Chapter 5: Knowledge Injection

Adam stood in front of the portal, the faint blue glow reflecting in his eyes. He took a deep breath, his heart pounding in his chest.

"Let's do it." he whispered to himself, steeling his resolve.

....

(May 15, 2026 – 12:21 PM)

A sleek, black car bearing the Hunter Association insignia pulled up in front of the apartment complex. The vehicle's doors opened, and several men in dark suits stepped out, each carrying a strange, handheld device.

The one in the lead, a tall, stern-faced man with short-cropped hair, adjusted his tie and looked at the building before walking toward it. Standing outside with his hands in his pockets was a young man, his expression calm despite the circumstances.

"Mr. Sen, right?" the leader asked, his sharp gaze fixed on Adam.

Adam nodded, his voice steady. "Yes, it's me."

The man's eyes narrowed slightly. "We received a report about a possible portal in this area. You're the one who reported it?"

Adam nodded again, scratching the back of his neck. "Yeah, I found it while I was looking for some tools. Went down to the basement and, well… there it was."

The man raised an eyebrow but said nothing, gesturing for Adam to lead the way. The group followed him inside, their footsteps echoing against the concrete floors as they descended into the basement.

"You live here?" the leader asked, glancing at the damp, dim surroundings.

"Yeah." Adam replied. "Been here for a while. Honestly, I hadn't gone down to the basement in weeks, but I needed something yesterday and figured I'd check."

The man nodded, seemingly satisfied with the explanation, and motioned for his team to start scanning the area. As they approached the portal, the eerie blue light cast shadows across their faces.

Adam pointed at it. "There it is."

One of the men immediately stepped forward, setting up a scanning device near the portal. The machine emitted a soft hum, its display flickering as it analyzed the mana emanating from the rift.

After a few tense moments, one of the men turned to the leader. "It's a D-rank dungeon, sir."

The leader frowned slightly, his gaze shifting back to Adam. "You made the right call reporting this. If you'd gone in there, you wouldn't have come back out. You're just a regular civilian, after all."

Adam forced a nervous chuckle, wiping his palms on his pants. "Yeah, I figured as much. Better safe than sorry, right?"

'I'm not some overpowered protagonist with plot armor.' Adam thought to himself, his heart racing. 'I've got to play this smart if I want to survive in this world.'

The leader turned to his team, his voice sharp and commanding. "Evacuate the building and secure the area. Notify the Hunter Association immediately. We'll need a team to clear this dungeon before it breaks."

The men snapped into action, their movements swift and professional as they began making calls and directing the residents upstairs. Adam watched them work, his mind racing. This was his first real encounter with the Hunter world, and it was a stark reminder of how dangerous this new reality could be.

'I need to get stronger.' he thought, his resolve hardening. 'And I need to do it well.'

....

Adam was escorted to the Hunter Association building in Alessandria, a modest structure compared to the sprawling headquarters in larger cities. The car ride was quiet, though Adam's mind buzzed with questions and plans. Once inside, he was led through a series of halls until they reached an office marked Portal Discovery Testimonies.

Inside, a man and a woman sat at a simple desk, their attention shifting to Adam as he entered. The man was in his mid-thirties, lean and wiry, with a friendly smile. The woman was younger, her sharp gaze and muscular frame immediately giving off a more intimidating aura.

"Have a seat, Mr. Sen." the woman said curtly, motioning to the chair across from them.

Adam sat down, but as he did, he whispered in his mind, 'Awà, scan them. Are they hunters?'

[Scanning..] Awà responded. A moment later, her voice returned. [Both individuals are hunters. The male displays a mana density and muscle structure many times higher than the host. The female, however, is 13 times stronger.]

Adam's eyebrows twitched slightly. 'Thirteen times stronger?' he thought, impressed.

[Correct.] Awà confirmed. [Her mana density is significantly higher, and her muscle composition suggests enhanced physical training and conditioning.]

