He knew that it was impossible for him to detect the Final Boss Persona system, as the information he had obtained from it made it clear that it was accessible only to him.

No other figure had such a system in the entire world.

He realised that the man had detected something else and wanted to know what it was.

The man let go of Abel’s hand.

Abel withdrew his hand back onto the bed.

"Ahem. Congratulations, Mr Abel, you’re now an awakened. One thing I forgot to inform you is that based on the purity of a Hunter’s mana upon awakening, it’s possible to determine a Hunter’s innate potential," the man said.

Just as Abel was about to speak, the man interrupted, "Before you ask, your mana is the purest I’ve ever seen upon awakening. But that’s it. It doesn’t have the potency that should come with such purity. Like a liquor without a kickback... But that shouldn’t be possible. We’ll need proper testing at a Hunter-registered facility so we can get a better understanding of what’s happening." He shook his head, then narrowed his gaze on Abel, studying him from head to toe.

Upon hearing the man’s explanation, Abel understood what had happened. He pondered whether this was because he had awakened through the system and not through natural means. Considering that his stats and mana upon awakening were D-ranked, coupled with immense mana purity, it was normal to understand why the man before him seemed confused.

Nonetheless, Abel knew that every Hunter’s awakening was unique, but he didn’t expect his to be this uniquely diverse.

"Did you awaken a skill?" he asked, staring at Abel intently.

Abel hesitated to answer. He hadn’t expected such a question so directly.

"It’s okay, you don’t need to answer. A Hunter’s strengths and weaknesses are directly related to their skills. You don’t need to reveal them to me, and no one will force you to do so either," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Besides, I shouldn’t be asking a newbie that kind of question."

"By the way, I don’t think I have introduced myself yet. I’m Isiciah, a professional Hunter," Isiciah said, stretching his hand forward for a handshake.

Abel shook his hand before letting go.

"You’ll be transported to a Hunter-registered hospital within the next 24 hours. After the paperwork has been done, your bills and everything will be taken care of by the government and the Hunter Association. Once you’ve made a full recovery, you’ll be led to a Hunter facility to get your Hunter registration. I’m certain that they will be able to figure out what is wrong with you," the man said as he stood up from his seat.

The man brought out a card from his breast pocket and handed it over to Abel. "Here’s my card. You can contact me if you’re looking for a scout to join a guild. I can’t promise you anything, but it’s still better than nothing."

Abel received the card.

On it was a title ’Invitation card’ with the name ’Hunter Isiciah’ at the bottom.

"I’ll be taking my leave so you can have your rest. Hope we can cross paths next time, Mr Abel," Isiciah said, turning around and waving his hand at Abel as he took out his cigar from his breast pocket to light it. He stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Abel stored the card under his pillow and closed his eyes to rest.

Twenty-four hours later, Doctor Mike and the nurses came to escort Abel on his way to the new hospital. Abel found the event entirely flattering because it was as though they were giving him a celebrity send-off.

Abel arrived at the new hospital and realised that it was much bigger and more luxurious than the previous one he had been in.

He also saw that the security was far tougher. Perhaps because this was a hospital mostly used by Hunters, they had to strengthen the security not only to handle potential internal threats but external ones as well.

"According to your report, the awakening hasn’t caused any damage to your legs, but instead it has strengthened them. The only trouble seems to be that, due to the condition you were in before your awakening, your legs are still going to take some time to get accustomed to the sudden burst of strength. Nonetheless, you should be able to walk out of here within two or three days," the doctor said, flipping the clipboard in her hand with a serious expression while glancing at Abel.

"After you’ve recovered, you’ll need to register as a Hunter to obtain your Hunter’s certificate. We don’t do that at the hospital, but we can arrange some personnel to escort you from the hospital to the nearest Hunter registration centre. You may also choose to wait until you’re ready to obtain your Hunter’s certificate. However, you will not be able to access important dungeons or gain access to information usually available only to registered Hunters," she explained.

"Without those, your chance of dying if you choose to enter a dungeon is 100 per cent higher than that of a registered Hunter. And if it’s found out that you’re committing crimes without a Hunter’s license, it will be seen as a sign of terrorism, and the punishment will be far worse than those with a Hunter’s license. This is to curb radicals who wish to misuse their abilities for evil."

"If you want my advice, then I suggest you get the Hunter’s certificate and license as soon as you can." She paused, then sighed tiredly. "But at the end of the day, it’s up to you."

"Thank you, doctor," Abel nodded in understanding.

The doctor had taken her time to explain the situation to him, and was much more in-depth than Isiciah, as though she had done this countless times already.

Suddenly, a smile appeared on her face. "You’re welcome. Now get some rest. I don’t want this to become a frequent occurrence," she said with a nod. She turned around and exited the room, taking some items she had brought in with her.

Abel sank into his thoughts.

"Have you found a new Final Boss Persona yet?" he asked. It had been over twenty-four hours, and the system hadn’t found a new Final Boss Persona for him to access yet.

