A hard tap on Cale’s forehead jolted him awake.


    "Rise and shine, kid."


    Cale groaned and cracked open one eye. Darius loomed over him, coffee in one hand, umbrella resting against his shoulder.


    “Already?” Cale muttered.


    Darius smirked. “Figured you might want to see this.”


    Cale rubbed his eyes and stretched. The hum of the ship’s engines was different now—smoother, softer. They weren’t tearing through the sky anymore. They were gliding.


    He sat up, and the first thing he saw was the window.


    His breath hitched.


    Through the curved glass, an impossible megalopolis stretched across the sky.


    A city so massive it defied reason—floating like an ancient god’s throne. Layer upon layer of metal, glass, and stone reach out into the heavens. They were high above the clouds, and Cale saw what a massive shadow the city imposed on the faraway grasslands.


    Hundreds—no, thousands—of ships darted between colossal skyports, lights of blue, green, orange and red blinking from sprawling highways suspended in the air.


    Farther out, six districts floated independently, tethered to the main city by energy bridges. That was where the highest buildings were. Towering monoliths of steel and glass, skyscrapers line with glowing mana.


    The middle portion of the giant city dominated the sky. It was stouter than the districts, but vast and labyrinthine. Cale could recognize the sleek and complex designs were distinctly Nevani. The sheer size of it was overwhelming. It was at that moment that Cale definitely realized that he was not of this world.


    "…Holy shit," Cale murmured.


    Darius sipped his coffee. "Yeah, it has that effect on people."


    “Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair…” Cale muttered to himself.


    “Huh?” Darius said with piqued curiosity. “What was that?”


    “Nothing…” Cale said with his forehead still pressed to the cool glass.


    With struggle, Cale tore his eyes away from the city to look at him. "It’s a—it''s a whole damn country in the sky. How the hell does this even exist?"


    “What a masterwork…” Aura sighed wistfully.


    "Nobody knows. All we know is to keep it running.” Darius said and leaned on the frame of the window, eyes flicking across the city like he was seeing an old rival. "And the cost to keep it running… You wouldn’t believe the obscene amount of mana this thing needs. All those crystals we found? Yeah, we don’t get to keep the whole pile.”


    Cale’s gaze was magnetized back towards the window. "And each wing of the city belongs to one of the Big Six? Gray Lotus owns one of those massive spokes?”


    Darius smirked. "Smart kid. But we don''t just own the wing. We own reality within."


    Cale kept taking it all in.


    “See those layers?” Darius said. “Below the skyport? That’s where the mortals live. They keep the ship running and food on our table. They’re weak, but not entirely worthless.”


    Cale could imagine the millions of lives needed to keep the ship in the air and food on the table. He couldn’t even begin to imagine the size of all the industry. If cultivators owned all of this, they were rich beyond measure.


    “The middle part of the city?” Darius continued. “That’s where the fun begins. That’s the academy. You’ll go there soon enough, once we get you through the entrance exams. First years you’ll spend in the bosom of Gray Lotus fighting for prestige and scraps with your rivals. But if you get strong enough… You get to enter the neutral zone, that’s fought over by all the factions. There are still hidden Nevani secrets there that get fought over.”


    “How old this the city? Why haven’t all the Nevani artifacts been scrounged?” Cale asked.


    “Good question,” Darius said. “It’s complicated.”


    Cale waited. He could be sure that Darius would go off on a self-indulgent rant.


    And indeed he did. “See, the middle where the schools are is a special kind of reality. Full of pocket dimensions, teleports to sites we have never found. The Corussi Academy is not only for students. Even I drop by sometimes, when I need to score contribution credits, or complete missions.”


    “So why didn’t you stay there?” Cale asked.


    “It’s dangerous,” Darius said.


    “I thought you were the risk taking guy.”


    “I am when it’s a good idea. But it’s harder to stack the deck in Corussi. Things are always in flux and chaos. It’s a zone of changing alliances, proxy wars and assassinations. That’s where the heat is hottest. I will return soon, but right now It’s not in the cards.”


    “Sounds like a school of hard knocks,” Cale said.


    “It is,” Darius said. “But your job right now is the survive the kindergarten of hard knocks.”


