Hector charged into the kitchen. He had been a fool to leave his dad alone, he should have stayed. His eyes frantically scanned the room until they landed on a figure in the corner, covered by ruined pieces of what looked to be the kitchen table.

Hector rushed over, dropping to his knees and clawing the wood off of his dad, not caring for the splinters that bit deep into his skin as he did. “I'm sorry Dad, I'm sorry. I should have never left you alone I should have stayed.” He removed a large piece of wood covering his dad's face, “please be okay,” he said, his voice barely a whisper.

“It’s alright son,” his dad croaked. His eyes were swollen with large black bruises and blood was running down his lips. His shirt was a complete mess, torn to shreds in places and hanging off in others, it was as if they were trying to kill him.

"Don't speak, Dad," Hector said, still clearing away debris. "Save your strength. I'll clean you up."

Soft footsteps sounded from the hallway behind Hector. “Is he okay?” Mirae asked, her voice wobbling. “I'll go get a bucket and cloth.” Mirae’s hurried footsteps filled the room, before stopping as she began rooting around the cupboard.

Hector scooped his arm around his dad's side, lifting him up. The man groaned as he did. Hector’s father was in a bad way—going off the mess, the table had no doubt been used on him. But Hector wasn’t surprised. Angry. But not surprised. Brulin was in the fourth level of the Gravity-Forging realm. He was more than strong enough to deal with someone like Hector's father, only in Gravity-Forging realm two.

He will pay for this, I'll make sure of it.

Hector sat his father down on the chair his sister had brought over—she had gathered a small pile of old clothes and the old bucket they used to catch leaks in the roof. She knelt next to the chair with the bucket and cloth and began dabbing their father's face as soon as Hector stepped back.

“Thank you, children,” their father said resting our hand on Mirae’s arm. “Your dad has unfortunately incurred some debts at work. Don't worry I'll clear it up.” The weak smile on his lips did nothing to reassure Hector. Why was he even smiling? He had just been beaten up and was looking to be in even more trouble if they didn't pay, how could he smile?

“How much do we owe?” Hector said crossing his arms. If it was a smaller amount surely he could do something to gather it.

“Don't concern yourself. It's my responsibility, I’m the one who should be fixing this. Just go about your day doing what you do.” his dad said, taking the cloth from Mirae and holding it over one of his swollen eyes. “It's not too much and ill it have paid by the end of the month. Don't worry.”

“Sure you will,” Hector said turning away and heading back to his room. Even now his father was still holding things back and treating them as if they were kids. If his dad wasn't going to allow him to help he would have to do it anyway.

But first, he had to get to work.

***

The late morning sun bore down on Hector's back as he wiped sweat from his brow. Sorting through the trash of the upper crust of Middlec was dirty work—and pay wasn’t even guaranteed—but every now and then he would find something interesting.

He rested one knee on a half-destroyed rotten pillow he had found and plunged his hand deeper into the garbage pile pulling at the mass beneath. A clatter of parts—metal and wood clogged with fabrics—rained off of the pile as he sat it next to him and began sifting through it.

“Junk, junk, oh look at that more junk.” Hector sighed, twisting his body and landing on the pillow with a soft thump. The sweet sickening smell of garbage rushed from the pillow straight into his nose.

Leaning back and took in the sights—today was going to be one of those days. All around him were mountains of garbage that ran on for quite some time. Within the dump, other kids could be seen either in small groups or alone doing the same dirty work as Hector—most probably didn’t even know what they were looking for.

Those fellow slum rats that did, much like him, were looking for something to bring back home. Something that could help improve their situation if just for a day. Sure they could have looked for work somewhere else but that work tended to just be some form of crime that would get them either beaten up or arrested by the Middlec city guards—if they were particularly unlucky they would be killed outright.

Why do we have to sift through this filth while they prance about in their ivory towers?

Off in the Horizon Hector could make out the tops of the grand palaces that housed the so-called Great Families. Beacons of power within the city at large.

Power Hector didn't have. He glanced at the top of the trash heap of which he sat at the bottom of. He could climb up there and proclaim himself king, no one would care—unless it was some uptee fool who thought himself a boss of some sort, claiming great dominion over the dump.

“Well breaks over,” Hector said, standing up and dusting himself off.

Hector walked up the trash pile, struggling to stand and wobbling. He dropped back onto a knee, with his pillow in hand. The good trash was often at the top of the pile—after all that was where it was freshest. Hector wasn’t quite sure how it worked.

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But he knew that the trash was launched to the top from the carts that brought it to the dump. Thankfully they didn’t bring the sewer filth here, that was taken deeper in. But he had been unlucky a few times—not every process was perfect.

Hector had once found a golden ring in the dump. That had been exciting. He had thought it was perhaps a storage ring—an artefact held by higher level of Mana cultivators that could store items inside it. But once he brought it home to his dad and showed him those ideas were dashed. It was nothing more than a standard golden ring, probably thrown off by some young noble during a pointless duel.

He puffed as he crested the garbage mountain and set his pillow down. “Alright here we go,” He said, brushing the loose strands of his white hair aside. Hector plunged both his arms deep in, grabbing a pial from beneath the trash.

A sharp pain bit into his arm but he paid it no mind. His arm was already covered in cuts, what was one more? With a heave, he pulled out the trash and set it to the side before diving in and pulling out another. When he was done, four separate piles of trash sat around him.

