The streets of Dustveil were louder than usual, but Rin heard none of it.
His footsteps were slow. His head down.
F-Rank.0.2 units.A Beast Space barely the size of a cage.
The words repeated in his skull like a curse.
He didn't go home. What would he say? His mother already worked three jobs. His sister needed medicine. They were counting on him. On his Awakening.
Rin took a turn into an alley behind the rust markets, where broken crates and chemical barrels were dumped like trash. He sat beside a wall, knees pulled to his chest.
The wind smelled like oil and burnt spice.
He stared at his hands.
"What's the point...?"
He didn't cry.
He just sat there, wishing the world would collapse in on itself.
Then—A soft sound. A sharp breath.
Skrrk.
He looked up.
A small creature limped from behind a crate, trailing blood. Its fur was matted, one eye shut, a long scar down its side.
A rat-type beast.
Feral. Unbonded. Weak. Dying.
They usually ran at the sight of humans. But this one just collapsed a few feet from him, shivering in the cold.
Rin blinked.
He should have ignored it. Beasts like that died every day. They were pests. Worthless.
Just like an F-rank Beastmaster.
He hesitated. Then slowly, carefully, he reached out.
The rat didn't bite.
Didn't run.
It just stared at him — half-dead — as if it saw something in him.
He opened his Beast Space.
It flickered to life in front of him, no bigger than a box. Barely enough room for anything living.
But somehow, the rat fit.
He didn't understand how. Or why.
But it let him.
And just like that…
He wasn't alone anymore.