The morning light hit Cedric's face through the thin, yellowed curtains of his apartment. He didn't groan or try to hide under the covers like he usually did. Instead, he sat up immediately. His back felt stiff and his ribs were still tender from the impact, but the dull ache was manageable. He looked toward the computer monitor where the sparrow had been perched. It was gone.
His heart skipped a beat. He stood up and checked the window, but it was locked. He looked under the bed and behind his desk, but there was no sign of the green-eyed bird.
'Did it just vanish? Was it temporary?'
He shook the thought away and grabbed his phone. He had left the browser open on the Hunter's Board. He refreshed the page and saw that his post had over twenty replies. He sat on the edge of his bed, scrolling through them.
"Screen? What screen? You mean like a smart-glass overlay?" one user wrote.
"Someone's been reading too many webnovels. You don't see a screen, kid. You just feel the mana in your core. It's like a sixth sense. You know your class because it's part of you now."
"Total fake. If there was a UI, the Association would have documented it decades ago. Stop trolling."
"I've been a C-Rank for five years. Never seen a pixel. You just get a 'knowing.' It's hard to explain, but it's definitely not a floating window."
Cedric stared at the comments. He looked back at the empty space in front of him. He willed the thought of his stats into his mind, and the violet screen flickered into existence.
[Name: Cedric]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Necromancer]
[Level: 1]
[Exp: 0 / 100]
[Strength: 3.6]
[Agility: 2.1]
[Constitution: 0.6]
[Intelligence: 5.3]
[Attribute Points: 0]
He was the only one. A mix of cold fear and sharp excitement hit him at the same time. If the world found out he had a functional game-like system, he would be hunted by every government and corporation on the planet. But if he kept it quiet, he had an advantage no one else could even fathom. He was glad he used a burner account.
He stood up and walked to the small kitchenette. He was starving. He pulled a carton of eggs from the mini-fridge. He cracked two of them into a pan, the clear whites sizzling as they hit the hot surface. He watched the edges turn crisp and brown, the smell of butter filling the room. He flipped them carefully, seasoning them with a bit of salt. It was a simple meal, but he ate it with more focus than usual.
While he ate, he reached over and clicked on the small, bulky television sitting on the counter. The morning news was playing. A reporter was standing in front of the park he had been in last night. Police tape was stretched across the entrance.
"Researchers are baffled by the impact site discovered late last night," the reporter said.
"While initial reports suggested a stray meteor, the ground shows signs of high-intensity energy. Strangely, no solid material was found at the center. Investigators only recovered a pile of fine, unidentifiable ash."
Cedric choked on a piece of egg. He coughed hard, his face turning red as he lunged for the remote. He clicked the power button, and the screen went black.
"Ash," he muttered, wiping his mouth with a napkin.
He realized he couldn't go back there. Not for a long time. They were looking for something, and he was the one who had taken it. He needed to be more careful. He needed to understand where his summon went.
'Where is the bird?' he wondered.
As if answering his thought, a small notification appeared at the bottom of his vision.
[Summon: Undead Sparrow is currently resting in the Sub-Realm.]
[To summon your undead, use the command: Come Forth.]
Cedric took a deep breath. He stood in the center of the room and cleared his throat.
"Come forth."
A swirl of green mist gathered in front of him. It condensed quickly, forming the shape of the sparrow. The bird chirped, flapping its wings before landing on his shoulder. Cedric reached up and stroked its head with a finger. The feathers felt real, but there was a strange, vibrating energy beneath them. He felt a connection to it, a thin thread of power that linked his mind to the bird's existence.
He knew he couldn't stay in the apartment all day. He had some savings left from the part-time jobs he had worked during high school. It wasn't much, but it was enough to get started. He needed gear. If he was going to enter a rift, he couldn't do it in a hoodie and sneakers.
He left his apartment and headed toward the District of Steel. This was the commercial heart of the city, where the skyscrapers were covered in reinforced plating and the shops sold everything from potions to power armor. He took the subway, keeping the sparrow in its sub-realm. The train was crowded with office workers and the occasional lower-tier hunter carrying a gear bag.
The atmosphere in the District of Steel was different. It felt faster. More dangerous. He walked past high-end boutiques that sold enchanted robes for millions of credits. He kept walking until the shops started looking a bit more worn. He found a place called 'The Scrapper's Edge.' It was a basement shop with a neon sign that flickered.
Inside, the walls were lined with used weapons and armor. Some were dented, and others had faint bloodstains that hadn't been fully scrubbed out. The owner, a man with a thick beard and a scarred arm, didn't even look up from his newspaper.
Cedric walked along the aisles. He checked the prices and felt his stomach sink. Even the used gear was expensive. A standard-issue steel sword was five thousand credits. He only had about seven thousand in his account.
"Looking for something specific?" the owner asked, his voice gravelly.
"Something cheap," Cedric replied.
The man pointed to a bin in the back corner.
"Clearance. Mostly junk from E-Rank rifts. No refunds."
Cedric sifted through the bin. He found a sword that was slightly rusted near the hilt. The blade was straight, but it had a few nicks along the edge. It was heavy and lacked the balance of a proper weapon, but it was only three thousand credits. He then found a leather chest piece. It was scratched and the buckles were a bit loose, but it would provide some protection against claws or teeth. That was another three thousand.
He paid the man in cash and walked out with his purchases in a heavy canvas bag. He felt a bit lighter after spending almost all his money, but he felt more prepared.
He returned to his apartment and locked the door. He tried on the leather chest piece. It was a bit big, but he tightened the straps as much as he could. He gripped the rusted sword, feeling the weight of it in his hand. It wasn't glorious, but it was a start.
'I can't go to a public rift,' he thought. 'They check for licenses and registrations. I'd be caught in minutes.'
He knew about the unofficial rifts. They were small, unstable portals that appeared in abandoned areas. They weren't profitable enough for the big guilds to care about, so they were often left open for days before the Association closed them.
He knew of one in the basement of an old warehouse near the docks. It was a Grade-F rift, the lowest possible rank. Most hunters didn't bother with them because the mana crystals were too small to be worth the effort. For Cedric, it was perfect.
He pulled his black hoodie over the leather chest piece. He hid the sword in a long gym bag. He felt a nervous energy buzzing in his fingertips.
He stepped out of his apartment, the weight of the sword pulling at his shoulder. He kept his head down as he walked toward the docks, his mind already focused on what lay beyond the portal.