Over sixty people were assembled outside the wooden pavilion that led to Heritage. Most of the lecturers were standing together and watching the crowd, with the exception of Gaius, who was in the crowd itself. Even faint silhouettes of what seemed to be Senator Alexandre and perhaps the other Senators of the beastfolk Congress could be seen, if one paid enough attention.

It was easy to pick Gaius out from the crowd, and it wasn’t just due to the boy’s youthful visage and small stature. There was a distinct gap, as though as none of the other Harvesters wanted to talk to him or be seen near him.

Gaius could smell politics at work here, seeing as even those who had sparred with him earlier weren’t standing close to him at all. It probably had something to do with the Congress — why risk incurring displeasure when staying neutral was a lot safer?

Despicable neutrals, the whole lot of them.

A masked man walked in front of the wooden pavilion as Gaius continued to curse at the other Harvesters in his mind. Tapping the side of his mask, a sonorous voice rang out, echoing into the icy world. “Harvesters.”

That single word instantly silenced the crowd. After a second had passed, the masked man said, “The preferred target for this week are emeralds. We will pay double the usual rate for emeralds found, up to the first hundred turned in. Past targets that are still active are amethysts, the pay-out also doubled, up to the first thirty turned in, and moonstones, the pay-out increased by one-tenth for the first five fifty turned in. Next, a word by the Congress. Senator Alexandre, if you please.”

The thinly-built senator appeared beside him, sending a small ripple through the air. “As you may all have heard, we have a new lecturer participating as a Harvester. Although he is a human, who is younger than virtually everyone else present, I do not want to hear complaints regarding racism. You know the Congress’ stand on this.”

He nodded as Gaius. “Finally, Major Degurechaff will brief everyone present about the state of affairs on Orb.”

At these words, soldiers carrying a black box the size of Gaius ran in, and then placed them at Senator Alexandre’s side. A voice rang out from it. “Major Degurechaff speaking. On the twenty-first of October of the twelfth year of the Tenth Epoch, two days ago, the Eastern Territories and the Western Holdings declared war on the Southern Continent. And that’s not all. Earlier today, at 0700 hours, the Northern Continent attacked the Central Circle.”

Murmurs broke out amongst the crowd.

“Attacking Central? That’s…”

“Suicidal. The Central Circle has the most Paragons…”

“Even as we speak, the forces of the Central Circle have been pushed back. Over a third of the Central Paragons have fallen, but there are no records of Northern Paragons falling in battle.” The black box stopped speaking for a moment, as though as they wanted to let these words sink in. “Half of Central has been lost to the Northern Continent.”

After another five seconds, Major Degurechaff’s voice said, “This is our opportunity to gather as many gemstones as possible. Now that the world’s at war, most of their elites have been pulled out of Heritage. Your target is therefore as follows: gather as many gemstones as you can.”

“We will increase pay-outs by ten percent for every gemstone turned in.” With those words, the black box fell silent.

The masked man stepped forward again. “Harvesters, prepare to move! This week, the gate will not close at all!”

Light started to spill out from the wooden pavilion, and a swirling circle of blue mist appeared in its middle. The sky flickered as the first Harvester stepped into it, which apparently served as a cue for the others to make their way inside. The queue rapidly dwindled, and Gaius was soon standing in front of the azure rift.

Gaius glanced at Senator Alexandre, who nodded at him. His heart beating somewhat rapidly, the young boy walked into the rift.

There was a flash of light, and an incredibly cold blast of air ripped at Gaius as he emerged on the other side, making a crisp sound as his boots stepped onto the ice. Gaius raised his hand to block off the dazzling light reflected off the white ground, and as his eyes adjusted, blurry figures could be vaguely seen in the swirling snow.

These figures were two soldiers, armed to the teeth, that watched over the rift that permitted entry in and out of Heritage. Even their faces were obscured by masks, and to their sides were piles of Straight Shot artefacts.

Gaius shook his head and assessed the situation.

The other Harvesters had formed up into groups, and had already started to move off. Gaius took out a hand-drawn map, and after finding his bearings, he moved off in a direction where none of the other Harvester groups were going towards.

Once he was certain that the other Harvesters couldn’t see him, Gaius removed his Harvester cloak. The default gear was grey in colour, but the assassin within the young boy wasn’t inclined to stand out. He folded it up and tucked it into the back of his tunic, and then put on his lecturer’s cloak.

The new cloak was white, which made for a far more effective camouflage in such a snowy terrain. It seemed that white clothing was at a premium, given the fact that virtually none of the other Harvesters had much white clothing on, despite operating in a place of ice and snow.

After checking his equipment once again, Gaius vanished into the snow. Whatever footsteps he might have left behind were too thin to be discerned easily, but now that even his attire was blending into the surroundings, even professional trackers would have a hard time tracking in.

Hours passed as Gaius made his way towards an area of warped air he had spotted from afar. Lieutenant Ornielle had walked him through the dangers of Heritage, one of which was a concentration of gemstones enough to create natural phenomena.

Gaius slowed down as he approached a brilliant, purple circle two metres in diameter. A handful of hazy beings, devoid of any facial and bodily features, were floating outside the circle…which was actually made up of tens of purple gemstones.

A gem circle…it’s like an automatic monster spawner. It’s medium-sized, which means that it has been active for at least a week. Gaius glanced at the beings of energy floating aimlessly around the purple ring, and then took a few steps back. In his right hand was a snowball, and as Gaius hid himself, he tossed the snowball in an arc, towards the nearest monster.

It didn’t do much, or for that matter, anything at all. The snowball spattered harmlessly on the monster, who turned to regard Gaius’ hiding spot with curiosity. After staring at a purple gemstone for three seconds, the monster drifted closer to Gaius.

Gaius crouched, readying himself to spring out at the monster. It was far enough that the others wouldn’t be able to see him tussling with his target, and was also far enough that Gaius could make a retreat safely.

His knives flashed in multiple blinding arcs as the monster neared him. There was no resistance as the knives cut through energy, but Gaius had a feeling that his attacks weren’t doing all that much damage.

Redoubling his efforts, Gaius was now digging deep into the monster. His target was trying to retaliate, but it seemed that the monster flailing under Gaius’ knives didn’t have any instinct for fighting whatsoever. Sure, the outbursts of energy looked dangerous, but they weren’t too hard to predict and dodge.

With a mighty swing, Gaius sliced through the entire monster, revealing a little ball of blue energy inside. Instinctively, he dropped the knife in his left hand and grabbed it, and as his hands made contact with the ball, the monster of energy scattered into the howling winds.

Gaius assessed the ball lying in his palm. It seemed that even illogical monsters have a weakness. The young boy licked his lips. It was a smile that the former assassin would find familiar, an expression that his victims had as their last memory.

The hunt was on.