The ascendant of

[000] SYSTEM RESTART

[001] STATUS: HISTORY DELETED - ALL PREVIOUS CATEGORIES AND LEVELS HAVE BEEN REMOVED

[002] CALIBRATION: EMERGENCY

[003] ALERT

[004] ALERT

[005] RESET STOPPED

[006] ALERT

[007] RESTART LOCKED 

[008] ALERT

[009] SYSTEM LOCKED

[010] ...

...

Since the arrival of the System, the destiny of each person was written. Some were born with advantages, others with chains.

Life is hard for those who are not favored. But what does it mean to be favored?

To have money? Status? Sure. But to achieve it, you must first be recognized in the world, and the only way to achieve it is through a System. Only a select few, those born into important families, have the right to access a System that allows them to level up, increase their status and even transcend.

For us, there is only misery....

***

"Kiyen, are you sure you want to go to the mines? You are only fourteen years old."

His mother's voice was hoarse and tired, reflecting days of fighting a fever. At this time of year, the cold was raging and the corrupt steam from the sewers seeped into the houses, sickening the weakest of the weak.

In this merciless city, reaching the age of forty was a rarity.

"And what other option do I have to earn money? The plague wiped out the harvest, so stop complaining. Thanks to me, you eat."

"Insolent. I should have aborted you."

"You would have done me a favor."

His mother let out a violent cough, but then gave him a mocking smile.

"You'd better not die."

Kiyen waved her hand dismissively, as if her mother's concern was unnecessary. The mines were just another job, nothing he couldn't handle. Or at least, that's what he wanted to believe.

But as soon as he left his house, he felt his legs shaking and his hands sweating. He was afraid; it was the first time he would face beings from the abyss.

But did he have a choice?

With money they could eat, with money they could pay the rent, and with money?

"I can save her."

He took a few steps forward and his stomach growled. Starvation had become a daily occurrence.

There weren't even rats left to hunt. He looked around, hoping for a lucky break, but he had to move fast when a slimy sound pierced the air.

Splat!

A thick, bubbling mass fell mere inches from him.

Excrement.

He looked at the shit bitterly. Even the shit of the rich was different.

"I wish he had enough food in his belly to shit like that."

Kiyen rubbed his stomach. If he'd ever had it bloated, it had been from parasites. Now, not even that was left.

He kept walking. His home was a hole, like so many others, dug at the base of the great mountain surrounded by a huge garbage dump.

He looked up and instantly regretted it. Barely a glimmer of sunlight managed to filter through the huge masses of stone that hid the sky. The nobles lived up there, in majestic houses surrounding the great tower perched at the top. They all had systems. They could all level up, become stronger and acquire amazing abilities.

His trash fell here.

Kiyen bent down and rummaged through the debris. Sometimes useful things were to be found, though now the last one was just shit (literally).

Collecting junk was patented, and whoever was caught rummaging through it paid the price with a beating, but today there was no need to escape from them as he found nothing.

Resigned, he shrugged his shoulders. In his life, he had only been lucky twice.

The first, when he found a toy: a wind-up horse. It was his childhood treasure, until he had to sell it to feed his mother.

The second, when he found the daggers he now hid in his legs: red blades, imbued with mana. He had never used them before. He thought about selling them, but now that he was going to the mines, he would need them more than ever.

The mines were a lethal place, and by the same token, the only way to get money fast.

"I guess it had to happen sooner or later."

Generally, only people over fifteen worked there. But every year it got worse. It wasn't unusual to start early.

As he walked along, surrounded by garbage, he found it hard to believe that the world had ever been different....

"Since the advent of the System," his first robbery master told him years ago, "all people could gain amazing powers. Magic and technology merged, creating a dream world. At first, all was prosperity and equality. But one day there was a limit to the System. As if it had become saturated, more and more people were born without access to it. The big families found a solution: they bought the leftover Systems of the dead. At first, they were sold cheaply, but soon access was monopolized. What was once a right became a luxury. Class differences became evident and conflicts escalated into wars. After centuries of strife, everything stabilized. The advantaged at the top. The scum below. Unfair, but simple."

Back then, Kiyen didn't care. Now, neither did he. Knowing how the world worked wouldn't feed him.

What mattered was the day-to-day. And today, his reality was clear: C-class work was no longer enough.

For those who lived without a system at the lowest level of this world, jobs were organized into three tiers:

Category C: Surviving on the bare minimum.

