The light from the gate gradually faded, revealing the silhouette of a young man walking out with steady yet heavy steps. Raden stepped out from the dimensional rift, his body stained with dried blood and dust, still trembling slightly from the immense pressure of the battle he'd just endured. No one knew what had happened inside. No one had witnessed the fierce fight against Arvex, the boss of the darkness stage. Most importantly, no one knew it had been a secret mission from his unique system.
Outside, the atmosphere remained the same. The safe zone around the gate was guarded by two Hunter Association staff members, chatting while monitoring a holographic display. When they saw Raden emerge, they stopped talking and hurried toward him.
"That's him," said the woman, her hair tied back in a ponytail, wearing a black jacket with the Hunter Association emblem.
"Wait... hasn't this gate been active for over three hours?" the man beside her asked. "If he's only Rank-F, he should be dead. How is he still alive?"
Raden took a deep breath. In an instant, he wiped away the tension on his face and replaced it with a look of calm fatigue.
"Hello," he greeted casually. "You're from the association, right?"
The woman stepped closer, glancing at the magical energy detector in her hand. The needle spiked as it approached Raden.
"Strange..." she muttered. "The residual energy from inside the gate is far too dense. This doesn't match an E-rank dungeon."
"Are you okay?" the male officer asked, eyeing Raden carefully. "What's your name, and how did you survive in there?"
"Raden," he replied. "And… honestly, I don't know. Maybe I got lucky. The monsters weren't that aggressive this time."
The woman narrowed her eyes. "Not that aggressive, huh? But the magical energy in your body is far too dense for a Rank-F hunter. Don't you think that's odd?"
Raden chuckled lightly. "I'm not officially registered as a hunter yet, so maybe your scanner's glitching. Besides, I didn't bring any cores or loot from inside."
He deliberately left out the Black Key safely stored in his system inventory.
"Alright," the man finally said. "But we'll still report this. There are protocols for suspicious activity involving gates."
"Go ahead," Raden replied. "I'm just an ordinary hunter."
They stood in silence for a moment, only the wind and the hum of the gate scanner breaking the stillness. Soon, the female officer activated a survey drone and began scanning the area around the gate. The male officer continued to observe Raden closely.
"Where do you live?" he asked.
"Bekasi. Why?"
"Just recording it for the report."
Raden nodded and took his leave. They let him go, but their expressions clearly showed that their suspicions hadn't faded.
---
An Hour Later
Inside a cramped room on the second floor of a cheap boarding house, Raden leaned against the wall with the window open. The late afternoon sun filtered through the curtains, casting a warm glow across his tired face. He raised his hand to open the system interface, pulling out the Black Key from his inventory.
"What is this key even for...?" he muttered, staring at the mysterious item.
The key appeared to be made of obsidian, with no engravings, no markings, no description from the system. When he shifted his gaze to his status panel, the system only gave a simple notification:
[Item: BLACK-COLORED KEY]
[Function: Unknown]
"Why won't the system give any details? Usually, every item has some kind of explanation," Raden murmured. "Is this a quest item or something?"
He stared at it for a long while, but no further answers came. Eventually, he returned it to his inventory.
---
Elsewhere in the city, inside the headquarters of the Indonesian Hunter Association, the two field agents who had met Raden earlier were now standing in a briefing room. They were speaking to an older man with silver hair—head of the Gate Intelligence Division.
"This is the second anomaly in an E-rank gate this month," said the man. "And you say the young man named Raden survived after over three hours inside?"
"Yes, sir," the female officer replied. "And our magical sensor clearly detected an overwhelming amount of battle aura. It was almost like... a boss monster had spawned."
"But that's impossible. E-rank gates never generate bosses."
"I know, sir. But I trust the data we collected."
The old man fell silent for a moment, then spoke slowly. "We'll keep a close eye on this Raden. Do not confront him directly. Assign a shadow monitoring team. If he's hiding something… we'll find out soon enough."
---
That night, Raden sat on the rooftop of his boarding house, gazing up at the dark Jakarta sky. In his hand was the Ebon Dagger, now returned to its standard form.
"If the system gave me a key... then there must be a door."
He thought back to the fight with Arvex. It hadn't felt like a mere test of strength—it was more like a trial. A challenge preparing him for something far greater. He was now level 130. But he knew… that number still meant little.
Suddenly, a notification popped up before him:
[Congratulations! New Daily Mission Unlocked]
[Mission: Survive for 24 Hours Without Using Voidblade]
[Reward: EXP +200,000 | Random Rare-Tier Item]
[Penalty for Failure: Death]
"...Death?!"
Raden's eyes widened. The mission sounded insane. No Voidblade—and survive a whole day? Survive what? And from whom?
He stood, instantly alert. His eyes scanned the area, but nothing seemed out of place. The system's instruction was to survive, not fight—which meant a threat was coming.
Then, he heard it.
A soft sound from below his boarding house. Footsteps—too light for a normal human.
Raden took a deep breath.
This night... was far from over.
And perhaps, the Black Key... was only the beginning.