The ascendant of

Kiyen reached the room where the workers were gathered. The air was thick from being underground and from the stench emanating from their bodies.

Murmurs mingled with shuffling footsteps, creating a strange echo in the air.

Kiyen squinted, searching for familiar faces in the gloom....

Nothing.

"Shit, this complicates everything."

Because of the planting crisis, he was hoping to see other harvesters like himself. If he found a familiar face, forming a group would be easier. But there was no one. Apparently, he was the only picker who had dared to change jobs.

He felt tiny and insignificant. His thin body and delicate face stood out among a sea of men and women hardened by struggle and survival. Some had skin darkened by corrosion and those who had lost body parts had replaced them with prosthetics of ancient technology, powered by the very ore they mined.

Seeing them fueled his fear of rejection. Still, he tried to stay positive by remembering the words of the nobleman's servant: many needed to complete their equipment to explore the caverns. Maybe, just maybe, they would accept him to fill an empty space.

He took a deep breath and approached a miner.

"Hey, mister!" he began, gently touching the arm of one of the men. "Could you...?"

The man ignored him.

In desperation, he turned to a woman.

"Ma'am, listen...."

She didn't even look at him.

In that instant, Kiyen felt invisible. The more they ignored him, the more he realized that this situation was worse than facing a group of hungry scavengers. At least with them he knew how to fight. Here, he couldn't even get their attention.

Annoyed and discouraged, he looked for a tall rock and climbed up on it. He put both hands to his mouth and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"DOES ANYONE HAVE ROOM FOR ME IN THEIR GROUP?!"

The silence was brief. Some of the miners looked at him with disdain before shaking their heads and returning to their conversations.

At their reactions, Kiyen clenched his fists, full of courage.

Then, a deep voice rose from the general murmur.

A tall, burly man with a dark complexion and brown hair, his neck covered with tattoos, approached the boy. He wore dirty, ragged clothes. At least that much they had in common, for, even on the rock, Kiyen felt small compared to his height.

"Looking for gear, kid? You're in luck. We're short one and we're in a hurry," he said, crossing his arms with a serious expression.

Kiyen's eyes lit up. He barely opened his mouth to thank him, but the man raised his hand to stop him.

"It will be only 10% of the minerals you get. But first, you must give me 50 kurps as a guarantee."

Kiyen pursed his lips, feeling stupid for getting carried away and trusting so quickly. For as long as he could remember the world had taught him that nothing was free. Something always had to be given in return.

But bargaining meant not settling for the first offer. Although, for having shown so much interest, he was already at a disadvantage.

"It's my first day here," he said, trying to sound confident. "I don't have any kurps with me. If I did, I'd still be a picker in the harvest. But today I'll give you 7% of my minerals. That should be enough; then I can buy weapons to better defend myself against the creatures of the abyss and in the next few jobs get you more than agreed upon."

The man frowned and his tone hardened.

"Let's see, brat, you're not understanding me. It's not that you'll give me 10% just today, you'll give it to me every time you work with me. And if you don't have kurps, then give me the supplies they gave you at the entrance."

Kiyen swallowed.

"That either... " stammered.

The man snorted with contempt.

"Did you eat them? Ha, you really are a rookie."

He turned away with a gesture of annoyance.

"And I wanted to do the good deed of the day, but you're not even good enough for that."

"Wait, you bastard!" Kiyen insisted. "If you don't recruit me, you'll be short of people. They won't be able to get in."

The man turned with a furious expression and, in a single motion, grabbed Kiyen's head with one hand. His fingers dug into his skull like pincers, making his vision blur from the pain.

Lifted him into the air with ease.

Kiyen writhed, kicking and clawing at the man's arm in a desperate attempt to free himself, but to no avail.

"You impertinent brat! You think you're the only one who needs a group? There's plenty of scum like you here, but at least they don't eat their supplies like idiots."

He shook him like a rag doll before throwing him against a rock.

