Jaxen knew he had to get stronger if he wished to compete against the top elites at the National Hunter Academy. His sister, Lara, was finally receiving the highest level of medical treatment due to his agreement with Investigator Bill. Bill had kept his end of the bargain, but it meant Jaxen had to deliver on his. There was another issue weighing on his mind. Jaxen had already been involved in two major incidents that required the intervention of high-ranking officials. Anymore could lead to overwhelming suspicion from the authorities. He needed to lay low, but he also needed to grind. Normally, the Hunter Association dealt with assigning and allocating newly appeared dungeons to the highest-bidding guilds. However, their jurisdiction wasn't unlimited. The Greyzone was a notorious, underground area known for illegal activities, black markets, and rogue awakeners. Minor F, E, and D-Rank gates frequently appeared in these lawless parts. Unlike the clean streets of Horizon City,

The fall felt endless. After tumbling through a suffocating tunnel of freezing muck, the vacuum suddenly released its grip. Jaxen slammed hard into a shallow pool of water, the impact knocking the wind right out of his lungs. He rolled over immediately, splashing into the dark current as he forced himself onto his knees. Striking a low-tier light crystal from his utility belt, the faint glow illuminated a massive, pitch-black cavern. The ceiling above was jagged with wet stalactites, and the floor was a wide, subterranean lake that stretched into the shadows. "Damn it... my leg!" Garret’s voice echoed through the cavern, followed by the heavy, metallic clanking of his armor. A few yards away, the former captain was struggling to stand. The dense mud from the upper floor had jammed the gears of his robotic prosthetic leg, making it spark weakly against the freezing water. Before Jaxen could even offer a fake hand to help, the water in the center of the cavern began to churn v

Jaxen walked out of the jagged dungeon gate, carrying Garret’s massive, armored body over his shoulder. Initially, he had planned to leave the man to rot in the mud. However, with the dungeon’s boss officially dead, the unstable gate was bound to collapse sooner or later. Even though Garret had been fired from his high-ranking position, a hunter who once held deep ties with a powerhouse like the Iron Vanguard Guild going missing would trigger a massive, unwanted investigation. That was the last thing Jaxen needed. He couldn't afford to have high-ranking scouts sniffing around the Sunken Catacombs, tracing steps back to his true identity. The other casual guild members who had gone to clear the separate, safer chambers of the dungeon were already waiting outside. This being a standard D-Rank raid, it hadn't taken them much time to finish up their respective paths. Seeing that none of them had encountered anything dangerous, the gathered hunters all assumed that Garret’s vanguar

After handing over his enrollment documents to the main administrative office, Jaxen was directed toward the residential sector of the campus. He navigated his way through the winding, manicured stone pathways, quietly taking in his new surroundings. Everywhere he went, eyes glared at him. Whether it was intense curiosity or underlying resentment, Jaxen couldn't quite tell, nor did he care what his fellow students were thinking. After everything that had happened in the Greyzone, his mind was entirely focused on finally getting some rest. His assigned quarters were small, consisting of two identical beds, two closets, and two compact desks. It was obvious from a single glance that this was a shared room. Jaxen set his duffel bag on the empty bed and began to unpack. He laid out a few sets of ordinary, everyday clothes he had purchased using his earnings from the D-Rank raid, along with his new mid-tier daggers. The weapons were sleek, finished in a muted silver-grey color. He want

When Jaxen woke up the next morning, the room was empty. Just like the day before, Peter was already gone, leaving only a neatly folded piece of notebook paper on Jaxen's desk. *Good luck on your test today,* the note read in sharp, hurried handwriting. *Wish me luck on mine as well.* "He’s one odd guy, isn't he?" Jaxen muttered quietly to himself, tossing the paper into the small trash bin. "Is he seriously going to keep doing this every single day?" After taking a quick shower to wash off the lingering grogginess, Jaxen made his way down to the campus cafeteria. He grabbed a simple, heavy breakfast of protein and complex carbs to fuel his body, eating quickly and keeping his head down. As soon as he finished, he went straight to the Crucible arena, arriving a full thirty minutes before the scheduled evaluation time. Today was the combat simulation phase, and he wanted to give his body an early, proper warm-up to ensure his movements wouldn't stiffen up under pressure. To his u