Chapter 02 Dungeon
Before the detective could continue, a woman entered the interrogation room. The officer immediately put away his gun and removed his foot from Alex's chest.
The woman had short sky-blue hair, wore black leather armor, and had a sword strapped to her waist. She looked as if she were dressed for a cosplay convention.
"Detective Julião, abusive as always. You'd better prepare yourself to face another lawsuit. Leave me alone with my client."
She looked at him with irritation.
The woman said this while helping Alex sit in the slightly damaged chair. The detective snorted coldly before leaving, clearly not caring about the woman's words.
"Hello, I'm Joana. I worked with your father in the past. Currently, although I work as a hunter for the government, I am also a member of the Bar Association. Can you tell me everything that happened?"
Joana said this with a friendly smile.
"Didn't you already read the report provided by the police about what happened with Tiffany?"
Alex asked in an annoyed tone.
"Yes, I did, but I would like to hear it directly from my client. One warning: you'd better tell me the truth so that I can develop a good defense strategy and get you out of here as quickly as possible."
Joana made sure the cameras were turned off before continuing. Alex shook his head.
"Don't worry. I am your lawyer, appointed by your sister, and as I said before, I have already worked with your father. You can trust me."
"It's not that I don't trust you, unfortunately."
Alex showed her the back of his head, where a visible bruise could be seen.
"I lost my memories. I also don't know what happened. I only learned my name from the detective."
Alex decided to pretend he had amnesia for the time being. This way, people might explain to him what was going on. He was not stupid. Apparently, he was in some parallel reality where there were slight differences compared to his original reality.
"That complicates things. The Weber family is very influential in the city since they have three-star hunters, but I should be able to handle that for now. What do you remember? Or, rather, what don't you remember?"
"The only thing I remember is waking up here. I was only able to understand what was happening when I heard people talking. By the way, what is an awakened? And what is this story about hunters?"
A few minutes later, Joana took a stack of papers and handed them to Alex. They contained personal information, everything he needed to know about himself, as well as information about the so-called hunters.
"You recently awakened as a hunter. Use this on your dominant hand."
Alex put the glove on his right hand, and a faint light was emitted. After a brief flash, the glove returned to normal.
Joana put on the same glove, and after a slight glow, two stars appeared.
"Hunters are classified from zero to five stars. I have two, and you have none. The more stars you have, the stronger your authority will be. That means you belong to the lowest class of hunters that exists. Now let's see your authority."
"How do I do that?"
"Easy. You just need to open your attribute window."
"And how do I open the window?"
Joana slapped her hand against her forehead in response to Alex's question. She then decided to be even more direct.
"Just think or say, 'Open attribute window.'"
When Alex thought of the attribute window, a translucent screen appeared before him, revealing his information:
(NAME: ALEX, LUCID BEING, AWAKENED)
(GRAVITY AUTHORITY)
(SKILLS: NONE)
(LEVEL: 0)
(STRENGTH: 5)
(AGILITY: 5)
(HP: 10/9)
(MP: 5/5)
"It says here that my authority is gravity and my level is zero."
Joana then explained how the hunters' system worked, which was actually similar to a game. Thanks to this, Alex had no difficulty understanding it.
Hunters possessed something called authority. It was connected to a concept or a phenomenon of nature, intrinsically linked to their elements. Thanks to these authorities, they could manipulate phenomena, concepts, and elements of nature. The extent of their manipulation was proportional to the number of stars a hunter had upon awakening.
There was also a class system. The hunter was assigned a class by the system according to how they used their authority. Mage, warrior, assassin, and others were the easiest to obtain.
If someone acquired a special class item, they could obtain a unique, rare, legendary, or mythical class.
As Alex was newly awakened, he did not yet have a class. His level was also the lowest that existed.
Joana explained the current situation in the city, particularly regarding Alex's family, before leaving to find a way to free her client.
Back in his cell, two days passed. He had to endure the interrogations, and a doctor would come to perform an evaluation to verify his mental state and determine whether he had amnesia.
His sister came to see him several times, but he was not allowed to receive visitors.
A week later, Alex and several other prisoners were about to enter a dungeon.
Dungeon clearing was currently considered the most practical way to accumulate resources. The State and private entities competed on almost equal terms. The Hunters' Association was a government organization whose purpose was to protect the country and collect revenue through the dungeons.
They also regulated the activities of hunters both inside and outside the dungeons.
Hunter guilds were private organizations whose primary objectives were the enrichment and strengthening of their hunters. They also helped the government when necessary or when their interests were aligned. More generally, they were obliged to provide assistance to the people through the association.
"Quickly, one after the other. I don't have all day."
A penitentiary agent organized the prisoners as they exited a prison truck.
One by one, they came out wearing the orange uniforms of the municipal prison.
Two rows were formed. One consisted of young men between the ages of nineteen and forty, about fourteen prisoners in total, including Alex.
The second row consisted of girls from the women's prison. There were about eight of them.
All the prisoners were awakened, and like Alex, they had no stars. They were the weakest hunters among the awakened.
With the help of the officers, several teams were formed and assigned to raid different dungeons. A hunter agent was assigned to each team to coordinate and supervise the raid.
"Very well. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Joaquim, an agent of the Hunters' Association."
He raised his dominant hand, displaying a glove that shone with the faint light of a star.
"I am a stellar hunter, as you can see, and I will be in charge of this mission."
Agent Joaquim displayed a selection of weapons and asked each of them to come forward and take one that best matched their abilities.
System Alert!
YOUR LEVEL IS ZERO. YOU CANNOT EQUIP A WEAPON.
LOW-LEVEL SWORD, STRENGTH 5, AGILITY 1, DEFENSE 2.
REQUIREMENT TO EQUIP: LEVEL 3.
When Alex picked up a sword, he felt his hand being electrocuted, and the weapon immediately fell to the ground. Nevertheless, a system alert appeared before his eyes.
The remaining prisoners cast Alex contemptuous looks.
The agent made a sinister expression before hiding it behind a fake friendly smile. Since Alex could not equip a weapon, he was tasked with carrying resources in a large backpack.
Including Alex, there were about six young men: Joaquim, the agent; a bald man with prominent muscles named Augusto; his brother Cardoso, a twenty-five-year-old; Alfredo; and Paulo.