Here were grouped the less risky jobs, those that allowed them to survive day by day, although they barely ensured a daily meal.

Gathering and Subsistence: Consisted of gathering food during the few seasons in which the vegetation showed a hint of benevolence and the animals still offered sustenance.

Crop Protection: This consisted of fighting small, corrupt creatures that attacked crops. They were dumb and predictable, but when they multiplied in excess, they became a plague.

A plague that this year could not be avoided. That is why Kiyen could no longer take on any work in this category.

Family Business: Some families still retained patents issued in times of prosperity, which allowed them to monopolize certain trades. Garbage collectors, for example, had an exclusive patent for garbage collection and recycling, which meant that no one outside their lineage could perform that work.

Unlike the Systems, patents could only be inherited by blood. This led to many being lost upon the death of their heirs to rival gangs seeking to monopolize the business. There were also cases in which descendants were kidnapped to secure the patent on another side.

In the end, more than merchants, they were a nest of gangsters.

Of course, Kiyen did not come from a family with such a position, so this option was also out of his reach.

Category B: Risk and fortune

Here were the most dangerous jobs, such as mining. The possibility of great fortune was pitted against the lethal risk of unpredictable dangers: toxic gases that could cause asphyxiation or mystical creatures from the abyss.

Reward: Up to three times as much could be earned as in a Class C job, though the uncertainty of seeing the sunrise the next day was constant.

Category A: Servitude

The top of the classification for those who did not own a System. This category implied an unbreakable pact: total servitude to a noble. It was the only way to escape misery in exchange for surrendering one's soul and will to a master.

Reward: To live outside this cruel world, but with the eternal uncertainty of the master's demands.

And that was it. There were no other official options.

The others consisted of illicit activities: theft, smuggling or prostitution.

Like everyone else, Kiyen wanted to avoid servitude at all costs. He loved his freedom; it was the only thing that truly belonged to him. And, of course, life was even shorter for those who chose the path of crime, though he didn't rule it out completely. After all, more than once they had tried to recruit him. Children were quick and agile at stealing, and he, in particular, had an innate ability for Stealth.

But Kiyen had made up his mind. He would try his luck in the mines.

Somehow, even if it meant risking his life, at least he could remain free.

He walked out of the dump and into those poorly paved streets, covered in dirt, manure and.... corpses.

The stench of rotting flesh immediately intensified.

"There were more and more."

A few meters away, he saw the silhouette of an inert body, thin to the bone, with eyes sunken in their sockets. All around him, like rats on a corpse, a group of scavengers (that was the name given to those who stole bodies) rummaged through his meager belongings with bony, dirty fingers.

Another went through his pockets.

The last, with a toothless grin, held a knife and fiddled with the skin, ready to open it in search of something hidden inside.

Instinctively, Kiyen reached for the daggers hidden in his pants.

One of the scavengers looked up and saw him. He watched it for a second, assessing it. Kiyen ignored him and kept moving forward.

"Hey, kid," the man growled.

Kiyen didn't stop.

"I'm talking to you, you fucking brat!"

The scavenger stopped checking the corpse and approached with rapid strides. His ragged clothes and the rusty knife in his hand gave him an air of desperation that Kiyen knew all too well.

Kiyen tilted his head just a few millimeters and let the knife pass by, feeling the air cut off in front of his nose.

The man's first slash was clumsy, a failed attempt to intimidate him.

Too slow.

Before the man could react, Kiyen was already in range. His feet barely made a sound on the dusty ground as he spun on his axis, descended and slid his dagger in a single, precise motion.

The blade tore skin and flesh with a wet, unpleasant sound.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The scavenger fell to the ground instantly as it felt its tendons severed.

It could no longer chase him, and the rest of the scavengers wouldn't try either.

Kiyen for some reason, he felt a strange vibration in his hand and the glow of the blade intensified slightly. But it was so brief that it must have been his imagination.

The man on the ground was breathing heavily, shaking with pain, not daring to lift his head.

With a swift movement, Kiyen wiped the blood from his dagger on the man's clothes and continued on his way.

Without looking back, he quickened his pace. He slipped through the alleys he knew like the back of his hand, dodging the hungry gazes that stalked him from the gloom.

Slowly, he left behind the flimsy buildings of what was once a thriving city.

Finally, as he emerged from the last passages, he found himself facing the withered meadows where he once worked as a harvester. And ahead, imposing and dark, rose the great tunnel: the entrance for those beginning their work in the mines.