Leorio the Shadow Monarch - Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Rude Awakening & System Online

Darkness.

Not the comforting darkness of a familiar bedroom, but a thick, heavy blackness that felt… damp. It pressed in from all sides, carrying a miasma of smells that assaulted his senses even before his eyes fully opened. Mold, stale water, unwashed bodies, and a faint, underlying metallic tang that spoke of old pipes and stagnant machinery. Sounds echoed strangely – the drip, drip, drip of water somewhere nearby, the distant rumble of machinery or perhaps just the earth settling, and closer, the shuffling, murmuring sounds of… people?

He groaned, a sound that felt foreign in his own throat, deeper and rougher than he expected. His head throbbed with a dull ache, a hangover C-minus compared to some he’d endured in his previous life, but unwelcome nonetheless.

Where… was he? The last thing he remembered was nodding off in his worn armchair, the glow of his monitor reflecting the paused screen of a Hunter x Hunter episode – Hunter Exam arc, if memory served. Had he fallen asleep and somehow… rolled into a sewer? It seemed improbable, even for his level of post-work exhaustion.

He tried to sit up, his muscles protesting with an unfamiliar stiffness. The ground beneath him was cold, hard stone, unforgiving. He pushed himself up with his hands, the texture rough against his palms. His eyes, finally adjusting to the oppressive gloom, started to make out shapes. Dim, flickering emergency lights cast long, dancing shadows down what looked like a vast, cylindrical tunnel. Pipes, thick as tree trunks, lined the walls, coated in grime and rust. And people. Dozens, maybe hundreds, milling about, leaning against the curved walls, sitting in small groups, all casting wary glances at each other. The air hummed with a low, tense energy, the kind you felt before a major exam or a job interview from hell.

Confusion warred with a rising sense of unease. This wasn’t just a sewer. The scale was wrong, the atmosphere… charged. He looked down at his hands again, really looked this time. Long fingers, calloused slightly at the pads, nails neatly trimmed but not recently.

Definitely not his hands.

His own were softer, marked by keyboard tapping and the occasional papercut. Panic began to bubble in his chest, cold and sharp. He patted his body frantically. He was wearing… a suit? A dark blue, slightly formal suit, complete with a white shirt and a tie loosened at the collar. It felt well-worn but sturdy. He felt taller, leaner than he remembered being just hours ago.

His fingers brushed against something smooth and cool in his breast pocket. He pulled it out – a pair of small, round sunglasses. He stared at them, recognition sparking like faulty wiring in his brain. Dark blue suit… round sunglasses… tall frame…

No.

His heart hammered against his ribs, a frantic drumbeat against the low thrum of the tunnel. He scrambled towards a puddle of murky water nearby, ignoring the disgusted sounds from a burly man he bumped into. Kneeling, he peered into the distorted reflection.

The face staring back wasn’t his. It was angular, with a strong jawline hidden slightly by the beginnings of stubble, dark eyes wide with a mixture of disbelief and dawning horror, framed by short, spiky black hair. It was a face he knew intimately, not from a mirror, but from countless hours spent watching anime and reading manga.

Leorio Paradinight.

He was Leorio Paradinight.

The world tilted. He felt dizzy, nauseous. He wasn’t Rohan Mehra, middle-aged office worker and HxH enthusiast from India anymore.

He was here.

In Zaban City’s underground access tunnel. At the start of the Hunter Exam.

A wave of conflicting emotions crashed over him. Horror, pure and undiluted, at the loss of his old life, his world, everything he knew. Grief, sharp and sudden, for the mundane reality he’d often complained about but now desperately missed. But beneath that, bubbling up with an intensity that almost scared him, was a spark. A wild, uncontrollable flicker of… excitement.

He, Rohan, a man whose greatest adventures involved navigating rush hour on the Metro line, was in Hunter x Hunter. The world of Nen, Chimera Ants, the Dark Continent. A world of impossible challenges and incredible power. He was Leorio, one of the main quartet, a future Hunter. The sheer absurdity, the impossibility of it, was staggering. He wanted to laugh hysterically, or maybe scream. He settled for clamping a hand over his mouth, Leorio’s hand, his hand now, and taking deep, shuddering breaths that tasted of damp earth and anxiety.

Okay. Okay. Calm down. Think.

He was Leorio. Right before the Hunter Exam. This was… opportunity. A terrifying, deadly opportunity, but an opportunity nonetheless. On Earth, he was nobody special. Here? He had a chance. A chance to be more. A chance to become a Hunter, something his fanboy heart had dreamed of, idly, impossibly.

But he wasn’t just Leorio. He was Rohan inside Leorio’s body. Did he have Leorio’s medical knowledge? Probably not. Did he have Leorio’s latent Nen potential? Maybe? He remembered Leorio was an Emitter. Did that transfer?

