Emotion Hunter: System Awakening.

Morning....

Riven walked across the Silver Town University campus, feeling like he was wearing someone else's skin....he felt like he had more energy than he should.

At five-foot-ten with a lean build that had always been more "survives on ramen" than "hits the gym type of guy," he'd never stood out in crowds.

He wasn't hideous or anything....just painfully average....that's why he always has a hoodie on.

His dark hair usually fell in unruly waves that refused to cooperate with any styling product, and his blue eyes had always been his only distinctive feature...a bright, almost electric shade that his mother used to say looked like a light blue flame on a gas burner...

But now, as he made his way toward Professor Logan's history lecture, he caught reflections of himself in building windows that made him kind of scared and surprised at the same time....

His shoulders had broadened slightly, his posture was straighter, and those blue eyes seemed to practically glow with an inner intensity he'd never possessed before....it made him look like his body is using it full potential.

The leveling up had been subtle, but on a college campus where people saw each other daily, subtle changes became kinda obvious.

He shoved his hands in his hoodie pocket and kept walking.

"Don't overthink it. Just walk. Just try to look normal...."

He continued walking with his head down.

Students were rushing to class...obviously late judging from their expression, someone strumming a guitar near the fountain...."anyone have some change?", the faint burnt smell of espresso leaking from the overpriced café.

A Group of friends were laughing in the background, different couples were walking soo close...like they want the world to know they're in a relationship, and somewhere off to the left a frisbee sailed past narrowly missing someone's head.

Normal.

So painfully normal that it almost made Riven laugh.

Because he wasn't normal anymore. Not even close.

He slipped into Professor Logan's lecture hall right as the old man cleared his throat...of acknowledgement of course.

It was a typical lecture hall-style classroom that was half-empty, typical for a Wednesday morning ,this was one of those easy courses that most students took for easy credits.

"Riven! Yo, Over here!"

The shout came from dead center of the class.

The voice belonged to Jake Morrison, who always sat in the middle rows where he could see everything while avoiding the professor's attention.

Jake was the kind of guy who knew everyone's business, stood about six feet tall, and had the easy confidence that came from never having to worry about anything more serious than his weekend plans, He had that "life is one long group project and I'll charm my way through" energy. He's Communications major....obviously.

His brown eyes lit up with curiosity as Riven approached.

"Dude, what happened to you?" Jake asked as Riven settled into the seat beside him. "You look like you've been hitting some kind of miracle skincare routine."

Before Riven could even form a reply, Maya glanced up from her fortress of color-coded notes.

Sitting on Jake's other side was Maya Chen no relation to Marcus despite the shared surname.

If Jake was all laid back chaos, Maya was his opposite...tiny, sharp, and had a plan for everything..

Barely five foot three (5.3),the girl had a shoulder-length black hair that she kept in a neat bob,wire-rim glasses perched perfectly on her delicately pointed nose.

She was the type who probably had her entire week planned out in fifteen-minute segments. She's a Pre-med.... Obviously.

Maya looked up from her meticulously organized notes and studied Riven with the gaze of someone who planned to become a doctor...

"Jake's right," she said, tilting her head. "Your skin looks clearer, and there's something different about your eyes. They're much brighter than usual. What kind of vitamins are you taking?"

"Just... eating better," Riven said, which wasn't entirely a lie. The rations from his Veil Crate were probably more nutritious than anything he'd consumed in months.... that beats microwaved noodles any day.

Maya tilted her head, unimpressed.

"Eating better doesn't do that in two days," Maya said skeptically. "I saw you on Monday and you looked like you hadn't slept in a week. Now you look like you could be in a skincare commercial."

From the row behind them, another voice chimed in. "Maybe he finally got laid."

The comment came from Derek Phillips, and Riven's mood immediately soured.

If Jake was "easy confidence," Derek was "punchable confidence."

Derek was everything Riven wasn't...tall, athletic, confident, and dating a different girl every month.

At six-foot-two with the kind of naturally muscular build that came from good genes rather than effort, Derek had dirty blonde hair styled with expensive product and green eyes that seemed to constantly evaluate everyone around him like potential competition.....the type of guy who never knew real struggle in his life.

He was also, unfortunately, Riven's ex-girlfriend's current boyfriend....we don't talk about her.

"Shut up, Derek," Maya said without looking back.

"What? I'm just saying." Derek leaned back in his chair, voice dripping with mock innocence. "the Guy's been moping for months. Maybe he finally moved on from—"

"Derek." Jake's voice carried a warning. "Drop it."

Riven felt heat building in his chest, and for a moment, his system interface flickered at the edge of his vision.

------

[Resonance Blade: Emotional surge detected.]

