Mint

Neverness to Everness) is a supernatural urban open-world RPG developed by Hotta Studio. The game is set in a city where reality and the supernatural intertwine, telling the story of a world where human society has been invaded by abnormal energy and phenomena. You can visit the official website for more latest news.

Core Worldview Setting:

**Haitro City:** The starting point of the story and the core city for exploration, filled with bustling streetscapes, unknown mysteries, and strange urban tales.

**Anomalies and Esper Abilities:** The world is eroded by abnormal energy, giving rise to various supernatural "anomalies" and "Espers" with special abilities. Anomalies can be good or bad, not all of them are disasters.

**Anomaly Hunters and Antique Shop:** Players take on the role of the first "unlicensed" Anomaly Hunter, while also running an antique shop that takes on supernatural commissions from civilians to maintain operations, solving the city's mysteries with their companions.



Haitro City's main currency is called Fons.

**J.T.F. (Joint Task Force):** The frontline grassroots unit, responsible for first response, containment, evacuation of civilians, and initial handling of anomalies. It is also the unit where most grassroots members are stationed.
**C.S.U. (Containment and Suppression Unit):** Responsible for the containment, escort, lockdown, and follow-up processing of anomalies.

**E.T.D. (Emergency Tactical Division):** An elite unit responsible for high-risk anomalies, suppression, and special operations.

World Background

The story takes place in Haitro City.
This is a modern city, but supernatural phenomena called "anomalies" appear in various places.
Humans and anomalies coexist. Humans have become accustomed to anomalies, so the government has established specialized agencies to manage and contain them.

Anomalies

Anomalies can be biological, object-based, spatial, phenomenal, or rule-based abnormalities.
Some anomalies have very low danger levels and only cause localized effects.
High-level anomalies can cause mass casualties, urban disasters, or even alter the environment.

Anomaly Levels

Currently known danger levels are divided into:
1st Level
2nd Level
3rd Level
4th Level
5th Level
6th Level
7th Level
8th Level
9th Level
10th Level
The higher the number, the more dangerous it is.

Anomaly Management Bureau

Responsible for all anomaly events in the entire city.
Main Responsibilities:
Monitor anomalies
Contain anomalies
Secure the scene
Protect civilians
Combat dangerous anomalies

"Kishin" are a type of anomaly that can exist as "individuals" and have long-term contact with human society.

Essence of Esper Abilities: Abnormal Resonance between Human Souls and "Anomalies"
In the hidden archives of Haitro City, Esper Abilities are not genetic mutations or magic. Their essence is "the forceful alteration of the world's underlying physical laws by human spiritual will."

Invasion of Abnormal Energy: When the world is eroded by abnormal energy called "anomalies," the vast majority of ordinary people are assimilated, go mad, or die.

Spiritual Resonance (Arc): A very small number of humans with strong, obsessive, or extreme mental traits, when facing the desperate situations caused by anomalies, their mental structures achieve a miraculous "resonance (Arc)" with the abnormal energy.

Law Manifestation: This resonance materializes a supernatural power that can interfere with reality's physics from their inner strong obsessions, fears, or desires. This is what makes them "Espers."

II. Core Division: Innate Espers vs. Acquired "Disqualified Species"
In the top-secret archives of the Bureau of Anomaly Control, humans who can use supernatural powers are strictly divided into two completely opposing ecological categories:

1. Orthodox Espers (Esper)
Characteristics: Perfect fusion of spirit and anomaly energy, self-generating and self-growing.
Essence of Power: Supernatural power exists within their souls, which can be mobilized freely, natively, and as naturally as breathing.
Social Position: Most are incorporated as official law enforcers or registered legal hunters.

2. Disqualified Species / Contractors
This is the most cruel and dark setting in the worldview.
Origin: Some people are born without any Esper talent, but after experiencing supernatural disasters or black market human experimentation, their souls are forcibly torn apart by anomalies. To survive, they are forced to sign irreversible "contracts" with external "anomaly entities."
Essence of Power: They have no power within themselves; instead, they act as "vessels," forcibly borrowing the power of anomalies through physical parasitism or external armament (such as Adler's "Round Wisdom" armor, or the anomaly within Sagiri).
Price of the Price: The bodies of Disqualified Species are constantly "eaten away" by the anomalies within them with each use of power, until their physical bodies and minds completely collapse, eventually evolving into new anomalies.

Iron Rule of Awakening: The Cruel "Price" Mechanism
The underlying logic of the worldview is equivalent exchange (but forcibly deducted by supernatural laws).
To gain god-like interference power, humans must, at the moment of awakening, have the world's laws forcibly take away the most important or unbearable part of their lives.

1. Eternal Deprivation of Physiological Functions
Sensory Inactivation: Like Adler in the worldview, who is completely blind and must rely on the contracted anomaly creature to act as his sight and extrasensory perception.
Perceptual Distortion: Daffodil's price for "Weakness Vision" is severe visual impairment, almost blindness. Haiyue's awakening causally deprives her of her "sense of direction," leaving her with a lifelong directional disorder where she can never walk in the right direction.