    Cale swallowed and nodded. He looked down on the megastructure. This wasn’t just some city.


    It was the heart of the cultivator world. It was the world’s most dangerous place.


    And he was about to walk straight into it.


    *


    They landed and were greeted by the flight staff. The captain was as smooth as ever as Darius paid him and bid goodbye. Cale noticed that the other woman, Lucinda, was slightly dissheveled with her vest slightly crumpled and hair just a touch out of place. Darius winked at her and she flushed from head to toe. Cale gave Darius a look, but the tall man only smirked as they left.


    They walked out of the skyport and Cale could see just how tall the dark gray skyscraper dominating the district was. Cale craned his neck and could see the tip of the large building far above in the sky, where mortal eyes couldn’t reach.


    Darius stopped and opened his umbrella. “Alright, kid. I got some shit to take care of. Meet me in my office.”


    With that, the rim of the umbrella flared up in a soft blue glow and Darius lifted off his feet.


    “Wait what?” Cale asked. “You’re ditching me?”


    “Floor two hundred and ninety nine,” Darius called, already twenty feet in the air. “Enjoy the city.”


    Cale exhaled, watching the blue glow of Darius’s umbrella fade as he drifted toward the dark monolith. The city loomed around him—loud, unfamiliar, and impossibly vast. People bustled past without sparing him a glance, airships hummed overhead, and somewhere in the distance, a mechanical voice droned out directions towards places he couldn’t understand.


    He was alone. Really alone.


    “That impudent, rude, obtuse hunk of a man!” Aura muttered furiously. “How dare he leave us to our own devices in this place? The building is miles away!”


    Cale smiled. Well, not really alone. “Did you just call him a hunk?”


    “What?! No! I meant punk! Anyway, stop stalling and get moving. I want to see what my creators built.”


    Cale sighed and looked around. “Alright, where the hell do I even start?”


    A massive holographic sign flickered overhead, displaying symbols he couldn’t read. Below it, people in sleek, stylized robes with various strange gear about them. One woman had a tiny arm extending from the side of her head that held a plate of glass in front of her face. Numbers were running on it as she spoke animatedly on a device at her wrist. Two youngsters with sunglasses glowing with Mana raced each other on one of the landing pads with skateboards without wheels. They hovered a feet off the ground.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    A small chopper was hovering soundlessly above, its rotors a swirl of blue luminescent light. A disgruntled overweight guard waved a baton at the kids who laughed and raced away.


    Cale took a deep breath. If he stood here looking lost for too long, he was going to stick out.


    “Guess we’re exploring,” he muttered.


    “Ooh! Can we get one of those hoverboards?”


    Cale chuckled and patted at the tiny sack of crystals in his pocket. “We’ll see.”


    *


    Cale weaved through the crowd, trying not to look too lost. The streets were wide, packed with people in robes, patched jackets, engineer’s jumpsuits and glowing gadgets. There were giant billboards everywhere, high and large, advertising toothpastes, hoverboards, dried shrimp powder and anything in between. Overhead walkways criss-crossed above, some carrying streams of pedestrians, others filled with racing drones carrying packets and parcels.


    The city had layers—literally. The ground Cale walked on wasn’t even the ground, just one of many platforms stacked on top of each other.


    Aura hummed thoughtfully. “Hmm. I have some data about this city, even a map. But the architecture has changed too much.”


    “Fantastic,” Cale muttered. “So much for you being my guide.”


    “I didn’t hear you coming up with any brilliant ideas.”


    Cale ignored her and stopped when he spotted something interesting.


    A hoverboard shop.


    A row of sleek, floating boards hovered just outside the storefront. Some were compact and simple, while others were decked out in glowing accents and enchanted thrusters with the same sigils for flight and speed as Cale had seen on the jet, just smaller. A few had sharp, angular designs like they were built for racing.


    “Ooooh,” Aura cooed. “We are definitely getting one.”


    Cale hesitated. He had a small sack of crystals, but spending them on something unnecessary wasn’t smart. Then again, walking miles through a city this large wasn’t smart either.


    A saleswoman in a high-collared jumpsuit spotted him eyeing the boards. She smiled wide and friendly. “First time?”


