The gates of Sector 7 gleamed like something out of a fantasy. Towering pillars, holographic banners fluttering midair, and marble roads so clean you could eat off them. Kai stood at the edge, one foot still in dusty, cracked Sector 9.
"Do they polish the pavement hourly or something?" Mina muttered beside him.
Kai grinned, stuffing his hands in his hoodie pocket. "Wouldn't be surprised if they hired mages just for aesthetic rain."
Mina scoffed. "What a waste. Who needs fake rain?"
He shrugged. "People who don't know what real storms feel like."
Every person passing by looked like they had money dripping from their fingertips. Sleek coats, polished suits embedded with tech, jewelry that shimmered with mana. Even the pets were pampered—one man strolled past with a cat hovering in a crystal orb.
Mina blinked. "That cat has a security drone. It has a name tag with a mana signature."
Kai glanced. "Void Gaze."
He activated it casually, letting his eyes flicker with faint purple.
[Object: Sapphire Cane]
Hidden Function: Tier 3 Energy Amplifier – Artifact Class
Owner: Viscount Enlar Veth
Market Value: 900,000 Credits
"That's a walking artifact." Kai whispered.
Mina raised a brow. "The cane?"
"Amplifies energy. Hidden inside. Probably bought it to look dignified."
Mina groaned. "I hate rich people."
"They're convenient," Kai said. "They gather all the good loot in one place."
He scanned again, just browsing. His eyes caught a strange glint at the base of a fancy public fountain shaped like a winged lion.
Hidden Compartment Detected
Object: Relic Fragment – Grade C
Protection Field Active – Requires Precision Extraction
Kai froze.
"Something?" Mina asked.
"That fountain's hiding a relic."
Mina leaned in. "Here? In public?"
He crouched, pretending to tie his shoe. "Help me stall any attention."
She didn't answer, but he heard her sigh and step away.
Void Gaze narrowed, piercing into the stone.
Void Affinity Detected – Compatible
Warning: Extraction May Alert Local Security
Kai hesitated for half a second, then reached into the hidden seam, fingers brushing cold metal.
Relic Obtained: Obsidian Memory Core
Effect Unknown – Requires Void Gaze Lv. 3+ or Identification Terminal
His eyes lit up.
Mina returned just as he stood.
"You owe me a hot meal," she muttered.
"Done. Extra noodles."
They moved deeper into Sector 7, the surroundings growing more absurd. Gold-plated walls, levitating plants, stores selling "Awakened Designer Gear" for prices that could feed entire blocks for a year.
One floating ad read: "Want to increase your odds of Awakening? Try the Premium Booster Plan – 1 million credits!"
Kai nearly choked.
"People buy that?" he asked.
Mina didn't laugh. "Some people are that desperate."
"Doesn't work though," he muttered.
"Nope. Just makes you glow slightly and puke mana for a week."
Kai's gaze shifted again. Even in a place this polished, most of the value was fake. With Void Gaze active, he could see the lies embedded in the shine.
He found another artifact embedded in a wall lamp—camouflaged runes, probably a defense ward. Nobody around him noticed.
Then he saw it—an old-looking iron ring, displayed in a corner shelf of a vault boutique. It was labeled as a "Rustic Charm." Forty credits.
He blinked.
Sealed Storage Ring – Void-Compatible
2 Cubic Meters – Inactive Runes (Requires Void Touch)
He approached.
The clerk smiled, seeing an easy sale. "Interested in our rustic pieces, sir?"
Kai held up the ring. "This one. Looks... neat."
"Popular choice! Forty credits."
He paid.
Mina raised an eyebrow. "You bought that?"
"It's a storage ring."
"That thing?"
"It's hiding more space than my old apartment."
She let out a low whistle. "Void Gaze is broken."
"I'm barely scratching the surface," Kai muttered.
They exited the boutique and entered a side market. The lighting dimmed—ambient blues and purples reflecting from mana lanterns overhead. No guards here. Just quiet music and whispers. The Vault Market.
It wasn't marked on any map. But people knew. This was where oddities ended up—legal and not.
Floating shelves displayed preserved beast hearts, memory shards, and enchanted ink that wrote by itself.
Kai's eyes twitched as Void Gaze pinged one item after another.
Crystal Orb – Label: Unknown Artifact
Actual: Decorative Glass Trinket – No power
Necklace – Label: Flamebound Token
Actual: Minor Burn Protection – 5 Fire Resistance (Genuine)
Cane – Label: Noble Vintage
Actual: Sound Barrier Staff – 30-meter radius silence field (Deactivated)
So much was either fake or hidden in plain sight.
"How much is real?" Mina asked.
"Thirty percent. Maybe."
He found a closed box—unlabeled.
Contents: Mana Seed – Void-Aligned
Origin: Ancient – Possibly Pre-System
Corrupted but stable
He stepped away, not ready to drop fifty thousand credits on a corrupted seed.
Mina watched him. "You're collecting weird things now."
"I'm following breadcrumbs," Kai replied.
"Breadcrumbs?"
"Void Gaze keeps pinging things that match my class. Every time I follow them, I find something compatible. I think these artifacts… they're not random."
"You think someone left them?"
"Or the Void itself is guiding me."
She stared.
"Okay, that's either brilliant or creepy."
He grinned. "Both."
Back at the warehouse, Kai sat cross-legged, ring on one hand and the memory core on a cloth in front of him.
Void Gaze pulsed again.
Current Level: 2
Progress: 92%
Next Unlock: Passive Detection Radius Increase – 15m
"Almost there," he murmured.
He rotated the relic slowly. It had no clear markings, but when he focused, it pulsed faintly.
Mina leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "No enemies. No chases. No explosions."
He nodded. "Still feels like progress."
She smiled faintly. "You've got the weirdest idea of excitement."
Kai looked at the relics laid out before him.