Why Did I Write So Many Tropes?!

[Strength: F++ → E-]

[Endurance: F++ → E-]

[Dexterity: G+ → G+]

[Agility: F+ → F+]

[Mana: E++ → D-]

"These abilities are enough to do some hunting, right?" I murmured to myself as I went through my checklist of things I would need.

D ranked mana ability, check.

Light armor, check.

Mana conduit sword, check.

Storage pouch stocked with food and water, check.

I had a three-day weekend coming up tomorrow and I was planning on doing some hunting in dangerous wilderness zones.

Wilderness zones emerged when mana mutation turned normal animals into bloodthirsty creatures or a Gate Break released monsters that could reproduce. However, most wilderness zones only contained weak monsters that could easily be purged by the military or Heroes.

Why were they kept around then?

Because they were commercially viable.

Monsters that cannot reproduce or provide no value will either naturally die quickly or be eliminated by the government. However, some monsters that can provide useful materials like their skin, horns, and scales, will be contained inside wilderness zones to reproduce in a relatively safe environment before hunting season-- then, qualified individuals can be allowed inside to hunt them for profit.

The government will buy the monster corpses off your hands for a good price, before reselling to gear production companies in bulk quantities.

Although I'm young, I'm also an Academy student in Class A with one D rank ability and two E rank abilities. It's nothing to brag about among the talented geniuses in the Academy, but I'm already stronger than the average low-rank soldier and even some qualified hunters.

Despite that, I still had to get a license.

"Shouldn't be too hard," I murmured to myself at the door to the Heroes' Association.

The Association handled all things related to Gates and monsters. They were the agency in charge of Heroes, who are essentially civil servants. They were also in charge of certifying licenses.

When I walked up to the counter, the woman at the desk greeted me warmly. "Hello! How can I help you today?"

"I'm here to get a hunting license," I explained, showing her my student ID.

Any skepticism she might've had melted away when she saw the words

"Academy" and "Class A" on my ID. "Of course! Just fill out this form and then please wait in the sitting area until your name is called."

After a few minutes, I was called in to take the written test. It mostly tested me on different types of wilderness zones, emergency procedures, and different monsters. Thanks to Mav's memories combined with my gamebreaking knowledge, I breezed through the test.

The harder part was after. The combat practical.

I was led into a large, white room. Above, I could see a pulsing purple orb embedded into the ceiling: a demonic core. Judging from the size and glow, it was a pretty powerful one too.

[Simulation begins in thirty seconds.]

I let out one long breath, squeezing the handle of my longsword before relaxing. 

"Let's get this over with."

The mechanical voice on the intercom slowly counted down.

…

[3.]

[2.]

[1.]

[Begin.]

Purplish particles of light began appearing around the room and coalesced into silhouettes of light that rapidly gained substance.

As the light faded, I could see one green-skinned, hunchbacked monster with yellow eyes and orange irises snarling at me. Its dirty claws looked sharp.

A goblin. Nimble monsters who take advantage of their dexterity to create tools and traps.

The words popped into my mind unprompted, a combination of my own knowledge as an author and Mav's academic genius.

I quickly stepped forwards and it started moving at the same time. When I swung my sword to attempt to cleave it in two, it nimbly dodged away.

Expecting me to be off-balance from overextending, it screeched as it launched itself at me wildly.

Unfortunately for the goblin, I had anticipated that and my swing quickly turned into a brace for impact as the goblin impaled itself on my blade.

[Stage 1 cleared.]

The goblin's body didn't bleed; rather, it started disappearing into sparks in the same manner it had appeared.

More purple motes of light appeared like before and coalesced into two shapes. As the light faded, two goblins were snarling at me, perhaps even uglier than the last one.

Is it just gonna' increase in number? I skipped the license test in the original novel… so I only know that it uses simulated monsters.

I wasn't too worried. Being able to stand up to Leo meant that I could at least qualify for a D rank license.

I killed the two goblins with relative ease.

Stage three had three goblins and so on.

On the sixth stage, only one figure appeared. I wiped the sweat off my brow. "Asking someone to fight six goblins would be pretty unreasonable… unless I was the main character. Guess it makes sense that it's not just increased numbers."

When the purple glow dissipated, I gripped my sword as I found myself face to face with a snarling pig-like creature with glowing red eyes and silvery tusks.

Another common monster, the irontusk boar.

This was even easier than the goblins, though, since I knew the trick to killing them. I kept my distance, taunting the boar until it charged at me.

Seconds before it crashed into me and crushed my organs with its powerful tusks, I dodged to the side and watched it crash into the opposite wall.

While it was stunned, I split it from mouth to stomach and spilled its steaming guts onto the floor before it dissolved into light.

[Stage 6 cleared.]

Two boars appeared this time.

Although I was tired and panting by then, I leaped over them and dodged to the side until they smashed themselves into the walls, killing them while they were stunned.

This process repeated for the next three stages, though I found myself completely out of breath as I killed the last irontusk on the tenth stage. 

Dodging and weaving between five irontusk boars was draining and required my utmost focus. My body felt sore from straining over and over again.

"I wonder…" I panted to myself, "If I qualify for a D rank license yet…"

More motes of light gathered. If the pattern continued, I deduced, the eleventh stage would be a singular, stronger monster.

As the light coalesced into one shape, I knew I was right. Peeling myself off the floor and raising my sword, I prepared to fight again.

Then, my eyes widened.

Shit.