): Attacks grow stronger as health decreases.
---
He studied them long. Silent Step promised survival. Adrenal Surge offered power. Blood Edge was a gamble—a skill that demanded pain.
Pain, he already lived with.
He chose Blood Edge.
---
A pulse ran through his veins, hot and sharp, like his blood itself had learned to hunger. He flexed his hand, feeling the edge of something new waiting to be drawn out in battle.
The Quarry would bleed him. He would bleed it back.
---
Dawn broke the next day over the Black Quarry.
The land yawned open in a jagged scar, stone cliffs plunging into a pit of shadow. Wooden scaffolds clung to the rock, broken and abandoned. A faint mist clung to the depths, carrying the stench of rust and something fouler.
Hunters stood at the rim, their numbers smaller than the city's gossip had promised. Many aspirants had already balked at the danger.
The adjudicator raised her hand. "Enter."
No speeches. No ceremony. Only the descent.
Minjae strode first, his cloak sweeping behind him, his followers close. He didn't look back, but Jaeheon felt the weight of his smug certainty.
Jaeheon descended last, his boots steady on the creaking planks. The shadows swallowed him, the air growing colder, heavier.
The Black Quarry was not just stone and dark.
It was hunger waiting.
And it had noticed him.
The descent was silent at first, nothing but boots on wood, the creak of old planks, and the faint hiss of wind threading through stone. The scaffolds clung to the cliffs like ribs around a hollow chest, each platform leading deeper into the Quarry's gaping maw.
The mist thickened as they descended, coiling around ankles, soaking into cloaks. The smell grew worse—iron and ash, a metallic tang that prickled the tongue.
Hunters muttered, their bravado thinning.
"Smells like rot."
"Like blood that never dried."
"Gods, how deep does it go?"
Jaeheon said nothing. His hand brushed the hilt at his waist, eyes sharp on the shadows below. The Quarry wasn't just a pit—it felt like a wound carved into the world.
And wounds festered.
---
At the bottom, the ground was broken stone and old rails from the mine. A few rusted carts lay overturned, wheels half-buried in dust. The tunnels yawned ahead—black mouths framed by collapsed beams, some wide enough for wagons, others little more than cracks.
The adjudicator's voice carried down from the rim above. "Survive three days. Proofs must be brought back. Begin."
Then silence. No guild guards remained. No eyes watched. Only the hunters, and the dark.
---
Minjae wasted no time. He stepped onto a rail, turning to face the others with that smile that never reached his eyes.
"You heard the adjudicator," he said, voice sharp. "We survive together, or we scatter and die like rats. As the strongest here, I'll lead. Those who want protection, follow me. Those who don't…" He glanced at Jaeheon. "…I hope you run fast."
Several hunters murmured agreement. Two armored men fell into step behind Minjae—clearly his family's retainers, disguised as hunters. A handful of younger aspirants, nervous and eager for safety, drifted to him as well.
Jaeheon watched the little court form. The noble always found his stage.
But others resisted.
A scarred woman with a broad axe scoffed. "I don't need a lordling to tell me how to swing steel." She stalked toward a separate tunnel with three rough-looking hunters at her back.
Another pair—a wiry archer and a shieldbearer—chose the middle path silently, ignoring both Minjae and Jaeheon.
The Quarry was already dividing them.
---
Jaeheon didn't move. He studied the tunnels instead, his instincts pricking like needles.
The left path where Minjae preened? The air smelled faintly wrong, the mist swirling heavier as though hiding something.
The right path where the axewoman went? Too quiet. No echo, no draft. Dead air.
The middle? Subtle, but there—a faint scraping, as if stone shifted under claws.
The Quarry was alive, and it had set the board.
---
"Oi. Baron's ghost," Minjae called. His tone was mocking, but there was an edge of impatience. "Don't tell me you're afraid to step forward?"
Jaeheon met his eyes, steady. "I walk alone."
A ripple of laughter spread through Minjae's group. But underneath the noise, Jaeheon caught something else—the tightening of jaws, the flicker of unease. Because walking alone meant confidence. And confidence, here, was unsettling.
He turned and chose a narrow tunnel branching from the middle path, ignoring the others.
---
The tunnel swallowed him.
Light faded fast, the mist clinging like cobwebs. His steps echoed faintly on the stone, rails vanishing underfoot. The air was damp, heavy, carrying whispers of old collapse.
Then—
A crunch.
He froze. The sound hadn't been his. It came from deeper ahead.
The system flickered.
---
[Danger Detected: Lesser Corrupted Hound]
---
The growl followed. Low, guttural, vibrating through the stone.
From the dark, it emerged—once a wolf, now twisted. Its fur was patchy, skin cracked with glowing veins of red. Eyes burned faintly like embers. Saliva dripped from jagged teeth, sizzling where it hit the floor.
Its body shook unnaturally, as though strings pulled it from within.
The Quarry's corruption made beasts into things worse than predators.
---
The hound lowered itself, muscles twitching. Jaeheon drew his blade slowly, breath steady.
His first test.
The hound lunged.
---
It was faster than it looked, claws raking stone as it blurred toward him. Jaeheon's instincts surged—time seemed to slow, angles and paths flaring in his mind. He sidestepped, steel flashing.
The blade bit into its flank, not deep enough to kill. The beast shrieked, blood sizzling against stone. It twisted mid-air, snapping at him with jaws wide.
Jaeheon ducked, cloak tearing as teeth grazed fabric. He rolled, came up on one knee, and slashed upward.
The blade cut clean through its jaw.
The hound staggered, choking on its own corrupted blood. It lunged again, reckless, wild.
Pain seared his arm as claws raked flesh—shallow, but burning where corruption touched skin. His blood dripped, hot and sharp.
And then, his new skill stirred.
---
[Blood Edge Activated.]
Attack power increased by 15%.
---
Jaeheon didn't hesitate. He surged forward, blade glowing faintly red in the dark, and drove it through the beast's chest.
The hound spasmed once, then fell still.
Silence returned, broken only by his breath.
---
He pulled the blade free, wiping it on the beast's ragged fur. Its body steamed faintly, corruption leaking like smoke. He knelt, pried loose a shard of bone pulsing with red light—the Beast Proof.
---
[Beast Proof Acquired: Lesser Corrupted Hound Core.]
[EXP Gained: 45.]
[Level Up: 4 → 5.]
Stat Points gained: +3
---
The panel vanished, leaving him in the dark with the corpse. His arm throbbed where claws had touched him, veins stinging faintly. The Quarry wasn't just trying to kill—it wanted to infect.
Jaeheon tightened his grip on the core. He wouldn't let it.
The Quarry wanted blood.
It would drown in his instead.