Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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2
I entered the Management Bureau and drew a waiting number for new Awakener registration. Then I found and filled out the new Awakener registration application form.
I had to write down my name, date of birth, skills, and stats in detail, but since both my skills and stats were unremarkable, there wasn’t much to fill in.
After completing the form, I took a seat and waited for my turn.
Looking around, a considerable number of people waited for their turn with excited expressions on their faces. Hunting is dangerous, but it’s a life-changing opportunity that can earn enough money to transform one’s fate, so everyone wore hopeful faces. In my past life, I had sat here with that same expression.
But was this something to celebrate? It would be fine for a while. However, soon the hunters would begin dying on the front lines from what was about to happen. Of course, that is—if I couldn’t stop it.
Ding dong.
After waiting for quite some time, my waiting number appeared on the screen with a cheerful chime.
“Hello! Congratulations on your Awakening! Did you fill out the application?”
A cute-looking civil servant with her hair neatly pinned up greeted me at the counter with a bright expression.
“Yes. Here it is.”
I handed her the application form I had prepared in advance.
“Lee Ji-seok… ah.”
The cheerful expression she had worn moments before changed to one of bewilderment as she read the application.
“You’ve obtained an F-rank Regeneration skill with no occupation.”
There are exceptions, but the rank of the occupation and skill granted at the beginning becomes the growth indicator for that Awakener. With low stats and an F-rank skill I’d never even heard of before, combined with no occupation, her shift in attitude was only natural.
“Is Regeneration a healing skill of some kind?”
“Yes. I can regenerate wounds on my own body. It doesn’t work on other people.”
“Ah, I see. Please demonstrate your skill in the Measurement Room in the back, and then come see me again.”
She looked at me with sympathy and handed the documents back to me.
The Measurement Room contained various weapons and dummies made from special materials.
“Lee Ji-seok?”
The measurer called my name. He had a sturdy build and wore a sword at his waist.
“Yes.”
I answered and approached him.
“Regeneration skill, correct? Would you mind showing me? We have potions and emergency personnel standing by, so don’t worry.”
The measurer guided me with a businesslike tone.
“Yes.”
I picked up a short sword from the weapon rack and slashed across my palm.
Though the measurer maintained his businesslike demeanor, his eyes flickered slightly when he saw me slash my palm without hesitation. However, when he observed the wound healing slowly, his gaze returned to indifference.
“Hmm. Only your own body, you said?”
“That’s right.”
After hearing my answer, he scribbled something on the form. Unlike the civil servant who had guided me earlier, he showed little emotional expression.
“Would you mind attacking that dummy over there? Bare-handed is fine, or you can use a weapon.”
That dummy had various sensors attached to measure the impact inflicted on it. I remembered from my past life swinging a sword I didn’t even know how to use like a club.
I hadn’t used weapons in my past life, and I had no intention of using them in this one either. Given my skill’s characteristics, fighting bare-handed was far more efficient.
I stood in front of the dummy as the measurer instructed.
Drawing on my combat instincts from my past life, I struck the dummy’s torso with all my might using my fist.
Boom!
My combat instincts remained, but my body was fragile. The skin on my hand tore and my bones cracked. I immediately began regenerating, but intense pain flooded through me, and I gasped, clenching my fist.
“You don’t have any other combat skills?”
“No.”
“Here you go.”
The Measurement Room official handed me the application form with indifference. I returned to the counter and received my Awakener Registration Certificate.
The certificate bore my name: Lee Ji-seok, F-rank Awakener. F-rank—the lowest tier among all Awakeners. But this was only the beginning.
“You’re aware that you need to graduate from the Academy and obtain your Hunter license before entering a Gate, correct?”
The counter attendant showed me an Academy brochure. Not every Awakener becomes a Hunter. At minimum, one must complete the Academy.
In the early days of the Gate Crisis, Awakeners were thrust into Gates without proper training, resulting in massive casualties that accelerated the Gate Breaks. Of course, it was unavoidable given the need to contain the surging monsters.
Now, with a basic system in place, no one could enter a Gate without completing at least one month of foundational training at the Academy.
“Yes, when’s the earliest available session?”
“Let me check. Ah, you’re in luck. Someone cancelled, so you can enroll starting tomorrow.”
“Then please process my enrollment application as well.”
She nodded and typed away, completing the enrollment procedures. She circled the schedule and the time and location for tomorrow on the printed guide, then handed it to me.
“Well then, best of luck.”
She looked at me with pity, as if sympathizing with my pitiful stats. She’d likely seen many people with mediocre skills become Hunters only to die.
I bowed slightly in gratitude and left the Management Bureau.
I smiled, imagining the expressions on that attendant’s and official’s faces when my abilities grew and my name became renowned.
* * *
“I’m home.”
Jae-won opened the door and entered.
“Oh, you’re back?”
I answered without turning around as I packed my belongings.
“Huh? Where are you going?”
“The Academy.”
I looked at Jae-won’s face and grinned widely.
“What?! Really?! You awakened?”
“Yeah. I’m enrolling at the Academy starting tomorrow.”
“That’s awesome, man! Congratulations!”
Jae-won enthusiastically slapped my back.
“What’s your ability?”
He asked me cautiously.
“Regeneration—something like self-healing.”
