The Hunter’s Guide To Monsters - Chapter 27: The Last Beginner Quest (4)

"When will people understand.... I'm only half insane?"

The year was 2026, and the world wasn't what it used to be. Ever since the Abyss Gates cracked open three years ago, spilling monsters and dungeons across the planet, life had turned into a chaotic mess. Cities were half-ruined, half-rebuilt, and people clung to whatever normalcy they could find. Hunters—those brave or crazy enough to fight the monsters—became the new heroes. Everyone else? Well, they just tried to survive.Fin wasn't a Hunter. He wasn't a hero either.He was just… Fin. A lanky 19-year-old with messy brown hair, a chipped front tooth from a dumb skateboard accident, and a power that everyone called useless. Absorption. Sounds cool, right? Like he could suck up energy or steal someone's strength. Nope. All it did was let him “feel” things he touched a little more than normal. He could tell you the exact texture of a brick wall or how warm a coffee mug was—big whoop. No fireballs, no super strength, no flashy moves. Just a glorified touchy-feely trick.“Fin, you gonna eat that sandwich or just stare at it like it's gonna confess its life story?” Meg's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.He blinked and looked across the rickety table at his best friend. Meg was short, loud, and had a wild mop of dyed purple hair that she swore made her look “intimidating.” It didn't.

He never performed well in either middle nor high school, and even after becoming an adult, he never worked. Be it morning, noon or night, he only played an online game. For him, being the world’s number one rank, playing that online game, was his very reason for living.

One day, his account was hacked and his character deleted. Restoration was impossible. Nothing that could be done. The number 1 rank that he literally spent his life to attain and to defend was now lost. Filled with despair, he turned to suicide.

When he opened his eyes again, there was the online game. No, the world itself looked similar to the game. He had been reborn as the extra character of the premium avatar he created in the past, but left untouched.

The former world’s top, was reborn in a world that looked like that online game. That was the beginning of his extraordinary legend.

A knight, a cat, a dark elf, and so on. Together with several unique companions, his training to regain his “world’s first rank” now begins.

"I want to run away from everything."