Seven months passed.
The Royal Academy changed.
The students who entered as inexperienced children were no longer the same people who first walked through its gates.
Bodies grew stronger.
Paths became sharper.
Combat techniques became refined.
The distance between students widened.
Some rose.
Some fell.
And some...
Never stopped moving.
---
A fist struck the centre of a reinforced training dummy.
BOOM.
The impact echoed throughout the training grounds.
Several nearby students turned.
The dummy shook violently, cracks spreading across its surface.
The person standing before it slowly lowered his arm.
Kael Virex.
Seven months ago, he had looked like someone who would break after a single hit.
Thin.
Weak.
Someone who didn't belong among combat students.
Now...
That impression was gone.
His body had changed.
Not into the massive frame of a warrior who relied only on strength.
Instead, it was disciplined.
Athletic.
Balanced.
Every movement carried purpose.
His posture was straighter.
His breathing was controlled.
His eyes were sharper.
Without a Path, without magic, without any special ability...
Kael had built the only thing he could.
Himself.
---
"Again."
Kael looked at the damaged dummy.
He raised his fist.
The training continued.
Around him, students watched quietly.
Some still struggled to accept what they were seeing.
A No-Path.
Training harder than most Path users.
Improving faster than many students who had entered with advantages.
The rankings had changed countless times over the last seven months.
The academy no longer looked like the same place.
---
Kael had learned something important.
A ranking was never permanent.
Every month, students fought for their position.
Every evaluation revealed new strengths.
Every mistake created opportunities for someone else.
At first, Kael had remained near the bottom.
Then he climbed.
Slowly.
Patiently.
Until eventually...
He reached the top five of F-Class.
Current F-Class ranking:
1. [Name]
2. [Name]
3. [Name]
4. [Name]
5. Kael Virex
---
The most surprising part was not his intelligence.
Everyone already knew Kael was exceptional academically.
It was his body.
If abilities were removed completely...
Kael would be among the strongest students in the entire first-year.
His physical ability alone placed him within the top twenty students.
Combined with his tactical knowledge and theoretical understanding...
Even instructors had begun acknowledging that Kael was no longer the same boy who entered the academy.
---
"You're making too much noise."
Kael turned.
Tovin stood behind him.
Hands in his pockets.
Expression empty.
Exactly the same as always.
Seven months had passed.
And somehow...
Tovin looked almost unchanged.
Kael looked at him.
"You're one to talk."
Tovin tilted his head slightly.
"I don't make noise."
"You slept through half of today's lecture."
"Exactly."
A pause.
"Quiet."
Kael stared at him.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Kael looked back toward the training dummy.
"You've changed."
Tovin blinked.
"No."
"You haven't improved?"
"I didn't say that."
The answer came instantly.
Kael looked at him carefully.
Tovin's expression remained calm.
Almost bored.
But Kael had learned something over the past seven months.
Tovin was rarely as simple as he appeared.
---
The two walked through the academy grounds.
Students moved around them.
Some recognized Kael now.
Not many.
But enough.
A year ago, nobody would have noticed him.
Now...
People watched.
"You're still hiding."
Kael looked at Tovin.
"What?"
Tovin stared forward.
"You've spent seven months building yourself."
"Your physical ability."
"Your knowledge."
"Your combat understanding."
He glanced toward Kael.
"But you still haven't shown anyone what you can do."
Kael was silent.
"I don't have a Path."
Tovin shrugged.
"Neither of us has shown everything."
Kael narrowed his eyes slightly.
There was something strange about that statement.
"You want to increase your ranking."
"No."
Tovin shook his head.
"I want you to."
Kael looked surprised.
Tovin continued.
"Ranks don't matter if nobody understands where you stand."
"The academy is full of people who only believe what they see."
A faint breeze passed through the courtyard.
"Maybe it's time they see."
---
Later that day...
The latest reports reached the upper classes.
The S-Class classroom was quiet.
Until one name appeared.
"Dren?"
A student looked over the report.
"He climbed that much?"
Another student leaned closer.
"Wasn't he just an average F-Class student?"
"He was."
"Then how?"
Nobody answered.
Because that was exactly why it was interesting.
Dren's rise wasn't expected.
He didn't have a famous family.
A legendary Path.
Or overwhelming talent.
He simply improved.
Again.
And again.
And again.
---
Caelan Strade looked over the report silently.
His eyes moved between the names.
Dren.
Kael Virex.
Tovin.
Interesting.
Auren Valcrest also glanced at the information.
Not impressed.
Not surprised.
Just curious.
A No-Path reaching the upper ranks of F-Class was unusual.
But a normal student like Dren climbing beyond expectations...
That was rarer.
---
Evening arrived.
Kael stood outside the dormitories.
The academy towers stretched above him.
Seven months ago, they had seemed impossibly high.
Now...
They simply looked like another challenge.
Tovin stopped beside him.
"Two months."
Kael looked over.
"Until what?"
"The end of the first year."
Tovin looked toward the academy.
"Two months until everyone shows what they've really built."
Kael remained silent.
For seven months...
He had trained.
Studied.
Observed.
Now people were beginning to notice.
But noticing was not enough.
The next step was proving it.
And for the first time since entering the academy...
Kael was ready.