He could now move on to the next step, separation. Taking out what was completely useless and leaving aside what was good. It was a method taught to him by Emela—a girl, now a friend that he’d found searching around the dump a few months back. She had called his past methods wasteful and inefficient. According to her spending all day clearing trash like an animal would lead to a poor sense of self.

Hector chuckled. To this day he still didn't get it. If you were rolling in trash you were rolling In trash. How you did it didn't make a difference? But he had to admit her methods did make finding actually useful things a lot easier.

I'll have to ask her where she got the idea. Most garbage diggers I know just dive in like a rat.

On another trash pile a short distance away was a boy much like Hector. Watching him, Hector couldn’t help but shake his head. She was right. The boy was covered in dirt and other crap as he dug through the trash looking eerily similar to a rat trying to dig a hole.

Well, she definitely added some civility to this crappy job.

Hector's hands paused as he noticed a bright yellow object within one of the piles. He reached forward and scooped it up, a smile coming to his lips.

If he wasn't mistaken this was a pill, though the type of pill it was was unknown. It was not rare to find a pill in a trash heap—the refineries would often pump them out in bulk, and any trash or waste pills were thrown out and ended up in the dump.

But those pills were often grey and cracked, signifying that they were waste and unable to be used. A pill like this. Its surface intact its yellow shimmer still going, it had to be defective. But that didn’t mean that it couldn’t be used.

Hector had once heard of someone's mana-cultivation soaring after ingesting one of the pills they found in the trash. Granted it did leave them bed-bound for at least three months, but that was a small price to pay for gaining some means of protection within the slums—and a slum rat like him needed every advantage he could get...

He glanced around, placing the pill into his dirty grey trousers pocket. If anyone saw that he had something like this there would be trouble. With one more check to make sure he hadn't been spotted, Hector moved on to the next pile. But froze as he heard his name.

“Hector, there you are. I've been looking for you everywhere. I thought we agreed to meet over by the entrance of the dump.”

Looking down Hector spotted his best friend, Lincoln, waving his long gangly arms as his short black hair bounced around. He was cleaner today, his grey pants not as dirty and his brown shirt more brown than it was black.

The look of joy in his green eyes brought a smile to Hector's lips. He had messed up yet the boy was still happy to see him. He had agreed to meet Lincoln by entrance but with everything going on at home he’d forgotten. That shouldn't have happened.

“Sorry. I completely forgot, how did you find me?”

Lincoln tilted his head, squinting his eyes, “Are you serious, you don't go anywhere else within the dump. It's always towards the back not far enough to see the city walls but just deep enough that you feel you could get lost within the dump itself.”

“Oh. Am I really that predictable?” Hector said scratching the back of his neck and adjusting himself so that he could see Lincoln properly at the bottom of the hill of trash.

“It's one of the things I like most about you,” Lincoln said.

"Oh, shut up, " Hector said, standing. "So you coming up then, or are you just here to watch?”

Lincoln chuckled and clambered up the trash heap falling onto the knees of his dirty grey pants caking them in trash residue. “ I know the best things are at the top, but is it necessary to always climb up here?”

Hector chuckled, scratching the back of his neck as he glanced around the dump. “ are you kidding me, you have to get to the good loot before anyone else. To tell the truth, I actually found something today.”

“Oh really,” Lincoln said pausing in his climb to flick his hair and looking up Hector. “Tell me more?”

"I will when you get up here. I'm sure the entire dump could hear your big mouth,” Hector said, smiling, as Lincoln continued climbing.

System what are his talents?

Growing up Lincoln hadn't shown any particularly outstanding abilities. However, Hector had been checking everyone in the dump since he got here and had yet to find another person with a Talent. If Lincoln had one it would be for the best. Hector needed people. People with Talents and a strong level of cultivation.

The stronger people were closest to him the more protected they were from threats like the Collar Gang.

————————————————

///: No talent found.

————————————————

“Crap,” Hector said as Lincoln reached the top of the trash heap. He wasn't expecting much, after all finding a Talent seemed to be difficult. But if his friend had something it could have gone a long way to help strengthen those close to him.

“What, what's wrong?” Lincoln said reaching forward, taking Hector’s outstretched arm, and pulling him in for a hug. “Not happy to see me make it up top or something?”

“Yeah, I was hoping to see tumbled down a good few feet before making it to the top. Make my day just a bit better.” Hector said, chuckling and pulling back.

“Oh shut up,” Lincoln said lightly jabbing Hector's arm. “Anyway, what up, what did you find?”

“Not here.” Hector guided Lincoln over to his three remaining piles of trash. “Take a seat.”

Lincoln chuckled. “ I see you've been using Emela’s trash sorting techniques. I don't know why you do it, man, I find I'm just as effective even without it.” Lincoln said taking a seat on the trash.

“I'm sure you do,” Hector said joining him, but making sure to use his pillow. “ and what was it that you found last time that proved how effective you were?”

“I thought we weren't gonna talk about that anymore?”

Oh come on, Hector said and chuckled. “Anyone could get a beast core and an odour pearl mixed up. There's nothing to feel ashamed of.”

Hector leaned back as Lincoln fixed him with a leer. He would never let Lincoln forget that one time it was how he could keep him humble, his head was big enough as is. The call of trash crows above took Hector's attention off Lincoln. The birds were free, freer than he was. They could do anything be anything.

“Are you all right,” Lincoln said, looking from the sky to Hector.

“Yeah I'm good, I have to tell you something. But first, look at what I've found.”