There were a lot of people inside the grand hall when we entered. The atmosphere buzzed with excitement and pride as banners of different parties hung high, glowing under the mana lamps. Hunters of all ranks filled the space their armor gleaming, their weapons strapped tightly as if the ceremony itself might turn into a battle.
I quickly moved toward one corner and stood there, trying not to draw attention.
Ruby followed me too, though I had no idea why.
"Hey, System… you there?" I whispered under my breath.
Hello there, Hiro! How's your day going?
"Just shut up and tell me what I want. If not for your useless quest, I wouldn't be here right now."
Okay, okay..calm down, take a chill pill!
"I won't say it again."
A soft blue light flickered before my eyes as the familiar system window appeared.
> [Quest: Attend the opening ceremony of your clan.]
[Reward: 1P]
[Status: Completed.]
"Finally," I muttered in relief. "So I can go home now."
Even though it was only one point, it was better than nothing. One point could still buy me something small maybe a low-rank relic, or if I saved up, enough to survive another week.
No, no..you've got a new quest! my so-called system said in a cheerful tone.
"W-What?" I froze as another glowing window popped up right in front of my face.
> [Quest: Make Your Presence Known. Go to Your Seat as the Clan Leader.]
[Reward: 2P]
"I changed the reward to two points to motivate you," the system said smugly. "So? You gonna do it?"
I sighed. "I don't have a choice, do I? I need the points if I want to survive in this world… but I should at least find a way to go there without anyone seeing my face."
Ruby turned toward me just then, her brown hair catching the light. "Hey, Hiro, have you ever been here before? This is my first time."
"Yes, I've been here about six times," I replied casually.
"Oh, really? That's a lot! Sorry about that."
I blinked. "Sorry? For what?"
But I could already tell she'd misunderstood something again. I let it go. No use correcting her when I was already half-terrified about my next quest.
Hunters continued filling the hall young, old, men, women, all of them glowing with pride or arrogance. You could almost smell the mana in the air, the faint metallic tang of energy mixed with tension.
In this world, hunters were everything. Fame, money, power it all came down to skill. Those with talent climbed fast. Those without had to cling to scraps and pray for luck.
I was the second kind.
Ruby nudged me gently. "Hey, Hiro, do you know that party over there? The one everyone's crowding around?"
I followed her gaze. At the center of the hall stood a group surrounded by admirers well-dressed hunters, confident smiles, sharp weapons. The name tag pinned to their uniforms gleamed in gold.
"Oh, them?" I said. "Yeah, I know about them. They're called Eden Knight. They're the ones who organized the ceremony today. They're recruiting new members since some of their top hunters retired last weekend."
"Wow, you know a lot!" Ruby said, eyes wide.
I forced a small laugh. "Yeah… you could say that."
Because I made them.
In the original novel, Eden Knight was the strongest team under my clan, Blazing Dawn. Back when I was just a reader, I admired how cool they were powerful, loyal, unstoppable. But now? They were people who looked up to me.
And if they ever learned that I wasn't the real deal, that I was just some powerless extra pretending to be their mighty leader…
Yeah, I'd be dead before the next sunrise.
"They're the elite of the elite," I explained aloud. "They even cleared a level seven star ruin last month."
"A level seven star?!" Ruby's mouth fell open. "That's insane! You can't even compare a level three ruin to that!"
"Yeah," I nodded, half-listening. "If you enter a level seven ruin without preparation, you won't even last a minute."
Her eyes were sparkling with curiosity now. "What about that guy sitting in the front? The one that just came in and sat down who's he?"
This girl had a lot of questions… but strangely, I didn't mind answering them. It had been so long since I'd talked this casually with someone.
"Well," I said, following her gaze, "that's Eden Prairie aka thunder. He's the leader of the Eden Knights. A level seven star hunter. If he accepts you into his crew, then your path as an Awakener is basically guaranteed."
Ruby stared, awestruck. "He's that strong?"
"Yeah." I sighed. "Strong, smart, handsome basically the perfect guy."
Eden Prairie sat in front of the hall like he owned the place. His yellowish golden hair caught the mana light, his calm posture commanding respect from everyone around him. He looked more like a celebrity than a hunter.
It ticked me off a little.
Still, it was impossible to deny he deserved his position. I knew his backstory from the novel. He was once a rookie who awakened his ability late but climbed all the way to the top through sheer will. A protagonist-type character.
"A clan is made up of a large number of people," I murmured as Ruby watched in silence, "and they're divided into smaller groups or parties to keep things organized… and to avoid problems."
She nodded slowly, glancing around at the crowd of hundreds of hunters from different factions. The ceremony hadn't even started yet, but the energy was already overwhelming.
And somewhere up there, in the front row of seats my seat was the one place I didn't want to be.
Because that seat belonged to the strongest man in the world.
And right now, that man… was me.