Near the N gate there were a handful of small stalls, each one selling something different, and the one Yuto needed was the one with the weapons and the gate tickets. He found the biggest stall and went inside.

There was a young woman behind the cashier desk. Dark hair framing her face on both sides, the kind of face that looked like it had been arranged deliberately. She glanced up when he walked in and gave him a clean professional smile. "Hello. How can we help you today?"

In her head, she had already sized him up. Shabby clothes. Slightly hunched posture. And something else, a kind of negative aura that clung to him like old smoke. She had seen that look before. Failed awakeners, mostly. People the ceremony had spat back out.

Yuto, for his part, had no idea she was thinking any of this. He cleared his throat. "I’m looking to buy a sword. And a ticket for the gate."

The woman’s smile froze in a very specific way. "Are you an Ethereal?"

"Yes," Yuto said. "Just awakened."

A pause. Her cheeks went slightly pink in embarrassment, and something that looked almost like fear. She recovered quickly. However shabby he looked right now, an Ethereal was an Ethereal. A few months inside the gates and he could come back through that door an entirely different kind of person. The kind you did not want to have offended.

"Of course. My apologies." She gestured toward the shelves at the far end of the room. "Weapons are over there. Take your time."

As he walked off, she thought: right, don’t judge a book by its cover.

Yuto scanned the shelves and very quickly arrived at the unfortunate conclusion that he could not afford most of what was on them. There were elegant swords he would have liked, swords that looked like they belonged to somebody, and he passed each of them with a look of mild regret. In the end he settled on the plainest blade available. Two silver coins.

He brought it to the desk. "How much for the ticket?"

"Ten silver." She glanced at the blade. "Twelve together."

Yuto’s chest did a quiet sinking thing.

Twelve silver was everything he had. Every coin. Once he put it on the desk he would own exactly nothing, which was technically a step down from where he had started the morning.

He thought about this for a moment. Then he thought about the gate, and what was inside it, and the loot he could sell after he came back out. The math was straightforward. He was just going to have to trust the math.

He dropped the coins on the desk.

The woman collected them and slid a small stamped ticket across to him. Yuto pocketed it and then tested the sword, a few practice swings, getting a feel for the weight and the balance. It was simple, which meant it was at least honest about what it was.

The woman watched him from behind the desk. She found herself wondering why he hadn’t rushed home to celebrate the way new Ethereals usually did. Then she wondered if maybe there was no one to celebrate with. The thought landed somewhere small and quiet in her chest.

"Mister," she said.

Yuto looked up. "Huh?"

"Good luck in there." She blew him a kiss.

The heat arrived in his cheeks before his brain had time to say anything useful about it. "Thank you," he managed, and then walked out of the stall at a pace that was not quite running but was making an effort.

Outside, he pressed his palm to his forehead and groaned at himself. "Seriously. One woman says two words to you and you practically trip over the door."

He kept walking toward the N gate.

It was hard to miss. A shimmering portal framed by two large stone arches, radiating the kind of energy you felt in your back teeth. Yuto handed his ticket to the bored-looking officer at the entrance, who stamped it without making eye contact, and then he stepped through.

For a moment the world became a whirlpool , sound and light all mixed up together, and Yuto had just enough time to think he was about to be sick before it stopped. He stepped out into the Astral Realm.

Dense woodland. Tall trees pressing close together, swallowing most of the light. The air felt different here, heavier somehow, like the realm was breathing its own private atmosphere.

He summoned Shiny.

Shiny appeared and immediately started looking around with open curiosity, turning slowly in place, taking in the trees and the filtered light and the general strangeness of the place. It was clearly very different from wherever he had been summoned before.

Yuto watched him with a grin he couldn’t quite suppress. "Surprised by the new environment?"

Shiny turned back to him with a slightly sheepish expression. He had a faint smile. "This is the Astral Realm," he said, less like a question and more like a person confirming a fact they had just decided to accept.

"Yes," Yuto said. "And we’re going to be spending a lot of time in it." He straightened up and tried to sound like someone who knew what they were doing. "Shiny, I need you to help me hunt as many beasts as we can. We need the cores, and we need the loot. Getting stronger is the priority."

Shiny’s eyes lit up. He stood a little taller, squared his shoulders, and bowed with genuine enthusiasm. "I will kill every monster in the realm for you, Master!"

Yuto stared at him.

Then he laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay, let’s, let’s maybe not start there. A few monsters. A reasonable number. We’ll work our way up."