After making breakfast, Kael returned to his room and prepared himself for what was probably going to be a long and incredibly boring day.
He sat on the edge of his bed, staring at the wall for several seconds before falling backward and grabbing his phone.
"Maybe I should find another hobby."
Gaming had been his primary hobby for years, but even Kael had to admit that spending all his free time staring at a screen wasn’t exactly healthy.
He needed to touch grass once in a while.
Perhaps he could try something different.
Pottery?
Carving?
Maybe something like painting?
Kael imagined himself sitting somewhere quietly, carving a piece of wood into something artistic.
He stared at the ceiling.
Then sighed.
"Sounds like too much work."
Why go outside when staying inside was an option?
Besides, there was absolutely nothing wrong with gaming.
With that perfectly reasonable conclusion, Kael decided to spend the rest of the day doing absolutely nothing productive.
And that was exactly what he did.
He played games.
He slept.
He chatted with Lyra.
He ate dinner with her.
Then he went back to his room and slept again.
The day passed so quickly that Kael barely noticed it.
Before he knew it, morning had arrived.
The exploration of the new Rift was scheduled to begin at eight in the morning and would continue until roughly nightfall.
According to the recordings and reports left behind by the preliminary exploration team, the Rift itself didn’t possess a natural day and night cycle. Artificial lighting illuminated the interior, keeping the entire world bright regardless of how much time passed outside.
That didn’t mean the exploration team would remain inside indefinitely.
The environment was simply too harsh to establish a proper camp within the Rift. The extreme cold, unpredictable monsters, and other environmental hazards made staying overnight unnecessarily dangerous.
As a result, the plan was simple.
Enter in the morning.
Explore throughout the day.
Exit at night.
Return the following morning.
Repeat.
One day obviously wouldn’t be enough to completely explore an unknown A Rank or potentially higher Rift. The expedition had therefore been planned to last an entire week, with the exploration teams entering and exiting through the same sequence during that period.
Fortunately, Kael wasn’t in any rush.
It was only six in the morning when he woke up.
After getting out of bed, Kael prepared breakfast for himself and Lyra before taking a bath and getting ready.
By the time he finished everything, the clock had already reached seven.
Kael checked the time.
He still had an entire hour before the scheduled departure.
He could have stayed home for another thirty minutes and still arrived on time.
But being early was better than being late.
More importantly, Kael wanted to use the extra time to familiarize himself with the people he would be working with.
Jonas had already provided him with information about his team, and he had gone through their profiles the previous day. Still, reading someone’s information on a screen wasn’t the same as meeting them in person.
There was also the other exploration teams.
If Kael was going to lead his own team alongside them, there was no harm in getting acquainted with the other team beforehand.
With that in mind, Kael grabbed his things and left the apartment.
He walked down the stairs before making his way toward his motorcycle.
After putting on his helmet, Kael climbed onto the bike.
The engine roared to life.
A moment later, he accelerated onto the road.
The early morning streets weren’t particularly crowded, allowing Kael to make good time as he followed the coordinates Jonas had sent him.
After driving for a while, he finally arrived.
Kael slowed down.
His eyes widened slightly as he looked at the scene before him.
The Rift had appeared in the middle of a small city within the Third District.
The first thing Kael noticed was the condition of the surrounding buildings.
They were still mostly intact.
Windows remained in place.
Buildings hadn’t collapsed.
The roads were still relatively clean.
Even patches of greenery remained scattered throughout the area.
It seemed the Rift hadn’t existed for long enough for its energy to begin significantly affecting the surrounding environment.
Yet the area had clearly been evacuated in a hurry.
There was an eerie emptiness to the city.
The streets that should have been filled with people were deserted, while the abandoned buildings stood silently around the area as though everyone had simply vanished at once.
The Hunter Association had already established a security perimeter around the Rift.
Barricades surrounded the area, and numerous official personnel were stationed throughout the streets. Hunters and Association workers moved around constantly, checking equipment, communicating with one another, and maintaining security.
Kael parked his motorcycle near the designated area.
The moment he removed his helmet, he noticed someone approaching from the side.
Jonas.
The man walked toward him before stopping in front of the motorcycle.
"You’re here."
"Yeah."
Kael looked around.
"I decided to come early. Figured it’d be better to get accustomed to my team and meet some of the other members of the exploration team before we head inside."
Jonas nodded.
"That’s good. Come on. I’ll take you to your team."
"Sure. Lead the way."
Jonas turned and began walking.
Kael followed.
They passed through the security checkpoint without being stopped. The Association personnel recognized Jonas immediately and let them through.
As they moved deeper into the restricted area, Kael finally caught sight of the Rift.
It wasn’t particularly impressive.
Just a strange tear in space.
A distorted opening that seemed to lead somewhere beyond the boundaries of the world itself.
Kael had seen countless Rifts before, so the sight didn’t interest him much.
What did catch his attention was the group of Hunters gathered nearby.
They were dressed in various pieces of equipment, each carrying weapons and wearing protective gear suited to exploration.
His team.
Kael recognized them almost immediately.
He had already studied their profiles from the information Jonas had sent him, so putting the faces to the names wasn’t difficult.
As Kael approached, however, the Hunters noticed him as well.
Their conversations gradually died down.
One by one, their attention shifted toward him.
Kael continued walking beside Jonas without paying much attention to their reactions.
Then one of the women stepped slightly forward.
She had a distinctive wolf cut, and her eyes remained fixed on Kael as she examined him from head to toe.
"Is that the team leader?"
Her voice carried enough for the others to hear.
"I heard he’s the youngest S Rank Hunter, but I didn’t expect him to be this young."
There was genuine shock in her expression.
And one couldn’t blame her.
Although Kael looked slightly more mature than his actual age, there was no hiding the fact that he was still extremely young.
For most Hunters, reaching S Rank was something that required years of experience, countless battles, and surviving dangers that could easily kill ordinary people.
For someone who hadn’t even reached twenty years old to stand at the same level was something most people considered practically impossible.
Yet the young man standing before them was exactly that person.