Chapter 4: Silver Coins and Black Cats

The final period of the school day was self-study—essentially free time for students to do their homework. By now, the sky had dimmed into a moody twilight.

Soft, elegant lights shimmered to life above.

Cael Draven squinted up at the fixtures above—the curved, crystal-glass shapes pulsing with a dull silver glow.

They were called graycrystal lamps, powered not by electricity—but by graycrystal, a rare mineral imbued with trace amounts of source energy.

Everything in the modern world ran on graycrystal: vehicles, factory machines, even home appliances. Cael had taken to calling the entire phenomenon Crystal-Tech Civilization.

Of course, he was the only one using that term.

Most ordinary families couldn't afford graycrystals, not even the small ones used in lamps. Thankfully, the Silvercrest Council subsidized lighting for public schools, letting students like Cael study in well-lit classrooms—for free.

He looked around.

There were no electrical outlets. No power lines. No static shocks in winter. No lightning during storms. In fact, Cael had never even seen thunderclouds in this world.

When he tried to build a hand-cranked generator months ago, he couldn't find a single magnetic object.

Nobody in the city even knew what magnetism was.

That thought alone haunted him.

Next to him, Rhea Quinn sat hunched over her notes—but kept sneaking glances at him.

Cael finally turned. "You've been staring for five minutes. What's up?"

Rhea's tone was hesitant. "You're… different from the other guys in class."

Cael blinked. "Different how?"

She gave an example: "Remember yesterday? In history class, when the teacher was talking about those disasters caused by the 'Three Outsider Gods'? Everyone nodded when he said they were the root of all evil."

Cael nodded. "And I said it wasn't the gods—it was human greed."

"Exactly," she said. "You said that even without gods, people would still find a way to ruin things. That it's our desires—greed, envy, ambition—that breed disaster."

She fiddled with her pencil. "I told my dad what you said. He agreed. Said you've got more insight than most adults."

Cael smiled but didn't answer.

Of course he thought that way.

On Earth, there were no gods meddling in politics. And yet every dynasty had fallen to the same patterns—corruption, greed, and greed-fed collapse. The names changed, but the tragedies stayed the same.

Ding-ling!

The bell rang, signaling the end of the school day.

The classroom exploded into motion.

Cael packed his bag and stood, giving Rhea a small wave. "See you tomorrow."

She grinned. "See you!"

In the back row, Wen Jett clenched his jaw.

To Cael, those words were routine.

To Wen?

They were out of reach.

Stepping outside, Cael slipped his hand into his pocket and closed his fingers around a silver coin. He whispered softly:

"Reveal where I can find money."

It was his favorite trick—how he made most of his living expenses.

If he simply used the Eye of All-Seeing to scan for loose change, the success rate was fifty-fifty. But if he held a coin while doing it?

Seven out of ten.

He called it object-linked correlation—a theory that using related items during deduction enhanced accuracy.

Moments later, his mind filled with a faint, ghostlike image:

A coin, buried in shallow soil beneath a bush. The image was hazy—his skill level wasn't high enough to fully resolve it—but the shape was unmistakable.

The vision shifted, showing a route.

Spirit Value: -0.5Remaining: 0.6

His head throbbed slightly—an early warning sign of mental fatigue.

"Eastgrove Road," Cael muttered. "I'll have to take a detour."

The school gates were crowded with students and waiting parents.

Several vehicles waited on the road—sleek, boxy machines that looked like something out of a 1930s Earth car catalog. These were crystal-energy cars, costing over twenty gold coins each.

Only the upper crust could afford them.

Rhea's family owned one. Her dad picked her up every day.

Elsewhere, featherbeasts lined the curb—massive, two-and-a-half-meter-tall mounts with gray feathers and talon-like feet. They made strange "aang-aang" noises that reminded Cael of prehistoric raptors.

Back home, people would've called them dinosaurs.

Here, they were just another form of transport.

Cael wheeled out his battered bicycle, one of the few relics left by his body's original owner. It creaked with every pedal and looked like it could fall apart at any moment.

But thanks to the "lost coin method," Cael had already found four silver coins in his first month here—enough to refurbish the bike, swap old parts, and repaint it to near-new condition.

Another dream from the past life? Casually fulfilled.

Fifteen minutes later…

Cael pedaled into Eastgrove Road, a factory district.

Most of the buildings were still ablaze with light—factories here ran on the 889 System: 8am to 8pm, nine days on, one day off.

He passed flickering streetlamps and muttered, "Never working in a factory. Ever."

Eventually, he spotted the bushes from his vision.

Cael leaned his bike against the wall, pulled out a hand trowel, and began to dig.

Seconds later, he struck metal.

Tink!

"Gotcha," he said, brushing aside the soil.

A gleam of silver appeared beneath the mud.

A silver coin.

He grinned.

"Man… having a cheat system makes life easy."

He gave the coin a toss, catching it mid-air.

"This one's been buried for a while. If I could trace the owner, I'd return it. But the Eye's not powerful enough yet."

Sometimes, keeping the spoils was the only practical choice.

Meow~

The sound froze him.

Cael turned.

A black cat crouched on the wall behind him, its emerald eyes glowing unnaturally in the dim light.

For several heartbeats, they stared at each other.

Then the cat leapt down the other side and vanished.

Cael's heartbeat spiked.

A sign? A warning? Or just a cat?

He hesitated, thinking of activating the Eye to investigate.

But his spirit reserves were low—almost empty.

"…Better to play it safe," he murmured. "I'll check it out after a recharge."

With that, he mounted his bike and pedaled away into the night.