Chapter 19: Shocking Revelation

'Ah, word of my awakening must've already spread. It hasn't even been a whole 24 hours yet, and yet it already reached this magnitude.' Zoey thought, looking over the agent's shoulder and observing the angry crowd of media journalists and reporters, being held back by a group of agents from tne association.

"Look there she is!" One of the journalists shouted, pointing upwards at Zoey's room, catching a glimpse of her, the eyes of the journalist were wide and full of greed he knew that this would bring in so much money for their newspaper headlines.

"Zoey Monroe! Is it true you've awakened as a Hunter?" Another journalist shouted, struggling against the agents that were providing no passage to them, their camera's flashing brightly with each snap.

"Zoey!"

"Zoey! Over here!"

The journalists and hungry media fought hard for her attention, but Zoey didn't want to give them the pleasure of hearing her voice, so she turned to face the agent infront of her.

"The Hunter Association requests my presence?" Zoey repeated, feigning ignorance, although she had already anticipated this.

The agent nodded, "Yes, I've been personally tasked with escorting you there." The agent said, a small look of embarrassment crossing her face as she added:

"And I'd like to apologize for yelling at you like that, that was very rude of me."

Zoey's eyes widened momentarily, her heart skipping a beat. Nobody had ever bothered to apologize to her before, she was so used to the mistreatment and mockery that this kind gesture felt alien to her.

"....Don't worry about it, I'm over it." Zoey said, a small sigh escaping her lips.

The agent's face beamed as she let out a small smile, gesturing for Zoey to follow her as she began to walk down the stairs. Zoey closed the door behind her as she followed the agent down the stairs and towards a fancy, sleek black car, with slightly dark tinted windows.

The media screamed and begged for Zoey to look at them as they flashed their cameras and extended their microphones towards her, but Zoey kept moving forward, not giving them a glance as she followed behind the agent.

The agent opened the car for her and gestured for her to climb inside, Zoey nodded and stepped into the car, marvelling at the fabulous and grand interior as she sat at the back seat. The agent soon climbed in after, starting the car as she drove off towards the Hunter Association.

"Damn it! She got away!" One of the journalists yelled, frustrated as they clicked their tongue.

"I didn't even get a good picture, none of these will work for our news paper headlines. This was a important task, and now I failed it, I might even get fired for this!" Another added, a mix of rage and worry in their tone, about the possibility of losing their job.

"Quick! Go to the Hunter Association! We might have another chance of getting a picture of her!"

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"We're here." The agent said as she glanced at Zoey from the top mirror in the car, noticing her serious expression, a side of her she had never heard of, or seen before.

Zoey noticed her gaze and looked back at her, causing the agent to quickly avert her gaze, faking a cough to break the strange atmosphere. The agent then got out of the car and opened the door for Zoey to step out.

'It feels strange to be treated like this...like an important person.' Zoey thought with a slight frown, stepping out of the car. A strong beam of sunshine hit her face as the light reflected of the large glass panes of the Hunter Association, the building looming into the sky as the Skyscraper it was designed to be.

"Follow me." The agent said as she began to walk into the Hunter Association building, with Zoey walking behind her. As they walked, Zoey noticed the multiple stares of Hunters and staff members boring into her. Whispers and murmers breaking out of awe and curiousity

"Wait, is that Zoey Monroe?" One of the Hunters said, a short sword attached to their waist.

"The "Mana-less" girl right? I heard that she had awakened yesterday." Another Hunter added.

"Wait seriously!? She awakened? But that's impossible!"

"Didn't you check the news? It's all over Social Media man!"

"I also read that she cleared an F-Rank dungeon all by herself upon awakening."

"Wait what? By herself, you need atleast a group of 3 to take down a dungeon upon awakening. But even then, that's crazy difficult!"

"Unless....."

Zoey ignored the suprised and shocked murmers about herself as she continued to follow the agent through the hallways, her eyes roaming over large paintings of important figures of Zolorius City as their frames were held on the wall for all to see and admire.

