This F-Rank Bubble Mage Is Too OP!

River appeared back in the Awakening Center, and as his figure slowly materialized in a swirl of mana particles, several gazes immediately snapped toward him.

He noticed the students and their instructor looking in his direction, curiosity gleaming in their eyes like embers waiting to ignite.

Murmurs started rippling through the crowd like a low tide.

"Who is he? He looks weak. Did he even level up in there?"

"That's the guy who went in alone."

"He probably just hid the whole time and waited for the Dungeon to end. Must be doing it just to get his record cleared."

River ignored them. He didn't even spare them a glance as he walked toward the side hallway, entering a different section of the facility.

"Oh, he's going straight for the Hunter Card?"

"What's the rush?"

He heard all of them. They didn't even try to whisper. Maybe they thought he couldn't hear—or maybe they wanted him to.

He didn't care. Not really.

But they were right about one thing.

He was in a hurry.

The Sun God Mage could show up at any time, and River wasn't in the mood to deal with some radiant freak glowing with vengeance. The trial may have ended, but the danger hadn't. There was no time to breathe, no time to savor the rewards. Every second wasted here was another chance for golden-boy to find him.

He just wanted to be done with this and vanish to the next place.

The sooner he got his card, the sooner he could disappear.

The door behind him shut with a heavy metallic thud the moment he stepped inside the adjoining chamber.

River adjusted the strap of his bag over his shoulder and scanned the room.

The walls were pristine white, and the floor gleamed as if polished by magic itself. Light came from everywhere—ceiling, walls, even the floor itself—making the entire room feel sterile, clean, and unnervingly bright. It felt like stepping into a piece of heaven carved into steel.

Simple on the surface.

But River knew better.

This room was no ordinary space. Every Hunter did. It was reinforced with Dungeon Metals, forged from deep-level monsters, and infused with mana-conductive alloys designed to withstand magic, explosions, or anything short of a full-scale catastrophe.

Even an A-Rank Hunter would have to exert themselves just to scratch this place.

His eyes drifted to the center.

There, a sleek metallic table stood like a judge's bench. Behind it sat a woman, her fingers dancing across a holographic keyboard, the soft clicking sounds breaking the silence like a rhythm of bureaucracy.

Beside her, a six-foot tall rectangular device hummed with mana. A floating orb hovered in the center of the machine, spinning slowly, glowing faintly with multicolored light. That orb would read his stats, assign his identification code, and print his official rank into the system.

River took a breath and walked forward.

As his footsteps echoed across the pristine white floor, the woman behind the holographic display glanced up from her screen.

"You're the first," she remarked, adjusting her glasses as her cold, black eyes met his. "Most people hang around a while before coming in. In a rush?"

She had sleek, straight black hair tucked behind her ears, eyes sharp yet bored like someone who had done this job far too many times. Her lips were coated in bold red lipstick, and she wore a fitted white blouse neatly tucked into black trousers—businesslike and unbothered, even in a room that could survive a magical explosion.

"I wanted to go home and poop," River replied flatly, a small, sincere smile on his lips.

The woman blinked, clearly caught off guard. Then, a surprised chuckle escaped her.

"I see," she said, amused. "That's understandable. Then, go stand in front of this thing and place your hand on the orb."

She lightly patted the rectangular device beside her.

"Alright," River said as he stepped forward, his body moving with practiced calm. But as he approached the device, a quiet sigh slipped past his lips.

In truth, if there was any way to skip this part, he would've taken it.

The scanning process wasn't painful, but it made him feel… exposed. The device didn't just scan a person's mana flow or battle potential—it dissected your every weakness. Physical condition, latent abilities, combat stats—it all went into the central database. Permanent, unchangeable.

And yet, it was necessary.

Without a Hunter Card, one could only enter the Awakening Dungeon once. Only registered Hunters had access to real F-rank dungeons and above. If River wanted to keep leveling, keep growing stronger—and stay out of trouble—he needed this card.

He paused for a moment, staring at the softly humming orb. A cold sensation prickled his fingers even before he touched it, like it could already sense him coming.

Then, River reached out and placed his palm on the orb.

A faint hum echoed through the room as lights flickered and streams of blue light raced up and down the rectangular device. The orb pulsed once—then again, brighter.

From behind, the woman's fingers began dancing across her keyboard at rapid speed, her expression sharpening into something more serious.

River stood still.

A low vibration passed through his arm as the orb scanned his body from the inside out. His muscles tightened instinctively. It was like standing in front of a silent judge, one that didn't care who you were or what you'd been through—it just saw numbers, values, calculations.

He could feel the data being extracted: mana flow pathways, muscle density, nerve response, even his battle fatigue. He had just barely survived the Third Trial, and now, here he was—offering the system his exhausted self.

He wondered what kind of numbers it would spit out.

"Scan complete," the device intoned in a synthetic voice.

River removed his hand and exhaled as if he'd been holding his breath the whole time.

The woman was already reading the results on her screen.

Her brows rose. Slightly. Barely noticeable—but enough to tell River that whatever she saw, it wasn't ordinary.

She typed a few final keystrokes, then turned back to him.

"Alright. You're officially registered," she said, her professional tone returning. "Your Hunter Card will be printed in a few minutes. You can pick it up at the next room. There's a vending machine too. Might want to grab something—you look like you've been through a storm."

River didn't reply right away. He gave her a tired nod and moved toward the exit, his steps slow and heavy.