“Oh… I see. Anyway, congratulations!”
Even Jae-won, who took interest in Hunters, knew the famous skills. A Healer who cast healing on teammates would be valuable, but a skill that only healed one’s own body sounded underwhelming on the surface. Still, Jae-won didn’t show it and offered his congratulations.
Since time would reveal my strengthened self, I saw no need to add more now. Besides, telling him I’d regressed in time wouldn’t sound believable anyway.
“We have to celebrate! I’m buying chicken!”
After the chicken Jae-won ordered arrived, I poured glasses brimming with a cocktail of soju and beer.
“Don’t forget about me even after you succeed!”
We clinked glasses and drank deeply.
* * *
I’d drunk a bit too much yesterday, but thanks to my regeneration skill, I had no hangover. Jae-won, on the other hand, was sprawled across the floor like a roasted rice cake.
“See you later.”
There was no need to wake him, so I grabbed the bag I’d packed yesterday and left the Shared Apartment.
After switching buses several times, I arrived at the Academy.
The school entrance was packed with trainees and their families.
Since I’d come alone anyway, I went straight through the entrance and handed my Awakened registration certificate to one of the reception tables.
“Lee Ji-seok. Congratulations on your admission.”
The staff member took my Awakened registration certificate, verified my face against the photo, and checked me off on the prepared roster.
“This is a smart watch distributed during your Academy period. Always wear it on your wrist. And please wait at the Training Ground.”
After putting on the smart watch and observing people at the Training Ground, the time came and the Academy doors closed.
The smart watch tracked trainee locations and heart rates, and prevented unauthorized departures. Since trainees couldn’t leave for an entire month and only received training, apparently there were occasional cases of people trying to escape.
Ten instructors in black uniforms walked toward the front of the Training Ground. Academy instructors were naturally all Awakened, and as current or former hunters, their stats were absolutely respectable. Some became instructors due to personal circumstances, injuries, or because their skills didn’t align with Gates, but they were definitely not people to be underestimated.
“Attention! When an instructor calls your name, step forward. Understood?”
One of the instructors in the middle shouted, and his voice was louder than if he’d used a megaphone. I wondered if he possessed some kind of skill for that.
Scattered responses from the trainees echoed across the Training Ground, and murmuring continued without stopping.
“Quiet! Do you think the Academy is a joke?! Just because you’ve Awakened, do you think you’re guaranteed success now? Before the Academy was established, the mortality rate for hunters within their first year was 95%!”
At the instructor’s words, the hundred or so trainees on the Training Ground fell silent.
“What you will learn going forward differs fundamentally from what you learned in school and society. If you cannot keep up properly, you will be expelled. Now, I will begin calling names.”
With the now-quiet trainees between them, the instructors called out names in order.
“Why aren’t you coming faster?!”
As the atmosphere grew more hostile, some trainees flinched and rushed toward the instructors, while others walked forward without losing their composure.
It’s called the Academy now, but it used to be called a training center. Admission was called enrollment back then. But military-service Awakened raised fierce objections about trauma, so the name was changed to Academy. However, only the name changed. The methods remained largely the same. Since trainees had to risk their lives entering Gates, there was no point in gentle instruction.
Several lines formed ahead, but my name still hadn’t been called. I didn’t know in my previous life, but now I understood the reason. Those being called now were in order of ability stats. People with rare skills or high stats were placed at the front first.
“Lee Ji-seok!”
In the end, I was called second to last. The many trainees standing ahead of me showed my current position, but I wasn’t discouraged by the low ranking. Rather, I felt delighted thinking about how I would soon surpass them all.
“Congratulations on your admission, new Awakened. I am Seol Nam-gyu, Dean of the Academy. Going forward, you will learn the essential knowledge and abilities needed to survive in Gates. As the instructor mentioned earlier, this education is directly connected to your lives and those of citizens. If you cannot keep up with the training, you are free to leave the Academy at any time.”
After that, the Dean’s tedious lecture continued for about five minutes, but I mostly ignored it and looked around.
Even at the Academy, successful groups and unsuccessful groups were divided from the entrance ceremony itself. In my previous life, I wanted to belong to that successful group ahead, but I didn’t even dare try.
Now, I had neither the desire nor the need to belong to that group.
I was assigned a private dormitory room and unpacked my belongings.
Trainees rushed to the lecture hall to attend classes that began immediately.
A professor and two instructors entered the lecture hall, but it was still noisy.
The professor stood quietly, staring at the center of the lecture hall without saying anything, and soon the room fell silent.
“I will begin the class. I am Lee Mu-yeol, the professor who will teach you about the history of Gates and Awakened.”
Professor Lee Mu-yeol was an ordinary-looking man of short stature with slightly receding hair. He dressed neatly, but there was no particular sense of charisma. In contrast, the two instructors standing beside him maintained upright postures, staring at the trainees with an oppressive presence.
“Awakened began to be discovered worldwide starting in the year 2000. There was much talk—divine blessing, mutation, and so forth. And in the early days, their numbers weren’t that large.”
Professor Lee Mu-yeol displayed a presentation file on the screen and began the lecture while showing materials.
“And as you all know, the first Gate opened in 2005.”
The quiet lecture hall sank into an even deeper silence.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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