Prolog

"Revolution is coming!"

"We need a better system!"

"Stop hoarding magic raw resources!"

As the yelling of the protesters faded into the background, the female voice of the news voice-over was then heard.

[Hundreds of men and women wearing face paint that depicts three stripes have been flooding the roads heading toward the Parliament building since this morning. We got reports that a majority of them are the Talentless hailing from several Null Zones. This has been recorded to be the latest move initiated by The Revolutionaries to protest against the prices of mana-powered devices and services that have been sky-rocketing throughout the country recently.]

The voice-over then stopped before the screen revealed a woman with three yellow stripes painted on her cheek. Creases of frustration were seen on her sweaty forehead as she spoke to the reporter behind the camera.

"A year ago, I only had to pay eight Credits to take the subway from Lerring Street all the way to Briver Square. Nowadays, I can't even scan my Iris at the gates without worrying about how much I will have left when I exit the gates on the other station!"

The woman grew even more riled up as she shouted, "Don't even get me started on my electricity bills! My house entirely relies on central electric mana conductors, so you can imagine how much I stress over it every month!"

The voice-over was then heard again for a brief moment.

[And the price increases were not the only thing bothering their minds.]

The screen shifted to show a middle-aged man wearing glasses. Surprisingly, he was one of the few who had chosen not to wear the three-stripe face paint. His voice was calm when he spoke.

"I used to work at Veromore Electronics. Back in the day, even though we had to procure mana stones from the government in order to manufacture our products, they were at least quite amiable with the cost. Therefore, we could still gain a lot of profits while maintaining low pricing on our products. We were happy, the government was happy, and our customers were happy. But now," he sighed.

"Now it is very apparent in my eyes, that the government is becoming greedier. As we're all aware of, mana stones are a type of non-renewable resource. Or at least it takes a very long time for them to appear in The Ancient Ruins. So is it possible that after so many years of exploitation, we're finally running out of these stones?

"No, I think this is highly unlikely. I think the government is deliberately limiting public use of these stones by raising the prices and implementing quotas for how many stones can be distributed at once, which, mind you, are likely to be very few. As to why that is the case? Your guess is as good as mine. But I have a feeling that the government is secretly hoarding mana stones for something big that they somehow can't reveal to the public."

The news voice-over spoke again.

[And organizing protests is not all The Revolutionaries have been doing. Using social media as a platform, they have been spreading words to fire up the public and pull them to join their cause.]

The screen then displayed a few clips from the video that had recently been circulating around several video streaming sites on the internet. On it, a woman wearing a plain black mask with three red stripes was seen speaking in fervor to the camera.

"We know more, much more than all of you. The government is doing all kinds of horrible things behind our backs! The jump in prices? The growing size of The Null Zones? That is just the tip of the iceberg, my fellow Elysians.

"But worry not, for I will reveal everything to you in time. For now, we just need to add more pressure to those power-hungry bastards. The government can't ignore its people forever, or the country will fall into pieces.

"We don't want the whole country to turn into one giant Null Zone, do we? So persist, everyone! We must persist!

"Private companies, I know you've been longing for access to The Gatemaker for the longest time, and you're sick of having to beg for unnecessarily-costly crumbs. Then what are you waiting for? Stand up and fight with us!

"We are not called The Revolutionaries for no reason. We will topple the evil and corrupted ones at the very top! The Republic of Prime Elysia will be revolutionized!"