Whitewood Forest, The Awakening

The hovertrain slowly eased to a stop as Aura got off and made his way out of the station. Whitewood Forest, his destination, was quite far away, so he plugged in his earbuds and played his music. It was a relaxing afternoon. He walked down the street, listening to the birds chirping and feeling the warm sun shine on his face. He reminisced about his past, all the people he met, the dangers he encountered, the laughs, his mistakes. Most of all, he recalled all that his sister had done for him. As a genius with a base mana of 15, she could have easily left him in her dust and forgot about him. Instead she stayed with him and helped him, up until it was no longer possible and he chased her away. Even then, she cared for and remembered him, sending him resources when he was in need, or giving him advice about training his monsters.

They had always been close. Ever since their parents had passed away, all they had was each other. They were always there for each other, and this was even more precious during the birth of the monster trainers. In a world dominated by the strong and where people did all they could for personal gain, having each other's unconditional trust was all the more important. Aura vowed that this time around, he would be the one who would protect Lydian. He would give her an ideal life, and she wouldn't have to constantly worry about him.

Aura paused and ate some snacks. As a level 1 human, his endurance was limited and he couldn't continue walking all day. After he finished eating and dusting off the crumbs, he got up and continued towards Whitewood Forest. He saw the dirt path leading away from the city and followed it. He looked at his map. His destination was still far away, and it would be nightfall before he arrived. That was his intention anyways. The Awakening would happen at midnight, and only then would wild monsters begin to appear. And so he continued forward.

He walked along the dirt path and into the dense vegetation. Aura was used to staying in the wild, but this relaxing stroll was something new. In the future, being in the wild required one to constantly be alert, in case one of the many fierce beasts that inhabited the areas outside cities decided to attack. While most were low level, who knew when an high level shadow striding mantis would appear and swing at one's neck.

As Aura continued forward, he saw many types of plants and mushrooms. After long periods of exposure to mana, some would transform into spiritual herbs. In the future, armies of aspiring monster trainers would enter the wilds and spacial realms in search of these treasures. There were many stories of trainers who found high level herbs and ascended to the skies in one step. Aura had also been one of the treasure hunters, but he had never been lucky.

The sky gradually darkened, and Aura reached his destination. It was a hidden grove in the forest, surrounded by a ring of tall white trees. This was one of the few locations where the rare monster Aura was looking for would sometimes appear. He checked his watch. 10:28. One and a half more hours until the most famous event in history. Aura sat down and meditated. This was common practice for monster trainers as it helped relax the mind and speed up mana recovery.

Aura could hear the crickets chirping as time gradually passed. Seconds made way to minutes, and minutes turned into an hour. Suddenly, the crickets stopped, and all that existed was the sound of silence. Aura opened his eyes. The moon was overhead. And as the second hand on his watch moved over the 12, the world seemed to distort.

The moon started to shine brighter and brighter, and it began to look like a blue spotlight suspended in the air. White thick streams of mana that beared resemblance to mist snaked across the forest floor and raised their heads into the air. Aura's pores seemed to cry in joy as they desperately tried to absorb the dense mana. The ground beneath his feet was undulating. Then all of a sudden all of the chaos stopped, the mana streams disappeared, and the moon returned to its indifferent yellow glow. But the heavy air that seemed almost humid showed that it was not all an illusion.