Solo Leveling: What Is a Second Awakening?

Highlights

Solo Leveling introduces the concept of a Second Awakening, a rare phenomenon that results in extreme improvement in a Hunter's abilities.
Hunters in Solo Leveling are classified based on their mana levels, with S-Rank being the highest and E-Rank being the lowest.
Sung Jinwoo's growth as a Hunter goes beyond a Second Awakening, as he becomes the vessel of the Shadow Monarch and gains the ability to manipulate his basic attributes.

The following contains spoilers for Solo Leveling, Episode 3, "It's Like a Game", available on Crunchyroll. There are also heavy spoilers for the original manhwa, which is available on Tapas.

In the third episode of Solo Leveling, Jinwoo awakens after the ordeal in the Double Dungeon. Two officials from the Hunter Association question him about the entire situation, update him on the current status of the survivors, and administer a special test because if the survivors' accounts are to be believed, only a powerful Hunter would have been able to survive.

Suspecting that Sung Jinwoo has undergone a "Second Awakening", the officials quickly dispel their suspicion after it turns out that Jinwoo's rank has not changed in the slightest, which serves as a testament to the supposed rarity of the phenomenon. What exactly is a Second Awakening in Solo Leveling, and what does it mean for the Hunters who experience it?

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Recapping How Hunters Are Classified

As most fans of Solo Leveling are aware, Hunters are placed on a ranking system based on the amount of mana welling within them, in descending order. S-Rank is the highest, with only the most powerful Hunters falling under this classification, while E-Rank is the lowest. As we are constantly reminded, Jinwoo is an E-Rank Hunter, and in normal circumstances, regardless of their mentality or effort, one cannot improve their rank. These magical abilities awaken in their fullest form, so Hunters generally only conduct raids on Gates that are the same rank or lower, but Jinwoo is unique in being particularly weak even for an E-Rank. Hunters can fall into one of six Classes: Fighters, Mages, Assassins, Tankers, Rangers, and Healers.

Jinwoo's unique circumstances have him classified as a Player within the boundaries of a mysterious system that enables him to "level up" and continuously improve his various traits like one would in an RPG, but at the time of the test, Jinwoo had not yet begun making use of this quirk, so his potential remained low when he was assessed. Beyond the rankings, Hunters also fall under combatant and non-combatant types, and Guilds are comprised of varying ratios of both. As seen in the last moments of Solo Leveling episode 3, it isn't normal to conduct a dungeon raid without filling in significant roles, like Healer, and Jinwoo panics a little at the idea that he's trapped in the Instance Dungeon with no hope if he sustains any major injuries.

The Emergence of the Gates Gave Rise to the Hunters

The Hunter Association Tests Jinwoo – Solo Leveling Episode 3

The Hunters' existence is predicated on the Gates appearing throughout the world. In a manner that is reminiscent of the constant pursuit of equilibrium presented by various systems in nature, the magical influence of these dimensional Gates meant that magic itself became an integral part of the world, and this would invariably affect people on a physiological level. If the Gates were capable of such influence, and are varied in the ways that they can manifest and what they contain, it follows that the set of Hunters themselves would also exhibit similar kinds of variation. Beyond the obvious differences in strength, some Hunters, for reasons that are unknown, can undergo further development of their magical abilities.

Solo Leveling: The Truth Behind The Double Dungeon, Explained

After dealing with a conventional D-rank dungeon, the Double Dungeon appears. What is it?

Aside from those who reawaken, there is another rare category of Hunter: False Rankers. These are generally malicious Hunters with the ability to control their mana output, and are therefore ranked much lower than they should be. False Rankers have nefarious motivations for hiding their true strength, often taking pleasure in murdering other Hunters, but their situation is not the same as a Second Awakening. The instance of a Hunter undergoing a Second Awakening is an extremely rare phenomenon within the Solo Leveling universe, to the point of there being no named characters to have experienced it. However, the improvement in the abilities of those who have undergone it is said to be extreme, like E-Rank Hunters jumping to C-Rank, and B-Ranks becoming S-Rank Hunters, much like the system seen in One Punch Man.

Reawakening is An Extremely Rare Phenomenon

Given Jinwoo's eventual growth into humanity's greatest Hunter, he eventually becomes classified as S-Rank; however, this is solely because there is no classification higher. As such, it would technically follow that Sung Jinwoo is one example of a Hunter who has undergone a Second Awakening due to the fact that he goes from being an E-Rank to something beyond an S-Rank; however, one must consider that Jinwoo becomes the vessel of the Shadow Monarch; a reincarnation of the Greatest Fragment of Brilliant Light and the King of the Dead – a transcendent being. Jinwoo's situation is also unique because his power-up wasn't an instantaneous leap in his base strength or the emergence of a new set of magical abilities beyond his E-Rank skills, but rather the influence of the System created by the Architect enabling Jinwoo to manipulate not his magical ability, but his basic attributes like Intelligence, Strength, etc.

Since there aren't any other Hunters to compare his situation to, it's difficult to really see what reawakening would look like for another Hunter; however, a lady named Norma Selner has the one-of-a-kind ability to unleash the latent potential of a Hunter in three stages. The outcome of her ability is an improvement of their natural limits by up to 30%. This ability is invaluable and is used by the U.S. government to improve the abilities of their S-Rank Hunters. A testament to the difference in Jinwoo's situation is the fact that when Selner attempted to do the same to him, she was shocked to learn that it wouldn't work because Sung Jinwoo simply lacked limits in the first place.