The sound of a child humming a tune echoed within a small peach orchard. It was almost evening. The soft reddish hues of the horizon made the peaches glimmer with a rosy shine. The scent of the ripe fruit permeated every inch of the small orchard.

  “15…20…25… 30…32! I did it!”

  A young child muttered to himself with triumph as he stood in the back of the line with the other fruit pickers. The boy appeared to be around 8 years old, but his true age was hard to gage after looking at his frail and malnourished body. His unkempt and shaggy black hair covered his gaunt face, and hid his surprisingly bright hazel-green eyes.

  “Ya finally did it eh, Shouren?”

  The large middle-aged woman standing in front of the boy turned around when she heard the victorious exclaim from the child. Unlike the small basket that Shouren carried, the woman had two large barrel-like baskets with roughly over a 100 peaches in each of them.

  Her callused hand gently patted the frail child on his head.

  “It’s my first time, Merrin! I finally get to take 2 peaches home today. One for me and one for my grandma.”

  Shouren’s cheeks flushed with happiness as he looked up at the hearty woman. It was harvesting season, so the orchard owners gathered as many helpers as they could get and everyone got paid based on the number of peaches they picked.

  This job was for mostly all the Tier 0’s in the village, but kids often joined in as well. For Shouren, he’d been coming in for the past four days and could barely gather a few dozen peaches on the account of his feeble body. He couldn’t afford the tools the adults had, and neither did he have the strength to climb the trees like the other kids. Instead, the boy relied on his sharp senses to detect which of the peaches’ stems were the weakest and used small pebbles to knock them down. The browner the ends of the stem, the easier it was to knock it down.

  The orchard owners required a minimum of 30 peaches per picker, and any additional peaches could be sold back to the owners for a fixed price. This was the first time that Shouren managed to pick more than 30 peaches, so he was ecstatic that he could take those two extra fruits home. He had no intention of selling it back for a few chronas. If he wanted to purchase those same peaches in the market, he wouldn’t even be able to afford even a single bite.

  Unlike the other children in the village, Shouren and his grandmother lived in abject poverty and barely had enough chronas for a single meal a day. It didn’t help that the rest of the villagers scorned at their filthy appearances and refused to go near them or hire for any mediocre work.

  His grandmother, Rhea, was one of the few Cardsmiths in the village but of course, no one commissioned any work from her except a meager few. This was due to the lack of a smithy. Rhea couldn’t afford to rent one, and hence, had to resort to the old techniques of crafting cards with her hands. A practice which had been discontinued decades ago when the Cardist rankers of the Starhaven Guild conquered the 20th floor of the Akarsha Dungeon, and discovered the blueprint of a ‘Laser Smithy’ that allowed Cardsmiths to use highly advanced tools to manufacture new cards.

  “Make sure you take the juiciest two of that batch.”

  Merrin winked at the giddy boy and turned back around. The older lady wanted to help out the clearly hungry boy, but as a lowly Tier 0, she couldn’t afford to. After the harvesting season was over, her family would be in a similar situation as Shouren, albeit not as bad.

  Shouren cheerfully nodded his head in response and bent over the basket to make his selection. He would subtly set those two peaches aside before handing the basket over to the inspector. The line was gradually receding and soon it’d be Shouren’s turn.

  The boy gingerly kneaded his bony right shoulder, which was slightly sore from all the pebble slinging he’d done earlier.

  I can’t wait to see the look on Grandma’s face.

  Shouren thought with a grin on his face. The boy could hardly remember the last time they had fruit. He saw Merrin walk ahead, carrying her double massive baskets to the front of the table where the pudgy inspector was seated. A burst of lumen coalesced over the neatly dressed inspector as a card appeared and floated over Merrin’s baskets.

  I wonder what class card he has?

  Seeing the density of the lumen around the inspector, Shouren knew that the inspector had to be at least Tier 1. Only Tier 1 Cardists and above could command lumen this easily.

  Lumen was the most important resource of his planet, Aethoria. It was the foundation that all civilizations used to advance in evolution. Lumen was everywhere and in everything. The higher your Tier, the more lumen you could generate and, in effect, the more powerful cards you could unleash.

  Shouren dreamed of having an epic class card of his own one day. He wanted a combat class card so he could join one of the strongest guilds and make enough money that he and his grandmother could have as many fruits as they could eat. Maybe he’ll even get to try some of that steak he’d see in the butchery. Add in some butter, spices…

  “Next.”

