B repetitive gss towers lined both sides of the travel lio his uy, the very peaks lighting up as the dim beams of artificial m lights began activating on the eastern horizons.

  The public transit rune carts glided along the glowing white nes in such perfect silence Jun could hear the breathing of the old man sitting behind him and the young girl across the aisle giggle at something she found funny. He wished he could open a window ahe gust of the wind on his skin as he looked out with i.

  He wasn't the only ohat found the cold repetition to be distasteful. Some people were expressing their individuality on their real estate of building surfaces with colorful projes, resulting in a tinually ging ndscape of human expression.

  It was a rend that he was thankful was catg on. He wouldn't say everything was to his taste, but he loved that there was a more human touch to the once monotonous sery this journey was only retly like.

  Danny was right. Now was the time to take advantage of the times to get his work out there. He had remained anonymous and not respoo all the troversies because Danny had assured it wasn't time yet. He wasn't sure what Danny was waiting for, but he felt like if he didn't get some momentum soon that he would lose ce.

  But that's not what was weighing on Jun's mind at the moment. her was it about his st day of exams that would finish his academic career.

  It had been over a week sihe fight, and Desi had refused to speak or meet with him. It had made what would have been a mildly stressful finals week into aional hurrie.

  She had been more upset about his ck of bag on her Hunter career ge idea thahought. She said she needed some personal time to breathe, and he had tried to respect that, but it had been a week of silend he was reag his mental breaking point. This was the mother of his child that was emotionally pulling back from him. He couldn't accept that.

  Lily informed him that Desi hadn't been talking with anyone else in the family either and their mom ISSED.

  Danny had promised to try talking with her, but hadn't had an opportunity with everything he had going on.

  She had finally sent him a message promising to meet at his thesis presentation, after which the two families would go out to celebrate like they had pnned.

  That rogress, right?

  It took some serious pnning, but Jun had altered his thesis presentation into a bit of a. One he was relying on to get bato Desi's good books.

  He hoped the gift he had worked on for the st year would appease her enough to e back to talking terms. The pn was desperate, but that was how he was feeling. He hadn't even sidered his thesis beied. That would be ridiculous.

  Gates, he was gonna be a dad. What if it was a boy? Would he be like all the other kids and dream about risking his life as a hunter? If it was a girl? Some asshole kid was gonna try to take his baby from him.... he knew how to hide a body.

  The rune cart came to a graceful stop and a cool voinounced his destination.

  “Stopping at Trident Uy Transit. Have a pleasant day.”

  Walking out of the busy transit terminal, the first thing people were forced to see was an enormous, intimidating bronze mo of the Founder of Trident Gate City, who was also the Founder and only Headmaster of Trident Uy.

  General Anthony Trident the Third, a legendary figure that had been a naval officer who survived the Last War that established a force with the remains of humanity and quered all the emerging Gates and mohat spilled out.

  He established order within the chaos and was instrumental iablishment of numerous Gate Cities.

  On the gleaming surface the intimidating 8' bck stone of the 20' bronze sculpture of an even more intimidating man . with an imposing physique in military garb with a face that spoke of the years of hardship and duty.

  “Never doubt: the Gates were our salvation.

  In our hubris and despair, we destroyed the world with our own hands.

  The days of nothing were hard. We tried to rebuild, but there was nothi. Starvation threateo break the wills of iron men.

  Thees opened and out poured a bounty. Like mana from heaven, food came to us whehe stro of us began wavering.

  After the years of hunger, God had gifted the undeserving an opportunity.

  No more wars. No more hate between men because of our skin colors or beliefs.

  There was only the endless joy of having survived the end times.

  To be given one more ce.

  Those precious few survivors united in the exhirating thrill of the hunt.

  It was a time of feasting.

  When the Wave had subsided, one by one we awoke from our battle lust and khat this was to be our future.

  Our old world, shining but rotten, y wasted by the foolish games of a few, but here lied our opportunity to build anew.

  The Nexus and the Gates gave our despairing souls hope for a future still.

  We must never fet.

  Let this be a pce where wisdom and knowledge be shared so that we may learn from our past as we pave the way for future geions to thrive.”

  -General Anthony Trident, the Third of the New World Alliance

  Jun always shivered a little when he passed by the memorial. He could just feel the madness and desperation in those words. The Wave, the event when the mysterious rifts in space termed as Gates simultaneously appeared in ten different locations throughout the world, was well doted. It was not a peaceful time. Monsters as of nightmares poured out of them by the tens of thousands. Only ohe areas around the Gates were quered did mysterious stone monoliths emerge to swallow the cracks in space, and the situation took a turn, and new opportunities arose.

