He woke at 5:40 to the alarm. For a few seconds it was just another morning. Then he remembered.
Sixteen.
Adam sat up. The apartment was cold — he'd forgotten the heating timer. Early spring in Kerenth, mornings still sharp enough to sting.
He dressed. Running clothes. Shoes. Out the door while the city was gray and half-asleep.
Northbank was quiet. A few delivery trucks. A woman walking a dog. Adam ran along the bank path, past the old warehouses converted to cafes, past the bridge to the academy district, and up the long hill toward Varen Overlook.
At the top, he stopped. Kerenth spread out below — river bisecting the city, the academy's white buildings on the south bank, apartments and shops filling the gaps. Mountains behind everything.
He checked his watch. 6:23 AM.
The Bazaar didn't attach at midnight like some fairy tale. It happened when you were awake, usually within the first few hours. Reports varied — some said it felt like a door opening, others like remembering something you'd always known.
He didn't know exactly when—
It happened.
Nothing dramatic. No flash, no sound. Just — something was there now. In his head. Like a new tab opening in the background.
Adam stood still.
So that's what it feels like.
He'd read hundreds of first-contact accounts. They all described it differently. For Adam, it felt like logging into a system for the first time. Clean dashboard. No history. Just potential.
He reached for it mentally, and it opened.
Hard to describe what it looked like. His eyes still saw the hilltop, but the interface was there — overlaid, like a heads-up display made of thought.
Categories lined up like browser tabs. Physical Enhancement. Energy Systems. Techniques. Traits. Equipment Blueprints. Utility. Each one expandable, leading deeper.
Each ability had a name, a source, a world.
Adam's hands were shaking.
He navigated to Energy Systems. Dozens of entries — systems he'd spent years watching characters use on screens, analyzing in another life. All here. All real. All priced.
He'd known they would be. Everyone knew. But seeing them in his own head was different from knowing.
He closed Energy Systems and opened Traits. Scrolled past the generics to Bloodlines. Most were grayed out — Legendary tier, level-locked. The ones he cared about were down there. Untouchable for now.
He tapped one he'd been thinking about since he was thirteen. Details hidden. Price hidden. Just a name and a description he knew by heart.
Fine. He had years.
He searched for the energy system — the one his entire build was designed around. Legendary. Level-locked. Grayed out. But there. Beneath it, individual techniques — all locked, all priced. And below those: a custom development category that only unlocked after the foundation purchase. Empty. Waiting.
Adam exhaled.
Twenty minutes going through every category. Not buying — zero NP until he completed an expedition. He could deploy right now. The Bazaar didn't care about academies.
But he had one year left at Westfall. Two years of training behind him. The academies existed for a reason — plenty of sixteen-year-olds had rushed in on activation day. Most didn't come back.
The plan was to finish the year. Then go.
Everything he'd planned for was here. The build wasn't theoretical anymore.
A notification pulsed.
NEXUS BAZAAR — INITIAL CONNECTION CONFIRMED
Explorer: Adam Varen
Level: 0 (Pre-Expedition)
Nexus Points: 0
Beneath that:
Expedition deployment available immediately. Ability purchases limited to Level 1 classifications at current tier. Higher-tier abilities visible for planning purposes only.
And beneath that, easy to miss:
Hub Access: Granted. Trading privileges restricted until first expedition completion.
When he looked up, the sun had risen fully. Kerenth was lit up below. A train crossed the river bridge.
His phone buzzed. Aunt Lena: Happy birthday sweetheart. Call us when you're ready. We love you.
Marc: Happy bday. Did it happen yet? What's it like?
Sophie. Just a single emoji — a little flame. He wasn't sure what it meant, but it made him smile.
He'd call them in a minute. He wanted to stand here a little longer.
Sixteen years old. Zero NP. A plan that stretched to Level 8 and a previous life that proved what happened when you didn't have one.
Adam jogged back down the hill. He had calls to make and a year of academy ahead of him.
At least, that was the plan.