    Cale nodded. “What’s a good one for a beginner?”


    She chuckled. “The more expensive they are, the smoother they fly.”


    Cale narrowed his eyes. “I can handle myself.”


    “Whatever you say,” the woman said. “The Street Sleeter 2.0 is on sale. You got creds or cash?”


    “I have these,” Cale said and carefully plucked a mana crystal from his pocket. The shopkeeper''s eyes flashed wide.


    “You’re a cultivator?” Her hands disappeared beneath the counter before she could stop herself and she took a step back.


    Cale smiled. Looked like he had just gained a haggling advantage. “Just at upper Body Tempering.”


    The clerk nodded nervously and clearly waited for Cale to dictate how this would play out.


    “Look, just relax. I don’t know what you’re used to, but I just want to buy and get on with my day. Tell you what. Tell me what this is worth in ‘creds’ and I’ll buy a board from you and that’s all she wrote. What’s your name?”


    The clerk seemed to relax a little and took a step closer to the counter, meekly pressing her hands into her pockets. “Jeny.”


    “It’s alright, Jeny,” Cale said and placed the bean-sized blue crystal on the counter. “What’s this worth?”


    She looked at it with clear greed, mustered some courage and picked it up. She looked up at Cale cautiously, but he only smiled and nodded encouragingly. Jeny seemed to relax.


    “This full?” she asked.


    Cale nodded.


    “This size and quality, it’s worth three thousand creds. It won''t get you a top shelf professional racer, but I’ll set you up with the latest Star Streaker for two-eight-ninety-nine creds. That alright, sir?”


    “That’ll be perfect, Jeny. You can keep the change.”


    A flash of excitement flashed on Jeny’s face and she bowed. “Thanks so much, sir. I’ll get you sorted in a jiff. Gimme a minute to calibrate the board.”


    “No rush.” Cale leaned back against the counter, watching the city move outside.


    *


    Cale rode through the streets, getting used to the hoverboard. It was three feet in length, one foot wide with a small turbine in the back. Oh, and it was neon pink. Cale just had to get one. He had a feeling that was the best color to annoy Darius.


    Using the hoverboard was surprisingly intuitive, since it was mostly reacting to Cale’s shifts of balance, while keeping the speed steady. Just behind his backfoot were two pedals; one for speed, one for altitude. It took some test driving in front of the hoverboard shop, but Cale quickly got the hang of it. Soon enough he jumped into the traffic. With his cultivator’s senses it was easy to weave around the crowds.


    As per Jeny’s instruction, Cale had fed the engine below the board one of his mana crystals. According to the shopkeep, it should keep the engine running for weeks. After he got to Mana Circuitry, he could power the hoverboard with his own mana, and would gain significantly more control over the vehicle.


    It’s responding plenty well for street riding, at least.


    They were moving at maybe twenty miles an hour, hell at this point, Cale could run faster. But that didn’t stop Aura from being excited.


    “Wooop! This is amazing! Faster! Faster I tell yeeeeeeeee!”


    Then he saw something that made him slow down.


    An older man in a dirty jumpsuit and a toolbox was bowing low in front of a young cultivator. The cultivator was wearing blue suit pants, black shoes and a white dress shirt under a blue vest. A silver lotus emblem glinted on his vest—a simple design, but its craftsmanship was impossibly fine. On his hand glinted an ostentatious ring with a blue gemstone.


    His blonde hair was styled back with wax and face contorted with disgust and anger. He looked barely older than Cale. He was about to rush to interject before Aura used her [Sense Mana] and told Cale that this cultivator was at the first stage of Mana Circuitry.


    “Blue suit AND black shoes? Hah, no wonder he is chronically angry.”


    “Shut up,” Cale hissed.


    The mortal was shaking. “Please, young master, it was just an accident. I—


    The cultivator scoffed and pointed an ornate gray and silver gun at the old guy’s forehead. Two sigils flashed lightly as the cultivator cocked back the hammer. The weapon whined as energy gathered at the tip of the barrel. His hand didn’t even tremble at the trigger. In fact, the cultivator looked almost bored.


    He’s done this before. A lot.