As if summoned by his frantic thoughts, something flickered into existence in front of his eyes. Not a physical object, but a translucent blue screen, shimmering softly in the dim light, like a high-tech heads-up display. It hovered about two feet away, perfectly clear despite the gloom.

He blinked. Hallucination? Stress-induced delusion? He waved a hand through it. Nothing. It remained, steady and unwavering. Text scrolled across it in a clean, sans-serif font.

[System Booting…]

[Welcome, Host.]

[Shadow Monarch System Initialized.]

Shadow Monarch? The name struck a chord. He’d heard it mentioned online, seen thumbnails and clips.

Solo Leveling.

The Korean webtoon/anime phenomenon about a guy who levels up like a game character and commands an army of shadows. He hadn’t watched it – too busy re-watching HxH for the fifth time – but he knew the basic premise. Sung Jinwoo. Necromancy-like powers. Overpowered protagonist.

And now… he had it? Here? In Leorio’s body? This was insane. This was… a golden finger! The classic transmigration trope!

His initial shock morphed into cautious fascination. He focused on the screen, willing it to show more. As if responding to his intent, the initial welcome message faded, replaced by a detailed status window.

—

Name: Leorio Paradinight

Level: 1 (0%)

Affinity: Emission

Job: Shadow Monarch

…

HP: 50/50

AP: 1000/1000

Fatigue: 0%

…

STR: 1

AGI: 1

VIT: 5

INT: 2

SEN: 1

…

Passive Skill: None

Active Skill: None

Job Skill: Shadow Extraction Lv1 (0%), Shadow Preservation Lv1 (0%), Shadow Exchange Lv1 (0%), Monarch’s Domain Lv1 (0%)

…

[Stat Points: 0]

[Currency: 0]

[Quest] x2

[Inventory]

[Mall]

—

He stared, absorbing the information.

‘Leorio Paradinight’. Okay, identity confirmed.

‘Level 1 (0%)’. Starting from scratch, makes sense.

‘Affinity: Emission’. There it was. Confirmation of Leorio’s Nen type, even if he likely couldn’t use Nen yet.

‘Job: Shadow Monarch’. This was the game-changer.

HP seemed low at 50, but maybe that was standard for Level 1.

AP, presumably Aura Points or Mana, was a surprising 1000. That felt substantial.

Fatigue at 0%, good.

Then the stats. Strength 1, Agility 1. He grimaced. That explained the unfamiliar stiffness and lack of grace. He felt weak, clumsy.

Definitely not peak human condition.

Vitality 5. That seemed disproportionately high.

Did it govern HP? Or maybe AP regeneration? Or just general hardiness? Intelligence 2.

Slightly better than rock bottom, maybe representing his own transplanted intellect plus whatever baseline Leorio had?

Sense 1. Basic awareness.

These stats felt… pathetic. Like a Level 1 RPG character, which, he supposed, he now was.

No Passive or Active skills yet. Expected.

But the Job Skills… those were the core of the Shadow Monarch.

‘[Shadow Extraction Lv1 (0%)]’. The description popped up as he focused on it: Host can attempt to extract the shadow from a target’s remains to create a loyal Shadow Soldier. Success rate and target’s power level, and time since death. Extraction Limit: 30.

The core necromancy skill.

And he needed corpses. Not exactly readily available in this tunnel… yet.

‘[Shadow Preservation Lv1 (0%)]’: Host can store extracted shadows in a separate dimension. Stored shadows do not drain AP. Host can perceive through the senses of stored shadows within a certain range. Storage Limit: 20.

Storage and scouting. Useful. Only 20 slots at level 1.

‘[Shadow Exchange Lv1 (0%)]’: Host can instantly switch locations with any Shadow Soldier, regardless of distance. Requires a placed shadow. It also does not have any time limits and does not consume mana to use.Cooldown: 3 Hours. Cost: Significant AP.

Instant travel! The cooldown was long, and the cost ‘significant’, but the potential was enormous. He needed shadows placed strategically first, though.

‘[Monarch’s Domain Lv1 (0%)]’: When activated in battle, Host emits an aura that enhances the stats of all active Shadow Soldiers within its range by 50%. Duration: 1 minute. Cooldown: 1 Hour. Cost: 200 AP.

A buff for his future army. Powerful, but needed soldiers first.

Zero Stat Points to allocate. Zero Currency. An Inventory menu, likely empty. A Mall menu – he focused on it, but it simply displayed ‘[Empty]’. Typical.

Finally, the ‘[Quest] x2’ notification. He focused, and the Quest Log opened.

—

[Quest Log]

1. [Permanent Quest: Path to Strength]

Description: True strength is forged through relentless effort. Complete the following regime to unlock your potential.

