The worn wheels of the pallet jack shrieked against the floor, screaming as Leo threw his weight into the sharp turn.
Grit ground beneath his work shoes, echoing in the quiet warehouse while the weighted freight pallet settled onto the yellow loading line with a dull thud.
"Ugh, if Boss Flint cuts our night shift wage one more time, I will throw his desk into the canal," Toby muttered, kicking a wooden chock firmly into place.
"Flint controls the docks, the cranes, and the police precinct on Fourth Street," Leo replied, wiping grease from his knuckles with a rag.
"If you throw his furniture anywhere, his enforcers will break both of your legs before breakfast."
"Tsk, that doesn’t mean I have to enjoy looking his way," Toby grumbled, leaning his back against a stack of storage crates.
Leo checked the clock hanging above the loading dock, counting the remaining hours until the morning trucks arrived with scrap.
He needed every overtime hour Flint offered, knowing the tuition deadline for District 7 Preparatory Academy was landing in two days.
Tessa had earned her partial scholarship through perfect exam scores, but the remaining balance hung like a cold collar around his neck.
Twelve thousand credits was an enormous sum in District 9, forcing laborers to spend their entire lives digging through scrap piles for chits.
"Man, you look like a walking corpse," Toby said, tossing a cold water bottle across the floor.
"When was the last time you slept more than four hours in a single night?"
"Tuesday morning," Leo answered, catching the bottle and twisting the cap off in one smooth, practiced motion.
"Tessa needs her tuition cleared before Friday afternoon, or the headmaster will cancel her enrollment, voiding her scholarship."
"Pah, that private academy is full of arrogant corporate brats anyway," Toby spat, looking toward the window with disgust.
"Half of those wealthy students have private tutors and gene-enhancements, paying for success with their parents’ corporate fortunes."
"Which is the exact reason she needs to graduate," Leo answered quietly, taking a long drink from the cold bottle.
"If she earns a bio-chemistry degree, she will never have to touch a freight hook in these slums again."
"Whew, you are a dedicated brother," Toby sighed, wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of a calloused hand.
"Stubborn and reckless, but a good brother nonetheless."
A sudden tremor shook the warehouse walls, rattling the roof girders while a purple glare bled through the skylights.
Toby opened his mouth in surprise, scrambling toward the open loading doors with wide, terrified eyes.
Leo stepped beside his friend, looking past the gantry cranes into the night sky.
High above the cloud deck, two streaks of plasma traded blistering bursts of blue and crimson fire, lighting the atmosphere in brilliant colors.
"Is that the Hero Association dogfighting over the district?" Toby whispered, his voice trembling against the rising wind.
"No corporate hero flies at that speed," Leo answered, watching as scarlet bolts tore through the clouds, igniting the air.
"Those are interstellar military warships exchanging fire."
The larger warship tumbled through the smoke, shedding burning hull plates before a plasma blast sheared its rear drive assembly in half.
A dark escape capsule detached from the vessel, hurtling downward on a steep trajectory toward the industrial district.
"Get down behind the retaining wall!" Leo shouted, grabbing Toby by the shoulder, shoving him toward the stairwell.
The air inside the warehouse pressurized with a roar, shattering every window along the eastern wall, scattering glittering dust across the floor.
The black pod punched through the roof, snapping support beams, blasting a crater through the floorboards.
A falling roof beam struck Leo’s chest with force, driving the air from his lungs, pinning him against the ground.
"Gugh!" Pain spiked through his torso as two ribs cracked, driving sharp bone fragments into his lung tissue with every ragged gasp.
’I can’t breathe,’ Leo thought, coughing up a mouthful of warm blood, splattering his shirt as his vision began to fade.
Ten feet away, the crumpled escape capsule hissed, spraying pressurized coolant across the smoking hull plates.
A spherical crystal the size of a fist rolled out from the hatch, pulsing with purple light, pushing back the shadows.
The crystal drifted off the floor, floating through the air until it hovered directly above Leo’s chest.
’What kind of relic is that?’ Leo thought, his eyelids fluttering as his consciousness began to slip away.