    Cale clenched his jaw.


    “I don’t care for excuses,” the cultivator said flatly. “You should know to keep out of the way of your betters.”


    The mortal fell to his knees and scrambled to grovel. The people walking past barely spared him a glance. A few quickened their steps, averted their eyes. Everyone gave the scene a wide berth. Nobody wanted to be next. The young man watched the groveling and sneered.


    “Please…” the old man said. “I’m sorry. Please, just… have mercy…”


    Cale’s hands curled into fists.


    Aura’s voice was tight. “…Don’t.”


    Cale exhaled slowly. Not the time to play the hero. He wasn''t stupid— He wasn’t about to get himself killed five minutes after getting into the city. He wondered if that guy was from the Gray Lotus.


    He is wearing a suit…


    “You think we will see him again?”


    “I hope not,” Cale said as he turned away from the scene and placed the hoverboard in front of him. Suddenly the ride wasn’t so exciting.


    He didn’t like this place.


    Not one bit.


    *


    Cale pushed forward, navigating the busier district streets. He was getting a little more comfortable on the hoverboard, dodging between pedestrians and floating delivery drones like he belonged here.


    Then, out of nowhere—


    A light tap on his pocket.


    Cale barely caught the flash of a hand before someone yanked his crystal pouch and bolted.


    “HEY!”


    The thief was just a kid. Small, fast, and already weaving through the crowd.


    Cale kicked off the ground, his hoverboard humming as he launched forward. The thief was jumping over crates, sliding under railings, but Cale had the advantage of speed.


    “You little—” Cale growled, narrowing the distance.


    The thief darted into an alleyway.


    Cale followed.


    The second he entered the alley he smelled trouble.


    The thief wasn’t alone.


    Three figures stepped out of the shadows. Rough-looking guys, all wearing scuffed leather vests and carrying some kind of crude weaponry—one had a large jagged knife, another a rusted pipe, and the last one… well, his fists were big enough to count.


    The small thief threw the pouch at the largest one, who caught it. Then the little cutpurse darted behind the thugs.


    The biggest thug in the middle grinned, tossing the crystal pouch between his hands. “Idiot. You actually followed him.”


    Cale shrugged. “Yeah. That was dumb.”


    The biggest thug cracked his knuckles. “Too late now.”


    They rushed him.


    Cale moved.


    He ducked under the first swing, his hoverboard sliding him effortlessly beneath the pipe-wielder’s attack.


    They’re so slow…


    Pivoting hard, he kicked the edge of the board, sending it flipping straight into the guy’s face.


    CRACK.


    The thug staggered, blood spurting from his nose. Cale caught the board on the rebound and slammed the edge into his gut.


    The guy dropped.


    The knife-wielder lunged. Cale dodged, twisting to the side as the blade grazed his sleeve. He caught the guy’s wrist mid-stab, twisted hard, broke the wrist, and sent him flying over his shoulder.


    THUD.


    Two down.


    The third one—the big one—looked pissed. He charged, swinging those hams for fists.


    Cale ducked, slammed his foot onto the hoverboard, and shot forward, twisting his entire body into a solid right hook.


    His fist met jaw. Cale could feel the jaw shatter and crumble under his attack.


    The guy stumbled back muffledly moaning into his hands. Cale followed up with a rising knee to the ribs.


    Big guy hit the ground like a sack of bricks.


    Silence.


    Aura was livid. “Ha! Take that barbarians. You dare?! You must be fools to court death! Bow, BOW before Aura the Mighty!”


    Cale exhaled, rolling his shoulder. “Damn, that felt good.”


    The thief stared, eyes wide. Then, without a word, ran for his life.


    Cale picked up his crystal pouch. “Smart kid.”


    He looked around the alley. Not exactly a venue he enjoyed. Cale felt like he had had quite enough of the less savory aspects of the city. He wondered if he should call someone to help the thugs get some medical help, but on one hand, they really didn’t deserve any. Cale hoped they’d learn something from this, but he doubted it.


    He got out of the alley and looked up to see that the dark gray behemoth of a skyscraper was looming fairly close, only a mile or so away. Cale hopped on his hoverboard and started making his way towards a new life.