The next morning, the sun bled through my single grime-streaked window, hitting me like a physical weight. My body was stiff, my jaw throbbed with a dull, rhythmic ache, and every time I moved my shoulder, it felt like a rusted hinge grinding together. My tiny apartment felt smaller than usual—the smell of damp wood and cheap instant noodles clinging to the peeling yellow wallpaper. I looked at my reflection in the cracked bathroom mirror and saw a loser staring back. But I couldn't afford a rest day. In this world, if you aren't moving forward toward N-Rank, the tide of the city just pulls you under.
I headed straight back to the Hunter Association monolith. I walked past a group of N-Rankers standing by the elevators, their high-quality reinforced gear shimmering with a polish I couldn't afford, and headed for the licensing department.
"I'm here for a Scan Upgrade," I said, sliding my scratched K-Rank ID across the desk.
The clerk looked up, a judgmental glint in his eyes. "That's a high-tier convenience for a K-ranker. It'll be 100,000 yen. Pre-paid."
I felt my stomach drop. I only had ¥22,000 to my name—literally all the money I had left for food and rent. I stood there, the silence stretching until the hunter behind me huffed in impatience. I didn't have a choice. If I wanted to be efficient, I had to do this. I signed the paperwork for a predatory, high-interest Hunter-loan to cover the remaining ¥78,000.
I walked away officially broke, my bank balance sitting at a flat zero and a debt hanging over my head like a guillotine. The chip was now in my ID, syncing my phone to the dungeon networks so money would hit my account the second I stepped out of a Gate, but the cost had stripped me of everything.
I trekked back to the industrial district, the smell of grease and wet concrete filling my nose. I found a quiet alley behind a row of shuttered warehouses and closed my eyes, reaching out with that familiar, itching mental thread.
"Rat Call".
The response was faster than before. My Mastery of skill [Rat-king] was climbing, and I could feel the signal reaching deeper into the dark spaces beneath the pavement. Forty-two rats scurried into the light, their red eyes fixed on me with unsettling intensity. I led my grey tide toward another K-Rank Gate nearby, tucked away in the basement of an abandoned warehouse.
As I stepped through the shimmering violet portal, the air turned cold and damp. I wasn't just here to clear the dungeon; I was here to evolve. I needed to reach Level 4, which required 60% Mastery. I needed to justify the fact that I was currently starving.
"Form up," I commanded.
The rats snapped into a tight formation around my boots. A group of three goblins emerged from the darkness of the first corridor. Usually, I'd just dodge and end them quickly, but today, I purposely stayed in the pocket of their attacks. I wanted to feel the threshold of my power. As a bone club swung toward my head, I didn't flinch.
"Rat Wall".
I pulled exactly fifteen rats—the bare minimum—to block the strike. I felt the impact vibrate through the mental connection, a sharp pang of sympathetic pressure. I held the shape for an extra, agonizing second, testing the tension of the swarm before the rats were crushed.
Immediately after the impact, I channeled the remaining energy. "Rat Blade".
I focused on the mental image of a razor, trying to align the rats' teeth and hardened fur into a perfect, serrated edge. The blade felt more stable than the first time I'd used it, less like a pile of animals and more like a tool of war. With a clean, horizontal sweep, I cut through the lead goblin's guard, the living blade humming in my hand.
A notification pinged in the corner of my vision: Mastery of skill [Rat-king] has increased 38.4% -> 41.7%.
It was a slow, grueling process. My muscles burned and my head throbbed from the constant mental strain. I spent the next few hours clearing corridors, switching between Rat Enhanced Strike and Rat Splat, not just to kill, but to learn the exact timing of when the rats' durability peaked.
By the time I reached the massive stone doors of the boss room, I was drenched in sweat and my glasses were slipping. I was starving, deep in debt, and physically exhausted, but I was starting to become a weapon.