"Alright, this is it." The agent spoke as they arrived infront of a white door, a highly developed technological lock at the side of the door.

"Isn't this the testing room?" Zoey asked, raising an eyebrow out of curiosity and slight confusion. The room inside had multiple training programs that were there to gauge a Hunter's Strength, Agility, Vitality, and Defense.

"Yes, this is indeed the testing room, mean't for testing your abilities for further evaluation as a Hunter." She said as she took a card from her pocket and scanned it on the lock.

Click!

The door opened smoothly, showcasing a large room with various equipment, and devices. Varying from a large treadmill, to a training dummy with a tablet screen on it's chest area, and much more.

"I thought we were supposed to begin with filling out a form?" Zoey asked, looking at the agent with eyes laced with a bit of suspicion.

"We'll get to that later, as of right now I've been tasked of recording and measuring your capabilities as a Hunter. The Association Leader has personally tasked me with this as well, so I have no choice but to proceed with it."

The agent said, sighing slighty as she placed her hands on her hips.

'The Association Leader, huh?' Zoey thought, her eyes narrowing slightly.

"Alright, let's get this over with." Zoey said as she entered the room, the door closing behind her with a soft click.

The agent moved to a separate room, one filled with computers and multiple screens to record and measure Zoey's strengths. She sat down on her chair, speaking into the small microphone on her desk:

"We're ready to begin."

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Inside a office of a powerful family, a man with crimson hair and crimson eyes sat on his desk. His eyes roamed on an article that was recently posted yesterday, and yet this article was making headlines and breaking news all across social media.

"It can't be...." The man's voice unknowingly left his lips, his eyes wide, full of shock and disbelief.

He blinked and rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, and when he opened them again, he was still shocked to see that the news wasn't fake, that the awakening of a certain someone, someone he had neglected and put through years of torment, had recently become a Hunter, clearing a dungeon all by themselves.

"That's impossible!" The man's voice roared, full of mighty explosive power that knocked over his laptop, sending it hurling into the wall and breaking it.

'This can't be happening, there's no way that her Awakening is real. Has the media gone insane? She has no Mana in her body, no system, nothing!' The man's thoughts raced, his expression crumbling with every second that passed. The hard reality starting to settle into his mind.

'If this is indeed true, and she has cleared an F-Rank dungeon by herself. Then that must mean....'The man slammed his hands on the table, his eyes widening in realization as his eyes gleamed with a predatory light.

-------

Zoey sat in the waiting of the Hunter Association, on the table lied a completed form of her application, a cup of coffee and biscuits next to it, but she hasn't touched them, as she feared that it could be poisoned....strangely enough.

'The tests were really easy, but I had to hold back severely to make it look like I struggled a little. My scores were recorded on the tablets of the tests I had been put through, averaging about 40-50.' Zoey thought with a small sigh.

'it's really hard to control my strength without proper training. And with my tests completed, I'm definetly going to stand out as a prodigy among the Lower Rankings' Zoey further pondered.

Hunters were divided into the three groups: Lower Rankings, High Rankings, and Ascendant Rankings.

The Lower Rankings consisted of the weakest of Hunters, mainly, F-Rank, E-Rank, and D-Rank. High Rankings only had C-Rank and B-Rank, as these Hunters were considered to be very powerful and highly respected in society.

And lastly, Ascendant Rankings, the peak of it all. Consisting of A-Rank, S-Rank, and SS-Rank. Currently, there was only one person in the entirety of the world who had the title of SS-Rank, a powerful woman who had fought the war against the beasts on the Corrupted Demonic Continent for several years.

'Humanity's Sword....' Zoey recalled her title, a small smile forming on her face.

"Zoey," The agent from before walked into the room, holding a crystal ball and a tablet in her free hand as she approached her.

"All of your results were amazing, far beyond the results of the average Hunter." The agent said, wonder and awe in her tone as she continued:

"But before we finalize your application and grant you your Hunter ID. There's one more test we have to do, to see if you hold any Talents."