[SYSTEM ARCHIVE: GLOBAL AWAKENED CLASSIFICATION – UPDATED YEAR 2042]
In this world, strength isn't just power—it's law.
Every Awakened is ranked.
Every rank determines your fate.
RANK SYSTEM:
F-Rank: Considered powerless. Often weaker than trained civilians. Usually discarded.
E-Rank: Barely above average. Limited skill activation. Often used as support or "slot fillers" in gates.
D-Rank: First tier officially recognized as "Heroes." Can solo low-level dungeons.
C-Rank: Combat-capable, often used in squads. Some public recognition.
B-Rank: Mid-tier powerhouses. Can lead raids. Often employed by elite guilds.
A-Rank: National-level strength. Celebrity status. Monster killers. World-shakers.
S-Rank: The pinnacle. Legendary. Fewer than 100 exist worldwide.
Rank decides everything.
If you're D or above, you walk like a god.
If you're below… you pray one walks your way.
And I'm one of them.
[Returning to Dungeon: Bloodroot Abyss]
The Reaver Drake was faster than anything I'd ever seen.
It didn't move—it flashed.
One blink and its claws shattered the stone pillar beside us.
Another, and its tail caved in the wall behind Yena.
She stumbled, bleeding at the lip.
"Are you okay?!" I shouted.
She wiped the blood with the back of her hand. "Still alive."
"Barely."
We were cornered.
Her mana was nearly gone.
I had no gear. No strength.
All I had… was the system notification still floating in front of me.
[You have formed a Pact with Yena Lyse.]
[Class Unlocked: Revenant Bound]
[Warning: Class stability is dependent on both partners' emotional state and survival. If either partner dies, the other may suffer catastrophic system recoil.]
I didn't know what that meant—
But one thing was clear:
We were connected.
Bound by something deeper than blood.
Our lives… were now linked.
If she died, I might die.
If I died, she might too.
And yet—
Even in that moment…
Something inside me clicked.
Not fear.
Not panic.
But clarity.
"Riven—duck!"
The Drake lashed forward.
Its jaw opened—steam pouring from between razor teeth.
I grabbed Yena and rolled behind a collapsed slab.
BOOM!
The floor cracked. Heat tore through the air.
Yena coughed, and I felt it—my own chest burned as if scorched.
[Shared Damage: 12% transferred to user.]
My eyes widened. "We really are linked..."
"Riven," she gasped, "you don't have to do this…"
"I'm not doing it for me."
I stood up.
My legs trembled. But I stood.
And then—something shifted in my chest.
A new screen appeared.
[Skill Activated: Final Echo – Inert Mode]
Description: Echoes the emotional intent of a bound partner. Buffs physical and mental stats in proportion to emotional resonance.]
Warning: Skill stability not guaranteed.
Resonance detected: Yena Lyse – 86% Sync.
Boost granted: +50% Reflex, +30% Speed, +10% Mana Recovery (shared)
A low hum rang in my ears.
Like I was hearing music through bones.
Yena's heartbeat was echoing in mine.
Her resolve… her fear… her will to live.
I was feeling it all.
I charged.
Not to fight the Drake.
Just to pull it away.
"HEY, YOU DAMN LIZARD!" I roared.
Its red eyes snapped to me.
I threw a chunk of rubble, and it worked.
It came for me—tail swinging, claws out.
Yena raised her staff.
"Mana Chain!"
Light snaked from her hand, catching a crumbling arch above the Drake.
She yanked.
CRASH!
The stone arch fell—
Not enough to kill the beast,
but just enough to stun it.
I sprinted back to her.
"Run!"
We didn't need to win.
We just needed to survive.
[Dungeon collapse initiated. Countdown: 00:58]
What…?
[The Reaver Drake has destabilized the dungeon core.]
[Emergency Ejection Zone identified. Coordinates: North Chamber Gate Ruins.]
We didn't wait.
We ran.
Through broken columns. Over bloodied stones.
The Drake roared behind us—but slower now, limping from the falling debris.
We stumbled into the ruin at the far edge of the dungeon.
The air shimmered.
[Ejection Protocol Confirmed.]
[Transfer in 3… 2… 1…]
Light swallowed us.
[SYSTEM NOTICE]
[You have survived a dungeon beyond your class.]
[Ranking: F → E+]
[Unique Class Recognized: Revenant Bound (Unstable – Monitoring Required)]
[Next evolution: ???]
[Trait unlocked: Shared Resonance (LV1)]
[World will now remember your existence.]
We collapsed in a forest clearing outside the gate.
The other team was gone.
No one came looking.
Yena lay beside me—breathing, alive.
I looked at the sky, and for the first time…
It felt like I existed.
Not as a failure.
Not as dead weight.
But as something unknown.
Unwritten. Unranked. Unbelieved.
But alive.
And that meant one thing:
I still had a chance to become the Hero I always wanted to be.
