The sun rose up as any other day, its yellow-orange light infiltrating through the small windows of the barracks.

  Dozens of young men lay sprawled in their bunks, their breathing deep and steady, until the first rays of sunlight reached their faces. Groans rippled through the room, the sound bouncing off the cold walls as reluctant bodies stirred awake.

  In the corner, away from the stirring bodies, Akira sat up without a sound. He had been awake for over an hour or so, but rather than rise, he had chosen to remain still, slipping into meditation within his Heart Core.

  He had even begun to measure time inside it, a non important experiment, yet an experiment none the less.

  Time worked differently there, he had confirmed it now. For every minute that passed in the real world, only a second ticked by inside of the Heart Core. A revelation that, while not major, still served to deepen his understanding of it.

  Hiz gaze moved down to Leo who was sleeping soundly in the bunk beside his

  With a small groan, Akira stood up before standing next to Leo’s body, his shadow casting over the man’s face.

  Leo was snoring softly as he only wore the cloth wrapped around his crotch, probably having taken off the tunic because of the hot temperature even during the night.

  Temperature in Verdant Haven has only been sunny and hot, not unpleasantly hot but still like the summer in a tropical country.

  Leo lay sprawled across his bunk without a care in the world, his muscular arm dangling off the side. It was strange, seeing him this unguarded. Vulnerable, even.

  Akira let out a quiet sigh and reached down, gripping Leo’s shoulder. He shook it firmly. “Wake up.” His voice was low, but firm enough to cut through the haze of sleep.

  Groaning in protest, Leo rolled onto his side. “Just a little longer…” He mumbled, voice thick with sleep.

  Akira however, didn’t have the patience for this. His skinny hand reached up and grabbed the man’s cheek, before twisting it until the skin was strawberry red.

  Yelping, Leo’s eyes snapped open as he bolted upright. “Ow, ow, OW! Alright, alright, I’m up, damn it!” He swatted Akira’s hand away, rubbing his reddened cheek with a pitiful pout. “You’ve got some real violent wake-up methods, you know that?”

  Akira retracted his hand, his silver eyes cool and indifferent. “It’s morning.” He said flatly, as if that explained everything.

  Leo groaned, rubbing his now-reddened cheek while squinting at the sunlight filtering in. “Damn, you’re merciless.” He yawned, stretching his arms overhead, muscles tensing as he cracked his joints. “You couldn’t have just shaken me awake like a normal person?”

  “I did. You ignored it.”

  Sighing dramatically, Leo ran his hand through his disheveled hair as he slowly swung his legs off the bunk, planting his feet on the cold floor. He glared at Akira, but there was no real malice in his eyes, just the familiar lightheartedness that Akira had come to expect from him.

  “Yeah, yeah. I get it.” Leo muttered, his voice still thick with sleep. “No more snoozing in, I promise… Probably.”

  The boy didn’t respond, turning instead to one of the open windows where the soft golden light of the morning had begun to paint the walls with warmth. His thoughts were already drifting toward the day ahead.

  There would be a lot to learn about Verdant Haven’s inner city. Though first after breakfast he expected that Oliver would finish his explanation of the Keepsakes.

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  Putting his tunic on, which he used as a pillow, Leo noticed that Akira was deep in thought yet he was already used to it. “So, what do you think the city is going to be like? Maybe they’ll have something actually good to eat!”

  “Again-” Just as Akira was about to retort, Leo cut him off.

  “Yeah yeah, values, rates, currency system, whatever, I get it, I get it. But as long as there is a will there's a way! And I will not stop until I get a delicious meal!”

  Shortly after Oliver and some of the other ‘caretakers’ walked through the door. He wasted no time with pleasantries, his gaze sweeping over the dozens of young men who were now sitting up in their bunks, some still half asleep. “Alright everyone, time for breakfast, today we will finish the explanation of Keepsakes and answer any other questions you may have, then until noon we will show you the inner city. After all that is done you will be free to explore on your own until dinner time. Is that clear?”

  The room of young men made a simultaneous grunting sound in agreement as everyone was still waking up completely.

  …

  At the dining room, Leo and Akira ate breakfast in peace along with the other Hatchlings, which was the same meal as always. Salted meat, dried fruit and bread.

  This was the second day and Akira had already learned quite a bit about this new world he was thrown into, though the more answers he had the more questions and new unknown variations appeared.

  “Everyone, please pay attention.” Oliver’s voice resounded through the entire hall with ease, the tone carried its usual authority, turning the heads of the Hatchings towards himself. He wasn’t sitting at the table with the other ‘caretakers’, he was standing up in the same place as he did when they presented the ranking of monsters. “As I have explained yesterday, today I want to clear up any doubts you may have about wat you have learned until now, be it your Heart Cores, your new powers or the Keepsakes.”

  Pulling the attention of every Hatchling, their half-eaten meals momentarily forgotten as they leaned forward to listen. Akira, who had been quietly observing Leo’s animated attempts to turn dried fruit into some sort of strange game as he devoured more dried meat than what three people would have, he shifted his gaze to the front of the room, his silver eyes narrowing slightly in concentration.

  “I would like to begin by showing you first, my personal weapon.” Oliver extended his hand to his side, and out of nowhere mist started focusing on the palm of his hand, the strange white gas started taking shape.

  Oliver extended a hand to his side. Almost immediately, a pale mist began to swirl around his palm, coalescing with an eerie sense of purpose. The strange white vapor thickened, shifting and folding in on itself, until… within seconds it solidified into a towering halberd, its form emerging as if pulled from the air itself.

  The weapon was massive, nearly twice Oliver’s height, its steel an otherworldly shade of luminous white.

  A faint glow pulsed from its surface, highlighting the intricate craftsmanship of its blade. At first glance, the curved edges resembled the fierce visage of a dragon, yet with another look, the shape could just as easily be a lion’s head, each angle revealing something different, something untamed.

  At the very top, the halberd’s point split into three distinct prongs, fanning out like the petals of a blooming flower, beautiful yet deadly.

  And then there was the handle, forged not from steel, but from wood so dark it seemed to drink in the light around it, a deep black that mirrored the void of a starless sky.

  “The name of this Keepsake is {Knight’s Prideful Starless Bloom}.” Oliver’s voice was steady, but there was a quiet weight behind his words. “I claimed it during the Second Trial, after facing a small army of undead soldiers. Well… I only obtained it after defeating their knighted commander.”

  Excited murmurs rippled through the gathered onlookers, their eyes gleaming with awe as they studied the weapon. Some whispered among themselves, admiring its craftsmanship, while others simply stared, mesmerized by the sheer presence of it.

  However there was one youth that wasn’t caught up in admiration, Akira, his mind was already analyzing.

  That’s quite the name… No, that doesn’t matter. It really did appear out of thin air, it took less than five seconds to materialize entirely. I wonder if it has a Trait. Knowing Oliver, it probably does. And even if it doesn’t, he must have others that do.

  His thoughts were abruptly cut short.

  “That’s so cool!”

  Leo’s voice rang out with unfiltered enthusiasm as he practically bounced in place. He turned sharply toward Akira, eyes alight with excitement. “Did you see that, Akira?! He just pulled a weapon out of thin air! How awesome is that? Oh man, I cannot wait to get my hands on a Keepsake!”

  Dumbass. Does he seriously think we’d be given something like that? More likely, we’ll be handed cheap, easy to mass produce gear and sent off to fend for ourselves. If we’re going to be given anything at all. But then again… if that were the case, why waste the resources training us? Why go through the trouble of preparing everyone? No. There was a reason behind all of this. And Oliver, that self-righteous bastard, clearly has an obsession with protecting people.