Ethan's eyes fluttered open, and the gentle morning breeze blew past his face. He had no where else to go, so he slept on the ashes besides his mother's grave.
At the very least, it gave him comfort.
Dawn had barely begun to touch the horizon, the sun still hid beneath the night, but that was exactly what he had been waiting for.
He removed his bloodied shirt and washed himself in a nearby river, his thoughts focused on where he was heading next.
New Eden's train station.
There were two ways to reach the Spirit Tamers Academy, the train, which took a grueling two hours, or the second option.
A suicidal route through the underground tunnels that threaded beneath the Ethereal Forest.
A long time ago, humans uncovered several underground routes, passages carved beneath the forest to safely travel through it.
To cross the forest aboveground was nothing short of suicide, even seasoned Silver-Rank Spirit Masters risked death if they attempted it without the shelter of the tunnels.
But there was one creature all who used those tunnels feared, a creature whispered about and never taken lightly.
Anyone who dared enter the forest was warned of it.
The Night Crawlers.
Standard Tier 5 Iron Rank beasts.
No larger than a gate, these blue-skinned creatures of the darkness were equipped with eyes built to see and adapt in the dark.
They had no legs, only two massive hands ending in razor-sharp claws, perfect for burrowing effortlessly through the earth.
They were territorial, and adapted stealth as their hunting style to capture their prey.
It was far quicker than boarding a train, but far deadlier. In the Energy Void Zone, the creatures that inspired the most fear were the Night Crawlers, and for a good reason.
The tunnels they traveled were of their own making, which meant there was always a 95% chance you'd run straight into one.
There were, of course, other creatures whose ranks surpassed even those of the Night Crawlers.
The Twilight Frogs, a Tier 1 Silver Rank Beast.
These blue-skinned amphibians, no bigger than a tanker, hunted in packs to compensate for their sluggishness.
Their massive arms and spindly, weak legs made movement a bit difficult, but it was their abilities that had earned them such high ranks.
Those who lived to tell the tale called it the Song of Death, a haunting, hypnotic sound that ensnared anyone who heard it, freezing their muscles and leaving their body numb and helpless.
It was nearly impossible to evade, especially when they unleashed it in unison.
The only one who could avoid its full effect entirely was a deaf man.
But those creatures lived in the deeper parts of the energy void zone.
Ethan arrived at the merchant square, a bustling hub where people bought and sold all manner of resources.
And he sold the diamond necklace his mother gave him for 2000 crystals, but he didn't care. That necklace, it was given to his mother by the king, and it signified his love for her.
Now, that love will be the foundation for his revenge.
It was an authentic diamond given by the previous king, and the merchants immediately recognized it's quality.
"It is definitely not enough to get the resources I need, but for now, it'll have to do." He bought some fresh clothes, and slipped into it.
Then bought a train ticket, and boarded the next train to the Dreyar continent.
New Eden was a city that lay just beyond the borders of the four continents.
In fact, those continents had not existed centuries ago, until the comet struck and Spirit Beasts spread terror across every land.
The Dreyar Continent was one of the four continents formed after the comet's fall, created to protect mankind from the Spirit Beasts.
It served as a fortified barrier between humanity and the mutated creatures that escaped the Ethereal forest, offering safety while also housing the resources needed to fight back.
It was also home to the Spirit Masters Academy.
Ethan sat at the back of the train, staring out the window as it raced past the Ethereal Forest far below.
It lay far out the outskirts of New Eden, where the city's steel and glass finally gave way to it's untamed growth.
Tall, ancient trees rose like silent sentinels, and their leaves glowed faintly with traces of lingering comet energy.
At night, a soft mist clung to the forest floor, carrying an otherworldly shimmer that made the air feel heavy and alive.
To the people of New Eden, it was both a boundary and a warning, one step beyond the city's edge, and the familiar world faded into something far stranger.
At night, it became a territory where humans weren't welcomed anymore.
After the comet struck, vast portions of the Earth were altered, including a forest just beyond New Eden, now known as the Ethereal Forest.
Bathed in the comet's energy, the once-ordinary vegetation mutated, giving birth to plants with supernatural properties.
Even ordinary plants dared not to cross the boundary that separated this forest from the rest of the city.
They were two zones in the forest created along with the alterations of this region — The energy zone and the energy void zone.
The energy void zone was the part of the Ethereal Forest that wasn't infected by the energy of the comet. It was theoretically the safest part of the forest.
While the energy zone on the other hand was the complete opposite.
It was completely affected by the comet, most of the Ethereal's forest treasures thrived greatly in this region, and it was mostly dominated by the mutated beasts in it.
They fed on the comet's energy to reproduce and sustain themselves, so for the most part, this was undoubtedly the most dangerous part of the Ethereal forest.
The railways had been constructed high in the air, towering by the canopies. It was a precaution taken to prevent attacks from creatures that might escape the forest's depths.
From this height, no creature could pose a threat.
The train was fast, faster than one might expect. Isolated from the four continents, New Eden seemed like it should be a struggling city, but that assumption was where most people were wrong.
Thanks to its proximity to the Ethereal Forest, the city had access to rare and valuable treasures, and that advantage had made it one of the richest settlements, at least for those bold enough to extract them.
For that reason alone, several railways linking the four continents ran through New Eden, making it the central hub where those resources were sold and bought.
After nearly two hours of travel, Ethan sank back into his seat.
He barely slept the night before, he stayed awake almost till dawn, reminiscing his next move again and again in his mind.
He knew his next move, his next goal to obtaining his vengeance, but the problem lay in how he would achieve it.
From the finite knowledge his talent granted him, he understood two things.
The first was that Talent Stones weren't just energy stones granting supernatural abilities, they were vessels housing an actual entity.
And those entities were usually the Spirit Wills of legendary beasts.
Records even showed a Grade 1 Gold Spirit Master assimilating the Spirit Will of a golden Phoenix, a mystical creature long believed to be extinct.
That's were the problem was.
Historical records suggested that talent assimilation were the results of a process in which the spirits of mystical beasts were tamed.
But in Ethan's case, it was entirely different. While others assimilated the spirits of mystical beasts, he had assimilated the spirit of the Primordial god of Time.
Cultivation methods had been developed over the centuries to make spirit taming easier, but there were no records of anyone taming a Primordial Being.
That made cultivating his talent and increasing his assimilation nearly impossible.
"What? A bug?"
A loud voice rang out, drawing the attention of everyone on the train.
This particular train was filled with students who had managed to assimilate with their Talent Stones.
And today just happened to be the day of the Spirit Masters Academy entrance ceremony.
The loud voice was painfully familiar, and Ethan let out a soft sigh.
It wasn't that he hadn't anticipated it, he had, after all, the voice made sure to brag about his assimilation in class.
All eyes turned to the middle of the train, and there he was.
Stephen Ashford.