Even if the system didn't want me to.
The reason why I always dreamed of becoming a hero?
I wasn't born in Tokyo.
I only moved here after everything was already lost.
My real home... was Osaka.
It used to be a city that never slept.
A second sun that glowed even after midnight.
Lanterns floating in Dōtonbori.
High-rises blinking like constellations.
Families eating takoyaki by the canal.
Kids racing through the arcade alleys, skipping school just to watch Heroes on big screens.
My home.
Now… it's just another Turf.
When the First Cataclysm began, a Gate appeared in Osaka's heart.
At first, they said it was manageable.
B-Rank. Controlled.
But something went wrong.
The dungeon mutated mid-raid—
Spiked into an A+ Anomaly, and then shattered its own boundary.
They call it a Gate Break.
When the monsters win.
The monsters poured out like a black tide.
And within hours, the city fell.
Osaka wasn't just destroyed.
It was rewritten.
The sky is different there now.
Darker. Always overcast, even when it shouldn't be.
Mana radiation lingers in the streets.
Birds don't fly overhead anymore.
Even time feels... off, like it's stuck.
The monsters claimed it as their own.
And in a Turf, monsters change.
They're faster.
Smarter.
Angrier.
It's not just a power-up. It's a curse.
Some believe the land itself feeds them, like the Gate became a god and made the city its altar.
You'd think the world would fight back.
But here's the truth—
Osaka is too expensive to save.
It holds no dungeon core.
No remaining survivors.
No valuable materials or rare-class crystals.
There's no profit in it.
The S-Rankers refuse to go.
Not because they can't win.
But because they don't want to lose money.
Their guilds are corporations now—
Answering to profits, not people.
They say they're Heroes.
But none of them came for Osaka.
So if you're asking me why I still push forward...
Why I still chase power even after being mocked for my E-Rank…
Why I haven't given up even after being left to die in a dungeon…
It's simple.
"I want to reclaim my home."
Not for a bounty.
Not for fame.
Not for the cameras.
Just for the memories.
Just for the place that raised me.
For the place where my father died in order to protect me.
I don't care if I have to crawl back into that cursed city myself.
Even if I die there—
I'll step into Osaka again.
And I'll bring the light back.
Even if it kills me.
The world we once lived in is gone.
The modern world is split into Safe Zones and Abandoned Zones.
Safe Zones are cities and districts that:
Survived initial Gate Breaks
Were retaken by high-level Heroes
Are protected by Guild-licensed Mana Barriers
Tokyo, Seoul, New York, and London all still stand—
but they are no longer cities for everyone.
They are fortresses for the living.
Within these zones:
Mana barriers keep out lesser monsters
Patrol squads eliminate minor breaches
Only Heroes C-Rank and above are allowed to live near core walls
The further out you go, the weaker the protection.
In Outer Wards, people live cautiously.
Not knowing if tonight's breach alarm is a test—or the end.
Fallen Zones / Redlisted Territories
Then there are the places the world forgot.
Entire regions where Gates went critical.
Where no one came to stop the flood.
Places like:
The Hokkaido Breach
The Shanghai Anomaly
The Delhi Black Gate
They were overrun.
Not just by monsters—but by Turf phenomena.
A Turf is a location where monsters don't just live—they dominate.
Inside a Turf:
The monsters gain environmental buffs
Their speed, strength, and mana capacity increase
Some evolve unnaturally faster
Even a D-Rank ogre in a Turf can kill a B-Rank Hero.
Because in a Turf… the rules favor the beast.
These areas warp over time:
Air becomes dense with unstable mana
Structures become twisted or partially reclaimed
Gate energy lingers in the soil
Heroes are advised to:
"Never fight a monster in its Turf. Lure it out. Ambush it. Or avoid it."
Recovering a Turf is possible—
But the cost is astronomical.
Most Turfs were born from broken A+ Rank Gates.
Gates that were:
Misclassified by the Guild
Or ignored due to lack of funding or S-Rank presence
To clear an A+ Gate or Turf:
A team of elite A-Rankers is required
Led by at least 2 S-Rankers
And that's the problem.
S-Rankers don't fight for free.
Most formed their own guilds.
They operate on contracts, profits, and return-on-investment.
A destroyed Turf?
It holds no valuable dungeon core,
no high-grade resources,
and no surviving population to reward them.
Which means:
"It's not worth it."
Unless the government steps in and offers a bounty so massive it makes headlines—
Most S-Rankers won't even glance at the mission brief.
And so… the world learned to live with the scars.
With red zones on maps marked "DO NOT ENTER."
With monsters roaming what used to be homes, streets, cities.
They call us Heroes.
But there are places even Heroes don't go.
Not because they can't…
But because they won't.
And if I ever want to change that—
To walk into the forgotten zones and come out alive—
Then I'll have to become more than a Hero.
I'll have to become a monster myself.