'By all means, I should be dead.'
The thought drifted lazily through my mind as I trudged down the broken path, boots scraping against cracked stone and scattered debris.
I caught my reflection faintly in a shard of warped metal half-buried in the rubble. A skinny boy stared back at me, wrapped in clothes so old their original color had long since surrendered to dust and sweat. They clung to a body that hadn't eaten properly in days.
My hair was a tangled black mess, stiff with grime, and the dark circles beneath my eyes looked almost bruised.
I snorted quietly.
"Wow," I muttered. "Still ugly. Tragic."
"Seriously… how many years has it been now?"
The answer came unbidden.
'Too many.'
I kicked a loose rock off the path, watching it bounce once, twice — then vanish into the fog ahead. There was no sound of it landing.
"…That's not comforting."
It didn't take long to reach the edge of my destination.
The air changed first.
Sweat plastered my clothes to my skin as a cold, clammy mist rolled in, glowing faintly blue as it swallowed the ruins ahead. It coiled around my legs like something alive, slipping through torn fabric and crawling along my skin. Every breath tasted sharp and metallic, like licking a battery.
A Mana Zone.
One of many scars left behind by a treacherous god. A reminder of the day the world broke. Over a century ago, these zones had erupted across the land, bathing cities in corrupted mist that people now called mana, and wiping out most of humanity in a matter of days.
Monsters called Mana Fiends were born here.
And so were graves. Many of them.
I slowed my pace, shoulders tightening.
"Just grab something shiny and leave," I whispered. "Same as always."
My voice sounded thin, fragile. Like it didn't belong here.
'Honestly, neither did I.'
The mist thickened as I stepped forward, swallowing the broken skyline until I could barely see ten meters ahead. Somewhere in the distance, metal groaned against stone, ruins shifting under their own weight.
Then I heard it.
Crack.
I froze.
Not stone or metal.
Something… moving.
I swallowed hard, fingers curling as my heart picked up its pace.
'This would be so much easier if I had an Aether Core,' I thought bitterly. 'Or a legacy. Or rich parents. Or literally anything.'
I huffed under my breath.
'Honestly, I wouldn't even be here if I had any of those.'
Instead, all I had was instinct and experience.
And experience told me this place wanted me dead.
Still, I moved forward.
Because if I didn't, I wouldn't eat tonight.
And hunger had a way of making fear feel like a luxury.
The mist shifted.
Another crack echoed through the ruins — closer this time.
I exhaled slowly, forcing my muscles to loosen. Panicking wouldn't help. Panicking never helped.
"Alright," I murmured. "In and out. Easy."
I ducked beneath the remains of a collapsed beam and slipped into what used to be a courtyard. Broken stone slabs littered the ground, half-buried beneath dust and glowing residue. Scraps of old equipment lay scattered everywhere, snapped blades, dented armor plates, shattered conduits.
Most of it was junk.
Still, junk could be sold.
I crouched low, sifting carefully through the debris, moving slow enough not to make noise. A cracked Aether vial — useless. A bent dagger with its edge eaten away by corrosion — worthless. I tossed them aside with a quiet sigh.
"Come on," I muttered. "Just one thing. I'm not greedy."
"…Usually."
I nudged aside a slab of stone and dug deeper into the rubble, fingers brushing over cold metal and jagged edges. For a brief, hopeful moment, something cylindrical rolled into my palm.
My heart skipped.
I lifted it into the faint blue glow.
A strange wooden casing. Hollowed out. Cracked straight through the middle.
"…Oh, come on."
I turned it over anyway, just in case the Mana Zone had decided to be generous for once. It hadn't. Nothing inside. At all.
The Casing itself would be Worth maybe a handful of copper if the scrap dealer was in a charitable mood.
Which he never was.
I tossed it aside and shuffled forward on my knees, careful not to scrape too loudly against the stone. The courtyard was bigger than I'd thought, the remains of a statue lay toppled at its center, half-buried and missing its head. Whatever hero it once depicted had been reduced to rubble and irony.
"Yeah," I muttered. "Should've stayed at home, buddy. Trust me."
Near the statue's base, I spotted something metallic wedged between two broken slabs. My pulse quickened again despite myself.
I reached for it slowly.
Pulled.
And immediately felt my hope die.
A sword hilt. Or what used to be one. The grip had rotted away entirely, and the blade itself was little more than a jagged strip of rust fused to stone.
I stared at it for a long second.
"…You're joking."
I tried to pry it loose anyway. The blade snapped clean off with a dull tink, leaving me holding a useless hunk of corroded metal.
I exhaled through my nose. Slowly.
"Okay," I whispered to the ruins. "That one was just rude."
I dropped the broken hilt and wiped my hands on my already filthy pants. Somewhere behind me, the mist shifted again, rippling unnaturally.
I ignored it. Or atleast tried to.
Because if I started imagining Mana-Fiends every time the Mana Zone breathed funny, I'd never get anything done.
'Mana-fiends, those damned things. Im glad they never leave their Mana-Zones. Humanity would be done for if these Beasts decided to be smart for once.'
I crawled toward a pile of shattered armor plates next, their surfaces dulled and eaten away by corrosion. Used to be expensive stuff from the look of it — real decent stuff once upon a time.
I lifted one plate, inspecting it carefully.
Cracked.
Warped.
"…You know," I muttered, "I'm starting to think all the good stuff was taken before I got here."
Which was ridiculous. Of course it had been. That wouldn't even be the first time.
Still, I checked anyway. Greed wasn't rational. It was stubborn.
Underneath the armor, I found a pouch.
My breath hitched.
I opened it.
Dust spilled out.
Just dust.
I stared into the empty pouch in silence.
Then I closed it, very carefully, and set it down.
"Alright," I said quietly. "This is getting ridiculous."
My jaw tightened as irritation bubbled up, sharp and bitter. Every scavenging run was the same. Hours of risking my life for scraps that barely paid for stale bread and a roof that leaked when it rained.
'One decent find,' I thought. 'Just one. I'm not asking for a relic. Or a legacy. Or divine favor.'
I paused, then added mentally, 'Okay, maybe a divine favor. But I'd also settle for a functioning Aether core. Or a legacy even.'
I sighed 'Yeah, wouldn't that be nice? Having a Legacy, which defines ones abilities and skills after one awakens an Aether core. I bet i'd have a really powerful one.'
Snapping back to reality, I shifted closer to the broken statue, running my fingers along the stone base. Old carvings were barely visible beneath layers of grime and glowing residue.
I scraped at a corner, dislodging something small.
A fragment clinked against the ground.
I picked it up.
A mana crystal shard, fractured, cloudy, and almost completely drained.
Worthless.
I clenched my fist around it, teeth grinding.
"You have got to be kidding me."
I flicked the shard away, watching it disappear into the mist.
For a moment, I just knelt there, breathing slowly, forcing the frustration down. Getting angry in a Mana Zone was a great way to make mistakes. Mistakes got you noticed.
And being noticed got you killed.
Still… my fingers curled again.
"Next time," I muttered darkly, "I'm charging interest."
The mist behind me thickened, swirling unnaturally close now.
This time, I noticed.
I froze.
Somewhere nearby, something inhaled. Slow and heavy, as if it had finally decided I was worth paying attention to.
And judging by my luck tonight?
It probably was.