Cain moved toward the heart of the island, where the land gave way to a massive circular pit, the ground collapsing inward to reveal a glowing core beneath the surface. Heat rose from it in constant waves, thick and oppressive, distorting the air above like a mirage. This was the hottest point on the island.Cain drew in a slow breath as he slid down into the crater, boots grinding against the loose, scorched earth. The heat intensified the deeper he went, pressing against his skin and lungs, but he pushed through it until his feet touched the bottom.The moment he steadied himself, a sharp skittering sound echoed through the crater, and seconds later, the bastard showed itself.[Inferno Cinder Rat D-Tier]It was noticeably larger than the others, its lean frame packed with dense muscle beneath tightly clinging, charred fur that appeared darker—almost black in places. Faint ember-like cracks glowed along its limbs, pulsing with heat. Its eyes burned brighter than any he had faced bef

Cain woke up the next morning feeling different, and it took him a moment to realize why.He was rested. Properly rested.For a few seconds, he simply lay there staring at the ceiling, enjoying the unfamiliar sensation. His body felt heavy in the best possible way, as though months of accumulated exhaustion had finally been dragged out of his muscles while he slept.He had fallen asleep sometime around dawn the previous day, and by the time he opened his eyes again, an entire day had passed.A full day.He had slept for nearly twenty-four hours.Under normal circumstances, that would have been excessive, maybe even wasteful. But after everything he had endured, it was hardly surprising.On Ember Isle, true rest had never existed.Even when he managed to sleep, part of his mind had always remained awake, listening for movement, watching for danger, ready to spring into action at the slightest disturbance. Every night had been spent on hard ground beneath unbearable heat, knowing that a

The receptionist called in an equipment staff member, who then led Cain into a wide storage room lined with metal racks and reinforced shelves, each one carefully arranged with weapons, armor pieces, and utility items.The moment Cain stepped inside, he could already tell—none of it was high-grade.Nothing in the room stood out as special. Everything looked mass-produced, practical, and worn from repeated use—the kind of gear designed to keep a hunter alive, not to make them stand out.Of course, that made sense.The Guild Association wasn't going to hand out high-level equipment to low-tier hunters.Most high-ranking weapons were either owned by top guilds, assigned to elite hunters, or tightly controlled by the association itself. Giving something like that to a low-tier hunter wasn't just wasteful—it was risky.If the hunter died, which was common at that level, the equipment would be lost, stolen, or end up in the wrong hands.There was also the issue of compatibility. Stronger we

The sound of honking snapped him out of his shock, and Cain continued walking, a grin slowly forming on his face as his body trembled faintly with excitement."A legendary piece of equipment," he muttered under his breath.He hadn't expected something of this level to be hidden among low-ranked gear. The fact that it had been sitting there for who knew how long, unnoticed and freely available to anyone who claimed it, still felt unreal.If the Guild ever found out what they had unknowingly given away, they would take it back without hesitation, and that was reason enough for Cain to be careful from now on.With that thought in mind, he pulled up the description again and read through it more slowly than before.A storage ring with a capacity comparable to an entire city.That single detail changed everything.One of the biggest limitations hunters faced was what they could actually bring back from a rift. No matter how valuable something was, if you couldn't carry it out, it was as go

[You have come into contact with a D-Tier rift][Would you like to enter alone?]Cain paused, staring at the notification, confusion settling clearly across his face. The words didn't just catch him off guard—they felt out of place, almost disconnected from everything he knew about how rifts worked."Enter alone…"Was this another perk of the system?No… it didn't feel like one.He glanced around instinctively, checking if anyone else had reacted, if anyone else could see what he was seeing—but no one paid him any attention. None of them looked confused, none of them questioned anything, and that alone told him everything he needed to know.They couldn't see it.His gaze returned to the screen as he reconsidered the question.Would he like to enter alone?The answer came almost immediately.'No…'He shook his head slightly.There was no way he was entering a rift alone.The reasoning was simple.A D-Tier rift wasn't something a D-Tier hunter handled alone. The number and strength of t