š Chapter 19
š„ The Awakening Deepens
It had been a week since the mysterious fight.
The academy moved on. The story was buried.
Anshi had recoveredābut she couldn't remember what happened clearly.
And Aerenā¦
Was changing.
At night, he saw dreams that weren't his own.
He'd blink and feel himself standing in memories of others ā strangers, classmatesā¦ even teachers.
He could now read surface thoughts without trying.
"Why is she smiling at me but her eyes are cold?"
"That boy is scared of failingā¦ even though he pretends to act confident."
His brain worked faster than ever.
Books he couldn't finish before ā he now absorbed in minutes.
Battle techniques, monster biology, aura theory ā all started making sense.
Even during training simulations, Aeren found himself whispering:
"It's going to move left in 0.3 seconds."
And it did.
š« The Mystery of the Mark
At night, when Aeren was alone, he'd stare at his back in the mirror.
The glowing symbol hadn't faded.
In fact, it was now spreading, branching slightly like veins of light.
He began to hear whispers when he focused on it. Not voicesābut memories.
A ruined world.
Kneeling monsters.
A throne in the sky.
And alwaysā¦ the cloaked man on the cliff.
Each night, Aeren would see more of him.
Until one night, the figure turned around.
He had Aeren's faceābut older.
And his eyesā¦ burned like galaxies.
Aeren gasped awake.
He realized: the mark wasn't a curse. It was a key.
To something greater.
šļø Sinjai Academy Announcement
The entire school gathered in the Combat Dome.
Director Elzhar stood on the podium, voice amplified by a rune stone.
"All first-year studentsāprepare yourselves."
The crowd held its breath.
"The First-Year Grand Ranking Trial will begin in 7 days."
Students started murmuring. Everyone knew what it meant.
"This trial will test your ability to survive, strategize, and fight.
It will be a combination of duels, team battles, and a final forest dungeon expedition."
The top 10 students would be allowed to challenge for a rank upgrade based on their performance.
Aeren looked down. Everyone around him was excited.
"They'll all be fighting monstersā¦"
"I'm still ranked Wood. And the weakest."
But his hands said something else.
They were calm.
He wasn't scared.
He wasn't the same anymore.
āļø Class Divisions ā The Power Gap
Every student would be grouped by class rank:
Class 5 (Lowest) ā Aeren's class.Class 4 ā Anshi's class.Class 3 ā Mostly Silver-level Seekers.Class 2 ā Elite-level combatants.Class 1 (Top) ā The strongest few, including the mysterious Gold-level prodigy named Sairen Velthorn.
Aeren glanced at the leaderboard.
He was Rank 327 out of 327.
But that didn't bother him now.
Not after what he saw.
Not after what he felt.
š§ Power: Mind Reading & Hyper-Analysis
Aeren sat in the classroom.
Someone threw a small energy bolt at him from behind ā a joke.
But before it even left the student's handā
Aeren tilted his head, dodging without even looking.
The class fell silent.
"How'd you do that?"
"Justā¦ guessed."
But he didn't guess.
He felt it.
Like time bent for a second and whispered to him.
And when he looked at the attackerā¦ he heard the thought clearly:
"How did he see that?!"
Aeren smiled faintly.
"I can hear you, you know."
The boy went pale.
š Aeren's Training ā Alone but Evolving
Every night, Aeren trained in the outskirts.
His mind could now see enemy weaknesses like diagrams.
He could mimic techniques after seeing them once.
Even monster instincts felt familiar to him now.
"It's likeā¦ I've fought for thousands of years already," he muttered.
Anshi noticed too.
"He'sā¦ different," she thought.
"Something is awakening in him. Something dangerous... and ancient."
But she didn't care how weak he was.
She still wanted to protect him.
What she didn't knowā¦
Was that soon, she'd be the one in need of saving again.
šļø Countdown to the Dungeon Trial
7 days.
Then the Forest of Vael'Rim would open.
A corrupted place filled with unpredictable energy and mutated monsters.
It was said to have been a resting ground of a fallen mythical beast.
Even Diamond-ranked Seekers tread carefully there.
Now, first-year students would enter it.
Together.
Against each other.
And something darker was waiting inside.
Watching.
Waiting.
For him.
Aeren looked at the forest from his dorm window.
The mark on his back pulsed once.
"I don't know who I am yetā¦
But I'll find out.
And no one's going to stop me."
š©ø End of Chapter 19