Bab 2: Time for a Restart

"I guess I'm back."

Lying on his bed, Ray Park looked at his old room and let out a long sigh.

"It's still unreal, no matter how many times it happens..." Ray couldn't help but shake his head at the almost god-like ability that he possessed. He could still remember closing his eyes a few seconds ago, and just like that, he had travelled back in time. Back 10 years, and back in his parent's home.

He then got up from his bed, yawned, and then walked towards his desk and picked up his smartphone.

"So it did skip another week, huh…" Ray mumbled softly as he stared at the lock screen, which showed the time and date, along with the notification about his awakening exam.

"Interesting.." He scratched his chin and raised his eyebrows as he thought.

Of course, this wasn't the first time that Ray Park had travelled back in time.

"But what does the timeskip imply? Why skip a week? Why not a day?" Ray whispered under his breath as he walked back and forth in his room.

For some reason, every time Ray went back in time, the day he returned always changed, skipping one week forward. Ray wanted to know why this happened, but no matter how hard he thought, he couldn't come up with an answer.

"Whatever. I guess the main takeaway from this is that every time I get a do-over, I lose time." Ray scratched his head and bit his lips as he spoke to himself. Whatever the reason for it might be, the time skip meant that his revival ability wasn't infinite. He didn't have infinite tries and do-overs. At a certain point, the difficulty in achieving victory would definitely get a lot harder than it was right now, and that was something that Ray didn't want.

And what if there was a deadline day? That was another question that bugged Ray. What if there was a day in the timeskip after which he wouldn't be able to revive. What if that day is today? Wouldn't that mean that this was his last life?

"All the more reason to be careful," Ray nodded his head, as though to emphasize that he was agreeing with what he just said. He did not know the extent of his revival ability. It wasn't a normal skill that a hunter gains, and he had no method to control it. So, even though he was immortal in theory, he had to be extremely cautious as the power did not completely rest in his hands.

'But there's another problem…' Ray narrowed his eyebrows as he stood in front of the sink and stared at his reflection in the mirror. 'After all, I've tried this before, and despite possessing a cheat skill that technically made him an immortal, I still failed. So, what on earth should I do?'

Ray Park had reincarnated a total of 3 times. This was his 4th life. The first time he got reincarnated, he felt overjoyed and confused, before trying to improve his life and become a world-class hunter using his knowledge of the future. But in the end, he still failed, losing to Dark Aurous in what was supposed to be the final dungeon. In his previous life, he improved even faster, and was able to take down Dark Aurous without wasting the life of a single one of his comrades, but once again, he had failed.

'But my first life….' Ray rubbed his forehead with soap as the water dripped down from the top of his head and down to his face. 'I still can't remember it.'

Another thing that bugged Ray Park was that he couldn't remember his first life clearly. Well, sort of. He could remember the life he had until the revival point, and he could remember specific moments of his hunter life, but for some reason, he couldn't get the full picture. It was all a blurry mess, and it didn't help that he was reliving his life for a 4th time, which was making his memories get all jumbled up, much to Ray's annoyance.

After getting out of the shower and getting dressed, Ray walked down the stairs and entered the dining room, where he was greeted by his mother, who had made him breakfast.

"Morning, mom. Morning, dad.." Ray spoke softly as he sat down to eat. He then tilted his head and looked at his older sister, Daisy, who was glued to her smartphone, and greeted her as well. "Morning, daisy."

"Morning, Ray."

"Morning.."

"Mhmm.."

Both his father and mother responded properly, while his sister merely mumbled and lightly nodded her head, and his father shook his head with a disapproving look on his face.

"You should eat quickly, Ray. Isn't the awakening exam starting in the morning?" Ray's mother told him as she washed the dishes.

'Ah yes, the awakening exams…' Ray sighed as he remembered his past life and the multiple times he attended the exam.

The awakening exam wasn't really an exam, but merely a simple process where the authorities attempt to figure out the size of a hunter's mana core and its specialty, which then helps them to rank the hunter on a scale of F to S, with S being the highest ranked of them all.

Many people did point out the flaws of keeping such a system to rank the hunters, especially since the size and specialty of the mana core aren't the only factors that determine whether or not someone is fit to be a hunter. Being a hunter also involves gaining experience, having the ability to be quick-witted, making important decisions while being under pressure and many more things that cannot be measured by simply figuring out whether their mana core is large or not.

In his past two lives, Ray had witnessed hunters who were given high ranks right off the bat who ended up losing their lives just because they couldn't make decisions fast enough or were too inexperienced in real life combat. He also witnessed many lower ranked hunters who were pretty good at fighting and providing him with assistance due to their experience.

Of course, that wasn't to say that the size of the mana core wasn't of importance. It most certainly was the most important part of being a hunter, as it allowed them to utilize various skills and magical abilities that a normal human could only dream of. And having a larger and more unique mana core did mean that one could improve and get stronger far quicker and easier than the lower ranked hunters. It's just that the mana core wasn't the only factor that mattered.

'But nevertheless, that was the method that the Hunter Association stuck with till the end, despite all the protests.' Ray thought in his mind, as he stood in front of the 'Obsidian Hunter Testing Center', which was a private hunter testing center owned by Obsidian Hunter Guild, one of the newest formed guilds in United Korea.

Why choose a private hunter testing center instead of the one run by the government?

'There are multiple reasons for choosing to go to a private testing center rather than a government owned one, but I guess the main reason would be… opportunity.' Ray walked up to the entrance of the five storey building, and pushed open the glass door, revealing a beautiful white interior that seemed to be as wide and spacious as a football field.

Ray looked around, and realized that there weren't too many people inside the building. 'Of course there wouldn't be,' Ray thought to himself as he walked towards the front desk. 'You need to spend 100 coins on a membership fee first just to get in the building, and 150 coins more to get the actual test. No sane person would choose to spend that much money on a simple test when they could get a free test from the government testing center.'

But Ray didn't spend all his pocket money on this test just to get a VIP testing experience. No, it was because he knew something that others didn't.

"Good morning. Welcome to the Obsidian Hunter Testing Center." He was greeted by the receptionist with a bright smile as he walked up to the desk. "How may I help you?"

"I'm here for an appointment." Ray said as he waved his smartphone across the transparent display on the desk, which flashed green in response to his action. The receptionist turned her attention towards her desktop screen for a few seconds before nodding her head and shifting her gaze back at Ray with a satisfactory expression on her face. "Mr. Park, your awakening process is scheduled to be held in room B-5, second floor. You can use the elevator to the right to get to your assigned floor."

"Thanks." Ray nodded his head with a pleasant smile on his face and walked towards the elevator.

'I hope this is worth it,' Ray thought to himself as he stood in front of the elevator door, waiting for it to open.

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