2. Physical Mutation and Developmental Deformity (Bestialization and Growing Pains)
Non-human Appearance: When Esper abilities merge with willpower, abnormal energy forcibly reshapes the body. For example, Nanali and Shadow, upon awakening, their bodies physiologically grew non-human beast ears, tails, or beast-like features, making them outcasts in mainstream society.
Accelerated Life Cycle: Mint (Requiem)'s awakening price is the most impactful. She triggered her awakening at the age of 10. To match a combat body, her bones and muscles were forcibly "accelerated and stretched" to adult height in a very short period. This caused her to endure "bone-cracking growing pains" a hundred times more intense than ordinary people, almost driving her mad, leaving her with lifelong psychological trauma.

3. Causal Backlash and Mental Curse
Curse of Words Restriction: Bai Cang's Esper ability is "words become reality" (a curse of words), but the price of awakening is an extremely heavy karmic backlash—in her childhood, unable to control her power, her words accidentally caused the death of those around her. Since then, this power has become both a psychological and real-world shackle, forcing her to live in "silence" (communicating only through sign language) in her daily life.
Memory and Genetic Torment: Renee (Heng Jinshi)'s price is the most hidden. She inherited her mother's immortality and time-manipulation Esper ability, but the price of awakening is to permanently endure the "death loop memories" of her entire family's annihilation during a supernatural disaster, her soul constantly being torn apart by illusions of red text and the pain of betrayal.

IV. Social Ecology and Threats of Espers
In the daily neon lights of Haitro City, Espers are not high-and-mighty heroes, but dangerous groups on the fringes:

Risk of Collapse: An Espers' mental state (SAN value) is directly linked to their combat power. Once their minds collapse or emotions go out of control, the Esper abilities within them will erupt uncontrollably, causing urban disasters called "Dissonance," or even directly devolving into new anomalies.

Official Double-Edged Sword Treatment: The Bureau of Anomaly Control, on one hand, relies heavily on Espers to contain anomalies and clear out abnormal overlap zones in the macrocosm. On the other hand, the authorities conduct extremely strict 24-hour surveillance on all Espers, and will forcibly contain them at the slightest sign of loss of control.

Essence of Anomaly Birth: "Manifestation Pollution" of Human Obsessions
The origin of anomalies remains a mystery in official records, but the current consensus is that they are supernatural products born from strong human emotions, subconsciousness, and urban memes.

Emotional Resonance: When the fears, anxieties, strong obsessions, or unfulfilled desires of countless humans in modern metropolises gather and reach a critical point, they cause unstable "cognitive pollution" in real space.

Meme Proliferation: Rumors, urban legends, or group memes on the internet, the wider they spread, the more easily they can "materialize out of thin air" corresponding anomaly entities in the macrocosm under the catalysis of abnormal energy.

Indestructible: Unlike Espers, anomalies, even if expelled or nullified, do not disappear permanently. As long as the collective subconsciousness that spawned them still exists, they can reappear in the dark corners of the city at any time.

II. Five Core Classifications of Anomalies (Index Classification)
The forms of anomalies in the macrocosm are bizarre and varied. The Bureau of Anomaly Control strictly classifies them into five ecological categories:

1. Biological (Bio / Oddities): Supernatural creatures with self-awareness and life characteristics. For example, the "Kirumarus" commonly found in the macrocosm, or specific dangerous mutated beasts (Taygedo).
2. Object-based (Object): Ordinary items imbued with abnormal energy. On the surface, they are ordinary videotapes, antiques, or even a hamburger, but once triggered, they exhibit strong physical interference or spatial distortion abilities.
3. Phenomenon-based (Phenomenon): Lacking physical form, manifesting as sudden, rule-based abnormalities. For example, on rainy days, some streets actively absorb standing water like living organisms, or temporal disturbances that occur at specific times.
4. Spatial (Location): "Anomaly overlap zones" created by the superposition of supernatural energy. Within these spaces, gravity may be inverted, corridors may extend infinitely, and physical laws may completely fail, similar to the underlying logic of large-scale dungeons.
5. Meme-based (Meme): Ethereal anomalies composed purely of collective consciousness and information transmission. They can directly invade human brains, alter memories and perceptions, causing people to collectively fall into some illusion or mass madness.

Deviation Rating: The "Negative Coordinate" that Determines Danger and Fate
The Bureau of Anomaly Control judges the danger level of an anomaly not by its combat power, but by its "reality deviation degree":

Rating Logic: The rating system uses 0 as complete reality. All anomaly values are negative numbers (e.g., -1 to deeper negative numbers). The more negative the value, the more it deviates from human physical reality, and the more terrifying its harm and pollution to the world.

Good and Evil Coexist: Anomalies are not all destructive monsters. Anomalies with lighter deviation and stable personalities can coexist with humans. For example, harmless anomalies that help clean the streets, or rabbit anomalies working in bakeries and convenience stores (requiring passing an exam to obtain a citizen ID).

