"Tom! Stop being so sluggish and follow up!"

"Can't you show some empathy to a sick child? I might die any second."

"Come on, it's just a cold. Nathan is telling us an interesting story today; we can't afford to be late for that!"

"Hmm, I don't know. That Nathan guy always seemed a little too sketchy to me."

Four children ran across the filthy, tarnished streets of Lostburg. Along the street were some adults who seemed to blend into the landscape. Generally speaking, through 500 years of development, Runalond's economy, tied to the mastery of Rune Arts, had been boosted enormously without showing a trace of stopping. However, Lostburg had stayed the same for 500 years. Ever since the world was united, it had always been a town for the banished, the rejected, criminals, and mostly, people who had completely given up on a purposeful life. Lostburg was the only region in the entirety of the kingdom that had no knowledge of any Rune Arts. They didn't deserve to study them. Well, not like they would, even if they were provided the opportunity.

Though considered a living hell for anyone who hasn't seen what Lostburg was truly like, the adults on the street all wore truthful, contented smiles, a stark contrast to their filthiness and identities.

Sure, they were poor, useless, inferior, discriminated against, abandoned, and despised. But ultimately, it was freedom that truly mattered to the citizens of Lostburg—the freedom of living every day as if it were their first, as if it were their last. No regrets for yesterday, no anxiety for tomorrow. The only thing they seemed to worry about was, "What should we have for dinner?"

They weren't afraid of dying either, not like they weren't considered to be living in the first place.

The same went for these young children. Born and raised in Lostburg, they had never seen the outside cities or what life was supposed to be like. To them, young storyteller Nathan Modernson's captivating stories every day were more attractive than anything else.

Eventually, they turned a corner and spotted a big group of people gathered around the bottom of a large crate. On top was a tall boy, around 16 years old or so, with long, black hair messily spread over his shoulders. He was none other than the legendary Nathan Modernson.

Nathan was as skinny as anyone else in Lostburg, though his clothes seemed much tidier and newer. Compared to them, his smile seemed more open, more confident, more… menacing.

But what truly separated him from the background were his eyes.

They shone brighter than anything Lostburg had ever possessed.

"Seems like everybody is here!" The boy raised his hand and announced loudly, his voice filled with confidence, his smile striking. "Welcome to the Modernson Lecture! Today, I'm going to enlighten you with the knowledge locked away from us—knowledge of the outside world."

Everyone cheered in a round of weak applause. Nathan's stories did not only attract children. In fact, citizens of all ages and genders would come if they had nothing else to do. Nathan was never absent, and he seemed to never run out of creativity, ideas, and facts.

His stories consisted of fantasy tales of legendary heroes in another world, everyday tales of people around his neighbourhood, historical events, and sometimes even the most forbidden of the forbidden.

"Now," Nathan raised his voice even louder with an intentional pause, "cultured listeners will know: what is the core pillar that holds up the kingdom of Runalond?"

"Rune Arts!" The crowd yelled in a messy harmony.

Nathan's smile widened as he pointed his finger toward the audience. "Absolutely. Now, am I saying Rune Arts are EVER going to be relevant for people like us? Well, no," he mocked. "But can we at least imagine we have these powers and be fulfilled mentally? Absolutely!"

"Remember, never stop imagining a better life. Put aside whether it is achievable or not. Imagination is the best drug to escape the harsh reality. The aristocrats living in the richest cities will also imagine because no matter how good your life is, everything is always, and I mean always, better in your imagination." After realizing he had caught everybody's attention, Nathan sat down on the crate and lowered his voice, but his smile remained.

The crowd stared and listened in full attention. The knowledge of Rune Arts was always considered prohibited in Lostburg. But since there were no guards or police to enforce any law, the citizens just did whatever they wanted without needing to face any consequences.

"As I told you a couple of weeks ago," Nathan recounted, "the founding family of Rune Arts discovered its origin with their amazing imagination. And to explain it simply, Rune Arts act as a medium to transfer imagination into reality. But that doesn't sound right, does it? The Rune Arts we know today are still fantastic but full of limitations and effort to study, so why is that? That is the story I will be telling you today."

Nathan's eyes shone with excitement as he scanned the crowd. The light, filled with hope, seemed to have infected everyone listening. He continued after a short pause: "Look at the environment around us. It is full of wonders and complicated structures. But ultimately, the formation and foundation of this world consist of seven core elements: Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning, Light, and Darkness."

Everyone nodded slightly as they leaned in closer, requesting elaboration.

"Rune Arts, though considered imagination's projection into reality, can only utilize these basic foundations rather than directly bending the world. They are separated into categories based on these seven elements. Now, you won't be too unfamiliar with this—I've said all of these before. But there is one catch: humans are also categorized by these elements. We call it a person's specific 'elemental trait.' From birth, people are assigned their elemental traits and can only unleash Rune Arts which share the corresponding type. This natural process is completely random and can never be inherited."

"But due to the complexity of the human body, some people may encounter mutations where they possess more than one elemental trait, therefore allowing them to wield multiple types of Rune Arts at once. In combat, this isn't exactly the best thing—it is much easier and more efficient to focus on one specific element rather than multiple. However, in our everyday lives, people with these types of mutations live much more flexible lives. Wielding multiple elemental traits will at most earn you some reputation. Your overall achievement will still depend on how talented you are and how hard you try."

Nathan cleared his throat and took a sip of water. His movements were big, and even a simple action displayed the confidence in his character. "Where was I again? Yeah, from a general standpoint, it is better to have the flexibility of wielding multiple elements. But this mutation isn't exactly common. Say there are one million citizens in a city—only around ten thousand people will have two elemental traits, one hundred with three elemental traits, and possibly only five with four. Five-element Rune Artists have only appeared three times in our history. One of them was born around 40 years ago. She is the current First Seat of the Rune Arts Federation, a position parallel to the king himself."

"What is her name again?" Nathan furrowed his eyebrows and thought deeply, but after a short silence, he gave up. "I don't remember. It doesn't matter to us anyway."

"What about six- and seven-element Rune Artists?" a rough voice from the crowd called out. "Is it even possible to have more than five elemental traits?"

Nathan pointed at him with a mischievous smile. "Great question," he replied. "The only seven-element Rune Artist was none other than the legend who discovered Rune Arts, Gideon Runaria. Surely everyone knows who he is. As for six-element… If I remember correctly, they had only appeared in the founding family line. The current royal family only inherited the name; they are not direct descendants of the legend himself. Anyone have any more questions before I continue?"

"How do we find out our elemental trait?" a small child in front asked with hopeful eyes.

"Well, we people in Lostburg will never know," Nathan shook his head and replied. "It requires a testing machine thing only located in Rune Arts academies around the kingdom, which we could never go to," he answered slowly. But suddenly, he lifted his hand with a bright smile and continued, "However, this is more of good news to us. Not like we can study Rune Arts in real life anyway. If we don't know our elemental trait, we are free to choose which elements we like the best and treat it as our elemental trait. And better, we can even change it with a flicker of our mind. Isn't this fantastic news? People outside of Lostburg are trapped with one single elemental trait forever, but we are the masters of our own stories in our imagination."

Nathan's explanation made the contented smiles reappear on everyone's faces. Whenever they came to listen to Nathan's stories, they always went home happily and full of hope or joy. To this region of Lostburg, this young boy was truly a bright star amidst the dark nights.

Nathan, feeling everybody's happiness, smiled again as well. But this time, it was filled with a sense of bitterness that no one else was able to catch.