The morning air in New Arcanis was thick with the scent of damp concrete and fish scales as Leo trudged toward the riverbank. It was 5 a.m., and the Low District was just stirring—vendors lighting their stalls, the distant hum of mana-powered trams cutting through the fog. Today was different, though. Today, he wasn't alone. Mira, his only friend, shuffled beside him, her patched coat flapping in the breeze. Her short black hair was tucked under a scarf, and her brown eyes scanned the street warily.
"You sure about this, Leo?" Mira asked, her voice low. "Fishing's fine, but you've been obsessed lately. People talk."
Leo shrugged, his fishing rod slung over his shoulder. "Let them talk. It's the one thing I've got. Besides, you're here now. Thought you hated getting up early."
"I do," she muttered, kicking a pebble. "But you've been moping since that Guild test. Figured I'd drag you out before you do something stupid—like try sneaking into a dungeon again."
Leo winced. Last month's attempt had ended with a bruised ego and a warning from an E-Class hunter. "I wasn't gonna. Just… needed air. And the river's quiet."
Mira snorted. "Quiet? With those dungeon rifts pulsing on the horizon? You hear the alarms last night? Another F-Class cleared a minor rift near the docks. Got a core worth fifty thousand credits."
Leo's eyes widened. "Fifty thousand? That's more than Kessler pays in a year. What'd they do with it?"
"Sold it to the Guild," Mira said. "They refine cores into mana crystals—fuel for the city's lights and tech. High-rank hunters keep the best ones for their own power boosts. S-Class elites can store mana like batteries, you know. Heard one guy held enough to level a block."
Leo nodded, familiar with the basics. Mana crystals were the lifeblood of New Arcanis, traded like gold. Hunters with strong signatures could absorb them to amplify their abilities—fire hotter, strength greater, portals wider. Blanks like him, though, couldn't even touch them without a scanner flaring red. "What about the dungeons themselves?" he asked. "Where do they come from?"
Mira glanced at him, surprised. "You don't know? Old tales say they're tears in the world, left by some ancient war. Mana leaks out, attracts monsters—wyrms, ghouls, shadowbeasts. The Guild maps them by rank. F-Class rifts are small, S-Class can swallow districts. Only the top hunters dare those."
Leo frowned. "And the Guild controls it all? Seems unfair."
"Unfair's the game," Mira said bitterly. "They take a cut of every core, every relic. Low District kids like us? We're lucky to scrape by. My cousin tried awakening—spent all his savings on a catalyst. Nothing. Now he's in debt to a C-Class loan shark."
Leo's stomach tightened. He was an orphan, raised in a creaky Guild shelter until he aged out at fifteen. No family, no savings—just a crumbling apartment and a part-time job hauling fish. School was a struggle, too. He barely passed his mana theory classes, scribbling notes on borrowed paper while richer kids flaunted their Guild-issued tablets. "I keep thinking there's a way," he murmured. "Some trick to awaken."
Mira stopped, turning to face him. "Leo, listen. You're smart, but you're a blank. No trick changes that. The Guild's tests are ironclad—zero mana, zero chance. Focus on surviving, not dreaming."
He looked away, toward the river glinting under the dawn. "Maybe. But what if I found something? A relic, a boost? Hunters get lucky sometimes."
"Lucky's a myth," she shot back. "Most die in their first rift. Look at Old Man Taro—lost his leg to a wyrm last week. Guild paid him off with scraps and a fake medal. That's the reality."
Leo fell silent, casting his line into the water. Mira sat beside him, pulling out a stale bun from her pocket. "Here," she said, breaking it in half. "You look like you haven't eaten."
He took it, grateful. "Thanks. Guess I'm lucky to have you, at least."
She smirked. "Don't get sappy. Just don't fall in the river. I'm not fishing you out."
They laughed, the sound fading into the river's gentle lap. For a moment, the weight of his dream lifted, replaced by the comfort of her presence. But deep down, Leo couldn't shake the hope that today, something might change.