The moon hung high above the horizon, illuminating the desolate streets.
In a random alleyway an officer brandished her red blade, taking a stance.
The brute at the other end of the alleyway charged his attack again.
"Die!" he shouted, hands stretched outward.
BOOM
A white streak of light shot out of the brute's hand so fast it zipped past the alleyway like a fired bullet.
The female swordsman's figure moved like a red blur almost at the same time.
BOOM
It was so fast, Zach could only see blurs.
In the next millisecond her blurry image and the white streak of light collided with a deafening boom, erupting into a dust cloud.
The group's eyes widened, and in the next second the brute's head flew across the alleyway, landing in front of one of the terrified goons.
The brute's lifeless body collapsed on the floor, blood smeared all over the surface.
Gasps echoed and the remaining gang members scurried away in different directions.
Zach looked at all this with an unreadable expression.
The lady was at least just a few years older than him; she must be in her twenties, yet she was capable of pulling off such a feat.
Zach was visibly astonished.
She looked back with a tired smile. "Don't be impressed..."
'Who told you I was..?'
She walked back to him, her blade dissipating into countless red petals scattering across the alleyway in the wind.
Zach hadn't actually seen how Seekers fought. Seeing it for the first time made him feel weak.
Too weak.
"Iris, there you are." A middle-aged man with round glasses exclaimed as he entered the alleyway with silent steps.
The path was blocked by a pile of rubble in front, so the alleyway now had only one entrance.
He walked towards her with slow, measured steps, looking around.
"Have you found him?" he asked, totally ignoring Zach.
The female officer just pointed to the black-haired boy struggling to get up from the floor.
"Hello..?" Zach greeted.
The middle-aged man looked down at Zach, scanning him up and down with a furrowed brow.
"?".
"Are you Zachariah Keal..?" he asked with a raised brow.
"Depends.." Zach shrugged.
"Are you offering me money, trouble, or therapy..? My answer differs."
The middle-aged man looked at Zach, then at Iris, who nodded her head.
"We're here to offer you a job," Iris spoke with her usual calm confidence.
Zach blinked.
"What..?"
Did he not hear correctly, or did they just mention they were looking forward to hiring him?
"You heard that right," the middle-aged man added.
"My name is Alfred, we heard about you from the academy."
Zach was stunned; he couldn't believe that two officials from the Western Dragon Enterprise personally came down to the slums to offer him a job.
'Well.. who am I to say no.'
Zach nodded.
The academy could've recommended anyone—he was just glad they picked him.
"The job needs a skilled mystic artist like you."
Alfred's gaze ran through the entire alleyway cautiously.
"I think we need to talk elsewhere."
Zach looked around.
"Well as you can see.." he gestured.
"I'm basically homeless so.."
Alfred looked at Iris, who sighed.
"Don't worry, the enterprise will take care of your housing issues if you agree to the job."
"And what is 'The Job' all about...?"
A few moments later.
Alfred led them to a nearby café across the empty streets, with flickering neon lights and a grand piano playing a melodious tone.
The streets were basically empty because most of the residents had gone to bed—it was basically midnight.
Most cafés and shops were always on a 24-hour shift and never closed, so they could easily find one.
Upon settling in the breakfast shop, the waitress served them coffee and some stale bread.
Zach instantly grabbed the bread, stuffing it into his mouth and gulping down the tea.
Alfred stared at him, perplexed.
"I didn't know you were that hungry.." Alfred blinked a couple of times, watching Zach ruthlessly tear through the poor bread.
"Why would you? Hunger isn't written on my forehead, you know.."
Alfred just sat there while Iris slowly sipped on her tea. In no time, the place in front of Zach was empty.
"Are you gonna finish that?" He pointed at the food in front of Alfred.
"I'm not quite hungry so you can—"
Zach had already grabbed the bread, stuffing it into his face.
In no time Alfred's and Zach's meals had been completely devoured.
"Absolutely not." Iris caught his words, flatly refusing to give him her food.
"Come on.."
"Hell no."
Zach relaxed.
His face became serious.
It was time for business.
The café was quiet; the trio were the only ones present in the glass shop.
Zach could see the outside because the walls of the store were made almost entirely of glass.
No one was in the streets, only a few passersby here and there. Zach had carried his box with him, just in case.