  If it had been the old era before The Fall and the Last erhaps the monsters would have been the cause of the end of times. But humanity had beateo it. The Last War had purged all the weak, leaving only warriors bathed in blood. What the monsters found when they crossed the Gate into their world were not fat, helpless prey to be devoured, but savage beasts that eyed them with joyous hunger.

  They didn't have a good time.

  Passing by the bronze giant, Jun stood before the imposing gates of Trident Uy. The most prestigious educational institute in Trident Gate City and arguably the world, where Jun had spent the st four years earning his Masters in Ruudies iime it took a regur student to get their Bachelors.

  This would be the st time he stepped past these gates as a student. After his st finals and thesis presentation and upon firmation of his scores, Jun's status would automatically shift to Graduate.

  He'd hoped to have shared this moment with Desi, but who said life erfect?

  The buildings here had more character and a very different kind of energy than most of the Middle City.

  While the world outside the campus could only be characterized as monotonous efficy, here within the uy grounds where every department was in stant petition for students and prestige, the structures reflected the spirit of each field of study.

  The buildings of the Hunter's Athletics Department were all visually tall and sturdy, just like their students. Powerful protective runes fshed at the borders of the massive Colosseum, where the youthful shouts of students pursuing strength could be heard training at all hours of the day and night.

  The Traditional Sces Department was steeped in history and tradition, which was reflected in their style of stone architecture of the pre-War era that blended with moderhetics. All their ornate buildings didn't exceed three levels i except the maiure hall that had an impressive gss and gold domed roof, atop a stone building worthy to be called a pace. Intricately detailed buildings formed individual charming courtyards with shaded seating and fountains and other spaces of leisure for the intellectuals of the department to gather and study.

  The Military Mecha Department was a mix of the ilitary efficy he was used to with a healthy blend of irrational chaos. The pce where students went to train as disciplined Mecha Pilots for the New World Alliance Military was also where future mad stists were nurtured in the Mecha Design School.

  Giant individual transparent hangers housing student mecha design projects dotted the department, breaking up the monotony of repetitive gss and steel buildings that housed the different arrays of simution pods, with the most eous mecha designs that only students could freely think up. Seeing the amateur mechs, designed with all the visual pomp and pageantry and their attempts at intimidating and regal, wobble around like drunken freshman artment staple.

  As Jun walked on familiar pathassed hurried and stressed out finals takers towards his department, he couldn't help reminisg of his experiences he'd cherish from this pce.

  The time Desi had vinced him to fool around behind the Mathematics building, unaware of how extehe surveilnce system was back then. The versation they had with Campus Security had been both humiliating and hirious.

  The scar-faced middle-aged man that reprimahe embarrassed duo after showing them the security footage that had caught their youthful passions had also been too embarrassed to look either of them in the eyes. To see a grown man blush and avoid eye tact while ag stern was weirdly adorable.

  Instead of learning from her folly, Desi had iaken it as a challeo not get caught.

  Jun would say to ahat asked that he was the voice of reason in their retionship, but everyohat khem well knew he loved Desi's free spirit too much to ever say no to anything she wanted. It made him happy to see her smile so freely.

  He was determi that smile ba tonight.

  A voice calling out his name brought him back to reality.

  Stopping and looking back, Jun saw a familiar aged figure walking towards him with his signature slow aernally rexed pace.

  “Good m, Professor Kindley. How are you today?”

  “Good m to you as well, Jun. It's a beautiful day for flicted emotions, don't you think?”

  “Oh? How so?” Jun asked politely.

  “It is a day of aplishments for my cute little students, so that's good, but it's also a day for partings. For most, I'm just thankful if they learned anything at all.” They both ughed as they resumed their walk. “But for students like yourself Jun, it's a true loss for the Uy to see you go,” Said Professor Kindley, now more serious.

  “You know our offer to tinue your research here at the Uy still stands. Your thesis proje the Simplification and Modution of Rune Purification Systems is simply groundbreaking. If you tinue your research, I'm sure it wouldn't be long before we see applications of your research being used across the ten Gate Cities.”

  Jun's smile couldn't help but strain a bit. He didn't know how many times he had deed this offer. Professor Kindley had been pushing for him to go for his doctorate in Ruudies and then Professorship.

  He had already eborated his pns, but Professor Kindley couldn't accept his 'most prized pupil go off into the Arts rather than what the Fates clearly demand based on his talent in Runes alone.'

