Survival in the Ruins: I can make everything evolve infinitely Chapter 2 - Training to Level Up & One Crossing Chance

Chapter 2: Training to Level Up & One Crossing Chance

“Here, your number card!”

While Lorraine was idly observing the scene, a voice suddenly came from beside him, accompanied by a hand extending towards him.

Lorraine looked down and saw an oily, dough-faced humanoid handing him a card with the number 406.

“Oh! Thank you!”

Lorraine accepted the number card, watching the dough-faced humanoid’s retreating figure with curiosity in his eyes.

A sentient non-human life form… Lorraine couldn’t help but wonder if this dough-faced being was an animal or a plant.

However, as a chief secretary of the Hunter Association, Lorraine clearly had no chance to study the dough-faced humanoid further.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

As Lorraine lamented this missed opportunity, a loud alarm echoed wildly through the underground tunnel.

Almost everyone present turned towards the sound.

On the pipe attached to the tunnel wall stood Satotsu, the examiner for the first round of the Hunter Exam, looking calm and composed.

“The reporting time has now ended. The Hunter Exam officially begins!” Satotsu declared, leaping lightly from the pipe. He landed and calmly faced the large crowd of Hunter candidates.

“Please follow me.”

With that, Satotsu began walking deeper into the tunnel.

The candidates exchanged uncertain glances but eventually followed him.

“A word of warning: the Hunter Exam is extremely brutal. If you are unlucky or lack strength, it is easy to get injured or even lose your life. Cases of candidates becoming permanently disabled are not uncommon,” Satotsu said as he walked.

“If you wish to back out, turn around and leave. Those who are unafraid, follow me!”

Satotsu’s voice was not loud, but it carried clearly to the ears of all 400-plus participants present.

The result was predictable: not a single person chose to quit.

Even Lorraine was prepared to jog a few kilometres for the experience.

Hearing no signs of anyone giving up, Satotsu nodded slightly and said, “Understood. A total of 405 Hunter candidates will participate in the first test.”

“I have yet to introduce myself. I am Satotsu, the examiner for the first round of the test. I will now lead you to the venue for the second test.”

As Satotsu spoke, his strides gradually lengthened into an odd running gait.

Meanwhile, candidates close behind Satotsu curiously asked why they were heading straight to the second test. However, Lorraine could no longer hear their conversations.

The thing was…

Running in flip-flops was much more exhausting than Lorraine had imagined.

With a steady slap-slap sound, Lorraine jogged behind the group, gradually falling further back.

Still, Lorraine wasn’t worried. He had no intention of passing the Hunter Exam anyway.

Jogging leisurely, Lorraine opened his system interface to study it again.

Although the interface was so basic that there wasn’t much to examine, the simple act of making it appear and disappear could entertain Lorraine for an entire evening.

Ten minutes later.

Pant. Pant.

Lorraine stopped, gasping for breath.

“It’s only been two kilometres, right?” Lorraine looked ahead but could no longer see the candidates.

Under normal circumstances, Lorraine’s stamina wasn’t as freakish as the other candidates, but he wouldn’t be this winded after just two kilometres.

It was the flip-flops. They weren’t suitable for running.

“Guess I’ll head back!” Lorraine glanced at the long tunnel ahead and prepared to turn back.

Stopping after just two kilometres might be embarrassing, but continuing meant not passing the test anyway. The farther he ran now, the farther he’d have to walk back later.

The Hunter Association wasn’t kind enough to send someone to pick up stragglers in the tunnel—you had to turn back on your own.

Just as Lorraine was about to leave, he froze, staring at his system interface. His steps halted mid-turn.

[Divine Hundred-Level System]

Name:Lorraine
Level:0 (1/1) +
Attributes:Locked
World:Hunter x Hunter

“Experience?”

“Where did that come from?”

Lorraine stared blankly at the experience points displayed beside his level.

Wait.

Lorraine’s expression stiffened.

Although his system had levels, no one ever said it was a monster-hunting upgrade system!

This meant…

Lorraine thought about the most likely reason he had gained experience during the past half-hour: the two kilometres he had run.

“So, it’s a training-based levelling system?” Lorraine’s face fell immediately.

Thanks to this training-based levelling system, he could level up, but compared to a monster-hunting system, training was far more exhausting.

“Maybe it allows for monster-hunting too,” Lorraine hoped as he eagerly clicked the upgrade button.

Hunting monsters or training—he’d worry about that later. The important thing was levelling up now!

The moment Lorraine clicked the upgrade button, a warm current appeared in his chest and spread throughout his body.

For a brief moment, Lorraine felt an unprecedented sense of comfort, as though his entire being was immersed in warmth.

The sensation disappeared quickly, but it took Lorraine over ten seconds to recover from the bliss.

“So this is what levelling up feels like!” Lorraine muttered, his face showing a trace of longing. It wasn’t the potential power he craved but the pure pleasure of levelling up.

Reluctantly shaking off the feeling, Lorraine reopened the system interface.

[Divine Hundred-Level System]

Name:Lorraine
Level:1 (0/1000)
Vitality:1
Mental Strength:1
World:Hunter x Hunter
Crossing Chances:1

“A thousand experience points to level up… so the first level was a starter gift,” Lorraine thought without much concern. A thousand experience points—only two or three thousand kilometres, right?

That seemed like… quite a lot, actually.

“Vitality and Mental Strength…” Lorraine raised an eyebrow at the two new attributes.

Though abstract, Vitality likely referred to his physical condition, while Mental Strength pertained to his mental and spiritual resilience.

“One point… I wonder what that means?” Lorraine mused, sensing his current state.

Perhaps…

He could actually try taking part in the Hunter Exam.

Staring at the deep tunnel ahead, Lorraine’s eyes glimmered with determination.

If possible, he wanted to pass the Hunter Exam. After all, becoming a Hunter was the safest and most comprehensive way to learn about Nen.

As Lorraine’s excitement grew, his eyes caught a new line on the system interface.

Crossing Chances: 1

“Crossing chances…” Lorraine’s eyes narrowed.

What did it mean?

Could he return to Earth?

Or…

Could he travel to a new world?

Lorraine stared at the crossing button on the system interface, speechless.

After a long pause…

Exhale.

Lorraine let out a deep breath, choosing to ignore the option for now. Whether it meant returning to Earth or entering another world, he wasn’t prepared for such a leap.

“For now, let’s pretend it doesn’t exist,” Lorraine muttered, using the interface’s folding function to hide the last line.

“Time to catch up with the others!” Without hesitation, Lorraine began running along the tunnel again.