Ruith woke with a start, sunlight peeking through the many cracks of his little room.

The memories of the day before came flooding back to Ruith. He had finally gotten his Ability.

‘Nature Manipulation…sounds a bit lame…”

It definitely wasn’t the kind of Ability he had been hoping for. He had dreams of being on the frontlines, slaying the Voidborne and leading a path for humanity. Perhaps with a sword, countless enemies falling with every slash of his blade. Nature Manipulation didn’t sound like that type of Ability to him.

‘Well it’s a Unique Ability, so I’m sure it won’t be useless!’ Ruith’s mood quickly improved after thinking for a second, at least he had an Ability now.

Coming out of his thoughts, Ruith finally remembered the girl from yesterday. He looked up, and there she was, awake and sitting in the same spot. However, she had pulled the hood down and he could now see her face.

Ruith first noticed her eyes, pale green, seeming to make him stare longer than he should’ve. Her skin was light brown, and curly brown hair fell down to her neck. She had a well-defined jawline, not too sharp and not too soft.

Ruith stopped himself from observing her face anymore and realized it had grown awkward as they stared at each other.

‘She didn’t stay up the whole night, right?’

“Oh, you’re still here. Is there something else you need?” Ruith said.

The girl looked up at him. “Well actually, I need your help with something. It’s the reason I’m in the slums in the first place.”

“Before you say anything else, what do I get for helping you?” 

She rolled her eyes and pulled something out from under her cloak. It was another coin. However, this time it was made of gold.

Ruith gasped, staring at the beautiful coin. This would be enough to let him live comfortably for at least a year…

Though it did make him question who this girl was, to just casually pull a gold coin out as though it was nothing. Obviously, she was not from the slums.

Ruith came to his senses and decided to not let his greed blind him. He had more important things to do, even if it was a gold coin being offered. He had awoken his Ability, and it would be a much better use of his time to learn how to use it than helping this girl.

“I’ll help you, but not now,” Ruith said firmly.

The girl sighed. She really didn’t feel like finding someone else to help her, so she might as well wait for this boy.

“Fine. One week or I’ll find someone else.”

Ruith nodded, standing up. And then he realized, he didn’t even know the girl's name.

“By the way, what’s your name?” 

“Vaeri.”

“Well nice to meet you Vaeri, I’m Ruith.” He offered her the best smile and acted the nicest he possibly could, after all, he didn’t want that gold coin going to anyone else.

Vaeri also stood, and moved to the door. 

“I’ll be back here in one week. Bye.” 

Before Ruith knew it, she was gone.

“Now…testing my Ability.”

Ruith pulled on a shirt covered in tears and holes, slipped his sandals on, and stepped outside.

The sky was overcast, adding to the gloomy atmosphere of the slums. He began walking down the street, which was cracked and had weeds growing out of it. 

Abandoned buildings lined the street, their roofs caved in from attacks of the Voidborne. The slums were a remnant of the time before humans gained Abilities. A time when Voidborne breaching the Bastions walls was a common occurrence. 

Now, even a hundred years after, nobody wanted to rebuild or live in this place. It was taken over by people with useless Abilities, and though uncommon, the monsters would still slip in occasionally and wreak havoc here.

Ruith drew nearer to one of the smaller gates, intending to practice his Ability outside. Passing through, the two guards glanced at him before resuming their talk.

He walked for half an hour until he found a grassy area with nobody around. Sitting cross-legged on the ground, he closed his eyes and focused on his body.

In his mind, he could now see his spine and skull. Inside his head, there was a tiny orb, pitch black and glowing. His spine was the same.

The mana flowing through the world, appearing as a light green mist, was slowly absorbed by his spine, and then traveled up to the tiny orb.

Ruith’s father had explained this to him many times, so he had no trouble seeing this within his mind.

There were six known colors that the Mana Core, the tiny orb within the brain, could be. Everyone started with a black Core, and then it progressed through red, brown, grey, white, and gold. 

The King of the Bastion was a man over a hundred years old yet still looking like he was in his 30s. The only known person to have a Gold Core.

Ruith had seen this man just once when he was six years old when his father took him to a speech by the King.

The boy opened his eyes and held a hand over the brown grass. He let the mana flow down to his fingertips, and then go out of his body and make contact with the grass. He didn’t try to do anything with the mana, simply letting it out.

The grass absorbed it, and amazingly, started to become green once again. Now in the dead grass all around, there was a small circle of the healthiest grass Ruith had ever seen.

However, Ruith frowned. Just for this tiny effect, he felt almost a quarter of his entire mana was used.

But he moved on, this time consciously trying to use his mana to do something. His Ability provided some guidance, a feeling of what he should try to do.

Once again the mana flowed from his fingertips, this time going underground. Ruith felt it make contact with a small root, half the size of his pinkie. And then he forced the root to move according to his will using mana. He noticed he wasn’t actually making it move, but making it grow instead.

It grew barely an inch…before Ruith gasped, and fell to the ground. He now had a dull headache and could tell there was no mana left in his Core.

‘What the hell…this Ability is so weak.’