[Searching for Final Boss Persona...] The system responded.

Abel sighed, seeing that the notification was still the same as the last few minutes he had checked.

After Isiciah’s assessment, he realised that in order for him to take full advantage of the Hunter’s registration, he needed to grow his stats to B or A rank in order to be highly regarded as someone with incredible talent.

As for pushing his stats to the unprecedented S-Rank, that was something only a handful of Hunters he had heard about had achieved before reaching Level 2.

However, Abel knew that he was capable of accomplishing such a feat with the help of the system.

The issue was that Abel didn’t know how long it would take. He had heard of Hunters who had spent two years at Level 1 before they were able to push their stats and accumulate enough experience to reach Level 2.

And most of all, he didn’t want to draw too much attention to himself and risk exposing the existence of the system to others, most especially to those Patrons above who always seemed to be scouting for fresh meat to play with it.

Thinking about the Patrons, Abel felt a shiver run down his spine. He didn’t know how such beings had come into existence in this world. It was best that he did everything to avoid them for now.

[Final Boss Persona found.

Do you wish to accept? Yes/No.]

Suddenly, another notification emerged.

Abel exhaled in relief. He had almost given up, thinking that he would have to wait two or three days before he could get a new Final Boss Persona.

He quickly realised that there was no menu to find out what kind of Final Boss Persona it was until he accepted it. It was potentially dangerous if he entered into a weak Final Boss against potentially powerful Hunters.

But this was also his fastest way to grow stronger, and he had been waiting for this very moment.

So, Abel selected, "Yes."

[Final Boss Persona will be assigned in ten seconds... 10... 9... 8... 0]

Abel felt that he was slowly losing consciousness.

His body remained in the same place while his consciousness was transported to the Final Boss Persona, so Abel didn’t fight the feeling.

His vision went dark.

***

[Final Boss Persona Assigned.]

Still not being accustomed to traversing his consciousness and the stinging headache that came along with it, Abel groaned softly.

"GRRHHHH!!.."

A low, guttural breath escaped his throat.

He froze, realising that his jaw felt heavier. His tongue felt longer. His teeth felt sharper. He couldn’t feel his hands. Only the sensation of his legs. He took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Grrhhh!!.."

Every breath dragged in scents layered with impossible clarity, which he never believed was even remotely possible for a human.

He stared at the system notification before him.

[Final Boss Identity: Silverback Tyrant]

[Level One Dungeon: Baneroot Forest]

Abel groaned once more as he assimilated information pertaining to the dungeon before regaining his composure.

"Final Boss Status."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Final Boss Persona: Silverback Tyrant]

Dungeon Level: 1

Boss Level: 1 (Role-Bound)

[Strength: D+]

[Mana: D]

[Agility: C-]

[Physique: D+]

[Dexterity: D]

[Attribute: Wind.]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Skills:

Alpha’s Mark (D+): Mark a target. All wolves prioritise that prey.

Bloody Howl (D+): Releases a terrifying howl to induce fear or disorient prey.

Survivor (??): One survivor will always make it out of the dungeon alive to spread your legend.]

[Passive Final Boss skills:

Park Leader (D+): Wolves will instinctively obey, follow and protect you.

Alpha’s Command (D+): Boosts all nearby wolves’ speed and attack coordination.

Ironhide Defence (D+): Physical attacks deal reduced damage unless aimed at weak points.]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Emotion Points: 630EP]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Abel realised that he didn’t get an SS-ranked skill this time around. Instead, he received two D+ ranked skills, excluding the system-based skill. And three D+ passive Boss skills.

He saw his saved Emotion points.

Abel attempted to get up on his feet.

He looked down and saw four enormous wolf-like limbs.

Ching!!

Sharp, glinting claws extended from his paws like knives unsheathing themselves, firmly clawing on the rock underneath his feet.

Just like his former Final Boss Persona, he was no longer anything remotely close to human. His vision slowly adjusted as he looked around his surroundings to get a better idea of where he was.

He was within a large cave with bones sprawled against one side of the walls.

As though sensing movement, several low growls emerged from outside the cave.

Abel slowly walked out of the cave. Even with the memories of the Silverback Tyrant implanted in his mind, he still had to learn how to adjust his body and get used to walking on all four paws.

As Abel emerged from the cave, he was immediately greeted with the sight of four 3-foot-tall wolves, each about 8 feet long from nose to tail. Their fur was blackish grey, with a silver stripe running across their backs. Each of them had ferocious teeth and claws that seemed capable of tearing apart the average human to the bone.

He realised that these were his pack.

The wolves immediately parted, standing on opposite sides as though acknowledging his presence.

[Dungeon will open in ten minutes. Take your position, Final Boss – [Silverback Tyrant]]

A familiar notification alongside a timer appeared before Abel.

[10:00]

Abel walked between the pack. The wolves immediately took their positions on either side as they followed behind him.

He decided to test out some of his abilities himself before the dungeon opened.

Abel, alongside the wolf pack, raced into the dense forest before them.