Strangely Vlad had happily accepted Austin's request and he didn't ask too many questions either. Which was strange, if Vlad was Austin's kid, he definitely would have taught him that it was wrong to just trust strangers so much.
In the first place, Vlad knew nothing about Austin or why he had next to no money on him. Of course, he had enough money for food, but the business card, as Kai described it, was left with Gary.
Vlad lived on his own, in a two story flat. There was a row of rooms on the bottom floor and then a row on top. It was extremely basic, and the outside was somewhat falling apart. The wall looked to be covered partially with mold, while the stairs creaked so much Austin wouldn't have been surprised if his foot fell right through. When they got to the room though, it was in better condition than he thought. A clean living room with a desk. There was a double bed and enough space for a small table in the centre. There was then a table in the corner with a desk and books.
Lastly, there was a toilet off to the side. It wasn't the biggest space, and there seemed to be no kitchen. Just a sink on the outside near the bed.
"I have an extra blanket, for when my family stays over, I'll sleep on the floor and you can take the bed!" Vlad smiled.
Austin felt bad, after all, he was the one that was intruding on the kids personal space, and to then make him sleep on the floor. However, the floor space wasn't large enough for his broad shoulders, and he could tell that Vlad still wanted to repay him for what he had done.
As Austin was setting up, and getting on the bed, he couldn't help but have a few questions for Vlad.
"So where are your parents, aren't you still in school, shouldn't they be looking after you?" Austin asked.
"My parents work in one of the factories. I'm sure you've noticed them, they're spewing out all that crap over the city the whole time:" Vlad conveniently coughed, as if the thought was making his throat tickle.
"The factories... are where most of the kids' parents work, maybe that's why the situation is how it is now. You see, the workers are forced to live in the factory, on site. They are allowed to come home on their holidays of course, but there's a big check to make sure they don't take anything with them. "So my parents tend to visit around once a month, and I imagine it's the same with most of the kids?"
Austin couldn't believe it, how could one be forced to live where they worked. If this was the case with all of the kids, were they then raised with practically no parents. If it really was the case for most of the city, then it was no wonder the kids acted like they did.
There was essentially no one to discipline them. If they did badly in school, they would get horrible grades, and then those in the tier-4 cities only had two routes. Work for the gangs, or work for the factories that were controlled by the gangs.
Before the two were to get some sleep, there was one more question on Austin's mind.
"Now tell me about this Phantom Brawl again, because I want to take part:'
Both Gary and Elijah had been offered a job from a random stranger on the street. What took Elijah by surprise was the fact that Gary had agreed to doing the job, and in the moment, he had gone along with him.
Now the two of them were taking a tour of the place, while Elijah was wondering how he had gotten into this situation.
'I don't understand, I thought I was following some big wig from another city?' Elijah thought. So, why is he just taking a normal job in the factory... unless, is he here to spy on his potential partners? That might make sense'
Apparently, there were many different types of factories, but the one that they worked at felt more like a mine. It was built into the side of a mountain and it was incredibly hot inside with people working away. Lugging large wheelbarrows full of dirt.
They would then get smashed to pieces, sorted and placed on a conveyor belt, where there would be a group of people sorting them out into different piles. It was unclear what these items would be used for, but they imagined that they contained some special metals that others might need.
Both of them were handed a pickaxe and soon after were handed off to an old man wearing a hard hat. The old man was quite thin but he had well defined muscles all over his body. His name was Earny.
"The job is quite simple, we take turns switching roles every hour or so, that way our muscles get some rest doing the different jobs, you two just get swinging, and load the chunks of rock into the wheelbarrows.
Earny walked them into a large tunnel and it was even hotter inside than it was outside in the main factory.
"Alright you two get to work!" Earny said.
Looking at the others, they were swinging the pickaxe several times into a particular spot of the rock, they would then continue down the same line making a crack. They would then do the same at another point, and when the two cracks reached, they would have one solid piece of rock.
Gary lifted up the pickaxe and swung it down, hitting the piece of rock. It created a large crack going through straight to the bottom. Swinging the pickaxe again in one strike Gary had knocked out a large chunk from the stone wall.
"This is perfect!" Gary said to himself proudly.
Elijah just slapped his head, still wondering what on earth was he and this man doing here. He had followed him out of interest but was starting to think that he could just be an idiot.
Gary went ahead to lift the large piece and put it into the wheelbarrow but when he did, the system's screen had popped up.
[The material in your hands has been analysed.]
[A beast crystal has been detected]
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