Preparations

Aura walked out of his room and into the kitchen, where he was greeted by a symphony of delightful smells.

"Aura! You finally came out! What took you so long? And what's with that silly grin on your face?"

"Haha, do I really look so funny?" He reached down and hugger her. "I really missed you, Lydian."

"What's wrong with you today? Sit down and eat."

"Okay, okay." Aura took his pair of chopsticks and tasted the steamed fish along with his rice. "Delicious. As expected of my little sister's cooking." Lydian's face bloomed into a wide smile. She always enjoyed people complimenting her food. The two ate their lunch happily amongst their cheerful chattering.

"Also, I need to buy a large amount of jade." Aura said, as he finished off his food.

"Jade? Sure."

"I don't think you understand, what I mean is I want to spend all of our savings on jade." Lydian frowned. "Aura, that's all the money our parents left for us. They expect us to live well with it, not spend it on frivolous things."

The sibling's parents had passed away many years ago. They had left behind a large sum of money, but they had always used it conservatively, using it only for basic needs and saving up for their education.

"Lydian, you trust me right? This jade will drastically increase in value about a week from now." This was true. Jade was a mineral that had excellent affinity for mana. During The Awakening, jade absorbed large amounts of mana, and as a result was able to be used in many monster training related fields, such as food for monsters or alchemy. Eventually, mana infused jade, later known as spirit jade, would become the global currency for monster trainers.

"I know you aren't happy about this. But think about, even if what I said doesn't happen, it will still retain it's approximate value. We can sell it then, albeit at a loss. Just trust me here, we're guaranteed to make money." Lydian sighed and nodded. Aura grabbed the nearby holopad and placed multiple orders to large material stores, emptying their stocks.

"Okay, the drone will arrive with the delivery in a few hours. Make sure you receive it. I'll leave soon."

"Ah? Where are you going?"

"Just outside Whitewood City. It's for something important." He was going to catch his first monster in this life.

"Okay, make sure to stay safe."

Aura put on his coat and left their house for the high speed hovertrain. While outside, he looked around and marveled at all the high tech buildings and holographic displays around him. Little did the people around him know that with the advent of mana, the technology they are so reliant on would begin to fail. As higher and higher density of mana appeared on Earth, many basic things would change. Gravity would become stronger, electricity would act differently, and the weather would become increasingly wild and unpredictable. It would take many months before major failures in technology would occur, but it would still happen eventually.