The impact knocked the air out of his lungs. A stabbing pain shot through his back and he coughed up saliva. Around him, some miners laughed. Others didn't even pay attention to him.

He gritted his teeth. It wasn't the pain or the humiliation that gnawed at him the most. It was the certainty that, in everyone's eyes, he was already out of the picture. If they were hesitant to recruit him before, now their rejection was evident.

He cursed himself for having let his guard down and for having spent his supplies without thinking of their true value.

He took a deep breath. He could not afford to appear weak. If he did, he was finished.

With a groan, he stood up and walked toward the entrance. He could not give up. He now had valuable information: the miners were asking for between 10% of what was collected and 50 kurps, or, failing that, supplies. And something even more crucial: he must not appear desperate.

The newly arrived miners had not yet witnessed his humiliation. This was his second chance. This time, he would be more cautious.

"Seven percent... " He said to himself, mentally adjusting his offer. "No supplies. Maybe I'll go up to eight if they insist. But I must fix the rate at the outset. I'll start at five percent, and if they haggle, I'll go up to eight. And the supplies... I'd better not mention them. If they insist, I can tell them that another time I'll double the payment. That will give them the impression that, in the long run, they will earn more."

I needed to close a deal soon. It cost 200 kurps to cure Mom.

Negotiating was a hassle, especially since it reduced his payment too much. But given his circumstances, it was better than nothing.

Kiyen stopped at the entrance, away from the rest of the miners, and waited a few minutes until new silhouettes began to approach.

"Hey, do you need someone in your group?" he asked the nearest one.

He was a thin man with a thin mustache and a bald head. He wore dirty, worn clothes like the others, but with better equipment: an iron breastplate covered his torso and a sword hung from his belt.

Kiyen knew he had to be careful. He didn't know this guy or his abilities, and the fact that he was armed meant he shouldn't underestimate him. Still, he couldn't keep quiet either. He jumped in to negotiate, just as he had practiced.

"I'll give you five percent of the minerals I get if you let me go with you. Come on, what do you say?"

But the man didn't even bother to look at him and went on his way.

With no intention of giving up, Kiyen planted himself in his path with his arms outstretched.

"Seven percent!"

"No."

The answer was short and indifferent. The man kept moving forward without stopping, pushing him away with the sheer weight of his step.

Kiyen staggered and gritted his teeth in annoyance, but he didn't give up. He kept trying.

Sometimes he managed to engage in negotiation. He thought he was about to close a deal, but then the other person would let out a laugh, as if he had just been playing around, and walk away without further ado.

In the end, no one agreed to add him to their team. Everyone ignored him, as if he didn't exist.

"Shit... fucking cocky bastards."

He put his hands in his hair and rubbed his temples.

"I don't get it... It's true that I'm younger than them, but I could still serve them as cannon fodder. Why are they rejecting me? Besides, I'm offering them a good percentage of minerals.... So what's the real problem? Something doesn't add up..."

He gritted his teeth and held back a cry of frustration. If this kept up, he wouldn't be able to get into the mines. He would have to go home empty-handed. They would have nothing to eat. And worst of all... he wouldn't get enough money to save Mom either.

But... Was all really lost? Wasn't there anything else he could do?

If life on the streets had taught him anything, it was that every situation, even the most adverse, hid an opportunity.

His gaze was lost in the crowd, and then he remembered the first guy he tried to negotiate with. The one who, instead of turning him down immediately, asked him directly for kurps.

Unlike those with a System, ordinary people were required to carry cash that translated to sacks with small orange gems.

He stood silently for a moment, observing. Some miners carried leather pouches strapped to their belts, bulky enough not to go unnoticed. Others reached into their pockets from time to time, as if to make sure their kurps were still there.

"If he asked me for kurps... that means a lot of them carry money in their pockets."

Kiyen was small, agile, stealthy... and had quick hands.

Maybe he didn't need to be accepted into a team. Maybe he could do his own money mining.

A sly smile appeared on his face, and his eyes flashed with a vengeful glint.

He already knew what to do.