Money was power.

Capital was magical.

Income was cultivation.

In the world of Alaria, the most powerful cultivators of magic were the rich.

Or rather, the rich were the most powerful cultivators.

They owned most of the capital, amassing astronomical amounts of wealth and, thus, magical power. The richer they grew, the more mana they accumulated in the depths of their body. The more mana they accumulated, the more powerful their magic was.

The result?

A world with extraordinary inequality that beggared belief.

Not only were the poorest of the poor entirely desperate in a civilization that was hostile and predatory to them economically, but they were also entirely barren.

Entirely barren of magic, that was.

The rich were the strongest.

The poor were the weakest.

The former lived lavish and luxurious lives on magiyachts and magimansions of unimaginable splendor simply by virtue of owning immense magicapita that bestowed upon them godly power.

The latter, on the other hand, struggled to survive.

They toiled away in the slums, scraping together leftover food from restaurants, diners, bakeries, and just about anywhere they could get food from. Shelter was limited to abandoned warehouses, decrepit homes, or any standing structure with a roof over its head.

Life was not only a struggle; it was a struggle without end.

A struggle without hope.

The poorest struggled for as long as they lived, which often was not too long due to how dangerous the streets could be. Be it assault, robberies, or gang violence, it was all too easy to lose one’s life. The unhealthy living conditions and lifestyle, with very little access to healthcare, certainly didn’t help with life expectancy either.

It was a life with almost no escape.

And thus, very few dreamed of escape.

Very few genuinely harbored any hope of escaping poverty.

And why would they?

It would be nothing short of a miracle for most of them.

An overwhelming majority of them were unemployable and uneducated. They possessed no skill or knowledge whatsoever, magical or otherwise, and they were often deficient in reading comprehension and basic arithmetics. Due to being unable to afford any housing, they lived in slummy neighborhoods that were far from any avenue of opportunity.

There was simply no way out of poverty or the suffering that came with it.

And yet, there were those scant few who dreamed of escaping the abyss.

There were those who dared to hope for a better life.

There were those who yearned for more.

Despite the endless hurdles and tribulations that the very world of Alaria seemed to thrust upon them to impede their paths, they still strove to reach for the light, dedicating everything they had to lift themselves out of the pits of poverty.

Cæ was one of them.

For as long as he could remember, he yearned to lead a better life; it was all he had ever striven for in this godforsaken world.

He had slogged for much of his life to achieve this humble goal, going above and beyond to uplift himself from the depths of poverty through any and all means possible. In his school days, he was perhaps the one and only student in a class of miscreants in an underfunded school in a poor district who dedicated his everything to academics.

It finally paid off when he got accepted into a decent college and yet, his trials and tribulations had only just begun.

Education at the college level was not free in the Democratic Republic of Erendir. He was not exceptional enough, despite his greatest efforts, to get a scholarship. Additionally, his background in one of the most slummy and crime-ridden districts in the city destroyed his chances of getting a loan.

Banks took one look at him and his high-risk, sub-prime profile and sneered at him before ushering him out of the establishment.

Not only did it take working forty hours a week as a waiter to be able to afford the tuition fees for his bachelor’s degree in magicommerce, but he also needed to walk two hours on foot every day because he couldn’t afford housing in the posh district of the City of Colohen where his college and job were.

It was a grueling and painful part of his life that had him cursing the unfairness of the world around him, and yet, he gritted his teeth and forged on. He studied like a madman even as many of his college peers partied, smoked weed, and generally exhibited behavior that was unconducive to their future success.

He endured the oppression in day-to-day life that came with being poor in a wealthier district and thus entirely devoid of mana. Those who were richer could instantly sense that he had no magic, and that instantly altered the dynamics of his interactions with anybody else in the entire district.

He was poor.

And thus, he was weak.

And he knew better than anyone what happened to the weak in this godforsaken world.

And yet, he endured.

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He endured the angry customers who vented their frustrations and twisted power fantasies on him by exerting their mana. He endured bullies in college who came from rich and wealthy families and had more mana handed to them on a silver spoon than he had ever even seen in his entire life.

He endured everything that the world threw at him.

He endured all of it even as his hatred for the world around him festered.

Hatred for this predatory world.

Hatred for a world that was hostile to the weak and the poor.

Hatred for a world that hated him.

He endured and continued to work hard in college to get good grades to jump start what would hopefully be a lucrative career.

And it finally paid off.

His efforts eventually culminated three years later when he successfully graduated from his college with a degree in commerce.

And yet, it was only when he landed a job as an assistant manager at a local food chain that he was able to obtain a salary that allowed him to eventually afford to rent the smallest of apartment rooms in the district. His plan was to accrue experience before applying for more lucrative positions in more profitable corporations, to continue grinding even harder as he worked up the corporate ladder.

And it was only from then on, at the age of twenty-one, that his life began getting better. For the first time, he slept on beds that might as well have been that of royalty compared to the kind of places where he had taken shelter for most of his life. He ate healthy and even good food, at least compared to his diet in the past, and generally lived a more livable life that didn’t push him to his very limit, both physically and mentally.

