Hunter Awakening Arc

Serving as the first chapter of Solo Leveling: Ragnarok, this segment has no predecessor and feeds directly into the D-Rank Dungeon storyline. It covers roughly chapters 1 through 7 in the novel and chapters 1 through 6 in the webtoon. The framing reaches back two years to the Cataclysm, a worldwide disaster that scattered Gates across the planet and let swarms of Magic Beasts pour out. In response, scattered people gained powers and rose as Hunters, becoming humanity's defense against the threat.

The present-day events open when a Gate forms inside Sung Suho's high school, loosing lethal Mist Burn creatures into the building. With the school thrown into panic, Suho's dormant gift surges to life, steering him toward a Hunter's path and a fate bound up with what his father left behind. He defeats a Mist Burn in his first real test, but a Giant Wolf proves too much and overcomes him, only for Beru to step in and put the wolf down. The cast here is small, drawing in Sung Suho, Lim Do-Gyu, Beru, and a returning Han Jaehyuk, with the action set at the Hankuk University Art Museum.

Suho's awakening marks him as a Player, and Beru makes his first appearance in the new series. Suho secures the Shadow Dungeon Key, holds Ruler's Authority at its first level, and gains Shadow Extraction at the same rank. He also learns the passive Tenacity, which lifts his physical defense by twenty percent, and clears level 7. An official assessment then rates him an E-Rank Hunter with a magic power reading of 46. In the manhwa, the Giant Wolf is swapped out for a C-Rank awakened Mist Burn.