"Junk, junk, junk… hmmm… nope, still junk."
Nox tossed another piece of twisted metal over his shoulder, the clatter echoing through the rusted yard but he paid it no mind since he was the only one here anyway.
He wiped the sweat off his brow with his sleeve and sighed. "Four hours and not even a single busted Helion chip. Guess luck's on vacation today."
He crouched again, hands digging into the heap of old solar tech. Among the pile were drones, torches, and pieces of armor plating, none of which would bring him a single credit.
But he did stuff some of the drones into his bag though, Incase he managed to stumble on some type of power source, then he could fix them and sell for a lot more credits than he could earn from just selling the power source alone.
He was just about to give up when his hand brushed against something smooth beneath the debris.
It didn't feel like the usual scrap or junk he threw away so that got him curious, so he continued digging beneath the pile.
Soon enough, he was greeted by a dim golden glow causing him to pause.
Identifying a target, he started moving away the scraps that lay on it until a small object came into view.
Picking it up, he read what was written on it.
[HELION INDUSTRIES — Experimental Power Cell | CAPACITOR TYPE-07-BETA]
"Holy shit," Nox let out in surprise, which was a normal reaction for anyone in the slums that stumbled upon such a treasure, maybe, it was an understated reaction even.
HI was the company responsible for 80% of solar tech, ranging from house tech to even the weapons that solar knights used in battles against the Eclipsed.
So a Helion Capacitor from them wouldn't be just any power core, but one of the top-tier energy modules.
Though, beneath its ID there was a warning that stated that it was unstable but he just ignored it.
"Unstable, my ass," Nox muttered, a grin spreading across his face as he spun the capacitor around. "You could power half the slums for a week with one of these."
He wondered how much he could earn from this.... definitely a lot. He could almost see the credits pile up before him.
He imagined himself slapping the landlord's rent in his face, buy real food for once and maybe even fix that damn ceiling.
Or even better, get enough credits to move out of this shit hole and into Solara Prime where his chances of attending the academy and becoming a Solar knight would be a lot higher.
Nox was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even realize he had on a disturbing grin, luckily, no one was around to witness such sight, else they'd be beyond spooked.
A couple of minutes later he was snapped out of day dream by the sudden clatter of scrap.
Quickly, he hid the capacitor inside his scavenging bag and turned around to investigate.
Turns out, it was just more people entering the scrap yard, also in search of anything that would earn them a few credits.
"Well, that's my cue," Nox muttered to himself as he tightened the single strap of the crossed body bag and slid down the pile, causing a lot of rattling and clanking on his way down, but no one paid him mind.
He soon reached the entrance of the scrap yard, since he didn't walk too far, and exited it.
All that was running through his mind right now, was how he'd find the right buyer. The merchant Caravan that usually passes around these parts was the safest option but they wouldn't return anytime soon, not for another month.
His second option was to the gangs that existed in the slums, a special group that usually bought most of his scraps and repaired drones.
Problem was, they weren't exactly the most trust worthy, with the solar tech in his hand, they'd either pay him way below what was fair or even just seize it from him without giving a single dime.
And although he was pretty agile, even he wasn't confident in escaping them with the tech in hand, that'd just be a death wish.
That brought him to option three, the collectors. Like the merchants they also visited this place once in a while, but unlike the merchants they came at frequent intervals, either to buy valuable scavenged scraps or help the lucky few move to the city for a better life.
But all that was a load of bullshit to Nox.
He knew that no body was that nice. No one in the entire Aureum would do something for free, not if they were not benefiting from it in some way.
But still, they were his only option at getting a 'fair price' out of the Helion capacitor so all he had to do was find one.... Which should be simple, right?
Nope.
It wasn't the least bit simple. It felt like they were all hidden just when he was actively looking for them.
On normal days, he just had to visit the port or the train station and he'd find quite a few there but today, there was none.
"I give up," Nox said with a sigh, guess he'd just have to meet the gangs and hope they don't try and just take it from him.
But as he moved forward with his head down he didn't realize that a man moving ahead of him had suddenly stopped, not until he suddenly bumped into the man.
"Hey, watch where you're—" but the words died in his throat as he looked forward.
The man was frozen, his eyes forward and his body was trembling.
Nox's eyes also widened as they landed on what the man was gazing at. Just ahead of them, the space had torn open as if some kind of fabric and from within spilled a white fog.
"S-shit," Nox stuttered out as he recognized exactly what that was.
A rift.
And wherever there was a rift , there'd be an Eclipsed. Judging by the size of the rift, the Eclipsed definitely wasn't a tier 0 or 1..
Without waiting for whatever Eclipsed to walk out, Nox turned around, tightly clutched his bag and ran in the opposite direction with all the strength his legs could muster.
"W-why hadn't the news told us anything about a rift around these parts?" He said as he ran faster without stopping or looking back, "isn't their shitty Solar tech satellite capable of anticipating the appearance of rifts? Then why the hell."
But he knew no answer would come so he just continued running, aiming to reach whatever safety he could before that thing caught up.
Soon enough, the screams of people could be heard from afar, informing him that the monster had stepped out of the rift and its rampage had started.
Still, he didn't stop.
He didn't give a damn about anyone that wasn't him, besides it wasn't like he had any friends or people he cared about here, they had either all died or abandoned him.
Besides, even if he turned back what could he do? Offer himself as snack to the creature and buying time for whoever to escape?
There was no way he'd do that.
So he just kept running. He turned a sharp corner, nearly slipping as his boots scraped across the uneven metal plating of the street.
The screams and sound of people running, or being crushed sounded a lot closer now.
"Just keep running," he muttered between breaths. "Just keep—"
The ground suddenly shook violently, cutting him off. A wave of debris blasted outward as something massive slammed into a nearby building.
Nox was thrown off his feet, rolling across the pavement. The capacitor nearly slipped from his bag, but he caught it instinctively, refusing to let go.
He forced himself up, his legs trembling from the fall. Ahead, the narrow streets split in two directions one leading toward the market tunnels, the other toward the transit bridge.
He didn't think...well, not that he had the chance to; he chose the bridge. If he could reach the old overpass, maybe he could cut across the rail line and disappear into the east sector.
So he continued running.
Each step sent jolts of pain up his legs, but fear kept him moving. His lungs burned, and his heart pounded so fast it hurt.
He didn't dare glance behind, not even when another deafening crash sounded, followed by a ripple that caused the ground to tremble as if an earthquake had just happened.
But his luck soon ran out as the moment he stepped on the bridge, the earth trembled again and the structure that was barely holding together gave way.
"Shi—" he barely had the chance to complete his words before the ground disappeared beneath him.
His arms flailed in the air as he tried to grab something, but it was too late, gravity had already taken over and he was soon plunging downards.
Everything went white the moment his body crashed into the ground, his breath leaving his lungs, but that wasn't the end.
Soon enough, rubbles from above started raining down, landing directly on his legs, pinning them to the ground and giving him no way of escape.