------

The memory of the blade waiting in his apartment flared across his mind. A weapon shaped by his feelings. A weapon that would happily answer if he let it.

"It's fine," Riven said quietly, though his hands had unconsciously clenched into fists.

Maya noticed the tension immediately. "You know what, forget Derek. He's just jealous because he spends a fortune on supplements and still looks like he peaked in high school."

"I can hear you," Derek said.

"Good. Maybe you'll learn something about not being an asshole."

The tension in the air thickened....until Professor Logan's booming voice crashed over them.

"If you three could kindly postpone your drama until after class, the rest of us would appreciate it."

A few chuckles rippled through the room. The tension broke.... sort of.

Logan launched back into his monotone about Veil history.

Riven tried to focus. Really, he did. But... Derek's jab had opened a scarred wound...

The casual mention of his ex-girlfriend...even indirect...brought back memories he'd been trying to suppress.

Sarah.

Sarah had been part of his life before the family tragedy, back when he thought he understood how the world worked.

She'd awakened as a Hunter six months after his family died, gained a system that enhanced her reflexes and gave her superhuman archery skills, and suddenly decided that dating a powerless civilian wasn't part of her future plans.

The breakup had been devastating. "I'm sorry, Riven, but we're living in different worlds now," she'd said. "You wouldn't understand what it's like to have responsibilities to protect people."

Different worlds. If only she knew what world he was living in now.

"Earth to Riven," Jake whispered. "You're spacing out. And you look like you're about to murder someone."

Riven realized his jaw was clenched tight enough to give him a headache. He forced himself to relax, letting his hands uncurl.

"Sorry. Just tired."

"Tired, but somehow looking better than you have in months," Maya observed. "Seriously, what's your secret? Is it a new sleep schedule? Different diet? Some kind of meditation?"

The questions were innocent enough, but they made Riven acutely aware of how impossible his situation was becoming.

He couldn't answer. Not truthfully.

His system timer flickered again.

-------

[Confidant Required. 30 Hours Remaining.]

-------

Professor Logan continueed talking on about Guild formation and governmental restructuring, but Riven barely heard him.

Jake leaned closer. "Okay, real talk. You're acting weird. Since Monday, you've been off. Marcus said something about an accident—" he got cut off.

"Marcus has a big mouth," Riven muttered.

"Marcus is worried," Maya cut in. She'd turned fully toward him now, ignoring Logan completely.

"We all were. You vanished, then came back looking like you got into a fight, and now you're… this, you're here looking like you've discovered the fountain of youth. What's really going on?" She gestured at him. "So, what's really going on?"

These were his classmates, people he'd known for two years. Not close friends like Marcus, but familiar faces who'd been part of his normal life before everything changed.

They were offering him something he desperately needed...human connection, people who cared enough to notice when something was different.

But they were also civilians. No systems, no powers, no understanding of the supernatural world that existed parallel to their ordinary lives.

How could he possibly explain that he'd spent Tuesday night fighting goblins in another dimension, that he could steal emotions and turn them into strength, that he carried a weapon that could become whatever his feelings demanded?

"I've just been going through some stuff," he said finally. "Trying to figure out what I want to do with my life."

It wasn't entirely a lie. He was trying to figure out his life...specifically, how to balance his desperate need to rescue his family with the growing weight of secrets that threatened to crush every relationship he had left.

Maya studied his face with uncomfortable intensity. "Well, whatever it is....it's working. You look… more alive than you have since…" She hesitated. "…since your family died."

The words hit harder than she probably meant them to.

The casual mention of his family tragedy made his chest tighten.

Everyone on campus knew about the bus that had been pulled through a Red Veil, about the freshman who'd lost his parents and newborn sister in a single night.

It was the kind of story that followed you around, turning you into an object of pity and whispered conversations.

But now, with his new abilities and growing power, that tragedy felt less like an ending and more like a beginning. The question was whether he could reach that beginning without destroying everything else in his life.

Professor Logan's voice went on and on, something about the economic impact of Guild taxation policies, but Riven wasn't listening anymore....he stopped listening to the lecture a while ago.

He was thinking about the Veil Compass in his apartment, pointing toward the next dimensional rift.

About the manual fragment that suggested his emotion looting abilities might not work the way his system claimed.

About Marcus's insistence on partnership and the system's demand for a confidant.

Thirty hours to make a choice that could change everything.

Around him, his classmates took notes and checked their phones, living their normal lives in their normal world.

They worried about grades and relationships and weekend plans, blissfully unaware that one of their own had stepped through the looking glass into something far stranger and more dangerous.

Riven envied them their ignorance almost as much as he treasured his newfound power.

The question was: how long could he live in both worlds before one of them destroyed the other?