Most of the income he made went into living expenses, but with each passing month, he managed to accrue some savings, meager as they were.

And for the first time in his life, he meaningfully experienced the power of mana.

With each leenar, the magicurrency of Elendir he earned, he felt mana filling up his mind. The more magicapita he accumulated, the more magical power he gained.

It was the first time that he had ever experienced such power in his entire life.

And yet, he wasn’t able to use it, for he had no magic at his disposal. He didn’t know how to apply this power that had begun filling his entire mind. He would need to master magic at a magicademy and learn to harness the power of mana.

And yet, it wasn’t even the best part of his new life.

“That would be me.” The cheerful voice of a woman behind him on his magiscooter drew his attention. “With a life as shitty as yours, I am surely the best thing that has ever happened to you. Definitely a solid competitor. Top three at a bare minimum. I think I have a solid shot for gold.”

A smirk cracked at the edge of Cæ’s mouth. “I mean, if the only way you can win is if you have no competition…”

He chuckled as he felt a smack atop his helmet. “Now then, back to recounting the past, Lilia.”

“Ah, yes, because I need yet another overdramatized retelling of your life.” Her tone was sarcastic and mischievous.

“Ah, but therein lies your mistake. You see, it’s not you who needs it, but rather…” He turned to catch a glimpse of his girlfriend behind him. “It’s me who does. After all, how can I appreciate what I have now if I forget what I didn’t have then?”

His tone was sincere.

Until he met his girlfriend, he had a permanent scowl on his resting face. He lived life with a lot of resentment and anger toward the world around him. In the wealthier district that he lived in, he was surrounded by people who were born with more magicapita than everything he had to struggle for.

Why were they born into a well-off family when he was born into a hellhole with filth and dirt?

Why did they get everything for free when he bled in order to get even a fraction of what they had?

Perhaps other people would have eventually moved on with a helpless resignation, but not Cæ.

He wasn’t able to move on.

He wasn’t able to accept it.

At least, not before he met Lilia.

Her arms around his waist tightened as she rested her head on his back affectionately. “You didn’t have to get all philosophical on me, you know. Let’s go home. Otherwise, you’ll be late to the Selvigs tomorrow.”

Cæ smirked at her well-hidden embarrassment.

He found her shy discomfort towards her heartfelt expression to be one of the many adorable parts of her that he loved with all his heart. It was fun watching her melt into a puddle of embarrassment each time he opened his heart to her.

He looked forward to saving up enough money with her and eventually getting married to her.

Perhaps for the first time in his life, he truly looked forward to what the future held.

“Maybe this world isn’t so bad after all.” A faint whisper escaped him as he drove his magiscooter forward once the traffic lights turned green.

And that was when everything went downhill.

BEEEP!!!

His eyes widened with horror as a truck came barreling down from his side, running a red light. Its white headlights blinded him even as time slowed down to crawl in his mind.

Out of nowhere, he came to stare death in the eyes.

Out of nowhere, a moment of peace and serenity had suddenly turned into one of terror and despair.

And yet, he was all but powerless to stop it.

BANG!!!

The truck crashed into his magiscooter in a devastating collision. The ear-rending mourn of crumpling metal echoed through the air even as the sheer impact ravaged the scooter and the two people atop it, sending them hurtling across the magitar roads.

One moment, they were simply out for an evening ride.

The very next, their mangled bodies were skidding across the road.

Their bodies bled profusely through countless wounds.

Broken bones.

Torn muscles.

Ruptured internal organs.

Raw agony was the last thing Cæ experienced, even as the world was consumed by the darkness of his unconscious mind.

His eyes closed as he lost consciousness.

And then, an eternity passed.

Or, at least, what felt like an eternity of darkness.

Until, of course, it finally ended.

His eyes slowly opened as he finally woke up.

The first thing he felt was discomfort.

His vision was blurred beyond comprehension. The sterile scent of a hospital lingered in the air while the muddled noise of footsteps and murmurs reached his ears. The pleasant sensation of a soft, warm cloth covered his entire body.

It was not enough to mask the fact that his body certainly felt different.

And yet, unbeknownst to him, it was not his body that had changed the most.

No.

It was his mind.

Strangely enough, he didn’t experience the dazed confusion that was to be expected, considering the traumatic injury that he had suffered.

No.

Instead, a deep sense of clarity unlike anything he had ever experienced in his entire life, permeated his entire mind. As though a deep fog impeded his vision, his entire life had suddenly lifted, revealing a landscape as far as the eye could see. He felt like he was able to think in dimensions and directions he didn’t even know existed.

And that was why he knew.

That was why the gravity of what had happened clicked in his mind from the moment he woke up.

He knew what had happened.

He knew what he had lost.

He couldn’t have known.

And yet, he knew.

He gritted his teeth as his expression contorted with guttural grief.

A single whisper escaped him even as his voice quivered with an abyss of emotional turmoil.

“Why?”

And thus passed what would go on to become one of the most defining moments of his entire life.

A moment that would define not only his future but the future of the entire world as well.

A future unlike anything he could have ever imagined.

The story of Cæ had only just begun.