The Porter is Secretly an SS-Level Hunter - Chapter 55: Changing (I)

Country Oskana

When the dungeons first entered the world, Neban was only fifteen.

It was a sunny day with a few raindrops falling from the clouds. Neban was at school, his hood over his head to cover his face as he sat at the back of the class. Everyone around him had a seatmate except him.

When the teacher first gave him one, Neban scared the person away with his glare. He did not mean to, but people would say how his aura and face was fierce, although attractive at the same time.

Neban did not know the basics of socializing as he was always alone, minus for his parents. And when he did talk, it was short responses because he did not know the right words to say. Once he looked at people, his expression would turn into a glare because his thoughts would take over, wondering if he were doing something right or wrong.

Plus, he hated attention, so he would always have a hood over his face while sticking to the shadows. It caused many people to see him as a cold person who is a lone wolf, even though he was far from it.

Neban rested his head on his hands, looking at his classmates whisper to their seatmate while the teacher went through the lesson. He let out a soft sigh, feeling bored as he looked out the window to find anything interesting.

He noticed that the clouds were getting dark as small drops hit the window. ‘It is probably going to pour soon.’ Neban thought as his mind focused on how the birds were flying away, the clouds getting darker, the blue sky had a mix of purple in it, and the rain was coming down more.

It would seem like a sign of something terrible going to happen to a superstitious person, but to Neban, the scene looked beautiful.

Then, Neban noticed the buildings across from the school began to vibrate as cracks started to crawl their way to the top. Straightening up, Neban began to focus on them, wondering what was happening.

And he was not the only one.

The whispering began to get louder as a couple of kids noticed the buildings, too, calling on more students. Even the teacher joined.

He was getting ready to fuss at the kids for not paying attention while checking to see what grabbed it. Only for the teacher to notice the weird thing happening to the buildings too.

And once the cracks hit the top, everything happened so fast. The buildings crashed, causing the surrounding area, even the school that Neban was in, to shake like an earthquake.

A few students started to scream, holding on to their desks as they moved away from the windows. And the others, like Neban, kept watching as something began to grow from the buildings’ ashes.

It did not register in anyone’s mind about people being in the buildings. Or the ones who are near and were affected. The only things going through their mind were the weird shaped thing growing from the buildings’ ashes.

Everything seemed calm when the shaking stopped, and the rain became heavier. It was like the statement ‘the calm before the storm’ came to life.

Because once the things finished building themselves, it was silent for a minute. The ones down on the ground and near went towards the new buildings, looking at it. And others, who did care, looked for anybody alive near the thing.

Once that minute came and went, everyone, even those far from the area, heard the sound of feet running like a herd was coming.

And the herd did come.

Weird looking monsters came out of the dungeons, swooping people on the street; killing them, eating them, even destroying them.

That is when the storm hit, and everything became chaotic. The students lost it, the teacher tried to calm the situation, and the school called for an evacuation. While the streets, the streets became the start of death and destruction.

And during the whole time, Neban could only watch as the country burned around him.

****

For ten days and ten nights, people locked themselves in their homes as the country became a bloody battlefield filled with smoke while the monsters controlled the streets.

The police and military tried to fix the situation, but it took them seconds to learn that their weapons were useless against the monsters.

And once the people saw that not even the ones who are supposed to protect them, cannot, everyone lived in fear.

The government was at a loss and could not do anything but watch their beautiful country burn.

People raided the stores, leaving nothing on the shelves no matter where a person went while barricading themselves in their homes to feel some sense of security.

Then, ten days and ten nights passed when everything started to change again.

It was a dark night as Neban rested on his bed, reading a book while ignoring the destruction that was happening outside. He could smell the food his mother was cooking as his parents tried to act like everything was fine when it wasn’t.

Neban was bored out of his mind from being stuck indoors. But he could not go outside unless he wanted to risk dying.

At this point, dying sounded better than being stuck inside.

He sighed, throwing the book over his face because he has not read a word on it for the past ten minutes. But, Neban liked to pretend because it did distract him from the noise outside.

Then, as he heard another explosion that almost made him flinch, a weird message appeared in front of his face:

Welcome, SS-level:

Choose your class

Warrior

Mage

Supporter

Summoner

Shadow Walker

No Class

Neban picked himself up, throwing the book down as he stared at the screen while rubbing his eyes, thinking that he had finally lost his mind.

But each time he would open and close his eyes, the message was still there.

Neban touched the screen, seeing that his hand went through it. His face scrunched up in confusion as he did not understand what was happening.

He stared at the screen for a while, wondering what to do when his mother called him. Neban walked out of the room and entered the dining area while taking a seat. He watched his parents, wondering if they could see the message too, but after a while of observing, they couldn’t.

“Neban, what is wrong? You keep staring.” His mother asked, worried laced in her tone.

Neban shook his head before eating his food once it was in front of him. When he finished, he walked back to his room, not saying anything to his parents.

Sitting on his bed, Neban continued to look at the message that not even his parents could see. He tapped his chin for a few moments before choosing a class to see if something would happen.

“Shadow Walker,” Neban spoke out loud since he could not touch the message. He decided to choose that class because he liked that it had the word ‘shadow.’

The message disappeared after he chose it. Neban waited for a few minutes to see if something happened, but he did not notice nor felt different. So, he shrugged and went to bed instead.

The next day, Neban walked in on his parents watching the news and heard the news lady talking about people with abilities coming out to fight the monsters, and it was working.

“That is amazing, at this rate when we can return to our lives. I wonder how they got abilities?” His mother spoke out loud.

His father hummed, “It does not matter, as long as they get rid of those things, I do not care how.”

Neban watched for a while, standing behind his parents when his mother turned around, feeling his presence, as she asked, “Can you get my phone from the dining table?”

Sighing, Neban thought that he did not want to and wished that he could teleport there because it felt like a lot of work to get his mother’s phone and walk back to her.

After thinking those things, Neban felt his body shifting until he was in front of the dining table in seconds. He heard his mother gasping as Neban could only stare with a confused expression.

He did not know how to react because he teleported to the other side of the room!

Neban could hear his mother speaking fast as he grabbed her phone and thought about going back to her. When he disappeared and appeared in front of his mother, who almost fell off the couch, Neban felt that whatever was happening was fantastic.

His mother held her chest, trying to calm her racing heart, while the father had an ‘oh’ expression on his face. Then his father’s face became calm as he turned towards the TV, “I believe our son is one of those people who have abilities.”

After his father spoke those words, it was like Neban’s world had changed once again. Although he never realized how much it indeed changed. And it was not for the better, but something much worse.