Min-ho stepped through the shimmering green portal and the cool evening air hit his face. He did not have time to catch his breath because a black SUV screeched to a halt fifty meters away.
"Target sighted!" a voice shouted from the vehicle.
'He is already here,' Min-ho thought. He pulled his hood low and tightened the straps of his mask. 'I cannot let him get a lock on my mana signature or my face.'
He pivoted toward the tree line. He ignited the energy stored in his Star-Forged Marrow and his bones felt like pressurized steel rods. He kicked off the ground and the pavement disintegrated into a cloud of dust beneath his boots.
'Faster,' he commanded his body.
The world turned into a gray smear. He felt the air resistance fighting him like a wall of water but he sliced through it. Behind him he heard Kang yell something about a classified rank but the voice was swallowed by the roar of the wind in his ears. His legs worked like pistons and each stride covered ten meters of ground. He was a ghost in the foliage and left nothing but craters in the dirt and the faint scent of ozone.
Agent Kang stood by his open car door. He stared at the empty space where the figure had been. "Did you get a reading?"
"Sir the scanner could not even lock on," the junior agent replied from the passenger seat. His voice was shaking. "Whatever that was it is moving at speeds that should not be possible for a human."
Kang gripped his combat knife and his knuckles were white. "Stay here and call for backup. I am going in."
The interior of the bog was a graveyard. Kang walked past shattered stone pillars that looked like they had been hit by a heavy artillery strike. He reached the center of the swamp and stopped. He looked at the mountain of rotting vines and black sludge.
'What happened here?' Kang whispered to himself. He knelt by the remains of the violet core and felt the lingering heat of a high level mana strike. 'This was a High D-Rank mutation. It should have taken a raid team to suppress this, but someone took it out alone. They did it with a single blow.'
Back at the house Min-ho slipped through his bedroom window. He landed silently on the carpet. He stripped off the shredded tactical jacket and checked his reflection in the mirror. There was not a single bruise or scratch on his skin.
'The marrow absorbed the entire impact,' he realized. A cold shiver of excitement ran down his spine. 'If I can handle a boss like that now then four months of training under the 120x dilation will be incredible.'
He shoved the mask and the ruined clothes under a loose floorboard. His mind was heavy with the pull of the Slumber Realm. He could feel the system tugging at his consciousness.
"Min-ho? You back yet?" his mother called from the bottom of the stairs.
"Yeah! Just went for a walk! I am heading to bed early!" he shouted back. He tried to keep his voice from sounding too out of breath.
"Already? You just ate!"
"Big test tomorrow!"
'I need to get into the realm,' Min-ho thought.
He collapsed onto the bed. He did not have time to pull the covers over himself. The violet vortex opened up in his mind and it was broader and more intense than ever before.
'System,' he thought as the darkness claimed him. 'Take me in. Let us see what four months of training actually looks like.'