The crystal plunged into his sternum, sinking through skin, bone, and muscle, leaving his flesh completely unmarked.
"Ah..." A wave of warmth flooded his bloodstream, washing away the agony in his chest as his fractured ribs snapped back into alignment.
The shredded tissue inside his lung knitted shut in seconds, allowing fresh air to rush back into his throat in a deep gasp.
[ Critical Host Trauma Detected ]
[ Progenitor Core: 100% Integration Complete ]
[ Scanning Soul Instincts... Primary Desires Decoded: Power And Desire ]
[ Duo-Awakening Initialized: Synchronizing Blue Combat And Pink Desire Engines ]
[ Core Integration Bonus: +1,500 Credits Initial Seed Balance ]
[ Class Acquired: Shadow Hunter ]
[ Cosmic Pathways: 0% / 100% ]
[ Status: HP 100/100 | Stamina 100/100 | Ether 10/10 ]
Leo pushed the fallen beam off his chest, astonishing himself by how light the wood felt against his hands.
He climbed to his feet, staring at his palms, watching ribbons of dark smoke curl around his fingers, absorbing into his skin.
A harsh scrape echoed from the impact crater, signaling a clawed arm gripping the edge of the open hatch.
A six-foot reptilian drone pulled itself out of the wreckage, its scales dark, shifting beneath four red optical sensors.
The alien hissed, baring two rows of needle teeth, twin wrist blades snapping forward with a sharp click.
Its optical sensors locked onto Leo’s chest, tracking the faint brand pulsing through the torn fabric of his shirt.
"Core secured," the creature rasped, its voice synthesized, scraping unpleasantly against the quiet air.
"Hand over the Progenitor vessel."
"Heh, find your own vessel," Leo answered, his voice dropping into a low, steady tone, his adrenaline surging as he prepared to fight.
The drone lunged across the crater, screeching, driving both wrist blades forward in a lethal thrust aimed at his throat.
His perception expanded in an instant, making the alien strike appear sluggish, blurring against the dim ambient light of the warehouse.
He dipped his left shoulder, letting the humming blades slice through empty air, passing inches above his collar.
He grabbed a crowbar from the floor, his fingers wrapping around the shaft, shadow ether coating the tool in a dark sheath.
He channeled shadow power, letting the dark mist harden the edges, shaping the hooked tip into a razor-sharp crescent.
Leo stepped inside the alien’s guard, using a swift shadow step, slipping into its blind spot.
He drove the hooked end of the crowbar under the alien’s jaw, caving the skull in with a sharp crack.
[ Target Eliminated: Vorn Scavenger Drone ]
[ Combat EXP: +1,000 ]
[ LEVEL UP: Level 1 -> Level 2 ]
[ +5 Free Stat Points Awarded ]
[ Loot Acquired: Low-Grade Beast Ether Core x1 ]
A faceted grey gem rolled out of the drone’s chest cavity, glowing with a soft pulse of residual energy.
Leo picked up the warm core, slipping it into his jacket pocket, keeping his weapon ready as he scanned the room.
’I just killed an alien scout drone with a crowbar,’ he thought, letting out a breath, his pulse steadied.
Distant sirens wailed through the smog outside, signaling the approach of containment units from Apex Bio-Tech.
Clean-up squads never left witnesses behind, especially warehouse workers caught near classified alien wreckage.
"Toby, are you still alive over there?" Leo called out toward the stairwell, checking the surrounding rubble.
"Ugh... my head hurts like hell," came the muffled groan, the youth struggling to sit up beneath a sheet of wood near the door.
"A gas line ruptured in the ceiling," Leo answered calmly, stepping toward the shadows near the exit.
"Stay down until the fire crews arrive, keeping out of sight while I slip out the back to avoid the containment squads."
"Wait, where are you going?" Toby coughed, looking up with worry as smoke began to rise through the room.
"I have an errand to run before morning," Leo said, his fingers tightening around the cold shaft of his crowbar.
He stepped into the darkness behind the storage racks, his footsteps silent, disappearing into the shadows.