  A stoic voice pulled Shouren out of his reverie.

  “Y-yes!”

  The boy quickly wiped the drool off his face and rushed forward with his basket in hand. He almost tripped over on the way, but managed to steady himself at the last moment.

  “I have 32 peaches in here. The owners said I could take the extra, so I’m taking these two.”

  Shouren rambled hurriedly in a single breath, his nervousness seeping into his childish voice. The boy was afraid the inspector would cheat him of his two peaches.

  The inspector raised his eyes from the register he was writing on and his eyes swept over Shouren’s dirty and worn clothes. Meanwhile, the card floating over the basket flashed with a dim glow.

  “30 goods submitted. Take your two peaches, runt.”

  The inspector sighed and his hand swirled over the register, recording the new tally. The pudgy man waved his hand, urging Shouren to leave.

  “Thank you, sir!”

  Shouren gave the inspector a grateful bow and ran towards the orchard exit, stuffing the two plump peaches into the hem of his ragged shirt and folding it to his chest, making an impromptu satchel. He didn’t have any pockets, so this had to do until he reached his grandmother’s cottage.

  The boy rushed past the marketplace and the series of clean houses on the tidy pavements. His hazel-green eyes sparkling and filled with uncontainable excitement as the boy couldn’t wait to share his harvest with his only family member. Since he could remember, he never met his parents, and neither did his grandma ever elaborate more than that they simply passed away in an accident. However, that never mattered to Shouren. His grandmother was the one who raised him, and that’s all the family he needed.

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  Shouren glanced up at the setting sun. It was almost halfway gone. The iconic symbol on the sun still mesmerized the young boy to this day. His grandma once told him that their current sun was not always the one they had from the start. Before the emergence of lumen, and back when the Akarsha dungeon first appeared in Aethoria, there had been a thundering crack in the sky, a noise that had alerted all kingdoms of the world, and turned their attention to the horizon.

  There, all the inhabitants saw the sun soundlessly shatter in front of their eyes as a larger star with the enigmatic symbol progressively replaced it. The triangle pattern with a vertical line was etched deep into the sun, marking the advent of the emergence of the Akarsha dungeon.

  “Watch it, you rat!”

  Shouren heard someone snarl at him when he ran past a pair of men. He hadn’t even touched them, but the man seemed to take offense at the boy for merely getting close to him.

  “Sorry, sir.”

  Shouren turned around to offer an apologetic smile and bowed to the man. He was used to this treatment by the villagers. Only a few, like Merrin, didn’t treat him like the plague.

  A few minutes later, and the darkness of the evening setting in, Shouren was close to the outskirts of the village. Just as the boy was about to take a left turn at the junction leading to the slums, he noticed something from the corner of his eye.

  A little girl, approximately the same age as him, was walking alongside a group of kids in the similar age range. What caught Shouren’s attention was the small object that fell to the ground from her pocket. It was wrapped in a shiny wrapper, and the glint from the sheen was what drew Shouren’s gaze.

  It was candy.

  Shouren had seen plenty of them at the market, and even tried one on his last birthday when his grandmother surprised him.

  He wanted to shout to let the girl know that she dropped her candy, but something stopped him.

  “She didn’t even notice. If I wait for a bit, I can take that candy for myself.”

  Shouren muttered to himself. Judging from the girl’s immaculate dress and that of her companions, Shouren thought that none of them would care much for a small piece of candy. On the other hand, it would be a rare treat for Shouren to savor that delicacy once again.

  He inched closer to the spot of the fallen candy and picked it up with one hand, while the other hand kept the peaches in place.

  The boy stood standing still as he mulled over his thoughts. The group of kids were almost out of sight.

  “Hey!”

  Shouren yelled in their direction. One of the boys glanced back before he nudged the others when he saw Shouren was addressing them.

  “She dropped this.”

  Shouren pointed at the girl and then held out his hand, revealing the wrapped candy.

  The little girl saw the candy and proceeded to pat her dress, only to find that it was indeed hers. However, just as she was about to walk towards Shouren to collect it, a boy barred her path with his arm and held her back. The boy had thick, curly almond-colored hair, and deep brown eyes. On closer scrutiny, the boy was closer to 9 years old, as he was taller than the rest of the group members.