Objectives:

– Push-ups: [0/100]

– Sit-ups: [0/100]

– Squats: [0/100]

– Running: [0/10 KM]

Failure Penalty: None (But are you truly satisfied with weakness?)

Completion Reward: [Unknown – Status Recovery, Stat Points?, Random Item Box?]

Note: This quest resets daily at midnight. It can be completed multiple times.

2. [Main Scenario Quest: The First Hurdle]

Description: You stand at the threshold of the infamous Hunter Exam. Survival is the first and most crucial step.

Objective:

– Successfully pass Phase 1 of the 287th Hunter Exam.

Failure Penalty: Death or Elimination from the Exam.

Completion Reward: [Unknown – Level EXP, Stat Points?, Skill Points?, System Feature Unlock?]

—

He blinked at the first quest. 100 push-ups, sit-ups, squats, and a 10km run.

It screamed ‘One Punch Man’, another meta-reference his transmigrated brain instantly latched onto. The reward was unknown, tantalizingly hinted at. Status recovery, stat points, maybe even loot boxes? It was a clear path to grinding basic physical stats, something his abysmal STR and AGI desperately needed. But doing that now? Seemed impossible amidst the exam. Still, it was permanent. A long-term goal.

The second quest was immediate. ‘Survive Phase 1’. The penalty was stark: Death or Elimination. The reward, also unknown, hinted at significant system progression. This was his immediate focus. He had to pass the first phase. His foreknowledge told him it involved a ridiculously long run led by the enigmatic Satotz, followed by navigating the treacherous Numere Wetlands. Knowing what was coming was an advantage, but could his Level 1 stats, Leorio’s currently untrained body, handle it? The 5 points in Vitality might be his saving grace.

He closed the system interface with a mental command, the blue screens winking out of existence. The tunnel seemed darker, grimmer now, the reality sinking in more profoundly. He wasn’t just watching this unfold anymore. He was in it.

Taking a deep breath, he pushed himself to his feet, brushing dust off Leorio’s suit jacket. He needed to blend in, act the part as much as possible. Leorio was loud, sometimes arrogant, driven by his goal to become a doctor to treat the poor for free, motivated by the loss of his friend Pietro. Could he convincingly portray that? Probably not perfectly. His own personality, the ingrained cynicism of a middle-aged salaryman mixed with the barely contained excitement of a die-hard fan, would inevitably leak through. He’d have to wing it.

He scanned the crowd again, his eyes automatically searching. And then he saw them.

Standing not ten meters away, near a particularly grimy section of the wall, was a young boy with spiky green-black hair, wearing a green jacket and shorts, his eyes wide with curious energy as he surveyed the strange assembly of applicants.

Gon Freecss. Alive. Real. radiating an aura of pure, untamed potential even without visible Nen.

Rohan’s—no, Leorio’s—breath caught in his throat. It was one thing to see him on screen, another entirely to feel the sheer presence of the character standing right there. He looked so young, so innocent, yet contained such monstrous power and determination.

And beside him, leaning against the wall with a detached sort of elegance, was Kurapika. Blond hair, the distinctive blue tabard adorned with red hems – the colors of the Kurta clan. His grey eyes (not scarlet, not yet) held a cool intelligence and a deep, underlying sorrow that was palpable even from this distance. He looked calm, composed, but Leorio knew the fires that burned beneath that exterior.

He had to talk to them. It was part of the script, wasn’t it? Leorio meets Gon and Kurapika during exam. He took a step forward, then hesitated. What should he say? Should he replicate the canon dialogue? He couldn’t remember it exactly. Maybe just a simple introduction?

Before he could decide, Gon’s bright eyes landed on him. The boy offered a friendly, open smile. “Hi there! Are you taking the Hunter Exam too?”

Leorio froze for a second, starstruck. Gon Freecss is talking to me. He cleared his throat, trying to pitch his voice like Leorio’s – a bit loud, a bit brash. “Yeah! Of course, I am! Name’s Leorio Paradinight! You kids taking the exam too?” He cringed internally. ‘Kids’? Way to sound condescending right off the bat. Smooth, Rohan, real smooth.

Gon didn’t seem bothered. “I’m Gon! And this is Kurapika.”

Kurapika gave a slight, polite nod, his eyes assessing Leorio with sharp intelligence. “A pleasure.” His voice was calm, melodic, exactly as Leorio remembered.

“Likewise,” Leorio managed, trying to project confidence he didn’t feel. He could feel his palms sweating slightly. This was surreal. He was interacting with the main characters. “So, uh, quite the crowd, huh? Any idea what the first phase is gonna be?” He threw the question out, fishing, even though he already knew the answer.

Kurapika glanced around the tunnel. “Difficult to say. Given the sheer number of applicants and the nature of the Hunter Exam, I suspect it will be a test of endurance, designed to weed out a significant portion right from the start.”

