Looking up to the dark beautiful sky filled with glinting stars, Elion could only sigh with weary expression. “This life is a mess for a person like me, I wish I'm something useful.” He was just sixteen years old, and he was already facing the backlash of life. All around him were things he wished he could have—things others had so easily, but he could barely afford a square meal.He was seated on a chair just outside an ice cream shop. In his hands, he held a pair of ice creams he had used the last of his money to buy. Even though life has been cruel to him, he doesn't have to keep blaming himself and instead have a glimpse of freedom and happiness from the taste of the ice cream he was licking.He gazed up at the city’s massive wall, towering high into the sky like an endless maze, and at that moment a thought ran into his mind,“How did this even come to be? It's really fascinating that something like this can be built by humans. The awakeners are really unimaginably powerful; if

Clara smiled faintly. Even though she wasn’t in approval of Elion's desperation to be a hunter, she had to fake it—she couldn’t stop the child from his dream and what he had always wanted. This same job was what took her husband’s life, and now her son wanted to become one of them.Becoming a hunter was like a death sentence.She sighed silently, then gently patted him on the head. Meanwhile, Clara was standing on the other side of the bed, staring. “Guess what…?”Sophia smiled, leaving the puzzle for him.Elion raised a brow. “Mum, you know I hate being left hanging… and I’m not good at guessing.”Sophia laughed before gently patting him on the head again. “Okay, since you’re not good at guessing, let me just tell you. I was able to pay for incubation preservation into the shadow realm for you.”“What?”Elion couldn’t believe what his mother had just said. What she said now costs a lot of money, and in her condition, paying that will keep her vulnerable to worsening her health condi

The man noticed Elion’s pale expression. He gasped before waving it off. “It’s fine if you don’t want to answer. But you fully know you can’t reach the awakening castle alone, right?”He knows about the castle?Elion was stunned. He hadn’t expected the man to know about the castle. If Derick truly knew its location, then he could help him—take him there.“Do you know about the castle?” Elion, asked desperately.Derick laughed before replying.“Of course I do. I’ve been in this realm long enough to know its location.”“Please… can you please take me there?” Elion, pleaded.At that moment, the other four men gazed at him with wiry smiles that seemed suspicious.“That means you’re an awakener?” Derick inquired.He seemed calm—even happy—as he asked. Elion nodded before replying quietly,“Yes. This is my first time here, and I’m heading to the castle you just mentioned.”“Don’t worry, boy. I’ll take you there. We all will,” Derick chuckled. “We’re meant to help guide awakeners to the cast

When Elion’s body was fully restrained on the dark altar, Derick walked toward him and relaxed his hands on both sides of where his head lay. He sneered into his face before speaking:“I want this to be fast and easy—but before that, I have one question for you. Unlike any other kids I’ve seen, why are you older? All the kids whose cores I’ve extracted so far were effortless to manipulate.”Derick was stunned. He knew that all the newly awakened dreamers whose minds were channeled into the Shadow Realm were below thirteen years old. This was the first time he had met someone a little more mature.“How old are you…?” Derick asked, but silence was all Elion gave him.“I’m talking to you, brat. What’s your damn fucking age?”Once again, silence was Elion’s answer. In the next second, Elion spat on Derick’s face.“Go to hell, you bastard. So your job is killing innocent kids.”Derick stumbled backward. He wiped the saliva from his face, then returned to Elion and landed a sharp slap acros

Elion gazed back and saw a towering beast dashing toward him from a far distance. There wasn’t just one but a bunch of them.Elion’s body immediately began to quiver. He lifted his gaze to the man he couldn’t even see and begged desperately:“Please, sir, I beg you, let me in! Those things will kill me!”“How old are you?” the man asked. Though that was the only question he seemed to know and more interested in.“I'm sixteen years old! Please open the door, …” Elion begged, slamming his hands against the massive iron door. He could feel his hand numb, but he kept hammering even though the pain was unbearable.“Wrong answer…” the man bluntly rejected. “No awakener coming to this castle is older than thirteen years.”Elion kept begging, but the man refused. Meanwhile, the monsters were closing in, dashing at super-fast speed toward where Elion stood.“P-please, I’m telling the truth… I met some men who promised to bring me to the castle. Meanwhile, they were taking me to a place called