  “Look at his gross clothes, Linny. I bet he’s a little thief that stole it.”

  The boy glared at Shouren with disgust.

  “Favian, why would he offer the candy back if he intended to steal it?”

  The little girl, Linny, replied meekly. She didn’t believe Shouren tried to rob her as this was the first time she ever saw him, and besides, who would want to steal a piece of candy when it was so cheap?

  “Go back, Linny! You don’t know these pests like I do. All you Tier 0’s are a leech on our village. Instead of being grateful that you’re allowed to live here, you dare to steal from us?”

  Favian’s spittle flew as he shouted at Shouren.

  “Sorry, sir. I’ll leave this candy here and be on my way.”

  Shouren was already regretting getting involved, when all he was trying to do was help out. Instead, he had to apologize once again for a mistake he didn’t commit.

  I should have just taken it for myself instead.

  He had no choice. It’s not like the law would take the side of a rat like him. It was best to bow his head and walk away. Besides, his grandmother would be wondering why he was late today.

  “Stop! I can see you’re hiding something else in your shirt. You probably stole that as well. Leave it behind and then get lost.”

  Favian walked up to Shouren, looking down at him while poking the boy’s chest. The rest of the group of kids stood silent as they watched. Some had uncomfortable expressions on their face but none voiced out their thoughts.

  “What? No way! These are mine. You can ask the inspector in the peach orchards, I didn’t steal these.”

  Shouren’s gaunt cheeks flushed with shame. He worked hard for these peaches, and now he was being accused of stealing them in front of an audience.

  “I’m sorry, please just let me go.”

  Shouren dropped the candy to the ground and turned around to leave.

  “You think you can commit a crime and then leave as you please? Didn’t they teach you in school that there are consequences to stealing?”

  Favian grabbed Shouren’s frail shoulder and forced him to turn back around. The boy was clearly much larger and stronger than Shouren.

  “Favian, you’re hurting him.”

  Another boy from the group said aloud when he saw the pained look on Shouren’s face. The kids didn’t care for the candy and it was not worth harassing some poor child from the slums.

  “Shut up! I’m going to be a ranker in the future when I get my class card. Scum like this thief needs to be punished so that our communities are safe.”

  Favian shot a glare at the boy who voiced out his objection, before further twisting his grip on Shouren’s shoulder, causing the feeble boy to cry in agony as he dropped the peaches on the ground.

  “P-please…”

  Shouren weakly grabbed Favian’s shirt, begging him to let go. He saw the older boy raise his foot over the fruits, and dread sank into Shouren’s heart.

  “Get your dirty hands off me.”

  Favian pushed Shouren away, sending the boy crumpling to the ground. Then, making sure Shouren’s eyes were on him, Favian painstakingly crushed one of the peaches under his boot. Without pause, the older boy continued the same with the second peach.

  Tears rolled down Shouren’s grubby face.

  Why? If you were going to waste it, why not just let me have it?

  Shouren whimpered, his unkempt black hair covering his face. He didn’t even do anything wrong. He only wanted to help. Then why was he being treated this way?

  Did he not have a right to exist in this world?

  A seed of rage settled inside him, replacing the misery he felt.

  What was the point of doing good deeds if this was the ultimate result? Where was the law that was supposed to protect him? Where were all these righteous people when he and his grandmother were starving by themselves?

  Shouren slowly tilted his head to face Favian. His radiant hazel-green eyes stared at the older boy, fury emanating from the depths of the irises.

  Seeing the defiant look on the slum boy, Favian’s anger bubbled, and he swiftly sent a violent kick to Shouren’s chest, eliciting a painful groan from the latter. There was an audible crack in the air, impacting the frail boy’s ribs.

  “Know your place, thief.”

  Favian grabbed Shouren by his hair and repeatedly punched him in the face.

  After the initial seven blows, Shouren lost the feeling in his face. He only felt the vibrations coursing through his skull. Somewhere in the back of his head, he heard several screams. He was sure at least one of them was not his.

  The boy laughed at himself as his head kept rocking.

  Why did he expect something else from this world? His grandma was wrong. There was no point in being kind to others. That only left you beaten to a pulp on the street.

  The world was never fair.

  What was his purpose in this world? Why was he born?

  Shouren would give that answer one day. And the world would tremble in response.

  Then Shouren lost consciousness.