  Jun tried a different approach this time.

  “Well professor,” Jun gave a dramatic sigh, “I'd love to but didn't Dean Banderby say my dire cked realism and decide to endorse Professor Diass in his Strengthening and Expansion of Purification Runes System? Even if I stayed on, I wouldn't be able to get the funding for my research so-”

  “Banderby wouldn't reize a genius idea even if it shat on his fad Diass's theories are a mishmash of hopeful fantasies with no petence or foundation to make them work. Your work is both graceful and cost effective and most importantly, real. It’s merely the form of your sample Purification System that's fusing the old man. He's so entrenched in what he siders orthodox he 't his stupid dementia addled brain around yanie Structures! He's bee so fortable sitting on his gilded throne he's fotten the innovative spirit that brought him where he is! Once he sees an actual w model, I'll make him eat-”

  Jun didn't know what to say to his professor's uncharacteristic outburst. He had long suspected that his professor had history with the Dean he didn't want to know about.

  “Actually,” Jun interjected. “I nning on telling you earlier, but I've fihe Project I sulted you on early and brought it for my thesis presentation this afternoon. I didn't just bring a single demonstration piece, but the entire project.”

  “You're finished already?!” Professor Kindley was stunned food reason. He had helped with some of the underlying ruructures. He didn't know the full extent of what his student was trying to achieve, but even from what he'd seen, he k was aensive project.

  Fabrication teology could not create runes. Each rune had to be done by hand to ensure a fluid and natural flow of energy. With simple base runes only needing a few strokes, this wasn’t really a problem, but as the tiers of the rune increased, so did the plexity of the design and the number of required strokes, and a single mistake meant the entire rune was useless and had to be redone. Jun's research aimed to break that process into smaller, more manageable ks beyond current practices. It was a pletely new dire of rune design from the current model, and, if achieved, would mean the birth of a new era.

  Even so, they were talking about thousands of ruhat o be made by hand on plex structures. The boy only had two hands, and he was done?

  “What time was your presentation slot again?” He had to see this. After tradiails, the two finally separated to their respective destinations.

  Jun couldn't help but sigh. Professor Kindley had been of tremendous help throughout his studies. Over the years, he had even bee something like a grandfather figure to Jun, always excited to listen to his crazy ideas and help guide his thought processes in manageable dires. Now that he was leaving, he was beginning to savor the bitter taste of partings.

  He’d chosen this field of study for a variety of reasons. Mainly because there was no such thing as an arts program, which he wouldn't dare say to Professor Kindley, but also because Jun was good at it. It was iing, and it came naturally to him, so he picked it to supplement his artwork.

  The zy bum inally intended on coasting on his talent and graduate peacefully in the middle of the pack. That way, he could fortably focus on his art and his girlfriend. Those were important priorities, right?

  Unfortunately, Professor Kindley wasn't a tenured professor for nothing. He easily saw through Jun's charade of mediocrity and ruthlessly exposed his high potential in rune research.

  It didn't take long before it became widely known to the rest of the department how Professor Kindley had a reasured pupil. They set up special accelerated csses just for him, and they frequently included him in research projects far beyond his expected level, making it impossible to avoid the overwhelming flood of jealousy of not only his peers, but even some professors.

  Luckily, Jun had e to an uanding early on with his 'peers'. He wasn't a threat to their adva rant opportunities and Guild sele quotas. Sihe Professor’s arras usually brought in him through the back door, they kept their distah rese.

  Ju a plicated helplessness whehought of his cssmates. He’d been really excited to make friends here.

  'Oh, how fleeting the dreams of youth,' Jun often mourned.

  The Trident Uy Department of Ruudies was one of the most petitive programs in the world. Getting into the program meaing down thousands of other hopeful applits from all ten Gate Cities. Ohey ehe fight tinued for resources and funding and, most importantly, attention from the professors, the key holders of all future opportunities and adva. It was cutthroat and merciless. If you didn't watch your back, you could find your project mysteriously ruined.

  Jun hated the enviro from day one.

  All he wanted was to learn in peace, do his own thing, and then graduate. He had wao add making friends to that list, but based on the hostile enviro he was in, Jun thought better of it lest he get poisoned by his 'friends'.

  After four years of study, he had only made one friend from his department, which was only more than a little depressing.

  Jun's wandering thoughts ended once he reached the venue for his Advanced Ruabilization final.

  Regardless of his failures at socializing with this group of nut jobs, everything would be over after today.

  A neter awaited him.

  It was bright.