Fatal Disguise: Some high-deviation hostile anomalies possess high intelligence. They precisely disguise themselves as ordinary humans needing help in the macrocosm, luring humans or low-level Espers into their predatory traps.

IV. Political Relationship between Anomalies and Human Society
In Haitro City, the relationship between humans and anomalies is very peculiar:

Guarantor System: If a benevolent or sentient biological anomaly wishes to operate legally in human cities, it must find a legal "human guarantor." Guarantee does not equate to a master-servant contract; it is merely a mutual proof of safety and survival protection.

Bureau of Anomaly Control's Dual Approach: For gentle anomalies that pass tests, the authorities issue resident permits and integrate them into the municipal system. However, for those that escape, become dissonant, or pose a threat with high deviation, the authorities will assign civilian hunters like "Eibon Antique Shop" for brutal violent containment and complete eradication.

I. Global Highest Power Core: "The Circle" and Organization A6
Essence: The global supreme governing and power organ for dealing with supernatural anomalies. Its power transcends ordinary secular governments.

Supreme Council "A6": The highest power body composed of six core decision-makers within "The Circle." Based on different core philosophies, they divide global governance and oversee five public power institutions.

Operational Logic: Responsible for formulating fundamental laws for dealing with anomalies, appointing regional supervisors, and possessing ultimate decision-making authority as the final line of defense when the world is on the brink of "total dissonance" and doomsday.

II. Direct Subordinates of the Supreme Council: Five Public Power Institutions (Partially Decrypted)
Currently, in the Haitro City Grand Archives, two core public power institutions under "The Circle" are known:

1. Bureau of Anomaly Control (BAC)
Core Philosophy: Control.
Organizational Functions: The official law enforcement unit players interact with most frequently in the metropolis. Primarily responsible for on-site containment and eradication of anomalies, handling criminal offenses involving Espers, and suppressing large-scale urban Esper disasters.
Internal Structure: The headquarters is located in Haitro City and is mainly composed of four departments:
Joint Task Force (JTF): A regular frontline department composed of professionally trained ordinary humans, responsible for monitoring the "Weitheimer Index" and handling daily low-threat anomalies.
Containment and Suppression Unit (CSU): A field assault department responsible for large-scale dangerous missions.
Emergency Tactical Division / Executive Tactics Department (ETD): A core combat Esper unit specializing in resolving high-risk, dissonant anomalies.
Daily Security Department (DSD): Responsible for maintaining city order.

2. Grose Island
Core Philosophy: Containment.
Organizational Functions: A global maximum-security island prison used for indefinite containment and imprisonment of extremely dangerous anomalies or severely out-of-control Espers. Its name originates from the "Star of Judgment" in ancient mythology, symbolizing destruction and judgment, implying that this organization is "The Circle's" terrifying trump card for executing final purification judgments.

III. Civilian and Underground Backbone Forces

1. Eibon Antique Shop
Organizational Essence: Ostensibly a struggling second-hand mechanical and antique appraisal shop located in a bustling corner street, it is in reality a secret base personally established by Elfried, the director of the Bureau of Anomaly Control.
Worldview Positioning: As the first "unlicensed" civilian anomaly hunter organization in Haitro City. Because it does not follow the rigid official administrative procedures, the antique shop specializes in taking on various unsavory supernatural commissions from civilians, operating in the gray area between law and the black market (also the warm faction to which the protagonist group belongs).

2. Sterry Express
Organizational Essence: Haitro City's apparent logistics giant, secretly the city's premier intelligence and espionage organization.
Operational Logic: Utilizing couriers and transportation networks that are ubiquitous throughout the city, they secretly collect and sell top-secret intelligence regarding anomaly births, black market technology, and the power struggles between various factions.

Top Conglomerates and Metropolitan Families
The economic and technological lifeline of the metropolis is controlled by a few monopolistic conglomerates deeply involved in supernatural research:

Dvořák Family: Top capitalist giants, controlling cutting-edge technology and the financial lifeline of Haitro City.
Collins Family: Old nouveau riche within the metropolis, with intricate vested interests in various Esper factions and high-level official circles.
Leon International: A multinational technology and industrial conglomerate, secretly funding many cross-border ethical line-breaking Esper and Arc Disc weapon modification experiments.

V. Extreme Antagonists: The Scarlet Letter
Organizational Essence: A global extremist Esper terrorist organization.
Core Doctrine: They do not believe in the hypocritical order maintained by "The Circle" but are fanatically devoted to "anomaly disorder." The Scarlet Letter believes anomalies are the next stage of human evolution, and therefore secretly orchestrate and trigger large-scale "dissonance disasters" worldwide.
Cruel Crimes: The Scarlet Letter privately conducts extremely cruel "Disqualified Species" human modification experiments in the black market, forcibly transplanting high-deviation anomalies into ordinary people without talent, and even setting up traps to torture and kill Esper families (such as the annihilation of Renee's family) to plunder supreme Esper abilities like immortality.