The man extended his hand. "I'm Luca, a D-rank hunter. This is my colleague, Elisa. She's a C-rank hunter."

Adam shook his hand and nodded politely. "Nice to meet you both."

Elisa wasted no time. "We'll need your testimony on how you discovered the portal. Once you sign the papers, you'll receive your reward."

The paperwork was straightforward, mostly detailing his discovery and a few liability disclaimers. Adam carefully maintained his story about looking for tools in the basement and finding the portal by accident.

After signing the final document, Luca handed him an envelope. "Three thousand euros, as promised. Thank you for reporting the portal promptly."

"Thanks." Adam said, tucking the envelope into his bag. He stood, gave them a polite nod, and left the office.

(May 15, 2026 – 2:03 PM)

....

(2:07 PM)

Adam walked down the streets of Alessandria, the weight of the envelope in his pocket grounding him. The city hummed with life, cars weaving through traffic, pedestrians chatting as they moved along the sidewalks, and the occasional street vendor calling out to potential customers.

His steps were steady, purposeful, yet his mind was already racing toward his next move. Strength was his ultimate goal, but raw power alone wouldn't be enough. He needed knowledge.

Spotting a bus waiting stop, Adam took a seat on the bench, letting out a slow breath. The plastic felt warm under the afternoon sun. He pulled out his phone, the familiar glow of the screen greeting him as he opened the browser.

Without hesitation, he typed:

Complete explanation of how computers and their components work.

Countless articles, research papers, and instructional guides filled the screen. He began scrolling, absorbing titles and summaries, clicking on the most comprehensive sources.

'Awà.' he spoke in his mind, his expression full of interest as his eyes flicked across the screen. 'Immediately transfer the knowledge I see on the web, correct it, improve it, and inject it into my mind as I scroll. Do the same with any video I watch, ensuring I understand the concepts as if I had studied them since childhood.'

[Acknowledged, Host. Initializing knowledge integration.]

A faint sensation spread through his skull, like the refreshing coolness of water cascading over his mind. As he scrolled through a detailed breakdown of motherboards, processors, RAM, and power supplies, Awà extracted, refined, and implanted the information seamlessly.

Adam's fingers moved faster, switching between sources, skimming data, and pulling up YouTube tutorials on building high-performance PCs, understanding circuits, and configuring operating systems.

He wasn't just memorizing, he was understanding on a fundamental level. Concepts that would have taken years to master settled into place as naturally as breathing. The difference between x86 and ARM architectures, the role of cache memory in processing speeds, the thermal conductivity of different heat sinks, it all unfolded in his mind effortlessly.

'This… this is insane.' He marveled as the bus arrived, pulling up with a low mechanical hiss.

(2:15 PM)

Adam stepped onto the bus, swiping his fare and finding a seat near the back. His eyes remained locked on his phone with his focus unshaken.

Storage types, motherboard chipsets, BIOS configurations, overclocking safety limits, latency reduction techniques… Knowledge flooded in, refined by Awà's enhancements.

Each piece of information clicked into place, his mind categorizing and cross-referencing effortlessly. He didn't just know computers, he understood them, as if he'd spent years assembling, troubleshooting, and optimizing machines with expert precision.

He exhaled sharply, gripping his phone. 'It's so easy.'

The corners of his lips curled slightly. With the 3,000 euros, he could build a powerful system from scratch. Once he had a solid PC, he could dive into software, cybersecurity, data science, anything.

----

This time i will take a different approach and it will probably make adam strong fast, and i mean fast, so i will try to incorporate the business and guild side along with the secondary characters to give deph to the story.

Since this is a rewrite and to ask for forgiveness i will also write about some oc's you all wrote about.

Take this as a thanks for the feedback as well your patience!

Your sincerity is making me grow as an author.

If you want to support me even more consider to visit my Patreon please 😊.

Patreon: Mr_Graythorn

patreon.com/Mr_Graythorn