"First of all, Zach, what do you know about the world?" Alfred asked.
It was important how much one knew when taking on a job, and Zach knew this much:
"Well, I know as much as the average person. A long time ago some occurrence happened and the world ended up like this." Zach stated, carefree.
Alfred face-palmed.
And Iris held in her laughter.
"Well that's one way to put it," she chuckled.
"I'll explain in better detail," Alfred spoke.
"More than 100 years ago a massive earthquake ruptured the earth, splitting it into three dimensions."
Alfred held out a finger.
"The upper layers, where the elites dwell. The middle layer, where the low-class cities and districts are," he paused.
"And the lower layers, a place where the Thyxar reside."
"Thyxar..?" Zach raised a brow.
"Yeah, they are beings that feed off humans to grow stronger, and they can only be stopped by Seekers."
Zach listened attentively.
"Basically, there are enterprises, businesses, clans, and even some gangs that use Tethers." He paused.
"Each of those clans has mining sites where there are fissures—portals to the lowest layers of the earth, where the Thyxar reside."
"There are eight levels of Thyxars:
• An Imp
• A Fiend
• A Hunter
• A Ghoul
• A Reaper
• A Grim Reaper
• A Demon
• And a Hollow
"An Imp is equivalent to a basic monster, while a Hollow... well, let's not talk about those monstrosities." He waved it off.
"Besides, the chance of you running into a Hollow is almost zero." He laughed.
"Now, there are five types of fissure that enterprises mine for money.
Delta-type fissures – the least dangerous
Beta-type fissures
Omega-type fissures
Gamma-type fissures
And finally,
Alpha-type fissures – the most dangerous
Various resources are found in fissures, like crystals, Astras, and other natural resources used to power cities."
"So basically you want me to mine a fissure," Zach concluded.
Alfred chuckled.
"Hell no.." Iris sipped her tea by the side.
"You'd be dead the millisecond you entered even a Delta-type fissure. Even geniuses at the Curious Stage couldn't do that alone. You would need a butt-load of Curious Stage Seekers to even manage to barely pull that off."
"Now that we're talking about power systems, let's quickly discuss the human power system and make you understand how the world works.
First of all, there are Mystic Artists—people that write skills—people like you.
Just like coding in the world before wrote instructions to the computer, Mystic Artists write codes of the universe, creating things called mystical drawings.
These drawings are then powered by a Tether and linked to a soul to form a skill card.
These skill cards can perform powerful skills, and a Curious Stage Seeker can only hold two cards."
Humans are ranked in stages:
• Ignorant Stage – 1 card
• Curious Stage – 2 cards
• Suspicious Stage – 4 cards
• Awakening Stage – 8 cards
• Clarity Stage – 16 cards
• Resonance Stage – 32 cards
• Perfection Stage – 64 cards
The most powerful person Zach had laid eyes on was the intern administrator, who was at the Stage of Curiosity.
Zach also had a lot of mystical drawings, but he hadn't gotten a contract with any company so he couldn't try to bond any of his drawings with his soul.
That was what was in the box.
And he hoped that fact would change today.
Alfred had spent the last 30 minutes briefing Zach about the world, and now Zach had fully understood.
"Sigh, now that you've known the basics, it's time to tell you what you need to actually do."
Alfred sighed.
Zach watched the middle-aged man in a daze.
"The company recently discovered a new fissure, but its danger levels are way too low to even be considered a Delta-ranked fissure." He paused.
"The company can't just send out their Seekers because they're all occupied, and we need to inspect the fissure fast."
"Before any company claims it, right?"
"Exactly! You're catching on quite fast." Alfred continued.
"The fissure isn't all that dangerous, it may even be relatively safe compared to others, but it's one of the biggest fissures known in human history. If the Western Dragon Enterprise gets their hands on it we would be able to harvest an absurd amount of existence stones."
Zach had heard another unfamiliar term—existence stones—but he didn't even bother to ask about them.
"The company has recruited a total of fifty new scholars like yourself to help us out. Clear out a few areas, defeat a few Thyxars, and return. Seems like an easy one, right?"
Zach thought about it for a minute.
"Yeah, I'll do it.." he agreed. What did he have to lose? It was basically money, and if you can't tell already, he really needed it.