“Endurance, huh?” Leorio rubbed his chin thoughtfully, playing the part. Inside, he was thinking about his ‘1’ Agility and the marathon to come. This is going to suck.

Just as Gon was about to add something, a new figure approached their small group. A portly man with a surprisingly friendly smile, thinning hair, and an air of seasoned experience. He carried a small bag and held out a few cans of juice.

“Hey there, rookies! Tough crowd, eh?” the man said jovially. “Name’s Tonpa. This is my… let’s see… 35th attempt at the exam!” He chuckled as if it were a badge of honor. “Thought you guys might be thirsty. It can get pretty tense waiting around here.”

Leorio’s internal alarm bells didn’t just ring; they screamed. Tonpa. The Rookie Crusher. Infamous for sabotaging first-timers under the guise of friendship. And those juice cans… almost certainly laced with a powerful laxative.

He remembered this scene. Gon, trusting soul that he was, would take it. Kurapika would likely be suspicious but perhaps too polite to refuse outright. And Leorio… what did canon Leorio do? He couldn’t recall precisely, but he felt a sudden, strong urge to knock the can out of Tonpa’s hand.

But that would draw attention. Unwanted attention. He needed to pass, not start fights or reveal his foreknowledge immediately. Play it cool.

“Oh, uh, thanks!” Gon said brightly, reaching for a can. Kurapika eyed Tonpa with a hint of skepticism but seemed ready to accept one politely.

Tonpa offered a can to Leorio. “Here you go, pal. Stay hydrated!”

Leorio looked at the can, then at Tonpa’s overly friendly smile. He thought about his system, his pathetic stats, the grueling run ahead. Diarrhea was not on the agenda. He needed every bit of stamina and hydration he could manage.

He forced a grin, trying to channel Leorio’s sometimes abrasive nature. “Nah, I’m good! Brought my own stuff,” he lied, patting the sides of his suit jacket as if checking pockets. “Never trust freebies in a place like this, you know? Gotta be prepared!” He winked, trying to make it sound like savvy advice rather than a direct accusation.

Tonpa’s smile faltered for just a fraction of a second, his eyes narrowing slightly before returning to their programmed joviality. “Haha! Wise words! A true veteran mindset already! Well, suit yourself.” He watched Gon gulp down the juice thankfully. Kurapika accepted his can but merely held it, his gaze thoughtful. Tonpa lingered for another moment, making small talk, before moving off into the crowd, presumably to find other unsuspecting rookies.

Leorio let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding. Close call. He’d avoided the drugged juice, but Tonpa might be suspicious now. He’d have to keep an eye on him.

He looked back at Gon and Kurapika. Gon was looking perfectly fine, his robust constitution apparently neutralizing the laxative instantly, just like in the show. Kurapika subtly poured his own juice onto the grimy floor when he thought no one was looking.

Smart.

The brief interaction had grounded him slightly. This was real. These people were real. The dangers were real. But so was the opportunity. He felt the phantom weight of the system interface, the promise of power unlike anything he could have imagined back on Earth.

He subtly clenched his fists. Leorio Paradinight. Shadow Monarch. Hunter Candidate. It was a ridiculous combination, a bizarre twist of fate. But it was his reality now.

A loud grating sound echoed from the far end of the tunnel, drawing everyone’s attention. A massive section of the wall began to slide upwards, revealing a long, dimly lit corridor beyond. A tall, lanky figure with impossibly long legs and no discernible mouth stood there, silhouetted against the light.

Satotz.

The examiner spoke, his voice calm and carrying easily over the murmuring crowd. “I am Satotz, the examiner for the first phase of the Hunter Exam. Your task is simple: follow me. And do try to keep up. The first phase has already begun.”

Without further ceremony, Satotz turned and began walking, quickly settling into a steady, ground-eating pace that rapidly took him down the newly revealed passage. The crowd surged forward, a wave of bodies funneling into the corridor.

Leorio felt a jolt of adrenaline. This was it. No more time for doubt or existential crises. He glanced at Gon, who was already bouncing on the balls of his feet, eager to start. He glanced at Kurapika, whose expression was one of calm focus.

He gripped the handle of the worn brown briefcase Leorio always carried – his only ‘weapon’ for now. He checked his system mentally one last time. HP: 50/50. AP: 1000/1000. Fatigue: 0%. Stats: Pathetic. Quest: Survive.

Right. He took a deep breath, the damp, stale air filling his lungs. Let’s do this.

He fell into step just behind Gon and Kurapika as they joined the torrent of applicants flowing into the darkness, the rhythmic pounding of hundreds of pairs of feet echoing the frantic beat of his own heart. The 287th Hunter Exam had begun, and Leorio Paradinight, the unlikely Shadow Monarch, was in the race.